Fire and brimstone

The night was quiet and still with cool air driving off the heat from earlier. Darkness blanketed the camp almost like a loving, warm comforter. The moon, so full and bright, hovered above the settlement with parental care, protecting and nurturing the people. Kind light barely touched the small, domed, hide-covered tents of the camp, but it was enough for the camp-dwellers to see by and go about their lives.

The stars that dotted the midnight sky gazed down through the dense trees, watching them with interest. There was nothing much to see except their usual daily lives, milling about the camp in the thick woodland. The typical sounds of the forest filled the cool air, chiming in with soothing music that only sounded during times of peace. The rustle of the heavy leaves from the movement of the slight breeze added to the nighttime sounds and nocturnal animals wandered about the dense woods added to the music. For the few in the camp that could relax took in the sounds and smiled as they left the music follow through them.

The camp itself was rather quiet and low-key for a community. It was the type of community that knew how to go about routines smoothly and knew how to work with the landscape around them. For defense, they also had to be as quiet as possible, wanting to draw no attention to themselves.

A very small part of the noise came from a tiny daijinn with crimson and ebony colored hair. She was inside a tent and busy rolling up a mat. Her name was Jin. She was a young girl with small, mostly red ears sticking out her wild mop of long, thick, mixed hair on the top of her head. It was more common among her people to have two colors in their hair than a single color; she liked the stories that said they got their hair from the Sun goddess. The deep scarlet hair took up the top half of her head while the back was like liquid onyx.

Her golden eyes were sprinkled with a little lime green and focused on her task with a cute kind of intensity while her slender, feline-like tail swayed gently back and forth. A smile graced her chubby face as she worked as hard as anyone else, especially her mother, who was watching the child from a place in the corner of the tent. Jin did her job with such intent that she did not notice two males enter the one-roomed tent until one of them spoke.

"How's my vixen and my little kit doing?" the taller, broader male asked with a bright smile that light up his whole slender, caramel face. His hair was the same as the little girl's with much larger ears on the top of his head.

"Poppa!" Jin cheered, getting up and charging him, a toothy grin on her face. She grabbed him around the leg, hugging the only part of his body that she could reach. She rubbed her cheek into the soft deer-skin covering his long limbs and purred merrily from the contact. Her ears were tickled by a short purple cotton kilt that he was wearing.

Jai smiled down at his "little kit," fondness in his warm gaze as he reached down for her. He hugged her tightly against his bare, thick chest, causing her to grin wider than she was already doing, threatening to split her face open thanks to her joy. She wrapped her arms around his thick neck to embrace him properly before he passed her along to the young male standing not too far behind.

"Big brother!" Jin greeted him with a very enthusiastic hug. She's got way too much energy and she only has one volume setting, the adults thought, but when it was coming in the forms of affection, they could not get enough of it.

Chu, who now had his little sister attached to him, smiled as her little arms wrapped around his long, slender neck. He was a trim, ebony-haired male with small triangular ears hidden underneath his spiked hair. His orange eyes lit up when his little sister hit him for her enthused greeting. He practically engulfed Jin in return as he leaned down to hug her back. He kissed the top of her head and playfully flicked her ears with one finger. She giggled and tried to hide from him by burrowing deeper into his chest, causing his warm, soft clothes to press against her face.

Chu turned his attention to their mother sitting at the back of the tent and grinned at her as a greeting. A smile graced her pale face in return and then she continued her work that involved a thread, needle, and a pair of her mate's other leggings. He sure knows how to ruin a pair of pants, she thought to herself with a warm smile. The male in her thoughts came to her and greeted her with a small kiss on the mouth. Bless his sweet heart, she added to her thoughts as he pulled away.

"What have my delightful vixen and little kit been up to all night?" Jai asked curiously, sitting down on a fluffy mat next to his wife, Chi.

