Quite contrary

Quite contrary

Postby Cherny » Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:04 am

"H-here. Here's a, another good p-place."

The early spring sunshine pries its way between the clouds, filters between branches studded with unopened buds, gleams on melting patches of snow and warms the earth between. The squire stands near one such spot, nudging at rich leaf-mould with his boot, squinting up to gauge the thickness of branches overhead, imagining how dense the leaves will grow later in the summer; not too shaded, the trees spaced far enough apart to allow dappled light to reach the ground below. Crows flap lazily from branch to branch meanwhile, watchful and alert.

"Ser C-catch - what do you th-think?"

At his side he carries a bundle of sticks and twigs, each with a little scrap of damp sackcloth bound around one end; not firewood, for these twigs are still supple and green, with fat little buds along their length. Harvested furtively from gardens and orchards and organised, like with like, into little bundles. The boy tugs two sticks carefully free and crouches to poke at the earth with an old knife, rusted and dull, gnawing his lip thoughtfully.

"Which would be h-happier here? Gooseberries or, or c-currants?"

He has had time to think. Has had time to find something like calm, for the terror of the blasted clearing to become anger, frustration, and at last a quiet, fuming defiance with which he returns to the woods.

But not unprepared, and not alone.

Nothing outside his own garden. Nothing from earth he did not till.

His coat pockets bulge with seeds - squash and turnip, beans and peas and fennel; seed potatoes and clumps of winter-dormant rootstock for strawberries and brambles; all begged or scavenged or purchased with reluctant coin.

"Maybe b-both?" Dark eyes lift to the addled man, seeking his council and his aid, and he holds out the cuttings for his friend to take, to examine and decide.
User avatar
Cherny
Founder
 
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:34 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby catch » Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:28 am

Catch did his best to understand. To keep himself here and now, to do what Cherny desired. It was... difficult. Here, in the Woods, Spring was impossible to ignore. He must be called to task, again and again, and he flitted around Cherny like a small moon, like one of the foolish butterflies who hatched and cocooned too early. But it was a good idea. A good plan. Trust Ser Eater to come up with it, though Catch did not know his motives.

Plant trees, bushes, and growing-things in the forests. What could be grander?

"I'm so g-g-glad you want to help Fix things, Ser Eater," the addled man says, for - perhaps - the eighth time they started. He beams at the boy, his curls fitting neatly, now, under his cap - neatly shorn by Cherny and his sheep's shears, before they began. "We c-c-can, we can show the Shepard how kind you are." That is the only reasoning he grasped, after all. He does not understand that what is food for deer and squirrel is food for people, as well, the skirting of a law lain down by his precious Shepard.

It was a failing of his.

Catch reaches out to take the bundled sticks, and his mere touch brought green to them, the desire and quickness of growing. Catch did not even seem to notice as he inspects them. he certainly doesn't know that he causes this, not here, not now. Another reason to bring him.

"They b-b-both want out," he decides, with all the solemnity of a king. It is a miracle that, so far, Catch has not lain down the shovel he carries, slung over one, broad shoulder. But he remembers just enough to keep it there, and swings it down, ready and eager to dig.
User avatar
catch
Member
 
Posts: 699
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:00 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby Cherny » Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:56 am

The boy knows patience, and allows the addled man his wandering, his rambling, his distraction; he recognises of the madness that comes upon his friend as the snow thaws and the woods draw breath again, drinking in meltwater and the light of the strengthening sun, as green things which have slept the winter away beneath the soil ready themselves to rush upwards, to carpet the ground in leaves and colour.

"There'll b-be plenty for, for everyone. Enough to sh-share."

It is something he has known mostly from its aftermath. He has tended to the young giant before, when he returns from the woods wild-eyed and half-starved, the exhilaration of new life driving all other thought from his cloven mind; he has washed hurts and scrapes, has combed sticks and leaves from tangled curls, has plied the madman with twice-sweetened porridge and parsnip soup.

