Aleda’s Story – Rebecca Enzor

Fie Eoin Fridays: Aleda’s Story #11

Happy Feast of Eoin, Aledans! If you saw yesterday’s post you know all about today’s celebrations (Happy Birthday Juliana!), and you also know that today is the final installment of Aleda’s Story! And with all that happy excitement in mind let me just say…

I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry for what I’m about to do to you. You don’t become a goddess by sitting at home and being quiet.

You can catch up on the story here.

Wisteria-covered Spear, the symbol of Kindra and Kaye. (Wisteria is Aleda's sacred flower) — Wisteria-covered Spear, the symbol of Kindra and Kaye. (Wisteria is Aleda’s sacred flower)

Carrick lifted his head and coughed at the dust and ash thick in the air. The children were crying in the distance, from fear or injury he didn’t know.

“Lea, are you okay?”

He looked at her face, still and gray with ash. “Lea?” He put a hand to her cheek. Warm. “Aleda?” He bent over, ear on her chest, but it didn’t rise. There was no sound.

“No, Lea. Please. Don’t leave me yet. I can’t do this without you.”

He wiped her face clean and sat back before he saw the blood, still seeping from the wound in her back. He tried to lift her, to cradle her and rock her, but her hand was stuck under a boulder. Claimed by Mountain.

“Give her back!” Carrick screamed. “Give her back to me, please.” He broke down, collapsing on top of her and crying until he heard Lisel calling for them and the cries of the children getting closer.

They couldn’t see her like this. They…there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t move her, couldn’t hide her, couldn’t even clean the blood away. The children would see the wrath of Mountain.

Alaric arrived first. He froze when he saw his mother. Lisel arrived behind him, Faye still unconscious in her arms. “Oh no,” she breathed.

“She’s…I can’t…” Carrick swallowed as Lisel put Faye on the ground and knelt next to him. Her eyes swept the scene and Carrick finally found his voice. “Her hand is trapped.”

“What do we do?”

He didn’t know. Aleda would have known what to do. She always knew what to do. He bit his lip until it began to bleed and the pain brought him around. “We’ll build a pyre.”

Lisel nodded. “That seems appropriate.” They looked in the direction of Mountain, but the ash in the sky hid Him from view.

“Momma?” Alaric had crept forward and was standing behind Carrick. “Is she okay?”

Carrick pulled him into his lap and hugged his son hard. He didn’t know how to answer that. Alaric pulled away. “Is the man dead too?”

Carrick followed his son’s gaze and saw Coyle, face-down on the ground, the back of his head caved in. “Yes, the man is dead too.”

“Did he kill Momma?”

He looked at the blood soaking the ash-covered ground. “Yes.”

“Because we stole his babe?”

Carrick shook his head. “No, Ali. He was an angry man. He wanted to kill Mountain and your mother was the closest he could come.”

Alaric looked into his eyes and spoke very quietly. “Is Momma a God too? Like Mountain?”

Aleda had always seemed a goddess to Carrick. In those final moments she seemed to command Mountain, rather than Him commanding her. He had claimed her for Himself, and they would give her a funeral pyre, to send her ashes into the sky to join His.

“Yes, Ali,” Carrick whispered into his hair and held him close. “Your mother was a goddess. She was the Mother Goddess, Aleda.”

He held his son as Lisel checked on her daughter and the other children. Faye was alive, but hadn’t woken yet, and Elise busied the other children with collecting wood. Carrick and Alaric placed the wood over Aleda’s body, covering her until she could no longer be seen, and at nightfall Carrick lit the fire.

It was the longest night of his life, standing by the fire, one hand on his son’s shoulder and the other gripped tightly in Lisel’s, watching his wife turn to ash and join Mountain in the sky. Carrick’s throat tightened as he thought of his life with her.

Playing as children in the water. The first time she looked at him with a different light in her eyes, then ran giggling back to her friends. When he finally got up the nerve to kiss her, and how soft she had been. Their wedding ceremony. The joy on her face when she told him she was pregnant with Alaric. The fear when Mountain first exploded and the pregnant women began to die while giving birth to the Changelings. Listening to her screams from outside the hut and knowing he would lose her. His joy when he heard the babe cry and her voice asking for him after she miraculously survived. The steadiness when she first stood up to Coyle and the others who wanted to kill the children. The terror when they finally ran. And her constant presence through the past seven summers on the mountainside, finding their way together. Raising children that no one else wanted, but she was willing to die for.

