Chapter 7

Aris tells the story of the girl he could not save

Chapter 7

The Girl he failed to save

 

It was dark, the river reflected the dim moon light and only the faint light of the touches above lit the path. I had been in this part of the village before, but what I didn’t know was that they had increased the number of guards in the area. Hiding was becoming more and more of a challenge as they searched for me.

“This way” a lady yelled, she was the victim of my theft. A diamond ring, funny how something so small was so valuable. I held it close, looked like one my mother always wore around her neck.

“Yes ma’am. We will find your diamond ring” they promised her. She sighed in disbelief and ordered them off. After a while, my hiding place was breached. The dogs had my scent from a ripped piece of my jacket I had severed on my escape out.

I found refuge on a roof; the buildings were stone and close together. The light shined though the town and soon everyone was on the hunt for the thief.

“What if he kills our families?” the men shouted, getting all of the others fired up for an attack. Soon, they were all suited up for a murder. They held in their hands swords, pitchforks, and torches and soon found. I was running out of energy to keep up with them, and soon lost more places to flee.

“Where did he go?” they were stomping around in absolute astonishment that I had vanished out of existence. Next to them stood a fine manure pile, hidden underneath it all I sought refuge. Thanks to the unbearable stench of the pile I kept my heavy breathing down. Soon they left and I crawled out from it and sat, gasping for breath.

I had made it out of the village and into a river by the time the sun rose from the horizon. My clothes soaked and soon the dirt and manure had all come off. Looking back into my pockets I pulled out the ring. “This should get me a nice dinner for the week” I said to myself and rested against a tree for a while.

The sun was now reflecting off of the water, and for a second I thought I could see a rainbow. Once my heart stopped racing and the burning in my throat was once again bearable I walked out from under the tree. The sun was hot on my skin and dried my clothes faster than I had expected. I began walking again, off of the dirt path and following my own way into the woods. I was making sure that I had the ring with me.

I finally made it to the next village; this one was throwing a festival. One that I could only assume was significant to the village. Once in town square, I found the closest tavern and stopped in.

“Wad’ll it be?” an old fat woman with a crusty voice asked me this, as soon as I was seating in front of her at the bar.

“Water” I replied, she looked at me strangely for a while and then handed me a glass cup filled with water. I drank it down and asked for more, and more, until my burning throat was tamed again.

“Where’ya from?” the woman asked as she carefully cleaned off glass cups. The tavern was almost empty, all the people on the streets.

“I’m a drifter, come and go as I please”

“Drifter, huh, supposes you are running from something… or someone?” she looked intently at my clothing. All black down to my boots, I looked poor, shady and untrustworthy. Clearly she knew I was a thief, or at least something close to that.

“No ma’am, I’m just looking for something” I replied with my half lie. She gave me a long stare before she went back to cleaning her dishes. “What’s this festival about?”

“The festival today, its ‘bout an old story born many, many years ago” she crocked. I began to feel enchanted and listened closely to the wise old woman. “The story tells of a small girl who was kidnapped by the farm gods. They would steal a child away every year on the same day, when the moon was full on the second day. The villagers asked the gods why, they replied with ‘ungrateful peasants.’ Soon, the villagers put on the festival to show their thanks, the Gods have yet to take another young girl” her words paralyzed me. Only once had I seen the real works of a God, so I began to believe the old woman.

“So that’s the story” I whispered under my breath, she smiled at me, showing crocked teeth.

“Will you be able to pay?” she held out her hand, I frowned at it.

“All I took was water” I replied foolishly.

“You realize how difficult it is to come across clean water in a farming village” her voice was so stern I didn’t attempt to convince her. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a silver piece. She gratefully accepted it from me and went back to her cleaning.

I got up and walked out of the tavern. The festival was lively, children ran around as music banged drums and the crowds cheered. A thought accrued, did any of them know of the story, or was it just a crazy woman’s words.

Regardless, I stuck around for the music and amusement. It was a lot of fun. I spent the majority of the time accepting liquor from the men. They found it humorous that I could drink more than they could. I never did find alcohol to be that enjoyable and instead grew a tolerance to it.

