Ch. XIV | Voices

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. All I could hear now was the sound of the clacking of the immense crossbow machine they were pulling back and aiming right at Steele. Steele's words clung to the air like a fall chill.

"I love you… Raina."

This couldn't be happening.

No.

Why was this happening? The one person who I cared about more than anyone else in the world other than my daughter had just said that he loved me, and now he was going to die in front of me because of me.

If I hadn't asked him to come and help me save my daughter, he wouldn't be dying, and the town wouldn't be preparing to deliver the final blow. He would be safe. He would be unhurt, living out his days in my care.

Perhaps that's not the kind of life he wanted. Perhaps a warrior's death was fitting. Was Steele giving up? He wasn't fighting. Maybe this is what Steele was choosing. There was one problem with that, however – I wasn't going to let that happen.

I listened to his ragged breathing, latching onto it to keep me in the present. I looked at the menacing device they had almost wound completely back.

I stopped thrashing for a moment. The men's grasp on my arms slackened slightly as they looked at me.

"Are you alright? It didn't hurt you, did it?" They asked me. I turned to them, only now noticing that my eyes were blurry with the tears streaming down my face.

"Please," I said, my voice hoarse and my throat constricting. "Don't hurt him. Steele didn't do anything wrong. Please. He's innocent. He saved us."

I watched the confusion spread across the two men's faces.

"Steele? It has a name?" asked one of them.

"What do you mean he saved us? Do you not see the smoke and rubble?" demanded another.

Their hands partially eased around me. I took the opportunity to fall to my knees and grasp at their hands.

"It wasn't him! It wasn't him! Go look over the hill there. That's the one who did all of this to you, not him," I pleaded.

"Sir! I said we're ready to fire on your order!"

The words sent a chill down my spine. The blood drained from my body and everything felt cold and numb, far away beyond my control. My chest seized along with the breath in my body.

I looked around to see the bolt in the immense crossbow device aimed directly at Steele's forehead.

No.

I don't know where my exhausted body summoned the energy from or where the speed in my feet came from. All I knew was that I went from being on my knees to the device's edge in an instant.

As the cry to launch was given, I grabbed the edge and shoved with all of my might. The twang of the string cried out as the bolt flew through the air and embedded itself not into Steele but into the ground just above his head.

As murmurs and shouts came from the crowd, all eyes turning on me, I looked around desperately for something sharp.

There! An axe at the hip of the one who loaded the device.

I lunged forward, almost knocking both of us over onto the ground, and seized the handle, taring it from his hip. As he exclaimed in surprise, I let out a scream of my own and used all of my strength to swing the axe now in my hand at the wire.

My time as the Orion's Factotum had paid off. The strength I gained from moving barrels day after day had given me a surprising strength. I hadn't expected my swing to completely sever the wire, but I watched as the taut fibers snapped with a deafening crack.

I was already in this deep – and I wasn't about to stop.

I pulled the axe free after a few tries and began backing away until I stood halfway between Steele and the crowd. The people who had once held concern for me and attempted to, in their minds, save me were now shouting and jeering at me.

"What are you doing? It's going to get up and kill us all!" They shouted. I scanned the crowd only for a moment for my daughter, but the adrenaline wracking my body had me focused on the threat in front of me.

None of them, thankfully, came toward me. Perhaps they were afraid Steele would wake and begin to terrorize them. Whatever the reason, they did not get closer.

"Listen to me!" I shouted, knowing very well that none of them could probably hear me. "This Orion is not our enemy! He saved us, and you're trying to kill him!" I continued to listen to their shouts all while listening to Steele's ragged breath. I clung onto the hope that he would fight, just once more, for something good – for me if not for him.

At that moment, there was a series of thunderous shouts coming from somewhere in the crowd.

"What is the meaning of this!" I watched as the crowd began to part and four individuals stepped forward to the front of the people. I had never met them, but I knew who they were – the leaders of Creewood. They were four chosen individuals selected from the people to represent the people and their needs when it came to official matters of the land.

