Serenity Valley

by Rocky Bills

  Bells asked, “Master Warin, do you think she will live?”

  Warin just sat there, with everyone waiting to hear what they didn’t want to hear. He finally spoke with tears in his eyes. “I cannot save her, my lady. I do not possess the knowledge to save her.”

  Everyone’s heart sank to the deepest depths possible. Everyone around Basilea, including the soldiers, held their words. Fulk finally spoke. “Thank you, Master Warin, for trying. How long?”

  Warin looked at Fulk. “We can see to her comforts and make her passing easier. She has one, maybe two hours.”

  Again, silence shrouded the group like the black of night. While everyone contemplated the loss of Basilea’s bright spirit, Demon arrived with something in his mouth.

  He went straight to Gamel, nickered, and yanked the thing in his mouth up and down. Gamel didn’t respond, so he dropped the object in Gamel’s lap and nickered louder this time.

  “Wonder what Demon’s been doing all this time,” Fulk said. “The battle’s been over for some time.”

  “Looks like he been looting the dead, I believes,” Ox answered.

  Fina looked at Trina. “Trina, go over there an' see what that thing is.” Trina quietly crept over to where Demon and Gamel were and peeked at the thing Demon had dropped in Gamel’s lap. She couldn’t quite make it out, so she slowly crept closer. Demon bent down, picked up the object, and trotted over to Trina so she could admire his prize. Her eyes grew huge in disbelief. She gagged, screamed, and ran back to the group. Demon nickered and shot his head up and down proudly.

  With huge eyes, Fina grabbed a shaking Trina by the shoulders and asked, “What did you see?”

  Trina’s lips trembled. “It’s a human arm.”

  The women all gasped in horror, and the men were stunned to silence. Even Ox needed to think about this. Fina said, “Someone has to go over there and take that thing away from him.”

  “I handle meat all day,” Eva said. “It don’t bother me. I’ll get it.” Eva went to Demon, who was proud to show her his prize, until she tried to take it. They tugged back and forth for it. Eva demanded, “Demon, gives me that disgusting thing right now.” Demon pulled it out of Eva’s hands and raised his head high so she couldn’t reach it. Every time she tried to grab it, he squealed and stretched his head up higher so it was out of reach. Although they didn’t want to, the group started chuckling, watching the comedy between Eva and Demon. Finally, Eva gave up and returned to the group, saying, “I give up!” Demon went back to Gamel and tried to get his attention by flinging his severed arm around. The vibration of heavy hoofbeats announced Mildred’s arrival with the Gypsy couple. Mildred knelt to allow her passengers to dismount, and then walked about twenty feet away to graze on rich grass. She had spent abnormal amounts of energy this day and needed to restock with nutrients.

  The Gypsy couple walked to the group, where Fulk explained to them Basilea’s injuries and prognosis. Giselia asked, “Can see to help? I look Basilea?”

  Bells replied, “Yes, please examine Basilea.”

  Ivan interpreted for her. She moved to where Basilea lay next to the fire. Giselia examined Basilea much like Warin had done, listening and tapping on her back and chest. Giselia spoke to Ivan in their tongue a few moments. Ivan spoke to the others. “She want me blow air in Basilea lungs why she listening.” Warin was very interested and moved in closer to observe. Ivan carefully bent her head back. Giselia put her ear to the chest; she then held one finger up to tell Ivan to blow. Ivan opened her mouth, pinched her nose, and blew steadily. Giselia held up a finger once more, and Ivan blew again.

  Warin asked, “Can I listen also?”

  Giselia said, “Yes, yes, you listening.”

  Warin put his ear on Basilea’s chest, and Ivan repeated his blowing twice as he had before. Then he gently lowered her head back down. Giselia said, “Not bubble much, no bleed, air fill, no work get air out.”

  “Wife say chest not fill with blood, not bubble much from air, air around lungs, lungs no work.” Giselia spoke to her husband in their native tongue. For several minutes, they talked back and forth, then Ivan translated for the others once again. “There is thing to do release air, like bloated cow. Put small hole, let air out, lung work for air being gone.”

