I scanned the area looking for him. He gathered the rations of the feeble and disposed of them. A good child, he was. There was no way he knew any of this plotting of his pod. I refused to believe such. But I had to know.
"Brother, Mertio!" I waved him toward me.
He dashed across, darting through the clan to reach me. A smile, as most always, covered his face. He wore the robe of the Brotherhood well. I patted for him to sit beside me. Eagerly, he obeyed.
"I was thinking of which pod I should attach myself to," I scratched my chin. "I do believe that I will officially join the Lusk pod for this scavenge."
"Brother Harve," he held his head lowly. "I must protest this."
I leaned forward, pulling my face close to his. My eyebrows arched. The skin turned white around my knuckles as I clinched my fists.
"Why is this?" My anger festered. "Give me one honest and valid reason."
He glanced toward his pod. They slid their empty ration containers near the end of the table as they stood, no care to clean up as each of us were expected to do.
"They would only hold us back or cause us to be killed," he confessed. "I have given them private orders to linger near the hole and pop back in swiftly should anything pose danger."
"This is not your mission to command." I shook my finger in his face.
"Brother Harve, I give them dignity," he explained. "Had I not offered this plan, they would find a way to stay behind, held in shame."
"Dear Mertio," I wrapped my arm around his shoulder. "Dignity is not something which you can gift or allow someone."
"The others would not know. Only us. Dignity would be assumed by the clan. I would secure all items on the list," he pleaded.
"What does it matter what the others know, or think they know? Dignity is not a rank or stature. It is only carried inside of the soul."
"Maybe it is my own dignity that is untrue." His face fell into the palms of his hands. "Maybe I am the one with lack of virtues for plotting such. I should feel shame, but I do not."
"Do you not?" I frowned.
"Not enough shame to change my mind," he shrugged.
"Very well then." I stood. "I will help you obtain their list as well as my own while they remain near the hole."
"Brother Harve, I can not allow you to do such."
"You are in no position to allow me a thing." I walked away.
Training continued promptly after rations. Mertio remained quiet. Lusk and Mopus contributed as I had never seen them do. Even with his amputation, Lusk was swift on his feet when he allowed himself. I was impressed with his physical skills. Then, I recalled hearing their whispers.
From that point on, I paid little attention to his fine skills as a scavenger. I looked away when he jumped up walls, flipped or burrowed through the stone incrusted soil. Mertio was locked in on watching Lusk. I could not ruin that for him by allowing him the truth of their secret conversation.
~*~
Training flew by quickly. Before I knew it, the night before the scavenge was in front of me. A grand feast of gathering rounded out our evening. Speeches were given. Instructors made mention of notable clansmen. Lusk was mentioned several times. Blessings ended the event.
Alone, I made my way through the hallways of our village. My body, though sore, mustered enough energy to visit Mother Vicar. Only one guard stood by her door. The other side held a Crimson Robe. Neither allowed my usual passage.
"Allow my entrance," I commanded.
"Incorrect, Brother Harve." The Crimson Robe stood firm.
"I must see her now."
"Her wishes were for you to not return to her until after your first command was completed."
"Were?" My forehead wrinkled. "What do you mean, her wishes were?"
"My apologies and blessings, Brother Harve."
I fell to my knees before I allowed myself to hear his words. My emotions got the better of me. I ground my teeth as I fought the tears consuming my coal-colored eyes. My talons buried into the palms of my hands, stabbing the flesh. Blood dripped down my wrists onto my lap.
"Brother Harve, stand strong willed," a voice whispered by my ear. "Mother Vicar would have wished it."
I opened my eyes to see Mertio leaning beside me. The Crimson Robe and the guard offered no expression. I wiped my palms against my robe and pushed myself from the ground. Mertio guided me away from the door. With each footstep, my heart cringed. Her body lay beyond the door, breathless and soulless. No one was going to tell me.
