He talked all afternoon, sometimes using poetry which he claimed to have either written himself or inherited from ancestors. I did not believe any of that. She cant have children, he said suddenly. I stopped walking and looked at him for the first time all day. How do you know? She told me. She said that she and Mikolai both want children and that theyve tried for years. In the beginning I assumed that Mikolai had a problem, being so much older Thats a stupid assumption. It will get you in trouble some day. But it isnt Mikolai. He cleared his throat and looked around at the woods, not meeting my eye. I see, I said. How many children do you have, Egan? Im not really sure. One or two. Maybe three. Do you know their names? Egan avoided answering the question as he always did, with verse. The sweetest vintage at last turns sour; The full moon in the end begins to wane. And so with men the bonds of love and affection Soon may change to a load of sorrow and care. If there is any justice in Chaos, I said, then you will sufferoh, forget it. I want to find Ittas hut before it gets dark. Good idea. The wild Medruzz roams these woods and if it touches you, there will be awful scars. If you survive. Most dont. Tamary was lucky.
I spun around and shoved him. “What did you say? That beast attacked Tamary? Tell me I misunderstood what you said.” He rubbed at his chest. “The fire returns to your eye, the rosy blush to your cheek…” “Cut the poetry, you idiot. Did the Medruzz attack Tamary, or not?” “She doesn’t remember anything about it and I whisper only words of love in her gentle ears, nothing else. I do not question her about the past because our time together is so short.” “Then how do you know what attacked her?” “She has scars, and I’ve seen those same scars on others. There is no mistaking the nature of the beast that made them.” “I thought it just killed to eat.” “Sometimes it will torment and wound its victims without eating, especially if it finds a woman alone, as happened to Tamary. Sometimes it hungers for meat and will eat your flesh while you still breathe. Other times it is content to press its foul mouth over yours and draw the soul from your body, leaving behind the shattered, stumbling, drooling husk, alive but empty of all memory or awareness of self, possessed by horrors you and I cannot begin to know. This is all common knowledge, Andromeda, and I wonder that you had never heard of these things, nor seen those who have been caught by it.” “I come from further away than you can imagine. Why did the priest tell me that the Medruzz only roamed the land in the winter?” “I grew up believing that was true, too, because that is how it is written in the texts on the temple walls. But the creatures of the snow grow bolder, and roam further from the mountains than ever before. The summers are shorter and the crops are less robust. The farmers give more and more of their goods to the temple of Niichaad, and yet the winters grow more bitter and the summers are too dry. The family of the Mountain Sorcerers gains in power. No one knows the reason.”
at last the tale continues.... but I want to know, Lynet, what dark corner of your mind did the Medruzz cime out of???
Michelle, I've seen some pretty creepy movies in my time. And I watch WAY too much TV. Add that to an overactive imagination and a compulsion to share it with others. Really, I'm a very happy-go-lucky person who makes jokes and laughs alot. (I LOVE the jokes you post.) Errol and Harcourt are more my type of fiction, much more fun for me to write. With Andy Rose I'm just experimenting a little with the "Dark Side." But Stephen King I'm not! (Whew!)
The sack over my shoulder grew heavier as I walked over the muddy stone of the road, through the silent woods under a darkening sky. The clouds were accumulating for another rainstorm, as usual. Maybe it would hold off until we got to Ittas place. Although I tried to focus on getting to the farmers market in Brydia Fields and finding Cory, my thoughts were disorganized and broken up by images of Tamary attacked by the Beast. I tried not to imagine its unclean arms pulling her beautiful face against its putrid mouth, and its claws raking at her clothes, tearing the soft skin underneath. I had not seen any scars on her, so whatever she had suffered was hidden by her dress. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. If this world, I told myself, is a creation of Amathaons telepathic gymnastics then he is brutal. He is a sick monster. His creature, the Medruzz, is evidence enough of that. The beast might even be Amathaon himself, roaming in disguise through his own madness. But if this is my nightmare, unaided by Amathaon NO! Absolutely NOT! I am Andromeda Rose Seville and my last rational memory is of scouting a frozen planet with Cory ONeill. We met Amathaon, and now we are here. I did not create any of this. But how do we escape? First, of course, I had to find Cory. But what next? Should we do what Hugo wants us to do and kill the sorceress? Dumb idea. Stupid. I refuse! Do you hear me, Amathaon? I wont do it!
