butchiesmom

Ainie started running for Eilia as soon as she spotted the stranger walking into the small village. When Mara brought the orphaned Eilia home with her that night and told them what happened, the village adopted her promise to guard the infant. They’d kept her safe for 10 years now, hiding her in different homes when strangers appeared in the village.

They knew of Brinn’s flight from the palace and how she was wanted by the king, but felt the warrant against her didn’t apply to the child she’d been carrying and once Brinn crossed, they felt the child safe, at least from the King. The handbills reminded them Eilia’s mother was in trouble with the King and perhaps The Five but a child didn’t inherit the sins of their parents, they were able to easily create their own sins.

Eilia had the run the village, playing games and visiting her friends at their cottages and having friends to hers. She was just about to tag Henried, when she heard Ainie shouting for her: Eilia! Get quickly home! A stranger enters our town; you must hide until he’s gone! Run! Before he has a chance to spy you!

The Patrol had returned a few weeks later asking whether anyone saw Brinn in or around the village but no one could honestly say they had. Brinn stayed in the cottage when anyone approached, so until Keirn brought Mara and her assistant for the birthing, no one knew she was there. Though Mara didn’t say anything when she brought home the infant a few months later the gossips of the town made some accurate guesses.

Her long hair streamed behind her in the breeze as she ran toward home. Stopping only long enough to open the door, she burst into the cottage where her mother stood at the table preparing the evening meal.

“Mam, Mam! There comes a stranger to the village! He looks like the magician that came here last year. Can I stay out this time? Please?” Eilia begged.

Mara looked up at her daughter as she burst into the cottage admonishing her about her lack of manners as her daughter raved on about the exciting news. Her anxious face told Eilia what she needed to know before Mara said a word. She would have to stay in hiding while the stranger remained in the vicinity.

“Why Mam, why can’t I stay out like the rest of the children? Why must I stay hidden while strangers are here?”

Mara knew that Eilia’s didn’t like being hidden from strangers that she liked playing outside with the other children in the village, but the her was foremost in her mind. She hadn’t forgotten the admonishment of Keirn to guard this child well and over the years she had done exactly that. Even though no one had ever asked after the child, she took no chances; after all, a promise is a promise.

Over the years, Mara had grown to love this child as one of her own, and the rest of the village had accepted her as well. All of the village knew of the circumstances surrounding her birth and had adopted her pledge to guard the wonderful child.

Eilia had not yet shown any unusual traits that would distinguish her from the other village children other than her lustrous blonde hair and green eyes. In a sea of black hair and dark eyes she stood out like a beacon in the night. Because of this, Mara had taken care to hide her each time a stranger entered the village. She had been unable to read the parchments the Keirn had given her at Eilia’s birth because of the strange language written on them, so she had hidden them just as well as she had hidden the child all these years.
The village hadn’t changed much in the ten long years Keirn was gone. A few new houses were sprinkled throughout the small village, and faces he’d not seen before. Although those faces and buildings were stored away for future reference, there was only one building he focused on. He’d caught sight of blonde hair flying toward one home in particular and he was certain that it was the one he was looking for.

Was that the child he’d trusted Mara to guard? From the little he’d sighted, she looked happy and healthy; didn’t she remember his warning to guard the child? Perhaps it was time to stay. He’d left the smoldering ashes of the death house, ten years ago, determined not to return to this area. Something, though, had drawn him back to the place he didn’t want to be. Was it the child? Had Mara told Eilia of her unusual birth or of the prophecy? The child wasn’t old enough for her to have the scrolls left by her mother, she had two more years to the adult rites. Surely she would’ve asked questions about her appearance.
Her mother had been a light-skinned, fair-haired woman with a slight build and the greenest eyes he’d ever seen before or since.

He’d finally found the place Brinn had escaped and understood why she ran from there even as pregnant as she was. It hadn’t been hard to find. Brinn had told him the prophecy and that the child she was carrying was the one everyone had waited to be birthed.
How she knew her child was the child spoken of in the prophecy, she wouldn’t say, but somehow she knew and knew she wouldn’t be the one to raise her. Her life, she was certain, was a small price to pay for the birthing of the child the prophecy bespoke.

Had Mara opened the scrolls? It wouldn’t have mattered if she did. Not many people, in this area, could read the language printed on them, he being one of the few.

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Brinn soon found time wasn’t a priority in the life hereafter. It was as if each soul there was under a spell or frozen in the time frame they came from. All souls were to eventually pass to the next level, but had to redeem themselves somehow. Which is why they were still there. They didn’t seem to have the motivation to even try. The one thing they did do was gossip. All the time. They watched the living constantly and often knew what was going to happen to someone because of something they’d heard or seen before.

Because of the talks she had with Keirn, long into the night, she knew what was in store for Eilia. She also knew as long as the five families ruled the regions with the false king they crowned, Eilia was in danger. They didn’t want the old kingdom restored, even if the restoration would bring peace and plenty to the people. It was their power, and forcing them to relinquish that power would be an uphill fight for the one trying.

Through the rest of the voices, she was able to ‘watch’ over the families and their manipulations, still, they come close to finding her child. It was only a matter of minutes between the time they entered the village and Eilia was spirited away. She knew her daughter resented it but she had to keep her alive. She didn’t want her sacrifice to have been in vain. Life had been rough at times, but the rewards afterward was always sweet. She had loved life, leaving it wasn’t what she wanted but what fate decreed.

Another woman was raising her child. Brinn watched as Eilia took her first steps and heard her first words. She cringed as Eilia fell and scraped already skinned knees. Keirn’s decision to give Eilia to Mara to raise had been a wise one. Eilia had grown straight and tall for her age of 10. Brinn had closely watched Eilia grow, but watched her enemies, of which her child had no idea existed, even closer.

Brinn found, through trial and error, by concentrating hard enough, she could get through to the adults to warn them of danger.