The Journey Begins

I got used to the smell after a few hours.

Still, there was no sleep to be found in that carriage. The body of the woman lay flat now across the seat in front of me, fallen from the rocking and rumbling of the carriage. Her head, placed next to her initially, had rolled onto the floor. I brought my knees to my chest to avoid it.

Helmer and his lackeys were undoubtedly a dangerous party to cross. It was clear, too, that the laws of this place most certainly weren't like home.

Perhaps, I thought, it'd be best to change course. To avoid this 'Boundary Coast'. It might be good to avoid Helmer knowing my location.

I looked down at the decomposing head now staring up from rotted sockets at me. There was some slight movement deep in the abyss of her skull. I shivered, fighting back bile, and looked away.

The man was clearly a monster.

Thank God, I thought. I wouldn't regret the decision to avoid this 'Royal Army'. After all, I'd still be the bastard child if I did. The loose, familial tie with Helmer would be a dangerous thread to have attached to my new life.

Without a window in the carriage, the outside world remained an unknown factor. I pondered in the silence what it may look like. Perhaps I would see something amazing, like mushrooms the size of trees or great mountains littered with dragons or ancient elven forests. Or maybe, I thought, this world could be as bland as the world before. Hell, I wasn't even sure it wasn't still Earth. The body shifted again as the carriage hit a bump.

My mother, huh? I'm pretty sure a body decomposes in a few weeks. She can't be long gone. I wonder what it was she did, whether or not she was a good person. Hmm… there's a chance that this body's suicide attempt is related to her death. I suppose it's too late to think about it now, though.

In that moment, my eyes went wide.

Shit, I thought. Oh… Shit. Won't people ask questions when we arrive? Like: why is an orphan travelling with a headless corpse?

I went cold.

I have to get rid of it, I realised. I have to get rid of it before daybreak.

As I leaned over to grab the handle of the carriage door, the carriage shook violently. I fell to the floor and the body fell on top of me. Its rotting flesh pressed cold against mine. Yelping, I scrambled up and threw the door open and jumped outside into the dark.

"What the hell are you doing?" The woman driving the carriage said, snapping her head around. "Get back inside!"

"I won't!" I said, hopping over stone and gravel ground. "You sit in there if you want, but that's it for me."

The woman reigned the horses in to a stop. She stepped off her platform and landed on the stone with a light thump. "We need to keep moving. Boundary Coast is a week's travel and these roads are dangerous," she said. Her voice remained steady, calm. It was hard to get a read on this woman's emotions. She seemed as a stone, stalwart and cold.

But her eyes, I saw, betrayed something deeper. Sorrow. Grief. I had met enough people in my past life to recognise that tired stare anywhere.

"I'm not travelling another step with that body in there," I said, firmly.

The woman's brow furrowed and her facial muscles tensed slightly. Then, her face relaxed. Forced composure, I thought. Was she annoyed at my defiance, or something else?

"That 'body' is your mother, bas… Khila," she said. "What would you have us do? Leave it?"

I nodded.

"Like I said, I'm not travelling another step alongside a rotting corpse."

The woman sighed and motioned to our surroundings. Moonlight lit fields of rolling plains stretched out for miles. "Look around. Look where we are. So," she said. "Do you plan on leaving her here?"

With my forearm, I wiped the sweat beading over my brow away. The situation made my head spin.

"I don't care!" I yelled, my exasperation growing. "I don't care. I don't even know where 'here' is! Hell, all I do know is that a man I've never met - my supposed 'father' - has sent me off in a box alongside a headless, rotting corpse. This is crazy! It's all crazy!"

The woman's shoulders dropped and her expression softened. She stepped over to the side of the road and stared out into the darkness.

"So you really don't remember," she said quietly.

Seeing her softened demeanour, something ached within me. Another reaction from this body? Or maybe I just felt sorry for her.

"I don't remember anything. My name, this place. I don't even know how I'm speaking this language or who you are," I said. Silence followed. I made my way over to the woman and stood by her side, looking out into the shrouded landscape. "I don't know if I can even trust you with you working for my 'father'."

