After the Fire (After the Fire: Book the First)
Read After the Fire (After the Fire: Book the First) Online
Authors: J.L. Murray
After
The Fire
by
J.L.
Murray
Copyright ©
2013 by J.L. Murray
All Rights Reserved.
First Kindle Edition published Feb. 16, 2013.
Hellzapoppin Press, Honolulu Hawai'i.
Cover art by J.L. Murray
The
forest was moving.
Eleni could feel it.
She
crouched down and surveyed the valley, raising her head to sniff the
air. Snow was coming soon; the crisp air smelled clean and cold.
It was early this year. She scanned the
landscape, her eyes sweeping over the impenetrable thickness of the
wood, the trees thinning gradually as they approached the dark,
sleeping village. Eleni continued, over the iron wall that surrounded
the town, along the tall grasses of the meadow. She froze as she saw
the grasses twitch, far back, where the forest thickened.
Eleni started as
a black she-wolf emerged, dark as a shadow, and looked up at her
perched on the side of the hill. The wolf's
eyes glinted, gold in the darkness. They watched
each other for a long moment, then the wolf suddenly broke into a
run, heading straight for her. She watched as the animal bounded up
the slope, its powerful muscles easily closing the distance, then
stopped just short of Eleni. Her muzzle shone with wetness and she
smelled of blood.
“What
took you so long?” said Eleni, her voice hoarse. She was not
used to speaking aloud. The wolf snorted, almost derisively, then
turned and stood next to her, fur brushing her shoulder, joining her
in looking out over the forest. The usual night sounds emerged from
the deep wood: a howl in the distance, the chittering of a rodent,
the rustling of leaves. Eleni heard a twig snap and the wolf's ears
twitched. A low growl rumbled in the wolf's chest. Eleni looked
toward the sound. It was out of place, as though a two-legs stepped
on it and then froze. Eleni could see at night almost as well as the
wolf, but it was the feeling that told her something was very wrong.
Eleni
moved along the ridge, keeping her body close to the ground. She
could feel eyes
on her, following her. It was in the wood, close to the village. Not
an animal, but something dark and hungry. Eleni
nodded at the wolf and the animal instantly turned and slinked off in
the opposite direction. Eleni watched her circle around the ridge and
head down the slope. The wolf moved slowly and steadily, and could
easily be mistaken for a shadow.
Knowing
she had been seen, Eleni stood up, pushing her tangled hair away from
her face. Small tendrils of steam rose off
her body as she walked down the incline, towards
the area where she felt the creature. She heard another twig crack,
then a scurrying in the brush. Eleni walked quickly and just inside
the first stand of trees,
saw movement on the ground. She held out her arm
and a bright illuminating flame rose from the palm of her hand. Eleni
saw it and curled her lip in disgust.
“
Drekavac
,”
Eleni said under her breath. The creature's skin was mottled pink and
hung loose at the joints. It was completely devoid of hair and its face
was round and soft-looking. The eyes glowed green and Eleni sighed as
she saw it open its dripping mouth, knowing what was to come. The
scream echoed against the mountainsides, a high-pitched shriek that
made even Eleni flinch. It went on for what seemed like an eternity
until Eleni raised her hand, forming the fire into a ball.
The
drekavac's
eyes bulged with fear. It scuttled along the forest
floor on long, spider-like legs covered in fleshy skin, making
hissing noises as it went. A growl issued from the other side of the
creature and it shrank back from the wolf, moving toward Eleni again.
In its panic it stumbled, falling over its own legs.
“There
are no babies here,” said Eleni. “There's nothing for you
to eat. Go back where you came from.”
The
drekavac
hissed at her again, and the wolf bared her teeth,
her growl growing deeper and more menacing. The creature's eyes
rolled around looking for a way past Eleni, into the village beyond.
It opened its mouth and shrieked again and, righting itself,
clambered toward Eleni, great pincers emerging from its jowls. Eleni
pushed the flame forward and kept pushing, creating a bright orange
jet that surrounded the monster, blackening its mottled pink skin.
The
drekavac
thrashed on the ground, the fire that was
consuming it scorching the fallen leaves. The screaming ceased
abruptly as the beast collapsed, its bones dry sticks, its charred
flesh shrinking into embers.
Eleni
approached the smoking corpse. With her bare foot she kicked wet
leaves and earth onto the creature, making the sparks hiss as they
touched the moisture. She gagged on the stench. Dark creatures always
smelled like defecation and rot when they died, but it was worse when
they burned. Satisfied that the flames would not spread to the trees,
Eleni turned to the wolf.
“Now
we hunt,” she said. The wolf leaned
against her affectionately, panting happily.
Eleni ran her fingers through her thick, coarse fur. The two, as if
sharing the same thought, at once began to walk deeper into the
forest, Eleni's gait just as wild and fluid as the wolf at her side.
They
spotted the boar shortly after the moon had arced over the trees
above them. Eleni had several ermine and a rabbit laced together over
her shoulder. Another rabbit had been given to the wolf. The boar was
rutting with its long tusks at the roots of a tree by the creek. The
tusks were as long as the squat creature's body. It looked ungainly,
but Eleni knew it could be at her in moments with its tusks in her
belly.
The
wolf growled and the pig looked up, its small eyes searching. Eleni
hunched down, watching through a stand of bushes. She didn't care for
the taste of pig, but no matter. It wasn't for her. She would eat the
ermine. She crept around the bushes, not wishing to startle the
animal. If he startled, she would have to chase it. And it was too
close to dawn for that.
The
wolf was quiet now and simply trailed behind Eleni, mist exhaling
from her snout like clouds of smoke. The breeze blew Eleni's hair
behind her. The boar couldn't smell them, but she could smell it.
