This is my new short story which is a fantasy/romance. It's 14,000 words. I have half available at http://www.rkphunt.com/tales.html and the other half I am using to get my forum active. In order to read it one must have a registered account at my forum at http://www.rkphunt.com/forum and have ten posts. Then I will give them the password to the Feral Hearts forum. Sorry! I had to do something!

Walking through the woods, I hastened my steps and my pet wolf kept up with me. I had been a fool again, testing my luck out here, and had strayed too far away from the other women. Though I wasn’t sure if the noises that I heard where them, I wasn’t about to find out. Getting back to group was my safest option, and so I hurried along until I was eventually running. If they didn’t know I was aware of them before that, then they knew now.

As I reached the clearing where I had left my group, I was met with nothing but an empty meadow. The other women must of returned to the village, never noticing that I wasn’t there. I gasped when I heard the sound of breaking twigs behind me, only to find my wolf, Fergo. My heart throbbed in my chest, and I took off where I knew I would eventually see the huts of my village.

I didn’t want to drop my basket, I had collected many fruits and nuts that day and it would be all I would have to eat for the next week. Without it, I would have to do chores and favors for the other women. Keeping my quickened paces, I ran towards the north knowing that my village wasn’t much further ahead. Fergo thought we were playing a game, and he would occasionally nip at my heels.

Turning my head slightly, I looked over my shoulder, and there they were. Seven males with spears, dressed in nothing more then loin cloths and leather moccasins. My people were the Tehegas, we lived a peaceful life with nature. Women were allowed to stay within the villages, but few men could. They either had to show a vicious dominance towards the other men who would throw them out or get a female in the village to claim them as their mate.

The women didn’t care much for taking a single male as their mate, as it limited their food options. Males were the only ones that hunted and fished, so if their mate didn’t do well that particular day then they would also starve. Where a female without a mate, could offer herself to a male in exchange for the meat he had caught.

At the age of sexual maturity, any males where sent out of the village. They could return when they were older and claim dominance, or they would become part of the Exiles. They were a group of males that would hunt together, whether that be pray to eat or stray females that had gone too far from the village, like I had done. Sometimes they would take a female so they could give her a child and then they would be able to rejoin the village, and other times they would use her until she died. Death could be from many things, starvation and blood loss happened the most often.

The seven men behind me where no doubt the Exiles, as I didn’t recognize them from the men of my village. There were around a hundred people in my community and only twenty of them were males, I knew who all the men were. As soon as they saw me, they began to chase me. I had to get to my village quickly or at least in sight of it, where I could call out to the protecting males there.

I heard them calling me to stop, as if I was stupid enough to do as they ordered of me. The village wasn’t far now. I could see the top of the huts, and I began screaming as loud as I could.

“Exiles!” I cried out again and again.

The approaching village didn’t stop the men from chasing me, as long as no males came out to protect me they would be alright. Sometimes when the men were away they would attack the village and rape any women. I was too young the last time they did that, after so many women were hurt, the men never again all left at the same time.

“Exiles!” I screamed and saw one of the women from my village run towards the large bonfire, most likely to tell the males.

I knew that if I could get into the village that the Exiles would stop chasing me, but what I wasn’t aware of was that one of them had caught up. He tackled me to the ground, sending my basket of fruits and nuts flying. Fergo had a fear of men, after my father had kicked him several times, so he was of no use. The wolf merely stuck his tail between his legs and ran into the village, probably to hide in my hut.

Flipping me around, the dark haired, dark eyed stranger looked me over briefly. My blonde locks covered my soft features, he ran his hands over my thin form as if he were inspecting me. My only hope now was that the female that went to get help, would bring a male here before this Exile took me back to his camp.

I noticed that the other men that had been chasing me were now leaving. It was as if this one had won, and now they conceded to their loss. Most males in my village fought over a woman, but the simple act of chasing me seemed to inform them of the victor.

I continued to scream the word exile until my captor put his hand over my mouth, which I then bit. He didn’t flinch or even jerk his hand away, it was as if he was expecting me to bite him.
“Shut up.” He growled, shoving his hand further into my mouth.

Looking up at him, I was nearly stunned. I knew this man, I hadn’t seen him in at least eight winters… not since our thirteenth summer. We use to play in the fields together as children until my father had decided that we were becoming too close. He had been the one to scare this man from our village. I reached up and pulled his hand from my mouth, and he allowed me to do so.
“Rashe?” I asked.

He looked at me suspiciously, unsure as to how I knew his name, no doubt.

“It’s me, Akilah.”

Quickly, he brushed my hair from my face to reveal my familiar facial structure. I inhaled deeply now that my hair was no longer slowly suffocating me. Rashe looked like he had been through much since I had last seen him. There was a large scar starting at his left upper forehead and cutting across his face to the right side of his chin. His face was still sharp and masculine, but he looked angry. Not like the light hearted boy that I had befriended so long ago.

I knew trying to make him remember me would do nothing for me. He had been an Exile for eight winters now, and probably hadn’t given our old friendship a second thought. I was proven correct when he placed his hand back over my mouth, and ordered me into silence again.

Standing up, he grabbed my hair to pull me up as well. When I cried out in pain, he again told me to be quiet. I can’t say what happened as I had been looking at the ground, or rather he had my face pointed towards the ground. But suddenly Rashe let go and he tumbled to the ground with another male atop of him. I stumbled some and was caught by the large hands of my father, Gruke.

The man who had tackled Rashe was one of the younger males named Daico. He hit Rashe at least four times, before the Exile stood up and began to run towards the woods. I shivered some when Rashe yelled that he wasn’t finished me with and would be back.

When he was no longer in sight, my father pushed me forward and growled. “You know better then to wander off on your own.”

“I’m sorry.” I bowed my head to appear more submissive.

“The next time this happens, no one will help you.” He barked then turned around to head back to the community bonfire.

With a deep sigh, I released my fears and began to pick up the fruit that had fallen out of my basket. Daico stayed to help me and to ensure that Rashe didn’t come back. He was a young male around my own age. He hadn’t been forced from the village due to his large size and that he kept to himself. Most males didn’t want to fight anyone larger then them. By the time that Daico was suppose to be sent away, he was nearly the size of most of the males. I believe that the growing female population was adding strain on our males, so they also were somewhat welcoming of a new larger male.

Daico was smart enough to stay away from the high standing males, and never bothered the females unless they offered him themselves for meat. I never had to do such a thing, as I was always the one who ventured furthest and collected the most vegetation. My sister, Suke, was a small female and hated to forage. So, she would instead offer herself to gain a great deal of meat and then would trade me some of my fruits for her sun dried meat.

“Thank you.” I said to Daico when he offered me the last of my berries. I grabbed a handful of them and some nuts and offered them to him. “For helping me.” I said when he looked at me curiously.

He nodded his head and held out his hands.

I placed my smaller hands over his own and dropped my handfuls into his palms. Both my handfuls filled half of his cupped hands. With that done, I spun around and ran to my hut where I knew I would find Suke.