Ancient Things We Hold

Chapter 19

Distancing From Reality

—-

When Hodaya reached her home, neither Tamar nor her mama believed what she told them. How could papa be dead? How could more men be on their way to the village after they had been so quiet and peaceful?

Tamar started crying, but her mama did no such thing. She just shook her youngest daughter and said, "Cry about it later. Go to Hadassah and tell her and her family what's to happen. Hurry, now." When Tamar left, she then turned to Hodaya. "Go to the fields and find your brothers. We must leave immediately,"

By the time she returned from the fields with her brothers, along the way warning anyone they could of what was to happen, she was deeply distressed by how easily everyone believed her. Few asked questions. They took her words, saw her panicked face and nodded in understanding. She watched them hurry off as quickly as they could.

Soon the whole village was in a wild state and there was nothing anyone could say that would soothe them. It just showed how expected it was. Through hostility, small attacks and impossible taxes, it was no wonder that now nobody was surprised by what it had culminated to. They were all so used to being beaten down.

They were also used to having to leave their homes in the last minute. Perhaps the village was old itself and many had lived their all their lives, but they knew that their ancestors had come from a thousand different places. By that point, moving was practically in their blood. Some of the villagers had already been evicted from their past homes and arrived there. Therefore, Hodaya's words were no strangers to them.

In spite of the frantic situation they were in, Hodaya had to admire the diligent manner in which her mama dealt with everything. She ignored every tear they cried and every exclamation of panic in order to send them to jobs as quickly as possible. There was no time to gather their things or put on warm clothes. All they had time to do was attach the cart to the horse and load themselves- and only themselves- in. Everything else would have to be worried about later.

Of course, there was one thing that Hodaya couldn't leave behind. So quickly that she was still the first one outside, she slipped up to the loft and, beneath the mattress of hay, pulled out the only possession she really cared about- her writings. She placed them under her garments right next to her heart, then hurried along to the cart.

Reb Chaim, Hadassah's husband, took the reins himself and began urging the horse along. Meanwhile, her siblings were huddled in the back, their tears frozen to their cheeks as they asked Hodaya as many questions as they dared.

Dealing with the death of their papa was much harder than dealing with leaving their home.

The latter was all they had known. It was rainy, cold and the terrain was tumultuous with a thousand mountains circling their little houses. The disorderly buildings appeared like tiny specs of dust compared to their striking surroundings. And they loved it for it was familiar. However, as with any place, it was truly the people that made them love it and their papa was one of those people.

The image of him lying there kept on flickering above Hodaya now they were in the cart. When she had been running about, terrified of her family being so scattered, there had been no time to think of it. However, now her thoughts were her own and she felt as though she could see him by her feet, lying motionless as he had been at Carreg Llwyd.

She buried her head in Tamar's shoulder and the two girls wept together.

"Mama," said Tachlifa, "We need to go another way. Chaim, we must move. Go east."

He did exactly that, for they saw the first flicker of fire coming towards them. It was controlled by a series of men, some in the poor, loose garments that labelled them as the nearby villagers. However, the few that led them had fire glinting off their frames, for they were covered in polished armour that clashed against their steel swords.