Chapter One: Tierra's Wrath

I couldn't quite explain the feeling. I knew what would happen next, but everything in me refused to admit to it. I felt the water flood my lungs. I was dying. My body and mind began to separate. I felt it slip away to come free from my body. It was everything at once. Beautiful and hideous. Strong and weak. I felt my head stop its pointless thundering. I began to see it. The light was almost blinding.

"Wake up!" A voice shouted, again and again it shouted.

I felt my mind come back from limbo to join my body once again. I bolted upright at last. Of course I knew the folly of what I had done, but it did not deter me in the least. My name is Meriden Marlow, and I am The Necromancer.

 

"Meriden, Meriden wake up already!" The irritated voice called once again.

"Don't get your skirts in a tussle." I grumbled inaudibly. It wasn't like I'd exactly slept in. I looked out the window and saw the sun was just rising. I yawned, it meant I had about five more minutes before all hell would break loose if I didn't get down stairs fast.

I slipped my tawny hair up away from my face and got dressed. I slipped on my work dress and headed down, I had guessed right. Tierra looked fit to burst. Her face was red, as always. She wasn't a difficult woman to predict, her unpredictability was the thing that so often defined her. We sat across from each other, the table didn't seem to breach the distance. I was fine with that, regardless of the distance I could feel her eyes following me. I ignored it for as long as I could before remarking one of the new horses that had come back the night before. I visibly cringed at the result. Her reaction was one that would've terrified even the most courageous of men.

"Meriden," she said sharply, as a result no doubt, of my foolish ways. "If you open your mouth one more time to criticize the Lord's treatment of his beasts, I swear  to you I shall cut out your tongue." Tierra had given plenty of empty threats before, and would continue to do so. I shrugged, and debated on whether I should let it go.

Against my better judgment I continued, "Well the day he starts treatin' them better's the day we best see him past his grave. And then they'd be too beaten to handle." Tierra boxed my ear with an open hand. It hurt, I winced at the blow, it wasn't unexpected. I glowered at her.

"You shan't speak ill of master Gorath, without 'im you'd naught have a roof over your head to speak of." It was true, but it didn't change how I felt about him. Gorath was a cruel man. I got up, any appetite I had had before left me. He had that effect on people.

"And where are you going with naught a lick of breakfast in you?!" Tierra demanded in a motherly tone as I turned to go.

"I'm going to look at the damage. See if we can salvage this one." Tierra's eyes shot daggers. I hurried out the door before she could dish out another lecture on "My Place", or worse "The Great Lord Gorath". I avoided long conversations with Tierra, they never ended well, and this was why.

The only place I wanted to be right now was with the horses. They didn't judge or tell you what you "should" do. Instead they spit on your dresses and stepped on your toes without thought of apologies. They were much simpler that way. I embraced this, it was much simpler than dealing with the trivialities of manners and duty.

The stable was dirty from Lord Gorath's blasted return. He had come in late last night, so drunk he made standing look like an impossible feat. The horse he had brought back with him was exhausted, bloodied, and disgruntled. One of its legs oozed blood at an alarming pace. It had multiple sores from the wrong saddle being on too long. There was no doubt in my mind she had been ridden too hard as well. The beast looked as though even hell would have passed it up. It's eyes were dull, almost as if it had given up. When the horse had seen the stable she had frolicked, almost injuring herself further, and almost thrown the giant man.

I swore openly. "What kind of monster does this?" I mused bitterly about where, and what he had done to get to such a state of depravity. My jaw tightened in contempt and anger.

I had had plenty of practice with the horses, but this one was particularly bad. As I gently scrubbed away the blood as lightly as I could, I uncovered more and more injuries. After an hour of work, cleaning and patching wounds, it became more and more clear the amount of damage the horse had gone through. She looked as if Lord Gorath had beaten her senseless, while running her through sharp brambles. It made me cringe. I knew he was not only more than capable of it, but he would most likely have done it with a barbed whip. He was a cruel type, unforgiving was an understatement.

By the time I was done rinsing her coat of blood I found four barbs, if I counted correctly, that were lodged deeply into her flesh. The poor thing was in such pain I thought briefly of putting it out of its misery. It would've been punished on my part, but it would've been a merciful thing. I decided to give it time. It was a myth that time could heal all wounds, but I imagined there was still hope the beast would live.

To lessen the pain I distracted the poor starved beast with sweet grain, it snarfed it down greedily. I was careful not to overdo it, or lose a finger. Too rich a diet would make her colic. The poor beast had seen a side of Gorath that not many lived through with their lives intact, much less their sanity.

Not more than a month before he had come back with a different beast, he said its heart had given out. When I went with the butcher to collect the beast I saw the Gorath had set a tie around it's head down  which caused it to drown when he ran it off the road into a stream. No doubt he had been drunk at the time. It's head was sickly contorted as though it had tried to struggle itself free.

I cursed him again as I walked out, letting the beast alone. I had done all I could for it, and now it was up to her to go on or not.

 

Reviews

[Mysana]

I love it! This is a beautiful opening in my opinion! I'm curious about what happens next.