Page 42 of What Blooms in Barren Lands
“You don’t need to! The arrow will pierce the skull anywhere, even if it is a bit harder to pry out after. I only aim for the eyes because ...” I trailed off, realising I had no idea how to finish the sentence. “Well, for fun, to be honest.”
My admission earned me a chorus of laughter and the honorary designation of the ‘biggest badass’ awarded to me by Josh.
There were ten identical burlap sack targets on the parched plain. Walking from one group of trainees to the next would in my mind be forever linked to the routine nature of those days. Breakfast, morning practice, lunch, afternoon practice, dinner, and then an evening spent with Einar, almost invariably engaged in another kind of physical pursuit. It seemed a paradox that a global pandemic causing a full-scale societal collapse could lead to my days being so unvaried, and yet I wasn’t unhappy about it. Watching the progress of my students, I felt like I served a purpose more than I ever had in my life. The time to leave our sanctuary and face the new world would come soon enough.
“Your feet are too close together, Lucas.” I smiled kindly at a young blond lad of about eighteen, and he returned my smile readily.
“Thank you, Miss,” he said, and adjusting his stance, he fired an arrow, missing only by a few inches.
Lucas was only eighteen but looked even younger with his lean body and delicate bones. Earlier, I had been obliged to tell some volunteers that I would not train them, seeing as they lacked any natural aptitude for archery. Lucas came close to being one of them but managed to gradually improve to an acceptable level of skill. I knew he would never be great, but neither would he be a liability to the others.
The truth was that I had had a soft spot for Lucas ever since Einar had decided to make an example of him the previous week.
Contrary to expectations, conflicts in the settlement were primarily of domestic character, usually centred around disagreements on using shared resources or someone not adhering to the cleaning schedule of common areas. After witnessing Einar deal with several of those quarrels, I quickly understood just why people followed him so readily. He was unafraid to acknowledge the reasoning of both opposing parties before contributing his own arguments for deciding one way or the other. He made a point of never looking unsure—undecided, yes, but never uncertain.
For some time, the occupants of the main lodgings building had complained that its younger inhabitants were being loud at night. These delinquents included Maya, the girl who had shown us the settlement, and her boyfriend, whose existence I was shocked to learn about, given the strange tension between her and Einar. But the main culprits were a group of young Frenchmen consisting of Louis, Theo, Jules, and Lucas.
Asking them to be considerate caused them to cease in their activities for no longer than one night.
I could already tell Einar was brewing for something from the way he walked into the hall at dinnertime a few days later. Brisk, his features hard-set, eyes dark. He marched over to his central place at the head table, closely followed by Russ, Finlay, Albert, and Jean-Luc. Whilst the others sat down, he fixed his eyes on Lucas and his lot, observing them coldly and very pointedly. Everyone went so quiet that the crackling of embers in the fireplace became audible.
Einar then declared without much preamble that the offenders were not to be given their evening meal for the next three days, listed their names, and asked them to leave the hall.
A few shocked exclamations filled the air. Given our diminishing supplies and resulting meagre portions, skipping even a single meal was a harsh penalty.
“Fuck you, man, no way.” Standing up, Lucas protested with vehemence at odds with his mellow appearance.
He was pale with hair like dandelion fluff, and generally an unproblematic member of the settlement, despite his proclivity for loud late-night entertainment.
Einar glared at him, the whole of him still in the way a predator would be right before lurching at its prey.
My heart sped up uncomfortably at the scene. I liked Lucas for his mild manners and touching boyishness.
“We’ll cut down on the noise, okay?” Sensing danger, Lucas adjusted his tone to a more conciliatory variety. “I’m sorry, everyone, won’t happen again. But you have no right to deny us food. We work as hard as anyone.”
Without further ado, Einar nodded to Finlay and Russell, who both promptly got up with a loud scrape of their chairs. Within a minute, all three of them encircled the young offender.I very much wanted to look away but could not bring myself to peel my eyes off the terrible farce of the situation.
“Did you say I had no right?” Einar asked the boy in a gravelly voice, a thunderstorm gathering in his eyes as he took a step closer, crowding him. “You see everyone watching and not lifting a finger to stop me? That’s my right,” he declared firmly with just enough viciousness to sound angry but not uncontrollably so. “You can either pack your bags and leave this settlement or accept the penalty for your actions. Which is it going to be?”
Lucas looked very fragile in Einar’s close, looming presence. The top of his head only reached the latter’s chin, and the breadth of his slender body was about half of Einar’s.
“But ... three days ...” A distinct pleading note suffused his tone as he mumbled.
Einar straightened up and took a step back, looking him over as if measuring him. A chill ran down my spine, followed by the clenching of my stomach.
“If that seems harsh, you can take a man’s way out instead.” His timbre could have caused frostbite.
“What is a man’s way out?” Lucas’s voice trembled, and he kept his eyes lowered to the ground.
“Flogging.”
A collective gasp sucked oxygen out of the room. I shifted in my seat, crossed my legs, and squeezed my thighs together.
“Ten lashes. With a belt, not a whip, so it won’t leave any permanent marks. It’ll hurt like hell, but it will be over quickly. Your choice.”
Lucas swallowed hard.
“What will it be? Hunger, pain, or probable death?”