by Bre Faucheux
The man bent forward and reached for the tattered ends of her gown. He ripped the charred pieces from the bottom. Reaching within his cloak, he took two clothed slippers from his tunic pocket. They were the exact same styling as the healer had given her. The same intricacy of design and color graced their front; the same weaved lining sewed their edges together. He knelt forward and slipped her feet into them.
Standing before her, he held her face in his hands, taking in the sight of her. He then removed his cloak and wrapped it around her softly, revealing his face.
It was Jamison.
23
Madison couldn’t speak. She only wanted to look at him. She didn’t even care how he had come to stand before her or how he had survived, at least not yet.
He lifted himself onto the horse and brought her up in front of him, wrapping his arms around her to hold the reigns. They slowly walked the horse a distance farther. The murmuring of those nearby echoed through the woods. People were chatting amongst themselves, men, women and children. The sight she came upon was something she was completely unprepared for.
The people from the dungeons within the cathedral were all gathered together in the forest. Children were sitting in their mother’s laps with fathers close by, all trying to compose themselves. The children had obviously been aided first. A few of the men and women were still bleeding from their torments, but they were growing calmer. Their breaths no longer came in heaves and the sound of their beating hearts didn’t meet Madison’s ears with rapid crashes. The few men standing about were helping to heal them. The scent of the rayen reached Madison’s senses quickly and she understood what was happening.
Taking Madison’s hand, Jamison led her to the group before them. “The ‘rayen,’ as it has been named, heals them from more afflictions than the pestilence. It heals them should they be an inch from death,” he said.
Yet it was the sight of who was feeding it to these victims of torment that caught Madison’s attention. There were three men doing the healing, one at a time. They held the most traumatized by the hand, and steadied them by their shoulders to compose them. These three men were the natives she had left only a brief time ago. The people she had grown to know and appreciate from the land she had long since left stood before her.
Sensing Madison’s astonishment, Jamison answered her query without her having to utter a sound. “These men started the change shortly before you left their lands,” he said. “They are warriors for their people, Madison. They wanted to help. Inazin, your ‘healer,’ asked these three to join me, and they did not hesitate.”
The young man who had been forced to provide his blood to her and Jayden was there. He slowly stood from handing a woman a vile of water with rayen, her legs too weak to carry her.
He turned to Madison, his gaze unmoving from her eyes. He stepped closer to her. She half expected him to become irritated at the sight of her, but he appeared different than he had before.
“There is much to explain,” he said as he approached her, in perfect English, although his native accent was still thick. He took a tunic and pair of trousers from the satchel on a nearby horse and handed it to her, her own garments now in ashy burned tatters. “One of these men said upon our rescue of them, that they heard a young woman being taken to the lower cellars. We went back for you, but you had already been sent away to be burned.”
“You saved them?” said Madison, looking at him with surprise.
“All four of us, yes. There is more to be done yet. Now if you excuse me, I must attend to them,” he said, leaving Madison alone with Jamison.
“His name is Mahkah,” said Jamison, his arms still wrapped around her. “He is the one who tended to the rayen just before you left and delivered it to Inazin, your healer.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because that was how I found him. I was drawn to the scent of the rayen as he began planting it from your blood. Apparently Inazin had taken a portion of it from you during the process of healing you. He knew of its value.”
“I didn’t even know he had any,” she said.
“The only way to cure you and Jayden of your thirst was to drain you partially. But you were both in a state of hypnotism, so you would not have noticed.”
Madison had only been with her brother for a matter of minutes, but she still felt as though she had waited too long to ask him the obvious.
“Jamie, how did you survive? You were hardly moving when I left you. If you were growing stronger, why did you insist that I abandon you?” she asked, anxious for his answer.
“I thought as you did, Madison. I thought I was going to die. I didn’t want you to see it. But when Lyndon and Caspar began spilling blood,” he hesitated for a moment, trying to find the words. “Something awoke inside of me.” There was a hint of shame in his voice.
“But I could hear them coming. They were coming to kill us, Jamie. How did you get away from so many?”
“I took the first one to approach me and drained as much from him as I could. I was replenished within seconds. The others came after me with arrows. I ran for you trying to catch up when I saw Jayden directing you to the ravine. I realized that I was leading them to you unintentionally. I then ran for the ocean and took cover within it. I spent the next two days trying to find you. But I had no sense of where you were. I didn’t realize until later that it was because Inazin had taken you in.”
“I wish you had found me,” she said softly.
“It was as if you had disappeared. I could no longer feel the connection you and I have always shared. And there was no possible way I was going to approach Jayden. He was nearly rabid, attacking everything within a mile around him. Caspar and Lyndon were the same. They didn’t even dispose of the Vam-pyr-ei-ak they had killed. They merely made way across the seas once they found how quickly they could swim.”
“Why did you not come to me once you knew?” she asked.