A loud crack echoed through the mountainside as the wood of the pyre fell in on itself, sending up a furl of sparks that lit the sky. Tears fell from Carrick’s eyes at the knowledge that her body was gone, even if her spirit stayed with him always. His Mother Goddess.

~~~~~

I wrote that scene listening to Elizabeth and the Catapult, Do Not Hang Your Head.

Fie Eoin Fridays: Aleda’s Story #10

Happy Friday, Aledans! Wait…how did it become Friday already? I completely missed Science Tuesday and Update Thursday. When I realized that I knew I couldn’t miss FEF – this is the climax of the story! Next Friday will be the final installment, and then it’s time for the brand new Faye and Tarrin! It’s so new I haven’t even finished writing it yet…

You can catch up on the story here.

“Run, Momma, run!”

Aleda’s blood chilled at the fear in Alaric’s voice. She couldn’t see what was happening, but she’d heard the man yell. Faye flew into the trees, the bundle in her arms wailing as she dodged limbs and flew out of sight. There was a crash, and Aleda ducked behind the brush as Coyle ran past.

Faye stole Coyle’s child? This wouldn’t end well. Faye could outrun him easily, but if Coyle knew they were close he wouldn’t rest until he found and killed all the Children of Mountain. It was only a matter of time.

She ran after him, feet stepping quietly through the brush. They had all learned to walk silently through the woods in the past several summers, and Coyle was determined to catch Faye. He didn’t look behind.

“Come back here you little monster!” He ran blindly towards the mountains. Aleda had to do something. If only Carrick were here she was sure he could stop Coyle.

Instead, Mountain rumbled low and long, shaking the earth so they both fell. She was nimble, up and on her feet first, but she should have stayed low. He caught sight of her as she ran along the bank of the river.

“Stop!” He yelled. “Give me back my child, witch!” He was running after her now, and he was faster. She was too far away to be heard but she screamed anyways.

“Carrick!”

Coyle caught her and they tumbled into the mud. He pinned her hands behind her back and smiled. “If it isn’t Mountain’s little concubine.” His eyes screamed murder as Mountain shook the earth beneath them. “Give me the children and I’ll silence Mountain forever.”

“He won’t let you kill them,” she said, and his hand burned across her face.

“Leave her alone!” Alaric’s little voice broke between them, followed by a branch that cracked over Coyle’s head. It stunned him enough that Aleda was able to scramble away. She grabbed her son as Alaric lifted the branch again.

“Get your father. Quickly.”

Alaric looked at her in surprise.

“Now!” Aleda pushed him toward the cave as Coyle groaned and began to push himself up. As Alaric flew back home Aleda followed on foot. She had to get a head start—Coyle would be on her again in no time.

The mountains loomed slowly as she ran—much too slowly. Coyle, unsteady as he was, gained on her and she was still too far from home. With every step Mountain grew more angry—ash spilled into the air, hiding the sun, making it hard to see and harder to run. She felt like she was trying to run in a boat at sea, but it was slowing Coyle down too.

She broke into an area clear of trees and there was Faye, her back turned away and calling into the woods. “Over here!”

Aleda looked behind her as Coyle turned toward the little kidnapper. “Faye, move!” she screamed, but Faye was too slow. The girl jumped into the air and Coyle caught her by the ankle. He pulled her down so hard he knocked her senseless and she went limp on the ground.

Aleda froze. She was scared of Mountain, of Coyle, of how quickly the situation had veered out of control. Coyle’s hand shook as he picked Faye up and held a knife to her limp throat. Aleda was desperate.

“Give her to me, Coyle. You don’t want to anger Mountain. Give the girl to me and I’ll tell Him to stop.”

Carrick and Lisel arrived. She screamed wordlessly at Coyle as Carrick held her back. Coyle ignored her, focusing on Aleda.

“I lost two wives to these monsters. It’s time they were destroyed.”

Mountain bellowed and the ground shook beneath them. Coyle’s eyes were wide with fear. Aleda saw her chance to scare him into submission and stood straighter, lifted her chin, and spoke in her best mother-voice.

“You will leave this place, Coyle.” She took a step forward as the ground trembled. “You will leave this place and never return. I am the Mother of Mountain’s Children and he will bring down a fiery rain upon you if you harm that girl.”

He looked around wildly. The sky was dark and angry and Mountain’s rumblings had turned into a constant complaint. “Tell him to stop. Tell him to stop or I’ll kill her!”

Aleda walked forward, confident in Coyle’s fear. “You will not kill her. Give her to me and I’ll make Mountain stop.”

He looked around, uncertain, but when a violent tremor shook the ground he made a terrified noise and held Faye out. Aleda grabbed her and turned away as Lisel ran over for her child. Aleda looked at Carrick and finally let her fear show.

“Get the children out of the cave before it collapses!”

“You lied!” Coyle yelled and lunged.

“Lea!” Carrick screamed, but it was too late. Coyle’s knife plunged into her back and Mountain exploded. The children screamed in the distance and a loud crack rang out before the cave collapsed in on itself.

The last thing Aleda saw before Carrick threw her down and covered her from the falling rock was a piece of Mountain smashing into the back of Coyle’s head.

