Exile (Book II in The Elder Origins series): Novella (12 page)

It wasn’t until they reached a comfortable distance away from the monastery that Jayden spoke.

“This was bad luck. That’s all Madison. This would have happened with or without our presence. The pestilence takes people from life’s grasp as quickly as it pleases on a given day. We know this now,” he said forcefully. He still sensed her unease.

“For all we know, we brought it to them.”

“You mustn’t think that way. If we didn’t bring it, then someone else would have. Their lives were lost to it before we came. And their Brother said they already had a few upon their death.”

Madison couldn’t look at him, only at the ground. He stopped her horse from squirming with the grip of his hand on her arm. As tightly as he held her, she knew it would bruise. The knowledge that it would heal didn’t leave her less angered.

“Do not carry this with you, do you understand Madison? This was not us.”

Madison continued to look away. “We took what we needed from them,” she said, her voice growing louder. “We fed from one, and then lay to rest. Whether the pestilence was upon our clothes or our bodies, they met their death quicker than they should have. And how much did they lose? Was it days, weeks, months?” She was nearly screaming at him, no longer caring for discretion.

“It wasn’t us. If this disease is as far spread as those thieves said it was, these men were meant to die long before we arrived,” he said.

“How are we to risk not infecting the innocent if our need for blood arrives?” she asked, trying to bring her voice down.

“We don’t. We have no control over it. We keep to our discretion and we choose to drink from those who go unnoticed.” he said.

“And how many more thieves or murderers do you suspect us to encounter?” she asked.

“Dredges of humanity are easier to find than you may think. This sickness may be our key to avoiding suspicion, rather than keeping to ourselves. If so many are dying daily, then we may go unnoticed. Our victims even less so.”

He took her arm gently and pushed her forward so her horse would move. It began to trot forward as Madison softly patted its sides with her ankles. She didn’t wish to speak of it more anyhow. She was more focused on trying to forget what she had just seen.

Chapter 9

A Couple Days Later

From the Welsh shores to the outskirts of London

It was hardly an hour before their swim from Irish shores brought them to a new coastline, the one they had hoped to reach initially. They left their horses behind for local villagers and finally reached England. Days passed without seeing a single soul, leaving Jayden frustrated and Madison curious. She had never known such desolate areas could exist outside of the lands they had left only a few weeks prior. They resembled everything she had seen across the seas, but in a different lighting. Tall and rocky mountains with lakes scattered about from region to region, and the scent of the trees greeted her before she ever saw them. The rains came nearly every day, making it greener than anything she had ever beheld. The landscape was so vastly different from anywhere else and yet exactly the same in nature.

As the days passed, they wandered through landscapes she never pictured she would have visited before this new life became of her. Often signs of life were near, but hardly found. Other times townships appeared, placed in areas she didn’t think people capable of inhabiting. Each village appeared more isolated and sicker than the previous. People’s waste was clearly marked outside villages as they approached, the scent often meeting her senses before anything else. Madison soon found her skill of perceptively listening for miles around to encounter signs of people a less than exciting task, for the presence of death or disease always followed. It was often accompanied by choking and coughing, or the cries of people having lost their loved ones.

The path leading to their intended destination was marked on the trade routes through the wilderness and long valleys. Jayden had decided it his duty to make a stop in London, persisting on its importance. She didn’t argue, but insisted that their visit be a short one.

Jamison told her stories of the city and its filth, having journeyed there a few times over the years. He said it wouldn’t suit her taste for cleanliness. She knew many were not like her. It was often rare for someone to take such a keen interest in remaining untouched by dirt and mud that often lay around their small village by the sea. But he always humored her, bringing in water from the sea from time to time and warming it over the fire for her to rinse cloth in so that they could remain as clean as possible. It was a quality she would need to forgo, he claimed, once they reached their future home across the ocean. He was uncertain of how others would take to her almost dainty insistence on remaining clean.

London, from the way Jamison had described, was where men went to die of every vermin the world could provide. But for all the disgust he had for London and those who occupied it, the outside appeared different from how Jamison portrayed it. Its odor was enough to deter her desire to enter it. Its appearance however from just a short distance away, wasn’t what she expected.

As they approached the entry of the city, a man appeared on the muddy road. He was draped in a long and thick brown cloth as the other man digging graves had been. Flies swam about the air and stuck to him as he walked. The cloak was dipped in some kind of oil given how it hung from his body. The material spattered side to side as he walked, the weight of the oil draping his long limbs. He emerged from the fog as though he were a ghost, only his long bird beaked mask gave away his true intentions. He pushed a cart along as a man from behind followed. He was dressed normally with only simple clothing. Others began to follow in quick succession. Some of the carts were covered with thin dirtied material to hide their contents. Bodies lay upon the creaking wood without any mercy to onlookers who dared witness how many had been taken that particular day. A few of these men dressed in the same fashion attempted to dissuade them from entering the city, but their warnings weren’t heeded.

The graves were more humane than she had expected them to be. A long trench had been dug. Each body lay side by side, given their personal space to take to the earth. The occasional child was placed between long adult bodies, but the rows were perfectly formed.

She looked upon Jayden, searching for reassurance. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” he said.

“Who is it you long to see here?”

“The man who funded our journey, the one who gave our voyeurs the rights to their ships,” he said. “He was an educated man. He desired that our men come back to him one day if able to share our findings of new land.”

