Whitefang of the Valla, Chapter 2 (teaser)

Chapter 2. Amber of the Valla


Amber found herself marched at a steady pace through the village. She had barely seen any of it on her way in, practically unconscious at the time. There were primitive huts all over the village of various sizes, made of wood with patches of straw or great big leaves for a roof. The big, older woman who had been at her bedside lead her by the shoulders, walking just behind her. The huts all seemed empty, and she realized why when she saw a large semi-circle of women in front of one of the largest huts. Amber's heart raced and her eyes watered fearfully. "What's going on?" she asked quietly to the big woman. She'd made no threatening actions despite towering over the young girl, enough that she could trust her as much as anything else around her.


"The chieftess must see you," she said back, a low but gentle voice to her.
"Now?" Amber replied nervously, but the woman nodded and squeezed one of her shoulders in a big, calloused hand.
"I won't leave your side for an instant," she replied, seeming to ignore the question before stepping into the ring of grown women. They were of all sorts, from what Amber could see, but all so unlike her. Every one of them were big and strong in some capacity. Even their thinnest were built like athletes or the hard-bodied warriors that acted as guards when she went into town. Like her big guardian, they were also dressed in primitive clothes. Many wore furs, very few silks or actual cloth among them.


Also, unlike Amber, they wore anything at all. They had left nothing but her own short, dark-brown hair to cover her skinny body. She'd always been short for her age, and the many onlookers made things no different. Straight across from her and her hostess, the only solitary woman sat before a fire. She was clearly one of the oldest among the women, but her age was hard to put her finger on. The women there were all in such remarkable shape that she could have been anywhere from a weathered 40 to an impressive 70, for all she knew. She stood calmly behind her fire, a long shawl of some dark fur around her upper body and down past her knees, a crude but well-made skirt covering her bottom.


There was quiet apart from the crackling fire, the women all watching the frightened, naked girl. She had no idea what to expect. She remembered her parents in the carriage, then the sound like thunder... and that was it. There she was in the big pile of furs with the muscular woman watching her.


At last, the same woman stepped in front of her. She was built even bigger than most of the women, a mountain of muscle with a layer of softness piled on top of her to give her a bit of feminine curves. She looked to be about her mother’s age, somewhere into middle age but in a kind of shape that she couldn’t have imagined her mother maintaining. Long, light brown curls came down over her shoulders, and her hips and chest were covered in a large fur each as if for a pretense of modesty. Amber had seen dancing girls at festivals and traveling circuses wear more than that. Though to that end, despite her pretty face, her keeper looked to be strong enough to lift Amber in one hand, if not rip her in half.


She spoke just in front of her in a booming voice. "I am Bella the Huntress! Slayer of Whitefang!" she declared to the other villagers. There was some quiet nodding, but no immediate reaction as she leveled out her tone a bit more, still speaking louder than Amber would prefer for being so close. "I found this child, alone and afraid by the roads of Men. There was only wood and bodies beside her, and she was touched by death by the time I found her."


She stepped back enough to rest her heavy hand against Amber's back, looking to her briefly before back at the crowd. "Here she stands alive. She is strong like valla. I ask for her to be welcome."


There was the slightest of whispers from a few of the women. The oldest woman walked from around the fire, and Bella the Huntress took a step away from Amber to take one knee and lower her head respectfully. Amber watched as the woman came close, her body lean and a bit boney, but her face still a strange, sculpted beauty to it, and her every muscle tightly wound and solid from decades of hard work. She took Amber by the chin between her strong fingers, looking into her wide, green eyes as Amber stared back. She wasn't sure what else to do.




"What is your name, child?" she mused, as if wondering out loud more than she was actually asking her. She circled Amber slowly, running a hand carefully over her, squeezing or prodding here and there with curious and delicate fingers.
"I'm Amber," she answered in her dry and quivering voice. She looked to Bella when the old woman's orbit took her behind her, but the warrior woman stayed with her head obediently downward. Amber gave a short squeak of surprise when the old woman's warm hands pinched firmly.


