Utopia Falling, page 32
Reyne locked onto Mera’s words, wanting to believe him. He needed to believe one day he’d kill the woman who took his brother from him.
Mera lifted himself from the ground, brushed his hands against his pants and stood. “And the woman with the red eyes is a hunter from Evidar sent here, into our reality, for one purpose. To kill you.”
“To kill me.” He thought his about brother. “Instead, Daedyn’s dead.”
His mind kept going back to his decision not to heed Mera’s advice when first presented with the demand to leave Hensdale. How could he have known it was poison? Mera showed him the dart, and even then, Reyne didn’t believe him.
Mera’s voice broke through Reyne’s introspection. “If Mithany and Arek were to know Neladith killed your brother, how do you suppose they’ll react to her? Will they be able to pretend to accept her condolences when they stand vigil? Or will they want to strike back at her?”
Reyne sat back and wrapped his arms around bent knees. He didn’t answer Mera. He didn’t need to.
“No. We can’t let them know for now. Mithany and Arek’s reaction must be real for Neladith to accept the deception. These Evidar hunters must believe they succeeded at killing you.”
Reyne understood Mera’s point, but flinched at keeping it from Mithany. “I have to tell her.”
“You can’t. Do not share any of what you saw here with Mithany, Arek, or even Brenal about the red-eyed archer who brought down Daedyn. If you do, you’ll put their lives at risk.”
Reyne’s bulwark against leaving began to crumble. His head hammered inside his skull, and the pain in his neck wouldn’t release him. And all that didn’t compare to the darkness invading his soul.
Mera continued, “We’re going back inside. Speak nothing of this. Tell them I took you out to the spot where they fired the shot. That’s all. Nothing more. We have to prepare Daedyn for internment before the sun is up.”
Mera stuck out an arm, offering to pull Reyne off the ground.
Everything he ever wanted from life, his wedding to Mithany… only days away.
Before dawn arrived, a life-altering decision hung over his head like a noose.
Reyne grabbed Mera’s hand. If a way out of leaving Mithany existed, he had only hours to find it.
Unseen in the Night
Hensdale: 28th day of the Salmon Moon
Mithany
Half of Daedyn’s face was an unrecognizable mess. Blood soaked his clothes. His neck and jaw, along with a part of his cheek, appeared more like raw meat. Skin, muscle, and even a small piece of his brain stem hung exposed by the damage caused from the fragmented shards of glass tearing through body tissue indiscriminately.
Mera and Mithany stood alone on opposite sides of Daedyn. “Mithany, if you’re up to it, I could use your help prepping Daedyn’s body for interment.”
“I’ll do my best,” Mithany said, visibly shaken. Concern for Reyne tugged at her. He survived the convulsion, but was weak and looked haggard. And, if Mera had his way, Reyne would be leaving within hours, even though he was in no shape to do so.
The body lay on a table Arek set up near the spot where Daedyn died. Mithany and Mera disrobed his corpse. Tears dripped slowly down her cheeks as she tried her best to help. Every few minutes, she wiped runny mucus from her nose. Without warning, she released the contents of her stomach all over Mera’s boots.
The man who’d loved her as far back as she cared to remember laid dead on a makeshift mortuary table. She’d never returned his romantic affections but loved him like family just the same. As kids growing up, Daedyn frequently taunted her, as little boys often do to little girls.
Mithany opened up to Mera while staring into Daedyn’s face. “I overheard part of the conversation when you were all in the kitchen. It’s true, Daedyn made the first move on me. Reyne may have felt the same back then, but Daedyn’s the one who took the initiative. Besides, there was nothing Reyne could do about it. Daedyn called dibs, or so I’ve been told. It was the brothers’ way.”
She pulled a comb through his hair clumped together by the sticky, coagulating blood, and continued combing as she spoke. “At first, I’d been open to the idea. But never felt that spark. We were young. Guess Daedyn might have been no more than thirteen when I broke his heart. I was about the same age. Too young to realize what I did to him or that it would last to this day.” With delicate care, she arranged his hair as he always wore it. “You know, I would catch Daedyn watching me still. He’d steal a glimpse here or there. I wasn’t supposed to see it. But, us girls, we notice when we’re being watched. I don’t know… maybe guys don’t catch on to that sort of thing. Reyne never did.”