Here in the woods, though - so close, surrounded by it, breathing it in with the scent of rotten leaves and damp earth - he begins to understand. In spite of fear, in spite of the Red Dragon or the Wolves or the Fiddler's echoes he can't help but mirror the madman's grin, pleased by his praise, glad of his help. The excitement is a barely-perceived thing, a subtle song on the edge of hearing and yet all-pervasive, thrumming in blood and bone. The sticks quicken between the addled man's fingers, and the boy wants to laugh in delight as pale, blind rootlets squirm between the weave of damp sackcloth. Enough almost to forget his reasons for this planting and simply revel in the act itself - spreading life, helping the growing things of the forest.

"H-here, then - it's nice and, and sheltered." He scuffs up a spot of ground with his dull knife and holds out a hand for the cuttings, that the young giant might set to work with the shovel. "Not, not too d-deep. They're only b-babies just yet."
User avatar
Cherny
Founder
 
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:34 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby catch » Thu Mar 19, 2015 4:06 am

"Children," Catch agrees. He does not fear for Cherny, here. It is not that he recognized the boy as a child, and thus exempt from the Shepard's wrath. It is that he does not consider Cherny a person at all. He is small, true, and he is young, though Catch struggles also with age. Cherny was a God. He was wise, and vastly, importantly clever. He was everything Catch's equal - superior - and thus was equal, superior, to the Shepard.

Catch hands the squirming branches to Ser Eater, and he obediently scrapes at the rotten ground. It would be chilly, but the fermenting leaf-piles would help with that. The rain might beat the smaller growths down, but the swelling branches would filter them. The longer he worked, the more focused he became; when they started, he had been nearly impossible. Now, he was only distracted. Soon enough, he has a nice enough little hole, and he would make another close-by, to let Cherny do his planting.

"For everyone to share," he agrees. But then he frowns, a little, considering something for the very first time.

"How will everyone g-g-get in, if the Shepard won't have them?"
User avatar
catch
Member
 
Posts: 699
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:00 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby Cherny » Thu Mar 19, 2015 5:01 am

The squire watches as Catch works, as he wields the shovel with untwisted limbs, as he toils with the same unthinking diligence as when he splits firewood to feed the tavern. The holes are deep enough and he stoops, hunkers down to hold the first stick over the first hole, balancing it upright on its new-grown roots so the madman might scoop the rich soil with his broad hands to cover them, to pat the earth firm.

That question takes him slightly by surprise, nudges him from the pleasant ritual of planting, requires that he think for a time.

"We c-could take it t-to them - or, or to Sweet Berry." Faltering only slightly as he utters that name; the slain crow's humble grave - a flat stone under a bramble thicket - has become a spot of quiet pilgrimage over the winter, kept clean of snow, heaped with foraged treasures to take and share, kept stocked by rats and crows and boy alike.

Once the cutting is well-planted he reaches into his coat pocket to retrieve a little handful of seeds, and spends a time picking through them - peas, yes, and maybe some beans, and a couple of flat pumpkin seeds as well - each poked carefully into the damp soil with a muddy fingertip.

"Anyw-way. If, if there's p-plenty for everyone, there's n-no need to, to k-keep everyone out."
User avatar
Cherny
Founder
 
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:34 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby catch » Thu Mar 19, 2015 6:25 am

Logic. Cherny's simple, boy-like logic was what made sense - not Glenn's grand, roundabout explanations, or even Mekarie's mad logic, which he understood, but still required him to think, and think hard. Catch shucks the shovel into the good, loamy earth, with a slight crack as the frozen layers were penetrated. He stoops. hitching up his scarecrow's trousers, so that he might slide the earth back over the grey, grub-like roots. He hums, a little - slow, steady, glancing at Cherny every great once and awhile to be certain the boy doesn't notice. Cherny would notice. His tongue would tell him, even if Catch was not quite as quiet as he imagined he was.

It was just a little Something. A little extra.

