Roots - Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven: Stormfront

Clouds boiled overhead and wound like snakes around one another until the sky was an endless ocean of turmoil. Lightning blasted across the horizon and exploded directly overhead with deafening thunder; the very forest seemed to teem with movement as the animals scurried to their protective burrows and shelters. The leaves flew off and swirled in the blistering gales until the tree branches bent and snapped, rustling through foliage and undergrowth until they landed with wet thumps.
The black sky roiled inward to a single point, tightening into a whirlpool with an audible roar. Aldon shivered and clenched his fists together as his stomach did a back flip. The electricity in the air was tangible and made the air shimmer like rippling water. Aldon’s hair stuck up in all directions like a porcupine and tickled his face. He brushed it down with his hands and pulled his hood over it.
Briar up ahead batted away the debris and dirt flung about in the air as he blazed a path through the unforgiving wilderness. All the past trails had become overgrown and those they had taken vanished among the wind’s wrath. The vines reached out at their heels and thorns wrapped around wherever they approached. The slurping noise of their steps through the thick vegetation squished and squashed all the way back to their campsite several hours later.
Mud coated their legs and their clothing hung in torn strips around them.
“This has been a most unfortunate day,” Aldon recounted, kicking off his boots and sitting near the fire. “And that storm’s coming in fast. We should build a shelter and keep firewood handy.”
Briar stood motionless a few feet from the crackling fire as Aldon stoked it.
“Do you know what we have done?” He muttered, hardly a breath of a whisper.
“Yeah, we’ve narrowly escaped dying, and we should enjoy it. Come sit and have a bite before we set to work.”
“No, you don’t understand! The ent died, leaving only one in the forest, who can’t even see. Do you see the repercussions of our actions?”
Aldon stared at him shocked by his sudden anger.
“You honestly don’t see the problem here? You can’t imagine any type of negative effect his death will have upon the ent and therefore everything else?”
Aldon hung his head low and replied without looking up. “He’s going to destroy the forest isn’t he?”
Briar stiffened then relaxed, his anger subsiding slowly. He smoothed his hair back and sat with a groan, leaning his elbows on his knees, head in his hands. Aldon sat across from him, staring into the orange coals as they popped and scattered small sparks into the tempest like a thousand fireflies.
“We can’t stay here.” Briar said at last, breaking the tense silence. The whole area seemed to exhale a breath of relief.
“I know, the storm’s getting worse. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“No,” Briar looked up into Aldon eyes. “We can’t stay here anymore. I’m tired of hiding in the forest and pretending I’m something I’m not. I’ve wasted so many years; years I could have made something of myself. I could have farmed or ranched, or even opened a shop of sorts. I could have contributed to everyone else.
“And this is no life for a young man like yourself to begin.” He stood with a pop in his knees and chuckled. “You’re much too useful and don’t crack like an old branch when you stand.”
Aldon knew his face must reflect the inner turmoil he felt now. All this time he had wondered whether he should continue with Briar and prepare for such a life; or return home and pray for forgiveness. Now was the time to decide without anymore reflection.
It’s time for action. It’s time for me to decide once and for all what I want and who I am, who I’ll come to be.
“You’re right. I want to see the world. I want to travel to distant lands and see a million sunsets. I want to watch the heavens take note as we transform those around us. I want to know I have a purpose, something in life set for me. Something has called my name all my life and I can’t ignore it anymore. Briar, will you teach me the ways of the Survivalist? How to live off the lands and find exactly what you need, and if not, make into it. To fight and win, live without fear and protect those who cannot protect themselves?”
Aldon stood even to Briar with an unwavering stare into the old guard’s eyes. They stood in silence a long while as the storm raged around them. The sky ignited in white fire every few seconds and exploded in cannons of severed air. Most limbs were barren of leaves and the wind was alight with orange and red. Autumn was here and making herself known to the storm and all those in its’ wake.
Briar stood straight and held his chin high, eyes still locked to Aldon like iron. Both held the position without falter, weighing the other’s reserve. Several minutes passed before he cleared his throat and said in a thick, warm tone like that of a father: “I will.”
Aldon smiled wide and gripped Briar’s wrist in a rough handshake. “Then let us be on our way; I fear this storm is just beginning.”
“Aye, it’s getting worse by the second.” His gaze wandered upward to the scowling sky. “I know a cave not too far, follow me.” Briar turned and scooped up a large rock near his old perch; beneath he removed a dirt lAldon pack of rough, weathered leather. He started off on a brisk pace. “Grab the bramble there in the outer ring of the fire and put it in this,” He tossed Aldon a small iron pot with a snug lid and handle. “And don’t forget to put that out when you’re done!”
Aldon gingerly reached into the fire and pulled out a small thicket of brambles, just smoldering with the tiniest of embers sparkling in the center. He stuffed it into the can and placed the lid on top before kicking sand into the fire until it was smothered.
