Journey of Acceptance:Hope- Chapter 2

Chapter two 

Zajanah

It was my 17th birthday and I sat alone, staring at the giant mass of tents that was my tribe as I had many times before. I didn’t feel like celebrating as I had many years before, when life had been good and there had been many people who loved me. Instead, I avoided all contact with people. I just sat there and watch the men of my clan taking off their snow-covered outdoor gear and weapons and leaving them beside the fire to dry. By the looks on their faces and the array of animals hanging from their hands, the hunt had been good. A hunt that I was no longer allowed to joined despite my best efforts.

When I was little my father used to let me tag along, with one condition that I kept close to him at all time. That had stopped as soon as my father realized my intentions weren’t just out of curiosity but of wanting to join in on what had looked like fun. Since then I had been banished to the kitchen to learn skills from my mother that every good clan’s women should know. But I wasn’t a good clan’s woman. So I found myself here every time I was meant to be there, my mother having given up on teaching me.

As the men slowly disappeared into their own home, many shadows appeared across the surface of the tents. Images flashed across, of supposedly happy couples, happy families. Ha! Just smoke and mirrors. How could I be the only one here who was unhappy with the life I had been given. I turned my attention upwards looking over the clan, to where a winter sun sat lazily, high in the sky. It was still only the afternoon.

I sat there for many hours, thinking, as I swung my legs over the edge of the cliff. What was I thinking about? I don’t really know myself, everything and nothing at all. I had sat here so long my thoughts had become jumbled I no longer understood them. Maybe I contemplated running away, or just complying with my father’s demands. No, scrap the last idea. That defiantly wasn’t it, but the first one, difficult but manageable if throughout well, that could have been it.

The longer I waited for my thoughts to become clear the faster the hours went until I had completely lost sense of time. I sighed heavily to myself, I should probably go back, the sun would set soon. My mother would be worried, my father furious at the fact that I missed my party. Missed opportunities. I could almost hear them say it. Yes, there had been many of those but not the ones they referred to. I looked back at my clan for the second time that day.

The dragon heart clan was the lead of all the winter clans in Sonare. So, therefore, my families land was huge, spanning over 50 acres. The tent we lived in was big enough for 10 families yet there was only me, my father and mother and the servants (who had the smallest room in the house). We had the main living tent, which was more like a giant gazebo, my room, my parent’s room, the servant room, 2 guest rooms, a kitchen for the servants, an armoury, a display room and 5 bathrooms. Not to mention the lake at the end of the garden, the firing range, an indoor fighting arena, a small zoo, with rare and exotic creatures, and a forest.

We had all this yet my father still wanted more. So he decides the best option to obtain his greed was to sell off his supposedly beloved daughter for more land that he actually needed. Unfortunately, for both of us, I was that daughter. Unfortunately for father because I always blatantly refused every single offer of eligible bachelors. Unfortunately for me as I will never want to be a standard lady of the clan, who cooked, cleaned and spread her legs for a man she didn’t even like, let alone love.

~*~

But it wasn’t a beast

Well not in reality anyway. The beast had blue hair like electric strands atop his head, so brilliant that it was difficult not to stare, it stroked pale ivory skin that covered soft defined bones. His eyes were of the purest blue like the tropical oceans of the east sea that my healer used to tell me about when I was little. Zander, my best friend, looked up at me clearly annoyed that I had beaten him.

“No fair, you cheated.” He said spitefully, knowing that I hadn’t actually cheated. I hated him when he did this.

“You’re just a sore loser because you got beaten by a seven-year-old girl.”

“Shut up, I let you win.”

Yeah, of course, I thought to myself however I didn’t voice this aloud to him. No, I know how short his tempered could be about these kinds of things, like the times when his family is referred to as the peasants among peasants. You see in Sonare there are many clans; each clan has a chieftain, however, all of these chieftains report to the head chieftain, my father. In Sonare my tent town, Dragonheart, is at the top of the hierarchy whereas Zander’s tent town (also referred to as the peasant clan) was at the bottom. Even in Winterbird where life was hard and no one had anything Zander’s family was considered to have nothing compared to them, making them peasants amongst their clan mates, who themselves were considered peasants outside of their clan.

“A Zajanah,” Zander said in bewilderment. He broke my thoughts of our clan’s harsh rule with a single comment. He picked the flower despite my cry, rolling its stem between his fingers. Walking steadily towards me he placed the flower in my hair.

“It’s almost as pretty as my Zajanah,” he spoke almost absentmindedly while playing with a curled strand of my hair.

“I’m not your Zajanah remember, I have a lead chieftain as a father, a man compelled by land and not kindness.”

“Your father won’t be a thorn in our love anymore.”

“I don’t know understand what have you possibly got that you could give my father in return for his only daughter.”

“The flower in your hair has an antidote for every poison. If done correctly the flower can be made into a liquid that will last a very long time even if the clans were to suffer a plague of poison beings.” He spoke again after seeing the anger in my face at not knowing more about the flower I admired. “Your only seven, I’m fourteen, so by default, I know more than you so you shouldn’t be angry about not knowing it. Plus I don’t like to give them a reason for their comments so I try harder than most.”

