ETCH, page 5
The largest settlement appeared to be the bell tower, now sunk sideways into the ground. It was as if the bottom had crumbled, not the top. The bell hung at a permanent sideways angle, and looked like the base of it was resting on the roof of what might have once been another building. With the sand dunes rising up the sides of all the buildings it was hard to tell what any of them were before. What might have been double doors once was now simply a large gap between the sides of a massive doorframe. They walked over the dusty hills of windswept earth covering the steps and trudged inside an open ceilingless room. As Ilva’s feet shuffled heavily and slowly over the ground she kicked something, then she let out a short high-pitched yell. A skull came into view under the sand. Vali squeezed her hand, quieting Ilva’s fear. “It’s ok. Come on.”
They worked their way around the room to where the stairs had once been. Vali seemed unsure of where to go, and Ilva could tell she was too proud to ask for help navigating. Ilva looked around for where they might get to the upper floors. She saw an opening to the next story up and it was leaning. They should be able to walk up the slope to the inside of the tower from there. So, she pulled Vali’s hand saying, “Come this way, we can make it up there from this direction”.
Vali let Ilva lead her. Ilva hesitantly let go of Vali’s hand to climb up into the cylinder. Then she reached back, but Vali was already beside her in the tube. They climbed upward, gripping bricks in the old stairwell and pulling themselves towards the bell.
What are you looking for here? Ilva wished she knew so she could help find whatever it was. As she was focusing on thoughts her foot slipped, several bricks fell out of place, and her leg now hung in the hole it created. She pulled it back through, paying more attention to the bricks and rocks under her still stable foot. The higher we climb the more dangerous it would be if these bricks gave way. What if we get trapped under all of the debris? What if the whole tower comes down upon us? Her thoughts tormented her with negative possibilities. Vali was so sure footed as she climbed, the sand covered buildings were the only thing that seemed to be difficult for her so far on their journey. She may not have been able to see things as clearly, but she made that problem seem irrelevant, the way she scaled the inside of the tower. One powerful leg pushing her up, after the other. Steady she went.
This gave Ilva a sense of competition she was not accustomed to. If Vali could scale this tower without fear, then so could she. She propelled herself higher and higher. Each foot pressing gently and feeling for the support under her as she went. Soon she was shoulder to shoulder with Vali, and they were at the bell before either of them realised the ascent was complete. They stood on the precipice of where the bell was tilting over, and the place that used to be a balcony now looked like one of the floodway slopes in the larger cities. The floor sat at an angle cutting into the top of the adjacent building. On the roof of the building being crushed by the bell tower landing sat a slab table.
As Ilva looked to her newest friend, who was squinting hard, attempting to see, she was impulsed to assist her. Ilva thought it might be rude, but she asked anyhow, “What are you looking for? Can I help find it?” She chose her words carefully, she didn’t want to make Vali feel incompetent, but she also wanted to help in any way she was able. She was also still riddled with curiosity about Vali’s quest.
The unscathed Vali answered, “I am looking for an arcane artifact. It will be made of pure sylvite, pinkish in colour, it resembles an unrefined hunk of crystal about the size of a fist. I don't expect I will have much luck. But I have to try.” In her mind she added, that artifact is the only thing that will make my truth undisputable. I will show my grandmother that I am not crazy. I wish I could hunt that shadow down to throw at her feet as well. Then she could deny my truth no longer.
Ilva took in the description. At least I know what to look for now, she thought. She began scanning the area. Ilva wondered about the artifact. It amazed her, she had never heard of an arcane artifact, yet her own mother is a pure sylvite elf. As she puzzled more pieces of the mystery together, she walked back and forth along the top of the sloped edge that met with the roof below. Her eyes scanned all over for anything fitting Vali’s depictions. She thought the crushed roof at the other side of the landing, near the fallen table, might be worth inspecting closer. She stepped onto the tilted floor, slipped on the dusty stone, and began falling towards the slab table.
