Post by NewMan™ on Feb 16, 2010 23:41:14 GMT -5
Fire Of The Son
September 20 1862, Arizona
They are new in town, these two.. I'm not sure where they came from or what brings them to Deadstone but they are without a doubt strangers.
My Pa told me to stay clear of them, he doesn't believe that two people, dressed in golden coats and riding pure white horses, could be anything but trouble but I think he is wrong about them.
In any case, I'm tired of doing the same chores here on the farm everyday. Today it was clean out the stables (again), yesterday it was round up the cattle that had wandered off again toward the Aken's homestead.
I'm hoping, with any luck, Pa will let me go into town tomorrow with him to see about getting some medicine for to put on the horse's leg as the bruise she got last week has not gotten any better.
Pa doesn't know I've been keeping this journal. He says "writing is for city folks".. However Ma gave it too me two nights back while Pa was out in the stables checking on Cindy's sore leg.
I better quit for now, I can hear Pa calling me for something.
September 21 -
I got too go into town today with Pa, took us twice as long to get there on the buggy as normal as Cindy's limp is getting worse.
Pa told me too wait by Millers store while he went into the saloon to see if Doc was in there and while I was waiting I saw one of the two strangers walk out of the Ridgemont and saddle his white horse.
I stood there, across the street, and stared at him for a minute wondering if I should talk too him.
I decided the worse Pa could do is yell at me so I walked over and introduced myself. He is a bit older than me but he doesn't look near as old as Pa.
At first he didn't say much, just kept strapping up his horse but when I asked him his name he said it was Stephen.
I told him my name was JD (although folks call me Jay) and offered to shake his hand. He just looked at me funny, like I said something offensive too him or something..
I asked him then what he was doing in town and he said "Hunting for Dragons.."
I laughed at first, but honestly, I have no idea what a dragon is
(I will have to ask Ma later after Pa goes out to feed the chickens)
but I told him I hope he finds one.
It was about that time his friend, the other outsider, came out of The Ridgemont carrying something long in a leather case.
He stopped short when he saw me and said something I did not understand too Stephen.
It reminded me a little of the language that the McCartney's foreign cook spoke the one time we were invited over too their house for Sunday gathering.
I was about to introduce myself too this other stranger when he suddenly grabbed my arm and twisted it.
He said something again to Stephen and I yelled "that hurts". It was about that time Pa came out of the saloon and looked around for me.
Pa cried out for me and I yelled back but suddenly, and I don't know how, both Stephen and his friend were gone.
Even their horses were missing yet I had been standing right there..
Pa was upset I left Cindy and the buggy alone and told me about it all the way back to the farm but I wasn't listening as my arm was still hurting from the way that man held it.
He dug his fingers into the little birthmark I have near my elbow
and there was a trace of blood.
Soon Pa will feed the chickens..
September 23 -
Pa's upset, not over anything I did but because President Lincoln has issued some sort of law about freeing slaves in all states. We don't own any slaves ourselves but Pa says this will only make the war continue longer.
Once, when I asked him what war was, he told me it is when one man tries to kill another man just because of the clothes he is wearing and the way he believes.
How can anyone do that?
Later, when I asked Ma about dragons, she seemed a bit taken back by my question. She wanted first too know why I asked and I lied.. I told her it was something Charley McCartney has said the other week at church when we were outside playing.
Ma told me not too worry, dragons were something that does not exist but were more a legend, like the lost city of gold that crazy Joe Williams had gone south many years ago looking for.. I almost told her about the strangers, but something in my mind told me not too.. and it was then that Pa came back in the house from feeding the chickens..
I will write more later as it's dark now and Ma says I need to save the candles.
September 24
Pa says he is worried about something called "the draft". Ma told him not too worry, he was far too old and they both laughed when she said that.
Cindy's leg is now starting to heal (thanks to Doc's medicine) and once more Pa had me back doing chores, this time helping him fix the fence that the cattle keep breaking through.
As we were working on the fence, I noticed that Pa has the same birthmark I do in the exact same place. I was going to ask him about it but Pa didn't seem much in the mood for talking so instead I asked him if I could go fishing down at the creek later and he said once we got the fence done and the chickens fed it would be fine.
I grabbed my reel and about halfway too the creek I thought I spotted a white horse in the distance watching me. Ma says I have an "over-active imagination".. whatever that is..
September 25
Pa asked me today where I had heard the word "dragon" from, I guess Ma must have told him I mentioned it. I again lied and said it was something that Charley had mentioned when we were playing after church. He seemed to know I was lying but he didn't mention it anymore today.
