Royal Linkage

THARO

Once all was set, the preparations were made for the men to be protected and the spirits were called upon to bless them, two nights before departure my father was summoned by the eldest prophetess - prophets didn't leave their holy compound, their spirits couldn't blend with ours, they had to remain pure to get in touch with the ancestors, but that day we were building the chair.

It took hours to carve it out just the way we wanted. My dad had picked out the log before he was called in about the rebels and we had been waiting since then to finally build it, my brother and I nagged them to do it and my dad promised that since he hadn't been home the past few weeks since he was staying at the king's compound and would be gone again in two days for an even longer time, he agreed we'd make it before he left.
We carved all our names into the chair, our surname which was our pride along with our family crest, each of our individual symbols and ancestral names into that wood, the symbols of life.
 
After hours of hard and rather crafty work, it was made. My mother and I went and made some refreshments then sat on the new chair outside with my father and brother and enjoyed the sunset from the back of our house, we talked and laughed, they told us stories and nothing could be more perfect in the world.
After we bathed and got into bed, my father went to see the prophetess, but when he arrived, the old lady was no more. She had passed just a few moments before he entered and had refused to share that message with anyone but my father, but she was gone and he wouldn't know until it was too late what she had seen in the bones...
 
The great darkness was here.
 

The next day she was buried, and her successor was charged with calling the spirits and praying for the men. After the great ceremony and the feast, we went home, as usual we spend the night cuddled between my parents, and when we woke up, he was gone and it was just the three of us. The men took off early in the morning so they could be out of the territory by the time the sun was out, which is when they rested. They only moved in the night.
 
The days following were spent as they always are after a departure, we prayed for our men all day, sang praises to our protectors and asked for them to continue to do so, after that we went dispersed to clean our homes and get on with our normal lives, well as normal as we could manage.
 
"Give me the knife please" my mother said to me, she was gutting one of the fishes my brother had caught for us today out at the river, I did as she asked, "this is how you cut it, don't be cruel just because it's no longer living, okay? We must respect the living and the dead, why?" she said making a straight line down the fish's body with the knife I had handed her, "because we are all spirits" my brother and I answered at the same time and we all laughed,
"parrots" my mom whispered, she then turned to my brother and complimented "You kill with mercy, never lose that. You are going to be a greater warrior than your father one day" and I nodded, I really thought so too. "and you there little princess," she said smiling at me "a wise woman" and I smiled back, loving the praise. She continued to show us how to prepare the fish. After that she let us try on our own fish, showing us our errors and showering us with more praises.

"You three are my life..." she said out of the blue, my brother and I turned to look at each other and exchanged a look then turned back to her - see my mom always got sentimental when dad was gone, he'd won so many wars and yet she still worried for him, every night she prayed and cried for him as though he wasn't who he was.
 
We knew she couldn't help but worry so we hugged her, this was routine and we had it down. She hugged us back and let a stray tear slip down her cheeks, "I love you so much" she continued, "You are what I live for, nothing could have ever brought me more happiness than to have been blessed with you" she cried
We rubbed her back soothingly, "we kno-" we were about to reply but the commotion outside cut us off.
 
We got up and went outside, our hands in mama's warm ones. In the street, people had come out of their homes to witness this great taboo. The prophetess was here, in the streets, screaming my family's surname name at the top of her lunges. My mother let our hands go and walked towards the young girl who had basically just killed herself - if a prophet left the holy compound, they became tainted, they couldn't go back and nobody took them in because they were "corrupted" and would soon become evil or lose their minds, it was suicide, hadn't happened in 100 years.
 
"The great darkness is coming!" she screamed, "The great darkness will befall you family!" she shouted as my mother hurried towards her and caught her before she fell to the ground, "what darkness?" my mother asked, "I am too late, its already here" she whispered, eyes turning black and blood leaking from her nose, eyes and ears.
 
"what darkness? Too late for what? No, no, no, no don't you die on me. Come on little girl, you can fight it" my mother tried,
 
"R... r... run" the prophetess whispered before she closed her eyes.
 
We all stood there, completely shocked and scared, things like that didn't happen, she couldn't have gone crazy that fast, the compound wasn't that far. Why was she bleeding? Why did her eyes turn that colour? What the hell was happening?
My brother tried running towards her but I grabbed his arm, he couldn't go down there and my mama looked too distraught to comfort him so I did it, I turned him into my chest and held him tight, closed his ears with my arms and his eyes with my chest.
 
That when we heard it. The rebel cry.
 
They were here, they were in the village. They'd come for us and there were no warriors left behind, just women and children.
 
The great darkness was here...