Child of Ruin

Danielle woke with a dizzying headache. The world spun as she tried to raise her head. She was shocked and embarrassed to find herself entirely naked. Not just that, but a head with bushy black hair rested on her chest. When she groaned the head turned and two beautiful brown eyes gazed into hers.

            “Lupita?”

            “What?” asked the blacksmith’s daughter with a yawn. Groaning and scratching her head, Lupita Smith lay her head on Danielle’s chest again. An elegant brown arm hung over her stomach. The naked warrior looked up at the ceiling of thatch and wondered where she was.

            It was not her bedroom in the Castel family home. It was not Lupita’s cottage next to the smithy. On the floor she could just about see her clothes and those of the woman in her arms. Through the hangover a war of impulses was underway.

            She’d spent the night with Lupita, which was wonderful. It was also terrifying. She’d never been kissed before the previous night. Arousal had always been something pushed down deep inside her. She had been in denial about her feelings for the smith’s daughter. Her friend.

            She could hear her lover’s breathing. She felt the body wrapped around her swell with the intake of breath and shrink again. Danielle felt the warm breath of each exhalation on her chest. The hair tickled her skin whenever Lupita moved. Unable to fight the temptation she ran her fingers gently over the soft skin of her friend’s back.

            What would it do to their friendship? Sleeping together would change everything. Danielle remembered two girls in her home village of Fisher’s Gasp who’d been caught kissing. Both had been beaten by their parents and married off at opposite ends of the kingdom.

            Was Leonor city any different?

            Danielle’s arm easily pulled the slim blacksmith’s daughter off her. Lupita was woken by the strong grip of the warrior’s muscled hand.

            “You’re awake?” the city girl asked, as if she had been awake the whole time.

            “What did we do last night?” asked the village girl turned soldier. Her pale skin against Miss Smith’s looked like that of a corpse.

            Remembering the night before brought a giddy smile to her friend’s face. Lupita bit her lip. Danielle’s eyes wandered as her lover pondered the question.

            “We talked. For hours. We drank and told each other everything. I remember-” she sighed. “Well, I don’t actually remember what we talked about except that we did. What I remember is you kissing me.”

            “I kissed you?”

            “Yes. I remember being more relieved than I’ve ever felt in my life because I thought you liked Fabian. Ever since we met, I’ve felt something for you. The longer we spent together, the more I felt it. I was afraid you didn’t feel the same.” Her brown cheeks took on a red tinge as she blushed.

            “I felt it as well, but I was afraid of… everything,” Danielle admitted. “I’ve been pretending most of my life not to have feelings like that. I wasn’t sure if my mother knew somehow. I wondered if that’s why she threw me out.” Feeling a lead weight form in her stomach she lay back on the bed, remembering the sight of her mother again before the feast the previous night.

            Lupita straddled her and looked into her eyes. “Whether that was or wasn’t the reason isn’t your fault. It was her decision.”

            Feeling tears forming in her eyes as bottled-up emotion spilled out, Danielle turned her head away. She gasped as her friend and lover lay down directly on top of her and began wiping the tears from her eyes.

            “Whether it’s as friends or more, and I want it to be more, I will always be there for you Sir Longbow.”

            “I’m not a sir.” Danielle said.

            “Not yet,” said the naked girl whose weight was both wonderful and suffocating. The warrior felt a rush of warmth as Lupita began kissing her neck.

            “We should get dressed.”

            “Not yet,” said the city girl whose kisses were moving down the villager’s body. She paused suddenly. Danielle was both relieved and frustrated as the smith’s daughter stopped kissing her navel and gave her a serious look.

            “I had the weirdest dream just now, just before waking up,” Lupita said.

            “You dreamed you were shagging a country girl in armour?” Miss Longbow joked.

            “No. I’ve been having that dream for months, but this was something else. It was about the trees beyond the wall. The Hungry Trees.”

            Danielle groaned. All lusty thoughts were extinguished by memories of the cursed trees which had saved the city from invasion. She sat up, staring at her feet. As she pulled on a thick pair of revolting woollen socks she listened to the daughter of a smith and a witch describe her dream.

            “There were people coming out of them. Not imperials. Little people. People who looked like they were carved out of wood. There was a word, curaduile, I think that’s what they were called.” Lupita stared off into space as she relived the dream. “It feels like a memory.”

            “We did have a lot to drink last night,” said Danielle. “I probably had weird dreams as well, just can’t remember them.” She pulled on her trousers up to her thighs, but her lover grabbed them by the waistband.

            “Do you have to go already?” Lupita asked, the warrior wished she could say no.

            “Everyone does. Remember Queen Malin’s words? The training will begin today. We all have to be there.”

            “No one will be in any fit shape for it this morning,” said the witch’s daughter, trying to pull the warrior back to bed. She was no match for Miss Longbow’s muscle.

