by Grace Hudson
Jorg hoisted Rafaella to the back of his horse, leaping up behind her.
“I’m going ahead.”
“Can’t wait, Jorg?”
Jorg didn’t bother to answer. He kicked the horse, galloping towards the cliffs.
“Raf!” Caltha shouted. The mercenaries turned to look at her. The leader smiled, his eyes glinting. “And you will do nicely for me.” He dismounted, moving towards Caltha.
“Not going to happen,” Renn said.
“What was that?” He turned to stare at Renn. “You’re going to stop me? I don’t think so.” He grabbed at Caltha’s arm.
“No!” Renn yelled, leaping towards the leader. A piercing wail broke out from the main cabin as Adira began to cry.
“Adira…” Caltha turned her head.
A bolt flew beside her, hitting the leader on the shoulder. Renn grappled with him, tumbling them to the ground. Caltha grabbed her bone dagger from her boot, rushing for the leader only to be stopped by another mercenary. Two more descended on Renn as Bonni struggled to get the one closest to her. Adira’s cry merged with another, deeper cry and Caltha froze, her bone dagger deep in the mercenary’s side. Another bolt flew, hitting the mercenary on Bonni’s side as she rushed to Renn, dispatching the two mercenaries piled above him. She pulled the leader across the dirt. He was dead, eyes staring up to the night sky. Adira continued to cry as the sound of hoofbeats returning filled the camp.
Rafaella rode, dangling half astride the horse, her leg covered in blood, a looped gash on her right arm. The other mercenary was nowhere to be seen. Rafaella dismounted, everything slowing down as Symon limped from the lookout watch, crossbow in one hand, the other clamped over his bleeding arm. Caltha clambered over the bodies of the mercenaries.
Renn was not moving.
Adira screamed from within the cabin once more, breaking the silence.
A stream of blood ran from Renn’s side. When Caltha lifted the flap of his tunic, a pattern of slashes revealed themselves, too many for her to stop the flow. She ripped her own tunic, screaming to Bonni and Jotha for more cloth, water, anything to stop the bleeding. She pressed down, Renn’s eyes looking into her own. He smiled. “Look after Adira. She looks up to you.” He coughed, blood tainting his bottom lip. “I love you,” he said, breathing out one last time.
No no no no no.
“Renn!” Caltha screamed.
Rafaella rushed to Caltha, grabbing hold of her. Caltha struggled, pushing her away until she lost her strength.
Rafaella held Caltha, her eyes streaming, face grim. Jotha stood with Bonni and Symon, hands clenching uselessly by his sides. Caltha hit the dirt with her hands, balling them up into fists as Adira wailed louder. Caltha’s voice cracked as it rang out throughout the camp, the sound mingling with Adira’s scream.
“Renn!”
– 36 –
201 awoke with a shout.
“Cal!” she yelled, kicking her feet against the straw.
“What, what is it?” Reno’s voice made its way over to her corner of the cabin.
201 drew her legs up, curling in on herself. “Officer Jorg… Raf expired him, she expired him. Renn…”
“What are you talking about, 201?” Reno edged closer, his voice soft.
“Cal’s trapped there. She has to watch, over and over again. She has to watch Renn…” 201 let out a breath, tears falling on her jumpsuit. “She thinks it’s her fault…”
“Is there… is there something I can do?” Reno spoke the words as if he had never heard himself speak them before.
“There’s nothing you can do.” She raised her voice, kicking at the wall of the cabin. “Let me out of here! I need to speak to Raf! I need to speak to her now!”
“What the…” The door opened to reveal Kap, his large frame blocking the door, saber at his side.
“I need to speak to Raf!” 201 shouted.
“She doesn’t want to speak to you, kid.” Kap shook his head. “Sorry, but she told Jotha already. Nobody gets to talk to her, especially not you.”
“This is important!” said 201.
Kap looked at 201, his face softening. “Look I understand. If it was up to me… but it’s not. You don’t get to talk to Raf. Not now, anyway.” He smiled at her. “The thing about Raf is… she gets mad easily, but she’ll come around. It just might take a bit of time for her to see things differently.”
