Season of Hytalia

by Jennifer Arntson

  Carrying the bloody entrails to the pigpen, I cursed myself for going into the valley at all. I’d gained nothing by warning others. I only broke my heart.

  Calish is still alive. Besides, isn’t it better to know the truth than live a lie?

  No. No it wasn’t. At least not yet. Perhaps it would be in the future, but I think dealing with his death would be easier than knowing I’d lost his love.

  I returned to the goat and completed the butchering of useful parts, still swimming in my own thoughts. While it would have been wonderful to have Calish by my side, I’d gained something I hadn’t had before in his absence. No longer would I be a young woman waiting for a man to determine my future. In fact, I hadn’t been that person for a while now, regardless of the decrees of the Authority. The Resistance had given me purpose, and being untethered gave me the opportunity to pursue it. With everything I had yet to learn, I bet I’d learn to guard my heart, if not to ignore it all together.

  I’m not the only person to love, nor am I the only one to lose it.

  Marsh and Trisk put proper distance between themselves as I brought the prepared meat to the fire.

  “I’m so hungry,” he admitted as if to deflect the obvious infatuation between him and the woman to his left.

  “Did you find any of the food stuff?”

  “No. We used most of our rations and were saving what we had for the journey to camp. We’ll have to search for them in the morning, or our trip back will feel a lot longer than necessary.”

  It didn’t take long before the smell of cooking meat brought my mother, father, and Ino to the fire. My father sat with my mother at his side, while the rest of us filled in the open spaces around the pit.

  “Thank you so much for all your help,” Mother offered our guests.

  “We’re glad to do it, ma’am.” Ino smiled.

  Our small group benefited from our time together. We needed to rest, eat, and talk about something other than the trials ahead of us. There were no questions about the camp or the village. I think each of us knew that the disaster was incomprehensible, and we’d have plenty of time to address what we could tomorrow. Instead, we would take this last evening to cry over our personal losses and be thankful for living another day. There were people along the road that might not find comfort in that. There were those who prayed to the heavens in the same sky above. They prayed for the gods to spare their loved ones and begged to let them be found safe. How could any of them fathom what their future would be like now that the town was washed away? Had they got that far or were they still in shock? Thankfully, our family had survived.

  Neither of my parents had the courage to ask about Calish until I told them that he and I were together when the landslide fell. Trying to protect myself but give them some comfort, I said he’d gone back into the valley. “He’s the Junior Lord of the Authority. It is his civic duty.” Other than that, I didn’t know what to say. The truth was, I didn’t know where he was, exactly, and I was too tired to make excuses for him. He should have come home to be with us. But he wasn’t here. What more could I say? As much as I’d like to support Calish, I would never be strong enough to comfort him through his grief of losing Merci. I had my own loss to grieve.

  With a decently full belly, I accepted the gratitude of my friends and family, thankful for the sudden interruption of my personal lamenting.

  “Sir, do you mind if we stay here with you tonight?” Ino asked.

  “We wouldn’t expect anything different,” my mother replied.

  Father suggested we set up the tents in the northwest corner of the property. It was least likely to be the fall zone for weakened trees, loose stones, or unstable outbuildings. It also was the most hidden area from trespassers. We were close to the berm and therefore close to the road, but we all agreed this was the best place for the tents.

  The sky, full of stars, lent the moons’ calming light to our task. It gave just enough to set up a couple of tents before the clouds denied us the favor. Even though the rains weren’t threatening yet, the darkness it brought warned it would not stay that way.

  I stayed with our parents, and Marsh stayed with Trisk and Ino. Not having enough blankets for each of us to have our own, we split the four we had equally between the two tents. My mother and father shared one, and I got the other. I pulled up the edge of it under my chin and tried to clear the many thoughts fighting for my worry. As I curled up with my eyes closed, my attempt at meditation failed, and I silently cried myself to sleep.

