The Harbinger of Change

by Matthew Travagline

  “Welcome back to the living, my friend. I suppose you’ll have some questions.”

  Gnochi exaggerated his nod to show sarcasm as best he could.

  “All right. Let me get the team stopped.” Ren sucked in a deep breath, then kicked some anchor off the sled from its spot between Gnochi’s feet. “Woah,” he shouted to the dogs. “Let’s take a breather my friends.”

  ◆◆◆

  Within the hour, the four riders neared the source of the previous night’s fire. They first passed a few singed trees, discolored by smoke. Eventually, every tree they passed bore the scars of flame and was burnt to its barest bones. Many sat uprooted or existed as piles of ash and stumps. The cold and snow no doubt stopped the fire from burning the entire swamp to the ground.

  Harvey watched Cleo dismount and crouch by a prone shape. As he approached, he saw that it was a man’s body.

  The body lay stiff in the center of the dried river, a frozen puddle of blood circled around his bald head.

  “It’s a Luddite,” Harvey observed aloud. He stooped and prodded a finger into the corpse’s neck. “Wonder why he was here.”

  “Is he dead from last night, Harv?” Roy asked, approaching.

  “Hard to tell. His body is frozen to the ground.”

  “Look,” Aarez called, standing by the charred remains of what looked like a dock. “Betcha’ we were right about this being the central river. This was no doubt their prison’s dock.”

  Harvey watched Cleo’s eyes shoot up from the corpse, already forgotten. A shadow from her wolf-hood cast a menacing shape on her face. He looked beyond the dock, imagining that he saw the charred remains of what looked like a building.

  “There it is,” she said, pointing beyond, into the swamp. In a rush, she hastily tied Perogie to one of the tree stumps still taller than her and took off running.

  Likewise, Harvey tied off Fester’s reins so the retired warhorse would not walk off.

  “There’s more bodies,” she yelled.

  As he walked up to where she stood, Harvey spied almost a dozen bodies, each one paradoxically charred and frozen stiff. “There are a few guards among them, but these are not Lyrinthian guards,” he said, noting the remaining scraps of their clothing.

  “He’s not here,” Cleo shouted. She was flitting through the ashy ruins body to body, watching for any sign of Gnochi being there, dead or alive.

  “This isn’t good,” Roy said, echoing Harvey’s thoughts. “Everyone is dead. Guards and prisoners alike.”

  “Guys come here!” Cleo shouted from somewhere inside the building. They all converged inside. Evidence of fire streaked the walls and blackened the floor. Cleo squatted before a man’s limp form.

  “Where is Gnochi?” Her voice crashed through the deserted prison and echoed out through the dead section of the swamp. She gripped what remained of the man’s clothing, shaking him.

  He wore a guard’s uniform, though much of it had burned away. The caramel skin underneath bore the scars of fire openly. Charred and scabbing skin leaked ruby red blood in trains that dripped to the ground. The man’s face scabbed over from its burns, but miraculously, his eyes remained unscathed. They looked at her with a surprising lucidity. The man turned his head and coughed, a spatter of blood sprayed out and dripped down his chin. “You knew Gnochi?”

  “Did he talk about me?”

  “Couldn’t talk.” Another fit of hoarse coughing wracked the man’s frame.

  Harvey rested a hand on Cleo’s shoulder, imagining that her mind was outpacing her mouth. “Where is he? Did he escape?” He asked.

  “Him. Ren. Dogs.”

  Cleo stood abruptly. “He’s with the dogs? We missed him by hours!” She stormed out. Roy and Aarez hurried after to calm her down.

  Harvey stooped to pick up the guard.

  “No,” the dying man managed to say. “Leave me here.”

  “Come on. We can get you help.”

  “No. I have to face my maker for what I’ve done.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I facilitated their escape. Doomed a lot of good men to their deaths, but I know they got out. I need to be alone now.”

  Harvey nodded. He stood and walked out of the building and was greeted, upon exiting, by Cleo high atop Perogie’s saddle.

  “Let’s get going, Harvey,” she said. “We have to make up lost time.” Without giving him a minute to get settled on Fester’s back, she spurred Perogie south, following the direction Gnochi had taken with the dogs.

