Dark Wood: Legends of the Guardians

by Unknown

  “Aye, but not here, girl. Not here.” The woman’s eyes roamed away. Cautiously Aryaunna followed her gaze to the many red robes of the guards. Tying the satchel back in place, Aryaunna gave the woman aid to stand and followed her through the streets.

  They walked for a long ways, away from the square and away from the marketplace. Aryaunna kept her arm out for support, and kept her other arm holding her cloak tight around her. It wasn’t to protect her from the cold but to hide her weapons that the woman had already taken sight of.

  The woman led her down a series of alleys. As Aryaunna wasn’t too familiar with Kenan, she was completely at a loss for where they were. Not that she could complain about choosing a path not so heavily traveled as the main roads.

  Cora led her down a putrid alley. The smell would have been too much in the summer months for all the garbage and human waste. There was a wooden door along a solid stone wall that was clearly her aim. It wasn’t until they were inside that Aryaunna realized they were in the town’s public bathhouse. “My name is Cora. What are you called, girl?”

  “Marybeth,” she answered automatically, rehearsed. Cora led her up stairs, past the open wash rooms filled with wooden tubs and great pots boiling atop fires to boil clean water. The entire building was filled with steam and the stank of sweat and sex. “You work here?” she asked cautiously.

  “Live here, work here, survive here. I only have to in the winter.” Cora remarked begrudgingly. “It’s not the most private place, but the people here have no interest in us.” She opened a door, hung without a latch, and Aryaunna followed her into a large room with six beds set up. These were not beds for customers or patrons, but a room to house the whores that lived and worked in the bathhouse.

  One woman with coal black hair and pale skin was asleep in her bed. Another brunette was dressing for the day, which required taking more clothes off than putting clothes on. The rest of the room was empty of people. Cora went into a fit of coughing as she sat down on one of the beds that Aryaunna presumed was her own. The women ranged over ages. The girl dressing was near Cora’s age, but a few years younger. The girl asleep looked little older than Aryaunna.

  The woman dressing showed little interest in the two, if maybe a little pity. It was clear she assumed that Aryaunna was seeking work and shelter from the cold like so many others. Despite the six beds, it was clear that people were sleeping on the floor as well. She couldn’t help but wonder what merited one a bed.

  When Cora’s throat had cleared she motioned for Aryaunna to sit, as she’d delayed herself from doing so until then. Uneasily, Aryaunna perched on the edge of the cot. “What can you tell me?” Aryaunna whispered, weary of the ears around her.

  Cora looked down at Aryaunna’s stomach pointedly. She didn’t want to draw notice to the gift of food, for she couldn’t afford to share it with the others. There wasn’t enough, and each had to fend to their own selves in their harsh world.

  Sliding her hand inside of her cloak, Aryaunna unfastened the satchel and slid it between them. What Cora did with it from there was of no concern to Aryaunna so she didn’t pay attention as she looked over the room again. “I can tell you she’s a stranger to Kenan. She’d never been here before the eve of the new moon.” Two days ago, Aryaunna realized. “Most people say she’s a pagan but I don’t think so.”

  “Why’s that?” Aryaunna questioned quietly. Their whispers weren’t easily carried. “What makes you think she’s not one of them?”

  “This woman’s skin is painted. Her skin is like rich honey and a white moon is painted over her eye and a beautiful star on her cheek,” as Cora spoke she looked away from Aryaunna, as if someplace else in her thoughts. “It was filled with something, a pattern I couldn’t see. I was too far away. Her eyes weren’t normal. They were wider, but she wasn’t afraid.” Shame washed over her features.

  “Cora, what’s wrong?” Aryaunna didn’t know this woman, but she oddly found herself concerned for her. She, like many, had a hard life, barely doing more than surviving it, certainly not living it. Aryaunna wanted to help her. She wished she’d brought more supplies, and found herself entertaining the thought of coming back with more as soon as she could.

