Eternal Forest: Savage Rising (5 page)

             
He tried to make sense of what he’d witnessed. Azalea seemed just as surprised as everyone else at whatever power she had used to heal the injured balisekt. All it took was a touch, just one gentle touch, and all of its wounds were gone. A once bloodied and broken monster was instantly healed. Everything he learned about Azalea only raised more questions.

             
The crowds dispersed as they arrived at the prison. It was a solid structure, built from split oak trunks. An iron door covered the entrance and a small, single hole in the wall laced with bars made for a simple, yet impassable window. Where most of the roofs in Meadowgold were made from straw and twigs, this one was made with the same logs as the walls. Zehlyr could see no method of escape possible. The iron door was opened with a loud groan and the prisoners were forced inside.

             
Stepping out of the sunlight and into the poorly lit jail, Zehlyr felt temporarily blinded. The lack of heat from the sun made him feel cold, though the chills running under his skin from fright certainly played a part in that. As his eyes adjusted once again, he could see the room was divided into four cells, each with a set of iron bars encasing it. A thin hallway ran the length of the structure between them. There was one window on each side of the building that the two cells on that wall shared. They were large cells, each roughly four hundred square feet, and none of them was occupied.

             
Seeing the condition of his new surroundings, Zehlyr felt a glimmer of hope that the balisekt would be placed in a separate lockup, hopefully against the opposite wall and out of reach through the bars. However, once the creature was tossed into its cell, he and Azalea were quickly added to the same space.

             
Zehlyr and Azalea each struck the cold, dusty ground with a painful thud. Zehlyr quickly scrambled to his feet again and turned back towards the entrance of the cell, but only in time to see the iron bars close with a deafening crash that echoed against the oak walls. “No! Please!” he shouted.

             
Sansehr only gave him a sinister smile. “You two feel like saving the life of this savage creature? Well, let’s see if it returns the favor.” At those words, Sansehr and his group left the jail.

             
Trembling and short of breath, Zehlyr turned around slowly. Azalea was huddled up against the far wall, her body shaking violently from fear. The balisekt crouched down in the opposite corner. It didn’t move or make a sound. It only watched, and waited.

Chapter 5

              After a while, Zehlyr was starting to get splinters in his back. Pressed up against the oak wall of his cell, his feet pushed hopelessly against the stone floor, unwilling to admit there was no more room he could put between himself and the balisekt. Azalea coward beside him, her hands up over her face and her knees tucked up to her chin. She held her cloak tightly around her, like a child taking comfort in a favorite blanket.

             
On the opposite side of the cell, the balisekt remained crouched down. Its hands were over its head, letting its clawed fingers wrap around the bars behind it. Its long, green tail smacked the ground with each twitch, sending up clouds of dust into the barely-lit room. Its eyes were locked forward, fixated on the two humans. It hissed softly with each breath. The sound was as calm as a kitten’s purring, but utterly terrifying.

             
Zehlyr lost all track of time, each breath he took felt stolen from fate. He had no idea why the creature hadn’t torn them to shreds yet. Everything he had seen today went against all he’d been taught about balisekts, but old ways of thinking didn’t die quickly. This balisekt seemed more curious than malicious, but Zehlyr wasn’t sure enough to let his guard down; not that having his guard up would save him.

             
“You…you can speak…right?” Azalea finally asked with a shaky voice. She wasn’t sure if attempting to establish communication would make their situation better or worse, but it was better than just waiting to die. “I heard you speak in the forest.”

             
The creature nodded. “I can,” it said. Its voice was raspy. Understanding its words was difficult, but not impossible.

             
“How is it you can speak?” Zehlyr asked.

             
“How is it
you
can speak?” the balisekt retorted with a chuckle.

             
“I’m sorry,” Zehlyr replied, blushing with embarrassment that an animal had just bested his wits. “I’ve just never heard a balisekt speak before.”

             
The creature moved suddenly, causing both Zehlyr and Azalea to flinch. Kicking off the ground with its massive feat, it whipped its tail around the top of the bars while grasping onto the lower portions with its hands. Suspended against the wall of the cell, the balisekt swung back and forth like an anxious child told to sit in the corner by its mother. “So, you have encountered others of my kind then?”

