Legon Awakening: Book One in the Legon Series (3 page)

“Sash, did you remember to bring glasses?” Legon
asked, looking around for them.

“Oh…” she said, looking perplexed, “I suppose those
would be handy wouldn’t they?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, they would. Oh well. We can just
drink out of the bottle. Mom doesn’t need to know.”

“That she doesn’t.”

Sasha had been right to wrap the pocket pies. It was
chilly this morning and the cloth and towel had kept the pies hot.
Legon looked down at the four pies. Three of them were made with
eggs, bacon, onion, and cheese, and he knew the fourth would be
fruit-filled.

“Sash, did you make enough? There’s only three
breakfast ones here.”

She looked down at the food. “Yes, I think so… there
are two for you, one for me, and a strawberry one that we can
split.”

“You’re just going to have one? I can split the third
with you, I don’t mind,” he said sincerely.

“No, that’s fine. I only need one.”

“Oh come on, you’ll be hungry by ten if you just have
one,” he said as if he were pointing out the obvious, which he was.
One pie was nowhere near enough.

Sasha laughed. “I’m not a bottomless pit like you,
brother. I can eat one and be full, whereas I don’t think I could
make enough to ever sate your appetite.”

A smile crossed his face. When he thought about it,
he had to admit that he did eat a lot. He was big to be sure, but
not fat. He was all muscle, but even for his size he ate a ton. He
remembered once going over to Kovos’ house for dinner. Kovos’ older
brother was supposed to be visiting with his wife, but had been
unable to make it. By the time the family found out that their
oldest son was not going to be there, Kovos’ mom had already made a
huge dinner. Legon remembered with some satisfaction the looks on
their faces as he went for a fourth helping.

Now, sitting on the top of the hill with his sister,
he thought that maybe he did eat too much. Or perhaps the rest of
the world didn’t eat enough. That sounded right.

Sasha and Legon sat enjoying the pies and cedar
together as they watched the sun rise. The pies were incredible. It
seemed that everything Sasha touched tasted good. Legon had
finished both of his by the time Sasha was done with her pie. They
drank from the bottle of cold cedar, which was sweet and good with
the pies. Sasha leaned over the basket and uncovered the last
one.

She had saved the best for last. It was filled with
sliced strawberries in sticky syrup, which covered their fingers
with sugary goodness. Legon wished there was another when he
finished his half of the pie. He was sure to tell Sasha what an
amazing cook she was, and that it was possible that no one in
Airmelia could compare to her, which made her smile.

They talked about how much they liked the early
spring and how beautiful all the new life was in the reddish orange
sunlight. There were thin clouds in the sky that were turning from
dark blues and purples to pink and orange. They looked out over the
small town where they lived. It looked peaceful and serene, bathed
in soft colors. The town sat in a valley with tall mountains on all
sides. There was no town wall, which was strange for a town in
Airmelia; most towns had large stone walls and keeps in the center
of town. This was done for many reasons, the most important of
which was to discourage bands of robbers from trying to loot the
town, and to give the people a general feeling of safety. There
hadn’t been a full-on war since the queen took control, and that
was almost fifty years ago, but many towns still kept the walls
intact. Most towns could not withstand an attack from a large
force, but even small villages would have stockade fences
surrounding the village proper. However, this was not the case for
Salmont.

The town’s people were not amazing fighters, but
Salmont was remote and the people lazy. Salmont was in the middle
of the Empire and was surrounded by mountains; most people didn’t
even know that it existed. The town had no exports and was not a
center of trade. This meant that robbers were not apt to come
because the pickings were too slim and the mountain passes
restricted the routes they could take.

Legon once thought that he lived in the most boring
and uneventful town in all of Airmelia. “Even the name of our town
is boring,” he told Sasha one day. “We live in the Salez territory
so we get ‘Sal’, and in a mountain valley so we get
‘mont’—Salmont,” he said with a shrug.

Now they could see the town from above. It was
disorganized, and from on high the streets looked like a big maze.
In the center were the old remains of a stockade fence where the
town had started. The only strong building was the keep.

