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Silver Dust Chapter Two:The Great Winged Serpents



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Sun Jan 08, 2012 10:28 pm
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Chapter II
The Great Winged Serpents
[P.S. Pronunciation at bottom]

I was the first to wake. I lay on my back, watching the desert sun creep into the world. Good morning Sun. It has been a long while since you looked on me. And it was true, as I felt I had not seen the sun look kindly on me for all of my short life, even though I couldn’t remember what the sun looked like just yesterday.
I lay for an hour or so, until the sun was hanging just high enough in the sky to see. Then Jiang rose. He left without a word, and hadn’t seemed to notice me lying awake as he went. I considered following him, but wasn’t sure if I should. Then I decided I didn’t care whether or not I should.
I quietly slipped out from under the burlap blanket and padded off. I kept my distance because I couldn’t decide if I wanted him to know that I was following him. He might send me back. He turned onto another street, but I stopped. I found a chipped corner in a building that was just what I needed.
There was only a small piece broken out of it, but it was enough for me to get a foothold and climb the rest of the way up the short structure. I jumped the gap between that building and the ones paralleling the street Jiang was on. Now I was in business. I followed him carefully while watching from the rooftops.
But then I came to the edge of the roofs, and Jiang continued on. There was a wider, open area in front of me: the fish market. I remembered now that Sage and Jiang both mentioned him working at a fishing cart occasionally. I supposed that this one of those days. I couldn’t follow him now.
I turned to go back to the Swarm where the others were, but then a panic came over me. How do I get back? I don’t remember the way! I turned frantically this way and that looking over the other roofs, but they all looked the same. I had no idea how to get back. Which way did I come from?
I crumpled up into a ball on the clay rooftop and started to weep over my circumstances like the child I was. I’ll never find my way back… never, never.
I rubbed my left ankle incessantly. It had a wicked scar on it, which resembled something of the remnants from a vicious bite. I didn’t know where it came from, and I’ll admit, it was much too large to be from a wild dog. I’d had the mark as long as I could remember.
I sat pouting on the rooftop. I could still barely see Jiang, weaving through the market hustle. Then I thought, Jiang! He knows the way back! But I quickly sunk into despair again. I can’t go ask him now… I can’t even ask him at all. But he had to come home sometime, so I determined to tough it out and wait. I would wait all day if I had to, but I wouldn’t give up. Jiang had to come home sometime.
I didn’t move from my perch all day. Winds blew by now and then, arguing with the white sand that they had tossed or thrown onto the roofs previously. Several people stared at me as I sat on the roof when they went by, but this time I was the one to ignore them. I didn’t care what they thought of the little girl on the roof. I grew quite bored and flopped on my stomach, which was feeling very hollow from hunger.
My chin sat level with the roof and my hands stretched out blandly before me. I watched a little beetle scuttle through the pearly sand between my limp arms. I gave a great blow and sent both beetle and sand flying over the roof. The poor thing landed on his back and sat wobbling and struggling helplessly, like an overturned desert tortoise.
I chuckled noiselessly at the poor creature looking so pathetic. Then I frowned. I pondered how pathetic I had looked when Jiang found me on the street, but he still took me in. I probably didn’t look any better than unfortunate Tortoise-Beetle here. I stood up and walked over to Mr. Tortoise-Beetle, carefully flipping him over in my fingers, and he buzzed off ungratefully.
I suppose that’s why people don’t help us tortoise-beetles… I mean orphans. We may as well be beetles. We live in a ‘Swarm’ anyway. I sat back down and talked to my growling stomach, I should have eaten that ungrateful beetle I’m so hungry…Ew, why would I eat a beetle? I suppose I’ve heard of people who do it, but why? That’s just nasty.
I tried throwing sand at people below a few times to break my boredom, quickly proceeding to duck behind the ridge of the roof after doing so. Some of them yelled, but most just disregarded it as the wind. A wild dog or two passed by, and I threw extra sand at them, not even bothering to duck, since they couldn’t get at me. I was so tired and hungry when Jiang finally walked by that I thought I’d die. He had a little sack cradled in his arms, and whatever was in it smelled deathly good.