As she slid down the landing, a few uneven cracks and juts scraped at her back and arms and her bad shoulder. She winced and cried out once or twice on the descent. Forcing herself to remain upright during the slide, despite the bumps and bangs under her, she slid foot first towards the roof. When her feet struck the clay tiles below, she winced at the pain that shot through her shins. It stung for a moment, then slowly her legs uncoiled and the pain receded some. Her shoulder still ached. The pain hadn’t gone away since the encounter with the dragon. When she stood, she had to use her other arm for support, any pressure put on the pained shoulder strained the joint.
Vali yelled across the gap, “Ilva, are you okay? What happened?”
“I’m alright!” Ilva shouted back, “I slipped. I’m on the other side of the bell tower now. There is a big table down here and I thought I would check it out.”
Before she began walking across the roof, Vali began running down the slope. Ilva turned to watch, both in fascination and in fear. Vali was tapping her feet off of each place she landed as if she were just a kid playing at jumping stepping stones in a pond, leaping from one spot to another. Ilva was terrified she might fall, or miss step. But she did not. Ilva realised she didn't give Vali near enough credit for how she worked alongside her disability. She was not looking at anything, her eyes fixed within her face, and her bounding remained resolute. It was as if she could judge the distance by some other means. Then she landed right in front of Ilva, feet planted firmly on the roof.
“How did you do that?” The expression of surprise leapt from Ilva lips before she could catch it. She burned with shame. She shouldn’t ask Vali to explain herself in this.
But she had, and Vali replied, “I can still make out some shapes and shadows, and feel the closeness of things, I thought I had mentioned that. Elves and moving things are easiest to see, their tone, smell, breathing, heart rate, sometimes I swear I can feel the blood pulsing in someone’s veins if they stand close enough. Also, the sound of your voice told me where you were. My others senses have made up for my eyes.”
Ilva was amazed by Vali, enamoured with the information on how she perceived the world. Ilva realised she hadn’t said anything and breathed out, “You are incredible.”
Vali reddened and smiled a bit at the compliment. Her senses felt fuzzy and distant at the sweet sentiment, and then she quickly and quietly regained her composure. She turned to the table, and began walking across the shattered terrace.
Chapter 13
Ilva walked across the roof in the other direction, towards the edge of the terrace, and almost stepped in a hole on the roof. What made this, she pondered. Peering into the hole, she looked all around the abandoned dirty building. There was rubble just under the hole, and everything in the building was coated with sand. She could bear her eagerness no more, she kicked the sharp bits of clay off around the hole, and jumped down to scout out the empty dust covered space. She caught herself on an exposed beam in the roof, and shooting herself farther into the room, as to avoid the rock pile under her entrance. Once landed, she felt that same shooting pain as when she landed on the roof. Her shins burned a moment, then the shock ebbed.
She began pacing the perimeter of the room, inspecting it thoroughly. It was a large open space. Long tables ran in two room length rows, with benches on either side. There were still bowls and plates and silverware, napkins and glasses and bottles. Some undisturbed, others knocked over by any wind that had blown in over time. Every inch looked claimed by nature, yet Ilva could envision easily how everything had looked before the years had changed it. She wandered to the corner closest to the damaged roof again, almost finished walking around the entirety of the extravagantly large room. She noted a large buffet cabinet against the back wall, four tall wardrobes in-between the large windows to her left and right, one of which was cracking. As she walked back to the hole, she looked up to study a way out, and was aghast.
A single grand chandelier, which seemed to retain so much dust it was indistinguishable, hung from an ornately decorated ceiling. There were large lush green trees painted onto the curving buttresses, they grew up into the ceiling and the tops faded away into darkness, a night sky speckling the sloped ceilings with stars beyond the boughs. It was like looking up into her own forest at night. It was stunning craftsmanship. Ilva was awestruck.
As Ilva lost herself in the stargazing, she tripped over the pile of rocks she was so careful to avoid on the way in. She nearly shrieked, but didn’t want to alarm Vali, and chomped the pain down into a swallow that made her eyes water. She stood after a second and noticed her leg was cut open, one of the rocks had been sharp enough to cut well into her shin.
