The Heart of Oldra

by Georgina Makalani

  Cora wanted to ask more, but he stood and made his way around the fire to sit on the other side.

  Cora woke warm and cosy in the fur. Her transition had slipped again, and the fire had burned low. She searched the small clearing for Teven, but she couldn’t see him. His furs were still on the ground by the fire, although far from where she had chosen to sleep. Assuming he wouldn’t be far, she stood slowly and stretched.

  The fire showed the remains of what had been wrapped around her leg, and any idea she’d had of hiding her healing from the chief was lost. He would already know. She looked around again for Teven, but she couldn’t see or hear him. She wondered how long she should wait.

  She pushed the splint closer into the dying flames, and it flared up a little. Squatting down, she held her hands out. She needed some decent clothing. She knew well enough how to weave cloth herself, but with no wool to work with and no equipment, she wasn’t sure what she could do.

  She looked back at the fur, but transitioned instead. She wasn’t sure if this was a skill the chief knew she had. But then, he appeared to know far more than she thought he could. She still didn’t understand how he had managed to learn so much. He must have the skills of an ancient, a very powerful one. But if that was the case, what did he think he could get from her?

  Teven reappeared and started to gather up his things. Cora folded the fur she had slept under and raised her spear. She lifted it off the ground, thankful she still had some strength. Teven eyed it, but said nothing. He then turned and started to walk away.

  Cora pushed the ashes over the flames, smothering what was left of the fire, before she followed. She wondered at the sort of reception she would get at the cavern.

  Despite her healing, the walk was long, and she tired after several hours trying to keep up with Teven’s long strides. She rested the spear across her shoulders.

  ‘You aren’t going to be able to take that inside,’ he murmured ahead of her.

  She swung it off her shoulder and leaned into it. ‘I keep losing my sticks.’

  He stopped then and turned back. ‘You can’t claim that as a stick. I would struggle to lift it.’

  She smiled at him, but he continued to stare at her seriously. She held it out and, after a heavy sigh, he stepped forward and lifted it from her.

  ‘I couldn’t carry it for as long as you have.’

  ‘My father used one, but my mother would never try. She doubted she was strong enough. I don’t think I could use it, but carrying it helps.’

  ‘He will be angry,’ Teven said, handing it back and turning back towards the cavern.

  ‘About the spear or that I left? Because he seems to know where I go. He also seems to think I need to be here to become what he needs me to be.’

  ‘What is that?’ Teven asked softly, turning back to face her.

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Then what happens?’

  ‘I don’t know that either, but he seems certain he will get from me what he wants.’

  ‘He always gets what he wants.’

  They continued in silence for some time, and Cora started to wonder if they were in fact headed closer to the cavern or if Teven might be leading her away.

  ‘Do you have any sense of the future?’ he asked.

  Cora shook her head. He stopped and turned around. ‘No,’ she said, pushing past him and travelling along what appeared to be a path between the trees.

  ‘That is what he seeks,’ he said, his hand resting on the spear and holding her still. ‘Leave it in the trees. We are near now, and it will not be far if you really need it.’

  She lifted it from across her shoulders and rested it against the nearest tree. ‘He can see what I do,’ she said softly.

  ‘Not always,’ Teven said, standing too close behind her.

  Cora tried not to tense. So far Teven was the only one she thought she could trust. But she didn’t know these people or what they wanted from her. Teven might be like the chief, only not quite so open about what he wanted to take from her.

  She gulped down the strange feeling in her chest and transitioned. She could feel the warmth of his skin, and although it drew her, she needed some distance. After a few more steps along the path, she could see the clearing and the cavern. Rhali stood in the cavern opening, something in her hand. As soon as she saw them, she smiled.

  ‘Come this way,’ she said, indicating the birthing chamber, but Cora baulked at the idea. She could still smell the blood. She feared she would relive the moment. ‘Come,’ Rhali said again, pulling her into the space. Then she held out a pile of cloth.

  Cora wasn’t quite sure what to do.

  ‘It is fresh clothes,’ Rhali said gently, stepping forward. Cora stepped back. Rhali sat them on the floor with a sad smile. ‘I will give you some time.’

  Cora looked over the space and the pile of clothes at her feet. She could hear a conversation outside the entrance, but not what was said. After too long standing still, Teven’s deep voice called out, ‘Do you need help?’

  ‘No,’ she called quickly. ‘No, I don’t.’

  She shed the remains of her leggings and pulled on the soft new ones. After running her hand over them, she removed the short tunic she had on and the singlet beneath, putting on the longer one. It was as soft as the leggings, and bright green thread was sewn into the sides and hem in a pattern almost similar to the vine that grew along her bow. As she walked out into the dying light, Teven reached towards her neck, but she stepped back.

  ‘Let me,’ Rhali said, moving around him. He blushed and turned away. There was a string tie at the neck of the tunic, and Rhali pulled the sides together gently before tying them off.

  ‘It is beautiful,’ Cora said.

  ‘Yes,’ Teven said, then disappeared inside the cavern.

