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Jan
22
Written by:
danica
Monday, January 22, 2007 8:14 AM
It was a dark and stormy night, thunder echoed across the sky and lightning pierced the gloom with vicious strokes.
Nah …… just Kidding!
The sun shone over Istalia on a beautiful summer’s morning, small breakers lapped the shore and the sand glistened with dew. After the sea storms of the last couple of days the island seemed at peace. The clear sky was empty all the clouds had been blown away the night before. A black speck appeared far off on the horizon, which on closer inspection revealed a rather elderly looking seagull.
The seagull was exhausted it knew if it didn’t find land soon it would die. Its tired eyes saw a welcoming golden blob at the edge of his vision. Where it was it had no idea, the storms had blown it far of course and tested his every ounce of strength and stamina. It sort of glided part staggered in the air towards its salvation.Tired muscles guided it in towards the shoreline, as it neared the island its eyes picked out the signs of human civilisation.
A reef sheltered a small inlet, which housed several fishing boats tied against a narrow jetty. A short path lead from the jetty to four fisherman’s huts. The seagull flew on its mind shouting sleep, it flew over the huts and crossed a patchwork of small fields containing what looked like different types of crop, a golden field of wheat caught its eye and its mind stored the discovery for later. The land was starting to rise now and ahead appeared a larger building, a hall of some sort. The seagull spied a ledge high up under the eaves of the roof and flew wearily towards it alighting clumsily on the small space. Unused leg muscles struggled to take its weight and it barely stayed upright upon landing. It could feel warmth coming from inside the hall through a conveniently seagull sized hole, so not one to look a gift horse in the mouth it squeezed inside. A beam ran across the middle of the hall roof opposite the hole and the seagull edged along it as far as it dared. It peered down into a large space with a long table at the near end and around it were five people.
A fist slammed on the table ‘Enough excuses, something has to be done!’ an elderly determined looking man was stood at one end of the table. The other four men were looking at him; the middle three in surprise but the fourth man at the opposite end of the table was glaring.
The standing man spoke again oblivious to the glare from the other end of the table
‘She’s trouble and she has to go!’ The man sat in the middle of the five who looked the oldest and had the air of a village elder about him broke the silence that followed.
‘Now Remarkable please sit down, the girl is one of us an islander after all’.
The man we now know, as Remarkable was not going down without a fight and responded
‘How much more has to happen to convince you’ his gaze falling on the equally elderly man sitting at the opposite end of the table.
‘The mistakes have been nothing but trouble for years!’
At this the man opposite stood up quickly ‘ For Dwayna’s sake Remarkable she’s your granddaughter, the daughter of your son! You are a Mistake the same as your father before you and his father before him’ the anger in his voice was loudly apparent.
‘I blame your blood Ernest!’ Remarkable snapped back aggressively.
At this, the man named Ernest inched back his chair and with an agility that defied his years sprang forward a few steps around the table.
The Elder stood up and with the air of a headmaster that has seen one too many naughty boys in his time spoke in a voice of clear authority
‘ Remarkable! Ernest! Return to your seats. We will discuss this matter seated and in a civil fashion or not at all!’ The two elderly men grudgingly sat back down but continued to glare at each other each daring the other to continue the spat.
The Elder relaxed while thinking ‘Dwayna why me!’ ‘We have heard the issues and discussed the evidence, we now have to make a decision!’ he said in an old headmasters tone.
‘Raise your arm if you think she should go!’ he continued.
Remarkable's arm went up slowly only arthritis preventing a much quicker response. The two men seated either side of the elder added their arms to that of Remarkable’s, Ernest’s arm stayed resolutely on the table and the Elder turned to him. ‘I am sorry Ernest!’ the Elder stated as he raised his arm to join the other three.
‘A decision has been made, now we must decide how to proceed’
Ernest looked crestfallen yet managed to maintain the glare he was now throwing at all four men. At last he spoke in response ‘It is not her fault she doesn’t understand what is happening, we cant hurt her. I wont let you!’
‘You’re love is admirable Ernest, but there are more ways to skin a cat my friend’ the Elder added reassuringly.
At this point, exhaustion overtook the seagull’s natural inquisitiveness and it drifted off into a deep sleep.
