by Joe Naff
Zehlyr bent down and picked up the sack. In it, he found two apples, some berries, and a small cluster of nuts. “For the two of us, you said?” he questioned as his finger moved towards Heeska. “What about him?”
“I brought nothing for the beast,” Viyana said coldly. “To be honest, I was expecting it to eat the both of you. Why hasn’t it, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“You humans do not taste as good as you may think,” Heeska remarked. His words drew the woman’s attention.
“So, it really can speak,” she said. “Absolutely fascinating. Lord Sansehr will have many questions for this creature in the morning.”
“And what is to be my fate after he has his answers?” Heeska asked.
Viyana paused, her eyelids fluttering rapidly as her mind searched for an answer. “That is not my decision to make,” she answered.
“There’s no reason to hold us in here,” Azalea remarked. Now finally dressed, she returned to the barred wall of the cell. “We have committed no crime.”
“We do not know what happened today in the Savage Lands, but this creature and its kind were clearly responsible. We also found you both there without justification, and you clearly have an interest in this beast’s well-being. The fact that it hasn’t killed you is proof enough of your guilt. You clearly have some kind of workings together that his lordship will investigate thoroughly tomorrow.”
“We had nothing to do with what happened in the forest!” Zehlyr snapped. He realized that yelling wasn’t helping his situation, but up to this point, neither had begging.
“That will be for his lordship to decide,” Viyana replied coldly. “Now, eat.”
Zehlyr looked again into the bag he’d been handed. His stomach was sick with hunger, but he couldn’t bring himself to partake of anything within. “No,” he said, clenching his fist around the top of the bag to hide the contents from his sight. “I will not eat until there is enough food for all of us.”
Azalea stood firm at Zehlyr’s side. Her hand wrapped around his wrist. “All three of us,” she proclaimed.
Heeska smiled warmly.
Viyana pulled her lips tight as her eyes rolled back in her head. “Very well,” she said, exasperated by the whole notion. “I will fetch some food for the balisekt.” With that, she took her leave, slamming the iron door behind her with as much strength as she could muster. The sound echoed throughout the prison long after she was gone.
Zehlyr reopened the bag and began fishing through its contents. He pulled one of the apples out and tossed it to Heeska. “Here,” he said. “In case she doesn’t actually come back with anything.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” the balisekt said after snatching the apple out of the air. The fruit impaled on one of its long claws, letting its sweet juices run down his hand as their smell filled the air. Bringing the fruit to his mouth, he devoured it eagerly.
Zehlyr smiled. “Consider it a thank you for not eating us instead.” He pulled the other apple from the bag and handed it to Azalea. “Eat up,” he said with a smile. “For all we know, it could have been days since you’ve last eaten.”
Azalea took the fruit and bit into it. A trail of juice ran down her face. She muttered a small ‘thank you’ between mouthfuls. Like Zehlyr, she was starving.
With his cellmates fed, Zehlyr leaned against the oak wall and began dining on a handful of nuts and berries. If he had known that morning he would be spending the evening in captivity, he would have had a bigger breakfast. He looked up to see Heeska had long since finished his apple. Grabbing out one last handful of nuts and berries, he tossed the rest of the bag to his new balisekt friend. Heeska snatched the bag and immediately began rummaging through what was left inside.
Azalea finished the last bite of her apple and tossed the core out the small window. Reaching into her mouth with her thumb and index finger, she pulled a small, black seed from her teeth. She held it up to her face. “Oops,” she said with a small laugh. “Guess I got a little carried…” Her statement faded into silence as the seed in her hand began to move. The top split open and a small, green sprout burst forth. Before she could even get the other’s attention, the sprout shot up three inches in the blink of an eye. Sinuous roots ran down her hand like locks of hair, quickly becoming as long as her arm.
“Azalea!” Zehlyr shouted as he took notice of what was happening.
Letting out a small scream, Azalea threw her hand forward, tossing the rapidly growing plant at the bars of the cell. By the time it struck the iron, it was already a young tree as tall as she was. The roots touched the ground and began digging their way forcefully through the stone floor. Wide fissures split in the floor of the jail as the tree grew taller and thicker by the second. Leafy branches reached out through the bars. Soon, the canopy was pushing against the oak ceiling, causing it to groan and pop loudly.
