On the Path of the Giants

Chapter 11: Joshua

        Joshua stood petrified before Mary, unable to answer her question. On the one hand, he could tell her the truth, but he feared that would only get him exiled once again. Although his knowledge of Gats' culture and tradition was very limited, Joshua still knew that killing one's kin of arm was most likely not accepted. He continued to stare at the stony earth, trying to avoid the question for as long as Mary would let him. He started to notice slight patterns in stone of the floor, as if it had been skillfully crafted, which contrasted with the mostly uneven and uncut walls.

        Mary continued to watch Joshua, and Joshua continued watch the floor. “The answer is not wrought on the floor, Joshua. Why did you leave your village?” Her insistence made the blood inside his vein boil.

        Because I had to. Because I loved too much. Because I did something that cost me my love. He meant to answer truthfully, but he also did not want to forsake his second chance at living within a community. Joshua opened his mouth, thinking of what to say, and closed it again. Tears started to swell up inside his eyes as he remembered everything that he had lost, and he had to close his eyes and look away.

        Mary nodded, in a way only someone who had lived through the same experience can do. “I understand” she said, “I am not going to force it out of you. You can rest for now.”

        The sun was setting on the horizon, and the shadows were getting larger and larger. Johan had shown Joshua to a small wooden hut, next to the kennels. He could hear the dogs through the thick wall, and he knew that they would soon be asleep, and hoped that he would too. “It is a good place to sleep, don’t worry. We will come back tomorrow.” Johan smiled at him. “Thank you” he said, meaning it to its fullest. Her smile shifting from a sympathetic one to a motherly one, and Joshua was glad she had taken it the way he had intended it.

        She closed the door on him, and turned something in it that made it clunk. It was at that point that Joshua remembered that he was not a guest, but a prisoner. They had to make sure that he was harmless before letting him loose into the village. Joshua did not know whether that would ever happen, and felt like he was punished even further for his crime. But maybe he was. Maybe that was destiny acting on him. But again, maybe it was a second chance. If he acted the right way, and said the right thing at the right time, he could get accepted in this new community, and get a second chance at life.

        As Joshua lay on his back on the small bed of straw, his thoughts wandered to Lydia. He soon became very ashamed of the way he had acted, and felt like he should be out there, finding a way to get her back, as opposed to stuck inside a prison cell next to the dog kennel, trying to integrate a new society.

        Joshua remembered the first time he had noticed Lydia, that time when he had killed a deer, with an arrow straight into the heart, as if it had been a sign from destiny, that the arrow was a symbol of their blossoming love. When he noticed that it had pierced it directly, his thoughts went straight to her, and he knew, there and then, that she was going to be his, and him hers. But that seemed like such a long time ago. He felt like it had been lived in another life, that his life now had forever been split from hers. But Joshua could not accept this. He sat on his bed, and looked at the wooden wall in front of him. Between the cracks, he could see the moonlight shinning, and the shadows of star upon the nightsky.

        Right there, right then, he remembered his vow. He will find her again. She is his, and he is hers.