Midnight
October, Year 483
Town of Lacau
State of Nicia
North
When Edythe skipped over a massive gnarly root that stuck out of the forest floor in a low arc then went down again, burying itself deep into the earth in search of water it would probably never find, she wondered why it had grown out of the soil in the first place, and where the tree it belonged to was—if it was still alive, that is.
"Esau, when you grow up what do you want to be?" she asked with a quiet voice even though she couldn't see him or hear the gentle steps of his shuffling feet. She felt inspired all of a sudden; trees grew and so will they if they survived long enough.
There was no reply, the air around her like a vacuum of perfect silence.
Edythe tried not to worry about it.
The fog was thick, thicker than it had been in town. Vision was a haze of blinding white and walking was like swimming in a pool of curdled milk.
It made the air heavy and wet, breaths dragged down by the weight of the turbid fog, but Edythe took it in stride—she knew Esau did too. More than a month of being drenched in the deadly mist made her movements quick and nimble, previous memories of the forest grounds guided her feet as her mind traced the routes she used since she had learnt to walk.
She relished the fog-laced air as she stopped by a tree and pressed her body solidly against it, stealing a long breath through her veil.
It had been a while since Edythe had worn anything on her face. She didn't need masks to make her feel safe anymore.
"I don't know what I want to be," an almost silent voice whispered by her ear and she nearly jumped when a hand brushed hers.
A scowl formed on her lips. "Don't scare me like that!"
"But you weren't scared," turning her head to the right she saw Esau vague image leaning next to her. He was smirking, she knew without needing to see his face, "and besides, weren't you expecting an answer? I thought you'd be scared if I said nothing."
Edythe paused, her smile hidden behind the black veil she wore. "That's true, I guess."
"What do you want to be?" he asked back, squatting next to the tree and picking up the mushrooms that grew by it.
"This fog is really good for growing poison." Esau waved the fungi around, much to Edythe's displeasure.
"I have never thought about it." She rolled her eyes and took the mushrooms away from him. She threw them far away from where they stood. "Keep playing with poison and you'll kill yourself."
"I'm not stupid, Eddy."
"Could have fooled me."
"You know," he looked down at his gloved hands then at his sister's veiled face, "something about wearing black brings out a certain snarkiness in you."
"Snarkiness?" she laughed. "Is that even a word?"
"See what I'm saying?"
"Maybe I was born snarky."
"Trust me," he assured her, "I was there when you were born and you were nothing like this."
Edythe tried not to make too much noise as she choked down her laughter. "Funny. Maybe you are the snarky one."
"Not true, Ma always said—"
She took a step towards him and grabbed his arm, pressing him flush with the bark of the tree. "Something is heading our way."
Esau nodded silently and stayed still, neither of them moving a muscle. The moon was at it's highest tonight; little snakes of moonlight broke through the dense layer of fog ever so often, illuminating the green, leaf covered and sometimes muddy floor with a burst of pale glow.
This happened to be one of those occasional moments. Bright beams of white light lit up the entire forest with pure moonshine; suddenly everything could see the other, and prey and predator alike froze at the realization. Animalistic instinct took over, starving creatures crawled out of their holes and the beasts that knew they were about to be hunted dragged their withering bodies into crevices to hide, hoping to live till all was dark again and they were safe.
Esau and Edythe knew that in this case, they were prey but they were prepared for it. Dressed head to toe in black with almost no skin showing they hid in the shadow of the large tree, waiting patiently for the danger to pass.
But it never did.
Edythe's hands fell to her daggers while Esau's fingers clenched the bow in his hand, the other dipping into the quiver that hung off his shoulder. The sound of snapping twigs and rustling leaves tickled their ears and they immediately understood that they couldn't run. If the beast was close enough for them to hear, then it was close enough to attack.
They held their breaths simultaneously as though they had communicated the same plan to each other. If the creature attacked then one of them would fight it back and stall it while the other ran away. They didn't realize then that neither of them would leave the other behind. When push came to shove none of them were going to run.
