Chapter 5
She was in a village. There were many more like her there. She was playing with a friend her age, while her mother watched. She was 5? 6? Suddenly an alarm sounded. Her mother picked her up and started running. She saw glimpses of the green skinned mudokons that were raiding her village. She could hear the sounds of pain and death. She could smell smoke...
Cili woke up with a scream. She looked around a sighed with relief that she was still in Abe's hut. It had been several days sense Abe found her and her skin was almost completely healed. Abe ran into her room, apparently her scream had woken him up.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"Yes, it was only a dream." she said.
"Do you remember it?"
"No."
"Drat." Abe started to check her bandages. His gentle touch relaxed her.
"Wait..," she said as she rubbed her forehead, "Somethings coming back to me."
"A memory?"
"Yes. I remember I was in a village. I was very young at the time." she looked at her hands. "There were many more like me in the village."
"Really?"
"Yes, I...I think I was a member of a tribe where everyone had the same skin color as mine. I...I had a mother."
"Was she a queen?"
"No, in fact I don't recall there being any queens in the village."
"Interesting, never heard of such a tribe. Do you remember any more?"
"Yes," she surpressed a shudder, "The village was attacked by another tribe, a tribe of green skinned mudokons. But why did they attack? What has my people done to deserve such hostility?"
"Hmmm." Abe thought a moment, "I wonder if Bigface would know anything about this, he's been around for awhile."
"Who's Bigface?"
"Our local shaman. I need to get more bandages anyway. Its morning now so he should be up. I'll be back" Abe said as he headed for the door.
"Hey Abe!" Alf said as he ran up to him.
"Whats up Alf?" Abe asked.
"I managed to get more info out of Irun about Ghost."
"How did you do that?"
"Well I kind of got him...drunk." Alf said sheepishly.
"Alf!"
"Hey I couldn't think of any other way." he shrugged.
"Ok so what did you find out."
"Well when I asked all he said was something about white skinned mudokons being evil murders. Actually he used the term moon skinned, like theres a difference."
"What! That can't be. From what Cili was able to recall this morning that can't be true."
"Maybe we should talk to Bigface about this."
"Actually I was heading to his place now."
"Great I will go with you."
As they walked Abe couldn't help but think: Who's the real victim here? Cili's people or us?
Chapter 6
When they reached Bigface's hut, they found him standing outside waiting for them.
"You knew we were coming didn't you?" Alf asked.
Bigface merely nodded and motioned for them to come inside.
"Now," Bigface said as he sat down on his meditation rug, "What is it you wish to ask me?"
"Well," Abe started as he and Alf sat,"we were wondering if you knew anything about a tribe of moon skinned mudokons."
Bigface leaned forward in interest. "Moon skinned mudokons you say?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm, tell me where you came to hear about them first."
So Abe and Alf told him about finding Cili and her lack of memory. They also told him what Irun said about them. When they were finished, Bigface sat back with a saddened look on his face. After a moment he finally said, "So the sin of one HAS caused their near extinction."
"What do you mean?" Abe asked.
"First I'll tell you about the tribe itself. The tribe is or rather was called the Moon Children. They are the separate race from us, though they are related and consider themselves mudokons. They don't have queens, rather they have males and females who form pair bounds. Unlike us, where we all have similar powers and abilities, each of the Moon Children have his or her own unique talent, such as the ability to create fire from nothing. It's not magical in nature so these talents can't be taught to someone else.
In the old days, they would assist us in night time activities since their eyesight was ten times better at night then us. In return we would aid them in daytime activities since their sun burned so easily burned in the sunlight.
When the glukkons came, the Moon Children, fearing for there race, went into hiding and became secretive and weary of others. The other tribes resented this and started to break their ties with them. As time pasted the knowledge of the Moon Children grew less and less and the other tribes began to fear their powers and their ghost-like appearance. It didn't help any when one Moon Child got it into his head that the Moon Children should rule over all mudokons. The other Moon Children wanted nothing to do this and cast him out of the tribe. Not to be undone, he went on a one mudokon crusade against the other tribes. It was said that he killed dozens, some say even hundreds, of mudokons before he was killed.
Fearing that more like him would turn up, one of the tribes demanded that they band together and exterminate the Moon Children. But the rest of the tribes refused and said to let them be. Apparently, that one tribe decided to take matters into their own hands and attacked the Moon Children anyway. And since the Moon Children are a peaceful tribe and had no real fighting abilities, it must have been a massacre, with Cili being the only known survivor."
"I never thought our own kind could be like that." Abe said glumly.
"Like I said, the sin of one can turn whole groups of others against a single one."
"What can we do? If we tell Cili this, she'll get even more depressed then she already is."
"Unless more Moon Children show up, then there's little we can do except to ensure her life is as happy as can be." Bigface said as he stood up."
"What about Irun?" Alf said as he and Abe stood up also, "Surely he'll find out she's hiding in Abe's hut and will try to kill her."
"Then you must protect her from him at all cost!" Bigface said sternly, "At least until she remembers what her talent is. Until then, she's helpless. By the way the bandages you came for are on the second shelf to the left of the door."
"Uh thank you Bigface." Abe said as he took the bandages and went outside, Alf following.
"How are we going to protect her? I mean Irun is built like a scrab!" Alf said.
"Well, we do what we can to keep him from finding out where she is. Until she remembers her talent."
"Humphf, easier said then done."
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