With the backside of her fingertips, she gently stroked the undamaged side of his face. Looking down at Daedyn as though speaking to him, not to Mera, tears cut along her cheeks. “Even if I hadn’t noticed every time you stole a glance, it was always in your eyes. It was written on your face.” She paused, looking deep into Daedyn’s eyes, just beginning to cloud over. Soft and tender words escaped her heart. “You couldn’t hide your feelings from me, they were always so clear. I saw your desire, your torment, and the sadness in you knowing your brother had the woman you loved. I’m so sorry I didn’t feel the same for you.” She leaned close and whispered, “Daedyn, I always kept your secret. I never told Reyne.”
Mera reached out to put his hand over hers, but said nothing.
Mithany broke her gaze from Daedyn to face Mera. “It’s only one of the two secrets I ever kept from Reyne. He seemed oblivious of Daedyn’s feelings for me. Maybe because he couldn’t face it, or maybe because Daedyn did everything to make Reyne believe he was indifferent. He put up a good front for Reyne. I never let on to Daedyn that I knew his heart. Maybe he knew I knew, maybe he didn’t.” She wiped away the water in her eyes. “Sometimes it’s a curse being able to read people. I’ve tried to teach Reyne how to read faces. It never took. He’s not all that intuitive.”
Mera let her speak uninterrupted. She needed to get it off her chest to anyone other than Reyne. It was cathartic for her to let it all out after years caged inside, never spoken of to another human being.
“I understood why Daedyn was aloof around me. He had Reyne convinced. But I knew better. We gals always know better. And now he’s gone.” She bent over the body, kissing Daedyn’s cold forehead. It was more than she could handle. She spun in a jerk and retched again.
“I’m so sorry, Mera.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He handed her an empty container. “When you’re up to it, can you go for another bucket of water so I can rinse off Daedyn?”
She suspected it was so he could wash the vomit off his boots and give her something to do other than looking at Daedyn’s ravaged corpse.
Upon her return, Mera grabbed the handle of the bucket from her. “Thank you, Mithany. Leave the pail here and, if you wouldn’t mind, please check up on how your brother and Brenal are doing.”
Arek and Brenal had been working diligently on Daedyn’s final resting place beneath the Big Alphen, as it was called by generations of Brentons. Brenal did what he could, although Arek did most of the work. The digging went slow. Mithany arrived and took up a spade to join them, hoping to distract herself from Daedyn’s lifeless body and Reyne’s withdrawal.
The men dug their hole near the large three-hundred-year-old alphen, not more than fifty yards from their homestead, where Daedyn and Reyne played as children and grew together into men. Several generations were laid to rest in the shade of the sacred family tree.
“Not needed, Sis. The two of us got this. A third spade will just get in the way.”
Heeding Arek’s advice, she stopped.
Daedyn’s family ancestors embedded a memorial stone monument in the trunk long ago. While the Big Alphen stood almost thirty feet tall, the stone monument appeared small in comparison. Mithany stared at the plaque and read the simple words carved into the memorial’s stone face:
At the end of my journey, I hope not to say,
I wish I had but one more day,
To do the things I’ve not yet done,
To sing the songs I’ve not yet sung.
Such an ugly vision would Death portray.
Upon completion of all my goals,
With nothing left in future’s hold,
With nil ahead but barren straights,
Looking back at fading lights,
Then welcome Death, my tired soul.
It’s not by choice, the Gift of Life.
The terms of Death are neither mine.
The terms are in living, where choice is made.
The best to hope for, a life well played.
It was in my life, my Death’s defined.
