by BJ Hanlon
He felt hands around him in the night. The belt had been loosened and his pants were pulled down about six inches. Slowly, he opened his eyes as his body was responding on its own to what was happening. Edin was lying on his side and Arianne opposite and facing him. They were fully beneath the cover of the bedroll and he could barely see much in the darkness.
But what he could see was a wicked smile from her. A smile offering fun and pleasure. Edin swallowed and she winked at him.
“Mister Edin de Yaultan,” she said. “I take it you’re not too tired for a bit of fun.”
Edin shook his head and his mouth, without his own acknowledgment, let out a small moan.
“Shh, they’re kids in here.” She grinned as she continued to move her hands around him. Slowly, she pulled down her own pants and slid on top of him.
Their lips met and she began moving. Slowly and steadily. Her soft, warm hands on his chest. Then she fell and laid on top. She moaned softly in his ear and then sank her teeth onto his shoulder in a subtle, slightly painful way.
Edin reached back and cupped her naked butt cheek with his hands and pulled her deeper onto him. He kissed her cheek and then started to kiss her neck and her earlobe, and she moaned more.
They were going faster now. She was moving quicker and she pulled back, sitting up and on top of him. He reached up her tunic and cupped her breasts. He felt the pulsing in his loins. His toes curled and he let go as she did.
Then she collapsed on top of him, panting in his ear. They were weak and sweaty and he closed his eyes.
The sound of a stone clattering across the ground was near to his head but Edin didn’t care. He heard someone say, “Really?” But his body, his mind, everything was exhausted and he was quickly back asleep.
It was early in the day, or so he thought, when he woke. Arianne was curled up next to him. Her blonde hair covering her forehead and her eyes fluttering beneath the lids. There was a smile on her face.
He was sweaty still and he grinned as he thought of last night. He was happy and felt rather safe. At least for now. It was the first time since, well he didn’t remember when they were safe last, if they ever were.
Edin shifted slightly, peeling his sweaty arm away from her body. Then he felt a dull, stabbing pain in his back and reached there. A rock, small and nearly circular was beneath him. It was mostly circular with the exception of the triangular point that was jabbing him. He tossed it and it clattered across the ground before crashing into the wall.
Edin closed his eyes and laid quietly with Arianne in his arms. He wasn’t sure if he fell asleep or not but at one point, he heard movement from the other side of the fire.
Edin looked up and saw the flames still burning and felt the warmth. It was ridiculously warm, sauna-like in there. Then he remembered closing up most of the tunnel entrance.
Edin peeled himself away from Arianne and started to stand.
Then he realized his pants weren’t buttoned. About halfway up, they dropped to his knees. From his right, he heard a soft chuckle and looked over to see Melian sitting on a log stool in front of the meat room with a hunk of something roasted in her hand. She raised it like it were a toast, a chicken leg or something? Edin thought. He saw she too was sweaty, her hair was matted to her head and her white tunic was tight against her chest. She wore nothing beneath it.
Edin yanked up his trousers and grew red and turned away to button them. “Morning,” he whispered. There was little sound from the fire, not even the crackling anymore as Arianne had turned it into the undying variety the night previous.
“Morning big guy,” she said seductively.
Edin straightened up and looked at her. He didn’t know what to say so a long “Um,” came from his mouth.
She winked at him.
“I’m going to open the entrance.”
“You should. Keeping dark caves all bottled up isn’t healthy.”
He raised an eyebrow as slowly the meaning dawned on him. Then he quickly began toward the entrance, tucking his tunic into his pants and strapping on the belt as he did.
Edin stood before the walled-off exit. Through the upper opening, Edin saw that outside, it was still dark. Mostly, though there was some light.
It was that barely visible nimbus of white. Edin reached out and felt the rocks in his hand; he felt them moving all together like a door.
The loud crunching and grinding of stone and dirt and clay. The door opened up and a cool, much needed, breeze rolled in and covered him.
Edin felt that breeze and made it grow larger and faster and soon, he was shivering. Edin stepped out into the dark morning and looked around.
He could see to the tree line and maybe a foot inside. After that, it was pitch black. Edin walked the small glade and checked for tracks, of course there were many. There was also a lot of blood, his as well as others. He saw the arm, well, the hand that he guessed was attached to the arm. It was in a bush at the base of a large tree. There were only three fingers on the hand and all three were clenched together and somehow the thumb was sticking up like it was motioning ‘good job.’
He didn’t see the other bodies and guessed they were further in the forest.
Edin stepped closer to the hand and smelled the dead and rotting flesh. He listened but heard no animals and by seeing the arm, he knew there’d been no scavengers around.
No vultures or anything else that’d eat meat had stopped by in the night. Maybe it was too close to the man-occupied cavern, maybe a few were on their way, but a part of Edin thought it was because they too were dead or dying.
A wind rustled the trees and a small cluster of leaves fell. Edin reached out and caught it.
The leaves were crunchy and brown. Dying too. Just like the world.
They had to get to Calerrat. But then what?
