Hey all! Thanks again for all the reviews...once again sorry for the delay! (technically this shouldn't exist because I should have been revising...) Just to warn you; updates for a while might be sparse because of exams, holiday, and my sister's wedding. I'll do my best, though.
Many millions of thanks to Binksbabe for avoiding her essay to beta this for me:D Enjoy.
Several hours of easy, steady walking later, Jack realised with a start that night had fallen and he had adjusted to the change in conditions without batting an eyelid.
Glancing skyward, he squinted to see through a gap in the trees, deciding that the large, black storm clouds that had appeared had caused the rapid change from light to dark.
Looking back down and stretching his shoulders as he fought off a yawn, he glanced at Karrena and opened his mouth to suggest that they find somewhere to settle for the night. Before he could fully form the words, however, the soul-wrenching sound of a horse's scream rent the air, making both their hearts begin to pound.
Heart sinking, Jack strained his ears for any sound to direct him, quickly deciding on a rough bearing and speeding off, leaving Karrena to trail fearfully after him.
He seemed to be powering through the trees for hours, his mind constantly churning up images of the battlefield from the day before, the stinging scent of smoke soon reaching his nostrils. The memories of experiences detected the smell of burning flesh within the aroma, and he felt anger bubble up from within him.
After a while, the cries of children and adults alike could be heard, and though he knew that they wouldn't reach them in time to fight back, there was no way that Jack could walk on by without seeing if there was anything that he could possibly do.
When they reached the village, it materialised as if miraculously appearing out of the gloomy, smoke-filled night, and the faint shadows of shapes moved at the periphery.
The figures tensed when they saw Jack, and he threw his hands up in the air in the universal gesture for surrender, abruptly halting most of his forward momentum.
Karrena crashed suddenly into his back, breathing heavily from the sudden rush through the woods.
"Who goes there?" The gruff voice of an old farmer barked the question at them in trepidation, a rough short sword held tightly in his hands, the tip raised before him.
"Hey, we're here to help. We, uh, heard…" He didn't need to finish the sentence; everyone knew that he was referring to the scream of a dying horse. "We came to help, if you'll let us."
The indistinct figure of the farmer relaxed slightly and lowered his sword, though he still held it ready. "Come closer," he instructed.
Jack complied, instinctively grabbing Karrena's hand and keeping her behind him, where he could protect her easiest. As he stepped into the light thrown by both the bonfire and the burning houses, the farmer visibly relaxed, to Jack's consternation.
"Aren't you a little young to be carrying a sword around?" he remarked, eyebrow raised.
Jack bristled, understanding now why the farmer had relaxed so visibly. After all, who'd think that a teenaged boy in this scrawny, half-grown body could possibly offer a threat?
"Aren't you a little old?" Jack regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth and inwardly cursed his teenaged temper.
The farmer's only reaction was a noncommittal grunt as he turned abruptly away, "There has been much damage and death. What are your skills?"
Following after and pulling Karrena with him, Jack swore to himself that he'd start to display the patience and calm displayed by the farmer and which he had once possessed (when he chose to).
"I can do anything that needs to be done," he told him and glanced at Karrena, seeing the dark circles under her eyes, and brows furrowed against the ache of stressed muscles. "Karrena needs to do something relatively restful; we've been travelling most of the day-"
"I, too, can do whatever you require of me," Karrena corrected, glaring at Jack, and as if suddenly realising that he had been grasping it, she pulled her hand away, folding her arms across her chest and setting her chin in defiance.
Jack shrugged and rolled his eyes, secretly glad to see some of the fire back in Karrena's eyes.
The old farmer turned and glanced back as he walked, amusement showing on his face for a brief second before it was replaced by the pain of loss. "I am Fornan," he told them bluntly.
"Jack," he offered and, with a jerk of his head. "This is Karrena."
The farmer nodded before catching the attention of a worn and haggard woman as she rushed past. As she turned towards them, Jack could see that her soot-stained face was covered with tear tracks, both fresh and old.
"Mari, this is Karrena. She says she can do anything you ask of her."
Mari gave Karrena a watery smile. "Come child. There is much to be done."
Even as Karrena was lead off in one direction and he in another, Jack kept a watchful eye on her, always knowing where she was, some small part of his brain continuing to do it even when the rest of it was occupied with other details.
One quick glance around the remains of the village told him all that he needed to know, and Jack pulled Fornan up short.
"Look, you're going about this all backwards," he told him, knowing that it was the normal reaction of people in a crisis; take care of the living, then the dead. "You need to get the dead away from the living, get them cleaned up and buried way before you start trying to rebuild anything."
Fornan scowled at him. "What good is caring for the dead if the living have nowhere to live?" he demanded, vaguely, hardly registering what the 'boy' had said.
"What good is somewhere to live when you've all caught deadly diseases from the decaying corpses that surround you?" Jack countered harshly.
"Stop this nonsense, boy. There; you can go and help that work team over there."
"Oh for crying out loud. Listen to me! Clean them up, bury them, whatever first. I'm sure you can all cope with a night or two under the stars rather than get sick and die yourself." Jack didn't know if it was the passion in his voice or the fact that he was nearly yelling that made Fornan and half of the men and women nearby look at him and actually listen to him, but he wasn't going to argue about it.
"The elderly, injured, and generally vulnerable can be housed in the buildings that are still standing," Jack offered, giving some semblance of compromise between their two points of view.
