She woke from a deep slumber to the sound of farming life. The din of stone grinding and wood creaking overhead was followed by the sound of stretched limbs and an uncovered yawn. Artemis rose from the warm covers and shivered at the change in temperature, her feet clutched together from touching the cold floor. She climbed the stairs and found Danica hard at work.
Fresh chaff littered the floor and the air was thick with flour dust mixed with the scent of an old mule, a gentle soul that quietly circled the path around a simple stone mill. Danica sat on a bench overlooking the mill where she would simultaneously prod the mule along with a long wooden stick and fed the milling stone wheat grains from a large sack at her side. When she saw Artemis across the room, she smiled and said good morning.
Artemis could see Danica’s legs hanging over the side, her right leg bent below the knee from being improperly set. The lack of medical care out in the countryside was not a surprise but it brought her disquiet; the injury would have put Danica in constant pain throughout the day. A sympathetic desire to aid the old woman panged her heart and a revelation came to her. She realized the act of curing Danica was simple and well within her power to do.
It only required a change in perspective, a process Artemis could only describe as revelatory, opening before her a third existence hitherto unknown to the residents of either world, whether they lay on the side containing Pancia or the one containing California. Her body remained in Pancia but the surroundings lacked impermeability, their very form alterable like the lines of a drawing. Danica the genial old woman, was no more permanent than a clay figure before the craftsman had baked it in the oven.
Time decelerated to a crawl. The residual movements from the grains of wheat slipping through Danica’s fingers were perceptible to the eye, each individual piece could be counted at a leisurely pace. Artemis reached out to Danica with her feet planted thirty feet away, ignoring the concept of depth and distance with impunity as her hands fell on Danica’s shoulder, before retracting them back to her person. Artemis closed her eyes and opened them to the sound and action of Danica and the mule.
“Danica, do you believe in miracles?”
“I do, as do all followers of the Heavenly Council.” Danica said.
“Do miracles have the power to heal?”
Danica stopped the mule and shifted her body to face her.
“Is something the matter Markova? Not all afflictions require miracles to cure them.”
“No, I’m fine. I just want to know.” Artemis said.
“Miracles can do many things but they are reserved for the devout and the deserving. Only the Madi, the earthly agents of the Heavenly Council can perform them.”
“Would you reject their blessing?”
“I am not worthy.”
Artemis returned to the revelatory state and a surge of relief came over her as nothing could feel more natural. The difference was akin to closing one’s dominant eye before opening it again, revealing the space obscured by closing off half your vision. A load of stress taken off the mind.
Artemis could see Danica’s being in its entirety, a cold objective measure of every scar on her skin to the weakening structure of her bones. The observation was frightening. Mortality was left undisguised in the time afforded to this old woman, counted down to the last second before death would claim her. More than can be said for any doctor, her life lay in Artemis’s hands and she chose to interfere.
Danica remained frozen until she took a deep breath into her lifeless body. All the chronic pains and injuries sustained over the decades and days were gone in an instant. Her face looked brighter and the wrinkles subsided, it was as if she were reborn and made to live a life of unbroken austerity to a regimen of good health. The sudden release from physical weakness made her jump, not for any purpose except it was now possible after being confined to the ground for ages.
And she knew with unwavering conviction who effected this miracle. The first conscious decision she made with this newfound strength was to prostrate herself before this divine figure, a religious existence who had performed a personal miracle for her. It was beyond Danica’s imagination to understand what significance this entailed for her.
Artemis pondered the meaning as well. There could not have been a person more distant from the world as she was, someone without lineage or peers, a point sitting alone on a fixed graph. This was not an eternal condition, and even if the bonds she forged were unequal and strained, they were not impossible to make. The point could be connected with the lines surrounding her. They stared at each other to sum up this new relationship.
“Danica, if you no longer have a reason to refuse your son’s request, let me accompany you to Istora.”
She needed a clear objective to have any grasp on the future.
“I have no objection. None at all.” Danica struggled to find a title to attribute the girl standing in front of her. “Madi.”
“Who decides if someone is a Madi?” Artemis asked.
“The gods, Madi, the gods decide.”
“Please call me Artemis. I am not familiar with the gods.”
Danica unstrapped the harness from around the mule’s mouth and pointed it out the barn door in the direction of the shepherd boys. It exited the building without protest, eager to be freed from the morning’s exhaustion. Artemis followed Danica to the ground floor and helped her to remove perishable ingredients from the pantry. Everything that could not last the journey was used to prepare a substantial breakfast of fried eggs, cured meat, foraged greens, ripe fruit, salted butter, and more black bread.
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Artemis ate at the table while Danica rummaged through the bottom of an old cabinet seated in the corner of the room, removing layer after layer of winter clothing from the drawer before she found what it was she was looking for, an old scroll tied down with a scarlet string knot. Pleased with the discovery, she walked over to table and announced that she would sell the house at the county office in Novska.
Artemis asked if she were better served by thinking it over but Danica refused to delay her decision, spurred by the preceding events. They would be able to return to the house on the way back from town, allowing them the luxury of packing lightly. Most of the equipment was stuffed into a large rucksack Danica carried while Artemis negotiated for the responsibility to carry anything at all.
Gifted with an old pair of shoes, they left the house together and were immediately pushed onward by a rolling wave of air smelling sweetly of crushed grass and flowers in the summer heat. Over the summit of the village, the extent of the valley was revealed to Artemis. Its expanse grew wider looking on and its length was considerable, unable to be captured in a single frame from the edge. They traveled down to the river flowing through.
