One dark and sinister night the moon was full all the beasts howled sending chills down the backs of all who were good. The forest became alive from the pale worms in the earth to the swaying arms of the trees above.
Many deaths would occur tonight in the shadow of the bush but one life was meant to live under the glow of the moon and floating clouds.
Inside this small, rickety and non-rain proof, hut there was chaos. The bedroom was humid and hot from the long day in the sun and the many frantic women, dressed in clothes they had worn for the past ten years, squirming around. Of course, the blazing fire did not much help either but it did help all the women to calm the screaming mother who was now due to have her baby.
“We have to hurry; she’s been pushing too long. If we wait much longer the child will die,” said a frazzled old woman, who some may call a witch and others may call the medicine woman, either way she was the person to call upon when you were ill, giving birth, or were practicing spells and witchcraft. A younger lady, though no less experienced looking, wiped her stringy sweat drenched hair out of her eye sight. She was the dark skinned and heavy one. These two may have looked like complete opposites but they were similar in one area and that was that they could get their work done well.
She shook her head gravely and replied, “I do not know what else to do. You and I have both seen many births in our days but I have never experienced one so difficult,” she paused and leaned in towards the older woman whispering, “We must be prepared for the worst and most likely thing to happen, death. She used much of her strength last night staying up, who knows how much longer she can hold out before permanent sleep overwhelms her fragile body?”
The wrinkly old woman nodded towards a small wooden cup filled with herbs sitting on a rickety, simply made, wooden table. “Please hold the cup while I pour, Lantha,” the witch paused to poor the steaming hot water but soon Lantha relieved her pale and lanky hands from the weight of the heavy metal pot. As Lantha poured the rest of the water into the half-filled cup and then a few other cups for her and the others to enjoy, the elderly woman sat down in a chair next to the bed where the struggling mother lay currently trying to relax and sip the medicine that the Witch was now giving to her. Suddenly she started to scream again and writhe in pain. Her face turned red in seconds.
This had happened a couple times before so no one panicked but quickly and efficiently did what was needed to be done. After such a long night no one expected the baby to come out now, but it did. Right before their eyes out came the tiniest baby any of them had seen.
As fast as the new mother’s face went from calm to panic it changed again, this time from panic to joy; absolute joy and relief. Smiles grew across the room as the women realized the struggle was over and had ended well.
Everyone took deep breaths and relaxed the tension out of their worn bodies. Lantha disappeared into adjacent room and returned with the father who had been waiting very impatiently for what had just now come.
Dougal came in into the room looking happier than ever; a big grin stretched across his face.
“What are we going to call her, Kira?” said Dougal as he walked to the side of the bed. “I like the name Heath,” Kira thought for a moment, “Yes, Heath meaning wasteland for our daughter was born into a wasteland,” Kira, the happy mother, looked up to her husband’s strong face admiringly and he looked back nodding. “Heath she will called,” Dougal agreed, “We will now proceed with our blessing. Lantha, you and the women must leave now. Take your things with you.Witch, you will stay and set the stones.” Lantha bowed her head, “Of course. I will return tomorrow in the morning to check the mother and her child.”
Once Lantha and the few other women had gone with all of their possessions the Witch began to lay black round shaped stones in a circular form on the floor with a small thud from the wood in response. Kira rose from her bed and tied back her brown tangled hair out of her face. Helping Kira with one large rough hand and holding the baby with the other, Dougal walked the short distance to the circle.
There Dougal laid the child, all wrapped in rags, in the center of the rocks and sat down with his wife across from him. “That is all, Witch. We will see you tomorrow also?” The Witch nodded, “Yes, of course. The child’s health must be checked often. I will come by in the morning with Lantha.” She said goodbye and walked out of the room closing the door behind.
A quiet hum went through the dimly lit room the second the Witch was gone. This mysterious sound came from the mouths of Kira and Dougal. Their eyes were closed and their legs crisscrossed in front of them; hands resting on their knees. Little Heath, new to the world, lay quiet as if knowing something important was about to happen.
Then, everywhere but coming from nowhere, voices started to whisper in the dimly lit room. You could not understand what they were saying but you heard them in the air, you felt the tickle in your ear and the chills down you back. Something else was in the room with them.
Dougal started talking as if in reply but you also could not hear him unless you put your ear to his lips. But as he got louder you would realize that he was saying a rather strange chant; strange and frightening.