~~~~~

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Fie Eoin Fridays: Aleda’s Story #9

You can catch up on the story here.

Two summers after Alaric’s first flight Mountain rumbled in the distance, and the boy motioned Faye back into the trees. The Gaerloms never looked into the trees, but they were sure to see her hovering above them if they looked to Mountain. He’d been hungry lately, and it was making the People of the Sea nervous.

It was making Alaric nervous too. He and the other Changelings were supposed to be the Children of Mountain but that didn’t make him feel better about the shaking in the ground or the nervous agitation of the birds. His parents talked of Mountain exploding again, and he could hear the fear in their voices. Anything that could scare his parents scared him.

“Did you see anything?” he asked Faye.

She shook her head. “We just got here.”

“But are the canoes gone?”

“Not all of them.”

He didn’t know what that meant. Momma said the men would be going out to hunt the big fish with the canoes soon, but did they take all of the canoes? Did they leave some behind? He and Faye hadn’t grown up in Gaerlom; they didn’t know what it would look like once the men left for the hunt.

Alaric peered through the leaves as Faye flapped her wings slowly. She was a better flyer than he was, although she had broken more bones and ripped her wings more times than he had learning. He could beat her in a straight race above the trees, but she could weave between the branches without getting slapped in the face by the leaves. Momma said that was why Faye was the one flying out of the trees to look for the canoes, but Alaric knew it was because his father didn’t want him out here. Father said it was too dangerous.

“Stop flapping, Faye, you’re making the limb move.”

She bounced a couple times and fell backwards in a fit of giggles when he swiped at her. She landed easily on the branch below his and crawled to the edge of the limb to peer through the leaves. “Do you see anything?” she said.

“I see huts and the ocean and some canoes, but not as many as last time.”

“Are they looking at Mountain anymore?”

“No.”

Faye shot out of the tree and hovered above his head. “I wish we could get closer. I can’t tell if those are women or men.”

A scream pierced the air and Alaric grabbed her back into the tree and held her on the branch. The deep, grunting screams of labor had been audible since they arrived, but this was different. It was the bright, final cry of evisceration. Momma told him when they arrived and heard the labor noises that it might happen. She said that sometimes the babes wouldn’t come, especially the babes like him with wings, and they had to be cut out.

A babe cried, and Alaric shuddered.

“Ali?”

He looked to the shaded ground. “We’re okay, Momma.”

“Do you see any canoes?”

“Yes.”

She sighed. “Let’s go then. It’s too dangerous with the men there.”

Alaric looked to Faye, but she had crawled to the edge of the branch and was peering down. “Comon Faye.”

“Wait.”

He followed her gaze to a man carrying what must be the new babe out of the village. “What’s he doing?”

Faye was silent for a moment. “The same thing they did to Montie.” She slipped into the air and began to follow the man.

“Faye!” Alaric hissed as Mountain grumbled and shook the ground. He belched a plume of smoke and Alaric tried to call her back again. What was she doing? They knew where the cove was—they could get the new babe when he left it and not risk being seen.

“Ali, what’s happening?” His mother called from the ground.

Alaric could only watch in horror as Faye swooped down from the sky like an eagle for a fish and grabbed the babe right out of the man’s arms. He yelled, first in surprise and then in anger as she flew with her burden to the safety of the trees. He chased her, and Alaric yelled to the ground.