“Holy crap kid, you can drink” they slurred. I just laughed at them; they were drinking less than I was.

“Will you be ok?” I expressed false concern for them, eventually they went on their way and I went my way.

Back on the road, I was looking for a shop that would exchange the ring I had for some money. There was no such luck, however, because everything was closed thanks to the festival. To my surprise, a lot of the villagers were in the parade than watching it. Loud drumming almost blew my ears out, however. It seemed the closer it got to night fall, the more lively the village became.

Without much hesitation, I decided to put the loud music of the crowd to my own use. Almost all of the villagers were out on the streets so it would be easiest to steal from these houses. And so, I began to steal, Jewelry, money, gold, anything I could get my hands on that was worth anything.

It wasn’t even the third house down when I was spotted by the guard, which had a price for my head. “You there! Thief” they called. As I ran past the crowded line of people while the music played, heads turned to give me their full attention. Not one stopped me, regardless of the guard’s constant shouting.

I jumped from place to place, trying to build up my stamina as not to lose it. These guards, however, were very tricky to shake off. They even began to corner me and I was stuck in a dead alley.

“What were you planning to do?” the guard asked. I laughed a bit at his demand. In return he grunted and aimed his sword at my face.

While I can use a sword, I have never used one against another person in actual combat. I am even a master swordsman; sword play came to me almost as easy as thievery.

“I was hoping to get a few souvenirs” I balanced on a barrel I had climbed up as they inched closer to me. There were seven of them, a number I couldn’t easily defeat without a sword. I looked above me to find a pole; quickly I jumped up and grabbed it, pulling myself up to the next building. Simultaneously the guards tried to grab me; they failed and began to yell terrible words.

I ran from there, they knew I was there and why, so they were coming after me. The sky was black now and many twinkles shined out. The festival was just as lively as ever, drums, flutes, lutes and horns. It almost gave me a rush, like I could do anything. Quickly I dove into the first window I could find. Inside, it looked like a rich mansion. So, of course, I thought I hit the jackpot. That was, until I was what was before me.

A small girl, maybe a little younger than me, was running for her life. The screams were so piercing my bones began to shake. I hid from her view; the brown wood floor now tainted red.

“Stop!” she screamed, turning around to face another young man. He was about or maybe older than me. A dagger was in his hand, covered red with blood. I hid further in the corner, as not to be seen by them.

“You’re a little brat you know that? If you weren’t born father would like me!” he began to swing the dagger at her until it was right in front of her terror filled eyes.

“Please” she begged.

The whole scenario made my skin crawl. Never before had I seen something like this, I had always thought that I would be help in a situation such as this. I was wrong, dead wrong. While I sat there paralyzed in fear of the young man, he began to cut her face. He was even laughing, which gave me the most unsettling feeling.

“Now, with you gone, the house will be turned over to me” the boy chanted these words, almost like he was doing this because it was made to happen. My stomach tightened, I had meant to help her, but I couldn’t move.

“You can have it!” she screamed, trying to attack him. He pushed her down, staining the floor even redder.

“Oh please, you’d turn around and tell father exactly what is happening. You’d also tell him about what me and the other guys have been doing!” he began to rage out on her. Quickly I turned away, only hearing her voice scream. It was loud against the banging of the drums.

“You” she began “Are a devil” her voice was dark, gasping for breath. I turned back around to see what had happened. Words could not describe it. As I watched he bent down to her and chuckled.

“Thank you, dear little sister” he smiled “and here’s to your last remaining minutes on Earth” he toasted to her, a wine glass in hand. The final blow was struck, and he left the room with great satisfaction.

I starred, wide eyed and unable to move. My eyes open so wide my sockets began to hurt. At that moment I threw myself to her, grabbing her hand and staring into her eyes. “Hey, can you hear me?” I begged for an answer. I even began to prey, to a God I had surely sinned against.

“I… can’t” her breaths were far apart. I wanted to save her, but how. If I take her to the guards she’d be safe but I would go to prison. Who’s to say shed even be fully healed. I sat there, starring at her eyes as I thought. In that moment I made a decision. One I regret and will continue to regret.