  Bells looked at Warin and asked, “Master Warin, what do you think?”

  Warin answered, “Everything she has said makes sense. I detect few bubbles, and that means little bleeding is present. There could be trapped air pressing on the lungs.”

  “Ivan, can Giselia do the procedure?” Fulk asked. “Yes, she can do, but need some thin pipe for smoking, long stem, need stem.” Several riders left to go to their packs. Ivan continued, “Need sharp-tip dagger.”

  Ox pulled his dagger and a stone from his belt and started on the blade. Three riders returned with smoking pipes and handed them to Giselia, who examined each one. She selected one with a long stem attached to a corn cob. Ivan said, “Need wine and cooking pot.” The riders rummaged in their packs and returned, placing three pots on the ground next to Giselia, who chose one. Two bottles of wine were handed to her, which she set on the ground. Ivan stated, “Need bigger fire for boil wine.” Several men set out to gather wood.

  While all preparations were being made, Demon went to Mildred to show off his arm. He waved it around in front of her. She raised her head and stopped eating. She examined the arm and sniffed it. She whinnied and shook her head from side to side. Demon was not satisfied. He started bumping it against Mildred’s neck. Fed up with his antics, Mildred let out a high-pitched screech and stomped her front foot on the ground. Demon jumped back and stared at her.

  Trina stood next to Fina, watching the exchange. “She reminds me of you!” she said.

  A smiling Fina replied, “Oh, hush.”

  Everyone was watching the horses. Demon nickered again, bobbing his head. Shaking his head from side to side, he trotted back to Gamel and tried to get his attention. One of the ladies said, “I wonder if Gamel can ever be reached?”

  Fulk replied, “If anything can bring him back, it’s that horse. He was talking to him on the field today.”

  “What did Gamel say to Demon?” Bells asked.

  Fulk answered, “He told Demon, 'let’s kill them all!'” The group started rumbling about Fulk’s statement. Bells immediately regretted she had asked the question.

  The fire had been enlarged, and a cooking pot with wine had been set to boil. Giselia took the pipe and showed Ivan where to cut the stem. Ivan pulled his curved dagger and started to cut off the required piece of stem. After he had the piece, he began to sharpen one end of it until it came to a tapered point. He blew through it to make sure it was clear. It went into the pot. Ox handed Giselia the dagger, and after trying the tip against her palm, she placed it next to the fire.

  Ira, who had remained mounted on Whip spoke up now. “My lady, thirty minutes have passed.”

  “Goodwin will be at Sirates House.” Before Bells could finish her words, Ira and Whip had vanished.

  Ox had been watching Demon try to interact with Gamel for some time. Fulk said, “He hears Demon. Demon will bring him back.”

  “I hope so, son; his mind wents farther away than I ever sees before.”

  Unable to get a response from Gamel, Demon walked around behind him. He bent his head down and rested his chin on Gamel’s shoulder. This allowed the arm to rest on Gamel’s chest. Demon gave low continuous whinnies, demanding a response. Ox and Fulk heard a low and faint voice a moment later. “What you got there, young man? Oh, that’s a pretty, isn’t it? You killed all the bad things and got you a prize, didn’t you?” Demon got excited. He started prancing around, shaking his treasure back and forth like a dog shaking a rag. He came back to Gamel and dropped the arm in his lap. “You want me to have your prize, don’t you, Demon?” Demon nickered and nodded his head up and down in agreement. Gamel whispered, “No, you keep your pretty; you found it. It’s yours to keep, Demon.” Demon pranced
around in front of Gamel, flagging with head held high. Demon went up on his hind legs and gave a stallion scream while striking the air with his hooves. He was answered by Mildred’s thunderous bellow.

  Fulk started to go to Gamel, but Ox stopped him. “No, lad, let them be. Damn beastie is bringing him back, he is!” The exchange between Demon and Gamel did not go unnoticed. Smiles were the order of the day within the small, diverse group.