Fornan studied him for a long moment before nodding. "Wise words for a young boy," he commented, his eyes flickering to the obviously expensive clothes, armour, and weapons that Jack wore.
Shrugging his sudden discomfort off, Jack diverted the attention by starting in with the others on the unpleasant but necessary work.
Jack woke from his deep but all too short slumber with a start, suddenly wide awake in the way that usually signalled he'd been crept up on, or someone was about to attack.
Reaching instantly for his sword where it lay beside him, he glanced over to see that Karrena was still sound asleep a few feet away and that none of the other people who had bedded down in the shady little spot had stirred either.
Rising silently to his feet, he secured his sword to himself and placed his hand on the haft of his knife, ready to grab it if he needed.
They had been taking shifts to sleep to allow people to rest whilst the work to prepare and bury the dead continued at a fast pace. Fornan had insisted that Jack and Karrena be in the first set of people to rest, seeing clearly the signs of exhaustion in both of them.
Once again ignoring the returning aches that reminded him of the injuries he'd received and the abuse his body had suffered recently, he breezed to the corner of the building that shaded them and peered out. Seeing nothing unusual, he stepped out, affecting an air of tired restlessness (not a hard thing to do given his current state of mind) and, dragging his feet, began to walk over to where the majority of the work was going on.
Glancing at the sky, he recognised that it was mid afternoon, and that he'd slept longer than he'd thought. By the time he looked back down at the people gathered in the village square, he wished he'd stayed quietly asleep.
People had gathered around several carts loaded with supplies and necessities, many of them talking to the soldiers that accompanied them.
Fornan, who had become nominated head-man of the village by silent vote, was talking awkwardly but respectfully to a tall, ethereal figure that Jack recognised with a sinking feeling.
Dressed this time in simple, functional clothes, though they were no less well made, the Lady Sinere glanced up and saw Jack just as he was about to turn away, and so he resigned himself to having to face her, whatever that brought.
Walking stiffly up, he gave her a brief nod of the head. "Lady Sinere," he greeted her, his face neutral.
"I should have expected to find you here," she bit out in disgust.
Fornan frowned. "He has been a great help since he arrived, my lady."
Sinere gave Fornan a bitter smile. "I'm certain he has, Fornan. Tell me, did he arrive not long after the attack? Did he somehow know exactly what needed to be done in this situation? Was he nothing but helpful, if a little coarse and rude?" Sinere was getting fully into the swing of things now, gesturing at Jack with sharp movements, which he didn't even flinch at. "Have you noticed how it is only ever the Talking Beasts who are killed - never a human life taken? This….thing is an abomination created not of any scared union but by some nefarious demon bent on removing the talking beasts from Narnia forever!"
Jack's anger finally began to break through his control. "What right do you have to call me an abomination just because you can't comprehend how I was 'born'! I have nothing to do with any of this, and you know it! You were with me during the attacks! Corrin was with me, for crying out loud!"
Sinere sneered at him, "Who knows what magic demons posses?"
"There's no such thing as magic! Magic is just tricks and mind games to amuse kids!"
"So you say! How is it then that you arrive at the scene of every attack only a short time after its conclusion?"
"It's a freaking coincidence!"
"Or is it the attempts of a murderous creature to gain the trust of unknowing people?"
Jack let out a frustrated, unintelligible cry before turning and stalking off again, realising with a sinking heart that both Sinere and most of Corrin's court had already decided his guilt in his absence.
"Guards!" Sinere's call for the guards was sharp. "Arrest that thing!"
Turning to face the two who had responded to the order, Jack shook his head at them. "Don't do this guys; I don't want to hurt you!"
The largest of the guards gave a short bark of a laugh and kept coming. Sighing, Jack settled himself into a ready stance and waited, analysing the movements of his would-be captors.
As the first guard reached him, Jack darted in past his outstretched arm and rammed the heel of his hand into his nose, hearing the sickening crunch as it broke. Reeling backwards, the guard's hands flew to his face, coming away covered in blood. He stared at it for a long moment, as if unable to believe that he'd been hurt.
He knew that there were a few ways that he could incapacitate a man in armour without killing him. The second guard would be more than a little wary, and therefore, quicker to react to any move against his face, one of the few unprotected areas on his body. Jack circled the second guard slowly.
Glancing at his injured friend, the guard paused on a second more before pulling his sword from its scabbard and holding it in front of him.
More than a little aware that he was wearing only his sword belt and none of the rest of his armour, Jack pulled his own sword. It had been a long time since he had actively used a sword, but he knew that he stood less chance of defending himself without it.
Without any warning, the larger man attacked, but Jack parried the testing strike easily. Within the space of a few short seconds, the guard struck again, several times in quick succession, all of which Jack deflected, though most of them came a little too close for comfort.
The next blow, however, found only air as Jack twisted away, spinning around and grasping his knife as he did so. The guard, stumbling forwards into the space where he had expected Jack to be but found no resistance, left himself open and slumped forwards like a dead weight as the pommel of Jack's knife connected solidly with the back of his head.
Glancing up and seeing that the remaining guards were approaching warily, Jack glanced once at the guard with the broken nose. Yelling a vague "I warned you!" over his shoulder, he ran into the woods, knowing that he wouldn't last long against a large group of people.
He thought briefly of Karrena still sleeping in the shade but decided almost instantly that she would be better off without the company of a 'demonic' fugitive.
He could hear cries rising behind him and he realised with a curse that he'd managed to run off this time with even less than he had the first time, but there was little he could do about it.
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