The keep was two stories high and made of dingy grey
stone. It was a large building and looked almost like a warehouse.
Above it flew a black banner with a silver crescent moon curling
around a many-pointed star, beside which were three long waving
lines. The moon and star were the symbol of the Iumenta Lord
Sodomis who was over Salez; the three lines represented Regent
Kooth, who was the human in charge of this part of Lord Sodomis’s
territory. Kooth was over five towns and ten villages. The town
hadn’t been visited in years by either Kooth or Sodomis, but their
tax collectors were sure to visit every year, along with the
occasional soldier patrol that kept the passes and roads safe from
robbers, so the townspeople flew the banner.

They were enjoying the warm sunlight on their faces,
when all of a sudden Legon noticed that there was something wrong
with Sasha. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head, her face
contorted, and her whole body became ridged. “
She’s having an
episode!”
he thought, panicked.

One moment Sasha was lying on the blanket thrashing
and twitching, then the next she was off the blanket on the bare
turf convulsing. He ran around behind her and wrapped his arms
around her so she would not roll away and get hurt in the bushes or
brambles. He was used to these episodes, but that did not make them
any less scary. Fear was tearing through him as he struggled to
hold on to her.

“Come on, you’re okay, you’re okay Sash, come back to
me, you’re okay,” he said again and again, trying to keep his voice
soft and reassuring.

She was making a horrible gurgling noise and he was
worried that she was going to throw up, which sometimes happened.
After a few minutes that seemed like hours, Sasha began to calm.
Her breathing became steady and her body relaxed, and she soon fell
asleep. Legon was still lying behind her with his arms wrapped
tight around her; they both were covered in sweat and trembling.
There was a slight metallic taste in his mouth and he realized that
he had bitten his tongue.

He had done this many times before; some of his first
memories were of Sasha’s episodes. He could remember as a boy
sitting next to her bed holding her hand as she slept after having
a particularly bad one. This was one of the things that made them
so close; Legon never left her side, and caring for her made him
love her more.

He held her, willing her to wake. Her hair tickled
his noise. He sniffed back a sneeze and breathed in the scent of
her hair, which calmed him. The trivial problem of a wanting to
sneeze and noticing what her hair smelled like was welcome; it
meant that the episode was over. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew
when they were over, knew when no more tremors would rock her body.
He always noticed something mundane like the scent of her hair or
that one of his socks had a hole in it. After a bit Sasha’s eyes
opened.

“Where… where am I?” she asked. It was common for her
to have a hard time remembering what she had just been doing after
an episode.

When he spoke he tried to speak softly, tried not to
show the overwhelming relief that he felt. “On top of the hill
having a picnic.”

She was silent for a bit, almost like her mind was
catching itself up to the present.

“Oh now I remember. What am I doing on the ground
covered in dirt, and why are you holding…” she trailed off as she
realized what just happened.

“I had another episode, didn’t I?” her voice was full
of fear and sadness. He knew if he could see her face there would
be a look of worry on it.

“Yes.”

They sat up and Sasha looked at him. He could see her
eyes filling with tears that began to roll down her cheeks.

“Why?” she sobbed. “Why does this happen to me?”

She buried her head in the crook of his neck and he
felt her hot tears soak his shirt. He did not answer her questions;
they were not meant to be answered. Legon kissed the top of her
head and now felt his own tears welling up in his eyes. Why did she
suffer like this? Was there some purpose to it? He didn’t know, and
he didn’t share these feelings with her. She needed him to be
strong, to be a protector. They both needed him to be that.

“I wish I could take this from you… I would do
anything to make it stop… I would take it on myself if I could.”
His voice sounded choked.

“I know you would.” Her tone turned bitter. “But then
you would be a freak like me.”

Legon gently moved her back so he could look into her
eyes. “Don’t you say that. You’re not a freak. I love you, sister,
more than anything in this world. You know that don’t you?” There
was warmth and firmness in his voice.

