“This just feels so wrong,” I say watching as Cran forces himself into Dargot’s corpse and tunnels his vines into the flesh of the demon boar. The boar trembles as Cran began to learn to puppet the beast. Dargot’s skull clattered as the corpse eventually got back to its feet and took a few struggled steps forward.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this,” says Cran moving the boar’s skull like head to make it look like it was talking.
“Stop that, you’re making me gag,” I say trying to hold down what little I had in my stomach from my time training in the cave with my father.
Cran takes a few more tentative steps, and then starts to run around the forest as Dargot’s puppeteer. The damage sustained by Dargot made Cran’s puppet look absolutely horrific, especially as Cran’s manipulation of his corpse made him look more like a demonic specter than the living Dargot. Cran’s movements were a tad floaty and less weighty than Dargot’s, but that may be because Cran is lifting the boar by floating within him. Every battle wound festered with blood and some even had Dargot’s organs spilling out, and the forest around us smelt of the boar’s putrid gore as it was spread with every movement Cran forced Dargot to make.
“He’s more a demon now, than what he was,” says my mother gaging and throwing up beside me viewing the awful creation we had envisioned become a wretched reality.
“Let’s go home. I think father said he was rounding up everyone,” I say turning myself away from Cran, and offering a hand to Ashe who sat turned away from the zombie we had raised. She accepts my help and wraps her arm around my shoulder as she limps beside me.
“How could your father gather all of us? He can’t enter the village.” says Ashe perplexed by the idea, and I respond with a shrug.
“He has his ways,” says my mother walking beside us, wiping her sick from her mouth, “He used to guide messages on pieces of leather or cloth to me from outside the village. He doesn’t need to be in the village to get their attention. He just needs to be creative.”
We make our way through the forest and arrive back at our family cabin. I’m glad to see my home again, as my clothes are drenched in my and Dargot’s blood and are torn beyond repair from training. What I wouldn’t give for a bath, and to feel clean again. What I wouldn’t give for a true rest and not just a nap.
Gareth runs out of the cabin and sees us and Dargot. I see him turn white with fear, but I think he knows that what is behind us isn’t truly the boar. I watch as he tentatively walks toward us and asks, “You got him, didn’t you?”
I nod in response and say, “Cran, drop Dargot here, we don’t want Mary to pass out.”
Cran bursts out of the belly of the boar, and leaves Dargot standing. The boar void of movement and breath almost looks just as terrible as when Cran was moving it from the inside. Cran nudges my hand and I refuse to grab him as he is still covered in gore. We both need to wash ourselves, but we don’t have time.
Despite my desperate desires, I look at Gareth and say, “grab everyone that is here. I don’t think my mother would want us to enter our home doused in blood like we are. However, we need to make a plan, now. Tomorrow will be the day we strike the village. As we speak the plants grow and we face spring.”
“Your father found me in the western wood looking for Ashe. Lilith told me she was going after Dargot, and I went to go and find her. When your father found me, he told me everything was going to be fine and to wait until you returned. I’ll run as fast as I can to the village and grab everyone,” says Gareth and he runs into the woods fulfilling his word as fast as he had said what he was going to do.
I sit on the bench in the front yard trying to deposit Ashe upon it. The bench is somewhere she could relax, and I hoped I could go and change my clothes and bathe in the small time afforded me by Gareth running to find everyone, but her arm remained firm around my neck. My mother, seeing that we had a moment to ourselves before company arrived, entered our home, I assume to change and to use the hot spring behind our cabin.
“I don’t want to be alone with that thing,” whispers Ashe her eyes fixated on the creature that nearly killed her.
“It’s dead now, it can’t hurt you anymore,” I say looking at the gruesome cadaver before us, “also, if you keep grabbing onto me like that, you’re just going dirty yourself.”
“I don’t really mind,” she says as she tightens her grip on my shirt and I relent and sit next to her as her eyes continue to stare at Dargot, “My mother died when I was young, and my father has been a drunkard as long as I can remember. I had to grow up fast, and alone. Lilith and Mary both rely on me because their father is a beast in his own right, and I do what I can to support them and keep them out of trouble. I’ve always had to be strong for myself and them, but with you I feel like I can for the first time lean on someone, and it feels nice.”