Later that day as the sun started to sink after its high of midday the seagull stirred from its slumber. A burning hunger filled its waking thoughts as it edged towards the hole in the roof. It emerged into the sun, blinked a couple of times then looked towards the sea. A fishing boat was moored and its two-man crew were sorting their catch. The me were chucking the unwanted fish back into the water and as the seagull observed there were no other seagulls in sight. It thought maybe it was not an unlucky seagull after all as it took off and flew towards the boat and the floating debris of unwanted fish beside it. The seagull gorged himself for a good thirty minutes before it remembered the cornfield it had seen earlier. Deciding to vary his food, he took off and flew the short distance to the field. No one was in sight, heaven it thought I am such a lucky seagull. He alighted at the edge of the field nearest to what could only be described as a poor man's forest, which covered most of the western side of the island. There were several fallen corn cobs were the seagull had landed and he tucked in with all the grace of someone who had never eaten corn on the cob before.
A shout startled the bird and it took straight off in a panic based reaction to the noise. Once he had gained a safe height, the seagull looked around for the source of the commotion.
A young man maybe eighteen or slightly older was racing though the field, he was going hell for leather all motion and heavy breathing. What is going on here the seagull thought his curiosity peaked; he glided after the boy as the boy entered the edge of the forest. The trees were spaced out so the seagull was able to fly between them with ease. The boy was trying to shout now but could not draw enough breath to complete whatever he was trying to say and the seagull was unable to make out the little he could hear. The boy seemed to be chasing something ahead just at the edge of the seagulls vision. The seagull increased its pace and flew ahead of the boy and as it drew nearer, it could see the boys quarry.
It was a girl, a youthful looking one at that, moving at surprising speed for one so slenderly built; occasionally she would glance behind and flash a quick smile. She was maintaining the gap between herself and the boy easily the seagull was impressed.
The girl crashed through the edge of the trees into a clearing, which surrounded a crystal clear pool. Water poured into one end via a small but forceful waterfall. She was breathing heavy now as she half turned and looked back towards the forest. The seagull alighted on a convenient tree branch and watched the unfolding scene thoughtfully. He could see her clearly now, she was small slight and had flaming red hair. She was not stunningly beautiful but had a sort of inbuilt charm in her features that only the most hardened soul could be unimpressed with. Her smile shone from her face and as the seagull observed was a remarkable sight. She was wearing a shawl type garment, which she slipped off as the seagull watched before entering the water. She gracefully swam to the centre of the pool and as the boy entered the clearing, she ducked under the water.
The boy stumbled and collapsed to the floor the sound of heavy breathing disturbing the otherwise peaceful ambience. He rose slowly to his feet, he was a gangly six-foot and his body was not filled out so he could not have been more than eighteen after all.
He was dark haired and had a rugged face which carried a mischievous smile. As his breathing slowed he looked around the smile growing, he saw the girl’s discarded shawl by the edge of the pool.
‘Innocent, Innocent’ he called mockingly, as he looked left and right. Just as he started to walk towards the waterfall end of the pool, Innocent broke the surface at the centre of the pool and took and made an audible gasp for air.
The boy turned towards her laughed, said something the seagull could not hear and began to remove his outer clothing. The seagull observed a body that could only be the product of a young lifetime working in the fields as the boy waded into the water heading directly for a now giggling Innocent. As he part wadded part swam towards her Innocent splashed him repeatedly giggling all the time. Then as he neared, she swam backwards again maintaining a narrow gap between them.
The seagull contemplated the scene; hmmmm today had been a good day as far as being a seagull went. A good sleep, some fresh fish, some more food and now some entertainment, if a seagull was capable of smiling this one would have a smile from ear to recessed ear. Humans silly creatures really nothing they did made sense, they did have a knack of being very watchable.
The boy with a quick burst of energy swam close enough to place his hands on Innocent’s shoulders and dunk her under the water. She came back up spitting water out of her mouth, a look of outrage on her face. At this point, the boy leaned towards her and kissed her on the lips, but only for a second as Innocent broke away and edged backwards. The seagull could see a puzzled look on her face, which quickly turned into a questioning look towards the boy. If he noticed, he showed no sign and closed the gap again between them. They treaded water face to face as a strange silence settled over the scene. One of the boy’s hands went under the water. The seagull leaned forward as far as he dared, straining for a better view. He could not see the girls face now!
Then a sound broke the silence it could only be described as the sound of a fresh lobster dropped into boiling water. It was swiftly followed by an awful boyish scream of pure agony. This was too much for a tired old seagull’s heart and it pitched forward off the branch and fell to the earth stone dead.
