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Part One: Hole in the Heart The morning sun shines across a small valley in northern England. A cliff on one side of the small, silent valley stands tall, looming above the still forest that coward below. The shadow of a young teenage girl stretches across the landscape. A majestic figure, the shadow's owner, stands tall on the cliff, watching the sunrise. "Beautiful," the girl whispers, her mysterious voice echoing in the valley, causing a flock of birds to spring up from their nests in the trees and make a loud ruckus as they flew across the valley. The girl caught one on her finger. Memories flooded her mind, but it happened to quick and there were too many for her to catch them all. But she could remember, just barely, a memory of her mother teaching her about the birds, and the trees, and all about nature. She had been very young back then. But now all her mother taught her about was spells that were mostly curses upon people. She could never understand what had brought the sudden change in her mother. She just simply shrugged it off, though, saying that it was the death of her father. The girl had beautiful blond hair that went down to just below her shoulders. She had mysterious, yet gorgeous blue eyes and a penetrating stare. She stood average height, and wore a black robe. Letting the bird fly away into the horizon, the girl sat down at the edge of the cliff, pulling her legs close. She enjoyed the sunrise. If anything could get her away from the brutality of her mother than she enjoyed it. Often, she would take small hikes to the edge of the forest, but she was never allowed to go beyond the far cliff. There were legends that a gang of bandits lived over there. But legends were nothing but challenges to the girl. She stood up; ready to walk down the side of the cliff, when her mother interrupted her thoughts. "Kali, get your butt down here and help me make breakfast!" her mother croaked. The girl cursed under her breath, then replied, "Yes, mother, whatever you say, mother," and made her way down the small ledge-steps to a cave. Once inside the cave, the girl named Kali listened to the normal lecture from her mother. "Young people these days! They never have any respect towards their elders. Why in my day--" Kali interrupted, "We all walked around with scars on our legs from the whips that were supposedly used on misbehaving children." "Don't interrupt me girl! I didn't raise no fool! Now you just listen to me! When you wake up, you don't just go wandering around that forest out there, you stay in here and help your poor old mother cook breakfast, then lunch and dinner! You hear!" "Yes, your majesty. I do solemnly swear that I will never again--never never again--go out into that forest out there. I promise to stay in this lousy cave here and do slave work for you, your highness, almighty one," Kali retorted. "Finally! You do have sense in you!" "Yeah, whatever," Kali said, then added under her breath, "but not enough sense to leave this hole in the ground." Kali's mother, who didn't have great hearing, just grunted and handed Kali burnt pancakes.
Later that day, Kali again stood a top her favorite cliff, the highest of them all. As normal, she argued with herself. "Why don't I ever leave this cursed rock? Nothing's going to stop me. And my mother doesn't care what happens to a single hair on my back." "What are you, Kali, stupid?!" she said to herself. "If you were to leave, what would happen to you? That gang of bandits across the valley would eat you alive!" "What bandits! There aren't any stupid bandits over there! Just imaginary creatures created by my mother to keep me from leaving her. I say I'm leaving this place!" "But what would you do for food? How would you survive?" "Easy. I'll work. No problem there. I know that there's a city beyond the cliff. I'll get a job there. No problem." "But what if no one hires you?" "I'll just take that chance. After all, life wasn't made to be easy." Her conscious was quiet. Peace at last. Kali lay down on the cliff and stared at the clouds, another memory running by her eyes. She was cloud gazing with her mother in an open meadow. But the memory was gone in a second, and almost forgotten. Kali started to fall asleep. A loud squawk from a nearby crow shook Kali from her peaceful state. She sat up straight, and peered down at the forest to where the sound had came from. Since she didn't have much else to do, she deciding to and investigate. Kali ran down the cliff side and entered the forest. Not far from the bottom of the mountain face, Kali found a squealing crow lying under the brush. A stick was lodged through its wing, and it was struggling to get back up in the air. Kali picked up the small crow and looked at the wound. After examining it, she broke the stick and pulled it out of the wing. For awhile, she held the bird, calming it and stopping it from dying of blood-loss. When she felt it was okay, she released the bird on a low branch, then peered at the stick. The stick was her center of attention because of its odd shape. It was not like any normal looking stick--it was too straight. It looked as though it had been carved. And part of the end was broken off. She decided to continue her inspection up on the cliff where there was more light to see. Kali started back towards the path, when she suddenly stumbled on a small stone. After regaining her balance, Kali looked down to see what she had tripped on. She found a stone that was shaped as an arrowhead, with part of a stick stuck to it that was broken on the end. Then, a thought struck her, and she put the broken end of the stick from the crow's wing and the stick on the arrowhead together. They fit perfectly. Someone had tried to shoot the crow with his or her arrow. Kali, suspicious, looked around the forest for a couple minutes, but did not find evidence of another person anywhere. Giving up, she headed back to the cliff, taking the arrow with her.
