Chapter Three
-XII-
Harald, long after Mona and the girls left for some sleep, returned in the noon. Anna, a well-trained dog, brought some food to the table and wine but Harald was fed physically and mentally, and was in a good mood so much so that he even realized that there was something different with his wife. “Come” he said following a loud hiccup. “What did you do, dyed your hair”? He walked towards Anna and grabbed from her loins. Anna hadn’t time for him, tried to push him back unsuccessfully. “There” she said with a hardly audible voice showing the bedroom and sat on a chair as he left her. The smell on Harald, the mixture of wine, vomit, lilacs and chamomile had made her dizzy.
“What” Harald asked and balanced himself. This second hiccup had shaken him. Looked at Anna but she wasn’t to tell what was going on. He waddled to the bedroom and saw the new-borns. “Fuck” he cried and tried to count. “One, two, three, four, five… Are you a cat damn it? No, wait. One, two, three, four… How many are there? Asked you, woman! Their count change” he shouted and went back towards Anna. “Three” the girl said and sighed. “He can’t even see and” she thought but the voice in her head was silenced by Harald, who was holding his thing and coming towards her. “Three, fuck! Such stallion am I” he said, tried to grab Anna but fell to the ground and hit his head. Anna checked for blood, there was none. She left for sleep after making sure he still was breathing.
Anna woke up in the afternoon to Mona knocking, or rather beating the door. “There’s storm outside” she said taking both her coats off and saw Harald still sleeping on the floor. Blinked her eye and showed him, Anna shrugged her shoulders. The message was taken.
“How are the babies?”
“Fed them.”
Home was cold again. Mona ordered for fire and laid Anna on the bed. “You need not move much. Rest, we’ll handle it all”.
Mona would take Anna to the school, which served as some sort of maternity hospital meanwhile, but it wasn’t the time yet. She didn’t have the means to keep babies warm in this cold. It was her last job, being harder than usual didn’t matter. She had enough savings even after spending a healthy sum for the school. It was not for coin, no. She could retire even a decade ago, she had secured enough to see her life off financially comfortable. It was for the youngest of the three. The sign, the rising sun, the last comer. She needed to see that all was well and there was nothing to worry about.
-XIII-
Days passed one after another. On seventh day Harald brought them to the temple, not willingly but out of custom, not for Anna who normally would want it, but again, normally and not now for she was indifferent even about that, but to please the folk and especially John and Marcus his superior, his majesty’s personal blacksmith. They were blessed by the soothsayer first and the chief priest then, and their names were given by Harald: Haldan for the older boy, Sophie for the girl and Holder for the younger. “I see that you’re sober” said Marcus, holding him aside. “Beating the girl again”?
“I? Gods forbid. I…”
Marcus was no idiot. He hissed behind his clinched teeth.
“Shut your fucking mouth and look at me. What am I, a ten year old? I hear that again and you’ll be in deep shit. Understood?”
Harald never was in shit since leaving Gaba. He got away with whatever he did. He knew why Marcus spoke this way, he liked Anna and wouldn’t mind eliminating her husband to have her. “Yes sir” he hissed wishing to find him alone and do what he couldn’t with his father. Was he dead? How he’d wish he died in his hands. He spat and they, whole eight people now returned home as if they were a family.
Mona was at the temple to watch it. Everything was normal and extraordinarily boring. The soothsayer didn’t say a thing, neither did anything different. It was the case with the chief priest as well. Would it be so had there been an anomaly? “I knew, it’s but whims of my sister. Gods, how I wish she was here” she thought when the ceremony was over.
-XIV-
Mona was at Anna’s again the morning when the sun showed its face after a long while. It was the fourth week already and January had started the week ago. “Let’s better leave for the school” Mona said to Anna. “You’re but laying here and neither child is happy. They’ll have better care as you will”.
Anna looked at the tree from the window. “I’m bound here in life and death” she replied. Mona got what she meant but still insisted.
“Your boy will wait for you forever till the day you’ll be laid next to him. You needn’t torture yourself. Pity these innocents if not yourself. Look, they’re yours too.”
She held Anna’s hand hoping to get into her heart if not her mind, but the girl’s face stood as it was.
“I am no more. Take me away if you will to kill me, but not for anything else. I can’t. I just can’t.”
Ice was warmer than her.
“My girl, I know the pain you need to endure. But life goes on. You’re not the first that lost the firstborn, neither you’ll be the last. Life goes on, it has to go on. For them, if not for you” she said again showing the babies but alas! Anna looked at them with empty eyes, then turned her gaze to Mona. Old woman felt as if she could see behind her, it was that empty.