My mind replays the events of my fight with Dargot when she says that. If she saw what I was capable of, and how I use soulcraft with mutilating my own body, would she see me as she does now, or something just as monstrous as Dargot. I try to get up from the bench again, but her grasp is still holding me close to her.
“I’m not someone that you should lean on. You are afraid of that boar, yet I’m the monster who took him down. Why don’t you fear me like him?” I say trying to gently remove myself from her embrace.
“I saw your blood become chains and balls of flame,” says Ashe still holding me, “I know that you didn’t want to kill Dargot, but when it came to saving your mother and I you didn’t hesitate to protect us. You aren’t a monster to me.”
I stop trying to free myself from her and sit in silence. As I grow in strength and become more of a celandil than a human, granted in my own way, I find myself feeling less and less human. I know that some do not blame me and even thank me for the blood I have spilled, but I cannot escape the wails in my conscience. I cannot escape the bloody reminders on my hands and now my entire body is spattered with new crimson guilt. Even after I wash myself, I will be stained, and I will continue to struggle with the monstrous being I’ve become.
“I hope you don’t think too much of this,” says Ashe leaning her head against my shoulder, “I already know that you belong with Uzuri. In fact, I see you more like a big brother, if that helps you understand how I feel about you. I don’t want things to become awkward between us. I just want us to be friends.”
“I won’t be able to be with her even after saving her,” I say kind of grateful for her clarifying herself as the kiss had left me kind of confused. I look up into the sky and note that it isn’t even midday yet. My sense of time is completely broken after my training in the cave.
“We are kindred souls then. We won’t be able to be with the people we love no matter what we do,” says Ashe and I’m confused by what she is saying.
“I won’t be able to be with Uzuri because I owe a life debt to my uncle. My life and death belong to him and there may be a chance for me to live and fulfill my debt, but that isn’t a certainty. Also, Uzuri is a princess, and I’m just me,” I say kind of hoping that she will provide more details of what she meant in her last comment if I tell her more about my doomed love for Uzuri, “I’ve had to face the decision that if her freedom and future happiness means that I can’t be with her, that it would be worth it. If I learn after fulfilling my life debt that Uzuri settled down with someone else, and has a family of her own, I’d be happy. I’d be happy knowing she’s happy and lived a happy life thanks to what I was able to do to save her.”
“Well, my love is not as complicated as yours,” says Ashe releasing me from her grip and sitting up straight on the bench “The girl I love, well… she loves someone else, and I know he’ll be good for her, but I still want to be with her. I also, don’t want to be a part of the Amolacrimae, as I don’t like men. I can’t bring myself to. Every time I make a proposal band just to choose a nice man in the village that might be able to take care of me, even though I don’t love him and am just trying to live up to tradition, I end up making one for her instead.”
“Wait, what are saying?” I ask somewhat confused as I’ve never heard of the type of love she is describing. Then again, I haven’t really discussed love at all even with my parents, so I’m new to this kind of discussion just in general.
“I know that my feelings go against the teachings of the goddess, but I love Lilith. I can’t change that about myself… believe me I’ve tried… I already know she doesn’t see me more than as a friend, and it’s quite apparent that she has feelings for Gareth,” says Ashe turning her head burying her face into my shoulder to hide her watery eyes from my gaze, “I haven’t really told anyone this, so please keep this between us. Also, I completely understand if you find my feelings sinful and wrong. I just can’t help them. No matter how I try to change myself I just can’t.”
“The heart wants what it wants. There is no changing that, and who am I to judge. I love a teratolion girl that has been trapped behind a wall all her life. Whatever feelings she has for me, is because she had no other options. If given the chance, I’m sure she would find someone better than me. There are so many better men out there than me, and from what I can tell of the teratolion, they are an incredibly accepting and peaceful people. If she doesn’t find a man, maybe she’ll find a teratolion, and I hope whoever she finds will treat her well,” I say stroking Ashe’s hair trying to comfort her, “I guess we are kind of kindred spirits. We love those we can’t be with. Though, why did you kiss me, and why do you want to leave the valley. I mean, you may not be able to be ‘with’ Lilith, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still be with her.”
