The girl with the fire in her veins

Rozdziale Trzy.

For the last two years Lucja and her family traveled a lot in order to find a cure for the curse. They went over the mountains to seek the help of a witch that was said to be very powerful, but they were proved wrong by her lack of knowledge of all things magic and they soon realized that she was nothing but a mere fortune teller who deliberately told everyone that she was a witch as to make herself known.

They also went to the other side of the forest to find a healer who was said to be living there but she turned out to be no help at all either because she was too old to heal a curse as severe as theirs.

After that came a number of other witches, warlocks, seers and healers, some more friendlier than others and vica versa, but none of them were able to help Lucja and her family get any closer to saving her little brother.

So far they couldn’t find anyone who is able to help them and the jasnowidz whom they are on their way to now, is their last resort.

One thing they did learn through their journey was that they are running out of time. It is a well known fact amongst those who claim to have knowledge of the curse that bearers usually die within three years after birth, but it seems to grow shorter with every case.

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The fire is visibly creeping to the little boy’s heart as they walk through the dense forest, casting a death-like glow around him. The pain and fever it causes him makes him writhe in his mother’s arms, making her attempts at comforting him seem almost sadistic.

Lucja studies her mother’s tired features when they stopped to set up camp for the night. Her father was busy gathering fire wood, while she was supposed to pick fruit from a nearby tree for dinner, but she couldn’t make herself look away from the woman who was standing before her.

The orange glow from the toddler in her arms highlighted all the groves and lines that were etched into her skin by endless hours of dreading the day when her son would die. The lines were a clear timeline depicting the last two years and Lucja realized that her mother has aged deliberately over this time.

She thought back to when her mother was the prettiest woman in the world, she used to wear her long, dark brown hair in a luscious, cascading waterfall down her back. She only wore bright colored dresses and when she laughed, it was like she had stars in her emerald eyes.

But that was a long time ago…

When the baby came he took away the mother that Lucja needed and instead gave her a woman whom she did not know.

This woman had short, grassy hair and wore bland, torn dresses that she got as hand-me-downs from people who felt sorry for her. The stars in her eyes vanished and the brokenness in her voice was undeniable.

Lucja was scared of her, but she knew that her mother wasn’t lost forever. She still saw glimpses of the woman she once was and she was determined to get her back.

She crept closer as her mother hymned a song to her brother until she sat next to her. She placed a tiny hand on her mother’s arm, trying to comfort her, while looking down at her sleeping sibling.

“Lucja, did you finish gathering the fruit?” Her father asked as he kneeled before a pile of wood, trying to start a fire.

“No, Papa, I will do it now.” Lucja quickly answered as she got up and started towards the tree that her father had pointed out to her earlier.

“Do you want me to help you, my lamb?” Her mother asked, making Lucja stop dead in her tracks.

Her mother has never offered to help her with chores while they were travelling. She was always too busy taking care of Lucja’s brother. 

Lucja watched as her mother got up and carefully handed the sleeping toddler over to her father, before joining her. Her mother sensed Lucja’s astonishment and quickly took her hand, leading her out of earshot from her father.

“I’m so sorry for neglecting you, my little Lucja.” She said as she knelt before the five year old, her dull green eyes searching her daughter's face.

“You are such a strong, brave girl and I am so proud of you. I know it is hard and that you don’t understand a lot of things and I know that I haven’t been the best mother to you lately, but I want you to know that I love you so much Lucja, and you will always be my baby girl.”

She wiped the stray tear from her daughter’s face before giving her a hug.

“I am so thankful for you Lucja, I love you.” She whispered to the, now sobbing, girl in her arms.

“I’m scared, Mama.” Lucja said with a shaky voice, trying to regain herself. Even though she was only seven, she hated crying in front of others, she didn’t want to seem weak.

“What if the jasnowidz can’t help us?”

Her mother’s face hardened as soon as the words left her mouth and Lucja could see all the lines even clearer now.

She sighed and stood up.

“Let’s go pick those fruit before it gets too dark.” She said as she led the little girl to the tree, leaving yet another one of Lucja’s questions unanswered.