Rose and Talon pulled their cloaks over the heads as they proceeded through the village’s paths. They deftly weaved around the villager who strolled along the paths. Most people sauntered through the streets with carefree attitudes, and then, from seemingly nowhere, two guards walked directly toward the Sunsculptors. Rose nudged Talon to alert him, but they could not change directions without looking suspicious. Talon slowed his pace to match the others in the village, and Rose looped her arm inside of his and leaned noticeable into her brother’s side. As they came within a few steps of the coming Guards, Rose spoke in the exaggerated tones of smitten girl, “Rupert, you are too funny. Why have you been hiding this side of you for so long? Why didn’t you tell me you had such a sense of humor?” By the time she finished, the guards passed by them. Talon resisted the urge to look behind them and check on the guards. He knew that, if they were being watched, an inquiring look over his shoulder would betray them. His heart pumping feverishly. Talon tramped through the village. Rose, realizing her scheme worked, released a small laugh and un-looped her arm.
As they quick-stepped toward the village’s edge, they observed few and fewer villagers. More importantly, they saw no other guards. They passed the last house before leaving the village when a voice boomed from behind them, “Rose Sunsculptor and Talon Sunsculptor.” Without even turning around to acknowledge the voice, Rose and Talon instantly sprinted toward village’s edge. They wanted to reach the wooded area and hope to lose their pursuer in the moon shadows. As they zipped away, the voice once again boomed, “What are you two doing? It’s Daks.” Recognizing the voice, Talon skidded to stop, and Rose, following her brother’s movement, came to a halt. Both turned to look upon the befuddled freckled face of the red-haired Daks Bullskin, their seventeen-year old friend who was an apprentice leather worker.
“What are you doing out here?” asked Talon in accusative tone.
Daks, still caught off guard at his friend’s peculiar response, snapped, “I live here, remember.” He then pointed to a nearby house.
Talon finally realized his mistake and responded apologetically, “Sorry, Daks. I am so sorry. We thought you were someone else.”
Rose, likewise, echoed her brother’s contrition. Talon began to explain the day’s events, but Rose interrupted her brother, “No time for explanations, we need to go.” With that, she turned intently toward the village’s edge. Talon, realizing the prudence of his sister’s actions, followed her.
Daks walked with them as Talon continued to recite the day’s events. Rose, who just lived through the very story being told, was baffled by her brother’s recounting. His random spurting of this event and that thing made no sense to Rose; she reckoned it sounded like utter gibberish to Daks. The leather worker, however, appeared to understand the ramblings, and then, to the complete shock to the siblings, offered to go with them. Neither Rose nor Talon ever expected such an offer from their newfound companion. Thinking he was jesting, Talon continued spilling non-sequential, seemingly unconnected details from the day. Daks interrupted again and asked in earnest, “Let me come with you. Weird things are going on this village, and I want to get out of here, too. Frankly, I don’t trust Lupier either. As you remember, he’s ordered many, many sheaths and quivers from us. While we appreciate the extra business, he acts so slimy.” Despite the explanation, Rose thought his request strange. Why would Daks want to leave? I am only leaving because it is necessary. There is no other choice for me but not for him. Talon, however, felt a surge of happiness at the sudden possibility of having a friend join their journey. He found the idea of traversing into the unknown with only his sister daunting, but with Daks along, this same proposition felt less hapless.
Rose spouted to Daks, “We are leaving now. There is no time to wait.”
Talon, not liking the finality of her tone, countered her statement, “Five minutes. We can wait five minutes.”
Rose conceded. Her brother was right. Their risk, at this point, was negligible. They had seen no one, much less a guard, in some time, and from their current vantage, they had ample warning should anyone come toward them along the path. Rose, not wanting to wait in the open, responded to the others, “We will wait behind the large cypress tree just off the path.” She pointed to a noticeable double trunk tree farther ahead. “Do you see it?” Daks nodded. “In five minutes we leave from there. If you are not there, then we will leave without you.” Talon nodded in agreement to their arrangement while Daks shot off back down the path toward his house. Rose began counting her head; five minutes meant five minutes.
