|
CHAPTER 4
Every Heart ~ すべての心
I was on Chena’s back, following the man. We hadn’t spoken to each other since I gathered my things, which included the claymore, the picture of Talc, and Chena. I rode Chena, of course, but a rope was tied onto his harness, and the man held the other end. I was sure he was guiding the horse. I never learned to ride on my own. I saw we headed to the mountains, a lower one. It seemed to be just far enough away that people would not be tempted to go there. I looked back down to the picture and remembered Talc’s guidance. ‘The phoenix of the forest.’
“James.” I looked up to the man when he spoke out of nowhere. My eyes widened out of curiosity. “What is a ‘James’?” I asked. He chuckled a bit and looked to me finally. “James is my name… Zerie.” I shifted my gaze to Chena’s neck and my eyes softened. I miss Talc, already, I thought to myself. I looked to the path we were approaching. This path took us up a hill. My eyes followed the trail to the top of the mountain. The sun began to set behind us, giving a spectacular view of the ice.
After a few hours of riding, I grew drowsy and fell asleep silently, leaning on Chena’s strong neck.
I awoke to the flicker of a burning campfire outside a small wooden cabin I somehow was inside of. I sat up on top of a comforter on the floor. There was barely anything inside the cabin, and it was very clean. I heard James’s voice from the outside and crawled to the only window in the room. I peeked out to see James reading out loud a letter he was writing. He was speaking softly, but I listened carefully like a fox searching for the squeaks of moles. “I have got the girl. I am taking precautions, for I am aware of the danger. I will take her to you when she is ready. She will be strong, so we must be careful…” His voice trailed off.
What was this about? I sat down under the window. Did it have something to do with the “phoenix”? Would they kill me? I dozed off again, falling asleep at the thought of having a worthless life.
When I awoke to the sun’s bright rays, I found James sitting on a futon beside me, and in his lap was my sword underneath his. I barely began to reach for the claymore when his eyes opened slowly, and turned to my direction. “Well, good morning,” he spoke softly. I sat up upon the comforter I had been laying on and remembered the campfire, the window, his voice. I quickly believed I had simply been dreaming.
I reached for my sword. I didn’t care he had it, it was mine and I wanted it back. James grasped my hand and looked into my eyes. “We can’t have you hurting yourself now, can we?” I snatched my hand back, sulking. “…but,” James went on, “I would like to see how good you are with it.”
He stood up with both the swords in one hand, and then looked down to me while I continued to sulk. “Up,” he said bluntly. I looked to him. He finally handed me my scabbard. “Come. I want to witness your skill.” My skill? I stood as I unsheathed the blade for the first time and flung the scabbard onto my back. It was stained with the blood my brother never cleaned off it after his last hunt. As I looked at the history of the blade, dazed, I recalled every time I watched him use it to hunt and cut. It was sharp back then and easily peeled bark. I rubbed my finger along the edge of the sword, unafraid of pain, merely curious, and discovered it was very blunt. The two years in the sheath had done its toll on the blade.
I’m not sure James even cared how well I held the sword, but he didn’t appear too happy from the way I held it. He took it from my hands and placed it onto the floor blade down, leaning it against the wall. “You still have much to learn,” he said, looking to me with such serious eyes. I looked to the floor a bit ashamed of myself. I wasn’t worthy of such a weapon. For a moment, I was wondering if he was even worthy of his own weapon.
He sighed lightly and suggested he would go hunting. I followed him outside, my bare feet stepping into the icy snow. Snow was no stranger to me. The campfire was burning softly, the embers chewing away at the dry bark, allowing them to flake off. James asked me to stay while he went to find some game, so I sat myself beside the warm fire, where the thin layer of snow melted around it.
I stared into the fire, and saw it was alive. For a moment, I felt that it was my friend, warm, kind, full of potential, and understanding.
It wasn’t long until James returned with a bloody sword. He told me he needed to gather ropes to pull back the doe he caught only a few meters away. I stood, feeling how it was strange he needed a tool to do such a simple job. I went out on my own while he was inside the cabin and found the doe, its neck slit and the snow stained with the spilled crimson.
