Beating (Book 1: Acts of the Hearth)

Chapter 26

After their talk, Travis begins to worry about Walles as he passes by multiple camps looking for Vivian. The thoughts of the boy plague his mind for obvious reason. He sees what could have become of him if he had been put in position as King when his father was diagnosed with an illness. That burden would have come all too soon, but he knew this decision was Walles's alone.

     “I feel like I’ve looked all over this place… Where is she?” he speaks aloud while looking through the open tents.

     Footsteps approach him from behind as he continues walking forward. “You walked right past me without even speaking! You’re really liking this chauvinistic lifestyle aren’t you?” a young woman says behind Travis. The young man turns around and looks at the her.

     The young woman before him wears a purple v-neck dress with a ruffle of fabric hemmed diagonally from her hips to the end of the dress. Her hair is bundled up at the ends with a large braid. “Um…you look like Vivian, but different.” Travis remarks cautiously to the woman.

     “Real smooth… It is me! Oh, look at what they did to me! I’m so glad I didn’t let them put that make-up stuff on me. Who knows if you’d actually recognize me.” she comments. “No pants and not a loose fitting button down in sight. Where oh where did your clothes go…?” he ask her to check once more if it is really the young woman who was often violent to him.

     “You're making this weird.” the young woman voices as she twirls around for him to see all of her. “So…? How do I look?” Travis reviews all the safe answers he can respond with. He takes a moment to look her over and stares into her eyes.

     Vivian hesitates and looks away from him for a moment. “You…you look as beautiful as always.” Travis finally admits to her. “Well, that took forever, but…glad to hear it. What features have caught your eye today?” the young woman ask him, prying more at his thoughts of what he really thinks.

     “Who’s the one making it weird now, huh?” he says as they start walking side by side. “Well, that’s enough idle flirting… How’d it go with those men and the kid?” she abruptly ends the talk and changes the subject.

     “His name is Walles, he didn’t take too well to Damen’s vision about them; or his honesty. So, he stoned him for a bit. We should find him to make sure he’s all right.” Travis states as Vivian continues to listen.

     “I gave him the option to leave this place and live in the Kingdom. But, it seems like his tribe has a gripe about them running away from a fight.” he details the situation. “His father died recently, you know? The woman who was next to him when we met is his mother. Her name is Angela, she’s the one that’s been pushing him to be the type of chief like his father was.”

     “Walles…he wanted his father to run away from that fight, just like he wants to do now. But, I can tell by how Angela talks about him that he carries a stigma because of her.” Vivian says with sorrow in her voice.

     “He’s been leading these people since the day his father died. Managing the warriors and rationing the limited resources of food so the people didn’t starve. This boy is carrying the weight of an honest leader.” she continues on.

     “He’s still just a child though. These responsibilities may build something more in him. But, eventually they’ll break a few other things too…” Travis expresses, reflecting on his own situation.

     “Then why not shadow him? Offered advice from his senior should be encouraging in a way.” Vivian adds as she stops in front of him. “I’ve let him know that he can talk to me whenever.” he adds. “I’m afraid that if I push further right now, it will only drive him to make rash, regrettable choices.” Travis sighs at the end while looking in the direction of Walles’s tent.

Gathering information among the masses…

 

     Damen travels the width of the encampment and looks into the situation of the people, just as Travis asked of him.

     A group of women swarm the Seer as they all place a hand on him. Damen shakes them off as one leaves a cool feeling leaf on the bruise of his face. “That feels refreshing… What is this?” the young Seer ask them.

     “It is a Pondra leaf that has been marinated in a luminous balm. We are charged to take care of the men. Please, don’t be angry with us.” a woman begs him, bowing her head.

     The young Seer waves them over to carry on. “These are leaves from those withering trees? How can they have such a welcoming healing effect?” he ask them. “Our lands were not always marshes. It suddenly became this way nearly over a month back.” An older woman states.

     “Over a month back? If you don’t mind me asking. What happened during that time?” Damen ask kindly. The women seat him on a cloth under a tent and sits around him.

     One lays their head on the Seer’s thigh and looks up at him with lifeless eyes. “You don’t have to lay on me. You seem very uncomfortable…” he says to the woman below.

     The woman cackles and raises her head. “Suddenly you all care about how comfortable we are… What a surprise.” she remarks sarcastically to Damen. Another of the women backhands her arm and shoots a glare at the sarcastic woman.

     The glaring older woman clears her throat. “Over a month back, the ground began to shake. This was a mild tremor at the time, so many of us thought nothing of it. A couple days after, the center of our land had begun to turn all muddy with no grass in sight. More days passed as this plaguing dilemma escalated and stretched to our homes. Structures began to sink in the newly created marshes.”

     “We were forced to live in these horrible tents after it covered the entire surface of our land. Another day passed and suddenly the area that first turned to mud became dried and cracked stone. When our warriors went to go check into this problem…” the woman shudders and messes with the edges of her hair.

     One of the women begins sobbing. “Good riddance…” the sarcastic woman boldly adds out loud. The woman telling the story ignores her.

     “…that gray shadowy menace started to sprout from the ground and impaled one of our men. One after another they sprung up from the dried earth and whipped around whenever we came near. Like some curse on the land, the dried surfaces began to spread farther and farther out. As it spread, so too did the range of our new threat.” The woman is soon cut off by Damen. “Why don’t you all just leave? There are other places to live.” he states plainly.

     “Leave? Just walk away and leave? Do you not know of the way of VeChrome? We are to defend this area—our home against all threats. A true VeChrome warrior does not back down from a fight!” the woman declares to him practically foaming at the mouth. “The men made that vow, not us, granny! If they want to die here, then let em!” the sarcastic woman complains loudly.

     “This is why the men find you so unfavorable! You speak your mind too much!” the storytelling woman says back. “Nothing wrong with speaking your mind when people say stupid shit.” a random woman cuts in.

     Damen looks to his right and notices Vivian; the random woman dressed in a dress. “Ah, of course you’d be the first one to find me… Aren’t I in enough pain?” the young Seer whines pitifully.

     Vivian pushes him to the side to make room to sit down. “Scoot over. Not too many ladies with a mouth here. What’s your name?” Vivian ask looking over at the sarcastic woman.

     “I’m…I’m Sheza. Who are you?” the woman says nervously, blushing about the confident young woman before her. “Call me Vivian. Right now, we’re trying to figure out what’s going on here with those shadows.” she speaks looking up at Travis who walks into view.

     “Sorry to cut in. But can you tell us the exact day that you all noticed the problems related to the shadows?” the young man ask them curiously.