He would take it from her if he could, he would take
it and so much more—anything to keep from seeing the pain in those
eyes. He wanted her to know that she wasn’t alone; he wanted her to
understand that as she suffered so did he, though not in the same
way. He tried to convey this to her in his gaze.

* * * * *

Sasha turned her head. She couldn’t bring herself to
look at him.

“I know you do… and I you.” She smiled a bit; she
could almost feel the love and concern radiating from him. H
ow
does he do that?
she thought to herself. I
t’s like he can
make me feel his emotions. T
hat was one of the wonderful things
about Legon: he had an ability to comfort people and convey love in
a way that was unimaginable.

They sat on the hill holding each other, both sad,
both scared, and both more thankful for each other than the other
could ever know.

It was for this reason that Sasha was not liked in
town. Sure, people were polite to her most of the time, but the
only person other than family members that was truly kind to her
was the town carpenter, Arkin. Sasha had once had a friend that was
good to her, but that girl was gone now. She had been taken by the
queen’s tax collectors when her family could not pay. People in the
town said that Sasha was a good girl, but that demons possessed her
and caused these episodes.

“You’ll see one day, Legon. She’ll slit your throat
when they take over,” a lady named Moleth said once. Sasha was two
years older than Legon and should be married, but was not because
none of the men in town were willing to risk it. “Yeah she’s a nice
girl now,” they would say, or “Have a demon like that lying next to
me? No thanks!” Her brother had gotten into many fights defending
her from these attacks; his friends Kovos and Barnin would back
Legon in fights and would defend her honor when Legon was not
around. Both boys were a little uncomfortable around her. However,
they weren’t sure about her themselves, but they were loyal friends
and so they backed Legon. Still, the violence disgusted her. She
was thankful for the protection, but she was sad that it was done
because of her, even though to a large extent it was necessary.

Barnin had left seeking adventure a year or so ago.
He was headstrong and had always wanted to find the resistance and
join them. He wasn’t anything amazing on a physical level but he
made up for it in determination and confidence.

All three boys were tough. In truth, one of the only
reasons certain townsfolk hadn’t done anything violent to Sasha yet
was that Legon’s dad was the town butcher and they were worried he
would do something to their food if they hurt her, which was true.
The other reason was that they were truly afraid of what Legon
would do; no one in town had won a fight with him in years, and he
helped his dad as a butcher, so he had all sorts of knives and
cleavers to use if he saw fit.

* * * * *

Legon felt Sasha’s crying ebb away. She looked up at
him. Her eyes looked like glass and her face was red and
tear-stained.

“Are you ready to go home? I know you have a lot to
do,” she said.

“Are you strong enough?”

He didn’t want to rush her; in truth, if it would
help he would hold her here all day. That’s what he wanted to do,
keep his arms wrapped tight around her fragile body, keep her safe
from herself or anything that could hurt her. But he knew that no
matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t protect her from everything,
not from her own body. He could protect her from unkind townsfolk,
and he did, but what would happen when the tax collectors came? He
didn’t want to think about it and returned his attention to his
sister.

“Yes, I think so,” she replied. “Hold my hand on the
way back in case I fall.”

“Ok, let me pack up… no, you stay here and rest. I’ll
do it,” he said to her softly.

He rolled up all the blankets and packed everything
in the empty basket. He hoisted it on his shoulder and helped up
Sasha with his other arm. They began the descent to their house. It
was slow compared to the climb up, since Legon didn’t want her to
fall. As they entered the trees they saw shafts of morning light
penetrating the canopy. There were flower buds on the ground; over
to their right some pretty red ones had already blossomed, their
sweet scent mixing with the musk of the moist earth. Thick green
moss grew on the trunks and roots of the trees, and vines with
little orange flowers were crawling up them. The air was thick in
the woods, and when you entered it felt as if the rest of the world
had been shut out. Mist was forming in the low-lying areas, and dew
collected on the leaves. As they passed one tree, they noticed that
between one of its branches and its trunk was a large spider web
covered in dew. Legon marveled at the little structure. “
How can
a bug build something like that?”
he wondered.