Together Forever: A Druid's Curse

by Leslie M. Joyner

  Nearby a stream gurgled and here she cleansed the wound and packed it with the special herbs that her mother had taught her to use. Although she was exhausted from her run, and her energy was drained from her because of the wound, she continued homeward, away from the soldier’s fort…

  The stars disappeared and the sun rose, bringing to life the singing birds and chirping squirrels of the forest that scampered away from her approaching footsteps. By noon she reached the edge of the camp and there she passed out. White Sky and Soaring Eagle came running from the other side of the encampment. They knew that she had been gone to long, and when the bullet pierced her flesh they felt her pain, but they could do nothing to help her. They took their fallen sister to the Shaman’s tent and within minutes She-wolf was awake…

  For hours she explained to her sisters and the elders what had happened to the small party that had went to trade the furs. All where dead, except for her. At the end of the tale the Elders dismissed them…

  “We cannot allow this to continue. It has been bad enough that the white man has taken our land, but now they think that they can have anything they desire, from our horses to our women. This I will not stand for…” the Chief’s son Strong Bear was furious and stormed out of the tent… His best friend Running

  Fawn (for he had not yet come of age, and now never would, for an adult name) had been killed in the party that was with She wolf.

  Meanwhile the sisters waited for word of what action would be taken against the white men that had attacked them at the nearby fort. By nightfall rumor through the camp was that the elders would do nothing, and that they would not condone any violent action taken by the warriors. This infuriated She-wolf…

  “I will not sit here and watch them do nothing. If we do not make a stand now the white man will surely destroy every one of our people… I have seen the violence of the white man, the so-called civilized man… If they are so civilize why do they seek to take and destroy everything that the mother earth has given to her people? The white man will not stop, it is up to us to stop them!!!!” She-wolf spoke angrily to her sisters, and stormed out of the teepee, bent on revenge. The rest of the encampment slept peacefully as She-wolf and her sisters crept out of the clearing and into the forest. Quietly they walked to the nearest white settlement 7 miles away…

  They stared at the small homes that were on the edges of the town… Not a single light glowed from any of the houses… She Wolf whispered so silently that her sisters did not audibly hear her, but they new what they must do … With a single gasp of air the windows of the town began to shake and then explode into the night… Fires raged on destroying first one white man’s home and then another, until no buildings were left standing in the town, not even a barn… They returned to their tent, only to find the warrior Burning Coal standing inside…

  You have disobeyed the Councils order to leave the white men alone. I am to take you to them; they are waiting for you now. He escorted them outside and across the encampment to the Elders lodge…

  The night was just beginning to leave; yet it did not appear that the sun was going to rise. The first winter storm was to fall upon the people today…

  “You have broken orders and taken revenge upon yourselves. We know what you have done to the settlers to the east. We do not understand how it was done, for only a Shaman has even a smattering of the power that you showed last night….” Chief Little Bear (although small in stature he was one of the tribes most noble and achieved warrior) began, but before he could finish the Shaman began to yell….

  “They are evil. No one who is not a demon spirit could have created such destruction with mere thoughts as they did. It is not safe to have them alive. What if only one of us offends them, will they destroy that one man, or will they destroy the whole tribe…?” The Shaman continued until he had run out of breath. Meanwhile, outside of the elder’s Lodge the entire tribe had gathered at the ravings of the Shaman’s. And they listened intently….

  By night fall the sisters were strapped to stakes and burned in order to rid the tribe of the demon spirits that plagued the tribe…

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Salem, MA 1692

  “Twas they, I swear it on the good book.”

  Abigail cried as she pointed to the terrified girls who stood together hands clasped so that no one could separate them. The parson looked from sister to sister to sister. Thinking to himself that they must be of the devil. Never before in the history of Salem village had there been identical children been born at one time, especially three, and who remain together and are never separated. So rarely did they interact with the other children that the only explanation the parson could see was that they were either of the devil or children possessed by the devil’s henchmen…

  Yet by looking a the three sisters one sees only their innocence and could also surmise that they were of God and not the devil… “Ye stand accused of witchcraft and of being in league with the Prince of Darkness. How do you plea?” The parson’s voice resounded deep and sure from the stone structure of the church, and courthouse. In unison they said, “We plea not guilty, we have not now nor ever in the past had any dealings with the fallen angel Lucifer. Nor have we in any way harmed Good woman Smithers.” They then returned to their silent stance that they had continued since they beginning of the inquest. As in all courts, the crowd murmured amongst themselves. The majority of the crowd was like most and hoped for a verdict of guilty…

  “This court disagrees and feels that under the circumstances of ye unnatural conduct and speaking only amongst ye selves, that unless ye confess to being witches, thou shalt be hanged tomorrow at dawn.” the Reverend Cotton knew that they were of Satan, and he would do everything in this power to have them destroyed either before they confess our after, it did not matter to him… Katherine stepped forward, “If it be God’s will that my sisters and I join Him on the morrow, then so be it. For the Lord himself says, ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged. For what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged…’ And as long as He who sits on high knows that we have committed no crimes against Good woman Smithers, or any person, or even Him, then we are justified in our knowledge that we are innocent.”