I wrapped my arms around the forelegs above the doe’s elbows and took hold of its neck by my jaws. Now this I could do! With that, I pulled the doe back to the campsite where I found James standing with a rope hanging from his arm. He stared at me blankly.
I dropped the deer and turned to him. “I never needed tools to carry food,” I said, closing my eyes and returning to the fire. “Why would you carry it like that?” He asked, placing the rope onto a stump by the cabin. “Do what?” I asked, not looking to him. “Use your teeth… That’s a bit odd.”
“It’s like… the weight… being carried by more than one part…” I had trouble finding my words. “…It is easier.” James went to the game and pulled it closer to the fire. “I see,” he replied. “Weight distribution. That way your arms are not doing most of the work.” I looked up to him, saying, “Yes!”
James took pieces of meat and began cooking them over the flame. “Can I ask you something?” He glanced over to the carcass, preparing a question. “What-what is your favorite food?” I smiled for the first time in what felt like forever. “That’s easy. Fish! Strait from the water!” It seemed that his face had gone pale quickly. “Something wrong?” I asked. He looked to me with a blank stare.
“You are her,” he said. “Her?” I was completely confused. He stood from his place and walked to the cabin. “You do not know?” I rose and followed him. “I was in doubt at first,” he began, “but I am sure of it now. “I found you because you looked just like her. Then, I found you act just like her. And now as I see your smile at the feast of raw fish, I know now. You are her. You are the legendary phoenix of the forest.” My eyes widened to his words, a sweat drop puddled the ground beneath my feet. I shivered at the thought of James being the one who killed Talc… on purpose, to take me away from him. It felt like my heart sank. I looked away from the man. I didn’t know what to do. I thought I would be so angry to know he did this to steal me, but instead, I was frightened. If he wanted, he might have done the same to me, if I had only helped Talc! He would be alive right now! My eyes welled with tears. Everything seemed blurred. Everything went quiet. Then finally everything went black, when my muscles weakened underneath me. Just before all my senses were gone, I felt the embrace of James.
When I woke up, I was inside the cabin, and I felt very cold. This time, it wasn’t because I was scared. I heard winds whistling outside. James sat beside the window, now covered. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have prepared you for the legend before dumping everything onto you.” I sat up and looked to him. “Legend?” I asked out of curiosity.
“There is a legend about you, Zerie. A poem. It goes something like this:
‘The phoenix is not something you want to come across,
But if pride wields no soul, it is only your loss.
Time flies by like a flash of flame,
And a whisper in the air calls your name.
Chilling your bones from head to toe
Is a gust of wind from someone you know.
She strikes without warning, and burns the men,
Just as she sees they committed a sin.
No evidence helps find her, so alone,
And anyone who’s seen is not spiritually grown.
For once seen, she disappears in a flash of fire.
If you want to look for her, look higher.
The last thing you’d see is the green eyes glaring,
Then your own blood, as she keeps staring.
The next time you see a village burn,
Don’t come running, because it’s your turn.’
It basically says that someone goes to help a burning village in the forest. They feel the ghost of a friend warning them not to cross her path. The person in the story seemed to have been sliced in some way. I said that even though it says ‘no evidence helps find her’, I would. You were described as a golden haired girl with emerald eyes, you always wore clothes white as snow, and your flesh was rather pale, even though you loved to be outdoors.” “I remember now,” I interrupted, thinking of the poem. “Those burning villages. My brother told me once that fire helps to fertilize the land, and the forest was my home. There were people who kept trying to steal food from us. I remember burning the whole village, and I killed everyone who saw me. I was not stained with blood at all, though… but… that was four years ago.” “Four years?” James asked. He seemed confused. “But you must have been, only 10 then.” “And very healthy,” I added. “And since then, a few more settlements came, and I burned them and destroyed them as well before they could take my food.” “That explains it. The fires. I was afraid you would kill me as well, when you got over your sadness of the boy.” I smiled slightly, my eyes calming. “Oh, no. I only kill those who are in my way. You are one who guides my path, not blocks it.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I stayed with James for over a year, gaining strength, enough to wield the unstable sword of mine with a firm grip. When I finally got it, James asked me to fight him. I sparred with him for quite a while, using my logic to keep his blade from touching me, and attempting to push back as well. Not a blade grazed either of our skin.
