Chapter 3 That Which is Not DeadA Chapter by RyanR_444I awaken from my slumber and all is calm. I can still feel my skin smoldering. I look upon the room in which I lay, and it seems familiar. My mind does not want to work as it stills itself like there is a relief from the room, the air, and simple bed in which I lay. There is abrupt knock at the door, as I realize where I am, for I have spent many nights here in my youth. “Come in” I call with a voice that sounds husky and strange upon my own ears. As the door opens a familiar face greets me with a smile. Yet I cannot sort through what in the past day was real, and what was fantasy. “Well look who has risen from the dead… You still have the paleness of death to you.” Ashta really knows how to greet a man with a blunt honesty, and a loving smile. And there she is a flash, a visage, a hallucination of my Bianca as she walks in the room only for a moment, and then she was gone. “Death cannot greet me soon enough Ashta.” “Well Ray, Your death would be empty. For to survive what you faced last night, and to die now seems like a betrayal to the gods’.” So it was real. The fire, that man, that name all of it was a waking nightmare, which means my Bianca is dead. Wisps of the anger come crawling back to me to be replaced by my grief that plunges my face into my hands. “Well I suppose it is ok for a grown man to cry, but you have never been much of a crier Ray. I know you loved her, but you cannot mourn her loss just yet.” Ashta proclaims as she sets a breakfast tray down on the nightstand at the edge of the bed, and gently places herself next to me. “What do you mean I cannot mourn her loss? She is dead Ashta. She was burned alive. I know it. I felt it. I felt her pain last night in my dreams.” I say as I remove my face from my hands. “Madness was the only thing that called to you last night Ray. Davin and I did not get a wink of sleep over your screams.” I don’t know what to think of the dream. The dream that is now so unclear, yet it felt so real so alive like a moment caught in time and in my mind. “Ray there no signs of a body inside the house.” Ashta’s words take a moment to sink in, yet I know my beloved is already dead. “What is that supposed to mean. You have no idea if she died in the fields or was abducted. All I know is that the fire took her.” Madness starts to creep through veins again, but Ashta’s hand takes my hand in hers. “Ray all I am saying is there is still hope.” Her words calm me, but only for a moment. I know in my mind she has already passed, there is no doubt to the thought, as my hand goes to my empty left pocket where the simple gold ring was just yesterday. “I know you mean to comfort me Ashta.” I say. As I abruptly remove my hand from hers. “But I know that Bianca is dead, and somebody is going to pay for this crime.” Ashta startled by the words explodes to her feet, and stares me down with cold eyes that seem to put out the fire that starts to burn in me again. “And what is that suppose too mean? You are no murderer, no fighter you are just a simple farmer.” Her words, Bianca’s words “You are a simple farmer” she would tell me on hot days. As her summer dress would cling to her skin. “Yet the simplest of things are capable of the greatest of things.” Usually I would laugh at her. We would poke fun at how simple our simple life was. We would rise to the sun, work the farm, and sleep at dusk, yet we were happy at the simple things. The sweet songs of the birds in the mornings, the lunches we shared together at the treeline, and each other embrace as we slept. But the best thing about our simple life was our simple love, not that our love was simple, but how simply easy our love seemed to come. “It does not matter how simple the creature is Ashta. For the simplest of things are capable of the greatest of things.” “No Ray what you speak of is nothing great, nor is it simple. Murder and death do not come easy to people like us. To kill someone is not a great thing, revenge is not a solution it is only the problem.” Ashta’s words ring empty in my heart. I have no room for sympathy for those who murder my love. “I had no problem killing a man last night.” I say as I finally sit up. “What man?” “There was a man waiting for me at the house when I arrived. He was there so I killed him.” I say with a hatred that obviously creeps through my voice as Ashta obviously startled takes two steps back. She can no longer look me in the eyes. “Ray you are not a murderer there must be some reason? Some why?” “They killed Bianca and he had a weapon and he was going to kill me. He was there waiting for me like they expected my return.” I get to my feet, and ignore the food at the side of the bed. There she is again that vision of my beloved walking out of the room. I make to follow her. “Then it was self defense.” A visible relief washes over Ashta’s body as I make my way past her and out of the room. There in the kitchen is Davin, who looks thoroughly exhausted, yet still he greets me with a warm smile. “I was worried about you man.” Davin’s says as Ashta makes her way out of the room and into the kitchen. “You were out of it for a while, Man we thought we’d lost