Chapter 4. The awful weather never let up over the next couple of weeks. Rain turned to hail, while sleet turned to snow. The pounding winds increased in rage whilst the temperate decreased moderately. With no highway to follow and no real sense of direction, the two foreigners to this type of whether pressed on blindly, stripped of all sight, seizing the comforts of shelter where ever they could find it. The Enemy Master had enough heart not to make any slaves work in these kinds of conditions, knowing that serious work in this temperate could kill any mere mortal. They journeyed with out any hassles from the Enemy, the wretched weather compensating for their loss. In fact they didn’t come in contact with any kind of urbanisation of any kind, human or beast. Days seemed like years. Walking into the headwinds with out too much warm clothing nearly killing them. The food and water quickly ran out. Not surprisingly though, the only thing that didn’t deplete was the money. They hadn’t the chance at all to spend any of it. ‘How much longer do we have to go!’ Enigma yelled over the howling winds. ‘About one more day!’ she yelled back. ‘We’ve been in the Great Mountains for four days now! Didn’t you notice?’ ‘No!’ Enigma replied. ‘Is that why it’s been getting colder?’ ‘Of coarse it is!’ she answered. ‘We’ll be reaching the border before the day’s out! ‘Where are we going to be by morning?’ Sly thought for a while, ‘I’m not sure! All I can tell you is that well be closer to our destination!’ The clouds and dreadful weather soon relinquished their onslaught enough for beaming rays of sunshine to break past every now and then. It didn’t improve the temperate much though. The winds still bit hard at their frozen bodies. Dawn came once again. The wind had died down with the sun melting the once frozen blades of grass. The chill in the mountains still lingered around nevertheless. ‘So, how many were in your family?’ Enigma asked. This was their first real chase to talk. ‘Only two.’ she answered. ‘My mother and I. We didn’t have a permanent home. So you could say that I’ve been poor all my life. I was taken away by the Enemy when I was about eleven. They raped and killed my mother in the process.’ she portrayed no emotion at all. ‘I’m sorry to here that.’ Enigma said apologetically, ‘I was taken away from my parents at the age of seven. They made me watch the execution of my family one by one. They chopped their heads of with an axe and disposed their bodies in a river. Then they executed my pet hound Pleba. It was one of the most horrifying thing that I have ever witnessed in my entire life. I’m still not sure what happened to my sister though.’ ‘You talk pretty calmly about a painful situation.’ Sly commented. Enigma gave a wry smile. ‘I’ve had a lot of time to reflect upon it in all the time I’ve spent as a slave. I’ve come to live with it now. In the past, there would be times that I would curl up on the floor after a days work and cry myself to sleep. My owners would flog me with what ever came into their hands first until I shut my mouth. In some cases, I was unable to walk for days because of my injuries.’ ‘So you’ve had your fair share of beatings?’ Sly interrupted. ‘Sure have.’ ‘And your ready to take it out on other people?’ ‘Not quite. I used to take it out on the jobs I did. Just say I was cutting blocks of timber, I would pound away on them as hard as I could, letting my anger flow like a waterfall.’ ‘Sounds like you had a really troubled childhood.’ ‘Actually, it’s helped my quite a bit. I’ve learnt how to vent my frustration’s evenly instead of in one big go, plus the thrashings have taught my body how to endure pain. So, I guess it wasn’t all that bad.’ A deep rumble sounded in the distance, vibrations felt beneath their feet. The scenery around them began greening up, flowers were blooming and birds chirped in the tree’s, happily. ‘Where almost there.’ Sly said, quickening her pace. The landscape became more forest looking, the tall, green trees increasing every step closer to the great noise before them. ‘Just over the ridge.’ Sly said, breaking into a jog. She scrambled up the steep hill, loosing her footing now and then, dodging trees and shrubs. ‘Hey! Wait up!’ Enigma called, watching Sly disappear down the other side of the hill. ‘My goodness!’ Sly exclaimed. ‘What is it?’ Enigma asked, running to Sly’s aid. ‘Look.’ Sly dropping to her knees. Finally, they had reached the Revai River. The clear salty waters twinkled in the suns lukewarm rays, the odd trout passing by, following the currents as they went. Small waves crashed against the untouched banks, soaking back into the earths underground water system. ‘Nice.’ Enigma said in awe, kneeling beside her. ‘It’s beautiful.’ Sly murmured, putting an arm around Enigma’s neck. She leaned her head on his shoulders. ‘It’s just perfect.’ ‘I must admit, it’s a beautiful river. It kind of reminds me of home.’ Sly got back up and turned around, attempting to pick an impeccable place to build. ‘There.’ Sly pointing to a spot on the hill. The trees lay in a semi circle, providing an opening sufficient enough to place a veranda. ‘I can see it now. Those trees will surround the back and sides of the house. The front of the house will face the river with the veranda over looking the water. But were going to have to build the house on stilts to keep it all level and out of harms way in case it floods.’ ‘It’s as if you’ve been planning this for a while.’ ‘I’ve had a lot of time to make plans for a house.’ Sly said, turning back to the river. ‘It’s been my dream for a long time to have a house of my own. And soon, that dream’s going to come true.’ ‘Aren’t we going a little fast? How long do you think it will take us to build a house, anyway?’ Enigma asked. ‘I’m not sure.’ she said. ‘I’ve never built a house before. First thing were going to have to do is build a temporary shelter.’ ‘Right. A temporary shelter. Well, what are we waiting for?’ An axe head was shaped out of a stone found by the river, a handle tied on to the bottom of it. While Enigma axed and carried the lumber around, Sly, using Enigma’s special dagger, cut the pieces of timber to length, the cutting abilities of the dagger surprising the blonde headed girl. ‘Why don’t you want to cut this tree down?’ Sly asked during her break. Enigma had been cutting trees a little way down stream. Stumps dotted the hilly banks, except for one solitary tree still standing. ‘It’s a special tree.’ he replied, defending the large oak. ‘What’s so special about it?’ Sly looked the tree up and down. ‘Is it because of this?’ She pointed to a familiar symbol on it’s trunk - a battle axe surrounded by a ring of roses joined together. ‘Yes, it is.’ ‘What’s so special about a carving in the tree?’ she asked, looking at it more closely. ‘I can’t really say right now, but you are not to interfere with this tree in anyway.’ ‘Is this got something to do with that book of yours and that sack of stuff?’ ‘In a way it does.’ ‘Speaking of your book, why has it only got one page of writing in it?’ ‘How did you know that?’ ‘You don’t really think you can keep secrets from me, do you?’ she smiled. ‘How could you do that?’ Enigma asked, felling invaded. ‘I don’t like it when people keep things from me. I like to know everything.’ ‘You must promise me that you will never do that ever again.’ Enigma demanded. ‘The book is too important for anyone besides myself to handle. I must not loose it or let it fall into the wrong hands.’ ‘Fine. I promise.’ she pledged. ‘But if I knew how important the book was, I wouldn’t have done it. So technically, it’s all your fault.’ Enigma looked at her in disbelief. ‘Well, I may as well explain the book a little.’ Enigma said, giving in. ‘It’s called the Epoch Apocalypse. It’s a special book that delivers passages when the right time comes. It explains what’s going to happen in the near future.’ ‘Who’s "The Conscripted Boy".’ she asked. ‘I’m not sure,’ Enigma lied, not wanting to reveal his secret, ‘but I am sure that we’ll find out sooner or later.’ ‘Do you understand that passage?’ she inquired. ‘No I don’t.’ he admitted. ‘It’ll probably come to me sooner or later.’ * * * Bit by bit, they put their home together, starting with the stilts, then moving on to the floor. Tree trunks were split in half to accommodate a flat level surface. The walls were next to go up, assembled separately first on the ground, then added into the actual house. Finally, the ceiling, roof, stairs and furniture were made. Much work went into the construction of the furniture. Chairs and tables for the veranda, beds and bed - side tables for the rooms, plates and cups carved by hand for the kitchen. These and many more took probably longer to make than the actual house it self, considering the fact that there was only two people involved. The time it took to create all this went by rather fast. It ate time by the weeks, making months seem like day’s. ‘It’s finished.’ Sly said triumphantly. ‘We did it.’ Enigma noted. ‘I can’t believe that we pulled it off.’ ‘Well lets go in and get settled.’ Sly ran up the steps of the veranda, into the house. ‘This job turned out pretty well, didn’t it.’ Enigma divulged, falling back into a chair ‘Okay. Sleeping arrangements. Which room do you want.’ Sly asked. There was a choice of two rooms, both with a window looking over the river, the main hall ran up the middle. ‘This one will do.’ Enigma said, choosing the one on the left.’ ‘Done.’ Sly said, approving his choice. ‘It only seems like yesterday that we began building.’ Sly admitted, jumping into Enigma’s lap, kicking her legs up over the arm of the chair. ‘Now what do we do?’ Enigma quietly asked. ‘We sit back for a while and let nature run it’s coarse.’ she replied. ‘What do you mean by that?’ Enigma questioned. Her face surrender to her heart warming smile, ‘Your just going to have to wait and see.’ she replied, her eye’s matching her name. * * *