Amirra

by Coralyn Umber

  I took the book rather than be rude. I was not yet an advanced reader but I did not want to admit it to this man who seemed so confident.

  “Thank you. I will be sure to read it,” again I turned to go but this time Havard was standing in the door; his expression was decidedly stern.

  Before he spoke, he looked at me, noting my attire; then looked crossly at Vorn, causing me to blush once more. “Ami, I was concerned. Sascha sent one of the other women to me, asking me to check on you.”

  “I am alright Havard, I …I had a nightmare. I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep so I came to read here in the study,” I tried to wave aside the importance of the nightmare but Havard caught the tremble in my voice.

  “My dear, you must tell me what this dream was about. Sascha said that you woke thrashing and screaming,” Havard was so earnest in his concern I could not help but to respond. Before I began Vorn politely excused himself though I could tell that he was very interested.

  After he left, I explained to Havard what happened in my dreams and who the Shadow Walkers were. I did not tell him the part about my mother, nor did I tell him anything about my past specifically, just that I had seen these Shades before when I was travelling.

  “I am not sure why you have not shared the entire dream with me, yes dear I can tell, but I will not be so rude as to insist you tell me; I have heard whispers of these creatures. I will have to think on it. It is many hours until your work must begin. Do try to get some sleep. I will go tell Sascha that you are well, just a little shaken,” and so he left me in the study to wait out the dawn.

  I buried myself in the “The Pit and the Pendulum” and fell into an unsettling sleep that was plagued by a sense of foreboding and a great blade descending slowly upon me while time trickled by.

  Sascha came to the study the next morning and woke me. I had been covered with a blanket while I slept and I silently thanked the kind soul who had been so thoughtful. Sascha did not inquire about my dream though her eyes still held concern when she looked at me. That morning she kept me so busy I did not have time to dwell on my nightmare. In addition to the increased work, a doctor came to visit Sascha. During the examination she was forced to wear a veil to hide her face because it was one of the town doctors. After the examination he spoke with Mr. Emance in the study. Havard waited with Sascha until Mr. Emance came to her room with the doctor’s orders. She was to be put on bed rest with nothing more strenuous to do than mending as it would be any day now.

  “Ami, you now take care to get Sascha anything she needs as well as complete your other duties,” and with that our enigmatic master left the room, Havard closely at his heels.

  That night the nightmare returned. This time the Shadow Walkers were drawn away from me towards the sound of a crying child. A light was suddenly visible and I could see clearly into one of the windows of the buildings. There sat Sascha, holding her new baby. The Shadow Walkers were climbing up the façade and trying to get in through the window. I screamed to try to get their attention; I tried to warn Sascha that they were coming. They were reaching in the window reaching towards her and the child. That is when I woke.

  This time everyone had already been awake. Sascha was breathing heavily in another bed and the other women were fussing over her. They turned to me briefly when I startled them all with a scream just before I awoke. I knew nothing about birthing. I thought to get Havard but he was already in the room, holding Sascha’s hand while kneeling next to the bed. The other women shooed me from the room; there were already enough to watch over the laboring woman. For the second night in a row I found myself wandering towards the study dressed only in my nightgown.

  This time I noticed that there was already a candle in the study. I considered heading to another room but did not really want to wander the dark house alone. I could feel the dreadful presence of the Shadow Walkers all around me, filling me with fear, driving me to the edge of panic. I rushed into the study. Vorn, again, was the other occupant. Tonight he looked haggard, like he had not slept. His pelt looked rumpled and he was darkly contemplating the amber liquid in his glass.

  “Did you know that Sascha has gone into labor?” I asked.

  He nodded affirmative but did not take his eyes from his glass. I did not know what else to say so I grabbed Edgar Allen Poe off the shelf and sat down. I opened the book but did not read. I had too much going through my head. Whenever I had dreamed about the Shadow Walkers before, it had been a warning. The dreams had always abated when I started moving again. I felt trapped now because I felt every nerve screaming to get back on my journey but my head was telling me that I must at least stay until the baby was born. The sense of foreboding was great. I wanted to tell someone what I had seen in my dream but was afraid they would not believe me.

  “I have the dreams too. I have had them ever since I saw one of those creatures in the Mountains,” his voice was startlingly rich and when I looked up, Vorn had focused his piercing gaze on me. His eyes were haunted, filled with fear, and surprisingly anger.

  “I am not sure what you are referring to,” I lied.

  “Havard told me about your dream. He said you call them Shadow Walkers, in the village I grew up in they were called Soul Eaters. That was where I saw my first one,” he finally moved his gaze away when he downed the rest of the amber liquid. He refilled the glass from a decanter on the desk. This time he handed it to me.

  “There is no way to save them. If they do not die during the labor, they will change into Soul Eaters,” I didn’t want to ask who he was referring to but then I didn’t need to; he was referring to Sascha and the baby.

  “Is there nothing we can do?”

  “I have not seen any of the infected survive. This is the first time that they have ventured into the city and I have never seen them in such high numbers. Now you must tell me what you saw. Do not hide anything. I must know how it is that you know these creatures and how you have also come to have the dreams. Drink first,” he commanded me. His eyes burned into me. I saw the pain there, the fear, and the anger.

