Saiai Webnovels

Agatha entered the woods.

After spending a few hours resting and letting her clothes dry, she had realized she was hungry. She knew that soon they had to depart again and try to join back with the rest of the Elis denizens, but she hoped to find at least a few berries before leaving.

Ark had told her to not stray too far, but she was nevertheless surprised by the speed at which the forest dullened the sound of the river current, as a symphony of other noises took its place: the rustling of leaves, the whistling of the wind, the tapping of raindrops that some treetops had retained.

Until that day, Agatha had been in the woods only in her grandmother’s tales. Old Jatra loved to tell her grandchildren of when, as a young girl during the Liberation from Slavery, she and her companions who had escaped from their masters had hidden in Ralbuss Forest; Agatha never really understood where that forest was, but she guessed somewhere near Arlis.

And of the many adventures (that was how she called them, Agatha now could understand, because her purpose in telling them was entertaining the children, not burdening them with her own grief) she had lived there, the family’s favorite was the one in which one night, in the darkness, she had met a terrifying beast… and also her future husband.

Yes, that was the way she always introduced that tale, and right after that she’d say “And no, the beast wasn’t him.” and then everyone would laugh, even Grandfather if he was present.

The two held two different versions of the story: both began with grandma Jatra alone, away from her group, meeting a boy who belonged to a different group of fugitives with the same idea as her own in regard of where to hide. Suddenly, both heard a low growl and noticed two large shining eyes looking at them from the shadows. According to Grandfather, who loved tales only slightly less than Grandmother, the two of them connected immediately, the beast was a bear come to spoil the tender moment and he had bravely faced him with an improvised spear while Grandma was paralyzed with fear. The details of the epic fight changed every time, but in the end he triumphed over the creature, earning eternal gratitude and admiration from the girl he had saved. According to Grandma instead, their very first interaction had been a loud argument, the beast was a wolf drawn to the commotion and both had been paralyzed with fear, though the creature contented itself with a brief look and then left without giving them a second thought.

Suddenly, Agatha realized that while lost in her memories she had kept walking. And now the river was nowhere to be found, no matter in which direction she looked.

She tried her best not to panic, but now, in the scant light the tree branches didn’t block, as she was surrounded by the dark pillars of the tree trunks she was forcefully reminded of the face Grandma made when they asked her to describe the beast. No matter what really had happened, had it been a bear, a wolf or some other thing, it was clear that despite the exciting way she told her tale the experience had traumatized her.

The girl heard a new noise join the sounds of the forest. The noise of something moving through the bushes.

“It was ugly.” Grandma said, “With a long, deformed muzzle and pointy teeth. And those eyes… Large, yellow, bulging out and hungry.”

Something emerged from behind a tree.

«Is everything fine?»

Agatha shrieked instinctively, but she managed to hold her impulse to run away, long enough to realize that that “something” was Ark.

«I thought we might as well look for food for everyone.» he continued. «We’ll do faster with the two of us. And it’ll be safer too.»

Agatha, catching her breath, cursed her runaway imagination and answered: «Yes… You’re right.»

---

When they came back near the river, the light was beginning to wane.

With Ark’s help, Agatha had hoarded up a lot of berries and also found some fruit.

They hadn’t talked much, due also to the bruises on Ark’s face. Now that they weren’t in immediate danger anymore and fatigue started to set in, Agatha thought it had to be painful for him to even open his mouth. At one point, while they were side by side, she had looked at his face, for no particular reason. On his right cheek, a purple, bloated triangle was extending its tip downward. There was a split in his upper lip, and the wound was covered in a blackish lump of dried blood.

«Does it hurt? Your face, I mean.» She had asked, almost without thinking.

He had turned toward her, showing her that his left side was in no better condition: the eyelid was dark and swollen, preventing him from fully opening the eye, and a long cut ran along most of his eyebrow.

Agatha had regretted that question, feeling stupid: of course it had to hurt!

But he had answered: «A little.» and then had gone back to gathering berries.

They had had no further exchange.

They had wrapped the food in Agatha’s travel cloak (she was very happy to have resisted the temptation to throw it away as she was swimming toward the shore) and taken the way back.

Her original plan was to look for some food only for herself, but she was glad she had done something useful for everyone, although it had required much more time.

This was the reason she felt hurt when, the moment she put the cloak down saying: «Look what we have found!» and was about to start eating, the first reply she received was a «Stop, you fool!» shouted in a hoarse voice.

Elef looked like he had just woken up. He took the berry she had in her hand, looked at it for a moment and then threw it in the water in a furious gesture, only to immediately grasp his injured shoulder, a reminder he had to avoid moving like that. However, the pain seemed to only make him angrier.

