Within Read online

  Within

  Overthrown ~ Volume One

  by

  Aaron Bunce

  Autumn Arch Publishing

  Iowa

  www.AutumnArchPublishing.com

  Copyright © 2015, 2014 by Aaron Bunce

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof, many not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotation in a book review or literary publication.

  Publisher’s note

  This is a work of fiction. All names, places, characters, and incidences are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual people, alive or dead, events or locations, is completely coincidental.

  A product of Autumn Arch Publishing

  Cover art: Suzanne Helmigh

  Cover design: Michele Maakstead

  Interior design: Aaron Bunce

  Map Design: Alex Vialette

  Trade paperback ISBN: 978-0-9904504-2-9

  E-Book ISBN: 978-0-9904504-3-6

  2nd Edition 2015

  For my wife Rebecca, you never stopped believing in me. And for my daughters, Aleena and Joselyn, your joy and optimism inspires me.

  Part One

  The Ruins

  Chapter 1

  Into ruin

  …Twentieth winter thaw of the Council’s rule, springtime.

  The cart rumbled noisily along the path, its warped wheels riding the deep grooves formed by seasons of wagon traffic. Two men led the small group, flanking a sturdy, brown pack mule.

  The air was brisk but not cold. Gentle wind gusts rustled the trees, rattling dry leaves yet to drop from the previous fall.

  “You smell that?” Robert, the older man, asked.

  The younger man walking on the opposite side of the wagon drew in a healthy breath through his nose. “Smells like,” and he sniffed the air again, “smells like mushrooms!”

  “So right you are, brother of mine!”

  “Oh, the thrill of the hunt!” Damon breathed excitedly.

  Unlike the lands to the south, the rocky soil around Shale was worthless for farming. Instead, the town relied on harvested goods from its forests and fields. Goods such as the toad’s eye mushroom, wild salmonberry, and black walnut could fetch a premium price from the merchants at the Marble Meadow.

  “Days are growing longer, brother,” Robert offered, breaking the silence.

  “Grounds warming nicely too. Fungus’ll be sprouting for sure. No doubt pickers from all over northern Karnell will be out scouring the fields and woods,” Damon replied.

  “My mouth is watering thinking about that smoked crab from Pinehall. We do well today, brother, we eat good all season!”

  “Aye. But we have extra hands this time. Six to be precise!” Damon laughed, looking back at the three children following the bouncing cart.

  Bringing helpers wasn’t the brother’s idea, but their friend Henri convinced them over beers. Too many beers.

  “They’re excellent workers!” he promised them. The brothers laughed him off initially but eventually agreed, agreeing that six extra hands and eyes were, well, six extra hands and eyes.

  “Maybe we’ll see a drakin this time, Hunter,” Luca, the smallest of the trio, said excitedly as he bounced down the trail.

  He ran circles around his older siblings, his small wooden sword slashing at early spring weeds, felling them like fearsome beasts.

  “For starters, you covered your eyes and ran when that bush started to move. So there is no way to know what it was. Probably just some raccoon you scared with your constant jabbering,” his older brother Hunter cracked while throwing rocks into the shadowy trees.

  “Drakin only hunt at night, so you won’t see any of them,” Robert offered to the bouncing trio. “But Damon here saw him an ogre last winter.”

  “An ogre…Really! You saw an ogre?! Did you fight it?” Luca screamed in excitement.

  Eisa, Luca’s older sister, walked along behind her two brothers and laughed quietly.

  “Usually it’s Hunter stoking his imagination!” Eisa grinned, watching her younger brother drift ever closer to the two men.

  “…then one of them was telling us that he saw...” Luca continued without missing a beat. It was a classic retelling of a tale he heard spun weeks before at the Shale Common House. His memory, as usual, was exceptional.

