Xarisha's Tale
Darkness. It permeated every rock, every pore.
Xarisha walked with careful, measured steps, one hand gripping tight to her father’s and the other running along the cool smooth wall of rock that guided her. Blackcap did not grow on this sort of surface and had long stopped sprouting and showing her their path. Instead utter pitch black covered her eyes like a heavy blanket blots out all trace of the moon. Xarisha dared not speak. She knew she was her father’s guide on his final journey and therefore, must act with dignity. She knew that, by and by, they would reach those sacred waters and with that, her blind father’s doom. She bit her lip and tightened her grip on her father’s hand, which he reassuringly squeezed back.
Her fingers came to feel empty, cool air and she halted. Now her feet would guide her. Feeling ahead carefully with her toes, she stepped forward. Icy water met her naked feet and she hissed her breath in to stop herself from crying out with shock. This was her first time here. ‘We are here father,’ she whispered, her voice multiplied many times its volume in the eerie cavern. ‘Lead me into the water child,’ her father replied, his voice coming strong and wise, all the more magnified by the strange echoes in the place. She carefully guided him past her and held on tightly to his arm as his entire weight dropped into the waters and then buoyed him back briefly.
‘Father!’ She cried out, abandoned panic choking her. He soothed her, ‘Shh, hush child, I will remain a moment longer’. His rich voice bounced with each echo and grew stronger. She could no longer control herself and let out terrified, grief-stricken sobs. She sank low so her face was level with his. He gently stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. ‘Easy child,’ he murmured with loving affection, ‘save those precious tears for mourning the next child born into our poor, mutilated clan. For me? For me rejoice! I go to join those that have gone ahead of me and finally I leave this cursed existence.’ Xarisha bit her tongue and attempted to regain some form of self-control, ‘Forgive me father,’ she whispered, her voice still catching, ‘I will celebrate this moment with you as is appropriate.’ She stroked his cheek with the tender affection of a daughter and tried to remember every line, every contour of his aged face.
He was becoming heavier and loosening his grip on her moment by moment. ‘Daughter,’ he whispered in the pitch dark, ‘it is time I passed on. But one final gift and one terrible burden must I lay upon your back.’ He clawed a locket about his neck, splashing Xarisha with icy water as he did so. She flinched and tried to hold him up, but found the waters drag him down slowly. He finally removed the locket and with trembling hands, placed it over Xarisha’s head. ‘This is the key to the fall of those that keep us in eternal darkness. Escape these caverns and guard it with all you are until the time is right to bring armies against our cruel masters.' He sunk deeper, the water now closing over his neck. 'There is a way out, my dearest child, return the way we came, feel the smooth face of stone until you see Blackcap light your path once more. But do not take it-' Xarisha finally lost her grip on him and let out a horrified scream. He began to struggle blindly against the water and shouted the last words at her desperately, 'do not take the lighted path! Instead seek a crack in the rock and sink into it. Crawl this way until you see light. Sweet light! G-go my daughter redeem us all!" She was sobbing, trying to keep the grief from making her loose all sense of direction, but she stepped backwards and reached back until she felt the solid face of the rock. She waited, quietly crying, as his gasps and splutters came and went with the splashes of those cold, icy waters until she heard nothing more.
Shakily, she caressed the cave's wall for guidance and walked on. She tried to sing a hymn of exuberance to honour her father's passing, but the words came hollow and rang strained. 'Oh father..', she whispered in the darkness, 'father.. father..'', shaking her head and crying. They had warned her the journey back would feel like the longest, most arduous of your life, but words were nothing to the deep despair that swallowed Xarisha in that pitch black. Yet she continued. Her father's words echoed in her mind, 'Where the Blackcap lights the way, seek the crack on the rock...'
Xarisha finally saw the dim, opal gleam of Blackcap in the distance of the narrow passage and she hurried to it, thinking of home and comfort first, but then halted, struck by her father's command. She walked on, hesitantly now, afraid of this 'burden' that had been laid on her. And yet.. Light... Real Light... She hurried on, reaching the line where the humble fungus grew and created a path back to her people. She scanned the area carefully, the vague light offered by the bright mushrooms made her eyes strain. And then she saw it, the crack. Easily missed by many because of the great concentration of the mushroom that grew there. She fell to her knees and clawed, scraped and dug the mushrooms out, wincing a little, remembering this was sacred ground, but finally the pitch black of a cave within a cave revealed itself. Xarisha did not hesitate, not even to gawp at such a wonder, she edged herself in.
She crawled on her hands and knees, sneezing at the stale air and taking one or two gulps of breath before sinking deeper into the tunnel. It was stifling. This was the smallest space she had ever crawled in and she felt the weight of the earth above and around her oppress her being. Yet her heart did not thump with fear, no. Excited anticipation welled up within her. Light.. sweet Light! She felt her father's locket stick to her sweaty skin as she clambered up along the earthy tunnel. It was hard to breathe now, hard to think, all she could do was keep on forward. The rock below her began to feel grittier, softer and the stench of stale earth hit her nose. She coughed and sneezed again, eyes streaming, but kept on forward. Finally her head smacked on hard earth.
She recoiled, and then dug with her hands, dug with her beating, thumping heart full with the fervour of promise. It was harder to breathe, ever harder to continue dislodging earth from earth, and at a point of giving up she felt great clomps of dusty soil fall on her. She rubbed her eyes, shook her head and sneezed, again. Then she saw it. Light. Pure, white light graced her eyes for the first time in her young life. A splash of it poured in, piercing the darkness below and illuminating her pale face. She squinted at the strength of it and protected her eyes with her hand. 'Oh sweet father you were right.' Xarisha whispered in the gloom, her closed eyes roving over the stream of brightness hungrily.
Though I know the above is part of a wider story arch, I think it stands quite nicely on its own.
well written maz! :)
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