Talon and Rose waited anxiously as they readied for Daks to join then. Finally, Rose looked to Talon and said, “Time’s up. He’s not here. Let’s go.” Talon, unlike his sister, wanted to wait longer, but he knew the futility of arguing with Rose – at least on this issue. Besides, Talon trusted her decisiveness. Thus, deferring to his sister, he led the way deeper into the woods. After a couple of steps, they heard the sound of running feet behind them. They turned and looked at Daks sprinting toward them; one arm through the backpack’s strap while the other arm wiggled to find the remaining strap. Rose and Talon paused as their new traveling companion reached them. Once he arrived, nothing was said. Rose spied behind them one last time to ensure no persons followed them into the woods. Not a soul stirred except for the Bullskin’s annoying weenie dog; the yapping canine trailed Daks to the edge of the village, but he refused to leave the village’s confines. The speckled dog release two wimpy barks and then returned to do whatever weenie dogs do.
Daks, Rose, and Talon walked through the night. They said little except to alert others hazards along the path. On a few of occasions, Daks directed a question toward his new traveling companions, but the Sunsculptors sidestepped his queries. They trudged through the night following the purple moon, just as Gryph Cartog suggested. Finally, the yellow sun began to peer over the western horizon. Talon felt a wave of exhaustion overtake him as he saw the sun crawl into the morning sky. One full day had passed since the guards burst into his house and imprisoned his father, but Talon recalled the events of yester morning as vague, distant memory. The adrenaline rush that sustained him over the last day finally ceased. His body suffered the consequences of being pushed far beyond its physical and emotional capacities. With the sun now entirely visible in the morning sky, fatigue overwhelmed Talon’s body. Unable to travel any further, he looked at a nearby hill and suggested the group rest there for a few minutes. His two companions eagerly accepted this suggestion, especially Rose who likewise faced an imminent collapse. When they reached the hill, all three tumbled awkwardly to the ground. Talon struggled back to his feet, and from the vantage point atop the hill, he viewed the many miles they just traversed. He felt great relief to see no one following them. Apparently, he concluded, the Protectorate does not know our location. With a sense of satisfaction, he sat down and leaned against a leafless oak tree.
Rose woke first. She looked into the sky and noted the sun passed its zenith. She guessed they had slept for six or seven hours. From atop the hill, Rose looked toward the direction of the previous night’s purple moon. In the far distance, her eyes barely caught a glimpse of that for which she was looking: the Double Falls Tributary. As Gryph thought, it would take a night’s journey to reach the shallow, but swift flowing, tributary. Rose looked over to her two companions who both slept soundly. Having some time alone, she decided to examine their map. As she extracted the map from her brother’s bag, a baffling question continued to nag her: why did Daks join them? She appreciated his company but doubted his motivations.
Looking over the map, Rose became familiarize with the markings. She found her village; a neatly scribed “94” identified the location. Looking on the side of the map, there was a purple moon and Rose guessed they must have walked in that direction during the night, and sure enough, she saw Double Falls Tributary. Rose felt great relief to know the map – and her ability to decipher it – brought the
m at least this far. Despite the long lecture from Gryph, she was unsure, at least until now, they would be able navigate their way through Centage. She now felt they had a chance of success. Feeling invigorated, Rose nudged Talon and Daks. Both woke up quickly, and after snacking on cheese loaf, the trio hiked toward the distant tributary.
Rose felt the warm yellow sun upon her face and thanked the Creator for springtime weather. While cool in the evenings, the sunlit hours were fabulous. For a moment, her minded drifted toward the warmth on her olive cheeks, and she forgot the rapid deterioration of her life. Talon wondered what awaited them in Village #97. He spoke of his trepidation with the others, while privately developing an array of contingency plans for whatever awaited them. Daks, for his part, questioned his split-second decision to run off with the Sunsculptors. Rose, growing frustrated with his incessant laments, looked at him intently and remarked, “If you want to change your mind, then, change your mind. Nobody here forced you to come, and trust me nobody is going to force you to stay. So do us all a favor: shut the contraption on you face that keeps eating our food and then make a decision, go or stay. Is that clear?” With that, she stormed off. Talon nodded in agreement and followed her. Daks reflected on her words, and then, followed them. He kept the “contraption” on his face closed, even during the evening meal.