The air was chilled and tore in every direction, pulling on Aldon hair and whipping it into his eyes. He cursed himself for not cutting it shorter and laced his hood on tight. Briar pulled on a woolen cap ahead and scratched his scruffy cheeks.
“It’s just through here, quickly now!” He pulled aside a curtain of ivy and morning glory with one hand and motioned beneath it with the other.
Aldon ducked beneath the brush and entered another dark tunnel of foliage and shrubbery that grew on all sides like a canopy in each direction. Aldon eyes hadn’t yet adjusted when Briar was already pulling him along behind him by his sleeve. The ground here was flat and sticky, like a layer of sap had dripped downhill and passed over the flowers here. Aldon boots tugged at the ground with every step and brought more and more of the ground with them until he was walking on stilts of mud and earth.
Soon the ground began to slope up until Aldon calves were burning with the effort of trudging uphill in the near dark. He could still hear the constant roar of the storm outside droning like a great beast sleeping just outside their door. Every once in a while he could even feel the ground shake as lightning struck it in wild fury. The steady thrumming of the flora overhead hinted to Aldon the clouds may have finally burst and the rain was falling heavily.
“How bad do you think it is out there?” He asked Briar over the steadily growing monotone of the downpour.
“Very. I’m beginning to think the ent’s attachment to nature may spread further than the earth.”
Aldon grimaced and adjusted his grip on the pack he carried. It had no more than ten pounds of equipment in it yet the weight had seemed to grow exponentially as the incline grew to a higher degree. Aldon breathing became labored and sweat beaded his brow and ran down his back. He could feel a sheen layer on his arms and knew he must be close to dehydration and exhaustion.
He tried to take a deep breath and nearly fainted.
“Why’s the air so thin? I can’t breathe, my lungs are constricted.”
Briar continued at the same pace and called over his shoulder in as few words as possible to conserve his own oxygen: “It’s the altitude.” He waved his hand as if a fly were bothering him and fell silent.
Aldon followed him with each step an agony as his lungs emptied more and more and more until he felt he would never take another breath. His legs were on fire and his back ached, groaning and achy; his knees and ankles swollen and his feet sore and blistered.
This couldn’t possibly get any worse.
In his deAldoned state of reclusiveness, Aldon yelped in surprise when the ice cold rain pounded into him with such a force he was knocked over and slid back down the slope a few feet. Drenched, and covered in mud, he forced himself back up the slope defiantly, and cursed the rain as it struck him again. A constant push to the left as it went in sideways; a single sheet like a wave of the ocean from the right tore at them and made the slope slick and oily as the clay turned to a muddy lubricant.
“Keep your head down and focus on where you want your feet to go! Don’t stray from the path and don’t stop moving, this storm can kill!” Briar bellowed over the ruckus of the raging squall around them.
Aldon eyes were half closed and stared at only the ground, keeping his head low as instructed, and watched his feet plant themselves below. He tried his hardest not to fall but couldn’t catch himself every time. Every fall left him muddier than before and just as wet, but also several feet behind from where he had slipped. The trail was mostly straight and would have been a breeze to traverse in less than an hour in clear weather, further dampening Aldon spirits as he tallied their awful luck.
“Pray to the gods we find our way safely!” He cried out to Briar, alarmed by how raspy his voice had become.
“I pray to no one but myself! My body is my temple and the only thing that had remained constant! Why should I bother to give thanks to something that has never been seen nor proven to exist when I am here and clearly visible to all those I have helped? Damned be the gods I would say if they were real!”
This pessimistic view of deity nagged at Aldon as he followed him yet more up the hill, giving him something to focus on instead of his wind-whipped face and raw lips. He had been raised by Muren to worship the gods of nature and spirit who guide man in all they do, such as giving them fire and leading them from the mountains to the light where they could live off the land and animals. But Briar refuted these, leaving Aldon to wonder: Where will he go when he dies?
At long last and several hours of plodding up the hill in a tempest under their belt; they reached the peak, revealing small mound of rock about a yard long on each side. Aldon heart dropped through his stomach as he surveyed the miserable little landing.
“Where’s this cave I was told about? Don’t tell me this was all for nothing!”
Briar laughed and kicked at the stone.
“What are you laughing about, old man? What is funny about this in any way? We just hiked up the side of a mountain in the pouring rain just to find a slab of rock a spider couldn’t crawl under!”
Briar crouched down and snaking his boot under the rock for a finger-hold, lifted the rock and flipped it over with a dull thunk. In the imprint of where the slab had been, remained a hole as wide around as a wine barrel. Briar laughed and lowered himself into it, his laughter echoing as he descended.
Aldon grumbled to himself as he crouched low and peered into the hole. It was pitch black and no telling how deep until a flash blinded him, followed by Briar’s upturned face.
