WARRIORS OF THE WAY EPISODE 9 Second Greatest Gift

WARRIORS OF THE WAY

EPISODE NINE

SECOND GREATEST GIFT



     I stayed in the water as long as I could. I thought that I might regain my senses as long as I had no contact with the man and the plan seemed to be working until he suddenly appeared in view near the willow trees. He was carrying something, and I slipped into a deeper part of the brook and covered myself as best I could. "I have brought you soap and fresh clothing!" he shouted and threw the soap with steady aim in my direction. I caught it with my right hand, and he laughed approvingly. I did not move further, and he turned his back and spoke to me over his shoulder. "I am going to pick some of these berries and fruit for us to eat. My kill is stewing in the pot and will soon be ready. Take your time and enjoy yourself. I think we are in no danger...now. And just so you know.....your necklace is safe with your other things." Then he retreated and I watched him go with my heart in my throat.

     The mind reader had struck again! Or had he? Was he just a good observer of human nature and of.....females? He seemed so experienced in these things and yet, he looked so young. Surely not more than three or four years older than myself, I thought. His face was unlined and unmarked by years and life though he exhibited a furrow between his brows when he was deep in thought, and he had a definite cleft in his strong chin that I found most attractive. Today he had some growth beginning to sprout on his face and it gave him a rugged appearance though not a fierce one. "When we have eaten, I will take my own bath and spruce up my rugged face!" he shouted upon leaving the area and I blanched again and ducked my head below the water. Egad! I felt exposed and bare before his remarkable ability.

      I waited until I thought it was safe and hurried out of the water and dried myself with towels he had left with the clothing. He certainly is thoughtful, I thought and then looked around to see if I could see two hidden eyes. But I saw nothing and felt nothing watching and I began to dress myself in buckskin breeches and shirt of white linen and pulled on my trusty but stained knee boots. I draped up my wet hair in a towel and went to wash my muddy garments in the stream, beating them against a cropping of rock. By the time I had finished and gathered up my things to head back to camp, my hair was drying and fresh smelling once again and I began to hum a song as I walked. This oasis was so lovely and out of place pitched here in the middle of such a brown and ugly plain. The oddity of it caught my attention as I stood and surveyed the landscape and I wondered how it could be there. Odd sights were becoming normal to me now, I thought. I would have to rethink many of the lessons my teacher had taught me about history and maps and men and life in general.

     "Thou hast been stuck in a rut." I told myself passing the tree in which the white bird still sat. Our eyes met and we stared once more as I walked by. I thought I saw the bird give a tiny nod but was not sure of it. As I left the oasis behind, I made better note of the area in front of me. The fields between the man's encampment and my previous one were broad and barren and brown in color. I saw no life there, no hint of living grass or tree or beast. It was unappealing and discouraging and I hurried on the path to the boulders. There were twelve gray boulders in a semi-circle spaced about two feet apart and rising into the blue sky approximately twelve or thirteen feet high. They were smooth and rounded and exuded a kind of security and royalty that made me purse my lips in wonder. I entered the camp and made my way close to the enclosure that sheltered the man's horse. I wanted to meet him and introduce myself. The man had made the horse a similar arbor as for himself there, incorporating trees and boulders and skins and I wanted to examine it. 

     Before I could step around the shielding boulder, the man stepped out before me leading the silver horse by his bridle. He was without saddle now and ungarbed but magnificent, nonetheless. Very tall, he stood, towering above the man who was of no short personage himself. A beautiful silvery color with tinges of black and big dark eyes and hooves with long tufts of black hair like socks around them. The horse neighed and I stopped and smiled and waited until he gave me his consent to touch him. The man stood back and beckoned me forward in greeting and said, "I want you to meet my closest friend. I know he is huge but do not be afraid. He will not step on you, little one." Then the horse stepped forward and thrust his nose into my hand and snorted in greeting. I rubbed his face against my own and patted him happily, feeling in my heart, the now familiar ache of missing Starshine. "This is Redemption." the man said proudly, caressing the neck of the horse with his left hand and looking into my eyes knowing that I was going to ask the inevitable. "Redemption?" I queried, "What an odd name!" 

