The Boar Head and Islana

JP with Winteroak and Cindy

Islana froze as the man with the boar's head moved to her side. She felt his calloused hands on her body as he turned her around. She felt her bonds break as he sliced it with his still wet axe.

She sat as he pulled her gag from her mouth. The man with the boar's head then sat back away from Islana, running his thumb over the edge of his blade.

Her green eyes stared at him. Islana felt a need to try to escape but also had a distinct impression that it was an impossibility.

Her hand slowly reached the wound on her head, in an attempt to try to feel how bad it was, but she never took her eyes off the man.

He ignored the still twitching bleeding body a few feet away and stared at her. Reaching behind him he pulled a waterskin and threw it at the young girl.

"In the old days, you would have lived in this place since birth. Never seeing anyone. Never speaking to anyone. Food and drink would be brought to you while you slept..." He started recounting.

Islana was trying to ignore the body on the ground near by. When the water skin landed in front of her, the redhead actually realized how thirsty she was.

Logic told her that poisoning her wouldn't work for what he wanted her for. She picked up the waterskin, drank a little and put some on her hand trying to wash a little of the blood off her brow at least.

Islana didn't know what to say, what to ask, if she should say or ask anything. If the man would get angry at her for doing so. So, she remained silent and watched him

"A mound like this would be your whole world for a few brief years. You would be unique among your people. Unspoilt and untouched by life's beauty and hurt." He continued as if drifting back to times long gone. "Your whole tribe, although you don't know they exist, go without so you can have no wants." He looked at Islana tracing the edge of the axe. "Until the night of the last winter moon…"

The young woman perhaps shouldn't speak but there was a question burning on her lips.

"Why me?" Her soft voice spoke.

Was it because of the investigation, then why not just kill her? She was young but not a young child. Islana couldn't figure out how she fit what he wanted.

"Back than the chosen would matter. They would be precious. A life lived fulled paid to the Boar under the last winter moon." He said, starting to sound bitter and disappointed. "Before the coming of the Pillars." He said making it sound like a course.

"With that all gone, with the people forgetting who kept them safe, who truly made the season turn, why not you, red child?" He asked but made it sound like she was chosen for a reason.

Islana didn't know how to respond to that. It was like he was saying she was chosen for a reason but also saying there was no reason for it not to be her.

Red child, being called that and knowing the superstition among some of those with red hair, made her wonder even more.

Still, she decided to ask something he might actually answer, "How long before... how long do I have?"

"One full day before He dips His tusks into your blood and your sacrifice gives us all prosperity, ensuring our survival in the year to come." He answered her truthfully, sensing that maybe Islana was not aware on why she was being chosen.

A full day? That made things different or so Islana wanted to hold out hope that was the case. Certainly, it gave her more time to be rescued. Still, the young woman had learned long ago not to hope for too much. So, it was more cautious than outright optimistic.

The man in the pig head still terrified her, especially after watching the brutal way he slaughtered the man that still lay on the ground near the two of them.

Islana was purposely keeping her eyes on the pig headed man and not on the body. Her head hadn't stopped hurting but there hadn't been any way to ease the pain.

"Is the cult all over Arcadia? How many worshipers are there?" Islana started asking questions but was still cautious in her attempt to not upset him. She spoke quietly.

It got her mind off the possibility of what would happen to her if she wasn't rescued and information could be useful if she was.