by Gerard Bond
He moved off doing as he was told looking around and finding some feathers here and there over the next hour.
Upon returning to the tent Raven sat down by Elith's body cutting some leather strips to tie feathers to her upper arms, she also made a necklace as well. She did the same to Elith's ankles and wrists and when Raven was satisfied she stood up surveying her work. It had been a couple of hours since they had started and now that they were done there wasn’t much to do until evening approached.
“Lets go help with the others disposing of orc bodies, I am sure there is still a lot to clean up.”
Raven nodded in agreement and they went about helping the others. It took their minds off things for awhile keeping themselves busy and they passed on lunch as did the rest of the clan, no one had an appetite today.
As evening approached Raven ducked into another tent where food for the ceremony was being prepared and she grabbed some for both of them, then they retired to the tent and sat down. They were to one side of Elith and Raven placed out three bowls of food, one by Elith and one for each of them. Wollfen watched on waiting, all of a sudden he realized they were starting a ritual, this part he hadn’t seen before.
The two of them faced each other and Raven sat quietly staring for a second, then she began to speak,
“As we eat this final meal together let us remember all that we shared, all the meals we ate and all the water we drank.” She paused and took a morsel of food then a swig of water. Wollfen followed suit. “As we eat this final meal together let us remember the good times we had and happiness we brought each other.”
Again Raven paused, took a morsel of food and another drink.
“As we eat this final meal together, let us remember the hardships too that we endured and overcame.” They ate and drank some more and once more Raven spoke,
“As we eat this final meal together, let us always cherish the memories off all the good and the bad we shared unto death.”
Now they were done and Raven sat staring at Wollfen for a few minutes not moving. He watched back not moving, doing everything as she did.
Finally she stood up and began stripping off her clothes and Wollfen copied her. They stood before each other naked and Raven looked Wollfen up and down before turning and fetching a piece of animal skin. She stood there cutting it to shape with her knife and poking holes in the outer edges. She then fed a strip of leather through the holes and once she was satisfied with her work she proceeded to reach around Wollfen's waist and tie it into position. The loose flap of fur hanging down providing a bit of modesty.
She held the knife out to Wollfen and he understood what was required, after a few minutes he had fashioned a loincloth as well and tied it around her waist. She did the same with the feathers tying them on his ankles and upper arms then finally his wrists. He did this too for her and once more stood back. She motioned for Wollfen to sit on the wooden stool and went over grabbing a bowl of dark liquid, she then sat before him.
“I was not originally of this clan, I came here at a very young age from the clan Berengah in the next valley.” Wollfen nodded, he knew of this, “ The Berengah clan does things slightly differently and they make use of tattoos on their warriors. I wish to put a temporary tattoo on you with this ink for the ceremony to pay homage to my ancestors, will that be okay?” Wollfen nodded without hesitation, it was a small thing and he had no problem with it.
Raven smiled a little, it was the first smile he had seen from her all day. She leaned forward and gave him a soft sensuous kiss before proceeding. Dipping a sharpened stick into the ink Raven began to draw on the left side of his chest, he glanced down watching on, the look of concentration on her face was interesting. After a few minutes he realized she was drawing the head of a howling wolf,
“You are quite good at this, that’s a great rendition you are doing.” She smiled and continued her work, it was about another ten minutes before she was done, the damp ink was shiny. Now she spoke up,
“Kneel on the ground would you?”
Wollfen slipped off the stool and did as he was told, she then kneeled close to him and moved so her bare breast was in line with the wolf's head. She pressed herself against his chest for a moment then pulled away. The ink left a reverse impression beside her nipple just as it was on his chest. She looked up into his eyes,
“Now we are together.”
They kissed deeply before standing up. Raven went to the tent flap and looked outside, it was dark out and she could hear that the ceremonies for the other dead had begun. She threw the flaps back and turned,
“It is time we started, I will take the front and you take the back of the stretcher, I will lead the way.” He nodded and they bent down to their task.
Once outside she took them on a long walk into the woods to the place they had prepared earlier in the day, it was set apart from the other ceremonies as this was to be a private affair. Upon reaching the small clearing they approached the wood pyre and placed Elith's body nearby.
On the ground there was a flask of oil and Raven started pouring it over Elith's chest then rubbing her down, she motioned for Wollfen to do the same. They started from her shoulders and moved slowly down over Elith's breasts to her belly then over her thighs. Moving further down they finished oiling all the way down to her feet. After that they oiled each arm. The last of the oil Raven used to bathe Elith's hair rubbing it in and coating her face. Raven threw the empty flask aside and took a cloth wiping her hands dry and handing it to Wollfen to do the same.
She motioned Wollfen to take up position facing Elith on the other side to her and they both knelt. She began speaking her words, they were different to what Ironside said at the last ceremony as these were of clan Berengah.
“We live we laugh, we live we cry, we fight we live, we fight we die. This is the way of the world and all triumph or fall. Let the gods see that we gave our all and that we pay homage to our passing, as I do this for you may the next do for me.”
Raven bowed her head to Elith and then stood up moving to one end of the stretcher, Wollfen did so too and they lifted Elith's body up and onto the pyre.
