19

Neddin has three daughters. The first, the eldest, is Nadjela, rich in nobility and goodness, the future of La Cuna promised to be prosperous under her command. Nadjela is followed by Gaita, with her opal eyes and wavy bronze locks framing a graceful face, and a brown body as tall and slender as a meerkat, the most unnerving thing about her being the nasal edge to her voice, that when hearing her speak one did not know if she was begging, crying, or moaning, a particularity fitting for someone as horny as a donkey in heat. At 13 years of age Gaita had more bedding experience than many of the tribal forty-somethings.

(It could be worse... It could be...)

The pig warrior, Tashala, thinks of the youngest, the one of 11, and undoubtedly the most beautiful, so much so that she has to always wear a bag on her head to prevent men and fickle maidens, falling in love at the first glimpse of her. Suri, with her straight hair, her small nose, and her tabby cat eyes, could stay for hours contemplating the clouds, perhaps hiding a precocious inner genius, people believed, but Tashala like the rest of the champions, knows the truth. Suri is retarded. The maids who care for her are forced to keep the secret everywhere, because divulging such stories could cast doubt on the purity and divinity of Neddin's lineage.

(The honorable leader is careful and attentive to his image.... And his legacy... And his death sentences)

Since he showed his warrior prowess, and was named warrior of the pig, what was at first an honor for Tashala and his family, soon turned into a spiral of disappointment and fright. In the face of the tribe the champions were the example to follow and the chief's distinguished escort, but in hiding they became thugs. Assassins who would sneak into enemy tribes (Or simply with a problematic attitude) and slit the leaders' throats on their mats, without a fight, without honor, without the truth in front of them.

(I wanted to delude myself, I wanted to believe that the proximity to the mother of all birds allowed her to see what I did not, that her decisions watched over the integrity of the tribe.... Because we are a flock, because we fly together under the same sky. But they were excuses, my cowardice, my blindness.... Our leader flies alone, so alone that it mattered little to him to get rid of his maid and his daughter.... And his beloved)

When Zell returned, and Tashala learned from his mouth of the mission granted, the pig warrior gasped. Still, he looked the other way, acted as if everything was normal, and convinced his family that the princess would be fine. But in the nights he began to feel the bite of conscience, because Tashala deep down, and despite having his hands stained with innocent blood, was still a good man. He understood that, for the sake of La Cuna, he could not stand idly by and continue as an accomplice.

Clear night. Tashala grabs his spiky bone club, his pig warrior's cloak, and a bag of supplies for the journey. He plants a kiss on the forehead of his sleeping wife and children. He slips into the stable and strokes the head of his ostrich, then mounts it and takes the reins.

He rides to the horizon, beyond the fringe created by the impact of the giant in the sky, and prays to the moon to grant him a gentle wind to blow his scent away from the beasts. In his heart he sows a mission: to find Princess Nadjela, reveal to her the truth about her father's terrible nature, and gather what is necessary to stop him.

(La Cuna deserves a happy future, free, clean, and alien to this rotten guardianship)

And perhaps by achieving that happy ending, Tashala will gain her longed-for redemption.