The Unknown Alchemist

Chapter 6 - I just 'am'

Avery stood by the small stream near the Cabin and felt the sun shining on her face. She closed her eyes and breathed in the quiet, wiggling her toes in the mud. The ground was cool and moist from the recent rain. She untied her pants and let them fall, then slowly reached up with her good arm and pulled her shirt over her head. As she stood naked in the sun she reached for the knife and brought it up to her neck. She yanked at a fist full of hair and hacked it off. Relief crept into her body as the weight that pulled on her tender scalp was eased, and her short hair blew freely in the wind. Almost meditative, she held her hand out to the breeze and let the wind pull the dirty, bloody hair from her fingers. She wished the memory of what had happened could blow away so easily.

She sat down in a shallow pool in the creek and sighed with pleasure as she let the water wash over her broken body. Gently, she scrubbed the dried blood off her face and ran her fingers through her cropped hair. The cool water brought relief to the damage done. After washing she rose from the creek and let the sun dry her skin while she sat by the stream in silence.

She felt numb. She had long ago moved through other emotions. Shame, anger, fear, pain. Between attacks she sometimes felt determination. That the next time he came she would fight harder. She read books on combat and understood the technique but it was difficult to put into practice against such a force. For a time she even trained, running through the woods, learning backflips and doing hundreds of push-ups. But even at her peak she was still a human woman and he a sapien male. He would always be stronger.

Avery took pleasure her small victory. By chance she had her knife in her hand and had left a mark across his face. She smiled to herself at the thought of the blood pouring out of his cheek. He was particularly vicious this time. But she landed one blow. One. Next time, she would land two.

She pushed her enemy from her mind, trying not to dwell on what she couldn't control. It had never helped her to think about what he had done and now she had something else to focus on. Someone else.

As the sun warmed her skin she reflected on what Roedin had shared. He was half-sapien and half-faunid; she hadn't known such a thing was possible, but it explained Roedin's exquisite sapien form with the addition of bat wings. None of the books ever mentioned cross-breeding, but that was more due to social separation than physical incompatibility.

The species were closely related: sapiens were like a cross between faunids and humans. She must have read thousands of texts on the origins of each but after such extensive research she knew that no author was impartial and each had his or her own biases. Faunids were always described as little more than primitive beasts who were only good for fighting and hard labour. Humans were portrayed as religious zealots too weak and stupid to fend for themselves. Sapiens were the pinnacle of evolution, perfectly blending the strength, speed, and skills of animals with intelligence and sophistication. Add a small dose of magic and the scholars made sapiens out to be infallible. Avery knew better.

With each species ranked and separated so carefully it was hard to imagine how a sapien and faunid could have joined. Sapiens placed such importance on pure bloodlines they wouldn't want to contaminate their gene pool.

Avery desperately wanted more information from Roedin but she couldn't return the favour. What if he didn't believe her? What if he left her here?

She shook the remaining water from her short hair and dressed with care, contemplating how she could get a sapien to help a human. The walk back to the Cabin was slow. She limped heavily and rested often against trees along the way. She gave one tree a particularly wide berth. The ropes still rested at the base of the makeshift whipping post, but the rain had washed away all the blood.

The Cabin door was open letting in the fresh spring air and she slowly hobbled up the steps with a bucket of water in her good arm. She set the bucket down by the door and began things off the table. She hadn't even noticed Roedin was awake.