My Love, My Sweet Burden (Text Only): Chapter 3 – Weighing Each Other Down and Up

Chapter 3 – Weighing Each Other Down and Up

Persephone and I get up early, eat, and head out to a secluded area to practice shooting. First, I show her how I do it and then give her a few tips when firing inside and outside of combat. “Your strength is in crowd control, but you have to learn how to shoot straight.”

“That’s easier said than done because of the recoil on this bow and how rapidly it can fire multiple arrows while holding the trigger for a few seconds. Can’t I just focus on crowd control? I could also distract as well! I’ve been doing that pretty well.”

“We have to practice on you firing at single targets. There’s no need to practice on something you’re already good at.”

“Okay, let’s do it then! I’m ready!”

For the next several hours, Persephone practices her shooting with me trying several things to get her to improve her accuracy such as fixing her stance, how she holds her bow, and her mindset as she aims and shoots. “Straight,” I say as she shoots and hits close to the target.

“Straight,” I say again as she shoots and hits somewhere behind the target.

“Straight!” I say again only for her to again hit near the target. “Okay, I think we should take a break. Maybe we should find you a better teacher because I’m not sure what else to do.”

“I’m sorry that I suck at following your instructions.”

I sigh and then say, “No, no. It’s fine. You have improved a bit. All you need is more training. How about we go back to where I’m from? There are plenty of great archers there that have taught me how to shoot well so they should be able to do the same for you.”

“Yeah, let’s do that! I’m also excited to see what your home is like and once I’m good at being an archer, I’ll show you my home as well and introduce you to my parents.”

“Sure thing.” Maybe Priscilla could help her since she’s a patient person. I mean she’s not an archer like I am since she’s more of a knight but she does know how to properly shoot a bow. Also, I’m not sure how my parents and Priscilla will take the news that Persephone is going to be my wife. We’ll just have to cross that bridge when it comes around because I haven’t the slightest clue on how to even begin explaining it.

After resting for a bit, we head out on the road. While on it, Persephone pulls on my arm and asks, “So, uh, when will you officially marry me? When we get to your home or mine?”

“Uh.” I haven’t actually thought about that yet. “We’ll see. Why do you ask?”

“Well, uh, since God brought us together to be with one another forever, I don’t see a point in waiting. Besides, I do like you. I mean love you and love you lots.”

I don’t really know what to feel or say to that. We’ve only known each other for a few days, so I just hug her in response and she gives me a kiss on the cheek and smiles at me. I thought that being with the one I’m meant to be with would feel better. Is my attachment to Priscilla keeping me from feeling like I’m supposed to or is this the result of some kind of temptation to turn away from Persephone? Whatever the case is, we continue on the road home. The sun is now beginning to set and as far as I know, there should be a military camp in a town not too far from here.

I hear a sound in the forest, and before I turn my head to see the source, a wolfman with blue fur jumps out in front of us. Even as we ready our bows and aim them at him, the man stares at us and sniffs the air. “No, you aren’t infected. You may continue on,” the wolfman says before leaping into the air and back into the forest.

“What was that for?”

“I have a feeling he’s one of the scouts for the nearby town. As for what he was saying about being infected, we’ll have to ask the men at the military camp.” I’m glad that Persephone at least didn’t immediately fire at the wolfman since he was directly in front of us.  We arrive at the town shortly after where the guards are checking the carts and every person that enters.

“You may go through,” the guard says after checking us. Yet another guard checks us before we enter the military camp.

We approach who I think is the commander since he’s giving orders to the troops and helping the civilians. He’s a half-monkey man with a beard and casual expression despite all the busyness that’s going on. “Hello, you two. I thought you’d pass by here. Word from command has trickled down of your deeds and we’re told to make sure you make it back home, Dominic. You have friends in high places in more than one meaning of the expression, don’t you? My name is Capt. Cassiel. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine, captain. So, what’s going on around here?”

“For the past couple of days, we’ve been having trouble with a singular beastman or insectman rather. A spiderwoman has been attaching her spiders to people or making them slip through the cracks in her defenses to steal food, weapons, and people for whatever reason. We’d appreciate your help in getting rid of her.”

I was hoping they had carriages or horses we could use so I could get home quicker, especially after command told them to make sure I get home, but I guess I could help out, so I agree to help out.

“I couldn’t help but overhear you’re hunting down that spiderwoman that’s been giving you so much trouble. I could be of great use to you because of my ability to sense even the slightest movements.”

“We’ve gone over this before, Fr. Suboor. You’re of better use here protecting the people, helping people pray, and hearing their confessions.”

“It’s okay. He can come along since I’m not too good at hunting and neither is Persephone, so we could really use his help.”

“It’s true.”

“You see? This man of God and his lovely companion can tell that my present role is to be on the hunt. God allowed me to be born in this body to be in a constant state of prayer and to hunt those who would attack the innocent. I promise you that it'll be a quick hunt with me guiding them to their target.”

“Okay, okay. I trust you two to keep him safe. Good luck and happy hunting.”

“Yes, sir!”

As we hunt for the spiderwoman, I find it strange and even unsettling to see the priest move and tilt his head in inhuman ways. It also doesn’t help to see the five human-like fingers on his pincers that twitch from time to time. “Yes, yes. We are getting very close. Be on your guard, you two. This woman has been giving us a lot of trouble these past couple of days. Now, it comes to an end.”

The wolfman from before leaps in front of us surprising Persephone and me, but not Fr. Suboor. “What are you doing out here, father?”

