Nicoldani continued to the next set of buildings a few hundred paces to the northeast, and as he approached, a dog ran out from behind the barn and began barking frantically at him. This was the first living thing he had seen so far, but obviously someone had to be maintaining the fires.
He surveyed the area, but the lack of any inhabitants was troubling to him. Judging by the number of houses, there should be at least twenty or thirty, or maybe even more people living here. Some of the buildings looked uninhabited, but most were in good repair and had the look of lived in homes.
As Nicoldani approached the area where the closest fire was burning, it was indeed apparent there were three separate fires, spread out in different parts of the village. The fires were rather large and had no apparent purpose.
This one was just ahead and burning furiously, with flames reaching ten to fifteen feet in the air. Someone had obviously built these fires intentionally and was maintaining them. Judging by the sheer amount of ashes and spent wood, the fires had been burning for several days at least.
Suddenly movement off to the left caught Nicoldani’s eye. It was a young man and small girl sitting beneath an old apple tree not far from where the fire was blazing. The little girl stood and pointed excitedly in Nicoldani’s direction. The young man raised his head slowly to peer at Nicoldani with the oddest color eyes Nicoldani had ever seen.
Chapter 4
Jak was sitting sullenly beneath the big apple tree again. He had spent a lot of time beneath the protective branches of the familiar tree over the past few days, trying to figure out what he was going to do now. So far though, the only thing he had managed to do was to maintain the blazing fires. He wasn’t sure how long he would keep the fires burning, since easy wood was starting to run scarce. If he continued feeding the voracious appetites of the fires for much longer, he would have to cut some trees or forage further out in the forest for more wood.
Even the thought of lugging more wood over that lengthy distance was more appealing than taking a chance on any of the bodies rising up out of the ashes. Jak wanted to be sure that they were consumed utterly and completely before he let the fires die out.
In a way, the dancing flames which almost seemed to be alive, were comforting to him, and gave him a sense of purpose in maintaining them. It was almost as if he were to let the fires die out, that everything would truly be dead and gone.
Jak’s dreams, which were more like nightmares of late, were bad enough, being haunted with terrible visions of the woman in the cave, and also with Brigette covered in blood. Well, she wasn’t exactly covered in blood, but there was blood spattered across her face, dripping from her mouth and running down her chest. The haunting images were disturbing all the same, and made his sleep fitful and restless. Whenever he would close his eyes the images tormented him, of his father, brothers, sister, and especially his mother, whom he had killed. She might have been dead already, Jak didn’t know for sure, but it mattered little to his conscience. He still couldn’t come to grips with the fact that he had chopped his own mother’s head off. He shuddered now to think of it, and just wanted to try and forget, but his nightmares would not allow him to forget.
The nightmares were the least of his troubles since he knew them for what they were. The wolves were a different story, since they had seemed to take up residence right around Elsdon recently.
The first night when he heard the haunting howls, he nearly jumped out of his own skin, not to mention the fact that it frightened Gin to the point of tears. Frog wasn’t happy with the wolves so close, and Jak had to command the dog to stop barking, since the incessant barking was more disturbing after a time than the wolves howling.
There was another bizarre new thing, Jak’s ability to command Frog without saying a word. Frog seemed to be able to read Jak’s mind in a way. Not exactly read his mind. Frog paid no attention most of the time, but when Jak would focus on Frog, and tell him to do something, the dog would obey without hesitation. It seemed to be an extension of Jak’s will to command the dog.
On the other hand Jak couldn’t read Frog’s mind, or sense anything at all from the dog, other than what anyone could see with their eyes. It wasn’t from lack of trying. Once Jak realized he could tell the dog what to do without words, he attempted many times to read Frog’s mind, but time after time, he felt nothing from the dog. He supposed the new-found ability didn’t work that way, whatever it was.
Frog had quickly overcome his initial agitation with Jak, and now showed him an odd sort of deference. Not the normal deference a dog would show to his master, but the kind of complete and utter deference the lowest member of the pack would show to the Alpha Dog. Jak actually had to command Frog to stop urinating in submission when he would approach. Once Jak did, Frog obeyed him immediately and with alacrity, as the dog would with all the commands Jak would give him.
Jak wondered if there might be something similar with the wolves’ recent odd behavior. Maybe they thought of him as their Alpha Dog, perhaps that was why they had gathered around the village. On the other hand, perhaps they knew what he actually was, and were just biding their time before they killed him. But the wolves never came any closer than the edge of the forest. When they took up their eerie calls the next night, and each night there after, the gloomy howls almost became soothing to Jak.
There were thirty or forty wolves around Elsdon, as near as Jak could tell. They seemed to want to keep their distance to a certain degree. The only place he had not heard the howling was in the direction of the Jagmerain pass that led down the mountain to Kragston. He wondered if the wolves just wanted him gone and were leaving the escape route open for him. Occasionally he would see a wolf during the day, but it usually wasn’t until after dark that he would see them out milling about among the trees.
Jak was starting to become accustomed to being able to see almost as well in the dark as during the day. But he kept all these strange new things to himself. Gin had not commented on his eyes since the first day. Maybe she didn’t remember that his eyes used to be blue. After all, she was only seven.