     I walked around the horse admiring his height and width and obvious strength. "But perfectly definitive!" the man said smiling, meeting me beneath the neck of the animal. "He saved my life. On more than one occasion." "Oh." I said in understanding and admired the horse even more. "Thou art fortunate. My own horse was such a hero. But he is......gone now." Feeling tears well up in my eyes, I blinked to clear them away and coughed an un-needed cough. "Yes, I know." the man said then and caught my arm and swung me round to face him. "Dost thou remember my promise of last night?" I wasn't sure what he referred to and shook my head in puzzlement. "I told you I had a surprise for you this morning." he murmured. "And so, I do. Wait here." He put the reins of the horse's bridle in my hands and walked swiftly away behind the boulder. Redemption and I eyed one another in silence and then he rubbed his face against me, a horse's equivalent of a hug. I laughed and planted kisses all over his face and ran around him, under him and wondered how I might get up on him, he was so high, but those thoughts were interrupted by the man's return and the appearance of another horse, so unexpected, so wonderful and so incredible that I stood stock still in shock.

To be continued in Episode Ten...................

https://bluevineyard.blogspot.com/2017/05/warriors-of-way-episode-ten-snow-in.html

WARRIORS OF THE WAY EPISODE 8 Becoming Someone Else

      
WARRIORS OF THE WAY

EPISODE EIGHT

BECOMING SOMEONE ELSE



     I let him have his fun and took my humiliation silently though inside I was not as angry as I pretended. It was quite the humorous scene all in all and though I wished that it was not me there drowning in the mud and looking ridiculous, I carried on in some sort of dignified degradation. Ignoring my appearance, I looked into his eyes and said as seriously as I could, "There was something in the forest.....running. There was...it was breathing...I heard...something coming. Perhaps we should.......run." And my heart began to race again as I remembered the terror.

     The man stood looking at the wood thoughtfully and then back down at me on the ground. "It was probably one of the Weremen. They will not venture out of their dark fortress of trees. At least not in daylight. They will lure you in but you cannot lure them out while the sun is full." "Weremen?" I exclaimed, "Pray tell, what art Weremen? I recall a fable from my childhood....but...... ." and I stopped my words at his expression. We looked in unison at the forest and then back at one another and he said quietly, "It is no fable, that, it is...the truth. I wish it were not so but so it is. Half man, half beast, they are and ravenous. With great teeth and shaggy fur and fleet of foot. In the full moon, they are strong beyond comprehension and unstoppable save by skill and cunning. I have grappled with the beast men and only barely escaped with my life." "I have no doubt," I said, doubtfully,  "But I should like to know how thou.......

      And at that, the man reached down and grabbed my muddy hand and pulled me quickly to my feet. "You will revisit the brook but first you must wait by the fire until I return. Here is water and a bite of bread. While you bathe I shall prepare breakfast. Thank you for finding the pot and spoon. They have long been companions of mine." I hunkered by the campfire munching on hard bread and sipping long sips of the water, holding bread and flask in my filthy hands and wondering why the man had left me thus. He had walked out of my sight beyond the boulders, turning once to see if I had obeyed his wishes. With good reason, for I had at first hesitated to wait there alone, wondering if I should trust his counsel about the thing in the forest and doubting that the story was true. Only in fables and old wives tales had I heard of such a thing. No one believed these things existed, did they? No evil thing lived within the borders of my father's kingdom, only on the outskirts and then only in lands you could not cross and in shadows you could not see through. But still, only stories, surely...............


      True, there existed many strange people in the kingdom and many races, cultures and with many shades of color. Some huge, some small, some tall and fair and some short and squat. But all with brown eyes and all speaking in the same tongue. Some had come talking in different languages but all had come to learn the manner of speaking of the Royal House. Though there arose the occasional squabble in the village, we had all existed  peacefully on my father's grounds. I had been gone so many years now, I wondered if it were still so in that place. There had been a breath of change in the air when last I had visited there. An excitement, an expectation.


     Upon receiving word of the passing of my teacher,  I  had traveled back home with a grief and a joy in my heart that only he could understand. He had left us in his sleep some years after I'd set out to journey throughout the kingdom, the quest given to me by my father after my own insistence. "Thou hast learned well," were the last words my teacher had said to me, "Thou hast learned well." And his eyes had shone with pride and tears as he embraced me and watched me mount Starshine and ride away on my mission. "I will never forget thy words!" I called back to him over my shoulder, not wanting him to see the tears flowing down my own cheeks or the aching in my eyes at our parting. He had been a true friend. He had been...........everything I needed.