“In truth, I had not known you survived at all until after you left. I assumed you may be dead when I discovered that Jayden was alone. I travelled to the western regions of the native’s world before coming back to find that you and Jayden had left for England. I met with tribes across the lands. I learned their ways and more about how to control our abilities. You have no idea of the things I saw, Madison. I must teach you everything. I know you have learned much, but there is a great deal more. Inazin taught me his ways.”
“What ways?” she said.
“He showed me everything, Madison. How he cured you, how to use the rayen, and so much more. The other tribes showed me things as well. This world is far grander than any god the white men could have created. The mere notion of a one god is completely unknown to the rest of the world. They have spirits guiding them in ways that we cannot imagine.”
“Is that why you came here?” she asked.
Jamison nodded. “All of this was a larger part of the Vam-pyr-ei-ak’s plan to destroy the white man. They saw it as a necessary measure,” he said.
“It cost them many of their people,” she stated coldly.
“The only way to defeat the white men, was to destroy them, or us shall we say, before we came to enough power to overtake them,” he said.
“Yes,” she said, nearly breaking into laughter, “Jayden and I assumed that already.”
Jamison held her tighter.
“Does Inazin not have the same fears for his people?” she asked.
“Another reason he had me change his best men,” said Jamison. “They are here to insure that such a future never becomes of their people. They will aid us in any way possible for certainty that we use our influence to its greatest effect.”
“Inazin gave you these men to help, then? They are skilled in Inazin’s ways as well?”
“Yes, and they will help me to salvage what little of Europe remains. Mahkah grows the rayen from the earth, and we have begun to spread it as best as we can. We will make our way eastward now. We have tried to help as many as we could
with droplets of rayen here and there. It is only when people consume our blood for as many weeks as we did that they are in danger of becoming a vampyr. Otherwise, our blood acts as a poison when drank, as you have seen across these lands.”
“Vampyr?”
“That is what Inazin calls us,” said Jamison. “We were made from the ‘Vam-pyr-ei-ak.’ Therefore he named us from them. Then he chose three of his strongest men from his tribe, and told them that they were to come with me back to England. Their tribe’s survival depended on our ability to contain this plague. He claimed that if they permitted the white people to be annihilated, those changed into vampyrs would eventually retaliate.”
“By Caspar and Lyndon’s creations,” she said, beginning to understand the depth of the situation.
“We have contained the illness in these lands. Now it is time to move onward. Its spread was faster than I anticipated.”
“I will come with you, but I must find Jayden. That is if Lyndon has not reached him first,” she said.
“I have a feeling that Jayden has already outwitted him. We will find him in the lands that we make way for.”
“How do you know this?”
Jamison smiled and stepped away, guiding her to where the others were gathered. “I told you, I learned a great deal from Inazin and many other tribes along my journey. I will show you everything. But first, I want you to meet the others,” he said.
“They are not like Caspar’s men, are they?” she asked apprehensively.
“No, not in the least. After Inazin healed me, he showed me how to heal the thirst of others, thus I would pass the skill along. Caspar’s men however, were beyond reproach.”
“These men are not your guards then?” she said.
“My guards? Heavens, no. They are Sioux warriors, Madison. We must treat them as such. Our survival is dependent upon one another. If they help to contain our plague, we will in turn protect their people from the oncoming of white men to their shores. Or at least control it to our best efforts in the future. And that day will come, Madison. They are here to protect their people by first protecting the whole of the European lands from this sickness.”
“A favor for a favor then?” she said.
“An act of compassion; or perhaps a mutual understanding. In doing so, these men protect their tribe’s future.”
“And Europe’s future by the looks of it,” she said.
Jamison smiled at her, pleased that she understood.
“So you see, we are dependent upon one another.”
“How can we stop the coming of white men to their shores when we don’t even know when it is to come?” she asked.
“By living,” said Mahkah, listening to them from feet away. “We live through the ages. We watch as progress grows. We contain what wars we can and be there to advise those in power where possible. We control the emotions of those who hold power, and therefore control the advancement of mankind.”
“That is hardly realistic,” she said. “People will always want power over one another.”
“Precisely,” said Mahkah, looking directly at her. “We must be there to gauge how much power is given.”
“You mean kill those who seek it?”
“No,” he said. “As a vampyr, you have found how persuasive you can be, have you not? People willingly give you their blood for you to sustain yourself. If you can convince someone not to fear you ripping into their skin with your bare teeth, you can convince men to not heed to their own desires.”
Madison stared back at the group of people who were starting to stand and treat one another as they gained their strength. She was unsure if such a plan could ever be made a reality.
Jamison felt her doubt. “There is no guarantee that this will work effectively,” he said. “But we have been shown a way, Madison. We must try to keep to it.”
***
Mahkah offered Madison a horse to rid, but she gave it to one of the wounded women and her child. She walked beside Jamison as they headed eastward, not wanting to be too far from him. She was tempted to reach for his hand again, but didn’t want to appear eager. Jamison insisted that they lead the people they had found to safety before moving on to find Jayden. He claimed that there was land nearby where they could tend to their needs until the effects of the plague wore down. It would be some years before the efforts to lay blame for the sickness would pass.
