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Author’s Note: I found this lingering in the ‘notepad’ section of my yahoo email account. I had started the story about a year and a half ago, but let my enthusiasm for it fizzle when I got more interested in the plot progression of “When it Rains it Pours.” Yes, I’ve been working on that one (on and off) for over a year as well. I’m finally to the point where I need to take a break from it in order to refresh my imagination.
So dug this little baby out of its grave, stitched up some holes and now present it to you for your criticizing pleasure.
Slowly he opened his eyes. The sunlight which filled the room now flooded his vision, temporarily blinding him.
The shoji screens across from him where open, letting in a cool breeze. The outside wall of the room was made of earthen brick, but the rest, like the one he was next too, where a dark planked wood.
Suddenly, he was struck with a vision of moving very quickly through dark woods.
‘Wha… ouch!’ when he tried to remember more a massive piercing headache struck him right behind his eyes. When the feelings of pain subsided, a new sensation became more evident. Someone was watching him. Peering around the room, Yarba spied the perpetrator.
A man was sitting cross-legged in a dark corner of the room. From the way he was dressed he appeared to be a farmer or something. He was even chewing on a piece of straw.
Startled, Yarba quickly sat up. Or at least, that is what his instincts had intended for him. In reality he was only able to rise about two inches before he found himself unable to move any further. Pain raced through his body. He was not bound, but completely stiff. Never in his life had his muscles been so sore.
‘What on earth happened? Why don’t I remember last night? And why am I not in my own clothes?’ he asked himself as he looked down at the simple light-blue robe that he was wearing.
‘I don’t usually allow myself to party too hard; it may ruin my ‘good boy’ image. Was I drugged or something?’
‘Why would anyone want to harm me? I’m just your normal kid who can never seem to live up to his parent’s standards. Of course, Father is a powerful Time Wizard, and mother is a very talented with her magic loom. But the only person in town who knows that is Lilli. Even though she can ramble on, she would never reveal my family’s secrets.’
Lilli was his best friend. She was always around (a.k.a. hovering), always helpful (a.k.a. bossy), and always supportive (a.k.a. pushy). But he still loved her. She was like the sister he never had; which was just fine for his parents since they found her to be much more talented in magic than Yarba himself.
Lately she had been pressuring him to stop overachieving so much and just go somewhere and relax for the weekend. That’s probably what happened. Yarba could just see Lilli instigating operation: “Nab Yarba and whisk him away for a weekend of fun and relaxation.” She probably convinced the rest of his friends to help her too. They were probably all outside at that very moment, enjoying the bright warm day.
“Who brought me here?” he asked the stranger who had been watching him.
“Some girl,” he responds. “Had a name I couldn’t pronounce. Sounded something like Ray.”
Ray? Yarba didn’t know anyone by that name. Or even with a name that ‘sounded something like Ray!’ He needed more information than a partial name.
“What did she--” But the stranger was already gone.
Yarba was just beginning to consider whether his situation had improved or worsened, when the stranger returned, following an old woman. Considering the current course at which his morning was preceding, it would not have surprised him one bit if this was the ‘girl’ the stranger had mentioned.
“Are you--?”
“No.” the woman said abruptly as she made her way over to where Yarba laid.
“Do you know--?”
“Sit up.” She said. That voice sounded like one that was used to ordering younger people around. But before he had the chance to object to her request, she placed her hand under his back and propped him up.
Moving her other hand to the base of his neck to keep him in a sitting position ‘Wow, she’s a pretty strong old lady’), the elderly woman ran her fingers down his spine and then started flicking it in an odd pattern and timing. Then Yarba felt his muscles loosen up so that he could move. Unfortunately he was still pretty sore.
Before he had a chance to ask more questions the old woman hobbled out of the room, with the stranger in tow. ‘Well, I guess I should look for this ‘Ray’ person and figure out what’s going on.’
Yarba stiffly crawled out of the bed and started to wonder around the small home. Using his most prominent natural sense, he followed his nose. It didn’t take him long before he eventually got to the kitchen where a woman was cooking.
“Excuse me, ma’am?” He asked timidly. “Would you happen to be ‘Ray’?”
“She’s outside, helping my daughter with the laundry.” The woman said as she pointed to a door.
Yarba stepped outside and saw in the distance, a wispy figure with long chestnut hair hanging clothes over the branches of a tree. Were those his clothes? Well, at least that solves the mystery of where his clothes went.
“Don’t worry,” whispered a small voice beside him. “I didn’t tell her.” Yarba glanced down to see a young girl in pigtails. She did not look back up at him, but kept her eyes straight forward, watching the older girl hanging the laundry.
“Didn’t tell her what?” would the oddities of this day ever end?
“What you really are,” she replied. “It’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t know. Otherwise she would have never come here with you.”
What was this girl talking about? Did she know who his parent’s where? Did she know of his heritage? But she didn’t say ‘who’ she said ‘what’… What does she mean: ‘what’ I really am?
Yarba had decided that it was fruitless to try to make complete sense of what this child said. But she seemed to reference to the older girl as the one who had brought him there. Could this at last be Ray?
With his still stiff joints creaking as he walked, he steadily made his way across the yard and approached her. At last he would get some answers.
He was almost to her when she picked up the empty laundry basket.
“All done!” she said, as she tuned around. It was obvious that she was expecting to see the little girl, because she was staring at the height where the girl would be. She glanced up at him with a shocked look, then quickly turned and hid her face. But it was too late, he had recognized her.
“Yarrow?” It was no wonder why he had not known her before. He had rarely seen her out of the company of the Anthus brothers (the self proclaimed “Lords of the Underworld”). But more than that, he had never seen her so clean!
