SHF'07: Silent Bear (524 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.68 on 22 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by GoneFiguring (View user info) at 2007-08-06 11:18:26 EDT
SHF07: Silent Bear
From: I_can_get_you_a_toe
Place: Earth
Time: 1715
Featuring: A bloodthirsty alien that can turn invisible.
Men of the Yamasee tribe could get from place to place without being discovered if they so desired. Ch'kook and his brother Ch'took moved stealthily along the river just before dawn, practicing all the secrets that they had been taught about traveling silently and leaving no scent or trace. The two were scouting an encampment of South Carolina slave raiders so their warriors could attack that evening. They paused for a few minutes after catching sight of a sentry outside the camp. The white man was inattentive and it was not necessary to kill him yet. They slipped past him in the predawn twilight and approached the perimeter of the camp.
Ch'took made observations of the number and weapons that the slavers kept in the camp while Ch'kook watched for sentries. They had what they needed in a short time, and made their way back toward the river. Ch'kook noticed the odor first. Pointing toward the trees where the white guard had been, Ch'took signed that the man had gone. The two approached the trees and as the sunlight became a bit brighter, they saw what had been the guard.
His blood was spread over the ground as though a bear had attacked him. An arm, still clutching his unfired musket, lay on the ground, raw flesh and bone exposed as though it had been torn loose from his body. A trail of gore and flesh led away from the scene. Ch'took signed that they should take the musket, remember what they had seen and return to the tribe. Ch'kook followed his brother into the trees.
Ch'kook and Ch'took reported all they had seen to their Chief and Council. The warriors were prepared and eager to fight. Ch'took did not mention the apparent mauling death of the guard, but Ch'kook told of what they had seen in great detail. Old Kul'tok, the Council Leader, listened intently to the tale. After the brothers had finished speaking, Kul'tok told of the legend of the Apad'ka, the Silent Bear.
Silent Bear had been with the Yamasee tribe longer than their history recalled. Enemies of the Yamasee were often found torn apart, eaten, dismembered, or sometimes just disappeared and were never found. Silent Bear had once chosen a Yamasee warrior for it's prey. The Chief of the Yamasee at the time had found the man, his heart clawed from his chest and the rest still bleeding on the ground. The Chief had shouted into the forest, calling the one that had done this to face a challenge. Standing in a clearing, the Chief felt a presence nearby, could feel breath on his neck, but there was no hunter, no animal, nothing to be seen. Seemingly speaking to the open air, the Chief named that which he could not see "Apad'ka" and said that the Yamasee would help find other prey if Silent Bear would not hunt the Yamasee. After he spoke these words, the entire forest was silent. Thus the Chief in his wisdom had turned the attention of Silent Bear away from the Yamasee.
In this time, Silent Bear had been almost forgotten by theYamasee. Only the oldest of the tribe remembered seeing the evidence of his presence. In the time since they had been forced out of their Land and made to settle in the white man's 'South Carolina', Silent Bear had not been known. Now, with the reports from Ch'kook and Ch'took, the Council Leader believed that he had returned. If the legendary creature truly remembered his truce with the Yamasee, they would have an ally in the evening's attack.
The warriors left their village and moved through the forest toward the slaver's camp. Each carried a knife and a bow, A few, including the brothers Ch'kook and Ch'took, carried a musket taken from an enemy in battle. Those who did not have a musket, carried a spear. The experienced fighters decorated their bows with dried blood from a previous enemy kill. For two of the men, this would be their first chance for such a trophy.
Ch'kook led the troop and Ch'took brought up the rear, making sure no one got separated. Watching from the woods, Ch'kook saw that there were two sentries where there had been only one earlier. This time they were intently watching for movement. A sign from Ch'kook and two bowmen moved away from the group. A few minutes later, two near-simultaneous shots felled the sentries. The troop moved quietly towards the camp.
The plan was to burn the tents and kill the white men as they ran out. As the warriors began to creep into the edge of the camp clearing, they saw that their killing work had been done. Bodies of the South Carolina slavers lay scattered around the camp, torn, gnawed, dissected. Blood soaked the ground, body parts lay in tents and in fires. Trails of blood led out of the camp into the woods.
