Stranded - Chapter 6

My muscles screamed in pain as I strained myself to follow Billy’s massive strides. We were heading towards what seemed to be a huge campfire. The men were carrying what looked like corpses of animals, except that all of them looked heavily mutated compared to our Earth’s counterpart. I could see the dead four-tusks boar outside Billy’s hut being carried to the fire as well.

As soon as Billy and I reached the spot, the men have already busied themselves with skinning the dead animals. They hung the animals up on their hind legs and used the knives to carve into their foot. The knives then traced down onto the length of the corpses’ legs and onto their anuses, and the carved skin part was taken out. The men then started to pull out the skins from the opened part. The scene was so surreal I could feel my jaws dropping.

“This is what ye are goin’ to do kid, but not today.”

Billy then ushered me to the place where the men are chopping up huge chunks of meat. The chopped meat was then diced and put on sticks, and coated with a strange substance. The meat skewers were then given to the women standing near the fireplace to grill.

“Yer job is to grill the meat skewers and give them around to the people. Surely ye wouldn’t fumble this, right?”

“Uhhh… sure.”

I then took up position next to the cooking women, albeit a little far away from them. The women started giggling and chatting excitedly, and through the sounds of the crackling flame, I can still hear the “Frail One” alias being exchanged multiple times. As I was busy eavesdropping, I could smell something heinous.

“Shit!”

The skewer on my hand was sizzling and giving off the smell of burnt meat. I shouldn’t have been distracted and ruined someone’s portion. I bitterly put down the meat stick for a new batch, reminding myself to be more careful. The giggles of the ladies nearby intensified.

With the wounds on my hands, this menial task was still a mammoth one for me. I could feel my arms trembling as I struggled to rotate the meat sticks, trying to get the food well cooked. As I was struggling with the skewers, a familiar hand reached in and gently guided my arms. As expected, Sasha was beside me, her hands holding onto my trembling arms, and calmly kneaded my hands into more nuanced movements. The sniggering and giggles from the ladies got even louder, until Sasha turned to look at the source of the minor commotion. The tittering stopped almost immediately. When she turned back to me, she cracked a light smile. The soft yellow hue of the fire bathed her smile in a gentle light, and for a moment, I felt nothing but the beats of my heart.

“Alright, alright, show’s over kiddo, we have grilled all the skewers.”

Billy’s rough voice rang out, as he also picked me up again by the neck of my jinbei. As he dragged me away, this time to strange benches that the men, the old people and the children were sitting on. The women then started to hand out the skewers around, however, with so many people around, the process took quite a bit.

“I am going to help them-“

“Sit down kiddo, everyone has a role here.”

“Billy, please.”

I stood up and jogged towards the women to help them. A few laughter erupted from the sitting crowd, and the women looked at me confusedly. Seeing their confusion, I headed towards Sasha instead and offered my palm out to her. As she tilted her head in confusion, I pointed towards the skewers and mimicked the action of handing out. After a slight pause, Sasha giggled and handed me some of the skewers, and I joined the women in handing out the main dish. In a bit, some young men joined us in the dinner distribution too, seemingly aiding the person they were interested in. The crowd laughed and chatted, with some singing and clapping along to some song, while others were just simply enjoying the food. Soon we were served a strange soup too, which came from a huge pot carried by two burly men, one of them was Billy. The soup was eaten in wooden bowls, and it was a bit salty.

Strange. This area didn’t seem to boast any source to salts. How did they managed to get it? There was only a waterfall and a river, both of which contained fresh water.

After the dinner was done, the people started to take out strange cyclical objects from the benches. As soon as the objects were taken out, a young man started to walk towards the bonfire. He got as close as the bonfire as possible, and immediately a dull thumping noise started to ring out. Turned out the cyclical objects were drums, and as the drum beats roll, the man started to dance around the bonfire, his movements deliberate and calm, matching the slow beats of the drums.

“This is the brandin’ ceremony of a hunter, kid. Celebrating a buddin’ hunter becomin’ a real one.”

Billy’s hoarse voice rang out beside me, he already appeared next to me out of nowhere.

“After a novice hunter takes down a very scary beast called uhhh… Runebear? Man I don’t freakin’ know. Anyways, they will be accepted to do this ceremony, and eat that beast’s heart as a part of it, along with this wacky ass dance.”

“Sorry, eat what?”

As I and Billy were chatting, the slow rhythm of the drums changed to a quicker, hastening one, and the young man has stopped dancing. He stood still, and someone emerged from the Shanri-lan gathering. As soon as the person stepped inside the circle, my vision suddenly got jerked downwards. It was Billy holding my head down, making my posture resembling the 90 degrees bow.

“That’s the village’s chief.”

Billy whispered. I tried to sneak a look. Through the silhouette casted by the large fire, I could see a slim, tall person. The person walked towards the young man, who was still bowing, carrying a plate, which held a grotesque piece of meat. And as the man accepted the fancy-something bear’s heart (according to Billy), the person carrying the plate took a few steps back. The glow of the bonfire shed light upon their features, and before my eyes was a beautiful, dignified woman. She seemed quite similar to-

“The chieftain is Sasha’s momma, and be careful around her, kid.”

As I tried to sneak another look at her, all of the villagers have stopped bowing and assumed their normal position. Seeing so, I gingerly risen up and sit down on a bench Billy had fetched for both of us. The young man seemed to have finished consuming the heart. The drumbeats rolled and hastened as the man staggered and groaned.

“Uhhhhh this is… very concerning.”

“Don’t worry kid, just a side effect of eating that thing.”

The drumbeats stopped abruptly. The young man stood still, his head hung up. The atmosphere became absolutely silent. The chieftain was still standing near the man, looking calm.

“Hwroah!”

A loud roar erupted from the young man, and he snapped back from his rigid pose. He laughed cheerily and danced, this time in a more cheerful fashion. The chieftain walked back towards the crowd, assumingly to where Sasha was also sitting. All of the villagers cheered and laughed out loud, with some men rushing towards the newly branded hunter, rubbing his head and patting his back.

“Whew, what a night, wasn’t it?”

Billy said, patting on my shoulders.

The men, presumably also hunters, had joined the young man in the dance. Together, their silhouette flickered with the dancing flame of the bonfire.