  The attention of the group turned back to Basilea. The wine had boiled for some time. Giselia talked to Ivan in their language. Ivan removed the pot from the fire and set it next to Basilea. Giselia poured some wine on her hands and rubbed it in. Warin was staying close to Giselia. He was in new territory now and learning much. Giselia poured wine over Warin’s hands also. She was showing him the procedure as she had learned it from the old wise healers of her country. She picked up the knife and waved it over the flames to heat the blade on both sides. Next, she poured some of the hot wine on Basilea’s side. She used her fingertips to probe the rib cage until she found the spot she wanted. She then took Warin’s hand. “You feel, place that is right.” She guided Warin’s fingers to the place she had located. “You feel place for cut?”

  Warin replied, “Yes, I feel it.”

  Giselia nodded in agreement and placed the tip of the dagger to the spot and made a small incision. She placed Warin’s hand on her own so he could feel the next cut. “You feel, deep not much; you feel it?”

  Warin replied, “Yes, yes, I feel it.”

  Giselia then extracted the sharpened pipe stem from the hot wine. “You look end, end need point, yes?”

  Warin examined the sharp end of the stem. “Yes, I see, very sharp.” Giselia took the stem in her right hand and placed Warin’s right hand over hers. She slowly inserted the stem in the incision with some force. She stopped when she hit a highly resistant place. “You feel chest, wall for chest, yes?” She pulled the stem back and inserted it again, stopping at the resistant place. “You feel stop, wall of chest be?”

  Warin said, “Yes, yes, I feel where the chest wall is.”

  “Keep hand mine, feel break through on chest, yes?” Warin nodded in agreement. Giselia pressed the sharp stem hard against the chest wall, and the stem suddenly penetrated and lost its resistance. “You feel, through is being, feel it you?”

  “Yes, I felt it penetrate the wall.”

  Then, a rush of air and foamy red bubbles spewed from the open end of the stem. Basilea took two ragged, short breaths, then a long, deep breath. Pink color returned to her deathly white face immediately. The long, deep breath was followed by more normal breathing. Giselia wadded up some of the bedroll under Basilea’s back and rolled her over part of the way onto her back. She put her ear to Basilea’s chest. With a smiling face, she looked at Warin. “You hear now, lung now work, bad lung fix then work more.”

  Warin listened to the chest and got a big smile on his face. “Yes, the lung works!”

  Giselia started squealing with delight and grabbed Warin in a tight hug. “She live, she live now!”

  Everybody in the group let out a holler. The soldiers bent their heads back and let a battle cry loose. Ira and Whip announced their return with a sliding stop from a full run, leaving deep gouges in the ground. Ira yelled out, “My lady?” With a huge smile and tears in her eyes, Bells looked at Ira. “So it’s good news, then?” Bells just nodded yes. Ira let out a bloodcurdling battle cry that sent Whip straight up on his hind legs, screaming. When Whip returned to earth, horse and rider sped away, flinging massive clots of grass and dirt into the air. Demon let out a stallion scream, and Mildred answered with a deep bellow of her own.

  Giselia was squealing and running to her husband. When she reached him, she launched herself at him. She hugged him with her arms while wrapping her legs around him. She squealed, “She live, Ivan, she live!”

  Ivan hugged his wife while grinning, laughing, and stating in his deep voice, “She hot bloods, this wife mine, best, most best wife mine!”

  Everyone was caught up in the moment, howling, yelling, and dancing around. Bells grabbed Ox and gave him a bear hug. “I never told you, Ox, glad you are safe!”

  He returned her hug and said, “'Tis a good day ta be standin' upright, lass, a very good day!”

  Bells was holding Basilea’s hand when Giselia returned from molesting her husband. Giselia stated, “Now we move, to house we now go.”

  “Ox, can you arrange a wagon for transport?” Bells asked.

  Before Ox could answer, though, a determined low voice spoke. “I will take her!” There, standing behind Bells, was a gore-covered Gamel. His eyes remained red except for the dark brown pupils in the center. Bells took a good look at him and gasped for breath.

  Ox bellowed out, “He broke some vessels tin the eyes is all, be clearin' up soon 'nough.”

  Gamel got on his knees next to Basilea and took her hand. “Sorry I left you for a while, Princess.”