  “I’d seen her the first night she’d come. I was in the tavern, trying to find a man that might buy me so I could get some food.” Cora’s arms wrapped around herself. “She looked at me from across the room. There was something about her. There was something about her eyes that were so kind. I’d never had anyone look at me that way before. With positively no want, just love.” Shaking her head she looked up at Aryaunna. “I sound like a complete fool. She was surely younger than me, and I think in that moment I loved her like a mother. She spoke to the tender, and he brought me the biggest meal they served, and a warm honey mead. He said it was paid for, and that I had a room for the night. That was the coldest night we’d had yet this winter.”

  “You mean Evangeline,” the girl that they’d thought was sleeping remarked. Her voice was hoarse with illness. She never looked over, too sick to sit up. “She is very beautiful. She’s not human. Evangeline is an Owl Maiden.”

  “A what?” Aryaunna questioned intently. Her full attention was on this young girl.

  When the girl went to speak she went into a fit of coughing. Talking had taken its toll on her. Aryaunna rose and walked over to the girl, kneeling beside her. “I have nothing I can give you in trade but this, my promise that I will come back and help you when I am through here. I will bring you food, and medicine.” Turning her head, Aryaunna looked back at Cora, side glancing to the woman who’d chosen not to speak. “All three of you. If you will tell me what I need to know, I swear I will return this favor,” she was begging.

  “Speaking about her is heresy. They could kill you all for talking about her.” The brunette with the long straight hair looked away from them, unwilling to meet their gazes as she tied off her corset.

  Aryaunna rose slowly. Her hands hung easily at her sides, not going near the hilt of her blades, pointedly being cautious. “I swear, upon my return, I will bring you food, medicine, and anything else I can carry. Such a promise can only be kept if I am certain none of you will speak about this to anyone.” The woman’s eyes were sharp and narrowed. She was suspicious of Aryaunna, but afraid. “I know what you’re thinking. The guards would want to know about anyone that’s asking about the heretic that’s going to burn at the stake. Don’t think they will help you. They will not. If they think you’re holding anything back, they will torture it out of you. They will hurt you at a whim. If you ask for money or food, they will throw you to the wolves sooner than toss you a piece of crust.”

  She looked like she was considering something, but said nothing for a long moment. “I want a cloak. A cloak like yours. I can find my own food if I don’t have to worry about freezing to death.”

  “You will have a cloak,” Aryaunna promised. “I will bring three.” She looked back at Cora, and then down at the sick girl. Finally her gaze returned to the brunette. The woman nodded in taught agreement.

  Aryaunna knelt back beside the girl. “What is an Owl Maiden?”

  “A woodland goddess. She can transform herself into an owl or a human at will. Their skin matches the color of their feathers. Their feathers are pure magic. Some people think if you find an Owl Maiden’s feathers you can claim one wish. Others think you will capture the Owl Maiden, because they won’t give up their feathers to you unwillingly.” A wet gurgling cough rasped her voice until it overcame her completely. Aryaunna rested her hand on the girl’s forehead. She was burning hot. Her eyes were red rimmed and yellow with jaundice.

  “How do you know this? How do you know about Evangeline?” Her hand pet against the girl’s hair lightly. It was matted terribly.

  “My mother told me stories when I was a little girl, about the faye kin of the world. Elves, Nymphs, Dragons.” The girl smiled weakly. The brunette sat down on her bed and dropped her head into her hands. She was horrified abo
ut what she’d just gotten herself into. If anyone ever found out, she was dead for sure.

  Aryaunna leaned closer and whispered so only she could hear. “Was your mother a witch?” The girl stared up into Aryaunna’s eyes and said nothing at all. Aryaunna smiled slightly and said nothing as she stood up. Looking over the three woman she questioned them, “Do any of you know the prophecy? Did any of you hear what she said?”

  Cora shrugged helplessly, looking down at the floor. The girl in the bed shook her head meekly. The brunette’s mouth puckered into a hard tight line, staring hard at her feet. Aryaunna stared at her, waiting. “She said that a lifetime of war was coming soon. That an Emissary sent by the Guardians themselves was to be their hand in this war. That this Emissary would snuff out the age of hatred and the control of fear…. But that’s all I know. This is what the guards were saying while I was, while I was taking care of one of them. The others were talking about the beautiful gypsie they wanted to rid of sin.” She licked her lips slowly, as if Aryaunna didn’t understand what that meant. “They asked me to be their wicked gypsie that night.” She forced a half smile as if she were proud of it even though she wasn’t.