We reached my pod slowly as my feet dragged the ground. Mertio opened my door and guided me inside. I passed out somewhere between Mertio offering comforting words that I paid no attention to and becoming lost in my own sweet memories. I woke several times, startled from nightmares. Each time, Mertio stood awake by my side, asking what he could do.
"Rest," I would say.
"Not a chance," he would reply each time.
~*~
Reality snapped sharply as the battle day greeted me. The clan carried themselves with enthusiasm throughout the morning. I shrouded myself with the mask of confidence as I greeted each passerby. Mertio stayed close to my side. I instructed him to meet with his pod.
"I will meet with them shortly," he finally agreed. "I must inform them that I will be in battle by your side foremost."
I did not argue with him. He was a comforting ally. The fact that his closeness to me would guard him from seeing his pod flee when duty called eased my worries a bit as well. Mertio was a champion. It was unfair for him to carry the weight and shame of his pod.
We collected our rations later than normal. The area was near empty. Lusk and Mopus settled into a corner, possibly discussing their escape route. I pushed Mertio into the direction of his pod. Their scattering nervousness as he approached confirmed my thoughts.
They greeted him with embraces and smiles. This was something I had never seen openly displayed from the Lusk pod. Other than toward Bosh, that is. Mertio welcomed it and I didn't blame him.
Only a few brief moments had passed before they sent him back toward my direction. I almost thought a glimmer of guilt twinkled within his mother's eyes as she watched him walk away. I had already obtained both of our rations and taken a seat at a table well distanced from them. We sat in silence as we ate our final meal before battle. I had but a few bites to go when the Crimson Robe leaned over my shoulder, whispering into my ear.
It was time to go. The clan would be gathering soon, ready to follow my command. Mertio and I followed behind the Crimson Robe. I lowered my hood, to show the clan that I was aware of their sacrifice, making sure that I met my eyes with the eyes of each of them. Lusk and Mopus stood against the hallway as we passed.
Mopus beamed a sinister toothless smile. Lusk winked and bellowed out the holler of a champion as he shook his fist high in the air. I nodded as we passed. The crowds followed in behind us. Their motivation provided me strength.
A group of miners had already cleared the paths to three separate entries of attack. We stood at the base of all three paths in a gathering. The other Crimson Robes gathered behind us. I waved through the ocean of ebony eyes waiting for my words.
My lips quivered as they parted. "Our clan will be victorious. We will be blessed by the Dreamers and shielded by their grace. This is not a battle of bloodshed for power. This is a battle of survival. We will take no innocent lives, and only what we must." I replayed the final sentence in my mind. Innocent lives.
"I must inform you all, as we enter this battle, the name and image in which we fight for. As a warrior and as a leader, we have been safe from harm on many occasions by the strength of Mother Vicar. The warrior that she was, we … I was unaware of the extent of her injuries." The crowd lingered on the past tense used to describe Mother. "We will, as her clan, unite with every fiber of our existence and reclaim the prosperity of our kind. This battle, to obtain what we need for strength, and in the future, to reclaim our rights above the soil!"
My voice rat
tled the pod. The crowd cheered with passion as they fought the tears of losing Mother Vicar. I stood before a proud army. Lusk and Mopus cheered along as they edged toward the back of the crowd. I waited for the rumble of the clan to calm before I finished.
"Our Gods bless each of us with a passion. A skill. Also, they bless us with the free will to show our thanks for these skills and passions. Some of us are swift, some sturdy. Some of us are grand with tools or weapons. All of us are gifted with honor, dignity, and strength. This day has been given to us. Use it well. Honor yourself, your pod, your clan. Honor Mother Vicar. Honor The Dreamers. Live for the good of all. Cleanse yourself of tarnished intentions. Welcome to the battle day. Claim your fate."
The Crimson Robes chanted prayer. The enthusiasm of the clan almost drowned the peaceful chants into comparative silence. Appointed leaders guided groups to each of the three entries that led above the soil. The crowds rushed through the tunnels in full force. Dust choked the air as their feet scurried across the ground.