  Chapter 13

  Cora woke in the night to someone prodding her. She sat up slowly to a woman with a bundle in her arms, glancing around wildly while she pulled Cora’s hand towards the bundle.

  ‘What is it?’ Cora asked, trying to keep her voice low, but the woman looked at her with fear.

  ‘Please,’ she whispered, pushing the bundle towards her.

  She unwrapped the cloth to find a small child, hot and limp. Cora instantly wished for her mother. She need the snow, but that wasn’t an option either. She sat up and laid the child in her lap, completely unwrapping the furs that surrounded him. There were marks across his body, and she wondered what illness would have caused them.

  ‘Cool water and a cloth.’

  The woman nodded and reluctantly climbed to her feet, disappearing into the darkness beyond the edge of the hearth. Cora tried not to sigh as she looked across at Rhali’s sleeping form. She could use some decent lighting. She had raised the lights in the other cavern, but the woman may get into trouble if they lit the cavern, for bringing the child to her.

  She closed her eyes and ran her hands over his body. He lay too still. She paused over his little chest. Some things could not be fixed. Not every child could be saved. She remembered her mother’s own desperation at times, trying to work her skills while not being able to save everyone.

  Cora had already witnessed enough death with these people. If it continued, there might not be any people left. The woman reappeared before her with a soft cloth, which was cool and damp when Cora took it from her. She lay it over the child’s forehead as he remained unmoving in her lap.

  She closed her eyes again and tried to breath. There was nothing she could do, she told herself, but she could look. She ran her hands over the length of the child and realised that the marks on his body were bruises. Had someone done this to such a small little being?

  She pushed the idea from her mind and focused on what she could see. Everything seemed to be working, only slower than it should. Not enough to keep him going. She looked at the mother then and motioned her closer. ‘Milk,’ she whispered.

  The woman looked down. Cora reached forward and put her hand on the wo
man’s breast. She pulled back when she felt the pain within it. Taking a deep breath, she reached out again. The milk was not flowing as it should. Cora closed her eyes, trying to move past the pain she could feel and clear the way for it to flow.

  It was a painful process. The woman groaned and then sighed.

  ‘Water,’ Cora muttered, and a cup appeared before her. As tempted as she was to take it, she indicated the woman sitting beside her. ‘You must drink more, eat more, for your son,’ she whispered.

  She lifted the little one from her lap and handed him back to the woman, quickly putting him to the breast. Despite his weakened state, he latched on. Cora leaned back and sighed.

  Cora dreamed of a child, skinny but strong, running through a large, open cavern. In the bright light, he leapt over the markers between hearths as other children followed behind. The cavern was not the one she was in now. It was larger, bright, filled with dragons and laughter. The child was strong and playful, and the others joined him with ease.

  Then the same child but grown, a young man, smiled at a young woman while she cooked over a hearth and he carved wood. Cora tried, but she couldn’t see what was in his hands, although she felt the texture of it and smelt the sweet shavings. She stopped and looked around. There were no shadows, no sign of the chief.

  Cora opened her eyes to find the chief standing at the end of her sleeping mat. She reached for him, but he cleared his throat and she withdrew her hand. He looked angry as he motioned for her to follow. The woman she had helped the night before lay beside her, her back to the flames and the child in her arms. The child looked at Cora with bright, dark eyes.

  The chief watched as she climbed to her feet, his eyes narrowed. He hadn’t seen her healing work, then. She wondered at the strange mix of skills this man had. As she followed him through the narrow pathway between the hearths, several people bowed their heads, and she smiled at them. There seemed to be a different feel in the cavern. She wondered if what she had dreamed was a past they might be able to return to.

  He pointed to the mat as they entered his small cavern. Cora sat down and crossed her legs. He looked her over and then huffed again.

  ‘What do you feed your people?’ she asked.

  He looked at her for a long moment and then sat down himself. ‘You are not to talk to those I have not allowed you to talk to.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I am Chief.’

  ‘Are you frightened of the people discovering a better way of life?’

  Cora leaned back at the look he gave her and gulped down the fear. These people did as he bid, no matter what it meant for them or their children. She wondered then—if he ordered Teven to take her out into the trees and kill her, would he?

  ‘She came to me,’ Cora said.

  ‘It is not your place. Rhali has healing ability.’

  ‘So it seems,’ Cora said softly, patting her leg.

  ‘She did not do that.’

  ‘No, but perhaps it wasn’t as bad as she thought.’

  ‘If I did not know what you were, I would have left you in the trees.’

  ‘Was it your choice?’ she asked. ‘I thought Teven found me. I thought he brought me here.’

  ‘I sent him out,’ the man huffed. ‘I am the chief. I have the vision.’

  ‘Do you? What do you see?’

  ‘You,’ he sneered. ‘I see exactly what you are. The greatest Oldra of them all, and you will give me that power.’

  ‘It is not something I can give,’ Cora said, climbing to her feet.

  ‘You healed what you thought couldn’t be healed. I have skill; I have power. You can make it stronger.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Like you healed the child.’

  ‘I healed the mother,’ Cora said, and he looked confused for a moment. ‘You only want power. You would rather see your people die than allow them to truly live, and that doesn’t show power.’ She took a step back towards the door. ‘It shows weakness.’

