Dark Horizons
By Michael Butz
Chains clashing together from above sent
a ringing through Erm’s head, covering the faint sound of water slowly dripping
somewhere off in the distance of the seemingly infinite darkness that
encompassed him. The pungent odor of rotting fish and animal flesh, long
since dead, permeated his dark confines, filling his nose with its burning
filth.
Erm couldn’t remember when it was they had
brought him here, or even remember who they were for that matter. His
mind was invaded by the utter darkness, as it prodded and probed all throughout
the depths of it, giving a sensation similar to a worm squirming in your hand, accompanied
by bitter cold. An agonizing pain seared his shoulders and arms, seeming
to be fed further by the chains that bound him to the wall.
He couldn’t place a time on how long he
had been here, chained to this cold stone wall, hanging from his wrists; it
seemed an eternity, yet he couldn’t recall anything more then a moment
ago. He longed to stand on his feet to take the burden from his arms and
back, but found that only the very tips of his toes could reach the frigid
floor.
Something, out in the darkness gave him
the impression of a great anger beyond comprehension. The sensation
flowed on the endless darkness, penetrating into the depths of his mind; he
wanted to scream.
…are you… A faint voice, coming from
everywhere and nowhere, scratched through his head; he only caught
the half of it. WHERE ARE YOU…? Again, the disembodied voice
sounded, filling his head with incredible pain and hatred. It seemed as
if the voice wanted to break Erm’s ears, as they rattled violently with
it. Inside his head, the words echoed on to eternity, making it spin as
if he'd woken up from having too much brandy. Erm wanted to vomit, but
found only emptiness in his belly.
Out in the endless night before him, Erm
saw a light appear. It looked to be that of a door being opened from a
lighted room. The light rushed in to invade Erm’s sight, filling his
vision with brilliant white; burning as if someone had took red hot pokers
from a forge fire and forced them slowly into his eyes. Laughter, louder
than thunder, roared through his head
~
Erm sat up quickly, dropping the
drenched woolen blanked that covered him to his waist; the faint
laughter was still fading inside his head. Blue and red filled his
sight, as if he'd been looking into the sun for hours, accompanied by a
stabbing pain that pounded at his forehead. The chill of the
icy worms still lingered in his mind from the dream, sending a disturbing chill
that ran down the length of his spine.
Pressing his thumb and forefinger into
his eyes was the only thing he could do to relieve the pain. After a few
moments, little sparkles of light filled the darkness, sending patterns of
green swirling in his eyelids. He let go to see a dance of light fill his
vision, eventually fading to let his sight clear.
Looking around, Erm saw that he was deep
into the forest, in a small valley grove of ancient oaks. The ground
between the trees was bare from the lack of light, and covered in long
dead, decaying plant matter. Hills on all
sides rose up to the thick of the forest above. Erm had been
completely lost in the night before, following behind that strange man through
the woods, and only now was he realizing where he was. They were
easily a day and a half’s trek through the thick forest from the village, completely
past the Southwood, and deep into the
The pain that seemed to linger from the
nights dream gave way to that of his cracked ribs and rash of cuts and
bruises. His right arm hurt incredibly, wrapped up in its sling; he must
have unset it during the night. If only he had a big bowl of Pulp right
now, he wouldn’t be able to feel his butt touching the ground. Got to find some poppies.
Standing up proved to be slightly
difficult, and he had to employ the help of the massive oak root that
he had slept behind. Giving a good stretch, Erm coughed when the pain
grew unbearable and straitened up, cracking his back with a backwards
ark. He looked around to find a small fire crackling up on the other side
of the tree, and no one looking after it.
Scrambling up the little slope, Erm saw
that Arlain was watching the fire, sitting opposite from where he had been, on
one of the massive roots that spread out for several paces. She looked
disheveled, with her hair all a mess, eyes blood shot and baggy from the tears
of the night before, and possibly this morning as well.