She winced at the pain, and noticed the small amount of blood that slowly seeped from the deepest part of the cut, then began to flow quicker. She didn’t have anything on her to stop the bleeding. Frantically she looked to her right and saw dusty old napkins on the table, which she grabbed hastily and shook out before pressing it on her wound. The pressure was enough to stop the flow, so she wrapped it tightly around her leg and hoped the dust wouldn’t cause any infection before she could wash it and dress it properly. She continued scouting the room, now very focused on finding a way out. There was a big double wide door at the far end of the tables. It was blocked by dunes on the outside, but she figured if she pushed hard enough the blockage would give way.
She pushed hard on the door to the left, and the entire thing fell out of the doorframe, her body leaned into the collapsing wood. It smashed under Ilva’s weight, and the splintered pieces lay in the dusty earth that now spilled in. When she stood up, Vali was above her, head hanging over the roof, “What was that?” she chimed in a playful tone.
Ilva awkwardly explained, “I broke the door trying to open it.”
Vali swung down, and although she landed smoothly, she stumbled awkwardly through the spreading sand into the doorway. “The doors are very thin. I’m surprised they were still in place,” she said, as she touched the double door that was still in place. It shifted slightly.
Ilva stood next to her and looked back into the room. Vali opened the other door, broke it off the hinges as well, and dropped it into the room. Ilva turned and saw something reflect the light now pouring into the room. Her natural curiosity took over as she approached the glint. She rolled the rocks closest to where she spotted the glare and let them tumble onto the floor beside her.
Under the rock, nestled for all this time, had been the item of Vali’s pursuit. Ilva called Vali over, they were both reluctant and full of overwhelm. Vali expected this to be a fruitless journey. To have found what she sought was an outcome that she had not exactly prepared for. She was so used to expecting the worst. For things to turn out like this, well, it was a lot to process. This feels too easy. Vali stepped gingerly to the spot where Ilva knelt on the rubble.
Vali quickly stated, “Don’t touch it. This is the magic that stole my sight. Is there anything in your bag we can put it in? Or do you see anything in this room we can use?”
Ilva was already thinking ahead of Vali’s next question, “There are cloth napkins on the tables, will wrapping it up work?”
“Let’s try it,” Vali replied.
So Ilva stalked over to a table and swiped up two, just to be safe, layered them together after a good shake out, and laid them cautiously over the sylvite. She tied the napkins corner to corner, tucking in every edge to hide the item inside, before handing the bundled artifact to Vali.
Vali accepted the precious cargo, bound within the cloth, she placed it in her pack and gently eased the straps onto her shoulders. Then, she pulled Ilva into an embrace that left them both glowing.
Ilva was elated to have been of such tremendous help to Vali. She felt, for the first time in her life, that she had done something right. She let the euphoria rampage through her. The two of them left Mila. Walking away from the ruins the same way they had entered, hand in hand.
Chapter 14
Vali stood over the fire, poking the coals and feeling the heat from each one as she turned it. Once she had made the bed of coals she needed, she rummaged in her bag digging things out, two pieces of the dried meat, some leather strips, a few bits of cloth, and a rope. All of which she put back in her pack, after retrieving a small wooden box the width of three fingers, a wineskin and a knife.
Ilva felt a bit useless whenever Vali cooked. She wished she had some cooking knowledge of her own. She was really more of a gatherer than a hunter. She wasn’t even sure that she wanted meat tonight, but was afraid to turn Vali down after all the effort she put into hunting and prepping the fire, so she waited patiently and offered occasionally to help with things like cutting herbs or gathering up any small sticks she could find. There wasn’t much vegetation along the mountains that met the desert. She managed to scavenge a few armfuls of dry twigs which burned quickly.
A small animal, resembling a rabbit with tusks, hung from a branch close by. Earlier she had cleaned the insides and buried them, then sliced and tugged the fur off. Finally, she brought the meat over, stuck it through one of the gathered sticks, and roasted it close to the coals as the fire dimmed. The food was cooked rather quickly, likely because it was a thin creature. Vali shredded apart portions with her knife, and passed Ilva a large piece.
