It was a pity everyone else had to suffer the consequences. Such was the petty, immature nature of The Twelve. Demetercouldn’t see that she was making an entire population suffer her fate. Women lost children every day to hunger or sickness, but it mattered not. If Demeter was suffering, so too was the world.
Adriana had been gone for weeks and they’d all assumed she abandoned them or had been killed. It was a shock when she came back. No seeds or dried meats filled her bag, but she carried something even more precious.
Nyx would give the holy men some credit. The town’s spirits were raised and, for a time, everything seemed like it would be okay. As time passed, however, with no signs of Chaos, gloom settled back into their hearts.
Nyx studied that despair as she walked through the quiet street. Straw rotted on top of woven branch roofs and wooden planks split and crumbled from the walls. It made her heart sick, but she was only one person. Nyx worked day in and day out to keep her house as shapely as she could to provide shelter in times of need, but she couldn’t thatch every roof or replace every rotted structure.
The sleeping town stretched as it woke, murmurs floating through windows and kettles being placed in the fire. The smell of cooking oats wafted through the air and Nyx’s stomach rumbled. She’d given that ungrateful asshole of a god her last ration of bread, cheese, and meat. Privileges like fruit and honey had long since run out, so every meal consisted of boiled oats. It wasn’t nutritious, but it kept the stomach full.
Another wave of guilt hit when she thought about the platter of food he’d provided for their talk. Nyx hid it away in hopes that Brooks would forget he ever summoned it. She wouldn’t be sharing it with the town, but she also wouldn’t be saving it for herself.
Evangeline needed it most.
The moan of wooden hinges broke the easy quiet and a man stepped through the door. He was tall with muddy hair and abeard that needed trimming for the last few years. Nyx could imagine that in another life he would have been handsome and well built. His frame was thick and corded muscle shaped his arms, but starvation hollowed his cheeks and hugged his ribs.
“Andreas,” she nodded in greeting. He was the man in charge of logging and splitting firewood in the town. He’d produced less and less over the years, but she was grateful for whatever help he was willing to lend.
“Hey, Nyx. It’s a bit early for you to be out. What brings you down from the hill?”
“I…” She stopped short. “I’m going away for a while.”
Concerned deepened the lines in his forehead and widened his forest green eyes.
“Not like that,” she hurried. “My last trip was a bust. I couldn’t get anything worthwhile, so I need to start looking somewhere else.”
The concern was still etched, but it softened just a touch. “That’s no good,” he admitted. “I know you’ll find something for us to use, though. You always do, Nyx. That’s why we depend on you.”
In that moment, her responsibility felt more dire than a weighted backpack on her shoulders. Instead, it felt like a ball and chain locked around her ankle, and Andreas had just pushed her overboard into the sea.
Could she swim?
“I won’t let you down, Andreas.”
“I know you won’t.” He studied his shoes coming apart at the seams, but the purse of his lips told her he wasn’t done speaking. “My wife had a dream last night that you found us a miracle.” He looked back up with pleading eyes and Nyx nearly faltered under the burden of it. “You found it and everything changed. We had more food than we knew what to do with. Her cycles returned and her belly swelled with the promise of a new start.”
A tear fell down his sun-worn cheek and the fractures of her soul cracked a little further.
“Keep that hope, Andreas. We will need it to get through this winter.”
He nodded and Nyx gave him a silent moment to gather composure. “So,” he sniffled and wiped at his nose. “How long will you be gone this time?”
Nyx looked at the river and the straw lined banks. “I’m not sure. I have a big lead and it may take me a while to make it work. I won’t be coming home in between. This is a one and done.”
Andreas nodded and Nyx turned back to catch his gaze, holding it stern and steady. “I need your help while I’m gone. Someone is going to have to make sure Evangeline is taken care of and that my great room stays open for anyone who needs it.” Nyx considered telling him about the food stores, but she’d seen the desperation in his eyes. There was no need to put that burden on his conscience.
“I can do that.”
“Good. I promise I’ll be back before spring, and I’ll have the money Ares requires.” Nyx clapped him on the shoulder in dismissal before walking away. She didn’t do goodbyes.
Nyx filled her morning with chores alongside the people she loved. Together, they gathered water to boil for drinking and dumped in large wooden buckets to clean tattered linens. Firewood was carried to the main stock shed to keep it safe from falling snow and straw collected from the river bank to reinforce their roofs for winter. Mud would need to be gathered to fill in holes and bind planks to insulate for the coming cold. So much to do, and so few able bodies to do it.
Usually she was the one to delegate tasks, but Nyx didn’t have the fortitude to lead like that today. She busied herself by carrying bucket after bucket of water from the slippery banksback to the waiting wooden barrels. The monotony blurred her surroundings and soon she lost track of them altogether.
On her seventh trip back to dump the water, a hand brushed her shoulder. Adrenaline flared as she spun the bucket, intent to throw her attacker off with the water before maneuvering them to the ground, but when the water stopped mid-air, Nyx stumbled backward.
The hovering liquid gathered into a stream and poured itself into the waiting barrel. Standing in front of her was the pale woman she’d been so desperate to avoid.
“You scared the shit out of me!”
