From a Forest of Bone and Blood | Chapter Two
They headed east as planned, accompanied by birdsong as they walked. Eventually Jensen and Jared both found acceptable shoes and with that everyone in their impromptu party was deemed presentable, with the exception of Alona.
She’d balked at the idea of shoes, saying that she liked the feel of moss under her feet and that shoes were overrated. Jared tried to reason with her, telling her that she’d want some shoes once they were in Sheppardston and had to walk on cobblestones instead of moss, but Alona was nothing if not stubborn.
It was Genevieve who finally found shoes for Alona, and even then she carried them a while before, wordlessly, Alona took them and pulled them on. They were a little too big, and the leather was baggy around her ankles. Jensen already knew better than to show the slightest amusement at her appearance, lest she take the shoes right back off, but she looked like a character in a fortune-tellers tarot spread.
“Four amnesiacs meet in a forest,” Jared said. “It sounds like the set up for a bad joke.”
“Ha, maybe,” Alona chuckled. “But it’d be the funniest joke I ever heard.”
Behind them, Genevieve broke out in giggles. “It’d be the only joke you’ve ever heard,” she said, covering her mouth with her hand as she laughed.
Jensen trailed behind all of them, feeling surly. Sure, a great ugly beast had been killed and his life had been saved, and really he ought to be grateful, but really, he was pouting. He knew he was pouting and didn’t care enough to stop pouting. He rather felt he was the only one concerned about their lack of memories. Four people didn’t just lose their memories. Something had to have happened to cause it.
He cast about for a weapon as they walked and finally found a small dagger tucked into a boot. Thankfully the dagger was the only thing in the boot and so Jensen quickly tucked it into his own, feeling slightly mollified now that he had a weapon, no matter that it was small and most likely insufficient. Maybe if another Witherkin showed up he could gouge out an eye - if he could get close enough to it and not be killed.
“Hey, is everything alright with you?” Jared asked suddenly, surprisingly close to Jensen’s ear. It startled Jensen and his muscles tensed as he jerked away. Jared had been in the lead, and Jensen had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed Jared drop back beside him, his footsteps matched despite Jared’s longer stride. Jared reached out and rested his hand on Jensen’s lower back, which Jensen found distracting instead of comforting.
“Uh, yeah,” Jensen said, and then realized he was being dishonest. “I mean, no, I’m not alright. Are you? I mean, here we are, the four of us and not one of us can remember who we are apart from our names, and you don’t seem concerned about it. You or Alona or Genevieve. You’re all hey-ho la-di-da about it.”
Jared withdrew his hand, which Jensen was thankful for even though it took away the warmth that had been spreading through his limbs from where it had rested. Jared’s expression became pensive.
“No, I know, you’re right,” he said, running that hand through his thick dark hair. “It makes no sense. I guess I just haven’t really come to terms with it yet. We’ll figure it out, I’m sure of it.” Here Jared gave Jensen a small half-smile that Jensen was pretty sure was faked. “We’ll find some answers in Sheppardston. I’m sure of it.”
Jensen wished he were as sure as Jared seemed to be.
***
Sheppardston was a picturesque little town reminiscent of times long past. Situated on a bluff overlooking one of the larger inland lakes, it was surrounded by an ancient stone wall that was built back when the cities were self-governing. Made from thick, heavy bricks and fortified with battlements every so often, the wall was still in excellent condition, and could probably still hold off an army if one decided to attack. That wasn’t likely to happen in this day and age, but it was a point of pride for the residents nonetheless.
Where most towns had expanded beyond their walls or simply torn them down, Sheppardston had done neither. Then again, the town lay on no major trade routes and so had not had the opportunity to expand as its sister cities had. Here people lived a quiet life, marrying and raising their children much in the same fashion they had been raised, or setting off at a young age to seek their fame and fortune.
