A Thousand Year Summer

Chapter One - Besieged

Ludmilla grew up in the beautiful valley among her people. She watched as the sun rose and fell over her land, its lush green beauty in the summer and harsh white glare in the winter all a marvel to her.

Yohanan, when Ludmilla was around ten, came hurtling into the family home, out of breath. "The raiders, they're here again!"

The ruckus of raiders was indeed in the air, the din of heavy metal weapons against leather quite loud, even from inside of the well-built home.

Ludmilla's small hand was taken by Kalyna's larger one, and she was taken to hide in a back room, among their stored goods saved for the upcoming winter. "You must remain quiet," said Kalyna, her voice trembling with fear. Ludmilla felt Kalyna's warm hand press against her mouth, and shut her eyes. Ludmilla prayed that the raiders would leave her brother and parents go. She knew in her heart that they might not.

The sound of warriors pouring into the village filled Ludmilla's ears. Despite their hiding place being quite separated from the commotion outside, the noise was louder than Ludmilla could ever imagine. Ear-splitting screams shot through her head as she heard the thump of bodies on the ground and the footsteps of fleeing villagers.

The last attack had been years ago, and so the village was caught off guard. No longer were the strongest men holding their weapons, accompanying their wives to tend the cows–they had set those down long ago.  Ludmilla knew this because her father was the village's only blacksmith, and when she aided him in his workshop, nearly everyday, he only seemed to make tools for farming and shearing, not swords nor spears.

Her worry overcame her. She squirmed against Kalyna, and received a slap on her arm. "Let me go!" whispered Ludmilla, unable to contain her fear and anxiety. She needed to defend her family. The thought of Yohanan out there, with his head sliced open, it was unbearable.

Kalyna's breath caught, her grip tightening on her little sister. The flimsy wooden door to their home was thrown open, and there was the sound of heavy boots on the packed mud flood. Ludmilla whimpered a little, her tears rolling down her face. Kalyna muttered a verse of the Torah to herself, rocking slightly.

The raiders knocked around the room, looking for valuables. It would only be a matter of time before they found the storage closet's small door.

Kalyna whispered to her sister, "Quick, hide yourself under a bag of grain. Make sure your skirt does not show."

She pushed Ludmilla under the bags of grain, and stacked more on top of her in the corner of the room, under various bags of assorted foods. Kalyna hoped to God that the intruders would care less about the grain than the young girl they had found hiding in the closet.

The door to the closet swung open, and Ludmilla heard her sister's muffled shriek as she was grabbed and dragged from the closet. Ludmilla crept out from under her family's winter provisions to see her sister being forced out of their home, and scrambled to the tiny window to watch as she was forced to her knees, beat and chained.

Ludmilla stared, wide-eyed, as her sister sat in the mud, alone with the other villagers. She could not see where Yohanan had gone, nor her parents.