  At this Katherine stepped back and joined her sisters. “So be it, John Henry and Martin escort them to the stockades ‘til tomorrow’s dawn. Wesley you and your men are to prepare the gallows in the courtyard…” The judges sentence rang loud and clear as his gavel beat the tone of death throughout the small hollow church…

  The sun began to rise slowly over the village of Salem as the townspeople gathered at the gallows. They all knew that the sisters were innocent yet with the mass hysteria of witchcraft in the surrounding area the felt that it was better that three young girls be sacrificed in order to save them selves. By the full rise they were led to the gallows and again the Reverend Cotton asked if the would confess…

  “This be ye only chance, children. Confess now and embrace the lord in your death, or forever burn in eternity with Satan…” They remained silent as the noose was placed around each of their necks and their faces remained solemn. The Parson gave the signal and with a loud THUD, they were blown into the next life, leaving behind a world of skepticism and ridicule for being, not different, but the same…

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Germany 1944

  Darkness had long descended, and the town’s chapel struck the midnight hour. Smoke filled the sky and the nostrils of the survivors as they struggled through the rubble searching for missing loved ones…

  They knew that their countrymen deserved every bomb dropped on them by the allies. They only regretted that the innocent children were being killed in the process, not only by the Allies infantry attacks and air strikes, but by their own nation…

  Those who would not obey the Fuhrer’s orders were either killed immediately or sent to the camps along with the Jews. Those who survived wished that had been killed… Three girls had defied the Nazi in charge of their district a
nd they had barely escaped his men who had orders to take them to the nearest camp… They were now fugitives from their on homeland…

  In the woods they found slight shelter from the weather and the falling debris from the bombs, but this shelter would not last long under the constant barrage of bombing. When morning came they were making their way through the forest. By mid-afternoon they when they thought that they had traveled far enough away from the city a German patrol found them… “Grab them!” The Sergeant shouted to his men. The same men that they had escaped from where the ones now working a patrol and had recaptured them…

  By nightfall before the bombing started again they had been crammed into a cattle train car bound for Auschwitz - Birkenau. The train arrived at the camp five days later. The stench of human waste and decomposition of the “lucky ones” (those who died before reaching the camp) had become intolerable for many. This had induced vomiting for some, which only added to the smell. The guards were finally opening the compartment doors to unload the “cargo” after sitting in the depot for half a day. As they were being unloaded the men and women, as well as the children were being separated…

  After the initial separation, they were again separated into age groups. The youngest and the oldest (as well as any who were crippled or appeared to be so sick that they would not survive the week) were sent to the “showers” and were told that they would be reunited with their families for the evening meal…

  The people left were sectioned of by occupations and unskilled laborers… The girls were only fourteen, and had no skills. Slowly the people were herded towards their new places of employment to finish the day. The Nazi Officers stood speaking among themselves as the new prisoners were marched by. But one stood staring intently into the many faces of the frightened people…

  Every so often he would gesture to someone, usually two people ad the Sergeant would pull them from the ranks. As the lines processed, he saw Anna, Sara and Megan. Immediately another Sergeant pulled them aside and took them across the camp to wooden barracks that did not look good enough to house livestock. Here they were given a hot bath and a hot meal (although what the meal consisted of was anyone’s guess), and they were allowed to sleep… “A very remarkable finds Robert…” Dr. Mengle was stating to his comrade Dr. Robert Ritter as they spoke about genetics over cigars and schnapps. “I haven’t had time yet to examine or question them, but I expect from my preliminary observations of their appearance and body movement, that they may in fact be triplets, a very rare find indeed. Just imagine the wealth of knowledge that could be gained from their genetic structure alone…” Richard could feel Josef’s excitement in the air as he listened to the Doctor. “Are they Jewish?” Dr. Ritter asked slowly as he blew circles with his cigar smoke.

  “This is even better they are Gypsies. Who knows what knowledge they hold of their peoples powers and curses…” This was another case to cause excitement, for many of the higher ranking officials in the Nazi Government were quite intrigued and some even obsessed with any aspect of the occult… Five am came none to soon for Dr. Josef Mengle, who had hardly slept that night in anticipation of questioning and examining the girls. For the girls it came to soon. For what they thought had been a nightmare was just the beginning…

  “Do as you are told for as long as you can stand it and perhaps you can survive until the Allies can rescue us.”

  An older woman who wore the Jewish star told them as she gave them their new clothes and then lead them to the Doctor’s office.

  “Good morning girls. I am Dr. Josef Mengle, but al of my children here call me Uncle Mengle.” He walked to the front of the desk where the girls were seated ad gave them each a peppermint stick. Although this Nazi was being nice to them, quite charming in fact, they knew that he was an evil man. “Do you speak German?”

  “Yes.” They replied in unison. “Good, good. Now let us begin with some simple questions so that I can get to know my new girls. What are your names?” They stood as they answered and then returned to their seats after they finished…

  “Anna Spidla.”

  “Sara Spidla.”

