Zoe’s Journal

To say what I wanted to say.

Nothing much is going on…today was ordinary. Work was work, and home is home.

I turned on the television to watch American Idol, only to discover that W. Bush’s ubiquitous face was filling the screen of nearly every channel I turned to. Apparently, he was giving a State of the Union address. So, I willingly watched that instead. And Laughed.

God, I hate Bush.

I could not help but notice the blatant politicism of the divided room, and how when one Republican stood, the entire flock did the same. I say Republicans because they appeared to be the most herd-minded. I noticed several Democrats looking for all the world as if the speech was a farce. Why the Blue Sky do people applaud so long? Any sane person would not, unless forced. Ah, but there was force. Did you not see the peer pressure exerted by the herd mentality? (and why did Alito look like a little girl?)

I detest politics, but am fascinated by the horror.

I say, appoint a King and a Parliament and let it all be over with. Better yet, remember when the Boston Tea Party occurred…they threw revolt because they had tax on one item: Tea. Hello? We are taxed on everything, even our income, and we call ourselves free? I say, get rid of all government-run programs and let Man fend for himself. (I am saying this in the heat of the moment and not trying to be politically correct, nor am I considering any long-term consequences of my proposal. So Shut Up.)

*Sigh*

American Idol airs tomorrow. I shall certainly be watching. I think.

After the disappointing television session, I was restless and mentally searched for things to do. Ah! Pack! We filled up one box and two halves of boxes. Which does not equate One Other Box. (Am I being too literal?)

The Lord of the Realm and I finally have everything set up for the move. The electricity is ready to be turned on, the cable is scheduled to be installed/uninstalled, the doctor appointment is set for Thursday, and the Change of Address form is submitted to the Postal Office. Which, now that I think of it, we would not have if all government-run programs were shut down. Hmm. We could always go back to the Pony Express! Either that, or UPS and FedEx would be getting a lot more business.

GAH!!! Take it all away…

The fields looked creepy. Rhies shuddered and turned his head back to the fire. Not that that was much better. The cooking fire was burrowed into the ground, supposedly to ‘hide it’ from anyone who might see. It looked eerie with the smoke glowing orange rising from the ground. Like a peephole into hell.

Then there was that wraith across the clearing to deal with. At least, she looked one, with the hood pulled up around her head once more. She sat huddled on a musty log. The axes had been removed from her back, but lay a hands reach away, leaning against the fallen tree. He couldn’t see her face, but imagined that she was watching him out of those hard gray eyes.

He looked out past the forest again into the grass beyond. He thought he saw a glow.

Ha, pixies, he thought. Now I know I’m going crazy. Aren stirred on the log. He whirled around. She yawned.

“I’m going to sleep now,” she said, and curled up with her back against the log, her face to the fire. ‘You get first watch.’

‘Damn women’ Rhies though. ‘Bossy cows.’

His eyes wandered again. The pixie was gone.

Rhies grunted. He was sleepy. To keep himself awake, he started talking to himself under his breath.

Rogh had gotten lucky. Not only had he crept upon the strange couple unseen, one of them was now talking about itself. A great many uncouth expressions sprang from the creature’s mouth, and Rogh had to work not to flinch with each curse.

‘Damn woman,’ it was saying.

Rogh assumed that it was talking about the other human.

‘Forcing me to take watch. Ha!’ here his voice mumbled out numerous verbal atrocities, and Rogh clenched his fists.

This was horrible. Flikkits were, after all, very polite creatures. The mere sounds of curses were akin to physical pain. He could at least understand why the human insisted upon deploying them. He was frightened; Rogh could smell that 6 yards away. The show of bravado helped to convince himself that he was really brave.

From what he was mumbling between curses, Rogh discovered that he had been planning an escape from his master when the girl had recruited him for her services, albeit grudgingly. Rogh thought that he really didn’t mind so much. The company on the road made him determined to actually go through with the escape. Now he had no chance to change his mind and run back to his master.

At least, that was what Rogh inferred from the human’s mutterings. He had to admire the boy though. For being rather dim-witted, the youth was very honest with himself.

How his honesty to other people measured, Rogh wasn’t so sure.

He stood alone in the middle of a field. The dry stalks of grass rubbed against his chin, some were tall enough to force him to shield his eyes against their sharpness. The only path before him led away into the murky dimness of blocked sunlight. He sighed and stepped forward once again. He must finish this journey that he had started in foolish haste. Slinging his satchel over his shoulder, he hitched up his belt, felt for his sheathed dagger and started determinedly, into that forbidden land.

