Erath - Chapter 13

Wow. I'm so sorry guys. Thanks for being patient.




Gavin sighed contentedly as he finished the venison that Brynn had caught for dinner. The twilight was exquisite; just above him the sky was streaked with wispy clouds stained purple. Behind him, the sky had taken on a dark purplish hue, and just in front, the blood-red sun setting behind the mountains, setting the clouds aflame with bright orange, reds and yellows. The cool air and gentle breeze was soothing. What made the evening more enjoyable was the fact that Erath and Ellyn had not had an argument for almost four days. It was gloriously peaceful between the four travelers.
“Nice night, eh Gavin?” Brynn asked, sitting down beside his friend. At Gavin’s nod, he went on. “Red sun though. It’ll be hot tomorrow.”
“Let’s hope the tempers won’t be,” Gavin remarked.
“Remarkable isn’t it? They haven’t fought for nearly a week. I wonder why?”
“We have nothing left to argue about,” Ellyn said, coming to sit down on Gavin’s other side. “Actually, I have gotten bored of him, and I think he has of me too.”
Gavin chuckled softy, but Brynn looked about himself. “Where is he anyway?”
“He said he was going out to cut wood,” Ellyn said, brushing her dark red hair out of her eyes. “He took the big hatchet this time.”
“When did he leave?” he asked testily. Gavin’s fingers twitched nervously.
“Oh,” Ellyn shrugged her shoulders carelessly, “about a quarter of an hour ago. My, you two are so paranoid.” Ellyn got to her feet and started rummaging through the food pack. “He said he would be back within the hour with wood for a fire. But it looks like we are going to need more food. Besides, I am getting tired of meat every night. Can’t we go into a town tomorrow and buy some fruit?”
“Maybe bread and cheese, but not fruit,” Brynn said. “It is too expensive and does not travel well.”
“Well, can we go tomorrow then?”
Brynn shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose so. Will you be alright being with Erath for most of the day?” he said, turning to Gavin.
He nodded.
Night was starting to fall by then. The inferno of colors on the western horizon was dimming, and the cooling, gentle aromas of night and soft noises of nature were beginning to come out and enclose the three companions.
Heavy steps coming from the trees behind them made Brynn turn around. Arms wrapped around a pile of freshly cut wood were the first things to come out of the shadows, quickly followed by the long stride of Erath and finally his face. The hatchet sat atop the pile, glinting in the fading light. Gavin went over to him and tried to take some wood and lighten his load, but Erath snapped.
“I can carry it myself.”
“Just trying to make it a little easier,” Gavin said gently.
“I can handle it.”
Gavin turned back to the others with a small shrug.
Erath approached the small fire pit that Brynn had dug earlier and began setting up the logs. In a few minutes, there was a small blaze going. As the night was cool, the three of them crowded around it as Erath fanned the tiny tongues of fire.
“How much farther till we get to the village?” Ellyn asked.
“I would say a league or so to go,” Gavin said. “After we pass through this hill country, we should be at the foot of the first mountain. You and Brynn will need to go through these woods to get to …” he pulled out the map, a ragged piece of parchment that must have been fairly new when they started, “a little town here called Rollagen. It’s pretty rural.
Brynn looked over Gavin’s shoulder at the map. “We will leave just after dawn. I will wake you up, Ellyn.”

Gavin watched as his sister dragged alongside the briskly striding Brynn, her eyes half shut. “She never was a morning person,” he said quietly to himself.
Erath was sitting beside the smoking fire, a bucket half full of water beside him.
Something was different about him. Gavin could see that, but was not quite sure what it was. He looked at Erath’s absent eyes for a few seconds before they came back to themselves and locked on Gavin.
“What?” he snapped, complexion taking on a sour expression.
That was it; his face wasn’t showing anger at all. It was tranquil, no lines of contempt or irritation spoiling it. For a minute, Erath was handsome. It was as if Gavin could see what Erath would have been like if he had not had such a terrible past.
“Oh,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, “it’s nothing.”
Erath’s brow softened a little, but not very much. After dumping the rest of the water on the remaining fire, he got to his feet, standing to his full height for the first time since he joined them. “Let’s start work while we have time.” So saying, he rolled up his blanket and set it beside the rest of the gear. Taking up the pot of rabbit stew they had had for breakfast, he offered some to Gavin – who declined- before throwing it out.
“I will be back in a few minutes,” he said, turning to find a stream in the woods.
Gavin continued docilely straightening the camp, but he was puzzled. Erath had never acted this way. He had not needed to be ordered to help; he had volunteered, even suggested it first. What happened? There must be some reason he is acting so obligingly. Is he trying to get something from me out of it?
After he finished, he sat down to watch the sun climb up the sky’s walls. All was still until the sound of splintering wood and the crashing of something hard brought a piercing scream that rang in the surrounding hills.
Gavin scrambled to his feet and bolted for the woods. “Erath! Erath!” he yelled. He needed no answer, for the continuing stream of cries and curses reached his ears easily. Then they stopped. Running, Gavin came to a small ravine, where, at the bottom, was a little brook of water. The sight that met his eyes was terrible; a fallen tree across the ravine had blocked a wall of boulders, where the stream came. Now there were only the remainders of the log, and the boulders were scattered across the ravine. Gavin stood at the edge, horrified. “Where is he?” he said quietly, anxiously. “Erath?” he called.
The sounds of someone breathing hard through their teeth reached his ears, then groans of agony came to him. Then Gavin could make out, underneath a boulder, was a leg in the baggy, ragged slacks of a sailor.
“Over here, idiot!” a voice screamed.
Gavin scrambled down the side of the ravine and over the various sized rocks until he could see Erath. He was pinned beneath a boulder that was almost as large as he. His face was red, and lines of suffering were etched in his face.
Gavin didn’t bother to ask what had happened or if Erath was all right. He got down to where Erath could see him and asked, “What do I do?”