«What is your problem? Can’t you recognize a poisonous berry when you see one? What did your parents teach you?»

Agatha was speechless. Elef wasn’t like Fyra, but she still wasn’t all that familiar with him. He was the oldest of their group, and even if the difference in age had mattered less and less as they grew up, she had known him since the time he was twice as tall as her, and a part of her still felt intimidated by him.

Elef crouched near the heap of berries, a much more cautious movement this time, and rustled in it for a while. Then he took one, identical to the one Agatha was about to put in her mouth and to many others in the bunch.

«These are blue crowns.» he said, and he pointed at a circle of thin protrusions they had, similar to short eyelashes. «You recognize them by their shape, here. You eat just one of them, and you’ll have trouble breathing for the next hour. You eat three, and you die suffocated! Were you trying to kill us all?»

«N-No, I just wanted to…» Agatha realized she was terrified. She had never seen Elef so furious: his blood-shot eyes and his harsh voice made him seem more like an animal than a person.

But fear wasn’t the only thing she felt. Agatha felt sorry.

She had no idea of the danger that she had been in, that she had almost put everyone in. She just thought she had done something useful…

And then she remembered her original plan. Had she been alone, knowing nothing of the poison and driven by hunger, she’d have eaten all the berries she found and would have died horribly, with no one to help her or even know where she was. If it hadn’t been for…

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

«It’s alright. Nobody got hurt, Elef. Calm down.»

It was Ark.

But Elef gave no sign of calming down.

«You… You read all those books and in the real world you can’t tell one leaf or fruit from another…»

He stepped closer, more threatening than before. But suddenly he was shaken by a coughing fit so violent he barely managed to keep himself standing.

Agatha tried to help him, but he pushed her away with one arm (again, a cautious movement even in its impulsiveness).

«Throw all those blue crowns away.» he pointed at the heap of berries. «The other ones are fine.» he added afterwards, in a different tone. «And you make yourself useful as well!» he concluded, talking to Ark, then he moved back to where more or less he had been sleeping before and sat down.

Agatha and Ark thoroughly sorted the berries, with Elef sometimes interjecting and pointing at one they had missed, and then they threw all the poisonous ones in the river.

As they finished, before going back to the others, Agatha found the courage to ask the boy a question: «Did you… know of the poison? I mean, did you know I could have eaten something poisonous if I went in the forest alone?»

After a few moments of silence, he answered: «It came to my mind, after you left.»

«So… when you went looking for me, and said you wanted to look for food for everyone… that was a lie, the real reason was to protect me.»

«…That, too.» was his only answer, as he started going back.

And Agatha followed him.

She knew she wouldn’t have a longer answer from him. And that was fine.

---

«Let’s go.» Kalos said, after eating. «For now we’ll follow the river northward, but let’s move away from the shore. We have to meet back with the others.»

Elef didn’t remember anyone electing Kalos as leader, but right now he didn’t have the strength to complain.

He was cold. And all his limbs hurt, not only his injured shoulder.

He followed the others wordlessly, gritting his teeth.

The five set off, entering the woods as much as was needed to evade possible eyes looking for them from the west bank without losing sight of the river. They used every last gleam of reddish light on the horizon to proceed, then, once night finished falling and it became so dark that even seeing the river became difficult, they stopped.

Sitting down behind a huge boulder, Fyra gathered some branches and twigs then used her sklerygron to cut and shape two pieces of wood: one became a pointy stick, on the other she cut a flat surface with a small hollow. She put the stick into the hollow and started rubbing the two objects one against the other, until she lit a small campfire.

Elef was very grateful for the warmth. He sat as close as possible to the fire, stretching out his uninjured arm almost to the point of touching the flame, and for some time he lost himself in the pleasant feeling.

«What will we do, then?» he heard Agatha ask.

«What do you mean?» Kalos’ voice.

«Once we find the others. What will we do after that?»

There was a long silent pause, then once more Kalos’ voice.

«I don’t know.»

«We’ll think about it when we get there.» That was Fyra. «For now, it’s best to focus on the present.»

Typical Fyra, Elef thought. No plans, no long-term vision, no ability to put things in perspective whatsoever. Everything that girl had, she had it because her father was military. If Elef and her traded places, it she had been the one born to lowly farmers, by now he’d have probably been made captain already, while Fyra wouldn’t have even tried to rise above her condition.

Feeling his anger rise, he closed his outstretched hand into a fist and took a deep breath. And this caused him a coughing fit.

Once that subsided, the young man suddenly noticed something strange.

«Hey!» he called the others. «There’s a light, there.»

«Where?» Agatha asked.

Elef stood up and pointed at it. It was a small bright point, far away to the north, among the trees.

«I don’t see anything.» Kalos said.

«Me neither.» Fyra said.