  Roy urged Debs side by side with Harvey. “He didn’t want to come?” he shouted, his voice barely audible over the rush of wind.

  “He was dying and wanted to be left alone.”

  “We are going to have to slow our pace down,” Roy warned. “The horses won’t be able to continue this all day, plus it’s hard for them to judge footing.”

  “I know,” Harvey affirmed. “We’ll let her boil off some of her steam, then we’ll fall into a manageable pace.”

  ◆◆◆

  A dozen thick-built dogs created a din that remained constant in Gnochi’s ears. After feeding them, Ren unpacked a few bales of hay from the sled to provide them a dry surface to rest. He then handed Gnochi a bowl of broth that he had warmed over the fire. The pirate nursed his own bowl, though without vigor.

  “I had planned to break us out, you know. Don’t want you to think I had forgotten about you.”

  Gnochi sent Ren the most confused face he could muster.

  “We are on the run, Gnochi.”

  For his part, the bard shrugged. This much he could guess from their location.

  “It was Hope.”

  Gnochi raised his eyebrows in surprise.

  “I know. I was shocked too. Now you have to remember, I was gunna bust us out eventually.” Ren stirred at his broth. “It was my people that built the cursed place, way back. All I know is, I heard the guys screaming bloody fire.”

  Gnochi offered no comment, not that he could, even if he wanted to.

  “But with everyone burning, I had to escalate my plans. I got out of my cell and saw Hope carrying you, which by the way, you were out like a swaddled babe. He knew we were close, so he handed you to me. He was going to see about saving any of the others, but not before he told me about the dogs, and that they were still saddled up. He saved us, you know.”

  Gnochi didn’t know what look he had on his face, but Ren must have interpreted it to mean ‘Why?’

  “There was kindness in his heart, Gnochi. Don’t know why he acted so; Maybe Duke was going to have you killed and he had to move fast. Only he knows.”

  Gnochi gestured to the camp and group of dogs.

  “Everyone else is dead,” Ren said. “Or if they got out, I didn’t see them.”

  Gnochi dropped his eyes. He had no ill will against any of them. Even Floyd had been a mere passing recipient of Gnochi’s frustration. None of them deserved death.

  “They were good people,” Ren said, echoing his thoughts. “It’s a shame they’re dead. Would’ve enjoyed having them on my crew. Or at least drinking with ‘em. Rush and Cyrus alike. Maybe not Floyd. He was an odd bird, that one.” He stared into the fire with longing in his eyes. “So, Gnochi. I’m sure, now that you’re free, you’d like to return to the girl and your friends? I don’t suppose you know where they are?”

  Gnochi shook his head.

  “They could still be in Blue Haven, but no doubt they would’ve moved since. If not to avoid detection, then to find you. Blue Haven was still looking for the girl when I was arrested, so I’m sure, in fact, that she’s not there anymore. So,” he said, rubbing his gloved hands together. “The way I see it, unless you’re fixin’ to walk all the way back to civilization, we’re still stuck together.”

  Gnochi shrugged.

  “Good. Now help me get the team ready. We’ve got four solid hours until dark. We can make good ground.” Ren explained how to set the twelve dogs in formation. The double-lead dogs, such named o
n their collars as Ava and Arrain, were quick to nip the other dogs into order.

  The lead dogs knew that neither human was their previous musher, so they managed to exact a precise discipline into the other ten to make up for a less-steady lead hand. The two swing dogs, males named Prince and King, were the stockiest of the team. Ren said they were in second place purposefully because the second part of the line pulled hardest on the turns.

  The remaining dogs who could fill any other role on the line looked every bit as fierce as the four lead animals, though they lacked restraint. Ren simply referred to them as the mutts. One of them bit into Gnochi’s arm as he attempted to collar it. Arrain promptly chewed its ear as punishment. The mutts’ collars were nameless.

  Gnochi helped pack up the sled after ensuring that the runners were clean. With everything secured on the sled, he stepped onto the back. Ren squeeze on behind him, pulled up the anchor and kicked his feet, shouting, “Go on! Get!”

  The team shot out at a steady lope. Gnochi watched as they worked in unison.

