Thanks in advance for all feedback on my first story!
~Xo redlead.
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The small room smelt of human bodies in need of better cleaning and better health. The earthen floor and walls, rotting wood ceiling, cots, blankets and huddled human shapes gave off the musty, dark scent of mold and filth. The choking odor of food turning sour filled every corner of the confined space with a repugnant rotting sweetness.
Tendrils of stench and desperation wrapped around the inhabitants with such thickness one could almost see it as a yellow-gray swirling fog, waiting to invade a nose or soak skin, hair and clothes to match its vile nature. Unable to leave, the room's prisoners had dug two holes in the dirt floor for a makeshift latrine, and this, combined with the constantly increasing temperature, was worsening the situation by the minute. But to Keriana, more disconcerting than these pervasive odors, was the very palpable odor of fear in the small basement.
The screaming silence of twenty hushed souls was broken only occasionally by a muffled cough, a whispered word, and the light swish, creak and shuffle of rearranging bodies. A small shaft of light leaked into the room from a partially covered window near the room's ceiling, letting the inhabitants know that it was still day. A few candles flickered, letting Keriana see the women and a few men sitting about the floor, or comforting patients laid out on tables or blankets on the ground.
At eighteen, Keriana was the youngest in the room. Most knew her as Ani, a sweet and somewhat quiet girl that was well adapt in the art of healing. People weren't her usual patients, and she was growing weary of being confined with so many. Ani had been raised in the country by animal healers, and she might have been more at ease trapped in a barnyard of sick sheep than a basement of sick men and their attendants.
They were hiding from their enemies, the merciless Gingubi army, in the cellar of a care cabin. The cabin above was a makeshift hospital for wounded Banigold soldiers until they could be transported home or sent back into battle. Ani and the others had also mended clothes and performed odd jobs to help their men. They were supposed to be safely within ally lines, but apparently a northern Banigold stronghold had been breached.
Ani scooted over to Kinkei, the youngest man in the basement at roughly twenty-two. He was the one that brought them warning of the oncoming Gingubi warriors over a day ago, in the middle of the night. Kinkei had come with five other Banigold scouts. When the scouts had showed up, they started moving everyone and supplies into the basement.
The dirt-walled cellar had not been big enough, though, for all of them, and the scouts had made the tough choice of ending it for the five most critically injured men to make room for others. Ani had almost been relieved for the injured men, who were likely dying anyways. Three had sepsis due to infection, and one man was already unconscious likely due to blood loss. If they had been animals, Ani would have shown them mercy days ago. Stories said that the Gingubi never showed mercy, preferring to torture their victims.
The only tough call was Horti, who had gone insane and was just too loud to keep around with approaching army. The Gingubi were said to have an exceptional sense of hearing and smell, and use beasts of the forest to aid in tracking. Horti should have been sent elsewhere long ago, but he had seemed harmless until his incessant rambling and occasional yelling would jeopardize all their safety. Kinkei and another took him to a cluster of trees, where the ravings had ended abruptly. War was a cruel mistress, with survival requiring her sacrifice.
Only an hour after the Banigold men had shown up, horses could be heard moving in the distance. Ani had already been down in the basement, helping organize food and medical supplies, when Joli, one of the head nurses and Tiwel, their main doctor, arrived. Ani had heard screaming in the distance through the open basement door.
Kinkei had been the last into the cellar, latching the door shut behind him. Kinkei had described seeing a band of thirty Gingubi warriors, with some imprisoned slaves with them. They apparently only kept the women beyond the first few days, killing or maiming captured men through torture.
Kinkei's words had scared them.
"I do not know the truth of it, but it is said that Gingubi have remarkable sense of smell and hearing. Perhaps it is the hounds they travel with, but they are very hard to escape."
"Aren't we just awaiting our death then?" one of the recovering Banigold warriors had asked. He had been in the army for only a short while before receiving a brutal side injury. Luckily, it looked like he would fully recover, though it would take many more weeks and rest.
"The other men are making some diversions. We came here smeared in Whispervane, which seems to hide our scent, so that they cannot directly track us. We burned some upstairs as well and tried to make the place appear deserted, so the smells they do pick up on will appear confusing and old."
Ani remembered how Kinkei had tilted his head towards the basement door as though listening, and then touched his hand to the floor.
"They are nearly in the area, we must be quiet. My men will do what they can to keep you safe, but from what I have seen, if our hide away is breached, you would be wise to end yourself and spare the misery of Gingubi capture."
He had given the women a pointed look, his eyes resting on Ani. "God help us all," he had mouthed.
Now, over thirty hours later, the basement inhabitants were growing weary. The day had been hot, and though the basement typically was slightly cool, the small room had grown choking in its stuffiness. They had periodically heard muffled sounds in the surrounding area, but it was hard to tell the distance away from within the basement.
Kinkei kept trying to assure them that everything was fine, but everyone knew that the scouts should have been back by now or other reinforcements should have arrived in the area.
Ani's eyes swept the room once again. She saw Joli standing with Tiwel and another young man that had come in last week, missing three of his fingers and a cut through his eye. Unfortunate wounds, but not fatal. He would probably return to battle at the end of the week, if they survived this. Ani watched as he looked up at her, but his eyes instantly rested on Kinkei. Ani inched even closer to Kinkei, since he seemed most in charge of allowing them to leave.
Soon, the seven-fingered, one-eyed man came to consort with Kinkei. She couldn't hear what he asked, but she caught most of Kinkei's hushed responses, "...probably very close scouts...they are very quiet and a cabin wouldn't go unnoticed...men back around dusk to let us out, if they have survived the day...doubt many would make it if we ran, as too many are injured, and women, no horses...mmmm...hmmhmm, we may. We'll see the situation tonight..."
