Avarice Secret Unquiet

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The not so Secret Unquiet

Stephan's people had left the security of their former lives behind. The rain that had teased never came, and the subsequent days were hot and windless as the blue, almost cloudless skies impassively gazed down on their suffering.

Jhary knew that this next stretch of desert was going to be brutal. He had kept that knowledge mostly to himself, only confiding in the leadership about how terrible this next leg of their journey would be. There was nothing out here but ruined settlements, poisoned wells, and the skeletons of long-dead trees. The next refill point was distant, at least some three days, but only if they made good time. They would, until that stopover, have to rely on the provisions they carried. Jhary hoped that they had enough water, specifically.

They only traveled by night; the bright and intense heat by day on the open flats was insufferable. There were already many individuals who were in discomfort from the rigors of the trail. Thankfully, there were no subhuman settlements here, at least that Jhary knew of, and most of the slavers and raiders had left this area of slim pickings an age ago. Though this place was still much further north than he had ever plied his trade.

As those heat-filled days went by, Stephan's people struggled further with the effects of heat exhaustion, sunburn, and a general weariness of spirit. The animals were also beginning to weaken. The morale of the refugees was low despite the news that their enemy had been clearly cheated of his dues. Their stalwart leaders urged them on, and when they rested, Jhary's stories and song, and George Hanson's frequent bible readings were tonic for the soul.

The farmers were particularly crestfallen to hear of the battle's outcome. To uproot a farmer from his land leaves its mark on him. One can miss their home, but for the farmer bonded to the land, it takes an even greater toll. Many had held on to a secret hope that they would be turning about and heading for home, to tend their crops and livestock. That this war would be no more than a temporary obstacle to their former lives.

Those who had lost their loved ones so bravely defending grieved. Many though were unaccounted for as none had seen them fall in battle specifically. Mothers, children, and parents were affected, and Jhary and his compatriots in leadership had their work cut out for them. So many to comfort, so many difficult to motivate. Some had all but given up. But somehow they managed mechanically to continue.

Raissa was one such case, yet Maya and Lucy urged her on. They made sure she at least partook of a regular meal and drank enough water. It seemed the news relayed to her by Renard that her husband had survived the battle unscathed and intended to return to her shortly did little for her mental state.

Stephan had struggled with acute feelings of loss and abandonment early in the trek. The experienced leader's recovery was timely. The people listened to him in a way they didn't to Jhary and the others. He had led them steadfastly with a gentle hand for years, and they responded to his words of fortitude, even as the conditions they suffered grew more difficult by the day.

*****

Renard lay in the cart, thankful that he was at least lucid and surrounded by his loved ones. Even if his conditions were far from ideal, as it was painful with each and every bump and jolt, however he remained stoic. His knee was so heavily bandaged that he could barely bend it. If he tried, the pain was unimaginable. He wished he could look at it, but he was scared to. He spent the time trying to get his mind off his injury by speaking with his family. It was pleasurable to just have them near, and he would never take this joy for granted again. All those years in the wasteland, all of them spent wishing he could return. Now he had, and he would never ever let them go.

Of course, his family and friends had asked him time and time again to repeat his story of how he burned down the granary and faced off with Victor. Renard made light of the event, even though his parting shot had gratified him intensely. Lothar would have no canola to turn into biodiesel, nor a source of easy food. Yes, they had lost their home, but along with his family, they would and could rebuild, he was confident.

He had been somewhat reticent, though at first, to tell his father of the closing move in the battle. His account was delivered slowly, gently. The old man just looked back towards the northern skyline to the place he imagined his valley to be. He gently placed his hand on Renard's shoulder and replied, "Son, we are not diminished. We are now free." This response heartened Renard, as he was sure that his father would not have taken the news of the silo's fiery fate well.

*****

Jhary felt a great sense of relief when, on the fourth day, they came in sight of the oasis. He had begun to fret that perhaps he had erroneously missed the landmark. He had never had to worry about his mistakes affecting so many others, and the idea of being this responsible at times frightened him. He was a singer and storyteller, and he enjoyed being unencumbered by the needs and desires of others. Since the loss of Rachel, he had made it a point to be.

