Sci Fi & Fantasy / walking the untreaded path- chaper 1

Walking the Un-treaded Path

In ten years my family will meet in one spot that is sacred to us. Every ten years we meet. In each family, when a child is born, the parents will teach the child how to live in the wild. When that child turns ten they leave him/her on his/her own. For the next ten years the family will travel the mountains in search of new things. If nothing is found, then they at least learned something of the worlds. They will learn of healing and carpentry and music and much more that the modern world has forgotten.
This is my story. I was left on my tenth b-day, like all children of my clan. I traveled around the world’s mountains and discovered lost countries, cities, even untouched ground. Man has thought that they ruled over every piece of land. But how can you own land? Truth is, you can’t “own” what you don’t see. No one knows of us. We are a secret amongst all secrets the mountains hide. We like it like that. I have traveled the world some people called civilized. I hate it. It’s so stuffy and so… so…so crowded!
The mountain is where I was born and it is where I will die. There is so much to still discover.
The mountains hide many secrets. I won’t tell you them all; in fact, I will barely speak of any. The mountains chose to keep them secret; they still lye in the mountains grasp. :)

Rhona Wind

1
Secrets of the Mountains
        I was standing as I ate lunch alone in the middle of a school yard. The teens were out as well. They were hanging out in their groups, laughing and talking like they always did. The only reason I was here was because I had to wait until the lunch break was over for my teacher. He was a skilled healer and was hired for the school. Since he knew of my kind, the Finders, he took me in for medical training. This is my last day here though. It will be ten years next month and I don’t exactly have the time to dilly dally! Tonight, I will blow out of the town with the wind, and nobody but my teacher will remember I was here. I won’t exist in this world. That’s just the way I like it. :)

        “Rhona! Welcome back!” my teacher, Poe, greeted me as I walked into the small hut. “I feel the tugging of the wind at my back, so I know you won’t be staying tonight.” For a healer, Poe knew a great deal of the Finders. If he was one himself, I wouldn’t at all be surprised. Finders sometimes find their haven and stay in it. Then they are lost to our records of family and become strangers. “Tell me, Rhona, what are you? I used to know all of them, but it has been such a long time,” Poe said.
        “Were you a Finder?” I asked. Poe nodded and I smiled. “I am Rhona Wind. Who were you?”
        “I was Ansa Winter.”
        My eyes widened, “Winter? They’ve disappeared almost one thousand years ago!”
        “There are no more Winters?”
        “None. But your name is familiar to me. Ansa Winter, Skilled Winter…” I wracked my mind for the answer I was looking for. Where had I heard that particular name before? Then it came to me. “Ansa Winter, The First in Secret. I know we have longer life spans, but not this long!” then I smiled, “I found your hiding spot!”
        Ansa Winter was the first to find a Secret he liked and lived in it. He was the first to disappear from the Finders group. It wasn’t a great thing, but in out life, there really isn’t much you can be proud of.
        “And I congratulate you,” Ansa Winter said. “You are the first to find me. Its true, my life span is longer than any other Finder, but that’s because a thousand years ago we had the secret. Since you are the first to find me, I could tell you. Would you like to know?”
        I laughed. I had thought about that almost all of my life. If I had the lifespan of a Past One, what would I do? I would keep looking for the Secrets of the Mountains and perhaps my own haven. But as I grew older, I learned that a long life is cursed. Even though you don’t grow old, the things around you do. I might live to the age when the mountains come to an end.
        “No. That secret you can take to your grave.” I turned to leave; I guess I was going to have an extra day!
        But Ansa wouldn’t let me go so quickly. “You can continue looking for your paradise, live there as I have.”
        “I have already found my paradise, my haven.”
        “If you found your haven, then why do you stray from it?”
        “I’m no straying from it,” I chuckled as I put my hand on the sliding door, “It has been with me ever since my first touch of air. My haven is the mountains; their secrets, their beauty, their mystery, everything. I love the mountains.” I slid the door open and stepped out. A hand was suddenly grabbing my neck and pulling me back in, sliding the door closed. Before I could react, Ansa stuffed my mouth with a cloth soaked in some herbal liquid. As I instinctively bit down, the liquid spread from the cloth and soaked into my cheeks and gums. A few seconds later I black out.
        I woke up back in my camp. I was staring at my fireplace, it was lit. I squeezed my eyes closed then opened them again. I tried to move my hands but they were swathed in pain. I grunted and sat up carefully. The darkness was thick around me; I had to move closer to the fire. Sliding over, I cradled my hands in the fire light. They were wrapped in bandages; my fingers were too stiff and the knot was tied expertly. What had happened? What ever happened would have to wait until my hands were healed. Until then, I would have to ware leather gloves so I can protect them from the trees. I looked at the moon to tell the time; an hour before midnight, time to move.

