Josiah

The cold air bit at his fingertips. He still had exposed skin on his hands and arms. Just as Ari still had fur about her stone and wood body. It reminded him that he was still human.

In the Rekka River, he would wash in the bitter cold. After the other soldiers left to warm up at the fires and start their day’s work, Josiah sat at the waterside. He could only catch glimpses of himself in the water’s ripples. His whole self.

His arms were more flesh than bone. But he still looked at himself with confusion. He didn’t know if he found his arms disgusting.

Even though his soldiers respected him, he still caught them staring at him. He didn’t mind. He understood. He guessed it was just part of being a Touched. When they found Hagar’s body, it was obvious he was Touched. His arms didn’t look human at all. They looked like logs of a leftover fire, charred and white with ash.

That lot was especially hard to process. They were lumped together, skin melted. The crows were especially defensive of their bodies. Their exposed skulls showed faces locked in agony. Not Hagar’s, his remains were the only of the Black Cloud that was calm. He had been proud.

Sedgeband: “We be settin into the next project sir,” Sedgeband said approaching Josiah from behind. He made sure to walk with heavy steps, so as to not startle the man contemplating by the water.

Josiah: “Good,” he said. He continued to stare at the slow-moving water.

Sedgeband walked away to return to the group.

Josiah: “Sedgeband”.

He paused his steps and turned to look at his leader.

Sedgeband: “Yeah sir”.

Josiah: “When… when we make it to Arth. How many of em will stay with us? How many will leave our cause and stay in the city?”

The old man stood there. Only the slight shift of river stones could be heard beneath his boots.

Sedgeband: “I reckon the whole lot of em. Boss, yer all these boys got. They be lost without them shovels”. He sat next to Josiah by the water. His white beard still had beads of river water in it from his wash. “Ye are old enough to be their father”. He laughed. “I’m old enough to be your father. We be family now, I spose we can find even more boys in Arth who are lost. Our boys will be able to show em our ways. They be hard-working.

Josiah looked back at the soldiers walking to camp. They were laughing as they walked.

Sedgeband: “Ye ain’t to worry. Come on then”. He stretched his arm down to Josiah. “No slackin in front of the boys”.

Josiah smirked.

He hadn’t seen Ari all day. He could feel she was still around. But it was a new feeling, one he couldn’t pinpoint. She was ‘around’, be he didn’t know how far. The men hadn’t had any troubles with the black bears yet. So, her presence must still be felt in the area.

He made it to the cave in just under three hours. Ari had broken a path for him. Claw marks covered trees, rocks were displaced in odd patterns.

The carving was almost done. Today marked the fourth day in the valley.

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Kari’s statue was almost done, his rear paws were unfinished. They were to be overlapped with Ari’s cubs. He had finished one. She said his name was Kai. He was cute. Josiah ran his palm across Kai’s face. He curiously looked up at his grandfather Kari.

Kai was one of two cubs that died eight months ago. Her firstborn. She said they were taken by wolves.

Today was the last day of carving. He would finish the four other cubs. The metal that covered the top of his forearms was now properly shaped to carve stone. It had changed over the first night Josiah slept in the valley. They were now more honed and thinned.

He went to work, pushing over his stepstone rock to now sit on for the lower detail.

He began to push through his memory of the cubs. Then he could accurately carve them in exact detail. He already made the decision to carve the three stillborn children to be on their feet and “alive”. They would just be the smallest.

The day quickly moved. He would take occasional breaks to drink from the nearby stream.

He had made it through all the cubs except for one, when he could feel a wet breath on his back. He turned.

Josiah: “Ari I’m almo—".

He turned and found a claw cut toward his face. He had little room to dodge out of the way. The claw raked across his jaw onto his chest. The claw dug into his skin, branding streaks of pain into his flesh. The claw landed on his tunic collar, it made a snapping sound as it tore the fabric.

A black bear stood on its back legs. It roared into his face, spitting all over him. Josiah took to the ground and rolled down the slope. The cliff ledge was too close to be around. The rock had blots of blood on it now. His face and chest trickled like a stream.

The bear bounded towards him. It was now on all fours.

Josiah thought fast. He could run to find Ari. He could fight. Ari had said bears were faster than humans. So he stumbled up as quickly as he could. He then dove into the bear’s attack head-on.

The two were locked together in a hug. Josiah shot his bony arms up and pressed the neck of the bear, stopping it from biting him. His hands were just inches from his face. The bear’s hot breath hung above his own head. It began to claw at his back, flaying his tunic to ribbons.

Waves of heat began to pool at his back wounds. They grew onto each other as the bear clawed more and more. The marks compounded. The pain stacked making it heavier for Josiah to handle it. He knew if the bear continued it would be irreparable. Most men never survived injuries to the spine.

The bear had the advantage. It was heavier. It was taller. It was bleeding Josiah out from his back.

The black bear grunted. Josiah yelled. He pressed his arms deeper into the neck of the beast. The fur was coarse and rubbed at his skin. The metal chisels began to split into the bear’s flesh. Blood trickled down the metal splints onto his arms and elbows. The bear roared more.

The two now bled. Josiah was almost dead. His back was red and exposed. Only moments till the bear would begin to rake its claws across his spine.

The bear had two wounds on its neck. Josiah could feel his consciousness slipping. He had to focus. His arms held the beast. He focused his touch. He focused on the trickling blood of the neck wound. The blood tickled at first, then ran, then flowed. He could feel the claws stop their barrage, now just holding him.

He continued to press into the animal’s neck. The wounds now ran like rivers. The bear began to lose its balance, its weight was shifting over to topple Josiah.

He continued to press his arms.

It took only seconds. His arms accelerated the blood flow. He rapidly shortened the bear’s death.

Josiah got up from the ground. The bear had fallen onto him. It was easy to lift now. He looked down at it. Its skin clung to its bone. He drained all its life and fluids. It didn’t even look like a real corpse now.

The entire rockface was red. He looked at the animal, then at his open palms.

His entire body was covered. His back was gone. He couldn’t even feel it. It had been carved up like a roast fowl.

The bear looked like dried fruit. It was alien looking. Nothing he had ever seen.

Killing was easy. All it took was the swing of a sword, the tipping of a vial into a drink, even a simple push could kill at the right height. But Josiah could now simply touch something. That was all it took. He knew he could do it was just a finger. He was a killer.

He heard a yell from below. Ari came crashing up the mountain slopes. She was sliding over the smooth rock faces and foliage with water that poured out of her feet, a power that stretched her energy thin.

Ari: “Josiah!” she yelled.

He couldn’t speak bear, but he knew when her roars meant his name.

She ran to his side. Her face was in shock. She pawed at the deflated and drained black bear. The water from her paws had stopped flowing. But the remnants began to wash the blood-covered rockface in four distinct lines.

Josiah: “I’m sorry Ari. I couldn’t run”. He turned to look at her, and passed out.