Arlain sat there and stared into the ground
between her feet and the fire, hands resting lazily in her lap. One of
the Braith themselves could have walked right in front of her and she wouldn’t
have see it. At least she wasn’t still crying,
he wouldn’t have had any idea of how to comfort her then. Not that
he did now, but it would be that much harder to fight back the tears for his
uncle. A lump the size of a fist tried to force its way up his throat at
the thought, nearly crushing his apple.
Erm took a seat next to Arlain, and
shared in staring into the ground. He turned his head and opened his
mouth to say something, but nothing came out, and turned his head back.
There was nothing he could think of to say to her to make her feel
better. He just put his arm around her and rested his hand on her
shoulder, taking back up the vigil on the ground in front of them.
“Here,” Said the man from behind,
throwing a small bundle of sage onto the ground near his feet. Somehow,
he had walked up on them without making a noise. He was a very mysterious
man indeed. Then he walked away again, without making a sound on the dead
leaves and mulch of the forest floor.
Erm took his arm from Arlain, and bent
to grab the bundle, twitching a couple times from the pain. Straitening,
he turned to thank the man, but he was nowhere to be seen.
With the small bundle in hand, Erm stood
and walked over to the fire, falling down on his knees in front of it.
The lump in his throat grew larger. Erm caught a flame with the
bundle, bringing the sage to a slow smolder, he cupped it close to
his face to blow it more alight and it started to send up thick
smoke. With his hand he waved some of the smoke over his head, and seeing
that Arlain had joined him in kneeling by the fire held the lit bundle out
for her to do the same.
Looking down, Erm closed his eyes and
thought of his uncle, and started to voice the song of deliverance, taught
to every child in his village by the elders. Rising slowly to a high
pitched ululating cry, Erm sang in the old tongue, meant to deliver the souls
of the deceased upon the smoke to Teros, the keeper of the souls of Hehl, where
they would await their rebirth into this world. Arlain joined along,
calling to raise the souls of her dead parents. Erm’s face was wet with
tears by the time he was finished, then opened his eyes and wiped
them from his face.
Erm helped Arlain to her feet, more
guiding that helping really and took his seat next to her back on the root and
stared back into the fire. The lump in his throat had vanished, but the
knot that had been slowly tying itself up in his stomach
remained. His uncle still lingered in the forefront of his
mind. At least now he would be in the peace and tranquility of Hehl, not
having to deal with the day to day business of this life. Then why don’t
I feel any better.
The sound of heavy foot fall coming down
one of the surrounding slopes behind him grabbed Erm’s attention away from the
fire. He turned to find Jaidaen trotting his way; the lifeless body of a
wood lizard an arm long hanging limp from her jaws. She came up prancing
and wagging her long shaggy tail, proud of her accomplishment.
Laying it down behind him, Jaidaen
nudged his shoulder as if to say ‘there y'a
go’. The thing was already half eaten and covered in her slobber.
Erm just picked the mangled pile of flesh up carefully and tossed it.
Running right behind she pounced on top of it and proceeded to rip away
the remaining flesh.
A small rumbling from within his gut
reminded him that he could use a fill as well. Unfortunately the only
thing that brought with them was what they were wearing. No bow or
cooking supplies, not even a sling. It was easy enough to make a sling
but being the only pair of clothing he had he didn’t want to cut them up; he
didn’t even have anything to cut them with. Erm just suppressed the urge
to eat and continued staring at the fire, hearing the sounds of Jaidaen
snacking away in the background.
While sitting next to Arlain, Erm
somehow moved his right arm. He had upset it in the night before, but not
until now could he really feel it. The pain was beyond intense, as if
someone stuck several hot knives into his muscles, not seeming to yield at
all.
Erm threw his head back, and loosed an
agonizing shriek that echoed on the surrounding slopes, and continued to writhe
in anguish, probably furthering the unsetting of his cracked upper arm
bone. Shrieks faded to panting groans as the pain stayed fast.