The country they were currently traveling in was, for the most part, vastly featureless. Jhary knew, though, that this next oasis was of a substantial size, a valuable stop in any projected path south.

Jhary, even when first spying the dark smudge of trees at a distance, felt that something was not quite right. The mature gums that ringed the body of water, usually so dense and dark, appeared even at this great distance, wispy and thin. It was still some time until daybreak. Perhaps the darkness was playing tricks on his eyes? He hoped he was wrong.

The musician had been walking up front with Aurianne and Darius, and to ease his mind, he said, "You know, that place doesn't look right, the trees were so much thicker last time I visited."

"How can you tell? It's dark now." Aurianne questioned. Thinking Jhary was making far too much of it.

"I know it's a long way off, but the trees look like they have lost their leaves, see." Jhary pointed to the southern horizon.

"Well, trees have been known to do that," Darius said with a wink.

Jhary shot him a withering glance. He didn't know if the smith was clowning around to lighten the mood, or if he didn't believe him. The bard didn't say anything else, but he bit his lip and his brow creased with worry. He had this sickening feeling in his gut, and his hands were clammy. He tried to convince himself he was making a mistake, and that he just couldn't see the trees properly at such a distance. As the procession drew closer, Jhary felt more alarmed; there was definitely something very wrong. It appeared his walking companions now also recognized it.

On the final approach, a tense silence prevailed. All that could be heard was the low mutterings of the people behind them, the creaking of the carts, and the thud of the horse's hooves on sand and the cracked, parched earth.

They reached the first ring of trees, and Jhary called for a halt. Stephan appeared at his shoulder, a look of concern on his face. He, too, must have noticed the anomaly.

"Something's not right," Jhary said quietly, so that only those who stood close by him would hear of his concern. "Stephan, please tell everyone to wait here while we check it out."

Stephan nodded and turned back toward his people. Dale, along with Bryn, shadowed by Tobias, was already walking to the front of the procession to see what was wrong.

"I dunno what's up ere ahead but I don't be like'n it. Those be look'n dead!" Bryn exclaimed, pointing at the oasis.

Jhary grimaced at Bryn's outburst. The last thing he wanted was undue panic.

Dale sauntered up to Jhary, "If you need some muscle, I'm here." For emphasis, he tapped the military issue rifle that was slung over his shoulder.

Dale's support made Jhary feel a little better. "That gun, Sir, might be overkill, but let's walk in a little and see. Bryn and Tobias, could you please stand guard here?"

"Aye understood," replied Bryn as he and Tobias took up position.

Weapons drawn, Aurianne, Darius, Dale, and Jhary entered the treeline. There was a sense of disquiet that hung over the area. Every shadow seemed to house an unseen horror.

"Geeze, would you look at that!" Dale exclaimed as they walked a little way in.

In the half light, the scene before them looked eerie. Before them, in the outer treeline, was an old truck that had been driven hard into a tree many years ago. The body of the stout vehicle was cloven almost in two. The tree then a much younger version of itself, embedded right through the passenger compartment to the bed. The once bright aqua paint was mottled with rust and years of oxidation. As was the chrome work. Glass chips from the smashed window glass sparkled on the surrounding sand.

"Ouch," Dale said with incredulity, "they must have hit that tree hard."

The crash scene brought Jhary unwelcome flashbacks of unwanted memories. The endless black top stretching away into the desert, he and Rachel fleeing for their lives. The rough and ready bikers, mobile and fierce enough to avoid the law...he found himself speaking primarily to avoid the long repressed recollection. "There's probably an old highway near here, someplace buried by sand. My guess is that they were fleeing from the biker gangs that used to hunt these roads right before the bomb dropped."

"Yeah, I remember, the gangs were bad out here," Darius interjected. He was the only one there old enough, besides Jhary, to vividly recall the lawless events just before the war.

