by S E Turner
'He means that they are very clever and can camouflage themselves,' he tried to explain.
She thought about it for a moment. 'He has told me about that as well, that animals camouflage themselves. But he definitely said that deer were fairies.'
He looked at her with her chin on her knees, looking out onto the tranquil lake.
'Well, I guess he must be right, then,' and he carried on throwing stones into the lake.
'Perhaps you had better stop doing that,' her voice was one of concern.
'Why?'
'In case you hit a fairy.'
He looked at her and smiled. The girl who had just ridden like the most experienced horsewoman in all the subject kingdoms, was still an innocent little girl at heart, and he loved her even more for it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Three years later, Keao announced to the family that he and Red were expecting their first baby.
'That is such wonderful news, Keao. A baby in the family at last. ' Jena was suitably elated.
'Congratulations, son, it will make a man out of you to be sure.'
'What? So you don't think I am already? Keao teased.
Hagen smiled. 'You know what I mean?'
'That makes you an aunty,' said Red to Ajeya.
'Wow, can I teach it to ride a horse?'
The adults laughed.
'All in good time,' said Keao in joyful spirits. 'Maybe teach him to fire with a catapult, and to make himself invisible first, then you can teach him to ride a horse.'
She found herself daydreaming about her new role, and from that moment on, all everyone was talking about was the new baby. Jena made clothes. Keao made toys. Hagen made a crib. Peira went out foraging for all the berries and roots that would help Red during the pregnancy. Her own mother Flame made garments for her ever increasing waistline, and her father went hunting to make sure she was stocked up with protein and nutrition for the duration. Meanwhile, Red continually rearranged their hut and was constantly cleaning.
'This is so exciting,' said Jena to Flame as they sat doing their needlework together.
'I know, Jena. There is nothing like a new baby to bring joy into the kingdom.'
'What would you prefer? A boy or a girl?' asked Jena.
'As long as it's healthy, I really don't mind.'
'Yes, that's the most important thing,' and Jena carried on stitching and binding until a stack of clothes and blankets were complete.
The trimesters of pregnancy ticked by easily, and on that perfect sunny morning, an out of breath Keao suddenly burst in. 'Mother, it's coming. It's coming right now. Quickly, we have no time to spare!'
'Keao, we've got plenty of time, really we have, but I will go and get Peira straight away.'
'Son, you come with me and let the women do their job,' said Hagen. 'A nice glass of fresh milk is what she'll need when all is done.'
'I don't want to miss anything father,' said Keao, quite agitated.
'You won't. We will be back in time. These things take ages you know.'
Jena went and got Peira, and Hagen took his lad off to calm him down.
He remembered the events of the morning while he was lying in bed with his wife. 'I love you so much, Red, and if ever I thought I loved you more than life itself, nothing can compare to what I feel right now.' He kissed her head.
'I love you too, Keao, and who would have thought that when we first met, when we were milking those cows, that one day we would be married and looking forward to the arrival of our first baby.'
'I know, I just couldn't be happier.'
He put his hand on her swollen belly and smiled up at her. She felt a kick and moved his hand to where she felt the movement. 'It's nearly time, you know. If my dates are right, it really is any day now.'
'This is truly a miracle.' And he felt the infant kick again.
The amount of activity inside her womb surprised her—there was never usually this much flurry—but then a pain shot through her abdomen and she groaned.
He moved his hand away instantly, fearful that he was pressing too hard. 'Have I hurt you?' His voice was anxious.
She grabbed hold of him. 'No, you haven't hurt me. I think this baby wants to come out.' She breathed deeply and folded like scythed corn as a stab of pain sliced through her abdomen.
'I'll go and get help. Stay there, my love. I won't be long!'
She shot him a withering look. 'I promise you I won't be going anywhere.' She creased up again as another wave came over her.
'Just don't do anything until I come back. You promise me.'
He heard her scream as he ran out of the door.
The women went in to find a contorted girl in the third stage of labour, bearing down, sweating profusely, and being helped by her mother.
'Here, give her this.' Peira gave her a concoction of raspberry leaf and marigold tea. 'It will help with the pain.'
Jena had a bowl of warm water and was wiping the sweat from her brow.
'I can't do this mother, I just can't do it.'
'Yes, you can. Just breathe and control your intake of air.'
Red screamed with the pain and then started panting.
'It's all right,' said Peira. 'You are doing so well.'
'I can't do it. I am so tired.'
The women looked at each other with concerned faces.
It was a long night for everyone that last day of summer. Flame, Peira, and Jena never left her side. Hagen and Keao waited outside for hours. Dainn sat with Ajeya on the veranda and watched intently as the events unfolded.
'Any news?' Keao would say urgently.
The women could only shake their heads despondently.
'I should be in there with her, shouldn't I, father?'
'I think it's in case there are any complications,' said Hagen trying to reassure him. 'When they know everything is all right, you will be called in.'
'What sort of complications?'
'I don't know the intricacies, but your little one will be fine. You must not worry,' Hagen pulled his son into a reassuring embrace.
Keao looked at the sky for answers. There were none.
