by Bre Faucheux
The shards of wood on the ground were thick and sharp. Many of the trees were broken halfway and still standing straight up with jagged edges pointing to the sky. She climbed over the heavy broken branches and tried with every muscle not to fall as the earth appeared to shake. She could feel her heart beat throughout her entire body. It was quaking along with the ground. Fighting over the shards and trying not to grab for anything that could potentially cut or splinter her, she held tightly to her hem. Her dress and hair were matted to her face and body. The weight of the fabric slowed her down more and more with each step. But she continued to move quickly, only to freeze once again at the vision before her eyes.
The fire that had just moments ago warmed their cool bodies caught several of their homes on fire. Men ran everywhere gathering fabric and the water they had to stop it. The women stood trying to treat one of them who had been struck through the chest with a sharp branch. But it was clear to Madison that this man’s spirit was no longer within the confines of his body. He had left it the instant the piece of wood had protruded him. Jamison gathered the few horses they had and lead them outside to the stream for safety as others followed to collect more water. The debris lay everywhere upon the ground making it difficult for anyone to move with haste. Everyone had gashes and scraps, some worse than others. The air began to clear of debris as it fell to the Earth. She could then see that this man had not been the only victim of nature’s wrath.
Once Jamison had the horses lead away, he spotted Madison and ran for her. She remained frozen at what she saw sprawled out before her. Jamison reached her, grabbed her arm and forced her towards the thick stream. The debris that had reached the ground was now adding to the growing flames. They seemed to trail them. Madison yanked her dress up again and ran as fast as she could. Her legs burned from trying to rush over the debris of trees behind her. The earth that shook beneath them now started to tremble and they both fell hard into the ground. Madison curled up and tried to cover her head, fearing the trees that remaining on either side would come down upon her. Jamison rolled over atop of her and protected her as best he could. All Madison could do was close her eyes, her hands were over her ears to deaden the sound of men and women screaming and their homes crashing to the earth. The fire spread to the grasses and quickly began to move around them, the smoke clouded Jamison’s lungs as he coughed into Madison’s back under him. Madison felt everything that had happened in England beginning to take hold again.
Jamison reached for her dress and made her run for the stream. He jumped into its depths and brought her along with him, hoping the waters might provide the little shelter they could find from the fire. They both sat up from the water and watched as their home burned from just beside the waters. This time it was Madison who reached for Jamison and took his hand in hers as she began to trudge through the waters of the stream. They ran through the waters covering their mouths and others started to follow as the horses ran in the same direction. There was no-where to hide now from the fires engulfing their newly created home.
The stream began to deepen as Jamison was pulled Madison’s weight through it to keep her from falling. They gasped for a breath, struggling to get through the water. The air was finally clear from the smoke that had nearly covered them in the stream. Only a handful of survivors left to trek up the hills behind the valley until they reached the top. Madison allowed herself to stop and look behind them to see the others following. Many collapsed nearby in exhaustion and desperate for the clear air their lungs heaved for. It was only then that they noticed the ocean waters had taken complete control of their village. It overtook the remaining trees lining the path where their homes had been only a moment ago. It rushed in with speed to extinguish the harsh flames. In seconds a hissing noise that could be heard from the top of the hills. For a moment, Madison feared that they would have to continue running down the length of the hills above the valley to escape the waters that appeared to be rising even higher. But it stopped at the hillside’s edge. The crashing of the water sent a backlash wave towards the other end of the valley and through the trees to the sea. It took with it everything they had built, every soul they had lost, all the debris from the trees and plunged it into the ocean. They watched with squinted eyes from the smoke still lingering and the dark skies to see what was happening. The stars left minimal light, but enough to witness the shattered landscape.
Madison turned around to see the remainder of the ongoing hills behind them. All appeared still and calm, almost harshly so. The sea’s wind and waters had taken from Madison everything she knew back into the dark nadir of the ocean. She stumbled to the ground and stared at the opening between the two crags to the sea. There were no more heavily forested trees barring their valley from the sea’s gusty winds. There was no more protection for them. Their only possessions now were their horses, a couple jugs draped around their necks for carrying water and the few weapons the men had on their waist belts.
No one spoke for what felt like a minutes. There was nothing to be said. Lyndon took hold of the three horse’s reigns and handed one to Jayden and one to Jamison. He led the way down the hill and into the lands Jayden had only ventured a number of times in search of food. The animals grazed there so rarely that he hadn’t explored farther as the woods were the main area the wild game enjoyed. Now it was their only refuge from the sea and its vengeance.