  “Did they say anything else? Did they say when they would burn her?”

  “Tonight. When the moon is highest in the sky. They want the fires to be seen all the way to Valhanna, they’re doing it up on the hill, in the Church courtyard.” The highest point in Kenan. The Church sat at the top of the hill so that it could be seen from far away. Aryaunna’s eyes closed tightly as she grimaced. She’d been hoping they would burn her at the town square. She’d been counting on it in fact.

  “Thank you,” she spoke seriously as she looked at the brunette. “What is your name?”

  “Amelia.”

  Aryaunna looked down to the girl in the bed, inquiring silently. “Francesca.”

  Nodding, she forced a weak smile at Francesca then looked to Amelia, then Cora. “Thank you all. I have to be going. Forget you saw me this day. You’ll be better off for it. The next I see you, I will fulfill my promise.”

  Aryaunna pulled the hood of her cloak back up, and straightened the burlap scarf to cover her mouth. With a last look at the three of them she left the room quietly. Refusing all eye contact as she descended the stairs. Aryaunna was careful as she made her way out of Kenan. It took her longer than she’d wanted as she’d gotten so turned around going to the bathhouse. Dark was coming. She had to get to Sita if she was going to make it to the Church before full dark.

  As she saw the open gate she almost took off running, but instead she kept her pace steady as she walked for the open gateway. She was trying to walk next to a horse drawn cart when a guard grabbed her shoulder. She had to be smooth about it or they would draw attention from the other guards. When he pulled her closer, he mashed his body into the side of hers. “You smell too sweet to be a beggar.”

  Debating her actions she kept her head down. “You look too fat to be a guard,” came a voice from her right. Looking up, startled by the comment, the guard did the same. His jaw was slack to shout something but instead blood poured from his lips. His hand on Aryaunna began to loosen. He wasn’t dead, but dying quickly. “Take his arm.” Aryaunna grabbed the guard and held him tight against her as Allos grabbed his other arm. It was awkward, but it looked like they were simply walking with the guard out of the gate to most anyone who gave them a glance.

  They walked alongside the cart. The three of them arm in arm. “He’s dying. When he collapses, stop, help toss him on my back and run for the woods.”

  “You’re insane,” Aryaunna regarded her friend. “Don’t worry it’s a good thing.” The guard’s knees gave out and Allos jerked the load up behind him as Aryaunna shoved the armored man up over his back. They were such an awkward looking mass, that no one seemed to recognize what they were seeing. As soon as they hit the woodland Allos dropped him and fell into a tree to catch himself. He was out of breath and panting heavily.

  Aryaunna gave a low song bird whistle as she looked around the wood. It only took a moment before Aryaunna saw Sita trotting through the trees. “Ladies first,” Allos waved from Aryaunna to the mare, a little less than gallantly. With no time to hesitate, Aryaunna grabbed a hold of Sita’s neck and mane, and slung herself up onto the horse’s back. Sita trot the last two steps to Allos as Aryaunna held her hand out to him.

  His fingers encircled her wrist as she did the same. With one hand on Sita’s back while being pulled up by Aryaunna, Allos found himself mounted behind Aryaunna. A soft click of her tongue and Sita took off running as Aryaunna leaned forward. “We have to get to the Church. They’re going to burn the prophet at full dark.”

  As they rode, Aryaunna explained what she had learned. “I thought for certain they would have burned them in the town square. They make such a show of the public executions. I never thought they’d burn them on Church ground.”

  “This is more than petty crimes against Kenan. These are heretics. Heretics they think are Pagan. Burning them at the highest peak, it’s possible that even the Pagans would see the fires if large enough and I am sure that’s part of their intention,” Allos shared his opinion.

  “They’re that close?” Aryaunna questioned.

  “Just across the Sundaland valley, south of Kenan. With a clear night I’m certain they’d see the pyres.”

  “You understand that almost every guard of the Church will be present for this execution? To get the fires high enough the pyres must be massive.”

