She looked confused trying to understand his attempt. He said it again.
“You love,” she said after a few awkwardly thoughtful breaths.
“One person for all life. Love,” he said and Nomi was terribly confused but also thrilled at discussing such a topic. All of this was new to her. He spoke of a different world entirely. “Why one for life?”
Good question.
“For big love,” he said and seemed pleased with himself.
She thought on this impracticality. Wouldn’t it be a little boring to wake up beside the same face every day? That said, with Erroh it would take quite a long time before she tired of him. “Are you happy?” she asked and Erroh raised his chain and an eyebrow.
“Happy with big love with one person,” she said quickly and her face reddened. He looked out into the darkness beyond the ever-constant snow-covered forests and steep mountains and she could see true sorrow in his face. She suddenly felt the urge to embrace him.
“I miss her,” he whispered and turned away sadly.
Nomi lay in her makeshift cot but couldn’t sleep. She found herself turning, twisting, and quickly tiring of every position she settled in. For so long she had always thought in black and white. Things were or they were not. As a child, she was told certain things and she believed without question but as she had grown older, dark questions about the Arth and the Hunt had entered her mind. She knew she wasn’t alone in her thinking. She thought about those closest to her and bit back the tears. She never spoke out of matters herself. Was it because she still believed in Uden and his cause? Or was she just scared to die? She thought about Erroh. She thought about him in her bed. In her. What’s more, afterwards she would let him hold her in his arms for a time. That would be nice.
Her mind spun.
If he gave her a child, would it be tainted like the father? And was she tainted for thinking these thoughts? These matters were not simply black and white. She turned over and peeked out the flap at the prisoner. She thought about his rejection and felt the sting afresh. He turned down her approaches because he was thinking of one female far away. In truth, Nomi liked that thought. It brought a smile to her face. It was nicer than the truth. The truth was awful sometimes. He would never see his “one for life” ever again. These black thoughts hurt Nomi deeply. He didn’t deserve to die. None of those poor fools holding that town deserved to die. She had killed one of them. It had been an easy shot. Nobody had even noticed. The girl had simply stopped moving as the flames had overcome her and she had returned the crossbow back to the armoury while most drunkenly revelled in their pathetic victory.
She sat back in bed and tried not to think of him anymore. She closed her eyes, nestled into her cot, and imagined a world where one for life was enough and swiftly she fell asleep.
The chain pulled at Erroh painfully and he stumbled forward. His chest felt like a tight fist and each breath he took was exhausting. He wrapped her cloak around him and it offered a little reprieve but in truth, the march was choking the life out of him. He couldn’t shake the ominous feeling. He knew he was to meet their false god Uden but he didn’t believe he would survive another week at this rate.
“It’s not a good cough,” she said from beside him, no more than a foot away. She had taken to walking with him these days and he didn’t mind the company. What would Lea think?
“Still be fit to die,” he said grimly and coughed a few more times until the cart jerked him again.
“Don’t want Erroh to die,” she said.
The snow struck as evening hit. The land darkened and the harshest wind Erroh had ever felt tore down the mountains through their convoy. With the gale came a terrible blizzard. All around him, his captors swiftly brought the convoy near to the treeline and began preparations for the storm ahead. He looked for her but she was nowhere to be seen. The snow whipped his face painfully and soon enough a wall of white was all he could see. His mind raced at the thought of attempting an escape but it was the raving thoughts of a cub nearing his end. If he somehow managed to break heavy iron and lose himself in the blizzard, he wouldn’t last an hour. With no better cover at his disposal, he huddled in against the wheel and waited for the storm to pass by. His hands became numb and he found himself unable to close them into a fist. So cold. He felt his chest tighten as he gasped for air and then he collapsed. Too cold for anything else, he closed his eyes and wondered would the darkness be warmer.
