The Dragons Egg : XXX : Branna : Aed : draft

XXX

Branna

Aed

The company had journeyed west for more than a day through Dulga Forest, passing through the devastated vegetation and the carcasses of dead animals which had been horrifically drowned by the vast tidal surge that had swept through the western areas of the forest, destroying everything in its path. Aed, Welsam and Cadr had travelled in silence, the probable death of Gil too much for any of them to bare. Even the sun seemed to fade into shadow this day, Aed so dumfounded in grief that he cared not for the rays that filtered their light down through the weeping branches of the trees. Such a change had occurred since entering the forest that Aed thought himself unknown, his reflection in the receding waters so unalike the reflection he had grown up with. There were so many things that had been left unsaid between himself and Gil, the most prominent being the love he had for his younger sibling and the terrible guilt he carried for not having paid him enough attention or for not having stood shoulder to shoulder with him against their father. Such was the disgust that Aed felt when his mind reached back to the events of yester morrow, when he had met the ancient council of Meer and his fate had been shown to him. He tried to summon any type of emotion as he walked through the thick forest, but found himself numb and unable to reach any emotional thread within. Instead he fiddled with his growing beard, his fingers anxious and his heart hammering against his chest. They were close to the edge now, and within the next hour or so he would either return to his village and find them alive and well or he would return a widow and orphan.

“Everything seems so quiet,” Cadr said aloud as he used the tip of his blade to do away with stray branches. Aed looked across at his friend, his brows sullen and his eyes troubled.

“You fear our return?” Aed returned, watching Welsam’s bottom lip tremble at his words.

“Our families will be safe, our village safe,” Cadr said, his eyes betrayed his confident words.

“And if they are not?” Aed said with a grim smile as they crossed a small stream, their leather boots awash with water.

“Don’t speak such words,” Cadr returned with a sharpness that almost cut at Aed were it not for his newly armoured heart.

“Our fathers will welcome us with meat and wine!” Welsam said with a half-smile as he closely followed his protector. “The Gods will smile upon us.” As he spoke, the three wolf men stopped walking and turned to him, shaking their heads in disbelief.

“No Gods smile on us this day,” the elder said. His name was Havador and he was a few moons younger than Aed, his eyes a sapphire blue and his hair a deep silver. He was close to Kya, and since the great quake had been in a state of perpetual discontent as he guided Aed and his friends through the forest. “They have forsaken us long ago. Tell where do you see the hand of our Gods now?” Havador lifted his hands into the thick air and turned himself about, his silver brows high and his smile aching with sarcasm. Aed held still and saw Welsam’s eyes dip into reality. To his side he could feel his friends temper rise and gently placed a hand over his wrist, giving him a knowing look.

“Forgive my friends,” Aed said with a calming smile. “They are anxious and mean you no harm.” Havador eyed Aed a minute before dropping his hands and turning, once again journeying through the forest. Aed turned to Cadr. “He has lost his tribe, be sensitive.”

“And we have returned with all of our own?” Cadr said under his breath as he swerved his sword about in bad temper. “How exactly are you going to explain Gil’s disappearance and Quill’s execution?”

“I’m not sure,” Aed stammered. The group fell into an uncomfortable silence once more and for the next half hour travelled under a cloud of oppression and forbearing. Aed felt the air lighten and when he lifted his eyes from the muddy ground below he found himself gazing at the edge of the forest. With renewed energy and need to find his wife he began to run at full speed until he burst forth from the forest and was drenched in a great light. He lost his balance for a moment as he tried to focus his eyes against the winter rays. Beside him he felt the rest of the company glorifying in the fresh air and warm light. Aed lifted his dark eyes to the sky above and smiled, he felt free and with an unintentionally surge of happiness he lifted his arms about him and fell to the moist grass below, kissing the long strands with his lips before raising his eyes and finding his companions, who unlike him stood together, their faces turned from him and aimed in the direction of their village. Aed, finding his breathe stood up and turned about, his smile instantly fading. The village was aflame, with great streaks of red and orange flames bellowing up into the air, creating a great cloud of grey ash. He felt his hands fall to his sides as he slowly, his feet losing balance made his way to Cadr, whose own sword had fallen upon the grass before him. Welsam turned to Aed, his fat face riddled with tear stains as she strove to find the words, any words in which to communicate. “No,” Aed said quietly as the wolf men turned to him with sympathetic faces, unsure of what to do next. Suddenly anger and disbelief gripping his very core, Aed began to run like the wind towards the village, his eyes on his once round house which was no falling to the ground in great clouds of heavy ash. Behind him the rest of the company followed.

The heat from the fire was so intense that Aed had to stop ten feet away from his burning house.

“Branna?” he called out desperately as Cadr and Welsam sought their own families, calling out their names helplessly as the flames liked every inflammable surface, leaving nothing behind. “Branna!” he cried out as she ran around the house, straining his vision and seeing nothing. His skin tickled in sweat he fell to his knees and began to holler so loudly that he felt himself break for the first time in his life. His lungs burned, his heart fledged into a heap and his mind was riddled with regret and rage. As dust stole about him in jest, he heard Cadr call out his name hysterically, forcing him to turn from his burning house. His friend, distraught and enraged ran across to him with urgency.

