Guardian of Elements

Chapter 42 - Images of legends

Meanwhile, the two girls left the village. They were heading south, back to the river. They passed the sawmill, which was currently cutting trees in half and two men were collecting planks under it, and followed the river back into the forest.

Valeria was the one talking most of the time, telling Arneia about her life in the village. She was listening eagerly, trying to remember every little detail. It was fascinating her. For example, Valeria mentioned that she was eating from dishes. She just said it and moved on in her speech, but for Arneia, who simply used her hands, it was something new.

Sometimes, Valeria asked her why she was asking so silly questions. She once asked her how she made those fine clothes. Val replied that she didn't of course, that she bought them from a tailor. Arneia's dress was from several pieces of leather, sewed together. But Val's clothing was from colorful cotton and fabric, something she had no idea could be made.

Another thing that she couldn't understand was the principle of buying and selling. She simply couldn't get how someone could trade a hard-made handcraft for several useless coins. Valeria commented it by saying: "Your dad must be quite a bad merchant if you haven't seen money," but immediately apologized for it.

Valeria then put down her things and found a vial that was empty. She knelt and submerged it into river, filling it with water.

"Are you thirsty?" Nei asked.

"No, that's for painting. Have you ever tried it?" She stood up with the vial full and picked up her things again.

"I painted several pictures on stone by some dirt I found," she confessed.

"You mean ochre? I have that somewhere here too. But I prefer green and blue colors."

They went several dozens of meters away from the river, until they could only barely hear it. Valeria then found a reasonably big tree stump.

"Okay, this will do." She put her brushes and paints on it and took the paper from Arneia. She wanted to place it on the stump, but it kept rolling back, so she angrily pinned it down with stones. Then, she stacked her brushes and put the colors to the front. When she opened her five vials, they revealed various colors inside of them. She poured a tiny bit of water into each to soften the dried colors inside, and then put the water vial next to her. She sat down along with Arneia, who was watching her every move.

"So, you said you've never heard the legend about the guardian?" Valeria asked, while beginning to paint the top layers of blue skies.

"No, at least probably not your version." Arneia was interested by how Val was using her brush to paint, she always used only her fingers.

"Well it's more of a story than a legend. She – if you believe it's a female – saved us. Some time ago, merchants and travelers who were coming to our village were telling tales about evil people from the west. There were rumors about a sickness that was spreading throughout the land. Then, one night three years ago, a lone hunter came here. He was in bad shape and raving from sleep about fires and people that had gone mad. When he woke up in the morning, he told us that he was from a village in the northern part of this forest and that he was returning from a hunt in the evening, but he saw his home being destroyed by the people he knew for so long. Our elders provided him with shelter here, but there wasn't much more they could do. We were scared, so we prayed to the guardian. The elders were calling out nto the forest for five days and the guardian did come to protect us. The wolf with a pendant purified the sick from other villages. Thanks to it, we can live in peace now." Valeria was moving her brushes on the paper rapidly and the scenery was slowly becoming recognizable.

"Hm, that seems too fantasy to be true..." said Arneia, although she knew otherwise.

"You think so? Those touched by the guardian now wear a crescent moon mark on their foreheads. Two of them still live in our village."

"Really?"

"Yes, but they got it even before the sickness. They... changed. They barely speak with anyone and others avoid them too."

Arneia knew who she was talking about.

"I'd like to visit them."

"You would? Well I guess you can if you want. But don't expect much."

"I'll see. And what do you know about this guardian, for fact?"

"Only that 'she' keeps her distance now. No one from the village has seen her since then, but we just know that the wolf is still out there, watching over us."