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By Sarah G. Crespo
The images came back to Ysolde, she can see
everything again, smell and feel everything against the midday
sun’s blinding blaze. The scent of marigolds, lilacs, and daisies
at the east side of the meadow, the sound of swallows in their yard,
the voice of Tasha and Lima singing to her, the sweet smell of trees
and grass after the rain in the forest of Eligos. But the images did
not stay; the hunger pangs and the pain in her feet and knees
started to drain the last remaining life in her. She had been
walking for two days and nights without any food and water. Her head
was light and her vision began to blur but she continued her walk.
She must not stop; the Templion’s order to kill the child must not
be carried out.
She could still hear faint sounds of drums and
gongs from the city. The summer festival had just started and
everyone went there to partake in the procession at the fortress.
The town of Elysse looked abandoned. She looked for some signs of
life but there was nothing. The streets that received her offered no
kind of comfort. She saw the lifelessness of everything; the bare
walls, the unlit street lamps, the closed windows, the stoic
presence of the houses, and the deathly calmness of the falling
leaves. The whole town heaved in loneliness.
The stillness of the afternoon and the stifling
heat drowned her spirit. An image from her childhood appeared again,
she remembered the colorful kites she used to fly. Tasha and Lima
would chase the kite’s shadow and she would run as fast as she
could to make the kite fly higher and farther, until it lost its
shadow. That was how they enjoyed their life in the orphan ville.
That was how they created their happiness amidst the ghosts of their
past. Ysolde knew from the start that she was different but Tasha
and Lima accepted her for who she is. They knew that Ysolde was
meant to become a gypsy. When the high priestess Ivana visited their
village, she did not waste anytime. She immediately told Ysolde to
come to her and train in the temple. The high priestess knew about
Ysolde long before she was taken to the orphan ville. Her birth was
prophesized long ago by the spirits in the temple.
Ysolde’s gift was evident early on; she
could heal the sick and see the truth. But she is also a great
mystery to everyone even to the four high priestesses. Her exact
origin was unknown and she cannot recall any memory from her
earliest childhood. The life she began to live started on the back
alleys, the dilapidated bricks of an abandoned house, the streets of
Agreas and its bitter cold walls that touched her back every time
the rain fell, and there was no place, no roof and no room that
would take her in. The shivers that cut across her flesh were the
kind of pain one will never forget.
“The well”, she uttered. Her only hope, the
gate of the great beyond buried at the bottom of the Sea. She
continued walking until she reached the seashore, and upon seeing
the setting sun on the horizon she touched the pendant of her
necklace, the gift of protection from Ivana. A soft wind caressed
her black hair. She closed her eyes and whispered a prayer to the
moon goddesses.
To thee whom the praise and glory shall be,
the most high, ruler of the all the mighty ones
who govern and the spirit of all the legions.
I invoke and move thee, come forth and allow thy
servant
to cross the gates of beyond.
Let not the darkness forever reign, open the
secret truths of
thy dwelling place.
The waves reached her toes as she clasped the
pendant tightly and then walked toward the sun, determined never to
return again.
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