After everyone woke, they ate some of the stores of meat. A bit of deer this time and Arianne cooked it very well. Duria still did not talk or make eye contact with anyone. She sat alone barely even acknowledging her son.
Everyone was moving slowly that morning and despite his desire to get to Calerrat, he had no desire to get back on the road.
During the breakfast, Edin became certain that Melian had heard them last night. She smirked a bit and joked and was cavalier about her own nudity which they found out a bit later when her nephew was outside. She just took off her tunic in front of Edin and Arianne.
Edin looked away and Arianne got red and scoffed at her. “What is this a brothel?” she asked but Melian just shrugged. “They’re what the gods gave us. Not everyone is as prude as you all.”
Shortly thereafter, they sat around in a circle to decide what to do. A map, albeit a crude one, that was in the leader’s room, showed that they were barely halfway through the forest and that there were other trails in and around the area. There was one that led from the cave to the road, though where on the road the cart, and Nona’s body were, Edin had no idea.
When the forest ends, they could head south and follow the coast for another hundred or so miles to Calerrat. A long road and most likely by foot. He doubted the horses still lived.
They decided to go back to the cart but first each grabbed meat from the locker and then Edin shut the cavern up but for the skylight.
If there were thieves in there, they’d have no way to get in except through the roof and that would be directly onto the pyre. They’d have no place left to go and would probably die out here.
That was the least of the Edin’s worries. They killed Nona and Edin was certain she hadn’t been the first.
They found the path that led to the road and followed it. The going was quiet in the eerie forest. There weren’t any animals scuffling around the ground or swinging between branches or flying above them and cawing or squawking. The world was silent and dark.
Edin used an ethereal light to show the way and as they grew closer to the road, he began to see through the trees and the unending fire from the night before. It lit up the groun
d quite well and was like a beacon for them.
As they approached, he saw that one of the horses was dead and partially eaten. The other, was missing and the yoke had been snapped.
There were the other bodies around as well, charred corpses and bloody streaks where some of the men were dragged off into the woods by unknown predators.
But their rest mattered little.
Behind them and on the far side of the fire was the body of Nona. The knife was still in her back and there was a dark red splotch that had grown around the wound and had begun to puddle and then fall down her right side. Her mouth too had a small trickle of blood.
Everyone was quiet. Duria, who’d been so angry and full of hate the night before, looked like a whipped schoolgirl who’d been caught telling lies about her classmates.
Edin swallowed as he looked at Melian then Vicker. They too were in tears and Melian’s attitude from earlier wiped away like a dusting of pollen after a rainstorm.
“We’ll bury her,” Arianne said and looked at Edin.
Edin reached out to raise a hand when Melian said, “Wait.” She was teary eyed but looking down at her mother’s lifeless body with a sternness beyond the sadness. “There,” she pointed, “beneath the willow.”
It was a tall tree that stood a few dozen feet from them and was just in view in the firelight.
Edin moved to it and held out his hands. He felt the soil and gravel beneath him and closed his eyes. There was a small crackling down below and then the ground rumbled. Edin kept concentrating. He pictured the grave and delved deeper until he reached around six feet. He skimmed it and widened it, breaking apart the ground like a less violent earthquake.
After a few more minutes and with sweat breaking out on his brow, Edin stopped. Before him was the grave he’d pictured. Edin turned to see the women all staring down at it, all but Arianne who had wrapped Nona in a blanket. It was a flowery one and looked to have been made by hand.
Stitched together and not weaved on a loom.
He took a few steps toward the family and then placed a hand on Vicker’s and Melian’s shoulders. To Melian he whispered, “When you’re ready.”
She nodded absently and Edin went to Arianne as they stood beside the body. A few minutes passed and Melian came over. “Can you lower her gently?” she asked looking to Arianne, who nodded.
With the grace of a gentle breeze lifting a flower petal, Nona’s body was elevated off the earth and hovered a foot in the air. They walked behind it like a funeral procession toward the willow that seemed oddly out of place here.
Vicker and his mother fell in behind them as they passed.
Edin kept his eye out for danger, but inside him somewhere, he felt that they were safe, at least for right now.
Then the body hovered above the grave, the hem of the flowery blanket blowing gently in the breeze, before it was being lowered. Arianne’s hand pushing it down and into the dark grave. A few moments later, Arianne opened her eyes and looked at him. She reached out and took his hand and there was a tear in her eye. A tear for a woman she’d barely known, but one who’d saved their lives multiple times.
Edin cleared his throat. “Would anyone like to say something before I close the—”
“Don’t bury her!” cried Vicker, he wailed for a moment before being hushed by his mother.
“It is what we do,” Duria said, “it is tradition.”
As she moved next to Vicker and put an arm around his shoulder, Melian said, “Do you see this great tree, this powerful and strong willow?”
Vicker nodded.
