7 years later…
A shadow stole into the village, bare feet making little noise on the hard packed earth. Carefully, it made its way to the well, which lay in the center of the village square. A small clay jar was removed from the interior of the rags hiding the figure’s body and face and placed it upon the very edge of the well as they began to lower the bucket into the shadowy depths.
The figure had just filled the jar and was beginning to creep away again when the tavern door opened and light poured out of it, catching the figure off guard.
“You! How dare you come back to our village after what you did!”
More people emerged from the smoky interior and desperately the figure turned to flee but its hood was grabbed and pulled back to reveal a girl child’s face. She appeared to be about seven or so, explaining why she had seemed so small. Short, untamed silvery hair fell around her dirty face, but her most striking features were her eyes. Pale blue, they were almost white and were far older than any child’s eyes should have been.
Her scrawny body was almost lost in a hooded tunic that was several sizes too big for her and almost reached her ankles. Her arms and legs were covered in rags both to keep her warm in the cool nights of the coming fall and to bind a few nasty looking cuts on her legs and she was barefoot.
“What are you doing back here?” Merciless words and stares began to circulate through the small crowd that was beginning to from.
“She has gone too far this time, I caught her attempting to poison the well!” Shouted the man who held her in his grasp, shaking her by the hood and causing spots to dance across the child’s eyes as the fabric cut into her throat.
“No I wasn’t I was--” the girl protested, trying to free herself again.
A hand struck her across the face, a red mark appearing on her cheek.
“Liar” He hissed, holding her up by the scruff of her neck. Her jar of water was wrenched from her fingers and smashed on the ground, its contents slowly sinking into the earth.
“What was that?” he demanded, kicking a piece of broken pottery in contempt.
“Water I drew from the well.” she whimpered, shrinking under his hostlie gaze.
“And what were you going to do with that water?”
“Drink it…” she mumbled
“Ha!”
“I wouldn’t poison the well, I swear by all the gods!” she pleaded desperately tears forming in her eyes. He struck her again and she cried out in pain,
“How dare you sully the name of the gods with your filthy mouth!” the man raised his voice again.
“We must cleanse the village and kill the demon by sending her back through the fire from where she came!” Yells of assent followed this statement.
“No!” the child screamed. “Please! I’ve never done anything wrong! Please!”
No one paid any attention to her until--
“Enough!” shouted a strange voice. Before most of the villagers had realized someone else had spoken in disassent, the cloaked in white with green bands at the hem of the robe hood and sleeves had gone halfway through their midst.
“Who are you?” the man holding the child demanded.
The hood was removed and a woman with fiery hair and green eyes stared her questioner down.
“I am a priestess of Ildia and this child is no demon.” Her tone was icy and she appeared to look down on the man despite the fact he was a good four inches taller.
Silence met her words, as Ildia was the goddess of all things living and her priestesses were respected by all those who did not wish the wrath of the goddess of life and fertility.
“She is a demon, she killed the couple who took her in!” The man cried causing the priestess to raise a brow, “Oh? How? She seems to be but a child to me.”
“She sent a sickness to our village and--”
The priestess shook her head and interrupted him
“You blame an abandoned child for a sickness? If she truly had this power, I think she would have killed all of you by now.”
“Our faith in the gods is strong.” the man said as if this was an obvious answer, and she wasn't smart enough to realize it.
“So strong that you would kill an innocent little girl?”
The priestess’s voice was sad, “As it seems there is no place for here I shall take her back to my temple where she will be cared for.”
“But--” he started indignantly, realizing his scapegoat was slipping away.
“Do you wish to challenge my authority?” There was iron in the priestess's voice that made the girl shiver.
The man hesitated then, “…No priestess.”
Sullenly, he let go of the girl who bit her lip and looked up at the priestess. Gently, the priestess took the child’s hand and knelt down next to her making a show of making sure the child was unharmed.
“Don’t be afraid.” She whispered and the girl swore a green eye winked at her. Rising once more, the priestess guided the child out of the crowd of villagers who parted reluctantly before them...
First chapter (or part two, whatever you want to call it) of a long(ish) story I'm writing that still doesn't have a title. The prolouge is here (and in the event this link doesn't work, its the entry on 5/22/08 12:14 am)
If anyone has any suggestions, or if I screwed up in grammar or anything, tell me so I can fix it. thanks!
View User's Journal
Random Bits of Writing
I'll post a lot of the stuff I'm either working on or finished with here. I'll label them as to if they are finished or not and if they're another addition to a pre-exsisting story, that will be mentioned as well. XP enjoy, review truthfully & fairly
 |
