ELO Page 2

  She remembered the moments before her death. Panic hit her hard, along with her memories. The smell of human shit, fear, and misery overwhelmed her. She saw flashes of rusted cages and relived the wails of suffering. In her mind, she saw the man with the icy stare and the feelings of his rough freezing hands on her throat. She ran, without a second glance, back into the green forest. She did not stop until she was right back to the water edge of the bubbling spring. Bree sat, hugging her furs close to her sides. She looked at her arm; it was no longer broken but healed with an ugly scar that ran down its length. Her body was still bruised and aching. The water swirled at her feet. She cast aside the furs and submerged herself, scrubbing with her fingers until her skin was raw and blistering. Finally, she emerged, breathing hard, she walked naked to the edge of the pool. She stood stretching her body, feeling the warmth of her blood in her veins. She was alive, and...free. A smile transformed her face; she felt something that lingered towards madness. She wanted to dance, she moved her body swaying.

  I'm free….

  She spun arms outstretched, a broken sounding laugh escaping her lips.

  The sound of a twig snapping underweight broke the silence around her. She turned around and saw him far in the shadows. Neither beast nor man, he's stood shadows by the thicket of trees. She stared at him, frozen like a deer in the woods. Her body stiffened, and she froze with the dew of the spring, embezzling her skin. The creature slunk into the shadows. She could still feel his eyes on her. The brief glimpse that she had gotten of him, she was sure it was her rescuer. He seemed to change from something antlered and beastly to a shadow of a man who safely slipped into the trees. She was drawn to him, she took a few steps forward, staring, intensely into the shadows, and he fled, scrambling away from her as if she were a wraith.

  Bree stood alone, and the breeze's rustling was filled with the scent of rain as soft gray storm clouds rolled in and began sprinkling. Thunder boomed overhead, and the rain started falling harder. Annoyed by the changing weather, she fled to the dryness of the cave and huddled, unsure of what she had seen. Her skin prickled with the electricity that was in the air.

  She fell asleep listening to the soft sound of rainfall.

  The second day passed, and she awoke with hunger pains that made her curl up in pain. She crouched by the spring; it was early morning and chilly, her breath frosting the air. She drank from the spring knee-deep in tiger lilies and thick algae that squished through her toes. She could see small silver-colored fish at the bottom of the spring and crawdads burrowing in the sludge. She got out of the water, drying herself on her furs. Naked, she decided to observe the fish at the bottom of the shallow end of the pool.

  She recalled her grandmother's lessons, remembering her words: horsehair can work as a fishing line as long as you braid it, the crawdad will catch his claw on it if you bait and trick him. There was no fishing line to be had, so she decided to forage by the woods' edge. She gathered tinder for a fire as she walked along the forest line. Bree eventually found what she was searching for. The morning light warmed her back, she spotted thick vines growing on the trunk of an ivy infested tree. Pulling the vines gently, Bree plucked them and began to braid a thin, sturdy twine. Remembering her grandmother's earthy hut, she missed the quiet, peaceful morning chores. Sometimes gathering and spinning string was one of them. Suddenly a familiar stench blew on the wind, triggering a memory deep inside her. Villagers screamed as they were ripped to bloody shreds by hungry feasting machines. She gripped her head as the vision brought to mind the stench of burning flesh and metal. She swallowed her mouth dry from fear. She picked up her length of newly made twine and firewood and hurried away from the forest's edge, breathing hard in panic. Memories of the machine's ember-colored eyes and insect-like bodies made her race faster to the cave. The men controlling the devices had sold her into slavery, where she had been humiliated and forced into servitude. It had been a few years ago, as a slave, she had watched her homeland turn into a wasteland. The trees had withered, and the ground had become gray with ash and soot. Since then, she had not seen any green plants or tasted clean water. Bree settled by the edge of the spring. She tried not to think about her dying home or the men that had become her masters. Her memories of the machines were painful to bear, but the memories of the men that controlled them inflicted her with panic and fear. She recalled her first day of enslavement. The slavers had caught her in the rubble of her family's home. They had laughed as they picked through the remains of her parents, their hut, and they sold her without remorse. The slavers burned the forest, which she could not bear to think of .

