Sunrise

The funeral was underway.

People sang. Ate. Some even danced. The smell of charred flesh still lingered around the coffin.

Even his widow could no longer recognize his face. But she had seen it happen. She had seen the lightning descend from a cloudless sky.

“If only he had not stopped praying…!” The widow wept.

The acolytes placed three silver coins into the dead man's mouth, tied a short rope around his wrist and traced a simple cross of soot across his forehead.

By late afternoon, the coffin disappeared beneath fresh earth.

The mourning ended. Yet nobody returned home. Instead, the people gathered around another grave.

An older one.

The priest rested his hand upon the weathered tombstone. “Bring forth the failure.”

Shovels struck the earth. The coffin emerged. Six men lifted it from the grave and carried its occupant to the center of the cemetery, where they seated him upon a wooden chair.

The priest took a slow breath.

“People of Yav! Once again we gather before the one who doomed us all.”

Dragomir watched from afar.

“Because of this man, our people no longer live… or die in peace. And for that, Levoslav shall stand trial once more.”

The townsfolk remained silent but their faces twisted with disgust.

“Another one of our own has been claimed. And his dushe will not find peace in Nav unless we quell it!”

A young man carrying a short bow approached Dragomir. “How vile.”

Dragomir glanced at him and scoffed. “That’s what the hero deserves.”

“But to keep doing this? For almost five years? Every single time? Even where I come from, people do the same, and it's still too cruel, no matter what injustice he may have committed,” the man clenched his fist. “Well, minus the corpse. We use a doll instead.”

“Oh and quell it we will. For his sin against humanity, Levoslav the Bohatier, shall be sentenced to death!”

Five years had passed since he had been laid to rest. Yet not a single wrinkle had appeared upon his face.

“Strange… He never decomposed. How come he looks as if he died today?”

Dragomir didn’t answer the archer’s questions. He just kept observing the ritual.

“I ask you, the Failed Hero. Do you offer any defense?” The priest's voice dripped with mockery. “He who remains silent bears witness.” The priest signaled the acolytes.

They hesitated at first, but then grabbed Levoslav’s lifeless body as the priest pierced the bohatier’s chest with an oak stake.

Mocking laughter rippled through the cemetery. A woman whispered a curse beneath her breath.

“For my son!” A man shouted.

“You took my brother from me!” Another one called out.

“May the gods have no mercy upon your despicable soul.” The priest spat into Levoslav’s face as he ordered the acolytes to put him back into his grave.

“Say, boy,” Dragomir turned away from the ritual before it had properly concluded. “Did you know there was a second bohatier?”

The archer frowned. “I’m not a boy! The name’s Zduhach! I bet I’m even older than you!” He let out a huff. “And of course I do. Everybody knows that! It’s just that… nobody knows who he was.”

Dragomir started walking away.

“Hey! It’s proper manners to state your name, too!”

“…the name’s Dragomir. But I doubt it will matter tomorrow.”

“You’re a weirdo, I hope I don’t meet you again!” The archer stuck out his tongue, but Dragomir never looked back.

Don’t worry. You won’t. Even if you do.

***

Here I am again…

Dragomir knocked on the bakery door beside the old windmill.

A hairy hand with long black nails slowly pulled the door open.

“Ah, it’s you,” the small creature scratched its pointy head.

“I came to buy some bread.”

“You used to come up with more believable excuses.”

“Shut up. Just call Milena here.”

“My lady has holed up in her room and refuses to come out.”

“How come? What happened?!” Dragomir dropped to one knee and caught the creature by the shoulders. Only then did he realize how tightly he was holding on.

“I told her everything.”

“You… told her?”

“I said that the proof will be that a man named Dragomir comes by today.”

“And how did you know I’d come today again?”

“Because you’re weak,” the creature wrapped his large hands around Dragomir's forearms.

Dragomir loosened his grip at once. “It never worked before, so why did you tell her now?”

“As a domovoy, it is my duty to take care of this windmill. And of the people living here. They’re my family.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“Milena is always smiling. But that smile is fake. Her smile only feels real when you eat with us or come running to help with some ridiculous problem.”

“Yeah but… how many times have we tried?”

“And how many times will you return? If you are not sure, if you want to lose her for good, then get out of this house and never come back!” The domovoy stomped his bare foot onto the wooden threshold, splitting it with a sharp crack. “You abandoned her once before so-“

“Shkrat!”

Before Dragomir could react, Milena appeared behind the domovoy and caught his wrist.

“My lady…”

“Why did you crack the floor again? Do you want the wild moles to come through the holes? What if they start gnawing on the furniture? What if the whole house becomes unstable and it buries us alive, huh?!”

“My apologies, but this man-“

“So you’re Dragomir, aren’t you?” she asked, studying him with wary eyes.

Dragomir’s eyes darted to every side as if he was looking for a way out. “Y-yes.”

“Shkrat told me that you would be coming.”

“I will go assist the master with the bread…” The domovoy nodded and left the two of them alone.

“Shall we have a nice walk?” Milena proposed.

Instead of answering, Dragomir took her hand and led her behind the house.

They settled into the grass beneath the turning sails of the windmill, watching them catch the evening breeze as the sun slowly dipped toward the horizon.

“My father didn’t even remember that you were the one who repaired the blade.”

“And neither did you.”

“Hmm… It’s all so hard to believe but… I feel so at ease when I am around you.”

Dragomir smiled.

“Why don’t I write everything in my diary? And then every morning when I don’t recognize you, I would look at my own handwriting which would confirm I should trust you immediately?”

“That was one of the first things we tried.”

“Oh… so I guess it didn’t work.”

“It did, for a couple of days. But then, one day, you woke up and chose violence. You slapped me, scratched me, bit me. Accused me of being a knight of some prince from a faraway eastern kingdom who wants you to sleep among the cows.”

Milena let out a soft giggle. “Yeah, that sounds like something I’d say.”

“Once, you even wrote that no forces from Far East are involved. But you didn’t believe the handwriting. You said an evil spirit could easily replicate it.”

Milena couldn’t hold in the laughter. “Hahaha, you must have had it so tough!”

The corner of Dragomir's mouth lifted. “Yeah… We’ve tried. For years. Together. I think it’s a miracle you are not married to somebody else by now.”

“Maybe I would have been, if it weren't for Shkrat. He always scared any suitors away. Now I understand why…”

“That little hairball. What a great guy.”

“Dragomir…” Milena reached for his hand the way she always did. “Will today be different?” Her eyes glistened with tears.

He looked away. “I’m sorry…”

“I want to stay with you right till the end.”

“What?”

“I want to talk about us. Tell me what you remember…”

And so they spoke until the last warmth of the evening faded from the fields.

Their laughter grew quieter with every passing hour, until silence became enough.

They lay side by side in the grass.

After a long while, Dragomir spoke. “The sun is about to rise…”

“So the time comes… for me to forget you.”

“Yeah…”

“Dragomir,” Milena stood up and held out a hand to him. “Promise me you'll never give up on me. And don't leave just because you think it would be kinder!”

Dragomir reluctantly took her hand and got to his feet. “…I promise.”

“Goodbye, my love.” They spoke in unison.

Dragomir held her gaze for one last moment. Then he leaned in and kissed her before he could change his mind.

By the time I let go of your lips… you’ll forget me.

The sun rose.

Dragomir looked at her one last time and turned away.

As he walked away, Milena called after him.

“Where are you going, Dragomir?”

He stopped in his tracks.

What the…?

Chapter 2: END