  “I bet you’re wondering why I know so much about mushing and dog teams,” Ren said.

  The thought had not occurred to Gnochi, but he knew Ren would tell him regardless—the pirate was long winded in that way—so he nodded.

  “Every winteryear, and I’ve been sailing for three now, when the boats freeze up in the tundra, we gotta keep moving. Product needs moving. Messages need traveling. So, we figured that the fastest way to traverse the tundra was by dog team. This isn’t my usual team, as you may have figured out, and they’re behaving like cats in an alley.”

  Gnochi nodded, though the wind whipping at his face forced him to duck his head further under a scarf.

  “It was bad. The first time I was sailing, my ship got caught out in the tundra when it froze over. Thought I was clean in done for when this team comes up and saves my life.

  “So, I took the funds I had and invested in a team for myself. Not only was I able to pay back all my investment in full that year, but because so few people were leading sledding teams for trade, I nearly tripled my investment.

  “I was damn’d sure to have a team ready by the first freeze of last winteryear. Together, we circumnavigated up and down the coast dozens of times. Made a hefty profit. Then I got the call from Gideon.

  “Of course, things are a little different now. I’ve been following Cig for most of the past decade, so I didn’t get to train up a new team of dogs. Ironic, huh?” Gnochi nodded, not sure what the pirate found ironic. “Don’t worry. Nothing covers tundra ice and snow faster than a team of dogs in sync with each other.”

  Chapter 29

  As Cleo and her friends prepared their camp for the evening, they found evidence of a stop that Gnochi’s dog team had made. In a perfect spot along the trail for a camp, a few pieces of loose hay stuck into the snow. Close by were mounds of droppings and a plethora of footprints, canine and human. She frowned as they shoveled the feces into the fire.

  “Not that we were expecting them to be warm,” Roy said, laughing as though attempting to alleviate the tension. “Dogs are a lot faster than horses in this terrain.”

  Cleo groaned. She heard Perogie snort, though whether the mare was responding to Roy or warding off Fester, who continued inching closer to share warmth, she could not tell.

  “There’s no reason for him to sprint and tire out the dogs. As far as we know, there were no others who could give chase. I suspect we will catch up to him,” Harvey said.

  Cleo looked to him but settled for a scowl, still angry at having to halt so early in the evening.

  “Come on. Let’s get a meal on the fire so we can stop worrying,” Roy said.

  “At least it’s not snowing,” Aarez added. “We might still be able to follow their tracks tomorrow if it holds off and the wind doesn’t scatter the loose snow around.”

  Harvey stooped over the fire, searing up some winter vegetables with salted meat. He poured out generous heapings onto plates and dished them out to his three companions.

  “Any stories for us?” Roy asked Cleo.

  She looked at him with a stone face, shaking her head after a moment.

  “How about you, Aarez. You’re an entertainer, right? I saw you have that doll. Want to give us your common number?”

  “I—”

  “I’m not going to be a part of this,” Cleo said, taking her plate and walking away from camp.

  ◆◆◆

  “The last time I hurt Cleo,” Aarez said, eying the bag where the doll was held.

  “Come on, Aarez. We won’t hold anything against you.” Roy walked over and grabbed the doll, holding it before his face and inspecting it.

  “Ease off, Roy,” Harvey said, snatching the doll away and passing it back to Aarez. “If he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t have to.”

  Aarez turned the doll over in his hands. “This is Sir Lucas,” he said. He put his hand into the back of Lucas, closing his eyes.

  When the teen next looked at them, Harvey saw how dull his gaze had become. He watched the life drain from the entertainer’s face, color fleeing from his cheeks and forehead. The pallor on Aarez’s face made him resemble the corpses they had left exposed back by the prison.

  “Pidgeon,” a squealing voice yelled, “I’m freezing! Garb me in something warm, or at the very least, cover me with your natural heat.”

  Harvey felt sure that the hollow voice sounded not from Aarez, but from the doll. He had watched the other’s lips and had not seen them move in the slightest to match the spoken words.

  “Are you deaf, boy? I said warm me!”

  This time, Harvey’s gaze was on the doll as it spoke. From the sweeping gestures and frigid motions that it made, down to the slight lisp in his cheeks, the doll’s fluid-like motions mimicked life as he had ever seen it.

