The sun was setting; casting long shadows over the baren landscape. Temperatures at night often came below freezing, and despite their thick clothing, the Shadine could not survive in such harsh conditions.
“We need to get back, now!” someone cried from about fifty yards away.
“Not yet, we still haven't caught anything.” came the reply.
The red disk of the sun was finally giving way to the white canvas of the sky...the chill was beginning to come.
“Jafta, We need to go now! We can't hunt in the dark. We'll have to come back tomorrow.” came the voice from in the distance.
“Our people need our help, Yensen. They need food...We need food. We will not be the first...We will not be the first!” The last inches of the sun and it's brilliant light were all that were visible, creeping down the horizon...and then it vanished; as though the chill had blown it out like a candle. The darkness of the night leapt into power, covering all around in shadow as ice particles swirled round, causing the two men to cover their faces with their hoods.
Yensen ran to Jafta, stumbling on the snow, swearing under his breath. They took shelter behind a large rock where Jafta had been hiding from prey earlier on.
“You see. I told you; we should have turned back.” said Yensen. “We need to shade now.” Jafta hesitated for a moment before another piercing storm of ice particles blew at them again.
“Are you ready, brother?” Jafta asked; and a swift nod of the head was his reply.
The two men became still, not moving an inch, knowing this was the best way. They had been taught for years how to do this. Slowly, the two men left the scene; the white landscape vanished from their eyes as they did from the landscape. They were back at home. They had shaded, they had vanished, disappeared from the baren lands and reappeared back home, warm and spirited.
This was the gift of the Shadine. And this is where our story begins.
The Shadine lived in the lower mountains of Massa-Carrara, Italy. Surrounded by unsuspecting towns and villages, the Shadine lived happily, bothering no one. There were some small animals on the mountain range but none big enough to feed the thousands that lived inside the mount.
The Shadine would, every morning, call out two names, these two people, always men, would have two hours of bliss; being treated to the sacred foods and wearing the heavenly robes of the lords. This was all for a purpose, however. At the hour of the high sun, the two men must venture away, they must travel to foreign lands, sometimes to hot jungles, sometimes to the icy deserts of the Arctic. And there, they would hunt for hours without break. They hunted for a large animal; something that could feed many. If they did not find an animal, they were considered weak...They were banished. They would be forced to shade away to a far off country and never to return. If they tried, the penalty was death; although, no one knew this, they were never told, and no one had ever come back without a prize.
A round of applause echoed around the great hall in the depths of the mountain, lit only by the large flaming torches arranged around the perimeter of the cavern.
“And here they are! Jaffney and Yenser!” called the drunken chief over the cheering crowd, forgetting their names. Suddenly, the crowd went quiet and still, bracing them selves for a large, distraught animal to walk onto the large stage to where Jafta and Yensen were standing, maybe with an arrow still in it's back. But no such beast appeared. Jafta, almost sure that Yensen and himself would be able to try again at another location tomorrow, was quite confident they would be all right; after-all, there were years worth of food, stored near the top of the mountain, where the snow could keep it. No one would starve.
The crowd and the chief soon began to realize what had happened and that there would be no beast. The chief stood with his mouth fully open, unable to close it, like it hung on a broken hinge.
“Seize them.” the chief managed to utter, almost silently. “Seize them!” he bellowed, now back in control, sobering up with every passing moment. Guards rushed in from hidden corners of the stage, with whips at hand, but there was no need. Jafta and Yensen were so shocked by the reaction of their large family, they did not fight, and they let the guards bring their hands into awkward positions behind their backs.
The chief, with shining eyes, with no idea what to do, walked to the two men.
“You have disgraced the name of Shadine. You have humiliated me in front of my people, my people!” the chief took a step back. “They are no longer your brothers and sisters. Look at them.” Jafta, now defeated, looked. He saw his wife's chair, her prime spot to watch her brave husband, empty. He saw Yensen's wife, her shining eyes glistening in the firelight.
“You are no longer lords.” said the chief harshly. “You are banished from our lands, you are banished from Massa-Carrara. You have until the hour of first light to leave our lands and people. And with that, the chief signalled to the guards to take the two men away, behind the stage. It wasn't until the men and the guards were a safe distance from the chief that they were let go, and sent back to their own small cavern homes along the narrow corridors of rock.
Without a word, just a sorrowing look, Yensen shaded back to his cavern. Jafta could have done the same, he could have just shaded back to his home but he didn't. He wanted to see and touch as much of his mountain home as he could, and so he walked the many miles of pitch black, stone carved corridor back to his home, tears running down his cheek and falling onto his dull clothes.
As he got closer to the small cave village where his own cavern was, he saw thin beams of light running the circumference, marking the border of the circle wooden doors to private cavern homes on either side of the corridor. As he reached the end of the corridor and where his house was, he noticed there was no light billowing out from the thin gap between the door and the frame. His house was clearly empty.
Jafta slowly pushed open the darkened door of his home. Inside lay a circle rug, a green background, now looking dull and grim in the dark, an image of the mountain range he would soon be leaving, sown into it's middle and 'Jafta' and his wife's name; 'Fern' running repeatedly in a ring around the picture. This was their wedding present, a gift from the Shadine people, presented to him and his wife proudly in the hall he had just left.
In the far side of the room was a small wooden table, a small, lit candle laden on it. Fern, Jafta's wife sat on one of the two chairs. She was looking tirelessly at the bare stone wall, her candle casting the most minute amount of light. This was another wedding present, from Fern's mother and father and was a symbol of their marriage, once it burned so strong, it needed a cover to protect their eyes, now it glowed pitifully against the dark.
Nothing was said for a long, awkward silence. Fern never blinked, she sat, staring at the wall. Jafta eventually moved towards her, it wasn't until he did so that he saw it himself, engraved into the wall, their old messages to each other. Just silly things, but they meant the world to the couple.
“I don't know what to say.” said Jafta finally.
“Then don't say anything.” she replied, trembling, tears still in her throat.
“There was no food. There were no animals. We went to the wrong place. We made a mistake.”
“Don't talk to me about animals and food, Jafta.” Another long silence passed, Jafta, desperately trying to find something else to say to his grieving wife.
“I remember when we wrote those.” said Jafta, referring to the carvings on the wall.” She just stared, still not talking.
“How could you do this to us, Jafta?” she said finally. “You know, I was going to tell you today of our baby. I suppose none of that matters now.” Jafta was bewildered, this was the first he had heard.
“You are pregnant?” he said
“Yes.”
“I am sorry, I am so sorry, my wife.”
“So am I, Jafta.”
The hour of first light was almost upon them, Jafta's time was fast approaching.
“I love you, Fern.” he said, now tears rolling down his face again.
And at his words, she sprung up to hug him tightly, stopping anything from taking her husband away.
“Come with me.” he whispered. She could not go with him, she was pregnant, if she shaded, she would kill the baby. She said nothing, she didn't need to. They hung close to each other, holding tighter then ever, both sobbing, trembling.
She felt his body slowly melt away, she felt him shake in her arms, then she could feel him no longer as the once tall standing candle flickered out. Leaving her alone in the darkness.
