by R D Blake
“You are mad! She will not allow it again! Today it was pure agony to reveal even her hand to me. Now you ask that I make the attempt once more? You all heard her pain. What? You think the curse will be lifted from her by merely kissing her? More than once? Magical as you all are, this is not some tale told to crowds to entertain them. This is a powerful curse she is under. A single kiss may have changed her hand, but it did nothing to overcome it.” Erick refused. He did not believe for a moment there was some power in himself to alter No One. And she would never, never forgive him if he made the attempt again. “You ask too much. There must be another way!”
But the bear, the wolves and the dogs forced him from his chambers and chased him down into the lower parts of the fortress, through the kitchen and into the beginnings of the hallway that led back to her rooms wherever they might be. The great bear had such a terrible clamp on his wrist that it was all Erick could do to keep his limb from being crushed and ripped apart. Finally he relented, and like No One earlier in the day, he realized he was being left with no choice. The corridors were dark and Erick knew not how far he travelled, but gradually the animals grew quieter as they would in any forest. He sensed more than knew when he was led into her private chambers. In the silence he could hear the quiet rasp of her breathing, somewhere close by in front of him.
There was a slight sound to his right and light began to stream into the chamber. The vague outline of two weasels revealed themselves as curtains were drawn back. Moonlight illumined the room. And when Erick saw her, he held back a gasp that his lungs were so ready to let loose. No wonder! No wonder! All the mysteries of her were laid bare before him. If not for the bandaged hand at rest atop the sheet, Erick could scarce believe his eyes that this was No One.
Her face and head were uncovered — likely this the only place she ever allowed the world to see them. Bare of hair except some black bristles that did little to cover her scalp. Ears that had grown long and pointed at both ends and a nose that was beaked and drooped down near her lips which were more toad-like than anything else. In the scant light, Erick could only discern that her skin was much like her hands. He would have wrapped her in his arms and tried, though he knew he would fail in the attempt, to ease her deep-set pain, but there was no time for that; for the bear released his wrist and pushed at him to approach her and perform the deed that they had commanded him to do. The quiet only deepened about him, as if the animals all held their breath as he did. He bent over that hand turned in a fashion toward him and once more he let his lips touch her wounded palm and let them rest there for a moment longer. Then he rose again to join the others in the room and waited.
Within a few moments, the moonbeams lighting upon her hand began to sparkle and the miracle repeated itself. No One’s hand returned to one lost many years ago. Erick felt himself entranced, certain that she once had been beautiful. The heartache he felt for her bloomed to fill all of him as he considered what had been lost and so cruelly taken away from her. And it only grew to be beyond what he could bear when they all observed her bare fingers and hand again revert to the appearance she had suffered under for years.
Perhaps for the first time, Erick sensed the sorrow that these creatures felt for this woman. For now he knew for certain that she was young, hardly out of the first blush of womanhood. Too young to bear what she had. Silently, he swore that if ever he came across the villain who had perpetrated this foul deed he would show the same mercy granted to No One. Never before had anger moved him to kill another, but it possessed him now.
The bear gave out some small sound and other animals pressed through the crowd about them bringing scissors and a small box. By their gestures they confirmed what he understood what must be done, and by that action Erick knew he would have no choice but to leave No One. Carefully, he snipped a few hairs from her head and clipped the end of one nail from her outstretched hand. These must be taken to the one he must cross the mountains to meet with. If there was anyone Erick knew who could unravel this curse and know its cure, it would be her.
But fate made this made foul day and night more complete; for by some slight noise made as Erick and the creatures readied themselves to leave, No One awoke and realizing that he was there in the only true sanctuary she possessed, she wailed and shrieked wildly at him. Scurrying to the far corner of her bed, she huddled deeply in upon herself, hiding her hideous face in her scaled and bent arms. “Get out! Get out! Get out!” she screamed over and over again. “Oh! Have all of you have betrayed me? Do you bring him here to mock me yet more? To make me suffer beyond all I have already!”
Her shouts and bitter recriminations followed behind him as Erick fled away with all the other creatures, stumbling down the dark hallways. It was as if he was wounded himself and nigh on dying. Erick reached the kitchen but ran on, out into the open, to the upper pavement, finally coming to crumple down upon his own bed. Through the scant hours that remained of that night, and though he slept little, what Erick had of it was filled with nightmares of her harsh rebuke and blacker hatred.
When he awoke in the mid-morning light, he was certain he could remain here no more. The time had come. And it seemed the animals knew it too, for they brought him a small satchel bearing a ring and some coins: items Erick had thought lost in the river. By some other means a pack was found for him. Erick stuffed his meagre belongings into it along with the box containing No One’s hair and nail. Though he feared to enter into the kitchen again in case she was there, Erick discovered it empty. Gathering some items from the larder, he added them to his rucksack, having no idea how long his journey would take — back into the lands of the kingdom he had hoped never to return to.