        I arrived at the Findings Meeting one month later. It was about sunset when I caught sight of it. My hands were still stiff because of my journey here; the trip to the Meeting Spot is no easy feet. I entered the clearing as so many others have. Tents and fireplaces were all set up in certain spots. The tents had single colors and were grouped with each other. There were a few tents that were mixed with other colors; that meant that there were marriages between clans, which are very rare. I looked for my color as I walked through the camp. I passed by Brown, the Water family; Red, Danger family; Yellow, Cloud family; Tan, Moon family; Silver, Wing family; and finally Orange, Wind family.
        All of the Wind family came up to me immediately. My uncle Zell swooped me up into a bear hug, squeezing so tight I had to let go of my belongings. When he let me down he said, “Rhona, I think you’ve lost strength in you hands!”
        “My hands are wounded right now, uncle,” I said as retrieved my things. I didn’t think to bother him with my problems quite yet. It was kind of an unsaid rule among the Finders. If you’re in trouble, handle it yourself; unless you’re in way over your head! The rule was set in place because if you brought another Finder into your problems it always got worse. I wasn’t over my head yet, I didn’t need Finder help.
        “Oh ya? Well good luck with that! Where are you gonna set up your tent?”
        “I don’t have a tent. I don’t use them.”
        “Then you can stay with you sister. She’s over here.”
        I followed my uncle towards my sister’s tent. She was actually my half sister but I couldn’t care less! As far as I was concerned, she was my sister.
On the way there I was greeted and patted on the back. Family members from way back when, came to say hello and introduce new spouses. It was nearly half and hour later when we finally reached Chasim’s tent at the edge of the group; we entered unannounced.
        “Hello! Rhona made it!” Uncle Zell cried out into the big tent. The orange tent was almost a house! There were dividers all around me!
        “Rhona?”
        I jerked to attention. I didn’t expect to hear that voice here. A woman came around a corner. She was tall and getting old. Her eyes were brown matching her now graying brown hair. “Mom!” I cried out and ran to her, throwing my arms around her neck. She copied me with tears coming out of her eyes. Then she pushed me away, “Let me look at you properly!” I smiled as her searching gaze flowed over every detail of my body.
        “You are twenty now. You look so good! You’ve filled out nicely. Muscles, very few scars, neutral eyes, your hair turned out to be thin, though, but a good rich brown and just past your shoulders.. Hazel eyes, good. My ten year old has grown up!”
        “Rhona’s hands are wounded; do you have any medicines for them?” Uncle Zell asked. I quickly waved off the suggestion, “I have salve in my bag. The wounds aren’t that bad!”
        “She also needs a place to stay. She doesn’t use tents.
        “That, I can’t help with.” The voice belonged to Chasim. She had entered behind mom. She was thirty now, if I was correct. Her hair was the color of honey and thick but she wore it only to her ears. Her eyes were brown, like mom’s, and hard enough to make you cringe. She’d been through some tough Secrets in her lifetime. “I’m sorry, but mom got here first, little sister.”
        She smiled and shrugged. I laughed and hugged her. “That’s all right! I can sleep outside, I really don’t mind.”
        A bell rang loudly interrupting our reunion. “Guess I made it just in time,” I sighed as we slowly filed out of the tent. The bell was to signal the Meeting of all families. The families gathered to the center of the clearing where there were no tents or camp fires; people had to bring their own lanterns. Every time the families gather, two people from different families that are chosen every ten years ask the Finders if they have come across something they didn’t understand. Once the something was voiced, volunteers inform the questioner. This was also called Gathering Information. It was always the first subject on the agenda.
        I planned to ask about my hands. They should have healed in less than a month and yet they are still stiff and hurt something awful. Nothing I knew of would make this sort of irritation. As we walked to the Gathering, my uncle gave me an orange strip of cloth. “Here, you’ll need it tonight. You can take it off in the morning.”
        I took hold of the cloth and tied it around my waist. For tonight only, we will know what Finder belongs to what family by the color of the sash. We were near the front when the Meeting began. I couldn’t see too well, but the “Leaders” of this night were from the Danger family and the Stack family; I didn’t recognize them. They were standing on a large platform big enough to fit forty people on it all at once. The Stack woman was wearing a royal purple sash around her head and the Danger man’s red sash was around his bicep.