  “I understand that I cannot allow this woman to die. I understand that I will do whatever it takes to save her.”

  “And you claimed I was insane,” he commented under his breath. “Shhh,” he whispered, leaning back to lay his hand on Sita’s hind quarter. He cooed the soothing sound, urging Sita to slow to a stop. Aryaunna heard it, too. The creaking rumble of wagon wheels. Aryaunna guided the horse slowly to stride quietly towards the path ahead.

  The soft clomp of horse hooves padded along with the wagon wheels. Two guards drove a cart along the trail, loaded with tree trunks, stripped of their limbs. They needed a lot of wood for the fire, as Allos had said. Aryaunna looked back over her shoulder at Allos with a brow cocked high. Could it be so easy, she wondered? He shrugged. Only one way to find out.

  Allos pointed up to the trees. She looked hesitant but he smiled and held out his hands for her. Aryaunna tugged gently on Sita’s mane, urging her to stop under a large limb. Allos held his hands on Aryaunna’s waist as she stood up slowly. Gingerly standing on Sita’s back. The limb shuffled a little as Aryaunna pulled herself up onto the branch, Allos pushing her knees up while trying to keep her steady.

  Once she was up, he bid Sita forward to another tree and then did the same. Quietly snapping off a small limb, he tossed it against Sita’s butt which startled the horse enough to get her to trot on towards the cart. The Guards called for Sita to stop as she was exciting their gelding. Showing off, she skittered back and forth across the trail in front of their cart.

  Aryaunna was careful as she walked across the limbs to get closer to the back of the cart. Allos had disappeared. He was much quieter, and faster than her. The guards were so focused on the startled horse they never even noticed the wobbling limb above them. She probably never would have been found out if her foot hadn’t hit the patch of ice on the limb. With a sharp gasp she fell from the limb and fell loudly onto the cart loaded down with logs below.

  The guards jumped up in surprise. By the time they were turning around to see what the noise was they were drawing their swords. Aryaunna had landed clumsily but she was already climbing back to her feet despite the blossoming pain throughout her back, hips, and head. “Hello, gentlemen. Pleasant evening, isn’t it?” She smiled sweetly as she pulled her hood back trying to feign sweetness.

  They looked confused. Unsure if they should run her through or enjoy her company. Quiet as a mouse, Allos dropped down behind them, standing on the base of the harness. His sword drew from
his side so quietly that Aryaunna wouldn’t have known if not for the glint of his blade.

  The guard in front of him began to draw his sword. Woman or not, Aryaunna had come across them too strangely and he suspected her for it. “Fancy long sword you’ve got there. Is it sharp?” she asked with a sly smile on her lips as she rocked back and forth on a log to maintain her balance.

  “Don’t worry, love, you’ll find out.” His foot braced against the bed of the cart as he stepped up.

  “Careful with that. You don’t wanna drop it,” she warned him. He sneered at her as he stepped atop a large log as he gathered his balance. “Best watch your step. That next one is a little loose.” The guards glanced at each other as the armed one took a step closer to Aryaunna. “Now!” The log rolled under his foot, causing him to take two quick side steps before he fell down to his knees, twisting his ankle under foot.

  Simultaneously as the guard lost his footing Allos jumped up to the platform, taking the fallen guard’s place. His sword moved so quickly that the second guard didn’t have time to make a sound before the blade tore through his throat. Aryaunna kicked a foot out and pegged the guard’s knuckles. Crushing his fingers between the metal hilt and her leather bound foot. He winced-instinctively he dropped the sword. As the metal clinked, landing against the logs, Allos fell over on him. His blade was swift as it came down in front of the guard’s neck and drug across his throat.

  “Told you not to drop your sword,” Aryaunna lectured to the dying man as she walked across the logs and jumped down into the seat. One careful step at a time she climbed out onto the harness. “Sita,” she called. The mare came to a stop out in front of the cart and the excited horse who was snorting between half whinnies.

  She jumped down as the horse slowed and grabbed up the reins, ensuring the horse came to a stop. “Whoa, good boy. Easy,” she cooed, rubbing his neck in long slow strokes.