"Your delightful little kit has been getting her things together, waiting for when we take up the camp in two days. She's quite happy to have some responsibility now," Chi answered with a gentle smile, pale yellow eyes taking in the sight of their children. She was the only one with managed hair in the family, combed straight locks of ebony hair with golden streaks streaming down the middle. Her voice was soft, like a sweet melody, causing her family's ears to turn directly toward her whenever she spoke.

"Oh, you decided on what task to give her?" Jai asked, leaning his broad back against a support beam in the tent. He could just imagine how Jin buzzed around the tent when Chi informed the child that she would have a job to help the family when they moved. Their baby liked helping out, so whenever she got a job, it was always a big deal for her.

"She's in charge of packing and carrying all of the sitting mats. She was quite happy when I gave her the task," Chi reported, eyes shining from the memory of their little girl jumping from joy.

His eyebrows curled up, but it was hard to see thanks to his messy bangs in front of his face. "She fell for that?" his voice laced with disbelief. Despite always wanting to help, Jin could spot busywork like a hawk could spot a fish and that was always an insult to her little pride.

"She only wants a job for our move to help out, so any job will do. She's a little one, after all," Chi answered in her usual calm tone; someone had to be the calm one in their family considering the youngest child was hyper and Chu took after his father in being too playful much of the time.

He nodded, only because he could not argue with her. He turned his attention to their daughter and son, who were roughhousing as much as a teen could with a toddler. Chu was graciously allowing his baby sister to win the little battle, laying on the floor and showing her his stomach to indicate that she was the winner. She did not seem to get it because she kept coming in for more hits…or maybe she was just that cruel, even with that bright smile on her face.

"Little kit, how about you leave your brother alone and fix your poppa some stew?" Jai suggested. He just could not take seeing Chu getting murdered by a toddler anymore.

Jin turned her attention to him and nodded vigorously, happy to be of service. She dashed away from her brother over to the pot in the fire pit in the center of the tent. The fire pit was directly underneath a small hole in the tent to let smoke out.

The reason that the tent was so cozy and only one room with little in the way of sectioning off was because they needed to pack up quickly. They were always on the move, like the rest of their camp. They were all nomads.

Jin grabbed a clay bowl that was sitting by the stew pot; it was her father's favorite bowl. The bowl was pretty to her, decorated with birds around the whole ceramic piece. She picked up a giant, wooden spoon by the side of the pot, which had been resting on a clay slab that also had birds carved into it. She used that to scoop out some stew.

"Careful of the fire," Chi gently cautioned the girl, even though she was keeping a careful eye on Jin. Her body was a little tense as she watched Jin by the pot that was almost as big as the child.

The toddler nodded as she carefully poured her father's dinner. She scooped out three spoonfuls of the hot stew, which filled the bowl. She then cautiously walked the food over to her father and handed the warm meal over to him. He accepted it with one hand and rubbed her head lovingly with the other, pushing her ears down into her wild mane. She smiled brightly and her eyes shined.

"Such a darling little kit," Jai commented with a fond smile.

Jin nodded again, a grin on her face that seemed to stretch up to her hair. She then raced back over to the pot and grabbed another bowl. She proceeded to pour stew into that bowl and then went over to her big brother, who was now sitting up with his back against a trunk in the tent. He smiled at her as she handed him the food.

"Thanks," he said graciously.

"Welcome!" the young girl replied in a chipper tone. Her brother could not help laughing a bit because of her energy.

Jin then dashed back over to the task that she had been occupied with before her father and brother returned home. The family watched her with adoring eyes; she's quite the little sight, they all thought. She did not notice that she was a floor-show; not that she would have understood why they were watching her if she did notice. Of course, she would have loved the attention.

"Well, at least I can be assured the sitting mats will be all packed up when the camp moves," Jai remarked with an amused smile. His thick, bushy tail swayed a little behind him.

"If you wish, I will let her pack the whole tent. Perhaps we could catch the rest of the clan before the year is out then," Chi countered, eyes remaining on her task, but the sun-colored orbs shined with amusement. Her slender black tail mimicked her mate's.