Still, Mona had another plan. Wrapped the babies in numerous sheets and called for a cart. Raised from the sofa as she heard the neighs of horses at the door. “You starve yourself to death if you will but I’ll spare their lives” she said with an angry but also begging voice. Anna still was indifferent. Hence, she took them to the school but only till the evening.
Harald broke the door and stormed the hall. “Where is she? Where is that fucking cunt? Who are you to steal my children! Come out you whore. Come out!” he was crying. Mona was upstairs on the second floor. She came down with two men, both double the size of Harald if no less, and stood at the last step of the stairs. “You’re looking for me, I reckon” she said cold-bloodedly. Harald and her were exact opposites at that moment, what one was the other wasn’t.
Harald wasn’t to give in easily. “You cunt” he cried and rushed towards Mona when the guy on her left swiftly took one step forward, then a second, and with the third his arm was around Harald’s neck.
“Dare take one more step and I’ll be the last thing you’ll see.”
“Speak low, there are people here” Mona said icily. Came closer to Harald and asked.
“What is it?”
“I want my children back!”
Mona laughed hysterically.
“You see Erik, he wants his children back. Tell me, why are you back home this early?”
This wasn’t what Harald expected. A momentary silence was followed with his cries.
“This is none of your fucking business!”
“Everything is my fucking business! Your children are upstairs, all doing well and sleeping peacefully. They need care and will be provided here.”
“You’ve been in my home for a month to steal them in the end? You fucking cunt” he cried and tried to get free of Erik but the man was big and strong as a mountain, he couldn’t succeed. Now was the time for Mona to raise her voice.
“No child is stolen! No one here comes against their will, neither one is kept here a second longer than they desire. I have the consent and permission of Anna who preferred to stay home, cleaning up your shit. Would I have stolen her had she came?”
“Nonsense! She’s the best wife on earth, never would leave me or her children!”
“Oh, you know that she’s a good wife, eh? Piling up on her misery is your way to thank her back? Tell me, when was the last time you set the fireplace on fire? Or when did you last check if she ate or not? Or, or, have any idea what she does all day between those four walls?”
“It’s none of your business! What we do matters to us only, you cunt!”
This last was much. Erik took incentive and briefly released Harald, turned his face to himself and head-butted his nose. Blood was running out. “Sorry ma’am” he said after holding Harald tight again. “He needed to calm down”.
As you can guess, it didn’t calm him down but filled with even more rage – especially after hearing Mona saying “it’s okay boy. Nothing to worry”.
Mona knew what she did was unlawful and had excepted to find guards the next day or the other, but not Harald alone. Things were going well for her, though. She wanted to give Harald a message and the more direct it was, the better.
“You will… You will pay for this. All of you! You won’t get away with this, no!”
“Things would be different if you came to ask about your children. You asked for this and it’s duly delivered. Girls! Take the children here” Mona ordered with a wink. Soon all three were downstairs. “Tell me, which one is which? Do you even know?” she asked.
“All are mine and that’s what matters. Give me my babies!”
Mona came a step away from Harald, feeling his breath on her face.
“You don’t even know your own children! Look, they don’t even look like each other. These are different babies, none is yours!”
Checkmate, or so thought Mona. Harald swore, Erik twisted his arm again. “It’s late and cold now. They’ll return home once sun will show its face again” Mona said, told the guys to throw Harald out and see him off. Her orders were followed and the scene was over for another hour when Harald came back with the guards this time.
Everyone was different this time. “They stole my children my fellow soldiers” he said with a broken voice. “And they don’t let me take them back home”.
“This man came here looking for a fight and we gave him what he desired. Come upstairs and see for yourself, they all are doing well. I told him that it’s cold outside, much cold for these thin-skinned babies to survive. Sun shows itself and they can return with their parents. That’s part of the code approved by Lord John himself” she said and showed a tiny notebook at the end of which was John’s seal. The men checked and it was correct, the code was written and the seal was genuine.
“And what happens when one wants?” asked the head of the guards.
“Children are under the ward of their mothers till they leave these premises. Here, it’s written too” she said and showed another line. “Here comes the mother and then their guardianship returns to their parents. Here is one of its kind and its laws are unique, different than those outside. You can go to the court of his highness if you will, and he’ll tell you the same”.