     Thinking back to my childhood, I realized now that indeed I had had two companions, Starshine and he. One a playmate and horse and one a stern faced scholar obsessed with books and learning and given the task of turning a wild, impulsive girl full of spirit into a warrior full of knowledge and wisdom. He had been like a father to me and had treated me like a daughter. My nurse had been as close to a mother as she could have been despite the fact that I had often pushed her away in resentment, longing to have my real mother at my side. Perhaps my childhood had not been as bad as I'd thought it was. Perhaps I had just not seen what I should have seen because I was selfish and childish and blind. I needed to re-think the matter at length, and I did as I waited for the man's return. 


     Once or twice I heard noises coming from the forest and I started and looked around for some weapon I might use. I refused to look at the long cooking spoon and thought how stupid I must have looked brandishing the thing at my unseen foe. I wiped at the mud dried hair around my eyes and picked at the caked mud on my arms and legs. If I could not plunge myself into water soon, I would surely turn to stone! A petrified being standing there for all eternity surrounded by Weremen dancing in the moonlight! While I mused on these images and lost myself in imagination (as I had always done), I suddenly felt the prickling of fear again and though they could not, the hairs on my arms valiantly tried to stand up. Something had it's eyes on me, I was sure of it. It was devouring me. The sensation was overwhelming and so alarming that I thought to run in the direction of the boulders for safety when at last the man strode back into view and hurried to the campfire. He was wet and breathless, carrying his vest and shirt. And the black cooking pot. I gasped at the sight of his unclothed chest and looked away but then settled myself and rose to meet him.


      "What has alarmed you?" he asked, drying his hands with the shirt and setting the pot full of water upon the flame. I watched him in wary silence, my eyes taking in the sight of him standing there on the muddy ground, fast drying now in the sun's warmth. His shirt he had thrown on the grass, and wore the vest hanging out of his breeches like an apron. With his dark hair curling all around his head, he threw more wood on the fire and repeated the question. "Why? Dost thou not know?" I finally responded and watched him. "Always, thou seemeth to know..... everything." And he looked puzzled and shook his head, droplets of water flying into my face. "I don't know everything," he said softly, "I don't know half of what I should." Long moments passed as we stood there trying to read each other, then I sighed, using his words, "You know much more than I do." And the moment passed and I turned deliberately away from him.


      I did not understand the feelings that came over me when I looked at this man. It was almost like a spell had been cast over me. It was frightening. And.......wonderful and.....frightening. My teacher would not approve! I told myself. He would tell me to be on my way and to fend for myself and to not be afraid, of course. But I was afraid! Of the thing in the forest and the thing I could not remember and this strange land in which I found myself. But most of all, I feared the eyes of this man! Whether he looked at me or whether he did not. I wanted him to look at me but trembled when he looked. I did not understand this. A thousand mad thoughts raced through my mind and I tried to reign them in as I remembered that he, the owner of those beautiful frightening eyes had read my thoughts out loud already so many times and I especially did not want him to read them now.


      "Everything will be alright." he murmured and turned me to face him. "I will not let you be harmed." He ran his thumb down my dirty cheek in vain to clean it and left it there upon my lips. My knees buckled and my heart raced, now, not so much in fright as reveling in his touch. I fought to control my emotions and could not win the battle so I turned and ran towards the boulders. Glancing back, I saw him standing there at the fire watching me run with an unreadable expression on his face. The very air seemed full of feeling. I was running in the wrong direction, I wanted to go back but I dared not! I briefly glimpsed the silver colored horse on my left as he stared at me in surprise but it barely registered in my brain. I only wanted to reach the water, plunge in and let it wash my muddy, feverish body and mind back to sanity. So many changes had come into my life of late, maybe I was mad. I didn't know myself anymore. 