“This will grow for thousands of years and it will forever mark the spot where Nona’s body is resting while her soul resides with the gods in the heavens.” She then turned to her mother. “Mother, I wish so much to tell you how much I thank you for the world you’ve given all of us. For the life I have and for the strength that you have shown. I know I was not the best of daughters and we fought, a lot, but I want to think that this is because we were so much alike.” She paused, reached out an arm, and wrapped her other arm around Duria and pulled her closer to her. “You have a family whom loves and cherishes you and you’ll be remembered forever. I love you mother.” She sniffled slightly, “I will see you soon.” Then she nodded.
Carefully as to not crush her, he let the stones and the soil trickle back in the grave. It was like a soft waterfall and soon there was nothing but a small mound of recently moved dirt and the large willow tree. Then Melian went to the tree and carved ‘Nona Hardal’ above her head and returned to their side.
They were there for a bit longer before they turned back to the cart and the destruction that was wrought all around it. Then, he noticed something. Bugs were back and they were buzzing the corpses.
That was the only other sign of life, and not a good sign.
They spent time going over the cart and looking for the things that they’d need on their journey. There were family heirlooms in there, valuables both intrinsic and emotional to the family. They wanted them and argued that these were all they had from Nona.
“Why don’t we just put them in the cave,” said Arianne like it was the obvious choice. “Edin could reopen it.”
“I can?” Edin said. It’d become a vault and it would require a lot of energy and he wasn’t sure he could walk after that not after closing it and making the grave.
“Perfect,” Melian said. “Edin, you can open it again, right?”
He sighed and nodded and they began to schlep their precious things back through the forest to the cave. He opened it and nearly collapsed.
Arianne must’ve seen the look of exhaustion on Edin’s face. “We’re not moving again today,” Arianne said. “Finish grabbing your things and we’ll rest in the cave tonight and get started early tomorrow.”
They spent the night in the cave again and Edin, who’d felt much better after a nap began to show Vicker the Oret Nakosu. He did not tell the boy the translation. A boy of that age would have endless fun with those words. Heck, Edin still loved them.
Melian joined while Arianne and Duria spoke softly in the corner.
While watching the boy practice, Edin played with the Callto stone. He tried and failed multiple times to see if he could get it to work.
If he could reach some of his friends, he’d know how the war was going and where everything and everyone was.
But did he want to?
“Dorset,” he whispered as Vicker was still working on the second form of Oret Nakosu and then for a moment, he felt a presence. His vision blurred for a moment and then something appeared.
A blond boy standing on a ship in choppy seas. The boy turned and he saw it was Dorset. His friend nearly leapt backward and over the butt high railing. Dorset’s mouth opened in shock but no words came out.
Then everything went back to normal. Edin blinked and saw Vicker practicing. He tried again but nothing happened for the rest of the night. That is until Edin and Arianne reached their cozy place to sleep. They kissed and made love as well as the first time.
The next morning Edin opened a very small hole in the rock face for the group to shimmy through and then they were off.
Melian was in the front carrying an unending torch with Edin at the rear carrying a second one. The torch was certainly less bright than Edin’s ethereal ball, but it was also less conspicuous. If they were to see other people, there wouldn’t be a fight right away over Edin being an abomination.
They moved very slowly, their bags and the still-muddy trail weighing them down. The road was relatively flat with a few small hills to climb but nothing more than a soft incline that rose barely three feet.
The smell of the forest poured out of the trees on either side. There were leaves too and they were dropping almost fiercely in and around them. Every small gust of wind, even the softest of breezes would bring down a hailstorm of leaves and some dried and dead branches.
They continued through the day in the light of the fire and finally, when t
hey were very tired, they reached what looked to be the forest’s edge.
Suddenly, to the right of them was an imposing wooden spiked wall that stood twenty feet tall. The trees that made up the wall were huge, easily a yard across and they looked heavy. But it also looked new.
Very new.
They started to circle it when there was a cry from beyond the wall. More of a yell that sounded extremely unfriendly. It was almost impossible to understand but then there were the sounds of people hustling. Feet clambering on dirt or wooden planks, metal clanging, and bows twanging.
Edin saw their fire lights in the small cracks between the trunks of the dead trees.
There were feet pounding on wood and the sound seemed to be rising, and then it was above them. Firelights were then looking down upon them and a voice called out, “Humans.” There was almost shock behind the voice as if they were expecting someone else.
Another voice yelled. “Who goes there?”
“We’re fleeing the monsters,” Edin called out, his accent used to be Resholtian. Or so he thought. That’d hopefully encourage them to be more helpful.
“You’re in the wrong lands boy,” cried the man above, “go back to where you came and take those damned demons with you!”
No empathy in that voice. No humanity.
There was the creaking of bows and men were now on the walls aiming their arrows down at them. He looked from man to man looking at the silhouettes. Slowly, Melian began to back up and all five of them were standing in a small cluster.
Arianne stepped forward.
“Do you send women and children away to the forest to die?” she yelled at them. “Are you a savage or are you a man?”
“Do not talk, you Dunbilstonian whore!”
Anger flooded Edin. He was home. This was his home. And they were treating him, treating all of them, like they were maggots.
In Dunbilston, he’d heard of the savagery of Resholt but never thought it like this. Never believed his own people could or would be like this, and then calling her that was not acceptable.