you.” “I don’t think I ever left that fire Davin, because a part of me was burned in that fire.” I say coldly. “Bianca”. I look subtly around for any signs of Bianca’s image. “What? Didn’t Ashta tell you there are no signs of Bianca’s body in the house.” Concern creeps across Davin’s face as he makes his way around kitchen. “She most likely got out alive.” “Say what you want. You were not there.” Still looking for the image of my love I start making way about the room. “I need to go see Gavin for he has the answers to who this Mariana is.” That name strikes the anger in me again, and once again I see my beloved at the door. I start to make my way out of the room, but before I can get to the door Davin is there to stop me. “I am way ahead you my friend. You said her name last night so I went to inquire with the old man.” “And what did he have to say?” clear anger creeping from my voice from being stopped from following the image. “He said that there is a war coming from the north and that this Mariana you speak of can be none other than the witch queen Mariana.” Davin looks up quizzically as if trying to remember, that, which he has probably practiced again and again. “He said that for her to extend her reach this far south someone or something very important rests here.” “Then I go north.” “You can’t go north. What are going to do? The old man says that there is war in the north between the witch queen and our northern army.” “You cannot stop me Davin. I go north, so get out of my way.” My anger is flaring at this woman, this witch queen, this woman whom I shall end, but as I reach for the blade on my belt it is no longer there. “I can stop you Ray as I did last night. I didn’t want to but you were in such a bad state of mind. I could not let you continue on like that.” Bracing himself against the door Davin prepares to be hit, but I have no intention of striking him again. But I will. “Well I can tell you that you are not going to be able to stop me. I’m asking you one last time get out of my way?” “Fine, but you are not going far without this.” I know exactly what he talking about the knife. I want scream at him yet I know it will get me nowhere. “Give me the knife. It was the last gift from Bianca.” I see Davin pause for only a second as the words strike him like a weapon. Then I know it is my time to act. “You and I brother know that she probably did not survive the fire.” “That is what I am trying to tell you Ray. There were no signs of a body found at the farm.” That does not make any sense I know I killed that man, and I know Bianca is dead. He was there, or was I delirious when the fire happened, yet the fight, the struggle was I… “I swear I just know she is dead. She’s gone Davin. Get it through your head. If she is not dead then where is she?” My temper flairs yet again even though I know it does no good to get mad at him. The pain of her loss is so overwhelming. It drives me to want to lunge at Davin my friend since I was a boy. There was a time Davin almost drowned in the river that pass through the town. Me as a boy trying to help my best friend jumped in after him. I managed to get us to shore, and now this man before me, I want nothing more than to ripe him limb from limb for that knife. “You cannot see can you my friend? You are blind, but you are right I cannot stop you! So take your trinket and go!” Davin slams, with the first bit of anger I have seen from him in a long time, the knife on the table. I stand still for only a moment before I move to claim it. Ashta stays completely silent through the whole ordeal, watches as I pass Davin, and make my way out the door following the image of my beloved. My that man has become stubborn in a matter of hours. He has never been so rash. Knock Knock Good the fool has decided to return. I quickly go over to the door but as I approach it get kicked in with a thud. In the doorway stands a man in leather armor with bandages around his waist. I quickly scramble toward the kitchen as Ashta lets out a scream. The man wastes no time as instead of going for me he goes for Ashta. I freeze in my track as he grabs her and pull her into him revealing a wicked dagger at her throat. “Where did that f*****g boy go?” The warrior says. “I want answers and I want them now.” The question is what does a man do in this situation? I could reveal my friends where-a-bouts and save my women, or I could try to save them both. My hands search for some kind object on the kitchen table. “Don’t be a fool boy for this will only end miserable.” The warrior voice is icy cold like that of man that has taken many lives, as Ashta continues to scream. “He goes north.” I say taking several steps forward. “Well that was simpler than I thought.” The warrior moves the dagger across Ashta’s throat and she collapses to the floor. “NOOOO, you b*****d.” “Now just to make sure no one follows us.” © 2015 RyanR_444Author's Note
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Added on July 5, 2015 Last Updated on July 5, 2015 AuthorRyanR_444High River, Alberta, CanadaAboutI am writing a book for my girlfriend, hopefully it turns out lol more..Writing
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