I would not fall back. I held my ground, feeling that maternal determination surging through me. They would not beat me today.

The crowd instinctually hushed as one of the four began to address me.

"You! Woman! What are you doing? Destroying our protection against this creature? This is treason!" shouted one of the older individuals.

Something in me swelled with a protectiveness I had only experienced for my daughter.

"This Orion is not our enemy!" I shouted in response. "He is our friend – our ally. Is it treason to aid an ally?" My voice, usually timid, came out strong. My body stood firm where my shoulders used to slump. There was no denying that I was not the same person I was prior to meeting my Orion.

The four of them exchanged a look while the crowd started to roar again.

"It's a murderer! It destroyed our homes! Burn it like it did our homes!"

"Silence!" roared one of the younger of the four. Once again, the crowd quieted.

"I saw it as well as the others," said one of four. "I saw it smashing homes and terrorizing our people. What proof do you have that this is not the one who committed the crimes?"

I heaved a few breaths. What proof? What proof did I have? Other than my testimony, I had nothing other than the body of Steele's son. My heart ached and my eyes burned at the unthinkable action of ending my own child's life.

I couldn't mourn him for Steele now.

"The guilty Orion is dead across the hill behind us. Go and see for yourself," I challenged. The four glanced at one another before looking at a few members of the crowd and giving the order for them to investigate.

"Even if they find another Orion, that does not mean this one is innocent. Perhaps they were working together and one turned on the other," continued one of the four once the people they sent away were gone.

"Steele couldn't have been working with him because he brought me from the city – from Ouverbury. We arrived after everything had already started. You should be thanking Steele for stopping him!" I shouted back at them.

"Steele?" asked one of the four. "It has a name?"

"Yes, he does. He's Steele Veyne." Steele's name rippled in whispers from the crowd until I heard someone shout from the crowd.

"Steele Veyne? The Orion who attacked our land before? They took him to Ouverbury after his trial for what he did! He's still a murderer!"

The crowd, now sparked, began to shout and jeer again.

"He's innocent of that too! It was the other Orion! Ask him! Just ask him. Steele can understand our tongue," I urged.

"What did you say?" asked one of the four. I turned my eyes to him. "He speaks our language? How?"

"I taught him, though he has his moments where he doesn't know the right word to say. Regardless, he can understand us. He can speak our language; and he's very good at it for how long he's been practicing," I replied. They all exchanged nervous glances before looking back to me.

"Just because an Orion understands our language does not make him an ally," the four said almost in unison. "Who are you anyway? And why do you know so much about this Orion?"

"I am the Orion's Factotum," I replied firmly. "And if anyone can attest to his character, it is me. I have known him for many moons and he has only ever helped me. He has saved my life and the life of my daughter. I will swear to anything or anyone that what I say is true. Please, help me save him."

The crowd and the four looked to one another unsurely. How could they deny what I knew to be true? How could they be so willing to end Steele's life when he did nothing wrong? Did they hate him – fear him – simply because he was an Orion?

I was embarrassed to say that I had the same thoughts when I first met him and, admittedly, had not been half as brave as all of these people here when I first met Steele.

The crowd continued to whisper as one of the four once again addressed me.

"If what you say is true, then you cannot be the only witness to his deeds. Is that a fair statement?"

I gritted my teeth, hands shaking the wooden handle in my hands. I knew what they were trying to do. I knew what was coming, and I suddenly realized I didn't have a prayer now in saving his life.

They were looking for witnesses, others who could attest to his innocence. Someone had already said they saw him commit the crimes. Who, in their right mind, would come to the aid of an Orion. After all, the Orion were a terrifying race of people.

"Well?" one of the four prompted. My throat constricted, eyes watered. I couldn't believe what was happening.

"It is a fair statement, if he were like us; but no one will speak out for him, I know it," I said, throat cracking. "None of you will raise a finger to help him because he's an Orion.

I was shaking in frustration. I felt my knees threatening to give out. My head fell and I gripped the axe handle in my hands tighter while listening to Steele's ragged breath.

