Saturday, April 9, 2016

Lil's Sorrow


 This is a little something I wrote off of this picture prompt. I hope you enjoy it.



[image found at pixabay--here]




Lil's grief overwhelmed her once again. She had cried a million tears over the course of the months since her realm had been invaded—her family assassinated, her people slaughtered, her castle and towns burned to the ground. Nothing was spared the raving madness of the revenants driven into her kingdom by the vindictive king in the neighboring realm. Or the magic that destroyed everything else once the revenants were sent back to the ground. Nothing, except her.

How had he raised such a devastating army of the dead? How had he controlled them to do his bidding? How could anyone be so evil, destroying everything to punish one woman who had refused his advances? Tears soaked her clothing as the questions she had no answers for rolled over and over in her mind, ceaseless in their assault on her sanity.

He had left her enough food to survive months of wandering through the lands she had once ruled, allowing her only the gown and cloak she wore before he closed her within the shell of her once prosperous lands—left to die alone, bereft, a shadow of her former self. She was near the end now and still the tears flowed. She lowered her face into her hand, grasping the shreds of her filthy garment close about her with her other hand to lessen the chill from the wind, and prayed to the gods of her youth for mercy.

A stillness soon fell over the area and peace infused Lil's frail body. She couldn't move from the spot she was in, couldn't change her position by a fraction, but instinctively she knew something good was happening. There was no fear in her as she felt her skin harden, felt the tendrils grow from her feet through the rocks and into the soil underneath. Soon she was firmly rooted to the spot and she felt the water and nutrients flowing into her from the ground below. She was no longer hungry, no longer cold, no longer afraid. She found she could hear the slightest whisper of sound from the trees around her. They were not dead as she had thought they were, only resting until they could once again rise in their glory. She knew the moment the first green sprout timidly peeked out from a branch. Inwardly, she smiled in victory. Her lands would live again. The gods had answered her prayers.

She was no longer alone.


No comments:

Post a Comment