Into the dark of the tunnel they dragged the sacrifice. Her limbs were heavy from the potion Grune had mixed, her body fevered. As Teal struggled to hold her upright, he looked directly into the girl's face. Though he often served Grune in the sacrificial rites, Teal had known and played with this girl in childhood. Memories of those times now returned to trouble his thoughts.
They passed the unlit tombs of dead shamans, their bodies bare bones or dried flesh within. They climbed past Grune's lighted chamber and tomb-to-be, full with his magic: the sacred knives, the shells and lizard pelts Teal would one day claim as his own.
They emerged on the far side of the sea cliffs.
A blue sun strained toward its low midday zenith in a sky so dark that several stars showed. Within days the sky would pale, the stars disappear, and the sun would plume white from the height of the heavens. The entire tribe would be forced to retreat into the caves or perish from the heat. The scant warmth it now offered their bare arms, the wind quickly snapped away. Far below, the sea churned against the rocks in a steady run of dark breakers. Within days, the sea too would pale and bleach until the light shimmering upon its waves could burn their eyes. From here their trail wound back into the cliff face, deep within the mountain to the lair of the Beast.
As they sidled along the narrow ledge, before they could begin the descent, a roaring rose from over the water. Louder than any storm, it fell upon their ears. The rock beneath their feet trembled. The dark sheath of the sky seemed to split and between its severed halves a great silver bird, spitting fire from its tail, flashed over their heads.
The girl moaned as Teal pulled her back against the rock wall. Grune's eyes went wide with shock as he reeled on the trail. Teal watched in fear, thinking his master, who turned unsteadily in the wake of the thunderous sound, might topple and fall to his death in the sea below--for even a shaman as great as Grune could not fly!
The sky rejoined its shattered halves. The roaring passed to the far side of the cliffs where their village stood. Grune now clung to the stone just like Teal. While the girl's moans rose in pitch and volume, both men's eyes remained fastened on the heavens. The great bird had left a message in the sky. A long smoky cloud, like a writhing snake, moved against the dim stars. Teal wondered if the Beast was displeased. Was this a sign that the girl was saved, that they must choose another to satisfy its hunger?
Grune motioned his apprentice back into the tunnel from which they had come. In his chamber there were vine ropes to bind the girl. For now the sacrifice could not be taken. They must return to the village to see what had befallen their tribe and if there was any portent from the Beast within it.
)