Why Rosin and Draba kept her in their company, no one could tell. But they took her wherever they went. Which is why Yarba was concerned when, two days in a row, she did not come with them to school.
Flashback
Lilli was looking confused. “Why should you care?” she asked.
“Don’t you find it a bit strange?” asked Yarba.
“She’s missed school before.”
“Yes, but never two days in a row. Something doesn’t feel right.” He said as he rubbed his thumb against the knuckles on his fingers.
“That’s probably your sense of smell returning,” said Lilli, with a smile. She took a deep breath through her nose and let it out. “Ahh, I almost forgot what fresh air smelled like at school.” Yarba continued to rub his fingers. “You’re getting worked up over nothing, Yarba. You’ll go insane if you continue on like this. I can see that you need a vacation now more than ever.”
End Flashback
“Yarrow, what are you doing here?” he asked her.
“I was worried.”
And that was all she said. Yarrow was never one to say anymore than what she was asked. A habit that Yarba suspected was not natural to her. She never seemed upset by ridicule or mockery. But there were occasions while he was having an ‘intellectual dispute’ with her Lords, when he would see a spark in her eye that she could not contain. She was probably very inelegant.
She turned to head back toward the house.
“Wait,” said Yarba as he grabbed her shoulder. As he touched her, another vision burst from his memory. He was so tired, he could barely move. Someone was carrying him on their back. They were going at a staggering, but steady pace. His head was draped over her slender shoulder…her.
“Thank you… for carrying me.” Yarba didn’t understand the circumstances, but it was apparent she had done him a great service. “I promise I will repay you for your kindness.”
“No,” said Yarrow softly. “It was the least I could do. After all, you carried me much further.”
Yarba gets another flashback
He is in a small dank sinkhole about ten feet deep. Yarrow is there too, the Yarrow he was familiar with; grubby, pungent, and pale.
“I can’t believe they could be so inhumane.” Yarba was furious. “You’ve probably been down here since yesterday, haven’t you, Yarrow?” She nodded slowly. “Well, first I’m going to get you out of here, and then we’ll eat some of my lunch while we decide what to do next.” Yarrow tried to stand up, but her knees were weak, like the rest of her body, and she collapsed. “Ok, new plan. You eat while I carry you on my back. And we get you as far away from here as possible.”
End Flashback
“Food’s ready!” It was the woman who had been cooking. “C’mon in Aster, your father and grandmother are already eating. Ray, you and your friend are welcome to join us as well.”
“Why do they call you Ray?” Yarba asked.
“That’s part of the deal.” She replied dryly.
“Deal?”
“For us to be able to rest here.”
“You have to let them call you Ray?” And just when he was starting to believe this was not a hallucination.
“I had to tell them my name.”
“I didn’t know your name was Ray. I thought it was Yarrow”
“It’s neither.” She started walking toward the house.
Yarba kept in pace beside her. “Then, what is your name?”
“Worray.”
The word escaped her lips like a tiny snow flurry circling in the wind. Yarba now knew why this family hadn’t bothered to pronounce it correctly. He himself attempted several times to say it, but could not come close to the eloquence it deserved.
“Are you coming in?” Worray was inside the house now. She looked back at Yarba who realized he had been idling on the porch while trying to say her name. As he walked through the doorway, another thought came to mind. She had just asked him a question, and with a hint of a smile on her face. Yarrow would have never done that.
As they ate they engaged in light conversation: the weather, local gossip, and the up coming harvest. But to Yarba, the family still seemed rather odd. He decided to simply enjoy this day for what it was, unpredictable.
“Oh, Ray I’ve been meaning to ask you…” Suddenly, all the attention at the table was directed at Yarba. “Um…so, what was the rest of the deal?”
“Hmmm?” She looked puzzled, but Yarba suspected she knew to what he was referring.
“Earlier,” he started, “earlier you said that telling these people your name was part of the deal, in order to let us rest here.” She nodded in agreement. “So what was the rest of the deal?”
Worray’s face began to turn red. “They…they said that…” her voice trailed off as she lowered her head.
“We told her,” said Aster’s mother. “That we would be happy to assist, but that she could not enter our house until she had taken a bath and washed her clothes. And your clothes too, since she had been carrying you.” Worray was even more red now. “How anyone could smell so bad, I’ll never know!”
And Yarba gets yet another flashback
It was lunchtime at school, and Yarrow still wasn’t there. Yarba knew he shouldn’t be so concerned about the worthless minion of his arch rivals, but his feelings of uneasiness increase. He decides to skip afternoon classes and see if she is ok. He does not know where to look for her. But he has an unnaturally keen sense of smell. That should help.
End of (could you even really call that a) flashback
“Speaking of,” the woman continued. “You, my young man, are also in need of a good washing.” Yarba could see now, why Worray had been blushing. This woman had a way of making him feel like he himself was a piece of dirty laundry.
Yarba, however, was not going to let her belittle him. “Yes,” he said coolly. “I believe a hot bath would be very good for my sore muscles.”
“Well then,” she said with a huff. She, like the old woman, was obviously used to ordering others around. “Aster, show him where he can bathe. Ray, help me clear the table.”
Worray immediately stood up and started taking dishes into the kitchen.
“Follow me,” said Aster as she tugged on Yarba’s sleeve. She led him outside and away from the house.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“Our hot spring is in that little grove of trees up there,” she said, pointing ahead.
“Hot spring? But I thought they only had those in the nor…”
NORTH
Not so much the word itself but the whole essence of ‘north’ echoed through his soul like the reverberation of a giant drum. After rescuing Yarrow from the pit, he had felt pulled like a magnet in that direction. There was nothing he could do to fight the urge. Why was it so essential to him? And just how far north had he actually come?
