The Island of Narid
Chapter Eight: Hierra's Secret
If I DID own FMA, the series would have more of Rose--So no, I do not own FMA.
But I am still quite content, sitting here with good company, pancakes, and a llama named Larry!
Ok here's the deal my readers, I'm going to try a schedule for you: a chapter every two weeks (this is basically to make sure I write ;) )
The two women, Rose and Winry, still lying in the shallow cavern, were pressed against one another, gazing through the vast blue cyan stones. And they saw people. And they remembered themselves in their appearance.
However, what they saw terrified them. Many people that matched Rose and Hierra exactly in appearance: dark, dusky skin, thick, long hair, they saw. There were many that were elderly, being roughly shoved forward by men youths. Some of the elders were bound in thick, dull chains, around their arms, neck, and waist. In lines they shuffled forward, pain expressed openly on their withered faces.
Beside them, treated none less harshly, maybe more, a long line of small children, from infants up to Hierra's age, and a few older stumbled as they were forced forward. Their faces were bleak, some were crying, but most of them seemed oblivious. Their cheeks were flushed, and they were constantly falling over another. The young boys and men who were stripped of their shirts revealed how painfully starved they all were. Ribs protruded from their skin and each breath seemed tight and strained against their bones. On all of their foreheads, there was a burned brand; however, the two girls could not make it out, for their skin was covered in a layer of thick grime.
The able-bodied youths who ushered those along held in their hand a crude whip of sorts, that when smote on the people's skin would tear through and the victim would bleed severely. The floor was slick with the blood.
Rose covered her eyes, hiding her head in her arms. Her breathing became unsteady when tears fell from her eyes, spilling silently over their lids. Winry slowly, and being as quiet as was humanly possible, caught ahold of Rose's shoulders and helped the girl to her feet.
"Close your eyes." She whispered—though soft her voice resounded in the cavernous hall. They were going to feel their way back, now afraid of the blinding blue light. Both of them, trembling in fear and cold, locked hands and stretched out so the other palm would trail along the wall. And then, with their eyes tightly shut, they ran. Often they would stumble—the ground beneath them still shuddered and quacked—but they sloshed forward, encouraged only by terror.
When their thin legs threatened to collapse underneath them, and when every breath became a sharp pain in their chests, Rose and Winry slowed, walking. The walls around them were rougher. It was not all smooth crystal anymore.
And then the earth gave way beneath their feet. Winry fell first, tripping in the sudden presence of deep water. Finally opening her eyes, Rose helped her friend back up to the cave's entrance.
Rose looked down at her hand and the crystal that lay upon it. She shuddered, remembering the horrid sight she beheld of the torture of people through its glow. Still weeping she brought her arm back and swung it wildly forward. The stone loosed from her hand and sailed over the ocean until it dropped, barely creating a splash. Winry said nothing.
"Rawse! Rawse puyawé! Ana shtva!"
Rose's violet eyes opened slowly, painfully. She saw Hierra cheerfully bobbing in front of her. She attempted a faint smile. Beside her, Winry was starting to wake.
"You guys are up late!" Alphonse said, peeking in the shed to see what Hierra was doing.
Winry yawned, "We didn't sleep very well. What has everybody been doing?"
"They're all off in search of food. I was supposed to fish and watch Hierra. How are you both feeling?" He observed that Winry's cheeks were both pale and flushed.
Rose nodded, implying that she felt fine. She rose and followed Hierra outside, who giggled happily in the late morning sun.
Winry stood up as well, waving Alphonse aside with her cheery smile. "I'm fine. I'll be out in a second." After running a comb through her blonde hair she stepped out of the shack, her stomach clenching with hunger. She saw Rose sitting on the beach leisurely, but when their eyes met she could see Rose's shakiness, still present from the night before. Winry sat next to the dusky-skinned girl, arms held tight about her waist in attempt to quiet the moans of her hunger.
"Alphonse!" She yelled to the boy. "Do we have anything to eat now? Anything left?"
Al shook his head.
Winry sighed, her lower lip overhanging in a pout. Rose beside her slumped, obviously also downcast. She could expect Rose had been hoping for at least something left over from the last few days. They were both growing thin and wispy.
Hierra jumped up suddenly, grabbing Rose's arm firmly. "Rawse sii tu thanampk!" When Rose didn't respond right away the girl hopped up and down and waved a hand excitedly toward the ocean. "Thanampk!"
"You can't swim now, Hierra. You'll scare all the fish." Winry said, her voice weaker than before. She swallowed. "And we need the food."
"Thanampk!"
Rose swung herself upright. She looked at Hierra and nodded, smiling. She raised her arm and directed to the far left, a distance away from the boy who sat on the opposite end, fishing. Hierra squealed in delight and began lifting her arms up, wrestling with her dress.
Winry called back to Rose, who was sitting in the shack, undoubtedly changing into her swimpiece. "Do we have anything Hierra could wear?"