"A fair name," she noted, a bland shrug in her voice. She lifted up Amber's arm, and she let it move with her grip limply like she was at the doctor's office rather than surrounded by some of the biggest women she'd ever seen.


"What's going to happen to me?" Amber managed to ask. The old woman seemed to think for a moment, rubbing a hand curiously at her belly below her ribs, something that might have tickled in a less grim situation. For her small size, she still had a bit of baby fat that hung onto her.


"Well you seem healthy enough," the chieftess appraised, stepping back in front of her. She took her chin again, this time pulling down gently. It  took Amber a moment of her expectant stare before she opened her mouth for her, and the athletic old woman looked inside like her father used to with horses. "And it seems you'll live. Perhaps you'll even be good at it," she smiled, wrinkling the bit of soft skin around her eyes. She patted Amber on the shoulder and turned back to the fire, crouching down in front of it and fiddling with something in it. "We accept her."


At that, Bella rose and stepped closer to the girl. It wasn't quite a comfort to be more confused than scared, but it felt like an improvement on the mood. The women shuffled anxiously, and Bella took hold of her hand. Her big palm and fingers could wrap entirely around Ambers, and it held firm. It was like when she held her mother's hand crossing a road or around the big animals, assuring but making sure that she didn't run off.


The chieftess turned back towards her seat (or throne, Amber supposed), taking a small bowl and dunking it into a nearby barrel. She brought it back to Amber and pressed it up against her lips, tipping forward. "Drink. It will help," she assured, and Amber did her best to swallow the strong-smelling liquid as some of it spilled over her front. The chieftess still leaned it forward until it emptied, and Amber coughed at the thick, almost smokey taste of it. Her vision blurred a bit and she felt a brief wave of dizziness wash over her before it was gone, but a tingling in her fingertips remained.


She was distracted by that as the chieftess addressed Bella, only seeming to catch the second half of it.


"And you take this child's life as if it were your own? That her fate be yours?"


"She shall BE my life, chieftess," she replied firmly. The elder nodded and reached the short way to the campfire, drawing her tool from it; it was a thick mass of furs wrapped around a length of metal, and at the tip was a circle with an ornate, wavy line through the center. Even in her mild haze, Amber grew up on a farm. She knew what a branding iron was. She looked up and saw on several of the women the same mark; old, circular scars with swirling lines inside, just near the top of their right breast.


"Be strong, child," the elder said evenly. "Sometimes, it is all we can do." Amber had just enough time for a deep breath before she thrust it against her chest.


Amber didn't scream, maybe for any number of reasons. She knew it was coming, and she knew you had to do a brand clean. If there was too much squirming, they'd have to do it again, and it wouldn't be any better for her.
Her hand was also squeezed by Bella just before she did, a minor distraction but enough for her to squeeze the giant hand back, digging her nails into the calloused skin.
She was so tired, too. The accident had taken a lot of out of her, and what little she had left was miles away, and no help to her now. Nobody who would hear would help her.


If Amber had to answer, it was just too hot to scream. It pierced her skin like a shallow knife, and the smell of burning meat hit her nose. It felt like it burned the air out of her little lungs, sinking into her skin and just staying there for countless seconds.


She grit her teeth until her jaw hurt. She ground her feet in the dirt. She sweat like she'd walked a mile, and wished she'd learned more swear words to hiss under her breath. But she couldn't hear the women mutter, or see Bella quietly, grimly smile at the fact that she didn't scream.


She felt the agony stop, breathing heavily a few seconds and letting her sense of reality come back to her. She was shocked back when the chieftess splashed another handful of the powerful drink over her brand, sizzling quietly. She looked at the spot on her chest, seeing the neatly singed mark through her teary eyes. The chieftess had already set the poker down beside the fire, a few red specks across its edges.


"There. You are valla," the chieftess explained, plain and certain. "You will love, you will live, and you will be strong, for they are what we do best. Be proud, child."