He stopped. “Veraelis, what are you doing up there?” Then he remembered I couldn’t talk, so he went on with somewhat rhetorical questions, “How long have you been here? You didn’t wait all day, did you?” He seemed to be touched by the thought, but the truth was that I had gotten lost, so I had no other choice.
Oh well. Let him think what he likes. “Find a way down. I’ll take you home,” he called. So I took the fastest way down. I dove off the building (which was only about ten feet) and landed in a barrel role, standing up before him “Whoa!” Jiang jumped back in surprise. “Well I guess that works too…” I took his hand, just like before, and waited for him to lead. He seemed a bit startled by it, but he didn’t let go. So Jiang led us off, and soon we were back into the Swarm and at the corner again.
“Oh there you are,” Sage chimed toward me. “We thought you’d run off.” She turned to Jiang. “Did she go with you all day?”
“No,” he handed her the sack, “I just found her waiting on a rooftop on my way home. You should have seen the jump she did off of it.” I blushed at that. It wasn’t that impressive, was it? It had felt normal to me.
“Jumped off it?” Zehkren came over. “That sounds dangerous. You could’ve hurt yourself.”
“Well enough with that.” Sage turned around. “It’s time to eat,” she said with a melodious tone. She dumped the contents of the crate they had in the corner and flipped it, placing it in the center of their nook for a table. The others sat down around it, and I followed. Sage dropped the opened sack onto the make-shift table, and Jiang divided the loaf of bread that was in it. This was what had smelled so good on the way home.
I took my piece gratefully, and tried not to eat it too fast. Sage looked as if bread could never satisfy her, but she ate it anyway. Meat was a luxury only for the rich. The other two boys ate their bread like little monsters, devouring the meal.
But Jiang sat calmly eating his, as if he wasn’t at all tempted to shove the whole thing in his mouth at once like the rest of us. Zehkren swallowed and looked at Sage. “Will you tell a story?”
Sage finished her measly bread and leaned in on her elbows. “I suppose.” Zehkren gave a giddy smile and waited. Sage paused in thought, and then she picked a story from her mind. She began to whisper her story in a low voice, and the others listened very intently, even Jiang. “It was a dark night, when the Ky’Heila barely looked onto the earth’s face,” she started.
“Do you know what a Heila is, Veraelis?” Zehkren interrupted, looking at me. I shook my head. He gasped, “Sage you have to tell her!”
Sage put a finger to her mouth. “Quiet Ren, I will. Now don’t interrupt. Ky’Heila are just a type of Heila,” she explained.
“Like Sae’Heila or Donae’Heila,” Zehk interjected again. Sage gave him a look, so he stayed quiet for awhile
“Yes, like Sae or Donae’Heila. Heila are great winged serpents, bigger and longer than seven buildings put together. They live to be thousands of years, and much wiser than men. Men of other regions call them ‘dragons’ and such. Each Heila Clan has a special power or duty that they control their entire life.
“Ky’Heila have the stars, Sae’Heila quarrel with the earth from below, and Donae’Heila have the seas, lakes, and rivers. There are many, many clans, such as Zoae of the plants and trees or Lae’Heila of the frost and cold, or Golo’Heila, or Naiae’Heila, or the Tae’Heila, who brought forth fire.”
“Tell her about them!” Ren insisted. Jiang and Zhan still sat quietly, patiently waiting for Sage to resume her story.
“Another time,” Sage stated. “Now, Veraelis will understand the rest eventually, but I have a tale to tell.” Sage began to whisper low again, and the others leaned in to hear her every word. “It was a dark night, when the Ky’Heila barely looked on the earth…” She proceeded to tell of the division of the Donae’Heila, how many of them left the great waters to create a new clan in the skies, the Naiae’Heila. The Naiae became the clouds, and they commanded the rain and lightning.
They had remained peaceful with the Donae after their division, but then came the Kroae’Heila. Kroae settled between the two clans at stirred them into strife and anger. Kroae, the winds, pushed and turned the seas and churned up the clouds.
