“Dave, how could you do this? What did my mom ever do to deserve such treachery?” I demanded, gripping his arm in a vice-like hold until it turned an angry shade of blue.
Fae Aurora’s condition was rapidly deteriorating before our eyes. Precious moments were slipping away while this snake in the grass feigned innocence.
“What do you mean, Luna?” Dave sputtered, trying in vain to pull free of my grasp. “I would never intentionally harm Fae Aurora! The sage extract, that was an honest mistake, I swear!”
“Lies!” I shouted, giving him a vicious shove that sent him stumbling back a few paces. “Your actions reek of malice and deceit!”
Dave’s desperate expression faltered for just a brief moment, allowing a fleeting glimpse of something cold and calculating to surface. But just as quickly, the mask of feigned horror slipped back into place.
“How dare you accuse me?” he cried, putting on an award-worthy display of anguish and betrayal. “After all my years of loyal service to this tribe? To Fae Aurora herself?”
“Enough!” Timothee separate us, and pulled me to calm down.
“How can I stay calm when my own mother is seized by convulsions and faces the horror of being paralyzed?” I questioned Timothee through tear-filled eyes, my voice trembling with a volatile mix of rage and anguish.
Timothee regarded me with his trademark patience and wisdom. “I understand this is agonizing, my dear. But we must not let our emotions cloud our judgment or lead us to rash actions we may regret.”
I opened my mouth, ready to unleash my bottled fury, when Dave’s quavering voice cut through the tension.
“Please, you have to believe me...” He stepped forward, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I never harbored any ill will toward Fae Aurora or anyone in this tribe.”
“Then why the secrecy? The deception?” I spat out, fingers clenching into white-knuckled fists at my sides. “We know you’ve been engaged in shady dealings, Dave. Don’t insult our intelligence!”
To my surprise, Dave didn’t recoil or lash out defensively. A look of remorse washed over his features as he slowly shook his head. “You misunderstand. My intentions were never malicious - I only wanted to help.”
An uneasy silence fell over us as Timothee considered the man before us. Finally, he spoke up in an even tone. “Then help us understand, Dave. Lay your truth bare before the tribe, and we will listen with open minds and hearts.”
Dave seemed to deflate with relief at Timothee’s offer. He nodded fervently. “Yes... Yes, of course. I will explain everything, once and for all.”
“Very well,” Timothee declared. “On the sunrise of the new day, you will stand before us all in the Grand Council Yard and speak your truth aloud. Until then, you shall remain sequestered so there can be no accusations of outside influence on your testimony.”
Steeling my features into an impassive mask, I watched as members of the tribe’s guard arrived to escort Dave away to an isolated dwelling. His eyes found mine, swimming with regret and pleading for understanding.
I said nothing, keeping my judgments at bay for now. But my heart still burned with righteous anger over my mother’s suffering. If Dave’s “good intentions” were truly behind this calamity...
No, I would withhold my condemnation until after I heard his full account on the morrow. Timothee was right - we could not become the injustice we sought to prevent.
As the first rays of dawn began to peek over the horizon, our village felt charged with tension and uncertainty. Would Dave’s testimony finally shed light on the shadows surrounding us?
Or would it merely give rise to darker clouds still lingering on the horizon?
That morning, the entire tribe had gathered before the great council fire pit in the center of our village. A hush fell over the crowd as Dave was escorted out, his hands bound in deference to the solemn rite about to take place.
Healer Cruz stepped forward, holding aloft an intricately carved wooden bowl filled with a viscous, crimson liquid - the sacred blood oath mixture. His weathered face was grave as he turned to address Dave.
“You come before us accused of treachery most vile,” Healer Cruz’s voice rang out, laced with ceremonial weight. “By agreeing to this rite, you willingly bind yourself to the ancients’ oath. Speak true, and you shall be spared. But utter a single lie, and the spirits will claim your soul forthwith.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd. The blood oath was an archaic, scarcely used tradition from the days of our ancestors - brutally binding, and just as fatal if broken.
I felt Timothee’s eyes find me amidst the gathered masses. His expression was etched with concern. “Are you certain you wish to bear witness to this, Barby?” he asked lowly. “An oath like this...there is no going back if Dave has indeed been deceitful.”
My jaw clenched, and I gave a resolute nod. After all my mother had endured, I needed to look the truth in the eye, no matter how ugly it proved.
“He needs to answer for his actions. If his soul is weighed down by lies, then let the spirits have their way.”
Timothee searched my face a moment longer before nodding grimly and turning his attention back to the unfolding ritual.
Dave’s adam’s apple bobbed as he stepped up to the oath bowl, his eyes flickering over the masses before finding mine. I saw a flicker of emotion there - fear, regret, desperation. Then his expression hardened into one of sobering acceptance.
“I, Dave, trusted servant of this tribe,” he began, his voice carrying clearly over the hushed crowd, “do so swear before the ancients that every word forthcoming shall be the honest, sacred truth.”
He locked eyes with me once more, and I felt the weight of the vow reverberate through my very core. Then, unhesitating, Dave reached out and submerged his bound hands into the viscous crimson liquid.
My breath caught in my throat as the ritual’s gravity crashed over me anew. If Dave had indeed been spinning lies and betraying our tribe...his life was now bound irrevocably to this oath.
As the crimson droplets ran in rivulets down his arms, Dave took a steadying breath before speaking the words that would forever seal his destiny.
“I have never sought to bring harm upon Fae Aurora, nor any member of this tribe who has shown me nothing but kindness,” he stated, slow and measured. “The sage mistake was truly that - an unintentional error borne of ignorance, not malice.”
He paused, seeming to brace himself, before continuing in that same weighted tone.
“However...I have been keeping one secret closely guarded. A secret that, until this moment, I have shared with no other.”
The surrounding crowd seemed to lean in as one at this admission. My heart pounded wildly in my chest as I awaited whatever revelation Dave was about to unveil.
“For years now, I have been communicating with a neighboring tribe...” Each word seemed to fall like a leaden weight between us. “...Not for my own selfish interests, but to secure aid. You see, our tribe has long been afflicted by a creeping illness - one that whittles and decays from within.”
Dave’s gaze strayed momentarily to the elders arrayed before him, his eyes filled with sorrow and regret.
“Our eldest members have been systematically falling victim to this peculiar condition. Paralysis, seizures, even death in the worst cases. I’m afraid...Fae Aurora was just the latest to tragically succumb to its grip.”
A collective murmur of shock and dismay rippled through the crowd as we all took in this gut-wrenching revelation. All along, we’d been mistaken - it wasn’t treachery that had guided Dave’s actions, but a desperate attempt to seek a cure.
“I’ve been discreetly working with a skilled healer from their tribe, trading what meager supplies I could obtain,” Dave went on heavily. “I sought to handle this matter independently so as not to sow panic and unrest. But my missteps have only wrought tragedy.”
His shoulders sagged wearily, as if the weight of his admission was ironically more crushing than our gravest suspicions.
“I am deeply sorry that my actions brought such harm to our beloved Fae Aurora,” Dave said, his voice becoming thick with emotion. “I have sworn a sacred vow, and broken it I have not. But I have broken your trust through my secrecy, and for that...I have no excuse.”
As the ceremonial fire danced and crackled, the weight of Dave’s words seemed to ring through the ensuing silence like a thunderous death knell.
“Stop! Stop the ritual!” a shouting voice interrupted the ceremony.