Mithany reflected on the stone’s etched words. Death held an ugly vision for Daedyn. So much ahead of him cut short in such a horrific manner. She wondered what life would have been like had she chosen Daedyn when he was at the beginning of his journey, starting on the path to make the choices that would define his life. Robbed of the opportunity to glance back as an old man on his life and whatever brought him joy. He’ll never be that old man. Daedyn would take his place with his parents beneath the shade of the Big Alphen, to be consumed by its roots and the other forces of nature reclaiming everything that was once Daedyn. Such an ugly vision had death delivered to him.
Upon her return to Mera, she discovered the body had been cleaned and prepared for its ultimate resting place. With a call that echoed through the orchard, Arek, Brenal, and Reyne joined Mera and Mithany as they walked out to the awaiting grave site.
Mera appealed to them, “Please understand this will not be the traditional Cycle of Life ceremony. Exigencies demand all our efforts focus on preserving the living. I’ll do the best I can.”
Mera’s rushed treatment appeared to offend Reyne to his core.
Reyne yelled at Mera more than once, starting when Mera demanded Daedyn be buried immediately after the body was cleaned and the grave completed. In response, Reyne coldcocked him, knocking him off his feet.
As things settled down, Mithany asked Mera to speak with her in private.
Reyne gave her a hard expression, but she offered soft eyes in return that said to him, “Trust me, my love.” She expected little in return from Reyne, given his foul mood, and that’s exactly what she got. Reyne remained emotionally distant, and while she understood, it stung.
Mithany privately explained to Mera, “You need to express yourself with greater care given Reyne’s raw emotions. As much as you need our little band to take action with dawn approaching, please promise me you’ll do better. For Reyne’s sake.”
Mera said, “I’m sorry, and I promise to do better.”
The two returned to the gathering only a few feet away.
Mithany sidled up to Reyne, and taking a risk, she slipped her hand into his. Their fingers intertwining, she gently stroked his arm. The minor grin she got from him she claimed as a major victory.
Daedyn’s internment took place at the Brenton family’s Cycle of Life burial plot, where his parents and ancestors were laid to rest so many years ago. Mera began, “This is the place where Gwerther and Pachelle offered their life force back to Mother Earth, completing the Cycle of Life. As dictated by tradition, all living things must return to the Earth in order to re-enter the Community of Life. Mother Earth is the source of all living things and the creator of all of life’s manifestations. As offered in the Book of Teth, a common energy interconnects all living things in the Community of Life, shared over and over throughout millennia, reincarnated in many different forms through the Gift of Renewal. Daedyn, like his parents before him, gives back to Mother Earth the life energy borrowed from the Community of Life. The life energy Daedyn had only temporary ownership of.”
The Mera-led ceremony came off more like a lesson than as a solemn goodbye. “Daedyn’s life energy isn’t all he returns to Mother Earth. Daedyn returns his flesh to the Earth in its natural and free state to be shared with future generations of Nature in the Cycle of Life. Daedyn gives back to the Earth as he entered this world, naked, and is returned naked with no encumbrances upon it.” Mera paused and turned to Reyne, “Unfortunately, the traditional burial shroud wasn’t available, and I’m sorry, Reyne, for the use of a white bedsheet.”
The disrespect at Daedyn’s expense had been building up since Reyne’s last eruption. It was the final blow, and he lunged at Mera.
Mithany jumped between the two men, with Daedyn’s naked body as a silent witness. Obvious to Mithany, but not to Reyne himself, he had only one real option: where to point his anger. He wasn’t truly angry at Mera. He was angry Daedyn was dead, and angry Mera demanded he leave Mithany behind to run away like a coward. While Reyne didn’t realize the internal forces driving his behavior, Mithany understood the man she loved.
She told Reyne, “Honey, please, not here. Don’t make this something you won’t want to remember when you think back on this moment.” Reyne glanced down at Daedyn’s body. The emptiness pouring off Reyne touched her soul and bit into her heart.
The small group stood at the Big Alphen with their palms resting on its trunk. The shortened ritual completed, with the white bedsheet in place of the burial shroud, Mera, Mithany, Brenal, Arek, and Reyne offered the Signum Circulus with a thumb drawn in a small circle over their hearts, palms resting over it at the end.
