“Nayda”
By RD Rivero
It began like a fine day when it seemed
little could go wrong. WileyKat and
WileyKit's simple prank was to uproot what yams the old Lunatic had planted on
his farm. To make sure Alluro would not
catch them the he had to be held distracted in his shack. That was the dirty job Nayda's Thundercat
friends had given her. They promised not
to take long but warned they would head back to the lair without her if she was
not coy enough at her end.
She approached the shack cold slowly. Trembling in fear for the Lunatic was
inside. Willa had told her to be careful
when so far from the village. She knew
of the sorcery shrouded deep within the forest.
She told her to beware of Alluro and of the perverse, lustful powers of
that unseen jungle that had seduced him.
WileyKat and WileyKit were already hidden
behind empty barrels that lay at odd angles to the ground. She was squarely in their sight. A hot wind grazed her cheek when she came as
close to the door as she could without touching it. Within, the shack was a crackling fire and,
as if by design, the door was just open enough for her to see hints of
flinching flames and bright orange sparks shoot up from the fire pit in the
earth to the air to fade away forever.
Crickets and birds chirped in the
distance. Trees rustled as a flood of
sounds spewed forth from a jungle awakening with life. Gray clouds overhung the sky. Droplets of rain fell loudly to the earth. Dampness clung to the air. The breeze grew cold and she shivered when
she saw Alluro on the floor by the rim of the fire's pit. Next to him was a pile of fur that passed for
a sleeping dog. Nayda wanted to turn
back but she heard WileyKat whisper to her to get on with it. Her arm stretched, her hand was ready to grab
hold of the door's rotting wood but then it swiftly thrust open.
Alluro stood before her, cloaked in murky
shadows. “You are Willa’s sister?” Nayda
nodded, her eyes never left his stiff face. “Enter. It will rain hard soon. It
always rains hard here.”
“Yes, of course, sir.” She smiled. The exchange pleased Alluro.
“How much like your sister do you look.”
He had donned on a robe in the darkness, sometime after he had let Nayda
in. Once the door shut the crackling
fire became so loud it drowned most every sound from outside. She was uncomfortable and nervous but at
least Alluro knew who she was. She
returned the cordiality since she was not being treated like a stranger.
“Thank you, sir.” She knew how to be
respectful when she had to.
Alluro led the girl by the shoulder and
sat her before the fire's pit to keep her warm from the chilling air. A pot was boiling over the flame. The ancient Lunatic swirled a long-stemmed
spoon around the simmering stew. Then he
scooped up two yams and gave one to her. “My wife and I have already eaten, but
here, have this,” he said.
Nayda took it with another “Thank you,
sir.”
Alluro was beaming. He turned to the
resting dog, it had not moved at all and when he threw the other yam at it the
poor beast did not react. Not even a
whimper. As it lay flat on its side firm
strands of dusty, matted, unkept fur swayed and bent in the warm currents of
that darkened room. The dog was just too
rigid and she wondered if it was even breathing.
Sensing Nayda's growing curiosity Alluro
said: “He is old and rests now but soon he will eat.” With that he undid his
robe slightly enough to let him lie more comfortably on his back with his face
to the window away from Nayda. “What brings you so far from the
Nayda was about to answer when she saw
that next to the dog was a small pile of yams, old fly-covered clumps of meat
and gnawed chicken bones. “I was hiking with some of my friends but I got
separated.” Perfectly formal -- and then a soft breeze flapped back some of the
dog's fur to reveal cob webbed bones, organs decayed crisp and ants tearing
apart the rest of the corpse from within.
Though she was stunned she managed to keep a cool head. “I was wandering
around and found your house here. I know how my sister speak of you.”
“Does she still?” The Lunatic turned to
face her. Nayda had her eyes fixed on
that face, far from the dog as if by not looking at it the corpse would go
away. She did not want Alluro to know
that she knew the dog was dead. He
turned back to the window. “What does she say about me?”
“She has a slight crush on you.”
“Does she talk about my wife and
children?”
“No, sir. I do not believe she knows about
your family.”