             
Zehlyr shook his head. “Well, no.”

             
“Then why do you assume we cannot speak?”

             
“I…I don’t know,” he responded, realizing he truly didn’t have a good answer. “I guess I’ve never been told by anyone that balisekts could talk. No one in any tribe has ever told of such a thing.”

             
“To learn about a mouse, would one query a hawk?” the balisekt inquired.

             
“I don’t understand.”

             
The balisekt sighed. “You
Creatures of Order
have always despised my kind; cast us out into the uncivilized forest to live like savages with the goblins and trolls. Never have you thought us as equals, instead always meeting us with anger and bloodlust.”

             
“Is that why you’ve learned our language, to seek our favor?” Zehlyr asked.

             
The balisekt nodded.

             
“Are…you going to kill us?” Azalea asked. As far as she was concerned, best to go ahead and skip to the important questions.

             
The balisekt shook its head. “I will not kill you. You saved my life and healed my wounds. I am in your debt forever.” Its eyes turned towards Zehlyr. “You, I haven’t decided yet.” Zehlyr’s eyes widened as his feet resumed kicking futilely against the floor. The balisekt closed its eyes, letting out a hissy laugh at the sight of it.

             
Zehlyr’s legs calmed down as he realized he was being played for a fool. “That reminds me,” he said, changing the subject. “How
did
you heal his wounds back in the village?”

             
Azalea held up her hands and examined her palms as though she’d never seen them before. “I have no idea,” she said softly, not to anyone in particular. “All I did was touch him and then, there was that light. I felt something rushing through me, like a river flowing beneath my skin, through my arms, and out my hands onto…onto…” Azalea looked up at the balisekt who was still swinging back and forth on the bars. “Do you have a name?”

             
The balisekt dropped back down. Its claws clicked loudly against the stone floor as it landed. “Not that you could pronounce in your tongue.”

             
“We could at least try,” she argued.

             
The balisekt let out a short hiss, followed by a quick clicking sound.

             
“Is that your name?” Zehlyr asked.

             
It nodded.

             
“It sounded like you said Heeska. Is that at least close?” Azalea asked.

             
“Close enough.”

             
She smiled. “Very well then, we will call you Heeska.”

             
“I’m assuming that is a male name?” Zehlyr asked.

             
Heeska laughed again. “How you humans survive on your own is remarkable. Yes, it is a male name. I suppose I should learn your names now since we’re not going anywhere for a while.”

             
“I’m Zehlyr.”

             
Azalea lowered her head. “I’m Azalea,” she said somberly. “At least, I am for now.”

             
“I don’t understand,” Heeska said.

             
“Whatever you all did to her out in the Savage Lands, it caused her to lose her memory,” Zehlyr said. “She doesn’t remember anything before…what exactly
were
you all doing out there anyway?”

             
Heeska sighed. “You’re not going to believe me, but I’m honestly not sure.”

             
“You’re right,” Zehlyr said. “I don’t believe you.” It felt very strange to be conversing so plainly with a balisekt, especially since moments ago he was convinced the creature would tear him to shreds. “We found you at the site. You were wearing the robes.”

             
“You found me hiding in the trees away from the site,” Heeska retorted. “I was spying.”

             
“Spying?” Zehlyr questioned.

             
Heeska nodded. “The Chasers had been going into the woods together for months, sometimes not returning for days. No one in the tribe knew what they were doing, but our Lord insisted they’d discovered a power that would tip the scales of influence in the forest.”

             
Zehlyr rose to his feet. No longer fearing for his life, he began to pace the floor in the tiny cell, giving his muscles a chance to stretch. “What does that mean?”

             
“We balisekts are not the savages you think us to be,” Heeska said. “We do not live like animals. Our communities have order, structure, and hierarchy. We engage in trade, we honor agreements.” Heeska looked up towards the tiny window. An orange beam from the evening sun shone warmly upon his scaly face. “Some of us even revere the Lady.”

             
Zehlyr was surprised. Heeska was nothing like the balisekts he’d grown up learning about. “I had no idea,” he said softly.

