Wicked Hearts Of Stone

Chapter 10

I scratched my face as a slight breeze danced across my cheek. A tossed around for a moment trying to find a comfortable position to doze back off into the peaceful sleep I was having.
Then it hit me.
A reminder that I wasn't home. I wasn't tucked into my own bed enveloped with sheets. I wasn't safe in the comfort on my own 4 walls, and Luca wasn't just down the hall and the fireplace roaring in the distance.
My eyes shot open and my body jerked awake, instantly sitting upright to survey my surroundings.
I wasn't anywhere I knew of or with anyone I know of anymore.
"You're finally awake." A voice mumbled behind me.
I twist my body fast, clicking a few of my joint as it comes apparent to me my cold hard ground wasn't forgiving on my body.
A bright light beaming from my right side, temporarily blinding me as it takes a few second for my eyes to adjust. But it becomes clear that it was the man, the creature. His large body a silhouette against the light, his horns distinctively protruding outwards of his head.
"You've been knocked out a good while, the sun is almost setting again." He follows with as he starts to walk closer to me. My heart starts to pound again, following with my head.
"Where.. am I?" I question. Raising my hand to block out the sun.
"We're safe, for now." He responds, walking past me as a notice some sort of fur, a hide tucked under his arms. A quick glance as I notice fresh blood coated on his fingers.
I watch the man walk past me to sit on a level rock and start tearing the hide apart, sorting things into different piles.
I look around to see we were in a cave. The ground, the walls and the rocks were all a dull shade of green. The setting sun casting long ominous shadows along the ground and walls.
"How long have I been out?" I ask, realising the last time i was awake the sun was setting too. Must of been a whole day.
"Three days. I think." He says confusingly, not looking away from his dead animal he must of captured.
"Three days?!" I shout as I jump up to my feet. Panic was setting in.
My breaths become shallow and my mind start racing. I've been away from home for almost a week. A week with Luca stuck with father, a week where he not hunted for any food, he must be starving now and about ready to claw his ears off from father probably drinking away and becoming violent and lashing out on anything close to him.
"Hey!" The man shouts as it snaps me out of my trance. My beading eye lock onto him, sweat forming on my brows.
"You're fine. You're safe here." He says, but it doesn't ease my worries at all.
"I have to go home. I can't be here anymore. I've been away for far too long." I say, turning around to the exit of the cave. I was ready to leave and never come back.
Damn this stupid, horrible place.
I start to pick up the pace, ignoring my aching muscles and stiff joints, but I only managed to get a few steps before a strong force grasp my shoulder.
"You can't leave. I told you, you're safe here." I turn my head, and as I look up I meet the man standing directly behind me, towering my body. Shivers travelling down my spine and I swallow hard.
"If you leave, you die." He says again, affirming me to stay put.
I look back out the cave opening, at the wide and vast land before me going on far as long as I could see. I wasn't long till nightfall.
"But.." I whisper out, sadness filling my body, knowing I was a world away from home. "Home..." I whisper out.
"Stay. Or die leaving." He says simply and sharply. He lets go of my shoulder and walks back to where he was previously sitting, continuing with his work.
I plump myself on the ground near the opening of the cave, staring out into the distance.
Silence filled the cave for a while as I think about home and the village. My friends and family. The markets, the food, everything I've took for granted.
Frustration soon fills my body as I become irritated with unanswered question, far more than my liking, so I stand up and storm over to the man. His eyes on me within an instant following my every move.
I stop in front of him, he pauses what he doing and straightens out his body, anticipating what I would do next.
I hold back for a second but I couldn't. "What am I doing here? And what is this fucking place? And who...what are you?" I shout at him. I couldn't speak fast enough with the amount of questions I had. Nothing was giving me any answers and it irked me to my bones.
He stayed still for a second, looking at me with his glowing dead eyes. Blinking a few times as looked me up and down, followed with a long sigh.
"The answers you seek are far too complex for your mind to understand." He finally replies with, and it just pisses me off more.
My brows furrow and I growl. I keep staring at him, and I will keep doing so until I get an answer. Any answer.
"Fine." He finally admits, lowering his head back down to the bloody carcass on the ground, tearing the furr of piece by piece. "I'll explain it as simple as I can." He starts off. He pauses for a couple of seconds, probably thinking of how to word things. I don't even have any words to describe this place and these people I've encounter so far. Who knows what else is out there beyond my understanding.
"You are north of the wall." He states.
