Year 1, Month 1, Week 3, Day 3

Sael

She was miserable. Sael had been walking with her mother for a day and a half with no food and no water before they reached the waystation. Technically it was the township of Trinn, but with little more than four communal buildings and some scattered ramshackle residences, she didn’t consider it anything more than a waystation, and, looking around, the others who were gathered there, it seemed she was not alone in that opinion. There were no survivors of the Incident at Almaz. That is what it was being called. No one called it an assault. No one called it an invasion. No one seemed to know. Because no one had survived. Except Sael and Jophiel. Everyone else clustered in the waystation–the rest-stop along the trade route that led north from what was Almaz–who were avidly discussing the Incident were citizens of the city who were away from the city when it happened. Some were traders and merchants, some were lumberjacks, some were hunters, but all had been displaced, and none had any knowledge of what happened.

The township of Trinn was kind enough to turn their town hall into a soup kitchen, allowing all who do a day’s work to partake in the food that was communally made. Some worked in the scattered gardens and small cornfield, while some hunted in the surrounding area. The food that was brought back was divided; half was preserved for the winter while half was used to make watery soup with questionable nutrition. The well in the center of town was free to use, though. There was that.

When she first came to the waystation, she was almost collapsing from thirst. It had been hot while traveling. Jophiel and Sael had arrived before any of the other displaced had shown up. Jophiel had spent some of the money she had on her to purchase food. Unfortunately the waystation had no shelter, and there was no recourse but to sleep outside. The following morning, the pair had awoken to a completely new living arrangement. The township was no longer offering anything for sale, as the sheer number of people who had arrived in the night would surely have bought everything the township had to offer, and so a soup kitchen had been started, and while some of the work proposed for the reward of food was building more shelter, it had indeed only been a day, and so no shelter was available.

Sael currently sat with her mother on the hard ground just outside the waystation, her clothes filthy with dust and grass, cradling the basket of vegetables that they had bought the night before.

“...there’s a town about half a week’s travel to the east of here, much bigger than this place. We have a distant cousin there that will likely provide us shelter until we can get back on our feet. …Sael?”

Your mother is speaking to you; she’s trying to better your situation. Please pay her some heed. “Hm?” Sael turned to face her mother, zoning in from her thoughts.

“I said that we need to prepare for travel. We have food enough if we leave today, but we won’t get very far without water. I need your help to plan this.” Sael looked at her mother directly for the first time that morning.

“What do you need from me?” Sael asked, almost robotically.

“Help me think. Look at everyone around. They’re as destitute as we are. Worse, even; we have a basket of vegetables and some coin and they don’t. If they find out, they might end up taking it from us by force, and then we’ll be in a worse position than we were before. Help me think of a solution. Please.”

Sael was suddenly very angry. “So now you care what I think?!” Sael, please don’t continue this– “No, fuck you!” she yelled, her voice shrill, “It takes Muriel and father to pass away and a godsdamned city-explosion for you to finally decide that I’m useful? I’d like to hear you try to explain this one away, Lady Erus.”

Jophiel took a deep breath. “I have three things to say, then. First, and most directly, you were raised in a city. We’re out in the wilds where wolf packs and strange monsters roam, far from any serious city walls. You will not survive without help. Keep that well in mind when making your decisions.

“Second, you’ve always been my beloved daughter. You haven’t always made the wisest decisions and I couldn’t make it seem like I was supporting your errant behavior, but I have never disowned you, nor tried to hide you, and I never spoke ill of you to others; I simply kept you from public events, so your actions wouldn’t hurt us.” Tears started to stream down Jophiel’s cheeks. “Was that inconsiderate of your delicate sensibilities? Maybe. But I never cast you out, I never locked you up, and I always made sure you were protected and well-fed. I’m sorry I was such a bad mother, but it’s not exactly something I can correct now.

“Third, and I want you to hear me, and really hear me when I say this: you are not the only one who lost your father.” Sael felt tears rolling down her face, now, too. “You are not the only one who lost him.” Jophiel’s voice was shaky, but she didn’t raise it. “I loved him. Hells, I married him, bull-headed man that he was. I tried to keep him from leaving. I tried, Sael. You were there for that. But he’s gone. I know you’ve never been married, so let me tell you how it is. Your father and I were two people before we were married, and when we were married, we considered ourselves one. Now he’s gone.” She choked. “Now he’s gone, and so is half of me. I’m half a person, Sael, and I need help! I need your help!” Please have compassion on her, Sael. The things we do define us; please be a woman of compassion. Or at least one of mercy.