Jamison held one hand onto the reigns of the horse and his arm around Madison’s waist, guiding her along. He had been certain from the moment that the giant wind had struck their camp that it surely took his younger sister with it. He could visualize the instant he saw the others with shards of wood in their limp bodies that Madison had the same fate. He expected to find her with a piece of a tree through her as if it had been a spear held by one of the French horsemen who had burned their village to the ground. Now he could not let go of her. Madison did not try to get away from his supportive grip. She felt as though she may fall from the weight of the fabric on her lean figure if he were not holding her up.
Madison only thought of how she would never see her home ever again. Not just the small area they had grown to call their home, but England. The ships had been taken by the sea along with their smaller boats. The loss of the woman and several men who had been killed by the trees that flew through the air, all their food, their supplies, the voyeurs notes and studies of what they have developed and found in this new land, their homes of clay and logs. It was all gone. There was no more ‘home.’ A group of the men and the other one remaining woman lay in the grass trying to recover. Their clothes served as the only blankets of protection between themselves and the ground. Blood matted some their clothing from the shards that had shredded the sky of all their belongings. Others held closely to their arms or legs that had been burned from the fire as they tried to save whatever they could, which proved nearly impossible. They were fortunate to have saved the horses, although now they had no way of feeding them and the stream for water was no longer accessible.
“Nothing can be done until morning,” said Lyndon. “We rest now and treat our wounded. Tomorrow a few of us will go back to collect anything that can possibly be salvaged.”
“Nothing can be salvaged. If the fire did not destroy everything, then the water took what was left far from our reach.” Jayden’s voice buried any hope there may have been for collecting materials that might be left. “We must move forward. Find shelter near any waters we can. We never found the source of the stream. We’d best find it by tomorrow before we die of thirst. Then gather what food we can. Food and water are the only things we should worry of now.”
“And what of our wounded?” said a member of the crew. “They cannot make such a journey.”
“We can use the horses to transport them if they are at all able. We will make trips back and forth to collect as many as we can and move them toward whatever descent waters we find.”
Lyndon nodded in agreement. “With the game we have managed to find there mu
st be more water nearby,” he said.
“If this didn’t frighten them away,” said Jayden.
Lyndon was silent for a moment.
“This is dire, indeed, but not hopeless,” said Jamison. “If the natives here can live off the lands, then we can learn to as well. We have enough men who have knowledge of the wooded areas and the hunt to sustain us. We simply need to find adequate shelter and water tomorrow.”
Madison looked off into the woods they spoke of. They were in the distance marked only by a dark line of uneven trees, barely visible in the backdrop behind the remaining smoke from the extinguished fire. Her eyes burned and her throat felt raw from breathing in the smoke, but she could still make out the light from deep within the woods. It was faint, but it was there, almost as if it was floating through the woods along the length of the valley. Instinctively, she knew the natives were watching them. Had they seen the disaster take place? Had they watched? Against all hope, she longed to know if they were merciful beings. Would they help them knowing that their chances of survival were nearly depleted? Or would they watch as they disintegrated from existence.
Madison met eyes with Jamison beside her and glanced towards the woods. He noticed the torches moving slowly through the trees as well, although he looked subtly so the others would not see his attention leaving the conversation. He nodded his head to Madison to signal his understanding that they were not alone. But he would not speak of what the two of them had seen until the next day. He figured that if they were in any danger from the natives, and if they were truly hostile, their position now was in the open. Their group was at its most vulnerable. If ever there were a time for these natives to claim their territory as their own and no one else’s it was now. Yet the men in the woods made no advance toward their weakened faction. They simply moved across the length of the woods and then disappeared into the forest, leaving no trace that they had been watching from afar.
Madison kneeled on the ground, her knees digging into the dirt. She tore from the hem of her long garment to wrap a young man’s arm. It was sliced almost to the bone and small pieces of wood stuck out from his skin surrounding the wound, the flesh around it burned. There was nothing she could do ease the pain that he undoubtedly felt. Others were hurt worse and he dared not cry out as she took the wooden splices, gently as she could, from his skin. The rope that had been around her waist holding her dress in a dainty female form had been removed in an attempt to create a sort of sling for another man nearby. The other woman nearby managed to escape with only a small cut above her eye while it was clear that others may not make it through the night.
Their party upon their few ships had started with nearly forty men and three women were now left to almost twenty. It was suspected that those who had not been consumed by fire had been dragged away to sea. And their ships, the largest in scale she had ever beheld, had been stripped from them. The original voyeurs who had taken all their knowledge of ship building and all those possessions they owned into creating this venture were down to seven from the original fifteen in their group. The rest had simply been looking for work or a better way of life. She stood and walked to Jamison who now rested upon the ground after caring for the wounded he thought could be treated.
“I think the three on the end there may be gone by morning,” he said without looking at her. “The others have wounds I don’t know if I can rightly treat.”
“You have done all you can for them,” she said softly. “It lays in God’s hands now.”
“Does it?” His voice was stern and unlike his usual manner.