  “Ah, in truth drakin ain’t nothing to be afraid of,” Damon cut in, interrupting Luca’s bloody story about a pack of ravenous goblins that ate an entire town of people. “All the lords put bounties on them long ago, thinking the slippery beasts were eating all the livestock. Well, you can imagine what happened as soon as gold was offered to hunt ‘em. Bring 'em back dead or alive it was…but they all seemed to come back dead, as I heard it. Big ones, little ones…hell, even the pups they found in their nests. Well, they started to get harder to find, but the Earls kept offering their gold and so folk kept on hunting ‘em. Now, I think you’d be lucky to find any of ‘em anymore…probably all gone. Shame too, I saw one once, and I think it was more scared of me than anything.”

  Luca went quiet for a short while, but then suddenly turned to his brother. “What about goblins, Hunter? Are they all gone too?” He emphasized the question by hacking a fibrous weed in half.

  “Hardly, but I think you’d scream like a girl and run for your life if you ever saw one!” Hunter laughed as color quickly flushed Luca’s cheeks. The small boy began stabbing his wooden sword wildly at his older brother.

  Hunter easily sidestepped Luca’s thrusts and backed away from his wild slashes. Tears glistened at the corners of Luca’s eyes.

  “See, your swing is too low. Stop dropping your shoulder when you swing. Move your feet, Luca. You’ll never learn this if you don’t listen to me…”

  “That’s enough! You don’t have to work him up so much,” Eisa growled as she wrapped Luca in a hug.

  “I’m gonna run off on my own. You’ll see. Just like Robert and Damon,” Luca huffed.

  “The countryside is wild and dangerous Luca. Only a fool would strike out on his own,” Eisa said softly while smoothing back her younger brother’s hair.

  “Aye, listen to your sister, little one. You see my brother and me? When we were Hunter’s age, we both volunteered for service. Well, what is it now, Damon? How many thaws has it been?” Robert asked.

  Damon laughed. “Oh, it’s been a lot of them.”

  “Yes, it has. We’ve seen enough of the wilds to know that you don’t have to go far from a town to find danger,” Robert added.

  “So…why do you go so far from Shale? Everyone else just gathers along the river,” Luca asked, after calming a bit.

  “We know the best spots. And they’re far enough from town that no one else goes there,” Damon replied with a sly grin.

  “Isn’t it dangerous?” Luca wondered out loud as he struck at the weeds once again.

  “It can be, but that’s why I’ve got old Damon here with me. Don’t worry little one, with your big brother around, you’re perfectly safe. Plus, where we’re going we’ll find the best mushrooms. Big city folk pay well for the best,” Robert said with a wink.

  The group quieted after that. Luca calmed and started having fun again. Eisa watched Hunter as he quietly eyed the two men from a safe distance. She had heard him discussing enlistment with their father and figured he wanted nothing more than to barrage the two with questions.

  Eventually, the trees parted and the river opened up before them. The old Shale Bridge was truly a sight to see as it stretched across the churning brown water of the Bear Claw River.

  The bridge was as twisted as the trees of the forest around it. Its timbers and ropes had faced season up
on season of the harshest weather, and it showed its age openly.

  The group spread out as Damon walked the mule and cart across the bridge. The thick hand-cut planks flexed and protested under the weight, but allowed them safely cross.

  “That’ll be interesting when this cart is full!” Hunter offered nervously, as he eyed the bridge now at their backs.

  Once north of the river, Damon and Robert kept to themselves, talking mostly strategy, while Hunter, Eisa, and Luca quietly followed.

  Luca broke the silence after a short while, holding to his stomach. “My tummy is hungry! It gurgles at me!”

  “I’m sure we’ll stop soon. We’re almost clear of the woods,” Eisa offered hopefully.

  As if on cue, the winding trail and thick trees broke. They crested a particularly arduous hill, and the country spanned out before them.

  “That’s a sight! Never gets old!” Robert exclaimed, resting his hands upon his hips.

  The monstrous White Back Mountains broke the skyline off in the distance, framed by the crisp blue sky. The hills before them rolled like waves on an ocean of green. Short country grasses and reedy plants clustered greedily in the open, fighting for every ounce of radiant sunlight.

