Athine Verses: The Narkurru

by Shannon McRoberts

  “Hon’hin, I know you are in great pain. My child was taken in the first raid many years ago as well. Today was the first day in thirty years that I saw her and she held a knife to my very throat. It saddens me greatly that you have also lost your child but consulting the old ways cannot be a solution to this matter. The Crythl have been off limits for a reason.”

  Although they were farmers now, the Cerynians were not always so simple in their ways. They were descended from a powerful tribe of dark magic wielders, the Emayth’i. The most ancient and powerful of the Emayth’i became a group called the Crythl. It was common place in the olden days for the village Raelisuir to consult with the Crythl to guide them, but the spirits had been abandoned years ago in favor of living a different kind of life; a life of peace and freedom from immortal rule of any kind. Most of the knowledge from this time had been destroyed to protect the generations from ever returning to this type of life of servitude. This new way of life is what made the will of the Cerynians so attractive to the Amazonians. A tribe that could group together and forsake the oppressions of the immortal world, even the ones with blood ties, would grow strong-minded women just as their tribe had. Now Hon’hin endangered all that the village had worked so hard to obtain.

  “Ila,” Hon’hin began, “I realize what I propose is madness. We forsook the Crythl long ago to achieve what we have, but what good is having this way of life if we have to live in fear?”

  “We could move, Hon’hin. We could start far away from here and continue with our common goal of life without immortals.” Ila pleaded.

  “No, we will not run away from this area in fear. All we have worked for? We must stand and protect what we have created. My mind is made up. As the chief shaman it is my right to consult with the immortal shades if I desire. However, I will offer those against this idea one consolation. If you do not wish to go back to the Crythl then you may leave the village before the twilight and renounce your connections here.”

  A young villager stood up and looked confused. “If we don’t agree and wish to leave, where are we going to go? You are not really giving us much of a choice!”

  “Calm son. I will lead those that wish to stay away from this plan to a new land. We will start a new village away from here. The journey will be long and hard, but I have had a vision of a place we can safely travel to where we can achieve our desires. It is a land that lies west from here.” Ila suggested.

  “Then it is settled, those that do not wish to consult with the Crythl may leave with Ila for the new area west. I wish you all peace and luck in your journey. For those that will stay, I will be back in the morning with the result of the consultation with the immortal shades.”

  Verse Two: Chapter 2

  HON’HIN WENT NORTH to the great mountain where the old rituals were once held. The ground was charred from long ago burned out offering fires. Scant traces of ritual blood stained the ground. Weeds grew in the sacred circle. Hon’hin knew this was a fool’s errand, the Crythl were long forgotten by the tribe, and he doubted that they would even listen to him. He had never seen anyone consult with the Crythl; he only knew what was in the book of his ancestors that had been passed down and protected from the time of destruction. Yet, he was going to try to follow the ritual to preserve his people and their way of life.

  He began his arduous task by clearing the sacred circle of any debris and redrawing the magical glyphs. He searched the small temple ruins that were near the circle and found the golden dagger that he would use to cut his hand and offer sacrifice to the guardians of the veil to the Underworld. If they accepted his sacrifice, he could try to call forth the Crythl. If either of these entities did not come forth and accept his offers then all was over.

  He took a deep breath and began to chant the magic while slicing his left hand in a quick motion. The blood poured down into the sacred circle as he called forth the guardians of the veil.

  “Hear me now, Usk’omi and Metsunen, guardians of the veil between here and death! I know we have no right to ask you to open the portal after all of these years but hear your once loyal children! Take in the sacrifice. Open the portal. Allow me to plead my case!”

  The ground shook as the blood oozed into the circle. The wind blew as the dry earth lapped up the sacrifice. A coldness filled Hon’hin’s bones. Smoke and steam rose out of the ground and then he heard it.

  “We hear and obey forgotten child of ours. Open the portal for you we will. Crythl may or may not come, but we obey the asking of the sacrificial blood,” the ghostly disembodied voices chanted.

  Now all he had to do was wait to see if the immortal shades would come. He placed a small white stone at his feet and began chanting. “Hear me ancestors, I know we have no right to ask for your guidance. I know we forsook you. I know you have the right to destroy me for bothering you, but please, your once loyal children need your help. Evil is upon us. Living without your guidance has made us strong of will, but weak of power. We are suffering. Help us now. Accept the offering of this simple stone of the earth you once walked.”

  Hon’hin stood there waiting for something to happen. He had begun to give up hope when she appeared before him. She was a mysterious and beautiful woman. She was a dark beauty with an unusual staff at her side. Her skin was a dark blue-purple and her hair was wild and blonde. Her eyes glowed and her skin shimmered with a mystical sheen as magical fog surrounded her. She stared at Hon’hin for a long time before speaking.

  She circled Hon’hin and asked coldly, “You are the Raelisuir that begs for our help years after you had abandoned us and sealed us in this fate?”

  “I had no choice in the matter of the abandonment; it was something done years and years before I was even conceived! I come to you now for I see the error of our people’s mistakes.”

  “Lies! All lies!” She hissed. “Why should I not destroy you now, Raelisuir? What could you possibly give in return that would make up for the years of abandonment? What could you give that would help the Crythl?”

