“Yes.” I charge him.
It feels good, to let go, to pour all my energy into something, and I don’t hesitate to give it everything I have.
“You’re different, why?” He blocks a shot.
“They could have killed us.”
“Didn’t I tell you that before?”
“You told me a lot of things. I lose track.” I laugh and swing my spear at his chest.
He ducks. “Like how these tribes don’t care about politics.”
“It was one tribe. We’ll reach the next by daybreak.”
I don’t want to admit to feeling dejected and focus on my muscles and making them strong. We hunt again in the buffer zone and just before sunset approach the next border. Members of the tribe block our entry onto their lands and follow us as we skirt around their boundaries by day. We run through the next night, finding a copse of trees to rest in while the sun follows the horizon.
Wildlife is sparse the farther inland we go, and a couple of rabbits is all we’re able to catch. Will decides we should hug the coast, and while I hate losing time going north rather than east, I follow his judgment. It takes us a day to get to the sea, and I’m anxious about finding the next border. We find a caribou herd and take down an older animal.
The distance between tribal lands spreads out, and I have no luck in gathering histories or friendships over the next twelve days. We gather enough information to alert us to our location on the continent, but not much else. By the first of August, we’ve spanned a third of the way across the Asian continent into Siberia.
“We need to go south,” Will says as we start our trek the first night of August.
“One more tribe,” I insist.
“You’re so human.”
My hands go to my hips. “What does that mean?”
“I watched the humans that you and Alec lived with for days before I struck.”
Shivers run down my spine, as I think about how I came to know Will. I swallow hard but do not prevent him from continuing.
“Humans have this emotion called hope. Most vampires, especially the wild ones, do not have it and are not aware they should. They live meal to meal with no knowledge that another way exists. Tomorrow, progress, hope. Those are out of their realm. One could say ignorance is bliss.”
“It’s not like I’m a prophet or messiah of some sort.” I resume my pace.
He grabs my bicep and pulls me to him. His breath is hot on my forehead, but I don’t resist. “But you are. I get that you don’t ever want another being to experience your pain. But your efforts are fruitless here. We need to go south. Vampires living closer to civilization will get it.”
I hold his stare. “You don’t understand. My mission is to learn of every vampire tribe I can. Map out our people. I mean to cover every inch of land on the earth. We keep going east to the coast and then go south.”
Hating that I like the feel of his hand on my arm, the warmth of his body close to mine, the smell of devotion wafting off his skin, I slide my arm from his grip. I trudge away, leaving him frozen in his spot for several seconds.
In a flash, he’s next to me again. “You didn’t say anything about the whole world. That will take us years. I thought you wanted a home.”
“What happened to convincing me that I’m a queen? Are you starting to doubt me? The first time I don’t follow your plan, you abandon me. I do want a home, but I need to do this first. Go back if you have given up on me, Will of Alaric of the Norwegian tribe of Erik.”
He looms over me. “Winter comes. Cold here is like no other. Polar bears freeze on the ice because they can’t find food.”
“So, we’ll make coats of caribou skin and shoes of rabbit hides.”
“Insufferable woman,” he mutters under his breath and runs away.
September – Siberia
Will teaches me to clean hides, preserve furs, and to make sinews into thread. For the first time ever, I’m glad Elizabeth made me learn to sew. Within a week, we have vests of wolf fur, hats and foot coverings from rabbits, coats of caribou, and leather from deer for our pant coverings. Will helps me carve a small knife from the leg bone of a moose.
With these successful hunts, we are well fed. I twist my arm, noting bulging bicep and forearm muscles, and then examine my thighs and calves.
“Do you think my muscles are too large?” I ask as we approach a meadow.
“Worried about your womanly figure? What a human thing to think. Right now, you need to focus. This is a large tribe.” Will sniffs the air as we reach a boundary.
Even with my rants to Will about staying the course, I feel disheartened. “That is good.”
I barely get the words out as we’re greeted by a pack of six large warriors.
“You must be Anne of Scotts.” The front male approaches.
Scanning the group, I raise my chin. “I am, and this is Will of Alaric.”
“I’m the first son of the leader of this tribe. He has instructed me to answer your questions and see you safely to our borders.”
We trail him to the village. Will is right about the size of the tribe, there are at least fifty buildings. The center one is a large round log structure, and we file inside. There’s a large fire in the center. Along the walls, groups of vampires sew clothes and prepare animals. One plays a flute, and children run through the spaces.
I note their dark skin, hair, and eyes. Seeing the level of artistic talent, begin to hope that I shall be welcomed as a friend. As we make our way to the middle, the room grows quiet.
Beyond the fire, a stooped male wearing a fur hat is helped to a standing position by a wrinkled female. We aren’t introduced to anyone, only allowed to observe. The son answers my questions, offers us blood and meat of a reindeer just before sun up, and escorts us to the border of his tribe.
“Why don’t you look happy? He gave us sustenance, answered your questions,” Will whispers in my ear as we walk east across the tundra.
“I’m not sure we’re welcome.”
