Chapter 12 - What Was That All About?

The herd marched on in silence. Shaniddia and Paul took the lead while the remainder of the group walked in no particular order. They had worked these fields for many seasons, growing food for themselves and the city. They knew there was a good-sized forest directly ahead of them with food and water, and would probably make it there by nightfall.

The herd had formed a small circle, and Noliea had deliberately placed herself in the middle. She kept her head hung forward and let her hair fall in front of her face. She couldn’t see forward, but Paul’s rear hooves were in her field of view.

“You’re bleeding.” said Shaniddia.

Noliea looked up to see who had been injured. Shaniddia was looking directly at her.

Noliea turned and looked across her lower back, “Where?”

“Your wrists.”

Noliea looked at her wrists. She had been rubbing them for so long she had blistered the skin.

Shaniddia stopped for a moment and began walking again when Noliea had caught up to her. “You need to stop rubbing them.”

“I can’t get the stain off,” said Noliea, looking at the skin that had been beneath the shackle.

Shaniddia put her hand on the small of Noliea’s back. There was a brief glow of light.

Noliea had always enjoyed the brightening. Somehow, it not only healed the physical injury, but it always cleared her mind as well. When they were young, Noliea always found herself turning to Shaniddia after having an argument with her parents. Somehow Shaniddia would always see the better side of the situation. She was practically the only reason Noliea had been able to cope with the two most headstrong parents in the universe.

“Having those two as parents, it’s no wonder you’re as stubborn as you are,” Shaniddia said, having gleaned what her friend was thinking.

Noliea gave her a sideways glance, and bumped her flank into the healer. Shaniddia knew she would. Not because of the brightening, it’s what she always did when Shaniddia mentioned Noliea’s stubbornness.

The mood lessened for a bit, and Shaniddia turned to Noliea, “And no, I have no idea what he was talking about either.”

“Okay,” said Noliea, actually glad that someone had brought the subject up, “Today is going to go into history as the single worst day I have ever known. I could hire a herd of bards to sing about this day, and they would need a brightening before the end of the first verse! Does anyone here have any notion what Gabriel was ranting about?”

“All I could understand what the he thinks he’s having a dream-vision.” said Alec.

“Yes,” agreed Melinda, “he said he was having...something.. and that he couldn’t wake up from it. So he thinks he’s still dreaming.”

“What I don’t understand,” said Ian, “Is if he thinks that we’re part of his dream-vision, then why didn’t he kill us?”

“He tried,” corrected Shaniddia.

“I’m not so sure,” said Henna, “At first, I thought he was going to kill us all, then I thought he was going to take us as his own slaves, then I thought he was going to eat us.”

“And what do you think now?” asked Shaniddia.

Henna paused in though, “I don’t know what to think. But I might know why he didn’t kill us.”

Henna suddenly realized that the entire herd had paused to look at her. She felt herself blushing.

“Well, are you going to tell us?” asked Alec.

“Because we didn’t try to eat him,” she meekly replied.

Henna looked at the blank faces of the herd around her.

“From the minds of children...” said Paul, not finishing the proverb.

The herd continued.

“That still doesn’t explain why he tried to kill me,” said Shaniddia crossly.

“Well,” said Paul, “What were you doing the moment before he tried?”

Shaniddia pondered a bit, “Gabriel had just cut you loose. You went into the slave master’s room to get the rope-key. You released me, and I backed out of the stall. That’s when he attacked.”

“Are you sure?” asked Paul. “I remember being out of your stall and in his way before he tried.”

“No you weren’t,” Shaniddia snapped back, “I saw him at the other end of the barn and backed up. When I called for you, that’s when you came out of the stall and stopped him.”

“Maybe he thought you were going to attack him,” offered Paul.

“Maybe I was just the first one he thought to kill,” she retorted.

“You’re both wrong,” said Noliea, “He wasn’t protecting himself, he was protecting Henna.”

“Me?” asked Henna from the back of the group.

Shaniddia tried to sift through Noliea’s memories that would make her think that, but Noliea replied before she could figure it out.

“It’s what he said to me when he saw Shaniddia in Henna’s stall. ‘If the zombie harms the centaur in any way I will rip it in half with my bare hands’.”

“That’s it,” said Alec, the look on his near skeletal face smiling, “I think I see the pattern.”

Alec paused a moment to run his idea through his head one more time. Yes... it definitely fit.

“He’s reactive.” Alec said proudly.

“To what? Rainwater?” asked Melinda, totally lost to Alec’s train of thought.

“No no no,” said Alec, getting more excited as he mulled the thought over in his head, “I mean, he reacts to situations. Look at the flesh worms, what were they after?”

“Me,” said Paul.

“Yes, and what were they trying to do?”

“Eat me,” he said with an obvious shiver.

“Right. Now, what were the three masters doing in the slave quarters when Gabriel showed up?”

“Killing Henna.” replied Noliea somberly, but beginning to see what he was leading to.

“Right. And what did he say all the zombies he had ever met tried to do?”

“Eat him.” said Henna.

“And what did he do when Shaniddia didn’t try and eat anyone?”

“He left her alone,” said Melinda.

“Yes! And think about the slave master. He didn’t kill him when he first saw him, it was only later that he and the other two guards were attacking us that he killed him.”

“And that one master at the gates,” Melinda said, catching on, “When it told the other masters to back away and open the doors, he said, ‘Congratulations, you live’.”

“Fine,” said Shaniddia sarcastically, “So he’s a killer who only slices people in half if they try to kill him first. Somehow, that puts him only slightly above the masters themselves in my mind.”

“He saved my life,” said Paul, looking back at his love, “I believe that counts for something.”

The curse that hid Shaniddia’s emotions from the rest of the world did little to hide her body language. The statement had obviously hit its mark a little deeper than Paul had intended. He stopped until Shaniddia and Noliea had caught up to him.

“I’m sorry my love,” he said, taking her in one arm and kissing her, “I do not mean to hurt you. But I am trying to look at this through his eyes. He is alone, he’s having problems finding food, and he has seen things that are so alien to him he thinks he is having a dream-vision. All I can empathize with him is fear.”

Shaniddia leaned against Paul’s side and sighed, “It is I who must apologize. Had Gabriel not saved you from the flesh worms, the rest of my life would have been worthless. I do owe him that much. However...”

“However?” recited Paul, when Shaniddia didn’t finish her sentence.

“However... I still can’t... Oh, never mind.”

“Trust him?”

“Yes. I’m sorry Paul, but Gabriel scares me more than a herd of angry masters.”