  “You say you were abandoned to a certain fate? I am not versed in all the ways of Raelisuir, but I believe if you had followers again your powers would grow. You would not be confined to the gates of the Underworld. You would be free to roam again.” Hon’hin carefully chose his words.

  The proposed shade immortal stood there. She pondered what this human told her. She had long been locked away in the gates of the Underworld unable to move about. Unbeknownst to this human he had actually offered what she longed for; freedom. While it is true that the Crythl were once powerful beings that shared a collective knowledge of power and ritual, what the human did not know was that she was not one of them. She was a Narkurru that had absorbed the essence of the once powerful Crythl. She hungered for the power that she felt she could gain if she had followers. Here was her chance to try to get the power she wanted, but she knew she must not seem too eager to help or else all may be lost. She paced around the human and stopped.

  “What is it that I can help you with? What plagues your people so?”

  “The Amazon raids grow by the day. We are few in number now, but we wish the Crythl’s help to alleviate that problem. We need a way to stop our enemies and protect our people.”

  “Very well, human; here are my terms. You are a descendant of the Crythl ancestors and you have the ability to use magic. I will grant you and your followers the ability to use my magic in the human realm. But in return you must send me a servant every spring festival to become my Chreuthecal.”

  “You want us to send you a servant to become the living dead?!”

  “Yes. In return I grant you the use of my magic and protection.”

  “But how is sacrificing our people to become Chreuthecal any better than giving them up to the Amazons?”

  The Crythl didn’t know how to answer that. She was afraid the deal would be off and her powers lost. She thought fast. “What would you say was a fair deal? If I am going to protect you and your people I will need a Chreuthecal t
o help me. Since I am not requiring your people to worship, only align with me, I will need someone to help me make up for the loss of power. Or did you never learn that an immortal’s powers are connected with the number of followers they have? In return for the servant I will grant you my magic and protection.”

  “Would you be willing to return the old Chreuthecal when the new one arrives?”

  The demon thought. If she sent them back it would decrease her powers, but she saw no choice. Her stolen magic was getting weak and something was better than nothing. She would have to figure the ramifications out later. “Very well then, I will protect you and grant you my magic and in return you will send me one Chreuthecal every spring festival; I will return the old Chreuthecal to their old life. This is the agreement I will take, human. Do you agree?”

  Hon’hin cringed at the thought of striking a deal with the mysterious creature. But what choice did he have? “We have a deal.”

  The dark lady danced with joy at the news. She began chanting and her hands began to glow as the magic grew around her. She became more and more solid as she summoned powers. Lye-Ashe reached out and touched Hon’hin. A crack of lighting snapped across the sky as the newly whole woman appeared before Hon’hin. With her new powers she was now able to travel between the realms freely, both flesh and spirit. Hon’hin stood there dazed at her mysterious beauty and the new power that flowed through him.

  “What now, my lady?” Hon’hin asked to the dark creature before him not knowing what to call her in her solid form.

  “You may call me Lye-Ashe, Hon’hin the Raelisuir. We go and endow your people with magic. Then we go after the Amazons.”

  Verse Two: Chapter 3

  HON’HIN ARRIVED BACK at the village with Lye-Ashe in tow. Ila and her followers had already left before the dawn. Those that remained were amazed to see Hon’hin return with an exotic looking woman. They gathered around them both as they went to the center of the town.

  Hon’hin raised his arms to speak. “People, fear not, for I have brought our salvation to us. Her name is Lye-Ashe. She is one of our Crythl and she has agreed to help us. In return she asks that every spring festival we honor her by sending her a Chreuthecal to serve her for one year. In return for this we are to be granted her magical powers to use here to protect ourselves.”

  Cheers rang out in the village. All the remaining villagers lined up to be touched by Lye-Ashe swearing their allegiance to her and the allegiance of all their blood.

  After all of the villagers had received their powers it was up to Lye-Ashe to figure out how they would work with the human flesh. Lye-Ashe’s power as a Narkurru was the ability to control any spirit bound to her, but she was weakened now even with the new alliance. She was not sure how her weakened magic and the flesh she now controlled would affect the power she was able to share. She put many of the villagers through a battery of tests to see if they could bind spirits to them and control them. Unfortunately, none of the villagers passed the trials. They were beginning to think Lye-Ashe had tricked them into swearing their allegiance to her. While Lye-Ashe was busy trying to figure out how to further test the powers of the village screams began to come from the west end of the village where the grave yard was.

  A young girl stood in front of an open grave jumping for joy. In front of her stood the decaying body of her recently deceased mother reaching out to hold the child.

  “Come see father! Mother is alive! I wished for her to rise up and hold me and here she is.” Laena cried with joy.

  Her father quickly grabbed her and pulled her away from the body. The girl’s concentration was broken and the body crumbled into the grave once again. The village was outraged at the girl. They immediately began calling her a witch when Lye-Ashe and Hon’hin appeared.

