The Beast and The Brain.

It was worse than before. The headache that had disappeared and lay dormant now battered my brain with a new fury. Instead of keeping me from sleep, I couldn’t escape it. My tried to pull myself into consciousness but every time I tried I hit a mental wall. The pressure inside my head was nearly unbearable. It felt like there was blood built up inside and I couldn’t release it. I fumbled around the blackness of my subconscious but there was no escaping the pain. I tried to scream, but my voice was lost. I tried to weep but my tears were dry. I curled into a ball and waited. I waited for death.

~ ~ ~ ~

“ASHER!”

I smacked his face hard with one hand and held him up with the other. He looked paler than a dead man, and he felt just as cold. But his breathing was ragged, so I knew he was still alive. “Damn it Asher you better wake up right now or I’m going to throw you in the nearest river and leave you to drown!”

He didn’t make a sound. He didn’t move. I let go of him and he dropped back into the snow. I closed my eyes and counted to three. When I opened them, again I took a deep breath and cleared my thoughts. A moan escaped Asher’s lips and he winced but he remained unconscious. I placed the tips of my fingers on his temple and closed my eyes. I sent out a mental probe, but I was instantly met with resistance.

The harder I pressed into Asher’s brain the harder the mental barrier became. I gritted my teeth and pressed harder, probing for weak spots. But his entire brain was guarded with the hardest mental wall I had ever seen. Sweat began to collect on my temples and ran down the sides of my face. I rammed against Asher’s block but it never caved, and I never got a step closer. Finally, I pulled away and fell back into the snow. I felt physically exhausted from the attempt to enter his mind. This worried me. No one in my lifetime had ever been able to block me from their thoughts, not for long. Asher was no Brain, which meant his Brain should be especially susceptible. That was the problem, Asher wasn’t prone, not one bit. His mind was locked away and I had not means of entering.

I chewed on my thumb. It had to be about Asher’s headaches. It couldn’t all be coincidence, it was too strange and too familiar to be just a sickness. My eyes fell over Asher’s pale face, but when he had been prone to the headaches, it had just been his mind. No one else had acted on that. No other Brain, no one with a power, it was just Asher. That frustrated me even more. Had it been some outside force interrupting Asher, I would have been able eliminate it. Problem solved. But it wasn’t, something was wrong, terribly wrong with Asher’s head, more so than his normal stupidity. Something was happening, and I felt powerless to stop it.

I hit the snow with my fist and stood up. I placed warm blankets over Asher to keep him warm, then cleaned up camp and saddled the horses. I remained in their mental flow, pushing my emotions on them so they understood urgency and speed helped calm my own thoughts. I kept checking on Asher, to make sure he was still alive. I tried to enter his mind as softly as I could manage, it almost worked, but his barrier was just strong enough to keep me out. When I tried to force myself in the wall hardened. It was futile, but I couldn’t stop trying, it was maddening that he was keeping me out.

Once camp was packed up I pulled Asher on the Striker and tied him to the saddle. I secured him with a strong quick release knot, just in case. I mounted Shadow and pushed myself into the horses thoughts and gave them loose orders through emotions. For Shadow, I pressed speed and alertness. For Striker I pushed the protection of Asher and gentleness in his steps.

I checked the rope around Asher once more then urged the horses forward. I allowed them to lead the way, for they remembered the way back to the road better than I did. It was slow going. The untouched snow was loose and deep. The horses labored through it, but did not hesitate or slow down. By the time we hit the road they were already breathing hard. The road was also untouched from the storm, I cursed. Without Asher, the horses would again be forced to cut their own path, a pace that would either kill the horses or endanger Asher’s life.

I reached out for any mental activity, but the way was clear for miles. There weren’t any humans wandering around in the snow. I focused my probe and found a snow owl perched on a nearby tree. I pushed myself into its muddled brain. Its brain wasn’t capable of much thought, but I was able to take over and push it into flight. The owl rose above the trees with an ease of flight that was far different than Asher’s almost violent beating wings. The light bird rose with the wind and gliding just as swiftly and silently.

