by Cory Huff
“Ruuuun!” Yelled Sophronia, who then grabbed Liam by the arm and pulled him as she took off while the monsters were distracted. She kicked one in the face as it turned to stop her and sent it sprawling. “Thomas, get out!”
Sophronia grabbed Liam and practically dragged him up the embankment before he knew what was happening. “Run, you idiot!”
She saw Thomas scrambling and knew he had heard her. His movements were uncoordinated. He was injured. There were more of the creatures between her and them. She veered off toward the heavy copse of green firs once she got to the top of the embankment.
“We have to help Thomas!” Yelled Liam. Sophronia kept pushing him toward the firs. If they went backwards, the creatures would catch them.
“We have to run! These creatures will kill us, just like they killed your friends!” She yelled. As she got to the edge of the thick firs, she turned and saw Thomas pushed down by Mindee, then saw the knife plunge into his neck. Blood spurted everywhere.
The world seemed to slow down and mute. She saw that Thomas was finished. She grabbed Liam’s arm as he tried to run back. She saw the creatures closing in. In that moment, she made a grim decision. She practically hurled Liam into the trees, telling him to run. She knew what was coming, and she summoned her inner focus, quickly chanting and moving her fingers in a series of weird gestures ending with all of her fingers laced together. Power quickly built up and rippled out from her in a wave, but not before the crack of Thomas’ neck breaking.
The grass, vines, moss and weeds on the forest floor seemed to come alive, waving, reaching, and stretching for the feet of the creatures running at her. They all fell down, tripped by the animated foliage. They screamed in surprise and protest.
But even as they fell, Sophronia silently cursed. She hadn’t been fast enough to stop Mindee. The murderous woman was entangled in foliage, but it was too little too late. The foliage wrapped up Thomas’ dead body and held it fast to the ground.
Just before the sickness overcame her and her eyes rolled back in her head, she saw Mindee’s angry face as she snapped her limbs free of the foliage and started toward her. That was all she had. The most powerful magic she knew, and it had all been in vain.
Death came for her as her vision faded.
Liam crashed into a tree as Sophronia pushed him. He winced. Why was she so strong? What was she doing, chanting? He turned his head just in time to see her moving her hands down her arm in a series of gestures. What were her hands doing?
He heard the crack of Thomas’ neck as he watched Mindee kill him. His stomach clenched. Then the forest floor seemed to… come alive. The grass, vines, and moss seemed to be on their side, tripping the bug-eyed creatures and slowing Mindee down.
Mindee was slowed down for just a moment before pulling herself free, and then Sophronia collapsed to the ground. Liam … felt power and energy drain from her. What was happening?
Seeing her foe falling, Mindee smiled and strode forward. Liam, acting on instinct again, ran forward toward Sophronia, shouting “NO” as loud as he could and making a thrusting gesture as if to throw Mindee backward.
As if someone yanked a rope tied around her waist, Mindee folded in half at the waist and flew backward, sailing through the air, down the embankment and crashing down among the dead bodies of Aaron, his friends and the other creatures. She didn’t move.
Liam grabbed Sophronia, picked her up and hustled into the woods. The creatures were stunned by what they had just seen, and were still wrapped up in the foliage. If he ran hard, he might be able to lose them before they got free.
The old man felt all of the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. There was no mistaking it this time. Someone in Atania was using the Ogham.
Kaufman grabbed his brown, thick, oak cane and headed out the door, locking it behind him. He was dressed in black with a voluminous black cloak. He was armed for whatever he found.
Time to found out who had figured out how to break the gaeas.
Hours later, after Liam and Sophronia had rested briefly inside a hollowed redwood tree, they were fleeing deeper into the woods by dim moonlight of a quarter moon. He had been sick from … whatever he had done. He wasn’t sure. He had retched, cramped, and struggled to stay quiet. It didn’t appear that they had been pursued. They had emerged with Liam carrying Sophronia.
Liam was strong. He was in the prime of life. He worked with his hands for a living. He was struggling to carry Sophronia, even though she wasn’t heavy. He’d lifted hides heavier than her. But she kept twitching, nearly throwing herself out of his arms. His own muscles were twitching as well.
This section of the woods was thick with undergrowth. New raspberry plants and young beech trees grew up underneath the towering redwoods and pines, all the greenery pushing together, competing for sunlight and space. He crashed through the woods in a most unskilled manner. He knew better, but his fear and his desire to get some distance left him little choice.
He didn’t know if they were following him, but he knew he couldn’t go much further. As if in answer to a prayer, he ducked a low-hanging branch and came upon an open clearing with a low granite and slate building. Sophronia was still twitching, but he got her near the front of the building and kicked at the wooden door. It was unlocked and swung open into a dark interior. Pieces of the door broke off where he kicked it. It looked like some kind of workshop. He banged Sophronia’s head on the door jam, swore, and juggled her upright, dragging her flailing body. He tried to gently set her on the dirt floor but dropped her a couple of inches. Then he went back and shut the door. It wouldn’t latch properly because of the damage, but it would have to do for now.
