In the copse of trees in the park, panic reigned after the disappearance of the female witch.
“Um, everybody holds hands!” the other witch cried. He was met with blank and confused stares from the other survivors. “Quick, before it comes back.”
“Alright,” Adam Detweiler said, as the group linked their hands in a messy knot with many arms crossing over each other. “We’re holding hands. Why?”
“We’re being hunted,” the witch said. “Some… some kind of stalking beast. You can sometimes fool large predators by appearing bigger than you actually are.”
“So instead of eight helpless little animals, we’re one big one,” Percival Lee said. “Will that work?”
“I think so,” the witch said. “I’m just spitballing so far.”
“Right,” Detweiler said. “So, what else have you got?”
“Uh… I’m thinking,” the witch said. He was a young man… maybe eighteen, maybe younger.
“What’s your name, kid?” Lee asked.
“Adam,” the witch said.
“No shit? That’s my name,” Detweiler said. “Come on, though, seriously… what else?”
“Right, um… let’s try to get in a circle, facing out,” Adam the witch said.
“So we can see it coming?” Detweiler asked. “Whatever’s out there seems invisible.”
“It’s the principle of perception,” Adam said. “If we can clearly see that it’s not coming, it might not be able to.”
The group hurriedly rearranged themselves into a ring.
“This is insane, it will never work,” a woman said. The whole circle was jerked off balance as she was suddenly whisked away with barely a chance to scream.
“Close the gap!” Lee shouted. “She’s gone.”
“We’re down to seven,” a man moaned.
“Seven’s good,” Adam said quickly. “Lucky… it’s a strong number. We’re safe now. Everybody remember that. Believe it. We’re safe now.”
“Safe for now, you mean,” Detweiler said. “Do you really picture us standing here until sunrise like this?”
“It’s a start,” Lee said. “We’ve got breathing room now… a little space to think.”
“Let’s start thinking, then,” Detweiler said. “And let’s do it fast.”
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Oh yeah, Seven is a luck number. One is a lonely number. Love the drama. Great job AE.
**remembers The Rules from Chapter 1**
I think Adam the Witch has it right. If they *believe* they’re safe, they probably will be … for a while at least.
Great read, as always AE!
Everything must obey the rules. This does not mean you know what the rules are, even if you think you do, or that everything obeys the same rules.
@Stormcaller: There is an exception to every rule, including this one.
That’s just an example of what I was saying about not everything following the same rules. That’s one of the rules that some things follow but others don’t.
Which might well be the logical version of a slip knot. Or maybe a square knot.
Oh how I love it when Tribe updates, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!
I love magical logic. “If we can clearly see it’s not coming, it might not be able to.”
I’m serious. In a world with magic, that’s pretty good thinking.
Faith will protect us, doubt will doom us
Ah. It feels good to be caught up on Tribe.
This is definitely the best chapter so far. I love Michael, and I’m on the edge of my seat in regards to what’s happening with this stalking beast. Looking forward to more.
Believing their safe might actually work. After all, it was the one who didn’t believe that was taken.
Erm, they’re not their. It’s late.
This always makes me think about the logic in magic, or at least how it seems in Tribe. Like:
‘I am alone, yes. But! I can hear, so I should hear you coming. I can smell, and monsters stink, thusly, you stink. Thusly, I will smell you. I can see, and where I can’t see, I can still hear and smell. I can’t see, hear or smell you, so you are, in fact, not coming to get me.’
I love the magic in this story! We need to see more of Woe. I kinda wish youd an artists to do illustrations, I bet shes cute.
When will we get more tribe? I love tales of mu, but I’ve gotten a bit attached to the short but very funny chapters of this story, and void dogs as well. I keep seeing people I know..
I love MU (and started reading it first so I feel I own some strange sense of loyalty to it) but Tribe is what I am waiting for on the edge of my seat. With every new chapter I am drawn further into this compelling story and no matter what comes next I am sure it will have been worth the wait.
Ok…I know I have been really patient…but its getting difficult…how come we haven’t gotten an update in so long??
More please, yes?
ok whats up? how come we don’t have an update yet??
I understand if you are busy, but an explanation of why Tales of Mu is getting updated and Tribe hasn’t gotten updated in almost a month would be really nice.
This is an amazing story. I just read Void Dogs, so I had to come a-browsing. Of course, first I stumbled upon MU, but I really do prefer this. And Void Dogs. Only the updating pattern seems sort of sketchy. It says Mon-Fri, but this doesnt seem to be the case. And this is sad. Is there anyway we could get, if not updates daily, at least more predictable ones so we (or maybe just me) aren’t checking daily and then being sad? *Hopeful puppy dog face*
Thank you for lovely stories, AE.
The bottom line is that less people read this than Void Dogs or (obviously) Tales of MU, so when my life or schedule or computer gets disrupted (all have happened in the past month), it’s the one that suffers. I will start updating it again next Monday.
Oh goody! Thanks, very much, AE.
I love a reason to look forward to Mondays.
(And I love Void Dogs, too!)
Also looking forward to Tribe updates. I’ve been checking just about every day lately. I love this story.
Well, fewer people may read this than Tales of MU, but one more is reading it now. Because having read all the way through MU, I pounced on this one next as it looked the most interesting of the remaining ones. And I’m definitely hooked.
Has it got an RSS feed I could access through LJ? There doesn’t seem to be one listed in the meta block at the side…
Oh geez. I can’t believe I came to the end of this already!
Ms. Erin, I’ve been following you since ToMU was on LJ and only just started reading Tribe and just like all these other commenters I’m hooked!
Can’t wait for the next one.
Once again, shades of H2G2. The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal believes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you, and thus covering your eyes will prevent it from attacking you. Jericho is a place of perfect logic.