Ilva hadn’t had cooked meat in a while. As she sank her teeth in, chewing slowly, there was familiar flavour. Then she noticed the box Vali was heavily pouring on to some of the leftover pieces of meat. Salt! Ilva was thrilled for the sensation. Her tongue was tingling, her taste buds danced. However, after dinner her jaw hurt. Going so long without meat her jaw wasn’t accustomed to the effort of chewing.
Vali was curing the leftovers, creating a kind of jerky. She finished the salting and then stuck the meat into the smokiest part of the fire. Letting all the smoke drift across the meat would help preserve it for the road, the smoking and heavy salting gave the dried meat another flavour entirely.
Ilva watched Vali work. Following every movement until everything was wrapped and stored. Vali got up, cloaking herself in her bedroll and furs, and came to sit next to her. In Vali’s hand was the last item not put back into the bag; the wineskin. Ilva felt a chill of anticipation, hoping the wineskin held actual wine. She had only tasted wine a few times in her life. She recalled loving the fruity flavour, the memory set her mouth to salivating, before she began recalling darker memories of nights when her mother drank too much of it. When she noticed her drift in attention she snapped back to where she was. Safe. With Vali.
Vali uncapped the skin and glugged a mouthful of its contents. She gasped afterwards, coughed a moment, and then offered the skin to Ilva. With controlled hands, not wanting to come off as nervous, she reached for it. She took a sip, and almost gagged, it was strong, stronger than any wine she had ever tasted. It wasn’t fruity. It was definitely still wine, yet it burned on the way down, and filled her nose with a strong alcoholic scent.
She thought back to the forest again, and how this was a life of luxury in comparison. Even if it was not as elegant as her origins, this moment itself felt rich. The strength of the wine did not deter Ilva from drinking more than half of the skin, at Vali’s insistence.
Vali had sensed the satisfied vibes coming from Ilva. She was often understanding of the things that Ilva found pleasure in, and felt relief that they were simple pleasures. Things, she realised since meeting Ilva, that she herself took for granted. A warm bed, hearty food, a simple hug. Ilva was showing her all she had to be grateful for. She took her last sip with great appreciation. Listing gratitude’s such as having the sylvite artifact in her possession, food and wine, and having a friend to share this moment with. She voiced the later. Ilva was light-headed from the wine, she smiled dopily at Vali. Then, out of nowhere, she hugged her hard. Giddiness escaping her, and laughter bubbled out of them both again.
They lay there tired, and only slightly winded after the hearty laugh. Vali released even more of her tension when Ilva said, “Thank you for everything. You have been exactly what I needed on this journey. Since I met you there has been a spark of light in my life. I am filled with the curiosity I had as a girl, and I find pleasure in many things we do together. I enjoy your food too. I enjoy being your friend Vali.” Vali hugged her back then. Holding tightly around her shoulders, she felt her whole body relax deeper, sagging into the comfort of the embrace. Ilva fell asleep first, it was more sudden then the night before, not being very tolerant of the wine it had fatigued her.
Vali pushed Ilva’s reddish brown hair out of her face, and felt her features daintily with her fingertips. She touched the back of her ear as she placed the hair, and felt the shape of the small points of cartilage. She brushed her forehead and felt the smooth skin. Her brows were strong, her hair soft and dense. Vali noted the weight of Ilva’s head upon her shoulder. She was enjoying the rhythm of her breath, heavy and deep as she slept on. Vali laid back with her on the furs, and shifted so she was still next to her, It is comforting sleeping beside someone out here. So warm and reassuring. Ilva rolled over and clutched Vali’s abdomen. Vali took in a sharp breath at the motion, perhaps a bit nervous to be seeking comfort herself in the embrace. With the shared fur thrown over them, breathing deeply and steadily, they had the best sleep that either of them had in a very long time.