“Get down!” Heeska said as he dove into the corner of the cell. Everyone took shelter against the far wall as the tree grew to maturity before their very eyes. With a loud crack, the tree burst through the roof of the jail, causing a shower of splinters to rain down on them along with the orange beams of the setting sun. With one of its anchors gone and a full-grown apple tree weighing against its side, the barred wall of the cell toppled over with a deafening clang.
“What was that?!” Zehlyr shouted in panicked disbelief.
“I don’t know!” Azalea responded in bewilderment. “I just…I just touched the seed and it started…started…”
“Growing,” Heeska said. “Years of natural order, realized in a fleeting moment. Never have I seen such a power.”
“What does it mean?” Azalea asked. Her eyes were wide and her breaths were rapid. “I don’t understand.”
Heeska turned his head to look upon her. “I don’t know either,” he said. “But whatever my people did to you out in the forest, I am truly sorry.”
Chapter 6
Zehlyr shielded his eyes from the setting sun as he emerged from the ruined jail, taking a moment to adjust to the light once again, but his ears foretold the peril he was in long before he saw it. The oak ceiling splitting open and the iron bars crashing onto the stone floor had no doubt echoed through the village. Now outside again, Zehlyr could hear the hurried footsteps of leather boots on soft mud and the shouts of angry men. Off in the distance, the alarm bells rang loudly in the evening, spring air. It was getting cooler, and the smell of a coming storm was in the air.
Heeska and Azalea emerged behind him. Heeska put a clawed hand over his eyes, shielding them as he watched the clusters of soldiers rushing towards them. “Not as subtle an exit as I would have hoped for,” he said.
“What do we do now?” Azalea asked.
Zehlyr turned towards her, but was quickly cut off by the blade of a sword slashing down in front of him, missing his nose by only a couple of inches. Startled, he jumped back, managing to dodge a sweeping arch from the blade aimed at his torso. With some distance between him and his assailant, he could now see Viyana’s angry face.
“What have you done?!” she demanded. Zehlyr could see another small bag of fruits tossed on the ground not far behind her. He was amazed; she had intended to keep her word and feed Heeska, though that hardly mattered now.
“Answer me!” she demanded again. Zehlyr remained silent, though he wasn’t sure if it was from lack of desire to speak or lack of an answer to give her. Either way, his silent tongue gave him better concentration to dive out of the way, as Viyana swung furiously with her blade once again.
Losing his balance, Zehlyr fell into the mud. He quickly rolled onto his back. His assailant raced towards him. Her chest heaved with exasperated breaths and her eyes were wide with determination. Zehlyr held his arms over his face as Viyana lunged at him with her blade outstretched, but it was quickly halted by Heeska’s clawed hand reaching out and snatching it by the hilt.
Heeska thrust his arm forward, toppling Viyana to the ground. She tried to rise again, but the balisekt
quickly kicked at her sword, knocking it from her hand. Her face showed the bitter pride of a warrior who knew she was about to die in battle. Heeska loomed over her, hissing loudly with rage.
Viyana’s eyes turned to Zehlyr, who was trying to get out of the mud with Azalea’s help. “You are both traitors!” she screamed loudly. “Lady curse you for what you have done!”
Heeska leapt into the air, landing on all fours over Viyana and pinning her to the ground. His tongue darted wildly across his needle-like teeth. Viyana trembled beneath him, more scared and unwilling to die than she would have let on. “Please,” she said softly, choking back her tears along with her pride. “Please, don’t kill me.”
“Had you planned to show me the same mercy?” Heeska hissed.
Viyana swallowed hard. Her lips quivered. “No.”
Heeska lifted a clawed hand into the air over his head. Viyana turned her head and closed her eyes, a single tear falling from her face. Heeska’s hand came down on her, but delivered no deathblow. Grabbing her by the collar, he pulled her back to a standing position. Puzzled, Viyana opened her eyes to see the balisekt staring back at her. A coy smile crossed his long, thin lips.