  Instead, she busied herself fishing for crawdads, and after a short moment, she pulled up a fat wiggling red crawdad from his home. She threw him into a trap she had crudely constructed from stones and a puddle.

  The crawdad could not escape; he flailed in murky water surrounded by a stone prison. She fished out three smaller crawdads before it was midday. Afterward, Bree started a fire with the twigs and wood that she had gathered; she then killed and cooked the crawdads. Bree ate the soft and delicate meat then promptly buried herself in her furs before sleeping, the red embers of the cook fire warming her cave.

  It's another one

  a girl child

  from the woods

  where those filthy villagers were at?

  will she join our herd mummy?

  I don't know, child.

  Bree sat up for a moment. She thought she was dreaming; she could hear whispering voices. "Stop sniffing at her fire and get back over here, Eli." White mist rolled in from the forest. Bree blinked, rubbing the crust from her eyes, sitting up groggily. A herd of white deer was grazing at the edge of the woods. A few of them had gathered in a group drinking from the spring. Bree stared at them; they were beautiful with coats as white and pure as snow. A small fawn with a large pink nose hung curiously at the cave entrance. She had no bow and arrow or even a knife, but she thought quickly of a way to catch the fawn. Hunger tore at her insides, and though she hated to hunt such a beautiful creature, she was starving. As if hearing her thoughts, an older doe snapped at the fawn, driving him back to his mother. Don't be a fool, child; she still one of them, she hissed, glaring back at Bree. She is not one of us yet. Bree's mouth hung open with awe as she stared at the deer. The voice seemed to be coming from the deer, but no mouth movement or real sound came from the unearthly looking creatures. Bree watched them graze well into the dusk, hugging her knees to her chest, she huddled in her furs. They where startling beautiful, like ivory phantoms. She wondered how such creatures survived without being noticed by every predator that passed through the woods. Perhaps she had imagined them speaking. Maybe she had finally been driven mad. The voices had been so clear when she had heard them.

  Bree continued to hear whispers well into the night, and the herd gathered close to the spring, ignoring her as she fished for more crawdads. She looked up once more at the herd and their startling bright fur. She could still hear their whispers. She ignored them, checking her ears on occasion, fearful that she had been driven insane. As night began to fall, her nerves were on edge, the deer had not left but stayed by the spring. She could hear laughter from the herd as the fawn pranced among them. He settled by his mother's teat and laid in the grass at her feet. One doe who hung at the edge of the herd came closer and closer throughout the day. On occasion, Bree would catch the doe looking at her, and Bree would stare back nervously. They were just animals, she told herself, thinking of the best way to capture one while she could. She could live off the meat for at least a good while, and then tan the hide and make tools from the bones. The deer were startling beautiful, and the thought of killing even one for food made her twinge with guilt. She needed more food if she were to recover. She struggled to remember how she arrived in the cave. She strained herself. She barely remembered grandmother, the slavers, and even the village where she was born. The recent past was fuzzy to recall. She felt in some ways waking at the spring was he
r first memory. Bree sat confused, her head on her knees; hadn't she been a slave for years? Or was it just a flash of a brief moment in time? Bree could not remember, but it didn't seem to matter. She wanted to forget her past anyways.

  She ate three more small crawdads and foraged by the edge of the spring for tiny freshwater mussels.

  She lay by the embers of her fire, watching the deer whose fur was luminescent in the moonlight. When she pried her eyes off the deer, she stared at the millions of stars that decorated the sky. The moon hung brightly, and she thought of her grandmother, and her eyelids grew heavy with the promise of sleep.

  Chapter 3

  Bree was about to drift to sleep when a shadow slunk into her cave. It lay something besides the fire, dropping it with its mouth. She sat up startled and scrambled backward, letting out a cry. The creature's breath frosted the air. It's tossed its antlered head, it glared at her. Plant's hung from his fur in great mats. Bree could not make out a face under all that mattered fur, and she could not tell if it was man or animal, it seemed to shift forms, and her eyes could never quite look at it directly. Her heart in her throat, the creature stared at her for a long moment, then as fast as it had arrived, it charged away into the night tossing its head and letting out a strange garbled cry.