"Obviously!" I shout back. He rolls his eyes before continuing.
"A wall that separates us and your kind. Ugh sorry...I mean humans."
"I got that far." I reply back, now I was rolling my eyes. Do I look stupid to him?
"Here on this side of the wall is a different world to what you know of. A land bigger than you can imagine filled with people, and creatures, and things you wouldn't understand. The wall has been there millions of years, guarded by highly trained soldiers to keep you in, and us out."
"But why? Why are we divided and kept seperate?" I question.
"Because...." He trailed on, adjusting his body awkwardly and taking another deep sigh. "Because a long, long time ago hundreds of thousands of years ago some of the things on this side hunted humans to near extinction. For sport, or food or for trophies... I don't really know. Easy catch to fill predators bellies to say the least." And my heart sank into the pit of my stomach, and felt like my jaw hit the floor.
"The NSC -"
"NSC?" I ask abruptly, cutting him off. He glanced at me with deathly eyes before continuing. I could tell he didn't like being interrupted, but I needed every detail I could get.
"Neutral Sovereign Council... a council with people neither for and against either side of the wall. They determined to divide us so humans don't go extinct and we don't invade your lands and breed creature who solely hunt to feed on humans."
"What the fuck?" I whisper out, still is utter disbelief in what I am hearing. My head was spinning and pounding but I need to know more.
"So what. Your ancestors hunted us humans as sport and out of the pity and kindness of your heart you decided to spare me." I lash out, hatred lashing my words.
"No." He responded. "Far from it." He added.
"Then what? What are you?" I say as I gesture to him and his physique. He shifts his body awkwardly, sensing he feels uncomfortable with that question.
"It's a long story-"
"Well have got nothing but time being stuck in this stupid cave for who knows how long!" I say again cutting him off, but he wasn't irritated this time. He understood my anger and frustration burning through me, being dragged and dumped into a world I knew nothing of. He studied my face, seeming to contemplate for a moment.
"Well, do you have a name at least?" I say crossing my arms, trying to break the awkward silence.
He brakes the stare as he quickly glances from one thing to another within the cave.
"Sebastian." He declares softly, returning his gaze to the deskined animal lying by his feet.
I stare at the carcass too, wondering if he would just devour it right then and there like a lethal animal. He was very tall and well build, but quite lean and skinny. I wondered if food was hard to come by, if it was a challenge to find a feast that I would relate to when I would hunt for food for my family.
"Aeryn." I say, he snaps his eyes up at me, slightly confused. "My name. It's Aeryn Simmons." I see his eyebrows furrow. He was staring at me but wasn't focused, like he was daydreaming in another world.
"Sounds familiar." He followed with, "You humans have last names?"
I was confused, "You don't?" I follow with another question.
"Well, there are family names yes, but if you are great or of importance you are known by your first name and where you are from, or your status." He says answering my question, but when I get one answer I grow handfuls of other questions. This wasn't helping.
He could sense my confusion, that I didn't under this world or the way the.. things lived here.
"So you're just known as Sebastian? Nothing else?" I ask. He clenched his jaw and puffed out a quick sigh, maybe it was a difficult question, or a difficult answer for him. Either way I could tell I struck a delicate cord.
"It's too difficult for you to understand." He states, continuing with his work in front of him.
"But-"
"No." Now he was the one cutting me off. He was angry, and he was ripping the animal apart more aggressively. The sound of shredding meat and skin sent a cold shiver down my spine. He made it look so easy and effortless, I couldn't imagine how easy it would be for him to kill, skin and gut out something my size.
And I understood for a moment why they hunted us humans. It would have been so easy to capture something so slow and delicate, much smaller than these beasts. It would have been an easy and rewarding feast.
"It's time to eat anyway. No more discussions for now." He says as he gets up for his seat, for a moment forgetting how far he towers above me. He walks over to another end of the cave, picking up a few sticks and logs neatly packed in the corner and centring it in the cave.
I watched him as he moved, both with grace and stealth. How his body moved in such precision, his muscles with every action, and how his eyes surveyed every detail.
He may only be wearing a loose fitted and dirty shirt cut off sleeves, but it was easy to note he was strong underneath. His carried himself with confidence and like he was too great importance.
He crouched down to the stack of sticks and smalls logs and rearranged it to his liking, then pulled out two stones and with a single effortless clang between the stones a spark ignited as it fell onto the sticks, quickly igniting them into a small ember.
