by Dan O'Brien
Book of Seth: Punishment
Dan O’Brien
© 2015 Dan O’Brien
“Some would say humans we unable to move past the petty differences that had burdened them for so long, the sociological and political differences that had driven rifts through the populace at the pinnacle of society. If it was taken away and rebuilt again would they truly change anything?”
-The Writings on the Future of the Human Race
I knew what a mockery this trial would be. Though I did not know it was going to be a public one. The Council sat brazenly at the front of the room. Fredrick sat bound to a splintered chair, bewildered and frightened. His face was haggard and his eyes wild in fear. Two disciplinary soldiers were on either side of him. They held their grandiose pikes picturesquely; their faces emotionless as they looked out into the crowd.
I picked my way through the crowd carefully, not wanting to draw unneeded attention to myself. Craning my neck, I searched for Ryan and Summer. I bumped into someone, almost knocking them to the ground. I caught the slender wrist and realized I had bumped into a woman and quickly brought her back to her feet. I looked into her face and realized that it was Leane. I shifted uncomfortably, feeling awkward in her presence.
“That is one way to get my attention. Seth,” she mused, smoothing out the folds of the gray robes she wore.
I moved to say something, but stifled it self-consciously. “It is nice to see you, Leane. Have you seen Ryan? He was supposed to be here, but I can’t seem to find him.”
“I saw him along the east wall with a girl. They seemed, happy.” She added the last part a little sadly, as if it was something for which she yearned.
I always felt small around her. It was as if I couldn’t convey what I intended to say. “Yeah, Summer,” I began hesitantly and then coughing into my clenched fist, I began again. “Her name is Summer. She was at the base in the north, wandering. We were lucky to come upon her when we did.”
“Wandering? How terrible. Do we know where she came from?”
“No, she seems a bit reserved. She seems comfortable with Ryan, so I imagine those things will come in time.”
“Ryan needs a woman. His mother, your mother, dying so young was unfortunate. I imagine he longs for that connection to be restored. You were a father to him, but nothing can replace that which he never had.”
“I, too, sometimes forget that he is just a boy. I know that he must be trained to be the next scout, but I feel as though he grows distant from me, not wanting to listen to my words any longer.”
“He is still young, allow him some youth. He can afford it for now. There is no telling when he will have to carry your mantle. You have no son, so it passes to Ryan. Remember that he feels this burden as well.”
“I know, but I forget at times. Thank you, Leane, for your words. They mean much to me.”
She nodded, her dark eyes dazzling and enticing me in a way that I had not felt in sometime; yet, logic governed my actions.
I moved past her and deeper into the crowd, near the east wall, searching for my brother and Summer.
Their faces were hidden amidst the sea of people within the room.
Higald stepped forward and gazed across the amassed members of the Fallen, their faces sullen and drawn as they knew what was to come next. He raised his hands into the air, calling for silence. The crowd acquiesced quickly. “Brothers and sisters of the Fallen, I come before you today with sadness. One among us sought to steal and flee into the unknown, risking exposing us to the Umordoc and whatever else awaits us in the darkness. What shall we do with such an individual?”
The crowd remained silent.
“Should we allow him to remain among us? To perhaps attempt this again? Build more followers that wish to expose our way of life?”
There were mixed murmurs throughout the crowd.
Some wanted justice.
Some wanted mercy; none would speak loud enough to interrupt Higald as he continued.
“We will hear from someone you respect––someone in whom you place infinite trust. Perhaps he will speak about the will of our society.”
I looked around and realized that Higald had meant me. Two disciplinary officers walked up behind me, their gazes somber and without emotion. I allowed myself to be led up onto the raised platform where the Council was seated. The guards remained below as I moved forward to greet Higald. I flashed a glance over the crowd, finding Ryan and Summer now that I could see everyone. They were in the far corner of the room, hidden from view. I nodded back and looked over at the Council.
I tried not to focus on their furtive glares.
“Fredrick?” I spoke after a moment.
He didn’t reply. He merely looked around the room in a panic.
“Fredrick, I need you to talk to me.”
“Seth?” he queried, turning his glazed eyes toward me.
“Yes, it is Seth. What happened? I need to know.”
“They were coming; the hybrids were coming. The demi called them to us. They’re drawn to it.”
I could feel Ryan and Summer’s apprehension.
I thought I knew where Fredrick was going with his rant.
“Do you know who the demi is?” I queried, playing the part of the inquisitor.
“No,” he replied flatly.
I sighed and bent down; my knees ached in the warmth of the caves.
“Why now? Why do you believe hybrids are coming?”
“I can feel it. You saw them on the tundra. You fought them. I heard you and Ryan speaking of them. They were not normal wolves. They were different.”
Thyren stood and brought his right hand to his chest. He pointed the other toward me. “Is this true, Seth? Were there hybrids on the tundra?”
I was trapped now. To tell them the truth would create panic. To deny it would be to condemn him.
I stole a glance across the room and locked eyes with Ryan for a moment.
They seemed to scream truth.