  She huddled still for a long moment, then she stood up shaking. She was confident that the creature would attack her, but he seemed frightened of her. She added twigs to her meager fire, brightening the cave. She saw the prize that the beast had left for her. It was a pheasant that had been gutted and plucked. Its bare neck was cleanly snapped, and it's bright eyes looked at her dully and mournfully.

  It didn't take her long to assemble a crude spit as she roasted her prize over the fire.

  Charring the bird to make sure it was thoroughly cooked, she peeled its skin and ate ravenously. Grease coated her chin, and she picked her teeth with the leftover bones.

  After another drink from the spring, Bree lay buried in her furs. She looked towards the forest, checking on the herd. The deer had moved to settle down in the field for the night. They had been entirely unperturbed during the beast visit to Bree's little camp. As Bree put her head down, she noticed that one of the does had moved so close to her campsite that her fur was reddish in the dying embers' light. Bree was too tired to scare her away. Instead, she fell into a deep sleep, her stomach full and body wrapped in her furs' warmth.

  It was mid-morning before Bree woke. Despite the heavy meal that she ate last night, she found herself more hungry than the previous day and she awoke with hunger pangs twice as painful. Bree groaned, lying on her side miserable. The sound of splashing water and laughter immediately put her on edge; she scrambled up, clutching her furs searching for a rock to defend herself. "You don't have to be doing that, I ain't gonna hurt you,” a feminine voice said. Bree stared at a plump woman wearing nothing more than a white pelt around her chest and waist. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied back with flowers and the vines of dark green trees.

  The woman was playing in the spring with the large-nosed fawn. The fawn ran to and fo playing a little game with the woman as she splashed him with water. Bree started wondering who this woman was and why she played so familiarly with the fawn. The wild creature showed no fear to the stranger, and his mother ignored the woman as she grazed nearby. The stranger pointed to a plank of bark that contained a pile of wild herbs and vegetables. “I gathered you some breakfast, I figured you would be starving" Bree stared in awe of the food and unashamedly squatted over the giant pile of vegetables and began tearing in. The woman watched her bemused as she splashed the fawn once more. The fawn snorted, squeaking with joy as he ran a lap around the pool. Bree started at her sideways, a wild herb hanging out of her mouth halfway. She said, "So where are you from, stranger?" the cheerful plum woman smiled. Bree did not answer; she simply gnawed on a wild carrot her eyes-half closed.

  The stranger said, "not very talkative, are you?" Bree finished her food and stared uncertainly at the large blonde woman. Bree tried to form words with her mouth but found that her vocal cords were weak and raspy. Even so, when she was a slave, she had lost her voice long ago. The woman said, “sorry, love, I can't understand you, are you alright?" the woman bent closer to examine her. She said, “well, aren't you a skinny one, tall too. You look like a boy," Bree glared at her; it was what everyone said. "Now, don't take offense to that one, little one. Nothing wrong with that even if you were a boy, you'd fit in around here. Ain't anyone in these woods will judge you except the King, and he is a just judge. Suppose he always watching tho, but he seems to tolerate you just fine." Bree waved her hands and pointed to the pheasant bones. The woman looked confused. "Um, I'm sorry I'm not keen on killing you a pheasant..." Bree mimed her hands to look like antlers on her head. The woman laughed, "I'm sorry you simply look daft, but I know what your talking about. That beast is Faelorn. He's the protector of the forest, he's a friend to my herd, and he serves the King. Tho the King has not been to pleased with Faelorn lately, but thats between them." Bree looked at the woman confused, she sat down, troubled, and the woman sat close to her.

  She said, “I am Elorna, but I go by Elo. This is my herd and my home. I was like you not too long ago. Lost, but then I joined the herd and found some peace. I suppose I have some regrets still, else I wouldn't be talking with someone like you. Faelorn be the one that brought you here from the woods. I suppose you have something to do with those village men. The lot of swine." Bree shrugged tense; the mere mention of her captors made her feel ill.

  Elo noticing her nervousness, patted her back gently. She said coaxingly, "there, there that's your past, ain't none of that matters any more. You can join my herd, and then you feel much better. Unless the king sends you away, which he never does so, you can live with us and finally be free."