“He’s probably dead,” she said roughly.

“More than likely, but it’s important to me never the less.”

“So you worked for this man?” she asked.

“It was his idea that I take the journey.”

The entire matter captivated Madison’s interest more from the idea that this man was the one who endeavored Jayden to take the journey far away from English shores.

“He knew I had grown tired and restless here,” he continued, “and he suggested that my skills would be made useful on the journey.”

“And what are you to tell him, once he realizes that we were successful in finding land but unsuccessful in keeping it?” she said dryly.

“That as crowded and awful as lands here may become, no one should ever be tempted to leave it.”

“And you think he will listen?” she asked.

“If the actions of the Vam-pyr-ei-ak were of any consequence, then he should heed such a warning. Future generations however, I doubt will bear such memories as witness.”

Turning to move onward, he took Madison’s hand and moved her to the outside of the road, keeping her away from the commotion. She showed her distaste for his decision to go forth once the scent of the city began to reach a near horrendous proportion.

“You think this vial, mistress? We haven’t yet entered,” he said grinning.

“And you are certain you want to?”

“Yes, I need to speak to this man.”

“He is a lord?” she inquired.

“Of sorts.”

“Do you truly think he would be affected by the not knowing of our journey’s end?”

“I am only to tell him that lands as such exist, but they are not to be encountered. They are uninhabitable by man and our crew suffered for it,” he said firmly.

“I still think him better off not knowing,” she said.

“You’re a stranger to not knowing, mistress. You have not the slightest idea what it is like to wait and not know of someone’s fate. You know your brother and your companions are dead. There is a closure in that for you. The not knowing is what truly kills people over time.”

With that he was silent and she with him. It was clear to her then, that London held more than just this man he sought after. It held memories. Jayden lost someone here.

She allowed Jayden to walk at her side in silence for the remainder of their trek into the city. It was the first time in over a day they had slowed to the average person’s pace of walking. She already missed the sound of the wind passing quickly as she ran. It was far better than listening to the cries of people in the streets letting go of their loved ones to be buried outside the city walls.

Jayden walked the distance down to the river Thames. At this point, Madison’s sense of smell was becoming so repulsed that she had a difficult time hiding it. She now understood why the thieves wore cloth over their faces. Buildings towered over them higher than she had ever seen along the river’s edge. They were stacked on top of one another in such a way that didn’t appear stable in any form. Their originally white exterior was washed into a grey muddy color. The wooden timbers lining the edges and sides sagged with the weight of the humidity in the air.

There were a few small boats and medium sized ships every few yards lining the Thames, but trade had obviously dwindled as they were left to sway in the water. She imagined that this area had once been full of people parading around to fetch their foods or other goods, but now the few that walked about only dared to do so by not going near anyone.

Madison lost herself in listening to the area for anything she could recognize. But this city was unlike the villages she already passed through. Its majesty was one of nothing but foulness compared to the beauty and grandeur of the land she had left in the northern territories. She pondered for a few moments if she had ultimately made the right choice in accompanying Jayden back to their previous world.

Jayden directed Madison farther down the streets. Mud began to seep through her leather shoes. Her cloak became heavier with each step and she felt the urge to remove it. But with the cold beginning to drift in the air, she knew she would appear strange should she be seen without some kind of covering. She attempted to gather some of it in her hands, but the skirt of her newly acquired dress was then exposed to the mounting grime of the streets. She resolved then and there that she would only ever wear dresses when it was necessary for appearances sake. She preferred men’s trousers over all other clothing. But being seen in such garb wasn’t to be born amongst others.

She could see that beneath the mud was cobble stone. Although most traces of it were left indiscernible. Gazing down the length of the street, she could see two bodies thrown from their lodgings to remain on the street until gathered. Loved ones had clearly become no more than carcasses when disease was intent on spreading.

“We shall meet tomorrow, then? Just here by the docks?” Jayden said expectantly. His question was more of a command with no need of a reply.

“Pardon? You don’t intend to leave me here alone?” she protested.

“This is a trip I must make alone, mistress.”

“And where am I to take lodging tonight in this hell hole of a city?” she demanded.

“I will be back by dawn. You’re perfectly capable of handling yourself for a matter of hours, are you not?”

She knew this was an attempt to make her sound weak. She stood defiant before him but didn’t immediately answer.

“Good. It’s settled then,” he said.

“I will be listening for you, I’ll have you know,” she said. She glared at him once more and he could feel her frustration for his decision.

“Stalk my every step if you wish with your keen hearing, mistress. But I have accompanied you for over a month. I need this one night for my personal affair.”

“As you wish, sir,” she responded formally. She wasn’t eager to appear frail from his absence in any way, thus she let him go quietly and walked away without looking back at him. Toward what, she was less certain.

She had never seen the inner city. By the outskirts of it, Jamison had been right. It wasn’t to her taste. But with the night yet to embrace the city, she resigned herself to walk the streets for the evening, not fully prepared for the full length of terror surrounding her.

It suddenly became apparent to her why Jamison had required that she always stay at the other end of the Thames in their temporary lodgings the previous year. There were ropes tied from one side to the other end for men to tow boats to and fro across the river. The murky water and hazy clouds made seeing the other side nearly impossible. Such things before her transformation would have frightened her. The journey they were bound to make was enough of a concept to overwhelm her without having to take the daily journeys Jamison required meeting with their voyeurs to plan the crossing.