He hit the ground a little harder than he expected, but managed to direct the impact to his thighs, bouncing once before drawing his own sword. A few thuds from any direction told Karl that more people had left the trees. There came a soft thud next to him. "You two had better not get me killed," Bob said as he stepped between Sam and Karl.

Karl looked out toward those still racing to the ropes. He estimated ten or so were left, plus the three still firing arrows-- including Emily-- and the now six weapons-in-hand. Behind the remaining tribesfolk came the swarm of skeeltahn. A host were already downed, most dead although a few still moved. But even so, more skeeltahn came than people.

Bob put his hand on Karl's shoulder, battle axe ready in his other hand.

Karl took a deep breathe, and he, Sam and Bob lead the charge toward the menace before them. The other attacking tribesfolk were not far behind. They weaved between the oncoming humans and ran straight into the heart of the skeely.

Luckily the arrows had thinned out the ranks of the skeeltahn, so they met a broken line rather a full on wall. Karl began his attack on the first skeeltahn with a backhand slash on his non-sword side, cutting across the thin spine, and finished with an upward cut of his blade into the chest of the one nearest his sword-hand. Both fell to the ground, but Karl was already on to the next one, hitting it with a downward slice to the shoulder.

His force on that one was too great to pull out of, so he executed a spinning follow-through, raising his blade again on the reverse and finishing his spin cutting down into two skeeltahn on his left. He pulled his blade to the right and nearly cut another one in half.

Already his arms were beginning to ache, his heart beat rapidly in his chest. But it was too late to turn back now. He took a breath and blew it as slow as he could out of his mouth. He let the air fill him with energy and continued on.

Karl raised his blade and slashed down on a skeeltahn before him, turning his head slightly as he did and noticed a second behind him. He let the blade of his sword swing in an arc under his arm, and the tip lined itself perfectly with the underside of the creature's chest. The skeeltahn was stopped short on the end of Karl's blade. It fell to the ground when Karl pulled his sword forward and down, reversing the arc. He twirled it above his head and cut diagonally into a skeeltahn that had stepped too close in its retreat from Bob and his axe.

Sweat poured from Bob's head, but he kept his axe spinning, cutting skeeltahn one after another with the twin blades, and knocking others down with the handle to thin out the advancing lines.

Karl noticed a skeeltahn attempt to approach Bob from behind. He was too far to do anything himself, but he had an idea. He spun and kicked a skeeltahn near him in the chest, aiming it at the one behind Bob. The one flew back and the two crumbled to the ground, tangled in a mass of limbs. Before they could right themselves, Bob had swung and created matching gashes through both.

Smiling, Karl swung his sword in a circle around himself, cutting two skeeltahn and felling another. He repeated the circle and took out the two still standing, then used the momentum of the swing to turn himself.

He saw Sam, both hands on his sword, cutting down skeeltahn after skeeltahn, making it almost look easy, save for the redness in his face and determination in his eyes. Sam glanced over and saw Karl, then kicked out a skeeltahn toward him. Karl caught the creature on the end of his sword. He let it drop, sliding off the end of the blade.

Karl lifted his sword, ready to fight off more skeeltahn, but a blur distracted him from raising it higher than his waist. He flinched, thinking about a skeeltahn had taken an opening and was about to attack, but the blur was running parallel to him, not toward him.

It was small and moved in a dodgy zig-zag formation. At one of the dead skeeltahn, the form slowed, and Karl recognised the shape of his mentor, Fae. In his hand was a quiver. Fae was retrieving arrows for the bows! Fae spun as he pulled an arrow from another body, caught Karl's eye, and was once again running to another pile of arrows.

Karl turned and ran to the nearest skeeltahn and swung his blade. The sword cut across the creature, leaving a large gash on its chest. It snarled in anger and scratched at Karl. He ducked and thrust his sword up, into the thoracic cavity. Anger in the creature's eye gave way to a cold, stony look, then turned blank as the life fell away from the skeeltahn.

Karl looked around. There were still skeeltahn standing, only two dozen or so now, but Karl was starting to feel the weariness of his aching muscles. He fell to his knees breathing heavily.

Someone shouted, but Karl was numb to it. He could not make out what they were saying. Shouting continued, and Karl thought he heard his name. He looked up, everything moved in slow motion. There were skeeltahn ten feet from him and closing in. To one side, Sam had sheathed his sword and was piggy-back carrying one of the tribesmen who bled from one arm and both legs. Behind Sam another two guys ran for the trees. On Karl's other side, the remaining tribesmen had just reached the ropes. He sported two or three cuts on his forehead. Bob was still swinging his axe, warding off the oncoming skeeltahn, but the exhaustion was apparent in his face.

