Chapter 2
1520 Words
2
The mountains rose up beyond the edge of the trees, fierce towers I could never hope to climb. No one else from the village would ever even dream of trying such a thing.
The soldiers wouldn't enter the woods. The villagers rarely dared to go near them. The forest was where darkness and solitude lay. A quiet place where the violence of the village couldn’t follow me.
I skirted farmers’ fields and picked my way through the pastures. No one bothered me as I climbed over the fences they built to keep in their scarce amounts of sheep and cows.
No one kept much livestock. They couldn't afford it in the first place. And besides, if the soldiers saw that one farmer had too many animals, they would take the beasts as taxes. Safer to be poor. Better for your belly to go empty than for the soldiers to think you had something to give.
I moved faster as I got past the last of the farmhouses and beyond the reach of the stench of animal dung.
When I was a very little girl, my brother had told me that the woods were ruled by ghosts. That none of the villagers dared to cut down the trees or venture into their shelter for fear of being taken by the dead and given a worse fate than even the Guilds could provide.
I’d never been afraid of ghosts, and I’d wandered through the woods often enough to be certain that no spirits roamed the eastern mountains.
When I first started going into the forest, I convinced myself I was braver than everyone else in Harane. I was an adventurer, and they were cowards.
Maybe I just knew better. Maybe I knew that no matter what ghosts did, they could never match the horrors men inflict on each other. What I'd seen them do to each other.
By the time I was a hundred feet into the trees, I could no longer see the village behind me. I couldn't smell anything but the fresh scent of damp earth as the little plants fought for survival in the fertile spring ground. I knew my way through the woods well enough I didn't need to bother worrying about which direction to go. It was more a question of which direction I wanted to chase the gentle wind.
I could go and find fungi for Lily to make into something useful, or I could climb. If I went quickly, I would have time to climb and still be able to find something worth Lily getting herself hanged for.
Smiling to myself, I headed due east toward the steepest part of the mountains near our village. Dirt soon covered the hem of my skirt, and mud squelched beneath my shoes, creeping in through the cracked leather of the soles. I didn't mind so much. What the cold could do to me was nothing more than a refreshing chance to prove I was still alive. Life existed outside the village, and there was beauty beyond our battered walls.
Bits of green peeked through the brown of the trees as new buds forced their way out of the branches.
I stopped, staring up at the sky, marveling at the beauty hidden within our woods.
Birds chirped overhead. Not the angry cawing of birds of death, but the beautiful songs of lovebirds who had nothing more to worry about than tipping their wings up toward the sky.
A gray and blue bird burst from a tree, carrying his song deeper into the forest.
A stream gurgled to one side of me. The snap of breaking branches came from the other. I didn't change my pace as the crackling came closer.
I headed south to a steeper slope where I had to use my hands to pull myself up the rocks.
I moved faster, outpacing the one who lumbered through the trees behind me. A rock face cut through the forest, blocking my path. I dug my fingers into the cracks in the stone, pulling myself up. Careful to keep my legs from being tangled in my skirt, I found purchase on the rock with the soft toes of my boots. In a few quick movements, I pushed myself up over the top of the ledge. I leapt to my feet and ran to the nearest tree, climbing up to the highest thick branch.
I sat silently on my perch, waiting to see what sounds would come from below.
A rustle came from the base of the rock, followed by a long string of inventive curses.
I bit my lips together, not allowing myself to call out.
The cursing came again.
“Of all the slitching, vile―” the voice from below growled.
I leaned back against the tree, closing my eyes, reveling in my last few moments of solitude. Those hints of freedom were what I loved most about being able to climb. Going up a tree, out of reach of the things that would catch me.
“Ena,” the voice called. “Ena.”
I didn't answer.
“Ena, are you going to leave me down here?”
My lips curved into a smile as I bit back my laughter. “I didn’t ask you to follow me. You can just go back the way you came.”
“I don’t want to go back,” he said. “Let me come up. At least show me how you did it.”
“If you want to chase me, you’d better learn to climb.”
I let him struggle for a few more minutes until he threatened to find a pick and c***k through the rock wall. I glanced down to find him three feet off the ground, his face bright red as he tried to climb.
“Jump down,” I said, not wanting him to fall and break something. I could have hauled him back to the village, but I didn't fancy the effort.
“Help me get up,” he said.
“Go south a bit. You'll find an easier path.”
I listened to the sounds of him stomping off through the trees, enjoying the bark against my skin as I waited for him to find the way up.
It only took him a few minutes to loop back around to stand under my perch.
Looking at Cal stole my will to flee. His blond hair glistened in the sun. He shaded his bright blue eyes as he gazed up at me.
“Are you happy now?” he said. “I'm covered in dirt.”
“If you wanted to be clean, you shouldn’t have come into the woods. I never ask you to follow me.”
“It would have been wrong of me not to. You shouldn't be coming out here by yourself.”
I didn't let it bother me that he thought it was too dangerous for me to be alone in the woods. It was nice to have someone worry about me. Even if he was worried about ghosts that didn't exist.
“What do you think you'd be able to do to help me anyway?” I said.
He stared up at me, hurt twisting his perfect brow.
Cal looked like a god, or something made at the will of the Guilds themselves. His chiseled jaw held an allure to it, the rough stubble on his cheeks luring my fingers to touch its texture.
I twisted around on my seat and dropped down to the ground, reveling in his gasp as I fell.
“You really need to get more used to the woods,” I said. “It's a good place to hide.”
“What would I have to hide from?” Cal’s eyes twinkled, offering a hint of teasing that drew me toward him.
I touched the stubble on his chin, tracing the line of his jaw.
“There are plenty of things to hide from, fool.” I turned to tramp farther into the woods.
“Ena,” he called after me, “you shouldn't be going so far from home.”
“Then don't follow me. Go back.” I knew he would follow.
I had known when I passed by his window in the tavern on my way through the village. He always wanted to be near me. That was the beauty of Cal.
I veered closer to the stream.
Cal kept up, though he despised getting his boots muddy.
I always chose the more difficult path to make sure he knew I could outpace him. It was part of our game on those trips into the forest.
I leapt across the stream to a patch of fresh moss just beginning to take advantage of spring.
“Ena.” Cal jumped the water and sank down onto the moss I had sought.
I shoved him off of the green and into the dirt.
He growled.
I didn't bother trying to hide my smile. I pulled out tufts of the green moss, tucking them into my bag for Lily.
“If you don't want me to follow you,” Cal said, “you can tell me not to whenever you like.”
“The forest doesn’t belong to me, Cal. You can go where you choose.”
He grabbed both my hands and tugged me toward him. I tipped onto him and he shifted, letting me fall onto my back. I caught a glimpse of the sun peering down through the new buds of emerald leaves, and then he was kissing me.
His taste of honey and something a bit deeper filled me. And I forgot about whips and Lily and men bleeding and soldiers coming to kill us.
There was nothing but Cal and me. And the day became beautiful.
- Writer
