R.E.birth

by Thomas W. Everson

  I sigh, fall silent and cave in.

  “Rain,” Tamiell’s voice comes out softly from behind me. “Oh, I am sorry, I did not realize that you were in conversation.”

  “It’s fine Tamiell. What is it?”

  “I want you to have this. It is not much but I want to help,” she hands me a small purse with a few gold coins in it.

  “Thank you. I will make sure it goes to good use. I’ll need to buy something to defend myself with.”

  “Take care of yourself,” she says with sadness in her voice.

  “I will. And don’t lose faith that you’ll find someone. Just get out more and I am sure that someone will find you.” I smile at her.

  Tamiell enters the kitchen and sees the tea. She makes herself a cup, no sugar, and takes it upstairs. The spy, for lack of a better word at the moment, finds his way downstairs and I glare at him. His head hangs in shame and I’m not sure if it’s because he’s feeling guilty about his dealings or if it’s just because he was caught. Neither matter to me though.

  “What is your name?” I ask him.

  “Lester,” his voice comes out in a low tone.

  “Lester, tomorrow is the day you redeem yourself and start anew.”

  “I…” he starts, but I cut him off.

  “Go sit down in an open chair out there.” I point for him to leave the kitchen.

  Following him out, I leave Evalyn to herself again and he moves over to an open chair by the dwindling fire. Taking a seat on the hearth, I warm myself and cross my arms while stretching my legs out. Staring at him I find myself drifting.

  “Get some sleep. We’re going to be walking non-stop tomorrow.” My tone is harsh. “If you move from that spot I will break your fingers.”

  He nods, fear in his eyes, and I find a brief bit of peace.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  My head jerks and my eyes snap open in fear that Lester had absconded while I dozed. But he sits there in the chair, asleep, as I had commanded him and I sigh in relief. Heading into the kitchen I find it empty, but a sack is there with a note on it. Written in a difficult to read, fancy handwriting, I can tell it’s from Tamiell and she is wishing us well. Looking inside, I find an assortment of food, enough for at least a couple days.

  Footsteps come from behind and startle me. When I look it’s Evalyn. She laughs and takes the bag from me and slings it over her shoulder.

  “Are you ready to go?” she asks.

  “As soon as I go wake Lester up,” I nod.

  Moving back out to the living room I find him where I left him, still asleep and I kick his foot to wake him. He screams and jumps to his feet and Evalyn scoffs. Silently, I direct him to the front of the house and out the door.

  While walking to a blacksmith I remember seeing on my treks through the city, my thoughts turn to imaginary scenarios of what could happen, of how far outnumbered I am going to be.

  The odds will likely be heavily in their favor and I will need to stay on my guard.

  Dawn has not yet broken the sky yet and the blacksmith’s window is still closed but that doesn’t stop me from pounding on the wooden window panel until a scruffy man pulls it open.

  “Not open yet,” he mumbles and rubs his eyes.

  “I just need a sword.”

  “Come back later.”

  “I can’t. I need it now as I am leaving town.” I plink down the few coins in my possession on the windowsill.

  He grunts, takes the coins and fades into the dark shop returning only moments later with a rather boring looking sword in a cheap leather sheath. Before I can say anything, he shoves it in my hands and proceeds to slam the wood panel in my face.

  Turning to Lester, I use the sword to motion for him to move and lead the way. He leads us from of the city and to the road heading north. The silence between the three of us is lessened by the sounds of nature as the sun comes up and birds begin to chirp and chatter while fluttering about underneath the roof made by the forest trees.

  Lester keeps to himself while leading us, and I take a moment to nudge Evalyn and point to the sack she’s carrying. We trade, sword for bag, and I rummage for something to drink. Tamiell appears to have packed a small jug of water and I ration it by taking a few small swigs and place it back in the bag. Evalyn and I exchange again.

