Empty Fields

“The table was… stolen?!” Dragomir’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

“Yes, somebody beat us to it!” Zduhach shouted before Dragomir clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Shhh! They’ll hear you!”

“Zduhach, is this curly-haired weirdo your friend?” Milena grabbed his arm and tugged.

“Damn it woman, I’ll forbid you from sleeping!” Zduhach rolled his eyes. “I’ll explain later, we have to get out of here.” He grabbed each of them by a hand and dragged them away, his strength making any resistance pointless.

As soon as they were out of the crowd’s reach, Dragomir managed to wrench his hand free.

“What are you doing?” Zduhach stopped.

“This is actually a great chance. I’ll go back and say that I was the one who stole it.”

“And what will you accomplish by that?”

“I’m pretty sure one of those old men-…“ Dragomir halted. Jozef’s words from the night before surfaced in his mind.

What if somebody steals it one day?

“…no. Jozef probably stole it.”

“Why would he do that?”

“He wants the village to get back to the fields.”

“But he knows that he can’t do that with Poludnica growing stronger every day.”

“Desperate situations call for desperate measures.”

Milena’s gaze darted between them, her frown deepening with every new piece of information she had to process.

“Are you trying to take the blame for the old man?”

“Think. If I can calm the crowd by saying it was me, they will forget it tomorrow! But what do you think will happen to…” Dragomir gritted his teeth. “…to Jozef?”

“Oh, that’s actually genius! Didn’t know you had it in you!”

“Stop! Both of you!” Milena clenched the fabric of her skirt in her fists. “I have absolutely no idea what’s going on!”

“You see…” Zduhach scratched the back of his head. “This guy here is Debilmir, he’s the second bohatier who once fought the gods at Prav and he’s cursed or something so everybody forgets him the next day.”

“After sleep.” Dragomir corrected him.

“Right. And so he now wants to return to Prav to make it right and also to avenge your family. Oh, you two used to be together, he’s the love of your life.”

Milena’s eyes snapped toward Dragomir.

“And now we need this magical table but the village needs it as well because otherwise they get killed by this chick in white.”

“Poludnica.” Dragomir added.

“Right. So we need to find the table, steal it from whoever stole it from us before we could steal it, and defeat Poludnica so the villagers won’t die when we steal it. Oh and Jozef is a cool old dude who fed us chicken stew and-“

“Pork stew.”

“Really? It tasted like chicken.”

“It was pork. The spices just overpowered the meat.”

“Anyway, Poludnica is so strong now she strikes anytime, not only at noon and Dragomir wants to sacrifice himself for Jozef because I slammed him into the ground yesterday. I slammed Debilmir, not Jozef. Debilmir was being a jerk. So…” Zduhach shrugged. “That’s about it.”

Milena stood there speechless, her jaw hanging open.

Then she touched her forehead. “Yeah… yeah that… totally makes sense… All of it. Yeah.”

Her knees buckled for a moment, forcing her to catch herself.

“I have to go so they don’t kill the poor bartender.” Dragomir bolted back toward the tavern, with Zduhach right behind him.

“Hey, where are you going?!” Milena yelled.

“Look at that weird shiny thing in your pocket!” Zduhach called back. “It usually makes you feel better!”

Within seconds, they were out of her sight.

“Yes, I stole it!”

The familiar voice stopped Dragomir dead in his tracks.

“If you want it back, you’ll have to do as I say!”

He and Zduhach exchanged a look.

Then they ran.

By the time they pushed their way through the crowd, the worst possible sight was waiting for them.

Jozef was pinned to the ground beneath several villagers.

“Okay, change of plans,” Dragomir whispered to Zduhach as he shoved his way through the crowd.

He grabbed Jozef and hauled him to his feet. Nearby, several villagers had finally started throwing water over the burning tavern while the bartender screamed curses at everyone within earshot.

“Where is that table, you old fart?!” Dragomir seized Jozef by the collar.

