Riga Nénharma

Chapter One: Brālis, mana mīlestība (Brother, my Love)

Chapter One: Brālis, mana mīlestība

(Brother, my Love)

 In Riga, the royal city of Latvia, religion in prominent, but not Christianity like many other countries in Europe. All four groups living in the borders of Latvia believe in the Five Gods of Nénharma, including: Bell, Hans, Pan, Kon, and Teki.

            “To be born again,” whispered Clya, “would give me the chance to change the world.”

            Current from the Gulf broke through the stench from the bay and the stagnant Daugava River near the flush palace, drowning the smell below the Earth’s layers and beyond. Clya swayed toward the dirt stained window sill and stared at her home from the distant past.

            In her thoughts Clya wondered what her life would have been if ‘that’ hadn’t happened.

            “To be born again, I would have to die first.”

            “And why would you want that?” questioned Uru. “Would you leave your sister to fend for herself with three older brothers and a sister who can’t stop flirting with every moving object that passes her way?”

            Uru, the oldest of the triplets, walked to Clya with her head held high and body swaying with the Gulfs gusts blowing her worn clothes barely brushing her knobby knees. As Uru had done countless times in the past she rushed a hug, swinging Clya around in a semi-circle and turned serious as Clya was seated on the flee infested straw bed.

            Clya went numb and acknowledged Uru, hoping, “Because I want to save people. To be somebody.”

            Uru stepped toward the worn window and pointed to the only home she loved, but couldn’t remember what looked like inside. “How are you going to do that?” Uru reddened in the face and twisted away from the wasted palace, her home and spoke, angered. “How are you going to save people when you can’t even save yourself?”

            With a sudden outburst, Clya yelled, “By dying!”

            She escaped Uru’s baby blue eyes, “Like I was supposed to on ‘that’ day!”

v   

            A trio of young girls, identical by appearance, ran on the cold marble floors frosted by winter’s chill. Though similar each young girl acted slightly different as they raced each other through the long corridor guarded by the God Kon and Pan. Uru, never picked her tiny feet from the ground and slid against the cold surface bare foot, laughing as she gained leeway in the race.

            Thraya, the youngest, used an invasive maneuver to destroy her sister and win by trying to trip Uru with a stick she smuggled into the palace earlier in the day. In Uru and Thraya’s excitement they left Clya, the middle sister, stranded near the entrance of the corridor.

            Clya limped forward till her petite body collapsed from exhaustion. Even though Clya was small she nailed the marble floor with a force of a bullet and knocked herself out. As Uru and Thraya smashed the end of the corridor with full force, an unsuspecting maid witnessed there adventure.

            In the eerie echoes radiating through the palace the maid screamed.

            “Call a doctor,” coughed the maid, “quick! The princess has collapsed! Someone!”

            As the maid continued her screams, Uru and Thraya finally noticed there sister’s disappearance. As they scurried toward Clya, Thraya slipped and hit her skull with a violent bang. Blood pooled around her lifeless body as guards and the girl’s father entered.