by Bobby Adair
Chapter 51: Melora
When Roger returned he was carrying a bucket of water. Bernadette and Ashton carried rabbits. Melora sighed with relief, greeting them with a wave. She glanced over her shoulder at Rowan, who gave her a half-hearted smile. She assisted the settlers in getting the food and water into the house.
“We found two rabbits in one of the closest traps,” Bernadette said, beaming. It was the happiest Melora had seen the little girl.
The settlers set down their belongings.
“I’m going to start a fire outside, so we can cook before it gets too late,” Roger said. “We’ll need to make sure it’s doused before we sleep.”
“I can skin the rabbits, if you want,” Melora offered.
“That’d be great,” Roger agreed.
Melora followed the settlers outside and assisted them in finding kindling. Once they’d gathered enough brush, they started a small fire and waited for it to burn down. The setting sun had already turned the furthest trees into shadows. The upper boughs provided a dark, looming canopy over the campsite. Melora was reminded of the dread she’d felt the past few nights, staying in the trees.
The lack of a surrounding wall filled her with uneasiness. But the snow was gone, at least.
Bernadette handed her one of the rabbits, taking the other for herself. Without hesitation, the little girl peeled the skin from the dead animal, baring the meat on its hind legs and working toward its torso. Melora watched her for several seconds, enraptured by the girl’s skill. She’d seen plenty of young ones doing the same thing, but rarely as proficiently. When the little girl had finished, Melora started on her own rabbit, filleting it with a practiced hand.
After they’d prepared the rabbits, they skewered them on sticks and dangled them over the fire, watching the meat sizzle. The settlers were surprisingly calm, despite the danger of the forest. Every so often, Roger tensed and studied the trees, but for the most part, he focused on his meal. Melora recalled how the settlers had sprung from the trees to dispose of the demons. She imagined them doing the same thing now, if the need arose.
“Are there other settlers close by?” Melora asked, keeping her voice low.
“A few, but not many. There used to be more.”
“What happened to them?”
“Most of our people have been driven away by Blackthorn’s soldiers. There was a time when the blue shirts didn’t venture this far out into the woods, but they’ve been roaming further lately.”
“Have you ever fought them?”
“A few times. But if you kill them, you have to bury the bodies. Otherwise more will return. Most times, it’s easiest to flee.”
“Have you ever tried banding together?” Melora asked, growing angry. “Surely with enough settlers you could drive them off.”
“We’ve tried, but as I mentioned, there aren’t many of us left. Besides, if we kill too many soldiers, the missing bodies will draw attention.” Roger sighed. “With the children, I’d rather not fight unless I have to. I can build another home, but I can’t bring back the dead.”
“Earlier, you said a group of settlers had gone to the Ancient City. What happened to them?”
“We never heard from them again. There are others that ventured farther, hoping to find the edge of the earth, but they haven’t returned, either.” Roger paused to pull his rabbit from the fire. He plucked off a piece of meat, popped it in his mouth, and licked his fingers. “Our hope is that they’ve found a better place than here, though I doubt it.”
Once the rabbits were finished, Melora brought a piece in to Rowan, and then assisted the settlers in cleaning up and dousing the fire. They disposed of the remnants in the woods, scattering them to avoid leaving evidence. Then they returned to the house.
Melora’s stomach was full, but she was empty inside. The death of the townspeople was like a sickness that had taken root. Roger gathered up several animal skins from the corner and laid them on the ground for Melora to sleep on. She thanked him and settled on the floor.
She watched the settlers finish cleaning. Her eyelids were heavy. She couldn’t fathom sleeping, but her body ached with exhaustion. The light had dimmed into darkness, making the settlers look like outlines in the room. Roger propped his doused torch against the wall, then laid his sword next to his bedding. She watched him descend to the floor, laying his head on a pile of skins. The children nestled against the wall, sleeping so that they faced the door. She could tell they always slept that way.
They lay awake in silence, listening to the keen of the wind through the trees. Rowan shifted beside her. In her old home, Melora might’ve said a silent prayer, drifting off to thoughts of the coming day, making plans to meet friends in the farming fields.
Tonight, she did neither. Her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of food, survival, and the haunting faces of her slain friends and relatives.
Before she knew it, she’d fallen asleep. She didn’t awaken, not even when the first fingers of fire licked the branches on the outside of the house.
Chapter 52: Oliver
Walking among the merchant’s houses, all nestled in their own section of town, Oliver envied the merchants, their wives, and their children. The smell of cooked meats and fruit pies floated up out of their chimneys. Yellow, warm light flowed out through glass windows and into the darkness. Rarely did Oliver see glass windows when he was away from the temple. From inside the houses he heard laughter. He even heard singing in a few. Wealthy, happy people, all fat, all warm.
The closest thing to singing Oliver ever heard from his parents were the sounds they wailed when they each went to the pyre. It was the same song sung by every peasant on his way to the fire. And though the verse each sang was a little different, they all became the same when the song reached its crescendo, just as the flame first caressed the skin.