“We don’t have time!”
“201…” said Reno.
“No, Reno, I can’t let this go. She can’t get out.”
“Look, I can’t help you, kid,” said Kap, turning to leave.
“Wait…” said 201. “If I can’t see Raf… you have to get a message to her. Tell her…” 201 thought for a moment, an image forming in her mind.
Images of reeds, swaying in the current of the river. Stars, so many stars, the reflection of moonlight on the surface of the river. She saw Raf and Cal, so small, Raf towering over Cal, helping her walk through difficult terrain. Raf and Cal alternating between sharing a satchel for a pillow and fighting over it in order to sleep under a mass of stars so beautiful that they did not look real. Raf tending to Cal’s ankle, bringing her strawberries until half of Cal’s face was stained red with the juice. Raf and Cal winding their way through forests, following the river, eating by their fire, laughing and chattering.
“Tell her… tell her to read the story… the one about Hett and Wenda. Tell her to read it to Cal.”
“What? That story’s for kids.”
“Just tell her! Tell her to read the story to Cal! Please, you have to listen to me!”
“Okay, fine. I’ll tell her. Can’t guarantee that she’ll listen to me though.”
“Please…”
“I’ll try, okay? That’s all I can promise.”
201 smiled at him, a single tear escaping. “Thank you.” She leaned back against the wall, wiping her cheek. “Thank you, thank you.”
Kap shook his head, closing the door behind him.
– 37 –
Rafaella sat in the chair by the fire. Caltha lay before her, hands by her sides. Rafaella had watched, waited for a sign of movement but in all this time, Caltha had not moved.
“Damn it, Cal,” she whispered. “Why’d you have to go and change the plan?”
Caltha’s face was smooth, devoid of expression. She looked so young, the usual laugh lines absent. It looked strange on her, unnatural.
Rafaella leaned back in her chair, a tear escaping from one eye. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have let you do this. I know it’s what you wanted but I should have said no.” She clenched her fist. “We always go together, that’s how we’ve always done things.”
Caltha’s face appeared animated for a moment, the light of the flames dancing across her features. The way the shadows danced, her face appeared to move, curving into a smile, but Rafaella knew this was a trick of the light.
“Why’d you have to lead the second group, Cal? We’re a team, we always work better as a team. That’s the way it’s always been. Why’d you have to do this?”
Lina appeared behind her, watching her from the doorway, arms folded.
“I let you do this and now look what happens. You were so busy trying to protect Adira that you forgot the most important thing. What would happen to Adira if something happened to you. You didn’t think of that, did you?”
Rafaella leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees.
“Well now we know, and I can’t do a damn thing to stop it. What’s going to happen, Cal? She’s already lost Renn, wasn’t that enough? I mean… I know it’s not your fault. None of this is your fault, it’s mine. But I can’t be what she needs, she needs you.”
She stared into the fire, watching the flames rise and fall. The coals pebbled the bark of one of the logs, an orange glow running between the cracks.
“I should have been there to protect you, like always. I should have been there to watch you. I knew it was wrong. It was my responsibility and
I let it happen. And now I might not get to tell you.”
She ran a hand through her hair, sweeping the stray strands off her forehead, tucking them behind her ears. The strands were wet, a droplet falling in her ear. She rubbed it in annoyance.
“Damn it, Cal, I can’t do this without you. It’s you and me, that’s how it is. You have to come back. Adira needs you. I need…” Rafaella turned her head, another tear falling. “It’s done now. Can’t take it back.”
Rafaella blew out a breath. “I can’t do this, Cal. This is not how it’s meant to be. It’s not the same if you’re not there.”
“Raf,” Lina’s voice came from the doorway. Rafaella wiped her eye, leaning back in the chair.
“Yeah, what is it?”
Rafaella looked up from her spot by the fire. Her back ached from leaning over Caltha. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting in that spot. She supposed it must have been hours. She wasn’t sure.
Lina stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame.
“It’s been over a day, Raf. You need to sleep.”