“Run, Momma! Run! He’s coming!”

~~~~~

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Fie Eoin Friday: Aleda’s Story #8

You can catch up on the story here.

“Elise.” Aleda stopped as all the fury over her son’s recklessness dissolved. He was bleeding, but standing, and looked almost as fearful as the night they ran from Gaerlom.

“Alaric.” Carrick motioned to his son and the boy ran over, hiding behind his father as his muddy, bleeding fingers left stains on Carrick’s pants. “Run home and tell Lisel to get the children inside.”

Alaric looked at Elise once more, then ran. Carrick barred the way behind him and stared down the woman from Gaerlom. “Who came with you?”

“Only my daughter.” She pulled back the blanket in her arms to reveal a newborn.

“Wings?” Aleda asked.

Elise nodded and covered the child, gaze not leaving her precious bundle. “They killed my firstborn. A boy. Left him in the ocean to drown.” She looked at Aleda, her eyes pleading. “I couldn’t let them take my baby girl.”

Aleda looked to Carrick and he nodded. She turned back to Elise with a small smile. “I think we have someone you should meet. Come.”

Elise gave them a curious, wary look, but followed Carrick as he lead the way home. Aleda took the pack from Elise’s back. The poor woman; to give birth and almost immediately leave home and walk to the mountains, loaded down with fear and supplies. It must have been harrowing, to say the least. Aleda thought a dozen children were difficult, but at least she’d had time to heal.

From the look of the dried blood running down Elise’s leg she had left right after the birth.

“Have there been others?” Aleda never thought the changelings would continue to be born. Not after so many summers with Mountain silent.

“A few. Most of the babes have been normal, and the ones who weren’t…” Elise shrugged. “Stillborn, is what the mothers said. What I said. But I can see it in their eyes, and in their mannerisms. The few who survived wish they hadn’t.”

Aleda sighed and shook her head. If only there was some way to get word to the mothers—and keep it away from the fathers—that the changeling children could be kept safe. If only Aleda knew when the changelings were born, and could go back and steal all of them from the Sea.

She touched Elise’s shoulder as they reached the brush-covered entrance to the cave. “It was brave of you to come.”

Elise looked at her, relief and fear warring in her eyes. “I didn’t think I would find you, but it was better to die together in the mountains than lose another child to the Sea.”

Aleda smiled again as they walked through the tunnel and into the cave. One little boy, two summers younger than the rest, toddled over to her and she scooped him up and sat him on her hip.

“Elise. I would like you to meet Montie. I found him in the cove two summers ago.” Aleda turned her smile on the little boy, who was looking at Elise with naked curiosity. “He’s your son.”

Fie Eoin Friday: Aleda’s Story #7

You can catch up on the story here.

“Alaric! Get out of that tree! How many times must I tell you?”

Alaric reached for a higher branch. He could barely remember breaking his leg when he was three, and now he was a whole five summers old.

His mother threw up her arms in agitation. “I’m telling your father. I’ll make him climb after you if I have to.”

Alaric giggled. There was no way his father could climb a tree. Last time he made it only a few feet before he clambered back down, face drawn and pale. The adults didn’t like heights, and they couldn’t keep Alaric and Faye out of the trees.

“Alaric!”

That was his father. Alaric pulled himself up until the branches bowed under his weight, then crept out to the edge of the canopy.

“He’s going to break his leg again.” His mother.

“At least he won’t be able to climb for a few moons.” Father.

“Be careful, Ali!”

That was Faye, excitement and worry mixed in her voice as she called from the ground. She’d broken her arm a moon ago trying the same thing, but the two of them were determined to learn how to fly. The baby birds started from high in the trees, so that was where Alaric was going to start too.

He flapped his wings, experimenting with them from this height. He had never climbed this high before; this time it had to work. He took a deep breath and flapped harder, waiting until the branch beneath him lifted under his feet, then he jumped.

His mother screamed. “Alaric!”

He fell, sending all of his energy to his wings until he neared the rock wall of the mountain and an updraft lifted him. He let the wind fill the shimmery-thin tissue and soared along the wall, shifting to miss branches and startled birds. He was flying!

He had no idea how to stop.

A rock jutted out from the wall of the mountain and he shifted away from it, losing the updraft. He flapped his wings again as he dropped towards the trees, and did his best to miss the thick branches as he fell through the canopy. Twigs slowed his fall and ripped through one wing, and he landed hard on the ground, rolling with his body tucked into itself until something stopped him.

Alaric unrolled with a groan and sat up, dizzy.

“Great Awena.”

It was the soft voice of a woman and he looked up to find himself against the legs of a stranger. She had long dark hair like his mother, and wore a silkie-skin dress like hers, although it wasn’t patched over from years on the mountainside. She stared at him, her eyes as huge and blue as the ocean he could barely remember.

“Are you okay?” she said.

Alaric backed away, hands leaving bloody marks on the damp ground. She was from Gaerlom, and they weren’t supposed to talk to the Gaerloms. The People of the Sea were dangerous.

“I won’t hurt you.” She bent down and there was something in her arms, along with a large pack on her back. “I’m looking for Aleda and Carrick. Do you know who they are?”