Life is a bitch sometimes!
After that day, events of the island moved quickly!
Innocent sat on the jetty head in hands; a mixture of fear, bewilderment and sadness filled her thoughts. She didn’t understand what was happening, she obviously knew she was going to Istan but the question why screamed at her conscience. The whole island had come to see her off except her mother. She hadn’t seen her mother for at least a week now; her father had said se was praying at the shrine of dwayna. For a week! One long prayer Innocent thought to herself, her father had been quite clear about it and he had offered no further explanation. She was sat alone at the edge of the small jetty as two men were preparing the boat she was about to travel on; it wouldn’t be much longer now.
As she waited, she reflected on events of the last two weeks. After the incident in the pool she had dragged pushed and pulled an unconscious Billy all the way back to the village. Once there she had screamed for help, she hadn’t seen him since. What had happened she wasn’t really sure herself, she didn’t understand a lot of things lately. Everyone in the village had been quite calm about it, which was unusual, even grandfather Remarkable had taken events with a modicum of calm. She had only heard him, shouting at father for half an hour it wasn’t like him at all only half an hour! Grandfather Ernest had told her Billy hadn’t regained consciousness since the incident so she knew he hadn’t told anyone. It wasn’t her fault so why did she feel everyone was silently blaming her?
Tragic Mistake approached the jetty, he felt bad he had just left his wife Mavis in the shrine of Dwayna where she had been all week. He felt as heartbroken as his wife but as the father, he had to be strong for his daughter. He hoped Mavis would recover enough to say goodbye to Innocent, if she didn’t she would never forgive herself. He hadn’t thought it was possible for someone to shed so many tears, a week, she had cried for a whole week, her prayers no consolation too a broken heart. As he pushed thought the crowd stood watching the unfolding departure, there wasn’t much entertainment on the island so he was unsurprised that everyone was here. He saw Ernest ahead of him and caught himself looking Ernest in the eyes. He could see the old man's tears and he momentarily flashed back to the conversation they shared two weeks ago.
He had been mending the nets by the jetty on the day after young Billy’s accident, it had shaken the whole village and the verbal going over he had received from his father had darkened his mood. Ernest had come down to the jetty and sat down beside him. Tragic had always gotten along with his father in law, perhaps because of his hate hate relationship with Remarkable he saw Ernest as the father figure he always wanted. He had known before Ernest had said a word something was wrong the old man had a troubled look on his face. He remembered what was said next word for word it was not a conversation he would ever forget.
‘Tragic’ the old man had said. ‘We need to talk. Its about Innocent!’
‘What are the Elders complaining about now?’ Tragic had replied. He had seen the tears in the corners of the old man’s eyes and he remembered the feeling of dread that flowed through his body.
‘There have been too many incidents Tragic, people are scared!’ Ernest said with audible pauses in his voice.
‘It’s not her fault, she doesn’t understand we have no one to teach her!’ he had said.
‘The Elders have decided Innocent must leave the island!’ Ernest barely managed to say.
‘No!’ he had exclaimed. ‘It will break out hearts our only daughter’.
He had remembered how his wife had prayed for a daughter; it was what she had always wanted. She loved her two sons but he knew she had wished each time for a daughter. He remembered the joy on her face once the realization after the third birth that she finally been blessed with a girl. She had been full of joy ever since, despite the unusual incidents that
accompanied his daughter wherever she went. He remembered picking her daughter up after the birth, the first time he had held her. He had looked upon her tiny little face and seen those eyes for the first time. Innocent had jumped straight into his head there and then, and a perfect continuation of the family tradition was made. Innocent they had named her, Innocent he thought as he jumped back to the flashback.
‘It must be so Tragic, it breaks my heart as well if it’s any consolation’.
He knew this to be true, Ernest adored his granddaughter and they had spent many a happy day together. He smiled briefly his daughter had always shown more interest in farming and animals than fishing.
‘I wont let them hurt her Tragic!’ ‘We have to make it easier on her’ He had dropped the nets now and stared at the old man.
‘How the hell are we supposed to do that?’ ‘We are throwing her out, my daughter!’ he replied angrily. It was more of a statement than a question but Ernest had answered anyway.
‘The Elder has written to the senior Elder on Istan explaining the situation and asking if he can arrange for Innocent to find employment on Istan’
‘And what do we tell Innocent’ he had asked in return.
