Page 43 of Death Dance

My father’s smile turned rather vicious. “It is simple. Magic made her, and that magic is closely tied with the sun. Stakes are the manifestation of the sun’s power. For a stake to exist, the tree must have been nourished with the sun’s light. Many people associate wood with the Earth, but in reality, wood is more closely aligned with the power of Sol.”

Right. While we had named our planet Earth, the sun had gotten the short straw, with the Latin word, Sol, being the closest we had to a proper name. The Greeks sometimes referred to the sun as Helios, but Sol tended to be the most commonly used.

“What was the name of the sun in your day, Father?”

“Qaliequiori,” he replied, speaking in a rapid yet fluid way. “Khal-lee-kwee-oar-ee. Our language tended to have many meanings for one word, which complicates things. How we spoke the word determined the specific meaning. For example, if you raise your pitch on the ‘lee,’ you are indicating that the sun is to be feared; that it is a time of drought and the misuse of fire may bring ruin. If you lower the pitch of lee, then the sun is weaker and it is more dormant, indicating it is the winter sun. Every syllable, dependent on how you pitch it, changed the meaning. Our language was tonal in nature, much like Mandarin is today. It is also an analytic language, where word order also hugely impacts meaning. While we keep the language alive among ourselves, we have acknowledged that it is challenging, at best, to teach to people who were not raised speaking it.”

“English is analytic, correct?”

“English is predominantly analytic now but was originally an inflected language. It evolved. I recommend that you wait to try to understand the complexities of language for early in your day, when your mind is sharp and your patience is fresh. You struggled enough with basic English grammar as a little thing. But that could be an indicator you are naturally inclined for a tonal language. After we finish this mess, I will sit you down with your brothers and see if any of you are naturally inclined. If so, I’ll begin teaching you. It is good to have something to look forward to.”

It was, and while I couldn’t change our past, I could work to give us a bright future. “That sounds like a good idea, assuming my brothers are cultured enough to wish to learn new languages.”

Benoit snickered. “We already speak several languages each, Pepper. You’re behind, but we are older, so we’ll only tease you a little about it.”

I scowled. “How many languages do you speak, Emerick?”

“Seven.”

Well, color me surprised. I’d married a smart one. “How many of those can you teach me?”

“Six. You already know English. I’m game to learn a second tonal language, Charlie.”

“Then you are welcome to learn as well. It shall be so. Tonight and tomorrow, we will carve stakes. That will give Breanna and her team time to settle. After that, the true planning begins.”

“Is there any chance Breckenan could catch up with us between tonight and tomorrow?” I asked.

My father shook his head. “Our family prowls the decks of this ship, ready and willing to hunt. Even if he could make it out of the Amazon, we will be in deep waters and places he cannot readily go. We took good advantage of our window of opportunity. And if he does somehow surprise us by showing up early, we are already ready for him. We all carry stakes and a wish for his death in our hearts.”

That we did.