  Basilea squeezed his hand while clutching the locket in the other. She said in a faint whisper, “I kept your heart with me, good sir.” Gamel carefully wrapped Basilea in the bed roll and raised her from the ground. Cradling her as tenderly as a baby, he started walking from the field of battle.

  A very excited Ox grabbed Fulk by the shoulders and said, “Time it is to announce withdrawal from da field, it is!” He reached for his horn while a cringing Fulk covered his ears with his hands. Others were not as lucky. Ox took several deep breaths, then gulped in a huge quantity of air and put Hades Quake to his lips. The ten-second burst of the high-pitched warble was said to have stampeded the herd of a nearby tenant rancher. The entire group groaned and covered their ears. Gamel looked down to see Basilea’s eyelashes fluttering. The following fifteen seconds of deep, reverberating bass tone was said to vibrate the china in the great hall.

  Basilea whispered, “Oh, my.”

  “It seems Master Ox is feeling his oats this evening,” Gamel said.

  With Demon on Gamel’s right shoulder and Mildred on the left, and a mixed group of people following, they made their way off the field as the sun was setting behind the Enola Mountains. When they made the turn to follow the path leading to the main house, hundreds of people with lit torches lined the roadway. Demon came to full attention and started prancing majestically. Mildred followed suit and also began prancing as a queen would. Demon couldn’t stand it any longer and pranced out from position and started zig-zagging back and forth, from side to side on the pathway. Every time he neared the bystanders, women shrieked and men gasped in astonishment as he prominently displayed his grisly battlefield trophy.

  Basilea whispered, “What does Demon have in his mouth?”

  “Just a souvenir from the field,” Gamel replied.

  Basilea forced another whisper. “Is it a, a...?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid it is.”

  After a pause, Basilea whispered, “Oh, oh, oh, my.”

  “I’ll deal with it later. Let’s go home.”

  Nearly two thousand people lined the roadway by the main house and down to the Sirates House turnout. Every twenty feet or so, someone held a torch. Guests, guards of visiting lords, and De Ferrier men-at-arms all held their swords in salute as the procession passed. Gamel said, “They honor you, my princess.”

  “No, they honor you, sir. You saved the hold.”

  Gamel ignored the remark and said, “Have I told you that the pink of your cheeks is only matched by the beauty of an early morning rainbow?”

  Basilea just smiled and touched his cheek with her left hand. Her right hand still clutched her locket.

  Chapter 13

  The sun is sinking behind the mountains now. I have never seen these colors before, a sunset all in shades of red and pink. I am alone now. I was looking for Basilea’s spirit here. I talked to her lifeless body, hoping that her spirit would be where I am now. She could not answer me. Her spirit must be somewhere else now, and I am totally alone. Now that all the things are gone, I no lon
ger have a purpose. Where am I? My body sits here just some feet from hers, but where has my mind traveled? I see the sky, and sometimes, a blur passes in front of me. I don’t know what these things are. My body should have ended, releasing me, but now my body remains here. I am trapped. My mind has left without it and waits to be released by the body. This is not right. I should be free, and my soul should have traveled to where Basilea’s soul waits for me. I am somewhere in between; maybe this is purgatory. Why must I wait longer to be set free? I finished my purpose. All the foul things are gone. Why haven’t I been set free? My body is hollowed; there is nothing left in it. I am just an empty shell sitting next to Basilea’s body. I must wait for my body to end. I will wait here until it ends, releasing my spirit. Then I can leave this world behind. My body will end in time. I will wait. Nothing left to do but wait.

  Something calls to me. I can hear something. Is it the spirit world calling to me? Something is talking to me, shadows in front of me now, just shadows. No, more than shadows. Wait, the shadows call to me. The shadows calling to me may know how to guide me. Shadows show me how to leave this place where I am. I am ready to leave. I am done here. Show me how to leave my body behind, guide me. Where are you, shadows? Talk to me, shadows. Where have you gone? I need to leave this place. Shadows have left. I cannot see them. I don’t hear the shadows anymore. I will wait until the shadows return. I have nowhere else to go.

