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rhiannoneithne · 4 years ago

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Chapter 2

The next several hours felt like a whirlwind. After the matching dark green cape was thrown over my shoulders, I was escorted to a tent with many other women of the community. Some of them are from my village, some of them are from the others. They were there as I was treated like royalty. I was given a warm bath, my hair washed and combed meticulously while I listened to the chatter of the other. They never once spoke to me. Food was lain out, and it was a seemingly endless array of fruits, bread, and sweets from the fair. They helped as I was changed into a different dress, and they chuckled at my lack of underclothes. I was wearing a chemise and petticoat, but they silently insisted on lacing me into stays and added several other layers, including a chemise over the stays and a full-body shift underneath. Finally, they added the dress, which brushed the ground. It was a deep green, and the sleeves nearly half the length of the skirt. I turned to see the train in a mirror and noticed it was embroidered with leaves, flowers, fruits, and a massive stag’s head at the bottom of the train. I had never seen a dress like this at the ceremonies before. Usually, they just threw a green cape over their shoulders, and it would begin.

"Where are you putting my clothes?” I lightly touched my hand to one woman’s shoulder. She looked at me with kind, dark eyes, and smiled slightly as she continued to gather them. She left the tent without a word, and I caught a glimpse of her walking toward a small fire nearby as the tent’s curtain fluttered shut. It had grown late afternoon, and I know it had been hours, but it hadn’t felt that way.

It continued. New shoes, thin slippers that matched the dress. Flowers were braided intricately into my hair, red, yellow, green, and white. A silver crown was arranged onto my head, decorated with green stones and twists of bronze. It was incredibly heavy, but sat perfectly flush against the curves of my skull, almost as if it had been made to fit like a second skin. They all laughed and talked to each other, but not one word was addressed to me. They talked about what they were planting in their garden, the antics of their children, village gossip. Nothing about today.

Why does this feel so different? I couldn't place what felt so unnerving about what was happening. The ceremonies in years past were big, but they were silly in nature. The Stag and Doe were dressed in capes, they danced, there were words said, and there were lots of frivolities, as they were the King and Queen of the festival. They could command what they wanted, and many times pranks were pulled by the past ones. Then there was a feast, at dusk, they were taken to the edge of the forest, where they bowed to each other, said goodbye, removed their capes, and joined their families again. Something was wrong. Why would they change the ceremony for me?

Very abruptly the chatting between my attendants stopped, and everyone just left. Someone tied the tent curtain closed from the outside, and it felt very still. I could hear the festival still happening on the other side of the field, but I was closer to the forest, and the quiet felt odd. If there isn’t anyone here, I don’t necessarily have to stay, and I felt small and scared. I want my Amima.

I crept over to the curtain, put my hand through the opening, began to slowly unbuckle the straps holding it closed. When I peeked my head through the opening, no one was there. Or at least, there were no people around. There was, however, that little fox. He was about two arm’s length from the tent flap, up on his hind legs, staring at me. The stare felt strange, it was almost like his eyes were human. I looked around for something to shoo him away and found a gnarled stick in on the opposite corner. I snaked my way around a couple of tables, several chairs, and boxes that held the different pieces to my costume. I reached out and grabbed it, and began to turn toward the flap but was stopped by the strange feeling of the stick in my hand. It felt alive. I could feel the energy shoot up from the ground and into the palm of my hand, spreading up my arm to the top of my head, all the way back down to the soles of my feet. It was hot and felt like my hand was burning to the bone.

Throwing it to the ground and standing back, I couldn’t shake the feeling from my body. I looked down at my left hand, expecting to see burnt flesh. It wasn’t burnt, it was barely even pink! I just stood there in disbelief and closed my eyes. I was dizzy, and my body was tingling, the colors against my eyelids swirling as a rainbow, with tiny speckled stars floating across. Tiny speckled stars exploded into blue flames, growing larger, spreading together, and threatening to consume me. My eyes snapped open to escape the fire, and as my eyes readjusted, there was that same little fox, standing in the middle of the tent. The curiosity from earlier had turned into what looked like…impatience? He walked over to the stick, sniffed it briefly, and then looked up at me with an expression that seemed to ask “Well, what are you waiting for?” I bent down to pick it up, warily keeping my eyes on the fox, ready to chase him off if he began to growl. Luckily, he didn’t, he just kept his eyes on the stick. I grasped it again, bracing myself against what I imagined would be the same force. Instead, the heat this time was pleasant, and the tremendous amount of energy felt more like a low hum. I smiled to myself imagining it as a staff.

The fox bounded for the tent flap and turned to look back at me, then casually walked out. I followed, paying mind to check for anyone in the area. Seeing no one there I stepped out and began to take in my surroundings. The cluster of tents was at the corner of the green where it met the forest, with the main platform further down, in the direction of the setting sun. The little fox began to trot forward between two white tents, to the edge of the wood. He reached the trees and turned around like he was waiting for me to follow. I took a step forward, followed by another when suddenly a hand was upon my shoulder.

