The Blood Witch (The Blood Reign Chronicles Book 1) (13 page)

Jak stood there for several moments staring off into the distance, unwilling to answer the man’s question. He didn’t want to talk about what happened to his family and friends, at least not with a stranger.

“Well boy… where is everyone?” the big man said with impatience rising in his voice.

“My name is Jak, not boy, and what business is it of yours?” Jak could see that the man was getting impatient, and didn’t know why he was being so insolent to him. Considering the man’s size, it was a rather foolish thing to do.

Elsdon rarely got visitors, but when they did they would be treated with courtesy and respect, but there was just something about this man’s questions, and the way he was asking them that set Jak’s nerves on edge. But Jak thought better of it, moderated his tone and began again.

“Everyone is dead.”

“What? …. What do you mean everyone is dead? How could that have happened?” Nicoldani said glancing around again. There was no evidence of a forest fire sweeping through here, nothing to indicate a struggle or battle of any kind. Everything seemed in order, other than the fact that there were no other people around.

“Someone killed them … all of them,” Jak said slowly. He didn’t want to tell the stranger anything, let alone that some strange woman from the cave, or possibly Brigette had killed the entire village.

“Who killed them?” Nicoldani asked warily.

“I don’t know,” Jak lied. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie. He still didn’t know for sure who had done it. “Someone must have come in the night and killed everyone, and then ran off. We didn’t see who did it.”

“That’s not true.” Jak had not seen or heard Gin walking up behind him. “It was Brigette!” Gin said vehemently. “She did it, she killed everyone.”

“Who is Brigette?” Nicoldani asked.

“She lived over there at her parent’s house,” Gin pointed in the direction of the house. “She was Jak’s guurlfriend,” Gin said with a shy smile, but it almost immediately turned grim as she continued. “But Brigette killed everyone. She bit my mother on the neck… and……..”

Nicoldani’s head shot up when he heard Gin’s last words. Bending down and grasping the little girl by her shoulders, he snapped, “What did you say girl? She did what? She bit her on the neck? Was she the only one bitten? Where is she now?”

As the barrage continued, tears began to well up in the Gin’s eyes. She began to tremble visibly and her feet scrambled impotently to propel her away from the imposing man. She was obviously frightened from the huge man’s aggressive actions.

“Stop it!” Jak cried angrily as he tried to pry Nicoldani’s hands from Gin’s shoulders.” Even through his anger, Jak was surprised to find he couldn’t even budge the big man’s hands. They seemed to be made from steel. Suddenly Nicoldani released his hold and stepped back wearing an abashed expression. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to scare the girl.

“Her name is Gin,” Jak said hotly.

“I’m sorry Gin.” Nicoldani said soothingly as he turned to the small girl. As soothingly as he could manage, he wasn’t very good at things like this. He was better suited to battle.

“Go back over to the apple tree and play,” Jak said to his little sister, as he wore a painted smile in an attempt to ease the tension. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

When Gin was out of earshot, Nicoldani demanded again, “I must know what happened here. Did the girl tell the truth? Tell me exactly what happened, many lives depend on it, perhaps even yours. You cannot imagine what kind of terrible danger this might be for you, and the entire world.”

After a time, Jak found himself reluctantly reciting the events of that terrible night. In his haste to be out with the whole story, he thought he left out several details, some of which he knew was intentional. He had no desire to tell this stranger that the woman had bitten
him
, or that she might now somehow be controlling Brigette. Revising the story, he told Nicoldani that the woman in the cave had tricked him into setting her free, but she never touched him, other than to hit him over the head with a rock to make her escape. In Jak’s revised accounting of the events, the woman from the cave looked remarkably like Brigette, but that she had probably killed Brigette first, and then killed the rest of the villagers. Gin, in her terrified state of mind had just thought that it was Brigette, since the woman looked so much like her.

The big man eyed Jak uncertainly, seeming to know that some of the details he had given him didn’t add up. “You must show me where this cave is,” Nicoldani demanded with a fierce determination in his eyes.

“NO!” Jak said more vehemently than he intended. “No, I don’t want to go back there.

Nicoldani’s expression softened a bit as he spoke, “I understand you don’t want to go back, but you
must
take me to the place where you saw the woman. I have to see it for myself. It is more important that you can begin to imagine.”

After a few moments of arguing with the big man, Jak found himself reluctantly agreeing to take the man to the cave where he had first seen the old woman. After all, Nicoldani was an intimidating man, and could be surprisingly persuasive.

Once Jak finally agreed, Nicoldani immediately turned and walked to his horse and began to mount.

“What are you doing?” Jak asked.

“You said you would take me to the cave,” Nicoldani responded with a puzzled look on his stern face.

“We can’t go now, it’s almost dark. We can’t go there in the dark!”

Nicoldani sat there on his large horse hesitantly, seeming to mull it over in his head.
Was the man actually considering going now?
The sun was already down and it was nearly full dark. Abruptly, a howl pierced the silence, quickly followed by several more from different directions. Nicoldani’s horse stamped nervously as the big man tried to sooth the animal, and at the same time he scanned the trees expectantly. The big man didn’t seem to be scared, just alert and eager.

Gin piped up then, “It’s okay, it’s just the wolves, and they come every night. Jak says they have come to sing to us to make us feel better because we lost all our family. Isn’t the sound pretty?”

At the little girl’s words, Nicoldani relaxed a bit, but the wolves turned out to be the deciding factor. “Very well, we will go first thing in the morning,” he announced with impatience and frustration in his voice.

