HavenGuarde

Chapter 47 - Waiting

Chapter 47

Waiting

- She peered out across the silent hills, waiting, but he did not come home -

Mirya Ironhand, pulled on a long and thick cloak as the snows billowed outside. Her midnight curls spilled out from within her hood. Above, wooden boards provided shelter from the storm and creaked and groaned as the blizzard raged on outside. She stared into space, her mind far away.

The weatherstorm device had malfunctioned again and had inadvertently created an artificial weather storm over the city. The Scientists were working furiously to repair it. This was the third time the device had malfunctioned. The last time it happened, the device created a storm that had rained down gigantic hailstones. The hailstones had smashed their house to rubble while the family hid in a temporary shelter. As a result, the Ironhand family had to rebuild their house, brick by brick, wooden board by wooden board. Mirya feared that the storm would get worse.

"We should light the candles and lanterns. It will be night soon", said the voice that Mirya awoke to every morning.

The tall and gaunt figure of her husband Jesse Ironhand paced slowly back and forth across the room. With each step, the floorboards below his feet groaned and shuddered as if they were about to break under his weight. His dark hair was now long and unkempt. He had not worked since the storm began and there was no need to shave to look presentable before the other men who worked alongside him. The break from the monotony of work was good and he could now rest his aching back from the toil of hard labour. However, not working meant that he would not receive his daily credit to take home. Consequently, he and Mirya had to save what little credit they had by rationing their foodstuffs and purchases. They had both lost a little weight from halving their daily intake of food. Mirya tried to use every bit of vegetable and meat that she could purchase and she had realised that to make the most of what they had, they had to survive on making soups and thick broths for meals. But nither Mirya nor Jesse were worried for they had faced this situation before. For, when Thonavar was here it was much harder for all of them since the food had to be split between the three. Both she and Jesse would offer Thonavar generously more then their own portions of food and he would furiously decline stating that they needed their energy too.

Mirya's thoughts dwelled on her life before HavenGuarde back in the cabin in the woods where she and Jesse used to live before the Great Flare had engulfed the world. Her mind lingered on the days where she and Jesse would wait on little Thonavar and plan their days around him, giving him food, making clothing for him, singing to him, and wondering about him all at once. Why did we leave? Why could we not stay?

Thonavar.

Her thoughts drifted and settled on her son. She wondered how he was doing. She was constantly worried for his safety and well-being. She had not seen him since they were separated. She remembered the look of anguish on his face as the black robed figures took him away from her. I have abandoned him, she thought. I have left him to his fate. Those cursed bastards in black, she swore softly. They took my son away from me. And now, I may never see him again. She shook her head, trying to dispel dark thoughts from creeping into her mind. Her mind buzzed with negativity and she tried hard to fight off the settling despair.

Jesse heard his wife swear under her breath and stopped pacing, looking to her.

"What are you whispering Ells?", said Jesse, coming up close to his wife. Mirya shook her head. Then she looked up at the man whom she had spent the years with. Jesse Ironhand's piercing blue eyes bored into hers, his face an expression of honest concern. Mirya studied her husband. Many hours of labour and hard toil had changed him. Once a tall, hulking, muscular and proud figure, his back was now bent and there were now streaks of grey and white in his dark hair. Though he still carried himself with a stubborn air of pride and dignity, going about his work, there was a sense of vulnerability about him. It was not that he had aged over the course of time. It was not his bruised, scarred and calloused hands and forearms. No, she did not care about these things. Deep down she knew it was because he was all she had left. Here, in this lonely place, down in city below, he was her doorway to all her memories and thoughts and she anchored herself in him, finding peace and a renewed sense of purpose when he was around. In him she could find herself again. She feared to lose him, for if she did, she would be lost.

"Nothing", said Mirya, shaking her head. Jesse's blue eyes bored into hers, searching. She turned away, hiding her face.

"Ells", began Jesse but Mirya shook her head again.

With a deep sigh, Jesse walked towards the windows. There was a moment of silence as Jesse blotted out what little light that streamed through the windows. With his back to her, he spoke slowly.

"A darkness has settled over this house. It fills the doorways and the hallways. It seeps into the room and pervades the very air. It is in your face Ells. Your eyes betray you. This darkness has haunted us long enough."

Jesse turned from the window and Mirya turned her face away.

Jesse spoke again.

"What is it you fear", he asked softly. The red sky outside the window behind him had turned his blond hair aflame. For a moment Mirya said nothing, her face hidden from him. Then she spoke.

"The end", she whispered softly to herself. Then turning to face her husband, she spoke, this time louder.

"The end, where there is nothing left for me. Nothing left for Mirya. Varu is gone. My young one is gone. He was taken away from me, and a part of me vanished with him into the night. You are right in saying a darkness haunts me. It is in my mind. It is my lonely sorrow and the emptiness of being. What will become of Mirya when the slow and painful drifting and passing of time catches up to her? What then will become of me when the darkness takes you away too? There is nothing for me at the end. Nothing...".

A single tear trickled down her face and she wiped it away hastily. Jesse came up beside her and placed his arms around her. He said nothing but held her close.

"Why did we leave?" she whispered softly. "Why could we not stay?"

"We could not stay", said Jesse simply as he held his wife close, cupping her head and stroking her dark curls of hair. "The world we knew was ending. We had to leave. But for now, we must remain strong. We must remain strong for him."

As the sky outside turned dark, lanterns and candles came aflame in other households, and in the gathering gloom, Jesse held his wife as she cried silently into the night.