There was a burning torch nearby and Raven took it raising it above her head,
“Look! Prepare! I am sending you one worthy of the afterlife! Her name be Elith and she desires your company!”
Raven turned and moved towards Elith, Wollfen stood back as she touched the base of the pyre and flames licked up the side. Just as Wollfen had seen once before, the fire enveloped the body. The two of them took up positions approximately ten feet from it and they sat cross legged facing the fire. They would keep vigil here not moving for the rest of the night, no words would be spoken and they would not move, watching and committing to memory the passing of Elith. It was a long night.
At the crack of dawn they were still sitting and watching on as the embers of the fire continued to burn, they were both shivering from the cool air. During most of the night the fire had kept them warm but as the fire had died down and the night air had cooled they had been subjected to the elements. Wollfen was stiff and he hoped Raven would move soon, he had been following her lead all along and wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold himself up.
Finally after another twenty minutes Raven stirred, falling onto her side and stretching her limbs out slowly, making sounds of pain. Wollfen did so too and felt the pain rush up his limbs, they had stayed in the same position for something like twelve hours. His stomach grumbled as well. He felt so tired and groggy, this day would be bad if they were expected to do much at all.
The two of them slowly walked back to Raven's tent and stripped off what little they had on sliding into the bedding under some skins, they were too tired to do anything else. Raven lay her head on Wollfen's chest one hand resting on him too. She spoke quietly ,
“I never got the chance to tell her how sorry I was, I never got the chance to apologize.” He nodded slightly, understanding,
“Yes I am sorry for you m
y dear, but think of this, Elith would have seen the ceremony and your dedication to her. She will be happy in the afterlife now.” Wollfen felt the nod of Raven's head and it wasn’t long before they both drifted off to sleep.
It was about five hours later when the two of them stirred, both of their tummies grumbled and they knew they had to get up. Dragging themselves out from under the covers each of them put on slacks and a tunic. Walking outside they were dazzled by the bright sunshine for a few moments. Looking around things appeared to be mostly normal.
Ironside was sitting by the large campfire even though it was not burning and he waved them over. There was no cheer today, just a quiet acceptance.
“I hope the ceremony went well for both of you,” They nodded in reply and sat down. “I am glad, these are dark times and having to lay so many to rest last night has been very hard.”
Again they nodded not feeling like speaking. Ironside needed to though, he had been thinking all morning about the situation and while they were in mourning he was still tasked with the health and well being of the clan, there was no rest for him.
“I sent out scouts to clan Berengah earlier this morning to see how they are, I am expecting them back anytime now.” Wollfen started thinking about the situation,
“Do you think the other clans may have been hit too?” Ironside shrugged,
“Who knows? Up until yesterday I would have said it was impossible for orcs to organize and attack an entire clan in spite of the latest smaller attacks we have had lately.”
Wollfen agreed, he hadn’t seen this coming, they had seen maybe a dozen orcs working together at once, but a hundred? That took a lot of organizing and leadership, the orcs just didn’t have that ability, well up until now he hadn’t thought so.
“One things for sure, it has happened once and that means it will happen again.” Raven spoke up at that moment,
“I don’t care what the orcs do I am here to stay and I will fight them whenever they come across my path, I will not run away, I will not abandon my fellow clan.” Ironside smiled and nodded,
“Well spoken Raven, I am proud of you for feeling that way, but it might be of no use.”
“Why not? Why can we not fight on? If we take the fight to them instead of sitting and waiting for them surely we have a good chance of driving them back into the high mountains.” Ironside looked a bit sad,
“Look around you Raven, it will take us over ten years to recuperate from what has happened. That’s if we don’t lose any more people in ongoing large battles, we have sixty people left here including children. We just don’t have the numbers.” Raven sighed and looked down.
Just then the scouts could be heard coming at a gallop, the three could tell something was up. Ironside and the others stood and moved towards the approaching riders. As they pulled up Ironside could see the look of desperation on their faces. The lead scout spoke as he dismounted,
“They are gone! The whole clan is gone!” Ironside looked on in disbelief,
“Tell me it isn’t so!” The scout could only shake his head in grief as he replied,
“They are all dead!” Raven gasped and cried out, the gathering clans people also started, the babble of noise grew as the shock of the news spread.
Ironside looked to Wollfen,
“I'm not going to waste any time sending out more scouts to check on the other local clans, there are too many spread over a couple of weeks ride. I have to assume that what has happened here has happened everywhere,” Ironside paused and looked hard into Wollfen's eyes, “I need you to return to Lord Cazzara and ask for help , we can not wait any longer, do you understand?” Wollfen nodded,
“Perfectly, there is no time to spare, I will be gone a week as it is. In the meantime I think it best if you break camp and start moving closer to the Kingdom by a couple of days at least, that will take you right to the border very near Westre-snow. I will pass through there day after tomorrow and will let them know that you are not making any aggressive moves.” Ironside nodded and turned to the gathered clan members as Wollfen walked off.
“Prepare to break camp!” At that command all the clans people moved off quickly. Ironside turned to Raven, “Will you leave with Wollfen when he gets going?”
