Chapter 2 April 19, 2010

“We can’t let this go an any longer, you know that Simir.” Katon’s expression was fearful as he leaned forward in his chair. “We have to get that girl out of our forest. She’s bad luck, even if she’s not in our town, she’s in our woods.”
Simir’s black eyes were serious, and he nodded. “I know, and until she’s out of our lands, none of us are safe, even in our own homes.” He looked around nervously, as though death itself hid in a shadowy corner. Leaning in, he whispered “Our crops haven’t been the same since that girl’s prophecy came. People are getting sick left and right.” He leaned even closer, his voice barely audible, “Some even say the red fever is creeping back in at the edges of the land.” He nodded impressively. “If you ask me, it’s not a coincidence.”
Katon yelped. His small eyes darting from one side of the room to the other, sweat beading his forehead, he thumped both hands over his heart, all his fingers curved, a gesture for warding off evil. “Not the fever! Not again! We lost so many!”
“That’s why she has to go. I think it should be tonight. We’ve waited long enough. Let’s get everyone together, and finish what we started seven years ago.”
“But Simir, she’s just a girl, we can’t kill her.”
Simir raised an eyebrow.
“Well, we could just banish her, send her off in a boat, wouldn’t that do just as well?” Katon was a weak-hearted man, who scared easily and he was greatly intimidated by the larger man, but he was very much against killing.
Simir considered for a moment, “I suppose that we could give her the choice, she leaves without a struggle or we kill her…”
“Yes! Exactly! Then surely, she will never trouble our shores again!”

* * *

It was midnight, and Lyli awoke to the sound of angry humans approaching. The forest was full of the noises of fleeing animals, the trees whispered about fire and blades.
Lyli rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and stood up.
Why are they here? What do they want? She asked a passing hedgehog.
He was too distracted to give a straight answer, They come with flaming sticks, and axes and knives, and no one can stop them!
Lyli began to run, along with every creature form the forest, trying to outrun the angry towns folk.
Why after so many years have they come back? Lyli wondered, knowing they were coming after her.
She could not run fast enough. No matter how far she went, the villagers kept up, and even gained on her.
She ran, farther and farther, till finally she broke out of the woods and stopped, listening. They were closer than ever.
Maybe she should just confront them and ask what they wanted.
In her moment of hesitation, they caught her. Two strong men grabbed her roughly by the arms and within moments she was surrounded by angry yelling mobsters wielding flaming torches and knives the size of her entire arm.
Lyli panicked. She began kicking and flailing, trying to get away. As she struggled, someone grabbed at the stone her father had given her which was hung about her neck, trying to choke her. She grabbed at his hands, prying them off, and clutched at the stone.
The touch reminded her of her father, the look in his eyes as he had handed her the gift, and in a fit of desperation, she cried out, “Please father! Help!”
And then it happened. Light burst from the stone clutched in her hands, shooting out from between her fingers, and Lyli felt an immense power flow through her, and the men were letting go of her, and she was stepping away, radiating so much energy that they couldn’t touch her.
“What do you want?” she asked them, still holding the stone, the light still shooting out, causing most to drop their torches and weapons to cover their eyes.
For a moment no one spoke, and then a tall, important looking man came forward, a hand shielding his eyes “If you don’t mind, can you, er, turn that thing off?”
Lyli suddenly felt very tired, as though the glowing rock had drained her of every ounce of energy, and she let go. The glowing stopped.
“We have come because you are bringing accursed luck on our lands. We came to deman… uh… request,” he glanced at the stone around her neck, “that you leave and take your luck with you.”
Lyli looked at all of them, only about a third of them with torches and weapons now. They all looked slightly scared, but she could tell that they weren’t going to back down. “What do you mean by ‘leave’?”
“We would give you a boat and provisions enough for two months, and then we’d set you off in the right direction.”
“I can’t leave. This is my home.” Looking around, Lyli saw the shore, the waves, and to her left, the forest. She still felt weak, and she wanted desperately to sink to the ground and just cry, but she didn’t let herself.
“We understand that, but ever since your prophecy, all our crops are dying before their full grown, we’ve had droughts turn into floods overnight, and lightning striking from a clear sky. We’ve talked it all over and decided that it’s not a coincidence.”
Lyli looked down at her hands. She wasn’t sure it really was her fault that all these things were happening, but what if it was? What was the right thing to do? Lyli wasn’t a fighter, it wasn’t her way. She had never had to answer to anyone before though, and she didn’t know how to respond.
“Where would I go?” she stuttered, looking from one face to another. Each had a similar expression: hatred, fear and anger.
“There are lands across the sea, everyone knows that.”
That was true, everyone had heard the stories of the lands across the sea. There were tales of lands filled with flowers and fruit trees where people lived forever as near-gods, and then there were stories of floating islands ringed by fire, islands filled with demons and monsters. But when Lyli considered, she realized that there were dozens of stories about the nice lands, and almost no stories about the bad ones.
She wasn’t a particularly adventurous girl, but as Lyli thought about her options, it was alike a whole new world unfolded before her eyes. She didn’t have to stay, she could go search for a land no one had ever found before, somewhere wonderful. She could learn new things.
“You would give me a boat?” she asked slowly, looking down at her hands and considering.
They all nodded.
Lyli looked out over the ocean. She imagined sailing over it, alone for who knows how long. No one knew how far it was till the next land. What if it actually did take two whole months? Would she be able to stand being alone in a boat for that long? And if she were to reach an island, would she be able to survive without help? Would the creatures there be willing to help her? Would there be humans? Would she simply be forced from that land as well?
There were so many things she did not know, things she would never know.
Unless she said yes.
“I’ll do it.”
She could see the surprise in their faces. They hadn’t expected her to be so cooperative.
“I’ll do it. I’ll go.”

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