Travelers depended on the simple dirt road aside the river to navigate through the landscape while the inhabitants of the valley moved through the terrain with the benefit of local knowledge. Even in the center of the valley where the mountains were hidden from view, their sense of direction never wavered. Danica led Artemis off the beaten road.
The sun started to wane in the early afternoon and an oppressive mugginess drew its humidity from the various streams trickling down the mountain sides. Small clearings made by the villagers were the only manmade influences over long stretches of evergreen forest where the quiet made the hike serene if somewhat lonely compared to the raucous afternoon from the day before.
They came upon an apple orchard carved out from the slope of the hill where workers darted below the branches to collect the ripened fruit off trees pruned to half their adult height. A number of the young men and boys recognized Danica’s white hair and waved to them during their duties. Their employer, a gentle-looking man, approached them and called out to Danica with a wide grin on his face. When he came close enough to see their faces clearly, the warm gregarious manner in which he had addressed her retreated and he bowed deeply without saying much beyond introducing himself as Danither.
“Please don’t let me ruin the conversation.” Artemis said.
“Markova, I would never dare imply such a thing.”
“There is no need to be so formal, I am not a Markova. I am just a traveler and a friend of Danica’s.”
Danither’s eyes cast over to Danica for confirmation and then fell to the ground. Artemis nudged Danica to speak in her place.
“It is true, she is not a Markova.” Danica paused, expecting Artemis to say something and continued speaking uninterrupted. “But I cannot say she is a commoner. I believe she is a Madi and have experienced her miracles firsthand. I would not be standing here if not for her blessing.”
Danither listened on and nodded his head to show he heard every word.
“Where are you traveling to?” He said.
“We are headed north to Novska.” Danica replied.
Danither whistled a loud note and yelled out the name “Tislo”.
A scrawny young boy answered the call by running down the row of trees to his father’s side. His face looked undependable and he could hardly stand still for a second, wobbling from side to side on the edges of his feet. Artemis smiled at the young boy which made his face burn a bright red.
“Tislo, help Danica and the Madi find their way into town, and carry their supplies for them. Take care of the Madi, she is a holy woman.”
“Yes father!” Tislo said.
“If you are not in a hurry, I welcome both of you to stay the night. We can call for the shepherds to bring us a lamb in celebration of your good health and to honor the Madi.”
“Danither, let us accept your offer when we return, after we are tired and hungry.” Danica said.
“Our hospitality does not follow a single direction my old friend, this is true for everyone living in the valley.”
They smiled and embraced one another.
“I have not seen you so full of life since I was Tislo’s age Danica. Be well and may you have a safe journey.” He turned to Artemis. “Madi, please instill some good morals in my son. I leave this task to the gods.”
They exchanged farewells and left the sundried roads of the orchard.
“Danica, how long is the journey to the town center?” Artemis asked.
“We should be there by tomorrow afternoon.”
“But this is not the fastest way through the mountains Danica, we could be there sooner.” Tislo said.
“A guide should pay attention to the people in his company. I am an old woman and Artemis is a Madi, there is no point in saving a few hours if we will need to use them to recover.”
“If you say so Danica, but we’ve been walking for an hour at a good pace. I don’t think we will have any trouble going through the cliffs instead.”
Artemis looked toward the mountains where the steep walls seemed to extend from below the tree line to the summit. She could not see where the cliffs might be on such an impenetrable façade and wondered if Tislo and Danica might be talking about a section of the range further down the valley.
“Where are the cliffs? I don’t see anything from where I’m standing.” Artemis said.
“The mountains are thin, and beneath the rock is a space where villagers can use to move unimpeded by traders. In truth, they face out to the Restreikan Mountain Wall at some sections of the passage, and so we do not call it that meaning to mislead you Madi.” Danica said.
“If such a path exists, why don’t we take it then?”
“There is a long descent down from the passage when we reach the town. People who are not used to the mountains might find it difficult.”
“I think I’ll be alright. If you don’t object, let’s take to the cliffs.”
Danica expressed concern about Artemis’s safety but relented. Tislo smiled and raced along, leading them deeper into the forest and away from the road, far enough to make it difficult to find their way back without spending the afternoon cutting through the thicket. They snaked through the trees, swatted at low hanging webs and brushed aside unruly branches overhead while Tislo kept close to the ground and waited for them ahead.
As Artemis gradually caught up to the boy, she started to notice what signs Tislo depended on for guidance. There were unintentional hints such as broken branches and bent foliage, superseded by manmade markings on the smooth gray bark of a singular species of tree. Tislo did his part by deepening the cuts with a small knife he used to carve out the arrows at waist height.
By late afternoon they arrived at the edge of the mountain, a near vertical wall seen from below and slanted from a distance. Tislo did not worry about the spot they found themselves in and walked onward, confident in the message transmitted by the markings. If they were to be believed the opening was straight ahead.
Tislo came to a halt and looked behind at them over his shoulder. There were no obvious entrances at this location to lead Artemis to believe they had arrived at the opening despite all the markings suggesting so. Danica remarked how the breeze and shade would be a relief in the summer heat and wiped the sweat from her forehead before walking back to the forest. A few meters away from the mountain wall, a large boulder pierced its way above ground from under a petrified tree, lifting it dirt, roots, and all. They swung around the tree and found a pit under the rock.
“This entrance is one of many hidden in the forest.” Danica said.
The entrance was shrouded in darkness, obscured by the dense thicket overhead. Tislo and Danica dropped down to the bottom undeterred and disappeared from view. Artemis stared down at the darkness and leapt after them, following the sound of their breath and the rustling of their hands and knees as they crawled on the floor. She began to wave her hand to feel for the walls and ceased when they had gone on ahead. In her rush to regroup, she misjudged the length of the tunnel and tumbled into the passage on her face.