Mertio grabbed me into a tight embrace. My stomach knotted, found comfort in the young one. I patted his shoulder as our grips loosened. With a smile, we ran toward the entry behind us. Guards surrounded us as we ran, an obvious final wish of Mother Vicar.
The tunnels leading above were large, but gnarled. Our talons were the only thing allowing our grip to hold as we climbed. The soil grew with warmth the higher we twisted through the tunnel. I grew dizzy with the speed as we circled through. Mertio kept me close, however.
As we neared the opening, Mertio spotted his pod and yelled for them. Lusk and Mopus did not slow. Their speed through the tunnel amazed me. Mertio, the guards and I busted past the opening above the soil directly behind his pod. The fresh air pressed my lungs.
"Wait!" Mertio's voice cracked as he yelled for his pod.
Lusk and Mopus scurried in the opposite direction of the battle. They remained on hands and knees as if they were still clawing through the tunnel. They charged like wild animals into the woods. Mertio raced after them, stunned, but two of the guards grabbed his shoulders to restrain him.
"Leave them be, Brother Mertio," a tall dark-skinned guard directed.
"That is my pod." He shook his head. "Where are they going?"
"Claim your fate was their final order." The guard pulled Mertio toward the scavenge as his pod vanished. "Let them."
"I can bring them back," he pleaded. "I can save the dignity of my pod."
"No," the guard stood firm. "You are a Brother of the Clan now. I can not allow you to leave my guard."
The guards pushed us toward the battle. Mertio, a true champion, held his emotions well. The winged ones had no grasp of how to handle our ambush. As I had ordered, the clan grabbed what they were instructed to take and fled back beneath the soil with little harm inflicted against the winged ones. Mertio guided us toward the tree where he had defended Mother Vicar.
We gathered what we needed from their orchard. Even as he fought the winged ones, Mertio protected me as much as the guards did. I had gathered more than enough when we heard it. A deep, rumbling growl that shook the very land. The volcano beyond the woods. The guards rushed us along.
Encircled by protectors, Mertio and I dove back into the tunnels beneath the soil. I did not feel like a mighty warrior inside of their guard. But I also knew that this clan could not lose another leader. I accepted my sheltered role. Crowds silently collected in the middle of the three paths as we fell into the opening. In the middle of the crowd, a pile of supplies, food, weapons, and herbs.
Patiently, we waited. Each time another pod appeared from the tunnels, friends and family greeted them, relieved to see they had returned. Very few people required the mending of the Crimson Robes. The number of clansmen in this attack far outweighed any other scavenge in history. My face beamed with the success of each pod as the pile grew.
Mertio lurked in silence. As each pod entered, his face switched from hope into dread. Bosh ran into the opening from her living quarters. Her brood followed behind her. She fell to her knees, without looking at a single face of the returning pods.
"My pod! My pod!" she screamed. "Lusk! Mopus! My family!"
Her cries turned into growls as tears ran down her face. On occasion, she peeked through a slit in her eyes to gauge how much attention she had garnered. She fell into fetal position and kicked as she questioned why her Gods would take her pod away. Her young ones stood aimlessly, unaffected by her display as if she had practiced it several times before.
Mertio attempted to comfort Bosh as he pressed his hand against her shoulder. He whispered something into her ear which sent her from despair into a fit of rage. Her face snarled as she pushed herself from the ground. With a snap of her fingers her young pod followed behind her as she stomped away. Mertio held his head in shame. He knew his pod would not return.
In time, the crowds cleared and workers organized the pile of supplies into their designated spots. The entry became bare other than the Crimson Robes, the guards, Mertio and I. We shared no words while we waited for him to accept the abandonment of his makers. Finally, he allowed the truth.
"I am shamed by my pod." He fell to his face before me. "I will work in debt the rest of my life to make sure that my own future pod does not carry the embarrassment of Lusk and Mopus."
"Stand, Brother." I leaned over to pull him from the ground. "You hold no shame. No one outside of this room knows that your parents have fled."
