The Bone Raiders

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The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford

The new Great Khan is intent on decimating all the villages in the Tapestry if the villagers don't come to the capital city of Karkorum and join his army. It seems there's only one group that might be able to stop him, the Rakada. One of their scouts was just captured by a small village, but when the villagers discover that she's not just any regular ol’ raider but a Bone Raider, literally wearing the bones of her enemies, they flip their shit. Things only get worse for this small village when the araatan, what can only be described as a giant fucking lizard, arrives, grabs up the leader of the village, burns him to a crisp and eats him. 

Sayana feels like a complete idiot for getting captured and she's not loving the fact that a guy was just crisped and eaten by an araatan right in front of the pole she is currently tied to. She knew leaving her comfy life in the palace and joining the raiders wouldn't be easy and that she could die any day, but… not like this. Fuck! Is being able to live your life the way you want it worth being flame roasted and devoured? Ugh, yes. Sayana tries to escape her bonds as more villagers are eaten and luckily is able to kick off her boot, grab a rock with her toes, hoist her foot above her head, catch the rock, and saw herself free before she is eaten by the lizard. As she grabs for her blades, the only things apart from her long braid that she's kept from her palace life, the araatan spots her.

Hogelun and Khunbish, two other members of the Bone Raiders, have split from the rest of the group, Chimeg, the Chief, Ehri, the Archer/Healer and Sarnai… the uh, other one, and are waiting for a signal from Sayana, but they've been waiting a long time. Hogelun spots a tiny lizard and freaks out, she hates lizards, even tiny ones, but Khunbish is unperturbed, or… unaware? She's un- something, off in her own world inside her head, her hand on her pouch around her neck. No one knows what's in that pouch and they're all a little too afraid of Khun, who always says that Father Sky won't allow her to die, to try to find out. She probably wouldn't kill another member of their group since there are only six left, but you never know with Khun. Hell, no one even knows how old she is, she might be immortal. All the Bone Raiders are terrifying in their own ways, all wearing the various bones of their victims artfully about their persons, but like, really, the Rakada are not all that bad for raiders. They mostly only kill when they absolutely have to, which is pretty nice… for murdersome, bone wearing raiders.

Finally there's a signal of some sort, but it's the village that's on fire because of the araatan. Sayana, in a moment of extreme slapstick gold and only wearing one boot, tried to run from the giant fire-breathing lizard, jumped on a wagon, the wagon was trampled and now, somehow, Sayana is on the araatan’s back, kind of steering it using the little nubbins on its head. While she's riding around, a group from the Khan arrives, but with many swords and attacks by her friends, and some trampling and fire-breathing by the araatan, the Khan’s group is defeated. Unfortunately in this chaos, Sarnai is killed and Sayana drives the araatan off a cliff. She makes it, a little singed, but the lizard plummets to the ground below and runs away.

The Bone Raiders really needed supplies from that raid but since it went horribly awry, they decide to head to the marshes. As they are plodding along on their remaining horses with what is left of their meager supplies, most of it having been trampled and/or probably devoured by the araatan, Sayana gets an idea. A horribly wonderful idea. She wants to ride the araatan against the Khan's army! Everyone laughs at her idea, pleased that she's trying to lighten the mood since their friend’s death with such a hilariously bad plan. But no, she's actually serious. And she knows someone in the palace who can definitely make it happen.

Yesuntei, the Khan's right hand, is alerted to a tiger in the grain. She calls for her sister, Tuya, to manage the beast. Tuya is an eagle hunter and has a remarkable way with animals, so she should be able to safely get the tiger away. She asks the soldiers to gather some meat for her and gives the tiger a way to get out of the grain and back into the wild where it belongs without encountering anyone or anything. Instead of setting the tiger free, the Khan’s men kill the beast. Um… that’s not what Tuya intended at all.

Since no one really believed or supported Sayana in her desire to kidnap the person who can probably train the araatan, she plans to leave on her own to get her. Hogs tries to stop her but Khun goes with because of course Khun does. She can do no wrong. Eventually Hogs follows. They arrive in Karkorum and go to the house that Sayana thinks belongs to the person who can help, but she can't remember her name. They break in and find someone sleeping and leap on her, but it's an older woman, not who Sayana was looking for. Obviously things are going badly and they get worse when the person Sayana was looking for arrives. A fight ensues, an eagle attacks, guards come, but they somehow manage to get out with the animal trainer. One of the guards is violently murdered by Khun when he rips her pouch from her neck. After stabbing him at least a million times, Khun grabs her pouch, makes sure its contents, whatever they are, are secure, finally calms down, and they depart with the kidnapped woman. 