  After hours of walking Lester suddenly stops and looks around. Evalyn and I both stop as well and I listen for anything that might be coming but can hear nothing of interest. No hoof beats, no feet marching. Lester points to some bushes.

  “I need to…um…relieve myself,” he states clearly embarrassed.

  “Go and hurry up. And if you attempt to run…” I point at him with the sword and trail off.

  He nods and stumbles down off the path and hides behind the bushes. Evalyn turns away and sits down on the opposite side of the road.

  “You should have gone back to the house.”

  “So Ami and I can sit around and wonder if you’ve died on your fool’s errand? At least if you do, I’ll be able to break Ami’s heart in person.”

  “You’d be safe,” I tell her, while keeping an eye on the bush Lester is perched behind.

  She sighs. After a few minutes and some rustling, Lester reappears and we resume our trip in silence. Lester’s pace is slower after restarting and I notice him checking around frequently. After following the winding road for several more hours he stops again and looks to his left at a well-traveled offshoot of this main road that we’ve been traveling.

  “This is where we have to veer off.” Lester points and I can hear the nervousness in his voice.

  There are clear wheel marks from carts on this new path and they seem quite fresh, a good indication that Lester isn’t lying, but through all of the trees I cannot see any place that would hold a cave. Though the end destination is not in sight, my drive pushes me forward and I allow Lester to lead the way.

  To break the awkward silence that plagues us I ask Evalyn a difficult question, touching on sensitive matters.

  “Why did you do it?”

  “I suppose I can’t claim it isn’t any of your business anymore since you’re stuck with us.” She knows what I refer to without any prompting. “I was angry.”

  “Angry about what?”

  “Agatha. Miss perfect-life. It wasn’t fair.”

  “So you did it completely out of spite?”

  “I was dying and I just wanted her to feel some sense the despair I was feeling. When you’re dying, things just seem like a dream.”

  “Yeah, I know that feeling.”

  “So you do.” She glances at me then returns her eyes to where she’s going. “At the time, separating Agatha from her husband and leaving her spinning through time seemed to be enough to drive her mad.”

  “Why can’t you stop it now?”

  “In hindsight, I realized that my power was too much for my body. Using it to jump through time took a very heavy toll on my body, leading to my death. If I tried any such thing in Agatha’s body, it would surely kill her and I think I’ve punished her enough.”

  “I find that hard to believe. Isn’t possessing her body punishment?”

  “Perhaps she feels that way, but she’s never expressed it.”

  “If she did would you stop?”

  Evalyn stays silent, not to say that she would or wouldn’t, but she appears to be actually contemplating it. Though I cannot tell what she is thinking, it is apparent on her face that she recognizes it as a legitimate question that requires answering. But no answer comes from her and silence falls between us.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Night has fallen, the sun seeming a distant memory and after hours of walking, several rests for various reasons, including having to jump off the road to hide while a slave wagon passed, we decide to sleep for a few hours. With the base not far off from our current location, I decide a fire might attract the slavers before I am ready. Huddling together in the woods we at
tempt to keep warm and I close my eyes.

  I wonder what Ami is doing. She’s not likely to let either of us out of her sight again for a great while. And what has Eve been doing? How much fighting has gone on between the two of them?

  Thoughts of what they could be or have been doing plague me. Ami must be worrying as there has been no opportunity to get word back to her that we are okay. Eve has to be annoying Ami quite a bit, assuming that Eve didn’t run off and get herself into trouble. Ami though, despite our lengthy absence, would stay put in order to keep a presence there at the house.

  Caught in a state between awake and sleeping, I dream about the ominous character Drake, but not in the woods as I have seen and remembered. It’s in a room made of stone with a large banquet table. Paintings hang on the wall. One of the paintings is of a family of four; a man, a woman and two children. It is familiar and might even be my family. My attention is redirected and my vision turns to Drake sitting at the end of the table. He’s casually eating a meal and looks in my direction. As his lips move, I notice that I can’t actually hear him.