  In response to the doll’s words, Aarez lumbered around and wrapped it in a blanket.

  “This certainly isn’t an inn,” the squealy voice said. “I can tell by the lack of freely available bosom.”

  Roy snickered aloud. In response, the doll turned his head and examined the others for the first time.

  Harvey saw how the doll’s wooden brows bore down on its glass eyes, narrowing its eyelids to show focus. He swore that he saw the pupils dilate.

  “No way,” Roy said, as if he noticed the same. He chuckled and said, “that’s amazing.”

  “You always laugh at your superiors, boy?” The doll asked. “What’s the matter? Providence nab your tongue when he was smashing in your nose?”

  “Hey, lay off, Aarez,” Roy growled.

  “Who is this Aarez? I am Sir Lucas, regaled knight in the king’s army.”

  “And U’m Pidgeon,” Aarez’s husk-body said, lumbering through his speech. He slurred worse than any drunk the teen had ever heard.

  “Remarkable,” Harvey whispered.

  “Hey!” Sir Lucas snapped his tiny fingers. “You going to say something or simply stare at me? I’m not like him.” The doll haphazardly threw his arm in a wide gesture to cover Pidgeon. “I fancy the fairer sex. Speaking of ladies, where is that cute little mynx? Chloe, was it? No, Cleo.” The doll snapped again. “Yes. Where is Cleo? She was quite smitten with me, when last I saw her. I think she was agreeing to cuddle with that other woman. Kiren was it? Yes. I was in for a treat. Now where are my two delicacies?”

  Harvey sat back. Something about the doll’s words bugged him. “Kiren. Did you say Kiren?”

  “Yes. Sweet young woman. Hair that very well could’ve set my skin alight. She and Cleo encompass all that is beautiful in this world.”

  “You mean Nora?” Roy asked, tensing at the name.

  “No, I can assure you she named herself Kiren. A gentle knight such as myself never forgets when a mynx reveals her name rightly so.”

  “Harv, do you think—”

  “Let me ask you, gentlemen,” Sir Lucas said, interrupting him. “These two women. You seem greatly interested in them. Perhaps they
are your bedfellows. If so, I’ll humbly back off my advances in exchange for every tantalizing detail of their fleshy forms.”

  “They aren’t our women,” Roy said, fast.

  “Really? Because the way this one asked of Kiren,” the doll said, winking at Harvey, “makes me wonder how much probing he has already done on her plains.”

  Harvey vaulted to his feet, lunging over to where Aarez’s corpse-body held the doll.

  “Pidgeon,” Lucas screamed in shock, “defend your knight!”

  Aarez sluggishly rose to meet Harvey and threw a wide punch, aiming for his face, but the soldier saw it coming fast enough to deflect it with his elbow. The doll shrieked. Harvey reared his own fist back and sent it flying into Aarez’s cheek.

  The force of the blow knocked Aarez back. He stumbled and fell, the doll slipping from his grasp and tumbling into the fire’s greedy flames below. Harvey imagined that he heard the doll, now unattached from Aarez, scream as the fabric writhed in the heat. It was wholly consumed in the fire.

  Chapter 30

  Upon arriving back at camp, apprehensive looks from Harvey and Roy met Cleo. She saw their concern directed at Aarez, who was stooped before the fire. He cradled some burnt form, blackened from the fire’s grasp.

  When he looked up at her, she winced after seeing his swollen left eye painted in a deep maroon bruise. Restraining her nervous tendency to laugh, she knelt down before him and inspected his tender eye.

  “Who did this?” she asked, accusation leaden in her voice.

  “I did,” Harvey admitted, averting his eyes from her now seething gaze.

  “Don’t be mad at them,” Aarez mumbled.

  “There’s plenty of my anger to go around,” she said, sitting back. “What’s gotten into you, Aarez?”

  He let the bundle of ashes tumble to the fire. It imploded in a swath of sparks.

  She finally picked up on the scent of burning flesh that lingered in the camp. “Lucas?” She did not know if the smell came from Aarez holding the smoldering embers in his palms, or if she was smelling the remnants of Lucas in the fire.