“Helping these two hunt down the spiderwoman. You don’t need to worry about me, Liam.”

“Nevertheless, I’ll accompany you.”

“What about your responsibility to protect the roads into town?”

“If the threat is gone, then I won’t have to worry about protecting the roads. Now, let’s hurry.” With Liam at our side and Fr. Suboor leading us, we continue on our way until we reach a deep part of the forest that’s covered in spiderwebs. In the webs are various valuables, weapons, and the skeletons of people and creatures all of which are still being picked at by small and cat-sized spiders.

“She’s here. Ready yourselves and keep an eye on those spiders because they have a nasty venomous bite.”

The spiderwoman appears out of the mess of webs and bones. “You’ve been causing me a lot of trouble, priest. Without your meddling, the people in the town wouldn’t know to look out for me and I would’ve had what I wanted from them so I could build my own home with my own people here. I’m glad that you followed those senses of yours so you could find me so I can put an end to you-”

In the blink of an eye, the spiderwoman explodes into bits because of a direct hit from one of Persephone’s arrows. “Boom! I got her!”

“You actually shot straight! That was amazing, Persephone!”

“It’s not over yet. Not even close.” Before I can ask what he means, one of the spiders on the webs convulses and grows into the spiderwoman in seconds.

“You can try to kill me, but I’ll never die.”

Another spider grows and transforms into another spiderwoman. “I can make as many of myself as I want and transform back if I wish. You don’t stand a chance against me.”

“We’ll see about that.” Fr. Suboor immediately leaps at the spiderwoman, cuts her in half, and then leaps to the next to cut her head off.

Liam also leaps into action to protect the priest from the larger spiders and the other copies of the spiderwoman. Meanwhile, I conjure my bow and start firing explosive bolts that I have to kill multiple spiders and copies of the woman as I can along with Persephone who does the same.

As we clear the forest, I start to see that there are living people stuck in the webs. “Watch your fire, Persephone. We got hostages here.”

“I’ll…I’ll try! There’s just so many of them!”

“You can’t stop me! I’ll feed your corpses to my spiders and continue taking what I want until I have everything and everyone I want!”

The horde of spiders doesn’t seem to end and I start to worry as Persephone starts to fire more rapidly and erratically. “Calm down! We can make it through this! Ow!” One of the spiders just bit my ankle. I swash it with my foot and try not to let the venom bother me as I continue to fire at the rest

“Dominic! Get your hands off my husband!” Now Persephone is firing really erratically like New Year’s again. She’s covering the entire area around us in explosions that kill dozens of spiders at a time, but the forest is starting to come down around us and I’m worried about Fr. Suboor, Liam, and the hostages since I can’t see them because of the smoke of the explosions. Before I know it, the trees around us fall on us and I black out.

I see that I’m in a hospital of some kind with Persephone at my side who kisses my face as soon as I wake up. “I’m so glad you’re awake, Dominic!”

“Ugh. I’m glad to see that we’re alive after all the chaos. What happened?” I feel fine, but not fine enough to get up from the bed I’m in.

Capt. Cassiel approaches us with an even bigger smile than usual. “It’s good to see that you’re awake, Dominic. I’ll explain to you what happened. When we heard all the explosions going on, we mobilized our squads to converge on your position and it was a good thing we did since you were overrun. If we knew there’d be that many spiders, I would’ve sent at least ten soldiers to accompany you. It’s also a good thing that we caught you when we did so we could take out the venom from your leg so we wouldn’t have to cut it off and because your wife here was the last one still fighting.”

“She was?”

“That’s right. She’s a tough one. You, Fr. Suboor, and Liam were all knocked out or under the fallen trees that I assume were a result of the fighting.”

“Yeah, the fighting was getting out of hand and she was losing control of where she was shooting.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to cause so much damage.”

“Be easy on her. It was an intense fight.”

“Sure. What about Fr. Suboor, Liam, and the hostages that the spiderwoman had?”

“They’re tough, so they’ll be okay. As for the hostages, some survived while others didn’t, but don’t blame her for that either, since some were already in bad shape when we found them. Don’t strain yourself while you recover and just take it easy until you’re back to full health. I’ll let command know you’re okay, what you’ve done for us, and then give you two a personal carriage to get back to them.”

I put on the most honest face I can and then say, “Thank you, sir.” For the next three days, I stay in bed with Persephone endlessly trying to make conversation, give me kisses, and attempt to feed me when I can do it myself.

I never thought having someone be so concerned and caring for me would be so annoying. Day after day, I suggest that she should train with the archers so she would leave me alone, but she doesn’t because she wants to always be with me. At times, I pretend to be sleeping so she stops talking, walks away, and I can finally have some peace. If the rest of my life is going to be like this, I don’t think I’ll ever see grays grow on my head. Persephone will be the death of me in more than one way either during a battle or I’ll go mentally insane. After I get better and we say our goodbyes, we board a carriage and are driven away from the town. During the ride, Persephone puts her head on my shoulder and I instinctively shutter.

“Is something wrong?”

Putting on the best smile I can, I say, “No, I’m fine. Thank you.”

Persephone kisses me on the cheek and then says, “Good! I’m so happy that you’re up and healthy again. I can’t wait to see what your home looks like, meet your parents, and get married!”

Internally, I feel dread. Dear God, why did You have to pair me with her? She’ll ruin me more than make me a faithful man. Maybe this was all a mistake.