Law is a strong tool which becomes the deadliest sword in the hands of the powerful, but more so in the hands of the right. It was the case in the two pearls of the two domains, Damaria in south and Sval in north, making both the lands of peace the much-wicked human nature allowed.
The guard read the code and itched his head. “There’s nothing we can do, all is clear” he said looking at Harald.
“But these are my children?”
He tried to invoke the head guard’s mercy to no avail.
“Law is law. Come boys, we’re done here.”
“Please take him with, we don’t need more scenes here.”
So were Mona’s last words. Erik took Harald’s arm and all left the building.
-XV-
Next day by early morning Harald was back, this time with Anna. He left the speaking to her who didn’t say much other than that she wanted her babies back.
“And where are your children?” Mona asked.
“Back home, waiting for us.”
“I’d rather you take them here and stay till the cold leaves for good” Mona said begging her approval with her eyes but alas! Albeit with different reasons, this husband and wife were thick-headed soulless pieces of trash against which Mona was powerless.
“I can’t stay away longer; my boy waits for me. My boy…” Anna said and started crying. Mona sighed, the babies were brought down and handed to their parents. Thankfully the little window of not-deadly-cold was going on.
“You don’t even care, why you need them?” Mona asked as they were to leave.
“You’d know had you a child, whore. Have one and you’ll see” Harald replied, smiled below his broken nose, turned back and left. Mona was hit from her weakest point. No one, not even she knew the number of children born to her but she was just a simple midwife and nothing more for any. She was to pass with just a legacy, no one to carry her name further.
-XVI-
Days passed. In the early days of February three people got poisoned at the school, including Erik. The suspect, or the culprit if you will, was clear but there was no proof, neither anyone cared much till they died in few days. Investigation later showed that there was something in the wine consumed by none other except those in a night shift. Anyone could have done it, meaning no one had done it. The case was closed with no one being brought to justice and no one thought that this would be a sign of what was to come.
In mid-March, though, half the town got sick and the case was remembered – especially by Mona. “Three of ‘em, neither healed” she thought as she heard about the disease. “Three of ‘em. Olaf, Mary and Gertrude. Three of ‘em, and the poison in the yield. Is it? No, no way” she thought after a sip from her mulled wine.
In two weeks deaths started. No one was able to eat or drink with fear. If not from the disease, from hunger healthy folk would start to die. Something needed to be done and the first, as usual, was a public prayer led by both the soothsayer and the chief priest. Four times a day they were held to no avail. The sick were dying and tension was rising.
One of those days came Olaf, John’s chief physician, and questioned everyone at the school, including and most extensively Mona, of how the three died and what remedies they tried. Eliminating some options would benefit all but he didn’t find much.
The day Olaf left the source of the problem was found: of the four main silos of the city, one had grains infected with no one knew what and all the sick had eaten of it at some point. The rest of the grains in the silo were burned, other silos, which had much less left before the coming spring, were checked and found to be safe and the question started spreading around: why was one infected with this damn thing and not the others? One should have done it but who?
Mona sought revenge for a while for what had happened and had found an excuse in the end.
“Harald hated us and the guards for we took care of his newborns. See, the silo next to the garrison is the source of the curse. Question him, he has to confess!”
So was he taken by the guards on the way back from the bathhouse in early morning and detained, few of his teeth were given to his hand after his right leg broken with a huge shovel. Still, he didn’t confess his crimes. “I’m no man to attack one from his behind. I never yield from fight, even if it costs my life”! He was right, though. Lately he wasn’t favoured by anyone, many had a reason to dislike him, even hate and desire his death, but this and this way? No. Where would he find poison in the first place? He was a master blacksmith but that was all, he was more than ignorant about practically everything else.
It didn’t matter for the folk. Everyone started saying one thing or another about him.
“He was beating his wife so badly that the poor girl couldn’t even leave home not to show her marks.”
“He owed me tons and threatened me with the lives of my children, that fuck!”
“He’s said to work for them northerners. One of his grandparents is a Svalian, did you know?”
“Ralph had paid him a healthy sum for it. He can’t take Damaria so long we stand, and he did this for us to fall!”
“He’s a damn degenerate fucking donkeys and horses.”
“What the hell is three children? Who in history has seen such thing? They’re the three demons of hell came to life. He’s the Satan, he shouldn’t walk among us – neither his offspring!”
“I once saw him doing some magic. I didn’t get what it was, now I understand that it was black art!”
There’s no limit to human creativity. What wasn’t said about him? It all revolved around one common theme: Harald’s pen was broken.