“What are the other’s names?” she asked referring to native men who had arrived with Jamison.
“You have already met Mahkah some time ago, or so he claims,” said Jamison, pointing in his general direction.
“Yes, he was in charge of our guard after we were first healed,” she said. “He and Jayden shall get along famously,” she said sarcastically.
“This is Akecheta. And his son just there is Nayati. They are of the Sioux tribe, or at least this was the name that Inazin said the French would eventually come to call them.”
“What shall be done of the others, Jamison? Caspar’s men?”
“Akecheta and Nayati already disposed of them. They threw them to the pyre after I had taken you. They are warriors for their people, Madison. And they will protect their own.”
“We are not to consider other ‘vampyrs’ our own?” she asked.
“Not when they capture and torment those who are trying to help restore health to the sick,” he said looking at her. “Especially when that person is my sister.”
She smiled at him, and couldn’t resist the temptation to reach for his hand. He caught it and kissed it gently. He had felt her compassion since he revealed himself by the stream.
“You feel that, don’t you?”
“What?”
“Your love for me,” he said.
“Of course.”
“Well, have you noticed as of late your inability to feel as much as you once did?” he asked.
“Only when I was angry or distraught,” she said calmly. “Fear seems to dissipate quicker than it once did.”
“That is another of our abilities, Madison. You can harness it,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“You were created to become a ruthless killer,” said Mahkah from a horse a few feet away. “When Inazin healed you, he also gave you the ability to control everything else.”
“But that makes no sense. I cared for you and the others after I changed. I wanted you to get better. And I had not yet met Inazin.”
“Because that is the one thing that Vam-pyr-ei-ak did not account for,” said Mahkah. Madison looked at him, waiting for him to continue. “Human empathy,” he said. “They assumed that your people, the white men, had none, given the visions they had of what would become of their tribe in the future.”
“Empathy outweighs any hatred or anger,” said Jamison, “but only for those who are capable of feeling it.”
“That explains Caspar’s recent activities,” she said sarcastically.
“Precisely,” Jamison responded. “You can control the depth of your empathy in the same way you can control the depth of your fear. We still feel, Madison. But we control our emotions. They do not control us. Not anymore.
“And if I may be so bold to ask, Mahkah,” she said slowly, “how did you come to learn English so quickly?”
Mahkah looked at her and snickered. A wide grin crossed his face and he trotted forward with his horse, not answering her.
“He did not, sister,” said Jamison. “None of them can, although it will soon become a necessity for them to learn.”
Madison looked at him with inquiring eyes.
“They are speaking their native tongue,” he said.
“Okay,” she said quizzically, “explain please, for the one who obviously is not following.”
He laughed softly. “You can make sense of his native language in the same way you can make sense of his emotions when he is standing feet away from you,” he said.
“But I couldn’t understand Caspar’s henchmen.”
“The
y were not making any attempt for you to understand them,” he said. “When you sense another vampyr’s emotions, they have the ability to sense yours as well. By doing so, a connection can be made.”
“Yes, I have experienced that with Jayden. When we were very close, I could almost feel his aura touching mine.”
“When Mahkah is talking to you, he is touching your, ‘aura’ so to speak with his. It allows you to make sense of what he is saying through your language.”
“Can you and I do this?” she asked.
“You can do it with anyone, no matter their language, hence why our influence among those in power can be most profound.”
“How convenient,” she said.
“I will show you once we settle for the night. It will take two days to reach the land I have in mind for these people.”
“And then we start for the eastern lands,” she said.
“Yes, and there we will find Jayden. We must run on foot to reach him in time,” he said.
“In time for what?” she asked hastily.
“Let’s just say that Caspar has covered much ground since we left him without guards. He is setting up some sort of trap. People in the eastern lands are not ignorant of our kind. Caspar spent a significant amount of time there poisoning their waters with his blood some months ago. I think there may be a vast number of vampyrs in the region.”
“You can sense this?”
“I will teach you everything. I promise,” he said, ending the conversation there.
Madison chose to stay quiet from that point onward. She was anxious to learn the few things that Jamison had from the tribes he visited, and the skills that Inazin had taught him. She wanted to pass them along to Jayden. And she knew that sensing what was to come, taming the thirst, and understanding foreign tongues were among the few skills he had acquired.
The people Jamison and the Sioux rescued were grateful. The land they were given was near enough to the Rhine to be fruitful for crops, and far enough from other villages to prevent being detected. Jamison warned them not to make contact with other people or even leave the region for quite some time. Years at best or until their children reached an appropriate age for marriage. Madison had the feeling that a few of them suspected that they were not human. They presumed that their rescuers had been sent by God to protect them. Madison paid no mind to their reasoning, so long as they were left in relative safety.
