Forsaken At The Crossroads

by Joe Sniezek

  Eniyan quickly stripped the clothes from the fallen soldiers. He handed a set of clothes to each of them. Ikvig could not fit in them; they were much too small. Zumi’s set of clothes were too big for her, but she decided that it was probably warmer and more practical than the ill-fitting robe that currently swaddled her. She removed her robe and handed it to Ikvig; it would make a better backpack than the burlap sheet. Doubling them up should help keep the squid warm.

  Each soldier was carrying a sword, and Eniyan took them all. There was really no need for extra weapons – only one sword could be wielded at a time, but Eniyan had a plan. He explained saying, “For trade. We have no money. We can trade for food and supplies, or maybe even information.”

  Upon hearing this, Ikvig slowly pulled something from his pocket. He clutched it tightly in his hand. After a great deal of hesitation, he showed it to the group saying, “This might have some worth,” as he opened his hand to reveal a large gold and jewel pendant in the shape of a wasp.

  Zumi cooed at the beauty of the pendant. Eniyan looked at it warily and said, “That may have some magical properties. Likely used to control the attack wasps we faced.”

  “Really? Do you know a lot about such things?” Wilfer asked.

  “Not really. It may just be a pretty thing. But I have heard of powerful jewelry. It is best to treat such things with caution. There was no other jewelry on the man; this was well hidden or I would have spotted it. Surely if it was for adornment, it would have been proudly displayed, not hidden in secret.”

  “Is it safe to carry?” Ikvig asked, slightly alarmed.

  “It hasn’t caused problems yet,” Eniyan reasoned, “But be mindful. If it starts giving you waspy thought, we can take turns carrying it to blunt the effect.”

  Wilfer looked at the uniforms and let out a surprised exclamation, “Ah! These are my countrymen. I recognize this emblem. Crossed golden swords upon a green shield in a blue sky.” Wilfer felt sick as he put on the clothes.

  “At least we know who is chasing me, though my heart is not glad to hear it,” Wilfer said. The others were quiet, not knowing what to say. They gave Wilfer a moment to mourn the fallen men.

  Eniyan said after a few moments, “We need to move. This is no place to rest.” Before they exited the cave and descend down the mountain, Eniyan pointed to the dead men and said, “We need to move them. We can’t leave them here in the middle of the gateway. We could end up with a bounty on our head, and not just from those already after us. It would be very difficult to prove our innocence.”

  “Just throw them off the path then,” Ikvig said.

  The three men each grabbed a body and dragged it out of the cave. Zumi was not able to help because she was still recovering from the wasp sting as well as her small stature. Fortunately, Ikvig had no trouble dragging two bodies at once.

  The path led out from the cave and descended the mountainside in switchbacks. Wilfer and his friends followed the trail. At the first sharp turn, they continued straight off the path into the rocky slope. At this elevation, the terrain was mostly bare of trees and consisted of rocks, moss, and alpine flora. They climbed the first hillock and left the bodies on the far side, out of sight. If nobody passed this way within the next few days, the animals would take care of the mess.

  About to continue their trek down, Wilfer abruptly said, “We can’t just dump them here. We need to show respect for the dead.”

  “It was self-defense,” Zumi pointed out.

  “Was it? They never got close enough for us to need to defend ourselves. But nevertheless, they were my countrymen. They were in uniform, performing their duty. They deserve a proper burial.”

  “We have nothing to dig with, and even if we did, this is pure rock,” Eniyan pointed out, stomping the hard ground with his heel.

  “We will build a cairn,” Wilfer said over his shoulder as he moved and arranged the bodies. He placed them side by side. It would be a mass grave, but he would give them as much dignity as he was able. He placed their heads uphill and their feet down. He folded their hands across their chests and said a few words silently. He did not know what to say, but he had seen others perform this rite, so the least he could do is go through the motions.

