A Tale of the Great North

The trees rustled in the wind of the Great Northern Forest. Kasah felt the fresh breeze kiss her cheek and inhaled deeply. She gathered up the wood for that evening’s bonfire and jauntily strolled in the direction of the lodge. Her thick, black hair swayed gently behind her. Her soft brown skin glinted in the sunlight. Everything was well in this corner of the world. However, after a moment of contemplating the evening festivities, she felt something was off about her surroundings. She realized she had not seen many animals roaming around at all. Usually there were birds singing and a timid deer along the way, but this time there was nothing. She shrugged her shoulders and continued on her path.

She was a member of the Hilansa tribe of the Aroda region, one of the largest tribes and regions in the Great North. Her people had migrated there from the Great South some 700 years ago, and after having gained the trust of the local tribes after receiving some suspicion and hostility, they came to dominate the area. A great flood had ravaged the Hilansan people’s original homeland, and their gods had guided them towards the security of the Northern Forest. The flood had decimated the area’s wildlife and natural environment, and a great many of the tribe’s spiritual leaders ended up perishing in the flood.

The Hilansan people were devoutly religious and served their gods well, holding many festivities in honor of their protectors. Today was the holiday of Minkyana, a day in which the Hilansan people costumed themselves in rich garbs that resembled those of their favorite supernatural creatures. On this day, the Hilansan people took rapture in the diversion of tellling each other terrifying tales of the creatures of which they were dressed as. Many offerings were given to the god Alokane, often known to the Hilansan people as he who which weaves the threads of magic and mystery.

Kasah took another turn and followed the trail home. Outside of the lodge, she was promptly greeted by her younger sister Jaya, who came scurrying out of the home the moment Kasah laid the pile of wood next to the fire pit. The young girl’s eyes shone up at her older sister as she wrapped her arms around Kasah’s waist. She remembered when Jaya was only four winters old and had stumbled and taken a hard fall. The scar from where she scraped her nose was still slightly visible.

“You’re finally home!” Jaya cooed, “I missed you all morning. We forgot about our special breakfast for today.”

“Yes,” Kasah began “I was so caught up in the excitement of today’s festivities that I forgot. I should have waited until the afternoon. Yes, I will make it up to you next week!” Kasah pinched her sister’s cheek as a radiant grin spread across her face. Jaya was only about ten winters old. She was born on such a brutally cold day that it’s difficult to contrast that with her sunny disposition.

Inside the lodge, their older sister, Liela, was tending to the fire.

“You’re home,” she said unemphatically.

“Yes, I brought more firewood for tonight’s bonfire.”

“Well, you could have at least told us you were going out. What if something happened to you? We wouldn’t know where to start looking.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Kasah apologized to her older sister quite frequently. Of course, there were times when her sister wasn’t always right, but that didn’t stop Liela from arguing her point forcefully. Kasah learned at a very young age that it was better to let her sister win than to continue arguing with her about anything. Kasah sauntered over to the kitchen and prepared a jug of hot water. Then she began crushing some of the leftover coffee beans they had scavenged in the mortar and pestle.

“Who wants coffee?!” she called out.

“I do!” yelled Jaya from outside the lodge.

Kasah took out a cheesecloth and placed it over the lid of a jug, then she placed some of the ground up coffee beans over it. Slowly she began to pour the hot water over the coffee beans. The dark brown liquid began to seep through the cheesecloth and into the empty jug below. Liela was sitting next to the fire huddled up with a bear-skin blanket.

“Don’t you think it’s getting to be a bit too late in the day for coffee?” she asked tepidly.

“No way,” Kasah muttered. “It’s never too late in the day for coffee.” Besides, she had skipped breakfast, and after the long morning hauling firewood she needed a little pick-me-up. She poured the coffee into two clay mugs, one for her and Jaya.

“Jaya, it’s ready!” Kasah called out. Her sister came rushing into the lodge with a speed at which would have made a deer jealous. She grabbed one of the clay mugs and took a large swig.

“Delicious,” she said with a grin on her face.

“So how about tonight’s bonfire? Are you excited?”

“Yeah,” replied Jaya. “We haven’t had one of those in forever.”

“Something feels strange about today,” said Liela peering out the window of the lodge. “Have you seen any animals?”

“I saw nothing on the way home. It is strange. Usually the forest is bustling with life.”

After a few more moments of scanning the surrounding area with her eagle eye, Leila spoke up again.

“I changed my mind. I want some coffee.”

Kasah poured her older sister a cup of coffee and handed it to her.

