by gmakalani
“Start cooking, Flare,” Edris said causing her to jump. “I could kill him,” she whispered and Flare raced to the table.
Flare slowly sliced the vegetables from the basket; despite her overwhelming hunger she couldn’t face the food. Iski watched her from behind his bars and although she had opened the door so easily it would not be that easy to escape. And there was no door in the strange cage that held Iski.
The witch sat at the table and watched her working. She was still a little bent but she looked so much younger it was unnerving. Flare glanced at the floor where the boy had been but the body was gone.
“You want to know who brought him to me,” she said, her voice softer and smoother than it had been.
Flare shook her head, focused on the knife in her hand rather than the woman across from her. There had been a vague familiarity but she was relieved that it hadn’t happened to her, or Iski. She glanced up from her chopping and wondered just what the witch had planned for them.
She shifted under Edris” intense gaze. She looked back at the pot and started to slice the carrot. The woman moved across to a basket by the door and returned with mushrooms; Flare left them untouched.
“The boy needs it,” she said. “You have to feed him up.”
Why would she feed him now after so many days of starving them?
“I know why you are here,” she said. “I know why you came to me.”
“We were looking for somewhere to be together,” Flare whispered, looking across at Iski leaning against the bars. He looked so tired and worn out, he needed food and strengthening. And then she looked at Edris, surprised that the words had been heard.
“You can be together here.”
“We wanted to marry and run away,” Flare said.
“No, you didn’t.” She stood slowly from the table. “You want to stay in your heartless little village and raise your children to be heartless little villagers.”
Flare shook her head.
“Cold and heartless,” she snapped. “Look at you, your lover is starving and you dither at the table.”
“I don’t feel well,” she muttered.
“Do you want to sleep?” she asked.
Flare shook her head. How long had they slept while the world around them moved on? She lifted the pot straight onto the stove and opened the little door. “We need more wood.”
“Only what you need to make it burn.”
“If it’s not hot enough the food won’t cook.”
Edris nodded and closed her eyes.
Flare collected two logs and returned quickly to feed the first one into the stove. As she straightened up, she saw that she had left the door open. Without Edris moving from the table it closed slowly and she heard the latch catch and the bolt slide.
“Won’t you let him out?” Flare asked.
She shook her head. “You do care then dear,” she said. “What a shame,” she muttered.
Flare carefully pushed the bread through the bars and sighed as Iski’s fingers brushed hers. She gulped down the threatening tears and brushed ineffectually at the flour and dust that covered her skirts. Edris wore the same grin she had over the past few days whenever Flare was close to Iski. It wasn’t often enough. But she wouldn’t give the old witch the satisfaction of knowing just how much that grin unsettled her. As she left Iski’s cage she focused on tidying the table and filling the kettle and sweeping the hearth.
“Are you going to eat me?” Iski asked suddenly and Flare dropped the broom.
“What a strange question,” Edris muttered. “But you will not be leaving here as you planned.”
Flare wanted to scream that there was no way out but instead she stooped and picked up the broom.
“You need a little time together,” Edris said, her voice soft and friendly, as she moved painfully slowly towards the door. “You know you can’t get out.”
As the door clicked shut Flare froze. She couldn’t even raise a smile for Iski who studied her silently across the room. As soon as she relaxed Edris would reappear and tear them apart. Holding his hand through the bars was not the same, but Edris was right, there was no way out.
She moved quickly to the door but the latch was slippery and she leant her head against the wood. When a hand rested on her shoulder she swung wildly, her arms up, but Iski was closing his arms around her and holding her close to his chest. His heart hammered and he was smaller and less solid in her arms.
“What do we do?” she asked.
He shook his head and kissed her forehead. “There is nothing of you,” he muttered letting her go and looking her over.
“Food hasn’t been the same since the mushrooms.”
He pulled her close again and she sobbed at the unnatural safety she felt against his chest. The old woman could return at any time and that they would never be free of her. They were never going to have the life Flare wanted for them.
“I wish we had married,” she muttered into his chest.
“Flare,” he said pulling her out to look at her again, “You have always been my wife.”
“Not twins?”
“Never,” he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her.
“She hasn’t explained why she keeps us here,” Flare said shaking him off.
“Or when she will release us.”
Flare shook her head, but he was pulling her close again and kissing her neck. “If this is all we have I want to keep you as close as I can.”
Edris sighed as she sat slowly at the table, annoyed that she had to pick her way through the clothes strewn across the floor. She had expected them to be trying to escape but instead they were curled together before the stove; sleeping beneath a thin blanket on the floor. She shivered in the cooling room and wanted to snap at Flare to stoke the fire but she didn’t want to wake them. She was tired and it was hard work to get the big man back in the cage. It was a risk allowing them time together but then it was all risk.