     Running out of the encampment, I was disoriented for a moment and then realized that the lush oasis was some distance away. I made for the willow trees and bushes hanging full of berries and the sparkling brook as fast as my legs could carry me. As I neared it, I noticed the same white bird that had waved to me, sitting in the top of a tree watching my approach with intelligent eyes. I stared as I ran past and found the place of my previous camp and the shores of the deep clear stream. As I peeled away my clothing, I noticed that my necklace was gone. I felt a chill rush through me and I gasped at the way it took my breath. A flash of memory came to me then and I saw the huge door and my own small hand upon it and the sparkle of something indescribable and then it was gone. Gone and would not come back no matter how hard I implored it. Then the chill was gone and the sun was warm and the water inviting and I waded out into the deepest depths and washed away my garment of mud. I felt reborn when all trace of dirt was gone and I swam for a great length of the brook, feeling no fear and seeing no trace of anything magical or evil. I felt, for a few moments, like the child I had always been. Like me. Again.

To be continued in Episode Nine.......

https://bluevineyard.blogspot.com/2017/05/warriors-of-way-episode-9-second.html

IN THE MOONLIGHT DEEP

The Visitors by Jana Mashonee 

the song that inspired the write..........

In The Moonlight Deep

I'm dancing in the moonlight deep

I'm dancing in the sun

I'm dancing in the mountain keep

That holds no heart but one.

Like echoes from another time

I sing my songs of joy

And hunt for treasures with the tools

My heart finds to employ.

The eagle watches silently

The deer observes my dance

The brown wren seeks to settle near

But doesn't take the chance.

I bathe in waters crystal clear

And purify my self

Lie in the smoke of sweet grass scent

Till there is nothing left.

I speak the words of holy men

I pray my fathers' chants

I see the visions Spirit sends

When I stand up and dance.

And I'm dancing at the rainbow's end

I'm dancing in the streams

I'm dancing on the tall green hills,

In the valleys of my dreams.

Like Turtle crawls in perseverance

And Wolf howls in the night

I laugh at Trickster's fun and games

And keep out of his sight.

And on I go through falling rain,

In morning's sparkling dew

Into the haunted realms of men

Until I find you.

(If you are Shadow,

I am Light

But I crave you

Like Day craves Night.

In Warrior Dance

And ancient tongue

I'll dance to arms

Where I belong.)

An empty heart compels me go

Though I keep it hidden well

And feet of longing carry me

To the place no man can tell.

And I'm dancing in the twilight blue

I'm dancing in the sky

I'll dance until the vow is kept

Upon the day I die.

I'm dancing in the midnight dark

I'm dancing in the embers

Of a fire that burned so long ago

Not a living soul remembers.

But I remember when I dance

And all the secrets keep

To give back to the One Who Waits

There in the moonlight deep.

©by Voo

April 4, 09

6:41 p.m.

TUMBLING DOWN

this music inspired the poem!!!

Tumbling Down

Tumbling down

Into the midnight's glow

You taught my body

Things it did not know.

We kissed until our lips

Grew tired and numb

And smiled out loud

And wondered what we'd done.

In blankets warm

And fireplace paradise

We held onto each other

With our eyes.

And fingers clasped

And arms and legs entwined

We drowned in new love's bliss

Like vintage wine.

As winter wind sang softly

Round the trees

We hummed along

Like starving honey bees.

And all the while

The snow piled up outside

And true love found

It had no place to hide.

We laughed and loved

Till night became tomorrow

And joy replaced our long-held-onto

Sorrow.

Tumbling down

In bed of rumpled sheets

We found the hidden void

Where wholeness meets.

And wrapped ourselves

In warmth that thwarts the cold

Two lonely broken hearts

Became one soul.

©By Voo

May 20, 2017

8:50 p.m.

THERE'S NOTHING

There's Nothing



There's nothing as wonderful
As a smile on the face
Of someone who loves you

Nothing as glorious
As love shining in the eyes
Of someone who loves you

There's nothing as delicious
As the loving that lives in the passion
Of someone who loves you

Nothing as inspiring
As the joy that lifts up in the praise
Of someone who loves you

Nothing so dark
As the spark that goes out in the heart
Of someone who loves you

There's nothing as low
As the grief that you'll know in the loss
Of someone who loves you

When every full room
Becomes full of the gloom when it's emptied
Of someone who loved you.


©By Voo
May 20, 2017
12:19 a.m.




 Nothing by Kevin Montgomery, one of the saddest, most beautiful
 songs I've ever heard..................