"Four…."

A new voice.

My blood ran cold. The breath that was hitching in my chest stilled.

What?

All eyes, including mine, looked out to a group that looked like a family who had stepped out of the crowd and were approaching the four leaders of Creewood. They looked bruised and battered, shaken to their cores. They were clutching at their sides and one of them had a splint on their arm.

Still, they walked forward on shaky legs to the front of the congregation.

The four looked at them with skeptical but receiving eyes. Evidently, they were just as frightened as the others, but walked forward out of the crowd and towards us.

What were they doing? Who were they? I didn't recognize them from my time here before I left for the city without my daughter. I hoped Terrilyn was somewhere safe waiting for me. I hated that I left her.

Once again I was a careless mother.

I was a careless mother and a useless friend who couldn't save the people closest to me.

I couldn't think about it now. I couldn't focus on that now. My priorities drew me back to the moment as this new family approached the four and stopped not too far away from both the crowd and the four.

"And who in the heavens are you?" asked one of the four. The family exchanged looks before taking a fraction of a second to look at me.

"She… The Factotum is telling the truth."

What? No. Are they? I held my breath as I watched the reactions of the four as they looked at one another and then to the faces of the family who approached.

"The truth?" asked one of the four. "To what truth are you referring?"

"The… Orion there. It - he - helped us."

I could've leapt and touched the stars out of pure elation. I gasped, sucking in the first breath in what felt like an eternity. He helped someone else - and they came forward.

"Could you be more specific?" asked one of the four.

"Yes," chimed in another. "How did this Orion help you?" The family once again exchanged glances, the younger members drawing close to what looked like an older sibling.

"We… we were trying to leave… in our family cart," said the eldest. "We were riding along the main road when one of the Orion charged at us. We… thought he was going to kick the cart but then… then he grabbed the cart. He got us out of the way in time and put us back onto the road. Our mule was lost, but we have our lives."

I felt tears slipping down my cheeks. My knees wavered and buckled. I hadn't seen this. I wasn't there; and when the four asked if I had told them to say this or if I knew the family, I happily said no.

"He… he also said he was sorry and to run - get away; that's when he was attacked by the other one."

I my body shaking. Was this happening? How? How was this happening? Something good, for the first time in a long time, was happening for Steele. I listened to Steele's breath shallow only for a moment before returning to its wheezing pace.

"He spoke to you?" asked one of the four, eyes narrowed skeptically.

"Yes, sirs," they confirmed.

I barely stifled a sobbing gasp. My mind was spinning, falling through time. It was as if I were watching out of my own body and not from my eyes.

I watched as another family stepped forward. Their clothes were covered in soot and parts look like they had been caught and burned at the edges. They even had a few burns on their skin.

"What have you to say?" asked the four. I listened as they said how they were unable to escape from their home. It had been set on fire by the Orion they were hiding from. The place had been set on fire when the Orion demanded one of them come out and no one did. The ground shook and they were afraid that the entire house would collapse. Instead, it was set on fire.

Unable to break out through the window or the buckled door, they fated themselves to die there.

"That's when the flames were put out. What looked like a waterfall poured outside. When the roof peeled away," said the youngest, who was shaking like a leaf in a windstorm. "I thought it was the other one coming to get us. It wasn't. It was him."

I fell to my knees, still clutching the axe as I listened to the family speaking.

"He… he reached in and grabbed us. I thought it was the end, but he put us down by the river," said the oldest.

"And then what happened?" asked one of the four.

"We don't know," said the parents as they held their children close.

"Momma?" said the youngest. "I… I did. That's when he was hit in the side with that." The child's eyes were fixated on the hilt of the knife still embedded in Steele's side.

"You are certain of this?" asked the four. The family nodded.

"Would you swear by it?" asked one of the four. They exchanged glances before the parents looked to one another and nodded.

"We owe our lives to this… Orion. As much as its - his - kind hurt us, we cannot deny and ignore the old customs. It is bad luck to not repay such a debt."