  I put the drink down and began my story. I told him about my parents: how they came to live in the mountains, how my father had disappeared, how my mother had changed before my eyes into a Shadow Walker, and about the journey I started five years before. When I was done, Vorn placed the glass back in my hand and told me to drink. I was so drained I did his bidding unthinking. The liquid burned like fire down my throat and dropped into my stomach where it began to emanate warmth, which spread through my limbs. I sputtered after the first swallow and tried to put the glass down but Vorn took it from my hands, put a firm but gentle hand at the back of my head, and forced it to my lips, making me swallow it all.

  The waves of panic and fear abated. I sat there completely spent. The drink had managed to dull the sensations I was getting from the Shadow Walkers’ presence. Vorn said nothing about my past or my experiences. He simply studied me for a time.

  “You will hear my story at another time. I must speak with Mr. Emance. Go check on Sascha. See how the labor is coming. I will meet you up there before long,” Vorn left the room then. I still did not want to be alone so I too tried to hurry from the room but found that I was shaky on my feet, that my senses were dulled, and I could barely think straight. I had never drank the amber liquid before but I immediately saw the trade-off between using the drink to relieve the sensations caused by the Shadow Walkers and being able to fully function.

  The babe was still-born. She had the resemblance of her mother. Havard was upset about the child but all of his focus was on Sascha who was struggling to stay awake. She kept asking for her child but Havard kept asking her stay strong, stay with him. Shortly afterwards, Sascha too faded. I sat on the bed I had shared with Sascha for the last short weeks, tears running down my face watching as Havard clung to his wife weeping. Vorn came in then, his face unreadable and firmly set. He gently pulled Havard away and took him from the room. Vorn returned shortly, picked up Sasch
a’s body, and instructed one of the women to follow him with the babe.

  Time that day seemed to expand into infinity; the hours dragged on. The staff was given leave that day to mourn the loss of the well-loved Sascha. I saw neither Vorn nor Havard again until very late that evening. Vorn was supporting a stumbling Havard back to his quarters. He indicated that he wished to speak with me before I retired. Once Havard was in bed, I followed Vorn to another of the men’s quarters. Presently, it was empty.

  “You must pack your few possessions. Mr. Emance does not want me to take you from here but you cannot stay stationary too long. The Soul Eaters are drawn to you, just as they are to me. It is not safe for you or for anyone else for you to stay.”

  “Why do they follow me? Why must I leave with you?” I would have been offended at his high-handed manner if my whole body was not screaming to move with or without his help.

  “There will be time enough to explain once we leave. Pack your things and grab a few hours of sleep, we leave before dawn,” with that he hurried out of the room.

  There was little enough to pack. I had only the three work garments and the fine dress to my name. I packed two of the work outfits, my nightgown, and the dress in as small a pack as I could. The women in the room knew what I was doing but they did not try to stop me; they were each still too caught up in their own grief to care. I fell into an exhausted slumber. It seemed only moments had passed when I felt a hand shaking my shoulder. Without a word I followed Vorn across the hall to Havard’s room. He too was woken. He followed us mechanically. When I looked into his eyes, they seemed hollow, empty, as if all of the life had been drained from him. Thus, Havard and I were smuggled out of the city by Vorn the day after my first true friend had died.

  VIII

  Though my heart was heavy with sorrow, I no longer felt trapped. I was back in the open with the Mountains at my back. I did not know our destination but it was in the direction that I wished to travel so I made no quarrels with Vorn for leading us. Havard aged rapidly in the days following Sascha’s death. He refused to eat and only followed because either Vorn or I stayed near, directing him when he stopped walking. We were three days slow walk from the city and travelling across country avoiding the roads for now. It was during our trudging walk that day that my world snapped back in focus and I finally accepted what happened to Sascha. We were huddled around a small fire when I really looked at Havard for the first time since we left. Before I had seen his empty eyes and his listless movements but now I really saw him. It wasn’t his sudden aging that frightened me; it was the dark cast to his skin, the way his hair was falling out, and the sinister hunger that was filling in the empty parts of his soul. He was changing, like my mother had changed.

  I got Vorn’s attention and indicated I wished to speak with him beyond the fire, outside of easy earshot of Havard.

  “Vorn, Havard is changing. He is becoming like my mother, a Shadow Walker,” my voice, though a whisper, revealed my fear.

  For a moment he just looked at me, as if contemplating what to say. “Yes, I have known it from the moment I sensed the others in the city, even before Sascha’s death.”

  “What if Sascha had lived?”

  “She did not. There is little to discuss. Sleep tonight. We leave before dawn without Havard,” I glared at Vorn’s departing back, indignant because I knew there was more he was not telling me.

  We left Havard that morning. I could sense that he was no longer human as we departed. He did not follow; he did not even rise from his bed roll. I was too exhausted to question Vorn, too exhausted to think of anything beyond my tired feet, my empty stomach, and my sorrow of losing another friend to Shadow Walkers. We ate bread and dry rations while we walked. Every time I stumbled Vorn helped pick me up and prodded me on. He said nothing only urged me to continue. We finally stopped to rest that evening. Vorn set up camp while I fell exhausted into my bed roll. We travelled in silence for days. Everything blurred together, a mix of sorrow and exhaustion.