Arlain was on her feet in moments.
“What, what happened? Is it your
arm?” She said with horrified concern, kneeling down in front of him. Erm
could only look at her and try to stop the groans leaving his
mouth from the sheer pain. Looking from her to his arm and
then back, trying to say ‘NO SHIT!’ It was as if the only thing that
existed in the world was the pain radiating from his arm.
Arlain alternated from kneeling to
standing looking around the entire time. The last time she saw his arm
being set she keeled over and lost her breakfast. For the love of the
Mother make it stop. His peripherals began filling with red as the pain
reached his neck, getting ever closer to black.
Just as black started to creep in from
the corners of his sight he lost all sense of his body. The pain in his
arm was gone as was the feel of the ground beneath him, in its stead he found a
cool sensation as if he was being dipped slowly into a lake barely warmed by
summer. The chill seemed to spread out from his arm to his finger tips,
all the way down to his toes.
When his senses returned to him the red
began to subside giving way to clear sight. With eyes clear Erm saw he
was looking up from the ground. Arlain stood with her hands cupped over
her mouth, brows furrowed in worry, and the stranger knelt next to him wrapping
up is arm.
Erm sat up quickly, “What in Hehl did
you do to me?” he yawped looking confusedly at his arm.
“I saved your arm,” The man said
disconcertedly, not taking his gaze from his work, “now lay back down, I’m not
finished.”
“Tell me what you’re doing to me!” Erm
tried to pull away from the man.
“You want me to have to re-break it,”
The man looked Erm strait in the eye still with a blank face, “now lie
down.” Erm looked at the man, brows in a furrow of confusion and concern,
but finally lied down to let the work on his arm continue.
A chill seemed to travel up and down his
upper arm as the man slowly unwound the bloody linen from his arm, discarding
it on the ground next to him. The sensation stopped, staying on the part
of his bone that had snapped, then vanished as the man
stood.
An intense wariness washed over Erm, as
if he had ran to the horizon and back. He had just woken up not two hours
before and already was worn out.
“What did you do,” Erm barely managed to
get out, as he tried with all his strength to sit up. Arlain was on her
knees next to him helping back onto the root he had previously roosted.
It seemed a little difficult to keep his head up to look at the man, and
much too hard to look angry.
"I already told you," The
strange man said placidly standing up from his kneeling position besides
Erm. "I saved your arm." Erm blinked heavily the picture of
confusion painting his face as his brows began to furrow in frustration.
The man made an about face and started off walking towards the other side of
the sparsely populated oak grove.
"What...where are you
going?" Arlain cut in demanding angrily before Erm could formulate a
question in his head. Not only was his body fatigued but his mind felt
completely drained as well. "Damn it!" Arlain yawped in
frustration. The man ignored her and continued to walk on towards the
other side of the grove of gnarled, olden oaks without so much as a glance
her way. Erm's mind must have been in much more of a twist than
he thought; he could have sworn that he just heard Arlain cuss.
Arlain went to stand up, but doing so
would have left Erm to fall from where he was sitting propped against
her. Some of the strength that had escaped him before seemed to have
returned, but barely enough to let him stand up under his own power.
Arlain steeled her attention away from the departing man briefly grabbing Erm's
left arm to help him the rest of the way up.
"Jaidaen,
come here girl," Arlain called to the snacking mamut still gorging herself
on her prided catch, smacking her chops around the meal. She
didn't even receive a glance from the creature, and gave a loud harrumph in
return.
Erm made a clicking sound with his
tongue and Jaidaen was on her feet and over to him in two strides.
Putting his hand on her neck he motioned for her to lie down. Arlain
helped him step over her back; waiting a moment the mamut stood catching Erm
with her bare back lifting his feet gently from the ground. He let
himself fall forwards to rest on her back snuggling into the thick warm fur and
motioned with his knees to follow Arlain as she stormed off after the man.
