Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:21 am Posts: 2100 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Profession: Hunter
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Kharille wrote: Kuublu steps closer, maintaining a respectful distance from the woman but close enough not to shout. He repeats his questions. " Ak'kulula, bring them in. Sit, sit.", the old woman waved them in to sit. She was ancient almost to the point of emaciation with strange almost bird like movements, she cocked her head to the side as the companions entered her home. " Do I know Mother of Moons? Yes, yes I do! The crystals told me you were on your way into the hollow, not many can find the path...."
" Kgosi Olmar......Kgosi....Ah! The new boy.....no that was his father...grandfather?....Hmmmm, he is the leader of the town, yes?"
" And a childs life is in danger? Of course it is! We are talking about Mother of Moons after all!"
" Now listen, I will tell you of her."
“She was born many, many years ago, long before Iintombi Intlambo ever existed, when this region was home to two great warrior clans. The daughter of a powerful chieftain, she enjoyed an easy life. With no one else of her age and standing to play with, she would often go alone into the forest at night, chatting with the moon as she went."
" There, one day, she found the remains of an ancient shrine, a crumbled ledge of white stone almost lost beneath tangled tree roots. In her innocence, she cleaned away the undergrowth to uncover the large bowl-like altar which stood at the centre."
“As she grew she adopted the shrine as her own, and spent all her time there, playing at being a powerful priestess. A particular sigil, carved into the altar, became her own sign. She wore it on a necklace, and even scratched it into her arms. When she began to hear a voice whispering to her, she thought how lucky she was that she had found a shrine with the power to make the moons voice come to life. From then on, the voice guided and advised her. It was not long before the clans-people noticed how confident, even headstrong, she was becoming. Everyone said what a fine wife she would make some day, for the time was fast approaching when she must do her duty, and become wife to a young chieftain’s son from a neighbouring clan, assuring a peaceful truce for all."
“The marriage was a joyous affair, and she and her husband, had a fine house beside her father’s hall. It was not long before her husband became chieftain, and showed himself to be a wise leader."
"Those were happy times, and when the news came that she was expecting a child, there was great celebration."
"However, swept up in the richness of her new life, she neglected the old shrine. She no longer wore its sigil, and the marks on her arms healed and faded.”
“On the very day that her child was born, a bloodthirsty warlord led his warriors into this valley and laid siege to her village. This warlord paced outside the gates, demanding that the chieftain come forward and do battle with him. But Mother of Moons husband was terribly afraid. He knew of the warlords savage reputation."
"None the less, just before dawn on the third day of the siege, he held his wife for the last time and kissed his child. Then he took up his spear and went out to meet the warlord. I would like to say the battle was a proud one, and that he defeated his foe. But that was not to be. He was a chieftain of peace, while his enemy was a chieftain whose rule was forged in blood. The warlord slew the young man, and claimed the village as his own.
“‘My patience is at an end. Open the gates and let us in, or we will burn this village to the ground!’ he roared. Seeing their leader slain, the villagers lost all hope and opened the gates. Finally, the warlord and his warriors surrounded Mother of Moons hall. ‘Bring out the child. None can live to contest my rule!’ he cried. ‘Bring it to me, or we’ll burn this village and everyone in it!’”
“Of course, she would rather die than give up her child to this monster, but the villagers were sore afraid. They snatched the child from her arms. As the sun rose on the third day, the child was carried down the steps of the hall and given to the warlord.
“Mother of Moons never saw her child’s fate. In a frenzy of grief, she ran from the hall, out of the village and up into the forest."
“As the warlord celebrated his victory, he looked up the wooded slopes to see a shrine, now clear of overgrowth, shining white amid the trees. Mother of moons stood beside the altar stone, her face streaked with tears. In her hands were the branches and roots she had torn away, and on her arms were the sigils of the shrine, written in blood.
“No one knows what dark pact she made with the ancient power that ruled the shrine, but she must have asked for vengeance on the warlord and the cowardly villagers who had betrayed her."
"Flaming torches flared up all around her, and a great wind blasted the village."
" Fire tore through the houses, burning everything in its path. As the last house crumbled to ashes, she turned away. The ground opened up and swallowed her and the shrine, and the roots of the trees bound tight over her resting place."
“Since then, when the moon is full and a child has been born in the valley, the ground on the hill has broken open, revealing the shrine with its ghostly torches all aflame. And on the third day after the child’s birth, it has sickened and passed away, its soul stolen away by the jealous and vengeful Mother of Moons.”
_________________ co-author Fury of the Deep co-author Friends or Foes co-author Dragon Warriors Players Guide co-author Cold Fury co-author Cadaver Draconis co-author Ordo Draconis 1 and 2.
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