“That is correct. We encountered beasts of a non-specific origin,” I replied grudgingly.
“Why were we not informed of this?” interjected Thetres, joining the other standing warlock immediately.
I could feel their logic bearing down on me. Soon, the endless string of questions would begin and I knew that I would not stand for their mindless inquisition.
“I did not have the chance to fully explain myself,” I replied, trying my best to maintain my composure.
“With all fairness…” began Tresnre.
Before the warlock could continue, Higald rose from his throne. “Enough, Seth’s actions are not on trial here. If Fredrick speaks the truth and Seth can confirm it, then there are no further questions necessary for Seth.” Inwardly, I thanked Higald for jumping to end what would have been a rather vicious chain of remarks that were to come.
“As you wish Higald,” replied Tresnre as he bowed to the albino king.
The three returned to their seats, but their hateful gazes were fixated upon me once again.
I turned back to Fredrick and placed my hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump. “Fredrick, what did you hope to accomplish by escaping from here?”
“To escape the death that will descend upon us.”
A hush had fallen over the crowd. Fredrick’s words had scared them terribly. The paleness of his skin and haunting look in his eyes, as well as the raspy tone his voice had taken on, had given a gruesome quality to his demeanor. Fredrick was sweating heavily and his eyes bulged as if they were going to leap from their sockets at any moment. His hands fidgeted with the length of rope that bound his arms. The skin there had begu
n to turn red from irritation.
“Do you know the punishment for theft and insurgence?” I queried, testing the sanity of the stricken Fredrick.
The Council was in unrest. The Six had agendas of their own.
Fredrick was merely a consequence of plans they had set in motion.
“Banishment,” he replied and swallowed hard.
He still had his wits about him. Reason had not yet abandoned him, but the fear in his eyes seemed unwarranted.
I felt sorrow and pity for him. I turned away from him. With my hand on his shoulder, I looked back at Higald, focusing on him as opposed to the rest of the treacherous Council. “Banishment is unnecessary here. His reasoning is sound despite his deep-set fear. His intentions were impulsive. To send him out into the unknown would be cruel and ridiculous.”
“Seth, you know that is not our way. He stole from us and tried to flee, possibly exposing us to forces beyond our control. Whether or not he believes something is coming, he should not have stolen rations and tried to sneak off without consulting us first,” returned Higald. His words were both reason and law.
“I ask that you ignore those laws and make an exception. He does not deserve isolation. He can still be of use to the Fallen,” I implored.
Tresnre stood quickly this time, brushing away Higald’s hand to keep him from standing. “Seth, I fear that you are wrong here. Fredrick cannot, and will not, be allowed to remain among us. His actions violated the laws of the Fallen and he must be judged accordingly. Even you must see that.”
“Exceptions need to be made, Tresnre. You are far too quick to judge. He would not do this again. He means no harm,” I replied.
“I meant no harm,” repeated Fredrick in a daze.
I looked down at the sullen, distant look on Fredrick’s face and felt something I had not for some time: compassion for another being.
“He is a shell of a man. To banish him is a death sentence, nothing more.” My words spilled out now, logics slowly disintegrating into emotion.
I felt as if I was being robbed, cheated of something.
Thyren stood and faced Higald. “I agree with Tresnre, banishment is the only judgment that we will endorse.”
Thetres was on his feet as Thyren finished. “I move for banishment.”
I bowed my head. Holding my words, I did not want to launch into a rant that would condemn the trust the Fallen had placed in me.
The sisters remained quiet for a moment. An understanding seemed to flow over them.
They stood as one.
Mirana was the first to speak. “We appreciate your kind words, Seth, but banishment it must be.”
“Agreed,” finished Miryane and Mirandia in unison.
I looked at the ground.
My mind reeled with the hasty decision and the equal swiftness to which the charge would be carried out. “There is no more discussion? Your words are final? Is this to be it, Higald?”
Higald rose. His jaw was set in determination. “Seth, this is the will of the Council. Fredrick is to be banished.”
“I see,” I responded distantly, turning my back and stepping off the raised platform.
The crowd parted around me as I stepped forward. Their bewildered stares bore through me, searing the logics around which I had built my life.
Ryan was at my side before I knew it. He placed his hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “You did the right thing brother: you tried.” His voice was low.
I met his gaze and saw that he was smiling for the first time since we had returned from the tundra.
“But it wasn’t enough, was it?” I replied.
“Seth,” Higald called. He had stepped to the edge of the platform and was looking down at me, his eyes intense. “You are to carry out Fredrick’s sentence. You are to lead him far into the tundra and leave him far beyond our borders. Do you accept?”
I was not angry at Higald He was very much like a brother to me, but I could not push aside the anger that had infected me. “Do I have a choice?”
“No, you do not.”
“My answer is not required and will not be given.” I turned from the Council and pushed through the crowd. The majority of the villagers parted around me. Pushing aside the fabric covering the door, I stormed off into the center of the village. The Council and the huddled masses of the Fallen watched as I left.