“Mother and father,” he whispered, still crouched in the moss. His heart was racing. What was in her arms?

Her smile was full of relief as she looked around. The river wasn’t far away and the cave was on the other side. Alaric could probably outrun her if he needed to. His hands and wings hurt, but his legs felt fine.

He began to stand slowly, prepared to run, when he heard crashing in the trees behind him and his parents came running through the brush. They stopped when the woman stood, and Alaric looked from her to his parents. Their eyes were huge.

“Elise?” his mother said.

Fie Eoin Friday: Aleda’s Story #6

You can catch up on the story here.

It was still morning when Carrick found Aleda trudging back along the river from Gaerlom. Her feet slipped on the mossy ground, exhausted from too much stress and too little sleep. But she held the offering in her arms, and she wouldn’t let go.

“For Awena, Lea, you could have been killed!” Carrick grabbed her shoulders and she welcomed the strength of him. “What could be so important that you would risk your life?”

She straightened and pulled back a corner of the leather. Underneath was the tiny, red-splotched face of a newborn child. It was weak—too weak to cry—and she doubted it had even been fed before being left as an offering to the ocean. The People of the Sea returning the newest child of Mountain.

“He must be Elise’s little boy,” she said, throat raw from crying and thirst. “They put him in the cove to die.”

Carrick looked at her. “He’s a changeling?”

She nodded.

“I thought no more changelings were born? All the newest babes have been normal.”

She shrugged. “This one has wings. They left him in the cove.”

Carrick’s fingers gently touched the babe’s forehead and he took the child from her arms. “How did you know to go back?” His voice held a touch of awe that made her uncomfortable.

“I didn’t.” She handed the babe over, glad to be relieved of her burden for a while. “I went back for supplies but they ransacked our home. So I tried to retrieve your emergency pack in the cove and there he was. I…I couldn’t reach your pack, and all I brought back was another mouth to feed.”

Tears rolled down her face slowly. “I’m sorry, Carrie. I didn’t do us any good.”

“Shh.” Carrick held the babe in one hand and wiped her tears away with the other. “You did good, Lea. You saved another child. There’s nothing bad about that. Hush now. Lisel can feed the babe and Alaric will be happy to see you. Come.”

He took her hand and led her along the river, slowing when she slipped and telling her stories of the children at the camp. “They have found a mushroom that looks like something from the ocean.”

She grabbed his arm in panic. “They didn’t eat it?”

“Of course they did—they’re children.”

Aleda’s eyes widened as she imagined what she was coming back to. A dozen children poisoned or hallucinating, emptying their tiny stomachs and crying in a chorus of misery. She only had one cup and a limited supply of herbs. What would she do?

“Lea, they’re fine. The mushrooms are edible.”

Edible. It was hard to believe. After all they had been through they found a food source. They couldn’t survive on mushrooms alone, but it would extend the supplies they brought with them.

Carrick continued through her shock. “And I’ve found some mudbugs in the stream.”

“Crabs?”

“More like tiny lobsters. They’re all over the rocks.” His eyes were gleaming with hope. “You were right. It’s a good spot. Blessed by Awena.”

She shook her head. “You were right—it’s too close. As soon as Alaric can hobble and Erie is healthy we should move.”

As if proving her point the stream turned and they were already at the camp, the children crowding around them to see what she brought back. Lisel shooed the children away as she hurried over. “You won’t believe what the children found.”

“You won’t believe what I found,” Aleda said and turned to Carrick as he uncovered the babe.

“A changeling?” Lisel’s hand found her mouth as she stared down at it. Her own new babe was normal and none of them expected to see another changeling child again.

Aleda nodded. “They left him in the cove. Carrick already told me about the mushrooms.”

Lisel’s smile turned from the new babe to Aleda, and she looked relieved for the first time since they left Gaerlom. The wrinkles around her brow had smoothed a bit, and her eyes were no longer full of fear. “Not mushrooms. A cave. A huge cave in the mountain, with an entrance hidden from view and a space big enough for all of us, plus more. It’s damp inside, but it’s damp out here too.”

Aleda and Carrick looked at each other in shock. It was impossible that they had found safety so close to Gaerlom.

Lisel took the babe from them. “Faye, show Carrick and Lea the cave, hmm?”

Faye grabbed Aleda’s hand and pulled her with a child’s excitement. When they reached the mountainside the little girl let go and crawled behind a bush, disappearing from sight. Carrick moved the branches aside to reveal a gaping hole in the wall, Faye’s little face smiling from it. They followed her in, ducking their heads and trailing their hands along the damp wall of the shallow, dark tunnel before the space opened up before them, lit by small shafts of light that pierced the ceiling.

“Oh Carrie.” Aleda’s voice caught as she reached for his hand. The size of the cavern was dizzying. A small tribe could live here, it was so large.

Carrick squeezed her hand. “I think Mountain will provide for his children after all.”

Aleda began crying again.

Fie Eoin Fridays: Aleda’s Story #5

Happy Friday, Aledans! As you know from yesterday’s update, I finally started writing the sequel to Aleda’s Story: Faye and Tarrin. You’ll finally get to see what happens to the baby Changelings as they grow up 🙂 The next several weeks are dedicated to Aleda’s Story, and today she’s going back to Gaerlom despite the danger. You can catch up on her story here.