  “Stop!” Lye-Ashe ordered. “This child is not a witch. I think I have just figured out how your powers work. The transfer of power was not fully pure due to your human flesh. I am able to control spirits bound to me, but it appears you all may be able to control the flesh and bone after the spirit leaves.”

  With that a new test was derived. One by one the villagers realized that they could animate anything that had a spirit that moved on to the other realm. They knew now that they could march against the Amazons.

  Verse Two: Chapter 4

  LYE-ASHE LED THE SMALL group of villagers towards the outskirts of the Amazonian boundaries. She directed them to get into their places high in the trees above the Amazon graveyard. It would be dawn soon and the Amazon Ang’ther would start on the morn of one of their most sacred holidays. The Amazons would come down to the graveyard to pay homage to their fallen sisters and send blessings on to the otherworld. Little did they know they were about to discover the Cerynians’ newfound power first hand.

  As the morning sun poured over the sacred place of the Amazons, the line of priestesses could be seen in the near distance. Mourners followed behind them unarmed and unaware. As long as the Amazons had been around no one dared attack them on their own lands other than their once patron goddess Athena. Surely, there was no fear of any mortal enemy coming here. Or was there?

  Just as the last priestess had chanted the final mourning ritual, the earth began to shake below their feet. The priestesses looked to one another with a panicked fear widening in their eyes. Was the earth going to open and swallow them? Then the first scream came. A hand reached from the grave nearest the head priestess and grabbed her ankle as the body drug itself out of the ground. Mangled mildew covered flesh hung from the reanimated bones that clawed at the feet of the mourners.

  The bodies gathered the group in a circle as many of the Amazons tried to fend them off with walking sticks or incense burners. When they were near enough, Lye-Ashe walked out and spoke to the group.

  “Amazonian whores, listen to me now. You see the power of the Cerynians first hand. Long has it been hidden and lying in wait. They no longer fear you for they can have the dead fight their battles. What match are your skills against a foe that is neither alive nor dead? Your swords may strike, but the soul has moved on and feels no pain. Yet, the bones can strike back and cause you pain.”

  An older Amazon warrior stood and faced Lye-Ashe. She showed no fear in her eyes. Her name was Iristi. Lost daughter of Ila. She had a newborn child in one arm and a walking staff in the other. “Who do you think you are coming here and making the dead move on our most holy of days? You think I cannot see the people in the trees. If I were to kill those people hovering in the trees would I not be able to kill these poorly chosen corpse warriors?”

  “Perhaps, but would you be able to get through me before I slaughtered all of you? The Cerynians are no longer without a protector. I, Lye-Ashe, Crythl, have given the Cerynians new magic powers and protection. Leave them be from this day forward and you shall live in peace with your neighbors. If you do not, face a lifetime of agony bound to me as my servant.”

  Iristi moved to strike at Lye-Ashe. Without so much as a blink Lye-Ash killed Iristi and took the child from her hands before her body hit the ground. Then Lye-Ashe recited an incantation while holding up her mysterious staff. Iristi’s body shook and moaned as her spirit left and appeared before everyone. Lye-Ashe commanded the spirit to do her will. The spirit turned and said exactly what Lye-Ashe said.

  “Go back my daughters. Go back to your homes and your lives. Release all those recently took from the village and bother them no more. Forget the Cerynians. Or suffer the fate I now do as her immortal slave in the staff Shultash.”

  With that, the spirit disappeared into the staff. The Amazons stood there in disbelief. One of their chief warriors was now dead and her spirit was hostage inside a strange weapon. Her child ripped from her hands. How could this be?

  The remaining Amazons decided to do as Iristi commanded for none of them wanted their spirits trapped or their bones used as a puppet. They led the small band of ambushers to the gates of the Amazon village and released the newly acquired prisoners. Eunara was among
them. As for the child of Iristi, Lye-Ashe awarded the baby to be cared for by Eunara. Eunara called the child Aesurnu.

  Verse Two: Chapter 5

  AESURNU’S RETURN FROM her stent as a Chreuthecal was widely celebrated. She was one of the most desirable women in the village and she had yet to decide on a mate. For almost a year no weddings took place as many of the men wanted Aesurnu as a bride and were willing to marry only after she had made her decision. This made many of the women impatient. Some of them had even gone to other villages looking for mates. Isasemu had traveled a great distance to find her husband Enash. He came from an Eastern land full of mystery and magic called Emoroka. He was said to have the powers to control the very ground one walked upon. When he first laid eyes on Aesurnu, he knew that she was destined to be his. He secretly visited her many times after he first saw her and pledged his love to her. Aesurnu refused his offer to be his mistress, but Enash saw no other way.

  Aesurnu longed to be with the mysterious Enash. Moreover, the more she longed to be with him the fewer weddings were taking place while the men waited on Aesurnu. The women of the town convinced Isasemu to allow Enash to take Aesurnu as a second wife, a tradition that had long died out in the village since Lye-Ashe arrived, as there was no need to try to replace the lost children anymore with multiple wives.

  Enash and Aesurnu wed and had a daughter named Isri. Isri was a child born to parents who never had their parents pledge their allegiance to Lye-Ashe. Because of this, she developed her powers differently. She was also rumored to have inherited some of the mystical powers her father had.