             
Heeska looked upon Zehlyr once again. The room was dusty, and swirling clouds were passing through the sunbeam coming through the window. The balisekt coughed before answering. “Your ignorance is not without justification. My race was not always like this. Hundreds of years ago, we
did
live as your legends told.”

             
“What changed then?” Azalea asked. She too had risen to her feet, but kept the cloak wrapped tightly around her naked body.

             
“The Blight happened,” Heeska responded. “When the blight drove my ancestors northward from the old lands, we passed through your Lands of Order in our exodus. It was then that they first saw a world of civility and structure, a world of order and law. When the Blight ended, some returned to the south, but many of my ancestors stayed in the north and began to build a civilization like they’d seen in their travels.”

             
A loud groan echoed through the small room as the iron door opened slowly. Everyone in the cell rose to their feet and turned towards the entrance. From the dim light of the evening sun came Viyana. In her hands, she held a pile of clothes and a small, leather sack. “Lady’s grace,” she said as she approached the cell. “You two
are
still alive.”

             
Heeska crouched low against the floor, letting out a slow hiss and flicking his tail against the bars. Azalea turned away. Zehlyr leaned his back against the wall.

             
“These are for you,” Viyana said as she reached her items through the bars and dropped them on the dusty floor. The faint thud echoed off the oak walls. “Real clothes for the lady and something for the two of you to eat.”

             
Azalea bent down and snatched the clothes off the floor. It was an old brown dress that came down to her knees. Though tattered and worn, it did look to be her size. Retreating to the corner, she made quick work of getting dressed with her back to the others, eager to wear something she didn’t have to keep holding closed.

             
Zehlyr bent down and picked up the sack. In it, he found two apples, some berries, and a small cluster of nuts. “For the two of us, you said?” he questioned as his finger moved towards Heeska. “What about him?”

             
“I brought nothing for the beast,” Viyana said coldly. “To be honest, I was expecting it to eat the both of you. Why hasn’t it, if you don’t mind my asking?”

             
“You humans do not taste as good as you may think,” Heeska remarked. His words drew the woman’s attention.

             
“So, it really can speak,” she said. “Absolutely fascinating. Lord Sansehr will have many questions for this creature in the morning.”

             
“And what is to be my fate after he has his answers?” Heeska asked.

             
Viyana paused, her eyelids fluttering rapidly as her mind searched for an answer. “That is not my decision to make,” she answered.

             
“There’s no reason to hold us in here,” Azalea remarked. Now finally dressed, she returned to the barred wall of the cell. “We have committed no crime.”

             
“We do not know what happened today in the Savage Lands, but this creature and its kind were clearly responsible. We also found you both there without justification, and you clearly have an interest in this beast’s well-being. The fact that it hasn’t killed you is proof enough of your guilt. You clearly have some kind of workings together that his lordship will investigate thoroughly tomorrow.”

             
“We had nothing to do with what happened in the forest!” Zehlyr snapped. He realized that yelling wasn’t helping his situation, but up to this point, neither had begging.

             
“That will be for his lordship to decide,” Viyana replied coldly. “Now, eat.”

             
Zehlyr looked again into the bag he’d been handed. His stomach was sick with hunger, but he couldn’t bring himself to partake of anything within. “No,” he said, clenching his fist around the top of the bag to hide the contents from his sight. “I will not eat until there is enough food for all of us.”

             
Azalea stood firm at Zehlyr’s side. Her hand wrapped around his wrist. “All
three
of us,” she proclaimed.

             
Heeska smiled warmly.

             
Viyana pulled her lips tight as her eyes rolled back in her head. “Very well,” she said, exasperated by the whole notion. “I will fetch some food for the balisekt.” With that, she took her leave, slamming the iron door behind her with as much strength as she could muster. The sound echoed throughout the prison long after she was gone.

             
Zehlyr reopened the bag and began fishing through its contents. He pulled one of the apples out and tossed it to Heeska. “Here,” he said. “In case she doesn’t actually come back with anything.”

             
“You didn’t have to do that,” the balisekt said after snatching the apple out of the air. The fruit impaled on one of its long claws, letting its sweet juices run down his hand as their smell filled the air. Bringing the fruit to his mouth, he devoured it eagerly.