  Ikvig quickly collected as many stones as he could. Ikvig carried most of the rocks, but some of the stones were quite large – at least as high as a man’s hip. These, he rolled downhill into position around the bodies, making a loose foundation. After the bodies had been ringed with the bigger rocks, everybody joined in gathering and piling smaller stones on top of the bodies to cover them as much as they could. It was enough to keep the animals and crows away.

  Wilfer was not completely satisfied, but it was the best they could do under the circumstances. While they worked, it gave him a moment to think. Things have become more dangerous. His pursuers will likely shoot first, in the future.

  ∞∞∞

  As they descended the mountain, the snow gradually melted, and small streams crisscrossed the landscape. Clean water was a welcome sight. Each person drank their fill, as they were all quite thirsty. Wilfer and his friends still have not found the means to carry water with them, this would need to be taken care of as soon as possible, he thought.

  “It would be better to continue down to the valley before stopping,” Ikvig said.

  The mountain was quite steep and their feet were blistered and aching by the time they reached the bottom. There was only a small amount of level land, and most of the narrow valley was filled with a river. Ike immediately slipped off the giant’s back and into the river.

  The valley was cool, damp, and foggy. It was too warm for snow, but this was the most dangerous kind of weather; hypothermia would come quickly if they got wet and were not able to dry themselves. The Forest here was thick. The trees were mostly spruce and fir. Being Ikvig’s homeland, he knew the all the local tricks and customs and was soon stripping bark from trees to get at the dry inner bark. He shredded some for tinder and mixed it with a few dried pine needles and twigs from the lower branches. In a few moments, he started a small fire, enough to warm their bones and hearts.

  “We will rest here and eat some dried fish,” Ikvig told them.

  Wilfer had inescapably come to the realization that it was, in fact, his countrymen who were chasing him. Up until now, he was not sure, but the emblem on the uniform confirmed it. Wilfer had to face the fact that it was no rescue mission. The soldiers were armed for their dogged pursuit of him. And they had attacked once already, by using the wasps.

  And yet, they did not harm him when he was unconscious. Perhaps the wasp venom was not deadly; Zumi did recover quickly. Apparently, someone wanted him out of the way. Far out of the way, but not seriously harmed. Of course, Wilfer did not think he could expect them to render aid or save him. It remained a very dangerous situation, even if it was not outright deadly.

  Now, why did they want him out of the way? Wilfer was nobody important. In fact, if he were perfectly honest with himself, he was probably seen as a clown, maybe even a drunkard. Was he a troublemaker? Sure, but the kind who slept through an important ceremony or event. To want to kidnap a man who was not particularly wealthy, who had no responsibilities, and who likely wouldn’t be missed for quite a while just didn’t make sense. He must be missing something.

  “I really don’t understand why they would bother with me in the first place,” Wilfer said to Eniyan for a different point of view.

  Eniyan sighed. “People are inexplicable. Often they don’t understand their own actions, how can we hope to understand them? But there is probably some reason. Usually, the answer is either money or power,” Eniyan said as if that explained everything.

  “I have neither,” Wilfer countered.

  “Perhaps not, but they may have seen you as an obstacle or a threat to those things.”

  “What am I supposed to do with that? That doesn’t tell me anything.”

  “We never have all the answers, though sometimes w
e think we do. Pieces of information will always remain hidden. People lie and obscure their intentions.”

  “I guess, but maybe –” Wilfer tried to interrupt.

  “Look, if you knew exactly what was going on – if the Gods told you – wouldn’t you work to put everything back to the way it was?” Eniyan continued.

  “Of course,” Wilfer agreed.

  “Exactly. And that’s what they don’t want to happen. For some reason, they must think that you have the ability to cause trouble for them.”

  “So whatever they are doing, they have to keep it secret. Maybe I saw something or said the wrong thing to the wrong person. They decided it was best to remove me.”

  “The reasons are usually random and silly like that,” Eniyan nodded, “That’s why I usually don’t spend too much effort trying to figure them out. It doesn’t get you anywhere.”

  Wilfer thought for a moment, “But I do need to do something. I mean, I can’t just hide here forever.”

  “Let’s see where the road takes us,” Eniyan said wisely.