After their stretch of silence, the women burst into wordless shouts, too high and boisterous to be war cries or outrage, so she took it as a sign of joy. She wiped her tears with the back of her arm, still looking at them with a confused and hurt expression. Bella stooped down in front of her, a thick thumb brushing the wet streaks from her cheeks. "You were beautiful," she said, giving a soft smile at her. "Come. You have a home to get to."


She placed a hand on Amber's lower back, gently guiding her forward the way they'd come. Amber wasn't sure what she'd expected by the offer of home, but she'd known it wouldn't be the farmhouse. It was the hut she had woken up in, but she hadn't been awake or aware enough to look at it closely. All together, it was about the size of a large living room. The walls were sticks of wood wound together, with some random furs or antlers of long-dead animals strung up here and there. The ceiling was covered in a mix of large leaves and more wood, a small hole left at the center just above a shallow fire pit. The fire itself was down to a few barely-burning embers, and a pot of water big enough for her to fit inside rested on a thick stone over the flames. Another broad barrel with even more water was placed not far of.


There was the most basic of furniture around the hut, and even that was sparse. There was a low table, but no chairs, and a few simple wooden boxes or cabinets were set up in one corner. There was the bed she'd slept in at one corner, seeing for certain now that it was simply a heap of various furs. One thing was very clear about the valla, whoever they were: they loved killing and skinning things.


Bella had stepped over to one of the dressers, calmly removing the fur around her chest and setting it into one of the drawers. As she did, she took out a loincloth from inside, one like hers but noticeably smaller. It was a dull brown, like it had been aged and worn down from a much more lively color at one time. "You can use this. I wore it as a child," she offered, smiling warmly at the young girl. Amber took it gingerly and looked it over, but she didn't know what she expected to find about them. She didn't find it anyway.


"For your body," Bella offered helpfully, her smile curling a bit more. "I have chest wraps, but you'll want to let that heal first."
Amber looked at the loincloth a moment, then started to sniffle. "You were very brave out there, little valla," Bella told her, getting to one knee so she was more or less down to her level. "I've seen older valla trained from birth who scream at their marking ceremony."


Amber clutched the piece of fur tightly and started to cry. Bella opened her arms carefully and Amber threw herself into them, squeezing at her tightly with fear and sorrow and anger in her heart. It was her first time feeling the burly woman, a strange texture of a soft give in her full figure just before she seemed to feel an unyielding wall of muscle underneath. Bella hugged her back, wrapping her inside the powerful arms against her soft chest. Her tears fell over broad shoulders that put the farmhands to shame as they rippled from hugging the scared little girl so tightly.


"It's alright. No one can see," Bella assured her softly. "Let it go."


Amber sobbed and sniffed several minutes, her little fingers gripping and scratching at the big woman's back before she spoke. "What about my parents?" she asked softly. "I want my mom..."


"I found them beside you..." Bella told her, and Amber felt her stomach sink down through her toes. She should have known, but she had to hear. "There was no life left in their bones. But I heard your breathing, and I either brought you here or left you for bandits."


"Why am I here? What are you doing with me?" she demanded, though her voice far more small and afraid than she wanted it to be. She didn't have the strength left in her to be angry. Not while the deep burn still tingled at her skin, even after whatever the chieftess had thrown on it.


"You are here because you are valla. I will care for you, and teach you, and then... you will do what you wish among us."


"You keep saying that!" Amber blurted. "You're all valla!? You just... you kidnapped me!?"


Bella gave her a confused look, holding onto her shoulders but easing her back a few inches to meet her eyes. "Child, we... we risk much by taking you in. The land of men is full of wickedness and disease and ugly magics. We valla live pure here." She gestured at her house, nothing but pots and wood, stone and furs.


"Valla, we wear this together." Bella removed one hand from her to tap her breast. It had the same brand on her skin, much older and scarred over, but still deeply marked in her skin.


"Bound through flesh and blood by the mark. All of us are sisters, all give to each other. You were strong enough to survive, so I thought you seemed very valla. I welcomed you to my family, and I am honored to wear it with you."


