Trust (TWC ch5)
Chapter 5: Trust Blood. Fire. Steel. Darkness. Cold. Blood. A fallen man. A bleeding body. Another. Another. Another. Blood. So much blood. A shining moon. A starless night. A frozen river. Blood. Anya awoke, panting heavily, cold sweat running down her face. Am I dead? The girl thought, looking around as her body as her vision began to clear. Where am I? Her vision blurry, the girl began to look around her, taking in her surroundings. She was lying naked in the grass, the river a few meters to her left. How am I alive? The girl asked herself, trying sitting up. As soon as she tried sat up the girl felt a sharp pain on the back of her head, and she collapsed to the ground again. What happened? She wondered, her memories blurry. She remembered fire, fire and soldiers. And Will, he saved her. Then she was running, it was dark. Why was I running? She asked herself. We were attacked. Knights came to the camp. She tried to remember more. She closed her eyes, blocking the blinding sun. I was running. Running away. There was a fight. Then... Then what? Something happened. It was connected to the pain in her head. The river... She remembered, the feelings suddenly rushing back to her; the cold, the dark, the smell of blood. She thought she was going to drown, or freeze to death. How did she survive?Anya tried to sit up again. It hurt, but this time she managed it. She glanced around again, the area looked clearer now. She was more lucid, and she could see where she was. She was sitting in a patch of grass by the river. And to her right she saw a large black bulge. She rubbed her eyes again, everything still looked blurry. The shape began to morph into multiple shapes, men, the girl realized after a moment. It appeared some of the outlaws must have pulled her out of the river. Stumbling Anya unsteadily made her way over to the circle of outlaws. "Well look at that, it's alive after all." Said one man, his tone disturbingly lighthearted and jocular. Anya looked around at the small circle of outlaws. Brandon, the leader, was there, as was Will. Bruce sat there too, scowling at the girl. Anya suspected he wasn't particularly happy about her survival. Sahkyo the savage and Tysha the woman were there too. As well as three men whom Anya vaguely recognized from around camp, but had never learned the name of. "What happened?" She asked frantic, "Where's everyone else?" "Lost, probably dead." Said Brandon cooley. He seemed downright apathetic to the fact that over four out of every
five of his men was dead. Maybe that's how a leader had to be, apathetic. Anya nodded, feeling sick but not knowing how else to respond. None of the dead were her friends, they were her captors, but still, it was hard to imagine. In her mind's eye she saw Chuck's fat body lying, bloody, and Horace's, and Joe, the scar-faced man's. All dead. She thought to herself, not able to believe it."And put on some clothes." Said the same man who had spoke the first time. "The boy's staring at you." Anya blushed, she had forgotten she was undressed. Understandably she had bigger worries than that."No I wasn't!" Will insisted. "Can't you take a joke boy?" The man said, chuckling heartily at the boy's embarrassment. The man tossed Anya her clothes from the night before. They were dirty, torn, and were hardly more than rags even before this. Still though, she quickly covered her body. "What happened?" Anya asked again, slightly more collected. "Well," began Brandon, "The camp was attacked. We had to retreat. As far as we know all the other men were killed and all our supplies were burned. We found you floating in the river, we thought you were dead but Aster there patched you up." He explained, pointing to one of the men Anya didn't know; the oldest of them, his hair showing hints of grey."Th-thank you." Anya said to the man, unsure of how else to respond. Aster only nodded. "We should be able to buy some more supplies once we sell the girl." The joking man said. Will suddenly rose in indignation. "Sell her?" He asked, incredulously. "How can you even think about that after what we just went through." Aster and the third man, yet to say anything shook there heads in slight agreement, but didn't say anything. The rest of the party continued to look on impassively. "What else would we do with it?" asked Bruce, anger rising in his tone. "Accept that beast as one of us? Look at the luck it's brought so far. The sooner we get rid of the beast the better!" Anya could swear the scar her claws had left seemed to be burning as his face reddened. "Well yeah, she fought
with us, didn't she?" Will insisted. "Fought with us? You risked all of our lives to untie it, then it ran off into the woods and just about drowned." "She did." Said the third man quietly. "She saved my life." Anya looked at him, confused for a moment. But then she felt a flicker of recognition. Then she remembered. She jumped on a knight, though him off a man. It was dark that night, and everything happened so fast she didn't get a good look at the man. But now that he said that Anya remembered, she was sure it was him that she saved. "I did." She said, nodding furiously."That still doesn't change anything." Insisted Bruce. "We still need the money and nothing good could come from keeping this beast around longer than we have to. It'll either attack us or try to run first chance it gets." Anya bristled angrily.