All of a sudden, they heard Red screaming his name. Keao shot up from his seated position and raced to the door. 'I have to go in there. I have to, she needs me.'
Jena came out and ushered him in. He fell at Red's side and wiped her feverish brow.
'My love, my beautiful, I am here now,' his face was draped in concern.
Too exhausted to speak, she squeezed his hand and started to push. Sweat was pouring down her face and onto her chest. Her legs were pulled up and she had them spread wide. Her long gown was covering the baby's entrance, but it didn't hide the blood.
Keao was more than fearful when he saw the crimson sheets. He looked silently at Jena for answers.
Jena's tone was hushed. 'She is giving birth, Keao. Sometimes there is a bit more blood and sometimes it takes a bit more time.'
After a few minutes, she screamed again, and he felt her squeezing his hand. Then, with gritted teeth, she bore down to push with all her might.
He wiped her face and kissed her hand. 'I love you, Red. I love you so much.'
She looked at him but still couldn't speak. Instead another intense wave came across her, and he could feel all her strength going into the push.
'I can see the crown,' called Peira excitedly. 'A mop of auburn hair. Your baby is coming.'
'Red, he's coming. Come on, push him out, let us meet our son.'
She bore down, and with one last effort, pushed her baby into its new surroundings. Then he filled his lungs to bellow, and their son made his presence known. Red fell back exhausted and Peira handed her the infant to suckle. Flame sat next to her and gushed over her new grandchild.
'Do you want to cut the cord, Keao?'
'Yes, I will. Thank you.'
Peira handed him a clean knife and held the grey and purple cord gently. Keao, ceremoniously and proudly, severed the life-giving artery in two.
He went outside the room to declare the news to the waiting family. 'I have a son, I have a boy. Father, you are a grandfather now. Ajeya, you are an aunty.'
Inside, Jena and Peira were cleaning up Red and putting a clean gown and fresh bed linen on for her. When she was ready, the people waiting outside were allowed in. She was sitting up, looking radiant and happy, with the baby content at her breast.
'What are you going to call him?' said Jena excitedly.
'This is Rufus everyone, meet little Rufus.'
'And his totem guide, have you thought about that?' Ajeya was keen to know.
'His totem will be the falcon.'
'A beautiful name and a very fitting totem,' agreed Hagen, nodding in appreciation. 'Both will serve my grandson well.'
Chapter Twenty-Five
It was five years since Rufus was born, and Ajeya was now fourteen years old. Dainn, at two years older, was teaching her to fight with a spear and develop her skills as an archer. Though now, she noticed how he looked at her in a different way. She had never seen anyone look at her the way he did. His eyes sparkled with respect and admiration when she spoke, his voice was always full of praise when she did something. He always put her first in everything they did. Sometimes she found herself blushing at his humbling words and found it hard to accept such praise, but for a young girl in the throws of adolescence, it built confidence at a time when she needed it. Because of him, she would always believe in herself.
'You are such a natural. All those years practising with the catapult as a youngster has certainly paid off.'
'That's down to Keao. He's the one who encouraged me from an early age.'
'Well, he did the right thing. Your focus is exemplary, and your aim is always on target. That's why we should train together with as many weapons as possible.'
'I'm all for that. What shall we start with?'
'How about a spear?'
Yet while Ajeya could not match Dainn's mighty throw, which gave him a greater range, he could not match her accuracy.
The spear was made from a light wood and he made her practise holding the spear in the palm of her hand so that she could find the balance point at any given time. Then, she was taught to raise the spear to her ear, so she could see the weapon through her peripheral vision. Keeping it a horizontal position, she had to feel it connect with her arm until it was an extension of her own body. Envisaging the wood as a living entity, with all the power from whence it had grown running through its shaft, would enable her to aim, throw and hit her target accurately.
Dainn's strong overhand cast definitely gave him the advantage with his lift, so he spent hours helping to improving her technique. Putting one foot forward and leaning back into the throw would give the greatest momentum in flight. Raising her other arm assisted the counterbalance, and as she released the shaft, he told her to follow through every time, for a powerful cast was nothing without a proper execution. All the while, she was encouraging him to build his own accuracy skills. The padded leathers round the target tree didn't last very long from the constant puncturing. And daily, another shield had to be put up. Naturally, the more they practised, the better they became.
He was the perfect companion and always encouraged her when she missed and shared her triumph when her aim was on target. He always gave her advice how to improve and listened with respect and genuine interest to her suggestions.
Though something else was changing as she developed and grew. An accidental touch made her warm inside, and when he stood behind her to guide her, folding his strong hand around her own, or positioning her waist and hips for greater accuracy, it always made her gasp. And as they teased and joked and laughed together, the subtlest, most innocent gesture took on a different meaning.
The next challenge for them was to improve accuracy with a bow and arrow, and they decided to go to a cave for that rather than ruin any more trees. There they could light a fire and make tea or cook a squirrel or a wood pigeon for supper. The cave was always a special place for them to train, and as the days rolled into months, it soon became years.
'What happened to your face?' he asked one day.
She nearly choked on her tea. 'Where did that come from?'
'I am sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you.' his voice was sincere.