The four travelers came upon the city rather suddenly. There was no gradual end to the forest they walked through, rather it just ceased to be a forest and they found themselves in an empty field about a mile’s walk away from the town. Merely a step behind them the forest grew as if it had been there for years. If nothing else, this made it very clear that this was not a natural forest.
No one in their party said anything. Instead they shared a silent moment as if they were the oldest of friends and could communicate without words. It was Genevieve who took the first step towards Sheppardston, flashing them all a shy smile and motioning with her right hand for them to follow.
The gate was shut, and no guard seemed to be posted. Outside the walls, where they were, there was no movement to be seen. It was all very quiet, and Jensen was beginning to worry that either something awful had befallen the town, or it had been abandoned.
“Hello?” Alona called, standing on her tiptoes trying to see over the gate. Jensen suppressed a laugh. If Jared with his superior height couldn’t see over the gate, there was no way Alona, all five feet six inches of her was going to be able to, even if she stood on her very tippest of toes.
“Who goes there?” A voice came from above, and Jensen looked up to see an armed guard staring down at them from the top of the wall. Well, that was unusual. Was the city expecting to be attacked? Jensen looked around, halfway expecting to see an army on the march.
“I’m Jared,” Jared answered. “This is Jensen, Alona, and Genevieve.” He gestured to each of them. “We have just come from the forest -“
“I saw where you came from,” the gruff voice said. “The mayor would like to speak with you. I’m going to have the gate opened, and you will come inside without any trouble. Am I clear?”
A sense of unease unfurled in Jensen’s stomach. Perhaps they were about to get those answers Jared was so sure of earlier. Alona caught his gaze with her own and he could tell she was feeling unsettled about this as well, by the thinness and sideways tilt of her lips. Her hand went to her weapon.
“No!” Jared hissed. “Look, just wait and see what happens, alright?”
The gate swung open with a great creaking sound, making it abundantly clear that this gate was not often used. Jared walked through first, followed closely by the two women, and finally, Jensen.
Behind them, the gate shut again, faster than it had opened, but Jensen soon found his attention diverted by the company of armed soldiers that surrounded them, weapons raised and pointed at them. Jensen looked up, and noticed that along the wall stood marksmen, rifles at the ready with all four of them in their crosshairs.
“Go no further!” the guard demanded. His gaze jumped from person to person as his eyes narrowed. “Put your hands behind your back, right now.”
“I think we should do as he says,” Jensen said, before Jared could act on that defiant glint in his eye.
“What is the meaning of this?” Jared asked, affronted. “Do you greet all travelers this way?”
“You will hold still and allow yourselves to be cuffed,” the guard said. He’d come down from his perch atop the wall and now walked through the company of soldiers who parted to let him through.
Jensen looked over at Jared, whose hand was slowly reaching for his weapon. The guard noticed immediately.
“You will regret that, son,” he said. “Now come peaceably, or in pieces. Your decision.”
“Maybe we should,” said Genevieve. “At least we’ll find out what’s going on.”
“Do you give us your word that you aren’t going to just have us killed?” This time it was Alona who piped up, her eyes narrowed to slits as she glared at the guard.
“Look, the mayor simply wants to talk to you, but we need to make sure you’re harmless first. If you don’t start any trouble you can be on your way by nightfall.”
“You’re lying,” Jensen said. “Tell us what the mayor really wants with us.”
“Look, the way I see it, you don’t really have a choice in the matter,” the guard said, holding his hands up as if supplicating them to make the right choice.
“Alright,” Jensen agreed. “I agree to your terms.” He turned to his companions, who shared the same defeat on their faces that he felt in his chest. The other three nodded their agreement.
The metal cuffs were cold against the skin of Jensen’s wrists, and he wanted nothing more than to fight against the bonds, but he’d agreed.
What he hadn’t agreed to was to be marched through the town like a common criminal, while the citizens peered out at him from doors and windows, stopping their daily tasks to watch the strangers march by in chains.