“I’ve had this dream to leave the valley for a long time,” says Ashe removing her face from my shoulder and looking upward to gaze upon the black cliffs, “When my father was bad off from drinking too much, I would wander the forest and imagine what it would be like to be a bird and escape to lands far away from Unadeam. When I learned that my love for Lilith was looked down upon by the goddess, those feelings to go beyond the walls strengthened, as I just want to escape the hateful eyes of the goddess and the matriarchs. The goddess doesn’t want me, and Lilith doesn’t want me in the way I want her, so when I learned that your father came from beyond the walls, I felt like I could find a path to escape my problems. I thought that you could help me achieve at least this wish of my heart, so I joined the Sororitas Daemonica in hopes that I could meet you and fulfill at least one of my heart’s wishes. I just hope that distance will help my broken heart heal, as it won’t if I stay here with Lilith.”
“I’m not entirely sure if you will be able to travel with me. My uncle will determine my fate, but I’ll do what I can to give you passage beyond the obsidian walls,” I say pondering what it would be like to have a friend at my side as I travel the world on my uncle’s errands, “Maybe I can work something out with Upendo the king of the teratolion.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Thank you so much,” says Ashe and she was about to go for another kiss, but she stopped herself, “okay, about that kiss, it was just to show you gratitude. I find it odd that the village uses kissing to show both romantic love and gratitude, but we do use kisses to express both of those sentiments. I kind of forgot that you didn’t grow up amongst us. Uhhh… Damn… it looks like, you did misinterpret that kiss for a little bit, and I’m so sorry about that.”
“Really, that’s a village custom. Huh, I had no idea,” I say trying to recontextualize my memory to my new knowledge. A part of me sincerely wanted to have a good friend come with me on my future journeys. Not having to completely wander the world alone on my uncle’s quest would be an amazing comfort. The world is a large place, and maybe both Ashe and I will find places in this world that will accept us for who we are. Who knows, maybe her desire for her heart to heal will lead her to finding new love with a woman that will reciprocate her feelings as we travel the world together.
“The hot springs are free Skath, if you want to use them!” yells my mother from within the house, “I already set out some clothes for you.”
Ashe nods to me and I get up and walk behind my family home to finally bathe off the sticky drying blood that covered me from head to toe. I don’t take off my clothes like they were meant to be taken off, as I rip them off my body, and toss them into a fire that my mother must have lit before jumping into the hot spring. Beside the fire on a rock, clean clothes wait for me. When the warm water hit my body, it took all of my focus to not immediately fall asleep. The demonic ichor drifts off my skin, but to my eyes though the physical memory fades into the waters, the mental stains remain on my flesh.
Cran, dives into the hot spring, and joins me to peacefully relax in its warmth. I looked at the scars on my arms and taking this brief opportunity I decided to write a new spell inspired by Dargot. The flesh tore on my arm and healed into scars as I dictated in my mind what I desired. I didn’t feel pain, as my flesh opened and closed, and no blood flooded into the quickly opening and closing wounds.
“Flood my body with chemical messengers to let me tap into the strength restricted by my mind. Let me surpass the mental barriers that protect my body from tearing muscle and that make me wither back in pain and fill me with the strength and will to make a final stand like Dargot,” I say as I read the text of my new spell. The scars reopen and fill with blood and essence and close just as quickly as the scarred letters open. Another spell at the ready for whatever comes my way.
I then turn my attention to my old spells and decide to change one of my spells to have more charges. The scars associated with my chain spell opened and began to alter as I thought of the new alterations. The ring-like scar around my wrist was left untouched, but a scar going down my arm from my elbow to my wrist began to change.
“The number of charges for the chain spell will be supplied by the numbers going down my arm,” I read on my arm and below this statement were numbers going from one to sixteen in celandilic script. I learned in the cave, that word count doesn’t necessarily lead to more essence being stored in a spell, but significance does. Each number on my arm has the essence required to fuel my chain spell once. I don’t need to write the chain spell over and over again and fuel these separate instances of the spell to have several uses of the spell ready to use. All that is needed is for the spell to be written once and have a descriptive addendum attached to it and I can essentially create a spell with as many charges as I want. I wanted this spell altered, as Dargot was able to break through my chains, and I had to tap into my internal reserves of essence to make more chains. Now that I can summon sixteen chains, I don’t even think Dargot would be able to break through all of them.
The scars of my altered chain spell open slightly, and blood shallowly enters into the newly opened scars. Essence entered the new charges of the spell at the same rate my soul produced essence, so my soul felt comfortable in my chest. If I were to fuel the spells in their entirety all at once, my soul would probably break free of my body.
