Blood Rain — Chapter 3

Ka Lu did not wince as the keen blade parted the flesh on his chest. His friend, VerNahi, lowered the knife and stepped back to watch the blood begin to well up from the cut and drip into a wasted puddle on the ground. It was the last of many such wounds carved over Ka Lu’s entire body by the men and women of the Chani clan.

"Could you not have prayed to the gods, Ka Lu?" Ver Nahi, clan chief, lowered his gaze to the earth beneath his sandaled feet. He could no longer look at the crimson trails that flowed from the hundred cuts marring Ka Lu’s naked form.

Ka Lu had not been looking at the chief. Now he turned away from the woman who stood apart from the rest of the clan. He turned away from the swaddled child clutched in her arms. Something like a smile touched Ka Lu's lips as he placed a hand on Ver Nahi's shoulder. His head swam and his muscles felt weary from the loss of blood, but he forced his grip to remain strong.

"Do you really think I had not prayed?"

Ver Nahi looked up to meet Ka Lu's eyes, but the Blood Priest had already turned his attention back to his wife and child. He could not go to them. His hand on Ver Nahi's shoulder — that was the last touch he would ever know of the Chani clan.

"My child still lives.” Ka Lu recalled his terror at the shriek that had sounded when he stole the blood magic, but it had only been Telira shouting with joy. “The gods have given me Kiri’s life."

The chief's brow furrowed. He bit back an accusation of blasphemy through clenched teeth.

"Do not speak so freely to me, old friend. I am the chief of this clan before all else." Ver Nahi stepped back, letting Ka Lu’s hand drop from his shoulder. "And you were its Blood Priest, sworn to bring the rains with the blood magic. You have stolen that which is owed to the gods for your own selfish needs. Do not now try to tell me you had their blessing."

Still Ka Lu gazed at his wife, Telira and little Kiri, resting warm against her mother's skin. "No. In fact they did not answer me at all. I took my own meaning from that."

Ver Nahi shook his head. His shoulders drooped as he took another deliberate step back and recited the words he did not want to say. "You are banished from this clan. Your blood is not worthy. You are juta, lowest of the low, doomed to serve the dregs among our enemies. You know I have no choice."

ka Lu's wife and daughter seemed even farther away as he listened to this proclamation. In truth, Telira strained to draw nearer, though two men had been stationed beside her to prevent such a thing.

"You needn't pretend you are being merciful," said Ka Lu. "You could have let me die instead"

"You cannot have the honor of sacrifice. You were not captured in battle. Your blood is tainted with this crime."

Ka Lu's temper flared. "I would rather you spilled all of my blood in the dirt than these hundred cuts that brand me as juta."

Ver Nahi said nothing in reply. The words were true. Death would have been a kinder end.

"It is time."

Ka lu looked into the web of leaves and fronds that edged the clearing, purple darkness laced between them. Yes. It was time indeed. He turned back to gaze at the clanhold one last time. The low, wood buildings were lost in the night. Only the totem, its bone-white stone towering at the center of the jungle clearing, could be seen clearly.

A sob came to Ka Lu's ears. He knew its source but he did not look again in Telira's direction. The time was past for that. She would not say his name, never again. She could only sob as Ka Lu walked away into the jungle, the scent of jasmine and lotus flowers beckoning him away from his clan, from his home, from his life.

Telira's sobs woke Kiri and the babe began to wail.