Kasah walked towards the firepit and started moving around logs and stones. She had to make sure that everything was just so for the evening festivities. There would be multiple bonfires happening that night and Kasah and her sisters were tasked by the tribal leaders to host their own. Living on the outskirts of the village, Kasah and her sisters mostly stayed secluded. Liela did not like to socialize with the other villagers very much ever since their parents perished, and neither did her sisters. She didn’t exactly dread the oncoming evening, but she did look at it with suspicion.

That evening at the bonfire everyone was dressed in the usual Minkyana garb. Everyone chatted and encircled the bonfire, throwing in offerings and gifts to the gods. Kasah was wearing a costume of the olka, a trickster spirit that resembles a hare with wings. Legend had it that only maidens could see this creature, and when they did it was an omen that they would stay unmarried for the rest of their lives. Jaya was wearing a nelodo costume, which is a creature who resembles a bear that can shapeshift into human form. Liela, however, decided not to dress up for the event. Instead, she tended to the bonfire in her usual red robe with a black waistband.

Kasah looked around as everybody chatted, laughed, and celebrated what many thought was the best holiday of the year. She then spotted somebody standing alone off to the side of the crowd. She slowly made her way through the crowd towards the figure. She had a funny feeling about it, but she pushed it off to the side.

“Hi, I’m Kasah. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in the village,” she said trying to maintain a smile on her face.

Many moments passed before the mysterious stranger responded. “I’m not from the village.”

“Oh, where are you from?”

Kasah noticed what the stranger was wearing. He had on what appeared to be a very expensive and realistic costume of the dunti, a creature with the body of a man and head of a deer. He had on a long, brown robe that hid his hands and feet. No facial features were visible underneath the mask either. Unlike many of the supernatural creatures in Hilansan mythology who were morally ambiguous, the dunti were known for their evil and cruelty towards humans. They were known to lure humans into the forest until they were lost and condemned to wander for thousands of years.

Kasa held out her hand to him as a special welcome between tribes. He did not perform the gesture back, and behind the mask he seemed to look at the gesture with curiosity. That’s when Kasah got that nagging feeling again. She had hoped that everything would go right with the evening’s celebration, but something just felt off this entire day. A lot of other people at the bonfire began to take notice of the stranger. A few walked up to greet him. A child walked up to him and held out a bunch of flowers, urging him to throw it into the fire as an offering to the gods.

After several moments of peering down at the bunch of flowers, he reached out this hand to take them. Everyone began to turn their heads and look at him expectantly. People in the crowd were already spreading the gossip that he was either a foreigner from another land, or a member of a neighboring tribe. He made his way towards the bonfire with measured steps. The child lagged behind him with another bunch of flowers. He lingered in front of the bonfire, and the child quickly through his bunch of flowers into the bonfire.

“Victory for Alokane, he who weaves the threads of magic and mystery,” exclaimed a tribal leader as the child through the bunch of flowers into the bonfire. The entire crowd shouted in unison.

They then watched as the strange visitor stood still. Moments passed, and then he finally held out his hand as if to throw the flowers into the fire, then he swung his body around to face the crowd. The robe and mask slipped off as he began to grow ten feet tall. The horrified villagers stood there in shock. What they saw was the head of a deer and the body of a man. With one swing of his arm the bonfire was extinguished. Children screamed and cried as a ghoulish pair of glowing red eyes peered down at them from the darkness. The villagers began to brandish their hunting sticks as the tall figure attempted to grab some members of the crowd.

Kasah frantically looked around for her sisters, and saw that they were heading towards the lodge. She looked over and saw that people were scattered all over the place either trying to run home, or chase down the dunti with their hunting sticks. She wondered if she should follow her sisters, or join the crowd of tribal leaders and elders who were flogging the beast. Kasah then saw the large dark figure dart into the forest. Kasah shivered and remembered the tales of humans who had been lured by the dunti into their demise, and decided not to go after it. Evidently the elders thought the same, as she could hear them cautioning the others from going any further.

Kasah headed back to the lodge. When she opened the door she could see Jaya and Liela both huddled underneath a blanket in front of the hearth.

“What the hell just happened? Are we safe here?”

Liela turned around sighed, “I had a dream about this after we were tasked with hosting the bonfire. In the dream, I saw bits and pieces of this evening playing out. You in your olka costume, children crying, and a mysterious stranger holding up a bunch of flowers to throw into the bonfire were the only things I saw. If any of my other dreams are an indication of anything, the supernatural and human realms may be colliding.”

Jaya was hiding under the blanket, still shaken up by what she saw.

“So what do we do now?” Kasah said worriedly.

“We have to prepare,” Liela said as Jaya sunk deeper into the blanket.