Finally cleaning myself of all the blood and grime, I get out of the hot spring and begin searching for my clothes. They were no longer by the rock. I dart into the house and begin to look frantically for my clothes, as I swear, I didn’t imagine them. I heard a thud, and I turned around. I see Lilith fanning her sister Mary who was passed out on the floor. Ashe stands behind Lilith holding my clothes in her hand winking at me.
Ashe walks up to me and hands over my clothes which I use to cover up and she whispers, “I thought I’d give Mary a profound memory to remember you by. Fulfilling wishes, it’s kind of what you do now.”
I exit through the back door of the cabin and put on my clothes beside the fire and re-enter the cabin. I’m so tired that I can’t bring myself to blush, and the hot water of the spring had lulled me into a bit of a stupor. I slap my face with both hands to try and wake myself up a bit, as though my entire team had seen me naked, I need to focus.
Seeing that everyone was now gathered at the kitchen counter. Two people didn’t sit at the table, father was sitting on his chair, and my mother sat on his lap milking her wound for all the attention my father could give her. Not giving anyone a chance to waste time acknowledging Ashe’s prank I barrel into why we are here, “We strike tomorrow!”
“Oh, come on, can’t we have a ‘wee’ break after we killed Dargot. I think we could use a ‘small’ rest,” teases Ashe chuckling to herself and Lilith smirks trying to hide her own amusement.
“That’s ‘low’ blow,” says Gareth shaking his head, “Skath saves your life, and this is how you repay him.”
“What’s a little prank between friends?” asks Ashe feigning innocence.
Lilith still fanning her sister who was somewhat becoming cognitive again says, “When did you two get so close?
“I’m kind of curious about that myself,” says Esther smiling at me and Ashe, “you’ve never been this friendly with a man before.”
Ashe blushes and says, “It’s not like that! We are just friends, nothing more nothing less.”
“I can attest to that,” I say giving Ashe a half smile and choosing to change the subject so we can get back into planning our assault of the village, “tomorrow is a now or never circumstance. I’m sorry that I took so long to finish my training, but Dargot is dead now and spring is almost here.”
“About that, I heard that you had a little help with that,” says my father giving me a stern glance from his chair.
“That couldn’t be helped,” I say hoping that because my mother helped me take down Dargot didn’t somehow invalidate my training.
My father laughs as he sees my discomfort, “You should see yourself right now. It’s as if I’m about to ask you to kill Dargot over again. You passed boy, relax. I’m not a stickler for rules, you completed the heart of the task, and perhaps learned more from protecting your family and friend than merely killing the boar on your own.”
I let out a sigh of relief and Gareth excitedly continues, “Good to know that we can continue forward with our plans with your father’s blessing. But I think it would be best to go over what we have done for the last while, in that way we can make a plan with the most up to date information.”
“I agree,” says Lilith helping her sister from the ground and guiding her back to her seat. I see Gareth beam having his love acknowledge his idea, and Ashe bites her lip seeing Gareth and Lilith exchange a glance.
“I’ve learned nothing,” interjects Ashe as if to distract herself from Lilith and Gareth, “Getting my father’s guard buddies drunk to see if I could squeeze some information out of them has been fruitless no matter how many times, I’ve done it. The captain of the guard always refused to come to my ‘parties’ and I can only assume that only those in power and closest to Gehenna know anything about his plans.”
“I’ve done what I can to preach, and though I think I’ve reached some of the villagers, Gehenna has done his best to meet fire with fire. Several of the matriarchs have also started to preach sermons on corners like I have, and they have emphasized not to fall to false teachings lest you lose your soul to Martog. Needless to say, any support for me is kept secret in the hearts of those that try to listen. In better news, my son and I have done what we can to weaken the house’s defenses, and it turns out Skath’s hole was never filled in underneath our home’s floorboards. Gehenna had merely placed boulders to strengthen the foundation and make a wall probably hoping you wouldn’t attempt to dig again from the opposite side of the wall,” says Esther smiling glad to give good news to the conversation.