Gars no pasaules zemāk Spirit from the world bellow
Nāc un aizpildiet mūsu meitas dvēsele
Come and fill our daughter’s soul
Satumst, ņemot vērā One Evil
Darken the light of the Evil One
Nāc, nāc, nāc!
Come, come, come!
Dēmons no uguns dziļumā
Demon from the depths of fire
Nāc un darīt mūsu sirdis vēlas.
Come and do our hearts desires.
Slēpt savas acis no citiem veidiem
Hide her eyes from others ways
Redzot tikai ar sātana žēlastību
Seeing only by Satan’s grace
Valdnieks dēmonu nosūtīt tālāk jūsu kalps.
Ruler of demons, send forth your servant.
Rādīt patiesību mūsu bērns, ak gudrs Serpent.
Show truth to our child, oh wise Serpent.
Nosūtīt tālāk dēmons, sūtīt viņu tālāk.
Send forth the demon, send him forth.
Dot savu otro dzimšanas.
Give to her a second birth.
As he went on the voices in the room got louder and louder. Screeching sounds like a birds call of distress. Then, silence; everything and everyone were still for what seemed like forever. Dougal and Kira then opened their dark and tired eyes, looking at each other. “The sacrifice we choose to make.” a tear slipped down Kira’s flushed cheek, “Goodbye.”
Fire filled the room in a flash burning everything. Darkness was all that was in the small room now, except for the small bit of color coming from the baby girl. Her skin was somehow changed making it hard to see her with no source of light but the small puzzling light that was, but wasn’t. Green were her eyes, glowing like a thirsty animal’s in the shadows.
Alone she lay on nothing, in a room filled with nothing; there was emptiness. Alone was her love; for there was no one for her to love and no one to love her. And alone she would be in her life to come.
Now was the beginning of her circle, unknown was the end.
THIS IS MINE, DO NOT TAKE! haha No, seriously, I'm not kidding. Don't steel. B-|
Hope you enjoyed!
God Bless,
Sheilla Kiwi
Side Note From The Author: The language I used for the chant thingy is called Latvian. I just went ahead and used an already existing language since I am short on time. If I ever put this into a book or something I would for sure write my own language or just do it in English. But for the class I am taking I wanted something more so I just used a language I thought most people might now know. lol Just so ya know... :)
ATTENTION -I know I probably don't HAVE to say this, but I will anyways. Please know that this is MY work. DO NOT copy or use without my permission. Thanks! -SK
Chapter 2
Leahcar was looking at a child kneeling on the leaf covered ground. Who is she? Where am I?
Leahcar scanned her surroundings. They were encircled by a dense forest but Leahcar and the girl were in a small grass area filled with white wild flowers swaying in the breeze. The night sky was mostly clear with only small patches of thin clouds and the full moon was just above them.
Leahcar thought it looked magical and yet frightening. It felt haunting but also pleasing. How strange, she thought.
Whatever this place was she did not think she had heard of it before in any of her lessons as a little girl.
If she had not heard of it then it must be an unknown place that no one had ever seen or heard of in Nevaeh…yet there was this girl here, wasn’t there, so then where was she from? Were they the only ones who knew of this place?
Leahcar turned her attention back to the small girl on the ground. She had long hair that poured down over her shoulders and to the muddy wet ground. Her hair was most likely normally a dark brown but it was soaking wet making it black, as black as the midnight sky. Her clothes, from what Leahcar could see, were ragged and torn; she must have a poor family. From her point of view Leahcar could see the child’s tanned arms cupping her face. She was crying, for what reason Leahcar did not know.
Just then the little girl stopped her crying and sat up, then slowly she stood up off the ground and turned to face Leahcar. Her damp green eyes pierced Leahcar like an arrow. For what felt like minutes but was only seconds Leahcar and the girl stood face to face in the pasture- staring at each other.
Then she spoke, her voice was soft and very quiet so Leahcar had to put all her efforts into listening.
“Save me.” The first time Leahcar barely heard her but the second time the child screamed at the top of her lungs with tears springing from her eyes, “Save me!”
Sweat beaded down Leahcar’s face and her blankets were scrunched up bellow her feet. She turned her head from side to side realizing that she was back in her bedroom still clothed in her nightgown and lying on her bed.
Her cheeks felt stiff from the dried tears and her head throbbed from her stressful sleep.
