Moon Flowers (Book 1 of the Flower Trilogy) #Wattys2016 #Featured

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT -- PHI (Edited)

PHI'S POV

I shared my bed with Halia again that night. I needed to have her by my side. Because of the union, I was just beginning to realize that she was in love with me, and I didn't want to encourage her, but she was so comforting, and—

"Everything is not lost," Halia said, holding my hands close to her. "Remember this?" she asked, showing me the necklace I had given her on the day we came of age. "You said we would be friends forever. So nothing can be completely lost, nothing can be completely bad as long as we have each other."

I fell asleep shortly after that. I had a dream in which the First Creatures led me to Yasik, the man-sized spider. He wanted to explain why he and the other First Creatures had bailed on us during the attack. A big question in my book.

If it had been in real life, I would have been very upset with him. I would have kicked and shouted my anger but, in my dream, I was at peace. I was serene.

"I am sorry we have betrayed your father and your people," the spider said. "We had to obey the wishes of our leader, Agamet.

"Why didn't he help us?" I asked, too serenely for my wishes.

"His first intention was to help, but he decided we should not interfere after Geh-Ah, the bear master, feeling offended he had not been consulted, warned him of the danger of helping your people."

"What danger?"

"Geh-Ah convinced him that we did not know enough about you and your enemy to know if we were helping the right side, or if we were right to help any side."

"But then why did Agamet come at all? And why are you telling me this?"

"One never knows one's enemy until we see him on the battle field," the spider replied. "He wanted to assess the danger you represent and see the kind of powers you all possess. I understand his logic although, having seen how you fought and the way the man you call the Evil King treats you, I no longer have doubts as to which side is the evil one."

"Then help us," I pleaded. "Come back and save us."

"I cannot help you," he said, his black eyes transmitting his sympathy. "I am tied to Agamet's wishes. All I could do is tell you the truth, which is what I am doing now."

"Why does Agamet have such powers over his people?" I asked. "Who is he?"

Yasik made a few steps towards me. "He grew up among the humans, where he was known to be the greatest warrior that ever was," he said. "Let me show you."

He stabbed one of his eight legs into my forehead and I saw into the past.

Agamet's father was the leader of a human tribe. He died when his son was sixteen summers' old. As was custom, Agamet became the tribal leader in his place. At the time, Agamet was still young and trusted people quite easily. He listened to the advice of a neighbor clan's spiritual leader, Boedet, considered by all to be a wise man. Boedet was said to be connected with the other world and got his wise answers from the other side. This greatly intrigued Agamet at first. He had only recently discovered his thunder spirit origins before his father died; he did not have the chance to ask him questions that meant a lot to him. So, upon Boedet's insistence, the young chief agreed to marry the spiritual man's daughter. Agamet bought her to the spiritual leader's family against a good stack of skins and went to live with them.

However, it soon became clear to Agamet that Boedet was a fraud. He had no real power. He only pretended. Boedet would never be able to answer the young chief's questions. This enraged Agamet and as a way to retaliate, he refused to bed his wife, hence failing to provide a descendant. The thunder spirit did not find his wife worthy of a child of his.

Divorce was not so easy in the tribe. They had to present the reasons for the separation in front of the village council; which was impossible for Agamet. He could not say his wife was not worthy of him because she was not magical without exposing his own magical nature, something he was still not sure he could or should do. Everybody believed she was by birth, because of her fraudulent father. So he stayed quiet and refused to lay with her. Eventually, his wife had enough and used this lack of intimacy as an excuse to divorce him. She told the council her husband was a two-spirit, a man who preferred to lay with other men. This was what she believed. She could not understand why her husband would not want to lay with her otherwise.

Of course, this led to a lot of comments and mockery from the other tribe members. People laughed at the allegedly two-spirited chief. Agamet did not mind. In his culture, two-spirited individuals were usually considered gifted and connected with the other side. They were mocked, but also accepted in the community. It was nevertheless the first time they had heard of a two-spirited chief.

Only the other thunder spirits knew the real reason for his celibacy and they kept the secret, not wanting to expose themselves in turn.

Agamet gained, however, the respect of the tribe through his demonstrations of military prowess in battle and surpassing by far the spiritual talents of the old Boedet. Then to everybody's surprise, he took a second wife, Moisa. She was worthy to him because she was his cross cousin and also had thunder spirit blood running through her veins. She became pregnant shortly after and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

This soon raised jealousy in his former wife and father-in-law. Boedet convinced his daughter to steal the baby from Agamet's new wife and bring it to him. She obeyed him and they both drown the child in the river.

Upon learning this, the chief burst into tears and tore the clothes from his chest. He then entered into a rage and before banishing the culprits—which was usually the sentence for such the crime of murder—he took his hatchet and cut off their arms. "So that you shall not kill again," he said. He left their limbs in the frozen snow to be eaten by the wild animals.

Still covered with blood, Agamet returned home and told Moisa he wanted to make a new child. He then forced her to lay in bed with him and they conceived a second child, a son born exactly nine months later.

Although he tried to pretend this second son was the same as the first one, the tribal leader was never the same again. He became crueler, leading Moisa to gather the strength to leave him and take away their son with her.

His melancholy deepened. One night, just like what had happened to me, his dreams were visited and he was led to Yasik's dwelling.

Yasik proved himself to be of great help to the tormented thunder spirit. He became the spiritual guide the lost soul needed; being wise and also magical, he gained Agamet's respect. Eventually Agamet also made himself a name in the magical world. He became a powerful leader and was able to unite sworn enemies to his cause: a united power. "We are more powerful together, like branches of a same tree."

The truth was that most people respected him in the fear. Even with time, it seemed as if he never got over the loss of his first son. He was bitter, and distrusful, threatening anyone he suspected of being against him. He was the most powerful creature in the land, and therefore also the greatest danger they could face should they disagree with him.

In my dream, I saw him entering the Hidden Land with his people, moments before the attack. I saw him signalling his people back, stopping them from following Siegfried beyond the fortress's walls.

"Let them killthemselves," he said with a sneer. "We can then take back the land that isours."69~z[_b