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The nation Chapter 33
“I am as well as can be. How are you young Erek, you appear...” the man paused to look at Erek, “mature.” He finished after carefully choosing the right word.“Thank you, Aurelius, I am well, and I feel wonderful.” Erek smiled.That eroded Aurelius’ placid face, his eyes widened, and his cheeks rose up just a touch below a smile. And then he cocked his head.“Well said young Erek, well said.” The old man nodded as the two walked past him, feeling almost proud that Erek knew his name as if the old man helped Erek to heal somehow.In the past, the Erek everyone knew would have to ask their names two or three times a day, each and every day. He was just part of the village culture that way. Not that Erek was the village idiot or anything equivalent, he was more a part of village life than that. His presence and behavior were a part of the culture, like the changing of seasons or the sun rising in the east was part of nature, he was normal and reliable.Erek nodded to Aurelius as he passe
The nation Chapter 34
Tombold sat in the front of the cart holding the reigns, beckoning the horse to go faster but the animal was reluctant to comply. He took his daughters advice and asked Mr. Talbot for a horse other than the stubborn old Percy. So, what he got instead of Percy the crazy horse, was Cronner the magnificently slow. Tombold’s last stop was just before Jan Talbot’s stables, he was planning to ask Jan if all of his horses had mental disabilities. The horse pulled the cart with a reluctance all his own, refusing the go any faster than a slow walk. The leather straps creaked, and the cart groaned and rattled down the road towards the water well. The evening sky was graying to the east, and the air had a nip to it. The hearth fires were burning as well as some bonfires where the hunters were gathered, telling stories, and getting ready for another hunt. The horse pulled the cart slowly down the road.Most of the people liked Tombold and his family. His easy-going nature and warm smile endeared
The nation Chapter 35
“I planned it for one time and one time only but that’s not what happened. It felt nice to have those feelings again, to feel the lust between two people and the release after we were finished. You were always an amazing man, most people knew it, but they never looked you in the eyes to tell you. I don’t know what happened at the Ah-yeez, but it was not a terrible thing Erek, you have to see that now.”Erek did not respond at first, he just sat on the stool absorbing all that he was told. Then without preamble he asked a question.“You are pregnant, aren’t you? And it’s mine.” The last sentence was not a question.Silence, stunning silence, louder than anything Indra could remember. Her body went cold, her breathing became shallow and her heartbeat uncomfortably in her ears. “I, uh.” She decided that she must tell him now. “I think so, yes, I’m pregnant.” The words felt strange leaving her mouth, this was the first time that she had admitted it aloud.Erek moved to her with efficienc
The nation Chapter 36
“Well then, what were you talking about?”“Hunting, we were talking about hunting, Kaya.” Said an exasperated Marx before Callum could answer.“So how has the hunting been?” Kaya nudged Callum with her elbow.“They have been good,” Callum nudged her back, “we are one of the better groups right now, we bring back food more often than not.”“I was telling him how proud I was of him.” Marx noticed how Callum had covertly gotten closer to Kaya.“You were?”“Yes, I was, now you just shush.”“Hey, did you see that?” Kaya noticed a flash in the sky.“What was that?” Marx said with a hint of wonder in her voice.“That was a shooting star, my Ba’ba told me that sometimes you can see them in the fall. He said the land is pointed in some direction or other in the autumn and stars shoot across the sky.”“Are you sure that’s what he said,” Kaya slid her hand into Callum’s, “you sound a little vague on the details.”“Yeah, some direction or other, what kind of navigation is that?” Marx laughed.“I
The nation Chapter 37
“I’m telling you Rog; your son is fucking Indrasena Utpahl.”“Lilly,” Rognvald sounded exasperated, “you have got to be kidding me, Erek?”“Well, it certainly isn’t Oren, the little devil would probably do it to, if he were old enough.”“What are you saying? What did Oren do?”“Are you not listening to me?” Lilly put her hands on her hips, “I said, Lady Utpahl is pregnant, everyone knows it because she’s been puking everywhere. What the people don’t know is that it is not Harden’s.”“How do you know that?” Interrupted Rog.“The women talk.”“And what do the women say?”“They say that Davyn was trying to fix Harden’s cock, it won’t stand up anymore. Poor Indra.” Lilly’s eyes sparkled with delight, “and that’s why he had so much yohimbine bark in his apothecary.”“That is the gossip that you ladies get to talking about? A little trite if you ask me.”“Well, good thing no one asked you. They say that Indra has found a young stud to ride, and that stud is Erek.”The two were now lying in
The nation Chapter 38
“Sorry Callum,” Kaya said, after reestablishing her connection to the ground.“It’s really alright, I always get welcomed like this after a hunt.”“Really?” Kaya was looking sideways at Callum.“Really!”Kaya kicked Callum in the shin. “Don’t be a shit.”“Ouch, Jeez Kaya.” Callum dropped the gear he was carrying to rub his damaged shin.“When a girl runs up to you and kisses you because she misses you, don’t even joke about kissing other girls in front of her.” Kaya sounded pissed.Callum rarely saw Kaya angry, mainly because she wasn’t angry often. When she did get angry it was often seismic.“I am sorry. Ok, ok,” he held up his hands defensively when Kaya flinched towards him. “Stop.” He said with force.“Stop what?” She replied.“Stop acting like a child. I am not a child anymore; I am a hunter and a damn good one at that. I am sorry, I was joking and hurt your feelings. I’ll just see you tomorrow, I’m tired.” He said, while rubbing the back of his head.“Don’t, I...” but Callum al
The nation Chapter 39
“You know she is married right?” Rognvald sneered. “She is The Lady of this village, wife of the chief. Of course, she won’t have the same feelings that you have.”“I thought...”“You thought what? That you would become chief before me?” The anger began to show in Rog’s voice.“No, I don’t.”“You don’t what? You don’t wanna be chief? That’s a load of manure. Did you even know that she is pregnant too, probably with your child.” Rog’s voice was getting too loud, he calmed himself a bit.Erek shuddered, how did his father know all of this? Who had been talking to him? Erek felt cornered and helpless, like a small child might feel. He trembled with anxiety; his hands clench reflexively and his lip quivered. Then Erek said something to his father that changed things.“Only one person saw us.” His voice was quiet, just above a whisper.“What?” Rog said sharply.“Mr. Flistedt saw us two days ago.”“Are you sure?”“Not positive, but we were outside hugging and both of us heard his cart rolli
The nation Chapter 40
“Fine.” A rough sounding voice responded.Baylie went in through the flap, it closed gently behind her. The room was lit by two candles, one on each side of the bed, but the room had a quality about it. A quality of sadness, of desperation, of darkness. Baylie saw a lump on the bed and sat down close to it. She put her hand on the lump and it moved.“Honey! Are you ok?”“I’m fine.” A muffled voice answered from under the blankets.“Explain to me how you are fine?” Baylie, still sounding concerned, added a tone to her voice. A tone that said, “stop lying to me.”Indra appeared from underneath the covers, her head was pointing away from Baylie, she didn’t want to look at her friend.“I’m pregnant.” Like that was some kind of answer that spoke for all her problems.“Women get pregnant all of the time in Ondu, why is yours different? What is going on with you? Is it just morning sickness? Maybe the baby will have a lot of hair when it’s born.” Baylie let a little excitement creep into her
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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