The big woman smiled at her warmly, Amber rubbing around the tender skin of her own mark. She looked around the room a bit before looking back at Bella with a baffled look.


"Wait, did you just adopt me?"


"Excuse me?" Bella asked, her head tilting a bit like a puzzled dog.


"Did you just make me your kid? Without even asking me?!"
Bella looked at her strangely again, but nodded slowly. "Yes... like that. You are my duty to protect and teach..."


Amber shoved back from her chest, briefly alarmed at how easy it was. The woman felt like she was full of bricks, and she practically bounced off of her. She regrouped as best she could. "You're not my mother!" she snapped.


Bella blinked at her, and while Amber expected some look of hurt or outrage, Bella looked... surprised more than anything. "But I want to be."


Amber returned the look, if a bit more baffled than angry about the matter now. Bella held out her hand palm up towards Amber's. Amber lifted a hand for it briefly, but recoiled and held her hand like she was afraid Bella could steal it. The amazon let her hand stay steady and patient, waiting for her.


"I swore my life on you," she explained calmly, still that gentle smile on the other end of her thick arm. "I will love you as my own, see you fed and protected, and teach you to be valla." Amber's face shifted a bit as she started to wonder how many ways these valla used the word "valla." "Also, you are still naked. Not that there is anything wrong with that in your own home."


Amber blushed sharply, stepping over the upper loop of the loincloth and trying to wiggle it around her hips, only to find it was still too big to stay up without her holding onto it.


"Like this," Bella laughed jovially, reaching around her waist to take it from her hands. She slid it around a bit, carefully showing her how to knot the short strips cut out on the end. It hung a bit low on her, reaching a bit past her knees, but stayed snug like a long skirt. "A valla who can't tie her loincloth," Bella mused. "You'll have much to learn."


"We have pants where I come from," she grumbled back, but couldn't be terribly angry when she was being dressed and handed clothing. “And dresses.”


"Waste of furs," Bella muttered as she studied her a moment. She took hold of one side of the cloth in both hands and ripped it halfway up, repeating it on the other side to give Amber some more freedom with her legs. "How does it feel?" she asked at last.


Amber tugged at the loose flaps of fur over her rear and front. "Breezy."


"You will appreciate your space later when you're running," her sudden foster-mother insisted, patting a broad hand on her butt firmly. "Trust me."


"Why will I be running?" Amber asked, taking a few testing steps as Bella watched her curiously with that same smiling face.


"Because you are valla. We hunt and stay strong. I will not raise my child to become some silly housewife." Amber winced a bit at the idea, but Bella finally stood up again. "Are you weary?" she asked. "If you hunger, I have some elk from today, but if not, the furs and I are ready to rest when you are."


Amber's stomach hurt, but she wasn't hungry. She was tired from all the shaking and crying, and exhausted from feeling that stinging pain of the brand. "I want to sleep," she mumbled.


"Of course, my love." Bella went to the furs and laid down on her side, watching her expectantly. The pile was thick enough on the plain dirt ground that Amber hadn't realized it wasn't a mattress when she was in and out of consciousness.


Amber paused a moment when she realized the implication, but she was too tired now. She'd argue more in the morning. For now, she conceded to sliding into the furs, some dozen or more animals’ worth, with Bella wrapping her arms around her in a loose but powerful hug. It was... oddly comforting, all things considered. There was no blanket to speak of for the warm night, but with the wall of muscle pretending to be her mother wrapped around her, it was hard to not feel safe.


"I did not birth you," Bella said softly behind her as her breath breezed through Amber's hair. "But I will honor you as if I had. You are just as valla as I."


Amber had a lot of questions. Were there really only women here? Did that mean that Bella had been abducted like she was at one point? Was there anyone her age there? Was there any way out, and did she have anywhere to go if there was?


But soon the steady breathing of the mountainous woman and her gripping hug were too much for her, and she drifted to sleep. She had dreams, neither good or bad. So much was on her mind that it was all just replaying the strange moments in the last hour of her life, and still not making any real sense of them.