One morning, the boy lay sleeping in the back room of the temple. He awoke to the sound of a female voice, singing a melancholy air. It woke him instantly, since it had been a long time since he had heard the sound of a human voice. He lay on his back on the cold stone, listening intently for a minute, but he couldn't make out any of the words that she sang. Her voice was deeper than usual for a woman, but pleasant to hear. He wondered if it might be some trow maiden out for a walk in the woods.
Curious, he crept to the front room of the temple and peered out the doorway. A woman, dressed in the gray, woolen garb of a commoner, sat by the side of the spring near the road. She was of average size and build, neither beautiful nor homely, with the long, black hair and dark eyes of the Moravians. What struck the boy immediately was the sorrow in her eyes.
He never could later understand why he went up to her. He didn't know anything about her, after all. She could have been a brigand, or something worse. But the youth felt a strange attraction to her, and he couldn't help himself.
He was halfway to the spring when the woman noticed him. In less than a second, she found her feet, a sword ringing from a worn sheath at her side. The boy froze in his tracks, holding out his hands, palms upward in a gesture of peace. The sword blade pointed unwaveringly towards his heart.
"Good morrow! I…I didn't mean to frighten you…"
Her dark eyes bore into his. "You didn't."
"My name is Vasilije Randa…Vali for short."
"Krina Navratil."
A moment of uncomfortable silence passed between the two. The boy got up his courage and smiled broadly.
"Good morrow, Krina."
"Good morrow…Vali."
He managed a friendly chuckle. "You're not a cutthroat, by any chance, are you?"
A slight smile played across her lips. Her guard relaxed, and the sword lowered slightly.
"No more than you're a doghead."
Vali laughed. "No, I'm no doghead, m'lady. Just a simple lad, that's all."
"What brings you out into the forest, then, simple lad? Does your father know where you are?"
The boy frowned. "Unlikely, since he's dead."
She sighed, and sheathed her sword. "Then he's probably the luckiest of us three."
"I wouldn't say that."
"Where are you from, Vali Randa?"
"Radovan, actually."
"Radovan?" She winced slightly, as if somehow the word hurt her.
"And you?"
Krina hesitated, as if unsure how to answer. "Ostrava. If you're from the capital, what are you doing all the way out here in Pilzstadt?"
"You wouldn't believe the half of it."
"You'd be surprised."
The boy laughed. "Okay, m'lady. But it's a long tale, and I'm sure you have a long day ahead of you."
"Not as long as you might think."
"Well, the short answer is that I'm surviving, if nothing else. But what brings you so far from Ostrava? Are you traveling to Felsengarten?"
She thought for a moment, as if trying to choose her words carefully. "Since we're going with short answers, let us just say that I am no longer welcome in Moravia. But I am no petty criminal. Just a victim of unfortunate circumstance."
Vali nodded. Somehow, he believed her on her word alone. She held herself with a certain regal air, and spoke with precision and confidence.
"But I shall speak of this no more. I am weary, Vali, so very weary from the long road. Is that your shelter yonder?"
She pointed to the small temple, fashioned of gray stone, that peeked out among the trees. The building looked ancient indeed, weather-beaten and worn, but still standing with a quiet and stubborn defiance.
"Yes it is, m'lady. If you need rest, you're more than welcome."
"Thank you, Vali."
She picked up a worn satchel from the ground next to her, and shouldered a bow and quiver of arrows before following Vali back to the building. The interior of the temple consisted of a small bare chamber, with a black altar set up against the far wall. Two doorways stood on either side of the altar, leading into the small room beyond. Carved into the stone above the altar was a five-pointed star known as a pentacle. It was an ancient symbol, belonging to the mysterious order of the Zharastvi. Vali knew little about them, except that they commanded the powers of the four elements. He had never met one, and living in one of their abandoned temples was the closest he figured he'd ever get to a live Zharastvi.
Vali moved into the back room, and glanced back at Krina. He pointed to his bed, which was nothing more than a crude pile of leaves and grasses
"There's what I use for a bed, m'lady, if you can call it that."
