Valient

Chapter 3

Working in a bakery was long, grueling work. Lifting heavy sacks of flour to be poured, stirred, and pounded always made everyone exhausted by midday. As people started to form a line around their mill, Elaine went around telling everyone that by week's end, there would be a short supply of sweetcakes, and the people buzzed about the unexpected sweet treat in their lives, when so much else was bitter and hard.

After work, Elaine grabbed her pole and shot out of the house before her little brother annoyed her past reasoning, or her mother found some way to keep her in the house. She met Zachary at their favorite spot, a little clearing where the trees formed a canopy of shade, bright orange and red flowers attracted dozens of butterflies, and where the frogs croaked every so often. The water was cold and clear, and the abundance of butterflies meant that fish often jumped up to catch one or four. It made for easy fishing.

She and Zachary had grown up side by side, and childish bickering gave way to content ease around each other. Yet recently, Elaine had started to look at Zachary in a different light. Although his face was studded with the red bumps of youth and growing pains, and he was on the skinnier side, still tall and lanky, waiting to fill out, her heart began to quietly beat a little faster when she was around him. The change had been so subtle that at first she did not recognize it, but now, standing in the clearing, she felt herself relax in his presence and yet grow more excited, as if this simple fishing trip were a festival.

"Took you long enough," he said.

"Some of us have to scrub kitchens for work, not sit around doing embroidery," she quipped.

"But it's the finest embroidery in the kingdom!"

It was an inside joke. Zachary belonged to the sewing guild, and they made some of the finest lace for fifty miles. Elaine loved to tease him that it was women's work, but it gave Zachary an eye for detail and an appreciation for beauty that most other boys didn't have.

As they walked through the long grass, through trees and shrubs, Zachary suddenly stopped them.

"Look," he said. "A sugar web."

Elaine glanced up and between two low-hanging branches, there was a huge spider's web, intricately designed, with geometric patterns spiraling from the center. A large, black spider with delicate legs balanced itself on the edge. Zachary reached out, and deftly scooped the spider into its hands and set it free on another branch. Elaine gave a soft cry and shivered.

"How do you know it was a sugar web instead of the deadly nightlock?" she asked.

"The triangles in the center," he replied. "The nightlocks's are circles and their webs aren't as big."

He began to wind the web into a little ball. The filaments stuck together and grew into the size of a plum. He pinched off a tiny part and placed it on his tongue. He closed his eyes and let the sweetness dissolve slowly, savoring the taste of something that was a cross between honey and lemon. He offered some to Elaine. As she took it, she asked, "How do you know so much about spiders?"

"When you make lace, you have to study from the masters," he replied. "Spiders are the best weavers in the world."

Elaine made a face.

"It's true," he said laughing. "They may be ugly, but they're the best at what they do."

"Just like you," she said. Zachary looked crestfallen, and she immediately turned bright red. Just like her to put her foot in her mouth.

"You really think I'm ugly?" he said softly.

"Of course not, dummy," she replied. She still felt her cheeks burn.

"Oh, so now I'm ugly and dumb?" he said grinning.

Elaine smiled, glad that she had not ruined their friendship. She pinched off more of the unexpected sweet treat. Tears sprang to her eyes at how good it tasted. She had not tasted sugar for at least a month.

As they settled into their fishing spots, the day stretched out before them, hot, with a cool breeze tossing their hair. They baited their lines and tossed them into the water. Sometimes they talked, other times they napped, but they always enjoyed the ease of the other's company.

Suddenly, Elaine heard a crashing deep in the forest. It was rhythmic and sounded as though a giant were running.

"Zachary, wake up!" she hissed.

He woke with a start, looked at their fishing poles.

"What is it? Did we get a bite?"

"No, listen!"

Boom.boom.boom.boom.

Then, a high-pitched laughter broke the tranquility of the day. It ricocheted from the trees and bounced back to them. It sounded like a woman's laughter but held the ring of madness to it.

Elaine and Zachary looked at each other.

"Baba Yaga," they said in unison.

Immediately, they took off running. On instinct, they grabbed each other's hands and wouldn't let go. They ran and ran until they found cover, a burrow, securely hidden by bushes. The pounding came closer. Closer. The ground shook and Elaine could feel the vibrations travel up her legs. She was close to crying; only the terror of being discovered kept her quiet.

The insane laughter followed them.

From their cover, they couldn't see, but they could imagine the twisted old woman, bony and ugly, with a huge, long nose and iron teeth. People said the witch would either help you or eat you, depending on her mood for the day.

Elaine didn't want to find out.

They crouched beneath the bushes, panting hard and tried to still their breaths to not make any noise.

The booming came closer, seemed to be right on top of them.

They heard a scream of frustration, as the old hag smelled them, but couldn't see them.

The trembling of the forest floor picked up again, as the hag balanced on giant chicken legs faded into the distance.

Elaine and Zachary didn't move. Elaine was trembling, and she and Zachary held onto each other, not moving, hardly daring to breathe.

After a few moments, they relaxed, breathing deeply. Zachary started to laugh.

Elaine looked incredulous.