They caught up to him as he stopped
at the base of a mighty, crooked oak easily twenty paces round. Looking up
into the widespread canopy of the massive tree the man seemed oblivious to the
two of them coming up behind him.
This time Erm spoke first, "What in
Hehl did you say," the words were somewhat difficult to form, and
different from what he was intending to say.
Before he could continue and correct
himself the man raised his hand, holding up two fingers and made a loud
shushing sound not once taking his gaze from the tree above.
"Excuse me! What on
Ea..." Arlain began but was cut off as the man gave her a quick,
annoyed glance immediately returning his attention back to the massive oak.
"Be quiet!" He said
sharply. Clearly Erm could see that Arlain was fuming now, about ready to
boil over on top of the man. But before she could make her exploding
comments at him the man took a few steps closer to the tree stopping about half
an arms length from the wrinkled trunk.
The man raised up his arm, stretching it
straight above him, and clenched his hand into a tight fist. Then
proceeded to knock on the thickly cracked bark of the trunk, once, twice; three
times the man struck the tree with palm and curled fingers letting his fist lie
on the tree at the third knock. Erm felt a slight tingling in the back of
his neck, a feel that he couldn't place.
Suddenly the massive branches making up
the canopy of the mighty oak began to bend; twisting to and fro slowly as if
there were a heavy wind about, ceasing moments later.
Erm found that he was staring
dumbfounded at the sight; somehow taking his attention from the tree he looked
over to Arlain and could see that her disdain was replaced with a horrified
wonderment that must have mirrored his own.
Shortly after the oak had stopped
swaying, a chorus of creaks and groans began to emanate from it. Sounding
as if it were bending and swaying in heavy wind, with creaks and
moans stretching out into what seemed like sentences, changing pitch and tone
as they went.
Erm nearly fell from his seat atop
Jaidaen as he stared in disbelief at the wondrous sight, having to close his
mouth to stop spittle from escaping; his eyes must have been the size of diner
platters for the sight of it.
For what seemed like an hour the tree
continued its chorus of creaks and groans, finally ending with a higher pitched
moan as if one of the tree's branches were near breaking. Somehow Erm got
the distinct impression that the tree was speaking. A
Braith. Erm couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Moments after the punctuating groan came
from the tree, another chorus began to rise. The tingling sensation that Erm had felt before returned, only it seemed much
stronger this time and lingered. Shortly there after a sound much like
the chorus sung by the oak yet definitely different began to emanate from the
man sounding with the same changing tones and pitches.
The man's chorus didn't last nearly as
long as the oak's had, yet it still seemed as though he had been sitting
Jaidaen there for hours listening to the strange music, and as the song faded
from the man so did the sensation from the back of his neck. Never in his
whole life had Erm thought that he'd witness the song of a Braith, it was
simply an amazing sight to behold.
The massive oak seemed to answer the
song with a series of moans and creaks that lasted only moments. Followed
by what sounded like the tree bending near to its breaking point and the sense
of a presence that had come on the initial wakening of the tree fading.
The man turned round, walking past them.
"We need to leave." He said without looking at either of them.
Erm was still staring unbelievingly at the now dormant oak tree.
"Wait a damned minute!" The
sound of Arlain trying to confront the man grabbed Erm away from his wondering
daze, looking round he saw her rounding on him; finally catching him up she
tugged angrily at the man's sleeve. "Answer me damn you!" Maybe it
wasn't the feeble state of his head, she actually was cussing; even more
craziness.
The man spun round staring Arlain dead
in the face making her flinch slightly, "There is someone after us who
would like more than anything to get their hands on him," he motioned
towards Erm, "and they would do anything to have him. Someone who
more than likely could feel what I did with his arm, and that tree." The
man said with an agitated quickness.
"Me?" Erm barked, "What
would they, whoever they are, what on Ea would they want with me?"