Cjiena: Beginnings

by Patrice Caraway

  Quilari came up behind me and nudged me with her nose. When I patted her neck, I could feel her tense muscles ripple as sweat poured down her sides.

  I reached out with my mind and tried to calm her, but it only worked for a moment until the voice of my Uncle Molog boomed across the clearing. With that Quilari nudged me once more before returning to her herd, where they had circled around the herd’s stallion for his strength. With the way his nostrils were flaring, he looked as if he was about to bolt, taking the whole herd with him.

  Refocusing my attention on my uncle, I kept along the tree line, hiding myself behind a monstrous trunk.

  A large crowd had formed near the chief’s hut. Even though he had just been buried more than likely earlier in the day, Molog seemed to have already taken command of the people who in turn followed him eagerly.

  The person who sat in solemn silence was the old chief’s wife, who painted her face in ochre as a sign of mourning. I could see no others who joined her in her grief. She sat solemnly next to the hut that had once been hers, her shoulders hunched, and her head bowed. No longer looking like the pillar of strength I had grown up seeing, she seemed to be a shell of her former self. A part of me felt sorry for her.

  Doing something against my better judgment, I reached out to her with my mind to comfort her. She could have given me away without a moment’s hesitation, but she simply looked up, her frown turned into a sad smile and she shook her head.

  A disturbance to the right of her caused my concentration to falter as I saw two warriors shoving my mother and Ulgog forward with their spears. Ulgog stumbled to the ground, and my mother rushed to his side to help him back to his feet. Hand in hand, the walked forward to Molog, both their heads lifted in defiance.

  As they came to stand beside him, my mother and Ulgog turned to face the crowd. My mother’s eyes smoldered in the flames of rage. I cringed as the look resembled the one her brother would reserve solely for me.

  Ulgog seemed to be calm amongst the storm, but I could see his anger as it began to boil over.

  Molog spoke. “My people, tonight we have come together to asked forgiveness from the Great Mother so that we might once again gain her favor. Seventeen years ago, one of our own betrayed her people. She lay with one of the Winged Ones, and a child was begotten who held their curse.”

  As Molog continued to talk, a power began to grow, radiating from Ulgog. A blue light began to emanate from him, a breeze formed, and his hair began to whip about his face, the wind growing stronger and stronger.

  “For years we have continued to allow her to live among us with the monster she sired, and this eve we were to sacrifice that monster in hopes of appeasing our Mother’s anger. But our sacrifice has escaped, due to the treachery by those who protected it...” Molog faltered for a moment, but the crowd became nervous. Although I was sure they couldn’t see the blue light pouring forth from Ulgog, the air around him began to stir, and they began muttering amongst themselves. I even heard one woman whisper to another that the Great Mother was upon us.

  If she was, she was using Ulgog as her conduit. It was only when Ulgog began muttering in the Ancient Language, that Molog realized what was happening.

  “Mother of my soul,” Ulgog cried out, “hear my call. These children born of flesh seek to slaughter a child of your own. In your name I curse them. I curse them. I curse them to be betrayed by one of their own. I curse them so that they might suffer as she suffered, and I curse them further that they might take the place of the one whom they had planned to sacrifice.”

  Molog didn’t know what was being said, but I’m sure he could guess its meaning. Grasping his dagger with both hands, he plummeted the knife into Ulgog’s chest, perhaps in the hopes of ending the curse. However, what was done, was done. Whether you call it magic or a prayer, the curse had already been spoken, and even as the blood replaced the last words upon his lips, the light from within him grew brighter. When I thought surely the sun was within him, the light finally faded just as his life began to wane. Molog pushed him back, withdrawing the knife from his chest, as Ulgog fell.

  My mother reached out to support Ulgog and ease him to the ground. Frozen in place, I watched him gasp for air, his mouth opening and closing. My mother cradled his head, and wiping the blood from his lips, she leaned down and kissed him, lingering for a moment to whisper in his ear.