"Stop calling me that!" She shouted, sick of being treated like an animal by the outlaws. "I am done being your slave." Brandon looked over the girl appraisingly. "I can't think this girl would be any use to us other than to sell." Clearly she didn't look like much. If you ignored the tail, fangs, and cat-ears she looked like a scrawny eleven year old girl. Dressed in rags and blood didn't help her appearence she knew. "We owe her!" insisted Will. "She saved Jakson!" Brandon scowled. Clearly his sense of fairness and his pragmatism were not aligning. After a few moments of contemplative silence he spoke to her. "Can you do anything girl.""Of course!" Anya insisted immediately. " I've been helping around camp for days now." Shouldn't they have seen she could be useful? "And I know plants." She said, which was true, her mother had taught her fairly extensive use of herbs for food, medicine, as well as what was poisonous. "And I can fish!" She claimed, despite her dismal attempts in the past. "And I can..." She trailed off, trying to think of something else she could do that could be of use to the outlaws. "I can read." She told them, knowing it wasn't much of a useful skill for a band of outlaws, but she needed something else. "You say you can read?" He asked her, eyebrows raised."Y-yes." She said, suddenly regretting saying so. It sounded stupid now that she thought about it. The men exchanged a look. "You never know how helpful that could be. Think about all those papers we found, there could be something valuable on them." Aster said. No one in that camp could read? Anya thought to herself, shocked. "We need fighters, not scholars." Said Bruce. "And we need gold. Get rid it." Brandon frowned again, still in obvious indecision. "We'll vote." He said, eventually. He didn't seem very happy with the idea, but he was unable to come to a decision by himself. He looked directly to his left, Tysha. "She'll just hold us back. Anyway, I don't trust it. No." Said the woman. Anya's heart fell. She had hoped for the woman's support. Anya thought she would want another girl in camp. Next was Sahkyo. He just looked back at Brandon confused. "Should be keep the monster girl?" Asked Brandon, gesturing toward Anya. The savage made a strange grunting sound before giving a nod in affirmation. One vote for, one against. I guess... Thought Anya. Will was next, who gave an immediate nod of yes. "You already know my answer." Said Bruce, glaring angrily at the rest of the band. Brandon nodded coolly to Bruce before looking to the man who had mentioned selling her before. "Ryn?" The man, Ryn, paused for a moment, the first to be
unsure in his decision. After a long pause he eventually shook his head no. "Sorry, she'll just hold us back." She explained. Thee against. Two for. Said Anya's mental tally. Both of these two will have to vote for me. She thought. She was pretty sure, Jakson would, she saved him after all, but Aster she wasn't confident in. Sure enough Jakson was next. "We owe it to her." He said. "No we don't." Injected Bruce again. "It saved you, we saved it. Now let's get rid of it before we all need more saving."Jakson shook his head. He was clearly not changing his mind. "I guess it's you than Aster." Said Brandon, looking the older man over. The healer sat in silence for what, to Anya anyway, felt like an eternity. "I think the girl can be of use to us." He said, eventually. "Does this mean I'm an outlaw now?" Anya asked, smiling wryly. Brandon glared severely at the girl. "I guess so." he said resigned, seeming to be less than entirely happy about the outcome of the vote. "Let's get going, we've been sitting around too long waiting for the girl anyway." He began to walk down the bank of the river, North Anya thought from where the sun was, though she wasn't positive. Groaning, the group of men stretched and rose before slowly falling into a bumbling line behind their leader. Anya followed suit, her head aching. Each step sent a shock of pain shooting through the cut on the back of her head. Groaning the girl continued to walk, doing her best to keep up with the outlaws. The difference in height made it seem that Anya had to take two steps for each of theirs just to keep up. And her head hurt. The longer they walked the worse the pain was. After walking for what must have been at least a few hours Anya felt she like she was going to collapse. She was sweating, panting, and struggling desperately to keep up with the rest of the group. Eventually-- her legs tired, and scared head aching-- Anya collapsed into the grass.