She must have dreamt about the girl in the pasture and the magical wood, it was magical wasn’t it? It felt magical so for now she would call it magical. But real life at the moment was the farthest thing from magical.
All of last night’s events came back to her like a gust of wind in an ice storm. That was the perfect description because that’s what Leahcar felt like: cold. All the warmth had left her body like a dead person’s, but she wasn’t dead, her mother was. Tears came to her eyes and slithered down her cheek, off her chin, and onto her pillow creating wet a dark spot on the red fabric.
Leahcar heard the door creek behind her but she did not budge because to this seemingly meaningless world, she was numb. Was it really meaningless? She still had her father and Gabriel, her dearest friend, and they both loved her so of course the world still had meaning, but at this very moment, that meaning had fallen to be a tiny speck of dirt on the ground. It had drifted away to be only an ant on the horizon, it was unreachable, or so it seemed.
Quiet footsteps came closer and closer to her bed until they stopped right at what sounded to be the opposite side of the bed that Leahcar lay upon. Then she heard that voice she heard every single morning starting five years ago when her other personal maid had died, “Good morning miss. General Gabriel is in the dining hall and he wishes to eat with you if you will come. Would you like me to help you get dressed?” Leahcar rolled over to her other side so she could see Mary who had an anxious look on her face. Mary was younger than Leahcar but she looked much older than her fifteen years. Her family was poor so Mary was looking desperately for a job to help feed their empty stomachs. Leahcar found her asking for a job in town from a jeweler who was in the middle of rejected her plea. She seemed very pleasant and sweet so Leahcar quickly snagged the girl and asked her to serve as her maid. Mary did not hesitate. She was no different now, still poor but also still very sweet and gentle. Leahcar loved having her as friend. Now she was standing before Leahcar waiting for a reply from her mistress, and now Leahcar wanted to be left alone.
“I am not hungry Mary; please tell Gabriel I will see him some other time.” Mary bowed and turned around to leave but then stopped and turned slowly back around, “Please, m’lady, Gabriel said to force you out of bed if you refused. You know I will not, but I do not believe you would want him coming himself, as he said he would.”
Her voice was hesitant and quiet. Obviously she was afraid of upsetting Leahcar more.
Leahcar sighed, maybe getting up would help her, though it would most definitely not take certain things off her mind. “Alright Mary, please pick out a dress for me and then tell Gabriel I will be down shortly.”
Mary nodded and quickly set off doing as Leahcar had asked. She placed a dress on a chair next to Leahcar’s bed then left the room without another word.
Once Mary was gone Leahcar got up and quickly undressed and put on the dress that Mary had picked. She always picked out the dresses that looked best on Leahcar. This one was a long blue dress with long sleeves dangling down to the floor and lined with gold silk. She put her hair partially up and tied it in a gold ribbon that she had received with many others for her sixteenth birthday. After some finishing touches and making sure she was presentable, as presentable as she could be anyways, Leahcar walked out of her room and down the hall to the right the same way that Mary had gone not too long ago. All the walls were decorated with tapestries and paintings. Some very old, others recently painted, a request made by her mother who was easily bored of the same things over and over again.
Leahcar stopped to look closer at one of her favorites. It was a picture of a small girl dancing in a field of daisies and little purple flowers. She had a short white dress that flared out as she was turning with her arms stretched out and hands open as if she were trying to catch invisible rain.
The sun was shining, the plants were flourishing, and the water flowing; drifting over rock and earth. It seemed to be as close to heaven as this world could get to Leahcar.
If only she could get there and away from here, maybe her troubles would be gone. Would there be tears? Would there be pain? Was there sorrow? How could there be in such a place so beautiful and quiet looking?
Her world was broken but this girl looked as if she had no fears; she had no doubt that her world would never fall apart.
Was that how I looked before…?Will I ever have peace again?
Leahcar’s wishful thinking was disturbed by a guard passing through the hall with his heavy footsteps and clunky armor. He nodded his head and murmured something under his breath.
Leahcar nodded in return out of habit but she was not really paying attention. He could have walked by without any acknowledgment at all and Leahcar would not have noticed or cared.
I hope you enjoyed chapter 2 of my book. Some things are still in progress even in this area but I will now be adding on to chap.2 or starting chap.3.
Please let me know what you think of it so far! Your input is important to me. :)