Rumor had it that the great white eagle saw every being that passed through the field. If she so fancied, she let them pass. If not, then the hapless victims were the fodder of her young. One must not forget, also, the trer’kits. Those ferocious creatures devoured anyone they came across. Not one flikkit that Rogh had met had ever seen one and lived to tell about it.

His long ears flicked as he imagined sounds behind the impenetrable walls surrounding his path. He was a very sensible fellow, however, and shrugged off his irrational fears. He was Rogh after all! The fearless adventurer of the Flikkits, yet an outsider, never feeling at home.

Most flikkits his age had settled and raised several young flikkits of their own already. Rogh felt no need to do any of that. He was content with roaming the land, improvising new ideas, and sharpening his natural skills. With the present political state of his land, he was more than happy to stay away on prolonged excursions.

He did miss certain few things, however. One of which, being a slender white-haired flikkit Shaw, or young female. He sighed. He must remember that she was gone now. Snatched away by the river she loved to bathe in. He remembered how he had leapt frantically into the foaming water, desperately trying to reach her, but the current was too strong… too strong.

And his memories were too strong.

Rogh wrenched his thoughts away from the dreamy dead Shaw and focused on the task at hand. There was a strange, unfamiliar smell ahead. He cautiously crept forward, peering through the grass leaves, careful not to show himself. He saw that he was near the edge of a road. It stretched for eons in each way he looked.

But that was not where the strange scent was coming from. It was coming from two creatures walking down it. Rogh had seen such creatures only once before, when he was a very small Flikkit. But he was curious. He watched as they stepped off of the road and into the woods. His curiosity kindled, and he followed stealthily. He had to be careful in the coming dark though; his hair shone with the moonlight and was easily visible.

He pulled a dark cap over his head, being sure to leave his ears unencumbered. They streamed down his back, blending in with his long silver hair. He reached the far side of the road, and started in the direction that the two creatures had taken. After several minutes of careful tracking, he found their campsite. There was a dim fire simmering in a freshly-dug hole. Rogh recognized that trick. These two were in hiding.

The objects of his speculation were seated on opposite sides of the minuscule fire. The larger one appeared to be resentful, but curious, about his situation. The smaller, with the head of red hair seemed to be blithely ignoring him. She had two rather formidable axes slung across her back, held with a leather strap. He remembered their names.

They were Humans.

Ries clogged along through the muddy streets in his new shoes. He could tell they would be painful eventually. Hell, he thought, his whole new life would be painful as long as that acid-tongued, axe-wielding, mind-reading female was involved.

He wondered how in the world he would avoid her if she was waiting at the gate he was to go out of. A bright idea struck him. Of course! He would just go out the gate and walk around the city! As soon as he thought of such, he struck out for the front gate. Anyone looking, he thought with happily, would think that he was headed back to his master’s manse. His cleverness made him laugh heartily inside.

Two hours later, Ries was on the road past the city, free at last. He ran exuberantly to a rock near the side of the road and jumped onto it, crowing with glee. No doubt, the girl was still waiting by the gate, caught by the watchmen, likely as not. He chuckled. Any casual passerby would no doubt think that he was mad, as caught up in his freedom as he was.

Suddenly, he stopped. His master would be expecting him back at home an hour ago! His short distance suddenly did not seem enough to Ries. He looked behind him cautiously, then started walking with a determined pace into the forest. Coming to a young maple tree, he stopped, and with great effort, broke off a bough. Cleaning the twigs and leaves from it, he regarded his new quarterstaff with pride. Now, armed and prepared, no one would be able to stop him in his quest.

“No?” questioned the voice behind him.

Ries swirled around, heart beating franticly. How the deuce? For there she stood. The reason for his tardiness. But now her hood was pulled back, and the axes were freely displayed.

“I see you prefer the forest as well,” she remarked. “It makes for a good hiding place, and there are many defensible places.” She nodded in his direction. “Good choice.” Striding to the maple sapling, she plucked a twig from it, and chewed thoughtfully on it for a minute.

“So I supposed you were trying to avoid me? Oh, don’t answer. I know you were. I don’t blame you, but it’s lucky for you that I am tolerant of you.” She paused. “You know nothing of me, no?”

Ries dumbly shook his head. Her laughter sounded like a nightingale.

“You can call me Aren. Now it seems we shall have plenty of time to acquaint ourselves on the journey, but right now, the townspeople have formed a hunting party for myself, and we have need to push the pace. Let’s go, shall we? I know how much you would resent being taken back to your old place.” She winked annoyingly at him.

Ries blustered, trying to find words to say. She stalked off silently through the forest, her gray cloak blending well with the trees. A hunting party! Frustration kicked in, and he resentfully fell into step behind her.