"There's no way they survived that..." Dale added.

Jhary's hair stood on end. The haunting image of the crashed vehicle and the unexpected death of the trees instilled in him an omnipresent fear. Except for the rather thin foliage overhead, there seemed to be nothing amiss. He glanced over at Aurianne, she seemed as on edge as he was, she had her bow in hand with an arrow ready to fly. Dale's rifle was also cocked, and Darius had his sturdy axe in hand.

"You could hear a pin drop in here," Jhary whispered to his companions. He felt almost too afraid to even speak. For the life of him, though he wasn't the bravest of men, he didn't understand why he had this overwhelming dread. His heart was thundering so hard in his chest that it almost felt like it was trying to break free from his rib cage. He felt a rush of intense nausea grip him, and he fought to hold the contents of his last meal down.

"No frogs, crickets, or anything," Aurianne added.

None of their observations were making any of them feel calmer, and as they walked further into the treeline, the atmosphere became stifling. A light, almost fetid wind blew, rustling the few leaves that were left clinging to the once towering evergreens. Their silver trunks shone in the darkness like bleached bones.

"This place was teeming with life when I last visited," Jhary informed the others. His senses were screaming at him to leave. That option, though, was unthinkable; they had to take on water at this location. All their lives depended on it.

"Do you feel it?" Dale asked the others.

Jhary nodded and swallowed; the sensation was suffocating. Aurianne was sniffing at the air, expecting the scent of nearby death, and Darius shot him a grim expression, the wooden haft of his axe gripped by white knuckles.

They all turned then to the sound of someone hurrying along the path. The figure was almost unrecognizable in the darkness. It was Kario; he threw back the hood of his robe and passed by them, standing ten or so feet ahead on the path. "Please, let this not be." They heard him softly mutter to no one in particular.

"What is it?" Jhary whispered, at once wishing that Kario had not stepped forth.

But Kario stood unmoving and did not immediately answer.

The essence of the palest glow was tingeing the east, and the stars had begun to fade from the heavens. Yet there was no early dawn birdsong.

They made to step closer, but Kario held out his hand to halt them.

"We will not be taking water on here, it's poisoned. Even to touch this place is death." Kario finally said without turning around.

"How can you know that?" Jhary whispered hoarsely, wiping the dripping perspiration from his brow. It wasn't hot, but the raw, inexplicable fear that was coursing through his body was having a distinct effect on him and his ability to process what was happening.

"We need to look and be doubly sure," Darius finally said, and it was the first time any of them had spoken louder than in a whisper.

"Yes," said Aurianne, backing him up. Though she was ready to believe what Kario had said, as her recent conversations with him had changed the way she saw many events.

"We have to take on water here. If we can't, we will perish." Jhary added. The true impact of what he was saying left him numb. He began to run the math in his head,four days back the way they had come, and easily the same distance to the next oasis south. There were no towns where he could ask for assistance or trade for supplies. He knew they didn't have enough remaining water for both the animals and the people. What should he do?

"All right," Jhary said finally, sucking in a deep breath between his teeth to still his rising panic. He wasn't cut out for all this leadership stuff.

"Let's just go look at the water before we do or say anything rash." Darius cut in. "No point needlessly panicking the people." Darius was relatively calm, and he was the steadying force they needed in that moment. Slowly, they began to explore further in.

"Look at this?" Aurianne said. Now the thin light had begun to illuminate their surroundings. They could clearly see all the dead and dying eucalyptus leaves that had created a dark bed beneath the trees, obscuring the usually visible and well-worn path toward the water.

Aurianne had pointed to the base of a tree trunk. It was a large tree, and it barely clung to life. The bottom of the tree was split and cracked, and a black substance that looked like tar was leaking from the wounds.

"That's real strange," said Dale, observing it closely. "Never seen anything kill a big tree like that."

"Me either," said Darius, noting that all the trees about them appeared to be similarly disfigured and in various stages of death.

The underlying damage appeared to radiate from the water hole itself. The nearer they got, the thicker the air became, and some of the party members began to cough and have difficulty breathing. Especially Dale and Darius.