Finally free of his burden, his muscles started to unknot a bit. He laid down on the cool dirt floor and tried to still his breath. It wouldn’t do to have them hear him if they were close. Sophronia was in bad shape. He wasn’t sure what had happened to her.
Happenings.
She had done something strange, and the grass had moved of its own accord.
Things had been happening to him as well.
The Happenings.
She looked like what she had done was intentional. Were the Happenings the result of some kind of intentional action?
After he saw Aaron murdered, he had laid on the forest floor for … days? Was she going to be on this floor for days? He didn’t think they had days before they were chased down.
Sophronia threw up. He could hear it in the dark. The wetness was causing her to cough. He felt his way over, grabbed her by the shoulder and rolled her on her side so she could get some air. She calmed down.
Some time passed. Liam was exhausted but too scared to go to sleep. Was it hours? It was too dark to tell.
She woke. “What happened?” Her voice was weak. Vulnerable.
Liam responded, “you stopped the creatures. Thomas didn’t make it. We ran.”
She was silent a long moment. She had liked Thomas. Emaile was going to be angry. “How did we get away?” She asked.
It was Liam’s turn to be silent.
“Liam?” Asked Sophronia.
“Where did you learn how to make the grass do that?”
Sophronia stared into the darkness while taking a deep breath. She sucked the air through her teeth. She was unsure what to say. She had never told anyone about her forays into the hidden part of the city.
She took another deep breath through her teeth. “What if I told you I studied it out of a book?”
“What book?”
“A book I found in an abandoned building.”
“You stole it?”
“No. It was abandoned.”
“Whose book is it?”
“I just told you, the building was abandoned. The book was just there. It didn’t have a name written in it. It was just a book that I discovered! Aaah, my head!” Sophronia rolled around on the ground. When she recovered and did some deep breathing, she realized Liam had never answered her question. “Where are we?” She asked.
“We’re in a workhouse of some kind. There was a clearing in the woods. Looks like someone’s built a workhouse here. We’re hiding. I couldn’t carry you any more.”
“Liam. How did we get away? Mindee wasn’t hindered by what I did.”
Liam responded straightaway this time. “I threw her down the embankment. I used the same power that you did, I think. But I didn’t learn it from a book.”
Sophronia was suddenly far more focused. “Where did you learn it?” She wondered, an edge in her voice.
There was a long pause as Liam deliberated on whether he could tell her the rest.
“I just did it. Things like this have been happening to me for years.”
“Oh.” Said Sophronia, not sure how to respond.
“It’s never been this powerful though. I think I know where the Happenings have been coming from.” Said Liam. “I think some of it has been me. Some of it is obviously you. I think there are others. I think that the old wives tales are about this. I think that there is a world that we don’t know about, can’t see, and … “ he took a deep breath, “…and it terrifies me.” He was getting more worked up.
Sophronia listened to Liam breathing heavily in the dark. She recognized that it was a big risk for him to share what he did. She thought about how lonely it must be to experience what he was experiencing, without knowing what she knew. She didn’t know how he had learned to access the Ogham, but she knew that he wasn’t alone.
“Liam, the book I found is just one of many. There used to be a school that taught people how to access something called Ogham to do what we did today. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of books about Ogham. It’s terrifying because its new to us - but there used to be people who understood this on a deep level.”
Liam cut in, “What happened to those people?”
“I don’t know,” she replied.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Hidden Atania
Liam opened the door slowly and blinked into the sunlight. The hidden birds were chirping. He saw several grey squirrels. There was a slight breeze and it smelled like fresh pine. The woods appeared oblivious to the horrors that happened yesterday. He didn’t see the raven in flight icon carved into the front door.
They had ended their conversation with Sophronia’s “I don’t know.” Liam had suggested that they get some rest and head out at first light. Where they were heading, he had no idea. He didn’t see anyone or any evidence of any kind of threat. His stomach growled.
“Come on, let’s go,” chirped Sophronia as she pushed him outside.
“Where are we going?”
“I have something I want to show you. Actually, it’s somewhere. I think I know where we are. Follow me. There’s food.” Sophronia looked over her shoulder as she walked past Liam, smiling. Then she remembered why they were where they were, and that Thomas had died. Her smile faltered. She looked forward and kept walking.
Liam couldn’t think of anything to do except follow her. “Shouldn’t we go back and let Thomas’ friend know what happened to him?”
Sophronia said, “if Emaile came back with the church knights, she knows what happened to him. It’s best if we lay low for a few days. I have a feeling that murderous woman Mindee will be looking for us, and if we disappear that will make it harder for her. We need to find a way to catch her unawares, and if she gets frustrated, she might make a mistake.”
“What do you mean catch her unawares? You want to go after her?”
Sophronia let out a sharp breath that might have been a laugh. “Yes. I’m going to kill her. She killed Thomas. She killed my brother. She’s going to pay.”
“Wait, she killed your brother? You know her? What happened?”
Sophronia told Liam the whole story. By the time she finished, they had walked for about 20 minutes. Liam was appalled. Mindee really was an insane murderer.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” said Liam.