  Chapter 26

  Stoking the embers to encourage a new flame, I added stripped branches and a salvaged piece of firewood Marsh brought earlier to the space under the stone-crafted fire hut. The situation felt familiar, but I’d had enough of these dreams to know this wasn’t a dream. Three skinned rabbits on spits lay propped up on the side of the hut, ready to be cooked. If my job was to cook, what was everyone else doing? The men worked together to remove large portions of the roof and walls, while my mother and Trisk dug through debris to find usable items. The thick clouds covered the sky, masking the sun’s location.

  Is this morning or evening? Truthfully, it could be midday, and I wouldn’t know the difference. Whatever this is, it must be important if I’m seeing it.

  Leaving the hut, I asked Mother what time it was, but she didn’t hear me. I watched myself position the rabbits above the flame.

  We had enough time to build an oven. It makes sense we’d find a way to cook that wouldn’t be flooded by rain.

  I found a decent vantage point where everyone could be seen and waited, not that I had to wait long. From where I stood, I noticed a plank pulled across the gulch in a place obscured by the berm. Someone was coming who didn’t have an invitation.

  Mother yelped and drew my attention away from my finding. She’d picked up a stone a bit too large for her, and it caused her to lose her balance. Leaving the fire, I watched myself run to her. She lay sprawled with her leg in an unnatural angle, and I called to the others to help. Mother’s cries were enough of a distraction to let eight men cross over the gulch unnoticed. An arrow flew through my father’s back. He grabbed the shaft then held his bloody hands palms up. Marsh spun around when one impaled him in the gut. He stumbled back, tripping over our mother. The arrow wasn’t what killed him, however. It was the splintered board that stuck up through the base of his neck that bled him out. Trisk ran for the trees, missing the first arrow but taking the second one in the shoulder. Ino lunged for his quiver, but a man twice his girth intercepted him. The men had no intention of making this a fair fight, nor was it their intention to leave survivors. With a stone the size of a kettle, Ino’s head was emulsified.

  Two men came for me while two chased after Trisk. I intercepted one, and as he fell, I ripped a hunk of flesh from his arm. He screamed and pulled a blade, but my teeth sank into his neck before his piece pulled from its sleeve. His partner yanked me up by my hair, but I spun around, clawing at his face. My victim’s head followed my assault and left his neck exposed. Despite his attempt to fight, I found him easier to take down than the first.

  The archer finished Mother, not that I saw it. Her screams stopped, but Trisk’s became louder. Her assailants overpowered her, but they didn’t expect anyone coming to her rescue. With a fist-sized rock in my hand, I ran toward them. One well-landed hit crushed the neck bones of one of the men, then I attacked the others, killing them the same way I had his comrades.

  Who knew the neck was such an easy target?

  An arrow soared past my ear, tearing open the flesh of my cheek. Warm blood flowed down my chin and chest, mingling with the contributions of the ones I had just killed. Glancing over my shoulder and protecting my wound, I saw the archer ready another arrow. Knowing he had better aim with static targets, I yanked Trisk to her feet and warned her to keep up.

  “Let ’em go!” their leader ordered. “They won’t be back.”

  “They killed four of our men!”

  “Then shoot th
e mud. It took more of us than she did. Besides, they left us something.” He lifted one of the rabbits from the fire. “Dinner.”

  * * *

  I tossed and turned so much, I didn’t know I’d slept until I sat up and found myself alone in the tent. Mother and Father had gone and let me sleep. While it may be a good thing they did, I still felt guilt about being last to rise. Stretching my arms over my head, I listened for their voices outside. Of course they’re already working.

  I slumped over with my blanket laid haphazardly at my waist and wiped the crusty sleep from my eyes. As much as I wanted to revisit the dream and try to change the outcome, something told me I’d be disappointed. What could I change as an observer? Rather than be stuck in arguments with my subconscious, I opted to get up and warn the others.

