Agnes nodded off and her head drooped in front of
her. Her chin nearly touches her chest as she breathed in and out. She had been
up most of the night with Elgin. Clover had checked on them from time to time,
making more tea for him and giving her more linen to wrap his wounds. She slept
peacefully rolled up tightly in the blankets on Naomi’s mat. Amber slept by the
fire in the Earthin lodge, and a soft snoring came from her withering body.
Elgin awoke and looked around the interior of the great house. He saw the large
wooden circle suspended from the ceiling and realized where he was and suddenly
felt the excruciating pain of his wounds. He grimaced with pain as he tried to
lift his head to see more clearly.
He saw Agnes seated next to him with her arms folded
in front of her and she slumbered as he looked up into her aging face. He had
not noticed the lovely shape of her lips before and wanted to trace them with
his fingers. He realized he had made it to the forest people and reflected back
on the grueling trip through the woods in the dead of night to warn them.
He instantly became frightened and panicked all over
again remembering the raid on their homes, as he looked on helpless to stop it.
A tear welled in the corner of his eye as he thought of grandfather Goudah
slain and lying on the ground covered in his own blood. The gruesome picture
rolled over in his thoughts again and again, as he wiped his cheek where the
tear had fallen. He saw a pile of bags near the door and it registered that
they were planning to flee, probably at dawn.
His thoughts were interrupted by a gust of wind and
then a faint sound he thought that he had heard before. He tried to put the
terror he was feeling aside. He tried to tell himself that it was not true and
that it was his mind playing tricks on him because of his head pounding with
pain.
He lifted his head higher and strained his ears to
listen. He nudged Agnes and she awoke startled.
“I think I heard something!” He said in a frantic
whisper. He heard it again.
She became alert. ” What do you think it was?”
Elgin did not answer her. He listened to the leaves
outside blowing by the roundhouse, and then the shuffle of feet, and then the
front door of the lodge flew open.
A figure of a man stood there with gleaming armor
covering his chest, the fire reflected on the long silver blade that he held in
his hand. His black leather gloves covered his hands and went all the way up to
his elbows. His coal black hair fell from beneath his shinny helmet and it
clung to his sweaty face. Soon another madman joined him and they both stepped
through the sacred entrance.
Agnes let out a, blood-curdling scream as she stood
to her feet. Her piercing voice was silenced as his blade came down across her
neck. She fell to the ground. Blood gushed from her throat and she lay in a
heap at their feet. He kicked her as he stepped over her toward Elgin. The one
man talked to the other in a tongue he had never heard. It was fierce and
impatient. He was terrified, tried to get to his feet, and swayed. When he got
his balance, and he lunged forward.
Elgin tried to fight off the intruders and was cut
deeply in his mid section. He bent over and fell on the pile of bedding
clenching his abdomen. He tried to crawl forward and collapsed over the
pillows. The other man pierced the blankets that Clover struggled to free
herself from. She moved no more. He removed her gold headband and necklace. It
dangled from his hand reflecting the flames as he walked. Amber screamed as she
watched her old friend die right before her eyes and have her treasured jewelry
striped from her dead body. With one swift blow of his blade, he cut Amber’s
head from her screaming body and it rolled from her shoulders and stopped
abruptly hitting the wall of the fire pit. It’s vacant stare toward the ceiling
the firelight dancing over the decapitated body.
Blood splattered across the breastplates of their
assassins. Their blades dripping crimson red. They striped the bodies of their
gold bangles and finely detailed necklaces. Elgin held his breath and kept his
eyes tightly closed as his own pendant was taken with one hard jerk. When their
backs were turned Elgin pressed against the gash in his front, blood oozing
between his fingers at a steady flow. They lifted the bags of packed goods piled
by the door. The one man motioned to the other, leaving him for dead. They left
the plank door standing wide open and swinging slightly in the wind.
Elgin lay helpless again in the dawn. He could hear
the clash of metal against metal and knew a fierce battle was being fought just
outside. He could hear the yells of his brothers and the animals being rounded
up. He wept at the sight of the women dead around him. He tore off a piece of a
sheet, wound it about himself, and cinched it tight around his stomach.
It became quiet and the only thing he could hear
were the yips of the pillaging men setting fire to the long house, were once a
great headman sat. He crawled over Agnes dead body her eyes vacantly open and
staring at the stone wall behind him. He pressed her eyelids closed and traced
her lips in regret for not being with her. He used the table to pull himself
up, dragging his deformed leg behind him to the open door. He staggered and
leaned against the frame. The bodies of his friends lay on the ground between
the burning dwellings motionless. Dust and smoke filled the air and death was
everywhere he looked. He moaned in grief.
The soldiers were driving their stock and carts full
of loot into the forests edge. Elgin fell to his knees in disbelief and looking
around at the onslaught. The homes were in flames and the smell of burning
flesh filled his nose. He covered his mouth and pressed his psalm hard against
his lips he breathed heavily. He was horrified at what he saw and the thought
of them reaching the women and children. His vision went black and then he
passed out from the pain. His body