'You haven't embarrassed me, you just took me by surprise.'
He couldn't resist, and he reached to feel the contours of her cheek. His touch held her motionless. She couldn't pull away. She felt his fingers as they traced the imperfection and watched as his eyes followed the thin pale line. He wasn't even aware of her breathing quicken as she tingled with the touch. He just thought of her as a beautiful woman with an incredible strength at her core. And yet this disfigurement made her vulnerable and fragile, like a butterfly with a creased wing; and he knew that he would love her forever.
'You are an amazing woman, Ajeya, and so very special. Not only do you have a beautiful face, but you are so strong and determined. You have a good heart, you are an exemplary horse woman, and without doubt, a most formidable warrior.'
She blushed. 'Thank you.' She felt her face and touched it delicately. 'I was born like this ... and have faced my fair share of prejudice to be sure, but instead of disempowering me, it has defined me and made me stronger.'
He smiled at her humility and traced the line with a keen eye. 'It looks more of a knife wound to me.'
Her fingers reached up as if to feel it for the first time. 'No... it cannot be. Who would have done such a thing to a newborn baby? Besides, my mother would have known. No... it became visible when I was two days old. It's just one of those unexplainable things that I've had to live with.'
He raised an eyebrow, incredulous, but brushed the concern from her face and kissed the imperfection. She felt warm and safe next to him. With his statuesque height and broad shoulders and body covered in a soft golden down, he really was like a god, and any deformity at birth had healed long ago. Nevertheless, she still found herself asking the question. 'So, what happened to your legs?'
He stretched them out before him and tensed up the powerful muscles. 'I was born with twisted legs, though you wouldn't know it now. My mother and father insisted on fitting splints and did lots of muscle building exercises, so now I am strong and the same as any other man.'
'You are more than any other man,' she said with acumen. 'You have an extraordinary strength and an empowering way about you. The way you see things, the way you feel things. It makes me wonder if people like us are given another sense, a special ability from a greater force to make up for our affliction.'
'Maybe we do,' he said thoughtfully. 'But maybe we just appreciate everything we have overcome, and therefore see things in a different way.'
'Yes, maybe you are right.'
'We are both right—because we are both survivors.'
She felt humbled at being called a survivor and thought it an exceptional accolade. Her mother was definitely a survivor, and the real force behind her determination. So many women were at last finding a voice and a strength in a kingdom that was dominated by men, and that made her smile.
Though the man sitting beside her was honourable, kind, and full of humility, and she thanked the gods, in addition to her totem, for their guidance. But she soon realised that she didn't know everything about him and that despite talking about everything for the last ten years, she still didn't know what his guide was. And she asked that very question.
'Well, I think you are going to have to guess that one,' he responded.
'Out of all the animals I know, how am I going to guess that?' her own response was benevolent.
'What animal do you think best serves me?' he challenged her.
'Something powerful, so it could be a horse. Or a good hunter, so it could be a heron. Or something small like a beetle,' She followed her pathetic attempts with a furrowed brow.
'Well, it's none of those,' he raised his brows.
See, I am not very good a
t it,' she admitted her weakness. 'I thought that the hare was small and weak until Keao pointed out how powerful it is.'
'Yes, the hare has the moon as its home. The hare is very powerful,' he praised knowingly.
'So, what is your totem then?' she persisted.
'It looks like you are going to have to marry me to find out, aren't you? Because then it is all revealed.' He pulled her into his loving embrace and held her close, shrouded by the flickering fire reaching high into the vaults of the cavernous dome above where it displayed the unfathomable power it was born with.
Chapter Twenty-Six
For the first time in her life, Ajeya posed a real quandary for her mother. The Clan of the Mountain Lion were hosting The Gathering that year, and she wanted to go.
'But I am old enough, mother. Dainn is going, Keao and Red are going, even Rufus is going and he's only ten.'
Jena didn't take her eyes off the sheet she was folding. 'I'm sorry, Ajeya, but we left in such a hurry. There were terrible things going on, and because of the difficult circumstances, we couldn't say goodbye. I am worried that if Laith and Artemisia saw you, then questions would be asked.'
'What sort of questions mother? It was so long ago now.' Her tone was incredulous. 'Had you considered that they might not even recognise me.'
Jena tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. Ajeya grabbed an apple, threw herself into a chair, and bit off a large chunk. She knew that she would be recognised by anyone who had seen her as a young child. Her disfigurement had branded her and made her instantly recognisable.
'If it was anywhere else, you could go, but not to the Clan of the Mountain Lion. Things might be said that I wouldn't want you to hear,' continued her mother.
So, on that day, Ajeya stayed behind, and watched as Colom led his party off to the Gathering, alongside her brother and sister in law, with Rufus and Dainn in attendance.
The wagons rolled through the hills, exposing the great grasslands, displaying yet another facet of the renewing cycle as the Hill Fort Tribe travelled. Strands of amber, bronze and crimson stretched out for miles before them and the last pulses of colour were desperately holding on. Here, the feathered grass dominated the meadows, turning the land into waves of softly billowing silver; but already the plumes were dying off and the rich plains were turning from silver to gold.