"Where have you been all day?" Kali's mother croaked, hanging a pot above the fire. Kali looked at the ground. "Oh . . . just around," Kali said, looking up hopefully. Her mother snorted. Kali said nothing else on the matter, and sat down cross-legged in front of the fire. "So," Kali decided to be cheerful, even if it was something uncommon in her life, "What's for dinner tonight?" Her mother just stirred whatever was in the pot, then sat down in front of the fire and rubbed her hands together. "What's it matter?" Kali sighed, then stood up and started pacing. "What're you so nervous about?" snarled her mother, still concentrating on her hands. Kali stared at her questioningly, then realized she was pacing, and stopped. "Nothing." "I can see through that transparent look on your face. What happened while you were down in the forest?" "How'd you know I was in the forest?" Kali asked, frowning at her mother. "Doesn't matter how I know. What did you find?" Kali sighed, then took out the arrow that she had found. "I found this broken arrow in a crow's wing. Happy now?" Kali threw the arrow to her mother then walked over to the darkest corner of the cave and sat down, leaning against the cool wall of the cave. The two were quiet for the rest of the night. Kali's mother cooked the food. When it was ready, she took out the two wooden bowls they used and poured some kind of herbal soup into them. She set one down by the fire, and started eating out of the other one. When she was done, she took more. After her third helping she washed her bowl in the small stream that ran through the back of the cave, then left to go find food for breakfast in the morning. When she was gone, Kali still sat in the corner of the cave. She sat there for awhile, not really doing anything. Finally, she decided to eat her soup. It was still warm after sitting by the fire the whole time. It also tasted extremely good to Kali's empty stomach. Warmth spread through her body, and Kali became livelier. The soup gave her energy. After a second helping, she cleaned her bowl, set it in the other one in the corner of the cave by the stream then went over to the cooking pot. Since there was still more soup in the pot, she put an animal skin over the top and tied it with a piece of string. She sat this pot by the two bowls, then left the cave to go out exploring, her energy getting the better of her. Night in the valley was extremely dangerous. All kinds of creatures roamed the forest, and anything could sneak up on a lost person in the forest. However, Kali knew the forest by heart. She could hear the soft footsteps of a wolf, or a rabbit stirring in its sleep. She knew the difference between human sounds and animal sounds. She was also very coordinated and silent, so she could walk through the forest without disturbing anything. As Kali walked down the cliff side, rocks tumbled out beneath her. It was dark, so she had trouble seeing things, and the energy that she had gained after eating was getting the better of her, and she began to grow impatient, which was not something she was known for. Then, out of nowhere, a large rock came up and Kali tripped, rolling the last few steps down to the bottom of the cliff. Cursing, Kali stood up and brushed herself off. She walked into the forest, stumbling in the darkness. The deeper she went, the darker it became. The darker it became, the less Kali could see where she was going and the less of a chance of finding her way back. Growing panicky, Kali started to run in circles, although she didn't realize she was running in circles. Soon, she lost most of her energy, and became tumbling around the forest, half-jogging, half-walking. Just when she felt she could not go on any longer, Kali bumped her head on a low branch, and fell back. She was already unconscious, but she had fallen into someone's arms. |