So effortless like he's done this too many time, he stuck pieces of the animal through another spare stick and turned it above the fire, now growing and lighting up the cave with flickers of light.
I was relived for a second knowing I didn't have to watch him devour a raw, bloody animal.
The small if cooking meat wafting through the air hit my nose, and I quickly realise it must of been days since I've last eaten. My body filled with so much adrenaline, and trying to survive and outrun death I didn't even have a moment to think about food.
I quickly become nauseous with hunger and my stomach growling, watching the meat slowly cook above the open fire made my mouth water.
"Here." Sebastian says, snapping my glare from the rendering meat to him. He plucks off a piece of cooked meat, gesturing it towards me.
I slowly take steps towards him, not even sure what exactly the cooking animal is, or if it's safe for human consumption.
"It's fine." He confirms, my eyes darting between him and the meat. "It's similar to a hare you have south of the wall.
Rabbits. We ate plenty of them, especially this time of year when the ice melt and the green emerges. Vivid memories of me watching flocks of wild rabbits in an opening in the forest. Admiring them from a distance before having to shoot one down for food. It made me feel guilty, but it never matched with the guilt of not being able to bring home food, the disappointment in father eyes and knowing Luca would go another day with food.
I quickly snatch the meat out of his hands, like I was a feral animal that has gone too long without food.
The meat warm and succulent, and flavour was rich, dancing across my tongue. It was like nothing I've had before. Yes it was similar to rabbit, but this was extraordinary.
"Thank you." I say to him, moving to a spot closer to the for to fit down, taking in the warmth as the sun faded behind the distant mountains.

We sat in silence the rest of the afternoon, plucking pieces of meat from the makeshift rotisserie. It wasn't a big feat but the meat was extremely fulfilling for the amount it was. I got full but I couldn't stop picking away at it and eating, it was like i couldn't help myself. It was absolutely delicious.

The stars danced in the sky as I watched it from the opening of the cave. The air was cold as it swept in but the crackling fire kept me warm and comfortable.
I turned back to see Sebastian lying on the ground, resting one of his arms behind his head watching the fire dance and picking meat out between his teeth with his sharp claws. His eyes were heavy and starting to droop.
I wonder what Luca would be doing now, if he was warm and fed. Of father had any remorse of his actions against his daughter. I wondering if my friends in the village noticed I was gone, not being at the market for a week now, or if everything went unnoticed, if I was just a void in peoples lives that went unnoticed. I cared for my family so much for so long I never let anyone in to help. The village knew my father was the town drunk, but we have always kept to ourselves, kept our struggles and issues between us, not letting anyone into our lives to see our burdens, and now I wondered if that truely was for the best.
My heart ached for the longing of my village. The bustling morning the markets were on, the music echoing throughout the whole town, the scents of foods, herbs, spices and all sorts wafting through the air. I kissed my bed and my home as run down and troublesome as it was. My mind was telling to to stay, to be safe in this vast unknown land, but my heart was attached to the village by a string, tugging and longing to go back.
I turn back to look inside the save to see Sebastian fallen asleep. His chest rising and falling slowly and his body relaxed and limp. The fire was starting to diminish and the light was fading.
He knew I know of the dangers out there, and warned me it was my death if I were to be alone.
But I couldn't take it anymore.
I slowly, every so slowly stand up. Not breaking my stare off the off him, and cautious of every sound I make with the loose ground beneath me. I didn't know if he had abnormal hearing but I wasn't going to chance it.
I straightened myself out and looked between sensation and the inside of the cave, and the cold, dark land beyond.
I took a deep breath, and I bolted.
I ran as fast as my legs would let me, taking long strides between every step. I ran and I ran u til my heart pounded, and my throat felt raw
I quickly gained great distance from the cave, now only a small dull light in the distance.
I swing my body behind a tall, slender boulder, crouching down beneath it. I try to catch my breath as the cold air stings my throat.
The moonlight was my only helpful guide, it was full and bright, illuminating everything with a silver glow.
I peek over the boulder one more time to check my surroundings. It was clear. I feel that tug on my heart again longing for home. I take a few deep breaths and clench my fists, searching deep for find my second wind of energy.
I prepare myself to bolt again, but a shadow casts over me from the moonlight.
"What?" I whisper out, confused as I thought there were no clouds in the path of the moonlight. I glance up to the sky but see no clouds obstructing the moon. It was shining and glistening high in the sky.
"What do we have here hmm?" A mysterious perky voice echoed beside me, and my soul sank.