Black Ribbons Read online

  “A mercy for both of you,” Rowan continued.

  Shae just looked at him with determined anger, like a child. His light blue eyes were almost filling with tears. They were glassy and fierce. “You must promise never to attempt it again,” he said. ”We are in the wild, but I want to believe your word still means something out here.” He was almost pleading.

  “You have my word I will not try again,” Rowan said wearily. And he meant it. Though, he still believed it was the wrong thing to do. Letting her live.

  Chapter 6

  Abigail woke because she was cold. She hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep. She wrapped the cloak that had been her hammock around her, but it wasn't enough.

  Her hand was still tied to the young man. It was a strange rope they had used. It almost looked like black embroidery floss, but thicker. It was soft, how she imagined silk would be. It was strong. And they had tied a knot in it so tight that she couldn’t untie it. At least not with one hand.

  She stopped trying and lay back down inside the black cloak. She carefully took the sleeping bonnet off her head and let her long light brown hair be loose. It was thick and she gathered it around her neck and shoulders, to keep them warm. She wrapped the bonnet around her hands under the cloak. Anything to create more warmth.

  She looked up into the trees. The sun was shining. Shafts of sunlight shot through the branches. But the sun did not warm her. The forest air was cool and would stay that way.

  She realized, lying there still cold, that she sort of had to pee. She wondered how far the rope would stretch. She crept, freezing, out of her cloak, left her bonnet there and tried to stretch the rope around a tree nearby. But it was only four feet long or so and it pulled the man's arm out of his tent, which woke him instantly.

  He snatched his arm quickly inside the tent. She swore it had started to smoke before he did.

  He looked up at her sternly with his blue eyes. “No,” he said.

  He had short messy dark brown hair. Maybe black. He was staring up at her from the darkness of his tent with something like fear. Why was he afraid of her?

  She sort of pointed behind the tree and tilted her head to indicate she wanted to go there.

  “When dark falls,” he said quietly. “Not until then.”

  She was confused. Why not now? But she had no intention of speaking to him or anyone else of his camp, so she lay down again. She would wait.

  * * *

  Night fell and twilight came and Shae had led Abigail away from the camp so she could attend to the delicate business of peeing in the woods. He had turned his back politely. She had sort of had to drip dry. Then he led her back to the camp.

  She was wincing and whimpering a little because she was barefoot. Dirt, rocks, tree roots, pine cones, pine needles and twigs all scraped her feet as she walked. Shae noticed this.

  “Did anyone pack extra boots in his pack?” Shae asked quietly when they returned to the others.

  They all looked at him like he must be insane, but finally Nephah dug a pair of black boots out of a black bag nearby. “Here,” he said, handing them to Shae.

  Shae handed them to the girl and motioned for her to put them on. She sat in the dirt and laced up the strange boots. They were way too big for her, but much better than nothing at all.

  Shae still had himself tied to her with the black rope. Apparently, that wasn't just for sleeping. She would find a way to cut through it somehow. Perhaps when they slept again. A sharp rock. Something.

  “Are we ready to travel?” Rowan asked as he lifted his hood over his head.

  “We are,” Zephan said. No one disagreed.

  Silently they all pulled their hoods up and began to walk. Abigail pulled hers up too, and tried to keep up with their fast pace. She was starving and thirsty, but was still refusing to speak to them. Surely they would stop for food or water soon and offer her some.

  But they did not. Hours and hours they walked. At a pace much faster than she was capable of, though they were only walking. Shae walked ahead of her and gently pulled the rope now and then. She felt like a dog. The two of them were lagging behind and still she felt exhausted.

  At one point they passed a stream and Abigail pulled him wordlessly over to it. He seemed surprised. She bent over and gulped handfuls of ice cold water, and splashed her face with it. She was overheated from walking.

  Shae crouched beside her with wonder. “Hold!” he shouted ahead to the others. He heard them stop and Rowan came back to see what was happening.