She smiled wanly. "It's far better than sleeping on the hard ground. Now, I can surely trust you to not murder me in my sleep?"
Vali chuckled. "I give you my word. You're safe with me, madam."
Her dark eyes went serious. "I have your word of honor, then. I am content with that."
The boy stared at her quizzically for a moment. "I will leave you to your rest, Krina."
She made no reply, and Vali left the temple to give her privacy. He felt slightly uncomfortable. He wondered how she could trust him enough to fall asleep with such little concern for her safety.
Vali went into the back room a few hours later to check on the woman. She roused as soon as he entered, and stared at him with her sad, dark eyes. The boy smiled at her.
"I trust you had a good sleep?"
She yawned and nodded. "The best I've had in a long time, Vali."
"I'm glad. This old temple is still good for something, it seems. Are you…will you be going on, then? To Felsengarten?"
"That was my destination, before today. But I think I will stay here with you, if you don't mind. I know this may sound strange, but I feel compelled to stay here, to look after you. A small boy should not be living out here alone. We can brave the wilds together, since it seems we are both bereft of a home."
Her words took him aback, but Vali quickly realized that the prospect thrilled him. It would be good to have someone else around. She could help him survive. They could help each other.
The next morning, the two sat on the top of a rocky outcropping that looked out over a tiny, secluded pond. The morning was bright and cloudless, if slightly chilly. As Vali talked, he stared down at their reflections in the still water. He tried not to look at his own reflection, because he was ashamed at what he saw, especially now that Krina was here, to see it as well. He had never been an attractive youth, and he knew it. His face was too thin, his eyes too beady. His sandy hair was too thick and wavy, and it just never looked good, no matter what he did to it. He had stopped caring months ago, but now that Krina was here, he felt embarrassed. He just hoped she didn't see him as an ugly, skinny, dirty little wretch. He tried not to think about it, and focused on his tale instead.
"Well, yesterday you asked me how I got all the way out here, so I'm going to tell you. As I said, I come from Radovan. I was nine years old when my parents died from a bout of the blood sweats. A man named Miloslav, who was a member of the Merchant's Guild like my father, took me on as an apprentice. I would have become a merchant just like him, if the Mother had willed it. But apparently she had other plans for me.
"It was early summer of last year when my master's company prepared to set out on the caravan route to Felsengarten. If you're from Moravia, then you know about the dangers that lurk along that road."
"Yes, the murr. They have moved too close to the river in the past years, and starting attacking our caravans."
Vali nodded. "That they have. We were nervous. The last caravan that had gone out in the spring never came back. Some people told us that we shouldn't go out at all, until someone found out what had happened to that caravan. But since no one knew a way to do that without venturing out onto the moors, the point was moot. Miloslav was concerned about it, of course, but he was no coward. And he had a business to run.
"So we left Kourim, and the first day passed without incident. Nothing moved out on the moors. No one spotted so much as the tip of a Zokej tail, as they say. But the next day, at noon, as we broke for lunch, they hit us.
"They came out of nowhere, more than forty of them, shooting arrows at us. We didn't stand a chance. To this day, I don't know how I survived. When the attack came, I was leaning up against a wagon wheel, eating my lunch. At the first sound of the zipping arrows, and the screams, I rolled under the wagon and covered my head. The next thing I knew, I was up and running for the river, even though I couldn't have done anything more foolish. I knew I would have been safer staying under the wagon, but my body took over, and I couldn't stop it.