  “Vorn, I cannot take another step. I am exhausted,” I finally broached the subject. I simply did not have the energy to stand or the will to continue.

  He studied me closely and seemed to come to some conclusion, “We have probably put enough space between us and the Soul Eater to stop for one day. I will go catch some game. There is still enough life in this forest to support something. Why don’t you take the opportunity to wash up in the stream?”

  I hadn’t even noticed the stream that we had been plodding beside. Though I barely had the will to move, I stood, shed my pack, and walked back along the stream to find a section deep enough to wash thoroughly in. Not far from where we stopped, just up the stream, there was a shallow pool where the stream widened. The water was clear and little algae grew along its edge. There was a flat boulder that jutted out into the pool that would work well to lay out clothes to dry. Leaving the traveling knife within reach on the boulder, I walked into the water fully clothed. I had two clean sets of work clothes but felt it prudent to simply wash the one I was wearing and keep the others clean.

  Once my clothes were scrubbed clean and lay drying on the boulder, I worked to clean myself of the innumerable days of travelling grime. The pool only reached to my thighs but thankfully the bottom was rock-lined, so the water stayed clear as I worked to scrub myself clean. Once clean, I too laid out on the boulder letting the sun and breeze dry my pelt before I dressed to return to camp.

  Feeling much more alert and somewhat refreshed, I collected some ground nuts and the roots of edible water plants before arriving at camp. When I arrived there were several small creatures roasting on a large flat rock that was placed in the fire. I placed the nuts near the fire and handed half the roots to Vorn. I began eating my own after sitting on the opposite side of the fire while he continued to worry at something with his knife. The meat was still raw on the outside, so I knew that it had some time to cook before it was done.

  “You have not had a chance to clean up. Why don’t you take your turn while I watch the food?” I offered as thanks for his capture of our dinner.

  Without saying anything, he placed the object in his pack and headed in the direction of the pool I had come from. I wondered how he knew where that was. I realized that he had probably seen me while he was out finding dinner. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks at the thought of him watching me. It wasn’t so much that I was worried about nudity, though I had become accustomed to clothes. It was that I did not want to disappoint because he was the only other of my kind that I had ever known. I absently turned the meat and the nuts while I thought about Havard, Sascha, and the Night Stalkers. I did prefer my own name for them because it didn’t have the same feeling of fear. I wondered if it was time to start back on my original path: to look for the people of my mother and my father, so that I could tell them what I knew of the Night Stalkers.

  “Bonita, I do not mean to interrupt your thoughts but the meat is done, could you please pull it from the fire?” I was startled into awareness by Vorn’s voice but was rendered speechless because he stood across the fire completely nude. I turned my face away once Vorn cleared his throat, again thankful that my pelt would hide my blush. I busied myself pulling the meat and nuts from the fire and onto our traveling dishes. The small rodents were not too lean and the nuts tasted sweet from being roasted. It was still only afternoon but it felt good to be off my feet.

  Vorn’s clothes were laying out to dry, so I looked anywhere but at him once I finally asked my questions, “Where are we headed? Why were there so many Shadow Walkers at Mr. Emance’s? How could Havard and Sascha become infected and not the others?”

  I could feel his eyes on me but I refused to look at him directly. He sighed, “Not all of those are easy questions to answer nor easy answers to hear, Bonita, but it is probably for the best that you know.” Vorn did not answer right away. I heard him slide on his clothes before he came to sit near me by the fire. Despite it being daylight, the air seemed dark and sinister.


  “We are headed north towards the ancient’s city of Amirra,” I gasped at the name but Vorn did not seem to notice, “There are some there that should know of these Shadow Walkers and the sudden move they have made into Analy. Not all of the old knowledge has been lost, some of that knowledge is known to these people. The Soul Stealers have never moved into a city or even a village before. We also experienced them in an extraordinary number; I have only ever encountered them in singles until that night. I do not know how some begin to mutate while others do not. If someone that is at an early stage of the mutation comes into a village, it will spread quickly through the people there.”

  Vorn’s voice trailed off and his focus went far beyond anything in our vicinity, as if he was remembering something, “Now the great and terrible city of Analy is in danger. Hopefully, we left before Havard could infect the others. I fear I was not back soon enough. I also know that those that survive these Soul Stealers generally see them frequently following their first sighting and can sense when they are near.”

  “I am glad we are going to Amirra. It is one of the places that my parents wanted me to go. I am sure of it, though they gave me no names. I must also go speak with my mother’s people that live north and to the west of the Great Mountains, near a great river,” I did not yet feel it was time to give him my true name.

  “I have only been as far as Amirra to the north. It will take us a few weeks to get there by foot. We will continue to travel at a quick pace, though it will not be as grueling as the last week. There is only one town between Analy and Amirra. We will avoid if we can; it is a dangerous place for travelers like us,” that was it. He laid out his plans. There was no reason to question it. I sensed that it would not have mattered if I did not want to go to Amirra, we were going regardless.