A risk worth taking. All those years of little children and wary villagers was all for this. For the twins of the prophesy. The power she wanted was hidden in those fated to destroy her. But that wasn’t going to happen. She had it in hand. As long as she left him locked up, the girl would do anything for him. For them. And she could take what she wanted before they had a chance to fully understand and escape.
She leaned on the chair by the table and watched them sleeping, still and peaceful. Maybe she needed to get them both in the cage and then she could take what she needed.
She straightened slowly, trying to ensure the chair didn’t scratch across the floor but his arms closed around her sleeping body and Edris cursed herself for her carelessness. At least they wouldn’t run naked into the forest. She grinned as Flare opened her eyes and jumped with fright.
She was on her feet, the blanket falling away and her thin slip showed just how slight she was beneath it. She backed up as the girl advanced on her, the knife looking out of place as it pointed at her.
“Now,” Flare said, her voice surprisingly strong. And he was moving towards the door. But he was only moving slowly, stiff from the days in the cage, and as the knife was thrust forward Edris smiled.
“Go,” Flare screamed.
The door squeaked open easily and he was gone. But she had Flare by the wrist, despite her frantic slices with the knife, she was trapped and he had left her.
“He’ll be back,” Edris whispered, “he can’t leave you behind.”
“I’m right behind you,” she called. “Keep running.”
Iski only stopped running when he heard the hideous high-pitched scream that filled his heart with lead and stopped his legs.
He couldn’t see the cottage. But worse, he couldn’t see Flare. He had heard her as he ran. “I’m right behind you,” her voice echoed in his ear. He spun madly, looking through the trees yet she wasn’t there. She wasn’t behind him. She wasn’t beside him.
His heart thudded in his ears a
s he crept through the thick bushes away from the path towards the cottage. It had been too easy.
Hidden in the trees before the small clearing, the door was still open but he couldn’t see anything. And then the witch stood in the doorway looking out into the pale light of the forest. He froze as her head turned towards him.
Where was Flare? There was blood on Edris” dress and he stepped forward before he could stop himself. She smiled and waved him towards the door. It was her blood, a deep cut on her arm and not Flare’s. He cursed himself as he continued across the clearing.
“I knew you would not leave your little wife behind,” she said. He gulped down the taste of bile and followed her back into the house. He searched the small room for any sign of Flare but there was nothing and his gaze rested on the closed cupboard door. He stepped forward slowly and opened it. She was wrapped in the blanket, still in her slip, sleeping or unconscious on the floor. He hoped with everything he had that she was sleeping.
“Pour out some broth for the girl,” she said kindly and he looked up at her, “and then you can be together forever.”
Iski moved to the fire, carefully ladled out some broth from the large pot for Flare and moved back to the cupboard where he found the cage was gone. He crept into the tight space, his heart thumping and the bile bitter at the back of his throat. Sitting against the wall he gently lifted Flare’s head into his lap. She sighed but stayed still. When he looked up the bars were back and he swallowed down his disappointment. How could he have thought his plan would work? Maybe his mother’s stories had no truth behind them and they were going to be trapped here forever.
Edris moved slowly around the room, she was slower and more bent with every step she took. How long did they have until her plan for them was executed? Or they were? He brushed the hair from Flare’s face and smiled with relief as she looked up at him with her pale eyes.
“Why didn’t you run?” she whispered hoarsely as she struggled to push herself up to sit beside him.
“I couldn’t leave you,” he said reaching out to steady her. As she sat back against the wall, he held out the bowl. She took a small sip before she held it out to him. He shook his head and indicated that she eat more.
“Next time hold my hand,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss her forehead.
Flare looked down into the bowl. “I tried to follow,” she whispered. “I was right behind you.”
He nodded and gently placed his hand under hers and lifted the bowl back towards her lips. Edris continued to shuffle around the room.
“It didn’t last long,” Flare whispered.
He shook his head.
“I may not look as young as I did but the youth I took from that boy will see me through many more years.”
Iski’s hands closed around Flare’s as the bowl shook. He gave her a little smile but he could see the tears forming. He slipped the bowl from her grasp and pulled her close.
“How long do you think I have lived out here?” she asked, her face appearing suddenly at the bars and Flare moved into Iski’s side and he wrapped his arms around her. “Generations,” she continued. “So many years I have stayed beside this little heartless village. So many years I have waited for you. And here you are, come to seek me out.”
“We were only looking for a safe place, we didn’t believe you were here,” Flare whispered.
“But you heard the stories.”
“They were just that, stories. Who could believe in a witch?” Iski said.
She cackled. “Who could believe in a town left in the snow to die?”
“We live in the mountains,” Iski said. “I heard some tell that it had always been this way.”
“Do you still believe that?”
He shook his head. “Not once I saw the trees and the colour of the leaves.”
She grinned and Flare shivered in his arms. “You do not realise just how strong I am,” Edris said.
“Where did the boy come from?” Flare asked quickly.