“Kept a lantern and some blankets down here in case I had to hide,” He sat the lantern somewhere below and removed his hat before wringing it. “Well come on now, don’t let all the rain come in or we’ll drown.”
Aldon lowered his pack and found a small rope ladder staked to the mouth of the hole. He stepped down onto the ladder and descended until his head was below, then reached up and pulled a board of wood out of the wall and slid it over the hole.
Instantly the roar of the outside dissipated to a quiet hum and a pressure on Aldon ears seemed to alleviate with it. Aldon pulled off his cloak and tossed it into the corner. Dripping and shivering, he changed out of his clothes and set them to dry on the wall by a hook, and wrapped himself in blankets and sat on a large flat rock.
The room was no more than ten feet across in a roughly circular shape, with walls of bare earth, littered with small pebbles and rocks buried within it. Roots and weeds and low lying vines littered here and there and the floor was flattened sand. Aldon wondered how many times Briar had come here to hide for it to be so smooth and who he would be hiding from. A single lantern was strewn up by a rope tied to a low hanging root that hung from the ceiling in the shape of a U, giving the brown walls an orange glow that seemed to keep the cold out. The soft scent of soil permeated the air like a perfume and laid one’s mind to rest.
I very much like this place. I shall have to make one of my own one of these days. Somewhere I can escape and hide from the world. A place where only I and whoever I wish to come with me exist: my own little piece of the world.
Briar laid back against one of the curved walls as if it were home and rest his hands behind his head. The ease in which he adapted to his surroundings astounded Aldon and a pang of envy shot through him.
“How do you do it?” He asked quietly, like breaking the silence would shatter their serenity.
“Do what?”
“How do you take everything in stride? Just the way you handle everything so easily like they couldn’t bother you if they tried. It’s like you were tailored to match any surrounding you could find yourself in and not just survive but prosper.”
Briar’s face went still as he closed his eyes. His face went serene as if he were dreaming something pleasant. Aldon thought he had fallen asleep when his voice croaked quietly, like someone whispering their last words.
“When I was a boy, I had big dreams. No father, no mother, just places to go and somewhere I wanted to be. I didn’t have a particular place mind you, but I knew I was going all the same. So I went. And after a few years of traveling and searching high and low I met a man named Feldun. He was still young and I could tell he had been around a few times before. I asked him what he used to find his way. He told me: ‘There’s nowhere you can go that can escape yourself.’ At the time I thought it was a bunch of hogwash and I left him in a pretty bad scrape with some fellas he had been gambling with. But after a while I understood.
No matter where you find yourself, you’re still there just as you were the place before. You haven’t lost yourself, only gained more experience and time. So I used my combined knowledge of the different areas until I had it memorized. I learned the seasons, and weather patterns. When the ground was soft and forgiving and when it was hard and wrathful. I sought everything I could from dry seasons to migratory paths. I studied anytime I was in a town.
But it was when I was away, alone, that I learned the most. It was that thirst for knowledge that led me to Ruhtra Gnik. He was a scholar as well as a Spirit Blade and showed me a bright, clever mind is the greatest tool and weapon. I followed this and it gave me power where I had no strength, cunning where I had no experience and truth when I had no conviction.”
Briar sat silent for a moment, his face inscrutable. Aldon wanted to say something but didn’t know any words he could find suitable. After a long while Briar rolled over and pulled his cloak about him, facing the rear wall.
Briar has had a hard life.
Somewhere far off, a thundercloud erupted in an electric current and split the night, shaking the mountain with vibrations and sifting the fog around the peak in a spiral. Aldon listened to it intently as the cave began to dim and turn vibrant colors; his dreams enveloping him even as he remained awake.
He saw a great sky, crimson with a downpour of rain. He glided over the torn land beneath him, seeing nothing when he looked down but a swirling mass of smoke. All sound was stripped from the world as he became engulfed in a war, battle after battle waged across the entire plain until the ground was completely littered with corpses. He looked up to the red sky and saw the rain was actually dark and thick. He held his hand to his face and wiped across his eyelid, blood smeared across his hand.
He screamed a long, agonized roar until all sound came rushing back to him from the rest of the land in a rushing torrent of thought and action until he was overwhelmed.
The land went black; the sound fell silent in awe. A great hand reached down from the sky and split the earth and unleashed waves of lava spurting from the canyons. The liquid rock glowed bright orange and boiled across the blackened land, leaving nothing behind. And as soon as it appeared it vanished with a wave of the giant hand.
Break open the vault now and seek out what you know you must find.
Aldon blinked several times then stared at the ceiling as the mural of his thoughts faded from the rusty colored ceiling. An imprint of what he had seen still lit in his eyes like staring at the sun. An ominous break of thunder rumbled nearby like a funeral drum.