Chapter 6: The Beast of the Mountains

The sun’s rays filtered weakly through the yellowing leaves of water-starved trees, casting long shadows on the cracked earth. Even so early in the morning, the village square was already alive with the steady rhythm of women’s work.

“Little Rhi, I heard your mother-in-law doesn’t hit you anymore.” Aunt Sein from next door asked as Rhielle passed by the village square.

“It’s true. Mother has mellowed these days,” Rhielle replied with a smile.

To Rhielle, Aunt Sein was among her most favourite people in the village. Her tongue was sharp and her gossip endless. But despite her bad mouth, she was the only one who shared food with her when her mother-in-law was being mean. Rhielle had lost count of the times when she had to go to sleep hungry only for Aunt Sein to throw in half of a corn cake at her from the other side of the fence.

She understood that Aunt Sein couldn’t help her out openly, her mother-in-law was too much of a shrew. Had her mother-in-law found out that Aunt Sein had been helping her, Rinia’s wrath would have fallen on them both. So Rhielle never forgot her kindness.

But right now, she didn’t like the way Aunt Sein and her friends spoke about her mother-in-law. And about her.

“I heard that bitch has become a fool these days.”

“Well, she certainly has been keeping quiet, didn’t she, Big Sein?”

“That’s true, I haven’t heard her yell even once.”

“I guess it’s true that the daughter-in-law performed magic on her.”

“Oh stop, Big Jian. How could you say that?” The voice giggled.

“Maybe it was poison. Make the bitch sleep, then wake her up again, maybe?”

“Ufufu, poisoning your own mother-in-law. How scandalous!”

““If she beat me daily, I’d do it too!”. Hahaha!”

No, Rhielle didn’t like this conversation one bit. Rhielle’s smile froze. Heat rose to her cheeks. She wanted to leave, but then one of the women yelped as she toppled face-first to the ground. Behind her stood Rinia, foot extended.

“That’s my daughter you’re dissing!” Rinia snapped.

“It’s the ghost!”

“Run!”

“She kicked me! I’m cursed!”

The gossipers scattered like frightened birds. Just as quickly as Rinia appeared, so too they disappeared just as quickly. The women were brave when they were gossiping in a group, but on their own, they were nothing. Rinia wanted to get to know them at first, but now, she just couldn’t care less. Anyone who’d insult her family were people she didn’t want to get close to.

“Come on, let’s get to the mountains. With Vila staying home, we need to work extra hard!” Aina said.

In truth, it would be Rhielle who would be working hard. Aina still couldn’t tell for sure what was edible and what was not. So Rhielle had to check everything she collected before they went home. It wasn’t like they had unlimited storage space on the scooter after all.

At the second mountain, an elderly man appeared with an axe slung over his shoulder.

“Good morning, Old Lady Virell,” he greeted.

“Oh good morning,” Aina greeted back.

“Good morning, Old Hunter Gen,” Rhielle added politely. She was surprised, few ever greeted her mother-in-law. In fact, she couldn’t remember anyone who would willingly greet her mother-in-law.

“Ah, it’s the daughter-in-law, good morning. Foraging with your mother-in-law?” Gen asked.

“Yes, uncle,” Rhielle said. “Are you hunting?”

“Ah. But I’m not counting on it. If I get it, I get it. If not, what can I do?”

“Is it harder now?”

“I’ve been coming here since last week. None of my traps were touched and I’ve not seen even a single game animal. Now I’m just foraging like everyone else.”

“There’s not much to forage either,” Rhielle said.

Gen’s face darkened.

“Yes, times are tough. The farm has no water. The forest has no forage. The river has no fish. And the mountains have no game. And it’s been two years! How can we survive like this?”

Both Aina and Rhielle were quiet. What could they say? To comfort would be pointless. To refute would be denying reality. The reality was there was no rain, no river and the only water was in the wells. Even that was severely depleted. The two-year drought had really ruined the lives of everyone in the region.

Without water, what creature could survive? What plant could live without water? Even the trees were dying, their roots clawing at dust, and many didn’t even have leaves on their branches. Not to mention the ground, now devoid of even grass with only patches of yellowing weeds dotting the ground.

Aina knew this couldn’t go on. If this drought wouldn’t end soon, the whole village would starve to death. She questioned the heavens why she was sent here, into this body. For a moment, she wondered if this was her personal Hell. Yet she didn’t understand what she did in her past life to deserve this punishment.

“Isn’t that the Luko boy?” Old Hunter Gen suddenly said. “Why’s he running so fast? It’s dangerous running down the mountains.”

Then the roar came.

It rolled over the mountains like thunder, like a thousand drums beating in unison until the air itself seemed to shake. When it faded, the silence was absolute, the forest holding its breath. The surroundings became quiet and silent, like a grave.

“Run!” Old Hunter Gen barked.

The shout shattered their stupor. Baskets tumbled from their hands as they bolted downhill. Behind Aina, the earth shook with thunderous steps. The tree splintered, roots tore free as something vast barreled through the trees in pursuit.

Aina knew enough that there was nothing she could do about the thing chasing them. She was afraid. So afraid, but as the thing approached closer and closer, she found herself weak and helpless. If that thing were to reach them, what would happen?

But she had been starving for too long. She had been too weak for far too long. Not just her, but the two people with her too. Too weak to the point that even adrenaline couldn’t help them.

As she approached the edge of the woods, she saw hope. The scooter.

“Quick! To the scooter!”

“Ahhh!” Old Hunter Gen cried as his foot stepped into a deep indentation on the side of the mountain making him stumble and roll the short distance down the slope.

“Help him walk, Rhi!” Aina said as she ran to the scooter and started pushing it forward.

Just as she was about to reach a steeper decline, she stopped and helped Old Hunter Gen sit on the scooter. Rhielle offered to push together with Aina but Aina, having built and improved the scooter herself, knew its capability as well as her capability. Brooking no argument, Aina told Rhielle to sit and started pushing it forward again.

The footsteps thundered closer.

Trees split and toppled.The scooter rolled, faster, faster, gathering speed down the incline. Aina breathed a sigh of relief and told everyone to close their mouths, lest they end up biting their tongues.

The heavy massive footsteps came closer, but Aina wasn’t worried. She knew the capabilities of the scooter. She knew her own skills and she knew she built the scooter well despite the scarcity of materials. And she knew the terrain by now.

In her mind, Aina had already calculated the average speed of the creature, both on the mountain and on solid road. She knew it would never reach them once the scooter picked up speed. It was only a matter of time before they would outrun it.

Well, that was what she thought. Her brows and neck started sweating, not from tiredness but from fear. Because the reality was the creature was actually gaining on them. But she couldn’t look back. She needed to steer the scooter. One wrong move, one moment of distraction, everything could fall apart.