I forced it to rise into the sky, higher than an owl would normally fly. I looked through its eyes to see the world around the forest and beyond. I needed to find a village. I needed civilization. The irony of it was almost cruel. I forced Asher to travel, probably before he was ready, and now he was ill, maybe dying and we were in the middle of nowhere without any help. For the first time in my life, I wished I wasn’t a Brain.

Through the owls eyes everything was different from a human’s vision. Things seemed almost off balanced but more focused in a strange way. The owl followed the road, and then finally it spotted the smoke of a large farm settlement. It was miles away, but if I pushed the horses I we could get there before dark. I pulled myself from the owls mind; it took me a moment to regain my thoughts and surroundings. I hadn’t let myself drift that far from my own mind in a long time. It was dangerous and necessary.

The horses reduced to a slower speed. Hours upon hours of packing snow deeper than their knees took the toll on their bodies. I tried to help. I walked ahead of them and tried to pack the snow with my body as Asher had down with his tail, but I was no Beast, and soon I was sweating and exhausted.

The horses never gave up, or stopped. Though their natural instincts told them to find food, shelter, and rest, the thoughts I had place into their minds outweighed everything. Their duty now came first. At sometime I walked and ate. I stuffed stiff bread into my mouth and chewed on leathery meat. I also stopped the horses for a drink and fed them handfuls of grain. A small nourishment but it was something to keep us all moving forward.

I wrapped and tied blankets around Asher. I check his heartbeat and made sure he was still alive, it was slow and steady. He was still pale, and his was still cold. He moaned occasionally, a small reminder that he was in pain. Probably far worse than what he showed.

Darkness fell like a heavy blanket and we still hadn’t reached the farm settlement. The horses were to the point of collapsing and I was on my last leg. I wouldn’t last much longer, I prayed to whoever was listening that I make it to the farm, and soon. After a few more minutes of walking, the unmistakable smell of smoke hit my nose. It filled my lungs and gave me a new energy. I tugged on the horses’ reigns and slammed into the snow with a new hope. Victory was near.

The minutes dragged by, but finally the trees broke and we were facing a large farming settlement. The house was a single story, but it spanned over a good amount of land. The barn loomed close by and fences surrounded fields. Smoke rose from two chimneys and light spilled onto the snow from the open windows. My breath rose in the air, reminding me of my exhaustion and cold. Now that I had made it, my aches and hunger seemed worse than before.

The snow was less deep; the wind had moved it around and packed it down so the way wasn’t as hard. The horses followed me lazily. Once I got close to the house, I dropped the reigns and walked up to the door. My fingers were stiff and my hand was sore from the cold as I pounded against the wood.

It felt like an eternity before the door was opened. It brought a wave of heat of my frozen face. “Please, I need help.” I didn’t even have the energy to persuade their thoughts. An young man stood before me, his face was shocked and he stood without saying a word.
“Who is it Jeth?” A woman’s soft voice came from inside.

“I-I don’t know.” My patients was wearing thin, I didn’t have time to stand around in the cold waiting for the man to gain his wits.

“Please, my friend and I need help. He’s fallen ill…” I pushed a sense of urgency into his emotions and he reacted instantly.

“Of course, come in come in.” I shook my head.

“Can someone help me carry him? I don’t think I have the strength.” I motioned towards Asher, who looked like nothing more than a bundle of rags tied to a horse. The man named Jeth nodded and came out into the cold, followed by another man around the same age. A women came out of the house and took my hand. She pulled me into the heat.

“My goodness, you look near froze to death!” She put a chair next to the fire and pushed me into it. I had no room to complain. The fire licked the cold from my face and fingers. The men carried Asher between them and brought him inside. They closed the door.

“Please, he needs rest, and warmth.” The woman nodded and led the way down a hall. A minute later a young man, maybe thirteen came down the hall, he was pulling a cloak over himself.

“They told me you have horses than need looking after.”

“Yes, thank you. They need food, water, and a good brushing if you’re able.” The boy nodded his head and disappeared into the night, closing the door behind him.

I shed my cloak and laid in next to the fire. The snow was melting from my clothes. I was shivering now; the exhaustion was finally setting in. I stretched my legs out and closed my eyes, and listened to the sound of the fire.