-XVII-
Worry still was growing inside Mona and she went to the temple to talk with the soothsayer privately. She hadn’t the time for her and was refused but she repeated her request over and over again till the soothsayer had to accept it.
“We’re in the middle of catastrophe, be quick with what you have to say” she said as she sat at the table. Mona didn’t intend to take her time anyway.
“You know of Stephen’s prophecy?”
A cold breeze filled the room.
“And how do you know of it?” the soothsayer asked raising from her chair and reaching to Mona, who could feel her breathe on her neck.
“How I know of is irrelevant. Can it…”
“That’s simple nonsense, the whims of a long-forgotten monk from time immemorial” the soothsayer whistled.
“Three of ‘em” Mona said but her words were put in her mouth again.
“Don’t ever dare to say those words in this room or you’ll be in the grave before Harald!”
“This… I thought…”
“Then don’t think!”
Clearly the soothsayer had heard of this prophecy and it was obvious even to the blind eye that she believed in it. Why refuse it, then?
The soothsayer walked to the door and held the handle. “If you don’t have more to say” she asked and showed the door.
“It’s true, then” Mona said raising from her chair and walking to the room. “South shall never crawl” the soothsayer cried and kicked Mona out. She had the answer she sought. “South shall never crawl”. Yes, she definitely had it.
-XVIII-
Harald, after hours of torture and hunger, was brought to justice in the end on the first day of April. Unable to walk and speak, he was dragged to the main square where the trial was to be made. None stepped forward to defend him – and all wanted his head, of course together with Anna and their children.
I said law, right? As per Damarian code, everyone had the right to defend themselves. Harald’s inability to speak and him finding no advocates caused this first sitting of the court be concluded with him being treated fairer so that he’d be able to defend himself in the next one, three days later. Folk would rather see him at the stake but having found the culprit, they could wait for three more days.
Mona watched Anna closely during the sitting. Everyone was angry and full of rage, upset, sad, and all the feelings sisters and brothers of these and many more, yet with Anna this wasn’t the case. She had worn her white dress, even had a light make-up. She was… Happy? I dare say she was even if I don’t know why. Yes, she’d be happy to be rid of her husband but this didn’t seem to be the only reason. It was to be found out in three days anyway if Harald would gain enough power to speak.
But gods didn’t allow it.
The night before the second sitting Mona heard cries out on the street. She cocked her ears and listened carefully.
“Fire! Fire in the forest! Fire, it is ablaze!”
There was but one reason if Mona managed to stand and not fall. She ran in the opposite direction of all and rushed to Anna. She was home, didn’t care in the slightest about what was going on and rehearsing what she had to say tomorrow at the court. Mona realized how happy she looked now, even gained some weight which returned her beauty.
“Ah, you. Welcome, come in” she said opening the door wide open. “Long I couldn’t see you to thank. And here, please accept it” she said reaching to a drawer and handing Mona a pouch.
“You should leave, now” Mona said refusing the coin.
“And why is that?”
“They’ll… They’ll kill you. There’s fire and Harald is in jail. You’re his henchman, so will think the people.”
“Ah, really?” Anna said with a hysterical laugh. “Good, good. I was working on it anyway”.
“On what?”
“On my confession tomorrow. I thought they’d take only him but will be better if us both!”
“This is madness!” Mona cried and slapped Anna. The girl didn’t care about the slap. She had brought good news, why should she have? “Please, this too” she said taking another pouch. “I thought to return to Gaba but seems they won’t be of use for me no more”.
“You have to” Mona said but couldn’t finish her sentence. The door was broken and five people were in to take Anna and the children. One looked at Mona with confused eyes.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“She came to say goodbye. Please, lead on” Anna said merrily but paused for a moment. “Shall you let me at least change”?
Would they? Yeah, why not? There was no need to take her out half naked. Mona wore her white dress again and even found time to redden her cheeks with some berries. “Now if you may” she said to Mona, again handing her the pouches, took two of her babies to her bosom, leaving one for the invaders and the three younglings walking by themselves, left the room singing a song loudly and cheerfully against the lyrics.
Here comes the end, awaited for years,
Dry your eyes girl, no more need for tears,
Drop the huge pack of terror and the fears,
One two not enough, she needs all your cheers!
“Madness! Madness!” Mona cried desperately and ran to the square. Half the town were preparing to extinguish the fire while other half were already at the square, demanding Harald’s head. Court was quickly set and Harald was brought. Who was the henchman? This sure was his making, who aided him in making the honorable people of Damaria suffer even more?