“I suppose you’re going to tell me about that little incident back there that now has everyone chasing you, and why you are dragging me along with you? He bit off the words angrily.

“All in good time, country boy,” she replied calmly. “First of all, I told you why I needed you with me, to help me out. As for the so-called ‘incident’, well, he didn’t look ready to die, and I always hate the idea of a crowd gathering for a bit of public entertainment. It’s a gruesome way to die, with everyone watching.”

“Well, ‘Aren’”, Ries said. “You seem to have done a fine job setting him free and making the public want to hang You!”

“Well, thank you, country boy.”

“Damnation! Stop calling me ‘country boy’! You are simply doing it to anger me.”

“I seem to be succeeding,” she replied with a smile. “You look quite angry. Do try to hold it in, though, until we find a suitable target for it. Rage can be a powerful ally.” Aren’s voice grew solemn. “But it can also be your greatest enemy, your assassin.”
Before he could think of a reply, she motioned him down.

“There is a carriage coming down the road. Be still.” Ries didn’t hear anything, but did as she said.

The next second, he heard the tell-tale rattle of the wheels, and the rough voice of the driver.

She slunk along in the shadows of the wall. She would have to lie low after that scene she had just instigated back there. The axes were hitched onto her belt and hidden under a cloak. She pulled the hood over her eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped out from the wall, into the throng of humanity. Ah, people. She hated people. Sure, they had their uses, but for the most part, they were a dispensable commodity.

Ries studied the two coins left in his hand. Should he buy potatoes or apples? Or maybe shoes, and scrounge for the food later. Eh, he could be mobbed and beaten and his shoes taken. But then, he could be mobbed and beaten and his food destroyed as well. Hmm. He shuffled the two idea around in his head. Ha, he laughed. He should find himself a nice axe like that maniac had earlier.

“Careful what you wish for,” a low voice from nearby remarked.

Surprised, he looked down. A gray cloak covered the diminutive figure at his elbow.

“You know,” she said. “You are rather dumb, but you’re pretty large, and I think that most fellows would shy away from attacking you.”

Ries’ ego rose as he prepared to flex a well-toned muscle in a show of bravado.

“But of course,” she continued. “You’re so ignorant that you probably couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with your fist.”

He stared slack-jawed at the casual attitude the accursed female was exhibiting.

His ire rose.

“Look here,” he said. “I might be ignorant, but I’m not dumb! I don’t who you think you are to get away with this jibberish, but you’ll get a piece of me if you keep that up!”

At least, that was what he was intending to say. He never actually got beyond ‘jibberish’, for the girl raised her head and looked him straight in the face without blinking an eye. He stumbled backward nervously.

It was her, by jove! What an idiot to come out in public when every constable in town wanted her head!

“Shut your mouth, country boy, or I’ll do it for you.”

He snapped his jaw shut. Nervously, he looked around the market. Lowering his head to hers, he whispered,

“You have got to be as crazy as you said I was dumb to be out here in public after what you just did. For all you know, I will cry wolf on you.” “Haha,” she tinkled, for all the world like she was out on a pleasure walk. “You won’t do that, and I know you won’t, because you don’t want the constable around you as much as I.”

She stopped and looked him in the face.

“I want to join you, country boy. I need someone to come with me in my travels, to help with little ‘set-backs’, and watch my back as I watch yours. I know you’re not that dumb, just a little bit at times, and I know you can take care of your own. Now do we have a deal?”

“You’re crazy,” Ries said.

“Oh, really now? Let’s just see how crazy I am.” She raised her voice. “You don’t want to be seen because you are a runaway, and you would get beat if anyone found out and returned you to your master,” her voice kept rising with every word.

“Fuck and damnation!” Ries exclaimed, jumping forward to clamp a hand over her mouth. His arm was caught halfway in an iron grip while steel-gray eyes bored into his.

“You will never touch me, country boy. Never.” Her bony hand was digging rivets in his arm.

“Damn it, let go! Let go, I say!”

She held her stance a moment later, and then dropped his wrist.

“We leave in half hour. Meet me at the gate then.” With a swish of her cloak, she had vanished into the crowd.

“Witch,” Ries muttered. Then he slapped down his two coins and chose a pair of boots. God knew he would need them if he was to be fighting brigands, or ‘little set-backs’ as she called them. For all he knew, she would wield those axes to bring down the mighty government of a thousand years in one fell swoop. He knew he couldn’t refuse her command to meet him at the gate. He may as well be back at his master’s.

“Damn,” he muttered as he tugged the stiff leather boots on his feet and laced the ties.

“Just swell.”