Chapter 4

Prim Predicament

∞

They weren’t chasing rabbits. Rabbits are quick and can be elusive, but chase a rabbit long enough and eventually it gets tired. It runs fast and hard, looking for whatever shelter it can find, any reprieve from its pursuer will do. It isn’t picky because it knows its life is on the line, and it runs for as long as it can. When it gets tired, it gets so tired, that it just can’t take another bounce. It has to rest and if you chase it long enough, eventually all you have to do is walk up to it, pick it up, and wring its furry little neck.

It had been the longest pursuit of both Jo-Viel and her twin sister Jo-Karna’s lifetime. Their mission was to pursue and execute the Baran-Dak Toi (carrier of tainted blood). In the beginning, they had both resented the assignment because they felt that it was a job better suited for a junior pair of Prim and not the second and third in command of the Paragoi (the Prim Purist faction).

As it turned out the job wasn’t beneath them. Actually, Jo-Viel was beginning to see the wisdom behind her mentor’s decision. The mission may have already failed if they had sent anyone with less experience. As it turned out their targets were resourceful and crafty. Their quarry had thrown them off course by making quintarin necklaces, looping them around the necks of a small pack of mule deer, and sending them on their way and going off in a different direction. The ploy had worked because the deer had been on the very edge of their radar and neither Jo-Viel, nor Jo-Karna could tell the difference between the shadow of a deer and the shadow of their quarry. All they knew for sure was that the shadows of the quintarin matched the forbidden Prim that they were following. By the time they figured out that they had been tricked it had cost them a full day of pursuit.

There was also the shriek bengoi. While killing a bengoi was, by far, not the most amazing feat in the world (especially for a Prim who was not affected by its screeching offensive tactic). To kill a shriek bengoi so effectively that it didn’t even have time to finish its first cry into the wilderness, let alone get off a second or a third, was an accomplishment that any Prim would be proud of, especially if that Prim didn’t have a correllium sabre. Jo-Viel knew enough to know that the two forbidden Prim that they were chasing, had no such sabres.

There was a bigger reason that the job was, in fact, suited for them and only for them. As it turned out their quarry wasn’t running like they originally had thought, and Jo-Viel was sure that their quarry hadn’t mistakenly come to the trail plowed through the Dead Mountains. In other words, they were not chasing rabbits. Their quarry had passed up too many opportunities to lose them for this destination to be coincidence, and there was only one reason for the Baran-Dak Toi to come to this place.

They were heading for the Dormant Doorway and they were going there on purpose! Many Prim had tried to reach the Doorway, but none had ever even come close. The Barakai made sure of that. The presence of them made getting to the Doorway impossible. Not even a Prim could hold off the number of Barakai that occupied the Dead Mountains and yet Jo-Viel could still sense the shadows of their quarry as they ascended higher into the mountains, and she could sense the shadows of the multitudes of Barakai shadows that surrounded them. They weren’t even being attacked.

So Jo-Viel was no longer going to execute her quarry (which was the other reason that she was glad that it was she and her sister were on this mission instead of a more junior pair of Prim). She was smart enough to see the wisdom behind not killing the young forbidden Prim until after they had acquired the Prim Pockets.

∞

The trail, narrow and overgrown, wound its way closer to the entrance to the path plowed by the ancients, but they were quickly approaching the shadow that blocked their path. They stopped a few hundred meters before they reached it and, using caution, sent their bolainin ahead of them to see what belonged to the shadow that they were sensing.

I’ve been watching your thoughts and I disagree with your decision not to kill them the very moment that we meet up with them, Jo-Karna thought to Jo-Viel.

But as my subordinate you will respect my decision, Jo-Viel countered.

Jo-Viel could feel her sister’s anger flare at using her rank to trump her, but angry or not, she also knew that Jo-Karna would obey every command that she was given. This was an absolute. It was the way that they were trained to behave.

I will follow your orders, of course, but I will not do so without speaking my objections. I will be heard.

Speak now then, before our eyes reach their target.

I see your wisdom of waiting to kill them, but I think that you are forgetting that once they have the pockets that it may be too late to kill them. We only know of the pockets through stories, but whatever those pockets were capable of was enough to make a Prim a worthy opponent for the Minh, and that should be enough to convince you that waiting might be a bad idea!

Your objection is noted, Jo-Viel thought flatly.

But it isn’t enough to change your mind? Jo-Karna thought.

No. It isn’t.

What about the fact that those two Prim seem to have the power to hold the Barakai at bay? Or is that something that we should also ignore. If you are going to use wisdom, sister, than I suggest you use it wisely.

Watch your tongue. I am second for a reason. There is no way that they are holding the Barakai at bay. There are other forces at work here, which is another reason to wait, but you are correct. Our work should have been done for us already, but it’s not.

Well, second in command, Jo-Karna thought to her sister snidely. How do you propose we deal with him!

Their bolainin crested a large sycamore and the subject of their mysterious shadow was revealed. It was a Minh and Jo-Viel immediately understood why it was that the Barakai had not killed the Baran-Dak Toi. A Minh was holding them at bay.

∞

“Stand aside, Minh,” Jo-Karna demanded as both she and her sister Jo-Viel stopped in front of the Prectock. “We have no business, nor do we seek a fight with you.”

The Minh stood his ground, facing away from the two of them and his direction was intentional. He sat in the middle of the path, his body not large enough to block the path entirely, but his ego was and the Prim knew it. The Minh that blocked their path was no more than an adolescent, weighing no more than a hundred and twenty-five pounds, the mane on his head only half grown, and the color of the scales on his body still grey and without the colors that signified adulthood.

Both of their bolainin sat perched nearby, giving them a view from slightly above. The Minh seemed to be aware of both bolainin for he gave both of the birds a casual glance before he spoke again.

“Ah,” the Minh said with a sigh. “So I’ve been approached by friendly Prim who are on a mission of peace then?”

Jo-Viel gritted her teeth and considered reaching for the hilt of her sabre. She didn’t know what this Minh’s game was, but she was aware that it was toying with her. “There is no such thing as peace and you know it,” she countered. “Peace is merely a pathetic dream for foolish hearts. Otherwise you wouldn’t mock us by presenting us with your back.”

The Minh rose, standing on all four of its powerful legs and slowly turned toward them. “I’m surprised that you would find this offensive, Prim. Is this not the way of the Prim, to confront a lesser enemy with their backs toward them, in order to tempt them to strike?”

“It is and you know it is. It is an effective tool. I’ve used it myself plenty of times to let my enemies believe they have the upper hand, when in reality they don’t.”

“DRIBBLE!” the Minh spat with disgust. He said it so forcefully and suddenly that it nearly made Jo-Viel cringe back. “You do it to display your superiority over those enemies. You DO it because you are an arrogant race of people. And you DO it to lord yourself over those enemies before you slam your sabre into their gut! But I noticed that you did not attempt this foolishness with me, Prim!”