The puncture marks on his neck had all but disappeared, along with almost every other scar he had ever taken. It was the strangest thing; even the scar on his leg where he had cut his shin badly with an axe when he was six years old was completely gone, as if it had never happened.
At the time of the accident, Jak thought he was a big boy. and was trying to chop wood for the cook fire. His second swing missed the piece of wood completely, and the axe planted itself squarely in his leg. It was a deep wound which had taken months to heal completely, however Jak’s mother had said that he would always bear the scar as a reminder to be more careful. But now, the scare was gone, along with his reminder.
In order to keep from raising suspicion with Gin, Jak had to conceal any wound or cut he happened to take. Only yesterday, he had been absently whittling a stick with his belt knife and cut his finger quite deeply. The cut was so severe that his bone was actually visible deep in the wound. Now, less than a day later, there was virtually no evidence that he had been cut at all.
Gin had been a great source of strength and comfort to Jak since the deaths of the rest of their family. She had taken everything quite well considering all that had happened. She trusted Jak completely, and in her own mind she knew that he would take care of her and make everything better. But his sister was also a source of distress when the insatiable hunger would abruptly come upon him. He had learned to suppress it to some degree, but there were times when it was so severe it would take every ounce of energy he could muster to fight it off. Afterwards, it would leave him weak, shaking, and completely drained of strength. Nevertheless, it was an odd struggle with his love for Gin providing strength to overcome the horrible craving. Gin provided him the courage he needed to hold the hunger at bay.
Jak was sitting beneath the apple tree, turning the dagger over in his hands, as he reflected on the events that day in the cave where he found the knife o
n the corpse. At the time, he had not paid much attention to the dagger, since there had been far too many other things to worry about just then. Now, he rolled it over in his hands, carefully examining the weapon. It was intricately made, not a common knife by any means, but it wasn’t too elaborate either. It was well crafted, and the blade was still razor sharp even though it had probably been there in the damp cave for a very long time. Jak admired the dagger in a way; it was simple and sturdy, yet elegant at the same time.
Jak was sitting there wondering who the owner of the knife might have been, when he heard Frog begin to bark. He didn’t think anything of it at first, but then Gin stood up and said, “There’s a man coming. And he’s riding a horse!”
Jak looked up slowly to see there was indeed a man approaching on horseback. Instinctively, Jak commanded Frog to stop barking, since it was proper to show hospitality to visitors, and the barking dog was not a very welcoming way.
The man on the horse was like nothing Jak had ever seen before. He was very large and was wearing a grey cloak that looked to be a little too small for such a big man. He was sitting atop a large black stallion so it was hard to tell with the man being on the horse and all, but Jak thought he was the largest man Jak had ever seen.
The mysterious man was daunting and dangerous looking, with a large sword hanging threateningly from his hip. A single long tail of hair, which was grey with black streaks draped over his left shoulder to his waist and was tied with a leather cord. After taking a closer look at the intimidating man, Jak almost regretted calling off Frog.
The man reined his horse to a stop, then slid gracefully down from his saddle and began to lead his horse the remainder of the way across the yard. Jak remained standing where he was waiting pensively not knowing what the man wanted from him.
After a moment of hesitation, Jak purposefully slid his knife back behind his belt. He thought if the man was there to kill him, there would be little he could do to stop him. Jak was taller than most of the men in Elsdon, albeit thinner than most since he was only sixteen, but this man nearly dwarfed Jak. The huge man was more than a full head taller than Jak and nearly twice as wide. Jak found himself having to look up at the man’s face, which was quite awkward for him since he was not used to anyone being taller than him.
The big man approach purposefully not saying a word, until he was within a few paces of Jak before he finally stopped. The man eyed Jak up and down for several moments, even sparing a glance for Gin before he finally spoke.
“Is this place Elsdon?” he asked in a very matter of fact tone. There seemed to be no animosity in his voice, or anger, he was just the type of man who got right to the point and disposed of customary niceties.
“Yes,” was all Jak said in reply. If the other man was going to ignore common courtesy then he could be just as abrupt, and ignore manners as well.
“I’ve traveled a great distance to find this place,” the man said wearily after a moment.
“You’ve traveled a long way to find Elsdon?” Jak asked incredulously. “Why?”
The big man lowered his brow showing a little impatience and irritation before saying, “Not Elsdon….. exactly… but the location of King Erlandas’ castle, Bethvain. Have you heard of it?
“Yes,” Jak answered flatly. He was sure the man was asking about great King Arland and his castle Botvan that his grandfather had told him of in his stories. But Jak was not about to correct this man.
“Well? …. Where is it?” The stranger said a little impatiently.
“It was here!!” Gin piped up excitedly
Jak gave her a sidelong glace which she ignored.
“Grandfather said that the Castle Botvan used to be here where Elsdon is now,” Gin said gleefully. “It was a very long time ago, and it’s gone now. Is that why you came here, to see a castle? Are you a knight?”
“Where is your grandfather?” The big man asked, ignoring Gin’s questions.
Gin fell silent, her eyes beginning to tear up, while Jak stood staring dejectedly at his feet.