«There is one, I’m telling you! It’s far away, but I see it clearly!» he replied, in frustration. He’d always had a really sharp eye, and now he was feeling as if he were a child again, trying to convince his ever-disbelieving parents.

«He’s right.» said the one member of the group who had been silent until now. Artor pointed in the same direction Elef had and continued: «There’s something there. I can’t see it clearly, but it could be a fire like ours.»

«Oh! It’s true. Now I see it too.» Fyra said, in a surprised tone.

Had the situation been different, Elef would have exploded in rage: he could accept Kalos in command, but the group taking Artor seriously instead of him… that was unacceptable.

Still, there were more pressing matters at the moment.

«Maybe it’s the citizens! We have to get closer and make ourselves known! HEY! WE’RE HE-» Before he could finish his sentence, someone shut his mouth with a hand.

«Don’t be stupid!» Fyra’s voice. «A small campfire for all those people? No, those are not the citizens. It must be someone else.»

Elef was about to complain, but he realized that actually Fyra was right, and if he had only stopped and thought about it for a moment he would have realized it on his own. What was wrong with him?

It’s the cold, he answered himself. Because of this cursed cold I can’t think straight. I have to go back to the fire.

Right at that moment Fyra loosened her grip and gave him a weird look, that he had neither the time nor the willingness to decipher.

«Go back to the fire. And stay there.» she told him, as if there were any need for that, then she spoke to the others: «And you stay with him. I’ll go see what that light is. It won’t take long.»

Elef saw her approach Kalos and tell him something, but he didn’t care enough to listen. He went back to sitting where he was before and tried to warm himself as much as possible.

It was pleasant, but even as he sat so close to the fire he was starting to feel cold. Probably, the fire was already dying. He could have tried to rekindle it, but he felt so tired…

He was stirred from his torpor by a new unknown weight around his shoulders. It took him a while to realize it was a cloak.

«Cover yourself with this.» Kalos’ voice. Maybe.

«I have mine. I don’t need another.» he answered it, though confusedly.

«Well, I don’t need it either. You keep it.»

Elef no longer had the strength to reply. He’d have liked to shrug the thing off, but as he slowly formulated that thought he realized that, wrapped up as he was, he was less cold than before.

And he told himself that, yeah, he could keep it after all.

---

Kal watched Elef’s head slowly bow down until the boy fell asleep lying back on the boulder, then he turned his attention to the flame that flickered far away in the darkness where Fyra had gone.

The silence was broken only by the crackling of their fire. Ark and Agatha were still awake, but none of the three said anything.

Suddenly, that small light in the distance went out.

No noise reached their ears, and yet Kal couldn’t help feeling a lump of unease forming up in his throat. He was taken by the urge to go and look for Fyra, but he kept it under control. He could not abandon the others, not with Elef like that. Still, Fyra could be in danger. What to do? What to do?

He realized he was panicking. He took a deep breath and tried to see the matter from a more distant point of view.

Fyra was strong, he knew that.

His options were: either go look for her and save her in case she had found herself in a situation she was unable to handle on her own (which was only a possibility), and in doing so leave his sister, Ark and Elef to themselves, in a situation they were certainly unable to handle; or stay with them and trust his friend.

Kal chose the latter.

Time passed at a painfully slow pace, but eventually Kal heard rustling nearby, and a moment later Fyra appeared, coming back to their campfire. She seemed uninjured, thought tired.

«What happened?» he asked.

«They must have realized I was getting close.» she answered. «Whoever they were, they put out the fire and disappeared in the dark.»

«Oh.» The tension Kal had felt before vanished. He noticed Ark too was sighing in relief.

«But there’s more.» Fyra continued, calling everyone’s attention back to her. «As I tried to find my way again, after the fire was put out, I headed for the riverbank. And I found the boats.»

At that point Kal stood up.

«Are you sure? Did you find some of the citizens or some footprints?»

She raised her hands in a gesture that asked for calm, then shook her head: «I am sure, but there was nobody there. And there was too little light to see footprints. We’ll have to get back there once the sun is up.»

Kal sat back down, realizing that hoping for more would be asking too much. Even as things were, they were much closer to getting back with the others than they had been an hour before.

Altough maybe it won’t be enough. He looked ad Elef. Even in his sleep, his breathing was ragged, and though he was wrapped in two different cloaks, sometimes his body was shaken by tremors.

«Kal.» Fyra called him. «What do we do with him? He’s got a high fever, I felt it earlier.»

«If we find the others quickly enough, they’ll surely be able to heal him.» was his terse response.

«And if we don’t find them quickly enough?» Agatha asked, joining in with a worried tone.

Kal gave his sister a sincere answer.

«I don’t know. I really don’t know.»