When Yesuntei finally arrives at Tuya’s home, she is mad. She and her men search and eventually find a small finger bone, but that could belong to an animal that Tuya’s eagle, Ayanga, hunted or, well, maybe it could belong to the kidnappers. She decides to begin a manhunt. When no one from the capital will help with the mission, she goes to her old unit, the Eighth, with a fake decree from the Khan and convinces their new leader to help her find her sister. The leader suggests they might be looking for the Rakada, the Bone Raiders. 

After being pretty shitty and learning that the kidnapped woman, Tuya, is an eagle hunter and also the sister of the Khan's right hand, Chimeg insists that Sayana and Tuya find an araatan and train it. They're all going to die anyway. Tuya, not actually giving advice but doing so anyway, suggests that araatan will live in caves, so they find the closest one. All along this part of the journey, Hogs and Ehri are really really not getting along.

They arrive at a waterfall with a cave behind it and Chimeg sends Sayana and Tuya alone to investigate, but Khun jumps down into the pool at the base of the waterfall and sunbathes naked because of course she does. The cave is very large inside and, quite shockingly, Sayana discovers the araatan she rode is in there. It's obviously injured from falling, but here it is, alive, and sleeping. Now what?!

Hogs and Ehri meanwhile are still fighting. Hogs is tired of always having to apologize and Ehri is still hurt that she left to go after Sayana. Hogs tries to make some stew from their meager supplies and Ehri gives her a small pouch of herbs to add. You think this is a peace offering, but no, she goes right back to not talking to Hogs again. They yell at each other and still aren't back to normal. Here we should probably mention that Ehri is deaf and they all speak to each other using sign language because they are all amazing. There are lots of sharp gestures and hurt feelings between Ehri and Hogs.

Inside the cave, Sayana and Tuya approach the araatan. Bad idea. It wakes up and runs directly for the food that has just walked right to it. It opens its mouth and breathes fire at the two just as they jump out of the cave and into the pool beneath the waterfall. The araatan follows and heads straight toward Tuya. Sayana wants to stop it but Khun grabs her. Since Tuya is a skilled animal trainer, she immediately changes her posture and heads straight for the lizard who backs down and returns to the cave. Everyone is shocked that that worked, but Tuya, with a radiant smile that Sayana definitely notices, explains that, based on the araatan's body language, it is scared and hurt. Chimeg, still being horrible, doesn't seem impressed at all and gives Sayana and Tuya ten days to prove that riding an araatan is a feasible task. She's convinced that Yesuntei is coming for them and really seems to be giving up on Sayana and doesn't seem to care if she lives or dies.

Yesuntei meanwhile is still trying to track the Bone Raiders. She comes across a group and has tortured and killed several of them in the hopes of figuring out which way they went. Her favorite torture tactic is to bury her victims until only their head is above ground and then cover it up with a bucket. She questions one raider and when she mentions that her kidnapped sister is an eagle hunter, the man remembers seeing an eagle toward the marshes. Yesuntei covers the man's head and promises to come back by in a few days to unbury him if his information is accurate.

Back in the cave, Sayana and Tuya, with Khun in the background, keep working with the araatan. They give it medicine that Ehri has made to help heal its wound and feed it an antelope and everyone is still currently alive, but the araatan looks sad? Sayana realizes it hasn't had any water in who knows how long so they rig up a system to bring water into the cave. After refilling a giant tent full of water several times, the araatan drinks its fill and then shares its food with Sayana and Tuya. No. Way. Tuya is ecstatic! This normally takes forever to happen, but the araatan seems to be quickly learning that the two are trying to help it and maybe it's developing some trust. Sayana is dazzled by Tuya’s excitement.

Hogs meanwhile goes for a swim in the pool and tries to invite Ehri, but Ehri is still being standoffish. Hogs tries to play a game of Would You Rather with Ehri, one of their favorite pastimes, and she only half-heartedly plays along. Finally she gives Hogs the it's not you it's me routine and says that she's struggling with using healer knowledge to heal an araatan. Hogs thinks it's great and that she should be proud, but Ehri is still feeling ways about it. Ehri is also upset because things are changing within the group. She's upset about Sayana going off to get an araatan, Chimeg not forcing her out when she did that, Hogs following her and starting to stand up for herself… 

Another raider group comes by and Chimeg recognizes them and sends them on their way with casual threats of violence. They don't stick around long but they do mention that they wouldn't want to be a Bone Raider right now, what with the Khan's right hand currently looking for them. Before leaving, one of the other raiders mentions that they're all getting out of the Tapestry and moving elsewhere and they're not the only ones. They all plan on meeting up soon to head out together. After this, Chimeg tells Sayana that she, Hogs and Ehri are going on a raid in hopes of leading Yesuntei away from their cave but will be back in a few days.

