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The nation Chapter 21
Sokonan wiped a tear from her face. She was alone in Davyn’s apothecary. She had been preparing to wash his body with clean water infused with lavender. He had a nice bundle of dried lavender hanging near the curtain that led to his sleeping quarters. When Sokonan went to get the hanging bundle she could not help but want to go into his room. The room was sparse, a few personal belongings, and his bed on one side of the empty room. Sokonan stood holding the curtain back with one hand, peering into the dimly lit bedroom of the father of her only child. When she did enter his room, the curtain fell back down and cast the room in shadows. Another tear, this time she let it fall from her face on its own. She didn’t expect to find anything when she went in there, Sokonan wanted to lay on his bed one last time. Before she did, she saw something that she had never seen before. A blue stone set and hung on a beautifully beaded necklace, it seemed to glow. She went to it with only one thought
The nation Chapter 22
Erek knew of love; love for his family, love of the children in the village, love of hunting, running, and playing the Warrior’s game. But he does not understand the love between a woman and a man yet, what he had now was a taste of lust and a hard cock.“Erek, when you are rested go fill up that water skin in the lake. You’ll like the water; I hear it’s magical.”Erek looked at Niall for a moment, then his eyebrow went up as the word magical registered in his brain.Niall left to go back and help Leland and Vardon. Erek waited until his erection subsided, then he went to fill the water skin. The lake was a spectacular sight, clear blue water that looked like glass when the surface was calm. Green vegetation and colorful flowers too pretty to look at, covered the ground around the lake, there was green everywhere except for the beach. Animals foraged for food, none of them paid any attention to the men working. No one lived in the forest, so these animals did not have any fear of man,
The nation Chapter 23
“Indra, good mornin’.” He said with no hint of insincerity, “did you not sleep well?”“No husband, I actually...” she paused to gather her thoughts, “I have been very concerned with the state of The People.”Harden was not in sight yet, so Indra was talking to his voice.“Yes, I am as well. It pains me to see our people suffer. There is talk on the council, well you may have heard already but, it pains me to say we have all stepped off of the path of life. Myself included.” He thought about Davyn going to get him herbs and medicine just to make his cock work. He thought about how he felt when Sokonan touched his cheek, how it made him warm inside and disgusted at the same time because it was not his wife. He came walking around to the hearth.Indra was going to say something when Harden walked into sight, she was floored. He had on trousers and nothing else, Indra blinked to see if she was dreaming, she was awake. Harden was the image of his youth, just the way he looked when the two
The nation Chapter 24
A great river ran to a splendid lake, filling it to capacity, then overflowing, the river kept marching south, straight over the buttes edge. A forest of great evergreens grew and shrouded the northern part of the butte, a few very large oak trees sprouted up sporadically amid the evergreens. Animals ran into the forest when a giant shadow charged towards them, speeding over the ground below was the eagle’s shadow. Then Harden was falling.The wind rushed up and blew all around him. He thrashed his arms and legs in panic as the ground seemed to rise to meet him. He felt cold as the air stripped the warmth from his skin. He opened his mouth to try and scream, no sound came out, instead his cheeks puffed out as his mouth caught the rushing air. His eyes began to water making the ground blurry, he closed his useless mouth and tried to brace for the impact.Standing naked, he suddenly realized, his fall was over. The sight before him was the forest of evergreens he saw from the air. The t
The nation Chapter 25
“Ouch.” Tombold overreacted, that caused Percy to buck.“Telling stories and going all misty eyed, are we?” Kathryn swatted him again.“Whoa, whoa there Percy,” the horse calmed done enough to look perturbed, “see what you done Kat, now I gotta deal with an angry horse all the way to the forest.”“Serves you right for getting all misty and telling stories.” Kat winked at Kaya, Kaya snickered back, laughing at the way her and her mother were ganging up on dad.“Next time get a nicer horse from Mr. Talbot.” Kaya added.They walked away from the village, west toward the Crazy forest. Some of The People stayed back at the village, they didn’t want to go to this ceremony, they said it was not needed. The People who stayed said the Gods were not angry, it was just the weather, which was always unpredictable. But something touched Kaya during Harden’s speech, and her parents were always up to go somewhere, they were both a little adventurous. Marx’s family, not so much, they were one of the
The nation Chapter 26
As the darkness wrapped itself around the clearing, Harden was finding the whole scene very overwhelming. His vision quest was still fresh in his memory. The fires constantly shifting light, the music and now the dancers, were making Harden nauseous again. Davyn lay on the platform behind the dancers, who had an area free of obstacles to dance, Harden could see the torches that marked the boundary behind the platform. The sights and sounds still driving deep into the souls of The People.When the dancing was done the music also slowed to a dirge. The drums thumped and vibrated in a deep low pitch that was perfect for the next performance. The flute played a mellow harmony as Sokonan stepped into the clearing that the dancers used. She started to sing a sweet melody in the old tongue, few of The People there knew the words or their meaning, but the intention in the song was obvious. Sokonan was singing the same song that the ancients sung after their dead. For the people who didn’t kno