At that moment the feeling of the cool grass on her back felt like the most incredibly wonderful feeling in the world. Anya panted as the she practically absorbed the cool, her body embracing the rest like a mother would her child. After only a few beautiful seconds she felt a light kick to her side. "Get up." Said Brandon curtly. Moaning the girl rolled over. "I can't..." She whined. "I need a break." "Fine." Said the leader. Anya smiled, relaxing, until she saw him continue walking. "Stay here if you want." He added, making it quite clear he wasn't waiting for her. The girl groaned, struggling to get onto all fours before pulling her body back upright. Just as she was pulling herself up she felt a hand grip her shoulder, and pull the girl to her feet. "Come on Anya, you'll be fine." Said Will, smiling at her sympathetically. "Just keep walking." He gave her shoulder a light squeeze before pushing the girl forward. Anya looked back at him, and forced a smile before taking a short, shaky, step. "Just a little more, I'm sure we'll stop soon." The boy promised. After what, to Anya, felt like an eternity of walking the group came upon a small pond which the river had been feeding into. The boy's promise proved to be true as Brandon called the group to a halt. "We'll camp here for the night. The girl's going to die before we reach another good spot." The men grunted in affirmation, grateful for the opportunity to sit and rest for the night. Anya collapsed to the ground, her entire body aching. She tried to look around at the rest of the group, but it was futile. In less than a minute though the girl's eyes were closed."You need to get up." She heard Will say, his hand on her back. "Why?" Groaned Anya without opening her eyes. "You need to get some food." "What?" asked the girl, opening her eyes. To her surprise it was suddenly well past sunset. What had seemed a few seconds of rest had been a comatose sleep of a few hours. The girl scrambled to her feet and looked around. Will pointed over to a mat where there were a few berries and some stale bread set out. "Sorry." The girl said, to no one in particular, before running over to the food. She could see that all the other men already had food and many had already eaten. The girl inhaled the meager meal, which was wholly unsatisfying in both quantity and quality. After the day's arduous journey the meal left the girl feeling still hungry, but there was not anything too be done about it. "Mind if I join you?" Will asked, sitting next to the girl without actually waiting for an answer. The pair just sat in silence for long moment, just staring out into the rapidly darkening forest. Eventually Anya turned to the boy, watching the muscles in his face form a contemplative smile as he gazed into the trees. "Why?" She asked, quietly, after another moment of watching him.The boy turned, his face showing surprise as though he had forgotten she was there. "Why what?""Why do you stay with them?" She asked. The boy seemed too nice to be stuck with this band of criminals. Where did he come from anyway? wondered Anya.The boy
looked back at her for a long moment, frowning philosophically. "Same reason as you, I guess." He said, thoughtfully, "I don't got anywhere else to go." "Why not? What do mean?" The girl asked.The boy didn't answer. He just looked at her, his face rippling like a pebble dropped in a pond. His expressions became unreadable as he looked at her through flickering eyes. It felt like there was electric chain connecting the pair as Anya waited for his answer with trepidation. Eventually Will opened his mouth and began to speak softly. "When I was ten years old I--" "Girl!" Brandon's voice called sharply from the other side of their small encampment, interrupting the pair. As the voice broke the connection Anya immediately stood up and turned toward the leader. "Yes?" she called back, nervous. "Since you had such a lovely nap, I'm sure you have plenty of rest to take the first watch." He said it condescendingly. Anya knew she didn't actually have the choice to refuse, despite the fact that it actually felt like she hadn't got any sleep at all. The girl nodded her assent as Will began to slowly move away and return to the rest of the men."Good. Wake me in two hours. Shout if anyone comes. Can you handle that?"Again the girl only nodded yes. "Good." The leader gave the girl a hard, suspicious look before turning and settling in for sleep himself.Anya settled down onto the rock and felt her eyes beginning to shut. Have to