The next morning Jak awoke early, only to discover Nicoldani was already awake. It seemed as if the man had been up for some time. The big man had been busy it appeared, since two horses were tethered next to Nicoldani’s stallion. Nicoldani’s saddle was lying next to his saddlebags and bedroll. The bedroll was already tied up in a bundle, or perhaps he had not even used it that night. Jak had not actually seen the man go to sleep the night before.

As Jak approached, Nicoldani said, “I found these two in the stables,” motioning to the tethered horses. “They seem like fine enough animals, but I couldn’t find the saddles anywhere. Do you know where they are kept?”

One of the horses Nicoldani “found” was Jak’s father’s best gelding named Gandur. His father rarely let Jak ride the horse. Normally, Jak was only allowed to ride the old mare most of the time unless he was working. But even then, more often than not, his father or older brothers would ride Gandur rather than letting Jak ride him.

The other horse that was tethered next to Gandur was Master Kollsvein’s prized stallion. No one but Master Kollsvein was ever allowed to ride this one. Even Master Kollsvein himself very seldom rode it, since the stallion was much too spirited, and didn’t really like to be ridden. This stallion was mainly used for breeding stock, and was lent out for that purpose to the others in the village when then needed it.

“We don’t have any saddles,” Jak answered. “Father always said they cost too much money, and you could ride just as well without one if you were any good.

“Really?” The big man said with a crooked smile. “But you do know how to ride don’t you?”

“Of course I know how to ride,” Jak answered indignantly. “I’ve been riding since I was five years old.”

That was stretching the truth a bit, because when Jak was five his father would set him on one of the horses and lead it around a bit, just to make him feel like he was riding. Jak didn’t actually ride the horse by himself until a few years later. But Jak didn’t want the stranger to know that.

“But why are there three horses?” Jak asked.

Nicoldani’s brow furrowed and his head cocked to one side as he looked at Jak with a puzzled expression, “There
are
three of us, unless the girl is riding double with you.”

Jak hadn’t thought of Gin, at least he hadn’t thought of taking her with them to the cave. But now it occurred to him that he couldn’t just leave her alone either. “She can just ride with me,” Jak said after a moment.

“I don’t suppose you country folk have any weapons, do you?” Nicoldani asked with one eyebrow raised, and what looked like a tight lipped smirk.

“No, not really, we don’t have swords or anything fancy like that…. I do have my bow, but why do we need weapons?” Jak gibed, trying his best to mimic the big man’s sarcastic expression.

“It never hurts to be prepared. A bow can be an effective weapon in the hands of someone who knows how to use it. You do know how to use it, don’t you?” Nicoldani wore the same smirk, but his eyes held amusement.

Jak gave the big man the most indignant look he could muster, and Nicoldani actually smiled a little, but it was so slight that Jak almost missed it.

“Well you’d better bring your bow along, with all those wolves about it might come in handy. Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.”

Nicoldani was anxious to leave right away, but Jak was able to talk the big man into letting them at least eat breakfast before they left. It wasn’t much of a meal, only some cracked wheat porridge and dried up bread. They hadn’t really had any decent food since…..well they hadn’t had any good home cooked meals in several days.

After they had eaten breakfast and gathered their things, they mounted the horses and Jak led the way to the east where he had spent that last night with Brigette.

As they set out towards that same spot, Jak realized how much he missed Brigette. Over the last several days he had tried not to think of her too much, even though it was difficult. But heading back out here, the last place where he had seen or talked to her was kindling his pain that he had tried to bury. Jak missed Brigette almost as much as he missed his family, even more in some ways. She had been his best friend all his life. He still would not let himself believe that she was really dead….. or even worse.

It took a little more than three hours on horseback to get to the spot where the cave entrance was located. When they arrived, Jak dismounted and then helped Gin down from Gandur’s back, before tying the horse to a nearby low hanging tree branch. Nicoldani tethered his horse and was shuffling determinedly through his saddlebags, apparently looking for something in particular.

After a few moments, the big man’s face lit up like a child finding a treat and he produced a small oil lantern from his bags. Despite the man’s imposing size and hard exterior, there were times he almost seemed like a big kid, even with his graying hair.

They made their way cautiously over the loose stones, up the embankment to the entrance of the cave where Nicoldani stopped to examine the square cut stones lining the entrance. The big man seemed to be puzzled by their presence around the mouth of the cave, until after a few moments of careful study, satisfaction came over his face.

Finally, after inspecting the stones thoroughly Nicoldani hunched down and advanced through the dark porthole. Jak really didn’t want Gin going inside the cave, but the alternative was to leave her out here by herself, and he didn’t want that either, so the two of them followed the big man into the cave.

Nicoldani lit the small lantern which gave out a surprising amount of light. Once inside, he began to inspect the inside of the opening where the stones had been placed. Running his finger thoughtfully over the edge of the stones that were still in place he nodded, seemingly satisfied with something. Jak had no idea what the man found so interesting about the stones, but then Jak recalled that night when he first saw them, and at the time he had thought their placement here was a little odd too.

Jak didn’t feel quite right about being back inside the cave again. There was something wrong but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Maybe it was just the bad memories this place held for him, but something still seemed to be calling to him. It was just a faint echo, more of a feeling, but all the same he was eager to get this unpleasant task over with and be gone from here. He was in such a hurry to be done and get out of here that he started purposefully for the passageway at the back of the chamber. As he began to make his way further down the path he called over his shoulder to Nicoldani, “It’s this way.”

Jak was nearly thirty paces down the dark corridor when he realized what he had done.
How could he be so stupid? It won’t raise anyone’s suspicions just because you are walking down a pitch-black passageway with no light, will it?
He thought sarcastically to himself. He stopped and waited patiently for Nicoldani to catch up with the lantern, followed closely by Gin.