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  Tainted

  By Samayesan Hoole

  Copyright 2014 Samayesan Hoole

  Contents

  Chapter One – A Broken Road

  A Broken Road

  ‘Don’t panic.’

  A little late for that. She was bent double in fear, trying to become one with the oak tree. I held up an easy smile.

  ‘I’m just passing through.’

  She didn’t seem to hear me, instead seeming rather fixed on the hefty mace in my left hand. I had no means of carrying it any other way than by a hand’s grip. I suppose I couldn’t blame her distrust. The fading crimson of the kill was still sprinkled over the weapon-head. A quick scrub over morning grass hadn’t made much of a difference. My brown cloak had also taken on an unfriendly shade of red. The girl would be scurrying away into the woods, if she felt she had an escape route.

  I relinquished my grip on the mace and watched it roll down the gentle slope till it came to a stop, half-hidden in the grass. I then raised my newly freed hand in the friendliest gesture I could muster. Too quick. She shrank further under the broad shade, eyes still not meeting mine. I stepped back and looked around the glade. Violets and daffodils painted the little field in weaves of colour, breathing in the clear sunshine. A little glimpse of relief from the gnarled trees that crowded around it. But I couldn’t bask in that so easy when I had the company of a child, looking my way as if I were Beelzebub taking a stroll through the dark forests of Ashtur. It was always the little things that managed to dampen my day. No such feelings when I had taken care of the stout figure who had ventured deeper into the forest, his hunt interrupted by a blow he never saw coming. Following the path of his arrival had led me to this patch of daylight, and a child who might well be the poor man’s own.

  The girl was slowly uncurling herself and looked to have a touch of curiosity now. Her eyes wandered up to meet mine. Large blue eyes steadily fixing my gaze. A strange jump in stance.

  ‘Are you looking for Pa, sir?’ There wasn’t much of a waver in her words. She looked not far over eight, maybe nine at most.

  ‘Could you tell me where he is?’

  Was this guilt? I couldn’t find the voice to tell her the simple truth. She didn’t seem happy to answer that question.

  ‘What is your name?’ I didn’t want her crawling back into herself.

  ‘Afella.’

  ‘What are you doing here, Afella? The forest doesn’t suit a girl on her own.’

  ‘He said to wait while he chased the deer. Why are you looking for Pa, sir?’

  ‘I have come over long roads, Afella. Has your father not spoken of me? We were good friends in a different time. I simply wish to see how things have been since we made our goodbyes.’

  Not the best lie I had managed, I looked a little young to be a long-lost friend of the departed soul. Somehow making one from the spot was a daunting task in front of her deep blue eyes.

  ‘Where is Pa?’

  Painfully quick to sense the mistake in my tale. Her voice was up several notches. Bright, clear, angry. Everyone has their own style of reacting to danger. She had several.

  ‘He’s gone, Afella.’ When the words finally got out, they even caught me sharp.

  ‘Gone?’ Her frown grew deeper, eyes glistening.

  I heard movement behind me and spun quickly to see the giant figure of Grunt striding across the glade with purpose, squinting in the sun. I welcomed the pause of a scene that was playing its way further and further from my liking. All I had wanted was a quiet walk under the shadowed safety of the trees. Away from death, away from lies, away from the fear, away from it all.

  ‘Pa’s gone?’

  I kept my back to the girl and ignored her.

  ‘Grunt, how did you find me?’

  He was already just a few paces away, towering above me, an indifferent look etched on his face.

  ‘It wasn’t you I was looking for.’ His eyes moved to the girl behind me. ‘I found fresh tracks heading this way. Two sets.’

  ‘He’s been dealt with.’

  A slow, shuddering wail began to fill the clearing, sending a tingling wave up my spine.

  ‘And her?’ Grunt raised an eyebrow.

  I cast a glance at Afella. She was hunched over into a little ball, her body quivering against the tree. The cries of anguish struck a troubling note against the serene picture that surrounded us. I felt blood running through me like ice. Something had to change.

  ‘Take her back to the town.’

  Grunt moved across me wordlessly, and made to pick up the cowering girl, her face hidden from the world. He could easily snap her in two, with the nonchalant ease of a man swinging his door open to meet the waking sun.

  ‘Gently, Grunt.’

  Clouds were advancing overhead, eating up the blue space. A gloom was setting in.