It was the only song that Oliver really knew and it lurked in his nightmares, making itself known and frightful for the eventual day when he’d have to sing it himself.
Oliver no longer wanted his life.
Without thinking, he stopped in the street, and stared in through a window at a family sitting down to a table with some large roasted bird in the center.
Oliver wanted to be warm and smiling, with a full belly and a happy tune on his lips. Would an appointment to the academy lead to a life like the one he saw through the frosted glass? Or would he forever live in the academy dorms, hunched over a desk, unearthing ancient secrets from old books recently found, for the benefit of…
…Of whom?
The merchants? Would they be the beneficiaries of any uncovered secrets? Or would all the people of Brighton share in the new knowledge?
Oliver spat a word that was turning into his favorite frustrated curse. Grown-up thoughts were sometimes too big, too vexing for a young boy’s mind. Even he knew that boys his age should be starting to take an interest in the pretty girls, which he was, but from the conversations he eavesdropped on while in the market with Franklin, that was the only thing boys his age talked about. Well, that and the unrealistic dream that they’d one day ride a big black stallion in Blackthorn’s cavalry, with chests puffed out and blue shirts crisp and clean.
Those boys were all fools.
Oliver often indulged the same fantasy, but he accepted his foolishness for what it was. A game to take a child’s mind off the inevitable drudgery of long, hungry years of toil in the field, never having enough to feed himself or his family, never having the power to do anything about it. Oliver wondered in that moment if that was the reason people allowed themselves to be so sheepishly led to the pyre, seldom raising their fists to fight off the blue shirts, seldom running away with fear in their feet. Maybe they simply wanted the hopelessness to end.
“You, there.”
Oliver’s head snapped around as he involuntarily steppe
d away from the voice. Oh, no.
Two men of the city guard were just a handful of paces up the road. “What are you doing?” one said.
“Another orphan needs a beatin’,” said the other.
Oliver took another frightened step backward.
“Be still there, boy,” said the first one. “If I have to chase you, I swear by The Word, you’ll regret it.”
“What’s that in your hand there, you little thief?” the second guard asked, pointing at the purse of coins in Oliver’s fingers. Worse yet, Oliver had the incriminating, neatly folded note from Evan in the other hand.
Before Oliver could think what to do with his fear, before he could make the choice to run away from these two sods in the city guard uniform, a big, calloused hand locked onto his wrist and jerked his arm so hard that the coin purse fell away and hit the stones on the street. The sound of coins was unmistakable. For a moment, all froze, and all eyes locked on the fine leather purse.
One of the guards spoke first. “A thief.”
Before the second guard could confirm the first guard’s suspicions, Oliver found his strength, or more exactly, he found his defiance. He used a word he’d overheard spoken by Minister Beck when he was speaking quiet words to Evan once a few months ago. “Unhand me, dunce.”
The first guard’s eyes went wide.
The second guard asked, “What’s a dunce?”
“You are,” Oliver told him. “Let go of me. I’m on official business for Father Winthrop.”
The guard with the grip spat back, “You’re a thief.” He pointed at the purse. “Where did you steal that?”
Oliver took a risk. He raised his note and waved it in the guard’s face. “You see this, you ignorant imbecile? Do you know what this is?”
The guard’s grip slackened, but didn’t let go as he looked at the note.
The other guard snatched the note from Oliver’s hand and Oliver gulped, fearing that his gambit might have just cost him more than he could afford to pay. The guard looked at the paper. “What is it?”
“Father Winthrop’s private business,” Oliver told them. “If you don’t wish to find yourself standing on the pyre by midnight, you’ll let go of my hand and return that note to me.”
The hand on Oliver’s arm let go and the guard bent down to pick up the purse.
“That’s not yours,” Oliver protested, lunging for the bag, only to be pushed away. He fell onto his butt.
The guard picked up the purse and his eyes lit up as he looked inside.
“You’ll regret this,” Oliver sneered. Then, he puffed up his chest as he stood and filled his voice with all the pompous authority he could imitate from Father Winthrop. “I am Novice Oliver. Are you two such slow-witted men that you’ve not seen me standing at Father Winthrop’s side in the temple, at The Cleansing?”
“My eyes are bad,” said the man looking into the coin purse. “I thought he had two girls by his side.”
The other guard laughed and said, “Franklin is Father Winthrop’s novice.”
“You can’t even count to two?” Oliver chided. “Are you that stupid?” He stepped back, more than half expecting that those bitter words would earn him a slap across the face.
Instead, the guard with the note furrowed his brow, trying to figure out whether he had to listen to a mouthy little boy. He said to the other guard, “Bring the purse and the boy over into the light.” He pointed at a lantern hanging from a pole at an intersection of two streets.
The unbreakable grip locked around Oliver’s wrist again, and the guard half-dragged, half-carried him in the direction of the lantern.
Halfway along, Oliver stopped struggling and took on his best haughty, offended air.
When they reached the light, Oliver said, “Look at me now, dunce guard. Look at me as thoroughly as you need. Do you recognize me now?”