        The families around me quieted down and the Danger member spoke. “Welcome to the Finders Meeting. I am Tak Danger.”
        “And I am Omri Stack. We are the chosen hosts for tonight’s Meeting. The first thing we do is the Gathering Information. Let it begin!”
        People began to move up towards the platform in an orderly fashion. I was among the few people that made it to the platform first. The line can be very long and I wanted to get this over with. I had made it in ninth place in the line, which was really good. The questioning began right away.
        “What is it you would like to gather?” Tak Danger asked the first woman.
        “My name is Ves Star, Blue. I was in a Secret and found a stone. I picked it up for a fire place holder, but when the flames touched it, it turned this strange blue color. As you can see, it didn’t change back to normal. I don’t understand how this could have happened…”
        The crowed was silent for a moment before someone came up and told Ves Star an answer, “The stone turned blue because the Secret you found it in was an Opposite. An Opposite is when everything looks normal to you, but in that Secret, that normality is different. Where our rocks are gray or yellow or black, their rocks are blue or purple or multicolor. Do I answer your question?”
        Ves nodded and thanked the man. The line moved forward. The people ahead of me asked questions of amulets and memories of the sun never setting. They asked good, sensible questions. I was beginning to worry about how my question would sound. The only reason I stayed in the line was because I wanted to know why Ansa Winter did what he did. I couldn’t tell them I found Ansa Winter, they would never believe me. I had to make it sound simple enough that it could be true and still answer my question.
        My turn finally came. I stood in front of Tak, Omri and the rest of the Finders and asked my question. “My name is Rhona Wind, Orange. I was in a Secret. I went to a teacher’s house to say my goodbyes but he grabbed me and knocked me out. The next thing I know I am back at my camp in the middle of the night with my fire lit and my hands wrapped in bloody bandages. I haven’t been able to unwrap them since then. This was a month ago. My question is, why haven’t my hands healed yet?”
        Instantly people cried out, “Let’s see your hands!”
        “If you don’t mind…” Tak asked.
        Shaking my head I gently pulled my gloves off, “I’m gonna need help taking the bandages off.” Omri volunteered with a knife to cut the knot on one hand, Tak took care of the other hand. I felt almost pampered. The unwrapping of my hands seemed to take forever. I began to wonder how much gauze Ansa put on my hands. Slowly, my hands began to reappear…and on them a design. I frowned in confusion. The lines were encrusted in blood and some parts were still bleeding. Finally, when all the gauze was off I looked at what Ansa Winter did to my hands…and gasped. My gasp was accompanied by those who were close enough to see my hands. The blessing the First in Secret gave me.
        My hands were torn from side to side, very deeply. Both my hands had seven thin lines scraping across while each finger had one scratch running down from the nail to meet the others at my knuckles. This symbol hadn’t been seen for over a thousand years and here it was, on my hands. Put there by Ansa Winter, the First in Secret.
        “What is it?” someone in the crowd yelled. “Ya! What is it?” others followed in suite. Omri looked up at me saying loudly, “It’s the carving of a Winter.”
        The crowd fell silent, but I was no longer paying attention to them. I was thinking wildly of the last week with Ansa. Did I say or do something that encouraged him to put such a mark on me? Well, obviously I had.
        Now, the carving of a Winter isn’t bad, in fact it was an honor! An honor that hasn’t been seen since the day the Winters disappeared. The mark was sort of a life promise and the promise of a Winter was holding until death; of either the Winter or the Promised. It was interesting, Ansa’s twenty-times-great granddad was the first Winter to Mark; the bearer was Lir Wind.
        You gotta love it when history repeats itself, I thought with a wry smile. The crowd cheered as I walked off the stage, holding my scarred hands proudly unwrapped at my sides. Slaps of congrats and shoves of friendly jealously fell on my back and shoulders as I found my way to my family color. My mother was the first to reach me and she hugged me tightly, whispering in my ear the words every daughter wishes to hear. “I’m so proud of you.”