I SLAMMED MY planedge into its sheath. I had been home for not even a full day before I was to venture back out onto the tundra. The thought for once made me angrier than I had ever been. My domicile was empty again. The only belongings to ever fill this space were those I carried with me out onto the frozen wasteland above the Fallen. I sighed heavily as I pulled the straps of the pack around my shoulders and tightened them until they were snug against my shoulders and back.
I turned around from the stone wall of my home and stopped abruptly. Seeing Leane standing in the doorway startled me.
“Seth, I’m sorry to see you go so quickly.”
I had been on the tundra on and off with no more than a few days home for the better part of my life and I watched Leane grow from a frightened child into a beautiful woman. Her features were radiant even in the abysmal light of our homes.
“I am also sorry to leave so quickly. It seems that I am mean to be a transient in my own home.”
Her dark eyes were glassy and a tear traced the line of her face, dropping off her chin and wetting the dusty floor of my domicile.
I moved closer to her and wiped the tear from her face with my gloved hand.
“Seth, I….”
“Leane, I will return, have no fear at that. I would ask that you watch out for Ryan and Summer if I was to not return. He may be strong, but he is still young and needs guidance. I imagine he would learn much from you.”
“Of course, Seth, it would be my honor.” She moved her lips as if she were going to say something else, but then closed them again. Holding them together tightly, she moved away from the door and back out into the open area outside my domicile. I stepped over the threshold of my home, turning back and looking at the empty space once more.
Leane held her hands together. Her head was bowed and I looked at her crestfallen face. I started forward to embrace her. Stifling the urge, I nodded complacently and moved past her out to where Higald stood with the bewildered figure of Fredrick. His body shook. The madman’s wraps were loose and ill-fitting. I looked back at Leane once more and sadness gripped me.
I loved her. I knew I did, but I had closed myself off for so long that it no longer seemed like a possibility.
“Seth, we appreciate…” began the burly chief.
“Enough,” I replied, cutting off Higald.
I grasped Fredrick by the arm and moved him forward away from the treacherous eyes of the Council and toward the narrow corridors that led to the surface. With each step I took, I could feel my grip on this sanctuary loosening and the hard cold facts of the tundra taking over. Footsteps pursued us and I turned angrily, the sheath along my back held fast beneath the tightness of my wraps.
“Seth, there is no need for such anger,” spoke Higald, trying to calm me.
“Yes, there is. There has been cause for anger for some time. I have just been unable to see it until now. I will do as you have said; but, when I return, things will change.”
“Seth….” Higald looked at me blankly.
“No more words, Higald. I am leaving now. Watch over these people with your heart while I am away.”
I turned away from him, his face contemplative and his jaw muscles flexing. Moving forward, the dampness of the entrance halls began to seep into my outer clothing I could feel Fredrick tremble beneath my grip. Letting him go, he stumbled forward like a drunk, mumbling to himself and drifting from side to side in front of me. We moved up the rocky staircase that led out into the cold world above. As we reached the top, icy grip of the tundra filtered through––wintry gales that it seemed I had only momentarily escaped. I held my hand to Fredr
ick to stop and he did so, his shivering frame huddled against the rocky edge of the narrow hall. I pushed up hard on the hatch, the layer of snow packed on top it sliding in onto me as I moved it aside. Shaking my head, the packed snow dropped from around my neck to the jagged stairs that led back into the confines of the Fallen.
My people were already a shadow on my mind.
I emerged from the corridor. My mask felt the bitter arctic air first; it was the lifeblood of the tundra hunter. I knew that in the vastness of the plains of the Barren Maiden many things were lost: humanity, things both spiritual and physical. The hatch closed itself behind us and once again I was alone in the only place that truly felt like home to me anymore. The desolation, the feeling as if you were one step from oblivion, was like an addiction to me. The possibility that these plains held a fate for me which I had not yet experienced drove me forward.
Fredrick shivered behind me. His defeated frame tried to draw emotion from me.
On the tundra I could feel nothing. My emotions were replaced with logic and the need to survive.
“Fredrick, we have to clear the Maiden first. Then, we will reach your final destination,” I called back to him.
He did not respond.
His body swayed in the tumbling gales; his pitiful frame was nothing more than a vessel prepping for death.
“Fredrick, do you understand?”
He nodded at me.
“I can see that we will not be talking much.”
He shook his head this time and the loose folds of his wraps whipped in the wind.
“Indeed.” I lowered my head into the wind. Tucking my arms into the warm folds of the fur I wore around my shoulders, I moved forward against the winds. My body broke the wicked fingers of the powerful winds for the much frailer figure of Fredrick who followed. Moving forward slowly, my feet churned against the rifts of snow that were just ahead of me. The distance stretched far out to the east of where we stood. The desolation of the tundra was incredible. I felt the power of the loneliness that accompanied being a journeyman upon the cold earth of my ancestors. The journey that lay before the two of us was a monumental one. To the east, there existed a mammoth structure buried by the snow and ice that had claimed Terra. Within its confines slept the heretics and outcasts of the Fallen.