The Insurgency

Chapter 2

Lorland was a beautiful place. Even if it was quite early in the morning, still, the market was vibrant with many potential customers lurking around. Delilah now understood why her father chose to reside in this kingdom for business.

"Deli! Look at those puppies!" she heard Timothy exclaim in excitement making her chuckle at him.

It had been a journey of ten days and nine nights, first nine days in the Runi, a passenger ship to cross the great Loriam sea which separated Lorland from Brimlyn and basically the majority of the world. Then one day to reach Orshore, a small village where her father had arranged for a small cottage. Ansal, a small market town, where her father had set up his stall of dry fruits and vegetables, was only some one mile away.

"Don't run, Tim!" her father, Gabriel shouted at the boy who had started chasing a stray dog.

Gabriel huffed in annoyance before pacing behind Timothy in attempts of catching him but the little boy was too agile for the middle-aged man to get hold of.

Delilah shook her head in amusement. She looked at her father, Gabriel Black, strands of grey hair making an appearance among his black ones.

She sighed as her eyes fell upon Timothy, who had finally stopped running and was getting scolded by her father. They looked just the same. Black hair, grey eyes, plump lips and long eyelashes. The only trait she inherited from her father was his raven hair; besides that, from her brown eyes, thin and pointed lips, small nose, heart-shaped face to her slightly tanned skin; all of this she inherited from her mother.

A sigh left her lips remembering her mother. It had been months still her heart ached for her. She still cried herself to sleep every single night and she did not think that it will stop anytime soon.

"Papa-" she finally spoke as she realized that Timothy could start crying any time now, "-its okay, he won't repeat his mistake."

She saw him back away a little and ruffle Timothy's hair.

"Come, Deli. We have reached the stall."

It had been a week since they arrived Lorland and this was her first time coming to the market.

It was a relatively small stall compared to the other stalls in sight. She sighed, knowing that there was a lot to be done to meet the ends.

"Tomorrow is a big fest." she heard her father say, "Number of customers will be much more than usual." he further mused.

"Which fest, papa?" she asked curiously.

"It's a tradition in Lorland." he told her, " The two months after the new year, a fest of Solmen is celebrated. There is a sacred cave, I guess somewhere near the Min forests, where it is believed that Jakin, one of the sons of Goddess came to entrap a demon who had been terrorising the nearby villagers. Tomorrow is the day when he must have decapitated him. Since then, every year, a feast at a grand level is held on this day, before sacrificing a hundred buffaloes to the God."

Delilah winced at the mention of a sacrifice but said nothing. However, her father was quick to catch the subtle shift in her demeanour and laughed a little.

Ruffling her hair, he said in a soothing voice, "Do not bother, dear. Your pretty little mind would not be happy being burdened by all this nuisance. Now, back to work."

As predicted by her father, the number of customers was high. By the evening, Delilah was more than exhausted. It took all of her self-control to not to lie down on the floor simply and fall asleep. Soon, as the Sun started setting down; they trailed their way back to home.