Cinders 4

The forest was still for a few short moments and the three women were able to just stand there and breathe. They needed a rest, but the red army would be upon them soon. All they had time for was a quick breath and maybe a chance to see their surroundings.
Mel looked up at the stars, shining and twinkling as they conversed and waged their own battles above them. There was one star, one that she needed. The North Star would always guide them.
Ashley wasn't paying the stars any attention; they didn't look much different than they had at home. Instead she was staring around her at the trees which were too tall and too narrow, having the proportions of a child's drawings. Some of them were striped and some of them had freckles, and some of them leaned to whisper to one another. They were watching them.
Bella though, she couldn't take it, she sat down on the ground, her short shorts immediately soaking up the wet of the forest floor, and she covered her face with her hands.
"This is wrong!" she complained, "This is like, some nightmare or something!"
"This is home." Mel regretfully informed her, spotting her star, "We are far from any of the towns that I know though, far from safety. We should move."
"What's the point?" Bella was pouting, her thin arms dropping to her ruined shoe, trying to salvage the shredded ribbon, "They're going to catch us eventually."
"Not if we're smart." Mel patted her on the shoulder, an odd motion that was intended to comfort, "But we have to move. Now."
And they did have to move, because the first of the horses was stumbling across the bridge, whinnying and complaining about the shift in landscape. The knights could only come one at a time, but that was the only disadvantage they had. A single horse could catch three women just as easily as an army could.
Ashley and Mel grabbed Bella, forcing her to run once more. She had long strong legs, but they weren't used to this kind of exercise. None of them were after all of this time, but Bella was the worst off. She kept tripping and stumbling, the hands on her arms the only thing keeping her upright as she ran.
There were more horses now, chasing after them, and close behind, but they were having just as hard of a time in the darkness as they were. The stars and some insects were the only source of light and Mel kept shouting out which direction they should be going in seemingly by random.
Their path started to wind downhill though and finally they had some leverage over the knights behind them. The horses were skidding more, afraid to break their legs or falls and break their necks instead. They were more hesitant and as the women slid down the hill, they went with it, their smaller bodies able to work with the moving earth. There were still twigs and, as they went, briers, which caught and ripped at their clothing and skin, making them hiss as the dirt entered the wounds. That was nothing though, nothing in comparison to what would happen if they were caught. They bit their tongues and did not make a sound at the pain that was coming to their exposed skin.
The hill did not seem to end though and Ashley found her fingers digging into the earth, trying to find a hold and keep it. Her fingers were aching at the failed attempts and the cold seeping into her fingers. The braches were becoming more dense though, easier to grab and with each grab she slowed her momentum.
As the branches grew more thick they also grew more barbed and Ashley's hands were heated only by the blood leaving the deep gashes in her flesh.
"It's a briar patch!" Mel exclaimed and she too was grabbing at the sharp branches. They were all trying to slow down but all that they could see in the darkness were the tips of oncoming barbs.
They had to stop. If they didn't they would be torn apart.
They tried, they shoved their feet into the hillside, grabbed at what they could, including each other. Bella was the one with the best answer though. They couldn't stop, they couldn't even slow down enough to attempt halting, so instead she took the oversized sweatshirt she was wearing and pulled it down, hooked it around her feet and ducked her head, covering as much of her skin in fabric as she could. Ashley and Mel took her lead, giving up on trying to stop and tucking what they had exposed into their clothing before curling into balls to protect as much of themselves as possible.
They finally slowed as the briers caught them, as the thorns sliced through the fabric that they were wearing and ripped at hair and flesh. They were biting back tears and screams as they were torn into, as nature defended itself against their vulnerable skin. They fell through the briers for a few feet before they finally stopped altogether, the branches tangled around their limbs like barbed wire and holding them in place. Some of it was imbedded, stuck through ankles and wrists and softer, thinner parts of their bodies.
Ashley looked to her companions, seeing their pained expressions and the blood, all of that blood, spilling from them and staining the briers. She wanted to call out to them, not sure if they were even conscious or alive, but there was a darkness in her eyes and the stars were dancing over her vision. Her mouth felt numb and nothing was coming of it being open. Everything felt like it was on fire and she was lulled by the comfort of unconsciousness.
Richard was dead, killed by those red knights. It didn't matter if she died here, bled out in a briar patch, if he was gone. She went to the safety of sleep and the fires turned into warmth, the pain into numbness, the fear into blackness.

