Categories > Original > Fantasy > Amihan of the Mountain
II
Legends told about villages and towns and even kingdoms that had somehow earned the wrath of the gods and been punished. Turned into a lake, melted by a river of fire or wiped out by a sandstorm, depending on which unfortunate village, town or kingdom you were talking about. But the story was the same everywhere. Even Father Jorge had his Sodom and Gomorrah. I doubt, however, that even he could have imagined how darkly accurate his warnings about the penalties of sin would turn out to be. We were, quite simply, a dead town walking.
To say that it put a damper on the festivities would be putting it mildly.
I learned later how it happened, after all the fires had been put out. It sickened me to think that Skyblade, who had been so kind and gentle with me, had caused this destruction. Surprisingly enough, nobody was killed or seriously injured. The others attributed it to blind luck, but I liked to think that even in his rage against the people who had dared insult his /Diwata/, Skyblade had deliberately avoided taking any lives. I was grateful for it, if one could be grateful to a dragon who had very nearly razed our town to the ground, just as he had threatened.
After the Diwata and her dragon-Guardian disappeared, the shell-shocked townsfolk gathered at the church, which, unlike the town hall, had somehow escaped being reduced to cinders. I trudged after them, taking in the scorched remains of houses I had grown up with, pausing at the sight of the blackened crater where the plaza had once been. A crowd of men, women and children, all with identical dazed looks on their faces, milled around the church while the mayor and his councilors held an emergency meeting in Father Jorge's inner sanctum. With the mayor were my brother, my sister and Father Jorge.
I found Tia Isabel and Marikit sitting together. They stared blankly at me until they realized who I was and that I had, in fact, been missing until that moment. Uncaring that they had once again forgotten about me, I pried the whole sorry tale out of them.
It was, indeed, Consuelo who had been the trigger. She had returned to town and begun singing and dancing at the back of the crowd, drawing everyone's curious gazes. The mayor, who had been onstage making his speech, did not appreciate having his audience's attention taken away from him, and ordered the guards to deal with her. At the same time, Father Jorge gestured at the hapless sacristans to get rid of her before she ruined the opening ceremonies.
Habagat and his friends got to her before the guards or the sacristans did. They hustled her away, and when she resisted, my infuriated brother apparently forgot himself and hit her. I flinched in sympathy; I was no stranger to my brother's fists when he was angered. Consuelo stumbled away from him, and caught sight of my sister coming in with Tia Isabel. She fell at my sister and begged Sinag to protect her from my brother. My sister, however, shook off her clutching hands and hurried away, while my brother and his friends laughed at the crazy woman and forcibly drove her away.
Who'd have thought that that crazy woman, who was such a common sight that everyone had long since ceased to notice her, was none other than the Diwata herself?
I thanked them and drifted off to a relatively isolated corner to stew in my confusion and yes, rip-roaring guilt. If only I'd been here, if only I'd gone back at once instead of fiddling with the stupid candleholders, I might have gotten here in time to-to do something that could have prevented all this. Consuelo trusted me, or at least found me less hazardous than anyone else in town. I could have persuaded her to come away; I could have kept my brother from hitting her. But then, if I hadn't lingered at the shrine, Skyblade wouldn't have found me. He wouldn't have told me he loved me in the middle of berating me for being an idiot. He wouldn't have apologized so brokenly for being who he was. On the other hand, if I'd been here to save Consuelo, then Skyblade wouldn't have needed to warn me. But Consuelo, who was also the /Diwata/, at least suspected that her Guardian would seek me out. She was the one who brought me to the shrine in the first place, only to rush back to town to do something guaranteed to bring out the worst in people and in the end drastically reduced our life spans. But then again...
On and on the arguments went, spinning in circles that only resulted in a throbbing headache. I surfaced from the churning muck of my thoughts to find that the townsfolk had stopped their uneasy whispering and were intently watching the altar. I crept over for a peek. The mayor, who was looking even pastier than usual, was standing in front of the altar with the councilors lined up behind him. Beside him stood my brother and sister and Father Jorge like martyred saints chiseled in granite.
The mayor stretched out his pudgy arms. "My dear citizens of Santa Maria! In the light of the disaster that has befallen our town, we have decided that the best course of action would be to send a delegation to the realm of the Diwata and beg her forgiveness for the regrettable albeit completely unintentional error we have committed against her. Only the Diwata has the power to lift this curse from our town. We have been informed--" he gave a sidelong glance at my sister, "--that if we prostrate ourselves at her feet, the Diwata will show us her all-abiding mercy and spare our town."
The muttering of the crowd grew louder. "The Diwata's realm lies in the spirit world," someone pointed out. "Who among us are strong enough to make this journey?"
Another flickering sideways glance from the mayor. "As to that, we have elected two representatives to plead our case. These two have been chosen--" and again, I heard the slight tightening of his voice "--for their strength and innate power, as well as their thorough knowledge of the spirit world. As the leaders of the delegation, they will have the right to choose the other members, numbering five each."