Sael caved. Her anger was gone almost as soon as it came. She leaned forward and hugged her mother, and the two women sat there and sobbed together for a while. Much better, Sael.

“Another thing I want you to understand,” Jophiel said as soon as she got control of herself, “is that I lost your sister. I know the two of you hated each other, but it didn’t have to always be that way. She was alive, and while there is life, Sael, there is hope. She had time to change her mind about you. You both had the rest of your lives to grow as people and learn better what it means to be family, but that was cut short. You’re all I have left, my child, and it’s in my best interest to work with you for a brighter tomorrow. But first we have to get through today.”

“Today, then?” Sael asked, wiping her face.

“Yes.” Jophiel took Sael’s wrist. “Do you feel that pulse?” Sael nodded. “That’s life. Where there’s life, there’s hope. I want you to say it.”

“Where there’s life, there’s hope.” She replied.

“Good. We can’t give up. Not here, not now. We need a way of transporting water, and my mind isn’t working as well as it should. The town isn’t selling any casks or canteens, or anything, really, and the people here might just take any gold we offer. Help me brainstorm.”

“Okay.” Sael replied with a bit more enthusiasm. “The basket. The basket looks waterproof. We could wrap the vegetables in our clothes and fill up the basket with water.”

Jophiel considered this, briefly, and replied, “No, that won’t work well. The basket isn’t covered, so evaporation will be a considerable problem. Plus, if we have to run from anything, both the water and food will be lost.” Sael sat back for a bit and thought.

“How much money do we have?”

“Just the pocket change I had. Ten gold, two silver.”

“Hand me a silver. I’ll see if I can buy a cask or something from someone.” Sael said. Jophiel nodded and replied,

“I’ll stay here with the food. Hurry back.”

And so Eden set out through the waystation, looking upon each of the people that were working. To Sael, they all looked as miserable as she felt. You should join them for a while. There are still hours in the day and a helping hand is not only good, but inspires camaraderie in those around you. Help? Not likely. Sael was trying to leave, not entrench herself in a community she wanted to leave.

She looked around. At the edge of town, quickly wheeling around the edge to head north was a horse-drawn wagon. Something was off about the wagon, Sael could tell. Judging by the shiver running down her spine, it was probably magic. The horse was… well, it wasn’t moving like a horse. It was silent, without any head-shaking or any other horse-like indication that it was even alive. She looked at the passengers. One male, one female, but both were wearing black robes and she couldn’t tell any distinguishing features about them. Another shiver went down her spine. Magic for sure. She did a double-take, though. In the back of the open wagon… were those pots with the red lavender that grow in the cemeteries around Almaz growing out of them? She shook her head. Not her business. Her eyes wandered to the north side of the waystation, where she saw another person leaving the town. He had what looked like a sword fashioned from a spine and was wearing black robes that concealed his identity. Creepy. That was definitely someone she would want to avoid. Still, black robes? Perhaps black robes were in fashion. The robes reminded her of Eden and Azrael. She pursed her lips as sadness started to creep back in. She remembered that she had given them some black robes. No, no, she had a job to do. Banishing the thought from her mind, she continued walking through the town.

After a few minutes of looking around, she spotted a human with a canteen strapped to him. He was pretty much by himself, the closest workers, three sanpinsani, being about twenty feet from him. The man had sandy-blonde hair and a long scar on his right cheek. He was busying himself by pulling weeds from the garden plot he was at.

“Excuse me, sir?” Sael called as she approached him. The man straightened up and frowned at Sael, not saying anything. “I was wondering if I could purchase your canteen from you.”

His frown deepened into a scowl and instead of answering her, he asked, “Where’s your parents, kid?”

“My mother,” she replied, “is laid up at the moment,” You shouldn’t lie under these circumstances, “and a canteen will let her have water without me monopolizing the well bucket. Will you please sell it to me? A silver coin is all I have, but it’s more than fair.”