stay awake. She told herself. The very thought of what the Brandon would do if he caught her sleeping was enough to make her shudder. The girl forced herself to open her eyes abnormally wide as she stared through the dark trees. Shapes and shadows danced through the trees, but Anya didn't see anything that seemed suspicious enough to wake the men. All Anya saw was the forest coming alive with the creatures of the night.Her large ears pricked the girl became aware of how loud the forest became when one only stopped to listen. She heard the loud snores of the band of outlaws, but she also heard the forest itself. The spirits of the trees spoke to the girl as the wind whistled through them. The bullfrogs screamed out in the darkness, and were answered by the three note song of the whippoorwill.Anya could hear her own breathing too, slow and shallow, just another sound in the forest. The girl felt her tiredness fade as she fell into the trance of the forest. Her heart beat to the music of the whistling wind. Her breath sounded in between birdsong and the running of rodents along the ground. The forest was dark. The forest was simultaneous known and unknown. The forest was a safe place from those who wanted to hurt the girl, but the forest could kill her too. It was in that moment though the girl realized she was not just in the forest, she was part of it. When the girl was younger her mother had tried to teach her how all creatures were connected to each other, but it was not until this night-- far from home -- that the girl really knew what she had meant. Anya felt the energy of the entire forest flowing through her. She was the trees, the squirrels, the birds, and the bugs. All the life in the forest was one with her spirit, their souls linked through an energy that connected everything. Time suddenly held no meaning for the girl. She was no longer an injured girl, tired and lost, she was a forest. She was one with everything, the spirits of everything that lived flowed through her body, and her own spirit went through all of them. Then, the girl felt a tap on her shoulder, sending her jumping three feet into the air. She looked around, flustered, her trance broken. "Glad to see you're awake." Said the outlaw leader dryly."I was! I was just..." She said, trying to explain what she had been feeling. She was no longer the forest, she was just a scared girl again. The leader ignored her protests. "If you are going to be part of us you need to know what we are. We aren't some band of rogues and thieves." He began to explain. Anya nodded, suddenly very curious. "We're called the Lost Company." He said, "We are those with no home and nowhere else to go. We offer our services to whoever will pay."Mercenaries. Anya thought with disgust. It explained a lot, why they were too organized to be normal thieves, why there were so many. But somehow a band of sellswords seemed even worse than outlaws. "Who were you working for?" She asked, nervous.Brandon looked at the girl thoughtfully before answering. "We were hired by the Annasai to take the castle of Acelle." Anya couldn't help but wonder at the absurdity of it. A band of sellswords hired to take the second largest castle in the land. Anya couldn't think of why the Annasai would waste their money hiring a mercenary company for a suicide mission, now why that mercenaries would accept such a dangerous mission. The leader, as if reading her thoughts, said, "They said we
could come home if we succeeded." He said, his voice slightly desperate as he tried to explain it to her. Anya stared at the leader, her narrow eyes glowing in the darkness. He only looked on and sighed. "That mission was the only hope we had of finding home, and now most of us are dead." The usually stone-faced leader looked as though he was going to cry.Anya nodded, unsure of what to say. After a long moment she tentatively asked "What now then?" "What else?" Asked Brandon, rhetorically, "We finish the mission or we die trying."Anya looked at him like he was insane. Finish the mission. They hardly had a chance with sixty men, let alone six. Does he want to die? Anya wondered, but she knew that wasn't it. The leader was just a man she realized, weak, uncertain, and desperate. But also, she saw, very determined and very smart. He wasn't planning a suicide mission she was sure, no, he had a plan. "How?" She asked.The broken leader didn't answer her. He just looked on and said. "Your watch is up, you can go to sleep now girl."And that's what Anya did, she went to sleep.