There was a long pause between us before I spoke his name. He looked away from my hair and into my eyes. It was like he was staring into my soul, seeing my fears and doubts. I knew my father wouldn’t be swayed easily especially not from some low ranking peasant boy. Brother was only just able to convince father that he should be able to spend even a small amount of time with Zander.

I wanted to take my mind off the thoughts that were invading my head so I said: “Let’s play a game.”

“A game?” he laughed but then he stopped just as quickly as he had started. He looked at me and smiled, “okay what game would you like to play?”

“Hmm, what about hide and seek?”

“Count to hundred… and no… peeking.” He whispered in my ear which tingled and made me laugh. I heard his feet crunching against the fresh snow. I heard a menacing whisper behind which made me tremble but then I heard Zander’s laugh and my heart became slow again. He must be trying to confuse me, make me go to the dark forest which had always terrified me. But I wouldn’t be fooled. I was young but not stupid. I could hear no footsteps but I guess he was probably going in the other directions towards the paths that would take you back down to the tent town. He would probably go down and spend time with my brother while I searched the forest for him. But now I knew his plan so I wouldn’t be caught out.

I saw them practicing with bows and knew that Zander must not be around here, strange. I turned around to go back to the mountain when I lifted off my feet by strong arms around my waist.

“Father there seems to be a small person here, what should I do with it.” said the person behind me.

“Lysander put her down and continue your training,” Father said.

“He’s no fun is he, my dear little sister?” he whispered while flipping me around so that I was facing him. My brother, Lysander, was absolutely beautiful with defined cheeks bone, cute dimple smile, and hair as dark as the night sky. There were girls lining up to marry him. I was very different from him, from everyone really. My hair started off a pale blond but further down it began to turn into a deep blue like the big glaciers off the coast of the western ice peaks. People said that my eyes reminded them of the perfect snowflakes, the intricate patterns and also the colour. Yes, my eyes were white and pale blues and green with only a thick black circular outline to define where my irises stopped and the white of my eyes began. No one else in any of the other winter village had features like mine. I was different and I liked that. However, others didn’t, I was picked and poked at by the others in my clan, I wasn’t important I wouldn’t inherit a title like my brother.

“Sis?” Lysander said in a curious voice.

“Oh,” I whispered, I waved my hand for him to come forward so that my Father wouldn’t hear me. “Is Zander here?”

My brother rose back up to look around for his best friend, “No, I don’t- I’ll be there in a minute!” he shouted at Father who was waiting impatiently by the target for his absent son. “Well I haven’t seen him, he will probably be in the forest he likes it in there.”

“Okay see you at dinner brother.” I waved back at him while I ran back to the mountains. I hoped Zander was cold and miserable where ever he was for making my feet ache.

The dark forest had always scared me, the sight of its twisted branches made me want to scream. Now I had to go inside without my brother or Zander. To make it worst Zander was probably going to try and scare but I didn’t know when or where. That just made it a lot worse.

I’m a brave girl or so my father told me. I was most of the time but this forest I had bad memories of it. One time when I was really little I went into the forest to find my dad but ended up finding the bear that they had been hunting deep in the forest. I barely survived the horrific incident and scolding I got from my family afterward was something I never wanted to remember. But I had to go in I couldn’t just leave him there alone. I took my first tentative steps into the forest before taking a very deep breath and running as fast I could.

I didn’t run for very long when I saw footsteps. There was Zander but there were a few more sets, big sets of footprints that belong to no one in this village. Could Zander have gotten into trouble with people from a different clan or his own? Or what if… it was… the rabid wolves. I thought made me shiver uncontrollably and my heart quicken to a pace that made me feel like I was going to die. It was a stupid though, I told myself. The rabid wolves don’t’ come near the Dragonheart clan anymore, my father taught them that lesson. So I carried on going despite my racing heart and dark scary thoughts. Once again I stopped but for a much darker reason.

Blood.

It was only a little bit, though it continued going well into the forest which had become sufficiently darker the further I went. It wasn’t completely dark just dim. Dim enough that I tripped over every root and caught my skin on every thorn. Further along, there was, even more, blood along with huge amounts of displaced snow and scuffs on the ice underneath.

I held my breath as I shuffled closer to an overgrown section which let in barely any light. There was something there, it wasn’t a body, I knew that much which filled me with temporary relief until I saw what it actually was.

An hour later my brother was able to find me within the overgrowth. I was still screaming when he found me though much quieter now as my throat was sore and cracked.

“Papa,” Lysander whisper but yet father still heard him.

“Yes.”

“I think you will have to teach the rabid another lesson, they didn’t quite get it.”

“It was Zander, they got Zander.” I started into my brother's eyes, seeing the pain in the very depth of his eyes. Zander had been Lysander’s best friend and I knew it had hit him hard.

“We need to get her back to the village. Take her to Hali; we need to check if she has any injuries, there’s too much blood here to be one person’s.” After a long pause, “Lysander?”

“Yeah… come on Zajanah,” he said lifting me into his strong arms. As he was turning I looked back at the horror just to check that this wasn’t a dream. Unfortunately, it wasn’t