Aleda reached Gaerlom before nightfall. It was disconcerting how quickly a person without a group of children could travel from the mountains to the sea, and she knew Carrick was right. They couldn’t stay where they were for long.

She hid in the trees until dark and the stillness of sleep overtook the village, then pulled her hood up and walked to her hut when she was sure no one was out. It was dark inside without the constant glow of the hearth fire, but Aleda knew the hut as well as she knew the weight of Carrick’s arms around her stomach as they slept. She knelt next to their cot and reached under it for a bowl to boil water in. Her hand grasped air. She swept her arm the length of the cot and it didn’t hit any of the things she had stored under it.

Aleda pulled back the door flap to let in the moonlight and her heart sank. Everything had been looted. The hearthstones and cots were the only things left.

She dropped the flap as someone began crying in a tent nearby and darkness closed in on her again, mirroring the feeling growing inside her. There had to be something left.

There was an unfinished hood that she had dropped behind the cot and forgotten, and a bone knife in the ashes of the hearth. She couldn’t carry the cots out, but she used the knife to cut away the leather and folded it up to take with her.

The crying continued—a muffled sound that put Aleda on edge. Carrick kept a small bundle of emergency supplies in a nearby cove, so she waited in the dark hut until she was reasonably sure no one was out, cut down the door flap, and bundled it into her arms as she left the village and headed back into the trees. She would stay in their cover until she was closer to the cove.

The moon was just past full and it was easy to see, otherwise she wouldn’t have spotted the man leaving the cove until she had left the cover of the trees. Aleda crouched as he passed. She couldn’t tell who it was, but his hands were empty and he walked with a tired step and slumped shoulders. He wasn’t coming from a long day of fishing.

When she was sure he was gone she crept to the edge of the cliff where the path was and looked down. There was no one in the cove, but he had left something in the sand near the water. Something that would be swallowed by the sea at high tide. An offering to Awena? If so Aleda wouldn’t steal it—she didn’t need the wrath of the Mother against her.

The small pack of emergency supplies were tucked in a fissure in the rock, wrapped in a waterproof silkie skin. Aleda reached her arm in until her shoulder pressed into the wall, her fingertips grazing the package. She tried to find a place to grab it but her arm was shorter than Carrick’s.

A sob escaped her as she leaned her forehead against the wet rock. How were they supposed to survive in a strange land, with no supplies and a dozen children? She told Lisel that Awena would provide, but how could she believe that? Aleda had said it more for her own ears, because she couldn’t imagine a mother—any Mother—giving up her children. But as Coyle said, these children weren’t of Awena. They were Mountain’s. And she had seen the father’s of her tribe give up on their own children. Who was to say Mountain wouldn’t give up on them also?

Aleda pulled her arm from the rock as a gull cried behind her. Wiping away her tears, she watched it hop over the sand to the offering and hang back, head cocked to the side. Was even the gull too scared to upset an offering to the Mother? No. He hopped closer and pecked at the middle of it.

The offering cried. In a distinctly human voice.

Fie Eoin Friday: Aleda’s Story #4

Happy Friday, Aledans! For those of you new to the blog and the NAMELESS world, Aleda’s Story is a prequel set so far back in the history of Fie Eoin that no one remembers Aleda was a real woman. Instead, she’s their Mother Goddess, and this is the story of how she became deified. You can catch up on the first three installments here.

Carrick looked at the trees as Aleda crossed her arms, hugging them to her chest. “We can’t stay here, Lea.”

“We have no choice. Alaric broke his leg; he can’t walk.”

“I’ll carry him.”

“Erie is sick. Who will carry her?”

Carrick looked at her and she pursed her lips. “And what about the next sick child? And the next? They are three summers, Carrie. They can’t hike through the mountains for days on end. Give them a rest.”

Carrick watched the children playing in the stream that would become the North River. He was a good man, always sensitive to her, but he didn’t like it when he wasn’t in control of a situation.

She touched his arm. “Why don’t you scout for something to hunt?” She realized as she said it that he was used to hunting fish and other creatures from the ocean. “Or build a roof above the fire, so I can keep the tea going?”

It wasn’t raining now, but the clouds that came in off the coast would dump rain so often that the fire went out before the next small cup of tea could boil.

“It’s too close,” he said, but his shoulders drooped and she knew she would win.

Aleda put her hands on either side of his face and looked at him. “There’s a stream, trees to keep the worst of the rain away, and the threat of Mountain to protect us.” She kissed him and let him go without dropping his gaze.

The lines around his eyes and lips softened. He stared into her eyes and touched her cheek, then nodded. “I’ll make you a shelter.”

“Thank you.”

He made it big enough for two children to lay underneath with the fire, and covered the top with a whale-skin cloak to keep the rain from seeping through. When Alaric and Erie were underneath and the fire re-lit he piled a few piece of wood next to it to dry. Aleda hung her bag of herbs under the roof to keep them from turning moldy.

The tips of her fingers were red and blistered from handling the hot stone cup and trying to keep the fire going. She needed a bigger vessel to boil water in. If only they hadn’t been in such a panic to leave she could have packed properly.

