Entry #264910, added on 03-26-06 @ 10:03 pm EST
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| Blaze in the woods | Entry #264910 |
The sun hung low in the western sky, painting the clouds purple with red and orange bottoms. Rugo used the location of the setting sun to determine that they were indeed traveling south. Night was coming on fast, and the sky was darkening quickly. He didn’t want to travel by night, for he didn’t want to lose the path after dark. They would be able to make better travel by day when resting at night.
Cerine chose a small dip in the ground off the road to pitch camp. It looked like it had been used before, from the burnt patch of ground covered in ash. A pile of chopped wood lay conveniently nearby, but it was only enough for a small fire.
“I wish I had brought along some of Roddy’s sweet, glazed muffins,” Landon commented.
The cook’s signature muffins were traditionally heated on a stick over a campfire, and the thought made Rugo’s mouth water. He licked his lips, and felt his stomach grumble. “That sounds wonderful right now.”
“Do you think we’ll get to fight some trolls, Rugo?”
“Landon!” Cerine’s eyes flashed brighter green as she glared at the boy.
Rugo, on the other hand, laughed. “I don’t think so, and I’d rather not if I can help it. We might encounter some fey though.” The last words fell bitter on his tongue. While he didn’t mention his first battle with a troll, he would prefer to encounter another any day instead of the fey. They were rumored to be more common in the southern areas, but no one had ventured far enough to confirm such stories.
He remembered hearing a tale about one of the guard succumbing to the fey’s enchantments. “While on an expedition,” Rugo explained, “he became separated from the others, and got lost in a deep, dark wood. He encountered a female fey, and she appeared beautiful to him, like nothing he had ever seen before. Suddenly he became enamored with the creature, and fell under her spell. He went with her, doomed to live with her in her domain forever.” As the tale ended, Cerine and Landon both huddled closer to the fire and looked around cautiously.
Rest would not come easy for them that night. A rustle of a shrub in the wind or an animal scurrying across the path was enough to keep their heavy eyelids open. In turn, one would fall in and out of slumber, but none of the three slept together at any one time until late in the night, when fatigue finally got the best of them.
Landon was the first to wake up the next morning, and he had already strayed off looking for something to eat for breakfast. The meager portion the innkeeper had given them was only enough for one person. Between the three of them, they had eaten more than the amount rationed for one traveler, and they were already hungry again. By the time he returned, empty-handed, both Cerine and Rugo were just waking up. “Good morning, sleepyheads,” he chuckled.
Rugo stretched, trying to get the kink out of his back. “You’re up early.”
Landon frowned. “I was looking for breakfast for us. You’d have been proud of me if I had found something. Slim pickings around here, though.” He scuffed his feet through the grass, bowing his head to look at the ground.
“Don’t feel bad, Landon.” Rugo put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and patted it. “We’ll find something. Now, we should be on our way again.”
Cerine stirred the ashes with a stick, mixing them into the dirt. “We can’t leave this area fresh, in case someone may be following us. It has to appear as though someone hasn’t been here in a while.” Cerine spoke like a true candidate of the Path of the Leaf.
Once the patch looked as it had when they found it, the three continued heading south down the path, where they could see a tower of thick black smoke rising above the trees in the distance. It didn’t look like smoke from a chimney or even a campfire. It was darker, with flares of red and orange flickering through it. Something about it didn’t feel right to Rugo, though they were too far away to do anything about it. Still, Rugo took off running, as tired as he was. Cerine and Landon looked at each other, shrugged, and ran after him.
The heat given off from the fire that gave off the smoke, which was still hidden in the forest, was strong even at the distance they were from it. It felt like a wall of heat that kept them away. This was no normal fire. Rugo guessed it had to be magical. Magic wasn’t used back home; the village was mundane when it came to the magical arts. There was gossip that some of the higher lords had magical weapons.
“What should we do? This heat is getting unbearable,” Cerine groaned, tugging at the collar of her shirt. She took a few steps back, where it wasn’t as bad.
Rugo kept walking. “Something’s wrong, and I want to find out what it is.”
“You don’t need to go playing hero all the time, Rugo. You can’t save everyone.” Cerine put her hands on her hips, hoping Rugo would turn around and see her, but he didn’t. She sighed, letting him go this time. Landon had wanted to go too, but she kept him back. It wasn’t until he had disappeared into the wood that she thought about the gravity of her mistake.
* * *
Rugo wiped the sweat from his brow. The skin on his arms rippled as the heat surged into him as he walked closer to the smoke, which could faintly make out to be a burning structure of some sort. He couldn’t tell whether it was a dwelling or a guard post. As he got closer, the crimson flames licking at the walls of the structure became more defined. He heard a faint muffled crying now, but couldn’t determine in what direction it came, for the flapping sound of the blazing fire seemed to echo around him.