Nomi hooked the tent sheet against the side of the cart and fought her hair as it waved madly in the gusts, blinding and stinging her. He lay motionless below her and she screamed for him but he did not stir. She dug some pegs into the ground and hooked the cover up over them both. It wasn’t the finest tent she had ever erected but it would keep some of the snow off their heads. The break from the hazardous wind tapered greatly and she quickly took some kindling from a cart and started to make a fire in a clear space under the cart. She cursed loudly as the flint failed to ignite the little bundle again but his shaking hand reached out, took her tools, and began to work at the little fire. The spark took hold immediately and a little flame caught the bundle of dry wood. Within moments, the little fire was warming their freezing world. She dropped a few logs down alongside the kindling and they took turns setting them to burn as night fell upon them and the storm began to ease its fury. By the time Erroh had thawed the night had cleared. Soon after that they heard the sound of footsteps.
Menacing footsteps.
“Nomi come to my tent,” a male voice called out and Erroh recognised it as the brute who had put to light Aireys and stolen his alcohol. The figure bent down and pulled at their tent irritably before gesturing to his own perfectly erected lodging. She sighed, shook her head, and placed a log into the fire. Her bed mate was chosen for the night.
“No tonight Oren,” she said dismissively as though he was a pup eager for a scrap.
“You want spend time with tainted little dead man?” he sneered.
“He’s my pet,” she said and stroked Erroh’s arm.
The thug growled and reached for her roughly. He pulled her out into the storm before she had a chance to scream.
“I’ll show who my pet is,” he roared striking her across the face and shoving her violently to the ground.
A few other brutes looked up from their own tents, to see what the noise was. They saw Oren manhandle Nomi and figured it was on Oren’s own head. She was capable enough.
Rage surged through Erroh. He jumped up from the tent and charged. Beaten for protecting him? The brute was almost twice her size. How could he? He tried to attack Oren but his body jerked viciously as the chain reached its length and held firm. For a brief moment, he was suspended in mid-air as his feet kicked out until gravity pulled him down into the snow. He roared in frustration and shock and though lying in the snow seemed like the thing to do, he struggled to his feet and embraced the hatred he thought was lost to him. He roared and tried to goad the brute to face him.
He needn’t have bothered.
Nomi hated these ridiculous acts of aggression and pettiness. Oren couldn’t touch Uden’s offering so he punished her instead. He’d struck her once with an open palm and sent her to the wet snow but it was the outlandish bellowing laugh, which irked her greatly. Fine leader of this finger he was. She got to her feet and tried to wipe the clumps of snow sticking to her but her clothes were already soaked through.
This irked her most of all.
She moved with less grace than Lea but that didn’t make her any less devastating. She stormed up to him and swung a frozen fist across the bridge of his nose before he realised what she was doing. There was a loud crack and then a scream and the beast stumbled under the strike. She followed up with a fierce kick to the groin and he fell to his knees. Blood spurted from his nose and he moaned pathetically in his brutish language that she “might have broken nose.”
She hissed like a wildling hunting a crow and delivered a final strike once again to his nose. The loud
crunch confirmed that yes; she had indeed broken his nose. Shattered would be a better description.
“No one’s pet,” she roared as he slid cumbersomely in the slippery ground desperate to escape her. She stood over him and repeated the words until he understood and squirmed away towards the nearest campfire holding the remains of his face.
“Weak leader. Uden not see,” she muttered under her breath before wiping the blood from her knuckles and walking back to Erroh. “Silly pet,” she said gently when she saw the damage the chain had inflicted on his waist. She pushed him back into the warmth and safety of the little campsite. “Nomi make bad tent but still better here for night with Erroh,” she said and stroked his arm again. He shook his head and pushed her arm away and she laughed.
She pointed to herself, back to him, and said in the most patronising terms she could muster, “Only talking with pet.”
She touched her lips. They were luscious and tempting.
She pointed to his. They were cracked and broken.
“No kissing,” she said in that same patronising tone.
“No kissing,” he agreed as they huddled together for survival.