Gareth continues his mother’s thoughts and says, “I’ve loosened one of the boulders which means your hole is now accessible again! All you have to do is push the loosened boulder and it’ll fall backward into the hole! We could sneak her out the hole like you planned when you attempted to save her the last time! Using our stratagem with the boar, we could sneak her out unnoticed! In fact, we could have snuck her out earlier, my mother and I, if it wasn’t for Gehenna hardly leaving the house recently. It’s weird right after I moved the boulder, he hasn’t let his eyes drift from Uzuri’s prison door.”
“Wait, Gehenna didn’t fill in my hole? He always has done the utmost to foil me, and to be this lazy this time, doesn’t feel right,” I say now knowing that he definitely has a trap set for us.
“Well… he does… want you to… save Uzuri… again…” says Mary timidly her gaze avoiding the eyes of everyone that now hungrily look upon her to learn what she knows.
“Mary learned his plan!” says Lilith slapping her sister on the back, “she says that she listened in on a meeting that Gehenna and the matriarchs were having and learned everything he had in store for us! I’ve been trying like Ashe all this time to learn something from the matriarch’s by trying to become one of their ‘apprentices’ but besides some village gossip I’ve learned nothing. Ohh, did you know that Delilah has been playing with the hearts of three different boys?”
“So, what did you learn?” I ask Mary, ignoring her sister’s desire to share useless information and hoping that what she has to say could protect us from Gehenna.
Her whole body quaked in her chair as she spoke, “Marion, was right… he wants to become a high priest… He plans on luring Skath… Executing him to rid the village of the demon… proving himself again… This is why… he hasn’t done much to strengthen Uzuri’s… cage…”
“I called it!” says my mother with a devilish smile that she flashes toward her sister.
“Does he know of our plans?” asks Gareth, placing a hand on his future sister, trying to coax her to be more confident.
Gareth’s kindness seemed to have an opposite effect on her as she appeared to utterly freeze up and was only able to mouth one word, “no.”
“We still have the advantage of surprise,” says my mother from my father’s lap.
“What do you mean by ‘we?’” asks my father raising an eyebrow at my mother, “remember that you and I can’t participate in this lest we attract the ire of the village toward us. Skath is free to act on his own, but we are banished and to be found next to the village could shift any individual blame from Skath to all of us.”
“I know, it’s just that I still want to help our son. The risks may be many, but he has fought through those risks and has found a way to save the village and Uzuri. I can’t just sit by and do nothing when he could be the way my family reobtains the peace you gave them so long ago,” says my mother kissing my father on the cheek, clearly understanding that he was just trying to protect her.
“Please, be careful. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you or Skath. I wouldn’t be able to contain myself with the grief I would feel,” says my father bowing his head so his hat covered his face.
“We’ll be careful. I promise,” says my mother putting her head against my father’s.
“So, what’s the plan?” asks Ashe looking back at me, “What do we have to do?”
“We already know what I’m doing,” says Cran floating in through the back door, “sorry, I’m late, getting blood off of your body is a little tricky without hands or arms.”
“I was wondering why you were so quiet,” I say not realizing that he hadn’t been at my side, and that was probably because I was distracted by being seen naked by all my friends and family.
“The warm water was nice, and I kind of lost track of you as well,” says Cran floating into my hand.
“What about us,” says Lilith gesturing toward Ashe, and Mary.
“Ashe is injured, but that may be to our advantage,” I say remembering Ashe’s leg, “You three could look like you are escaping Dargot and appear to be the reason he is coming to town. You’ll yell and scream that he is coming alerting everyone to the front gate, or to go and hide.”
“And us?” asks Esther clutching her son.
“Gareth, you will be chief one day, and tomorrow you will win the affection of the village. You will rise to the call immediately and charge Cran first. This should rally the guard behind you and might convince some of them to abandon their loyalty to your father,” I say looking at Gareth and then changing my gaze to Esther I continue, “Esther, I’ll need you to make sure that Gehenna isn’t in your home and to prepare Uzuri for our escape.”
“I can do that,” says Esther nodding at me.
“Skath, but without you how will I pass the Amolacrimae?” asks Gareth looking confused at what I am saying.
“With or without the Amolacrimae you will be chief one day and lead your people to a better tomorrow. I know you, and I know that people already desire to follow you and tomorrow will be the day you will begin to lead your people as tomorrow you will secure a lasting peace for them,” I say placing a hand on Gareth’s shoulder, and he nods at me with newfound confidence.