Jozef frowned. “And who the hell are you? I’ve never seen you in this village!”

“Spare me, grandpa!” Dragomir tightened his grip. “Don’t you understand how important the table is for this village? Where is it?!” His voice rose with every word.

Zduhach watched from a distance.

Jozef smirked. “Follow me to the fields, if you dare.”

Dragomir released him. Jozef dropped to his knees, coughing, then slowly pushed himself back up. Without another word, he started walking, while Dragomir and Zduhach followed. And so did the crowd. They stopped at the Keep Out sign.

“Look! It’s her!” A villager pointed at the field, his hand trembling.

Poludnica sat elegantly atop the table, one leg crossed over the other.

And she was smiling.

Jozef gulped. “Oh, no… I saw the table there this morning but…”

The villagers recoiled. One man tightened his grip around a torch while a woman dropped to her knees and began to pray.

Zduhach hurried to Dragomir’s side. “What’s going on?”

“That Poludnica…” Dragomir’s eyes widened. “She smiled.”

“Is that… bad?”

“Zduhach…” Jozef finally noticed the archer and sighed with relief. “Field Spirits like Poludnica are known for being emotionless. But she…” He leaned against the sign for support. “She’s developed a will that goes beyond her traditional behavior. This is unheard of.”

“People of Arkona, hear me out!” Dragomir faced the crowd. “My name is Dragomir. Or better known as the Second Bohatier.”

The Arkonans exchanged confused looks. Of course they didn’t recognize him.

“I am the one who gave you the Little Table, Lay the Feast.”

“He knows the full name!” A woman whispered.

“How can the outsider know about it?” Another man shouted, torch in hand. “We swore to never speak of it! There must be a traitor among us!”

“It must be Jozef!” A young villager said.

The accusations spread through the crowd.

“Fear not!” Dragomir raised his arms. “There is no traitor, Rado.”

“He even knows Rado!”

“I know the table’s name because I got it from Prav. And as you can see, Jozef is not even the thief! The real culprit…” He turned his back to the crowd and pointed at the spirit in the field. “…is sitting right there!”

“Are you crazy?” A young woman shouted. “Poludnica never leaves the field!”

Jozef lowered his gaze.

Then slowly raised it again.

A cold breath brushed against his face.

His eyes widened.

“Ahhh!”

Poludnica stood inches from him.

Outside the field. Still smiling.

The entire crowd stumbled backward.

“Jozef!” Zduhach immediately reached for his bow, but Poludnica seized Jozef by the neck and dragged him toward the center of the field.

The Arkonans froze.

“Father!” Dragomir lunged forward, but Zduhach stopped him.

“Wait! You said she’s got no reason to harm somebody who’s not working, right?”

“But…” Dragomir breathed heavily. “This one’s different!”

He turned toward the villagers again.

“People of Arkona! What more proof do you need? Jozef never stole anything! Poludnica can leave the fields now!”

Nobody answered.

“And who do you think is responsible?!” His voice thundered over the crowd. “The longer you left these fields abandoned, the stronger she became. And while you lived off that table, you forgot how to work them. She grew stronger while you grew weaker. And now look at her!”

He pointed toward the spirit.

“She no longer waits for noon. She no longer stays inside the fields. Whatever Poludnica was supposed to be, your ignorance is turning her into something else! We don’t know what she’ll do, so please, let’s save him!”

Zduhach still had a firm grip on him.

Milena listened from just a few paces behind the crowd. “Dragomir…”

“Did you call him ‘father’ right now?” Zduhach tilted his head to one side.

“We can talk about that later. We have to do something!” Dragomir urged.

“Okay. How do we defeat her?”

“With knowledge.” Milena stepped forward.

“Milena?” Dragomir watched her walk past him.

“I’ll scold both of you later. But right now, we have to help your father.”

She stepped onto the field, squeezing the pocket watch in her hand, determination in her eyes.

Chapter 11: END