PANACEA-Book One-By Hell or High Water

10. Tapestries and Firelight

I've had enough sleep, I thought to myself as I sat on the stone wall that overlooked the water below. The fog had dissipated for once, which revealed the clear water. At the bottom, I could see the sand and rocks. They all just appeared as two colors from this distance, however. Black and white. The side closest to the mountain I was on was completely white, a sandy beach. Corbin had called it the Bone Coast. Across from it was the Black Coast, the bottom covered in dark, jagged rocks. It's name wasn't nearly as creative as it's lighter counterpart, but it was still equally chilling to look at. Maybe it was just me, but waves seemed to be crashing hard at the shores.

Nobody was out on the water at this hour. On the shore of the Black Coast, lights were on in a small village. People were just by the water's edge, collecting something or other that was in the shallows. I didn't pay much mind to that, and looked to the other side. They were few villages there, but the ones that could be seen were big and stretched to the small forest near the river leading to the sugar cane pond and back. The Black Coast was packed, though. Many of the bigger buildings produced thick smoke, and burned from the inside like lanterns. Factories. The Black Coast seemed much more industrialized than the Bone Coast.

I looked around specifically at the mountain. There was a small waterfall nearby where I sat, but I couldn't see anything in it. Any image that tried to present itself was distorted and unclear. I was glad for that.

The only nearby light came from the house Corbin was working in at the moment. I wondered how long I had been outside. I wasn't tired at all, and I had nothing to do, really. I wondered if maybe Corbin was done. Would he let me in to talk now?

Sure not to step on any fallen twigs, I hopped off the wall and strode up to the house. Standing on my tip toes, I peered through the window. The fire was still burning brightly, so I assumed it couldn't have been that long since I left. Corbin appeared to have gotten a great deal done, though. I couldn't make out what he was weaving, but it wasn't difficult to tell he was deeply fixed on it.

I sighed and slid down the wall, sitting against the house. Maybe if I waited i could get a word in with him. I began to think of what I would say to avoid irritating him. I must have waited a long time because the next thing I knew, my eyes opened to the morning light.

......

Edmund and Hero stood over me, both looking rather concerned about how I'd fallen asleep. I hadn't even been tired, and yet there I was. I looked up at them.

Edmund dropped a rather heavy bag in my lap, along with my dark violet cloak from yesterday. "We're going back down to SugarCrest." Hero had his own bag on his back, although it was smaller and looked to be empty. Edmund was empty handed aside from his bow and quiver. No bag.

I frowned and stood against the house, throwing the cloak around me before hefting the bag up on my shoulder. Subtly, I glanced back at the window I had been waiting under. It was dark in the common building. If Corbin was still working on his tapestry he probably wouldn't be having an easy time. I squinted at the shadows. There was no movement.

He must have been sleeping. I turned my attention back to the two in front of me. "What's in here?"

"Corbin wants us to go down and trade for porcelain flasks. Anything to hold water in, apparently."

"So what's in here?"

"Old tapestries, herbs," Edmund replied. He started to turn away to begin walking.

"So he's awake, then?" I asked him.

Edmund froze and looked back at me. "Now isn't the time to bother him," he said simply. "He's working in the bedroom, for some reason or other."

I sighed and began walking with Hero. "He's not usually like this, is he?"

Hero shook his head. "He likes his solitude, but he's never...yelled at us before."

It took me a moment to process that. "When did he yell at you?"

Edmund came up from behind us. "Just now, as he told us to get up and take you down to the village again."

This worried me. It had to be something I said, or did last night. He had seemed mostly calm when I had spoken to him earlier that day. "Why is he acting like this?"

Edmund looked at me, shrugging his shoulders. "I wouldn't know. I don't even know what all that fuss was about back at the boat ride back."

Hero met my gaze, and I knew I wore a similar guilty look. "I'm sorry about that. Really."

Edmund looked indifferent. "Well, maybe you can't help it. If Corbin doesn't want me to know about this, that's that."

Something about that made me angry. I realized up until the, I had never been angry. "Corbin shouldn't decide what you know or don't know about me!"

Hero looked at me, eyes wide. Edmund didn't reply for quite some time. "The sad truth is we need to obey him. He's our father."

"Well he's not mine," I replied simply as I readjusted my hood. I needed to keep my hair covered, of course. It was irritably long, and hard to keep hidden, though. I noticed something that Edmund had at his side. I hadn't seen until then, but he had a long blade hanging from his belt, reaching to his knee.

"Edmund?"

He had been quiet since my last statement. "Yes?"

"May I see your blade? I have something I need to do while I talk."

.....

Hair freshly cut, and Edmund informed, we made our way down the Bone Coast and the river that connected the sugar cane pond. I wasn't sure Edmund believed me. That didn't really matter. He was told everything Corbin and Hero had been, now. Whether he believed my story or not was besides the point. He could join Corbin when it came to that I could care less.

After hours in the village, collecting anything that could securely hold water, we set back with my bag still half full. Hero's once empty bag now held all of the fragile things we had gotten. The boat ride back was uneventful, thankfully. Nothing floated from the water, and I avoided looking in. It was after midday when we arrived back at the houses. The weather had shifted from a clear sky to a rolling storm of dark clouds that seemed to just idly wait until the moment they could rain down on us.

I approached the common house and grabbed the door handle, only to find the door was locked. Edmund and I walked over to the window. A fire was lit inside again, giving the wood a warm, red glow. It seemed to be dying, as if it hadn't been tended to for some time. Corbin sat off to the side, with a large length of tapestry done. It's golden threads added to the fiery atmosphere. I tapped the window, and only then got his attention.

He looked like he hadn't seen a bed in days, which he probably hadn't. He set his work down and got up. Soon the door was open. Corbin stepped out, and shut it.

"You gathered the things I asked?"

Edmund nodded and started to say something. He never finished.

"Where are they?"

Hero carefully removed his bag from his back. Before he could hold it out to Corbin, it was quickly grabbed, as if no care to how fragile some of its contents could be. Corbin went back inside, and shut the door again.

I stared blankly at the spot he had been. Hero started going down the steps, apparently headed for the bedroom. Edmund sighed and followed him. I looked back through the window, to see Corbin wasn't even in the general room. Raindrops began to hit the top of my head, and I followed them.