“He will guide us to safety tomorrow. I’m sure of it.” She was not willing to let him give up even if she knew as well as he did that things could become grimmer the following day. It was the first time she had been the one to comfort his fears for ages.
Jamison sighed as he looked to the ground, his hands crossed over his legs as he stared into the open hills before them. The cool breeze made his clothing cold to Madison’s skin as she touched his shoulder and knelt down beside him.
“I don’t see God’s hands in this anymore,” he whispered.
“How can you of all people say such words?”
“I spoke with Jayden. The things he said he saw back there, they were of no God.”
She waited for him to continue to speak. He appeared too lost in thought for her to interrupt.
“I thought I saw it myself, but I was not sure,” he said finally. “I thought it was the gust of wind that forced the fire to spread. But it had dwindled when we put out our fire rings. Only a small trace of the flames remained. The wind should have taken it down completely, not spread it.”
Madison was not sure what he meant. Surely it was possible that the remainders of the fire could have set the grass to burn.
“The flames burst from the ground, Madison… as if the fires of hell had reached up from under the earth.” He paused and she leaned forward to see his face. There were tears forming in his eyes. In all her life she had only known her brother to cry perhaps twice. He was not one to allow his emotions to be seen by the likes of anyone.
“Jayden saw the fire as I did,” he continued. “I am sure others saw it as well but have not spoken of it. A force purposely set our homes to flame. The wind was of no normal strength and took as many as it could. The fires set to finish what the wind could not. Then the water, it chased us. It chased the remainder of us when the shaking grounds beneath could not trap our legs.” He stopped for a moment before continuing. “We were not meant to survive this. The sea was meant to take us. It’s as if we were willed back from where we came.”
“Jamie, you of all people do not believe in such things. You have told me for years not to believe the words of others, especially when they attempted to tell me of the magic that beheld the world. You told me that only God can be looked upon for answers to things we do not know. And you condemn every man who was to look at a soul as if it were of a mystical nature. You said that these mystics exist within Gold alone and not in forms we can see in this world. And that man had been misguided. Jayden speaks of things he does not understand as you do.”
“This is not of what I believe, Madison. It is of what I saw.”
“You were tired from the day’s journey. I am sure you simply saw the flames from the sparks remaining in the fire.”
Jamison looked again over the horizon. “We will know soon enough.”
When dawn approached, Madison had only taken in a couple of hours of rest. Jamison lay at her side. They both grew chilled in the night air with nothing to cover themselves. Madison lifted her head from Jamison’s shoulder, his body attempting to keep her warm. She quietly lifted herself and walked to the deeply wounded a few yards away from where she lay. They had stopped crying and whimpering from the pain. Perhaps it was the sudden silence that had stirred her. She leaned forward to feel for a heartbeat on one of the young men. There was none. She listened harder for a sign, some breath of life. The air around her went hollow with the silence. She carefully checked the others. Their numbers were now down to a mere sixteen.
5
There had been no sign or sound of animals for days. One man spotted a deer the morning after their small community was brought to the ground, but nothing had shown itself since then. The air felt far too still. The breeze of the sea was gone and the only thing Madison heard outside the voices of others was that of crumpling grass. Twigs broke under her feet as her light step breached the solemn ground. The earth had not stirred again, the sea was in an unsettling state of calm, and the sun had disappeared behind grey clouds. She began to wonder if these conditions were a reflection of her own emotions. Everything was hushed and bleak.
Jamison found a source of water for the group. He brought what he could from the jugs that remained around one horse’s neck and everyone took turns drinking only small sips to conserve some for those who were worse off. Many remained ill from their injuries that had now turned into fever. Their movements were restr
icted as Jamison and Madison took turns going to the stream. Fetching water was the only break they got from looking upon the dead or dying.
Jayden and Lyndon along with a few remaining members of the crew started to build a small sort of shelter by the stream that they suspected fed into their previous one. Their resources were next to nothing, but they placed logs and thick branches atop a nearby setting of rocks for shelter. They layered them and tried as best they could to create something when there was nothing.
Madison’s hands were warmed by the sensation of the water running through them in the stream. She let the water run across her fingers and over her wrists, enjoying the sensation of it touching her skin. It strangely tingled every nerve, but she thought nothing of it. Even if this water was not completely in well form, it was their only option.
She brought some up to her lips and let the tingling into her mouth and down her throat. Its warmth felt good on her insides as it touched her throat. She gently patted the back of her sweat soaked neck before taking more water to her mouth and savoring her fill of it. She needed to stay satisfied if she were to make more trips to the stream and back to the area where more wounded and sick lay dying.
“We need to move our injured here. We can’t expect Madison to keep making these trips back and forth,” said Lyndon.
Jayden seemed to like to idea of her doing the work for them. “Jamison helps her enough. And better she make trips than transport those who may die in the process of being moved.”
