Broken Thread

Empty Shrines


I held Robin close as the ox driven cart pulled us into the village. I know Nagira has nothing but the best intentions for us, but this feels wrong, just wrong. I do not like trusting my life to anyone else but to bring Robin into this makes it worse.

It may be the 21st century outside this sleepy place, but here, time seems to have forgotten to continue. The younger of the two men introduces himself as Lon. That is it, just Lon. No last name, no family or village association and I find this odd from a culture that does not embrace the person but rather the community. We were shown into a small dirt floored hut, windows gone or perhaps never there to begin with. With a deep bow, we are left to fend for ourselves. Robin found carrots, onions and parsnips in a burlap covered wooden box in the back of the hut. I heard a sound and turned to see two women at the door. One held out a metal pot and the other held two bowls filled with steaming rice, two sets of chopsticks randomly stuck deep between the white granules. Robin, always the one to extend a gracious hand, smiled at the women and gladly took the bowls of rice turning to hand them to me. Turning once more to the women at the door, Robin took the pot the women offered. Robin twisted quickly towards me, a triumphant look on her face. She held up two thick blankets on one arm, the other holding the pot. The two women leave. “We will have a fine supper tonight Amon, see? They brought eggs, mushrooms and a small piece of fish.” Robin held up our treasures for me to see. “What shall we cook it with?” I ask. She just smiled, placing the food in the pot and pulling out the small boot knife I had bought for her back in Korea. A tiny blade, meant to frighten more than defend really. It was not as if Robin needed a weapon to protect herself, just something I wanted her to have. I believe it was the first time she had taken it out of its case since she began wearing it. “Would you please find some wood for the fire pit?” At least I had something to do to take my mind off our problems.

No electrical lights showed through the village, no signs of electrical anything. My phone had died already, I had no way of contacting Nagira, and I wondered just what had we gotten ourselves into now.

Robin managed to make a filling meal for the two of us. I gazed at her over the small fire she lit. There was something ewearthial about the glow on her cheeks, the graceful way she held herself up after all of the trials she had been through in the last three days. We ate silently, neither of us caring to point out the obvious just yet. Robin cleaned up with the water I had drawn from the well while I walked around the outside of hut, closing the shutters to the holes in the wall serving as windows. Walking back inside the hut, I saw Robin had already laid down on one of the blankets, the other cast about her for warmth. “At least we are out of the wind tonight Amon” she told me, trying to bolster our spirits. Too weary to comment, I lie down beside her, curling closer to conserve heat and to add protection to Robin. I do not remember falling asleep, only the next day dawning bright and cold.

We lived like this for several days, no one in the village giving any indication they knew we were there. Small children would run and cry if Robin or I would make eye contact with them. About once a day, one or two women would bring some small thing to Robin to cook for our meals. She never seemed to loose faith that things would work out, but I had begun to wonder. We did not see the two men who picked us up from the train station until the 9th day when the young man we met that cold day, came to our hut. “Come. We need to speak with you.” Robin stood with me to walk out the door. “No, not you. Only men” he sneered. Robin looked up at me with those open eyes, mistrust and hurt showing there. “It will be alright.” I whispered, touching her shoulder.

Lon led me into another dark hut; a small fire giving the only light, circled about by elders of the village, all men. “Sit” one told me, motioning to the floor. “We have decided it is time for you to leave” I was informed. “What about our contact?” I asked, still not understanding how Nagira could have found this place, much less sent us here. “There is nothing more we can do for you. We were repaying a debt. Now we are done.” The same puffy eyed man that had originally picked us up told me. “What now? Where do we go?”

But I was not to receive an answer at that time. The circle of men dispersed quietly like the smoke wafting from the fire. Walking back to where Robin and I had been staying, I let her know we would be leaving soon. “Why? Where are we to go?” I had no answers for this young woman I was supposed to protect. She moved closer to me, uncertainty showing in her eyes. My body moved of its on volition, my arms encircling this powerful witch who still needed the protection of this merely mortal man. Tucking her head under my chin, I rubbed her back. She looked at me tears framing her lashes. I rubbed my thumb across her lashes, trying to rid her beautiful face of this sign of pain. She sighed, closing her eyes, leaning into my hand. Tilting my head down, I sought her mouth. I don’t know what I expected Robin to do, but not what she did.

She opened her mouth, just a small bit but enough to kiss me back. I felt her slim arms wrap tightly about my waist as if I was the last real thing in this mad predicament we found ourselves. Pulling back from her luscious mouth, Robin softly moaned my name, “Amon.” I searched her face for some sign to stop, hoping not to find one. Robin tilted her head back, mouth open as if she was waiting for more. Holding her face in my hands, my mouth touched hers once more. I could feel her become bold, smoothing her hands up my back, reaching my shoulders holding me there as if she were afraid I would fly away. Slipping my hands down to her neck, I pulled away from her mouth, easing my lips along her skin moving the fine hairs there with my breath. Slowly as not to break the moment, I touched my tongue to her neck almost melting inside when she shivered. Moving my hands down her shoulders to her chest, the thin layers of cloth were the only thing separating her skin from my skin.

“It is time to go!” I heard a voice bark as Robin jumped against me, pulling me from the most pleasant moment of my life. Looking up, I saw Lon standing at the doorway, the old fashioned ox driven cart behind him. Sitting in the back once more, Robin and I began this strange journey once more. Women would hide their faces as we rode by, young children would cry while older children hurled stones at us.

We traveled all day, just to reach another village like the one we had just left. We were placed on another cart, like two unwanted packages bound for who knew where. For nearly two weeks, we traveled in this manner. Most nights were spent in empty huts, or under the watchful eye of the town elders, receiving only the few morsels needed to stave off starvation. The next several days blurred into this migration, moving from one village to the next. Some of the towns were small; their shrines empty. I figured we were heading north, toward Russia. Why or what we were to do there, I was not certain. Robin looked exhausted and I was not certain how much longer she could take this.

Stopping one day, our driver turned to tell us the Russian border was only five miles ahead. “Why? What are we to do there?” I asked, feeling things were not working in our favor. “There will be someone over there that can help you. We can give you nothing more.” He said his words with finality as he handed me a piece of paper with a name written on it. Robin smiled her thanks as the driver turned the cart away, not casting a second glance our way.