Tree of Life Book III

Part II - Chapter 05

TREE OF LIFE BOOK III – PART II

CHAPTER 05

She was still looking at me. But she was not looking at me. Her eyes. Her mind was a million miles away, where a river continued to run, winding through a countryside by the edge of a forest, heedless of the sculptures of ice in it that had appeared out of nowhere, like scattered stones, like fallen leaves, a tableau of countless faces forever caught up in fear.

She had frozen them.

She had frozen them all.

My hand slipped out of hers. I sat back on my haunches, on the ground where I was and didn't say anything, not a word.

Behind us, on the far wall, the flames in the fireplace were going on like mad, cackling up a storm, like it was the funniest joke you'd ever heard. The rest of the house was quiet. I seemed to recall a scene much like this one not too long ago.

She raised her cup and drank the last of the water from earlier. "When we got back to camp. He confronted me. With the whole council there behind him."

I cleared my throat. "What did you tell them?"

She turned to face me. "What…?" She laughed but it was a pitiful sound. "What else could I tell them? I told them the truth. I told them who I was, but they wouldn't believe me." She placed the cup down on the table nearby. "They…they branded me a witch."

I frowned. "They turned you out? Made you leave?"

She shook her head. She scoffed. "They meant to kill me." She went to lick her chapped, flaking lips but her tongue was dry. "They were going to burn me alive."

I reached out for her hand. "But…" I shook my head.

I didn't understand. It was absurd, the idea. Spirits could not be killed that way.

"But they knew I was strong." She smiled at me. "And they would have to catch me first. Hold me. Tie me down."

She turned her head to face the fire. The twisting flames swirled about in her eyes and made it look as if they were on fire too. She licked her lips again.

I got up, took her cup and got her more water. When I placed it down on the table next to her, she didn't notice. I crouched down beside her.

She hadn't moved in her seat. It was like she was frozen into it, a block of ice. "Perhaps I should have known. Perhaps it had always been my doom." She spoke into the fire. "My instincts got the better of me. When they came for me, I fought back. In the struggle, in the confusion…the General…"

I swallowed hard. "The General?" I shuffled forward and tried to gain her eyes, but her face was still turned away toward the fire so I couldn't see them.

"He is dead."

The wood in the fire shifted. A puff of smoke shot up the chimney. I thought I heard the wind rushing by the door, trying to open it, but it didn't open. It stayed shut.

I remained still where I was. I opened my mouth. I closed it. Now my lips were dry.

She shifted in her seat. "I killed him. By my hand, I killed him." She sniffled. Reaching up, she wiped her nose. "He died in my arms."

I raised my hand to place it on her back but at the last, I changed my mind and returned it to my side again. "Is there no way…? Perhaps we could…"

"No." She made a sound and I didn't know if it was laughing or crying. Her shoulders shook some. "He is gone. And he will never…again…come back to me." She sighed. "Only I to him."