  Whatever my mother told him must have eased his passing, for Ulgog stopped fighting and let himself die. My mother cradled his face, tears streaming down her cheeks before opening her mouth and letting out a blood curdling cry.

  The crowd stood in rapt silence and I could almost see a few of them possibly realizing finally what it is they had done. A few women and elderly turned away and tried to retreat.

  Molog nodded to his warriors. Reaching down, they took Ulgog from my mother, who tried desperately to hang onto him. I didn’t understand, until they dragged him to the bonfire and threw him in.

  Tears streamed down my cheeks as I realized they had no intention of putting him back in the earth, releasing him into the womb of the Mother. It was the utmost disrespect they could show the man who had given so much for their wellbeing. He would never be reborn in the Undying Lands, and his soul, his soul would cease to exist.

  My mother stared cold faced as she watched the flames lick at Ulgog’s clothing and it wasn’t until Molog turned to walk away, his face wrinkled in disgust at the smell, that my mother finally spoke. “Too afraid of watching that which you have brought upon us? You never cringed at the blood you have shed before, what has you so scared now?”

  Molog stopped in his tracks as my mother continued. “Maybe you are upset, because it wasn’t a child you could blame or a woman you could beat. Maybe you had to silence him to silence the part that made you human.”

  Molog turned around abruptly, “Be QUIET!” he growled.

  My mother stood and laughed. “Why, do you think maybe people will realize that it is you who is not human, that you’re the monster? Even now they abandon you, I see them trying to slip away unnoticed.”

  She waved her hand and Molog looked around, and indeed a few more people and slipped away. “You do realize Ulgog placed a curse on you, do you not? On all of you!” she called out loudly. “And now you shall all be punished for your betrayal to our Great Mother!”

  “Stop it!” my uncle cried once again, this time stepping forward, his hands and jaw clenched.

  “OR WHAT?” she screamed. “Will you kill me as you did your own wife? Or rape me as you did all my childhood?”

  My uncle was thunderstruck, as the remaining people gasped in disbelief.

  “Oh yes, Molog, I know your secret. When she was lying on her sickbed, you still forced yourself upon her, but when she was unable to please you, you beat her and choked her to death. She was only good for you when she was obedient. And me, you used me as often as you could, and when you found another person had me, you grew so angry that you tried to beat me to death.”

  “I said BE QUIET!” Molog screamed as he stepped forward once more, this time he backhanded her across the face, causing her to crumple to the ground. When she sat up and wiped her face, she spat at his feet. “You are a coward, and you always were.”

  This seemed to be all my uncle could handle. Grabbing my mother by her hair, he pulled her up. Taking his knife once more from his belt, he whispered in her ear, “That child should have been mine,” before drawing the blade across my mother’s throat, blood spurting from the gaping lips of her wound. Still in her death throws, my uncle kicked her into the fire. I watched in horror as her hand once pale and beautiful was twisted and blackened until it lowered itself back into the heart of the fire.

  My hands gripped the bark of the tree so hard that my fingernails were beginning to pull from their beds. My heart was racing like a wild stag. Woman and children turned their heads, one woman clutched her husband sobbing.

  My uncle raised his arms up and out. “This,” he said turnin
g to point back at the fire, “is what happens when people choose to betray their own kind. If anyone doesn’t like it, they can join those traitors in the flames.“

  “You,” he said pointing to the woman who was sobbing against her husband, “do you want wish to join them?”

  Realizing he was talking to her, the woman squeaked, and shook her head violently before returning it to her husband’s chest.

  “What about you?” he said to a young boy of about 13. He had been one of my uncle’s greatest admirers, but now he and everyone else had seen the truth of Molog’s blood thirst, and it did not sit well with them. The boy’s face went pale, and he stumbled backwards. Laying sprawled on the ground, my uncle manically laughed at the young boy’s fear, his hands on his hips. “I thought you would make a good warrior, but I see you will never be more than a woman.”

  “I am leader now,” he bellowed, “and you will all do as I say. Now, all of you gather your weapons. We will go after the monster!”

  “But Molog, it’s getting late, we won’t be able to find her in the woods,” a warrior said.