She shook her head,
“No, my place is here with the clan, I will fight beside you all.” He gave a grim nod at her decision and spoke once more before moving off,
“Go to him, you never know when you may see him again.” She agreed and left making a course for Wollfen's tent.
She entered to see him packing his saddlebags and without waiting grabbed him by the arm turning him around, she took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply. Wollfen in turn embraced her tightly as he kissed back, they stood there kissing for a bit then pulled apart Raven whispering,
“I love you my darling, but I must stay, this is my place for better or worse.” He nodded slowly at her words knowing what it might mean, he wasn’t happy about it but too many people's lives were at stake.
“I will be back soon hon, I won't abandon you or your people, I am in this just as much as you.” She nodded smiling,
“Yes I know, I wouldn’t have included you in the ceremony last night if I didn’t know that, get your boots on and get going my dear.” She winked and without pause she left again leaving him alone, there would be no long goodbye. He spoke to her retreating form even though he knew she wouldn’t hear him,
“I am going to come back for you, mark my words.” He turned back to his packing and finished up, then carried his gear to the corral. There he saddled his horse , mounted up and was off at a trot back to the west. Looking over his shoulder hoping to see Raven one last time he noted that many of the tents were already collapsing, they would be packed and on the move within an hour by his reckoning.
It was the following day when Wollfen heard Aldorn call in his mind, he knew the elf was about somewhere near but hadn’t given him any thought since their last contact, now he heard his voice loud and clear,
'I have heard word of much happening in the east.' Wollfen focused and sent back his own mind thoughts,
'Yes the clans have been attacked, clan Berengah is no more and Horungar has been sorely pressed, of the others I have no word. I am heading back to Gevalia as we speak to seek help.' Wollfen waited for a reply and it was not long in coming,
'I shall join up with you to offer assistance.'
'Thank you my friend, it is much appreciated.' Then there was silence again as he rode along, it was very quiet here on the road with no signs of activity, nothing to give away what was transpiring further east.
Later in the afternoon as Wollfen was closing on Westre-snow he came across a Kingdom patrol of twenty horsemen led by a Captain. They both pulled up facing each other and the Captain addressed him,
“What is your name and your business please.”
“I am Wollfen and I travel to Gevalia on urgent business for Lord Cazzara.” The Captain looked surprised,
“You are Wollfen? I was told I may come across your path by the Lord when traveling west but I didn’t really think it could be so soon. We are to travel the borderlands and spend a couple of weeks scouting and checking out the orc situation.” Wollfen shook his head,
“No need, the orcs are massing and attacking.” The captain couldn’t quite believe his ears,
“That's a bit difficult to believe, no orcs ever work together.”
“I have seen it Captain, the clan Horungar lost over thirty dead in an attack by over one hundred orcs, we spent a day disposing of their bodies, then we got word back of clan Berengah, they were totally wiped out. It is why I make haste for Gevalia, the clans need help .”
The captain spent some time thinking things over, what could it hurt to check things out? They were heading in that direction anyway,
“Very well tell us what direction to take and we shall do what we can, where is this clan Horungar?
“They will be coming along this road
sometime this evening or tomorrow, they were breaking camp as I left, I told them to make camp short of Westre-snow until I returned of word from Lord Cazzara.” The captain looked up the road and then replied,
“That means we will make contact very soon since we just left Westre-snow ourselves, I shall make contact with them and offer our protection until we hear word back from your visit.” Wollfen nodded in gratitude,
“I thank you Captain, your services are greatly needed, until I return I bid you farewell.” The Captain nodded, signaled his men to move out and Wollfen waited until they had all filed past before continuing on his way.
About half an hour later Wollfen heard from Aldorn again, only this time it was urgent,
'Wollfen hark! I am under attack!' Wollfen pulled his horse up and mind touched with Aldorn,
'Where are you?'
'I am at the river crossing being driven south along the riverbank on the side of Westre-snow.' Wollfen didn’t hesitate turning his horse around and setting off at a gallop,
'I am on my way!' The river crossing was only a few miles distant and it shocked him to know that orcs were so far east, he hoped he could find his friend in time.
After about ten minutes of riding he closed up on the rear of the Kingdom's soldiers still making their way east. The Captain turned hearing the galloping horse approaching, he signaled his men to stop. Wollfen pulled up beside him and spoke urgently,
“I have been in mind touch with a friend of mine near the river crossing, he is being attacked by about thirty orcs as we speak!' The Captain didn’t waste any time asking needless questions and spoke,
“Which direction?”
“He is being driven south along the river bank on this side, follow me I can track his beacon.” Wollfen didn’t wait for a reply and set off at a gallop, it was maybe ten minutes to get where they wanted to go. The Captain shouted out orders to follow and twenty horsemen made off at a gallop following Wollfen. Some of the soldiers were looking at each other, they were about to see some action!
After about five minutes Wollfen left the road turning right and heading into the trees, he didn’t slow knowing the open woods here rather well and there was no danger to the horses falling. On he galloped at an angle to meet up with where he knew Aldorn was fighting. A few minutes later they broke out into the open seeing the wide river in front of them, where was Aldorn?