"If we m-m-make the woods good and plentiful again, the Shepard w-w-won't have to cull, or be cross. I would like that. I - I w-w-want her to be my friend, n-n-not a Shepard."
User avatar
catch
Member
 
Posts: 699
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:00 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby Cherny » Thu Mar 19, 2015 6:58 am

The madman croons the cuttings into life - a little nudge, a little help, urging them to wake up with the gentlest Song; the squire feigns ignorance in such moments, pretending to count pumpkin seeds or looking up to the treetop crows, but he hears, listens. The Song shivers and echoes behind his teeth and he is attentive, feeling the shape and taste of it, noting how it tries to shape his lips and tongue, to speak itself.

He cautiously allows it, feeding it the faintest breath, permitting it to form the softest whisper, so that he might remember it later.

The cutting rooted, the seeds stirring in the soil, the little ritual is completed with a libation, a generous splash from a waterskin to give them something to drink, mischievously threatening to wet the madman's hands if they're not quick enough in moving aside.

"The whole w-woods can be a, a g-garden. Or like Airy Ann's g-glasshouse." Quiet for a time at that memory, the magic of blooms in midwinter, bright and gaudy and laden with heady perfumes. "And, and you c-can be the gardener, and they'll grow b-because you're kind t-to them. And the Shepard c-can put flowers in, in your h-hair." That last added on a whim, and no matter that the young giant's scalp is new-shorn, silver curls gone to line the nests of crows and rats alike.

To the next hole, then, and the process repeats - a scraping-aside of earth, stick and seeds planted with care; a subtle echo to the madman's murmured Song, the squire furtively adding his own raw whisper to the thrum of muffled bells.
User avatar
Cherny
Founder
 
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:34 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby Antichthon » Thu Mar 19, 2015 8:03 am

"Unicorn. I see you have brought a guest." It did not arrive in silence; Cherny would have plenty of warning.

"I have seen what you are doing." There was a tightness to Its voice, and the aura it exuded was, for lack of a better word, scrambled. Chaotic. And as such, the emotional state of the great red shimmer was opaque.

"You wish to help? I have a way in which you can help." The red mass writhed towards Cherny. Massive, intimidating, and perhaps worst of all, intentions unknown.

It stopped before him, and was silent for a time.

"With the thaw, a badger sett is flooding," It said at last. "This sett is grand, and the clan within has lived there for ten generations. Over these generations, the clan has developed a culture of stubbornness beyond even that of most badgers. They will not move, even as their cubs drown.

"I have prepared a temporary home for them, but must move them by force. The adults I can easily move, but the cubs are tiny, and I have the scent of a predator. I will have difficulty holding them, and the shock and fear may kill them.

"They do not recognize the scent of a human as that of a predator. It would be a kindness to them if you would assist me in this matter. And I would be grateful."
Antichthon
Member
 
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 4:24 pm

Re: Quite contrary

Postby catch » Sat Mar 21, 2015 2:20 am

Catch listens to Cherny, and he says nothing. Among his spring madness, he feels a small pang of regret. He has given voice and tongue to Cherny, but he had never wanted to slip a little Song into his throat. That was not kind. That was not Fixing Things. His mood is visibly dampened as they wander to new locals, putting root and seed to earth, giving them a little help with the sounds they crooned.

Catch is not surprised to see the Shepard, nor is he in any way tense. Cherny was Cherny, a good child, a wise child, and the addled man only smiles brightly at the arrival of the mass of writhing and red.

"Shepard," he says, warm as the strengthening spring sun. Wish to help? Of course they do! He listens to such a proposal, and though Catch is not wise, he effects a little bow - a little tugging of a curl of fetlock remaining to him.

"Shepard, Ser Eater is the grandest, cleverest boy th-th-that I know. And he is the kindest, too. He w-w-would do as you ask. B-b-but, Shepard, he is friend to crows, clever and wonderful crows, and th-th-they must needs go, go everywhere with him, to keep him safe. Now, clever they are, b-b-but they are crows; and they are used to his hands carrying snacks and treats."

"You m-m-might be cross, if he emerges with his hands f-f-full of, of badger-foals, and the crows t-t-take them for the snacks and treats they are used to."