            “Nonetheless we must be there.” The village girl threw her green Tunic on. It smelled of wine and soup. “Come with me.” She turned to look at the naked woman on the bed who hadn’t moved.

            “You go ahead. I’ll catch up with you. We should find out what people might think before we go announcing ourselves.” Danielle nodded and stood up.

            The warrior’s sword, scabbard and belt lay together on the floor. She strapped on the weapon, relieved by the familiar weight of it. Secure in the notion that she could defend herself if imperial soldiers burst through the door, she moved to the door. She turned and nodded to Lupita, who winked back.

            There was only one other room in the tiny house. A table, two chairs, a fireplace made of stone in a wooden house. Granite flagstones beneath her feet. Her coin purse sat on the table with her key still thankfully inside. Her boots were on opposite ends of the room. Slipping the black leather over her socks she looked at the open doorway of the bedroom. She wanted to go back and take the blacksmith’s daughter in her arms again.

            The front door was barred. Hoping her lover would dress before someone else wandered into the home she left, noticing a red cross on the door. It meant the family who had lived there were missing, presumed dead after the siege.

            Making straight for the Castel house she saw drunks with hangovers as bad or worse than hers lying in the street. She was certain they’d not had as wonderful a night as her and they had a rude awakening ahead of them.

            Struggling to shake the image of Lupita’s body from her mind, she smiled from ear to ear. The well-oiled door opened without a creak. The same silence was not a given on the floorboards beneath the rugs. Despite her light steps the creaking boards gave her away.

            “Danielle?” Fabian’s voice came from the dining room off the hallway.

            He clinked as he emerged in full armour, helmet in one hand, bread in the other. He was the literal knight in shining armour. His suit was the best of the best, inherited from his legendary father. Lorenzo ‘Lightning’ Castel had won knightly tournaments all over the world. Fabian wanted to be a worthy warrior like his father and grandfather before him.

            “What happened to you last night? Mother told me you didn’t come home.”

            Thank you, Paulina, Danielle thought of Fabian’s mother who always seemed to know everything about everyone. “I woke up in one of the empty houses this morning. My head is killing me.”

            “Then you must drink,” said Fabian. “I must return to my queen. Good day to you Danielle. Hopefully I’ll see you later.”

            “Hopefully.” She nodded. Moving her head still hurt.

            “You didn’t have the dream, did you?” He asked suddenly.

            “What dream?” Danielle asked.

            “About a monster emerging from one of the hungry trees and calling us the fire people?” She was instantly reminded of Lupita’s dream.

            “Someone else was talking about something like that as I was on my way here. People made of wood, a word, curaduile.”

            “That’s it!” he said excitedly. “You didn’t have the dream?”

            “No. I don’t think so. I think I was too drunk to dream last night.”

            “Alright. Hopefully it’s nothing.” He said, staring off at something beyond the wood panels on the wall. “I really must go. Good day to you.” He smiled with his perfect teeth and rushed out of the door. His green surcoat caught in the doorway as he tried to rush off. She laughed as he had to open the door again to pull it out.   

            That he had dreamt the same dream as Lupita gave Danielle a tickle at the back of her neck. She had no time for superstition. Black cats in Fisher's Gasp had been no more dire an omen than any other feline trying to steal fish scraps from her as she scraped in the leftovers thrown from village cook pots.

            In the dining room Fabian's mother, Paulina, sat at the table with all the dishes crowded around her. Each of the fine plates was almost bare. The matriarch gave the lodger a look of casual despair. Mrs Castel had stopped wearing her make-up. Her hair was a bird’s nest. Just months before she had been the regalest woman Danielle had ever met, including the queen.

            “How are you?” asked Miss Longbow.

            “Me?” Paulina asked after a long pause to process that someone had spoken.

            “Yes. I’m worried about you.” Danielle sat heavily in the chair next to the matriarch who was at the head of the table.

            Lady Castel's hand slid across the table and grasped the girl from Fisher's Gasp weakly. The veins had never shown so clearly through the skin in that hand, and it was cold. Looking at the fireplace Danielle saw it was unlit. Dust was gathering on the woodwork around the house.

            “Don't worry about me Danielle. I’m going back to bed now I’ve eaten. I shall be right as rain soon.” Miss Longbow took Paulina’s cold hand in both of hers and stared the woman in the eyes.

            “You will not. Not you. Not today. You are Lady Castel, wife of Lorenzo, mother of Fabian. You do not mope. You will not wither away in this house fretting over a doom that will never come. You will get yourself to the closet and dress yourself in attire fit for sparring. Queen’s orders. It will do you the world of good and I personally insist as someone who admires the woman you were, just weeks ago. You are better than this. Now go upstairs and get ready to prove that to both of us.”

            Paulina’s eyes hardened. She looked at the cold hand wrapped in Danielle's. She nodded. “You are right my dear. Thank you. My god’s I'm letting this place go to ruin.”