Ch'took quietly asked his brother how this could have happened with the sentries unaware. The Yamasee warriors gathered in the camp and looked at the carnage. Ch'kook, said, "Surely it is Silent Bear that has done this." One of the younger, inexperienced warriors, hearing this, shouted, "Silent Bear has killed our enemies!" Those warriors who had been raiding before immediately turned to run at the new fighter's outburst. Their presence was now known. It was too late. By the light of the camp fires, the Yamasee saw the rest of the camp sentries approach, muskets raised. They fought valiantly, killing ten more sentries, but the Yamasee were outnumbered and outgunned. The South Carolina musket fire slew every Yamasee warrior.
News of the Yamasee slaughter of 'peaceful South Carolina settlers' spread rapidly. White men from all over the area came and joind with other Indians to quash the tribe in what became known as the Yamasee War. In two years, the Yamasee people had either been killed or had assimilated into other tribes. Eventually the Yamasee name passed into history and the Legend of Silent Bear was forgotten.
Silent Bear and his kind, safe in the caves and woods of the South Carolina mountains, slept.
User Reviews
Submitted by bruzwuld (user info) at 2007-11-16 13:32:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This certainly paints a vivid picture. Well done.
Submitted by creep_firebombing (user info) at 2007-08-07 08:47:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by beer-turtle (user info) at 2007-08-07 00:46:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
predator in the early 1700's.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Werd.
"Worth reading (+0)"
Submitted by beer-turtle (user info) at 2007-08-07 00:46:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
predator in the early 1700's.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-08-06 20:56:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-08-06 20:56:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by Yozz (user info) at 2007-08-06 19:04:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
1.5
Submitted by Yozz (user info) at 2007-08-06 19:02:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-08-06 17:42:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was pretty fuckin' excellent...
Submitted by i_can_get_you_a_toe (user info) at 2007-08-06 17:08:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well done.
I'm slack and lazy but my submission will be in at some point today - I had a pre-birthday bender this weekend and I think I may have brain damage. jog on.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-08-06 16:34:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
could have been closer to the theme, but oh well...
Submitted by DirtyHarry (user info) at 2007-08-06 15:22:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2007-08-06 14:53:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Hilarity_Ensues (user info) at 2007-08-06 13:27:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 to not fuck up your streak and b/c I'm happy you accomplished this :)
Yay for brain exercises.
Submitted by zwerg (user info) at 2007-08-06 12:56:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Fey (user info) at 2007-08-06 12:42:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I like your persona, gonefiguring.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-08-06 12:19:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd still say it's science fiction because it is insinuated that Silent Bear was something other than your standard "don't put your shit on my burial mound" ghost, just like Cthulhu was more than just your average Swamp Thing. What was he exactly? What he from outer space? Another dimension? Unimportant really, as the Natives wouldn't have known and may not have speculated.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2007-08-06 12:14:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have one of those bandanas too.
+2 for that and the story.
Submitted by gonefiguring (user info) at 2007-08-06 12:05:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Yes, Brdn_Nkd, it's historically based. Not much research, just took the first result of Googling "American History" "what happened in" "1715" or something like that.
Fey; I'm not very good at SciFi, but it is SciFi/Horror Fest 2007. I know that the story is horrible in some way, and there is an alien in it. I appreciate your concern over a +2 streak, but honestly I don't expect to do well. I just entered the contest to see if I could concentrate long enough to write a story. Quoting noted author and philanthropist D.P. Gumby; "My brain hurts!" (I have a Gumby bandanna, for real)
Submitted by Fey (user info) at 2007-08-06 11:50:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Now, this is how it is.
+2 Good story.
-2 It's not really Sci-Fi now is it?
+2 You're battling more than the normal Uber retardation and you did really well.
-2 I shouldn't discriminate, neither positively nor negatively.
+2 I don't want to ruin your +2 streak.
-2 I don't want to ruin your +2 streak.
+2 You have a sense of humour (seen it in reviews) and you seem like a standup guy.
So, +2 it is.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-08-06 11:30:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
now go read mine.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-08-06 11:30:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
historicly based? i can't spell. so what?
Submitted by gonefiguring (user info) at 2007-08-06 11:20:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
It wore me out writing this but it took a lot less time than I thought. Thanks for the opportunity, Jack.