Zenobia's Tale [Undergoing rewrite]

Part 1

June, 1427

A man paced back and forth in the hallway just outside a bedroom where screams of pain could be heard. His wife was in there birthing their first child, and he knew as well as the midwife that she may not survive. The pregnancy had been difficult for his beloved wife, and if she did survive she would not be able to bare another child. The pacing continued as he waited and waited slowly losing hope that either had survived, the screams had ceased and there was no sound of a crying baby or a sobbing wife. He stopped just outside the door and hung his head in sadness only to hear the faint cries of a babe sound out. The child had survived, now all he needed was news on his wife. She had never been the strongest, but he prayed that she survived and could watch the child grow. The door opened after a few more moments, the male unable to move anyfurther. The woman who stood in the doorway gave him the one look he feared to see, she was not going to make it. He entered the dim room and looked at the bed where a very pale woman lay barely keeping hold of the kicking babe in her arms. She was slipping from him and he knew it. Moving to the bed the man took the infant from his beloved and sat next to her holding the both of them as close to him as he could manage. The baby seemed to calm him as she stared up into his face. Her skin was rosy while her hair reflected that of her mothers nearly white-blond hair. The woman managed one word before falling into a deep slumber. The baby's name, Zenobia. Where she had gotten the name from left the male baffled but he liked the name and thought it suited the mysterious blue eyed baby.

Two days after the child's birth the woman had demanded to nurse her child. The babe after all was hers and not some nursemaids. So against his better judgment the male had brought the child to her mother and allowed her to nurse. He stepped outside to speak with the blacksmith, who needed a new crib for his son who had been born a month before Zenobia. The crib had gone missing from the shed where the blacksmith had placed it. The sounds of Zenobia screaming drew their attention and both men ran into the room to see what had happened. The woman had fallen into a deep sleep while nursing the child. Passing the blacksmith his daughter he tried to wake his wife to no avail, her pulse had stopped and never started again. The funeral was held in late June for a tiny village the service was small. the man had asked to only have a few in attendance. The priest, himself, and the Blacksmith. Zenobia had been left with the smiths wife where she would be cared for during the service.

A year later the child's eyes began to change from her usual bright blue to a strange dark green. Her father, however, paid no mind to it, she was all he had left of his once grand life. He loved to trade wooden dolls to the seamstress in town for dresses for his little Zeno. He took her everywhere with him to keep an eye on her. When he had a delivery in town she got to go with him and usually got a new dress out of the run even if she had yet to understand what was happening. As she grew older he started taking her into the forest with her to get the wood he needed for his carvings and carpentry. She would toddle around and collect twigs while her father and a few other men from town chopped down the trees they needed. She learned to always stay near the wagon for the trees may squish her. Her many trips into the forest with her father had helped Zenobia, she learned how to navigate around the trees so she would never be lost. By age three, the girl could find her way home without a problem, of course, this only happened once. Zenobia had a habit of falling asleep in the bed of the wagon with the wood.

Once her father had assumed she fell asleep and started off for town. Zenobia however had simply wandered off to far and lost sight of the wagon. Once she realized it was gone she seemed strangely calm and moved on through the trees until she could see the small cabin her and her father had lived in. She walked home and shut the door to the cabin only to take claim to her fathers chair until he came home in a manic state over the idea of loosing his daughter. Finding her nestled up in his chair calmed him considerably and he lifted her into his arms only to sit in the chair and nap with her having every intention on punishing the child later. From that point on she was left in town to play with the other children while he made his runs into the forest for the larger wood. Another year passed and her father bought her more dresses, she started to look like the dolls he created but she didn't mind. It made him happy to see her run around looking like a princess to him. She had acquired the need to learn and would be found watching her father in his shop, or the blacksmith even the seamstress. The older children would tease her until she gave chase. They would hide in the barn at the edge of town where they were known to play. Zenobia had always been unusually good at Hide and Find. She was always the last to be found, and could find everyone in the barn within five minuets without cheating.

A stranger had come through town, something about him scared the children away. Zenobia having seen no reason to dislike the male, for he had done nothing to her befriended him and showed him around. The adults didn't particularly care for the five-year-old showing the man around, but they never stopped her. Even after making friends with just about anyone who crossed her path. Zenobia knew better than to leave town without her father. The stranger became uncomfortable being watched all the time and left within a week of his initial appearance. This made Zenobia sad, but she soon moved on as she caught the wind about her father bringing her a special gift for Christmas. She sat with the blacksmiths wife that evening bouncing around excitedly.

"Zenobia...Dear eat your food. Your father will be back as soon as he can." The woman would say bringing Zenobia back to the table for all of five minutes before the routine would go on again. Once her father arrived with a dress sized box Zenobia squealed with joy and ran to him in the street.

"Papa! What did you get?" She asked looking at the box. This caused the man to laugh thunderously and lift her up to his shoulder.

"You will see my child. Tomorrow, on Christmas." He said sternly with a glint in his eyes that told the girl he was poking fun. The whole week would be full of events no one would ever forget. The blacksmiths house caught fire and burned to the ground with his wife and son still inside he had worked late to finish Christmas orders. Zenobia wore the dress she had gotten from her father on Christmas to go see the blacksmith and try to cheer her friend up. The dress was white and puffed out around the hips. It had long sleeves and according to her father all the woman in England had the same style dress. Making her way into the shop where he worked Zenobia looked around and smiled seeing not the blacksmith but the stranger that had passed through earlier in the year.

"Hello, little Zenobia. Don't you look pretty." He said in a whisper from the shadows. Zenobia smiled and bobbed down in a curtsy, only to have the man pull her in close. "You should get out of that snow little one you might catch your death." As he spoke he placed a cloth over her mouth. causing Zenobia to scream and fight against the male she had once befriended, soon she passed out unable to call for help as the stranger placed her in an empty potato sack and placed her between to sacks of feed before carrying her out of the village unnoticed towards the forest. He finally had his little Zenobia all to himself with no one to watch them as he played with her.

Later in the day is when her father realized something was wrong. His daughter had neither seen the blacksmith who he had recently spoken to, but she had not come back to the wagon that awaited them. He talked to the blacksmith and the rest of the villagers around him to start searching for his beloved daughter. They searched the town and found nothing but prints of a full grown man and a horse leading towards the forest. A storm had caused the villagers to lose the trail and retreat back to their homes to wait for the clear weather to continue their search. Zenobia's father, on the other hand, was desperate to find his princess and continued on during the storm hoping to find her before she froze in the wild. He had staggered back a day later half-crazed by his only child's disappearance.

The village would continue their search for a year before finding her half froze seemingly lifeless body in the snow of the forests just out side of a partially hidden cave. The loss of his child caused the man to charge into the cave and savagely kill the stranger who had killed his daughter. After the bloody deed was done he would lift the body of his daughter into his arms and cover her as the tattered remains of the once magnificent dress fell off. The funeral was held with the entire village in attendance. Her father, however, did not attend, instead he remained in his shop sculpting a life-sized doll of Zenobia to match the others he had carved.