After lowering Daedyn’s body into the newly dug hole, to be consumed by nature and returned to the Community of Life, Reyne and Mithany stood silently, hand in hand, staring at the plot of land that would take their loved one back to Mother Earth. They couldn’t let Daedyn go.
Mera put an arm around Reyne’s shoulder, letting it rest there for a moment before softly offering Reyne heartfelt words. “He will always be your brother and will always be a part of you. You are who you are, in part, because of Daedyn. Be proud of that. Be proud of him for who he was. Keep him always.”
Mithany half expected Reyne to strike out or push him away, or at the very least, brush him aside, but Reyne didn’t react.
Mera and Arek began the awful task of filling over Daedyn’s body with dirt. Brenal joined in to help. Reyne’s eyes filled with tears. Mithany clung to him as though it was Reyne himself she’d said goodbye to.
With the dreadful task completed, five people stood muted in the dark, all eyes fixed on a mound of dirt. No one uttered a sound. Nothing except for the noises of the forest followed for a few minutes before Mera spoke up.
“Evidar hunters are about. Daedyn’s death proved that point.”
Mithany squeezed Reyne’s arm as she felt him tense at Mera’s insensitivity.
Mera directed Mithany, who hadn’t agreed to Reyne’s departure but spoke to her as if she had, “The tricky part will be selling people on why Daedyn is absent from Reyne’s vigil. Follow the plan. Tell everyone Reyne’s death resulted from an animal attack. Took him in the night. Daedyn’s in seclusion. Grief-stricken and inconsolable. Hopefully, the agents of Evidar will never catch on, and Reyne and I will have days or weeks of a head start.”
It just seemed wrong to her, not allowing others to mourn Daedyn’s passing.
Mera continued, “People see what they expect to see. People hear what they expect to hear. It’s always easier to accept what’s expected than to look deeper to see the truth of it.”
Mera’s explanation suggested he had people figured about right—in Mithany’s mind anyway. People usually followed the path of least resistance, not all… but most.
Deception based on “the expected” was the essence of Mera’s plan. Mithany and Arek would make the people of Hensdale conclude it was Reyne who’d been killed. The mourners will accept it because they’d expect Mithany to mourn. People will believe because they will expect Arek to be at her side. People will believe because it will fit into what they expect to see if Reyne had died.
The scene Mera tasked Mithany and Arek with creating wouldn’t be too hard to paint. Mithany experienced the grief of death. She experienced the pain of death. The good folks of Hensdale would believe it because her pain is real.
Mera reminded her, “As Reyne’s fiancée and with Daedyn in seclusion, they would expect it of you to hold a vigil at the family burial plot.”
With eyes drawn in tight, Mithany said to Mera, “You speak as though Reyne’s leaving with you.”
Goodbye My Love… Goodbye
Hensdale: 28th day of the Salmon Moon
Mithany
Daedyn’s body rested six feet below where the struggle over Reyne came to a head. Mithany challenged Mera’s plan that at its core—for whatever good intentions it espoused—ripped Reyne from her life. Mera made his position clear in a tone as harsh as he’d ever spoken to her. “Reyne must survive. He must leave. No discussion.”
Crinkles broke out across the bridge of her nose, and she bit down hard as her jaw clenched. The two were locked in a battle over Reyne’s future. Neither Arek nor Brenal could do anything but watch. A nonreaction from Reyne didn’t help Mithany’s cause.
Mithany hadn’t agreed to it, and there hadn’t been a group discussion. However, Mera appeared to proceed as though leaving with Reyne was a foregone conclusion. Placing Daedyn in the ground profoundly impacted each of them, and the danger Reyne faced Mithany well understood. Mera’s actions pushed them all, begrudgingly, towards the inevitable—Reyne’s departure.
Except for Mithany.
With urgency in Mera’s voice, giving up on diplomacy, he demanded, “Mithany, there isn’t time. I’m sorry.”
“Reyne,” she pleaded, “you’re goin’ along with this?”