“Good. Good. Have you finished the yam?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Rest a while. My sons will return from
the fields shortly, with all this hard rain. They are about your age. I will
let you talk to them.” The same breeze that had exposed the dog's innards blew
the flap of fur back to cover the view.
Drops of rain entered through the window
to hit a snoring Alluro. At last he was
asleep. That was Nayda's chance so she
quietly stepped back into the shadows near the door. She did not wander far from the Lunatic to
keep and eye on him in case he was only pretending to sleep.
She opened the door, anxious that the on rush
of the down pour would alert her intentions.
Yet Alluro did not move but for the slow, pronounced rise and fall of
his chest. Nayda stuck her head out to
look toward the barrels where WileyKat and WileyKit had hid but they were not
to be found. Footprints dotting the wet
earth led back into the jungle.
She knew.
She knew. She had taken too long
and they left without her as they had said they would. Then more than ever she was afraid, it was
raining too hard, getting too dark to go home alone. She could hear them laughing at her, even
WileyKat, her WileyKat -- they had fixed her well but she would get them back
soon enough.
Meanwhile she had no choice but to stay in
the house. Alluro was totally soaked by
the rain coming in from the window. He had
removed his robe in the short time Nayda had been outside.
They had tricked her, she was sure of it
and just what sort of prank were they up to?
Uprooting his yams? While his
sons were in the fields?
Nayda succumbed to sleep around when time
could not have lagged any slower. The
darkened room faded in an unintelligible glob of mist. When she suddenly awoke she had no idea how
long she had been out. The fire was
still burring in its pit though it was brighter than it had been before. The dog lay next to her leg. At first she thought Alluro must have moved
her by the corpse but no, it was the other way around. The small pile of yams and decayed meat was
where it had been unaltered. The Lunatic
himself was no longer in the room.
The rain had stopped and for sure it was
late, late at night. The whole room was
engulfed in a deadly silence. She walked
to the window. She saw nothing beyond
the nearby bushes. The forest stood like
a looming black monolith. She was stuck
in that shack until morning, there was no way she would be going into that
jungle alone and she knew no one would be foolish enough to see her home. Her older sister was sure to give her heat.
Then she turned to take in the panorama of the
room. The dampness and dew was gone,
replaced by an arcid dust that had settled throughout. Why had Alluro moved the dog so close to
her? Or had it been one of his
sons? Another joker like WileyKat and
WileyKit.
Something had gone wrong, horribly wrong.
Nayda cautiously approached a barely lit, remote
corner. Gray, wrinkled skin, aged beyond
the count of years, the corpse had been a young man once, before an untimely
death had struck. Wide, empty cob webbed
eye sockets, nose long since withered and jaw barely hung on its hinges. His teeth were smeared with fresh meat and
blood. On a hand that rested along his
lap was a hot, oddly shaped yam.
“No!” she let out and stepped back. When she turned her face away in disgust she
heard a squeaky arm rise, followed by a bite and soft chewing. When at last she summoned the will to see
what had happened she noticed the arm had moved place, the jaw had shut tight
and the yam, still steaming, had been bitten nearly in half.
She was ready to scream and inadvertently
stumbled over the dog's corpse -- by its own mechanism the dead dog had moved
from where it had been when Nayda had awoken.
She tried to run out the door but blindly
entered a small chamber. A central fire
pit lit the scene. She was acutely aware
of a rusty breathing. Alluro slumbered
on a straw mattress covered by a thin blanket.
Nayda walked on eggshells not to disturb the ancient Lunatic. Before she was free from that place she
turned for one last look.
An arm stood outstretched over
Alluro. The corpse of a Lunatic woman --
familiar in a strange, distant way -- lay by him and with every blinking of her
eye the arm appeared to move by just the tiniest of fractions. She was trying to awaken Alluro but it was
Nayda who was aroused in fear and when she could take no more she ran out,
shrieking.
She hid behind the barrels outside and
listened. To her relief the shack had no
perceptible activity within. No
sound. No movement of any kind. Not even the dog had winced.
“WileyKat. I knew you would not leave me.”
Nayda turned to see the face of the friend
she thought had poked her from behind but all she could make out through the
murky shadows was a gray, withered hand, covered with dust and roaming ants.
Back to Fanfic Archive