  Abigail didn't care what they thought, she took off her boots. Her feet were tired, sore, overheated, and had blisters forming. She put them in the cold water and was immediately relieved.

  Rowan walked back to the others. “A moment's rest...” Shae heard him say.

  Shae bent down and drank a handful of water. His kind didn't need it quite as desperately as humans seemed to.

  After a few minutes Shae said, “We have to go.”

  Abigail gave him a disgusted look. Did they never stop to eat? She shook her feet off and put them back inside the big boots.

  Rowan came back to them and handed Shae some sort of bag for carrying water. A pouch. With a lid. Shae filled it with water from the fast running stream, sealed it, then handed it to Abigail.

  She was so grateful she almost wanted to speak, but she held back. The pouch had a thin rope she could throw across her body and over one shoulder, which she did. Then she stood on wobbly legs and started to walk again.

  It was a moonlit night, and she could see well enough through the trees, but the men seemed to be able to see more than she could. She had only found the stream by listening, but they said things to each other like, “We should turn slightly to the west at that bent tree ahead,” and, “The map indicates a town or settlement in a day's walk.”

  Then suddenly she heard a rustling. One of the men shouted in an annoyed way, “Piah!”

  Shae seemed to follow something with his eyes. She heard more quick movements and rustling and straining. They had all stopped to watch this thing she could not see.

  She heard a great thump, then several of the men rushed forward. Shae said in disbelief, “He's done it.”

  'What?' Abigail thought. 'What has he done? The one called Piah has done something?'

  Shae walked forward and sort of pulled her along. The image of a deer lying on the ground, dead, came into view. Piah and the other men had bitten into it and seemed to be drinking its blood.

  Abigail was disgusted. “Oh my God,” she said aloud.

  Shae turned to look at her. He realized this must be alarming. Only he and Rowan were not feeding on the deer. Abigail tried to walk away and pulled his arm. He let her. She walked back and hid behind a tree.

  “I'm sorry,” he said. “We need blood to live. It's the only thing that keeps us alive.”

  She said nothing. But she realized suddenly why they had killed her family, why they had all had blood on their lips. They had killed them to drink their blood.

  She bent over and threw up. But she hadn't eaten in so long it was really dry heaving. Then she slumped to the ground on her knees and sobbed into her hands.

  Shae bent down beside her and said nothing. He wanted to run. What could he say to make anything better? They had killed her family. He saw now why he should have killed her when he first saw her. But he could never do it now. He wished he was not tied to her.

  * * *

  They had made camp again, as morning light grew near. This time Shae had tied Abigail to a tree. About 20 feet from all of them. There had been a discussion earlier and some feared she would kill them by exposing them to sunlight if she had the chance. Shae had agreed to tie her away from them.

  She wondered what they meant by “killed by sunlight.” It hadn't been her imagination after all that Shae's arm had been smoking in the sunlight.

  She almost didn't care. She had more privacy now. Even though she was a bit lonely. Shae had set up his tent cl
oser to her than the others. She still couldn't reach him. He must not trust her either.

  They had tied another rope onto hers so she could wander farther, but she was still a captive. She curled up inside her cloak again, with her bonnet on her hands. Soon she was shivering. It was early, pre-dawn, the coldest time of the night.

  The one called Rowan, who seemed to be the leader, came over to her and put another cloak on top of her.

  “We had another extra one,” he said to her, then nodded, and wandered off. She turned away from them and tears rolled down her face. Why were they being so nice to her? They had murdered her family. Why did they care if she was cold or had water?

  She still hadn't eaten in two days. She tried not to let that desperate hunger keep her awake. Finally her deep exhaustion won out and she fell asleep. She dreamed of her family. Horrible dreams where they were screaming. When she woke she was already crying. It had seemed so real. Then she realized, again, that it pretty much was.

  She lay awake in the cold and the dim forest sunlight, waiting for them to stir. Maybe sunlight took their energy too and made them sleep. Or maybe they were just waiting for it to go away.