  Opening the tent, the misty air hit my face. The clouds above had no intention of giving us a break today. Their gray cover loomed over the lands, threatening us, as if we needed something else to fear. Everyone worked on the house, pulling debris off to make sorted piles about the yard. The pile to the right consisted of rocks, while Trisk and my mother tossed splintered shards for kindling on the left. With all that had been done, they had yet to make it to the housewares.

  The men worked with the mud ox to remove the boulders. Even though the rock they tried to move took several attempts to properly secure with a rope, they weren’t discouraged enough to give up. It had landed itself in the rubble like a bird in a nest, locking everything down around it. The stubborn stone needed to be moved first, even though doing it proved nearly impossible. Ino and Marsh wedged sturdy branches behind it to shimmy it free while the ox pulled by my father’s direction.

  “Good morning.” Mother waved, seeing me from the wood discard pile.

  I lifted my hand in a greeting as I yawned, approaching my father after verifying the gulch hadn’t been breached yet.

  “Watch out, little bird,” he warned as the ox struggled with his task.

  “I think we should talk.” I sighed.

  He brushed me off. “Not now.”

  “This can’t wait. I had a vision.”

  My father hung his head, knowing his chore would go unfinished, at least for now. He turned to my brother and Ino. “We’re going to take a short break. Let’s give the ox a rest, and we’ll try again in a few.”

  Seeing my father’s reaction, my mother said something to Trisk and headed in our direction. Signaling the others to put down their work, I motioned for them all to join in since what I had seen would affect all of us. Standing in a loose circle, I started by telling them about what I’d experienced in the valley the day before. “There are displaced people everywhere. Apparently, the Authority forced people to share their homes with flood victims, but I think most of them just camped along the road.”

  “The homeless have been there for quite some time,” Father confirmed.

  “Now that the valley is flooded, and the land has buried whatever isn’t underwater, those people are going to begin to migrate south. It’s the only place for them to go.”

  “What does that have to do with us, Una?” Mother asked.

  “I know there isn’t much here, but someone is aware of it, and they want it for themselves. In my vision, we’d cleared most of the house, found a few things, and made a fire hut to cook in. A larger group of people came and threatened us, but with a weakened defense, we gave it up.”

  “Gave up without a fight?” Marsh scoffed.

  “We fought,” I lied, knowing we never had the chance.

  Father scanned the property. “This place is not worth any of our lives.”

  “We can’t stay here,” I agreed.

  Mother shifted, folding her arms around herself for comfort. “Where would we go?”

  “To our camp,” Trisk answered, and Ino nodded.

  Silence held us captive; some thoughts don’t require a voice to be understood. Father kicked the mud with his toe until a small puddle formed where his foot had been. Mother’s focus rested in the grasses in the distant field, while Trisk’s and Marsh’s pinkies entangled themselves in a subtle need for comfort. The rules had changed, and we knew it, although we weren’t sure how. We didn’t want to die. We didn’t want anyone murdered over a crushed house and a few animals.

  The Great One could have taken us but let us survive. Why? Perhaps he ignored us too. It’s hard to kill something you don’t want to see. I figured the gods hated all of us equally from the beginning, and we created a system to feel better about ourselves. I’m not sure any of it mattered.

  “You said that we’d cleared the house and built a fire hut?” Marsh clarified, and I nodded. “That had to have taken more than a day…”

  “At least two or three,” Father agreed.

  “To be safe, I think we need to leave here today,” I suggested.

  “What happens if we do that?” Ino asked.

  I shrugged. “I woke up after the vision ended, but I have a weird feeling, like we shouldn’t wait. I don’t think I’ve got time to try to dream up anything else.”

  With each of us deep in thought, my father broke the silence. “Let’s spend the morning gathering whatever we can take. I’ll be damned if they take my ox.” He groaned.

  “The roads will be difficult to travel. Getting here was a challenge. I doubt we’ll get anywhere with the old cart,” I said.