Thankfully they didn’t have to walk very far before they reached the center of the town and were corralled into a brick building. Just inside the front doors was a large wooden desk, and sitting on that desk was a young man of perhaps nineteen or twenty years old. Jensen couldn’t help but notice the youth’s mussed appearance - his vest and trousers were quite rumpled and his straw colored hair looked like he’d just rolled out of bed.
“Is Mayor Sheppard here yet?” The guard who’d apprehended them asked him. The youth looked up with wide, startled eyes.
“Who are they?” he asked. “Why would the mayor be here?”
“You’re useless, Jake,” said the guard with a heavy sigh. “I dispatched a runner to the mayor’s house about ten minutes ago. Stay here while I secure the prisoners, and for the sake of the Gods, make yourself presentable before the mayor gets here.”
The young man, Jake, looked at the floor and hastily ran a hand through his unruly hair. It helped not one bit.
“Disarm them,” the guard barked, and Jake pushed himself up from where he sat on the desk and did as he was told, quickly divesting Jared, Jensen, Alona and Genevieve of their newly acquired weapons. Jared stared forlornly at his sword where it sat on the desk, and Jensen commiserated. His small dagger may not have been much of a blade, but it was a blade and he’d felt good having it with him.
Jensen felt a prod in his back which he felt was wholly unnecessary, but started walking where the guard directed, down a short corridor to the back of the building. Presently he found himself and his three companions in a barred cell, where the guard had them stand with their backs against the bars so he could remove the cuffs. He was very generous in allowing the prisoners the freedom of movement once more, and he made sure they all knew how magnanimous he was.
“Mayor Sheppard is here,” Jake called as he walked down the corridor. He was followed by a retinue of men, all young and able-bodied men in casual dress and then an older gentleman in surprising finery. He looked like a very pleasant man, perhaps with a slightly sarcastic bent if the tilt of his lips was any indication. He had a high forehead and wispy brown hair, and from the way he carried himself looked like he was secure in his station in his embroidered vest and finely woven shirt and trousers.
That is, he seemed pleasant until he opened his mouth, but no pleasant tone could belie the menace in his words.
“Tell me your names and where you hail from,” he ordered. Jared opened his mouth to answer but the other man just continued on, not letting him speak.
“My men saw you come out of the forest, and I’d like to know several things. See, the strangest thing happened last night. That forest that you just happened to come out of sprang up out of nowhere last night. An army of over one thousand men just up and disappeared, not to mention the wizard who led it and the dragon they were battling. Just - poof - gone!”
Jensen felt his mouth fall open slightly before he composed himself and snapped it shut. He -no, the four of them - were being blamed for the disappearance of an army? Absurd!
“You think we made an army disappear? That’s ridiculous!”
“I’d like one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you four right now, for what you’ve done,” Mayor Sheppard said. He walked closer to the cell that contained them, his steps slow and deliberate, making sure to keep out of arms reach.
“I have one, how about we didn’t do anything?” Jared railed, grasping the bars with both hands as if he’d like nothing more than to lunge through and throttle the man who’d had them imprisoned. Jensen would have liked to do the same, actually. In fact, he was all for making a group effort out of it. Genevieve, Alona and Jared had all proven themselves in the battle with the Witherkin; if they could get out of this cell they’d surely be able to best this man. As circumstances stood though, the mayor definitely had the upper hand here.
“You didn’t do anything?” Mayor Sheppard said, purposefully widening his eyes in pretend shock. He turned to one of the men who stood silently by. “Did you hear that? They did nothing! I should to let them go on their merry way, shouldn’t I?” Now he turned back to the prisoners. “Oh that’s quite amusing.”
“But we didn’t!” Genevieve interjected. She didn’t move from her spot, and with her arms crossed tightly over her stomach she looked very small. “That we know of, at least. Please, there’s no reason to imprison us.”
One of the mayor’s eyebrows rose dangerously high. “That you know of? What do you mean? Who are you?”
