Jon Gilliam

1451 Sharon Park Dr.

Sharon Hill, PA 19079

The Tegral
Word count: 1,963 words

jcgilliam@comcast.net
610-583-6970

The tegral bared its teeth and, tensing from sleek feline limb to limb, betrayed
signs of indecision about its next move. Secila forced waves of self-control through her
thoughts, overcoming the fear that could overpower the stance of power and selfassurance she projected toward the tegral. It was this that made the tegral unsure, and
fear would mark her as the prey. She would not be prey.
The sounds of life from the jungle became deadened by the thud of Secilas pulse,
while simultaneously the slight sounds of the looming threat of the tegral were louder still
in her ears. Time and actions slowed, but then as her senses sharpened in anticipation of
the attack, she felt the tegrals moment of irresolution, the delay that could deny the force
that would have her. Now would be the moment that this life gave her the chance to
again slip past the spirits of the next.
Secila played on the animals uncertainty, enforcing a bluff of ready power that
humored the tegral and its impending attack, and slowly with an easy calm, she began
reaching toward her waist. A plain green and brown tunic covered and disguised her
athletic body, and also distinguished her as a Searcher, one who found both food and
spirit in the jungle. The tegral too was a Searcher, hunting the physical food and spirit
food to bring back to its own. But Secila began a slow, hypnotic swaying of her body
that masked the motion of her hand reaching towards the magic that might bring safety,
and perhaps even a chance to capture the spirit power of the tegral itself.
Surrounding Secila behind the tegral was the dark canopy of the jungle, but
behind her a stone cliff was flooded in sunlight, tuffs of straggling vegetation littering the
otherwise sheer face on one side. The magic she reached for would leave the tegral blind

Page 1 of 6

Jon Gilliam
1451 Sharon Park Dr.
Sharon Hill, PA 19079

The Tegral
Word count: 1,963 words

jcgilliam@comcast.net
610-583-6970

and confused, but only for a few moments while she could make an escape to the cliff.
But the battle was more than just escape. She was a Searcher, by need and by right as
predatory as the tegral itself, and only one of them would survive. Escape could only be
a means to a different end, one that delivered to her tribe the body and spirit of a tegral
Searcher. From the tegral itself would be distilled the magic essence she would now use
against it, and her tribes Scon Priestess would be very pleased to have another delivered
to her. Even the men would understand the magnitude of the event, as they went about
their menial chores for the preparations that the Priestess would direct.
A few heartbeats passed as she studied the cliff, and as her hand found the Druffskin bag at her side, the terrain and cliff came together in her mind, and she began to feel
the kill become hers! The tegral advanced, treading lightly over roots and sparse shoots
on the jungle floor, preparing its pounce. Without yet the physical signs, the situation had
still changed. The bluff of power had held long enough, and Secila was now ready.
A moment tensely passed as the tegrals resolution built, and at the height of it the
animal gave her jump! Tegral instincts and muscles moved in a practiced and efficient
union as bared fangs and extended claws leapt to the air. Secila had the magic from her
Scons pouch, and her motions changed from the slow, mocking snakes dance to a flash
of movement, bringing a carved bone-tube to her lips and blowing a white dusty powder
towards the tegrals face where it adhered to the moist eyes, nose, and gaping mouth. The
silently executed leap was replaced by sounds of pain and confusion.
Secila immediately responded with an accelerating dash towards the cliff face, as
the tegrals blinded jump followed a fluid arc ending at where she had just stood. But this
tegral, strong and powerful, thrashed in the air with flash-quick reflexes, now urged on by

Page 2 of 6

Jon Gilliam
1451 Sharon Park Dr.
Sharon Hill, PA 19079

The Tegral
Word count: 1,963 words

jcgilliam@comcast.net
610-583-6970

animal anger and keen senses that the blinding powder had only muted. Extended
slashers raked through the air almost missing, but then catching the target not with the
fatal depth that was their aim, but with enough force that Secila felt a hot pain slice
through her back as she was thrown to the ground. Solid rock impacted against her side.
Moments passed, and a small panic built as Secila at first could not regain her
breath, and then subsided as her breath returned, replace then by edges of fear. The offbalance end to the tegrals jump left the animal lying on the ground, but she quickly
stood, still confused by the magic, shaking her head and wavering on her feet. But,
Secila knew this would not last, and there was only so much time before the pain from
the wounds and the fall would set in. The path to the cliff suddenly seemed much longer,
but she struggled to stand and then stumbled a bit over the rocks making quickly towards
the cliff. Looking back, the tegral struggled also, regaining its balance in the lightshadow barrier cast by the cliff.
The rocky cliff was a hard climb, but Secila directed thoughts that wanted to
become fear into an energy that brought speed. Pain began to shoot through her as she
reached up with her arm on the side that had taken the brunt of the fall. A spirit flashed
around one of the rocks. Secila saw the gray and black streaked apparel of the Spirit of
Suffering hovering there, waiting its turn to feed. It eased its way among the boulders,
and projected insidious thoughts into her head of the rocks and danger below. She began
reciting a dispelling verse as she reached for the next solid hold on the rocks.
Now the growl of the tegral returned, and glancing over her shoulder she could
see it begin its approach to the cliff. Secila quickly estimated the distances, and then
smiled. She was high enough! The tegral now at the bottom of the cliff stood on its