  “Eisa!” Luca whined and pulled on her shirtsleeve.

  “We can stop…take a bit of rest,” Robert said, picking up on his hunger.

  They unhooked the mule and walked it over to a grassy patch to graze. Robert and Damon settled down in the back of their cart with salted meat and their water skin. Eisa pulled out her haversack and unpacked some food.

  She laid out unleavened bread, soft cheese made from goat’s milk, and cooked pumpkin flowers. There was no talk between them as they ate. They finished quickly and set off again north.

  “So, why so far north?” Hunter asked, matching stride with the two brothers.

  “Are you kidding? They have woods around town picked clean by now. You ever try sharing hunting grounds with the Haversons, or the Pettingrews?” Damon asked, shaking his head. “Plus, we’ve been hunting the same grounds for a long time. You are right. It’s safer…but with risk there is reward. Trust me, you’ll see.”

  They reached the brothers’ favorite hunting grounds soon after stopping for their break. Scraggly bushes and small trees bordered what turned out to be a sizable grove of dense trees. Damon and Robert grabbed several large burlap sacks from the cart and without a word, went to work.

  Eisa, Luca, and Hunter learned quickly why the two men came to this spot so religiously. Within just a few short hours, the three siblings had returned to empty their sacks several times. They worked clear through the late morning and into the afternoon, and then after a brief rest for a bite of food, were back at it.

  Eisa stood by the cart a short while later, having dropped off a large sack full of puffball mushrooms. She leaned over the cart and dug around for an empty sack. The mule, tied to a tree a short distance away, bayed loudly. Eisa jerked up and almost fell over. She walked over to the mule, which tugged at its rope, clearly agitated.

  “Shh, did I scare you…I’m sorry,” she whispered, grabbing the rope and running her hand over the animal’s muzzle to calm it. The mule’s ears twitched and turned. It took time but finally she got the animal to calm. Then, as it returned to its grazing, she retrieved the empty sacks from where she dropped them.

  Eisa passed by Luca and Hunter. Their collection bags lay forgotten on the ground. They were horsing around, hacking at each other with stick and wooden sword. She left them to play and ducked into a small clearing, where she found a cluster of huckleberry bushes.

  She reveled in the peace and quiet of the sheltered nook. Eisa popped several of the ripe berries into her mouth, savoring their complex sweetness.

  After tying off a small sack full of the berries, she moved further into the clearing, where she found several clusters of reddish-orange flowers. “Jewelweed!” she whispered, and bent over to gently pull the delicate flowers from their stems. She couldn’t wait to show them to the others. Jewelweed was incredibly rare, and on top of that, demand for medicinal herbs was great.

  Eisa fantasized about the silver the flowers would fetch, but more importantly, the burden that coin would lift off of her father’s back. Times were tough, and she knew he was struggling like everyone else to pay the tax.

  A dry stick snapped off in the trees, interrupting her elation. She popped up, alerted by the noise. Eisa scanned between the nook’s lengthening shadows. She appeared to be alone.

  An eerie calm fell over the woods. The breeze died away, and even the birds, previously chirping and flitting about, were now quiet.

  “Eisa,” she mumbled to herself, “you’ve let Luca’s incessant talk of goblins and monsters spook you. Get a hold of yourself.”

  She quickly gathered up Luca, who had wandered off, hacking at low hanging tree limbs. Hunter was already standing by the cart.

  “Hey, look at what I found!” she said, hastily tearing open the sack as she remembered the flowers.

  “A great find, Miss Eisa. You look to have the makings of a great gatherer!” Damon congratulated her as the others leaned in to look. They finished sorting out their finds and stacked the boxes and burlap into the back of the cart.

  “Best be heading back,” Robert interjected.

  “Your father wanted us to have you home before nightfall,” Damon added.

  Luca instantly protested. “Hunter, you promised that we could stop at the tower! You promised! Hunter, you promised!”

