ULAM. -- The Escaped Version

His people always said he had good hunter's sense, that he could perceive sounds of footsteps from far away. Welf’s ear alertly picked up the sound of the dry twigs snapping. He raised his index finger to his lips, signaling to Kella to keep quiet while he slowly stood up and swiftly crept behind a protruding rock, leaving Kella alone in the clearing.

Just as the figure stepped inside the clearing, rushing to Kella, Welf jumped behind it, grabbed the shoulders and in a blink of an eye, his knife was at it’s throat. He pushed the figure to the ground, and as soon as he had a good look at it, he gasped. The hair, the face, the eyes and the lips were a grown-up version of …

“Kella!”, the figure, a woman, bearing a striking resemblance to the little girl who was looking just as confused as Welf, called out...

+++

Ten years ago…

Two men stood a few feet apart, their swords drawn. Both of them were out of breath, they were dead tired, but deep in their heart they knew the fight won’t end until one of them died. The younger man was badly wounded, a huge slash across his left arm, his sword hand. His eyes were fixed, angry and determined, at his opponent.

“Bae, please…!” he shouted. “Return the map to me. You know you shouldn’t keep it. I am the guardian!”

Bae laughed, his shrill laughter resonated across the chamber.

“Why should you be the One? I am the better protégé. For years I followed his order, I entertained his every whim, and for what? Our teacher chose the sickly one instead to keep the greatest secret of our tribe!”, Bae wailed.

“My friend, please,” the other one almost pleaded. They had been fighting down in the underground chamber for hours, a secluded room tucked neatly away on the border of their tribe’s land. No one else would know what had happened in the chamber – the winner of this fight could tell stories and no one could call him a liar.

“Bae, listen to me. How could you do this to our tribe, our friendship? Even if you have it, you won’t know how to decipher the map. You won’t find what you are looking for”.

Evil grin spread across his face, Bae slowly remarked, “But, oh, your son Welf would know it, wouldn’t he? I think you’ve been telling him stories full of hints and sing him songs so that he would know.”

“Don’t you dare hurt him!”, the wounded man screamed, his sword raised, on attack mode. Bae swiftly tackled his assault – on any other day, Bae would lose, for he was not the better sword player, but oh, lady luck had it, today he got golden chance to injure his opponent’s sword arm.

Swords clashed. More blood. More tussle.

They kept fighting, until that one moment, one of the swords found the heart, the sharp end painfully pierced through one of the fighter’s chest. He stumbled, blood spluttered all over the ground, his hand still trying to grasp away the map – the parchment.

Only one person emerged out of the underground room – Kella’s father, who would then wounded his own leg, shouted for help, and told stories about how he and his best friend were attacked by one of the Kuuns who later fled away.

Welf’s father was found lifeless inside the chamber, but no one knew he was killed by the hands of his own comrade. No one, except…

+++

“…. me. They didn’t know I followed them to the chamber. Bae had been acting strange, I knew something was up. I did not know he planned to kill his own friend to wrestle the power away. I am sorry Welf,” the woman explained.

Welf was dumbfounded. Bae, the one who he treated as his own father, killed his dad? And Bae was Kella’s father? And he was evil..??! And this woman….

“I’m Keisha. I was once the high priestess of the Omah. And,” she smiled tenderly to Kella, “I’m your mother”.

Woaaaaaaaaa… is this a family reunion, or what?

Tears were streaming down the Kella’s face (wait, ghost does cry, right?). No wonder the Kuuns hated her so much. She was the daughter of the most powerful woman and influential man of the rival’s tribe!

“Now Welf, do you still have the map? We have to hurry. I smelled trouble. My brother is coming for you.”

Wow, this is really a family reunion.

“I have an uncle?”, Kella whispered.

“Yes my dear,” Keisha’s voice was soft and comforting, just the way Kella’s envisioned it. “I left you with him, when I had to run away…”

“Wait,” Welf stammered. “So the one who we thought was Kella’s dad, the person who killed her, eh.. sort of killed her, was actually her uncle?”
“Yes, Welf. But we had no time to tell stories now. The map, please,” Keisha urged.

Welf took out the parchment, which had been safely hidden inside his coat, and opened it for all to see. The circle, on top of three triangles.

Keisha looked at it carefully, her brows knitted together in concentration.

“Does it mean anything to you?”, Welf asked.

The woman carefully folded the parchment, and handed it back to Welf. She took Kella’s hand, who gripped it as if she would never let it go, and stood up.

“I think I know where it is. Come on, we better hurry. We have to get to the 'Ula before Bae or anyone else got there first!”

And the three of them, a lady, a boy and a little girl, sprinted through the darkness…