When Darkness Falls Read Online Free

would jab ... Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the younger brother’s spear aimed straight for his heart ... the wrong move, murder or not, and the old man knew he would be dead before the blood stopped pumping from the boy’s body ... he would beat the boy to the home of the Spirits.
    The old man circled once more to position himself near Dani’s good leg, then with one swift thrust he shoved the spear downward, and as it entered the skin and flesh, he twisted the blade, sawing it in and out of the wound. Then he yanked it free, and forced his way through the crowd. He had shoved the broad-bladed spear between the calf muscle and the shinbone, severing as much of the muscle as he could. Then as a final act, the blade had been wrenched to the heel; it was only his lack of strength that stopped him severed the tendon of the heel. His bride’s lover would never walk again.As for the brothers, they would pay dearly for that threat and his wife-to-be would be a sad and broken woman long before he journeyed to the land of the dead. If that dog had given her a child, its life would be hell on earth.
    Payback had been achieved. Satisfaction was guaranteed.
    They carried Dani inside and dressed his wounds. The one through the upper leg had been small and clean and would heal quickly. But the damage done by the old man’s spear would be slower to heal, harder to mend. Dani would be a cripple for the rest of his life. Unable to take the boy’s life, the old man had done the next best thing, taken away Dani’s ability to hunt and run and excel at what a man was intended for, to provide for his family. Now he was only as good as a child, just another mouth to feed; from this day he would be a handicap to his family and the tribe. They would soon tire of looking after a cripple.
    One day Dani would walk and run, and hunt, but it would take him a couple of years to get about as he wanted. All the time he lay recovering, all the time it took to get himself on his feet, all the time it took to learn to walk again, he listened to the people and heard their thoughts and their words.
    At first it was about the payback system. There were no rules that in pay-back the weapons had to be thrown, or that there should be a particular type of wounding for a particular crime. If you were lucky you lived. People spoke of the severity of the wounding the old man had given Dani. It was something that one day the Elders should get off their arses and do something about. If one of their own kids were speared and killed, then something would be done about it, but while it only happened to others ... too bad. Maybe a coupleshould be killed, one from each tribe, then there would be some action.
    He listened as the people talked. At first they felt sorry for the young man they had admired, but in time, he heard the change come into their voices. The sadness turned to pity, pity to resentment, resentment to dislike, then bitterness, and in time, bitterness would turn to hate. Even those close to him were changing. He listened and learned about human frailty, and tried harder to get himself on his feet and out of their care. Long before he was ready, he made moves to get out, to become independent, to do what they thought he could never do. A fire filled him.
    And Nunjupuni? Her image was with him from the moment of his waking, to the moment that sleep overtook him. At night she invaded his dreams and became alive and vibrant and with him once more. As he got better, he thought a lot about his life and hers. He thought over what she had told him, about how her life would be, that she was being married, to look after the old man and his first wife, as a virtual slave. There would be no children, no life, no love.
    As time moved on Danaranni made plans to leave his family, his friends, his home, the place where he grew up, the land he loved. He would go to Nunjupuni, take her, and elope. Together they could start a new life in a new