  Hunter raised an eyebrow and turned away from Eisa’s glare.

  “You promised him?” she growled, her foot tapping a cadence against the ground.

  “Tower? What tower? Oh, you mean the ruins by the river, right?” Damon asked, ducking into the conversation.

  “Father said it is off-limits. Hunter, you know that. Why would you make that promise?” Eisa pressed in on Hunter, her cheeks warming crimson.

  “Yeah, we can stop. I don’t think your pa would mind if we’re there with ya. Just a quick stop, anyway,” Robert interrupted with a smile and patted Eisa on the shoulder, trying to diffuse the tension.

  Eisa huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Alright, but we cannot stay long. And then it’s straight home!”

  The two brothers laughed as Hunter mock bowed before her. “My Queen,” he quipped. Eisa punched him hard in the arm and skipped away as he tried to return the sentiment.

  The heavily laden cart creaked and groaned its way back down the hills and onto the worn trail, slipping into the pine trees as the sun sagged in the western skies. It was a short trip, and they arrived back at the bridge. However, instead of crossing, Robert pulled the mule off to the side and pushed through a wall of immature foxtail and leafy shoots.

  Eisa followed her brothers through. The coarse leaves and stalks whipped at her face and neck. She thrashed her hands about, until finally breaking through and colliding with Hunter.

  “Hey, watch it!” he growled as they stumbled together, trying to keep from falling.

  “Sorry!” Eisa shot back defiantly, tucking her raven hair behind her ears.

  A long forgotten road spanned out before her, encroached on all sides by the forest. Invisible from the cart path, it was now a mere afterthought for travelers.

  Robert had to navigate the wagon around spindly trees and fallen giants. The crotchety mule protested but obeyed. The crumbling structure came into view, obscured heavily by a wall of large pine trees.

  “That’s so weird. I have walked this trail dozens and dozens of times. I never realized how close it is,” Eisa said, taking in the ruins.

  The secluded clearing looked and smelled like another world. Eisa felt like she was transported back in time. She instantly thought of her father’s stories. They had been of perilous times, and ancestors, hacking their way through the wilderness in search of better lives and homes.

  Eisa always wrapped herself in those stories. They were exciting, just like the relic
before her. She took in the building, a remnant from another age, and couldn’t help but wonder about the people that had built it. Were they like her?

  Part of her couldn’t blame Luca anymore. The mystery of the dark place easily swept her up in imagination.

  Robert and Damon parked the mule and the cart off to the side while Eisa walked Luca around the massive structure. His mouth hung, and he stared wistfully into the derelict tower’s many dark nooks and crannies. Eisa giggled as she watched him jump onto fallen stones or duck through archways swinging his sword, fighting off invisible monsters.

  * * * *

  Hunter watched Eisa follow Luca around. His kid brother danced around in flights of fancy, departed to his world of fable and lore. His small wooden sword was brandished boldly before him, like a mighty weapon of legend and honor.

  Hunter pulled off his heavy wool sweater and tossed it onto the sacks in the back of the cart. He needed a little time away from everyone else.

  He took off through the trees, climbing over piles of crumbled rock. He pulled out his long hunting knife and absentmindedly hacked at small trees and branches along the way. He followed the exterior of the building around, ducking over a large fallen tree as he made his way to the far side of the structure. The ruin’s size surprised him; it extended back into the trees further than he expected.

  He stopped and sat on a pile of rubble where a wall had fallen. The gaping wound in the side of the structure opened into the darkness. Hunter poked his head in. The air smelled earthy and damp, and for a moment he stopped to listen.

  As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he leaned in a little further. A large iron-banded door hung frozen on its corroded hinges to his right, blocking off the passage from the rest of the tower.

  Hunter jumped back as something rustled behind him. Pebbles, dirt, and sand rained down on him, coating the back of his head and slipping down the back of his shirt collar.

  “Damn,” he cursed, sliding back into the trees and brushing at his hair and neck.