Read Pilgrim for Free Online Page B

nightfall for the final layer
of grass to part and reveal the massive tent. It took up the whole
screen and loomed high above. The moonlight cast a blue glow over
the tribal village.
    Spidey moved in closer.
     
    ***
     
    Spidey followed voices to the large wooden
building in the centre of the village. Firelight spilled out of the
doorway and lit the ground. The rest of the village was empty and
dark. Spidey crept up to the open building. In a burst of speed, it
scuttled through the opening and into a shadowed corner.
    The camera zoomed in on the children
gathered in the middle of the room. There were at least twenty of
them, the youngest looking about three. They were all huddled
around something on the floor, paying no attention to each other or
their surroundings.
    Spidey stepped over animal skins and torn
rugs, moving around so that the camera could see between the press
of bodies.
    A corpse lay at the centre of the children.
It belonged to a deer or antelope. There wasn’t much of it left.
The children were bent over, scooping handfuls of warm meat into
their mouths. Each of their faces was stained red. Blood dripped
down their chins and stained their clothes.
    They were growling. There were no words,
rather just a general noise like a pack of animals over a kill.
They vied for dominance and prime position, jostling each other.
The floor around the kill was similarly stained. The dark brown
patches further out suggested this wasn’t the first time such a
feast had occurred.
    Sora was at the head of the dead creature.
The other children stayed away from her, casting furtive glances up
at her. All of the children’s hands were stained as red as their
mouths and their eyes shone as they slurped pieces of raw flesh
from the carcass. They were like demons possessed, chomping up
every raw morsel they could from the beast.
    The spybot moved in closer.
    The last of the antelope was being eaten.
Only the skin and a few bones remained. The girl in the white dress
rested back on her haunches. She held a section of vertebrae in her
hand and pulled the last meat off with her teeth. When every last
speck of flesh was gone, she tossed the bones to clatter on the
floor.
    At her signal, the rest of the children
stopped eating and also pulled away from the corpse. Some of their
eyes lingered on the few specks of blood, but they didn’t reach
out.
    “As the bringer of this meat, Riak will keep
the skull,” the girl said in a deep and reverberating voice.
    “But the sorcerer is still out there. Surely
I need protection more than Riak?” a young girl of about seven
said, looking up with wide eyes.
    “No! We do not change our ways just because
of the old one. Riak made the kill, he will keep the skull.”
    “But—” the girl began.
    “I said no! If you say one more word, I will
kill you and use your head for protection.”
    The rest of the children fell silent and
stared at the ground.
    “Good. Soon we will all go to the great
beyond and be lifted up by the mighty Rock. Think on that.”
    The children nodded and stood up. Spidey
scuttled deeper into the shadows to watch. They shuffled in single
file away from the carcass and towards the open doorway. A young
boy bent down and ripped the antelope’s head off. He carried the
trophy out of the building.
    Sora remained inside the wooden building.
She stared down at the headless carcass with vacant eyes for some
time. Her bloodied mouth and hands, and her dark expression, were
completely at odds with her young face and child-like arms. Her
hands clenched into fists at her sides.
    After a moment of silence, the girl strode
away from the carcass to the far wall of the building. Kneeling on
the dirt, she tossed a hide out of her way. She scooped handfuls of
dirt and flung them behind her onto the furs covering the rest of
the floor. She worked without pausing until she threw the last
handful of dirt away and crawled into the divot she’d made,
nestling into the dirt as if it were home.