Still he hesitated when all was ready. A great debate began to take place within the courts of his mind. Should he leave a note for No One, but he could think of no words that would explain what these creatures had encouraged him to do. How could she possibly understand? Suddenly, a great loneliness filled him, much akin to what Erick imagined consumed No One as she wept within her chambers. And as he tried to lock into his memories this kitchen and its happier times before he left, the great black bear entered from the hallways leading back to No One’s rooms. Perhaps this creature had remained by her side and explained why he had come to her chambers, but the bear indicated nothing of that to Erick and by his postures and gestures told him that it was time for him to depart.
So he journeyed away from the fortress, accompanied by the bear and many other animals: foxes, hares, deer, wildcats, wolves, and not a few of the dogs. They journeyed up into the first foothills, then into the mountains proper, the animals leading him by forest trails and through passes such that Erick thought his journey shortened. They kept him company in his sorrow, gathering about him in the nights, sharing his fire, encircling him with their bodies. But as he neared the lower climes on the southern side of the mountains, one by one they left him, returning to the vale.
Finally, only the bear remained with him until Erick came to the first narrow man-made track through the forest. Here, Erick set camp early, for he knew during the next day he would return to the kingdom of his own kind. The bear slept by his side that night and then the next morning after Erick had readied his pack to leave, he stood up on his haunches and embraced him — gently this time and placed one of his great paws on his head as if in benediction. “Tell her, my great friend; tell her that I intend to return — whether with success or failure. And beg her to forgive me. I — tell her I care no less for her now than before and that it is not only pity that moves me to feel this way. Ask her to pray to God to give me success in what I hope to do. And my friend, thank you for what you have taught such a fool of an idiot that I am. Tell her. Remember to tell her.”
And with those final words, Erick returned from the dead and went back into the world of the living.
______Ω______
Ilena remained her chambers, her fury and her sorrow evident in the disarray about her; sheets torn; pillows ripped and toss
ed to the floor; flowers shredded, scattered, wilting, rotting — just like herself. She ate nothing, drank nothing despite the offerings from the creatures that served her. She wanted nothing from the hands of her betrayers. Now he knew the horror of her! All her terrifying secrets had been disclosed to him! Seeing her hand had not satisfied his greedy need to view the rest of her. And now that he had his fill of her he had left — likely to spread news of the monster of these northern climes. Soon others would follow him and seek her out for their amusement. There would be no choice left to her other than to flee this place — to find some other refuge where humans never went. Where a monster like her could wait through the long years until it finally died.
And that hated bear, that wretched, evil creature had tried to tell her that things were not as they had appeared. His words meant nothing to her and now he had left and she knew by the silence within this wreck of a place that many of the animals had also departed. Maybe they were all intent on leaving — on abandoning her.
Now Ilena rued that she had not sent Nobody away before the winter had set in — before she had begun to reach out to him in the few ways she would allow herself. Each day had been both an agony and a pleasure for her. She had been constantly in fear of him and it had been proved cruelly right; but she had wanted his company, had needed it — though it had reminded her every moment of a life lost to her. Yet constrained as it had been between the two of them, it had filled a narrow part of the void within her. Now, all that had been lost and could never be again. But his kindness, his music — those games — oh, how she had needed him! All of this Ilena confessed to herself in her bitterness — and now he was gone. Gone forever. And as she darkly suspected it had ever been intended to be. And just before this debacle when he had betrayed her, Ilena had wavered in her intent to send Nobody back to wherever he had come from: back to his own people, his own comfort, to his own world — to where he belonged. And to women who were women — and not monsters such as she was.
______Ω______
Try as he might, Erick could not make this nag move any faster. He had spent near the last of his coin acquiring this animal, “horse” being an exaggeration of its proper name; but Erick was not feeling up to being kind this day. Finally, at the far end of the valley below him, still long miles away, he could see the walls and spires of the churches of the city he was approaching. If this beast would not tire out, he should reach the intent of his travels this very evening, but there was the chance that he would arrive too late and be forced to remain outside the walls until the next morning; for the gates closed an hour before dusk.
He gave his steed an encouraging clip of his heels, but the animal chose to ignore him and Erick resigned himself to another few hours of plodding along.
______Ω______
“At least pretend you’re trying, Teton.”
The giant of a young man threw his sword across the practice field so violently that it stuck firmly into the wooden wall off to the right of him. “There’s no point, Fluren. I have no heart for battle today.”
His older training partner grinned. “If you were any other man I would be certain it would be a woman troubling you, my lord. But I suspect…”
“Yes,” Teton answered heavily, “I will not deny it. Erick still lives close inside me. I do know why, but I cannot release him from my thoughts. And he travels with me in my dreams at times. If I should tell you the wildness of them you would think me God-touched. They are vivid and real beyond any imagination.”
“Well, sire, in time I would pray you will find release from the memories of him.”
“I will never forget him, Fluren. And I never intend to — if only I could have found signs that he indeed had died. It troubles me that perhaps he still lives and is in need.”
“Troubling, my lord, but your friendship was deep and all this melancholy is but a sign that something good has passed beyond this world.”
Teton yanked at his sword and after a few hard pulls retrieved it from out of the embrace of the wooden plank. “Yes, ‘tis true. But good seems to have abandoned too much of our world.” And Fluren knew now what else troubled his young master.