Jai let loose a hearty laugh, his mixed-colored hair shaking a little and his tail moving a bit more. "I suppose it would do us well for me to watch my tongue," he commented.

"I believe it might. How went your patrol?" she asked curiously.

Jai was silent for a moment, scratched the end of his nose, and then glanced over at their son, who was very interested in his food now and watching the stew as if he thought it was going to run away. Jai chuckled a bit and turned his attention back to his meal. He slurped the stew, despite the fact that there were utensils to be used by the pot; too bad his "little kit" forgot to bring one over. He also did not seem to be in the mood to get up and fetch his own.

"As fine a hunter as he will make one day, your son is very much your son," Jai replied with a toothy smile.

She smiled in spite of herself. "You know, it's not good to make ill of the dead. My father never liked you much anyway. I'm sure his spirit would have no problem finding you and haunting you for such words."

He just smiled again. Chu took after his late grandfather as far as Jai was concerned. Chi's father had always been an excellent hunter, bringing down big game on his own much of the time without a problem. But, he never could figure out how to act while on patrol, making sure that the surrounding areas were safe for the clan to camp down for a little while. Jai could not understand how that was, but his son and father-in-law managed it.

The family was relatively quiet after that. While Jai and Chu finished off the stew, Jin finished up her job of making sure all of the sitting mats were put away; all except the ones that were being used. With that done, she crawled over to her mother and made herself comfortable in her mother's lap. Her actions halted the sewing that her mother had been working on.

"Sing to me, Momma," the child requested with a contented expression washing over her face.

"If I sing to you, dearest child, you'll fall asleep early and then wake up too early," Chi pointed out in her usual gentle tone.

"I like being up early and I like hearing Momma sing," Jin countered, cuddling up into her mother's stomach. She let loose a small yawn as her mother's comfortable presence surrounded her like a protective shell.

Chi smiled tenderly and put down her needle as well as her husband's pants. She reached up and caressed her daughter's head as she started singing a soft song. The child immediately shook her head.

"No, not that song, Momma. I wanna hear the one about the sun and moon again," Jin declared.

The mother's face scrunched up a little. "You always hear that song. Why is such a little girl so interested in a love song, anyway?" she asked curiously, even though she did not expect an answer.

The golden-eyed girl shrugged. She did not know anything about her favorite song being a love song. She just thought her mother's voice sounded best of all when singing the song about the sun and the moon. The tune was low and soft, like the air of the night. Jin could not resist as her mind was swept away by the sound of her mother's voice and her eyes slowly slid shut, as she had been warned would happen. The child was asleep in no time.

"I hope you plan to be getting up early with her," Jai remarked as he looked down at the snoozing child.

Chi cut her husband a glance. "You know as well as I that she'll be beating you with her little fists when she wakes up. She'll want you to walk her to the hills and watch the sun move into the western sky."

He grimaced, knowing that was the truth. "I suppose I need to take myself to sleep too then. The last thing I need is to have to chase the little kit on limited sleep and waking at an hour I utterly hate."

Chi laughed a bit while refraining from making a comment about her husband hating any hour before noon. Instead, she turned her attention back to their daughter and started singing again to make sure the child remained asleep. Dealing with the girl after a short nap was just as bad as her waking up early, because after a short nap, she was energized enough to stay up well past everyone's bedtime. They were pretty much in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

After a while, she went and put the child down on her pallet in the corner, next to several perfectly folded mats. The pallet was the only bed that was not put away because Jin refused to let her mother put it up, swearing that she could do it on her own. But, being a busy little toddler, one thing led to another and to another until she never got around to putting the bedding away. It worked out because her mother did not have to unroll the pallet and could just put her down for her nightly rest.

With the child down for the night and hopefully the whole morning, Chi went about her chores, finishing her sewing before moving onto another task. She gathered the used dinner dishes, putting them into the now empty cauldron that the stew had been in, and walked to the door with the pot in her hands without a problem. Before she could get out of the tent, her son stopped her.

