The Blogfast Club
MOON
Silvie woke with a start, not knowing how or why. Her room was much darker than normal as the window was boarded up to stop her looking at the Moon - much closer than normal and brightly blue - the Harvest Moon!
The Elders and villagers had warned all the girls who were between 11 and 16 years of age to keep to their darkened rooms for the week the Moon visited every 13 years. Whilst crops flourished under this Moon, any maiden looking at it was instantly transfixed and became shells of their former selves. These poor souls were taken to a special part of the forest to live their lives out with no recollection of how they had been before looking at the Moon. They could not speak, sing, dance, or do anything except eat one meal a day which was provided for them.
Whilst Silvie loved life too much to want to be one of those people, she knew she had to see the Moon very soon, before it went away again. If caught trying to remove any part of the boarding, she would be locked in a windowless room for the rest of the Moon's visit. That she didn't want either, as her only human contact would come from her Mother pushing food and drink though a small hole in the door until it was safe for her to be released. "I wonder why I feel that I MUST see the Moon?", she mused quietly to herself. During the time before the Moon's arrival, she had experimented with as many tools as she could find and had selected a pointed file as being the quietest and quickest one to make a hole in the boards. She was aware that two of the floorboards had been adapted to make a noise if she trod on them, but she had discovered that her chair could straddle them safely if carefully positioned.
Checking the time on her clock, she decided that there was sufficient time to make the hole before the household started to wake. Carefully moving the chair, Silvie started using the pointed file to make a start on a portion of the board which seemed to be the best place to start. It was a really slow business, seemed to take hours just to get the hole started, but when she looked at the clock she was relieved to see that mere minutes had passed. "Keep going, Silvie, there is ample time", she said, listening in case there was any noise in the house at all. As the file bit through the wood, she could see a little blue colour behind it - "nearly there, So close, so very, very close to the Moon. Surely it cannot be much longer now until I know why I must see it?"
As the hole grew larger, and the blue streamed into her room, Silvie was transfixed, but then she saw the spirit of the Moon, holding out his hand, saying "Silvie, you were promised to me many years ago. Come, take my hand and we shall leave a message for your family so they do not wonder where you have gone. I have waited for you for aeons and now we are together there will be no more maidens lost each time the Harvest Moon appears. From now on, the maidens are safe and we shall come every year to enhance the crops." Hand in hand, the pair walked to the Blue Moon and disappeared into it.
After several years passed, the villagers were so thankful for the safety of their maidens and the regularly fruitful crops that they held a festival on the first day of the Harvest Moon and were sure they could see Silvie with the spirit of the Moon dancing amongst them, along with several smaller shapes signifying their offspring.
The new challenge is a story - about whatever you like! Enjoy!
Checking the time on her clock, she decided that there was sufficient time to make the hole before the household started to wake. Carefully moving the chair, Silvie started using the pointed file to make a start on a portion of the board which seemed to be the best place to start. It was a really slow business, seemed to take hours just to get the hole started, but when she looked at the clock she was relieved to see that mere minutes had passed. "Keep going, Silvie, there is ample time", she said, listening in case there was any noise in the house at all. As the file bit through the wood, she could see a little blue colour behind it - "nearly there, So close, so very, very close to the Moon. Surely it cannot be much longer now until I know why I must see it?"
As the hole grew larger, and the blue streamed into her room, Silvie was transfixed, but then she saw the spirit of the Moon, holding out his hand, saying "Silvie, you were promised to me many years ago. Come, take my hand and we shall leave a message for your family so they do not wonder where you have gone. I have waited for you for aeons and now we are together there will be no more maidens lost each time the Harvest Moon appears. From now on, the maidens are safe and we shall come every year to enhance the crops." Hand in hand, the pair walked to the Blue Moon and disappeared into it.
After several years passed, the villagers were so thankful for the safety of their maidens and the regularly fruitful crops that they held a festival on the first day of the Harvest Moon and were sure they could see Silvie with the spirit of the Moon dancing amongst them, along with several smaller shapes signifying their offspring.
Virginia Kop/Kop's Kattery
12 October 2013
12 October 2013
The new challenge is a story - about whatever you like! Enjoy!
Oh I love it, it gave me shivers! I will try and get something up tomorrow and come back to share.
ReplyDeleteThank you, seem to have a bit of a knack with fantasy fiction - yet I rarely read the books!
DeleteYou are welcome whenever you wish!!
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ReplyDeleteThis is great!! Fantastic writing Virginia!! X
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Elisa. Nice to have support from such an awesome writer as you!!
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