  “Megan Spidla.”

  “Very good, those are nice names. And who were your parents?”

  “Sebastian and Annabella Spidla.”

  Anna replied. “And do you know when they were born? Agan Ann replied, “Father was born on July 8, 1907 and Mother on November 28, 1910.”

  “When is your birthday?”

  “April 23, 1929.” Megan answered somewhat timidly. “All of you. Then that makes you triplets. Good, very good. And where are you girls from?”

  “We were born in Hungary but have traveled all of our lives to Romania, Poland and other countries that we do not remember because we were so young.” Sara replied hoping that cooperation would make things easier as the barracks caretaker had somewhat suggested. “And do you know where your parents were from?”

  “Somewhere in Bulgaria.”

  Agan Anna began to answer for the group. “Did you ever know any of your grandparents?”

  “Yes. They were Stefan and Abagail Ramirez on Mother’s side and Johann and Gretchen Spidla and Father’s side. They were from somewhere in Romania, but we move around so much it is sometimes to know exactly where.”

  Anna was hoping that things would be over soon.

  “What is your religion?”

  “Catholic.”

  Anna replied flatly. Do you have any knowledge of your families past religious beliefs, experiences, or affiliations?” Dr. Mengle knew that not even a frightened Gypsy would willingly acknowledge a practice or belief in the occult to a gadje (an outsider), but he hoped that a simple question about religion would through one of the girls off balance. “We have been Catholics all of our lives and I am fairly certain that our parents were, as for our grandparents, we only saw them in Catholic churches, therefore we assume that they were Catholics. There is much to their lives that no one has ever told us about. As for ‘religious experiences’ go…

  None of us have ever had any visions or spoken to God, if that is what you mean.”

  Anna knew that Mengle was fishing for anything dealing with spirits, curses or any other supernatural occurrences. He continued asking them questions about themselves and their families (or tribe), hoping to trip one of them into giving the information that he sought… But they knew better… They were barely accepted in their own community for their unnatural abilities, they knew that to disclose the information to the Nazis would surely mean their death.

  After the questions, which the girls thought would never end; they were escorted by Dr. Mengle’s assistant to separate examining rooms and told to disrobe. Soon the doctor returned with a different assistant. After the most embarrassing 45 minutes, in each examining room, the girls had been poked, prodded, and looked at in every conceivable place. They were then allowed to return to their barracks for the noon meal…

  After lunch the girls were taken along with several other children to “classrooms” for testing. The tests were given in German, so many of the children could not even begin, simply because they were from Poland, or other surrounding countries now occupied by the Third Reich. Anna, Sara, and Megan, however, were proficient in not only their Roma (or Gypsy) Language but in German, polish Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, and French. Perhaps if they had been exposed to English (or any other language for that matter) they would pick it up as easily as they had the other languages. It only took the sisters two hours to complete a three-hour test, in a foreign language, & this pleased Mengle considerably. After two other tests in Polish & Russian they were allowed to join the other girls that had been at Birkenau for sometime. They were in a small field gathering wildflowers, but there was something strange. Finally it hit Anna “like a freight train.” There was almost two of everyone (a few of the girls were singles but they looked familiar); no matter how old (the oldest pair looked about 16) and no matter how young (there was a couple of 4 year olds just sitting & picking weeds
and flowers). There was something else very eerie no one was speaking. This was very odd for a group of 40 children, but it did not take many days for the girls to find out about the terror that had silences the children.

  The sun began to lower itself on the western horizon and the evening meal whistle was blowing. They all returned to the barracks in silence to wash before supper. This would be the sister’s first meal with the other prisoners. As they followed the other twins to the mess hall there was still silence. Inside there were more children, boys to be precise, and they were like the girl children… each had a twin & if they were not twins they looked familiar. Megan then realized that the singles were fraternal twins because if the boys had long hair they would look just like some of the girl singles. All total there were more than 60 children there seated for supper & still no one spoke. After supper each group returned to their barracks to shower and got to bed, if you could call a wooden slab with one blanket and two and three girls to a slab a bed. Still no one spoke. After the lights went out the sisters could hear a few soft whispers, but mostly they heard muffled cries and they could feel the fear that emanated from the others.

  Anna, Sara, & Megan slept some; awakening anytime someone’s sobs broke above a murmur. To soon the sun rose and their first real day of hell was to begin. The sun’s first rays began to break through the shuttered windows as the first morning whistle was blown. Quickly everyone arose and went to the lavatories to wash as the barracks overseer helped the younger ones. The sisters followed suit. The silence again permeated the room.

  Anna, Sara, & Megan joined in the silence and spoke to no one except themselves & that they did silently (one of their special gifts that they dared not mention to anyone, especially Dr. Mengle.

  Breakfast was hot but unidentifiable & it was quickly over. Like little soldiers the children fell into formation outside the barracks. Names were called and some children were marched elsewhere in the camp. The older ones were called and marched in the opposite direction (the sisters among these). The rest were led to the fields to pick flowers and play soccer. After about ten minutes the second group was standing in front of what appeared to be medical buildings…