“More so than by Bjarke.”
“Perhaps.” I refocus on the path ahead. “But, the human population is ever growing and advancing. They strive to inhabit all the land. England sent ships across an ocean to discover a new world. These civilized men aim to have dominion. Witches will carve out their own place in this new order. I don’t want our people to be overrun, chased to the edges of the land, to deserts, to the poles where it’s so hard to live there is no joy. We have shared this earth, been stewards of our motherlands for as long as humans have. Why not ensure our children can enjoy its bounty?”
Will stops and stares at me. “These tribes are not going to understand you. They have no words for what you speak of. Winter is coming. We should go south.”
“Is that all you have to say to me?”
“Is it true, the humans have discovered a new land?”
“It’s hard to explain.” I relate how Columbus sailed west and found a new land mass, about the theory of a round planet, and colonization.
“From the stories I hear, it has always been in our best interest to hide our nature, stay separate from the humans.”
“That’s not true. In the early years we lived as one species, the humans, vampires, and witches. The witches turned the humans against us, called us pagans, and flooded the Earth to rid it of all who paid reference to our spirituality. We have been running since the days of Noah. It’s time we stopped.”
“Have you ever tasted human blood?” Licking his lips, he swallows as if just the mention of the red liquid makes him hungry.
“No.” I push around him.
He grabs my arms and twists me to face him. “Do you know how Amaud, Erik’s witch, smelled? Like the most delicious thing you could ever taste? Raw meat from a deer, honey, beer, berries, and wine all rolled into one.” His eyes seem to sparkle despite the near blackness around us. “Human blood tastes better than that.”
“I was trained from a young age to ignore human scent.”
“Yes.” He lifts a finger. “You had to be taught. Did you not fight your urge to kill every day when you lived in London? Wasn’t there one human whose scent you felt you may not resist?”
“It was not that difficult.” This time I jump around him and dart ahead.
Faster than me, he blocks my path again. “That is why vampires have isolated themselves. We want to eat humans, but if we eat humans, the witches retaliate. Staying far away from human populations is smart.”
I shake my head. “I lived among humans for over seventeen years and never gave in.”
“But you were raised that way from a babe.”
“How long has it been since you ate a human?”
“I had several on my journey to England. The English were quite tasty.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“You will never kill? Human, vampire, nor witch?”
“Not of want for food or folly. And nor will you for as long as you’re with me.”
“Oh, who wants to be Queen now?”
I scowl at him, jump to a branch above, and propel myself over his head.
“We should hunt and head south,” I hear him call behind me.
“I told you. I will not head south until I reach the easternmost shore.” Desiring solitude, I continue my running gait away from him.
At daybreak, Will finds me again. “Did you eat? We should rest.”
“Go ahead. I’ll find a mouse or rabbit nearby.” After our prior conversation, sustenance is the furthest thing from my mind. I trace some twenty feet out from him as he rests. As the sun rises to its crest, I catch a familiar scent on the air. Before I can position myself between Will and the intruder, Will is beside me.
“Do you recognize the smell? I believe it is from the tribe. They’ve probably come to kill us.”
“Why would they want us dead?”
“Change is always a threat.”
“But, I have only one medallion from eight tribes we have visited. No one cares about a wee heartbroken scared girl.”
“Scared girls don’t make it across Serbia.” Air blasts across my forehead as Will jumps in front of me, spear cocked in one hand and saber in the other.
Spinning so my back is to Will’s, I rip the spear from its sheath and hold my knife ready. “I can’t distinguish their direction or how many.”
“Aye, nor can I.” Will backs into me.
We sniff the air and pan the expanse around us, rotating to get a view of the whole field. “Why would they attack in the day?”
“Shh, woman.”
There’s a whirring noise, and a shiny object lands beside my feet. Eyes on the trees in front of me, I bend to pick it up. “It’s a medallion. The last tribe’s medallion.”
“Let me see that.” Will snatches it from my grip. “It could be poisoned.”
Movement catches my eye, and I look up to see a being garbed in furs. I realize the multiples of coats produced the scent of many. The vampire starts to shed the layers of cover as it approaches.
“Forgive me for the scare. It’s best to travel in disguise.” The female vampire stops some twenty feet from us.
Will steps in front of me.
“I come in peace.” She looks around Will to me. “My father is very old. He sits in his hut and does not see the change in the world. My brothers and I do, and we wish to call you friend. Will you take the pendant and return to us with news of the others?”
“Thank you for coming. Yes, I will carry it with me.”
I hold my hand out to Will. He puts the pendant to his tongue. “It’s clean.”
Positioning the pendant over my heart, I extend my arm. “May we meet again.”
“May we meet again.” She grips my forearm. Turning to Will, she extends a hand to him. They grasp arms and bow to each other.
Her eyes find mine. “Till we meet again.” In one fluid motion she swings the coat around her body and disappears into the trees.
Turning to face me, Will shrugs. “That was unexpected.”
“This is good.” I wrap my hand around the medallion.