Rafaella rubbed a hand over her face. “I know, Lina. Sorry about before. I just can’t… I can’t just leave her here. I have to be here when she wakes up.”
Lina walked over to the fire, crouching to warm her hands, knees clicking as she knelt. “You know that there’s a possibility that…”
“I don’t want to hear it. I can’t do this. She’s going to wake up, you’ll see.” Rafaella looked over to Caltha, willing her to move. Even her eyelids seemed frozen in place.
Lina sighed, rubbing her hands together. “Just make sure you get some sleep. You need to take care of yourself. You haven’t moved from here, not even to eat.”
“It can wait. Cal needs…”
“No, you need to eat something. You’re no good to Cal or anyone like this.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll eat something.” Rafaella stood, stretching her back. Lina led her to the kitchen, filling a bowl with vegetable stew. Rafaella looked down at it, prodding it with her spoon.
“Go on,” said Lina. Rafaella tasted the stew, nodding as she refilled her spoon.
Kap knocked the back of his hand on the front door, coming through to join them in the kitchen.
“Kap.” Rafaella glanced up at him, taking another bite. She paused when she saw the look on his face. “What is it? What’s wrong?” asked Rafaella, standing up. Lina shot her a look. She sat back down and began eating again.
“I’ve got a message from the strange one.”
Rafaella nodded, knowing exactly who he referred to.
“So? What is it?” Rafaella finished the stew, pushing the bowl away. Lina took the bowl, filling it again and pushing it back towards Rafaella.
“She wasn’t making a whole lot of sense but she said it was important. She wanted you to read that book of Adira’s to Cal. The one about Hett and Wenda.” Rafaella paused, the spoon halfway to her lips.
“She knew about that?” she asked, taking another bite.
“Like I said, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but that’s what she said.”
“You’re not joking, are you.”
“No, you know I wouldn’t joke about something like this. That’s the message, she said it was important.” He scratched at his beard. “Anyway I’m going to get Bonni and Vern to take over for us, we need to get some sleep.”
“Yeah, thanks. Go, sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She took another spoonful, chewing as she tapped her fingers on the wooden bench.
“What do you think that meant?” asked Lina.
“I don’t know. Kap seemed serious though, and he’s not usually like that.”
“Are you going to do it?”
Rafaella looked up at her. “Right now, I’ll try anything. I’ll sing if I have to, and there aren’t many of you who want to hear that.”
Lina chuckled, patting Rafaella’s shoulder. “You’re right there. What can it hurt? Cal used to love those stories, you told me that yourself.”
Later that evening, Rafaella sat by Caltha’s side, a stack of string-bound papers in her lap. She opened to the first page. Looking down at the words, those words that had meant so much to her, to Cal, to Adira, made her stomach clench.
“I feel ridiculous, Cal. What am I doing?” She looked down at the papers again, the words blurring together, Lina’s words fresh in her mind.
What can it hurt?
She wiped her eyes, taking another steadying breath.
“Long ago, in the township of Palomore, there lived two sisters…” She paused. This was the usual time that Caltha or Adira would say the next words, ‘Hett and Wenda’ but there were no sounds. It was strange, reading like this, watching Caltha’s face, impassive and empty, like a mask.
“Damn it, Cal, can you even hear me?” She huffed out a breath, finding her place on the page.
“Hett was the eldest, and she protected Wenda wherever they went.” She choked up when she read the next part. “Hett was keeping lookout this time, letting Wenda sleep.” She took a shaky breath. “Wenda’s ankle was healing nicely and soon she would be keeping pace with Hett once more as they made their journey along the banks of the river.”
Caltha floated in blackness, her body curled in on itself, floating from nothing, towards nothing. She was so small, her body tiny and soft. She could hear sounds, sometimes they sounded like voices but she could not be sure. She tried to train her ears to listen out for the sounds. It was so lonely in here, warm but so dark. Another set of words came through, a little louder this time.
Hett was keeping…
Caltha listened for the sounds again.