  “Ok sure, but I’m talking about next year, or in ten years. Can I ever go back home?” Wilfer asked.

  “Who knows the future? Maybe you can go home, maybe not. Maybe you wouldn’t even want to. It’s pointless to worry about.”

  “We can go to my home,” Zumi jumped into the conversation.

  “About that,” Wilfer turned to her, “I’ve been meaning to ask you some more questions. Why do you want me to go to San La?”

  “I told you,” Zumi said and blushed.

  Wilfer softened, smiled, and said, “It sounds nice, but what would I do there? A visit would be wonderful, but after that?”

  “I don’t know. Whatever you want?”

  Wilfer wondered if she had given it any thought at all. There was no point in grilling her; It was best to try another tactic. “What do you know about Jorden – my home?” Wilfer asked.

  “Not much,” She shrugged after a brief moment of thought.

  “But you’ve heard of it before?”

  “Yes. I guess so,” Zumi admitted.

  “Because I don’t think I’ve ever heard of San La before a few days ago. Have you ever been to Jorden?” Wilfer persisted.

  Zumi paused for a long time to think, then said, “Yes, long ago. I think maybe with my father and the rest of my family. A diplomatic or business trip. I didn’t really understand or pay much attention; I was very little.”

  “You have?” Wilfer was not expecting her to say yes.

  “We’ve been lots of places, more than I can remember,” she grew excited as a thought came to her, “Maybe that’s where you can help out. You can be an ambassador. Give us an outside perspective.”

  Wilfer looked around. Eniyan and Ikvig were listening. They did not say anything at all, but Wilfer could tell that they found this new revelation disturbing.

  “Why didn’t you say something when I asked you before? I have to admit that I feel misled,” Wilfer said with a deep scowl.

  “Well, you didn’t even tell me where you were from anyway. You don’t tell me everything too, you know,” Zumi said, her voice rising.

  To break the tension, Ikvig patted Wilfer on the shoulder and said, “I have never been to your land, my friend, I swear. Before now, I have never been outside Granberk. There was never any need; we have everything we need.”

  “Thank you for telling me, my friend,” Wilfer said with a warm smile.

  Ike pulsed and wiggled from the banks of the water, “Ike has not either. This is his first trip outside of his realm, too,” Ikvig translated.

  Wilfer laughed at that, “I believe you.”

  He turned back to Zumi, “Since we’re being completely honest, I have to say that my gut tells me I would end up a prisoner in San La.”

  “No. That’s crazy. Why do you think that?”

  “The guards at the gateway. It would be a simple matter to not grant me permission to leave. And I wonder how free people are to wander around the Capital too,” Wilfer looked closely to see if her outrage was genuine or not. He wasn’t sure.

  “All permission would be granted, of course,” Zumi said.

  “But here, I need no permission to do as I choose. None can be given, and none can be denied.”

  “What are you trying to do that you need all this permission and freedom, anyway?”

  “I like to keep my options open. I never know what’s coming down the road,” Wilfer replied.

  Eniyan laughed with delight and put his arms around Wilfer’s shoulders and hugged him in joy. “Now he’s getting it. He understands. Everything will all work out.”

  “Yeah, if you want to be a vagabond,” Zumi said under her breath. Eniyan pretended not to hear, but Ikvig frowned at that.

  “My head hasn’t stopped hurting since I woke up in Toriga. I’m just so tired. Aren’t any of you tired of all this excitement?” Wilfer asked.

  “This is the best hunt I’ve ever been on. Most things don’t hunt back. And Ike’s having fun too,” Ikvig let out a laugh and pointed as Ike squished and wiggled in agreement.

  Eleven

  “We can follow the river, there’s a town there. Or we can go up the far side of the valley to another valley. That is the direction I came from,” Ikvig said.

  “Can we build a raft and float down? It would be faster,” Wilfer said. Eniyan nodded.

  “I’m not looking forward to getting wet,” Zumi said and wrapped her arms around her.