  She felt weaker today than she had before. She still had water, but no food. She was untied from her tree and tied to Shae again. The sky was light with clouds full of snow. She could tell. It was brighter than a moonlit night. The men stared in wonder at it. They didn't know if it was safe, but it didn't burn them like sunlight.

  It was spring, but not too late for a snow. It began to waft down beautifully in big snowflake puffs. This time she could see what they could see in the forest. They had walked for a while and suddenly the men were mumbling excitedly about two deer ahead. Suddenly two or three of the men sprung forward and chased the deer, faster than any mortal man could do. And when they caught them, they snapped their necks. She knew no ordinary human could ever do that. She turned away in disgust. But all of them rushed forward to partake in the drinking of blood. Even Shae, who pulled her hurriedly along and bent down on his knees to share the drinking of a doe.

  Maybe it was the lack of food in her body or the squeamishness from what the men were doing, but Abigail felt everything fade away, and felt herself fall to the ground. Then nothing.

  * * *

  “Wake up...” Shae was saying, shaking her. He had carried her away from the deer. Rowan and Nephah were standing nearby.

  “Perhaps she needs blood too?” Shae asked.

  “No,” Rowan said too quickly. He suspected she had fainted partly because they'd been drinking blood in front of her.

  “What can we do?” Shae asked, concerned.

  Rowan didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before, but the human girl needed food. “We used to be human,” Rowan said almost to himself.

  “She needs to eat,” Nephah said as it dawned on him.

  “I remember...” Shae said. “Where will we find her food to eat?”

  “The deer,” Rowan said. “She can eat the meat, but we must cook it first, over a fire.”

  Zephan walked over to them, overhearing, “Do we have time for this?”

  “It's either this or carry her,” Rowan said.

  “Or kill her,” Zephan said not quite under his breath.

  Shae leaped up to stare Zephan in the face.

  Rowan stepped between them. “It has been agreed the girl will not be killed,” he said.

  Zephan glared at Shae, then walked away.

  “Nephah,” Rowan said, “you and Shae will make the fire. I will get the meat.” He walked away.

  Rowan knew the fire would be good for her too. She always seemed so cold. His kind was not as sensitive to temperature changes. Hopefully the fire and the meat would do the girl some good and they could begin walking again. They could carry her again if they had to, but they should keep going. Deer blood didn't have nearly as much life force as human blood. And human blood just barely sustained them. He was afraid of what might happen to the girl if the men got hungrier. And also what that would do to Shae. He hoped he didn't have to find out.

  Chapter 7

  Abigail had been with the men for about ten days. They kept walking, on foot, at night, to their destination, God knew where. And they kept feeding her. Deer meat. And once Shae had brought her huckleberries. Every now and then they crossed a stream or walked along a river and she would fill her bags of water. She had two now. They had given her another. Shae carried one for her, as well as her extra cloak that she used at night to keep warm.

  But they still kept her tied up. She was still their captive.

  The men were becoming moodier, angrier. Rowan knew it was because the animal blood was not enough for them. But with the girl there none of them could stand the idea of killing another family. Except for Piah, who had on more than one occasion brought the subject up. He was not handling the hunger well. It made him irrational and desperate. More than the others.

  Rowan didn't know if the girl knew what was going on, but every now and then one of the men would give her a sideways glance, eying her for a meal. She had stayed quiet. Never speaking. Not even to Shae, her protector.

  It had been about two days since they had killed deer. The girl had started drying out and cooking thin strips of deer meat over the fire. She could make that last for days. But only fresh blood was appealing to the men. They were pretty well starved when they reached the bank of a small river.

  It would be light soon. They decided to cross the river tomorrow. For now they made their camp on this side of it. Abigail was tied to a tree away from the men, as usual.