“Who’s there? Are you all right?” Rugo called out, looking in all directions for the crying one. There came no reply. The crying had stopped.
The burning building stood only yards from where he stood. He now saw that it had been a general store, from the wooden sign that had collapsed to the ground after the fire broke it free from the roof. The thick smoke billowing from all sides of the store made seeing if anyone was still inside difficult, but Rugo guessed from the crying that someone was indeed inside.
He took a deep breath and dashed into the smoky ruins.
* * *
Cerine slid her hands into her pockets and idly began fingering the ring she kept there. Rugo’s mother had found her as she was leaving, appearing much older and worn from worry that she had ever seen. The woman pleaded to her to do a favor. She had begged Cerine to look out for her son, and to give him the ring that belonged to his father. It was a thick, smooth ring made of silver, set with a black opal. “Give it to him after he accomplishes a great task, and tell him Marton would be proud of him.” Those were her instructions.
As she stared into the smoking wood, she silently promised to give him the ring when he came back, if he came back. She hoped to see his smiling face emerge from the forest unharmed, though she had confidence he would.
“I’m worried about him too. Should I go in after him?” Landon drew his dagger and stood eager to go if the word from Cerine was given. Instead, she shook her head. It was bad enough Rugo had just gone off alone; she didn’t need Landon to go as well.
Landon sheathed the dagger, frowning in disappointment, and lowered himself onto a rock. Knowing Rugo, the wait would be a while.
* * *
As another section of the shop roof burned off and crashed onto the ground, a pillar of smoke rose from the building into the canopy of trees above. Rugo thought he saw a face appear in the smoke, a face of a screaming man full of fear, or maybe hatred. It was a younger-looking man, but his features weren’t too clear, and they disappeared quickly before Rugo could distinguish them. For a moment, he thought it may have been Lamnos, but he wasn’t sure. The image in the fire hadn’t lasted long enough for him to match it with the face etched in his memory.
He waited until the fire and smoke finally cleared enough so he could go inside the fragmented remains of the shop. He covered his mouth with his hand, coughing as the smoky air filled his lungs.
Just about everything was charred beyond recognition, and some of the flaming embers still remained on the floor. A few items, like potion bottles and small iron kettles, were unscathed.
A figure lay slumped under a table, covered in a blanket. Almost afraid to look at what was underneath it, Rugo drew his sword and used the blade to pull the ashy blanket away.
It was the body of a woman, burnt and bruised, and not moving. Her arms curled tightly around something, and Rugo instantly knew it was. He bit his lip as he saw the dead form of the baby that the woman still gripped so lovingly in her arms. She had died trying to comfort her baby as they were trapped in their fiery prison. A single tear formed in Rugo’s eye, a tear of mourning, which we wiped away with his finger. As he covered their bodies again with the blanket, he bowed his head and made a vow. “I will find who did this to you. May you both find peace.”
Stepping through the doorway, he noticed something he didn’t see on his way in. On the path just outside of the shop was another body, larger than the woman but without flesh. Only the bones remained, facing toward from the shop like the person had been trying to get inside. Rugo guessed that it was the woman’s husband, who was trying to save his wife and child.
He turned and slowly walked away from the shop, a loss for words as how to tell Cerine what had happened. The guilt swelled up in the pit of his stomach. He was unable to save them, and he could have, if only he had gotten there sooner.
Just as Cerine had hoped, he emerged from the smoke untouched, but he wasn’t smiling. “What is it?”
“I’m a failure already…” Rugo sat on the rock Landon had earlier and buried his head in his hands. “I couldn’t save them.”
“What are you talking about?” Cerine asked. “Save who?”
Rugo explained as best as he could. He told them about the pillar of smoke, the screaming face, and the dead parents and child. His voice fell short a few times, but he’d choke back his uneasiness, clear his throat, and continue.
Seeing that side of Rugo made Cerine melt. She had seen him upset before, but not to the extent she did now. “Your father still would have been proud.” She reached into her pocket. “Here, your mother told me to give you this.” Cerine pulled out the ring and offered it to Rugo.
He looked at it in shock for a moment before taking the ring with shaking hands. All the times he had seen it on his father’s hand, wearing it proudly, he had never thought that he would be holding it himself. He slipped the ring onto his finger, and found it to be a perfect fit. The longer he wore the ring, the more he felt the strength of his father surging within him.
His father was with him. He was ready to go on again. |
© Copyright 2006 Mark C Bradley (UN: auric at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Mark C Bradley has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
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