Harald still was unable to speak. A weak sound was heard in the crowd. Anna had spoken.
“Me. It is me.”
Hardly the guards reached Anna before she was lynched. They took her in front of the judge, John in this case, and she confessed of what Harald and she had done. She spoke so effectively and powerfully that no one, not even Mona if she didn’t know the truth, doubted what she said.
John turned to Harald and asked if Anna was telling the truth on his behalf. The man hardly shook his head but John wasn’t in a position to believe in him, neither could face the wrath of the mob. Anna had confessed anyway, why would he believe in Harald?
“I, the Lord of Damaria, the chief judge, the protector of the land and people, and their honor, dignity and prosperity, condemn Harald Whittaker and his wife Anna Whittaker of murder and arson, and enmity towards the people of Damaria, to death. The time and the procedure shall be determined by the court justice no later than now.”
“There’s more” spoke the soothsayer who wasn’t supposed to be there as it was the breaking of the monastic code. “The crimes committed are motivated by an archaic prophecy, which was kept safe and away from all ears, and against not only the state but also the temple. I, as the co-burdener of heavenly authority, demand the execution of not only these two but also of their offspring, for otherwise they shall rise to bring more wrath on this holy and sacred land, and the rule of gods shall perish and the rule of misery shall be installed forever and after”.
The people didn’t have the time to question if she had the right to be present at the court. “Death to all!” they cried. “An eye for an eye, a life for a life”!
At that moment was given the verdict. Those guilty against the temple were executed by being thrown from Arina’s Cliff, a tall promontory behind the temple, maybe the strangest landform in all south, after the morning prayer. “The soothsayer spoke” John said and the case was closed.
-XIX-
Mona didn’t have much time if she wasn’t to be late. She ran to the school and grabbed some food, sheets and coin, the much she could carry in such short notice, loaded two horses and moved in the shadows, which wasn’t that necessary as all the people were busy with the condemned and the fire, and left the city to reach the bottom of the cliff after a long climb down and a shorter one up afterwards, with the hope of one in a million chance would come true and she could grab the baby – and alive.
No one’s born to live forever. The first breath is the first mark of death, she had met it at an early age and spent her life to keep it away, no one knew it better than her. Any baby was more precious than all the riches of world for her, but this one was different. Her sister had told of this one’s coming. No, death was too early for him. Death was to come, none of us could ever avoid it. But now? No, not now. “Falling the hill, my sister told me” she was thinking, “and rising to top. How is to be decided by gods. Run boy, run. Run damn it”!
She rode in the dark of the night teared only with the tiny light of the torch, not only thinking of the prophecy but also of herself. She wouldn’t be able to return to Damaria, she’d company the boy to death and honestly, she was too young to die yet. Are we ever old enough? I’m yet to see one thinking so. Death may be the sole true thing on earth, yet always is to come sometime in the future and not in the present. The following moment that one commits suicide comes the will to live more than ever, least said so by a survivor. No, there’s no correct timing for death, even for the terminally ill. Life is a gift given once and only once, it needed to be enjoyed even in the darkest hours of life.
But Mona had died for Damarians the moment she stepped out of the gate. She wouldn’t be able to return with or without the boy. The committed woman to such great cause, desiring to play her role in fulfilling a centuries old prophecy and becoming a legend thereafter, one that would be in the minds, hearts and tongues of many a people to come few hours back wasn’t sure of what she had done no more, and there was no return. “Gods guide my way” she prayed. “You’ve given me what I wouldn’t even be able to imagine, now help me one last time”. No, it wasn’t right. “Sorry gods. Help me once more, not for the last time. Later I’ll need even more”.
The descent was over at the darkest hour of the night and the ascent started. New moon didn’t give almost no light and the torch had ran out. Her heart and body were shaking in fear, even more so when she heard even the quietest sound. When she turned one corner she saw the fire and her heart got filled with courage. No wonder why fire was deemed sacred by many, she realized at that very moment.
Few more hours later the skies started turning blue. The time for the prayer, hence the execution was coming close. Would they have thrown them already? Hope left her once more. Yeah, the folk were mad. It could have happened already. “I’ll see, not long left” she thought, hoping to find only bones and no flesh.
Another hour and she was there, as was light. She could even hear people shouting all the way up. Quickly she tried to position herself and found four sticks hoping the boy would fall on the sheets unharmed. Then she hid under the cliff and waited, not for long.
