And Such Are Stones

3. To Be Kimmerian

The shaking was the first thing that Torlach was conscious of. His whole body was quivering and shaking, and it was crying out inside his head. His mouth was covered by something so that he couldn't talk. There was something over his eyes, maybe over his whole head.

He was mad, and he hurt ... and he was mad. He wanted to grab someone and tear them apart with his bare hands. He wanted to bite them and taste the warm blood spurting into his mouth.

It was so hard to think right now. Someone was touching him. There was a voice, but it seemed like it was coming from far away. "You'll be okay," the voice said calmly. "We've done this a bunch of times before, and we haven't lost anyone yet." It didn't seem very reassuring.

Torlach realized that his hands were bound at his sides, and he was lying on his back. Something between his teeth gave a little bit when he bit down on it, but he couldn't bite through it. His throat was so dry, and it was hard to swallow.

"Rrraa rraaah," he said, in a growl. He was trying to say "water," but the way his mouth was trussed up, it didn't come out that way. "Hhhaaaaggggghhh!"

A hand gently grabbed his shoulder, and the voice said, "I bet he's thirsty. They all get thirsty when they wake up." There were some sounds and a release of pressure around his head. "I can't uncover your eyes," the voice said, "I hope you can understand. They will be really sensitive to the light for the first few days."

The equilibrium of the room seemed to pitch sideways, and there was a strong taste of salt in Torlach's mouth. He started feeling like he was going to hurl. "Hurry and get that off of him before he chokes on his sick," another voice said. When his mouth was free, somebody squirted some water into it, and the salt taste seemed to recede again.

"Here, drink this," the first voice said, and something warm poured into his mouth. It was bitter, and he tried to spit it out, but they covered his mouth again before he could. The voice said, "When this takes effect, he should be out for the next ten hours or so. Get the other one up here. This one is past the hard part, but the other one will have to go around again."

When Torlach became aware again, whatever had been across his mouth was gone. He breathed deeply and could tell that he was in the forest. He used to love the smell of the growing green things and the earth ... it had been a long time. It was a childhood memory.

He took another breath, and it wasn't just a memory. He was somewhere in the forest. He felt the tension on the ropes and knew that he wouldn't be able to get free on his own. There were no other sounds in the room, so he tried to move his head to drag off the thing over his eyes. The pressure on his throat let him know that whatever was on his head was wrapped around his throat, too. He wasn't going to get it off that way.

He wasn't mad now, just drained. It was like the time when he was a boy, and some of them held him down to pour that stinking mess down his throat. He was sick after that, for days and days. When it was over, he was so tired that he slept for at least twenty hours.

His family wasn't very nice. None of them were. His people would scream for no reason, cut themselves, and then laugh about it. His mother had bite marks all over her, where his dad had been showing her how much he cared.

He had memories of blood ... a lot of blood. There was a lot of pain, but he could push it back. There were bad smells, and bad tastes, and anger ... there was so much anger. He was just about ready to give in to his tired feeling, but there was a sound. Someone was coming in where they were holding him.

Holding him? Was he a prisoner? He forced himself to relax so that whoever came into the room wouldn't know he was awake. The voice said, "No ... he should be awake now. He's probably just faking it." There were sounds of people on both sides of him, and the voice said, "Let him sit up but keep his hands and feet tied. You never know how far along they are until you get them to talk."