"Well, hurry up and tell us who they are."
The mayor glowered at the impatient listener. "Sinag and Habagat Andrade will represent our town. Habagat will naturally select the town's finest warriors for this all-important mission, while Sinag will choose the strongest in magic."
My blood turned to ice. Oh no. Sweet Lady, not my brother and sister. Please don't take them away from me, too. Through the roaring in my ears I heard the spike in the crowd's voices as they muttered their agreement. They're going to make them go/, I realized with rising horror. /If they have to throw my brother and sister into the spirit world, they are going to force them to leave. And Habagat and Sinag know it.
As if to confirm my thoughts, a man in front of me turned to his neighbor with a satisfied grunt. "And well those two should go. It's their damn fault, anyway. Maybe the Diwata should take them as pay-off and leave the rest of us alone."
"That's right," I growled, and the man turned to me in surprise. "It's their fault. And I'm sure the Diwata appreciates the way you came to that poor woman's defense instead of laughing along with everybody else. None of this was your fault, right?"
The man flushed and glared at me. "Disrespectful brat!"
I matched his glare, and with a curse he stalked away. My breath seeped out, and I was shocked to find that I was trembling. By the Lady, how much worse could this day get?
"Habagat, you do realize that to reach the Diwata you'd have to get past that dragon first, right?" My head snapped up at Pilô's query. "You remember that dragon?" my brother's friend went on. "It's that big, black flying snake that nearly torched your ass off."
I closed my eyes. Oh gods, he's right. My brother would have to face the Guardian to get to the Diwata/--that is, if he, my sister and the others ever made it to the gates of her realm. The idea of my brother challenging Skyblade to a duel made my stomach turn. Somehow, I didn't think Skyblade would honor a promise he made to a sniveling little mortal, not when it was his /Diwata's realm my brother was trying to breach.
"Shut up, Pilô." I winced reflexively. My brother was very, very angry. "I'm going to kill that monster and cut off its head, and you are going to carry it back home for me."
I turned and fled, unable to listen any more. Scalding tears streamed down my face and by the time I collapsed beneath the duhat tree in our yard, I was sobbing so hard I thought my ribs would crack. It was already dark by the time I'd stopped crying. I felt dead inside but I couldn't fall sleep, too afraid of being haunted by visions of Skyblade's beautiful, broken body lying in a pool of blood while my brother stood over him in triumph.
It was the end of the first day.
Legends told about villages and towns and even kingdoms that had somehow earned the wrath of the gods and been punished. Turned into a lake, melted by a river of fire or wiped out by a sandstorm, depending on which unfortunate village, town or kingdom you were talking about. But the story was the same everywhere. Even Father Jorge had his Sodom and Gomorrah. I doubt, however, that even he could have imagined how darkly accurate his warnings about the penalties of sin would turn out to be. We were, quite simply, a dead town walking.
To say that it put a damper on the festivities would be putting it mildly.
I learned later how it happened, after all the fires had been put out. It sickened me to think that Skyblade, who had been so kind and gentle with me, had caused this destruction. Surprisingly enough, nobody was killed or seriously injured. The others attributed it to blind luck, but I liked to think that even in his rage against the people who had dared insult his /Diwata/, Skyblade had deliberately avoided taking any lives. I was grateful for it, if one could be grateful to a dragon who had very nearly razed our town to the ground, just as he had threatened.
After the Diwata and her dragon-Guardian disappeared, the shell-shocked townsfolk gathered at the church, which, unlike the town hall, had somehow escaped being reduced to cinders. I trudged after them, taking in the scorched remains of houses I had grown up with, pausing at the sight of the blackened crater where the plaza had once been. A crowd of men, women and children, all with identical dazed looks on their faces, milled around the church while the mayor and his councilors held an emergency meeting in Father Jorge's inner sanctum. With the mayor were my brother, my sister and Father Jorge.
I found Tia Isabel and Marikit sitting together. They stared blankly at me until they realized who I was and that I had, in fact, been missing until that moment. Uncaring that they had once again forgotten about me, I pried the whole sorry tale out of them.
It was, indeed, Consuelo who had been the trigger. She had returned to town and begun singing and dancing at the back of the crowd, drawing everyone's curious gazes. The mayor, who had been onstage making his speech, did not appreciate having his audience's attention taken away from him, and ordered the guards to deal with her. At the same time, Father Jorge gestured at the hapless sacristans to get rid of her before she ruined the opening ceremonies.
Habagat and his friends got to her before the guards or the sacristans did. They hustled her away, and when she resisted, my infuriated brother apparently forgot himself and hit her. I flinched in sympathy; I was no stranger to my brother's fists when he was angered. Consuelo stumbled away from him, and caught sight of my sister coming in with Tia Isabel. She fell at my sister and begged Sinag to protect her from my brother. My sister, however, shook off her clutching hands and hurried away, while my brother and his friends laughed at the crazy woman and forcibly drove her away.