‘We tell her that she has been selected for the Sunspears, identified for the order due to the age of her ascension and that she is required to travel to Istan’
‘Do you seriously think she will believe that?’ he had asked half shouted back.
He would never forget the look Ernest gave him in return to his query.
‘Has anyone ever lied to her before?’
The question stunned Tragic into silence, after a moment of pondering, he replied.
‘No, no you can’t, you know her as well as me, it’s the face the eyes you just can’t!’ Ernest nodded in agreement.
‘She will believe what we say and she will feel its her duty to go! We have to see that this is so!’
‘But!’ Tragic stuttered.
‘No Buts!’ Ernest cut him off.
‘How do you think she will feel if she knew the people wanted her of the island? Believe me this is the best way my son!’
Nothing more was said, Ernest had got up and walked away. Tragic had sat on the jetty well into darkness, lost in his own despair as well as the fear of facing his wife. How was he going to brace this one, how could he break his wife and daughters hearts? He understood Ernest was right Innocent had to go for her own sake as much as everyone else’s. She had always been different, special even and that was always going to catch up with them at some point and now it had.
Tragic snapped back to the present, and he put his arm around his father in law, he could feel the old man trembling. He knew the next hour was going to be the hardest of his life and would haunt him until his dying day. They walked together onto the jetty towards Innocent, as he saw his daughter’s misery and confusion etched on her pretty face. It took everything he had to maintain his composure and he knew Ernest was fighting the same battle.
Innocent stood when she saw them coming and ran forward to thrust a hug around her grandfather, it seemed like an eternity before she let go and turned to face her father.
‘You must be brave’ Tragic whispered. She had that look on her face, the one that could melt the coldest heart. It broke into an expectant and questioning look that could drag the truth from the most devious of liars. Tragic fought the urge to confess all. Ernest saw his wavering and interrupted.
‘Are you all ready Innocent?’ She turned to her grandfather; she had seen the look on her fathers face. She was upset and confused by that look like he had something important to tell her. She gazed up at her grandfather and responded.
‘Yes grandfather I have everything I need for my journey’
‘Good Good!’ Ernest replied.
‘Is my mother going to come?’
‘Yes my child, your brothers had gone to fetch her as we speak’ Tragic said hoping silently that his boys could persuade their mother.
‘Grandfather?’ Innocent said with a pure voice with an edge of nervousness.
‘How’s cousin Billy?’
Ernest smiled ‘He’s awake, woke up this morning’. He saw the surprised worried look in her face.
‘He hasn’t said a word yet’ he paused.
‘It will be a long time before he can walk again, never mind the other’
‘The other?’ she asked quickly.
Ernest looked her square in the face; a look of genuine puzzlement was on her face. The island was a small space with small-minded people; he was sending his granddaughter to a big world. A pang of guilt wracked his soul.
‘Don’t worry Innocent he will be fine, another month and he could be back in the fields’
She seemed to relax at this news.
A commotion at the back of the crowd gained her attention. She could see her brothers Deliberate and Careless shoving through the crowd and behind them came her mother.
Innocent was shocked, her mother looked a shell of herself. She was gaunt and wore a haunted expression on her face. Upon seeing Innocent, she smiled, let out a shriek and ran forward to snatch her daughter up in her arms. As she held Innocent tightly, her whole body sobbed with emotion. Innocent caught up in her mothers unexpected emotional outburst began to follow suit. Mother and daughter were locked as one in a shared outpouring of pent up fears and sense of the forthcoming loss. Only the most self absorbed and heartless of the watchers in the crowd were unmoved at the pitiful scene. Mavis managed to regain just enough control of herself too break the hold she had on her daughter and moved her gently to arms length. Her hands held Innocent by the sides of the face and she used her thumbs to wipe away the still flowing tears of her daughter, doing this whilst unable to stem her own.
‘Innocent’ she managed to speak through the tears, and this was enough to regain her senses and to urge her to say the words she had been running through her head all week. How did you say goodbye to your beloved daughter, the thing that made you rise in the morning and that which made you sleep soundly on a night content and happy? She had realized after a week of despair and think, that there was no absolute perfect goodbye, So she did what she had always done and spoke with honesty from the depths of her heart.
‘I love you, I will miss you, oh little Innocent!’ tears came again. Again, she steadied herself to continue.
‘You must trust in your heart and listen to your head’ Innocents tears had dried up there was simply no more left.