The man laughed softly, and spoke in a low voice, “Fair? I’ll tell you what’s not fair, is seeing you waltz around the city, not a care in the world, throwing money every godsdamned way,” he took a step closer to her, “while the rest of us have to work for our fair share.” Eden, head towards the sanpinsani; this man is acting aggressively. She started backing up, out of instinct. “See I recognize you, Madam Erus. You don’t recognize me because I’m just a peasant to you.” He grabbed her by the throat quicker than she could react. “Aw, your daddy’s dead and your mommy is sick, huh?” She struggled against his hand, choking, but his fingers were like iron. “And no guards around to protect you, either.” He struck her in the face with his fist; she could feel her cheekbone swelling. “You’ve had an easy life, and now it’s only fair that you have it harder than the rest of us to balance things out.” He yanked her towards him and caught her in the belly with his knee, momentarily lifting her feet off the ground. He let her go so when she vomited, and she did, it wouldn’t get on his arm. While she was off-balance, he swung with his other hand, hitting her on the opposite cheek and knocked her to the ground. His voice rose. “Your father threw me in prison just for trying to feed myself, and now I get to repay him in some small way!”

There was some yells of alarm, and when Sael looked up, she saw that the three sanpinsani accosting the man, two of them lifting him up by his arms, and restraining him. The third came over to Sael and helped her up, as she coughed up stomach acid. The snake-person on the man’s right arm spoke to him and said,

“Do you ssssee thisss green pearl hanging from my neck? It means peaccce, even if we have to keep it ourselves. Assssault sssomeone again, and you will hang like a pearl.”

The sanpinsani that helped Sael up, said “No, no death. Our living sssituation makesss beggarssss out of all of usss, but it does not have to make murderersss of usss.”

The sanpinsani on the other arm asked, “Well, then, what do we do?” Sael had an answer for that.

“Give me his canteen.” All three of the serpentfolk turned to look at her, and the man spat at her. Sael, taking from him might not be wise. “I was trying to leave anyway, and that canteen will make sure I don’t die of dehydration on my journey.”

One of the serpentfolk asked, “Then what do we do with him?”

“Dig a hole and throw him into it. Keep him there until nightfall, so he can’t follow me. Make sure he doesn’t even know what direction I went in. Then let him out; he can work until his heart’s content. No death needed; he’s not going to assault the whole camp without getting thrown out.”

The sanpinsani all nodded. “Thisss isss a good idea. Make your preparationsss and we will dig closssser to where the ccccity usssed to be.” They then unstrapped the canteen and escorted the man, kicking and screaming, south.

Sael, rubbing her face, Took the canteen to the well and rinsed it out, filling it up with fresh water. Several people came up to her to ask if she was alright, but she waved them off. As she walked to the outskirts, where her mother was, she looked down at the canteen. It was a sizeable container, but she wondered if it would really last them a week.

She approached her mother, who was sitting defensively in front of the basket of food she kept. Jophiel looked up and asked,

“Heavens, child, what happened?” Sael hadn’t taken the time to look at her reflection, but judging from her mother’s response, it seemed that her face was discolored.

“I went to buy a canteen from a man, and I think he had been imprisoned by father at some point before. He attacked me.” Jophiel reached up to Sael’s face, but Sael batted her hand away. “I’m fine. Some Sanpinsani came to help me out. They’ll be detaining him long enough for us to leave.”

“What did he look like?”

“Short blonde hair, pink scar across his face, eyes like coal.” Jophiel nodded, her lips pursed, as she did when she was stressed.

“Martin Gammel. I remember him. He and some cohorts robbed a bakery; your father showed up at the scene, beat them all senseless, and opted not to execute him on the spot. Gammel continued to attack your father until he was rendered unconscious. It’s best we move on quickly.”

Sael nodded. They both headed east.

***

The first day traveling was quiet. Neither mother nor daughter spoke for a long while; they simply followed the sun’s origin, walking quickly, so as to put as much distance as possible between them and the man that assaulted the young elavis. The grass planes stretched as far as their eyes could see, save for a tree, every now and then, during the first day. They had some water, they ate a little of the raw vegetables that they had with them. When dark came, and only the starlight illuminated their way, they kept walking for another couple of hours, and then found a tree to sleep under when their legs could carry them no further.