A cool breeze passing by sent a shiver down my spine. I closed my eyes and took a long, deep breath. The night was so alive, despite the hush of the sleeping world. Subtle chirps of crickets in the distance rang out like a starry evening melody. The iron shoes of the horses crunched stone underhoof as they moved in place. The steady, calming breaths of the woman beside me. My own youthful lungs, free and clear from the decades I spent smoking.

"Working isn't the right way to put it," the woman said, breaking the silence. I opened my eyes and glanced over at her. A tear ran down the side of her cheek.

"What is?" I asked, but she never responded.

The woman took a deep breath and wiped the tear from her cheek. "Grab a coat from the storage in the back," she said. "Sit at the front with me. We can't leave the body… no, your mother, here."

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At some point I must have drifted off. I opened my eyes to the dawning rays of sun breaking over the horizon. Cool morning air kissed my cheeks.

The woman, her shoulder my apparent pillow, hadn't slept a wink. I sat up straight and yawned.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to lean on you."

"It's okay," she said. "It's only been a couple of hours, you can rest some more if you need."

I shook my head. "I'll be fine. What about you?"

"We can't stop during the day," she said. "Will have to keep going until nightfall. I'll rest then."

The landscape around us started to shift into marshland. Pools of water formed at the base of the stony path. In the far distance, I could see a forest. My chest tightened.

"Why don't we stop now?" I asked.

The woman scoffed. "You really have lost your memory, haven't you?" She said, shaking her head. "If we stop in plain sight we're just asking to be attacked. Bandits. Raiders. Farmers. Whatever. Ever since the King pulled his army - and a big chunk of the population with them - away from the mainland, food's been pretty scarce. Bears and wolves and worse are far easier to survive than a hungry group of humans."

I pursed my lips and scratched my chin as I listened. "So we're on an island, then. Why did the King bring everyone here if it was going to cause so many troubles?"

The woman's eyes went dark. "The Devil's Swarm," she said. "Had the King not pulled his forces back here to Sanktorere, the mainland would have been humanity's grave. Now, we all get to die together, here."

My heart began to race. "The Devil's Swarm?" I stammered out. "What the hell is that?"

The woman shrugged.

"No idea. Everyone that's seen them and lived spreads a different tale. Demons. Animals. Other humans. Whatever it is, it's driven us to the edge. And if the Royal Army can't hold it back, then nothing will."

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We reached the forest at noon.

Small slivers of light pierced through the brush overhead, scarcely lighting the road. The sounds of life emanated around us. The scurrying of rodents. The sweet song of birds. Leaves rustling. Fauna playing.

"What's your name?" I asked.

The woman glanced over to me for a moment and then looked ahead.

"It'll be Adamina from now on, I suppose. Adamina Yorick."

"You suppose? I take it you were forced out," I said.

"Naturally," she nodded. "You were allowed to steal pills from the storeroom and nearly kill yourself. Had that happened the Lord would have been shamed by his peers. Whether he liked it or not you were still his child, bastard that you were, and your actions reflected on him. Had you had chosen to join the Royal Army, I would have been executed on the spot."

I swallowed, watching her intently. It was the first time I had really looked at her.

Cut to chin-length, her cherry-blonde hair bobbed with the motions of the road. She had high cheekbones with slim cheeks, almost gaunt, with a turned-up button nose. Her skin was tanned olive. Standing, she reached my chin and held an almost pixie-like charm. It wasn't until then that I even noticed that she didn't look too much older than I would have been. Her fierce, stalwart demeanour added years to her being. So young, I thought. Couldn't be halfway through her twenties.

"Adamina," I said, letting the name hang in the air for a moment.

She looked over at me and said: "Khila. Khila Yorick." She let out a yawn. "It'll take a while to get used to that."

I sighed and leaned back against the carriage.

"Just call me Kay," I said. "If I'm stuck with this name thanks to those documents, I may as well make it my own."

"Kay," Adamina said quietly. "I like it."

"And what about you?" I asked. "Do you like yours?"

Adamina shrugged. "I haven't thought about it. It simply is what it is."

I thought for a moment, and then said: "So, do you mind if I call you Ada, then?"

"Do as you will," she said. "When the Swarm arrives, names will mean nothing."