“The Donae became angry, so the seas tossed and roared, believing that the clouds had done these horrible deeds to their clan. The Naiae’Heila were also furious, and poured forth their rain into Donae and struck them with torrents of lightning.
“But the mischievous Kroae became even craftier, creeping about unseen between the two clans. The Kroae began carrying men’s boats and vessels across the Donae. The Donae saw their white sails drifting gracefully across their waters, and they believed the clouds had descended upon them, so the tossed the men and their ships into the great deep.”
Jiang looked uneasy at this idea, and I remembered that his father had been lost in the sea. Nonetheless, Sage continued to spin her tale with vivid detail. The sun had tucked away by the time she finished, just like last night. So everyone pulled out their burlap blankets, and Jiang again gave me his. I determined I would repay him for it somehow.
Zhan loaded their junk back into the crate and placed it back in the corner. “You tell good stories, Sage. How do you ever come up with them?” he asked.
Sage looked indignant. “I don’t make them up. They’re all true,” she claimed.
Zehkren furrowed his brow and thought for a moment. “But who ever told them to you?” he inquired.
Sage looked suddenly dumbstruck. “Uh…traders,” she blurted. “They tell lots of stories from the inner regions.”
“Oh.”
Sage smiled and turned back to lay out her burlap blanket. I did likewise. “I’ve never seen you talk with traders before…” Zhan queried.
Sage paused moment, “…Before I met Jiang.” Then she promptly got under her thin covering and lay down. “Time for rest,” she commanded. I curled up next to her and went to sleep. The others got under their blankets, except Jiang, and tried to sleep also.
Jiang left early the next morning again, but this time I didn’t follow him. Zehkren was the next one up, and he left too, followed shortly after by Zhan. None of them noticed me. I had no idea where Zhan and Ren went, since they really had no reason for going anywhere that I could think of.
So Sage and I sat all day, watching the corner so that no one would take it. I couldn’t imagine how terribly boring the job must have been with just one person, but even then, it wasn’t much more exciting with me there. I couldn’t even talk, after all. So Sage talked for me.
“That’s a neat scar,” she chatted, examining the mark on my left ankle. “Wherever did you get such a thing?” I looked at the scar, proceeding to rub it a time or two. I shrugged. I really had no idea where it came from. “It must have hurt real bad,” she mused. Sage pondered what kind of beast might leave a mark so large and vicious.
Sage went on, saying whatever she could to keep the silence away. I appreciated it, as I couldn’t bear the silence mocking me. Then she told me more stories of Heila, which she had already told the boys before I came to them. “The Tae’Heila were a smaller clan,” she started, “but they were fierce. Often they broke out of nowhere, burning anything they chose. They were mightier than the other clans, because they did what they chose with determination and strength, always conquering their adversaries.
“They never needed a cause. They were the great Tae’Heila Clan. But the Zoae’Heila despised them, and often accused the Tae’Heila of destroying many of their forests. Yet Zoae’s accusations could not deter the Tae’Heila; they were only an accelerator for their conquest. Tae’Heila incinerated everything, and their power spread endlessly…
“Until they were debarred by the other clans. The Heila Clans said that the Tae’Heila had broken their law by teaching the art of fire to men. They accused them of harming the Zoae and many other clans. So they eradicated the Tae’Heila by placing them in an eternal bond with men.
“They were as slaves, to teach their art and live and die amongst lowly mankind, never to return to the Order of the Clans.” Sage looked dejected and scornful when she said this, as if she herself had been a Tae'Heila, cast out of the Order. “But the Tae’Heila were too powerful to remain completely subject to such disgrace. They broke free of men, disappearing from their sight. Though the Tae’Heila could never escape man’s world completely, they were crafty and outwitted them.
“Men can find them no more, but Tae’Heila still watch closely.” I felt Sage cared much more for this story than she had for the others she told by the zeal she had when telling it. “Though many humans had been taught the art of fire, which they called Elementium, they still could never equal the Heila. So when the Heila abandoned them, the knowledge of flame was all but expunged from man.