The raid that they go on is absolutely, but cinematically, bonkers. A huge rain storm is approaching and they spot a wagon train that is definitely going to get caught in it. It's an army train, probably moving supplies from one area to another, but army means soldiers, which means three raiders, no matter how terrifyingly covered in bones, would probably not be enough to do anything worthwhile. They proceed anyway, but Ehri is upset by it and even questions Chimeg’s leadership. The raid that takes place in a brilliant storm on the tops of wagons driving into a flood plain is epic. It includes Hogs riding her horse and jumping atop a moving wagon, bashing wagons and soldiers with her club, and being pelted with apples. Unfortunately, the young apple soldier chooses death by flood and drowning even though Hogs tried to keep him alive.

Several days pass and nothing good happens with the araatan. They seem to have made absolutely no more progress, until they do? Sayana is able to get closer to the lizard without it growling menacingly and Tuya recognizes that the lizard is coming to know and trust them. She thinks it can understand more than other animals do. She and Sayana share a brief bit of excitement and Sayana, feeling brave, puts her hand on top of Tuya’s and she doesn't move away immediately. After this, Tuya asks Khun what is in the pouch around her neck. Sayana thinks she's going to say something weird or threaten to eat Tuya, but she tells a remarkable story instead.

Khun carefully removes a small bloom wrapped in moss from her pouch. When she was younger, she had an arranged marriage and it was actually a favorable match. She and her husband had a son and that boy meant everything to Khun. One day, while she was out hunting, and honestly, taking a break from her fussy son for a minute, a viper bit her husband and son, killing them. She tried to join them in death, but couldn't. She couldn't stab herself or walk into the water. She was unable to. And that's when the dead boar she hunted earlier spoke to her in the voice of Father Sky. He told her that she could not die until she atoned for what she did. She began caring for this plant after that. It is a unique plant that takes 20 years to bloom and only blooms for an instant, but she knows that once she is able to help that plant bloom, she will be able to die and join her family. She has tended the bloom now for 18 years, so for two more, she will be unable to die. Now her weird sayings that she can't die actually have meaning.

Tuya then asks why they do what they do. Why is Sayana a raider? Why did she leave her cushy life in Karkorum to get by without doing any work? Sayana can't really explain and asks Tuya why she stays there when she should be out with her eagle hunting and animal training instead. Tuya explains that she's actually helping people escape the capital city in a way that the soldiers and the Khan and her sister don't realize. Oh. Wow. Speaking of her sister, Yesuntei is questioning a man from the wagon train raid and hears that only three Bone Raiders were in on the attack. She wonders why only three? Is that all that is left? Was the man lying? Was it all a ruse? She will get to the bottom of it. The leader of the Eighth who is with her gives her three more days, so she'd better get to the bottom quickly.

Hogs, Ehri and Chimeg make it back from their wagon raid looking a little worse for wear. When they enter the cave, Sayana warns them to move slowly and deliberately so as not to startle the araatan. They listen but nearly panic when the lizard approaches Hogs and slowly gives the raider a little head nudge, almost like it was hoping she brought it a snack and, finding she didn't, shrugged and walked away. Sayana looks to Chimeg to see if she even noticed what just happened, all the progress they've made, but she's distractedly staring out of the waterfall. Ehri ruins the moment by snapping at Hogs, telling her she can never be near the lizard again.

That night, while Hogs is on watch, Ehri approaches with an answer to the WYR question from earlier. She then apologizes for her actions and then Hogs starts to, too, but stops herself because she hasn't done anything wrong. Ehri says she's scared because things are different, but yeah, things change sometimes. Things are maybe getting a little better between them but then, the horses go wild and everything goes to shit. Yesuntei has arrived and she's brought a handful of soldiers with her. Her three days passed so the soldier contingent she had went back to Karkorum, but she was able to gather some less-loyal men and keep them with her. They now have the Rakada surrounded and Yesuntei tells them to surrender.