The hiking threesome followed the Double Falls Tributary for four days. Rose frequently checked the map. Even though they traveled an almost insignificant amount on the map, she steadfastly followed their process. She guessed they would arrive at Village #97 tomorrow morning; their travels lasted longer than Gryph expected, which left Talon musing about their “missed” destination. Rose grew increasingly frustrated at his questions. She took each one of his inquiries as a personal jab at her ability. Yet, she, like him, wondered whether they erred in their navigation. The concern over finding Village 97 did bring the benefit of distracting the travelers from a pressing question: what would they do once they arrived at that village? They seldom addressed this question. It seemed all three were content to focus on the most pressing task – find Village #97.
During the late morning hours of the fourth day, Daks spotted a distant settlement: Village #97. With newfound enthusiasm, the three journeyers hastened their pace. Each step emerged from a new sense of purpose, and further, pleasant conversations, which disappeared in the last few days, reemerged. The weariness of travel faded to the background with their imminent arrival. By early afternoon, they emerged from a forest canopy into an open field, and at the end of the field, set a very quiet hamlet.
As they walked through the field, Daks immediately recognized it as a cattle pasture. He noted the type of grass and a hexagonal wooden fence. Most animals would easily break through the feeble fence, but the Longhairs never tried to break out. The field, however, appeared fallow, which confounded Daks because the soil looked fertile enough to grow for numerous seasons before needing a rest.
Daks finally realized the fertile pasture lacked any livestock. There were no cattle on what, by all appearance, looked to an ideal Longhair setting. He looked to others and whispered, “Something is not right here. Where are the animals?”
Rose noticed their group unconsciously slowed in their advance toward the village. She remarked, “Something seems strange. I can’t quite explain it.”
“It’s quiet,” Talon interrupted her. “It’s way too quiet. I have not heard a sound from the village yet.”
Rose agreed, “That’s it. This place is too quiet; I don’t see any movement or hear any noises.”
The travelers traversed the quiet pasture and located a village path. The proceeded along the path, and still, they heard nothing. The signs of village life began to appear – small wooden residences, tidy workshops, merchant storefronts, traders’ carts, and well-trodden paths – but still, the youths saw no signs of human life. Just like the pasture, the village looked entirely functional but completely deserted. The group finally noticed the subtle signs of recent abandonment: grass grew unevenly on the unkempt lots, small vegetables withered on their vines, and weeds grew un- maligned in most of the gardens.
“This place looks abandoned,” concluded Talon.
“And by the looks of it,” added Daks, “It does not look too long ago.”
“Yea,” agreed Talon, “but where did they go? And why are they not here?”
The youth continued to meander through the village. They said little as they walked paths through the dense hamlet.
Rose finally whispered into the silence, “Why does this place look familiar? I feel like I have been here before.”
“I know,” said Talon. “These paths are laid out just like our village. The buildings are different, but the design of the paths is the same. Look.” Talon point at the building next to them. “See, that is where Sam lives, and right there, that is bakery, and over there, Jacks sells firewood.”
“Jules’ house is right about there,” noted Rose.
“And, your light-bending workshop is just around the corner,” offered Daks.
“Yea, that is right,” said Talon. “What a strange place. Why would this village layout be exactly like our village?”
“I have no idea,” interjected Rose, “but I am going to check out the location of our workshop.”
She turned hastily and quickstepped along the path. The two boys followed, both still swiveling their heads to examine the uncanny similarities between this village and their own.
