Page 93 of Planet Zero
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As Chele had predicted, their High Counselor was not pleased with the dissolution of a union he had declared a done deal. And that happening on top of the Klarm-Illied snafu and Sav’s departure didn’t predispose him to react kindly and with understanding.
Also predictably, an urgent assembly was called to let everyone know what had transpired, and why. Every adult member of the tribe was required to attend.
Addie looked around to see where Zoark was but couldn’t find him. Instead, she spotted Vircea standing quiet and tense some distance away. Unobtrusively, Addie made her way to stand by her.
“He who refused to unleash his strength and add his power to that of the tribe will bear the wrath of our people!” Chemmusaayl’s voice rose as he raised his arms to the skies and shook his fists like he meant for lightning to strike the recalcitrant Oh’nil.
Taken by his performance, people expressed their agreement. Men threw nasty glances Oh’nil’s way; some women eyeballed him with disappointment.
“As is tradition, warrior Oh’nil will repent for ten days and ten nights. Get the rope.”
Someone brought a roll of heavy rope.
“Move it.” Chemmusaayl prodded Oh’nil with his stick toward the pole. “And show remorse for snubbing the order you pledged to obey.”
Oh’nil’s eyes dropped to the ground but his chin went up, his head refusing to bow. Oh, how he reminded Addie of his brother at this heart-wrenching moment! It was Zoark all over again like she had seen him for the first time when Vuskas and the others had dragged her to their settlement. Brought down and humiliated but never defeated.
“I am remorseful, my people,” Oh’nil said quietly. It was all he said.
They tied him to the post, securing everything: feet, legs, hands. Torso. Neck. He was practically mummified with rope. A strap of leather was shoved into his mouth and tied off at the back of his head, around the post, to keep his head immobile and to prevent him from speaking or eating, or maybe breathing. It was terrible.
Addie’s hand groped for Vircea’s without any conscious effort. Vircea clasped it tightly in return.
“Ten days? Like this?” She couldn't believe they would do this to Oh’nil, their own tribesman. “It’s torture!”
Vircea shook her head and swallowed. “It’s punishment.” She kept looking at the High Counselor.
Chemmusaayl withdrew a knife from his waist, a thin, lethal bone blade.
“For ten days and ten nights, you will endure, warrior. And you will bleed.”
With the precision of a surgeon, Chemmusaayl sliced Oh’nil’s torso on both sides where it was bare between the ropes.
Blood welled in the wounds and slid down in a steady trickle, coloring the twisted fibers of the ropes. Oh’nil didn’t flinch; he didn’t react at all. His eyes were closed.
Chemmusaayl sheathed his knife and clapped his hands three times. “The punishment has commenced.” He glanced at the angle of the Ehr sun. “At this exact time, on the tenth day, he can walk free of his ropes and start over.”
Addie’s heart couldn't take it.
“Walkfree? He’ll bleed out! You can’t leave him with open wounds!” Jerking her hand out of Vircea’s grasp, she ran to Oh’nil’s side, reaching for him and frantically pinching his cuts with her fingers. The wounds were deeper than she thought, and though the blood didn’t stream out, the flow was steady enough to drain the man if it wasn’t stopped. Oh’nil’s eyes snapped open and he watched her silently, the strip of skin bisecting his mouth like a grotesque bridle.
Addie’s fingers immediately got slippery, covered in his blood, and no amount of effort succeeded in pinching even one wound hard enough to staunch the blood, much less both at the same time.
Outraged sputtering sounded right behind her, and someone roughly jerked her away, sending her tumbling to the ground.
“What are you doing, strange stupid creature?”
Mindless of Chemmusaayl’s anger, Addie tried to crawl around him to get back to Oh’nil. The High Counselor raised his foot and kicked her in the side, and it hurt. She cried out and rolled over, her mouth filling with dust and her cheekbone scraping against the rough ground.
“Asshole,” she coughed and righted herself from the recoil. Her face stung. He wouldn't understand her language, so she added, “Coward.”
Chemmusaayl may not understand the words, but the meaning behind them registered through her tone of voice, and he advanced, rage twisting his features. Yellow robes swayed against his body as if alive.
He meant to hurt her, she knew, and Addie scrambled out of the way, rolling on the ground. He kicked her again, a glancing blow. A shadow fell, and someone blocked Addie from the High Counselor.
With surprise, she saw Vuskas standing over her.
