Ouroboros Spine itluatsaik ⨶

There came a summons but not for him, not until the shape of the angry woman appeared before the crevasse where he had slept for the passing of seasons. It did not take much goading for Kiliutak to fall in line this time; he was broken by the solitude forced upon him, and afraid of her teeth, and equally afraid of what may happen when they reached their destination. The thought of escape might have apperaed in his mind for a breath or a heartbeat; he was not cognizant of any such plan, and moved silently as directed by Shikoba.

As they moved there was another call - for the guard, Zane. There were others Kiliutak did not recognize. He tuned them all out and focused on moving with his head down, hastening as the plateau gave way to a descending path towards the ulax and, presumably, the gathering that Kukutux had called together.

He stopped when prompted by Shikoba; eyes on the dirt just shy of the white toes of Kukutux until she spoke, and at first Kiliutak did not know what she had said. Having limited contact with others had cooled his temper and also made him forget himself; he did not know if he was Nuak any longer or Kiliutak or if any utterance could really be used to identify him - he was nobody among the village, the unwanted leftovers of some trying time in their history.

Kukutux went on to say much, in her curt way. Kiliutak felt compelled to look upon her and when he did, the rigidity of her expression caused him to flinch and drop away again with his eyes. She spoke of his mark, that his crime would be known by those that looked upon him. The tension in his shoulders grew. He heard someone moving among the crowd and yet he lacked the will to truly look.

Shikoba had led him here, but Kiliutak had missed her side-stepping for the sake of Kukutux' judegement, and now the warrior woman was again close, too close, and so fast that Kiliutak could do nothing but accept the wounding she provided.