  ‘You know nothing,’ he snapped, reaching for her, but she was too far away.

  ‘It is why you want me here, because I know these things. I know what it is to be a leader. I understand the sacrifice and loss, the pain that comes with caring for people. But you don’t understand any of that. You don’t understand any of the members of your clan.’

  ‘I am Chief. I saved them.’

  ‘From a better life? From people who cared about them and how they survived? They live in the dark, in the shadows you have created.’ Cora stopped. There was a power he had. Maybe her mother had not defeated all the darkness; maybe it had crept away to another part of the world. ‘I can’t be what you want me to be. I am not what you need me to be. And if I were, I wouldn’t give it to you.’

  ‘Then you will die in the shadows.’

  Cora shook her head and raced from the small cavern. Others bowed as she passed through the centre of the main cavern, and she tried to show the same respect on the way back through. She no longer cared what this man wanted or what power he thought he had over her. She would find a way home. And in the meantime, she would get to know these people.

  A man stood nervously by their hearth as she approached. He bowed his head to her before glancing back to the woman and child now sleeping on her sleeping mat.

  ‘Please,’ she said, indicating that he enter the space.

  He bowed his head again and raced forward to look over the child. Teven and Rhali were both still absent. Cora wondered where they could disappear to so often, especially as no one else seemed to leave the cavern.

  There was water boiling in a pot over the flames, and she pulled it off. She wasn’t quite sure where anything was kept, nor whether it was really her place to invite someone in and make them tea.

  The woman stretched and then looked at the man with surprise. After glancing around, she turned to Cora. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

  ‘You need to ensure you drink more and eat well,’ Cora repeated for the woman.

  ‘Please,’ she said, standing and taking the pot. The child remained asleep in her furs.

  ‘What is his name?’

  They looked at each other and then down.

  Cora waited as the woman returned to making the tea. ‘I am Cora of the Penna,’ she said, tapping her chest.

  ‘I am Jath and this is Eira,’ he said. ‘We have not named the child yet.’

  ‘Are there rituals for naming?’

  They shook their heads in unison. ‘Once there was, but not now. We feared the child would not survive and so did not take the trouble.’

  ‘He is strong,’ Cora said. She wasn’t sure that was true, but she was reminded of the child she had dreamt of. Maybe he would be strong one day, with care and nourishment.

  Cora scooped him up into her arms and then took the offered cup of tea. She had invited these people in, and they were caring for her. When the child nestled into her arms, she felt a strength she hadn’t felt in him the night before.

  ‘Do you hunt?’ she asked Jath.

  He shook his head. ‘There is little around for us. Teven will bring back meat if there is any to be found. He will go into the trees.’

  Cora nodded acknowledgement. Teven did a lot for these people, even though he was so sure he was not worthy of them.

  ‘When did you come here?’ she asked.

  ‘Our parents followed the chief. We were greater in number then.’

  ‘Could you go back?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘What do you do with your time? There are furs and leather,’ she prompted.

  ‘It is from when they first arrived.’

  Cora looked over her clothes.

  ‘It was his mother’s,’ Eira whispered.

  Again, Cora wondered why Teven was the man he was, who his relations were and what the connection was with his sister. He had inferred that they didn’t share a mother, yet he hadn’t mentioned his father. Cora looked up and across at the young man who had helped her.
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  ‘Is it so different from your clan?’ Eira asked.

  Cora nodded. The Penna embraced each other, supported each other. These people were almost afraid of interacting.

  She looked again at the child in her arms, and the idea of the young boy came to mind. Was her dream related to the child?

  ‘Where do you get water?’ she asked.

  ‘There is a stream near here.’

  ‘Could you show me?

  The man shook his head.

  ‘I will return,’ she said to reassure him. She wouldn’t want them in further trouble for allowing her to leave.

  ‘That is not what we fear,’ he said softly, looking about. ‘The few who have ventured far from the cavern have never returned. Other than Teven.’

  Perhaps, Cora thought, they had taken the chance to go far away and start a new life. Maybe they were simply lost, or the chief had something to do with it.

  ‘Why does he not like you to go out?’

  ‘It took a lot for our people to come here. If we were discovered by the enemy, it would all be in vain.’

  ‘What enemy?’

  Jath shook his head.

  ‘Teven does a lot for this clan,’ Cora said.

  They both looked down. ‘We have not been very good to him, but he brings wood and water and what food he can.’

  ‘Do you not bring in your own food?’

  ‘There is some that grows nearby,’ the woman answered. ‘We will go sometimes with Rhali to find it, but we fear being found.’

  ‘Has anyone been found?’

  ‘Maybe those who didn’t return.’

  ‘Has there been fighting? Has anyone come?’

  ‘Only you,’ she said.

  Cora sighed. ‘My people fought for many generations with another clan. Selfishness started it; pride continued it. But it was seen, felt, heard by the whole people.’

  ‘Do they still fight?’

  Cora shook her head. ‘The clans came together. We still live separately, but we visit often.’

  The couple glanced at each other.