She stopped, turning to Liam with a deadly serious face. “Don’t be sorry. Help me.”
“I will.”
Liam was a little surprised at himself for jumping in so readily. He could tell Sophronia was surprised as well. But he wouldn’t take it back. What Mindee had done was wrong. And whatever those creatures were, it looked like she was leading them.
He continued, “But we need help.”
She nodded in agreement. “With Thomas’ death, we can get the church on board, I’m sure. That should be enough, I would think.”
“Ok. So…do we go straight there?” He asked.
She shook her head, “no, there’s still something I want to show you.” She took his elbow and walked forcefully through the woods. She seemed like she was on a mission, like she knew where she was going.
“You’ve been here before!” Liam exclaimed.
She nodded again. “The abandoned building, and the books I found in it, are this way. We’re going to arm ourselves much better before we see Mindee again.”
“What about the side effects? The sickness?”
“We’re going to figure that out. The books should be able to help us.”
Liam wondered why she hadn’t found that out already. It must have shown on his face.
“There’s a lot of books Liam, and before now, I wasn’t this afraid for my life.”
He stared at her, “You’ve been playing with unseen forces that have the power to make the grass and trees do your bidding, and you weren’t afraid?”
Sophronia snapped back, “I walk around afraid every day Liam. This Ogham stuff? Not any more dangerous than the men who follow me out of the pubs. This stuff is what keeps me safe. It’s at least under my control.”
Liam held his hands up. He wasn’t going to argue with her. What he saw yesterday didn’t look like control.
Abruptly, they walked out the woods and onto a cobble stone road half covered over with dirt, vines, dandelions, and other foliage. It stretched through the woods both East and West, disappearing beneath the canopy of overgrown green pines and red cedars. The direct sunlight overhead was almost blinding after so much time under the canopy. “Wait, where are we,” asked Liam.
“We are in Hidden Atania,” responded Sophronia.
“What’s hidden Atania?”
“It’s where I found the abandoned book. There’s a lot here to show you. Try not to panic.”
“What do you mean panic?”
“I mean what you’re about to see might make you uncomfortable. You’re going to have to rethink the way that you see Atania, and maybe how you see the world. There are things that are hidden that you’re going to have to keep secret. Things that would be dangerous to reveal. Things I don’t understand, and things that should never become common knowledge.”
They walked East down the road for a few moments, Liam pondering what she said. “Do I want to see this?”
“You said you wanted to stop Mindee. This is how we do it,” said Sophronia. “Come on, let’s go.”
They walked along the path for several minutes when Liam exclaimed, “Wait, where did all of these buildings come from?” The side of the road opposite the forest was lined with crumbling granite buildings covered in vines, surrounded by hyacinths mixed with dandelions. It looked like this place had once been professionally managed. He looked back and there were more buildings, extended back past where they had emerged from the woods. He had missed them. He looked ahead, to where they were going, and saw more buildings of various heights. He saw side streets. There was an entire town on the other side of the woods! He felt a little dizzy, and swayed on his feet.
“Put your head down between your legs. It helps,” said Sophronia. Liam did so. While he was down there, he asked, “What’s happening?”
“I found this place while wandering the woods, years ago, when I was a girl. I’ve been coming here regularly since I was 15, to get away from the people and be alone with my thoughts. This is where things really started for me. Liam, there are things here that make Atanian li
fe nonsensical.”
“What do you mean?” He panted.
“Like, why aren’t there every any visitors? There’s nobody from outside of Atania - like, ever.”
“Well, that’s not true.”
“Really? When was the last time you met someone from outside Atania? When was the last time you wandered outside of the city?”
“Well, we don't go outside the city because its dangerous on the Thir. The barbarian tribes would attack us.”
“Really? Would they? Why haven’t they attacked us yet? If they’re so fearsome, and so full of avarice and greed, why haven’t they sacked the city?”
That gave Liam pause. Then he realized, “We have the wall around the city. That keeps them out.”
“Liam, people can climb walls. It would be nothing for them to build a ladder or use a rope to climb that wall. We don’t even put people on the wall to watch for attackers. The way we live doesn’t make sense! How come nobody here ever travels anywhere? We’ve all heard of Ghealdar, but never been there. There’s no news from Ghealdar, or any other place. Where did the stone for the Temple come from? When did construction start? Who started it?”
Liam needed to keep walking, to think. Sophronia fell in next to him.
They came to a large square, more than 300 feet across. It was dominated by an enormous building made of white and grey marble, gleaming in the sunlight. It towered above the rest of the town, reaching a hundred feet into the air. It too was wrapped in a thick layer of vines. More Dandelions grew from gaps in the cobblestones in various spots.
Surrounded by a low wall of just 10 feet or so, the massive structure had pointed spires. There were turrets with arrow slits. There was probably a hundred rooms in this place. It was even larger than the Church of the Creator’s massive temple that was under construction. They had been building the temple for decades, longer than Liam had been alive - when was this built? It must have taken hundreds of people decades to build, and he had never heard of it. Nobody had.