The second day greeted them earlier than Sael would have liked, but, remembering the man at the waystation, she roused her mother and they both set out at a quick pace. Today, however, Sael had a thought.

“Mother, you said that we have family at this town we’re going to?”

Jophiel nodded. “Qaspiel, a relative on my side of the family. She doesn’t owe us anything, no allegiance, nor respect, but she is a good person, and she has asked that we visit her in the past. It is my great shame, now, that I haven’t.”

“And you’re sure she will take us in?”

“Yes, taking in the destitute is an activity she has engaged in before. It will be her pleasure to take care of family.”

“I feel like that’s kind of a big assumption to make for a distant relative.”

“You wouldn’t if you knew her.” she said, emphatically. Sael smiled. It was nice to know that, despite everything else, there was still someone out there that was potentially kind.

“Do we have family anywhere else?”

Jophiel’s face darkened. “We did. My brother lived in the first town that was destroyed by helwolves.” Sael stopped walking and stared at her mother, eyes wide. “No, Sael, we must walk as we speak.”

“The first town? Is that why dad…?”

“That’s why the king volunteered him, yes. Your father wasn’t going to step up, to begin with, so as not to seem like he was showing partiality to his family, but the king gave him a direct order to go. I’m under the impression that the king thought he was being kind. I tried to tell your father that he should ask the king for different orders, but you know how your father is. …was.” With that, Jophiel pursed her lips and didn’t speak again for the rest of the day, and a couple hours after nightfall, when they curled up under a tree, Sael heard her mother cry herself to sleep. It began to occur to Sael just how much her mother was having to deal with. Good, Sael. Considering the positions and feelings of other people is where good interaction must start. As Sael fell asleep, she smiled at how annoying her Whisper still was, even now.

***

On the third day, they came upon a forest in the late morning. It was green and ominous; the air under the canopy of trees was heavy as the leaves trapped moisture underneath them, and, although the sunlight was blocked out, it was no less hot underneath the trees than it was outside them. The one mercy for the traveling pair was that the sunlight couldn’t cause any more damage to their sunburnt skin–at least not while they were in the forest. Sael peeked up at the canopy and could barely make out where the sun was. Barely. Looking at the forest, it wasn’t the kind of place that she wanted to get lost in. “Steady east”, her mother had told her. “Straight shot to Frolis”. She checked her canteen. They were down to one-fourth of the water they had; as brutal as the sun had been, they had been quite conservative with their water use, but their water was getting low, nonetheless. She checked the basket. The vegetables weren’t looking that great. They’d probably need to eat the rest tonight, because they would undoubtedly go bad by the next morning. She thought about the environment; this was a forest, so there was likely a running stream that she could refill the canteen with, but identifying edible foods? Not likely. She expressed this concern to her mother, who replied that as long as they had water, they would make do.

Upon nightfall, they could not continue after dark, as no starlight or moonlight pierced the canopy. Sael and Jophiel huddled under a tree for the night and ate the remainder of their mushy vegetables, but unlike the nights previous, this one was full of scratches, screams, howls chirping, screeching, and other sounds that are, if not frightening, then certainly not conducive to sleep. The pair winced at every sound, knowing in their bones that they were defenseless, were predator to come by and attack them. Before passing out from sheer exhaustion, Sael thought she saw a pair of hungry red eyes staring at her.

The next morning, The pair woke up to find that their basket had been filled with fruit. Bananas and oranges, mainly, plus some other fruits she had never seen. Both women marveled at this and wondered who would have put the fruit there and if the person would want anything from them in return. After much deliberation, it was decided that it must be an act of goodwill, as they were not attacked in the night, despite the obvious presence of predatory animals in the area, and the cries they made the previous night.

The duo were significantly more correct than they first realized, however, as when they headed west they found themselves following a trail of mutilated, and definitively deceased animals: leopards, crocodiles, chimpanzees, and other animals that would clearly pose a threat, were they alive, slain in various manners of savagery. Eventually, they did come across a stream, at which they drank heavily, refilling their canteen.

They crossed the stream and walked through the forest, following carcasses until they came to the forest’s edge, where they found someone waiting for them.