Nope. Not their style. Hogs, instead of waiting for Chimeg's signal, rushes for Yesuntei and nearly bashes her head in with her club. Arrows start flying, Chimeg hefts her spear and the fight is on. It's not looking so great, but then Khun joins the fray with double daggers. Up in the cave, two men approach and tell Sayana to surrender, but they notice that Tuya isn't being held prisoner. She tries to tell Sayana to give in, but when the men approach, Sayana tells Tuya to run to her freedom, to not go back to the capital. Neither of those things happen because instead, one of the men looses an arrow that strikes Sayana in the shoulder and another that hits the araatan hiding in the back of the cave. Sayana hits the deck just in time for the wave of fire to crisp the men. 

The araatan leaves the cave then and rushes into the rest of the battle, somehow only hurting the attackers and injuring none of the Rakada. It's amazing! After Yesuntei and the remaining men flee, the araatan heads back to snuggle up in its cave. The Bone Raiders celebrate their victory in the best way they know how. They get drunk. Well, everyone but Chimeg that is. She leaves the group and heads away a little to meet with Yesuntei. Yesuntei recognizes Chimeg as a soldier from the capital. She also knows that Chimeg and Ehri did something very bad and escaped trial and now, here they are. She offers Chimeg the chance to return to Karkorum if only she'll hand Tuya over.

The next day, hungover as fuck, Sayana drags herself up and over to the cook fire where there is a delicious broth waiting to be eaten. Tuya hands her a cup and, after taking a fortifying gulp, she wants to ask the eagle hunter why she didn't run the night before. Tuya wanted to see how things turned out with the araatan, even though she could've just found another and started over. Sayana wanted her to say that she felt something between them, but that didn't happen. She decides to shamble back to her blankets and rest her injured arm, but instead, she kinda flops over and collapses. And so does everyone else around the fire-Tuya, Hogs, Khun… even the araatan. What is going on? 

They've been drugged is what's going on. Sayana somehow drags herself to the edge of the cave and sees Chimeg and a few men and Yesuntei. Just when you want to kick Chimeg in the lady balls and feed her to the araatan, she also collapses. Then you see the person you really want to sacrifice to the lizard monster. Ehri. Yesuntei directs her men to grab her sister and the rest of the Rakada, but then the araatan starts freaking out. As it scrambles toward the cave mouth, Sayana somehow grabs a scale and hangs on for dear life. She is pulled out of the cave and into the water below. Yesuntei and her men don't bother going after her, assuming that she's dead or will die soon. Hogs, Chimeg, Khun and Tuya, meanwhile, are captured by Yesuntei, yes even Tuya because she really doesn't want to be involved with her sister. Yesuntei destroys Khun's flower inside her pouch. Things can not get much worse.

Sayana is not dead but she is injured, missing a boot again, missing a sabre, and completely alone. She sets off to find where Yesuntei has probably taken her friends but it's going to take her forever to catch up what with only having the one boot. She spots a single wagon and tries to hitch a ride with the travelers but they recognize her as a raider even though, really, this time, she's definitely not doing any raiding. They nearly kill her, but then an old old man steps out and with very unique and wise eyes, he tells the travelers to let her go because she has many more miles to walk. Sayana gets the weirdest feeling that she just met Father Sky.

Sayana continues her walk until she spots an eagle soaring above her. There's no way that that is Tuya’s eagle, Ayanga, but yes, it is. He soars down and waits impatiently for her to follow and leads her to… the araatan. Channeling her inner Tuya, Sayana approaches the lizard and its entire family?! Sayana realizes that the araatan isn't an it, she's a she and she's a mother with a pack of giant lizard babies. Sayana takes her chances and mounts her araatan and starts to head toward her friends, but instead heads toward the gathering of raiders that were planning on leaving the Tapestry. If she's going to take down the Khan's right hand and rescue her friends, she's going to need more than just herself and a handful of araatan. She needs all the raiders she can muster.

Hogs, Chimeg and Khun are chained up, but they're still alive for some unknown reason. Tuya pleads with her sister to let them go, but Yesuntei refuses. Tuya says she doesn't want to go back to Karkorum, but Yesuntei insists. She even insists that Tuya continue to help people escape, yes, she knew about that, because it gives others hope, if only a little, that she can then no doubt squash out because she's terrible. Instead of continuing to Karkorum now, Yesuntei sends word to the Khan to come meet her and witness the execution of the kidnappers. 