Ittas place was a lot bigger and in better condition than that little shack where Id spent my first night in the woods. Still, it wasnt a fortress. The old wooden door hung loosely on rusted hinges. At least there was a water barrel, an iron stove, and a rough table with stools. I climbed the ladder in the corner and found a small room with an old bed. Candles, too. I joined Egan again on the main floor and decided to share the bread and cheese with him. Hed been unusually quiet after our talk about Tamary but as we ate the food he got chatty again. I have noticed, he said, how you watch over the sack you carry, and I am anxious to know the reason. You did not leave if upstairs and you have not set it down on the floor here, although it looks as if it were heavy. Is it more wine, perhaps? Another jug? Was the innkeeper more generous with you than with me? I dont have any wine. If I did, Id share it. But it is an awkward bundle hung from your shoulder. If it isnt wine, then it is something else of value. Have you had enough cheese, Egan? Wrap it up and we can finish it tomorrow. Im exhausted and Im going upstairs to sleep. As I got up from the table, he said, I saw the pale shade of Itta himself moaning over the weeds in his garden. He may come inside to see who sleeps in his bed. I shook my head at him and climbed the ladder. When I got to the top and glanced down I saw him at its foot, smiling up at me. There is only the one bed, my lovely Andromeda, and I think it is only fair that we share it. Its too small, Egan. You can sleep on the table. I wonder, he called after me, which of them poor Itta misses the most, his bed or his table. He was not a big fellow, as I recall.
The bed was lumpy, stained, and smelled of sweaty bodies, but I was too tired to care. If Id known about the insects I might have traded the bed for the table, but the rash of bites didnt show up until the next day. I didnt feel them bite. I slept so deeply, as a matter of fact, that I wasnt really certain what was real and what was dream when Egan came up the ladder and walked boldly over to my bed where he stood for a moment staring down at my face. Whether it was his thieving nature, or simple curiosity, he crouched down and took the sack out from under the bed. I have to admit, he was a good thief because I didnt even hear the floor creak when he went back to the ladder and climbed down out of sight. I struggled to come fully awake. At last on my feet, I pulled on my dress and tightened the lacings as I tiptoed over to the ladder and looked down. It was at that moment, at the foot of the ladder, that Egan pulled the knife from the sack and held it up. It blazed with a white light that nearly blinded me. I gasped and stepped back, covering my eyes. Wincing and blinking at spots in my vision, I felt around for my boots and jammed my feet into them. Egan! I yelled. Put it back in the sack! Egan, do you hear me? I grabbed at the ladder and stumbled down to the first floor just as he ran out into the night. I followed him. I chased him down the road, screaming at him to stop. I didnt see the knife but I knew he had it, probably stuffed inside his shirt. A shadow moved in the woods. An earsplitting screech exploded from all around us, reverberating, echoing, and I knew instantly what it was. So did Egan. He stopped running and looked around. His mistake. The beast had him.
The knife! Egan, use the knife! But he didnt. Instead, probably thinking I meant to take it from him, or even intending to deny that he had it, he shook his head at me and turned to face the Medruzz. He was too far down the road and I had no weapon. As I ran toward him I grabbed at sticks on the ground. The rotten wood disintegrated in my hands. I stooped for a couple of rocks but they were small and my aim was poor. Egan was able to fight it off for only a moment before his arms were pinned. The monsters face bent down, its fangs locked its mouth against his and whatever there was of Egans soul was drawn out by the roots. I was too late, and I knew it. I moved behind the nearest tree and leaned against it, pressing my fist to my mouth and biting deep to keep myself silent. I didnt move. I didnt breathe. Finally, the Medruzz shoved Egan away and ran in the loping, half-crouching way of something partly human, partly animal. It passed close to me, reeking of carrion and death, but did not see me as I held myself tight against the tree trunk. When the woods were completely silent I walked over to where Egan stood. Yes, he was standing. He wasnt dead. But the face he turned toward me would give me nightmares for years to come. Slowly he reached a hand into his shirt and pulled out a long bundle, my sack wrapped snuggly around the knife. He held it out to me and I took it. Then he mumbled something and started shuffling uncertainly down the road. He was headed back the way we had come, toward Tamarys Inn and to the woman I now knew he truly loved. Because the Beast had not gotten everything. The word that Egan mumbled was her name.