  “Her horse is here, so she is walking,” he growled, “and she can’t have gotten far. We will find her soon enough.”

  In that moment, I thought about running, and hiding myself in the woods, but suddenly, I felt a blinding rage engulf me. Stepping forward from behind the tree, my voice raised so that all might hear. “Here I am” I called.

  My uncle’s smile turned into a sneer. “There you are monster. Do you let others die for you?”

  In a moment of courage, I spread my wings to their full span, staring down the true monster. “Oh, mighty Molog, chief of traitors, rapist of woman, beater of children, killer of the Sacred, coward, kin-slayer. You, you who have condemned me all my life for being something which you could never understand.

  Instead of regarding me as your own, as any new babe born to the tribe, you were set to judge me from the start. As a babe, I was left in the woods, what you claimed to be a test from the Sacred Ones, but in truth, it was to easily dispose yourself of an innocent child. I stayed in a tree over night, I survived the elements, but you were not satisfied.

  For years I have suffered in silence, humiliated, beaten, and belittled, all by your hands and by those whom you lead. Once again, you were not satisfied.”

  As I spoke, my voice echoed across the clearing. The light that had come from Ulgog began to grow within me, growing so bright that light illuminated the tips of my feathers with rays of light. I expected it to be blinding, but in truth it made me see more clearly than I had ever seen before. Power and hatred gave me strength. I felt as if I was trapped within my own body, that something greater, something stronger was taking control of me.

  Those who stood between Molog and I began to create a path directly to my enemy. Many were horrified by the look on my face. I could only guess what they saw there.

  “It was I, who was trained to be the next Ulgog, speaker to the God’s, Watcher of the people. Ulgog had seen a great darkness coming upon us. I, whom you had shown nothing but contempt for, was willing to sacrifice myself for the greater good of the tribe, because it was my duty to the people. But I was bid to leave by the Ulgog, the only person whom I’ve ever known as a father, and so I left. But still you were not satisfied.”

  “Instead of being grateful for your wish, the wish of finally being rid of me, you took the two people who meant the most to me in this world and you brutally murdered them before the tribe’s eyes in the guise of a sacrifice.”

  “One, was your sister Uncle, and the other, a man hand chosen by the Mother to whom you give sacrifice. Even if I am not a part of your tribe, they were. Their blood will forever stain your soul. And now, now I am NOT satisfied.”

  As I moved forward, my anger had grown, but it was not entirely my own. Whatever had come inside me was set to wreak vengeance and a voice echoed through the clearing, resonating with power. Although my lips spoke the words, they seem to come from everywhere around us.

  “You and those who followed you blindly have violated the sacred agreement your kind made Me when the waters withdrew. They promised to honor Me, and my consorts so that we might bestow blessings upon you and your people.”

  “It was agreed that one amongst you would serve Me, and as that one fell, another who had been trained would take their place.”

  Shivers ran down my spine, as I began to suspect what it was that had answered Ulgog’s cry as it continued to speak through my lips, I couldn’t help but feel fear and awe mixed. “It is I who grant you a good hunt. It is I who protect you in battle. It is I who grant you healing. But for those who have angered us, it will be I who punishes you.”

  “It is you Molog, betrayer to your people, who has brought this wrath upon you. May your body be feasted upon by the dogs before you shall ever be granted silence by being returned to the earth. You shall never dine in My halls, and your spirit will cease to exist by those whom you cry out too.”

  “And to you, my ungrateful servants,” the voice hollered as I faced the rest of the tribe, “those who participated in the slaughter of innocents and the mistreatment of My children, you shall also face My wrath, and only your deaths will bring forgiveness.”

  The people were frozen in fear, and my abilities to listen to other thoughts was overwhelmed. I could listen and sense more than a single person. Their minds had begun to panic. Even a few began thinking I was possessed by the Great Mother, something I even felt myself, although I am sure She didn’t offer me Her full strength. Many became too scared to attack me, but all the men looked at Molog to give an order.