Okay well we can't let that happen. Hogs sees a rock on the ground that she can reach with her foot and remembers Sayana’s ridiculous tale about grabbing a rock with her foot and sawing herself free. She tries to do the same but can't get any purchase on the rock, nor can she bend herself in half like Sayana can with her stupid flexible hips. Chimeg gives it a try and also fails. Hogs knows that Khun could do it, but Khun is entirely elsewhere with the crushing of her plant and the loss of her entire reason for living. Hogs decides enough is enough and snaps Khun out of her depression by telling her that her husband and son aren't here but if they were, they'd be disappointed that Khun is not trying to rescue her living family that is right here and that loves her very much. Khun effortlessly foot grabs the rock and soon, they are all free.

Sayana meanwhile gathers a lot of the other raider clans with a rousing speech about conquering the Khan's army together. Only some of the really very stupid raiders are eaten by lizards. Before they begin their charge, Sayana is asked what her araatan is called because it’s bad luck to ride into battle on a nameless mount. One name immediately springs to mind: Princess. Yeah, it’s the nickname that the other Rakada call her and have called her since she left the capital and joined them, but it’s really fitting for her lizard. Together they charge for Yesuntei. One of the Khan's lackeys comes in his stead to witness the execution but then, oh shit, there's a bunch of raiders, and then, oh shit, there's an araatan, and then, oh shit! there are MORE araatan!

A mighty fracas ensues with raiders yelling battle cries and soldiers and some raiders, honestly, screaming and running around after being set on fire by the baby araatan. Arrows fly everywhere, araatan tails punch horses in the face, it’s chaos. Sayana spots Hogs and Khun and rides Princess their way. It’s a very happy reunion until she doesn’t spot Chimeg, but don’t worry, she’s still there, she’s just buried up to her neck, Yesuntei-style. Sayana gives her one remaining sabre to Hogs to cut herself free, but Khun’s there to help having already freed herself on Princess’s claws. Chimeg opts to remain buried and sends her raiders off to enter the fray.

Sayana rushes into battle, but not to fight. This time, she’s looking for Tuya. She finds her in a cage and uses Princess’s tail to bash her free. Tuya then climbs right up behind Sayana, bow poised, ready to join the action. They ride into battle, which is interesting because no one really notices them charging up on a giant lizard. Unfortunately, someone does notice and shoots an arrow directly into Princess’s eye, causing Sayana and Tuya to fly off. That someone is Yesuntei.

Yesuntei charges at Sayana and Tuya. She knocks her sister out and sweeps Sayana off her feet, jamming a sabre into her armor. Sayana tries to push her back, but Yesuntei is disgustingly strong. With a bloody smile, Yesuntei stabs down and twists her blade. Then, all of a sudden, there is a screeching wail. Khun comes literally flying over Yesuntei in a tornado of blades and teeth and stabs her to death. Violently. And with pleasure.

After the battle, which was definitely won for the Raiders thanks to the baby lizards fucking literally everything up and eating and burning friends and foes alike, Hogs spots Ehri, still alive, saddled up and presumably headed to Karkorum, the Khan's lackey trying to hitch a ride. Ehri, who is deaf remember, really seems to pretend to not understand him and as much as we hate Ehri, it's pretty funny. Hogs wants Ehri to face them, all of them, for what she brought upon them, but somehow, she lets her go. She knows she will never be able to forgive Ehri for what she's done, but she also knows she doesn't have to. 

As Sayana is sitting with an injured but overall well Princess, Tuya approaches them. After a couple of attempts to get the words out, Sayana asks Tuya to stay, to stay in the Tapestry, to stay with her. After a brief kiss on the cheek, Tuya says no. She can't forgive Sayana right now for everything she's done, not even just kidnapping her to train an araatan, but everything she's done as a raider. There are lots of things that Tuya needs to do, but she's not going back to Karkorum, so at least there's that. Tuya mounts a horse and rides away. Soon, Hogs, Khun and Chimeg approach, definitely checking to make sure that Sayana is okay, but then they ask… what the fuck do we do now? 

A few months later, the Khan, about to eat a delicious pear picked at the peak of perfection, receives word that someone has come to speak to him. He rides out on horseback to greet the visitor, his daughter, clad in bone, and her giant lizard. Sayana tells her father that he's going to leave the Tapestry alone, stop making people move to the capital, stop forcing people to join his army, stop telling everyone what they can and cannot do. He scoffs at this, questioning how she alone plans to stop him, but oh no, Sayana is not alone. She gives a whistle and three more Rakada, covered in bones, ride up on their own araatan, also wearing bones, followed by many, many other raiders on horseback. Sayana tells her father that he will stay out of the Tapestry because it belongs to them now, and they will protect whoever chooses to live there. She guides Princess to turn, knocking the Khan off his horse, and rides back to her friends.