They turned the corner and proceeded along the path. They quickly reached the location of their workshop. When they arrived, the group stared at a tiny plot of land. Nothing was built on the location, which of itself was unusual. Buildings, gardens, and tiny yards squeezed into every available space. To look upon a small, long-abandoned plot of land – regardless of its location – was unexpected. Given that the site matched the location of their workshop, the result was beyond peculiar. Further, a large tree with extraordinarily thick trunk grew on the center of the lot. Its stubby branches barely extended beyond the small lot. Small buds appeared on the smaller limbs, still waiting for the warmth of spring before sprouting its green leaves.
“Strange, very strange,” muttered Daks as looked on seemingly ancient tree in what-would-be the location of their workshop/home.
“Weird,” agreed Rose.
While the other two remained awed at the oddity, Daks possessed the objectivity to focus on the details. He remarked, “There is a small sign on the tree.”
Talon and Rose, who previously saw only the tree, rushed toward the fading placard nailed head-high on the broad trunk: Courage – Love - Wisdom.
“What does that mean?” asked Rose.
“I have no idea, but it sounds familiar,” said Talon.
“Sounds like nonsense to me,” observed Daks. Talon wished it were not “nonsense” as his friend contended, but at present, he lacked anything to refute the claim. Perhaps, he thought, Daks is right, but I don’t believe so.
“Let’s see what’s at my house, or at least, what’s at the location of my house,” said Daks.
The two Sunsculptors nodded in agreement, obviously still distracted. Daks quickly walked through the familiar paths toward the village edge, which was on the opposite side from the one they entered. They zigzagged along the compacted ground until they reached the location of Bullskin tannery.
Instead of finding a tannery, however, they came upon a small, untended farmhouse. An untilled swathe of land next house appeared to the location of the annual garden. A few animal pins nestled next to the house while a large fence surrounded the pasture. A small yellow barn creaked in the gentle breeze; it looked ready to collapse at any moment.
“This village gives me the creeps,” said Daks as he stared at the farmhouse. “There is no one here. Yet, it looks like this was village a full of people recently. Why would every person in this place just disappear? Where did they go? And why did they leave so much stuff? And why are the paths the same
pattern as our village? And why is there a huge tree where your lightbending workshop is located? And why did I ever come on this idiotic trip with you? And … I am ready to get out of here. I don’t like this place!”
Talon said nothing; he stared into the distance unsure how to respond to his friend’s concerns. Rose, likewise, looked away. As she stared into the forest, she saw a small stream of smoke swirling in the sky. The smoke emerged from an unseen source just beyond the village’s perimeter. The connections raced through her mind until she reached the likely conclusion: someone is living just outside the village.
“Look,” gasped Rose as she pointed in the distance. While the lack of villagers created an ominous feel, the realization that at least one person still resided in this place created an even more portentous feel. She asked herself, why would just one person be living in an abandoned village? Are they responsible for everyone else’s disappearance? What’s more frightening, an abandoned village or one villager living on the outskirts of an abandoned village?
The flushed faces of her two companions revealed their concern, as well. The youths stared at the distant smoke streams hoping unsuccessfully to discover answers to their mounting questions. The three friends instinctually moved closer together; they innately clustered because of their mounting fears.
“There is someone here,” whispered Talon.
“Uh …” stammered Daks, vocalizing the concern of his companions. He finally reduced his concerns to words, “What kind of person lives in the forest next to abandoned village?”
“Me.” From behind the group, a gentle answered the rhetorical question. Daks, Talon, and Rose spun on their heels to locate the voice’s owner. Talon twisted so fast that spun to the ground. Lying on his side, he looked upon an eleven-year old girl with ashen white skin and long hair. The diminutive girl appeared feeble as her shoulder slouched, but her piercing blue eyes bespoke a resilience that could frighten a moonjackal.
“I did not mean to frighten,” whispered the girl.
Talon and Rose immediately felt compassion for the girl, but Daks immediately moved toward interrogation in a blatant effort to direct attention away from his terror. “Who are you?”
The girl said nothing. Tears began to form in her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” defended Talon.
Regaining her composure, the preteen girl said, “I might ask you the same thing.”
“I am Rose, this is brother Talon, and that grumpy one is Daks. We are travelers from another village, and we were surprised at what we found. This place looks abandoned, which seems very strange to us.”
