Eye of the Wind – Ch. 6 – 4: Search and Seizure

• Posted by Kyrielle Atrinati October 6, 2012 - 458 views

  Inside the cave, my sense of foreboding only increased.  There was a strong, lingering odor of bodies, goats, blood, and waste.  My face contorted in disgust as on the tail of this wall of scent, I caught the faint musk of sex.  Animals.  That's all these men were.  Animals.

  Not even my people in our most remote and primitive tribes lived in this way.  True, while it was practice to consume our dead and our enemies, we didn't live in squalor, rolling in filth and mating with anything that moved.

  As we crept towards a tunnel emitting a low, flickering light, I heard an unearthly cry echoing up the tunnel.  It sounded pained and not entirely human.  Chills raced up my spine, and Derkeethus hissed softly.

  "What are they doing in there?"

  I shook my head, unknowing, but feeling all the more put off by the place.

  At the bottom of the tunnel, the cavern opened into a wide expanse.  Near at hand, a brazier lit the entrance way, sending wavering light onto a stunted tree that was pale and withered from the lack of sunlight.  Its branches reached longingly for a shaft in the roof that currently let in soft moonlight.

  Further away numerous hide tents slouched on small rises, and a tiny stream bubbled, brown and sickly through the cave.  It ran by where Derk and I crouched, and I could see it was heavily polluted.  Virtually undrinkable.  There was a small farm nearby where frail vegetables poked their leaves from stony soil.  A frenzy of grunts issued from the farm accompanied by the shrill scream I heard only a moment before.  As if to keep time, a blacksmith hammer punctuated the horrific cries with a distant, reverberating bang.

  Squinting, I could make out a shadow wriggling in the about just beyond a stone pillar near the farm.  A goat come racing around the bend, its eyes wide in fear.  It bleated upon seeing me, looking at me in askance.  Almost pleading.  One of its legs was badly wounded, the bone protruding bright white.  Near its rear, a bald patch glowed an angry pink.

  "Come back here!  I wasn't done with you yet!"   A man dressed in stinking, untanned hides came darting around the corner, his hands outstretched.  In one hand he held a knife.  The other clutched a tuft of goat hair.  The front of his fur kilt stained with a mixture of blood and other liquids.

  My heart dropped into my stomach, a cold ball of ice.  The rest of my body burned white hot and for once, I joined the chorus in my head demanding blood and death.  I heard Derkeethus retching behind me as the combination of my reaction, his, and the implications of what the goat had just endured collided.  

  As the goat darted by the man, running back into the depths of the cave, and the man turned to follow, I loosed an arrow into his spine.  It struck home just above his waist and he collapsed in a paralyzed heap.  When the goat doubled back, I murmured quiet words to it, feeling my fury only growing stronger with each moment as I watched it flee the cave in terror.

  Do not hate your enemy, part of me tried to reason, but I didn't listen.  There was no listening.  I agreed with the madness in my mind and welcomed the strange splitting and fracturing of my thoughts.  It was easier this way.  These were not human.  Not animal.  They were a base amalgamation of both.  A horrific, insane sect of people.  

  You don't know what they did... it tried to suggest.  You only know what you thought you saw.

  Even so, the evidence was enough.  The fallen Forsworn looked at me in loathing.  "That was my wife.  Why did you let my wife go?"

  The voice of reason promptly silenced itself.  I kicked the man in the head, knocking him unconscious.

  For a moment, I stood shaking over him, trying to master myself.  My eyes darted about, looking for any other Forsworn, but I saw none, and aside from the steady beat of the blacksmith hammer, the cave was now silent.  I jumped, startled, as I felt Derkeethus' hand on my shoulder.  He gave a comforting squeeze before terminating the unconscious man.

  Moonlight fell on his figure as he took a deep breath, steadying himself.  His normally green scales glinted silver, and for a moment, he looked an untouchable being of calm.  Slowly, he continued to breathe.  I looked at him quizzically, about to remind him that we were in hostile territory.  With a bunch of half-breed beastmen.  But after a moment, I felt that same calm ebbing into my mind, cooling my blood and bringing me back to the present.

  Once I surfaced from the maddening chaos, Derk and I exchanged a loaded glace before continuing on our way through the cave.

  Curving around the cave, we skirted the sleeping figures, the Argonian consistently blocking my view of them as we passed.  A wooden ramp led upward onto the highest point of the cavern, and it was from here the blacksmith's hammer was loudest.

  Before Derk could stop me, I crept around the corner towards the bent, shirtless man slaving away over the anvil.