‘You must be brave my lovely daughter. Write you have to write! I want to know everything you do and that your well’
Innocent still staring into her mother’s eyes nodded and whispered ‘I will mama, I will!’
‘I, I don’t w.. ‘ started Mavis.
Ernest had been watching his heart broken daughter and granddaughter and had been seriously affected. However, he still knew what had to be done for Innocent’s sake if anything.
He stepped forward and interrupted Mavis.
‘Come now I must talk with my brave little girl before she goes on her grand adventures’
He glanced at Tragic who seeing his look stepped forward and pulled Mavis gently away, and then held her in his arms.
‘Come stand up’ Ernest said to his granddaughter. He beckoned Deliberate and Careless forward and they rushed in to hug their little sister. Both her brothers were big and strong from years of fishing and they each took a turn to smother little Innocent in their muscled arms. Neither of the brothers were big talkers and very little words were exchanged. Then they each stepped back and retreated to stand beside their parents. Ernest stood alone with his granddaughter. He pulled her close and said ‘I will miss you little one, make us proud! Remember you are representing your island and your people. Treasure your memories of this place and your child hood and return to them when things are hard. Remember what we discussed about your gift! There will be people on Istan who can help you understand and control it. Goodbye !’ The last words had been hard and as Ernest turned to the crowd he felt emotionally drained.
‘Time to say goodbye people’ he shouted.
As he did so the watching crowd burst into life with a chorus of the traditional island fisherman’s departure prayer.
Once they had finished a dejected looking Innocent stood and picked up her small bag of spare clothes and a few treasured mementos and handed them to the fisherman whose boat she would be journeying upon. As she looked back at her parents, her brothers, her people, her mind raced through recent events.
The day after the incident with Billy, when it seemed like the whole island was avoiding her. Which on such a small island when she thought about it was an impressive achievement. When Ernest had come to find her in her thinking place, the rocks above the beach on the far side of the island. She had noticed he had something on his mind, and that was when he had told her about Elona. The request from Elder Suhl, to come and join the Sunspears. How Elder Suhl had heard about her from passing sailors who had been gossiping in Kamadan. How the Elder had then written to the Istani Elder asking for Innocent to travel to Elona. She remembered sitting with wide eyes as Ernest explained about General Kormir and what it meant to be a sunspear. The pride she felt when she learnt only those that are special and gifted were accepted into the Sunspears. It wasn’t until Ernest had gone and she had been sat alone with the sound of the waves hitting the rocks that it had struck her exactly what Ernest had said meant! It would mean her leaving the island, her home, her family and really the whole of her life behind. The fear had taken her then and it had not dissipated over the following weeks, she was scared and she knew it. A sudden thought took her; her grandfather had said all that without once looking at her face he had mostly looked down or over her shoulder strange!
Innocent snapped back to the present her father was walking towards her now and there was no time for memories. She could see he had tears in his eyes.
‘It falls to me to say the final goodbye! At this Innocents heart sank and she realized her last moments on Istani were here. She had always been close to her father and she hugged him tightly.
‘Goodbye my child, remember we will always love you!’
Innocent couldn’t bring herself to speak and just hugged her father tighter still. Tragic escorted his daughter to the edge of the jetty.
Innocent stepped onto the boat as the sailors made their final preparations. Tragic smiled at his daughter as her hand left his. She was on the boat and this was it.
Innocent stood upright and turned to face the crowd of people who had edged forward now the family scene was over. She meekly raised her hand and gave a brief wave and the faintest of smiles.
One of the sailors cast of the mooring rope and the other began to row on the oars to get the boat out of the inlet and into the sea proper. As the boat edged away from Istani, Innocent stood at the stern of the small boat and looked back, as her life so far gradually began to fade away. She remembered her grandfather and father’s words ‘be brave’, easy for them to say she thought. She made on final wave to the now small figures on the jetty and wiped a tear that was still hanging on from her eye. She turned and found somewhere to sit on the now swaying boat. Again a thought rushed through her mind ‘Write’ her mother had insisted, so she rummaged in her bag and produced most of the island’s supply of paper and a writing implement. She wanted me to write so I shall she said to herself, and then she began to scribble words on the paper.
So it begins! …………………………………………….
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1 comment(s) so far...
Re: The Beginning
Wow just finished reading this, very well done. I can't wait to read more, what of these abilities? what will happen next? more please!
By Lanen Jinx on
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 9:46 AM
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