THE CARAVAN FROM THE NORTH

The terrain was rough and rugged but Akira did not mind it. She loved the mountains; away from everything and everyone else. It was quiet and the view was worth all the cuts on her palms. Her hands had hardened from the nearly daily climb and her arms looked like those of a lean warrior. She smiled to herself when she reached the platue level at the entrance of the cave she spent hours in. It was so high above there ancestral tree so the knew she would not be spotted as it was forbidden to look beyond it.

She entered the cave and sat on the floor where she had managed to spread a little mat after hauling it up in a rough climb. After an hour had gone by, Akira noticed a caravan making it's way to her village, most of them watching it approach expectantly. Even from this distance, Akira's sight granted her a glimpse at her mother's restless and troubled face. Was it war? No....the warriors would have already gone to stop them. The caravan had very few people around it to guard the goods slowing them down. A strange feeling crept into her heart and she made haste to get down. In a rush she ended up delivering a large cut upon her palm. It bled heavily and she knew it would show but she quickly resumed her decent.

Once her feet touched the ground, she put on her sandles and sprinkled sand on her bleeding palm then she run. As she neared the village, she heard her brother's angry voice calling out her name. She picked up her fruit basket that she had hid and went in.

"Akira!"

"Here I am Tak!" She called out still unable to locate him as it seemed everyone was in a frenzy.

"Akira?!"

"Here!"

There was silence and then a light tap on Akira's shoulder. She turned and found her worried mother looking at her almost.... crying?

"There you are." Tak said jogging towards the two ladies who didn't turn to acknowledge his presence.

"Why did you come back?!" Her mother whisper screamed making Akira wonder what was going on.

Tak sighed and turned Akira around to face him. He scanned her confused countenance and then nodded to himself.

"Go and quickly change. You need to look presentable." Tak urged her pushing her slightly as he lead her to their hut.

"Brother , why?"

"I'm helping you. You have no cousin to marry you."

Akira froze. That caravan....was here for her?!

"Tak, no! You can't do this to me!"

"Shhhh. Let's talk once we're inside."

As soon as they entered the hut, Akira begun to beg her brother for answers. She rarely complained and when she did he usually obeyed her because she was his only other sibling apart from his mother. Their father had died while she was still a child so he had become like her father, making all the decisions his father couldn't make for her, including her marriage. It was there culture for daughters to marry their cousins but Akira had no male cousins and she was growing quickly.

"He saved my life in the last ambush when we were returning from the North. I promised him..." Tak's voice cracked as he watched tears flowing from his beloved sisters eyes,"...a bride. Akira he will love you a-and care for you."

"You sold me?"

"Akira no! I'm doing what's best for you. Just listen..."

"You gave me as a sacrifice?!"

"Thaggar will not harm you...."

"Thaggar?! The brute?! You.... you're offering me to the brute?"

"The rumors are wrong and baseless. He is different."

"I'm telling Kanaq!" Akira reasoned attempting to go to the chief.

"Kanaq has agreed." Tak said quietly making Akira stop dead in her tracks,"He says it will do good for the village if we make an ally of Thaggar. Besides, Akira....we will die if we send him back after making him come all the way here with gifts and his family."

Akira's sobbing became worse as she finally let go and fell to the ground. Tak walked over and embraced her just as the horns were sounded signalling the arrival of Thaggar. Tak quietly planted an apologetic kiss on Akira's forehead and left to let her get ready. He knew she wouldn't let him down.

Tak walked quickly, making his way to the Kanaq's home where Thaggar had been received. Outside he saw the caravan, everyone else present except Thaggar himself. He nodded to acknowledge them and they did the same. He entered and found the place eerily silent.

"Tak....you finally made it." Kanaq said sounding authoritative but there was also fear in his tone that said otherwise.

Thaggar was sitting opposite Kanaq on a chair that was reserved for other chiefly figures which made Tak wonder if he was actually a chief or he had just placed himself there.

Tak sat down with his legs crossed on a mat and he could feel an unwavering gaze on him. He looked up and saw Thaggar looking much neater and calmer than he had when they'd met, his deep green eyes seeming to glow because of the little light in the hut.

"Good to see you in one piece, young Tak." Thaggar said, his voice deep and hoarse as though he was growling,"I was concerned when I didn't see you earlier. I thought maybe you had died afterall."

"I am alive. I was speaking with Akira. She is getting ready now." Tak said and Thaggar noted the sadness in Tak's voice.

"Was she not aware?" Thaggar asked sounding upset.

He didn't want to look like someone who forced a girl to marry him. His gaze was fixed on Tak who looked alarmed because of the tone of his voice. His gaze turned colder and he seemed to look more of a iceberge than a person.

"Akira is hard headed. She would have run away if she had been informed before hand." Kanaq answered.

Thaggar said nothing in response and turned to the door where he heard soft breaths and light footsteps approaching. Tak and Kanaq followed his gaze and the door opened.