Wow. You had me on the edge of my seat. The Medruzz is truly scary. I hope Andy figures out what's going on before it gets her.
I watched Egan stumble down the road into the shadows, and when I couldn't see him anymore and could no longer hear the limping scrape of his feet, I ran back to Itta's place. I held my sack in front of me, ready to grab the knife if attacked, and once inside the house, with the old door blocked by a stool, I sat at the table and listened nervously for any sound from the woods. I sat there facing the door for the rest of the night. When the only window in the room began to lighten with the rising sun I allowed myself to close my eyes and was soon asleep with my head on the table. I awoke abruptly and in a panic and jumped up from the chair, but I was alone in the room and the only noise I heard was the twittering of small animals that lived in the trees. Feeling stiff and groggy I shouldered the sack, splashed water on my face and grabbed my cloak. When I stepped outside I could see immediately that I'd slept too long. The shadows of the trees on the road were short. The sun was high. If Tamary was right, then I had a full day's walk ahead of me before reaching Brydia Fields, and I dreaded being caught on this road after dark. I settled the cloak and the sack more comfortably on my shoulders and set off, walking fast. Sometimes I ran until my lungs hurt and my heart pounded, forcing me to slow down to a walk again. Even so, as the sun went down and the sky darkened, I had still not met anyone, nor seen any sign of a town. If the acolyte had told me the truth, and farmers were already carrying offerings to the temple, then they weren't coming by way of this road. I was completely alone. I shifted the sack off my shoulder and held it in front of me with my right hand inside it gripping the burning handle of the knife. I knew that my anxious, shallow breathing was draining me of the last of my energy, but I was jumpy with every crack of a twig, no matter how small, and even of the leaves rustling overhead. The night sky, at least, was clear, and the moon was round and bright in front of me as the overhanging trees ended abruptly at the edge of open fields. The stars, when at last I saw them, spread high and wide in unfamiliar constellations across the blue-black sky. In the distance I saw a cluster of buildings whose outlines quickly blurred as my eyes filled with grateful tears. I started to run again.
I have a couple of not very exciting pictures Andy leaves Itta's place. The road continues beyond the woods and Andy sees buildings in the distance. She gets anxious and runs toward Brydia. I'll be glad to get to the Brydia Fields market at last. I'm tired of walking in the woods and I know that Andy is, too.
But the walk was anything but boring on this end. Nail biting, more like. I'm glad she found shelter!
It was late in the night when I got to the market square. There was no one around except a girl standing behind crates of vegetables. She watched me nervously as I walked over to her, and then shook her head without a word when I asked about Cecil. Another woman who looked a few years older than the little vegetable guardian came out of a nearby building and I asked her about Cecil, too. I know Cecil and Donata, she said. Their farms down the road, that way. Its not a long walk. Start now and youll be there before the suns up. And the other man living with himI think his name is Valenis he still there? Valen was Corys name in this world, where he was brother to Cecil, and I had barely remembered that fact in time. The woman smiled a big smile. Valen! He comes here every evening and buys us all a round of drinks in Onkars Tavern, then dances with the women and has a rousing good time. You know him? She look puzzled for a moment then smiled again. Of course, Valen knows everyone. Sure, hes got some farmland next to Cecils and hes been working it hard ever since the thaw, even before all the snow was gone. Wheres Onkars Tavern? Right behind you, but its locked up and everyones in bed now and Onkar doesnt appreciate being knocked out of bed once hes in it. I thanked her, and watched her walk through the square and disappear around the corner of the tavern. Then I stared down the road to Cecils place. It was dark, even in the moonlight, and I didnt want to go there now. I just wanted to lie down and close my eyes. The girl had disappeared and I was alone, so I wandered around looking at the heaps of sacks, hay and straw, searching for somewhere to rest. When I found the steps leading down to a cellar door under Onkars place I decided to see if the door was unlocked. It was, and opened on a small storage room. Someone had left a candle burning and I was grateful for the light. I closed the door, sat down on a stool, and waited for sunrise.