“I’m Genevieve,” she answered.
“Genevieve who?” Mayor Sheppard prodded, focusing all his attention on her. Perhaps he thought that she was going to be the most forthcoming of the four of them. Jensen couldn’t say he knew her yet, not after a day, but he would bet that Sheppard was underestimating her.
“We don’t know our last names,” Alona said loudly, startling the mayor as well as Jensen. “And that’s the truth.” Genevieve flashed an unreadable look in Alona’s direction and Jensen wondered if Alona hadn’t somehow ruined Genevieve’s plan - that is, if she even had a plan.
Mayor Sheppard took a step back and rolled his eyes.
“Really? Amnesia? All four of you?”
“Look, you ass,” Alona seethed, her teeth bared in annoyance. “If we knew, we’d tell you.”
“Now, now, now,” the man tutted. “Is that any way to speak to the man who holds the key to your freedom? To your life? No, I don’t think so. Tell you what. Why don’t we make a deal?”
Jensen’s eyes narrowed. Making a deal sounded like a terrible idea.
“What kind of deal?” he asked.
“Well, it’s simple, really,” he said, twirling the keyring that held the keys to their cell around his index finger. “One of you remembers what happened to that army, to that dragon, to my gold-“ Now he was yelling, drops of spit ejecting from between his lips with every word. “-or you die at dawn. It’s that simple.”
“So that’s what this is about,” Jared muttered with a glower. “I should have known.”
Jensen blinked. How could Jared have possibly known that this would come down to - to what? Missing gold?
“It’s always about gold,” Jared explained, looking right at Jensen. “What gold are you talking about?”
“The dragon’s gold, idiot! The dragon is obviously gone, the four of you are obviously the last or only surviving soldiers in that army that I allowed to camp in my fields, eat my food, harass my women, and now it’s all just gone? No, I will have the gold I was promised and I will have it soon. Or you die. Like I said, it’s that simple.”
The mayor adjusted his vest and sighed, as if his fit of temper had drained him of all energy and now he needed a nap. Turning, he walked away, his men following him silently. Jensen wondered if they weren’t afraid of him.
Genevieve immediately walked to the barred window and tried to shake it free. When it did not budge, she turned to face her companions, her dark brown eyes wide with fear.
“What are they going to do to us?” she asked in a quiet voice. “We haven’t done anything. Have we? Surely we can’t be responsible for the disappearance of an entire army?”
Jensen shrugged and sat down with his back against the cool brick of the cell wall. Genevieve looked like she was about to cry, and Jared walked over and put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to his body. Jensen was sure it was meant as comfort only, but Genevieve carefully extricated herself from his embrace and moved a little further away. Now Jared looked hurt.
“Well this is just perfect,” Alona seethed, marching back and forth the five whole paces it took to traverse the cell from one side to the other. She pushed a wild strand of blonde hair back away from her face.
“Gods, what a sanctimonious prick that guy is.” The voice was new, and Jensen looked into the cell next to theirs to find they were not the only prisoners here. The red-headed girl standing alone in the next cell gazed at the retreating back of their prison guard with contempt. There was no attempt to hide her feelings, and it showed in the curl of her sneer. It disappeared as soon as it surfaced though, for when she turned to face them, she wore a big smile.
“And who might I have the honor of being wrongly imprisoned with today?” she asked.
“You assume we are imprisoned wrongly?” Genevieve asked. She stared at the other woman and moved closer to the bars of the cell, as if the red-head were a bug specimen she wanted to examine.
“Oh, of course,” the other woman said with a wave of her hand. “It’s Sheppardston - the mayor is notorious for throwing anyone into prison for the slightest infraction, although he usually tires of having them behind bars for more than a day or two and releases them. I think I’ve been here the longest - two weeks now if I’ve counted the days correctly.” Here she held up a hand and started counting fingers.
“Who are you?” Genevieve wanted to know. “What did you do?”