It was not a denial, it was a brief, little warning. He knows Ser Eater will help, and Catch would help, too.
User avatar
catch
Member
 
Posts: 699
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:00 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby Cherny » Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:13 pm

He is braver here, in Catch's company; he has a better idea of what to expect, and has had time enough to steel himself against the creature's arrival.

It makes its presence known and he moves quickly to stand, to face it, stiff-backed and steadfast, a hand moving protectively to the bundle of sapling sticks. By no means insolent - though the temptation is there - but more assured in the face of the writhing red, for all that its squirming approach has him tensing, glancing sidelong to remind himself that the madman is close at hand.

He keeps his gaze slightly lowered, offering no overt challenge, and listens to the creature's proposal and the young giant's reply - a small but appreciative dip of his head at such high praise - and a quiet clearing of his throat as Catch concludes.

"Th-they know not to t-take what's not offered, s-ser." A polite disagreement as he speaks in defence of the birds who even now croak and chuckle in the high branches, bead-bright eyes watching the scene below. "And, and d-doubly not what's g-guarded by a, a D-dragon." A slight untruth, knowing well the crows and their taste for odd trinkets and treasures, but in this instance he trusts in the birds' discretion and good sense.

There is a moment in which he considers something other than Catch's ready assent; in which he is tempted to say no, unless, and seek some concession from the beast in return. How many lives might these badger cubs be worth? How many townsfolk might be spared in exchange? How many bushels of foraged food permitted?

Instead he ducks a quick bow, and sidles a bit closer to Catch.

"I, I'll h-help."
User avatar
Cherny
Founder
 
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:34 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby Antichthon » Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:34 am

"Thank you." Even through the magical masking, there was a twitchiness to Its voice. How It hated this time of year, when it had no willing lovers. The red mass moved, and an appendage in the mist beckoned for them to follow. "It is still too cool for the health of the cubs. Were it not, I would recommend bringing baskets, as even cubs this young may nip in fear. But as it is, the warmth of your body will be crucial to their survival."

The journey was not so long. A half-mile later, they were at the sett. It was very large with many exits, but in a flash the red mass encircled it all. The adults hissed and spit and bit as a very long, thin appendage invaded their home and stole their children out from under them, but in the end, they were helpless to stop it. It passed the tiny, squeaking cubs to Cherny. They were nearly hairless, and entirely helpless.

"Hold them close; keep them as warm as possible. We shall move one family at a time, as to prevent the cubs from being passed to the wrong mother." That, and Cherny could only carry so many cubs at once.

"Unicorn, you--" It cut off. The cub It had just pulled from the sett wasn't squeaking. It held it close, and listened for a heartbeat. Nothing.

With a flick of Its whip-like appendage, it opened a gash in the ground beside Cherny. The little dead cub was placed within. "plant one of your seeds here. That which grows will make a fine tombstone." And the rotting body of the cub would be a rich source of nutrients.

It resumed what It had been saying. "Unicorn, if you are willing, it would best serve us if you would remain with the temporary sett when we reach it. Despite the distance, I fear these stubborn badgers will attempt to return home. Their cubs would not survive the journey, and all all effort would be for naught. Your presence will keep them wary, and keep them within the sett."
Antichthon
Member
 
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 4:24 pm

Re: Quite contrary

Postby catch » Sun Mar 22, 2015 11:44 am

Cherny will help, as he knew he would. But he hesitates. He is not used to Crows acting in such a fashion, nor Cherny's assurance on their behavior, and so his hesitation causes him a brief lag, a moment where he must trail after the Shepard and Ser Eater like a galloping pup. Even now, he is distraction, distracted; even in the solemnity of the moment, he finds things to hold his attention, so that he stumbles, lags, or flashes on ahead. A particular pattern in the swirl of the Shepard, a gouge in the bark of a tree from a boar's tusks, the motion and skipping of the black-smock crows overhead.

He even moves ahead of them, though he knows not where they go, a brief and teasing flick of his fingers along the Shepard's colors, as if to entice her to a Chase.