"Then, will you help me?" I blurted out without a second thought or even a first thought to the repercussions of interrupting the testimony the families were giving.

Once again, unintentionally, all eyes were on me. I didn't care. I didn't care their eyes were on me. Why would I? If I could help Steele – save him – why would I hold back now?

There was hesitation in their eyes. I felt a lump in my throat. Even after what they heard, they still hesitated.

Why? Why would they hesitate now? Steele was running out of time. I needed their help to bandage the wounds – to remove the dagger. Steele needed herbs from the apothecary to stanch the blood. Things like yarrow and boiled nettles and goldenrod. He needed twine to bind and suture his wounds.

I could not do all of these things on my own I needed help, and I wasn't ashamed to admit when I needed assistance. A painstaking silence settled over the people and an even heavier silence settled between the four and myself. My heart pounded with a rapid rush that filled my ears.

The tips of my fingers tingled, growing numb from gripping the axe handle for so long.

"We need time to discuss, but shall take this into consideration."

No.

Emptiness filled me. I was at a loss for words. What could I say now? If my plea didn't convince them before, what would save Steele now.

Had I failed?

"What is she doing? That girl?" There were shocked gasps and screams. Fingers pointed not at me but past me. Two people nearby even fainted. With defeat in my heart, I barely had the wherewithal to turn my head and look at what was going on behind me.

They were staring at my daughter, Terrilyn, and I suddenly came back to my senses and understood their shock and awe. I wasn't sure when she managed it, but Terrilyn had climbed onto the side of Steele's head by his ear, using strands of his hair for balance and stability.

A desire to call out to her, tell her to be careful and try to call her to me, was instantly silenced as was the crowd when Terrilyn began to speak.

"S…S-Steele? It…It's gonna be okay." Her voice was so soft and yet it carried through the air. "You… have to get better. Okay? For momma. She… she's worried about you. Don't make momma worry. Please."

Her thoughtful voice sent a swell through my aching heart. I could hear the tremble in her voice. By stilling my own breath, I could see a very faint shake to her shoulders. She was scared; however, she was still there trying to help.

I listened to Steele's laborious inhale and exhale. His brow, slick with a cold sweat, furrowed at hearing Terrilyn's voice followed by a wince.

"Child! Get down! Before it knows you're up there!" shouted one of the other adults from the crowd. Terrilyn looked out at them before looking at me, as if asking for permission. I nodded and stepped forward toward Steele to help her get down.

The crowd watched as Terrilyn descended, using Steele's hair to rappel down, before hitting the ground and coming into my embrace. I was standing by Steele's hand – the same hand he had protected and carried me in. I didn't realize that the four or the crowd had dared to follow behind as I approached my daughter and Steele. It wasn't until they spoke that I realized that they were even there. They were still what they may consider a "safe distance" away, but the fact they approached at all was interesting to me.

My daughter, before I had a moment to speak, addressed the four.

"Sirs! Please. You're making my momma upset. She… she really cares about Steele. Please help him!" pleaded Terrilyn, tears in her eyes as she looked between me and the four.

"You know the Orion?" asked the four. Terrilyn, bashfully, pulled closer to me and nodded. "And how do you know him?"

"He… um… w-we met when he brought my momma. She said he was here to help and my momma always tells the truth," responded Terrilyn. I couldn't help but weakly smile and pull her close, playing with curls in her auburn hair.

"Is that so?" asked the four.

Terrilyn nodded. I closed my eyes for a moment, listening as Steele continued to breathe.

I wanted him to live, but he was also in so much pain. Was he trying to fight? Was he able to hear us as we stood so close to him?

"Factotum," said the four as they addressed me. I snapped from my trance and looked to them.

"Yes, sirs?" I asked as I hurriedly wiped some of the residual tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand before looking back to the four.

"Do you swear on your life and honor – everything you hold dear – that your testimony is the truth?"

I couldn't believe the question.

"Yes!" I said eagerly. "I'll swear by whatever you ask of me – give anything you ask. Please… just help me save his life."

The four of them exchanged another look between one another before looking back to me.