  Ikvig grabbed one of the extra swords and headed out into the woods to chop some trees for a raft. Unfortunately, a sword is not the best tool for chopping wood. He had to stick with the smaller branches; he found saplings that were no larger than he could wrap two hands around. That was thin enough to chop, but large enough to keep them afloat. He chopped out a ring a quarter of the way through, all around the trunk. Then, he broke the remaining wood, leaving a ragged edge instead of a clean cut. Spruce grows tall and straight; he quickly stripped off the side branches and dragged the cleaned poles to the water’s edge. The six trees that he cut would provide enough buoyancy; he didn’t have the time or energy to cut more. They would have to leave the logs long and sit single file like a toboggan.

  The others lashed the half dozen logs together and set it into the water. One by one they stood on it and it just barely kept above the water. However, it had a tendency to roll so they straddled the raft as if it were a horse. They removed their shoes to keep them dry, but their feet and pants would be submerged in the icy water. Wilfer instantly had second thoughts about this plan.

  “My feet are already numb,” Zumi said with a shiver.

  “We will take short trips and warm ourselves in between,” Ikvig suggested.

  They steadied themselves and used their poles to launch the raft towards the center of the river. The current was strong and soon they were rushing downstream. The water was deeper than they expected, too deep for their poles to touch bottom. Wilfer kept his pole ready to use for stabilization, to periodically check the river depth, and to push away from any obstacles.

  Zumi called out to the others, “That’s about as much freezing water as I can stand for now.” Wilfer agreed, so he attempted to steer the raft to shore. He soon realized that the river was too swift to paddle and his pole was too short to steer. They had no choice but to continue riding the raft. After another quarter of an hour, their raft entered a slow pool of water within the river and beached itself on a sandbar. The group wasted no time hopping off the raft and heading to shore.

  Ikvig dragged the raft out of the river behind him saying, “We should check the bindings.”

  While they inspected the raft, Eniyan said, “I think we can risk a small fire,” and soon they were warming their chilled feet by the fire.

  “Do we have to go back in the water?” Zumi whined.

  “We traveled faster than I thought we would but the river isn’t as easily traveled as we hoped,” Eniyan said, “There is daylight left and
we have not travelled that far. If someone is tracking us, they will catch up during the night. We should brave the river one more time.”

  Wilfer nodded and said, “We need better control. If this river was only a little rougher, we would have been in trouble.”

  “I will cut longer poles,” Ikvig said. He headed into the woods and returned with four long spruce saplings. Some were as thick as a man’s wrist at the widest end.

  “That’s too big for me,” Zumi said. Therefore, only the three men each took a pole and balanced them on their laps. They were too heavy to hold upright, but they could double as outriggers and be used, when necessary, to push against rocks or the soil of the shore.

  Dreading the cold, Wilfer and his friends dipped their feet back into the water and prepared to launch from the far side of the sandbar. Ikvig picked up the small fire he started on a strip of pine bark and tossed it in the river. No trace of their temporary camp was left.

  At first, the long poles resting across their laps helped stabilize the boat but as the river narrowed in places, the long poles snagged on branches and rocks at the shore. Wilfer’s first technique was to slide the pole across his lap back and forth to avoid an upcoming obstacle, but this destabilized the raft. Then he tried tilting the pole up above the obstacle and used that opportunity to plumb the depth of the river. In due course, when Wilfer and Eniyan’s arms grew tired, they abandoned two of the poles and only Ikvig retained his pole as he sat in the middle of the raft. In this way, they found a good rhythm and the raft swiftly covered a good distance.

  Soon they noticed the river was widening and slowing. The slow gentle flow of the water lulled the group into complacency. Zumi even closed her eyes for a moment. The group was happy, calm, and confident that they would be at the town in a short time. At the very edge of his hearing, Eniyan sensed a low rumble. As it drew closer, he could not only hear it but feel the deep rumble in his chest. Alarmed, Wilfer and Ikvig scanned the ridges for any sign of an avalanche. The sky was clear, and the rumble was too steady to be thunder.