Wenda’s ankle…
The words were coming through clearer this time, forming a path in her mind. The words swirled before her, lighting a trail through the darkness, bringing trees into focus, the earth growing solid beneath her feet as her little body started to move, hearing the water rushing in her ears, she moved faster, her body growing bigger with each step. The river wound a path before her, laying the way forward as she stepped, jumping over logs and branches. She grew, her small hands growing larger by her sides as she pumped her fists, charging towards the voice, climbing, climbing up, ever higher until…
“They had seen no more bears…” said Rafaella, losing her place again. “Damn it, they had seen no more bears since their last encounter.”
Rafaella’s voice burst through her mind, the sound of rushing water roaring in her ears, the voice becoming louder and clearer.
Caltha sucked in a breath, her eyes struggling to open. “…And Hett would be happy if she never saw another bear again.” Rafaella took another breath, turning the page. “Wenda could not even say the word…”
“Without glancing around to check the perimeter…” came the weak reply.
“Hey, who’s telling this story, you or me?” asked Rafaella, chuckling to herself. “Wait… Cal?”
Caltha opened her eyes, squinting up at Rafaella.
“Cal!” Rafaella dropped the pages, tears falling to land on Caltha’s tunic. “You’re awake!” Rafaella grinned down at her. “You heard me. You heard the story. I didn’t think it would work…”
“Yeah…” Caltha blinked, her eyes focusing on Rafaella’s smile. “You dropped the story,” she said.
“Sorry, sorry.” Raf picked up the pages, resting them on a nearby table.
Cal blinked, lifting her head to glance around the room. “Where is everyone?”
“It’s past midnight. I think most of them are asleep. Lina! Cal’s awake!” Rafaella shouted. She let out a laugh, shouting out in celebration. Lina rushed into the room. She stopped when she saw Rafaella shouting, a huge smile on her face, beaming down at Caltha.
“You made it,” she said, smiling down at her and patting her arm. “I’ll go get you some tea.”
Caltha lay her head back down. “Yeah, tea. Thanks, thanks Lina.”
“You’re really back.” Rafaella laughed, squeezing her shou
lder. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“That’s funny.” Caltha reached out, attempting to bat at Rafaella’s arm but falling short.
Rafaella ran to the doorway, finding Jotha standing on the step. “What’s going on? What’s all the yelling about?”
“Cal’s awake.” Rafaella paced alongside the length of the long wooden bench at the entrance to the main cabin. “I was coming to wake you… I wasn’t sure if I was going to bother anyone but…” She leaned against the wooden post, a tear slipping from her eye. “Just... just tell the whole camp, Cal’s awake, she’s okay,” she whispered.
“Cal’s awake?” Jotha’s face brightened.
“Cal’s awake!” Rafaella shouted out to the camp, stretching her arms out to the night sky. She let out a cry, laughing as she banged her fist against the post of the cabin. “Cal’s awake!”
– 38 –
A cheer rose up from the camp, the muffled cries making their way through the window of the cabin.
“What is that?” asked Reno.
201 laughed, tears running down her cheeks. “She came back,” she said, leaning back against the wall of the cabin. “She made it, Reno. Cal’s okay.”
“Cal?”
“The dark haired one. The one 299 wounded. She’s okay. She woke up.”
“Oh,” said Reno. “Well, then, I’m glad.”
The shouts rose up again, sounds of activity filtering through the camp. 201 wiped the corner of her eye with her sleeve. “That, that’s what happens when someone cares, Reno. Don’t you see? It worked. It really worked.”
The door opened, Kap poking his head through the open door. “You hear that?”
“I hear it,” said 201.
“I just came back to tell you, Cal made it.” Kap turned to leave, hesitating with his hand on the door. He turned back to face 201. “You’re okay, you know that?” Kap smiled at her, his features shadowed in the doorway. “You did good.”
“I’m glad. I’m glad Cal’s okay.” 201 smiled at Kap as he backed away, closing the door.
A sound rose up from outside the doorway, a strange buzzing tone. 201 envisaged a carved wooden object, strange, twine-like lines running from one end to the other, vibrating under strong fingers as the lines were plucked, one by one. The sound filled 201’s head, awakening a warm, pleasant feeling within her being.