“Come!” he shouted wildly, taking Aed by the scruff of his neck and forcing him to his feet. Aed followed Cadr through the village until they came to the square. A great scaffold stood about the stone monument and hanging upside down from the gallows were a dozen men and women, their bodies covered in black tar.  “Our women! Our children!” Cadr cried out fanatically as he ran forth and fell before three corpses, two those of his children and the other of a woman Aed noticed by the blue dainty shoes as Cadr’s wife. He watched in agony as his strong and usually unemotional friend cried out in horror as he wrapped his arms about his family, his body shaking and his hands trembling. Welsam stood by himself some feet away, quiet and unmoving before what looked to be his parents. Unlike Cadr, he cried not, simply stood as unyielding as the stone monument. Aed felt his feet move as he made his way towards the wooden gallows, his eyes taking in each set of feet and his mental list of identification.  It wasn’t until he came the right hand end of the gallows that he saw her, dangling helplessly from the scaffold, the only part of her body remaining, her short legs and petite feet. The pungent smell of tar against skin filled his nostrils and made his bend over, a thick sludge of vomit coming forth from his mouth. He stood bent over himself, tears falling down his heated cheeks. He held himself still until he found the courage to lift his eyes to Branna, her swollen bump still noticeable. The heated steam still radiated about her hanging body as he stepped forward and with shaking hands found one of her own, tarred hands and touched it, quickly releasing it due to the heat. In the distance her heard Cadr’s cries and within his own ears could hear the wild beating of his ruptured heart. “My wife,” he called out to the skies above, his eyes rimmed with tears. “My child!” he almost screamed in bitterness to the Gods. “You took my family!” he yelled with pain. “And I shall never forgive you! Never!” he wept as he found Branna’s legs and touched them; wanting to wrap her body within his own yet unable for the hot, sticky tar of death separated them.

It felt as though hours had passed when Aed finally turned his eyes away from his wife’s corpse and found the eyes of the wolf men. In a fit of anger he suddenly brought forth his sword and ran to them in a cloud of misjudgement and grief. In turn the men drew their own swords, their eyes confused and surprised as Aed flung himself in the air and brought his sword low, meeting the metal of Havador’s sword.

“What are you doing?” Havador cried out as he rolled about on the group and leapt to his feet.

“They would be alive but for you!” Aed cried out as he swung his sword about wildly, kicking the shine of the young wolf man and felling him to the ground. “She would be alive!”

“Aed! Aed stop it!” Cadr called out from behind as he grabbed his friend’s arms and drew him away from the growling Havador who had within the blink of an eye turned into his wolf self, his mouth wide and his teeth guttering before Aed, his blue eyes flashing with intent. Cadr turned away from the wolf and held tight of Aed who tried without luck to free himself from his friend’s arms.

“Let me go!” he growled as he fought with Cadr, throwing them both to the ground in a flurry of ash and dust.

“No not until you promise me that you will leave them alone!” Cadr returned as he curled his long legs about Aed’s. “They did not kill our people! Beon did!”

“They would be alive still if we had been here!” Aed wept, his body beginning to relax against Cadr. “I could have saved them!”

“I know!” Cadr said with a whimper as he loosened his arms. “I know, but it wasn’t to be.”

“Gone!” Aed groaned as he turned to his friend and suddenly took him into an embrace, holding him tight. “Gone.”

“I know,” Cadr cried in reply as he held onto Aed’s shirt and cried into his shoulder.

“What do we do?” Aed whispered with terror.

“We have our revenge!” Cadr said with determination and bitterness as he pulled away from Aed and placed his hands upon his shoulders, his wide eyes buried in Aed’s. “We find them and we kill them! But first we must bury the dead and honour them before the sun sets.” Aed nodded his head as he fell away from Cadr and brought his hands to the sides of his face and bent low. He had nothing left, no family, no future and no mercy. As he wandered about aimlessly, Welsam came up to him with a pale face. Aed stopped crying and looked into the young man’s lost gaze and wiped his face with his ash drenched hands. His eyes hot and his breathing heavy, Aed walked over to the lad and buried him in an embrace, holding him tight and feeling his heart thud against his own. As he held him and looked off into the distant forest, he heard Welsam muffle groans of disbelief and held him tighter. The young scholar now embedded in sorrow, Aed found himself calming. Yes the anger curled inside of him like a raging storm, but he felt himself yield to his brotherly ways and found within his anger, the ability to comfort his young friend. As he did so, figures emerged from the edge of the forest. Leading them was Uff, his silver eyes on him. Behind him there were about a dozen or so wolf’s following their leader quietly over the grass. Aed kept his eyes on the prince until he came to stand before him, quiet and dejected. He didn’t have to say the words aloud, Aed knew instantly that his brother had died and bent his head into Welsam’s shoulder, seeking the comfort of the scholar. After a few moments he stepped away from Welsam and turned to Uff.

