In Search of Auria (11 page)

Erik glanced at the old shack and asked
Auria about it, “Do you know who built the shack by the pond?”

“Oh, that is the house of Bri.”

“House? That small thing?”

“It is cozy, but he only uses it for rest.
He must be around here, watching us.”

“Watching us? You mean right now?” Erik
turned and stared at the woods around them.

“Yes. He does not know of you yet, so he
must be afraid.”

“But, is he a man like me, or a fairy like
you? Or something else?”

“Maybe you can ask him all your questions
when you meet him.”

After hours of conversations about their lifestyles
and experiences, Auria could not stay any longer. She floated up to
her home and Erik hiked back to the base.

From there on, Erik visited her every day
for a week. He waited by the pond and each time he brought her a
gift. The first day he brought her flowers; the second day he gave
her a small silver heart pendant; the third, he brought sweets.
Auria loved each present, and appreciated Erik even more for it.
But with each passing day, Erik ran out of ideas and the gifts got
crappier and crappier. The last of them were a cheap bottle of
wine, a plain ceramic tea cup with no designs whatsoever, a loaf of
bread, and a dandelion. You could only find so much in an army
base.

When Erik showed up with that last gift, the
dandelion, he felt two words could describe his intentions…
Complete Fail! If he had given these last gifts to an average
woman, she would have bent him over and beat his rump with a spiked
club. But, Auria wasn’t an average woman. She loved all the gifts.
They were things that she had never seen before. And she specially
liked the dandelion. It was a plant that didn’t grow in the forest.
When Auria blew air on it, the airborne seeds puffed and drifted
over the pond. Her smile bloomed as she saw them glide away. Her
joy and happiness soothed Erik’s heart and wrapped it with a veil
of tranquility.

“I have something for you,” said Auria. She
reached for the side of her skirt and took out a small necklace. It
was a wooden chip dangling with woven vine. The chip had a carving
similar to the painting back at her house.

“Since you have given me so many gifts, I
thought I should give you something in return. It is not as
glamorous as your presents, though.”

“No, no, it’s great!” Erik stated with joy.
He took it and put it around his neck. “It looks good. Thank
you.”

All those visits, from their very first
encounter to that moment, evoked a feeling that Erik thought was
long gone. It was hard to believe, but at the same time it was
happening. Erik was falling for her. He quickly grabbed her hand
and knelt. She looked at him confused and turned pale.

“Auria, the past days have been marvelous.
The conversations, the joy, the excitement has been more than what
I’ve experienced my whole life. I just can’t resist anymore and I
have to tell you.”

Auria remained still with her mouth half
open. Erik was starting to break a sweat. In a shy manner, he
spoke, “Auria, I think I love you”.

She smiled and looked at him like if he were
a cute puppy, “Oh, I love you, too.”

“You do?” Erik blurted out surprised.

“Well, of course. Just like I feel love for
my grandfather and Beam, and for my people. It is what makes us
care for each other and gathers us as a community.”

Erik shook his head with a wry smile, “I
don’t mean that kind of love. I mean the type that couples have,
mates.”

That’s when she got it. Her wings changed
rapidly to a stunning red. She raised her eyebrows so high, Erik
thought they would pop out of her forehead. Auria withdrew her hand
and stepped back.

“I have upset you, I’m sorry,” Erik
apologized. He felt like a fool, shamed by her reaction. He now
wished to have waited more time to reveal his feelings. But then,
his intentions saw a ray of hope when Auria lifted her sight and
spoke, “I also feel the same way.”

Erik’s heart and soul gave a loud hallelujah
when she said that.

“All these visits you have given me,” she
continued, “they have lifted my spirits. They have become something
I expect to happen, something that I want to happen. The days would
become boring and dull if not for you. And after you freed my
people from the corvus, I do not see you like a curious stranger
anymore. I see you as a strong and virile male. But…”

Why is there always a but
, Erik
thought.

“This that you propose cannot be.”

“Why not?” Erik approached her as she turned
away.