The nation Chapter 27
“Have you spoken with Erek lately?” His voice was unsure now.“No, why?”“Well, he sounded strange at the council meeting. He said, I dunno, he just sounded strange. Like I have never heard him before.”“Did he embarrass you?” Fire again from Lilly, this time it was in her voice.“No, no, he did make a bit of a scene though.” Rog remembered how the whole meeting screeched to a halt after Erek spoke.“I dunno why you don’t let him live on his own, he is twenty-eight winters...”Erek walked in, interrupting Lilly in mid-sentence.“Good evening step-mother, father. I’ll be heading to bed; it has been exhausting the last few days with all of the travel and work.”Erek walked right passed his parents, he went straight to his bed pulling the curtain down for privacy. Lilly put her hand to her mouth, she had goose flesh marching up and down her spine.“You can put your hand down now, that is the same thing he did at the meeting. I have no idea,” Rog said shaking his head, “none, I don’t know
The nation Chapter 28
Callum was lined up on the opposite side of Vardon Rig and he was nervous. His hands were sweating so bad, he wouldn’t be surprised if they dripped onto the ground. Vardon did not talk bad like some of the players did, they did that to distract their opponents, keeping them off of their game. What Vardon was doing was worse, he was staring at Callum, staring right into his eyes, it made the younger man self-conscious. He began to worry he would screw up right away and be taken out of the game. Then the judge threw the ball up in the air and the crowd screamed. Callum got ran over by Vardon, it took him a second to get up, but by then Vardon was running towards his keeper.Marx watched from the sideline with the other spectators, she had her eyes on the men. Erek was out there looking big and scrumptious, Temple was always delectable, Vardon had his shirt on but that would come off soon, she thought. Then she thought, I hope I’m not drooling, and wiped her mouth as nonchalantly as she
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- The nation
Chapter 141
“Alright,” Rognvald said, “that was a good walk.” He pulled Lilly towards his chambers, she wanted to resist but she was ready for him, her body waited excitedly.Oren walked over to the wailing wife of Hastiin, he knelt down and put his fingers in the cooling blood on the ground, he never looked at the woman. Her wails fell on his deaf ears, as well as the rest of the caravan’s, after the commotion was over the people simply went about their business. Oren’s fingers felt the stickiness of the cooling blood, he rubbed them together feeling its viscosity. The urge to taste the man’s blood was too strong for Oren to resist, it tasted of iron and a touch of salt, he swirled the taste around his tongue to reach every taste bud. He didn’t put his whole finger into his mouth, just the tips touched his tongue, his eyes lit with some knowledge he didn’t understand. It gave him ideas, thoughts on how to do what he was born to do, rule. He thought about how to kill his father, for he knew that
- The nation
Chapter 140
Thewolf from the trees saw the one it wanted, it ran as fast as he could, but a two-leg gave his stealth away. He did not stop, he had to kill now, there would be no other opportunity. When the woman’s words registered in everyone else’s mind, they turned to see the wolf coming for them, they had all heard of the animal attacks but they had never been a part of one. Lilly and Claudia froze, Oren waited to see who would get eaten, Oscar and Hastiin looked for an out. The wolf leapt up and into the air, the man he landed on was bitten cleanly in the throat, the sound of his wind pipe being torn out was sickening. The wolf had torn out the wrong throat, Hastiin lay bleeding from a throat the was not whole anymore, a gasping whistling sound came from his opened neck wound, the man’s hands felt the deadly damage. The wolf looked quickly around, there was the one he needed to kill, the wolf moved so fast. Rognvald’s smile never once faded, the wolf charged at him, he stood, waiting.The wolf
- The nation
Chapter 139
“Thank you mother.” Said Talia.“Thank you as well,” Kaya’s eye’s pleaded for something, some miracle to save her friend. “Leave him here with me,” Sooleeaway said, she held an open palm towards Bram, “Talia will stay and help with his care. Let me look at you child.” But the healer paused before inspecting Kaya.Kaya did not flinch when Sooleeaway reached towards her face, she stood and respected the older woman, even after she was referred to as a child. Kaya’s younger self would have tried to correct the older woman, there by reaffirming her status as a child, on this day she merely stood and waited for the healer to look her over.“Pardon me,” said Sooleeaway, “you are grown now, Kaya Tasso Flistedt. You have changed, you are a child no more.” The healer spoke no more.Sooleeaway inspected Kaya, she found cuts healed, bruises, blisters, and a nearly mended heart. The heart was not spoken of, but her physical injuries were treated. Kaya left Talia with Bram, there was nothing for
- The nation
Chapter 138