"Would you like company, Momma?" Chu inquired. He was busy pulling out his own pallet, planning to go to bed sometime soon apparently. The sun was going to rise in a few hours and he liked to go to sleep before the sun came up; generally, the whole camp was asleep by sunrise.

"As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I can do the dishes faster without company," she replied.

He nodded to that response, expecting it since he knew it to be a fact. He decided to do some reading since he had nothing better to do now that his mother did not want company. He rested on his back on his pallet after he found what he wanted to read, pulling a scroll out of a leather bag next to his bedding.

Chu was not surprised to see his father bedding down for the night; after all, his father was the one that would be up with his sister when she woke up hours before the rest of the family. The early rising was just about the only thing his mother would not indulge the child in, not that he was not much better when it came to his baby sister.

Chi made her way down to a creek that was not too far; their clan always set up camp near running fresh water. Her eyes glowed in the night like so many nocturnal creatures' eyes did, catching as much light as possible to navigate through the darkest nights. She easily made it down to the water where she was not the only one setting up to do dishes. There were several other females there, washing dishes or clothing.

Small conversations cropped up as the females washed their items; their voices buzzed in only a slightly louder hum than the woodland animals that were around them. Everything was going normally until they heard howling.

They all sharply turned their heads in the direction of the howling.

"The alarm!" Chi gasped, her expression falling as if she had been physically hit.

The washing task was abandoned by the females as they rushed back to the camp, moving so quickly and quietly it was almost like they were flying. On their way, they could hear the disturbance in the woods, the loud rustling of the bushes and the trembling of trees. The ground shook under their fleeing feet and someone cried out that the sky was on fire, so they all had to look up.

Flame-tipped arrows were whistling through the air, igniting the post-midnight sky with the luster of tiny comets, prophesying doom. The arrows landed in the camp, some on top of the tents. The cloth was not ignited immediately since it was covered in animal skins for protection, but if the shower continued, everyone knew that the camp would burn to the ground.

The females rushed to their homes to check on their families first and foremost, knowing that the attack had come at a time when most of the camp was getting ready to go to sleep or finishing up little chores, so they were all off-guard. Chi returned home to see her husband and son standing out of the tent, assessing the situation. She regarded them with hard eyes and turned for a moment to look in the direction that they were facing.

"Take your sister and go," Chi commanded her son. Her voice had an edge to it that let the teen know she was serious and he really should not argue. But, he was their offspring, so he did not always do what he should.

"I can fight just as well as you and Poppa," Chu replied insistently, hitting himself in the chest with his right fist. Even though this was the first time that he had ever been involved in an attack, he was certain that he could help defend the camp.

"Take her and run!" the mother ordered harshly. A vein bulged in her nearly white neck while her husband backed her up by glaring at the teen so intensely that Chu thought the look would melt his insides. "Make sure you and your little sister make it, son!" she commanded him, her eyes now pleading with him.

Chu quickly ducked back into the tent while his parents took off forward, toward the sound of the alarm and the source of the projectiles raining down on their home like fire and brimstone. They rushed pass the sharpened wooden spikes that were planted around the camp's perimeter and into the woods, hoping to stave off the attack with other warriors until the camp was cleared of their clan.

The air seemed smothering with the hot scent of burnt wood and growing ash the farther the couple traveled from the camp. They could smell the distinct scent of blood hanging in the air as soon as they hit the thick of the woods. They effortlessly leaped into trees, hoping to move cautiously and silently into the battle. What they came across was a slaughter.

"Humans!" they both gasped in horror as their faces tensed with stony hatred.

There was a band of humans brutally murdering their few camp lookouts and engaged in battle with the few warriors that had arrived. The humans were armed with shields and sharpened metallic weapons, mostly swords and battle-axes, cutting down the first few daijinn that they came across. Other members of the clan showed up with the couple, and they launched their counter with their own weapons, claws on their hands sharp enough to slice off limbs with little effort.