______Ω______
It had been a close thing, but Erick had made the gates before they had been shut by the city guards. He had worried that he would be forced to pull back his hood; but the guards were in a hurry and had made few enquiries of him, intent on finishing their duties for the day. An hour ago, he had found lodgings for himself and his horse; but Erick had never had any intentions of spending the night within the inn.
Coming to the entranceway of the one he sought, having journeyed for more days than he had planned, Erick waited with impatience for someone to answer. He rapped again at the door and yelled out several times, hearing the dogs within begin to add their own voices to his. Finally, a small window in the doorway was opened and a face could dimly be seen peering out toward him. “It is too late. Come back tomorrow. She has retired for the evening and none but the king himself would be sufficient to open her home at this hour.”
“My need is great and her ire will be more than sufficient to cast you out of this abode if she finds you have turned me aside.”
“Many before you have made such claims,” the servant sniffed.
“Take this token to her. It will be explain all. And be quick about it,” Erick demanded. “I have suffered delays and the matter is great.” With that command, Erick handed over the ring that he had carried in his satchel.
The man within took the ring and peered at it in the light of the candle he carried. “You are an impertinent one. I will trouble her with it, but if she deigns this but a mischievous ruse, I will have the dogs at you and these will not rest until they leave your carcass dead in the river.”
“Do it! I fear not your threats.” The servant left him, closing the viewing window with a firm and final slam.
After a few scant minutes had passed by, the doorway was opened to him and the servant had become a simpering sycophant, accompanied by others. “She will see you.” His announcement was followed by a penetrating look, but Erick still had his head covered under the cowl of his cloak.
He was led to the upper reaches of a large opulent house and into a chamber with its ceiling partially glassed in so the heavens could be seen at all times. The one whom he had sought in his journey to this city stood demurely by a long table: one strewn with documents and devices of unknown purpose. She looked just the same as she had five years ago: untouched as always by the time gone by. She had aged not in all the years since his father had first met her in his own early youth.
The dark haired woman said nothing. Not even a quirk of an eyebrow when Erick removed his hood — as if she had expected him at this appointed hour and that his reappearance was as natural as the sun rising the next day, for Erick had gleaned from travellers on the road that all thought him dead. But he had no time for explanations or polite exchanges with this woman. “I have brought something for your study. I need answers, but I warn you that these emblems I carry with me are from someone I believe ensorcelled.”
The woman understood his need with no further words required to be exchanged. “Bring them and place them here in this bowl. I dare not touch them myself. And take care yourself, Erick. Magic, good or evil, can be powerful and it seldom brooks any intervention upon the course it has been sent.”
Erick drew out the box and at the woman’s insistence, used a set of metal tongs to extract the hair and nail. She glanced only once at them within the bowl and the colour seemed to drain away from her face. “I do not understand how you could carry these and not be harmed. That box, your pack, your very clothes must be destroyed — and in a very careful manner, though I perceive no taint upon you. And how did you arrive here?”
Erick told her of his means of transportation. “Do not return to him. I will deal with the beast tomorrow if all goes well here this night. Now, while I prepare for what must be done, I will send you to change and ba
th and eat; for I can see you have a need of all those.”
An hour later, Erick was brought back into the presence of the woman. The table had been laid bare and the bowl was now atop a brazier of oddly coloured burning coals. “Soon we will know the truth of these. But I fear already. Where have you been Erick that you bring these to me?”
“I will give you no answer, Murana. And you must not call me by that name. I have died and so I wish to remain. None, even my parents must know.” His words were full of command and he held her green eyes in the same fashion: bewitching eyes that seldom were overpowered by any other but it was she who dropped hers first.
“As you command; so I obey.”
“Only in this, Murana. Otherwise, I am Nobody.” For a moment, her eyes gleamed as if she perceived some deeper truth in his words.
She added a blue coloured liquid to the bowl and then sprinkled a few other ingredients into the concoction from other jars near at hand. “Once it comes to a boil, the articles you have brought to me will disclose their nature. But know this: we are both in danger. For I only have so much strength to protect us and I sense the power behind these is great. Perhaps greater than I, myself.”
She came to stand beside Erick and took his hand. “Be brave. For whatever purpose is behind your ‘death’ and these emblems, I will aid you as best I can.”
In a few minutes, steam began to rise from the bowl. Erick felt Murana grip his hand tighter and tighter and her other hand went to her head as if she was in pain or fighting a great inner battle. Suddenly, the air above the bowl filled with the vapours and there was a bright light that erupted all about the room. The seeress gasped out and momentarily leaned heavily into Anton. Later, after the light had lessened somewhat, Erick discovered that the brazier had gone out, its coals turned to white ash and the bowl itself had broken into pieces and was now bone dry. But above it in the air were words written in twinkling points of light. “Buco el charel. Yebar el shackno gel. Aga el fal.” Murana read out before she collapsed into Erick’s arms. As much as carrying her as leading her, he guided her to sit upon a divan across from the table.