"Pockets and pockets of foals," is what he says, as the Shepard draws them out, passes them to Eater. The dead one is the only thing that pierces his irreverence, and he regards it with a face gone to solid stone.

Mercurial, he smiles once more, and takes from Cherny a cane of blueberries, who may like the flood of waters more than others, and he carefully pats the writhing green-stick and fresh dirt over the body.

"I'll stay where you p-p-put me," he says, eager enough to give his reckless Promise. But he wants to help, too.
User avatar
catch
Member
 
Posts: 699
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:00 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby Cherny » Tue Mar 31, 2015 7:04 am

The squire is stoic, solemn, for the most part silent as they travel to the sett, only a nod in acceptance of the task, trudging through the melt-muddied woods in the creature's wake as Catch darts here and there, or stands rapt in fleeting wonder.

They arrive, and the work begins, and Cherny accepts each naked newborn with great care - as much from reluctance to suffer the woods-beast's touch as from concern for the cubs - tucking them one by one under his tunic to squirm and prickle tiny claws through his shirt. Silent and watchful, dark eyes following the Red Dragon's movements, observing how it snares and subdues the adult badgers. The crows follow through the treetops above, maintaining a wary distance as they chatter and croak among themselves.

The dead cub - drowned or sickened or smothered or chilled, he cannot guess - has the boy's features tightening for a moment, stirring memories of similar helpless little bodies to be set in a hole - but he nods and helps Catch select the cutting which will mark the tiny grave.

Quiet and obedient throughout, no protest at the interruption to his gardening, doing as he is bid, though he stays as close to the madman's side as he is able.
User avatar
Cherny
Founder
 
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:34 am

Re: Quite contrary

Postby Antichthon » Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:17 am

Cherny was silent, and It respected that silence. It led the way to the temporary sett, quite a distance away. The distance had to be enough to be discouraging to the badgers to return on their own. The mother of the cubs under Cherny's tunic was somewhere within the red mass. She continued to hiss and spit throughout the journey. Once at the temporary sett, the mother was deposited deep inside, and the cubs given to her, one by one.

It didn't fully trust the Unicorn to stay true to his word; in the waking world, he was too easily distracted. But he was only there just in case. Most likely, the recent presence of It would be enough to keep the badgers underground.

This process was repeated, back and forth, until all the badgers were moved. Several more dead cubs were buried in the process.

When they were finished, It addressed Cherny. "I know you do not care for me. I know you believe I am your enemy. These badgers believe the same. know that what I do is as much for your sake as what I do for them. Perhaps one day you will understand. You may go."

It would remain at the temporary sett, until It was confident the badgers would stay.
Antichthon
Member
 
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 4:24 pm

Re: Quite contrary

Postby Cherny » Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:49 am

Their work is done, the last cub passed from his hands and the squire watches, sullen and unsmiling, as it is eased into its new home.

He's heard rumours about those missing in the woods, those lost, and - more rarely - muttered allusions to what's found of them after. Enough to have him scowling at the beast's lofty assurances, even as he edges a touch nearer to to the pale madman.

"You, you eat p-people. That d-doesn't help them. Doesn't h-help the people who g-grieve them." Blind little badger cubs handled with tender care; Myrkeners reduced to stinking clumps of bone and hair in a monster's spoor.

"You get to d-do what you like b-because you can. Because you're f-frightening and p-powerful, and no one c-can stop you, and you like th-the woods better than t-town. Or m-maybe you're just h-hungry, and the w-woods are an excuse." A stiff shrug, a helpless acknowledgement that it makes little difference either way; this is just the way things are, and beyond his ability to change or challenge. His knuckles are white where he clutches the strap of his satchel, though, and his voice remains steady only with a great effort.

"But you, you d-don't get to s-say you're eating us for, for our own s-sake. You don't g-get to kill p-people and eat them and, and act like you're g-good. I understand th-that much."

Dismissed; he ducks his head in a sharp little bow and turns to march away through the trees with a sidelong glance of apology for Catch.
User avatar
Cherny
Founder
 
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:34 am


Return to The Forest & Lake



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests

cron