  My eyes snap open as Lester stands up and my hands immediately unsheathe the sword. Even in the minimal light, I see his eyes widen as large as a doe’s. I’m on my feet and ready to cut him down.

  “I just need to relieve myself!”

  “What a coincidence. Me too.” My instincts kick in and, while it may be an overreaction, I decide not to take the chance that he’s simply telling the truth.

  Was I this cynical in my past? This violent?

  He walks off from where Evalyn continues to rest and leads the way for us both to get rid of our bodily wastes. He heads off behind one tree, looking over his shoulder to see if I’m following. I nod at him and head behind my own tree while putting the sword away. When done I return to where I last saw him and wait for him to reappear. I don’t hear anything behind where he disappeared and I begin to get suspicious.

  If he ran off, he could head right for the slavers…

  My foot taps impatiently and just as I am going to head for the tree, I see Lester reappear fixing his pants. I breathe a sigh of relief that I was wrong and we return to Evalyn. Noticing the sky beyond the trees becoming lighter it would seem that we rested longer than it felt like.

  I tap Evalyn on the shoulder. “Hey, we’re going to get going.”

  “You’re going to have so many chores when we get home, Rain,” she grumbles.

  “I know.” I hold my arm out for her to grab and hoist her up.

  She brushes herself off and grabs the bag of supplies. Lester shifts his body weight nervously and out of pity and perhaps guilt over almost attacking him I address him.

  “Lester, if we keep following this path we will find them right?”

  “Yes,” his voice quivers.

  “Good, get out of here. If I hear about you back in the slave business I’ll spill your insides.” I wave the sword threateningly at him.

  “Are you serious? I can go?”

  “Yes. Just stay off the main path.”

  He hesitates by walking slowly back toward the path, looking over his shoulder a couple times, likely to see if I am being honest. When he’s several hundred yards away. I start off in the direction of the carriage tracks with Evalyn at my side. Feeling a little rested, my pace is quickened and as the sun begins to illuminate the forest around us, I can see that the terrain is changing. Entering an area of hills this secluded seems ideal for the slavers operations.

  The hills begin to tower over us as we move closer to them and I constantly check our sides and back for any potential threats. The path ahead is hugged by two hills enclosing it like a small valley and appears to be the perfect place for an ambush for any travelers. I put my hand on Evalyn’s shoulder, shaking my head and lead her off the path before we reach the bottleneck. The hill is steep but we slowly make our way up it in order to better position ourselves.

  Using the bushes and trees to aide our climb, we reach the top only to find that it’s more of the same. Trees as far as the eyes can see, with the exception of being able to see down into the pathway, which branches off a few times into different directions, any of which could lead nowhere. Or perhaps right into the camp of the slavers.

  A rustling comes from several yards away and Evalyn and I instinctively duck and hide. After a moment, a lone man appears with the appearance of a bandit: scruffy, dirty and armed with a dagger on each hip. I give Evalyn a look and point to where she’s crouching hoping she will take it as an indication to stay put.

  While I move off quietly, ducking from one bush to another, I look back I see her get into a prone position. Circling to flank the man, I find him at a disadvantage while he appears to be relieving himself with his eyes closed. Swiftly and quietly, I move only to snap a twig mere feet from him. He wheels about but it’s too late, my hand is upon his mouth shoving him against a tree, my sword unsheathed and aimed at his heart.

  “Not a word until I say and if you try anything, you die,” I whisper while pushing the tip of the sword in between two ribs. “Take your daggers and toss them on the ground.”

  He does and returns his hands to a surrender position about shoulder height. I kick the daggers away from him, one to his far left and one to his far right. I let my hand off his mouth and put it to my lips.

  “Very quietly, identify yourself.”

  “INTRU…!” He tries to cry out but I shove my hand back over his mouth and jam my sword into his right leg.

  His eyes go wide and he sinks to the ground, crying out in pain through my hand. I cover his nose too, blocking off his airways for a short time until his wail dies down. I release my hand from his nostrils.