“I am Willow,” offered the girl politely.
Rose continued, “Where are the people from this village? And why are you here alone? You are alone, aren’t you?”
Willow explained: “I am alone, and I have been alone since just prior to the winter’s freeze. As to the others, they left with the Protectorate. Do you know you they are?”
“We do,” said Rose disdainfully.
“One morning,” continued Willow, “I went to collect herbs and roots from the surrounding hills, and as I returned in the afternoon, I stopped atop the closest hill. When I looked down at the village, I saw many guards from the Protectorate pushing and grabbing the villagers. There were so many of the guards. They were everywhere. The villagers had no choice. They had to follow the guards’ instructions. I saw one of my friend’s father try to run away, and they … it was awful. It was awful what there were doing to people.”
“Except for you, of course,” responded Daks.
Willow glared intently at the accuser. Her fierce blue eyes revealed a steely mentality that defied her child-like appearance. The girl directed her thoughts toward Talon and Rose, “I was in the hills or they would have taken me as well. It was terrible watching all the villagers hauled away like animals, and they took them, too, the animals I mean. If it could breathe and move, the guards took it.”
Talon asked, “Why did they take everyone? And where did they go?”
The girl’s lashed at her questioner, “How would I know? They just took everyone away.” Then, breathing more slowly, she calmly recounted, “I almost joined them. I did not know what to do, but I thought it better to stay with everyone. I also thought some of the villagers wanted to go. That is, of course, until I saw them slash my friend’s father. I have never seen anything like it. One of the guards drew a blade from his sheath that almost glowed. From the hilt to the tip of the blade, it looked like heated steel, and then … he sliced through the man. When I saw that, I knew those guards were evil. No one dared disobey them after that. All the villagers just followed one another down the paths and out of this place.”
There was a momentary pause as the other three found themselves at a loss for words. They lacked certainty the girl spoke the truth, but the tears streaming down her face that left clean streaks down her otherwise dirty cheeks seemed genuine. Talon and Rose both noted her description of the sword – undoubtedly a glowing blade. They finally heard a firsthand account of their growing concern, Lupier and his crimson-clad henchmen were using their handiwork to torment others. Returning her thoughts to the girl, Rose asked what the others were thinking, “Did you have any family?”
The girl once again burst forth with tears, but this time into sobs of despair rather than anger. She finally released the bottled emotions. Willow caught her breath and spoke through the sobs, “My mother and my little sister. She is only four. I saw them leaving with the others. I almost came down from the mountain to join them, but I could see my mother looking at me. I don’t think she saw me, but she probably knew where I would be. My mother kept shaking her hand as if saying ‘no’ to me. I wanted so much to join them, but I just couldn’t. Since then, I keep thinking I should have gone, and perhaps, wherever they were going was not really so bad. If I could just be with my mother and sister … I just want to be with them. Why can’t I be with them?”
There was a long pause after the girl spoke. No one knew quite what to say. Willow, now sobbing again, seemed embarrassed to loose composure in front of complete strangers, but at the same time, she felt better after releasing the pinned emotions. Rose walked over to her and put her arm around the girl’s shoulder. Willow sobbed into her shoulder and then looked up after a few minutes. Her eyes were still red but her tears stopped and her breathing returned to its normal rhythm. When she looked up at Daks and Talon, both jerked their heads away to avoid the appearance of gaping at the younger girl. Rose released the girl from her gentle grip and asked, “So you have been alone all through winter, since before the first freeze?”
“Yes,” said Willow. “I think it has been four months, but I losing my sense of time.”
Talon asked, “What have you been doing since everyone left?”
“At first, I thought about following the others, but how would that help me? My mother obviously did not want me to join then so that seemed a bad idea. Then, I thought about leaving the village, but where? Everyone and everything I knew marched out of the village. I had nowhere to go, and even if I did want to go, I have no idea where to go. The only places I know are this village and the nearby hills. So, I decided to stay here and see what would happen. You are the first thing to happen.”
