Free Aegis Rising by S.S.Segran

you very much. Do not try to drag me into the misery you call life-companionship.”
    That drew laughter from Nageau, who shook his head with a smile. Noting that his mate was silent, he turned and saw Tikina standing beside him, her eyes closed. He lightly touched her shoulder and before the others noticed, she snapped out of her brief meditative state with a mysterious smile.
    “About their eyes—” she started.
    Before she could finish, a young boy around ten years of age dashed by, crashing into Nageau. “Elder Nageau! Elder Nageau!” he gasped. “I am so glad I found you!”
    Nageau steadied the boy. “What is it, Diyo?” he asked, alarmed.
    “It is my father, he is sick!” The boy stopped for a breather. “Our neighbors have brought him back—”
    “Where is he?” Saiyu demanded.
    “This way!” The boy dashed downriver. The Elders followed him quickly. As they reached the shelter, Diyo veered off to find his mother.
    A man in his late twenties sat hunched on a bed in a corner. His lips were chalk white, his face horribly pale. Two other men were tending to him. As the Elders approached, his body tensed and convulsed, and he vomited into a small bucket in front of him. He looked up at the newcomers with an agonized moan.
    “Fiotez,” Tikina murmured, as she sat beside him on his bed and wrapped a soothing arm around him.
    “Elder Tikin—” he groaned. He tensed as if he were about to retch again, then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed in her arms, unconscious. Tikina breathed in sharply.
    Nageau glanced back to the open door as he heard hurried footsteps. Diyo burst into the shelter. He choked at the sight of his unconscious father. His mother ran in behind him and gasped.
    Tayoka gently ushered them back out the door, saying kindly, “Keep Diyo away from his father for now.” He added more quietly, “I am sorry. It is better for you to stay with your son. Let us take care of Fiotez.”
    He reluctantly shut the door on the dismayed mother and son, and sidled over to stand beside his fellow Elders.
    “What do you think happened to him?” Nageau asked no one in particular.
    His question was met with silence and apprehensive looks from the others. One of the men who had been tending to Fiotez before the Elders arrived stood up and turned to look at Nageau. He was stocky with short, wavy brown hair that bobbed as he dipped his head at the Elder. In a gruff but respectful voice, he said, “Elder Nageau, we are Fiotez’s neighbors and are the ones responsible for bringing him back from our hunting trip.”
    “When did he start showing signs of illness?” Tikina queried, picking up some herbs from the household. She flattened the leaves on a pumice slab before rolling them into a pellet, which she gently inserted under Fiotez’s tongue.
    “When we were returning from our expedition to one of the mountains,” said the stocky neighbor. “He seemed fine at first, but the symptoms became worse as we got closer to the village.”
    Tikina glanced up from scrutinizing her patient. “I think it is best if everyone vacates this shelter so we can have more air circulating. It will allow me to tend to him better.”
    The other Elders and Fiotez’s neighbors headed outside silently, grabbing a quick look at Tikina as she continued to work on the sick man.
    Outside, Ashack’s voice commanded the other Elders’ attention. “I pray that Fiotez’s condition does not worsen. I have not seen such affliction before . . . Our people are usually strong.”
    Nageau didn’t reply. He possessed a keen sense of smell and was disturbed by the strange odor he had gotten in Fiotez’s shelter. Tayoka nudged him, bringing him out of his reflection, then said, “I hope so too, but something tells me . . .” He looked at the two neighbors. “You said you were with Fiotez when he started becoming sick. Please describe everything that occurred during your trip.”
    “Well, it had been some