One?
Chapter 3
Adenah placed her arms under Blythe’s armpits and dragged her onto the bed. She immediately stripped her own bed of all covers and placed them on Blythe’s. Then she took the towel that had just that morning been used on her own forehead, wet it, and placed it on Blythe. She got her a glass of water and went to work on preparing a soothing broth.
The next few days flew quickly by. Addy spent all her time caring for her adoptive grandmother. Cooking, cleaning, and her always pressing worry wore her out. At the end of each day she would sit on her bed for a moment, watching Blythe sleep, before she too would fall into the night.
As Blythe’s condition improved, Addy dared a venture outside. They were running low on food, and the cupboards were becoming dusty. It was her first time out since the incident with the bird. She headed out into the forest near a place where there was always an abundance of wildlife. Here she knew she could find countless squirrels jumping from tree to tree, rabbits frolicking across the snowy hills and if she were lucky an occasional deer. Yet today she felt a change. She reached the spot and looked around her.
The normal animal playground was silent, the trees were still and not even a bird’s quiet lullaby could be heard. She turned herself around, searching for what had caused such a disturbance. Before she could stop herself she met its eyes again.
The white bird was perched in a tree, watching Adenah. She held back its gaze, not allowing it to penetrate her. She struggled, sweating in the biting air. Once again it nodded, lessening its control. Addy closed her eyes for a moment, knowing when she opened them it would still be there, waiting. She took a deep breath, and opened her eyes. Sure enough, it was there, but it was in different tree, farther from her. A voice as painful as the song she had heard days ago filled her soul.
“Follow me……….” it spoke as neither as a man or woman, and was flung at her from all around, as well as filling her up and spilling out. She did as she was told, slowly plodding on after it as flew it from tree to tree.
The sun ran across the sky and yet Adenah continued on. The bird seemed oblivious to her exhaustion as it fluttered tirelessly through the trees. Addy’s joints were throbbing from walking constantly in knee deep snow and her stomach was aching from eating nothing all day, but something inside told her there was no turning back, not with the white bird in charge.
At last the bird seemed to have enough and landed stubbornly on a low branch a few feet ahead. Addy paused, giving the bird a look, hoping dearly that she didn’t travel all this way to see even more snow covered trees. The bird returned the glare and nodded crisply towards a clump of trees. Addy stepped forward cautiously, curious of the importance of these few trees. She peeled back a prickly bough and gasped in astonishment.
Through the trees, in a large clearing, there stood about thirty men. Each one was dressed head to foot in animal hide, some sporting long coats of fur, and others in the usual tunic and leggings. They were scurrying around, putting up tents, building fires, and a few were standing in tight clumps pointing here and there. Dogs ran about, tied to trees, sniffing the ground and barking at each other. Animal hides lay drying in the sun, and deer hung from trees.
Adenah hadn’t seen so many people in one place since she was five. She had lived the majority of her life isolated on a mountain, her only company a withered old woman. Now the sights and smells overwhelmed her. Her nostrils were full of the comforting smell of cooking food, and disgusted by the unmistakable stink of multiple men who haven’t bathed in many days. Her ears were on high alert, catching every bark of every dog, perking up at the new sound of men squabbling, and wincing at metal scraping against more metal. She could almost feel the fur and her mouth was watering from the sight of venison.
Addy snapped her mouth shut and shivers ran down her back, her eyes opened wide as she turned her head and looked at the hand lying on her shoulder.