Nicoldani supposed the children’s grandfather must have died recently. Those kinds of things did happen after all. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. He had approached this rather badly. The boy would be the best one to talk with, he thought. “Boy, can I speak with you a moment over here?”
Jak hesitated, and then turned to Gin. “You stay here with Frog. I think he’s a little scared. Can you keep him company?”
“Yes, I’ll take care of him,” she said seriously. “I won’t let anything happen to him.”
Gin sat down next to the dog and began petting him and saying soothing words. Frog turned and licked her face affectionately. Jak began to walk towards the stranger and Frog stood to follow. “Frog, stay with Gin,” Jak commanded the dog wordlessly. Frog’s ears perked up for a moment, and then he sat back down next to the girl, but remained alert.
Jak walked a few paces off with the man, out of earshot of Gin, and then turned to face him. The big man spoke first. “My name is Nicoldani. I am Tovani from Gethseena.”
Jak thought the man expected the names to mean something to him but he had no idea what the stranger was talking about. Jak supposed the man was referring to a village, or city, or something like that. But he had never heard the names before, and didn’t know where or what they were. When Jak said nothing the man continued.
“Like I said, my name is Nicoldani; I’ve traveled from the west and come a great distance to find this place. What is your name?”
“Jak”
“Well Jak, where are all the people of your village? Where are your parents?”
Jak stood there for several moments staring off into the distance, unwilling to answer the man’s question. He didn’t want to talk about what happened to his family and friends, at least not with a stranger.
“Well boy… where is everyone?” the big man said with impatience rising in his voice.
“My name is Jak, not boy, and what business is it of yours?” Jak could see that the man was getting impatient, and didn’t know why he was being so insolent to him. Considering the man’s size, it was a rather foolish thing to do.
Elsdon rarely got visitors, but when they did they would be treated with courtesy and respect, but there was just something about this man’s questions, and the way he was asking them that set Jak’s nerves on edge. But Jak thought better of it, moderated his tone and began again.
“Everyone is dead.”
“What? …. What do you mean everyone is dead? How could that have happened?” Nicoldani said glancing around again. There was no evidence of a forest fire sweeping through here, nothing to indicate a struggle or battle of any kind. Everything seemed in order, other than the fact that there were no other people around.
“Someone killed them … all of them,” Jak said slowly. He didn’t want to tell the stranger anything, let alone that some strange woman from the cave, or possibly Brigette had killed the entire village.
“Who killed them?” Nicoldani asked warily.
“I don’t know,” Jak lied. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie. He still didn’t know for sure who had done it. “Someone must have come in the night and killed everyone, and then ran off. We didn’t see who did it.”
“That’s not true.” Jak had not seen or heard Gin walking up behind him. “It was Brigette!” Gin said vehemently. “She did it, she killed everyone.”
“Who is Brigette?” Nicoldani asked.
“She lived over there at her parent’s house,” Gin pointed in the direction of the house. “She was Jak’s guurlfriend,” Gin said with a shy smile, but it almost immediately turned grim as she continued. “But Brigette killed everyone. She bit my mother on the neck… and……..”
Nicoldani’s head shot up when he heard Gin’s last words. Bending down and grasping the little girl by her shoulders, he snapped, “What did you say girl? She did what? She bit her on the neck? Was she the only one bitten? Where is she now?”
As the ba
rrage continued, tears began to well up in the Gin’s eyes. She began to tremble visibly and her feet scrambled impotently to propel her away from the imposing man. She was obviously frightened from the huge man’s aggressive actions.
“Stop it!” Jak cried angrily as he tried to pry Nicoldani’s hands from Gin’s shoulders.” Even through his anger, Jak was surprised to find he couldn’t even budge the big man’s hands. They seemed to be made from steel. Suddenly Nicoldani released his hold and stepped back wearing an abashed expression. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to scare the girl.
“Her name is Gin,” Jak said hotly.
“I’m sorry Gin.” Nicoldani said soothingly as he turned to the small girl. As soothingly as he could manage, he wasn’t very good at things like this. He was better suited to battle.
“Go back over to the apple tree and play,” Jak said to his little sister, as he wore a painted smile in an attempt to ease the tension. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
When Gin was out of earshot, Nicoldani demanded again, “I must know what happened here. Did the girl tell the truth? Tell me exactly what happened, many lives depend on it, perhaps even yours. You cannot imagine what kind of terrible danger this might be for you, and the entire world.”
After a time, Jak found himself reluctantly reciting the events of that terrible night. In his haste to be out with the whole story, he thought he left out several details, some of which he knew was intentional. He had no desire to tell this stranger that the woman had bitten him, or that she might now somehow be controlling Brigette. Revising the story, he told Nicoldani that the woman in the cave had tricked him into setting her free, but she never touched him, other than to hit him over the head with a rock to make her escape. In Jak’s revised accounting of the events, the woman from the cave looked remarkably like Brigette, but that she had probably killed Brigette first, and then killed the rest of the villagers. Gin, in her terrified state of mind had just thought that it was Brigette, since the woman looked so much like her.
The Blood Witch (The Blood Reign Chronicles Book 1) Page 9