When the darkness faded it was replaced with an amber light that hurt her eyes and she winced against it. Even as the numbness and the sleep faded, she still had the warmth, and that itchy burn of gashes was gone. The warmth was pulling at her, dragging her back to sleep and she fell into it, letting its fingers tighten around her aching limbs and soothe the knots in her muscles.
There was something cold against her face though and it was damp and she tried to get away from it, not opening her eyes to do so.
"Now come on, it's time to wake up." A deep cinnamon voice cooed. It was reassuring and almost hard to understand, a southern accent intertwining with it heavily.
She forced her eyes open and found herself on a couch, thick blankets wrapped around her. A man was leaning over her, a damp washcloth in hand as he patted her face with it. She was startled, this wasn't where she had been, and she sat up, making her muscles scream at her in their agony.
His hand was on her arm though and he was shushing her, making her feel comfortable enough to lie back down. She stared up and found that she was still in the briar patch. She could see thick branches, covered in thorns, up above her, twisting and twining around one another. Woven between them was a golden sheet, changing the color of the light that pierced through it into a radiant amber. It formed a dome like hovel, a small home perfectly suitable for one.
And the one was tending to her as if she were a precious thing, a baby bird that had fallen into his nest. She assumed that was pretty accurate.
"Where am I?" she asked. Her throat cracked with how dry it was. How long was she out?
"You're in my home, under the briar patch. I don't know why you were falling through that briar patch and I don't reckon I want to know. Don't you worry though. You and your people will be fixed up in a jiffy." He smiled at her. He was handsome, in a strange way. His skin looked thick and had hairline scars on it, probably from nicking it on the thorns, and it was the color of stained leather. His jaw was narrow and his teeth large, almost bucked, as he smiled a large welcoming smile. Ashley didn't know anything about him, but she liked him based on that smile alone. His eyes were small and black, his eyebrows thick and revealing.
"My friends?" she looked around herself, not quite able to see them. What she was able to see was some furniture, which looked like it was handmade from wood from the surrounding forest, and thick curtains blocking off the dome into separate rooms. On one wall were the skins of a few foxes and on the hardwood floor, just in front of a snapping fireplace, was the large hide of a bear.
"Like I said, they'll be fine. The skinny girl, she needs to eat something right proper, she's in my bed, and the blond one, well, she's in real bad shape, she's in my hammock." He reassured her.
It wasn't very reassuring though, "What do you mean in bad shape?"
"Well, her ankle is twisted something awful and she's lost a lot of blood. She wasn't wearing much when she took that tumble, so she got ripped up pretty bad. She hasn't woken up yet, but I won't stop nussing her until she's mended."
"Who are you?" she asked as he stood up, a bowl of water in one hand the washcloth in the other. He was tall, stooping to not hit his head on the sloped ceiling. He was thin too, a tiny thing but he looked agile and quick. He was wearing all fur and leather, small pieces stitched tirelessly together.
"Brer Sungura." He bowed to her.
"Thank you, Brer." Ashley would have offered her hand but the motion hurt too much, "I'm Ashley."
"Ah, Ms. Ashley. A pleasure. If you need anything, feel free to ask. I'm going to go back to tending to the others now that you are awake."
"Thank you so much. I thought we were dead."
"We all think we are dead, Ms. Ashley. At one point in our lives we think, oh, it's over, there will be no more. And it seems so easy to just close your eyes and go through with it. It's not the end though, not if there is more to do. You have more to do, that is clear enough. I just helped that along. Now you get better and you do what needs doing."
He turned on his heel and bounded out of the area, passing by the curtains into the space beyond. Ashley rested again, her eyes fluttering closed again as she touched the bandages wrapped around her wounds. They should have been hurting but they weren't. She peeled some of them back and found that there was not deep and violent wound, but a bubbling black scab instead. She must have been out for a very long time if she was healed so fully.
She pulled herself off of the couch, ignoring how her muscles screamed at her. The aching felt fresh, as if it had just been to days since they fell, but it must have been more than that. She could hardly walk, her knees threatening to buckle with each step. But she wanted to help, she wanted to be useful.
In realizing that she was naked she grabbed the blanket, wincing as her arms fought her, and wrapped it around her. Her own clothing was nowhere to be seen, probably shredded and thrown into the fire by now.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked, almost to those thick curtains.