“A few men clung to it, and taught it to others. Thus all men learned to create fire, though they could not make it from nothing or control it as the Heila did. Yet only a small group of men knew anything more than how to create it, so fire became a dull, lifeless slave to man from the day the Tae’Heila disappeared.”
Just then Zehkren stumbled in from wherever he had been. “Telling stories again?” he observed. He sat down cross-legged next to Sage and I. “What all did you tell her?”
“I told her about the Tae’Heila.” Sage responded.
“Oh, that’s one of my favorites,” Ren began, “but the best one is about Koromir Prometheus, and the temple of Korue. Will you tell that one?”
Sage frowned. Whatever the story was, it sounded like it was more about a man than a Tae’Heila, so she wouldn’t tell it. “No, not now.”
“Aw, but why not Sage?” Zehkren pleaded. “That one’s the best, with the man conquering all those Tae’Heila.”
Sage stood up. “Another time,” she reasserted. “Now, where are Zhan and Jiang?”
Zehk slouched disappointedly. “How would I know? I don’t follow them around all day.”
Sage crossed her arms. “Well, go find them.”
Zehkren moaned, “But I just got back, and I have no idea where they are anyway! Can’t you do it?”
Sage rolled her eyes and gave a sigh. “Fine, but you’ll have to stay here with Veraelis then.” Sage started to leave in search of the other two boys. But suddenly I stood up and grabbed Sage’s arm, pulling her back. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
I pushed her back into the corner and pointed to me, starting to back out. I want to find them. You stay here. Sage looked confused, but I began to pad off with a smile on my face anyway.
“Veraelis wait! What are you doing?”
I stopped and looked back at her, pointing to me and then out away, toward wherever Jiang and Zhan might be. I’ll go find them.
“I’ll go with you then.” She started to follow, but I shook my head.
No, you stay here. I’ll go.
A worried look came over her face. “But are you sure you can find your way back?” She rubbed her hands nervously. I nodded with confidence, and proceeded to hurry off. Truthfully, I wasn’t at all sure I could find my way back, but I knew if I found Jiang, he would know how to get back and then it wouldn’t matter. I ran around the corner, finding my little chipped foothold, and quickly climbed up to the rooftops. I could see them much easier from there.
I scurried across the roofs, carelessly tossing white sand in my wake. Street dogs growled and barked at each other below as I passed them. I checked every shop, every cart, every corner of the market, but no sign of them. So I moved on. I tore apart the streets, overturning every nook and crevice.
I swear I had memorized the entire town by the time I admitted defeat, assuming that they must have already gone home and I had missed them. I had missed Jiang. I turned back and slowly wandered toward home. I stumbled over the rooftops, kicking up more silvery-white sand with my feet, intentionally this time.
The street dogs were growling and roaring louder and more viciously when I passed them by. I jumped over them to the next building, but suddenly saw a flash of curly raven-black hair. A yell of agony screamed up at my ears. I whipped around and stared into the mass of beasts. Jiang!
I dove furiously off the building at them, hitting and scraping and tearing at their filthy muzzles. I ripped them away from Jiang, and toppled onto my back as a beast sunk its teeth into my right arm. I grabbed its neck with my other hand, flashing my own teeth at it with a silent snarl. The dogs tore at my flesh, biting and clawing. I couldn’t even feel the pain.
It made me only more furious. But then the beast biting into my arm suddenly howled and cowered as it stared into my eyes. Struck by the fear of something I could not understand, it released me and shot off, followed by its pack of mongrels. I stood up and spit at them as they retreated. Disgusting monsters.
Jiang sat in astonishment, breathing in gasps. I turned back to look at him. He was bloody and wounded. His face looked as if he had never seen such a sight as me in all the world. I was marred head to toe by gnarly bites and claw marks. Blood trickled down my face, dripping onto my neck.
My right arm was mangled as all Hades, but I showed it no favoritism, no sign of pain. It hung as if it were unwounded, exactly matching the calm nature of its barely-wounded counterpart. Jiang’s mouth hung open and expressionless. He really couldn’t come to say a word.