There wasnt room enough to lie down so I sat with my back against the damp stone wall and closed my eyes. Whether it was because of all the horrors of the past few days, or because of my uncomfortable position, my sleep was haunted by dreams of the Beast. I dreamed that I came face to face with him in the woods. He looked different and he spoke without growling, with a voice that throbbed in my head. In my dream, Amathaon and the Medruzz had merged into one horrible being. You are mine, he said. NO, Im NOT! Get away from me! I yelled, and turned to run, but he leaped forward and caught me in a crushing grip that I could not escape. I fought him. I tried to scream but couldnt breathe. We will rule together, his words exploded in my skull, you and me, side by side, and so will those who descend from us, beginning with Tolek, destined to destroy Niichaad. Tolek the Great will be born to you, by me, before the Rashida Wind returns. I found the breath at last to scream. It woke me up and I staggered to my feet. My clothes were soaked with sweat and my hands were shaking so badly that I couldnt even loosen the cloak at my neck. Eventually my heartbeat slowed down. I closed my fingers tightly around the strap of the sack and felt its weight. I still had the knife, and I would kill that creature with it, if he ever dared to touch me.
Sleep was impossible for me now so I opened the door to the cellar room and found that the sun was up, the sky was bright blue, and people were already in the square, talking. For a few minutes, I watched them. Some were meeting friends, others were stacking the heavy bags of grain, or prying open barrels of salted meat. Onkars tavern was opening for business and so was the building across the square. I heard a dog barking and saw chickens wandering lazily, pecking at the cobbles underfoot. It was wonderful. It was normal. It was a world in order, without demons. A breeze stirred in my hair and I turned my head to face it, and saw the road to Cecils farm, and to Cory. The woman had promised a short walk. Please, Cory, I thought to myself, be there for me. I headed for the road.
As I walked, I wondered how many farms Id pass before getting to Cecils place. Would I know which one it was? How? Id left when snow was still piled to the eaves. Id have to ask at every door I passed. I should have asked the woman for more specifics, more details about what the farm looked like. Stupid of me. The sun rose higher and my stomach hurt, and when I remembered the bit of cheese left from my last meal with Egan I dug it out and finished it. But I didnt stop to rest. Eventually, I came to the outbuildings of a small farm. The sun was directly overhead and hot on my shoulders. The farm should have water, perhaps a pump in the yard, and I was painfully thirsty. I walked cautiously down the road past the outbuildings, toward the house. I saw bedclothes hanging on a line. I saw a couple of chickens, then a bucket next to a water pump. A man moved around in a vegetable patch nearby. I walked toward him, meaning to ask for water, and slowly realized that I was not watching a stranger. Id know that slouch anywhere. It was Cory. I ran to him, yelling his name. He turned around in time to catch me in his arms, and I hugged him, and laughed, and ran my fingers over his face and through his hair. He shook his head and grinned at me, Wow, Andy! Where have you been? Whered that witch take you? Hey, look at my farm. Isnt it great? Smiling broadly around his crooked teeth, he reached up to touch my face but stopped when he noticed that his hands were covered with dirt. He shrugged, I dont usually notice the dirt. But let me show you the house! Ive been fixing it up. Lots more to do and I could use your help. Guess you missed me a little, huh? You look hungry. Ill make you a sandwich, after I wash up, of course. I was so glad to see him I could have kissed him. As I followed him to the house, I actually started to imagine that kissing him might be kind of nice. Slow down! I told myself. Eat and rest, and think carefully before you start something you might regret. But against my will, my thoughts strayed back to the feel of him in my arms, and every part of me ached to go there again.
*OK, if you wonder how Tamary reacted to seeing Egan, I decided to post a couple of pictures. I also decided not to write anything about it. I think the pictures are enough.*
