The Quarry

[Rage Menelas]

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]It had been closing in on darkness when they finally got to Aerose's hut, which was actually quite nice. It reminded Ryan of a Mongolian yurt he had once seen in a documentary. It was circular, about twenty yards in diameter and made of a combination of clay, stone and wood. The roof was covered with moss over a wood and clay framework.

Supper was delicious, the ferret-thing that his host had shot was very tasty indeed and so was the basketball-mushroom. There were other elements of the feast which more or less lived up to the previously mentioned fare. It was all very palatable.

Afterward they had sat around the open, stone-lined fire-pit built into the middle of the hut, a round hole in the roof drawing the smoke out, and drank until late into the evening. What had they called that beverage? Shaamzar... or something like that. Ryan couldn't remember... but it certainly toted a wallop!

Now he lay on his pile of furs next to the wall of the single room hut, listening to the distinct sounds of a dozen other individuals, some breathing raggedly in slumber, kids tittering at one another in muted tones, and the unmistakable adult sounds of something else going on. Such was life in a tribe, he supposed. All these strange noises were not the source of his insomnia however. It was something Aerose had said right before supper. It had been in the semblance of some sort of prayer. He kept playing the details of it over and over like a nuisance song stuck in his mind.

Mighty one above look down upon your children. We thank you for all you have done for us. We thank you for our crops, for our health, for our home. We thank you for our guest, a sky father, which you have sent us this day. We ask humbly that you assist us in attending to his every requirement as he enjoys our humble home. Thank you for fulfilling your promise through his presence. We look forward to this sky father bringing us out of the darkness, back into the light of the stars. Aerose finished and the entire family in chorus completed it as if on cue. In your hands we rest secure, O mighty one above...

Now what the devil did all that religious babble mean? Ryan had no clue, but he had an uneasy feeling about it. With these thoughts plaguing him he finally fell into a fitful sleep.