  Bree shook her head, she tried to open her mouth to make a sound, but nothing came out, so instead, she curled up miserable. Elo said, “Well, I'd like to know your name, at least." Bree took a deep breath, she tried to move her throat, but it was impossible.

  Elo leaned in close "what was that?"

  Bree clenched her fist, and with all her strength in her cracked voice, she said her name. "Breeeeee," her voice was a whisper of wind useless, but Elo heard enough to make it out.

  "Bree, that be an interesting name. You must be foreign, you don’t look like any of the villagers, but its been so long since I used to live there. Well, Bree. This is a lovely place to be. I'd hope you stay; it is nice to have someone my age to talk to. All the other does hardly remember what being a person was like."

  Bree was taken aback, had she heard this stranger correctly? Was she talking about the deer? The fawn that had been playing with Elo trotted over cautiously hanging behind his friend, shyly looking at Bree threw Elo's legs. "This is Eli, he is nothing but a babe. He's one of the few babes the herd has. We usually play together. He's curious of you..."

  A honking sound startled the group. A white doe, Eli's mother, looked frazzled and upset. She honked, and Eli ran from Elo and back to his mother. "Stay away from the girl, Elo. She has a fierce spirit, and until the King arrives, we don't know what will become of her" It was a large pale golden doe who spoke, tossing her head; unlike the other does, she was antlered. Elo complained loudly, her hands on her hips. "She ain't much different from me when I got here." The different golden-colored doe hung by the entrance. "If you want to stay with us, you need to obey. Now come back here right now, if the King says she is safe, we will tolerate her." Elo looked at Bree then back at Bakura. Bree's mouth hung open, and she gestured groaning, unable to form words but trying desperately to do so.

  Elo patted her head awkwardly. “It's alright, don’t be afraid, I have to go back tho, Bakura will box my nose if I don't listen." Then in a quick motion, Elo pulled her white dress upwards as if removing it. Instead, in a blink of an eye, the dress moved, and Bree was left staring at a young white doe that gave her a long look before hurriedly trotted ba
ck to her herd.

  Bree stared, amazed, and horrified.

  Where in God's green earth was she? She hugged herself, shaking she must be mad, or imagining things. The doe turned back and said in a voice that only Bree could hear, "I'll come back and visit you some time." They turned and left, and Bree watched as the entire herd disappeared from her sight and back into the forest.

  Chapter 4

  It was late into the night when Bree woke unexpectedly. Nervous, she sat up, she looked around for the strange deer woman. She saw that the herd of deer were still at the edge of the forest; only specks in her sight-line. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, Bree crept to the side entrance, bundled in furs.

  She saw the most magnificent creature standing in the field. She knew, without a doubt, this it was what Elo had called the King. He looked elegant and ethereal, a ghost that was not of her world, yet somehow one with all nature. The spirit looked like moving water. He was transparent—refracting light like a prism. So much light seemed to radiate off this being that Bree stared in awe. As he walked in the field, flowers and life seemed to follow him, buds opened up to absorb his light, and life seemed to spring up from were he walked.

  The creature turned, and Bree had the distinct sense that he knew that she was watching him. In fact, she felt as if she were an intruder not worthy to stand in the presence of something so beautiful and bizarre; she thought that she was only a mere drudge. The being spoke, "you are welcome to stay, my child, this is my forest, and if you are to stay here, you should forget the past pains." Bree could not speak; she simply stared wide-eyed. The creature came closer but not too close. He said, "this is a refuge for those not unlike yourself, all the meek that flee their suffering are welcome here to find peace, you only must accept me as your King and follow me to my home. In the King's Land, you shall be my child for all eternity. You will never hunger, never be cold again, and nor predator ever stalk you. Bree, if you choose you may also return home. The decision is yours." Bree was frozen; she felt fear and awe at this strange creature that was completely natural, yet he was not. The King turned and walked back to the deer, who were all watching. The deer did not move but stood reverently bowing their heads as he passed and reentered the forest as silently as he came. Bree stared as he vanished. She realized too late that she was holding her breath with her knees locked tight. Eyes rolling to the back of her head, she blacked out.