1.5 Cave of the Devil
I cradled the beast in my arms until its last whimpering breath escaped its pale lips. A piteous end for such a hopeful creature. I saw hope in its eyes even then. Even after Loric pulled his green blade from its soft underside. Even as it bled upon the rocks it called home a hope flickered in those eyes. It was a silver child of a broken world, pushing through the rust, reaching for the love it never felt. We’ve made a mistake. We’ve made a horrible mistake.
“I’m done waiting, Let’s go!” Bail shouted up the stairs. He pulled the strap of his pack further up his shoulder and sighed. The old wooden shelter ached as a cold early fall breeze pushed against it. One more day would mark their first year living in the ruin. A year of hardship certainly, but not one of darkness. It was a beginning. A beginning of what, neither could say, but a beginning nonetheless. His brother Loric clomped down the stairs, yawning as he went.
“Where are we going today? Other than the usual spots?” He said.
“Do you want to do a bit of exploring?” Bail said. “There’s a cave off to the west, just beyond the Orangestone field. It’s overgrown with weeds and rubble, but I think we can squeeze in.”
“Sure. Let’s do that first.” Loric said, always looking for a reason to postpone harvesting until the last minute.
The air outside was thick and bitter, as it was the day before and the week before that. The two pulled kerchiefs over their mouths and stepped down off the porch, careful to avoid the cracks and holes in the floorboards.
“I had that dream again,” Loric said as they crossed the field covered in massive orange boulders, or fallen suns as Bail called them.
“The one about the train?” Bail asked, having to raise his voice a bit over the eerie growl of wind whipping around the stones.
“That’s the one. I’m riding it like a horse, straddling the roof. The reeds alongside it whip my feet bloody, and the sand in the air breaks my skin. Just as the pain becomes too much, it all clears and I’m over an ocean. In the blue water, I see an octopus the size of a mountain. Its tentacles reach up from the water and wrap themselves around the clouds. Still barreling along on the train, I see the octopus pull itself from the water and high into the air. It hangs there for a moment, looking at me, and I at it. Then, the train shudders and stops. The octopus wraps a tentacle around my waist and pulls me towards it. I’m powerless to stop it, and eventually, I am pulled into oblivion by the creature as the train whistle blares out in the distance, in useless protest.”
Bail had no thoughts on the dream, other than that it was odd for it to be reoccurring. They continued through the field until they reached the bramble wall. It towered above their heads and ran the length of the field in both directions. Over the past year, Bail had worked to carve a path through it, but Loric stayed away. He was afraid of what they would find on the other side. He claimed to hear devilish howls through the bramble and said that he glimpsed the forked tails of demons overtop of it from his bedroom window. Bail dismissed it all, and had broken through two weeks prior. They squirreled their way through the path he had made and entered into the plains beyond. The grass reached their waist, and the ground was damp in places and waterlogged in others.
“Where is this cave?” Loric asked.
“Not too far. Beyond that ridge, and then around the Culling Pits.” Bail answered.
“You went beyond the Culling Pits?” Loric responded. “You are way too reckless with your exploring!”
“Oh, hush.” Bail said. “Your Devils are nowhere to be found.”
“That’s what you think,” Loric said, pulling his kerchief tighter over his mouth. “If only one of them spots you, we’ll be swarmed before the sun has a chance to fully rise.”
Bail waved a hand at his brother and continued through the grass. There was little life in the field, save a handful of miros. Their furry double heads would pop up from the grass and examine the two strangers, then they would dip down beneath the grass once more and their tails, split into four multicolored strands, would bob across the field away from the brothers. One of them tried to build a nest in the Orangestone field shortly after Bail opened the path, but Loric chased it off.
“Who knows what kind of insects are living in their fur.” he had said.
They climbed the ridge at the other side of the field and saw the Culling Pits. Dozens of perfectly round holes in the surface, surrounded by charred metal and tufts of cotton. Loric never set foot near them, but Bail had dropped a stone down each one and listened for a noise. One clattered on something after a few seconds, but the rest simply fell without a sound.
“It’s right over there.” Bail said, pointing to an overgrown tangle against the side of the hill that encircled the Pits.
“Alright. We’ll sidle along the hillside.” Loric said, pointing along the hills around the pits.
“What? Don’t be ridiculous, we can cut right through and be there in half the time.” Bail said. “Don’t worry, I won’t push you in.”
Without waiting for a response, he charged down the hill and began weaving between the pits.
“Bail! You’re going to get us killed!” Loric shouted, running after him.