So I walked over and pulled him up. I took his hand, and this time, I led him home. I knew the way, and I paced it confidently. Jiang didn’t say a word the entire time. He was dumbstruck.
“By the Clans, what happened to you?” Sage shrieked when she saw us. Zhan had already returned home and was standing with the others, who were gaping like fish. I dragged Jiang into the corner and made him sit down, then kneeled in front of him.
His shirt was completely destroyed and blood-stained, so I carefully removed it. He was a little jumpy when it pulled over certain wounds, but I got it off. “Oh Jiang, what are you going to do? You can’t wear that now, and we don’t have anything else for you to wear!” Sage cried. I took his ruined shirt and tore strips off of it, proceeding to tightly wrap the worst of his wounds with them. It was not as if it could be used for anything better now.
“Wow Jiang, how did this happen to you?” Zhan broke in.
Jiang cringed as I pulled the rough fabric tight around his torn up hand. He tried his best not to cry out. “Street dogs,” he gasped, in a world of pain.
“I knew I should have gone to look for you myself,” Sage guilt-tripped herself. “This is all my fault.”
“You would’ve been no help,” Jiang moaned. “I don’t think anyone but Veraelis could have fought off those dogs. It was unexplainable, the way they ran from her… She was vicious, but I still don’t know how she did it. Those beasts look like she struck terror into their very existence.” He continued to flinch and groan from the pain as I tied the cloths securely on his bleeding body.
Always making so much of so little…I observed to myself. Beasts will cower if you bite hard enough.
My stoic, emotionless face seemed to be hitting him harder with guilt than the physical wounds. Why do she not act hurt? My chewed arm looked worse than several of his bite marks put together, but I was still forcing unmatched strength out of it to bandage his wounds. “Are you blind?” he yelled at the others. “Why are you letting her do this?”
Sage, Zhan, and Zehkren jumped, quickly rushing in to pull me away. Ren made me lean back against the opposite wall and tried to copy the thoroughness I had achieved in bandaging Jiang with the remainder of his old shirt. He really had no idea what he was doing, but he did his best anyway.
Sage tended to Jiang, although there really wasn’t anything left for her to bandage, so she pretended like she had some reason to examine his wounds. Jiang’s eyes suddenly wandered down to my left ankle, seemingly blank in thought. Zhan stood awkwardly doing nothing, but then his eyes too, dropped low, nearly to the ground, to observe the same subject. Sage trailed their gaze and she found what they were pondering. Zehkren was the last to look, though he made the most obvious gesture.
He began to slow in his wrapping of my arm and became somewhat careless, as he wasn’t really looking at what he was doing. I stared him in the face until he finally looked up again, and he nearly jumped when he saw me staring so boldly. He looked away and refused from then after to make eye contact with me or gaze at my scar.
Now Jiang was the one staring me in the face so boldly. “That’s not a new scar, I take it,” he queried. I nonchalantly shook my head. “And I don’t suppose you now its origin, do you?”
I shook my head again. He seemed unsatisfied, but asked no further questions. Even if I didn’t know where it came from, I had successfully more than doubled it in new, soon-to-be similar scars on my arm and elsewhere, though they could never quite match those teeth marks in size.

Pronunciation Guide
Jiang (Chinese; “River”) [Jee-ang]
Korue [Ko-roo]
Kroae’Heila [Krow-ay Hee-lah]
Ky’Heila [Ky (long “I”) Hee-lah]
Lae’Heila [Lay Hee-lah]
Naiae’Heila [Ny (long “I”)-ay Hee-lah]
Sae’Heila [Say Hee-lah]
Tae’Heila [Tay Hee-lah]
Veraelis [Ver-ay-lis]
Zehkren [Zek-ren]
Zhan [Zan; Zon]
Zoae’Heila [Zo-ay Hee-lah]

Chapter one:http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=361&t=92416&p=950502#p950502
  








Maybe what most people wanted wasn't immortality and fame, but the reassurance that their existence had meant something. No matter how long... or how brief. Maybe being eternal meant becoming a story worth telling.
— Roshani Chokshi, Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality