In Lost Dreams the Four Were Bound

44 - ERROR - The Mumbling of Worms IV

Outside, his brothers and sisters sang songs happy and sad for the first time in years, making what they could of a celebration meant to honor their past and pave the way for their future. They burned treasured and ancient belongings, including those of their founder. They walked barefoot and drank wine, mead, and forest teas. They ate their fill of berries and fruits, mushrooms, and vegetables. There was a sense of oncoming joy, though one he could not embrace.

[Loss and pain are worse than nothing,] a tiny voice whispered into his scruffy, timber-colored ears.

Bedimer was not one for merrymaking and parties. The spring festival itself was something he oft avoided, save for curbing his desires if only for a short while. Lovemaking was something he abstained from in his later years, feeling the burden of losing child after child, lover after lover. The forest away from the village was his rightful home. Out there, he felt at peace. Among the trees, he could lie in wait, silent and focused upon the hunt. Meditating on those ends was something he could do without a second thought, and aside from whether he brought back game or not, no one would pay for his dallying. Passion was a burden as much as a refuge.

[Don't listen, please hurry,] a different voice called in his head. This one was more familiar, but he tried not to heed it.

He did not like how things had changed around the village since the Delvori pair arrived. The male was a backstabbing fiend who wanted to change everything about their way of life. The female was a seductress, though aside from breaking a few hearts, he bore her no ill will. She was smart and unyielding. She wouldn't let him ruin her future with his needs, though in all honesty, that was beside the point.

[You must hurry,] it cried again, the shrill wail paining him.

After Thaimi and Rais had breached the entryway of the great tree, Bedimer had begun tracking the duo. Letting his thoughts wander, he feigned naturalness as he traced their footsteps. Something had been off with the way the young woman had spoken to him. Coupled with the little girl's confusion, the matter only served to heighten his suspicion. He knew Elis was nowhere near the great tree, having spied her up on the terrace above her home, entwined in the arms of the black hand. All of that, coupled with the onset of insipid voices, unnerved but drove him forward.

Thinking on the mature young woman, Bedimer considered how he had been suspicious of all the would-be nectar maidens of late. The way they clung to the Delvori when near him to the familiar yet hollow way they interacted with those around them when apart, something about it all made his gut churn. He had thought that the monster would be the more dangerous of the two beasts, but it seemed he had been proven wrong of late.

Keeping his ears perked, he walked to the spiral passage that bordered the outer round of the great tree's interior. Above, he heard the faint echoes of the clamor from outside, no hints of activity piquing his interest. Focusing on the downward end, he made out the faintest thud of steps on soft flooring, the pitter-patter of more pointed feet with it. No doubt the pair had descended, but where to he could only guess. There was no smell of wax or burning timber or heated paper. No, they had plunged into the depths in the dark with no light to guide their way.

[Yes, this way!]

[Come, come,] another voice joined in, mocking the first.

Bedimer had always wondered when his mind would go. A man could only take so much sadness and grief before breaking. He had seen men and women whom he held as sterner crumble as their loved ones passed away. Children ripped from their mother's wombs, dozing lovers' spirits departed in the dead of night, these were but a few of the travesties that were ascribed to their curse. Some of those who were left behind would just disappear into the woods, never to return. Others would be found starved to death huddled at the feet of the great trees. Others slit their own throats while still others had found their end at the horns of one of the great beasts of the wood.