Who'd have thought that that crazy woman, who was such a common sight that everyone had long since ceased to notice her, was none other than the Diwata herself?
I thanked them and drifted off to a relatively isolated corner to stew in my confusion and yes, rip-roaring guilt. If only I'd been here, if only I'd gone back at once instead of fiddling with the stupid candleholders, I might have gotten here in time to-to do something that could have prevented all this. Consuelo trusted me, or at least found me less hazardous than anyone else in town. I could have persuaded her to come away; I could have kept my brother from hitting her. But then, if I hadn't lingered at the shrine, Skyblade wouldn't have found me. He wouldn't have told me he loved me in the middle of berating me for being an idiot. He wouldn't have apologized so brokenly for being who he was. On the other hand, if I'd been here to save Consuelo, then Skyblade wouldn't have needed to warn me. But Consuelo, who was also the /Diwata/, at least suspected that her Guardian would seek me out. She was the one who brought me to the shrine in the first place, only to rush back to town to do something guaranteed to bring out the worst in people and in the end drastically reduced our life spans. But then again...
On and on the arguments went, spinning in circles that only resulted in a throbbing headache. I surfaced from the churning muck of my thoughts to find that the townsfolk had stopped their uneasy whispering and were intently watching the altar. I crept over for a peek. The mayor, who was looking even pastier than usual, was standing in front of the altar with the councilors lined up behind him. Beside him stood my brother and sister and Father Jorge like martyred saints chiseled in granite.
The mayor stretched out his pudgy arms. "My dear citizens of Santa Maria! In the light of the disaster that has befallen our town, we have decided that the best course of action would be to send a delegation to the realm of the Diwata and beg her forgiveness for the regrettable albeit completely unintentional error we have committed against her. Only the Diwata has the power to lift this curse from our town. We have been informed--" he gave a sidelong glance at my sister, "--that if we prostrate ourselves at her feet, the Diwata will show us her all-abiding mercy and spare our town."
The muttering of the crowd grew louder. "The Diwata's realm lies in the spirit world," someone pointed out. "Who among us are strong enough to make this journey?"
Another flickering sideways glance from the mayor. "As to that, we have elected two representatives to plead our case. These two have been chosen--" and again, I heard the slight tightening of his voice "--for their strength and innate power, as well as their thorough knowledge of the spirit world. As the leaders of the delegation, they will have the right to choose the other members, numbering five each."
"Well, hurry up and tell us who they are."
The mayor glowered at the impatient listener. "Sinag and Habagat Andrade will represent our town. Habagat will naturally select the town's finest warriors for this all-important mission, while Sinag will choose the strongest in magic."
My blood turned to ice. Oh no. Sweet Lady, not my brother and sister. Please don't take them away from me, too. Through the roaring in my ears I heard the spike in the crowd's voices as they muttered their agreement. They're going to make them go/, I realized with rising horror. /If they have to throw my brother and sister into the spirit world, they are going to force them to leave. And Habagat and Sinag know it.
As if to confirm my thoughts, a man in front of me turned to his neighbor with a satisfied grunt. "And well those two should go. It's their damn fault, anyway. Maybe the Diwata should take them as pay-off and leave the rest of us alone."
"That's right," I growled, and the man turned to me in surprise. "It's their fault. And I'm sure the Diwata appreciates the way you came to that poor woman's defense instead of laughing along with everybody else. None of this was your fault, right?"
The man flushed and glared at me. "Disrespectful brat!"
I matched his glare, and with a curse he stalked away. My breath seeped out, and I was shocked to find that I was trembling. By the Lady, how much worse could this day get?
"Habagat, you do realize that to reach the Diwata you'd have to get past that dragon first, right?" My head snapped up at Pilô's query. "You remember that dragon?" my brother's friend went on. "It's that big, black flying snake that nearly torched your ass off."
I closed my eyes. Oh gods, he's right. My brother would have to face the Guardian to get to the Diwata/--that is, if he, my sister and the others ever made it to the gates of her realm. The idea of my brother challenging Skyblade to a duel made my stomach turn. Somehow, I didn't think Skyblade would honor a promise he made to a sniveling little mortal, not when it was his /Diwata's realm my brother was trying to breach.
"Shut up, Pilô." I winced reflexively. My brother was very, very angry. "I'm going to kill that monster and cut off its head, and you are going to carry it back home for me."
I turned and fled, unable to listen any more. Scalding tears streamed down my face and by the time I collapsed beneath the duhat tree in our yard, I was sobbing so hard I thought my ribs would crack. It was already dark by the time I'd stopped crying. I felt dead inside but I couldn't fall sleep, too afraid of being haunted by visions of Skyblade's beautiful, broken body lying in a pool of blood while my brother stood over him in triumph.
It was the end of the first day.
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