"No. I want you to rest." Brer instructed, "Just sleep for now."
"Are you sure?" she pulled the curtain aside and looked in at him. He was standing over Mel, who was twitching a bit in her sleep, bandages covering her. Ashley couldn't see all of the damage, another thick blanket draped over her, but she knew it couldn't have been good. She didn't know how she had been able to be the one to wake up first, "I can clean or cook or something."
"There is not much to clean." Brer shrugged.
"I noticed that." Ashley looked at her bare toes. There was no clutter in the small home, no real mess. There was some dust but that was all. It wouldn't be enough to occupy her, not enough to pay this man back. "You've done so much for us, saved our lives. Is there anything I can do?"
"This skinny one will be awake in an hour, if I am not mistaken." Brer smiled, wiping her brow with the same washcloth he had used on Ashley, "I reckon she will be hungry. So will you, once you realize it. You should rest but it is clear that you aren't going to listen to me. There's grits and there's rabbit and fox and some vegetables in the pantry. You can do something with that, I reckon."
She nodded to that and went in the direction he had pointed, slowly and delicately. She found the pantry easily, it being just another curtained off area. Dried or smoked meat and vegetables hanged from the ceiling from small hooks and what wasn't there was on a make shift shelving unit behind it. She took what she needed and headed back into the main room. There was no kitchen, no need for one with such a large fireplace, and she had always wanted to try cooking a stew over an open fire.
When Mel finally woke it was much the same conversation that Ashley had had with Brer upon waking. The food was ready though and he propped Mel up in bed and the three of them ate together. Bella was still unconscious in the hammock strung up across the small sleeping space from Mel, although Ashley had hoped that the smell of food would have woken her. Bella had always had a strong appetite and a fast metabolism. Ashley thought that her hunger would wake her up. According to Brer though, she wouldn't be awake until the next day at least.
"How long have we been out?" Mel asked, wincing as she put her thing arms down, her bowl of stew in her lap. Ashley perked up, that having been a question at the forefront of her mind as well.
"Only about two days." Brer shrugged, "You should be good to go in about two more if my prediction about your friend here is right on."
"Two days?" Ashley was shocked, of course she was! There was no reason for them to be awake this early. From their injuries, from how much they'd healed up, a week seemed short. Two days was just impossible.
"You used magic." Mel was more calm about it, but she was still shaken by the new information.
"Magic is illegal without a permit." Brer informed, "I don't have a permit and I don't know any magic. So no, no magic."
"Then how?"
"It's just a little home remedy I brewed up. Some of the ingredients are used in magic but they ain't illegal to grow or cultivate. I've been using it for years, a bit of dragonsroot, a bit of tar, some of what dealt the wound, some other odds and ends. Fixes you up right quick."
"That can't be legal." Mel thought out loud, "dragonsroot is illegal to grow."
"But not illegal to cultivate. I found a patch of it growing in the shadows of an old pine. Guess a dragon fell there a few hundred years ago and the tree took a few decades to grow tall enough to give the right amount of shade." He corrected.
Ashley was trying to get her head around all of this. She shouldn't have been able to, she should have been on her back unconscious, and that was a miracle in itself. But magic? That didn't exist. And dragons?
"What's dragonsroot?" she asked.
Brer stared at her, not sure what to think, but Mel just sighed, "It's a root that grows from the decomposed corpse of a dragon. You know what a dragon is. They're extremely powerful magic and where their body has rotted there lies the chance for dragonsroot. But it can only grow in extreme dark. It can't have any sunlight or it will turn black and desiccate."
"How come you don't know that?" Brer studied her.
"We've been out of the world for a while." Mel shrugged, not giving away too much, "Both of these girls have gone a bit of a mind wipe."
"I see." He turned away from her, thinking out loud, "I won't ask any more, it ain't my business."
"Thank you."
"Although it seems to me that no matter what you plan on doing, you're going to need some clothes. I burned your old ones, they were a mess."
"That's what I thought."
"I can get you new ones but that would take a good few days for me to get to town and back. I do have some men's clothes, but I made those myself."
"You don't want to give them away, I understand. Is there something we could do to repay you?"
Brer thought about that, long and hard. Ashley was expecting something sexual, that's what these sorts of things always led to back home, but this was a whole other place. A place with magic and red horses and glowing deer. A place without cars or airplanes or bridal shops. She looked down at her finger. Richard's ring was there, encircling her finger. It was the only thing that she was still wearing, the only thing that hadn't been torn apart by briars.