“Lisel, can you tend to the children on your own for a while?”

Lisel was watching the healthy ones play in the shallow caves as she fed the babe. “Of course. Will you be gone long?”

Aleda looked around. Carrick was at the river seeing what fish he could find, and she lowered her voice. “Yes. I’m going back to get more supplies. Food, blankets, something to boil water in.”

“Carrick won’t like you traveling alone.”

Aleda looked in his direction again. “We don’t have a choice. We need more than what we brought.” She turned back to Lisel. “When he asks where I am tell him I’m out gathering herbs. Don’t tell him where I’ve gone until night falls. He won’t leave the children in the dark, and I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Lisel looked from Carrick to the children, to Aleda. “What if you don’t return?”

Aleda was trying not to think about that. Without the hindrance of the children she should make it to Gaerlom by dark. She could sneak into the village while they slept, pack the things she needed, and make it back upriver before dark settled tomorrow. Even if someone saw her surely they wouldn’t try to kill her, would they?

“You know the herbs well enough.” Aleda swallowed her fear. “And Carrie’s a good man—you’ll take care of each other. Don’t let Alaric use his leg for the next two full moons, and don’t let the others climb into the trees.”

Lisel nodded and Aleda brushed the hair from Alaric’s sleeping forehead before kissing him. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Awena protect you on your journey,” Lisel said and rocked the babe.

Aleda smiled. “I think I’m under the protection of Mountain now.”

Fie Eoin Friday: Aleda’s Story #3

Happy Friday, Aledans! If you missed the first two installments of Aleda’s Story you can catch up here: #1, #2

The mountains loomed before them after a night and a day of walking, much steeper than Aleda expected. The North River—more of a stream now—poured from a cliff hundreds of feet high and there was no way for the adults to climb it, much less the children. They would have to leave the river.

She linked her fingers through Carrick’s as he looked north to the great, broken hump of Mountain. He had been taller and sharper when she discovered she was pregnant with Alaric. Three summers ago she had been on her way to meet Carrick when the water began to ripple in a strange way, not pulling and pushing in its normal rhythm but hopping around the rocks and reefs as the ground began to shake. When Mountain exploded He sent up a fiery spray to burn the Sky, and the dark cloud of ash followed. The water receded, and the People of the Sea ran for the cliffs. Gaerlom was destroyed in the ash-colored waves that she thought would never stop coming, and the Children of Mountain were born in the moons of rebuilding. Only Aleda and Lisel had survived the birth of the broad-shouldered Changelings.

One of the children started to cry as the shadows of the trees darkened around them and it began to drizzle. Tears had become a constant in their journey, although they hopped from one child to the next like a flea. Only Alaric and Faye were quiet. They stayed near their parents and tried to distract the other children with games.

“Let’s stop for the night,” Carrick said and scooped the crying child up to rock on his hip until she quieted. “In the morning we’ll turn north and go to Mountain.”

“Why don’t we go south?” Aleda said as she tried to get damp tinder to catch a spark. “Perhaps the South River has a pass that will be easier to navigate.”

“We don’t know what is to the south.”

“We don’t know what is to the north, either. Except Mountain, and I’m weary of Him.” Even through the trees she could see the shadow of the broken mass. She feared Mountain more than she feared Coyle.

A deep frown cut across Carrick’s face as he looked north, and he didn’t speak right away. “The Gaerloms won’t follow if we go north.”

“I don’t think they’ll follow regardless. We’re moving painfully slow; they could have caught us by now. They know we went along the North River and won’t think to look south.”

Lisel nodded as she fed her baby. “They wanted the children gone, and now they are gone.”

“They wanted the children dead,” Carrick turned back to them. “They’re still a threat if they’re alive.”

“They are three summers old,” Aleda said. “That is no threat. They won’t even remember Gaerlom.” Her eyes plead with her husband to listen to reason. There was no point in going closer to Mountain. They would be safe as long as they stayed inland.

Carrick put the child down and turned north once more, to the dark hulk of Mountain. Then he turned south to the gentler curves of the mountains there. They were still large, still foreboding to people accustomed to the sea, but less angry somehow. He nodded. “Let’s go south then.”

Aleda sighed in relief and the tinder began to smoke. She cupped her hands over it to keep the rain off and Carrick got to work finding as much dry wood as he could. The entire mountainside was perpetually wet, and the rain had come in fits and spurts all day. He found a branch that had fallen into a shallow cave in the cliff and they were able to use it to light a small fire—the first for two days. If it started raining any harder the fire would go out, but it sizzled and burned in the mist and drizzle.

A stone cup in the bottom of Aleda’s bag was the one treasured thing that she brought with her, and she ran her fingers over its smooth surface as she got it out. She filled it with water from the river and put it next to the fire to boil. One of the little girls had developed a bad cough and it was the only vessel they had for tea. Aleda was just getting the herbs out of her bag when she heard the crack of a tree limb and looked up, expecting Coyle and his murderous friends.