Daijinn poured down from the darkened trees into the killing fields, cutting down humans as they landed. Shrieks whipped through the air loudly while weapons went through the wind with smaller sounds. The closeness of the trees allowed for few mistakes and the first to make a miscalculation lost his life. Human and daijinn alike fell in the poorly chosen battlefield.

"Garrick was a fool to order the attack now," a human growled while beating back one daijinn with the flat of his small, circular shield. He failed to notice the one behind him and gasped as claws slid into his back with the ease of a knife through butter.

Jai and Chi had been some of the first warriors on the scene and they focused on the battle, but at the back of their minds they hoped that the camp was making out well as they tried to cut down invader after invader. With luck and the gods' will, their son had gotten himself and his little sister to safety, they both silently prayed. In truth, Chu had barely made it to the gate around the camp before he could see that he, his little sister, and the rest of the camp were surrounded. His jaw practically hit the dirt as his mind tried to come up with an escape route.

"Shit," the teenager cursed to himself as he saw the movement of the humans coming closer to the camp. Their weapons shone in the dark thanks to the reflection of the moonlight, as if signaling to the Daijinn that there was trouble approaching.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Jin asked in a small, nearly frightened voice. Her brother was holding her in his arms, close to his chest. She could feel his heart pounding heavily against her ribs. His breathing was rapid and ragged, pushing his chest against her and letting her feel the unnatural rhythm of his breaths. She swallowed hard, her own heart rate increasing as she clutched onto her panicking brother tightly.

Her brother did not answer her question. He merely turned frantically, knowing that he needed to get her to safety above anything else. He turned to run, hearing arrows being loaded and bow strings being played. Arrows darted by him, but thanks to his keen ears he was able to avoid them. He did not avoid a thrown axe as the blade slammed into his shoulder. Chu hissed in pain, but did not let go of his sister. In fact, his grip on the child only tightened, nearly crushing her against his thin frame. She whimpered, but made sure that she stayed close to her brother's protective frame.

Flames rushed up in the camp from the hail of fire-laced arrows and the two siblings could feel the heat nipping at their skin. Fires grew like menacing plants, lighting the dark camp with deadly intent, cutting off any escape path that looked remotely good to Chu. The humans poured in like water from a broken dam as the few daijinn still in the camp, mostly teens who were trying to protect the children and elders, panicked at the overwhelming force invading their home.

The hot air seemed to strangle Chu as he tried to carry his little sister to one of the many havens of the camp, but the humans continued advancing inward, using their larger numbers to push the daijinn to the center of their encampment. Chu hissed as an arrow struck his knee and he dropped to the dust, but made sure to clutch his sister tightly, protecting her from everything, including the fall. His arms took the brunt of the impact that Jin would have gotten.

"Brother, what's going on?" Jin cried as she saw the burning destruction and carnage around her. The screams of casualties assaulted her ears like the axe and arrow assaulted her brother. Tears gathered in her eyes and she buried her head in her brother's chest, hoping to block out all of the terror engulfing her life and soul.

Chu once again did not respond. His mind could not think of any reassuring words. His mind did not even focus on the pain stampeding through his body. The only thing driving him now was that he needed to get his little sister some place safe, but the more he ran, the more he realized that there was nowhere to go. He limped as he moved now, going past burning tents and scorched comrades, trying to find his way through a blackened maze of corpses, smoke, cries, and debris.

"Please, please, please," Chu silently begged whatever god in the Heavens might be listening to him. Please, just allow me the chance to get my little sister some place safe and then whatever fate wants can happen to me!

He turned the corner, hoping to make it to a hidden tunnel, but only ran into a massive invader. He gasped as the huge human male raised a sword to cut him down. Chu acted without thinking, doing the only thing he could do with an injured leg and wounded shoulder. He tossed his little sister away before the thick, broad sword cut against his chest, going diagonally along the space where he had held his sister only milliseconds ago. The child smashed into the dirt, but her eyes went to Chu before she even touched down.

"Brother!" Jin cried as she watched the sword enter her brother's body without the smoothness that one would expect of a blade. The sword seemed to saw through and get stuck for a second or so.