Daks change the subject abruptly, he asked in accusatory tone, “Why do the paths in this village follow the same design as the village where we live?”
The girl was relieved for the change in subject despite Dak’s foul tone, “I have no idea. This is the only village I have ever seen.”
“Did you even know there were other villages?” asked Talon, hoping to get an idea how much the girl knew of Centage.
“We heard about other villages, but nothing more,” answered the girl, who was looking fully refreshed and no longer had red eyes or a flushed complexion. The girl then asked the others, “So what are you doing here?”
The straightforward question tongue-tied the three travelers. None of them re
ally knew why they were there. Sure, they could recount the preceding events that brought then to Village #97, but what exactly they hoped to gain by coming or where they wanted to go after leaving, none of them knew. After all three fumbled through some non-sense words, Talon offered a concise response, “We, like you, are trying to get away from the Protectorate.”
“So why do you need to get away?” the girl asked.
Talon, not wanting to tell the girl everything, mentally sifted through the information in an effort to parse his response. Then Talon, remembering his father’s instructions on the need to trust others, decided to unedited story rather than use cryptic statement filled with half-truths and misleading details. He questioned how trusting a girl so young, who looked a few years younger than Rose, might be helpful, but he proceeded nonetheless. As he began to speak, Talon realized this information was mostly unknown to Daks. His friend had asked few questions about their sudden need to leave the village. Talon explained everything. He started from the time Lupier first arrived in his father’s shop and continued through the many details. He explained how Lupier duped them for so long and when they tried to end the relationship, the Commander captured their father. Talon did omit, however, everything about the Book of Epiphany. He was reticent to tell the others about the secretive double-bound book. Rose, following Talon’s lead, also helped; she interrupted him a few times to offer pertinent details. Talon waited patiently as Rose made these diversions, and when she completed her thoughts, he continued. Rose, like her brother, said nothing of the double-bound book tucked deep within her brother’s pack. Daks and the young girl listened attentively, not asking the many questions that came to their minds. Both intuitively knew any interruption in the current flow of thought might ultimately halt the two Sunsculptors from sharing so much information. Thus, both waited patiently and saved their questions for another time.
Once completed, the ashen-skinned girl, “So what are you going to do? You can’t go back to your village, and there is nothing for you in this place. So where are you going to go?”
Their lack of a purpose or direction burdened Talon, and to some extent, the others as well. Thus far, they wandered aimlessly, and now, they arrived in a peculiar village with no direction and no ultimate goal. This could not continue, and Talon knew it. They, as a group, must decide their next course of action. They could not charge into hinterlands of Centage again without a specific purpose. They left their village to be safe, and now that they were safe, the group needed to take the next step in their journey. Talon remembered the phrase spoken on a few occasions by Sagamore, the venerable Village Sage, “A journey without purpose finds what it seeks: nothing.” Talon knew they needed a purpose. Thus far, they allowed themselves to blown along by the proverbial wind, and whether by intervention or chance, they were fortuitous: escaping the Protectorate, meeting the mapmaker, uniting with Daks, finding this village, and now, meeting Willow. Talon knew their next step need to emerge from a deliberate, well-reasoned plan rather than happenstance whims.
Finally answering Willow’s question, Talon responded, “We do not know where we are going to go, but we need to decide.” As he said the last phrase, he looked at Rose and Daks to confirm he was more speaking to them than answering Willow’s question. Daks looked away while Rose slightly nodded in agreement. Then reconnecting his line of sight, Daks also nodded in agreement.
Willow interjected, “You are welcome to stay with me until you decide. I would really like the company. It has been awful being alone for so long. I have been staying at my house. I still have a decent supply of food. My mother and I stored some things before the freeze, and since it has been just me, there is plenty to share.”
Talon looked to others. Daks nodded his red-haired head in agreement to Talon while Rose, almost oblivious to other two companions, accepted the invitation, “That would be great, Willow. Let’s go.” With that, Rose trailed Willow through the field and into the woods surrounding the village.
6 THE BOOK OF EPIPHANY