Refugees - An Oathsworn Excerpt
“Do you hear that?”
Karl looked back at Marie. She’d stopped a few paces back, one hand half raised, staring off into the trees. He held his breath – any sound out here could be the end for both of them – but nothing came.
“Hear what?” She looked tired, he realised, and wondered if he looked the same. Probably. They’d been walking for days, neither of them saying the unspoken. Just one foot in front of the other, quiet as you can. Don’t let the momentum stop, or you’ll never start again.
He didn’t like staying in one place for too long.
“I thought-” Marie swallowed and let her hand drop. “I thought I heard someone else out there. Someone hurt.”
“Even if you did, there’s no guarantee it’s a person,” Karl reminded her. She turned to him, and he was struck by just how hollow her face looked. Sunken in on itself, the cheeks gaunt, the eyes dark, hope all but forgotten. She nodded sadly.
“I know,” she really was exhausted; it sounded like every word was an effort. “I just – I don’t want us to be alone out here. It wouldn’t be so bad to see a friendly face, would it? Someone else to travel with?”
Karl retraced his steps carefully and slid an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
“We’re not the only ones who escaped; we’re just the only ones who came this way, at this time,” he murmured into her hair. She nodded against his chest, and he felt her shoulders relax slightly. He knew she hated the thought of people dying, hated that she personally couldn’t single-handedly save everyone from the war. “Come on; we have to keep going. The next village isn’t far, hopefully the war hasn’t reached them yet.”
They’d taken one step together when a scream shattered the night. Karl froze even as Maria gasped and took a step off to the left, towards the sound.
“You heard that, right? I wasn’t imagining things? You heard it this time?” Rooted to the spot in fear, Karl could only nod dumbly. “What do you think it is?”
“I think-” Whatever Karl thought was knocked out of his head by the next sound.
“Help!”
“Someone’s out there!” Marie took another step forward, further away from the path, and with a jolt Karl realised he had also stepped towards the source of the noise. It sounded frightened, anguished, in pain. It sounded like –
“A person!” Marie was only half looking back at him, clearly straining to hear where it had come from. He already knew there was no chance of stopping her – she was too far forward for him to grab. That fool heart of yours is going to get us both killed, woman! In panic, he reached out anyway, only for his fingers to come up short, grasping at air as Marie strode into the twilight gloom of the woods. “We have to help, we can’t just leave them.”
“Please, anyone, please help!” The voice was definitely feminine, and it sounded desperate. It didn’t have any of the curious overlapping sounds that gave away the mimicry of agents of the Enemy – maybe it was just a person?
His feet seemed to be moving of their own accord as he, too ventured deeper into the woods. Marie’s bright yellow backpack bobbed ahead of him and he focused on that; don’t lose her, anyone else is not your concern but don’t. Lose. Her.
He was so focused on not losing sight of her that he nearly ran straight into the back of her as she stopped suddenly.
“Marie? What -” the words died in his mouth as he looked over the top of her head.
They’d come to a pond which, in the heat of the Summer, seemed to have stretched itself out and become more of a bog. Head held high, nostrils flared in panic as it tried not to sink, was a once-white horse, now up to its chest in brackish, watery mud. Karl’s heart sank. He knew: once a horse gets in so deep, even if you get it out it won’t live long – damn things die of shock if they don’t drown. Their hearts aren’t built for being so panicked for so long.
“Please, please, help, it’s my fault, I couldn’t just leave him -” sobbed the voice. Definitely a woman, and close. Karl sidestepped around where Marie was stood in shock, and finally saw her at the water’s edge, up to her waist in mud and crying messily. He swore, and elbowed Marie, dropping his backpack and stripping off his thick coat.
“Don’t just stand there, Marie – we have to help her!” As if his words had been a slap in the face, she jolted into action, following suit and shucking her backpack and outer layers.
“Help her first, then the horse if we can?” She muttered, bending down next to him as they took off shoes and socks. He started rolling his trousers up as best he could, and shook his head slightly.
“There’s no saving the horse, it’s in too deep and we don’t know how long it’s been there. By the looks of them both, too long; if we’d gotten to them at the moment they fell in, maybe we’d have a chance of saving them both, but now…” he trailed off, and Marie nodded sadly. She didn’t like it, but she trusted his knowledge here, and didn’t argue.
The mystery woman was not so gracious.
“I’m fine, please, please at least try and get him out? I couldn’t just leave him behind to die but then I feel asleep while we were riding and he must have been tired too because the next thing I know he was thrashing and sinking and- and-” she gulped noisily, and started sobbing again.
Karl rubbed the bridge of his nose. He knew, he just knew Marie was looking at him with the goddamned look on her face. Those sad, pleading eyes, silently beseeching him to help more than he should. He sighed in annoyance, refusing to look at her, and instead looked out across the water, and focused on the horse.
“Fine,” he started rolling his sleeves up as well. “You grab her, I’ll get the horse. Here’s hoping Artax doesn’t break my damned heart again.”
Knowing the mud would be cold and slimy didn’t stop his revulsion at feeling it ooze between his toes as he stepped forwards into the mire. He stepped past the sobbing woman carefully, shutting out the sounds of Marie comforting her, ignoring the unpleasant sounds that were kicked up simply by moving, filtering it all out so all he could focus on was the horse.
He hesitated once as he realised it would have made more sense to strip off completely, but he was too far gone to save his jeans now. He shrugged, and pulled his shirt off as a compromise, balling it up and tossing it behind him to land in a crumpled pile next to his shoes.
“Easy there, boy,” he murmured as he approached the horse. If he hadn’t seen it’s nostrils flaring and heard the soft breaths, he’d have thought it had already died. “It’s ok; we all get into sticky situations. But you have to work with me to get out, ok? I can help you get out, but I need you to believe you’ll get out as well. And then we’ll all go be somewhere nice and safe, and see if we can’t rustle up some carrots for you.”
The ears were flicked towards him, attentive, and the flaring had slowed down – that either meant it was calming, or it was about to give up. Just a couple more careful steps, and he had his head on it’s head.
“There, now, see? I’m here too. I got in, and I can get out. You just need to trust me, ok?” He ran his hand along the horse’s neck and frowned; where were the reins? “Marie?” He called over his shoulder, turning back to ask the strange woman where her horse’s tack was.
She wasn’t there. The strange woman was crouched by the edge of the pond, two hands below the water, and she looked up as he turned, grinning nastily.
“… Marie?” He tried again, and the answer was a loud, harsh laugh from the strange woman. She pulled her hands out of the water and something floated to the surface, something pale with brown hair and tired, unseeing eyes –
He yelled in alarm and tried to run back to dry land, but a pressure on his hand stopped him. He tugged, once, twice, and finally turned to see what he’d been caught on.
The yellow eyes of the Kelpie stared back at him, glamour slowly melting away as the woman behind him laughed a strange, rattling laugh. The monstrous horse took an easy step towards him through the dense water, and firmly took hold of his other hand with its mouth. He glanced down at where his first hand had touched the side of the beast’s neck, and realised with dismay that the creature’s flesh seemed to be growing over it.
With both hands captured, the horse backed out towards the deeper water of the pond, and dived.
~~~~~~
Would you like to read more? You can! Everything I've written so far is over on Wattpad
If you enjoy reading my work, please consider leaving me a tip, either here on tumblr or over on my Ko-Fi