Behind Karl, someone screamed. This one, Karl heard. "Bob, Karl! RUN!" Time caught up to Karl. He was on his feet immediately, running to Bob. As he drew near, he could see the blood staining Bob's pants.

"Bob!" Karl yelled. Bob swung his axe once more for good measure and accidentally took out one final skeeltahn. Karl grabbed his arm, and the pair raced to the tree. Karl pushed Bob to the first rope and ran to the second. He jumped up and somehow held fast. He began his hand over hand ascent, but knew it would raise up. He raised his eyes and watched as ten or more tribesfolk pulled the rope up into the tree, another group doing the same for Bob.

"Hold tight!" Karl heard someone yell. It may have been Su'mi, but in the mess of people above, Karl could not be sure. But he held on tight as the rope rose faster than he could have climbed. In seconds Karl was safely in the tree, sprawled out in the crease of a limb as it branched into two. Bob straddled a branch on the next tree over. Both had lay down their weapons and breathed heavily.

Karl's head was spinning, but he could still see Cameron and Bryan as the branch-hopped toward the two. They stopped in front of Bob, staring back and forth between him and Karl. A tense hush came over the tribe as Cameron began to speak.

"That was utterly foolish of you to rush into battle like that with an animal you know nothing about. The skeeltahn are dangerous on their own, and deadly in numbers. Any one of you could have been killed." He let that sink in, looking between Karl and Bob and the others that had turned to fight.

Cameron continued, "I must say, however, that thanks to your actions, none of our people were killed. We have a handful of scratches, and a few scattered bites, but no one was lost today.

"You will be duly punished later, but it will not be harsh. Tonight we rest, and tomorrow, if we exit these lands alive, tomorrow we celebrate."

A roar went up among the tribesfolk, cheering and clapping, and that set off snarls and screeches from the skeeltahn below.

*** ***

Dinner that night was a very light meal of fruits and water flavored with the sap of trees in which they all sat. "It will be a little bitter," Nichole said as she passed some flavored water to Karl, "but I promise the benefits will outweigh the flavor." Karl took a drink. It was not quite as bad as he had expected, but there was a tartness to it that tingled his tongue.

"That's not too bad," Karl said. "Wouldn't want to have it every day, but it's okay." He took another sip. "What do you call it?"

"Eukylass," Nichole said. "The leaves are poisonous to eat, but the roots can be used to numb pain. Each tree only flowers twice every ten years, but when they do, the nuts are very nutritious. Some say they can soothe a troubled spirit when added to a salad of raas and snapdragon eggs. But I seriously doubt that." She laughed softly. "The sap is supposed to help you sleep easier and heal faster. In your case, it should help your lungs recover from the running and fighting earlier."

"Yeah," Karl said. "I definitely need that."

"Can I ask you something?" Nichole asked.

"Always."

"Why did you do it?"

"It needed done."

"But why did you do it?"

For a moment Karl said nothing. "Because if I was one of the ones in the back, racing for my life trying to get away, I would like to know that someone cared enough to fight for me, to die for me."

Nichole said nothing.

But she lay her head on his shoulder.

*** ***

The night was tense. More sentries took watch than normal, keeping a sharp eye over the skeeltahn below. The groans and growls kept more of the tribe awake; those that did sleep only slept in patches.

By the middle of the night, when the dark was at its peak, the noise below had nearly ceased, and by the early morning, just before the dawn, only a raspy breath gave any hint of the struggle from the night before.

Early dawn, as the sun was barely beginning to offer light, a branch snapped somewhere in the forest. Every ear of every waiting skeeltahn was perked and their noses sniffed at the air. The rustling of some bushes caused the creatures to clamor to their feet and make chase. Whatever had made the noise yelped at it heard the predators charge. The sound of the chase faded away, ending soon after in a far off howl of agony.

Karl felt a twinge of sorrow for whatever had become prey to the skeeltahn. But in the end, nature was nature, and better the poor animal than one of his friends or anyone in the tribe.

Even though the skeeltahn had run off, no one felt safe enough to climb down just yet. The uneasiness of the night before was still present, but some of the tension had lifted with the departure of the beasts. Members of the tribe passed berries and nuts as the light began to show, but no one moved out of the trees.

Finally Li and two more made their way across limbs, following the last known path of the departed skeeltahn. The rest of the tribe waited in safety. Only an hour passed, Karl estimated, before the trio returned. Li went directly to Cameron to report.

Cameron wasted no time in pushing his tribe on ahead. "They've gone back the way we came," he said just loud enough for everyone to hear. "But we all know that doesn't mean they will stay or that they've forgotten. When we move, go with grace and speed. Be quick, be silent, be safe."