"Why on earth are you laughing?" she asked, wondering if maybe Zachary had lost his mind.

The question only made him laugh even harder.

Elaine started to become angry.

"Zachary...Zachary!" she said.

Great racks of laughter shook Zachary until he could hardly breathe.

"Don't you understand? We could have died," Elaine said, angry that he was making light of a situation that was clearly dangerous.

"Yes, that's the point," said Zachary. "We could have, but we didn't."

He started to quiet down.

Elaine didn't understand, but she was Zachary's friend, so she let him be.

They were quiet for a few moments. Then, Zachary said, "It's not that I don't care whether we live or die," he said. "It's just that this world is so full of amazing things, and I just want to get out of here and see them all."

"You want to get out in the world, and face the likes of that? Of Baba Yaga? Go ahead," she said.

"Baba Yaga, the waterfall made out of liquid gold, the canyons carved of pure rubies, the land where the sky touches the earth...yes, I want to see them all," he said.

"I only want to stay here," Elaine replied. "I just want to stay here and make bread, and not cause any trouble."

"Come on, you've never thought about going beyond? To see the mountains that pierce the sky, or the gardens that float in the air?"

"No, they can stay there, and I can stay here. There are too many things that can kill you along the way."

"But just think of the wonders! Think of everything there is to see!"

"No, I just want to stay here, and have a family."

At this, she looked into his green eyes, so dark they almost looked like the depths of a swamp, with tiny gold flecks in the center. At the mention of the word family, she saw something shift in him, turning his attention inward, yet outward to her, as if he were suddenly seeing her in a brand new light.

She felt something shift within her as well, looking into those eyes.

All I want is right in front of me. If I could just stay here, protected from spiders and Baba Yaga, that would be just fine.

"I do too," he said softly. A leaf fell on Elaine's head and he moved to brush it away. He hooked her hair behind her ear, and she felt a warm tingling in her stomach. "But first, I want to see things. Do things. See something that no one else has ever seen before."

The excitement from the Baba Yaga chase had faded but now grew into a different kind of excitement. She had never thought about kissing Zachary before, but now, here, it was all she could think about. They were so close already, all he had to do was lean over.

Elaine started to feel a heat inside, a deep longing for her dearest friend, her closest companion. The one with whom she had hidden frogs in her little brother's bed; (he had been the one to touch them, of course). The one she had played hide-and-seek with. The one who came to every single new harvest celebration.

The warmth grew stronger, and she felt a magnetic pull to him, as if she had been waiting for this moment for so long and only now just realized it.

Their heads leaned closer together. Elaine's breath hitched as she paused, his lips almost touching hers, wondering if she did this, would she ever be able to go back.

They connected. His lips felt soft, and the just-beginnings of a mustache tickled her. The heat grew stronger inside her, and she wanted more of him. They began slowly, unsure of what to do, content to only press their lips together, wanting to extend the moment for as long as possible.

Zachary lifted his hand to brush his fingers through her hair. The sensation made a bolt of lightning go through her stomach. All she could think was, I want him, I want him, I want him.

Suddenly, the heat grew more intense. Elaine felt as though if it did not stop, did not abate soon, it might consume her. She felt her fingertips grow hot, desiring to pull Zachary closer to her. As she did, she felt a small release, as her hands grew hotter.

It was too hot. She smelled smoke.

Zachary cried out. He was on fire.

Part of his sleeve had caught flame, and they quickly panicked and started to pound it, Elaine lifting her heavy dress to smother the flames.

It worked, but damage had been done. Zachary lifted his arms, and they were bright red, bleeding, with scorch marks.

Elaine looked down in horror at her hands. She didn't know how, but she knew it was her fault, that somehow she had caused it. She felt ashamed that she had hurt her best friend, embarrassed by this display that had happened without knowing how.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I can't control myself."

And she fled. She was too ashamed to face Zachary. She would run back to the healers house, tell her that there had been an accident and that Zachary was hurt. Wait, no, that would mean explaining what happened, and she couldn't because she didn't know really what had happened. Only that something was happening. Something she couldn't control, and that frightened Elaine more than anything, more than spiders, more than Baba Yaga.

And so, she ran. She ran out of the forest, and back to her house, leaving her fishing pole and love behind.

*

They're gaining on me. I know she sent them after me, and I know how she did it.

That mirror. That awful, wonderful mirror that tells truths, but half-truths, things you only want to hear and terrible things that could come to pass. It showed her. But I know a quicker way, a better way.

I blame myself for all that happened. And when I see the thousands hurting, thousands starving, I know it's my fault, and it's almost enough to cast me into the river or into the mouth of a dragon. But I created the monster. I pushed her too far. And now she wants to push us all off a cliff.

But I know how to fix it. I know that just over these hills, past the swamps of despair, past the minotaurs and cyclops, the ogres and the gnomes, past the ports with markets so big and so packed with every good imaginable, lies the answer. And the knowledge that I can somehow make things right, make up for all that went wrong pushes me forward. I will not give in to despair. We've been under the curse of an evil ruler for far too long. No one deserves this. No one deserves to live with this.

Well, except for me.