Alona gave a startled laugh and sidled next to Genevieve. “You can’t just go asking people things like that, Gen.”
Genevieve turned confused eyes on Alona. “I can’t? Why not?”
“Well, um, you see. . .” Alona was apparently at a loss for words. It seemed unusual for her.
“Oh, no, it’s quite alright,” said the other prisoner. “My name is Felicia. I’m in here because the Mayor - Mark - paid a visit to the Oracle and didn’t like what she prophesized for him. So he kidnapped me and is holding me here until she changes it - or until I escape, which I plan to do soon.” Felicia’s eyes narrowed. “I just need to come up with a plan.”
“The Oracle?” Jared gasped, eyes going wide. “I thought that was just a myth. I mean, an Oracle - a real Oracle - in our day and age?”
Jensen tried to wrack his brain for information about an oracle - any oracle - and came up with nothing. “I’ve never heard of an Oracle,” he said. “At least, I’m pretty sure I haven’t.” He tapped his skull and once more dismissed his brain as useless.
“Wait, why would he kidnap you if he didn’t like the Oracle’s prophecy?” Jensen asked. He was surprised by Jared’s reaction - it was obviously genuine, but with the memory problems they were all having it was strange to hear him sound so certain about something.
“What was foretold?” Alona wanted to know. Felicia shrugged.
“I don’t know exactly,” she said. “I’m just a Devotee of the Oracle - I’m not present when she gives the prophecies. What I do know is that she doesn’t create the future, she just tells what she sees, so frankly Sheppard is being an idiot. Holding me here is not going to change whatever she foretold. In fact, it makes me nervous because if it something really bad I don’t want to be here for it. Make sense?”
Jensen found himself nodding along at her dizzying speech.
“All I know,” Felicia continued, “is that it had something to do with something bad happening to him or to the town. My guess? I think he and his family lose the mayorship here. Jake over there was telling me that the Sheppards have held the mayorship since the town was named and that they act like royalty. From what I’ve seen of him, I have to agree.
“If we can escape, you should come down to Oracle Grove with me. Maybe she could help you sort out this memory mess you seem to be in. Sorry, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, it’s just, well, these cells are kind of easy to hear through and all-“
“It’s fine,” Jared said, huffing out a laugh and raising his hand to stop her. “I think that’s a good idea, actually.”
“You do?” Felicia sounded surprised.
“It’s a great idea,” Jensen affirmed. “But how are we going to get out of here?”
***The day passed slowly, as all days in captivity are wont to do. They were given a bucket in which to relieve themselves at the same time as they were given a meager lunch. The lunch consisted of fruit that was a little overripe, bread that was at least a few days old and water. They split it between themselves and ate it greedily, unsurprisingly since it was the first food they’d had all day. The guard had left Jake in charge of them, and he mercifully brought them a second platter when they finished the first, making them promise not to tell anyone of his generosity lest he get in trouble.
Felicia liked to talk, which helped the time go faster. They learned that she’d been pledged to the Oracle as a Devotee when she was very young, and that her time of service was almost over. In a few years she’d be expected to return to her village and find a husband - or a wife, she’d said with a wink - and there spend the rest of her days contributing what she’d learned from the Oracle to her town.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great experience and I’ve made so many friends with the other Devotees, but I can’t say I’ve really learned anything mystical or magical, you know? Although if I have a daughter I’ll probably pledge her service to the Oracle - if she’s still doing the Oracle thing at that point in time. Hey, what’s that?”
It took a moment for the question to sink in as an actual question and not just more rambling, but when he looked at where Felicia pointed, Jensen paled.
“Oh, no,” he said. “Don’t touch it!”
On the wall of their cell a spider crawled, bone white and roughly the size of a man’s fist. A veiny network of red tendrils decorated its bulbous abdomen. It did not leave a trail of slime as the worm had, but where it stepped, a second later a puff of dust appeared as a small circle of the brick turned to dust from decay.
Witherkin.
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