The sounds got louder and louder still until Edythe was sure that the creature was right next to her, she heard a soft growl and felt it's warm breath against her clothed thigh.
Fighting the urge to shut her eyes and whimper, Edythe began to pull her weapons from their sheaths. Then a series of deafening howls raged from behind her, far away from the forest and in the direction of the town.
In that instant, a large shadow rushed past the siblings, nearly pulling them down to the ground as it charged out of the forest and headed in a straight line towards the howls.
Edythe collapsed in relief, the tension in her body fading away as she slumped against Esau's shoulder.
"That was close," she spoke slowly, out of breath as she held onto his arm. "We have to get out of here. Now."
She saw the relief she felt—and more—on Esau's face when he pulled her to him and hugged her tightly.
"You almost died," he whispered. "It almost happened again. . . And I couldn't do anything."
"Hey!" She pushed him away from her and took a step back while pointing to the now visible moon. "This is probably the longest amount of light we're getting, once it's over we'll be in the dark. We have to move."
Just as she finished speaking the ground started trembling, the tremors grew rapidly, soon getting to the point where both of them could barely stand upright.
"Esau, it's a stampede, you have to move." Edythe had already started climbing the large and aging trunk of a nearby tree. She turned to see her brother still staring blankly at the floor.
"Esau!" She tried again, jumping off the tree and running towards him. "Do you want both of us to die?"
"Sorry." He looked at her with apologetic eyes. "I just can't get my legs to move, you should leave me behind."
"Esau."
"I'm sorry, just go."
Letting out a tired, loud and exasperated sigh, Edythe plopped down on the forest floor and looked back at him, resting her chin on her fist.
"Well then, we have a problem," she said calmly though her heart was pounding hard against her chest.
"What are you doing?" Panic seemed to seep out of every pore in Esau's body. "Get up."
She looked at him with a bored look, knowing that her expression unreadable because of the veil. "Since when were you the boss of me?"
His mouth snapped shut as his gaze fell to the floor, this time his pleaded with her. "Please Eddy."
"It looks like I'm dying tonight." she sang quietly, just loud enough for him to hear. She didn't want to attract any of the beast to her, not that it would matter if Esau didn't start climbing.
"Edd—"
"What do you think will be written on my tombstone. . . Will my body be found?" Edythe tapped on her jaw and pretended to think about it. "Maybe the person that finds it won't even know who I am. Scary."
"Don't," she watched him tremble with each word, "don't say things like that. . ."
Edythe pointed to the tree and shrugged. "Either you get up that tree or we'll both be getting unmarked graves. . . . I'm sure you don't want that for me, do you?"
"Edythe. . ."
"Neither of us are really afraid to die, I know." She got up and laid a hand on his shoulder, her breath brushing his neck as she whispered by his ear. "You wouldn't want to be the reason I died, would you?"
He shook his head, silent and pale as though he was faced with his worst nightmare.
"Good," Edythe smiled and shoved him towards the tree. "You're going up first, and hurry it up, the horde is at our front door."
At that moment a line of rampaging beasts came into view, Edythe returned her attention to her brother. "It's really life or death here, E."
Esau gulped and forced his body to move forward, slowly he began to climb. But was he fast enough? Would Edythe die because of him? Would they both die because of his fear?
"Sorry," he continued to apologize with each small distance he climbed.
Soon enough the horde was right at the base of the tree, and Esau looked hopelessly at the swelling sea of wild animals. His eyes searched and his gaze wandered but he couldn't find any sign of Edythe. No spot of black or red was anywhere in the rushing flow of fur, fangs and hooves.
As the fog blocked off the moon's light for a split second, Esau's raging emotions constricted his throat and drowned his lungs.
His vision darkened and in less than a minute he lost consciousness.
He plunged head first into the horde.
†
So... This was fun, right? The siblings are really cutting it close with everything. In other news, this is the first time Edythe's POV has been written. Her mind is really beautiful. See how she's scaring poor Esau, she must be feeling the Halloween spirit. Thanks for reading! Remember to vote and comment.👻
Question of the chapter
What do you think is going on in town?