            “Forget the house for now Lady Castel. Look after yourself first. Do your family proud. Do yourself proud.”

            “Yes. I suppose. Will you have breakfast while I dress?”

            “Can’t let it go to waste, can I?” Smiled the famished village girl.

            Lady Castel departed as Danielle scoffed down everything on the table. By the time Paulina returned the warrior from Fisher's Gasp had dressed in her armour again and had her shield on her left arm.

            Together they walked to the ruins of northern Leonor. The blackened timbers burnt houses had been cleared away. Warriors in their full gear were already giving instruction to the rabble of hungover townsfolk. A few had wooden swords. Some had broomsticks cut to the right length. Others had branches that had to serve.

            The Castel household had no shortage of sparring weapons. Danielle had one in a fine sheath on her hip, as did Paulina. With them they brought the spares and handed them out to those with the most pathetic imitations of a sword. Women, for there were few men left in the city, thanked them for wooden swords that had the balance and feel of the real thing.

            The most grizzled survivors of the army barked instructions at the people of the city for two hours. By the end it seemed the entire city was there. From toddlers to codgers, everyone had a weapon to swing. Even as a middling warrior at best Miss Longbow could see that the week of training women had received during the siege made a difference. They held their weapons properly. They had the right stance. The old and the lame or the young were all over the place. Some were too old to get much better, but Danielle knew Queen Malin wanted everyone to feel part of the new order.

            When the training was done, the people were allowed to go. Paulina said something about a hot bath. Danielle was called to talk with the uniformed warriors of Crann Kingrom.

            “Hopeless lot some of 'em,” said a grey bearded man who looked old enough to be Danielle's grandfather. He introduced himself as Sir Instead of withered he was barrel chested with thick arms beneath his chainmail and tabard. Even the hair on his strong hands was grey. He had the kind off purple wounds that the elderly had for far longer than the young, souvenirs of the siege. “Still, seems our women have plenty fight in them eh, Daniel.” He smiled a grin of brown and missing teeth at Miss Longbow, who had pretended to be a man before the siege as she hoped to be a knight.

            “They’ll do the kingdom proud when the time comes,” she said. “They need decent training wepons though. Training with twigs and broomsticks is no good.”

            “Aye,” nodded another of the old guard. He had greying brown hair cut short on his head and ruddy cheeks under a blue eye and a milky one. She presumed that eye was blind. It was a fearsome look, but he had a strong chin and had surely been a popular womaniser in his youth. “Queen’s working on that already, so I heard. Carpenters have all been given an order that every man, woman, and child must have one. The bowyers are set to do the same, and the fletchers. As she said, they’ll not go hungry now. Not so sure about the rest of us.” Old men nodded. Women amongst them weren't talking so much. They were new among the soldiers but outnumbered the veterans.

            “I hear you’re good with a bow Danielle?” asked the grey-haired man.

            “Quite,” said the girl whose bow sat by her bedside in Castel House. “But mine is at home right now.”

            “We’re to train as many as we can as archers tomorrow morning. You’ll need to help us.”

            “Me?” she asked, astonished.

            “Aye, archery was a different thing from soldiery when we signed up. We can shoot but I doubt we’re much better than you.” Have your bow and be here tomorrow morning at dawn. For now, help us set up the targets. Have you sworn your oath as a town guard?” The man scratched a nose creased by a scar.

            “Not yet.”

            “Then by the gods we’ll have that done today.”

            For the next few hours Danielle laboured with the guards to set up targets along the northern wall of the city. There were three actual archery targets and two dozen improvised targets made of thick slabs of wood with circles painted on them. Some of the targets were unfinished table tops she realised.

            “Sir Dewar, Sir Lennox, come quickly. Something’s been spotted from the wall.” It was a young boy yelling down from the wall top wearing what, for him, looked like a chainmail dress.

            “What is it boy? Speak sharp.” Sir Dewar was the grey-haired man, already limping along at a good pace towards the stairs. Sir Lennox hooked an arm under the older man's shoulder to help him along faster and Dewer didn’t protest. “Imperials?”

            “Not imperials sir. A monster. It came out of the tree.”

            “Have you gone mad boy? If you’re pulling my bad leg to get me up the steps I'll shove my foot up your arse!” The man growled but he was still moving at a fevered pace.

            Danielle was right behind the veterans with more women in chainmail and stained green tabards behind her.

            From the wall top she saw it as well. The boy hadn’t been lying. It looked just like the creature Lupita had described.

            “What the fuck is that?” asked Sir Dewar.

            The word curaduile came to Danielle from her lover’s dream. Its skin was the brown of bark. Its eyes were the bright green of a spring leaf. It was staring at them. Otherworldly didn’t do justice to describing the thing that looked like a badly carved archery dummy come to life.