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The nation Chapter 59
“Let’s keep the insults to a minimum, please and thank you.” Leland had the tone of a parent in his voice, “we need to discuss what is actually happening here, in Ondu, and not fantasize about unfamiliar places to live. We have people here who are hungry and without some basic necessities because of the flooding, how do you propose we handle that, Rognvald?” He let a little disdain carry the last few words across the hearth.“Yes, let’s get back on topic here. We have food shortages, damage to homes, livestock and horses missing or injured. The pens and stalls have also been looted by the rushing waters; how do we recover from that?” Sokonan walked over and sat in her usual spot.The rest of the council members all strolled back to the hearth when they saw Harden walk in. He was late but everyone knew that Indra was pregnant and having a tough time since her delivery. Harden had been doing all he could to care for the infant, it showed on his face like the sun on a clear summer’s day.
The nation Chapter 60
“Wondered about what?”Pause.“Briaunna, did you go to sleep or something?” “No,” she said, her hands fidgeted. “You know how people talk about things that they really don’t know about?”“Yeah, like gossip.”“Right!”“What does that have to do with your mind?”“My mind, what?” She was confused.“When I sat down you said that your mind was wondering something, I asked you what it was because you stopped in mid-sentence.”“Oh yeah, I remember now, but I’m not sure if I should say it.”“Is it hurtful?”“Maybe.”“Is it true?” Erek asked.“Yes, all of the evidence points to it being true.”“Then how can it be something you are unsure to say aloud?”“Erek, what happened to you?”Now, Erek paused, his thoughts screeched to a halt. He really didn’t know, he knew he was different now, somehow better than he was. Everyone had remarked about how thoughtful he was now, and how well he understood things. Had he not understood things before? Erek remembered having trouble understanding things befo
The nation Chapter 61
Her husband had done and said things to her that made her sick. Harden promised to raise the boy as his own child, he said that he forgave her and that he didn’t care who she had been with. He never told her that the reason he hadn’t made love to her wasn’t because he didn’t love her anymore, it was because he carried so much stress that he could not perform in bed. Harden wanted to explain everything to her, but they weren’t able to have a civil conversation. These days they just avoided each other.When night came, Indra had gotten up from her bed. She moved like she was sleep walking, but she was fully awake. The ache in her gut had grown to an overwhelming pain that was unbearable, so unbearable that only one thought persisted in her mind. She walked around the room looking for a little pouch that her father had given her when she was thirteen winters old. The pouch had something in it that she needed, she had no idea where it was, so she searched the room.Harden and Briaunna did
The nation Chapter 62
“It’s a good thing that we left Oren with mom.”“Yeah.” Rognvald stared.“What are you gonna do?”“I don’t know,” and he really didn’t know. All of the plans and schemes that he had tried, or wanted to try, seemed stupid now. He had always liked Indra and he thought that he could have loved her, now, standing over her body, he felt little in the way of feelings for her. That surprised him, he was shocked that she would take her own life, but his numbness now left him thinking about himself.“We have to tell Harden; I mean The People will need to know to.”He looked at his daughter, she was so young, but now he could see her mind working behind her eyes. “I’ll tell him. You go home and tell mom that Oren is not lying, this time anyways. I’ll wait here for the woman who keeps the fires burning, then I’ll go to tell Harden.”“Ok, I’ll go help mom.” She was feeling conflicted within herself, much like her father was.When Claudia left, Rognvald found a blanket to cover Indra’s body. The w
The nation Chapter 63
“What the fuck is going on?” His voice was loud enough to wake the baby; the child began to cry.“Where is she?” Asked a frantic Erek.“Who are you talking about?” Now Harden looked confused.“Erek, now... you settled down,” Rognvald reached for Erek’s shoulder, “I have this under control.”“Control?” Erek jerked away from his father’s grip. “What do you have under control? Nothing, that’s what.”Harden could see that Erek had been crying, that sent a chill through him, Indra, he thought.“Dad? Why’s the baby crying? He was just asleep five seconds ago.” They had yet to find a name for the precious little boy.“Not now.” He said to Briaunna. To Rognvald he said, “what are the both of you doing here?”“I have to see her,” Erek pleaded, “let me see her.” He tried unsuccessfully to push passed Harden.“Erek, what do you think you are doing? You have done enough around here, don’t you think?” The anger was plain in Harden’s voice.“I have to see her body.”“Erek!” Rognvald yelled, “stop!
The nation Chapter 64
Kaya had this sassy little smile that spoke to her adventurous side, some of the young men took her smile as a challenge, thinking that they could make her happy. Callum knew that he could not make her happy, he saw the reluctance in her eyes, a fire burned there that only she could put out. Her soft lips and firm breasts were a precious gift that only she could give, the sacred space between her legs was a thought never too far away from the young men of Ondu. Callum and Kaya had been friends for a long time, the two of them, along with Marx, had known each other since they were eight winters old. Kaya and Marx had been friends for longer than that.Callum did miss Kaya, he had not spoken to her in over a month, he’s been a bit preoccupied with Marx. Marx had not known of her feelings for Callum until the two had a close encounter at the large boulders. Since then, Marx has made it her business to win over Callum. Marx would never wish for dreadful things to happen but when the Flist
The nation Chapter 65
The second piece of good news came when each hunting party returned with fresh meat. Each party that went out came back with kills, it was a remarkable sight and an infrequent occurrence for the hunters. Usually, the success rate was much lower, some of the older villagers thought it was a blessing or a sign from the Gods, that everything would be alright. Callum’s hunting party brought back the second most meat, Vardon Rig’s party had two big kills for each man in his party, and they were exalted by The People. Callum was not competitive in that way, he was happy to help in any way he could, Bastien was a different story.Bastien was very competitive and thought to himself, if only Raymond was a better shot! The rest of the boys in his party knew that he was upset, everyone but Ray that is, Ray was ignorantly blissful. What made Bastien a good leader was his ability to not speak before thinking. He could have berated Ray in front of everyone, causing a scene that would hurt Ray for n
The nation Chapter 66
Rognvald manipulated his way into the leadership role of the group leaving while Harden mourned for Indra. His impassioned speeches about how The People had suffered, about the benefits of a new village and farmlands, and about trade left all but a few of the council members questioning Rognvald’s motives. It was clear, to every member, that Rognvald thought he should be chief. Harden was propped up by his friends and supporters during his grief over losing Indra. Only a few people knew about what really happened, how Indra died, and those people had their own agenda.Kaya hadn’t been this far from her home since before her parents died. The farthest she strayed from her doorway was to collect wood for the hearth fire, that was only a few meters from the door. She had no reason to leave, even after the quarantine was lifted, she stayed home. She let the kiln fires go cold, there were still pieces inside that needed to be finished, she left them there. The rest of her home was empty, d
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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