The guard’s face started to change as recognition set in. He told the other guard, “Let go of him.”
“Let go?” the other guard asked, looking greedily at the coins as he cut a fearful glance at Oliver. “You recognize him? Is he Father Winthrop’s novice?”
“It would seem,” said the first guard.
The hand fell away from Oliver’s wrist and the guard’s voice quaked when he said, “My apologies. I didn’t… I have bad eyes, as I said.” Still, he looked at the silver in his other hand, caught between two of his own decisions.
Oliver suspected that one of those decisions might end up with him dead and his body tossed over the circle wall. He knew enough about men to know that they often did much worse for a chance at much less silver. “I am expected,” he said. “They’ll come looking for me momentarily if I do not arrive.”
Shaking his head, the guard with the note, said, “This doesn’t make sense to me.” He fumbled with the note for a moment. “If this was honest business, why send a boy into the night with so much silver?”
“Because the city guard is here to protect me,” Oliver told him. “Are you telling me that you’re not competent to do your jobs? What are your names, so that I may tell Father Winthrop, and he may pass them along to General Blackthorn?”
Pushing the bag of coins back into Oliver’s hand, the guard with the strong grip backed away a few steps. “That won’t be necessary. No, it won’t.”
Oliver gave the guard a dismissive nod. “You men should go back to your rounds and allow me to proceed without further delay.”
“What does the note say?” The first guard asked, apparently not frightened enough.
“It is a list of names,” said Oliver. “Men in General Blackthorn’s service that Father Winthrop believes need to be disciplined.”
The guard with the note looked at the folded paper and said, “That’s what I’ll see when I unfold this.”
The other guard was still backing away. “Come on. Let Novice Oliver go. We’ve got plenty to watch without causing him more trouble.”
The first guard unfolded the paper, defiance on his face. When he saw the words, though, Oliver saw the spark of fear and he knew the guard couldn’t read. That wasn’t unexpected; very few people could. A man walking the town on cold, windy nights surely wouldn’t be able to. Oliver said, “Do you see your name on the list?”
Slowly shaking his head, the guard said, “No. I do not.”
“Then please return it to me,” Oliver told him.
Finally reaching a decision, the guard folded the paper, handed it back to Oliver and said, “My apologies, Novice Oliver. Sorry for the delay.”
Oliver stuffed the coin purse into his small pocket, having learned very quickly to keep it out of sight. He trod off into the night.
Chapter 53: William
William closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but all he heard was the whispering. He quietly stretched his legs. They’d bedded down at the base of a tree, and though his body was tired, his mind wouldn’t leave him alone.
For days, the forest had been spilling its secrets to him in barely perceptible words and nonsense phrases. At first, he’d thought he was mistaken, that it had been the rustle of the wind, or the animals skittering through the forest. It had to be something other than voices.
But the voices only seemed to clarify themselves with words that grew bold and distinct, interrupting his thoughts and making it hard for him to concentrate. They spoke to him at all hours of the day—while he walked, while he ate, and while he slept. The voices wouldn’t leave him alone.
William knew he was sick. He knew he was turning.
But that wasn’t what was happening now.
He didn’t feel like he was turning mad. He felt like he was getting smarter.
He understood how to follow the tracks in the wild, and he understood the ways in which the forest worked. He no longer viewed trees as trees,
or bushes as bushes. The forest was a single, breathing entity, begging to be understood. All around him were the conversations of animals, the creaks of the earth, and the groans of the trees. He understood everything. Stories of pain, hunger, and sorrow spilled from the earth, as if they were meant for his ears only.
At first, he hadn’t been sure why they were communicating with him, and why he couldn’t answer back. William had tried whispering into the forest when Mom and Bray weren’t listening, but hadn’t gotten a response. He’d even tried talking to the trees when no one appeared to be watching. Neither had produced a result.
It wasn’t until he came face to face with the demon that he understood.
He recalled the creature that had been pinned against the tree the day before. When it’d opened its mouth, it had released the same guttural sounds he’d heard back at the river, but this time, the sounds made sense to him. These weren’t the incoherent babblings of a crazed animal, but the competent words of a superior being. The demons were trying to be understood, just like the forest or the animals. Their message was clear.
They wanted to cure William.
They wanted to cure them all.
With his eyes still closed, William smiled, thinking about the things the demon had told him. The demon’s words gave him hope. He wasn’t infected. The others were. The people slaying the demons—his “kind”—were doing so out of fear, a need to destroy that which they didn’t understand. He didn’t know that when he lived in the townships, but William knew now.
He pictured the smoldering pyres he’d witnessed at The Cleansing, the scalping of demons at the river, the angry eyes of the soldiers. Mankind had perpetrated evil. Not the demons.
It wasn’t demons that had stabbed and burned the settlers in their home, killing Harriet and her family. It wasn’t demons that had slaughtered Davenport. Demons weren’t tracking them through the forest, intent on dragging them back to behead them, spike them, or worse.