  They'd placed her within reach of the river. Once the men were settled down and presumably asleep, she crept to the river. She took her bonnet out of the pocket of her cloak and dipped it into the river, to get it soaking wet. She wiped down her face with it. Then she dipped it into the river again and wiped down her neck and ears. She reached under her cloak and nightgown, and started to wipe down her body the same way. She had done this once, days before, when they had camped possibly by the same river. Afterward she had made mud and washed the bonnet and rinsed it, then laid it on a stone to dry. She washed her hair with dirt too, but dry. She didn't dare get her hair wet. She was afraid she would freeze to death.

  The men never bathed as far as she could see, but they didn't get grimy like she did. They were not entirely human.

  She opened her nightgown a little, unbuttoned it so she could slip it off her shoulder to wash there. She began to run the bonnet over her shoulder, but heard a twig snap and stopped abruptly. She turned and saw nothing.

  She was paranoid now, but kept washing. Then she heard a panting breath, almost like a dog, and leaped up, dropping her bonnet in the dirt.

  Piah stood before her, almost salivating as he stared at her. He was panting. Lusting after her blood, she realized. She backed up, but her rope kept her from going too far. She ran around the tree and he chased her once around it, knowing it would wind her rope down to nothing.

  He pressed his body against her body against the tree, and pinned her there.

  “No!” she said and struggled, but he was too strong.

  He moved her hair away from her neck and leaned in and bit into her neck.

  “No...” she said quieter, starting to cry. It stung where his teeth had pierced her flesh. She didn't even know if the others would try to save her if she cried out. Shae would. She knew Shae would.

  She couldn't even move her arms, Piah had pinned them between their bodies. “Help!” she cried out.

  Piah paused in his drinking to put a hand over her mouth, then he continued. She tried to bite his hand. She was nowhere near successful, but he stopped again and pulled his hand away from her mouth in surprise. She didn't waste a breath.

  “SHAE!” she screamed as loud as she could.

  She heard a shuffle and Shae was on his feet. He quickly leaped over to where she and Piah were and threw Piah off of her.

  It was still early morning, the sk
y was lighter, but the sunrise had not yet occurred. Other men climbed out from under their cloak tents and ran over to see the commotion.

  Shae had kicked Piah when he was down. Piah had leaped back up and the two were punching and shoving and fighting each other.

  “HOLD!” Rowan shouted. The struggle continued, but he stepped between them. Others came to help keep them apart.

  They all looked at Abigail leaning against the tree with the sleeve of her nightgown pressed to her neck wound. It was clear what had happened.

  “Piah,” Rowan said, “You know it is not allowed to harm the girl.”

  “Why not?!” Piah shouted. “She's only trouble to us, and a temptation. Her family is dead. We always killed families together. At once. Why let her linger?”

  “To be merciful, Piah,” Rowan said calmly, trying to calm Piah down.

  Shae looked very upset, he was still filled with rage, but he said nothing.

  Piah was slightly calmer. “If we kill her,” he said, “we can kill other families again. It's only her stopping us.” He was almost pleading. The men all sort of looked down or away, ashamed of themselves.

  “No,” Rowan said. “We are stopping us. I'm beginning to think it was wrong of us to ever take a human life.”

  The men still hung their heads. Listening.

  “We could have made the best of animal blood while traveling to our ship,” Rowan said.

  Only Shae looked at the girl now. Guilt was in his eyes.

  “We will not kill the girl,” Rowan said. “And we will let her go when we reach our destination. Surely there is none among us who has never suffered hardship before. We will pass through this.” Rowan looked around at the men to see if his words were sinking in. They seemed to be. “Let us get our rest now,” he said. “The sun rises soon.”

  They all slumped off to their tents again, Piah still angry and now sulking. Shae and Rowan stayed with Abigail. Rowan took the folding knife from his pocket and cut the rope near Abigail's hand. She was free now.

  Rowan had realized she'd be safer if she could run. Though hopefully she wouldn't run. She could still tell the other humans where to find them.

  Abigail looked at him with wide eyes. He was really freeing her? There was still a length of rope tied around her wrist, but that was all. Rowan walked off without another word, back to his tent.