Armed with the two pendants, one in three tribes agree to share their medallions as we make our way east. They are smaller groups, and I collect ten total as we skirt the northern Siberian coast.
Will lifts his nose to the air as we approach the last strip of land between us and the ocean. “They say only one tribe lies on the peninsula. I don’t like to think of being trapped out there.”
“I thought you were a good swimmer.” I hike ahead of him.
“Our muscles will seize in seconds in the cold water.” Will jumps a stream.
“It’s a large, old tribe, and I want to meet them.”
“Of course you do, and you want to see the tip of the land.”
I take a leap and land beside him. “I do. Don’t you? I hear you can see the New World from the beach.”
“Do you think there are vampires on that continent? You said there’s news of native people.” The edges of his mouth turn down as he lifts a mud-caked shoe from the ground.
“If humans are there, I would assume vampires migrated there too.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Maybe they were there from the beginning.”
“The creator made multiples of people, vampires, witches in different places?”
“It would explain the difference in skin color. Africans have skin as dark as night. The tribes talk of eastern peoples with olive skin and different shaped eyes.” We slow our pace as I describe qualities of people in different regions.
“I haven’t seen any of those humans.”
“There were Africans in London. They attended school, learned English. Some stayed in Europe. The Dutch especially colonized many regions of southern Africa.”
“By colonized, you mean took their land?”
“Yes.” I take the hand Will offers to steady me as I hop from rock to rock across a slow river.
“And the Africans let them?” Will jumps to the bank.
“The Africans do not have gun powder.” I describe the explosive material and its origin in the east. “European armies are armed with guns and cannons that can hit a target from long range.”
“What would these devices do to vampires?”
“Severely injure us, I would assume. We may heal quicker than humans, but a hard blow could probably kill.”
“Are their poisons in the bullets?” Reaching a tree, Will jumps to a branch and swings his body, propelling himself ten feet ahead.
“I imagine there could be.” I copy his actions, avoiding a mud bog.
“Do you think some vampire tribes have these weapons?”
“I can’t imagine why not.”
“You need more protection.”
We walk in silence the rest of the night. It’s odd to think that we’ve walked across a continent in the span of ninety days, just the two of us, beings who would be mortal enemies had my thirst for vengeance been more developed. That equation would have most surely ended with my death. I push the thought out as I picture Alec’s face. Still, I’ve begun to let the image linger in my brain and wonder what he would think of me. I envision a wide smile spreading across his cheeks upon seeing my strong muscles and combat and weapons skills.
“You were smiling. Your mourning has ended.” Will falls in step with me.
I ignore his comment. Scanning the flat ground, I listen for a heartbeat. “We should find a meal.”
“I apologize for my part in your sadness.”
“Shh.”
“But you call me friend now?”
“I do.”
His eyes meet mine. “Thank you, my lady.”
“Not that again.” I roll my eyes, wishing for silence.
Hearing two beating hearts, I dart away. The rabbits split up, and Will follows one. I overtake mine and find him resting on a fallen tree trunk. Sucking the blood from its veins, I tear the skin from the muscles and eat my fill. The wood on
the ground is wet, and I break a branch from the tree. It’s green and hard to light, but finally we get some heat from it. Lying on the pine needles, I fall into a restful state.
Once Will has rested, we set out for the boundary. Within an hour, our noses find the border. We stand facing east, waiting for signs of tribesmen.
“I would like a feast to celebrate the equinox,” Will notes.
For a second, I picture Elizabeth tying a bow in my hair for Mabon back in France. The image of my burning house flashes before my eyes. “We should focus.”
Staring into the darkness, I reach out with all my senses. I smell the approaching vampires first, then count the sound of their footsteps, feel the vibration on the earth, and hear their heartbeats and air being forced from their lungs.
“Only two,” I note.
“Very good.” I feel the warmth rolling off his chest as it expands, sense the pride rolling off his body. He trained me well.
The two males stride from the trees as if on a summer stroll. “I’m Jacob, first son of the tribe’s leader, and this is my brother.”
I look between him and Will, wondering if the greeting is a ruse.
“No weapons.” Jacob holds my gaze. “We hear of a slight, dark female traveling with a large fair male. We’re told she wishes to herald a new era for vampires.”
“I’m Anne of Scotts, and this is Will of Alaric. My quest is to learn more about my people.”
“Where is the rest of your brigade?” Jacob looks over my head.
“We are the whole tribe.”
A laugh escapes Jacob’s mouth and he cups his hand over his face. Beside him, his brother looks to the ground.
Will clears his throat, a low growl growing in his chest. “Anne is the leader, and I’m her guard.”
Before us, Jacob and the brother stand tall and square their soldiers. “Of course.” Jacob dips his head as if in apology. “We assumed you had an army and were confused when we didn’t detect more beings.”
“I have won several friends in my trek thus far.” I hold up the ten medallions.
“So, I see.” Jacob smiles again, and his eyes cut to his brother and back to me as if enjoying a joke at my expense.
Kingdom of the Damned: Provocation (KIngdom Journals) Page 10