“Well then,” Heeska said. “Which one of us is the real animal?”
Viyana was at a loss. She’d locked the creature in a cell, she’d dragged it through the forest in chains, she’d even beat it mercilessly when it was already near death, yet it hadn’t harmed her. Now, as it clearly defeated her in battle, it showed mercy and spared her life.
“We have to go!” Zehlyr shouted. The hoard of soldiers was nearly upon them. Each had swords, pitchforks, torches, scythes, or spears held high into the air as they trampled through the mud. At the center of the group, Feneris charged towards them with a long, slender blade in each hand.
Their backs were to the front wall of the ruined jail, and the angry villagers were approaching from nearly all sides. There wasn’t a viable escape path, and no time to devise something clever.
“Where can we go?” Heeska remarked. His stance was wide, with his clawed hands stretched out to his sides. He didn’t plan to go down without a fight.
“Call them off!” Zehlyr demanded as he turned to Viyana. The woman had stood speechless since Heeska spoke to her. With her sword still lying on the ground, she stared dumbfounded into the sunset as though she were in another place entirely. Growing desperate, Zehlyr grabbed her by the arms and shook her forcefully. “My Lady!” he shouted.
Viyana shook her head, as though awoken from a trance. She looked down into the boy’s eyes, still not seeming to comprehend the situation at hand. “It didn’t kill me,” she said softly. She said it while facing Zehlyr, but the words didn’t seem directed at anyone in particular. “Why didn’t it kill me?”
With a groan of frustration, Zehlyr reached down and snatched up the woman’s sword. “No help there,” he said. The villagers were nearly upon them, close enough now to hear the wind blowing the flames of their torches as they ran. Their angry cries rose together into one deafening roar.
“So, we go down fighting!” Heeska said with a furious hiss.
Azalea took a bold step forward, passing Zehlyr and Heeska both, and moving towards the approaching mob. Her hands were down to her sides, but outstretched, her fingers wiggling gently like blades of grass in a gentle breeze.
“What are you doing?” Zehlyr asked. He had the borrowed sword gripped tightly in both hands, but he hadn’t the first idea of how to wield it.
She took a quick glance back at him. Her muddy hair was pressed against her face, but he was able to see fierceness behind her sparkling eyes. They carried in them a strange determination, and a terror that could only come from facing the unknown. “I don’t know,” she replied in a whisper.
Truthfully, she didn’t. She had no idea what compelled her to act. However, she had seen miraculous events unfold in the last few hours, all by her doing. There was a strange power dwelling inside of her. She didn’t understand it and she couldn’t predict its limits, but perhaps she could bend it to her will.
The first line of the mob was only a few feet away when Azalea suddenly whipped back around to face them. She fell quickly to one knee and thrust her arms downward, planting her outstretched fingers into the muddy earth. Her head bowed. As soon as her fingers entered the ground, the earth began to tremble. Ripples formed across small puddles. Tiny twigs hopped up and down like excited crickets. The mob stopped, out of terror and an inability to continue running in the earthquake.
Suddenly, the muddy earth broke apart beneath their feet. From the split ground sprouted dozens of green, leafy vines. The sinuous plants grew even faster than the apple tree in the jail, soaring over the heads of even the tallest men in the village. Some of the men cried out in terror as the vines wrapped around their legs and arms, pulling them up into the air. They fought frantically against the restraints, but to no avail. The rest of the men fled in terror back to their homes, dropping their weapons in the mud as they ran. Torches extinguished themselves as they landed in murky puddles.
Feneris dropped his swords as the vines lifted him high into the air. He frantically tugged at the leafy restraints, trying to free himself. He fought hard, but the vines had too much strength.
Azalea rose to her feet again, lifting her head back and letting the very last sunbeam of the day strike her face. The sun descended behind the trees, casting the world in a deep blue. Just as quickly as they had appeared, the vines retreated back into the ground, freeing their captives in the process. The terrified men wasted no time fleeing to their homes.
