Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Shaman's Hut

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

Tapu led Achak and Kahl well through the thick of the jungle, pausing only briefly to look overhead as jets passed them by. A moment later the trees shook from the napalm bombing that swept through the distant trees in a fiery inferno.

"That can't be good..." Tapu remarked.

What came next was staggering as the heat of the distant inferno tore through the jungle to engulf the trio in its suffocating grasp. They were downwind from the fires and the smoke and fumes of the burning foliage mingled with the distinctive stench of ozone left Tapu catching himself against a low hanging tree branch to cough into his arm. The fires in the distance were swallowing up the oxygen and leaving the air suffocatingly thin.

"Nothing like a summer stroll, eh?" Tapu asked before he quirked a grin.

The mischievous Mira never did seem to lose spirit.

"Come on, this way," he added before he redoubled their pace to lead Achak deeper into the jungle away from the stifling heat that licked at their backs and left the pair of them panting heavily.

Despite his apparent light-hearted remarks, there was a pinch of worry to his eyes.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Gasmask

Kahl propped himself up to see the forest burning, the fire glinting in his eyes. The wounded hunter could only resign himself to praying that his fellow Mira weren't harmed by the sudden inferno. Kahl dragged himself further up on his perch upon the great cat, propping his knee up to probe at it with his fingers, biting his cracked lips.

The wound was unlike anything he'd ever seen, the weapon had burnt his wounds closed and there were hints of broken bone, sinew and other unsavory thoughts under the singed fur. "There isn't going to be a rope long enough to hold the trophies." Kahl muttered, quite the contrast to Tapu's remarks.

"Where are we going, Tapu? The Aschen are that way." That was Kahl, foolhardy and hungry for vengeance even with his knee beyond the brink. Kahl even gave Tapu an intrigued look, this wasn't familiar forest territory to him, not that he could tell with all the flames behind him.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

"The Shief said to take you to Naia," Tapu replied.

He cast Kahl a side-long glance. "You know as well as I do that they'll have cleared out by now. There's no fight left to go to. Next time, eh?" he asked with a grin. "For now let's just get you walking again."

Tapu didn't come out this way often. Most of the Mira didn't, though they all knew how to get to where they were going. Naia's glade served as a sanctuary of sorts - a place hidden in open view. One could search this area for months and fail to find that which was right in front of them.

The occasional totems and talismans marked the way for those who knew what to watch for, but for those who didn't, they would lead you astray just as quickly. There was a definite sense of something mystical about this place that was watched over by the ancestral spirits of the shaman that made her home here.

"Not far now."

The trek through the jungle had left the worst of the heat behind them, and up ahead one could almost make out the shape of a hut in the distance.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Gasmask

Kahl let his head fall back on the cat. "Naia." Kahl huffed, he was a hunter from Aelora, he'd heard about this healer who'd come with them to this place, she was a guide to one of the young ones and a great ally as some of the other clan had told him, but she wasn't Mira.

Kahl shook his head and spun his one good leg over Achak's side and onto the soft grass beneath their paws and puffed himself up. A good hunter would not let himself appear meek to anything. "It better not be far, Tapu." Kahl leaned down and gave the cat a scratch behind the ears. "Thanks, Achak."

Kahl limped and put a hand on Tapu's shoulder to steady himself. "You sure she can be trusted? She isn't one of our kind." Kahl whispered, grunting with the effort to keep himself upright.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

Achak gave a rumbling pur of contentment as he shoved up against Kahl's side roughly before padding on ahead.

Tapu chuckled lowly as he and Kahl continued towards the hut.

"She's Aeloran," he answered. "That's close enough to one of us for me."

The dense foliage had thinned out enough to ease Kahl's progress, but every cluster of ferns and tree roots proved a painful experience. The clearing itself proved easier to traverse as the low growing foliage gave way to to lightly packed earth. Further totems encircled the clearing and a simple stone table and large hut claimed the area.

The hut was of a humble nature not too dissimilar to Mira construct with its timber walls and thatched roof. Unlike Mira buildings though, this hut was built outward across the ground rather than up into the trees as the Mira typically preferred. No door was present upon the building but rather a large open archway covered with animals skins provided entry into the hut.

"Naia?" Tapu called out.

As he was met with no answer Tapu left Kahl with the stone table for support as he headed over to the hut. Pushing the skins back he called out again. "Naia?"

"I'm here," a woman's voice replied from the nearby jungle before a nimble centaur stepped cautiously into the clearing.

Her delicate build and the graceful curve of the horns from her head left the woman looking more akin to a hine than the more commonly known horse-like centaurs of the grasslands of Aelora.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Gasmask

Kahl turned around, gave the hut a quick look over and sat down on the table. This could be the end of him if it wasn't healed, it put a lot of things into prospective, mostly that a hunt would be impossible with his ruined leg. Kahl shook his head, thoughts of prospective were for the Shief.

Kahl eyed the centaur. "Naia." Kahl greeted grimly.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

"Hey," Tapu greeted as Naia made herself known to the pair. "Mr. brawn over brains here got himself into trouble." He winked mischievously to Kahl at the light jab. "Is there anything you can do?"

"Let me see," Naia replied as she approached.

When she reached Kahl she slipped a leather satchel from her shoulder and lay it down upon the stone slab and as it tipped onto its side an assortment of fruits and plants she had been out harvesting spilled out onto the table. Gently pushing them aside she gestured for Kahl to shift around so his leg was up on the table where she could see.

The disruptor shot had destroyed much of the leather covering that had protected his knee, along with the flesh and fur beneath. Sinew and bone were both damaged extensively, and if not for Le'thorian's blessing still residing over the Mira he would likely have lost the leg in its entirety. Naia's expression turned grim at the extent of the damage visible.

"What happened?" Naia asked. "I have never seen an injury like this before."

Naia like the Mira was native to Aelora and had yet to experience these weapons of a more advanced era.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Gasmask

Kahl groaned and shook his head at Tapu, grunting as he lifted his leg to comply with Naia's gesture. "Aschen. Men with guns, shot me in the knee, thought he was being a big Shief." Kahl lifted a hand to his necklace and whispered something under his breath, whiskers trembling as he examined his wound again.

Kahl was never comfortable with relying on others to help him and the entire clan knew it, preferring to work alone had given him a jaded reputation with most of the other hunters, it was his skill and some form of pull with the Shief that stopped him from getting into trouble with most of the other members, Kahl would go to the extent at trying to heal himself whenever he injured himself in Aelora.

"Is it fixable? Will I be a cripple?"

 

[Tiko]

as written by Naia

"It's too early to say," Naia replied. "I have never treated a wound of this nature before, the damage is extensive."

She shook her head.

"I'm going to need supplies that I don't have here. Tapu help him inside and I'll get a list of what I need."

"Come on, back up you go," Tapu told Kahl. "Can't have you lounging around like a layabout, eh?" he asked with a lopsided grin.

The interior of the hut was sparsely furnished in the way of furniture, but the walls and floors were heavily adorned in all manner of shamanic paraphernalia. Fetishes and talismans hung from the walls, animal hides were strewn across the dirt floor of the hut and animal skulls and bones were set out upon tables alongside various utensils.

There were only two cots present at the back of the hut, both built unusually high so as to allow the large centaur ease of access to treating her relatively shorter bipedal patients. Each were covered with thick coverlets of fur that appeared to have seen their share of use over the years. The bringing of the exceptionally sick and wounded to Naia was relatively common place among both the Mira and the indigenous humans of the region.