Her brother did not make a sound as the weapon entered his battered body. His eyes were defiant to the beast in front of him. The sinister giant of a man smirked wickedly as he removed his sword and the teenager dropped, blood pouring into the blackened earth around him. The man then turned his attention to Jin, who whimpered as she took in his crooked features.

The cold, evil in those blue eyes would never leave her mind, Jin knew that. His tan face was smudged with ash from the fires and blood from his victims, but she could see his chiseled cheek bones and squared jaw. His long black hair blew violently behind him like a tormented flag and his expression twisted as he raised his sword as if to bring it down on her. The image was burned into her mind as if it was a red, hot poker on her brain while her insides trembled from fear and sorrow.

"Take this one!" he roared, head turned so that his voice would be heard by some of his men nearby.

Jin did not understand what that meant until another man came and bound her with chains. She had heard horror stories of humans taking daijinn and making slaves out of them. She was not sure what a slave was; she could only gather it was not good whenever her father or other elders told her such terrifying tales. She wondered if she was being stolen and she wondered if she was going to suffer the same fate as those in the horror stories.

"Momma! Poppa!" Jin cried out for her greatest protectors. "Big brother, get up! Get up!" she begged, tears streaming down her face like pouring rain.

Jin knew that her brother would not be getting up. Death was not something she was naïve about, even at such a young age. She had seen hunts and watched meat prepared, knowing those animals were dead and never coming back. No, her brother was not getting up, but her young mind and crying heart had hope.

"Brother!" she pled, eyes locked on his corpse until she was dragged out of sight by a rope that bound her arms together. She tried clawing at the ground to go back to her brother, but the human pulling her struck her in the head soundly. Blackness overcame the little girl quickly.

When Jin regained consciousness, she found herself in a cart with a few other clan members. They were on a forest path and the sickening smell of blood was thick in the air with the accompanied by charred wood and smothering smoke. Jin cast her sorrowful golden eyes outward into the woods and immediately caught sight of why she smelled so much blood.

"Don't look, child," an elder pled with her, but she did not heed the advice.

She could not turn away for the horrifying scene and the pale moonlight offered her eyes more than enough to see clearly. So many bodies, bent at weird angles or lain out as if they were only sleeping and glass-like eyes stared into dark nothingness with opened mouths, silently calling for help or pleading for mercy. There was so much blood, and with her nose, she could tell that the blood of her clan ran like a raging river, cutting through their forest home. Her eyes continued fishing through the sea of dead bodies even as other elders encouraged her not to look upon such a sight. She did not obey and continued searching. Then, she saw the sight that killed her.

Her dearest mother and loving father lay near the road, riddled with arrows and battle axes. Their bodies were twisted and turned, looking utterly broken, as if they were ruined clay sculptors. Hollow eyes stared into the nothingness of the dense treetops, hands reached out for each other, falling short by an inch. Mouths were opened slightly, as if they were still mumbling in prayer, asking the gods for their children to be safe.

Jin learned many things in that short night of carnage. First, she learned that the cruelty of humanity, about how humans were not just fanciful demons made up by elders to frighten children. She learned just how much her brother loved her, as he clung to her for dear life and sacrificed all that he had for her. She was also learning about hatred, as it slowly gnawed on her insides and invaded her young mind and heart; she had never felt such a biting emotion before. She learned about real revenge as she could feel the desire burning in her like the flames of the sun itself. The latter two developed in her as she thought about the face permanently branded in her mind, of the human devil that murdered her beloved brother.

Jin lost her entire family and most of her clan in a frenzy that lasted less than an hour. As the rickety cart pulled her from her home and her loved ones, she looked back at her dead parents on last time and realized that she, too, had died that night. There was no Jin, like there was no Chi, Jai, Chu, or clan. Everything was gone, swallowed up by evil with blue eyes.

-8-8-8-8-

Next: Jin is brought to the city, sold to a lord, and trained as a "dog."