  “Not very smart of you. If you want to get out of this alive you’ll do as I tell you and answer my questions. Which way to your camp?”

  He hesitates and I twist the sword still dug into his leg. Letting out a yelp through my hand he points to my left and makes an arcing motion to indicate going around a fairly large tree in the distance that stands out from the rest.

  “Then what? Around the tree and..?”

  He points down. I nod and as a reward I draw the blade from his leg, swing it back and put the pommel into his temple to knock him out. Standing up, I wave Evalyn over and she follows me through the forest.

  Keeping as quiet as we possibly while can, we move toward our first goal, the aged tree. Reaching it, we duck behind and look beyond down into a little cove with two things of interest: a slave cart and the other man that was with Burly when I was kidnapped. He and other men are leading chained slaves into a cave carved out of the side of the hill. When he cracks a whip against the back of a man to get him to move from the cart, my rage begins to build.

  “You need to stay here, no matter what,” I whisper to Evalyn.

  “I’ve come this far, I’m not sitting here.”

  I turn my gaze to her and give her a very angry look. “You aren’t going to like what I’m about to do and I’d rather not have Agatha’s eyes see what is about to transpire. We’ll talk about it later.”

  “But…”

  “No!” I whisper harshly but quickly reconsider my tone with her because of the peril I am about to put myself in. “Look, Evalyn, I want you to know that I’m sorry. I know that I have been a nuisance to you and I’ve said some rude and harsh things. I am sorry for the misfortune and pain you’ve had to endure.”

  “Stop talking like you’re not coming back.” She hits me in the arm, frowning.

  I smile and leave her behind. While I move around the back of the cove where the entrance is, I make sure to stay hidden, utilizing mostly bushes for cover. I keep an eye on the man who stands guard near the carriage while it is emptied. No one seems to be alerted to my presence as I reach the edge of the hill leading down to the cave. Squatting, I take a moment to listen. Voices disappear down into the hole and Burly’s accomplice crosses his arms, watching as they leave the open area.

  When I feel that they’ve gone
far enough for me to be undetected in my descent, I choose the accomplice as my first target of retribution. The hillside is steep and I position my legs along the slope. Pushing up with my arms, I offset my balance by leaning back, but as I begin moving down the hill my feet carry me into a run. The hill becomes a cliff at the mouth of the cave and nearing it I slide the sword out of its casing, leaving the sheath on the hill. When I reach the edge, I leap forward.

  That blood smell enters my nose as if I’m about to impact something very hard. In midair, I bring the sword up with both hands and I see his eyes go wide. Before he can call out for his fellow slavers I have landed on him and I thrust the sword down. His arms are up defensively, but it provides no protection from my velocity and the downward force coming at him.

  He stumbles backward and then collapses onto his tailbone. My impact causes him to fall the rest of the way to the ground. A muffled thud is heard and I lie on top of him. He stares at me for a moment, great pain in his face and he attempts to speak, but nothing but a gurgle comes out. His eyes roll back and no more movement is felt from him. Rolling off of his small frame, I find that my sword found a home through his arms and at a severe angle down his ribcage.

  That’s two. What would Ami think of me if she knew I had killed two men? How many more will I kill? Should I feel remorse over their deaths or should I chalk it up to dealing justice and ridding the world of a little evil?

  My resolve strengthens once more and, standing, I pull the blade from his chest and turn my sights to the cave’s entrance. Slinking over to the darkened corridor, I peek inside to find it poorly lit with torches every ten or so feet and only on the right side of the narrow passage’s wall. With no one in the initial passage, I slide in, hugging the wall and step quietly.

  A faint sound of cracking of whips can be heard further down the cave. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I slowly make my way toward it. All doubt about whether I did the right thing or not is quickly dispelled and replacing it is the urge to kill the rest of them when I hear their harsh voices and laughter echoing upward. The sound of a woman crying can be heard very faintly and I grit my teeth.