I was spun around to face my assailant, and before I could even shriek, a hand covered my mouth. I tried to back away, but the hand on my shoulder gripped tighter. “Child! Child! Stop struggling! Annalei, enough!” It was Amima, her voice a hoarse whisper, her eyes darting back and forth momentarily. I looked into her eyes, and relaxed, letting her hand drop. “Amima, why would you do that? Why are you here?”

“Shhh, quietly! My Child, listen to me, I need you to know: you need to run east.” Amima hissed, making certain no one else was near. “Don’t touch anything, just run headlong into the darkness.”

“What?” I looked at my grandmother, the wild look in her eye reminding me of a wounded animal in the forest. What happened to the unflappable woman combing my hair at the table just this morning?

“I can’t say any more, there’s someone coming!” I could hear the excited chattering of women heading in our direction. She took my face in her hands and looked deeply into my eyes, and whispered: “when it’s time, run!”. She then embraced me, wrapping her strong arms around my shoulders, and heaving a large sigh. Several women came around one of the tents to my right, with Elder Ritkka leading the way.

“Sine! I didn't think you would be part of her procession, what with your concerns earlier! How lovely, you presented our precious Annalei with a… stick?” Elder Rittka’s voice was icy.  “We really should begin.”

I found myself ushered back to the green, which had by now been transformed. There was the giant bonfire in the middle, and the rest of the smaller ones along the edges of the large field were smoldering, their smoke all billowing together in giant hot plumes of gray and white that clogged my throat and burned my eyes. I began to cough against it and felt the hand of Elder Rittka on my back. I turned to her and she smiled brightly at me, her eyes watering as well. They had already lit the bonfire while I was away.

“It’s time Annalei”, and she gently guided me by the shoulder, leading me back to the platform, where the boy was waiting. As they helped me climb the platform stairs the crowd cheered, and I looked down, feeling embarrassment blush my cheeks. Everything about this feels so strange and so wrong. The gentle hum of the walking stick against my left hand quickened slightly, almost as though it knew how I felt. I was led to stand next to the boy, who had been dressed in a simple pair of green pants, no shirt, and had upon his head a large headdress made from bronze-colored antlers, adorned with a wreath of flowers. Not just any wreath - the wreath that had been on my head earlier. I watched Elder Tommasson walk forward and address the crowd.

“Everyone, everyone! It’s time for the ceremony to begin! You are here on a very auspicious day indeed, for we have been waiting a very long time for such a pairing!” he boomed out to everyone present.

Pairing! What pairing? I turned a little toward the stairs, and out of the corner of my eye saw two attendants behind me move closer, blocking my exit.

“As you all must know, Our Lord requires a wife - a Doe, to ensure the safety of our lands and the abundance of our crops. We’ve always been safe, sheltered, and sustained. This year we come together not just to pair our children in happiness together, but to give the Our Lord what he demands, the ultimate sacrifice!” The crowd grew eerily quiet, and a few faces in the crowd looked confused. I could Amima at the front, her wizened face streaming with tears.

“This year will be a little different than the others but don’t fret, this has been foretold beyond the time of even my grandfather’s ancestors! For this time we don’t just celebrate Our Lord the Stag-King and his Wife with songs and games, but we give them all. We bind flesh to flesh, blood to blood, and bone to bone!” The tone of his voice grew more fervent and the crowd began to murmur excitedly.

The Elder turned and addressed me, “Annalei, you are our foretold Doe!” He threw out his arms and screamed it to smoke-grayed skies. The crowd erupted in cheers. “Ethirben we can’t forget your importance. You will take His place today, crowned in Our Lord’s glory!”, and with that, he bowed. The crowd erupted in thunderous praise.

I was absolutely terrified, and it must have shown. The boy - Ethirben, took my right hand and gave it a squeeze. The stick in my other hand began to feel like it was alive in my grasp again, and all I could do was stand straight and look toward the crowd, keeping eye contact with my beloved grandmother. I couldn’t laugh, I couldn’t cry, I couldn’t cheer; I was nothing but afraid. I could see that fear reflected in her eyes, too. I looked next to her and saw the confusion on Baiel’s face, even as his sister screamed wildly next to him.

Elder Tommasson continued to address us as our attendants turned Ethirben and me toward each other, but I stopped listening, hearing only my own heartbeat in my ears as I still struggled with the smoke in my eyes and lungs. One tried to take my stick, but I clutched it to myself and shook my head. I was using it at this point to hold myself steady, and without it, I knew I would be a crumpled mess on the floor. She shrugged and took out a long red rope. She began to loop it around my waist, just above my hips, and I tried to stop her, but she smacked my hands away and with a hard jerk tied it in a knot, like a belt. I looked up to see the other end of it being wrapped around Ethirben’s waist as well; though he just stood there smiling at the crowd. A third attendant held the middle of the rope off the floor and the other two took our already joined hands and tied those with a smaller, thinner, rope in the same color.

“We Bind them and we Purge them, O Lord!” she intoned.

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