Every Step of the Way
She began to remove her clothes.
“What are you doing?” he cried in his native tongue as she wriggled out of her trousers one leg at a time. They were very good legs. She probably had no trouble walking on them. Lying on her back with the skill of a whore who removed her clothing swiftly, she removed her clothing swiftly and began rubbing her freezing legs in front of the fire. If he dared to look, he could have seen wonderful things beyond her legs but instead he turned away.
“What are you doing?” he said in her language. She wrapped a blanket around her legs and rear and began to remove her shirt.
“Soaked through,” she explained as though it was no small matter. But it was a matter. She was far too close wearing far too little. He found a stain in the tent to stare at while she removed the shirt and left it drying by the flames.
“Just skin. You look. Nomi not mind,” she said casually.
He wanted to look more than anything else in the world but if he did, he was doomed. He was but a weakened cub.
“No,” he whispered slowly.
“Erroh not think Nomi good?” she asked.
“Erroh think Nomi beautiful but no look,” he said begging the gods for a reprieve. He wondered if they were enjoying the sight.
“One for life?” She asked.
“One for life,” he said and she began to wrap her blanket around her chest.
“Nomi could be one for life in Hunt,” she jested tapping him on the shoulder and displaying her complete lack of nudity. See, skin all covered up.
“Nomi might find one for life in Hunt,” he suggested.
“Maybe Oren,” she sniggered.
“Maybe Mish when big,” Erroh said and she laughed loudly. He laughed too until he began to cough. It was a dreadful wet struggle, which made his vision darken until a desperate hack cleared the air. She pulled the tent flap open to clear the stagnant air and he couldn’t help notice the look of worry on her face.
“You are weak,” she said taking his arm roughly in her calloused hands. She rolled his sleeve up and squeezed at his muscles. She shook her head disapprovingly and the reproach stung him. What did she expect after months of walking without respite?
Why did she really care anyway?
Why did he care what she thought anyway?
She fingered the freezing chain that cut into his waist and sighed. She ran her finger along the mark and he hissed at her touch. It stung and it was wonderful. He could smell a faint odour of sweat and the road on her body and he felt enchanted again. He could easily just reach out and tease the blanket from her body.
What did it matter if he leapt upon her anyway?
It would be nothing more but a last act of pleasure before the end?
Lea wouldn’t know. Lea wouldn’t need to know. What if Lea was already dead?
“You were not weak in battle,” she said wistfully.
He could just pull her to him.
“You were incredible when you fought,” she said in that same tone and he took hold of her covering.
“But now you are little weak pet,” she said.
He pulled gently at her blanket and she noticed.
“You will meet Uden the Woodin man, weak as pup,” she said.
He felt stirrings and his heart beat wildly with excitement.
“And you will die and Hunt will burn world because Erroh not strong opponent,” she said and squeezed his arm.
Opponent?
“Strong opponent?” Erroh asked suddenly and released his grasp on her coverings. She raised an eyebrow. Was she tempting him? Or simply playing a part? “What do you mean?” he asked and all thoughts of her body were lost beneath a wave of vengeance.
She fastened back her covering and opened the flap on her satchel and removed a little hand blade and a small little pouch of tiny potatoes. “You live because Uden need strongest opponents. Erroh special. You face army screaming. Oren choose you,” she said and began cutting them up into thin slices and placing them aside. She poured a light brown liquid onto the slices of potato and kneaded each thin piece. She reached into her pack and took out a little sack of salt. If there would be no play, there was always food.
“You top line?” she asked. He didn’t understand. She tried again.
“First of bloodline?” she said warily.
“Alphaline?” he said in his own tongue and her face lit up.
“Sit-e,” she said pointing at him. “Spirk Sit-e,” she said and he nodded and she was delighted and he wondered had he revealed a worrying secret to her.
“Oren bring Erroh Alfa-lion fight Uden. Big honour for Oren. Become general army,” she said and he finally understood why he alone was spared and his anger grew.
