His fear was assuaged when he stopped short, but not before his large, spiked tail hit the water, sending pain through his body and steam into the air. He pulled it free with a mighty yank and took two labored steps up from the river.
He looked up the small hill to ready his next move and was pleased to see he hadn’t missed entirely. Although he’d missed a full killing blow to the boy, he had reached him at least a little, and now he was laid out on the ground just beyond the front wheel of the mechanized wagon. He was coming to his feet now, the weapon no longer in his hand.
Then Skerd saw it, broken and in pieces at his feet. The boy saw it too, then he looked up at Skerd and the beast met his gaze.
Out of options and about to die, Skerd looked into the boy for fear but saw none. He saw bravery. Even unarmed and wounded, this one would fight to the last. He respected this young one. He was glad he would be the one to take his life and not some other who would not recognize the sacrifice and strength of will it was taking to do as he was now. This death would have meaning.
Skerd began the movement forward, eager for this honorable and engaging confrontation, when the boy reached to his leg and produced a knife which he held before him, ready to attack with whatever strength he had left.
Instantly the mind-altering clarity of vision came to Skerd, just as it had at the base of the Uhluktahn. The rage he felt and the bloodlust he craved were washed away like nothing as he laid his eyes on the blade. Suddenly, with a hint of foolishness, he understood everything and stopped his attack on the people, his attention consumed by the clarity in his mind and the realizations it meant.
“Cease!” he called out in his native tongue to the others of his kind. At first they ignored him or were simply too lost within the rage they felt. “Cease at once, my brothers! Cease and fall back!”
They continued, until the first of them saw his seriousness and begrudgingly did as he asked. Soon the others followed as the humans looked on wondering what had happened. As the remaining members of his kind retreated up the hillside once more, the people below allowed them to leave, firing no more shots with their weak weapons, and instead turned to their own problems. Watchful eyes always on the beasts on the high ground above them. A moment of uneasy calm overtook them all. Only the sounds of crying children, burning wood, and rushing water could be heard as Skerd looked back to the young one with the weapon before him.
“You there,” he said, shocking all nearby with his deep but suddenly-understandable voice. “You carry a talisman. How did you come to have it? Are you an Embracer?”
The young one looked confused at first, and then seemed to realize it was the knife Skerd spoke of. “I…I received it as a gift some time back.” The lad was unsure of what was going on, but held his place, nonetheless. His face was cut and bleeding and he favored his leg, but otherwise he’d come out alright.
Skerd, lost in the sea of this newfound clarity, attempted to move away from the river but was met with the knife being thrust in his direction as a warning. He wasn’t happy being so close to the water, but it seemed the boy held the advantage now.
“A gift for what?” he continued. “One does not give talismans like that away for nothing.”
“For saving a village far from here,” the boy said at last. “Saving it from another of your kind.”
Of course. All things come around in full circle to Skerd. A reward for saving others from a Stalker was a weapon that could save many Stalkers’ lives. It was as it was meant to be.
The wariness on the boy’s face was still evident and Skerd realized at once that he wasn’t sure what was going on, although Skerd’s talking to him as he was should have explained everything.
“The weapon you carry there,” Skerd continued, “is a very powerful one to me and my kind. You do not see it for what it is. Is that true?”
Confusion began to mix with a mild sense of relief, likely caused by the ceasing of the attack and beginning of an open dialogue. “It would appear so,” the boy answered, obviously uncomfortable. “What is it to you?”
“To answer that,” replied Skerd, “would take a very long time. I can tell you this: what you hold there gives me and my kind a clarity of thought lost in the ages to a muddle of anger and rage, our natural state. Just being near it now is the reason we no longer attack, although you should know some of my brothers above might not be so easily swayed by it. Their age and impetuousness are defying them.”
A young rider joined with anger in his face, “Why tell us this, beast? Why tell us anything other than why we shouldn’t kill you all right here and now?”
“Hold your wagging tongue, fool! It is by my will and that alone that we don’t finish the very easy task of killing you all right now, so listen and listen well. We will not apologize for our actions at your intrusion