The ropes were lowered and the first of the tribe descended quickly, taking sentry points around the trees. The next few down scampered through the fallen skeeltahn, retrieving as many good arrows as they could. The rest lined up quickly, and once the majority of the tribe was down, Erika led them away. Cameron and Bryan remained behind, Cameron at the back of the line, and Bryan somewhere in the middle.

The mass of tribesfolk walked for a time putting some distance between themselves and the trees. No one said a word; rather, they communicated by hand signals. That early section of the walk, perimeter watch was extremely tight. A few parties were sent out on a rotating duty, but they were small. Nearer the line, sentries posted at short intervals, keeping a tight and very contained post.

As the morning gave way to afternoon, the mood lifted. People started talking quietly and stepped less carefully. No longer avoiding leaves and twigs. By the time they stopped for a very quick lunch, the mood had greatly improved, and people were talking like normal.

"We should be out of the skeeltahn land," Cameron had said in passing during the lunch stop, "but I don't want to risk it just in case." The he promised an early stop for the evening and moved on, checking on the rest of the tribe. Minutes later they had started off once more.

*** ***

Cameron stood on a rock as the tribe gathered around him, trickling in from the day's long journey. The tribe stood in a flat, grassy field, only a short ways from the last forest they had passed through. There was laughter and talking amongst the people as they drew near.

As the last of the tribe joined the crowd, Cameron raised up both hands to silence them. Immediately a hush fell over the people. In the silence, Cameron turned a slow circle, looking at his people. His eyes seemed to meet every eye in the crowd as he turned, making everyone feel important. Then Cameron spoke.

"Friends. Family. This is what I see when I look out at you. Children. Adults. Orphans and siblings. People who have nowhere else to go. People who have everywhere to go. Some call us lost. Some call us warriors, heroes and legends. But I see people who came together in harmony in an unbalanced land. I see love and peace in a land at war.

"We are not here to fight. We are not here to die. We are here to live, and so others may live, happy and free. So we do fight. We do die. But in all the fighting, we have seen many months without death. We have grown strong; let us not grow too bold. We have seen many battles without losing any friends. Stay vigilant that we might live to see another fight, so that we may live to see no more.

"We have guests in our circle. These five come from another land, but for now their paths lie with us. They look to us to keep them safe, but it seems they have come to keep us safe also. These last days I have seen them throw their own safety away for the protection of a people they know nothing about. Emily, Julie, Sam, Bob and Karl, we thank you for your sacrifices, and we thank you for your hearts."

A cheer arose from the gathering. A few small chants picked up repeating one name or another, but everyone cheered and clapped for the five friends from Earth. Karl even had a pat or two on the shoulder.

Cameron let them cheer for a short while before again raising his hands. "My friends," Cameron said, looking at Karl and his companions, "you have honored us with your presence and your grace, your curiosity and bravery, and most of all your friendship.You have honored us and all those that came before us. Tonight, we honor you with an age old tradition we have in our tribe. After tonight, no matter where your paths may take you, know that you will always be welcomed into the folds of our family. You are now, and forevermore, members of the Lost Tribe of Korakyee."

Another round of cheers erupted, but Cameron silenced them after a few seconds. "This is a tradition started by our own Erika long ago, that helps with practice in battles. It builds balance, helps you think faster, and help you to trust one another. We are the people on Corsavvott who do this.

"New friends. Old friends. Prepare... for the Fire Dance!" More cheers erupted, but Cameron let it go. He smiled and looked out for a time before stepping down from his rock.

Almost immediately a pile of sticks was lain, and in moments a fire was going. Nearly every available hand took off for the trees to gather wood and other supplies for the night. In minutes, the small fire had grown as tall as Karl, and still more wood was added. By the end of the next quarter hour, the fire was burning fifteen feet high over a pile of wood nearly eight. Another stack of wood was piled five feet high and spiraled out for more than six.

A second group of people reemerged carrying makeshift baskets woven of raas and ferns and filled with something that might have been sap. They sat near the stack of fuel-wood and began dipping fern leaves into the thick liquid and wrapping them around the ends of sticks. It was the same process Karl had seen them use to make torches once or twice before.

As quickly as it had begun, it was done, the fire burned hot and tall, the pile of fuel was plenty, and the torch sticks were complete. Half an hour from start to finish, the tribe gathered again, this time around the massive fire. They milled about, finding friends and talking, before people started sitting down. In no time at all, only Erika, stationed between the tribe and the fire, remained standing. Once everyone was seated, they hushed and Erika spoke.