“I brought with me the survivors,” he said with an air of rigid misery. Behind him stood a group of young male wolves, all of whom looked as dejected as their leader and for the first time, lost. Aed laid a hand upon Uff’s shoulder.

“I am sorry,” he whispered, his eyes tired and his soul impaired.

“I am sorry for your great losses too,” Uff said with emotion as he brought Aed into an embrace. “I’m sorry for everything.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Aed lied as he stepped away from the wolf.

“It is,” Uff returned as he raised a hand to quieten Aed. “It is.”

“I have no hatred towards you, friend,” Aed said with a nod.

“Nor I you,” Uff returned with the faintest of smiles. “It seems the last great tribe of wolf men have been slaughtered and all but twenty six remain.”

“My brother…where was he?” Aed asked as he turned and followed Uff up the desolate street towards the square.

“Kya had abducted him from the caves and taken him down to the river to keep him safe from the men,” Uff said as his eyes scanned the area with melancholy. “We found them together by the river, their arms about each other.” Aed turned his gaze to Uff who nodded lightly. “I knew from the moment they first beheld one another that it would be so.”

“He must have felt so alone…” Aed said with emotion as he closed his eyes, trying to fight off the wave of pain that took a hold of him as he brought Uff to stand before his wife. Uff looked up at the corpses and growled.

“We will slaughter each and every one of them,” he said with bitterness. “I will not stop until they are all cast to the four winds.” About them the wolf men, quietly began to take down the bodies from the scaffold, setting them gently upon the ground. As they did so, the clouds about them erupted into a great shower of white rain, the flakes so thick that the great and deadly fires began to die and wither into the ashes below. Aed jumped up onto a wooden box and with his sword cut down his wife, the tar now cold and firm. He carried her body within his arms and made for the plain of grass which lay between the village and forest. Together the men and wolf - men dug up many graves and buried the dead within them. Welsam, his tears dry had taken to the forest to collect a great pile of white glacies, a gentle flower loved by Branna.  When he returned he placed a flower upon every grave. Together as the sun began to set behind the great mountains they sang the ancient song ‘Winds of Time (Goth Lu Ane)’.

Lo, now close thy eyes and sleep,

Lo, aney gur ere shill un slei,

Lo, fold they hands and keep.

Lo, huar ere and un coninnaeil.

Winds of my brothers;

Goth lu mein darthecha;

Winds of my sisters;

Goth lu mein darthechi;

Winds of my mother;

Goth lu mein muthair;

Winds of my father;

Goth lu mein fathair;

Carry them away beyond the mountains grey,

Marr dier unwey beyen la sliemun gey,

To pastures new and to valleys of the deepest blue,

Tu feilda nua na tu glentere tu la doimen blu,

Where the spirits shall roam,

I getha thura spa fiche rom,

Until they are called home.

Goti siadi a calth home.

Aed stood before Branna’s grave and let the harsh winters wind blow over him, the grass and trees now for the first time covered in a thick layer of white rain. He had upon him a great cloak of fur of which Uff and his men had recovered from the rubble.

“I went to the tree as you instructed,” he said quietly, watching the petals of the flower toss and turn against the harsh winds. “I know what I am to do.” He knelt down and placed his large hand over the soil. “They will rule the day that they were born when we meet upon the field of battle. I shall tear them from limb to limb and bask in their ever ending cries for mercy, for mercy they gave not to you my love. The gentle winds of summer and kind rays of the sun have passed and shall never thus rest upon my face, winter has come and I am cold and my blade is hungry. I shall return to you and bring you victory,” he said through gritted teeth as a heavy tear fell upon the soil. “I will open the floodgates of hell and choke the very air from their lungs. They shall have no grave, they shall have no song and their lives will be forgotten, but not yours.” Aed stood up and let his right hand fall upon the cold hilt of his sword. “Your life will never be forgotten my love and neither shall our daughters. I must leave you and when I return, I shall plant the seed that you gave me and shall bring life to the forest once more.” Aed wiped the tear from his cold skin and turned and with agony walked away from his wife and child. Coming to the company, he stood before Uff.

“Where too now?” the new wolf King asked aloud as the men surrounded him in a circle. Aed turned to face Welsam and Cadr who looked at him with knowing eyes.

“We make for Gaul city and kill all those who stand with the Beon and wreak havoc!” Aed said aloud as he drew his sword from its sheath and threw into the cold night air, gentle white flakes beating against the raging metal.

“Then we shall need horses!” Cadr said loudly as he stepped forward and threw his own sword into the air alongside Uff and Aed.

“And men!” Havador cried out as he lifted his head and bellowed out the most almighty wolf cry Aed had ever heard.

“Man and wolf shall unite and lead an army against the mad King and give him a taste of his own medicine!” interjected Welsam, who stepped forward and brought forth his dagger, flinging into the air alongside Cadr who looked down at him with pride. The company cried out into the winter air, their cries echoing through the plains and forest.

“The time for revenge has come, and swiftly upon the winter winds it will blow,” Aed said darkly.








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