  “So be it,” Father said, suppressing his frustration. “We’ll just pile it on top of the beast, then.”

  Marsh volunteered to raid the tool shed with my father while my mother secured the goats with rope leashes. I snapped the necks of half a dozen rabbits to take fresh meat with us and bound their ears together. When we gathered all the animals we intended to take, we freed the chickens and the remaining rabbits. We didn’t want the property to be too appealing to trespassers. With any luck, someday we’d return.

  Ino, Trisk, and I disassembled the tents and packed up the other gear on their horses. Although Rebel ran scared, Paw managed to keep their horses calm. According to Trisk, it didn’t happen easily, but once they were out of the Nobu forest, Paw got them to agree to wait for their riders. I wondered how much they were able to harvest because what she described didn’t sound like much.

  In the end, it didn’t matter. None of the animals would reenter the wood. Apparently, they were given a warning from the Creator moments before the ground moved.

  “Who’s the Creator?” I asked.

  “Paw tried to explain it once. Basically, it’s their version of the Great One.”

  The animals hold religious beliefs? I tied the dead rabbits from the saddle horn, a twinge of guilt in my stomach for causing their demise.

  Marsh wrestled an old tarp piece out of the dilapidated hay barn. I’m sure it started out square, but the edge of the canvas had been damaged sometime before we claimed it. Tying it up with the last of our found twine, he used it to sack the tools, less a few we might need along the way.

  “Always planning for the future, huh?” Trisk winked at him, and for the second time in my life, I think I saw my brother blush.

  Everyone busied themselves with obvious tasks to retrieve necessary items while my father spent his time on hands and knees, digging through the house debris near his sleeping area. What is he looking for? All the useful things are at the other end of the house in the kitchen. To further my confusion, Marsh joined my father to search for whatever he hoped to find.

  Ino stole my attention by recruiting my help, since all I did was spy on my father. To his credit, Ino didn’t make a scene; he merely suggested we take pieces of the mill with us.

  “Especially the blade.” He rubbed his hands together as if planning some great heist.

  Because we never assembled it, the most important parts were as easy to find as they were to pack up. We’d have to build the parts left behind, but with the number of downed trees, lumber shouldn’t be hard to come by. Just as we had packed up the final piece, my father and Marsh joined the rest
of us in the middle of the property.

  “Ino.” Father held out his closed hand, something hidden inside. “Put this on your collar.”

  He accepted the offering, puzzled by the object in his hand. “Where did you get this?” He brushed the top of the Authority Badge with his thumb, as if he disbelieved its existence.

  Father made it clear the question would not be answered by a rigid expression rather than waste words in an argument he would not lose. “The ladies can’t wear them, but we can. With any luck, it’ll keep us out of trouble until we get to where we’re going.”

  “We should ride in pairs so one would assume the women are our wives.” Marsh flirted with Trisk, whose turn it was to blush.

  “Smart idea, son.” Father handed him a badge. Marsh’s face twisted when the metal hit the calloused flesh of his hand.

  Ino pinned his on his chest. Standing properly, he held his hand out like a gentleman and asked, “Una, will you marry me?”

  “Be warned, I’ve been asked that a couple of times before. Yet here I am with child and no husband. I’m afraid if I don’t refuse the offer now, you’ll decide to retract it in the near future.”

  Ino chuckled as did Trisk, unaware of how deep the pain of that truth ran. In my fleeting moment of masked vulnerability, I caught enough of Marsh’s expression to know he understood the meaning of my response covered by sarcasm. He wasn’t laughing.

  He knew.

  Could it be he crossed paths with Calish when rounding up the river cats? Holding his gaze, his face spoke volumes. He knew about Merci. I didn’t need to search his past to be convinced.

  Clenching my jaw, I did my best to stay calm. I had been deceived by both of my brothers a day apart. Calish wedged a dagger between my shoulder blades. Marsh twisted it.

  I have to get back to camp.