  Some time has passed. The shadows have come back and call to me again. What are the shadows saying? I will try to hear what the shadow says. I will concentrate. The shadows sound like Demon. What is Demon saying to me? Demon must be here, where I am now. I wonder if Demon is trapped like I am. I can feel Demon’s breath on me now. The shadows are taking a shape. Now I can see Demon's face. Demon has come here to be with me. I feel his breath on me. Demon is able to come to this place. He is here with me now. I can smell him. I can feel his breath. He is behind me. He rests his head on my shoulder. He is talking to me. What, Demon? What do you want from me? He talks; he wants me to see something. He is begging for attention. He is showing me something. He wants me to see it. Demon wants me to talk to him. I will try to see what he is showing to me so I can talk to him. I see what it is. It’s just a piece of one of the things. Demon shouldn’t play with parts of the man-like things. There is something else on the piece of man thing. I see it now. There is a big ring on the piece of man-thing. That is what he wants to show me. Demon wants to show me the big opal ring that is on the man-thing. Demon demands I talk to him. He whinnies all the time. He begs me to talk to him. I will talk to Demon. Demon is a good boy. He helped me end the foul creatures. “What you got there, young man? Oh, that’s a pretty, isn’t it? You killed all the bad things and got you a prize, didn’t you?” Demon’s excited now. He is prancing and shaking his prize; he is being playful. It feels good to see Demon playing. He drops his prize in my lap. He wants me to have the prize. He found it for me. He wants me to have the ring; he’s giving it to me. “You want me to have your prize, don’t you, Demon?” He says yes, the ring is mine, it’s for me. But I don’t like rings, especially big, gaudy rings like this one. I don’t want a big, gaudy ring. I would never wear it. “No, you keep your pretty; you found it. It’s yours to keep, Demon.” Demon is excited, flagging, prancing. He is a child with a new present. He makes me smile. Demon is cut. I see a gash on his neck. I need to look at it. I stand now. “Come here, young man. Let me look at you.” Demon comes to me. “Hey, young man, you got hurt. Look at this cut on your neck. Did one of the things cut you?” Demon nickers and nods his head up and down. “We will need to fix this, Demon. Does it hurt very much?” Demon shakes his head back and forth. “Oh, you are such a big, tough horse, aren’t you, young man?” Demon whinnies. “You’re a good boy, Demon, the smartest, toughest, bravest horse ever.” Demon nickers and puts his head against my chest. I scratch his ear. There are a lot of people at Basilea’s body. Why does it take so many people to prepare her body to be moved? I better go see what is going on. “I’m going to go take care of Basilea now, Demon. We will go home soon, young man. Go find some mischief to get into for a bit.” Demon shakes his head back and forth playfully and trots away. Lots of people here: Ox, Bells, Fulk, the kitchen staff, and soldiers. Why is Healer Warin here? I see him with Giselia. They are doing something to Basilea. I stand behind Bells to watch. People are talking, talking and watching what they are doing. They say if it works, she can breathe better. My Basilea breathe? Ox is saying it was good that Ivan checked for breath or we would never know she lives. My Basilea lives? If Basilea lives, I will stay in the world with her! The kitchen staff are saying prayers for the success of the procedure. Please, Lord, help these good people be successful. Guide them with your wisdom and compassion. The world is such a better place for having her. Please, allow her to stay, allow me to care and look out for her. A more deserving soul you couldn’t find. Amen. They are finished now. Giselia is checking Basilea’s breathing. Now Healer Warin is checking her. Everyone is happy; everyone is celebrating. Giselia says she will live. Giselia is very excited; she makes me smile. Thank you, Lord, for answering our prayers. Bells is very happy; everyone is happy. I must stay in the world now. I must take care of my Basilea, my beautiful Basilea! Giselia is telling Bells that we can move her to the house now. Bells asks Ox to arrange for a wagon to move her. I think not! I speak. “I’ll take her.” I get on my knees next to my beautiful Basilea. I take her hand; she still holds the locket in the other. “Sorry I left you for a while, Princess.”