Pa took Cindy into town today, told me to stay home with Ma, and was gone till dark. I don't know what he got. While he was gone I asked Ma if I could go fishing again at the creek and she said okay as long as I wasn't gone too long. This time, at almost the same spot as yesterday, I KNOW I saw the white horse in the distance and it looked like there was someone riding them. I figured it might be Stephen and his friend so I waved at them but when I did, they turned around and rode off.
Pa came back upset about something. He and Ma were all quiet about it..
September 26
It rained all day, I feel tired all the time lately. Pa told me not too worry about chores and stay home all day. Ma made me some soup. It's hard to describe but it feels like something inside me is changing..
October 01
My stomach has started to settle, for a couple days it felt like it was growing bigger and then smaller.. I know that is hard to understand but Pa seemed to understand me well. When Ma mentioned getting Doc to come look at me Pa said no, that what I have is normal and I will be okay. Tomorrow I hope to go fishing again, as long as Pa doesn't need me to do any chores..
I still have a throbbing feeling in my head..
October 02
Ooh God, Pa's dead.. but it wasn't Pa, I mean at first it wasn't Pa, it was something much larger and more... ooh God, I can't write this... but I must because I can't find Ma and I fear the strangers will soon be here for me too.. This morning, Pa told me I could go fishing as long as it wasn't raining. I grabbed my reel and was almost too the creek when again I saw the white horses but this time, instead of away from me they came riding toward me. When they got closer I saw it was indeed Stephen and his friend and I stopped to wait for them.
As they got closer, I saw Stephen's friend has a sword in his hand, an honest sword. and the sharp end was pointed at me as they came riding up. I stood there for a second before I realized what was about too happen and by then it was too late. He put that sword through me, my entire body.
I screamed louder than I have ever screamed and I saw the birds in the trees take off all at once when I screamed. I then fell back into the tall grass holding my bleeding stomach as I watched Stephen and his friend dis-mount from their horses.
I'm not sure exactly what happened next, my stomach was again making that feeling of getting smaller and then larger but there was no pain. I tried to keep my eyes open but before I knew it they grew into small slants and all color faded. Everything I was seeing was in shades of red.
Then, in the split of a moment, the entire field around me was on fire. Overhead, around 50 feet in the air, something very large drew down with screams so loud it shook the burning trees. Stephen and his friend both were taken aback and left me alone at this point and ran toward their saddles to grab whatever it was that was in the leather case.
I was laying on my back, in the grass but I could feel wings under me.. These wings were somehow part of me as I could feel my own weight on them. From the sky, the creature landed between me and the strangers. There was something familiar about this beast while at the same time I felt something new about myself.. This creature was protecting me.
Stephen made an attempt to get around it too get at me but with one effortless sweep the creature sent Stephen flying into the grass on the other side of the road. Before the creature could turn back around however, Stephen's friend made a mad run into the side of the creature and plunged his sword into it's heart. The creature knocked the man down and screamed the most frightening scream I have ever heard. The creature stood over the man, with the sword still in his side, and was about to react when Stephen came from no where and plunged his sword into the creatures other side.
while all this was going on, they had forgotten about me.. I was changing, into something that has wings but I still did not have the power to run away.
Both men had daggers and buried their daggers into the neck of the creature, causing blue blood to spill. The creature let out another cry, not quite as loud and turned back to look at me. I don't know how, or even if it happened.. but I felt the creature tell me to fly.
I stood up, or what I had became stood up, and through my red blood eyes I saw hatred. I just willed fire and it came from my mouth and it caught the coat of the younger man. He turned and looked at me but it was too late, I had risen in the air. I had become like the creature and looking down, I saw the creature had become like me... only it wasn't me laying down with swords and daggers in him, it was my Pa..
I flew, over the burning trees and past images my mind knows but can no longer identify. I landed in a remote area, a place I know I have been in the past and something in my mind told me is safe. then I feel down into the grass and cried till I feel asleep.
I woke after dark. I was no longer the creature but once more my body had returned. The wings I had were gone, no trace of them, and the wound in my stomach from where I was stabbed had healed.
Carefully I crept back too the farm, lest the strangers should find me again, but Ma is no where. I looked everywhere I know and I can't even find a trace of her. I ran out too the barn and Cindy is still in her stable, expecting her nightly ration of oats, and the chickens have yet to be fed but I am alone.
I spent the night in the hay loft, above Cindy, trying to find some answers. I doubt if I will write in this journal anymore so I will hide it here in the barn.
there is someone outside the barn.. I can feel them... I can almost taste them.. Daybreak has yet too approach yet I can feel the fire of the son burning inside me...
© 2010
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