"Bosh," his eyes rolled. "Bosh knows. She was always overly dramatic in plotted events."
One of the Crimson Robes snickered. My eyes darted across the room to silence him. I pulled the other Crimson Robes closer into our conversation.
"As a Brother of the Robe, no one is to discuss the fleeing of your pod. You will owe no debt. It is not your burden to carry. That is final."
"My gratitude." Mertio smiled with a sadness.
"It is done. Let us rest." I opened my arms to lead the remaining occupants toward their slumber pods.
"One question," Mertio halted, stopping us all. "The woods. The volcano. The growls coming from the direction they vanished into," he rambled. "Will the volcano erupt soon? Will my makers be safe?"
"No less so than mere, my dear Mertio," I answered. "I have little idea of the land above the soil. But I am sure that if a volcano erupts above us, we would meet our own demise just as they would."
Mertio nodded. He had such a large heart to care for those that left him behind with such ease. I admired him for that. I walked him to the door of his slumber pod as the Crimson Robes and guards followed mere footsteps behind.
Mertio closed the door to his pod and the remainder of our group continued walking. Two Crimson Robes stepped up, walking on each side of me. The eldest, a bald and wrinkled man with a hunched back, elbowed my ribs. The one to my right, a younger version of the hunched back, snickered. My brows arched in puzzlement.
"Good deed, Brother Harve." The eldest patted my back. "One day you must tell him the truth."
"Truth?" I paused.
"Claim your fate," the dark skinned guard quoted from behind. "It couldn't have been any more perfect."
"I do not understand?" I snatched my hood from the top of my head. "What do you find humorous about my words?" My lips snarled. "What truth?"
The bald hunchback revealed a book of etched scripts from within his thick red robe. His shaky hands reached for mine. He placed the green, smooth book into the palm of my hand. A golden tassel danced from the spine of the book. It was lovely. Not a book crafted by our sort.
"Dragon scaled leather," he winked. "A rather lovely feel."
"What is this?" I opened the cover.
"A treasure of your mother's," he pointed. "She found it during a scavenge some time back. Her favorite odd find."
The first page presented an artwork sketch. A magnificent beauty of a beast. I ran my fingers across the frail page. The beast spewed flames from it's mouth. It seemed unworldly.
"Wh
at is this being?"
"That being go by the name of Dragon," he laughed.
"What has this to do with truth or claiming fate?" I closed the book.
"This is the fate chosen by Lusk and Mopus." The other Crimson Robe tapped the book. "According to the words of this script, the hiding place of all beasts of this sort lays within the idle volcano past the woods above us."
"It was not the sounds of an active volcano that we heard today, Brother Harve," the dark guard nodded. "Was the sound of a hungry beast."
I leaned against the dirt walls to catch my breath. My fingers eased the tension from the corners of my eyes. "They could have made it. We had the numbers for this battle. No fatalities. No need for truancy or idleness."
"Idleness is its own reward. One small effort of work; that is all it took. Sloth, the laze of effort, called upon our kind and found those willing to accept its lead. Fate, Brother Harve. Fate." The eldest Crimson Robe opened the first page of the book in my hand and pointed to the beast called Dragon. His next words were powerfully charged. A direction. A belief. An order of life and how it is to be lived. His eyes glowing with honor, he offered me my own words, adhering them to me, him, and our entire clan: "Claim your fate!"
# # #
About the Authors
Michelle Anderson Picarella
Michelle Anderson Picarella is an author and peculiar antiques collector currently residing in the Carolinas. Her debut fantasy novel, Livian, is the first of a series and is set to be released in the summer of 2012 by Champagne Book Group. Before Michelle chased her dreams of becoming a novelist, she was a substitute teacher as well as a newspaper journalist.
For more information, visit http://www.picarellawrites.com
Stephen Penner
Stephen Penner is an author and artist from Seattle. He writes a variety of fiction, including thrillers, science fiction, and children's books.
Seven Deadly Sins Page 21