"A few arrows whizzed by me, and I expected at any moment to feel an arrow in my back. But I reached the river and jumped in, splashing away from the shore in a complete panic. I went under water and swam south with the current, to get as far away from the murr as I could. I swam for what felt like hours, then made my way back to shore and climbed out onto the bank. I laid there for a long time, exhausted, cold, and alone. I didn't know what to do. I thought about trying to swim across the Siroky, but then I remembered the wodniks. I didn't want one of them to grab me and drag me under. I didn't have any other plan, so I just lay there for hours, waiting for night to fall. I figured the darkness would hide me from the Zokej, if they came back to track me. Once dusk fell, I set out. I knew I couldn't make it back to Kourim. It was too far away. I figured my safest option was to trying to reach Felsengarten. That was our original destination, anyway. I didn't know what help the trows could give me, but anything made more sense than wandering around the moors waiting for the Zokej to find me. The edge of Steinbaum was only about ten miles away, so I figured I'd be able to make it to safety in a couple of hours.
"I soon found the remains of the caravan. The Zokej had smashed the wagons, taken the oxen, and looted the bodies of the slain, leaving them to the vultures. I checked to see if anyone was still alive. The Zokej had killed them all, and then hacked off their heads and defiled their bodies.
"I found Miloslav's headless corpse. I wish I could have given him and all the others a proper burial, but I had no time to waste. I said a prayer for all their poor souls, and then set about searching for anything that might help me on my journey. I found some food that the barbarians had missed, but nothing else.
"I stood there amid the ruins of the caravan, knowing that once I took that first step, my life would change forever. Part of me just wanted to lie down among the dead and wait for death to come for me as well. But the feeling faded quickly.
"I walked a mile, then two, then three. I ate as I walked, and I stopped and drank from the river's edge when I got thirsty. I kept my eyes and my ears open for any sounds of the Zokej. A few hours later, I entered the Steinbaum Wood. I nearly cried in relief. But I didn't know if the Zokej ever went into the woods, so I trudged on for another hour along the trail. After that, I could walk no further. I moved into the trees, and collapsed into a bed of ferns.
"I woke in the morning, hoping that everything that had happened had been a bad dream, but the reality of my plight quickly set in. I ate the last of my food, and set out again on the trail.
"When I reached the town of Pilzstadt, the trow guards at the gate clustered around me in a circle as I told them my tale. But they couldn't do anything for me, or wouldn't. Oh, they said they were sorry for what had happened, of course, but they made it plain that they didn't want a human hanging around. I asked them if they could spare some food, and they gave me a bag of carrots and some raw potatoes. They told me I should go to Felsengarten. I thanked them and went on my way, deciding that I would never again ask a trow for help.
"I never made it to Felsengarten. I don't know why. I started out with every intention of trying to reach it, but I guess I gave up before I even started. I stopped to drink at a spring on the side of the road, and when I looked up, I saw the Zharastvi temple. I figured it was as good a shelter as any, so I stayed here, and it became my home.
"I spent my days mostly searching for food. I made myself a crude spear and tried my hand at hunting. I stole from the trows when I had to. I did what I had to do to survive.
"I knew I only had to get by for three months before another caravan came, so that gave me some hope. The months stretched on, and autumn came, but no caravan. Fall changed to winter, winter to spring, and spring to summer. And no more caravans. It's been a year, and I'm still waiting. But I don't really have much hope anymore."
Vali glanced at Krina, and grinned wearily. "So that's my sorry tale, the long and the short of it."
"Well, Vali Randa, you seem to have made the best of it. You've survived longer than some others might have in this situation."
The months passed. Krina taught Vali her own hunting and foraging techniques. She also instructed him in the use of the short sword and the short bow. She taught him the history and the legends of the country of Moravia, and many other things besides. Val learned much from her in the year they spent together in the forest, except for what he most wanted to learn, knowledge of Krina herself. She revealed very little of her thoughts, or emotions, or of her past life. Vali respected her privacy, so he never pried, but she fascinated him, and he longed to know more about her. He always wondered what had caused her to leave Moravia, but he never asked her. And she never told him of her own accord.
The most personal thing she ever told him was the meaning of her name. It meant lily. Vali thought that fitting, as she resembled the lily. She was fair, and fragile in some respects, but also possessed of an undeniable inner strength. Over the year they spent together in the forest, Vali grew to love her, as a sister, and as a friend.