“We have to get him to the bend in the river.” Talia told Kaya.“Can he travel?”“He will have to, we need to settle before the winter and Bram needs to heal, the best thing for all of us is to get to the bend.”Kaya knew Talia was right, she felt the urge to settle for winter the same as Talia did, Bram was a concern and she had no idea if he would make it. He remained unconscious fighting for his life.“I feel it to,” said Kaya, “we should go this morning, will you let everyone know that we are leaving?”“Of course.”“I’ll stay with Bram until you get back, then I’ll harness old Percy and we can get going before noon.”When Talia left Bram’s tent, Kaya looked at her friend, the burly man was lying on a buffalo skin blanket, sleeping fitfully. She watched his breathing, it was still labored and shallow, Talia said the venom attacked the victims muscles, making it hard to move or breathe. Kaya didn’t want to remember Bram as he was now, she wanted to remember him like he was in Ondu,
- The nation
Chapter 137
The force like no other was the will of the Land, it used the storm to discourage the travelers from continuing any further, the Land was exasperated by the nerve of these humans. The storm surged over the long butte, it tried to retain the water like the force instructed, but it began to rain while crossing the long butte. The water washed away all of the small animals on the ground, the animals in the trees did not fare much better, some fell and were also washed away. Then the storm saw its target, it was aimed for the humans on the ground, the Land did not like these humans, they were too far from home. The purple cloud roared with thunder and rained heavily on its course towards the humans. Everyone in the caravan raced to find the best shelter they could, they scrambled into the trees because there was nowhere else to go. The Land offered them no shelter, nothing strong and stable, some people sat under there carts, some went into the trees, others found a nook they could climb
- The nation
Chapter 136
Kaya ran after the girl, she was faster than Kaya and as she watched, Lisbet sped away towards the edge of the desert. Who was bit, she thought, who was bit that would make Talia want me? That thought led her mind to the worst possible scenarios. Was it Rollins? Or Erek? The last thought chilled her, what if it was Arun? Kaya ran as fast as she could after Lisbet. As she ran thunder echoed across the plateau, she turned her head towards the long butte, what she saw made her glad she was not in the north with the caravan. A humongous purple cloud rolled over the buttes flat top, it drug rain with it, Kaya could see the sheets of water pouring down as the titanic cloud crested the edge of the butte. So much water, she thought as she ran towards death.“Talia,” Kaya was out of breath by the time she reached the healer. Two men were carrying a third on a hastily crafted stretcher, “who was bitten?”No sooner than those words left her mouth she saw who it was, her hand went to her mouth.“
- The nation
Chapter 135
The horses pulled carts and wagons like they had for the last three years, they were thralls to these travelers now, the animals knew nothing of the Path of Life. All the animals knew was the cycle of life, and how nature gives and takes, without mercy. Now they were lashed to these heavy carts, they were penned up while not moving, something they never experienced before. Normally they were free to roam and came back to The People willingly, now they would most likely bolt at the first chance, a few had and the horses that were left had to work harder. It was miserable work but they endured, they pulled the future of the Land towards a place where a city will be built, it won’t be the one in Rognvald’s dreams, it will be tainted and immoral. These horses would not see the wickedly beautiful city of lust and greed, they would be spared those memories.The caravan stopped at a few sites that were indeed good places to settle, each time Rognvald baulked, he would not stop until he reach
- The nation
Chapter 134
“Only a few more days Percy, a few more days, then we can live for a while by the bend in the river.” She rubbed his cheek; he made no sounds only looked back at her and waved his tail.Over the last three weeks Kaya had worked at putting closure to that part of her life where her parents lived. She had their memories now and no one could remove those, she came to terms with their deaths, it helped that she knew what happened to them. When Erek told her what he heard his father say she was angry and hurt but that to was fading, she was not as angry with the big man now, his father was another story, Kaya prayed that she would never see Rognvald again. Kaya finished unhooking the horses from her cart, normally Percy would buck around for a few minutes before relaxing into grazing not today though, Gerard went right to grazing, Percy joined him without any fuss. How things change, thought Kaya, she watched the two horses feeding as most of the weight from her grief floated away on the e
- The nation
Chapter 133
Kaya’s hair had grown back over the last three years of travel, it reached down to the middle of her back now, she kept it braided in one long braid while traveling. The braid reminded her of her mother, of the time they shared together, just the two of them. It wasn’t that they had something that was better than anyone else’s mother daughter relationship, it was simply there personal relationship that Kaya remembered. When her father was hard at work, making one of his fanciful pieces of pottery, or out making deliveries, they would be together. They lived in the back of the pottery shop that had been in Tombold’s family for generations, it was one of the more permanent looking structures in Ondu, having poles that had been sunk into the ground over two hundred years ago. The poles in the center of the shop were so round that Kaya couldn’t reach all the way around them until she was twelve. The shop always had a fire going, whether in the kiln or not, the friendly smell of wood burni