Page 3 of 6

Jon Gilliam
1451 Sharon Park Dr.
Sharon Hill, PA 19079

The Tegral
Word count: 1,963 words

jcgilliam@comcast.net
610-583-6970

hind feet and swiped upwards with its claws, but to no effect. Growls of frustration
began below, along with unsuccessful leaps upwards towards Secila. The anger was
building in the tegral, and this would be its undoing as fury left it to claw upwards at the
escaped prey that was now beyond its reach.
Above, Secila saw an outcropping where a bent and malformed tree spread its
roots over the rock, reaching for whatever soil could be found amid the rocky
escarpment. Secila hoisted herself quickly up onto the ledge, and turned to examine what
was now her prey.
Below, the animals fury had not yet abated, and it was alternating pacing with
unreasoning lunges towards the cause of its frustration. Secilas Scon pouch held another
surprise for the tegral. She carefully pulled a small, sharpened bone from a leather
sheath, and positioned it in the bone-tube. The smell of the potent berries and dried blood
came from the crusted needle-bone as Secila inhaled deeply, causing her side to ache, and
aimed downward towards the tegral. Timing the rate of the animals pace, she let the dart
fly with a burst of breath propelling the poisoned needle, which lodged solidly in the
shoulder. Now Secilas smile widened, observing the location of the hit and judging it
good.
At first the tegral was even more enraged by the pain of the puncture and
increased its lunges towards the cliff. These assaults, though, quickly grew weaker, and
as the animal began to falter Secila could see its realization that something was terribly
wrong. But now the danger increased for Secila, because the magic that could be
extracted from the tegral would be lost if the animal was a magic-kill. Magic could
provide the means, but it could not take the life, or else the spirits who had lent their

Page 4 of 6

Jon Gilliam
1451 Sharon Park Dr.
Sharon Hill, PA 19079

The Tegral
Word count: 1,963 words

jcgilliam@comcast.net
610-583-6970

power during the creation of the magic would reclaim their investment by taking the
tegrals spirit for themselves.
Secila returned the items to her Scons pouch and began the climb back down the
cliff, turning to watch the tegral as it collapsed on the ground and began to pant.
Reaching the base of the cliff, Secila pulled a knife from a sheath on her calf. The blade
was muted and mottled in color and did not attract attention. She approached the tegral
with the respect due an enemy not unlike herself, an enemy without hate or resentment,
one that was only the competition that is the course of how the strong survive. With a
controlled speed, Secila made the kill, dodging the tegrals clumsy efforts to fend her off,
and spilling red blood on the rocks. As the life flowed from the wound, so did the magic
that subdued the animal, and the kill became the right of the Scon tribe. The spirits had
contributed their share, and they began to gather around expecting to collect the gain, but
Secila waved her knife around and above the body, chanting the instructions that the
spirits would follow to collect their due later when the tribe made their sacrifice.
Secila could now collect part of her own due, putting her hands on the body of the
tegral and pulling the spirit of the tegral within her. The life of the tegral flashed before
her, and once more part tegral, she grabbed the body of the animal by the scruff of its
neck, as if she were its mother, and pulled it up with the spirits borrowed strength onto
her back. The anger left from the tegrals assault filled her and dulled the pain from the
wounds on her back. She began the walk towards the Scon tribes gathering spot,
Harituk, village of fires and falling waters, and where the Priestess could start the
preparations to bring the tegrals power to the whole tribe.

Page 5 of 6

Jon Gilliam
1451 Sharon Park Dr.
Sharon Hill, PA 19079

The Tegral
Word count: 1,963 words

jcgilliam@comcast.net
610-583-6970

She would later not clearly remember the journey through the jungle in part-tegral
form, but she would remember pausing at the entrance of the village to paint blood from
the tegral into the mark of the Searcher on her tunic and over her face. She entered the
village as the suns shadows were long and the fires had already been built in the center
of the clearing with the tribe gathered around. Conversation stopped, and all eyes turned
toward her as she proudly approached, a Seeker for the Priestess of Scon returning with
the spirit-power and strength of the jungle and gifting them to the tribe that in turn would
give her their spirit and strength. Secila dropped the animal to the ground, and surveyed
those gathered, looking into each of their eyes, seeing both gratitude and the edges of
fear.
Only the Priestess would know who it was, the one of the tribe now marked by
the spirits, the payment for the magic that brought down the tegral. But Secila was eager
to deliver that spirit too. The spirit of the tegral she would not keep, as the Priestess
would take all of its power, but the sacrifice yet to come was different. Secila looked up
towards the sky, and felt the draw of it, the tension that pulled her skyward back to the
spirit realm she was conjured from. The spirit of the tribes sacrifice she would share
with those in that realm, and in return they would permit her to remain among the tribe,
to continue the highest joy that the spirit may attain, to serve her tribe with her power and
strength until the spirit of the jungle would someday take back its own. And then she
would be the one carried to the fires on the back of the next eager spirit.

Page 6 of 6