Wild and earthy mingled with the pungent smell of scavenger shit. She
wrinkled her nose. She couldn't understand why anyone could stand the
meat of such a creature, but the villagers loved it. They celebrated
whenever Eleni brought one home. She could hear their reveling from
her little metal room.
She
set her bundle down under the bushes and crawled along on her hands
and knees. She could hit the animal from this distance, but she might
set the close-growing trees afire, and she couldn't risk that. So
little of the forest had remained
after the fire.
She
moved smoothly through the underbrush, the earth cool under her
calloused hands and knees. The boar was digging at something, but
Eleni couldn't tell what. She stopped behind a tree, looking back
around to see the wolf was standing guard at her bundle. That was
good. She would rather lose the boar than lose her own dinner. And
the wolf's belly was closer to the ground, making her an easier
target for a sharp tusk.
Eleni
slowly moved to peer around the vast trunk. The boar was digging
furiously now. Eleni frowned. A blue glow was illuminating the pig's
dirt-encrusted snout. It made a grunting noise every time it lunged
at the dirt. Eleni edged smoothly toward the animal, her body now
exposed as she moved in for the kill.
She made a fist, getting ready to strike. She
could feel the fire inside her arm, moving toward her hand, ready to
be released. She ached to let it go, but she had to be
closer.
Suddenly,
the boar stopped digging. It raised its snout and sniffed the air.
Then it stuck its face back into the hole. There was a moment where
its body seemed to tense, as if startled. Then it began to squeal,
its cries muted by the dirt. Its legs scrabbled, kicking up dirt. It
was stuck in its own hole. Eleni didn't miss a beat. She let her legs
propel her forward, then she opened her hand and released the fire.
It surged forward, both painful and freeing at the same time, a
feeling Eleni knew all so well. It felt as if she were breathing
again after holding her breath for a very long time. She let the
flame flow, thinning its stream gradually, until the boar wasn't
screaming or scrabbling any longer. Its body twitched, then fell away
from its head, the neck already cauterized by the fire, the bones and
singed meat at the wound smoking and crackling.
Eleni
relaxed and went over to examine her prey. Moving past the carcass,
she squatted to examine the head still lodged in the ground. The
animal had carved out a huge hole , encompassing well past the sides
of its head. Maybe its tusks had become stuck on a rock or root. She
grabbed the big head by its ears and tugged hard. The head came out
quite easily, knocking her off balance and making her fall back into
a sitting position, the head in her lap. Then she saw the glow again,
a faint blue that intensified as she looked at it, growing brighter
and brighter, until she had to shield her eyes. The light rose up out
of the hole, radiating as bright as a sun, its center a blinding
point of white that flickered like lightning in the mountains. Eleni
imagined a strange bird made of light from the way it was hovering in
the air, the edges of light seeming to shift like the slow fluttering
of wings. It made her eyes ache, but she couldn't look away.
It
hovered above the hole for a moment, almost seeming to appraise her.
Then it began to buzz and, so fast that all she saw was a bright blue
blur, it shot through the air like an arrow and hit her square in the
chest where she sat. Eleni couldn't move. There was a wiggling
sensation right over her heart, as if it were burrowing into her. She
could hear the wolf barking and snarling madly around her. She
couldn't breathe. Then the burrowing stopped and slowly, steadily, a
new and strange sensation spread out from her heart. She realized
vaguely that this must be the feeling of cold. It was unlike anything
she had felt before. She could feel the ice spread through her arms,
belly, legs, and then to her fingers and toes. She could hear her
teeth chattering.
She
knew suddenly that this was dying. She was being killed by the
creature inside her. These were her last
moments. She forced her head slowly to the side to look at the wolf.
The skin of her neck
crackled as she turned, like a crust of ice on a
snowbank. There was no sense to this. Dark creatures weren't made of
light. She looked her wolf in the eyes. She wasn't barking or
snarling any longer, but simply staring into Eleni, her golden eyes
providing a spark. The wolf's unblinking eyes bored into her, and she
knew then that she had to fight. Fight or die. And she knew how.
Eleni
forced her fingers closed one at a time with creaking, crackling
noises. She gasped at the pain and stiffness. And as she gasped, she
could suddenly feel air filling her lungs again. This gave her
strength, and she felt her hand clench into a fist. She narrowed her
eyes, staring at the hand, the knuckles turning blue. She could see
veins of ice spreading over her skin like a blue armor. She forced
another breath into her lungs and when she blew out this time it was
not steam or vapor, but an acrid, bitter smoke.
Eleni
watched the ice recede from her wrist and up her arm. Slowly, her
knuckles turned back to their normal color. Gradually,
excruciatingly, she brought the fist toward her body. She felt the
agonizing pain of the cold tickling every nerve in her body. She
breathed deeply again and felt the cold dissipating from her toes up
to her knees. She was fighting it, and knew in that instant that
she would win.
With
a groan she finally brought her fist to her chest. She exhaled again,
the flames warming her lips. She felt the pressure in her fist
building, growing more uncomfortable, needing to
release. She opened her hand and put her palm to
her bare chest, just over her heart.
She let go.
She
felt the fire release itself through her hand and back into her body.
She felt a twitch in her chest as the familiar warmth wrapped around
her heart. Eleni pushed the fire deeper and groaned as something
clenched inside her, grasping and clawing at her insides. The
sensation seemed to tremble, and then she felt the cold inside her
lessen. The warmth spread to her chest, then her belly, then her arms
and legs. The frost melted from her skin, no longer veined with blue.
Her teeth still chattered, but she was alive. She removed her hand
from her chest, her arm feeling as if the bones had turned to water.
She felt a bubbling where her hand had been and
looked down to see a blue watery mist coming out
of her chest. It hovered without form in front of her for a moment.
Then it disappeared with the wind.