I left her for dead.

 

 

Once I finished speaking, Ari stood up. Tamillia seemed to be the most horrified out of all of us. She knew who I was talking about; she knew who it could only have been. Reno looked at me with tired eyes, teary and sad. That was her story, Reno’s murder.

“You left her” Ari was shaking, my sister helped her keep her balance and they leaned on each other. My father and Zane had horrified looks as well; in fact, the entire council seemed to share the same expression.

I pulled back and rested against the wall, the memory buried far deep had resurfaced. “That’s murder” one council man demanded. “He left the girl for dead, that’s murder” the others slowly began to nod their heads.

“You’re kidding?” Tamillia stood up; she looked over to Reno who also had the shared expression. I nodded, to both of them. Tamillia slowly sat back down. “That can’t be right. That was Reno”

I sat back quietly, letting them hit me with everything they had. I wasn’t going to make myself to be the good guy. For many years I had thought about what I could had done to help, that I should have stopped her brother, or even saved her and remained in prison for all of my crimes.

“I don’t think it is considered murder” Ari finally said. Her reaction surprised me. “But what you did was wrong, to save yourself. Your just scum” her tone was light and shaky. Personally I was ready for any punishment they wanted to give me.

“I’ll sit in prison for as long as it takes” I said, they became completely silent. “I will, all I ask of you is one request”

“A request!” the council protested.

“Let me hear him out” Ari starred back at me, our eyes met. Perhaps she was growing soft, not likely.

“I want to finish this mystery, find the mine and it’s all yours” I replied. “I’ll find the mine and then I’ll go to prison for the crimes I committed”

The others in the council began to nod their head, some of the stubborn ones declined.

“Why did you lie about the gold?” Zane asked. I put my head up to see him among all the council members.

“I’ll be honest just this once, I am a liar.” I paused to see the reaction of the others. Their salty faces gave me a humorous giggle. “As for the gold, I was hoping it was significant to the mystery in finding Karil’s mine”

My father nodded in understanding, half understanding any way. “All findings should be taken to the queen immediately” he warned. I nodded my head. One of the members was eager to hear the story of the pirates. I humored him by telling my tale, with a little half-truth.

Once it was late, the council members left from the storytelling and I was left all alone again in my room. Reno rocked back and forth on the bed. “I know what you want to ask” I said, suddenly scaring her as she jumped.

“That so?” she sat back down on the bed and starred at me, I rolled over facing the wall and sighed.

“You want to know about your life, before the murder” she shook her head.

“What you said about leaving me for dead. Was that really true?” I rolled back over, sat up and starred her in the eyes.

“That is without a doubt completely the truth” a tear ran down her cheek, she was close to crying. “Which is why I swore to take you to heaven” never once did I blink when I told her this, just as I did when I prayed to God. I had asked him to keep her safe, that if I could do anything for her I would. I suppose he gave me this task. Which wasn’t all that bad. “As for your past, I’m not sure, after three days I grieved your death and suddenly you appeared before me in the woods”

 

I ran from the house so fast I could barely hear the beating of the drums, but my own heart. It was thumping louder than the festival itself. Once in a while I would look back, wanting to return back to her side. I turned away quickly and kept on my path. It was dark; I stopped and slept under a tree, shaking as I fell into a cold sleep.

 

By the time three days had past I did nothing but sit in the woods. I cried for her death, for the fact that I left her. I couldn’t shake the feeling of my guilt. Soon, it began to consume me.

I pulled back a few tree branches and rested by the river. Drinking and washing my face off, as to wash off all of the bad dreams that followed after her death. I began to cry, but not before seeing the girl next to me. Exactly the same as the girl from earlier, I watched her as she took a drink of water.

“You- you’re supposed to be dead” I shuddered, pointing at her. She stood up and smiled.

“I was told you could take me to heaven. My name is Reno, please take care of me” all she did was smile. Later, I learned she had no memory of her past, how she died or why. I hadn’t had all the answers myself, but still kept all knowledge I had of her secret. I stood up next to her by the river, took my hand out and shook with her.

“I’ll take you to heaven. I promise”