This story is for Sue Vincent’s Thursday photo prompt. It’s inspired by the photo, but not set in the same period.
They said they would be back. I didn’t believe them at the time. They had taken my father and older brother, and all the able-bodied men. The rest were dead. Why would they bother with the women? What use were we to anyone?
So we settled into a routine of back-breaking work—the ploughing and the building that the men used to do before, as well as the sowing, reaping, milling, cooking, weaving…Well, you know what a woman’s work is like. There isn’t much time left for anything else, but we had to find time, or die.
Of the kine, we kept only the sheep—the cattle ate too much of our meagre harvest during the winter months. The sheep foraged for themselves most of the time and we made do with their milk. The pigs were easy enough, since they looked out for themselves and ate our leavings.
But they had said they would be back, and when I saw them on the ridge, their silhouettes black against the brilliance of the night sky, I knew this was the end. We ran, but there was nowhere to hide in the winter landscape of bare branches. They took what they wanted, killing what they couldn’t carry away, and leaving only what they missed in the darkness.
I can see thin ribbons of smoke rising from the smouldering ruins of some of the houses. Only the headman’s house is still intact. Silent and sad, a tragic figure in an old play, it stands, head bowed in sorrow. Silent too are the owls that swoop from the stars to perch on the roof ridge. They have come back too, for the rest of the dead souls. The next time they come, it will be for me.
‘Coming back’ has so manylevels of meaning, right up till the end…
It’s that circle coming round, as it always does.
Always and inescapably…
At least we get owls in the end. Or gulls or seals. Or dolphins 🙂
I’m happy with ravens 🙂
Ravens would do the job too 🙂
They usually do 🙂
🙂
I like how you built this up for the ominous expectation at the end.
Thanks Frank. I imagine life must have been always shadowed by this kind of fear.
This is so chilling! I love the emotions you’ve captured and the descriptions of their lives after the first attack.
Thank you! My image of life in medieval times is very much of constant fear.
Wow! That was intense. I love it when people take very fictional concept on a prompt, I like to do it sometimes. It’s such a fun.
I enjoy trying to put myself in the skin who lived long before anything I would find familiar.
That’s a great practice. There was a beauty in it, with the details of it!
I’m glad you thought so. I don’t suppose people’s reactions a thousand years ago were so much different to ours.
Yes, just the environment and concerns were different I guess!
If they even knew what ‘environment’ was!
True that!
🙂
Great!
Thank you!
A strong evocation. It made me think of the 30 years war, and of some of the illustrations of the time. Beautiful, and sad.
Thank you! So much of human history has been built on fear and the inevitability of violent death.
Wow!This was so very evocative. I loved the way you wove it to bring about the thrilling end.
Thanks Neel! I have a feeling that for much of human history this kind of ending was commonplace.
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
Cheers Michael 🙂
Thx. Have a nice weekend, Jane. 😉 Michael
You too, Michael 🙂
Gorgeously terrible. I especially liked the image of the silhouettes on the ridge marking the end of the waiting for the end. She survived, but to what, for what? Strong emotion, well played. I’m even more drawn to it because it could just as easily have taken place in Eneana — sounds like a scene right out of the War of the Tandonni.
It could be a scene from so many historical epochs. It’s that terror of there being no place of safety, no protection of any kind, that gets to me. We’re so used to counting on ‘the state’ to protect us from terrors.
I agree: terrifying thought, to have the safety of law and order wrenched away like that.
That’s why humanity goes down the tubes so easily in apocalyptic novels, I suppose.
That make dark look like a silver lining behind a cloud. Ominous well done.
Thank you! Life was probably ominous most of the time in those days.
I should have known, my absence has warbled my head. The fact is, Lady Jane often ends up dead! Or killing, maligning or simply eating some poor character.
But you as usual have carried it out beautifully. 😀😁😂😄
Oh dear. Am I getting a reputation for brutality? It’s so much more fun though to give characters a hard time 🙂
No fears Jane your loved for the twist and the gore. X
Only suggested gore though 🙂
It’s nuf…
🙂
Well done, Jane. I loved your interpretation.
Thanks Noelle! I enjoy writing historical fantasy, but I’m finding it impossible to sell.
Ack! I can sympathize – marketing is the thing I like least. So much effort for so few results.
I’m not even going to bother self-publishing. The marketing is too hard, as you say, and it has to be constant. But I can’t find any publisher or agent who’s remotely interested. It’s so depressing.
I was completely put off by the difficulty of finding an agent, and the time it would take. However, if you read Chris, the Story Reading Ape, he frequently mentions publishers who will look at a manuscript without an agent involved.
To be honest, I’m wary of many small publishers. I want one who will actually promote my work not just slap an ugly cover on it and watch it do nothing. I’ll keep trying for a good one.
Sad story Jane. .💖💜
I reckon life was pretty tragic for most people until recently.
Yes indeed, sadly it is still very hard for many 💗💖
It certainly is. We haven’t come so far really, have we?
No sadly, we only have to look to Africa or war zones to see the misery!
True.
Beautiful and terrible. I love it.
Thank you!
Gorgeous and chilling. This is so well-written, Jane. It’s like Shirley Jackson, or someone like that, who writes something that seems sort of matter-the-fact–and then you’re hit with the terror of this every day life.
Ever since I was little I’ve had dreams like this. I ought to be a bundle of nerves by now 🙂
I’m not even going to go there, Jane. 😉
Best not to 🙂
😉
This is heart wrenching, Jane. Beautiful piece.
I’m so pleased you enjoyed it, Robbie 🙂
A poignantly gloomy picture painted leaves a heart for a closure. only one soul is left to tell us this tale.
http://ideasolsi65.blogspot.in/2017/07/flight-of-questions.html
Thank you 🙂
inevitable demise…sounds gloomy…none of us seemed to get a happy bit from these birds..this is very well crafted for the suspense factor..and then you leave it at that….
Thank you, Pamela. You think I should have continued the story? It’s the kind of scenario that could open a fantasy story, with an incredible heroine wreaking vengeance with her newly discovered warrior skills or super powers, but in the real world, the end would probably have been, as you said, inevitable.