The night after we battled for the first time, the air was still. The moon was full. I lied in the snow under the starry sky. I didn’t mind the cold so much. James hadn’t worried when he realized that my body temperature was hotter than the normal human. It kind of fits into the theory of being a firebird. A phoenix, they called it. I still did not quite understand it.
When I was ready for sleep, dozing off, I heard a loud bang. I sat up quickly and saw birds fly randomly in panic. Hearing the voice of the birds, I stood, grasping my claymore. I saw men running our way. They much have k known. I couldn’t count that far then, there were more than ten, as far as I knew. Maybe twice as much. The running separated them, slightly; the lighter ones with stronger legs were in front. He ran towards me, and with a katana in his hand, he swung the sword in my direction. He was aiming for me. I blocked his initial attack with the claymore just as James dashed out of the cabin. James seemed to be surprised. He grabbed his sword, running in my direction, when I heard another bang, much louder this time. My right upper arm got a deep scrape. It stung like a thousand bees. I could barely hold the claymore. This guy was waiting for me to tire out. I bet he could feel my stamina was weak. I pushed him back when James swung his sword across the man’s chest. The guy fell backward, not getting up, when other men, dressed the same, in black from head to toe, came charging. Five at once this time. James stuck his sword unsuspectingly strait through the heart. I tried to mimic him swinging my claymore, in my stance. I impacted two men at once. I remembered when I had been angry about people coming into the forest. I jumped, a few feet off the ground, and came strait down with the blade against the next one. He went down after a holler. My right arm weakened fast. I heard another bang, this time seeing where it came from. My left thigh got hit. I screamed in anguish.
James appeared in front of me, as if protecting me. “Can you stand?” He asked, still fighting off an oncoming army. “I will.” I stood, wobbling at first, but stiffened my body. I charged into the army and headed for the man that hit me twice. I got tackled once by another and stabbed his heart while throwing him off me. I continued into the army. I heard yet another bang. It wasn’t this man I was eying, but it seemed to be the man next to him. I fell on my left side, for this time, my foot had a hole in it. James ran to me, following the rest of the men. He had gotten down half of them that originally ran in my direction. Red covered most of my arm from the wound, and half my leg. It took some effort to stand, but once I did, anger grew in my eyes, and I killed each of the other men charging to me without a second thought. James stopped in his tracks to watch. Even though I was injured, I went from my position in the middle of this battlefield to the outsides, where the other men who wounded me lay. James couldn’t believe me. They weren’t moving very quickly, so I sliced a throat from one of the men, and cut the back of the neck of the other. I heard two more bangs, one after another. There was another man in a tree. I wasn’t hurt this time, so I jumped into the tree in a heartbeat and stabbed his heart from behind without warning. I turned to where James was. He was lying on his back, his chest covered in blood.
I ran to him and knelt at his side. I placed my hand upon his chest. He was breathing heavily. “Zerie,” he whispered, “I have seen your true skill. I know why you were called the devil now. You are truly an unforgiving warrior, and,” he coughed, “I respect that. You will survive, Zerie…” “James,” I said, not knowing what words to say, my eyes filled with tears again. “Please don’t cry,” he went on, “Warriors don’t cry over death, for they are the servers of death. They came to take you and hunt you down like a wild animal. I worked for them, but I never brought you to them. Watch out. I love you, Zerie. Live for me.” That’s when I realized that he was dying, and that I had cared about him.
I looked about, and did not see any other men. I considered their retreat, since most of them were slaughtered anyway. I set the camp and the cabin on fire in the melting snow. I left his body near the cabin, allowing it to burn with everything else. I will let him rest in peace. “Goodbye, James…” I whispered to myself as I walked away, the claymore again upon my back. I headed down the tall hill, and noticed the moon turned red like my hands. As if it were meant to be.
 Amazing Q · Fri Jul 24, 2009 @ 06:47am · 0 Comments |