Except for Feneris. The Lord’s Hand took up his blades again. His eyes held far more determination than fear.
“Lady’s grace,” Viyana whispered to herself. “What are you?” Zehlyr was too amazed to notice the warrior woman—who had clearly returned to her senses—coming up quickly from behind him. Viyana snatched her sword out of his hands and shoved him to the side. She pointed the blade at Azalea, its tip shaking wildly as her trembling hands could barely wield it. “What are you?!” she screamed.
Azalea stood resolute as she faced Viyana. The wind was picking up, intensifying the smell of the approaching storm. Thunder rumbled in the distance from dark clouds rolling in from the west. “I wish I knew,” she said.
Viyana stood in place, her body trembling with fear and confusion. Her shoulders rose and fell with each heavy breath. She didn’t know what to make of any of this. There was still no understanding to be had about the strange phenomenon in the forest, but it had brought her a balisekt and a mystery girl with strange powers, both of which had caused her village nothing but terror and destruction since they entered it. Feneris moved to Viyana’s side. Zehlyr didn’t know what Sansehr’s servants would do, but he didn’t think it wise to stay and find out. They now had the strength in numbers, and it would be best to flee while they could.
“Let’s go!” Zehlyr shouted, though the loud boom of a thunderclap drowned out his words. Sheets of rain fell hard upon the western edge of the village and rapidly spread across the fields. The heavy droplets beat down on their heads as they stood there in the mud.
“I agree,” Heeska said. The balisekt gently took hold of Azalea’s arm and tugged at it gently. The jerk forced her to break eye contact with Viyana and look to the east where the creature stood next to her. “We should go,” the balisekt said as he turned towards the east. “We can…”
From behind the heavy sheets of rain, the tip of a sword emerged. The blade caught Heeska across the cheek, opening a deep gash across his scaly face. He stumbled backwards, letting go of Azalea’s wrist and falling to his knees. As Heeska held a hand to the wound, Sansehr stepped out of the blackness. The torrential rain had already washed Heeska’s blood from the long sword in his hand.
“Enough of this!” Sansehr bellowed. He raised the blade over his head in one hand. Lightning struck a tree far behind him, lighting the terrible scene in a bright flash. The boom of the thunder ran
g in Zehlyr’s ears. “Viyana, Feneris, kill these two!” the Lord of Meadowgold demanded.
Viyana lifted her blade into a fighting stance. She tossed her head backward, letting the wet clumps of hair in her face swing away. Feneris spun his blades around in his hands. “Yes, my Lord!” they shouted in unison over the driving rain.
Sounding a battle cry, Viyana and Feneris charged through the mud towards the escaped prisoners. Viyana made for Zehlyr as Feneris set his sights on Azalea.
Frightened, Zehlyr dove out of the way, crashing headfirst into a muddy puddle. He rolled to his back just as Viyana’s sword came splashing down on his landing spot. Over and over he rolled, trying frantically to stay clear of the warrior’s deadly blows.
Feneris cross his blades in front of him as he approached Azalea. He swung them out rapidly towards her neck, hoping to lob off her head in one, swift attack. Azalea ducked beneath the attack and tumbled behind him. She rolled to a crouching position as Feneris stumbled to regain his balance. He turned back and widened his stance, preparing to charge again. With a bit of distance between her and her assailant, Azalea stole a glance back towards Zehlyr.
Blinded by the sheets of rain and dizzy from tumbling, Zehlyr was unaware of his surroundings. Viyana continued to swing her blade down into the ground as though chopping wood. As Zehlyr continued to roll from his front to his back, he struck the side of the jail hard. The force jarred his body and made him lose his breath. It also left him no more room to escape. Shielding his eyes from the rain, he looked up to see Viyana standing over him, ready to deliver one final blow.
“No!” Azalea shouted. As if by her command, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the warrior’s sword. The blade shot from Viyana’s hand as she herself was tossed back fifty feet. The warrior woman lay motionless on the muddy earth. Zehlyr couldn’t tell if she was still alive or not, but he didn’t honestly care; either way, she was out of the fight.