  Molog overcame his initial fear and grasped his spear that had been leaning against the front of the hut. “What are you waiting for,” he cried, “Attack her!”

  A group of men scurried to gather whatever weapon they could find on hand and began to circle me. Another group began to gather the frightened woman and children and herd them away from what could only be a bloody battle. One stepped forward to slash me with a knife. Without even thinking, I dodged the attack and took hold of his arm and twisted it behind him, and catching the knife as it dropped, I slit his throat from ear to ear.

  Throwing his body away from me, the woman and children began to scream, scattering in all directions. Another man stepped forward and took a jab at me with a spear, but I grabbed the end of the shaft and then kicked him backwards. Losing his grip on the weapon, I flipped it around and threw it directly at him, piercing him through the sternum.

  Before he fell, another took his place. A knife in one hand and a torch in another, he tried to distract me with the flame, while lunging with the knife. I easily overcame him and pushed him backwards where he toppled into a man behind him, whose spear rammed in the first man’s throat. His guttural cries could be heard above the chaos and I laughed at his death throes. Turning from him, I became overcome by the need to murder my traitorous man of an uncle.

  Unable to take me one at a time, a group of men decided that they should attack me all at once. As I dodged and rolled from their weapons, I was able to pick up a fallen spear and dispatch a few within reach. I barely noticed an arrow pierce my wing as the power of the one who resided within me seemed to dull my pain.

  Pulling the shaft from my wound, I charged up to one of the warriors. Terrified, he was unable to move until the last second when he tried to use a large tree branch to strike me. I grabbed his arm and with all my strength, I swung out my other hand, and jabbed him in the temple with the arrowhead.

  A seasoned warrior came up from behind me, a sharpened spear in hand. Watching him carefully, I reached down myself to pick up my own spear. As I began to stand, he lunged at me, but I blocked his blow before making one of my own. It seemed as we thrust and parried, dodged and ducked, a deadly dance began to be played out. I watched sweat pour down his face as his breathing became labored. Although he might have been more experienced in combat, his age began to take toll upon his strength.

 
I watched as the hardness on his face soon turned to fear. He knew he was no match for me, and in final desperation, he once again tried to lunge at me, but as he pulled his arm back, my mind read his thoughts, and my body anticipated his move. I twirled out of the way, and his spear only hit empty air, but mine, mine found its target and pierced him through the neck.

  He turned to face me, grasping my shoulder. He sought to say something to me, his eyes pleading, but the only sound from his lips, was the gurgling of him choking on his own blood. “Great Mother forgive me for what I have done.” Were the last thoughts that entered his mind. Although in my heart, I felt pity for him, I was not in control and could speak no words of comfort in his last moments.

  Like a puppet, my body moved forward to the last few remaining warriors who had sought to fight me, all crowded around my uncle. I must have warn the mask of death upon my face, because two turned to run. My uncle tried desperately to grasp one man’s arm, but he wrenched himself free.

  The only two left standing were my uncle and the young boy whom he had earlier mocked. The boy tried to run, but my uncle held him firmly in place. As I advanced closer, he thrust the boy forward at me. Unseasoned, the boy hesitated, but foolishly came at me with only a small knife to protect himself.

  When he came within striking distance, I backhanded him, causing him to fall to the ground. I winced when I heard the crushing sound of his neck breaking, and for a moment I turned to him and saw he had fallen upon a rock, breaking his neck.

  Kneeling before me, my uncle became a blubbering coward. He offered me anything that my heart desired, but I listened to his soul that was only trying to save himself. And a voice of the one with whom shared my body whispered, “He will never change what he is. If you do not kill him now, it will only continue, and more people shall die.”

  The rage of the Mother fueled me, and when I thought she could offer no more power, the light within me only became brighter. Walking behind my uncle, I reached down and grasped his chin with both hands. With all the fury I could muster, I pulled up on my Uncle’s head, removing it completely from his body. Parts of his spinal column swung as I lifted his head over mine and screamed in triumph. Those who remained gaped in horror as Molog’s mouth opened and closed, like a fish in water.