Alaric had climbed half-way up a tree and was reaching for a limb above his head as the one his foot rested on cracked under his weight.

“Alaric! Get down from there!”

“But, Momma…”

She abandoned the cup and grabbed Faye out of the tree as the little girl tried to climb after him. It was yet another example of how strange the Children of Mountain were. The People of the Sea climbed over the rocks and cliffs of the shoreline, but who had ever heard of climbing a tree? Only birds lived in trees.

“Now, young man.”

Aleda placed Faye safely on the ground before turning back to her son, who had inched out from the middle of the tree. He spread his wings—something she had never seen him do—and she didn’t realize his intentions until he jumped. She gasped as his feet left the limb and he glided on his wings for a moment, but they had never been used and they couldn’t support his weight. He screamed as he fell to the ground.

Fie Eoin Friday: Aleda’s Story #2

Happy Friday, Aledans! If you missed the first installment of Aleda’s Story, you can find it here.

A scream woke Aleda in the night and she bolted out of bed and to her son, Alaric. He was sound asleep and she put her hand on his chest to reassure herself. Had she been dreaming?

“Lea?” Carrick propped himself on his elbows. “Is everything ok?”

She smiled, although she knew it was too dark in the hut for him to see her face. “Yes. I’m just a little on edge tonight—”

She was cut off by another scream. Carrick threw back the heavy curtain that served as their door and moonlight flooded in, carrying with it the cries of a child and men’s rough voices.

“Stay here.” The curtain closed behind Carrick and drowned out the cries, but it couldn’t stop them echoing in Aleda’s head. She clutched Alaric as he woke and rocked him back and forth, murmuring calm words to still them both.

Carrick returned quickly. “We have to go. Grab what you need. We’ll get as many of the children as possible.”

“What was it?” She asked as she set Alaric down and grabbed a leather bag to fill with food and herbs.

“Moray is trying to bring his daughter back from Mountain.”

“He’s going to kill her!”

Carrick wouldn’t look at her and Aleda covered her mouth. Moray killed his daughter? His own sweet little girl, with hair like the sun glinting off the water? She and the other Changelings stood out like beautiful golden birds in the midst of Gaerlom’s dark heads. And now she would share the fate of Coyle’s daughter—thrown into the surf for the crabs and gulls.

“What if they won’t let us take the other children?” Aleda asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Then we get Alaric out, and be glad that we were able to save one.” Carrick put his hands on her arms, holding her steady as he looked her in the eyes. “Don’t fight them for the children, Lea, just ask if we can take them back to Mountain. I’ll meet you at the North River.”

Aleda nodded and he pulled her into his arms before he grabbed his bag and left the hut. She shouldered her bag and grabbed Alaric’s hand. Her gaze swept the hut once before she ducked out of the cover for the last time.

The entire village was awake, even in the middle of the night. Carrick was pleading with some of the men who had brought their Changling children out to the beach, and Aleda pulled Alaric to the closest hut that had a Changling. The man was a good friend of theirs, and he gave his little girl over with a look of relief. She knew most of the Gaerloms didn’t want to kill the children, but they saw no alternative.

It was the same at most of the huts she visited, and she had the children hold hands and follow her like ducklings as she made her rounds. When she got to Lisel’s tent she knocked, but no one answered.

“Lisel?” Aleda poked her head around the doorflap and found the young woman, a new babe strapped to her chest and her arms around her daughter, Faye, the first Changeling child to be born. A long knife shook in her hand as moonlight gleamed off the bone.

“They can’t take my babies,” Lisel said.

“I’m not going to let them.” Aleda eased herself through the door slowly, leaving the children outside holding hands. “Carrick and I are taking the children away so they won’t be killed. You can come with us.”

Lisel’s eyes darted around the small hut, then back to Aleda. “Where are you going?”

“Into the Mountains. We’ll live there.”

“How?”

“We’ll find a way.”

Lisel stayed where she was as angry voices sounded outside. “We have to leave now,” Aleda said. When Lisel made no move to go, Aleda turned her back and opened the doorflap to check on the children.

“I’m coming,” the young woman finally said and unfurled herself from her daughter. She threw a few belongings in a bag, grabbed her daughter’s hand, and followed Aleda out.

They ran as fast as the three year olds could to the North River where Carrick was waiting. His lip was bloodied and growing fat, and there was blood on his shirt, but he stopped Aleda’s questions with a look and grabbed the smallest child, a little boy whose name she couldn’t remember. With a nod at Lisel, Carrick started walking inland along the river, to what Aleda could only hope was safety.

They didn’t stop walking until the moon had traveled halfway across the sky and they had gone farther inland than anyone Aleda knew. The children were fussy, but too tired to cry, and the adults were exhausted. Lisel lay down next to Aleda and the children between her and Carrick. It was cold, but they were too scared to light a fire and give away their location.

“Carrie?” Aleda whispered over the heads of the children. He turned towards her and she wished he was next to her, holding her in his arms. “I’m scared.”

“I am too, Love.” His voice was soft and comforting and she swallowed back her tears. “It will be okay, Lea. We won’t let them kill anymore children.”

Aleda nodded in the dark and curled up around her son.