“Erik, the company we have shared has been
one of the best I have had, but it cannot be more than that.”

“I don’t understand. Have I not been
trustful, compassionate, committed into seeing you? I just want to
be with you.”

“I know, but I just cannot.”

“Yes, you can, Auria. We can simply—“

“We cannot!” she suddenly barked.

Erik got shocked by her outburst. “How
come?”

“Because!”

“Because what!”

Her wings turned dark blue as she gave him a
stern look, “Because I am from the vibrant skies, and you are just
from the land below!”

Erik became speechless. He didn’t expect
Auria to reject him like this; maybe with a sad goodbye, but never
like this. Auria put her hands over her mouth, regretting her
outburst.

“So, you’re saying I’m beneath you,” Erik
glared at her. He turned and walked away.

“Erik, wait, I did not mean it that way,”
she pleaded, but he ignored her. He heard how she dropped to her
knees and started weeping, but still he continued. He paced through
the trees and disappeared among their shadows…

*

My cheek stopped bleeding by the time I
stopped thinking about my mistakes. I should have never told her I
loved her. By just asking her to be with me, I made her choose
between two worlds: her radiant Heights, or my land of war. I
pushed her into a corner, and her reaction was one I deserved. We
were just too different.

I stood from the ground and continued my way
through the barbweed trail. This time, when a thorn punctured my
skin, I endured its sting and carried on. It was an affliction I
had earned.

Thanks to Richard’s short-cut, I passed
through the forest faster than I thought. Even though I had more
scrapes than a cutting board. I followed the road to the northwest
when I accidently stepped on a broken sign. It read “Town of
Flama”. I continued and encountered what seemed to be a ghost town.
The first building I passed by was crumbling. It had a high arched
iron gate that read “Orphanage”. From the arch, the wind swayed the
body of a hanged man. It reeked as if it had been there for days.
On his shirt was another sign,

“Hanged for being a prick. –The
Townsfolk”.

This could be the orphanage caretaker
Richard told me about. It seemed the people of this town enforced
justice in their own way. I had to be careful here.

I passed the orphanage and went into the
colorless and ghastly town. Everything about this place was ruined.
Lack had taken over and anguish filled the air. I walked slowly as
I entered its misery. The ground was decorated with faded tiles and
broken bricks. I had to watch where I stepped to not bend my ankle.
The houses were in such pitiful conditions, living on the street
would be no difference. And the shops didn’t have much of an
inventory to make a satisfying buy.

A man pulling a small cart passed beside me.
I stopped him and asked, “Sir, excuse me. Sorry for asking, but has
this town always been like this?”

The man looked at me in disbelief. He eyed
me from top to bottom and noticed I wasn’t from the area, “Where
are you from, stranger?”

When he asked that, I had an instant
flashback of what happened in Vieris. But this time it was a
villager asking me. I hoped I didn’t raise any suspicion.

“Uh, Borleng,” I replied.

“Oh, you come from the northeast. It must’ve
been quite a travel!”

“Yeah, it was!” The bluff had worked!

He placed the cart down and whispered
closely, “Don’t let the soldiers know I spoke to you of this, but
it’s their fault the town is in this bleak state.”

That little bit of info made me raise my
eyebrow.

“Flama used to be so beautiful,” he said
full of melancholy, “Murals on every wall, gardens in front of the
houses, businesses on the streets, and fruitful fields all over.
But then, the Royal Army came. They took over because of the war.
They took each and every resource the town had to sustain the army.
And now, this is what’s left.

“I guess it was the taxes,” he exhaled
feebly, “We always paid them in full, so they came to take from our
prosperity.”

“Wait,” I interrupted him, “By ‘take’ you
mean they are taking now? This town is occupied by soldiers?”

Without giving me any answer, he lifted his
cart and continued down the road. I took his indifference as a yes.
I cautiously continued down the road when I saw a group of balorian
soldiers on the next street. I hugged the wall and hid behind an
empty barrel. I just couldn’t believe my damn luck! Why couldn’t I
catch a break? I had just dealt with a monster, and now I was in
the center of a town controlled by the army. I tried to rub the
frustration off my face.