The response she received was a small tank top and shorts being flung from the shelter. Winry retrieved them. She recognized the shirt—it was one of her own, that she knew Rose hated, for it clung to Winry's body tightly, showing some skin. Rose had never got accustomed to the way women wore clothes outside her desert home.
"You're hilarious, Rose." Winry commented flatly. Yet she didn't argue. She helped the young Hierra to dispose of her dress, behind a tree. The shorts were large for Hierra, but that problem was easily remedied by tying a rope about their waist. The small top fit the girl rather well; however, and Winry found herself chuckling.
When they walked back to the beach, Rose was waiting for them, dressed in her one-piece. A towel hung around her neck.
Hierra and Rose walked toward the spot they selected before. Winry stayed behind, with Al. She felt too weary at the moment to join them in their swim. So instead she sat on the warm beach, keeping Kitty company and talking with Alphonse.
But when many minutes passed, she had begun to feel drowsy and her head throbbed, her throat had begun to sting with each swallow.
"Winry? Are you all right?" Alphonse questioned. His voice betrayed worry. "You haven't been answering me in a while."
"Sorry. I'm just a little distracted."
"Rawse thanampk a tushnia." Hierra giggled, and then dove underneath the water's smooth surface. Rose was shocked: Hierra was a superb swimmer, better than her by far. Hierra's body wiggled in between the currents like a little silverfin. Rose found herself unable to keep up.
And then Hierra ducked under once more, returning up right in front of Rose, grinning. Her hair had been washed away from her face, and Rose saw something that had always been hidden by the girl's thick bangs.
Etched charcoal black upon her dusky brow was a twisting branded burn, the shape of a churning vine charred with fire and wilting, dying. Rose furrowed her eyes, pointing a slim finger at the mark, perplexed. Was it the same mark the victims in the cave wore?
Hierra flinched away then, and slapped a hand over her forehead, shielding her marked skin. She ducked back into the water, and replaced her bare head with a wave of wet brown hair. Then the small girl shot up and ran out of the water onto the sand. She looked terrified.
Slowly, Rose crept out of the ocean herself, walking to Hierra. She was wrapped in a ball, weeping. Rose knelt next to her, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. When Rose leaned forward to wipe the hair from Hierra's face so she could see the burn, the girl slapped the back of her palm violently, shuddering. Rose dropped her hand abruptly.
With a sigh, Rose wrapped her wet arms around Hierra and hoisted her up, walking back to camp. When she shack was within sight, Rose increased her pace dramatically. Most everyone was back, and gathered in a tight bunch. Alphonse was out of the water.
When she reached them, Rose gently laid Hierra on the sand and walked toward the clustered group. She pushed her way through to find Edward helping Winry to her feet; one of her pearly-skinned arms draped about his shoulder. Her complexion was sickly pale, the skin around her eyes dark and baggy. She was caught in a cold sweat.
Rose covered her mouth with her hands. Winry was sick—no doubt caused by the night before. Why did she ask Winry to join her? She backed slowly away, not wanting to look at the desperate, worried face of Edward, gently helping the sick girl walk forward.
Walk forward…
Edward tenderly laid the blonde-haired girl on a dry towel on the sand. They were talking to each other, and the others gathered, speaking more. But Rose did not hear. Out here, there was no medicine. Out here, there were no doctors.
No one paid attention to her return, so no one paid attention when she, Hierra, and Kit silently took leave. Hierra needed to get a way for a while, too, she believed.
They went to the waterfall, now covered with a new green carpet. She and Hierra lay beside the pool, rubbing the smooth, creamy fur of Kitty, and enjoying the feel of soft grass. They found little clovers sprouting among the new shoots and plucked them from the earth, nibbling, but the plants only sparked the girls' hunger with their sour taste.
"Tiné kulst, Rawse." Hierra murmured softly after a moment of quiet.
Though she did not understand her words, Rose recognized the girl's tone and smiled dimly, hoping to tell the girl nothing was wrong.
"A fever." Maria said at last, her tone low.
They were all knelt around Winry's sick form. Maria wiped the perspiration from Winry's forehead and sighed. "I don't know what we can do besides wait it out and hope that it doesn't grow worse."
Riza came forward with a flask of warm water from the falls and held Winry's head up while dribbling the water into the girl's pale mouth. When the flask was emptied, she stood paces away and instructed the others to do the same.
The hours passed slowly by, and always somebody sat next to Winry, speaking to her. Edward and Alphonse were most by her side.
Dusk slid past; no one realized Rose and Hierra were still gone.
Hierra screamed. Her eyes saw nothing. A thick cloth was wrapped around them, part of it stuffed in her mouth but still she shrieked. Her arms were extended behind her around the thick bark of a tree, bound together. Her wrists chafed against the coarse rope that held them pressed close. She heard only the fall of water beside her, and nothing more.
Well I know things keep rolling without rest in this story…sorry.
Hm……..I think that's it for now.