He was dead. He had died. He had stood in the way of those red knights and let them go, sacrificed himself so that they could get away. That scream. There was no way they would have let him survive, not after giving them time to get away. She was never going to see him again. Mel and Brer were talking but she couldn't hear a word of it. It didn't matter. Her eyes were burning and her fingers were twisting the blankets and there was a hard lump in her throat and she was shaking.
She had to get out of there, out of that small little house and away, get outside, get as far away from these people as she could. Her cheeks were growing red and hot and she didn't want them to see this. Brer had done so much for her, she didn't want to make him do more. Mel wouldn't understand, she didn't seem to understand any human weakness.
She rose and quietly slipped away but, when unable to find a door in the canvas hovel, went into the pantry, curled up in the corner, her knees once more to her chest, the blanket wrapped snuggly around her, and did her best to stay silent as she cried. There was no point for her to be alive, not when she had failed in keeping Richard. He was her love, he was the only point she had to get up in the morning, he was the sun and the moon and the stars, he was home. What was the point of doing anything, of continuing on, if he wasn't there? He wanted so much of her, her happiness, her rising out of the ranks of being a maid, her fulfilling her potential. Now there was no one for her to try for.
Her chest hurt and her head was pounding and the blanket was a mess, but she was quiet at least, just a few hiccup like gasps and shuddering wheezes. It didn't matter though, she could still feel eyes on her and she turned to see Brer standing under the lifted curtain, watching her silently. When her red eyes met his he turned away, pretending he had accidently walked in. She knew that wasn't true.
 "I'm pathetic, aren't I?" she tried to joke but she couldn't force a laugh into her voice.
"No no. I'm sure you got plenty of reasons to cry." Brer didn't turn back.
"My fiancé just died." She admitted, "He sacrificed himself for us, tried to give us more time. There were these people after us, I don't know why, and he knew that they'd catch us so he got in the way."
"I reckon that alone is enough reason." He still didn't turn. She wiped up the mess of her face as best she could, "Ya'll see the body though? Know he's dead for sure?"
"N-no." Ashley shrugged, "But there's no way they spared him. I don't see why they'd let him live."
"This is Faerie. People do strange things for strange reasons. I say, there was a time when I got myself coated head to toe in tar, all because I had a bad temper. There's fair chance your man is still alive. No need to tore up so soon."
She didn't want to hope. She didn't want to think there was a chance for him to be alive just to find out the truth and be crushed all over again. She hadn't seen him die though, none of them had. That scream though, that was a telltale sign, but it could have been from pain, not death. She couldn't help but see the logic in what Brer was saying. She hated the little ball of hope growing in her heart, but it was there regardless.
"You think?"
"I know." He finally looked back at her, "There we go, all nice and clean. No more tears. I don't like tears, not one bit."
"Sorry about that." She pulled herself to her feet.
"We all need a good cry now and then, but you must be careful. Tears can bring woes in those around you and that ain't good at all. And it can draw attention. I don't want any sprites fluttering about here trying to solve miracles. I don't need that kind of trouble."
She chuckled, "I'll keep that in mind." And followed him back out into the sleeping area, where Mel was still sitting, waiting for them to return.
"So," Ashley asked, pretending that her face wasn't at all of colored or that her voice wasn't still cracking, "What did you decide on?"
"Well, we're at a bit of a standstill, darling." Mel admitted, "I offered Bella to dance for him, do whatever it is that she does best, stripper rules apply, no touching, no asking special favors. I only say standstill because Bella has to agree to it."
Ashley looked at their sleeping friend, "I think the only problem she'd have with that are her ankle being twisted and, more importantly, there won't be any naked girls for her to check out."
Brer chuckled, a deep dark laugh. There was something ancient, wild, animal there, "I don't know. She's not the only purdy naked girl in the room."
Ashley slapped his arm, "Mel would never!"
"I was meaning you." He smiled.
She slapped him again. Still it was a good compliment, She never got flattered when Bella was around, conscious or not.
Bella would most likely agree to it, she loved the attention of stripping. She did it off work enough, whenever she had a drink or two in her or was in a big enough crowd that wasn't paying enough attention to her, for Ashley to be sure that she would. It was an audience of one, but that didn't matter too much.
They'd have to wait for her to wake up for a proper answer though.