Harald was the first to arrive. He fell like a sack of flour, didn’t even bounce with the force of the fall. Then came Anna, who was crying for his firstborn. “I’m coming my love, I’m on my way” she was saying, and fell just next to Harald. The two had lived together in life and their bones were to lay next to each other after death. They were followed by their three elder children, seeing which laying dead with blood leaking out of their skulls, mouth and noses broke Mona’s heart so much, and the end came close. Now was the time for the triplets.
Mona took a step out and looked up. Her eyes weren’t as sharp as she’d want at that very moment. How would she manage to hold the boy, how would he remain unharmed? Both Harald and Anna had fallen far from the sheets fastened to the sticks and she hadn’t the time to reposition it. All she could do was pray, which she had been doing for hours and gods should have been sick of her already. “Not now gods. Please, not now. I… Yes, I know what: I’ll sacrifice seven healthy sheep, one for each of you”.
Don’t know because gods were tired of her prayers, there really was a heavenly plan, liked Mona, the boy, or both, or that sheep sounded tasty and good, they accepted her prayers. Seeing three things coming, she aimed for the one in the middle. Took one step forward and to the left, then another step to right, behind, again front and voila! She was holding a baby in her hands while other two had hit the ground and already were on the halls of gods, seeking their parents and siblings.
Mona quickly checked the baby. Yes, it was a boy. Breathing? Yes, breathing! “Thanks gods, thanks gods!” she cried and quickly hid back under the cliff in case anyone would take a look down. She sat there for half an hour in fear and left quickly jumping on her horse.
-XX-
We seek refuge in our childhood, the merriest of times for many, and she was no different. Rather unconsciously she rode north towards the peaks of Garamald Mountains behind which was Sval, keeping praying that none did and would see her. An hour later she was in the forest where she took a break and sat to eat after almost one day. “We made it” she said looking at and hugging the boy. “We made it, you hear me? You’re alive, no one’s after us. We made it”!
Then came to her mind what she had seen. Bones out in the clear, seven dead bodies, Anna’s voice – and the children’s cries. Now that her adrenaline was lower, she felt so bad and disgusted, making her vomit continuously for minutes. In the end it felt like her inners wanted to get out, thankfully our bodies aren’t built that way. She had worked with cadavers and applied caesarian when needed, but what she saw… “I’m yet to have a night’s sleep free of what I saw and heard there that morning” she wrote years later in her memories.
“Knowledge is one thing, experience is another. Everyone knows that we’re made of flesh and bones, few actually came to see what it really means. Bones over another. Bones, having gathered one over another for countless years, free food for the wild, and a lesson for us living. What we’ll become is but bones, skulls fallen to one side and the arms another, bones crushing as anything falls on them and the crashing sound… I spent a life for life and death in its purity showed itself for yet another life. A moment ago they were breathing, full of life even in the terror, hoping to survive and walk away. A moment later they laid motionless, so still that even the mountains are swinging and dashing compared. I didn’t walk through death, yet am ready ever since. The biggest fear still stands, but the second left me never to return.”
She went north I said, not consciously but probably still knowing what she was doing: north and north, climbing the mountains, always separating the two realms but also her old life and the new, or half of the old and another new, just as Stephen had told: Rising to top with the endless run.
Spring had brought life back in the wild, not only life but also death was back on the land. She left the second horse behind hoping a pack of wolves would rather go behind it than them, who indeed did what she hoped, survived a bear attack with pure luck as gods seemed asleep as of then, and boars minded their own business than tasting her old loins. A week later she was atop the third highest peak of the mountains, the Iron Peak which took its name from the color it had in sunrises and sunsets alike, and watched the beautiful land laying in front of her. Another step and she was in Sval.
Never till that moment she had thought of the future. Would the people accept her? Would she be allowed to settle after twenty-five long years away from home with fifteen being in the south? Would they take the boy? What should she say about the boy? She was old for him to be her child, no one would believe in that. Why would she come from the mountain anyway? Would they kill her as they see descending? Or take alive and put into custody? Would they torture her? She tried to remember what was where. Saratan was on the eastern side of the lake, called as sea by some, and Sval sat across. Should she have gone to the city directly or aim for the village? Would the people accept her? Would she be allowed to settle?
Eh, she was asking the same questions. So many they were and none had an answer. She held the boy closer to her bosom and showed what the clear day laid in front of them. “Here is our future. Are you ready for it”?