The soldiers were yelling a lot. I peeked to
see what their commotion was about. There were about six or seven
of them making a circle, and they were bullying someone in the
middle. When they finally had their fill of enmity, they shoved the
person to the ground and left, taking their shouts and laughter
with them. I took pity on the guy. But when I had a second look at
him, I recognized his clothing; a blue robe with bird decorations
all around. It was Yang, the orient man I met in Vieris! When I
hurried to him, he was unconscious. I pulled him by the arms and
dragged him to the nearest alley. The soldiers had given him a
pretty good beating. He had a black eye, a bruised cheek, and
footprints all over his robes. He didn’t respond when I called to
him, so I slapped him. It worked.

“Ah, stop hitting. I did no wrong.”

“Yang, wake up. It’s me, Erik!” He opened
his slanted eyes little by little as he recognized my face.

“Ah, Erik. You are here.”

“Don’t you worry, the soldiers left. Come
on, try to get up.” He couldn’t balance himself. I held him by the
shoulders and helped him walk. He told me that he simply asked the
soldiers why the place seemed so abandoned and badly maintained. It
was a question similar to the one I asked the villager, but I guess
he asked the wrong people. Out of the alley I saw the town’s pub,
called “The Mead Pit”. Like the other buildings, it looked rundown,
but it had more flow of business.

I wanted to take Yang to a doctor, but I
didn’t want to come across the soldiers and get in trouble again. I
thought maybe a good drink would help him sooth the pain away.
Hearing soldiers marching to our direction, I hurried Yang into the
pub.

All the tables were full inside. The
townspeople glanced at us, but gave us no importance. They returned
to their drinking and chatter. We sat at the bar and I asked for a
mug of mead. The barkeep gladly poured us a full one.

“Only one?” the barkeep asked.

“Just the one,” I nodded, “It’s for my
friend. He received a nasty beating from the soldiers.”

“Those dirty dogs,” he shook his head.

I started to notice a pattern here. First,
the man pulling the small cart; and now, the barkeep. They both
showed signs of grief, and blamed the army for it. I had to know
more.

“Barkeep, can you tell me why the town is so
glum?”

“Glum is an understatement,” he answered.
“Flama is very small. Paying taxes all the time, we need every bit
of coin to survive. In the last years the army has been winning
against Miaflore, but that means they need more food, more mead,
more money. Small as we are, we’ve been squeezed dry… And that is
why we hanged the orphanage keeper!”

That escalated quickly!

“Um, yes, I saw his hanging body at the
entrance. How does hanging a man fix the tax problem exactly?”

“That charlatan! He was in league with the
soldiers. Kissing arse all around. Every time one of the shop
owners made a good bit of coin, he would inform the soldiers. They
confiscated the money and gave him a share for the trouble. We did
nothing at first, for we thought he did it for the benefit of the
children. But when we learned kids had escaped the orphanage
because of his villainous abuse, that’s when we had it. All the
folk dragged him out to be hanged. Yours truly made the sign around
his neck.

“And in retaliation,” he expressed wearily,
“the army raised the taxes to a grand high.”

“
But
, the people have enough money to
spend here, don’t they?”

“They come here to drink away their pains.
They pay for a couple of drinks, but most of the time I give it
away for free. I do it for the humble folk. You see, I make the
mead myself with a couple of other chaps. I work double trying to
make up for the lack of earnings and for the booze the soldiers
confiscate. But, it makes the people of the town a bit better. It’s
the least I can do for Flama.”

In that, Yang coughed with a foamy smile.
The barkeep took another mug and served me a glassful of the
mead.

“Here you go. On the house.”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to have a drink
now. We were in a ravished town patrolled by balorian soldiers,
plus I needed to get back on Auria’s trail. I was about to push the
mug away when Yang patted me on the shoulder and said, “Take it.
It’s free!”

I thought about it, until ultimately caving
in, “Well, one should be alright.”

#

We got drunk.