“Oren already general army,” he hissed in a terrible accent. In his defence, his head was spinning.
She smiled sadly “This not army. This one finger.”
She reached for the salt.
“You need be strong to fight again like in dead town,” she said.
“Did you fight?” he asked suddenly realising he didn’t want to know.
She nodded slowly and salted the oily sizzling slices. He could smell the first aromas of almost cooked flavours.
“Did you enjoy killing my friends?” he asked.
She salted the slices a second time. They looked like they needed a good coating. Her eyes met his and she blinked first. She turned back to the meal, took the first slices from the blade, and handed the roasting pieces to Erroh. She took a few herself and began the cooking process all over again. “Did you enjoy killing my friends?” she asked, blowing at the slices.
“The Hunt are just brutes, slaughter the innocent,” he spat.
“The Hunt do his work and he sees all,” she said instinctively and cursed her own conditioning.
“And all tainted burn,” he growled. The child had said it enough times that he knew much of the decree of their false god.
She sat staring at the flames, watching the fresh batch of potato slices cook away.
“Who sent you here?” he asked coldly.
“They need food for pet. Nomi make food for pet,” she snapped.
He sniffed and moved a full foot away to the edge of the tent. The chain clinked loudly as he did. It was a small matter; his point was made.
“Nomi like Erroh,” she muttered under her breath.
“Well Erroh not like Nomi,” he hissed weakly, and if he upset her she didn’t show it. She just continued cooking away. The sizzle and the breeze was enough to hide the awkward silence. Eventually, she spoke next.
“Would you killed me in battle?” she asked gently.
“Aye,” he replied and she smiled.
“Will you still strike me down, if you get chance?” she asked again, in that same tone.
He didn’t he
sitate “Aye.”
She didn’t hesitate either.
“No, Erroh like Nomi too,” she whispered to the wind. She seemed so certain. He turned from her and lay down to sleep, all desire lost for the time being. He heard her place another log on the fire and then he fell asleep.
She stoked the embers to get more heat. She looked up the line where most of her comrades had already bedded down for the night. The storm had been light enough in the end. She’d lived through blizzards where no flame could survive the winds and only heavy blankets and tight cover was enough to survive the night. She knew that many people perished in those storms. Beside her Erroh coughed and she stroked his forehead. She found her pet so endearing. His accent was atrocious but he tried. And he would try to meet Uden in combat and he would not survive. Her stomach turned and her infallible confidence faltered for a moment.
What if she freed him?
She shook her head immediately. There was no escaping this part of the world. Even with the proper supplies and a few mounts, they still wouldn’t survive. He was too weak anyway. She knew a few of her people still followed the ancient tainted ways of nesting with just one lover. She wondered about the one who had captured Erroh’s manhood and she sighed loudly. What type of goddess must she be? As for Nomi, well Nomi had a fine enough walk. In truth Erroh was fine to look at, but were Oren or others not as equally pleasing? No Erroh had something that she couldn’t quite understand. It was something in his eyes. Like a spark. She thought about his glorious rage when Oren had struck her. He would need that rage to kill.
To kill?
To kill Uden?
These were heretical thoughts. She wondered how far had she fallen? Could she come back to her world? Could she dip her fingers in blood again?
As frightened as she had been on the battlefield of the dead town, she had charged with the rest. Their blades had clashed and his power had knocked her from her feet. Falling had saved her life. She had never known fear until she looked into his beautiful eyes. He should have ended her life but he held his swing and struck another instead. She could never forget even if he did. When Oren had ordered him captured, she knew her debt could be repaid. No potential general in Uden’s army would have allowed that wild demon to face his or her god in such a fine fighting state. Uden demanded the finest warriors and she suspected he wanted them ever so slightly hobbled. Just in case. A few months walking in chains would wipe him out and it did. Nevertheless, she had tried to help him.
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