Bail laughed, and let his kerchief fall around his neck, only pulling it back up when they reached the overgrowth in front of the cave entrance. He pecked at the vines here and there like a bird looking for a worm in the dirt. Finally, on the far left side, he stopped and began pulling them apart.
“Here it is!” he said. “Come here. You hold this open and I’ll try to squeeze in and hold it open for you from the other side.”
Loric reluctantly stepped over to the entrance and held the foliage apart for his brother. Bail got down on his hands and knees and crawled through the small opening in the rock, then turned around and did his best to hold the passage open for Loric to crawl through. A few scratches later, they were both inside the cave, in near complete darkness.
“Now what?” Loric said.
Bail reached into his pack and pulled out two iron bars, each topped with a round clear ball. He clanged them together, and immediately a bright light emanated from both clear balls. He handed one to Loric and held the other aloft, illuminating the cave.
“Now we explore,” he said.
It didn’t take long for them to find it. After they plodded along for a minute or two, Loric grabbed Bail’s shoulder and froze.
“Look. Up there behind the rock on the left.” He said, shaking. “Do you see it?”
Bail squinted forward, and could just barely make out two booted feet, sticking out from behind a boulder on the side of the cave. The feet pulled back behind the rock, and out of sight.
“I saw it.” Bail said. For a moment he faltered and froze like Loric. Then he took a step forward and felt his brother’s hand tighten on his shoulder.
“What are you doing? We have to get out of here.” Loric whispered. “It could be one of them.”
“I see no tail sticking out above the rock. Those were not cloven hooves. It isn’t. Whatever it is might be hurt.” Bail responded. He shook off his brother’s hand and moved forward. Loric stayed still and began to finger the hilt of his blade. Bail cautiously stepped around the rock, careful to hold his hands out passively in front of him. The light from the iron bar washed over a creature huddled in the gravel, who winced and covered its eyes. Bail had never seen a creature quite like it, but it wasn’t too dissimilar from himself or Loric. Where they had four arms, it had only two. Where they had long sharpened ears, the creatures were small and rounded. It looked to be half their size, perhaps only five or six feet tall. Instead of the slitted leather skin on Bail and Loric’s head, the creature had a mess of thin hair, oddly parted at the side like it was blown over by a gust of wind. It slowly lowered its arms revealing beautiful eyes of milky white, and in the center, a gleaming blue sphere. Bail and Loric’s eyes were solid beige, and not half as charming. The beast said something with a delicate voice, like rain on glass, but Bail couldn’t understand it. It spoke again and pointed at its leg. A large gash was visible, surrounded by dried red blood. Sticking out of the wound was a piece of bent metal. Bail leaned down and examined the wound, unsure of how to help the creature, but feeling compelled to. He felt Loric step up behind him but paid him no mind, focused on the wound. The creature looked over Bail’s shoulder nervously, but continued to point at its leg, and repeated the phrase it had said twice before. Bail carefully placed two hands on the creature’s leg and placed the other two on the piece of shrapnel. He paused and looked the beast in the eyes. They were full of fear, and flickering weakly, but also confident and trusting. He pulled on the metal, and the creature howled out in pain and doubled forward. As it did, Bail was pushed aside by Loric who plunged his blade into the stomach of the creature.
“No!” Bail responded. He pushed his brother back and knelt next to the groaning beast.
“He was trying to suck the life from you!” Loric cried out.
“You fool.” Bail said. “Can’t you see it wasn’t a threat? It was struggling to survive, like us.”
Bail lifted the head of the creature onto his lap, cleaning a bit of dirt from its face. “Don’t get so close to it, it might still get you,” Loric said, his voice wavering in its assuredness.
“Just go home Loric. You’ve done enough.”
Loric opened his mouth to reply but remained silent. He sheathed his blade and moved back towards the entrance of the cave. The creature stared up at Bail desperately, as its chest rattled with its final breaths. It feebly clutched at Bail’s shirt until he took the beast’s hand in his own. Bail stayed there with it, holding its hand through its final, painful, labored moments. Even after its grip loosened and its eyes fogged over, Bail remained, wishing the beast would shake back to life. Wishing that he had stopped Loric, or never brought him in the first place. Wishing that his brother wasn’t a victim of such paralyzing fear. He blamed himself, in the end, but only so that he might return home and continue life with Loric. To shoulder the lion’s share of blame was to free his brother of it, and in turn, live without a seed of resentment that would one day grow into a massive oak. And so it was their mistake together, never to be spoken of again.