"Whatever this is, it's rancid." Darius postulated.

"I smell death," Aurianne whispered as she persisted forward with the others.

The oasis at the grove's center was a rather large, spring-fed lake. It had always been a pristine and pleasant place of life. Numerous birds watered here every dawn. But today, there was no birdsong, just numerous tufts of dead, feathered bodies strewn on the blackened shoreline, accompanied by the bones of multitudes of animals tied to this place by their need for water.

The travelers, on seeing this horrendous sight, recoiled in fear. Kario alone advanced and stood in silence on the shoreline. This place, though terrible to other's eyes, didn't affect him negatively, but he knew what this meant for his companions. Rather than be repelled, though, he felt a distinct longing for his home. The darkness and spires of Narkem'zet called to him.

Jhary stood, hand over his mouth, looking in horror at the pond that now bore no resemblance to water. It appeared as a viscous, oily blackness that ate at everything it touched. Death was everywhere, the trees, the plants that once inhabited the shore, and all the living things that had depended on this site for life.

The sun began to rise, and even in the light, what had been a sanctuary from the heat looked no better to any of them. They would find no water here, just death at every corner. They must go on, and yet the desert would show them no mercy.

"How much water do we have?" Dale dared to utter the thought that was on everyone's minds.

"Not nearly enough for all those people and animals for another four day's travel, even if we did ration it hard," Jhary spoke his dire assessment out loud, and it frightened him immensely.

Aurianne felt a shiver at that bleak announcement race down her spine. She didn't know how to contribute to the conversation in any constructive way.

"If we were to ration extremely hard," said Dale, "and risk the animals, maybe we could do it."

"But what happens then with no beasts to pull the carts? Many of those people can't walk a distance. How do we reach the next place?" Darius pointed out.

"I don't know," said Jhary, turning away from the fouled clearing.

"I could help, maybe a little, Kario added, it would tire me..."

"Oh, shut the fuck up! I'm tired of all your weird ass crap! Jhary shouted before storming off by the way they had come.

The others all looked at one another for long moments, mute at Jhary's strong reaction to Kario's statement.

Darius turned to Kario, "I don't know what you said to upset him so much, but if you can do anything at all... do it."

Kario inclined his head in answer. "Aurianne, I will need your help. This will not be easy, but it's worth a try."

"Well, we will get back to the others and see what our next move is," Darius said as he and Dale walked back the way they had come.

*****

"What do you need me to do?" Aurianne asked Kario once the others had departed from the clearing. She, too, had wished to leave this place of death and decay, but she was intrigued that Kario had asked for assistance. To her surprise, he began to shed his robe. She looked away immediately, feeling a spreading heat rise in her cheeks born of embarrassment. He was talking to her, and his own nakedness seemed not to bother him. So she focused on his words as he began to walk away from where she stood.

"I want you to stay and watch over my possessions, you are the only one I trust. I'm going to change into a bird and see if there is any settlement that we might reach before the water is gone. I don't think I can concentrate to shift with you so close, but over there you can still watch me change. You need to see that what I tell you is true so you can trust me. I will be exhausted when I return, and I may need your assistance. And if I do not return... You must assume that I have become one with the bird and there will be no redeeming me."

"That can happen?" Aurianne had never considered such a thing. Knowing Kario had really tested the boundaries of what she thought she believed.

"Yes, it's a very real risk."

"I can do that," Aurianne stated, wondering what she was about to witness as she stared down at Kario's discarded robe and the beautiful athame of dark metal that lay in the folds of the blue fabric. She was curious to see if Kario could really do all he had claimed. Yet the memory of the lion haunted her, and today he would let her see.

He stood, his back to her, and he raised his arms to the sky. The sun was just beginning to peek over the tops of the trees, banishing the dramatic shadows that lurked beneath. The waters of the pond reflected a strange blackish hue when touched by the sunlight, reminiscent of the dagger that lay on the robe at her feet.