Marcella, Blood Tight

Chapter 5

She stepped out of the door into the cold air. She looked up into the sky and noticed that the first sun had already set. It is one of her favorite times of day, dark blue, stars coming out, trying to hit the rings around the planet.

As her foot hit the dirt she felt 'it'. Another like her. Her heckles shot up. Every sense in her body told her to run and hide. She squared her shoulders and turned in the direction she dreaded. As she approached the pig sty she saw a man with a satchel wrestling the pig for a burnt loaf of bread.

With every ounce of strength she had, she leaned against the fence casually. Mustered up a smile and calmly said, "That pig will win you know, he has beaten me a few times." And she laughed. She continued, "Would you like to come home with me for a meal and for a safe place to sleep for the night?"

He looked at her with suspicion and fear. He asked quite roughly "Who are you and what do you want with me?"

She looked at him and said "Just call it a friendly gesture from someone who is a lot like you. I think we should talk."

He replied, "You're nuts to want anything to do with me."

She replied "I can explain, if you come back to my home. Come and share a meal. You can have a place to sleep safety until you are ready to move on."

He considered this for a bit, then said "Ah, right you are. Lead on, if you please."

So Marcella headed toward her cave with her follower in tow. She kept an eye out for the wolf that she saw last night, but she did not see it. She did however feel it keeping an eye on her. The same feeling she had about this lad.

They got to the cave as the second sun was setting. Marcella showed him where he would be sleeping; in one of the side caves off the main cave, which had a place for him to set up his bed. She got some hay and assisted him to make up the bed and his blanket to keep warm at night. They also got a few extra which she had made in her free time just in case the temperature got too cold, which was due within the next two weeks. She knew this as she could feel it getting cooler as night.

Marcella made dinner and they sat to eat. "I've seen you around before. You were trying to get food off the pigs. They are hard fighters sometimes. We are lucky, you and I, that we can talk to them. What's you name? My name is Marcella".

He looked at her cautiously, before replying "Hello Marcella, I'm Much. I mean my name is Much." He looked at her sheepishly though long beautiful black eye lashes. "You can talk to animals too? Not many people can do that. That's a secret. Don't share that with anyone please."

She smiled to him. "Oh, Much, I wouldn't think to do that. I have secrets as well. Can I share one with you? But you need to promise not to tell." He nodded eagerly.

She went into her room and got out her orb and walked back into the other room. She opened her hands and showed him the orb. He almost jumped out of his seat in fright. "You see Much, you knew that I was in this town as much as I knew that you were here. We can both sense each other, isn't that right?

"Yes, but put that away people might see, or you might drop it. I drop mine a lot."

He was quite uneasy.

"Much, do you have one of these orbs."

He looked a bit like a scared rabbit, but eventually his expression softened and he beamed a smile. "It's a secret but yeah I have one as well. I try really hard to keep it safe. It rolls out of my bags sometimes. It's hard to be really carefully with it."

She poised the next question hoping that he would not be too frightened. "Do you mind if I have a look at it please?"

Much looked at her a bit like a possum in a cars headlights, while having a mental struggle about trying to keep his secret a secret and allow this girl, who he really only just met, look at his only life long belonging and see how far along he has gotten in his quests.

"I not too sure yet," Much replied. "It is the only thing that I have to my name."

She wasn't surprised about this so gingerly suggested "How about if you get yours to work on and I'll work on mine?"

Marcella continued "I know the feeling, Much. I feel much the same way. My orb keeps me centered, keeps me on a level. It keeps me sane when otherwise I would be going nuts."

Much replied, "I see we are not that different, you and I. Hang on, I'll go and get my orb and be right back."

Much got up and went into the alcove where all his stuff was and came out with his orb. He sat down, looked at Marcella and very consciously unwrapped his orb and placed it on the table, it sat there and glowed a gold with a green side closest to much. Much reached into his bag and brought out his orb. He placed it on the table and unwrapped it. It was green with a gold side closest to Marcella's orb. He looked at it with a curious expression as well. He lifted his eyebrows and replied to Marcella, "have you ever seen it do this before?"
"No" Marcella replied, I haven't seen this at all" Much smiled knowingly and said to her "Well, in that case, you're in for a treat."

The two orbs connected. Marcella's orb connected through a set of golden light strands. Much's orb connected through a set of green light strands. It formed a type of golden and green light rainbow. The orbs started to pulse, each strand line throbbing as if passing information or knowledge to learn off the other. The transfer seemed to take a long time, but only a few minutes had really passed. It was beautiful to observe, to watch. It seemed to reach it's peak when circles hovered over the orbs. The circles exploded like fireworks going off. It dissipated into little droplets of nothingness. It took a while for their eyes to adjust to the change in light.

"Cool aye?" Says Much, "You're orb is colored gold. Only the most important people have golden orbs. They are very rare."

Marcella looked at him and asked "Has that happened to you before?" He looked excited and said "Yip, about two months ago. I bumped into an elder named Edwina. She also a golden colored orb. She is the one who told me that the golden orbs are generally for elders, you have been studying yours for a long time, I can tell due to the brightness of the light that came off it. Anyway Edwina's and mine combined like this. It was my first time to experience it. It was fun. She was on a quest." That was as much information that he gave.

"Do you talk to animals often, Much?" Asked Marcella.

"Sometimes I do." he said. "It's hard for me sometimes. Why do you ask?" He looked at her as if there was devilment in her asking.

"I can talk to animals, as well." She said. " I actually had an encounter with a bear, of a number of months back now when I first moved into the cave here. He knew me. Actually he said my name to me."

"Oh, I don't know much about that," he said. "Never had any animals call me by my name."

Much and Marcella had a conversation about the animals that they had talked to and overheard talking.

Marcella played with her orb, Much played with his orb. Marcella could tell his symbols were different which meant that he was not as far through the puzzles as she was however in some aspects he was further through than she was. They both assisted each other out with the puzzles as much as they could. Much showed her herbology tricks and tips. Marcella showed Much some tips and tricks to assist him through the puzzles.

Marcella and Much went and visited Mary. After a cuppa they sit down to the discussions of herbs and their uses. It becomes quickly apparent that Much is very versed in herbology. On his trip with Marcella to see Mary he picked a few weeds, as Marcella thought, but Much talks about there uses in draughts and poultices.

About two weeks after the orbs connected it was time for Much to leave.

All this time Mary had remained quiet despite her promise to Marcella, she was starting to feel quite down and wondered whether she should have stayed quiet.