“I would worry more about yourself, dear. Two so close they could be twins.” She grinned as Iski shook his head. “Always close, always together, one couldn’t live without the other. So much in love and that love will keep me young forever.”
“So why keep us alive?” Iski asked.
“I had to be sure that you were the one.”
Iski squeezed Flare’s hand. “You just said it was the two of us.”
“Two, yes. But like one, always together, always close, one not moving without the other. You are one and now you have become one in each other’s eyes.”
“No,” Flare blurted.
“Tomorrow will be my day. I might leave this valley then and they might have the sun back and the green fields. It was so pretty when I came,” she muttered moving to the pail by the little sink and filling the kettle. She moved slowly towards the stove and set it down. She looked down at the little pile of sticks and then back to the cage before busying herself preparing tea.
“I’ve got an idea,” he whispered.
“No,” Flare mumbled.
He pulled his arms tight around her.
“I felt it,” she whispered, burying her face in his chest. “That moment we became one.”
He kissed the top of her head. “It will be ok,” he said. And when she lifted her sad eyes to him, he nodded. “Me too,” he whispered and he leant forward and touched his lips to hers. “She will need to stoke the fire soon. She doesn’t seem to like it very much but you could go for wood and then run back to the village and bring the men back.”
She shook her head vigorously.
“She needs us together. I’m stronger than you, I could fight her off.”
Flare lifted her eyebrows as she had done as a child and despite the shiver he smiled.
“I love you,” he whispered. “But we might have to split up to become one again.”
She took a big breath and nodded before she leaned back into him. “But if we get the chance, we go together.”
He kissed the top of her head again. “Together.”
It wasn’t long before Edris backed up from the stove and called for Flare. The bars disappeared and with her heart hammering in her ears, she crawled out of the space. Edris clicked her fingers and Flare blinked in the bright sunshine, finding herself by the wood heap. Something deep inside her called her back inside and as she tried to aim for the path towards the village her feet carried her back to the red door. She sucked in a deep breath and strode back to the woodheap. She loaded up her arms with narrow logs and carried them inside.
Iski stood like a statue beside the table. The old woman’s finger pointing at him. She nodded at Flare but her brow creased as she took in the number of logs in her arms.
“I thought it better for you,” Flare said. “If we are to die tomorrow it is easier if the wood is already piled beside the stove.”
She growled and Flare moved forward, dropping the wood before the stove and then opening the little door. The coals were low and she blew softly to raise a flame and then pushed in a log, causing bits of the kindling to jump out onto the hearth and the fire to crackle.
Edris started screaming and waving her arms as the flames jumped from the stove and the coals crackled. Iski moved slowly backward, steady, silent steps.
Flare raced around the table, took him by the hand and pulled him out the door. As they hit the light his legs started to work and they were running.
“Go,” she whispered, “go, I’m right beside you.”
Iski pulled her across the little clearing and into the trees. Her hand in his, her words in his ear he ran through the forest, looking for a sign of a path between the trees, where the leaves covered the forest floor like a strange blanket. How long had they been lost amongst these trees? He stopped running. He was just as lost now. Unsure which way to run, which way to lead them. He leaned back against a tree fighting to catch his breath and looked down at his empty hands.
> His heart stopped.
She whispered in his ear, “I’m right behind you.” But she wasn’t. “Run,” she said, “Run.” But she wasn’t there. How could he hear her so well when she wasn’t close enough to be seen?
He had to run back despite her urgency. He couldn’t leave her behind. The old witch was right, they were one and he would never be whole without her. He crept through the forest, listening for any hint of where she might be but her words still whispered in his ear as though she were beside him, “Don’t do this, run.”
He shook the voice off and hid again in the bushes watching smoke curl out of the door. The distraction had worked. Then he saw the legs, dried and grey. Just as the boy had been when he woke in the cage; his chest so tight and heavy he would never be able to breathe again. He couldn’t look away; like strange twisted branches that grew out between the dark green leaves of the garden. Edris standing on the front step looked beyond them, unseeing.
He was sure he had her hand so tight in his and he clenched and unclenched his fist but it was no good. He stumbled back through the forest. It might have been easier to simply lie down on the soft bed of leaves and die there in the forest.
“Run, my love,” she whispered in his ear as the forest blurred before him. He half ran half stumbled through the trees until he heard axes biting into wood and the leaves disappeared beneath the snow.
Iski gently closed the door and stood in the silent hall listening for any sound coming from the rest of the house. Nothing. He found his mother in the little kitchen standing at the sink and looking out the window. She was so still for so long that the strange inactivity scared him and he reached out slowly to place a hand on her shoulder to be sure she was real.
She jumped beneath his touch and he sighed. She turned quickly and then stared unbelieving for a moment before pulling him into her arms. “Oh, my boy,” she sobbed into his chest as she clung to him. “I thought I would never see you again.”
He patted her back but couldn’t speak. She finally released him and held him at arm’s length with a warm smile. “Where is Flare?”