Between the waves of pain, Erath gritted his words out through his teeth. “Get a rope … put it in a bowline … on a bight knot … and get it wet.”
“Right,” and with that, Gavin took off for the campsite, leaving Erath alone again.
Once he felt that Gavin was far enough out of earshot, Erath let out a loud cry of pain. The tears he had tried to hold back came down in rivers. He let his head down on the cool rocks and cried. It was all he could do for the next ten minutes until Gavin came back very suddenly, catching Erath in another tremor of sobs. For a second, Erath wanted to stop blubbering in front of this quiet and powerful young man, but then it didn’t matter. His pain was real, and there was no possible way he could convince otherwise.
Gavin sat down beside him and held the rope out. “How do you do it?”
“You don’t know how?” he managed to spit out.
“I was never a sailor.”
“Give it to me,” he ordered.
Gavin handed him the rope, and Erath pushed himself up on his elbows. When his back arched up though, a renewed pain shuddered down his leg. More tears ran down his cheeks, but he had stopped his sobbing. Quickly swiping the mist from his eyes, he took the rope and tied the knot, clumsily at first, then tighter.
“Go soak that in water,” he said. “It will hold better.” Once this had been done, Erath instructed him how to tie it around the boulder so that it would be lifted without any further damage to his leg. This being completed, Gavin threw the remainder of the rope over a sturdy limb protruding from a thick tree.
“Now just pull on the rope. The boulder should lift,” Erath said. Every word said was more breath used up and more pain added to his limbs.
Gavin wrapped the end of the rope around his right arm and grabbed with both hands, yanking on the rope. It didn’t budge. He tried again, throwing his weight down and trying to bring the rope with him, but once again, it remained where it was. The sun was high up in the sky by then, and the sweat poured down Gavin’s face and neck, soaking his shirt and the tunic underneath. After a third hard tug, he let go of the rope and staggered back a bit.
“I’ll be right back,” he said breathlessly, and took off at a tired jog for the camp. As soon as he came in sight of it, he could see Brynn and Ellyn just getting back. Calling to them, he came up and told them what had happened in as short sentences as he could. “… And I need help pulling on the rope. It’s not moving at all, and Erath has been under that boulder for nearly two hours.”
Brynn’s anxious and tense face at once turned to where Gavin tiredly pointed. He ran at a sprint, Ellyn struggling to keep up behind. Gavin came last of all to the place where Erath lay. The three of them took hold of the rope, and on Brynn’s count, heaved in unison on the cord. The boulder lifted.
“Ellyn!” Brynn yelled, face red and biceps straining, “pull him out!”
Immediately letting go of the rope, Ellyn darted up to Erath’s side. She grabbed him from under the arms and dragged him away slowly, her feet shuffling, trying to keep balance. Erath let out a wild cry of pain.
“Is he out?” Brynn yelled desperately from behind the boulder.
“Yes!” she shouted back.
Brynn sighed, letting go of the rope. Gavin followed suite and the huge rock crashed down, splintering and damaging the thick cord. Small pieces and chips of rock flew for a second, then only dust.
Erath was screaming now. The sudden movement of his broken leg had hurt, but not only that, but it had been jerked up onto a higher rock when Ellyn pulled him away. This sent waves of anguish throughout his body. He lay on the ground, writhing in pain; the others didn’t know what to do. Black dots flashed across his vision, his mind becoming more and more blank as consciousness threatened to leave him.. Erath remained facedown for several minutes, shuddering with pain and uncontrollable sobs.
At last, he turned his head toward them, the tears gone. His face was swollen and red, his eyes almost bloodshot. “Help me up,” he said weakly.
Brynn was the first to come out their stupor. “Not yet,” he said. “We should make a litter to carry you back to camp. Ellyn, you go back to camp and make up the fire; find as many bandages as you can, and see if there are any herbs you can find as well. Gavin, you and I will make the litter.” Kneeling down, he looked Erath in the eyes. “Wait a few minutes until we can get you back without much more pain for you.”
Drawing a shaky breath, Erath nodded.

The pain was still ever-present for Erath, but it was much better lying on the three extra sleeping blankets everyone had given him. Ellyn was making another poultice for the few cuts he had received, and Gavin was fitting a splint for his entire leg and re-binding it. One of the bones in his shin was broken, and the muscles in his thighs were badly bruised. It had been two days since the accident, but his pain was still horrible. The only way he could keep himself from bursting out was his pride. When he was with Gavin, it was all right to cry in front of him, but he didn’t want the others to see his tears. He didn’t exactly know why that was so, but something about Gavin disarmed him so that it was all right.
Brynn came up to him, holding out to him a tin plate with a haunch of some meat he had caught and cooked while the twins took care of him. “It will be a few months before your leg heals you know,” he said in passing..
Erath took the food, his attitude at once sour at the news. Lying around for a few days was all right, but for months?

Some hours later, when the other two had gone to bed, Brynn went over to Gavin and spoke softly in his ear. “Looks like the days of peace will be over soon.”
Wearily looking up at Erath, then Ellyn, Gavin sighed through a slight smile. “I give it twenty-four hours.”