Fall the 91st, 520 AV
Eyes burning red, Hiberna stood in front of the bulletin board just in front of the Icewall Gates and read the notice again and again and again. She didn’t know how man bells had passed while she seethed, but eventually, Solemn had had enough.
“Come on, Hib.” His tired eyes said he didn’t want to stand here any longer, but he was so tired he wouldn’t fight her if she decided to stay. “This ain’t gonna change a thing.”
Effort was something that took more effort from him. While he never shirked his work and duties, he did nothing without first thinking it through, so it took the least amount of effort as possible. While many people mirrored their bondmate, Solemn’s inherent laziness was not enough to curb Hiberna’s innate fire, not strong enough to stem the tide of her anger.
“Just give me a chime.”
“You’ve had a whole bell and a half, practically two.” Winds picked up, and he shivered ad hunkered down, using her as both a wind break and a heat source. One thing was certain, and that was that he was not built for the cold. Even being nearly half his size and lacking the generous power of Morwen’s mark, she still ran warmer than he.
“Just one more read through.”
Solemn sighed, and Hiberna knew it was permission. Her eyes, still red, turned back to the notice.
Greetings Mizaharians!
How dare they begin such an outright attack on her people with such cheeriness? She knew what was to come next, and the disconnectedness of the cheer with the threats the messages contained threw her off. Red eyes read on.
It has come to our attention that the Goddess Morwen has refused to do her duty this Season and walk forth from Avanthal where she resides to spread winter across the land. This is an insult to us, the rest of the Seasons, and irresponsible to the core. There is no reason, great or small, for a Season to shirk their duty. And this is definitely what has happened.
There will be repercussions.
There will be repercussions.
If Hiberna had the power, there would be repercussions, and the Seasons would be the ones to pay it. Blood would fall from Tavasi like the spring rains he coaxed from Makutsi and from Bala like the leaves her changing influence wrought on the trees. She would scorch Sivah’s flesh the way his summer parched the desert earth. If she had the power, she would make the seasons pay. If she had the power…
She didn’t.
Perhaps that, more than anything else, angered her the most. She was powerless, at least in any sense that mattered. The world would not change, not because of her. She read on.
We have hired an elite group of people to make sure these repercussions happen. We have the support of the other Gods in this endeavor. We will hunt down every follower of Morwen - every single marked member of her 'family' - and call for their death. Yes. We are calling for the outright slaughter of Morwen's children until such a time as Morwen resumes her duty or steps aside.
We prefer that She steps aside and gives her powers over to another.
We prefer that She steps aside and gives her powers over to another.
They wanted to strip Morwen of Her powers. If Hiberna had the means, she’d strip their power from them, strip everything from them including the flesh from their bones, strip them bare like Morwen did to the late autumn trees, or so Hiberna had been told. When the Vantha were already feeling hopeless with the disappearance of their beloved Goddess, the other Seasons had come along and made them feel truly powerless. Hiberna wished more than anything she could give them a taste of that, strip away any control they had over the world around them. But it wasn’t so, and it never would be. Hiberna was the powerless one.
To this end will will send PRIESTS and PRIESTESSES of our faith to every city in the land. To assure the success of this venture, these followers will be paying a bounty on the bodies of any follower turned into them. A coin payoff of 1,000 Mizas will be the reward.
One thousand Mizas. That was the price of her death, the value of her corpse, but what was the value of her life? She had to believe it was worth so much more. The same way she believed every Vantha life was worth more than that. How much good could each of them do with a lifetime of works? How many good deeds had been left undone, because those meant to carry them out had had their lives cut short? Somber thoughts of friends and acquaintances that had passed filled her mind and turned her eyes from red to blue. Blue eyes swam into violet and read on.
Without Winter happening, the land becomes seriously damaged. Snow packs don't accumulate so drought is guaranteed in the Spring and Summer of the land. Wildfires will abound. Insects will flood the land unchecked. They will damage crops and forests without mercy. Spring plants will bloom early and often miss the windows of their pollinators. Seeds that depend on winter freeze will not germinate. Animal migrations will be off schedule and some will starve and die. The predator season of plenty will not occur so that predators will be forced to move into population centers to find easier foodstuff and raze these areas.
Hiberna needed no reminding of this. The Vantha needed no reminding of this. They had been just as affected as everyone else everywhere else. Their entire existence depended on the existence and continuation of Winter. Without Winter, all the dependable parts of survival that their way of life depended on ceased to be. They were already shouldering their share of the world’s burden of not having winter as their world crumbled around them while they starved. They were just as lost as everyone else without Morwen, but somehow, the Seasons felt they should be held responsible, that the Vantha should suffer more for decisions they hadn’t made. Her eyes had settled on violet now.
We will show no Mercy to Morwen or Her followers for this gross derelict of duty. If She refuses to step down, we will be forced to replace her anyhow and we will do it with the strongest display of power we see during this manhunt. No one will be safe. And if someone is caught offering shelter to the Vantha marked by Morwen, such as a city or group, we will turn our wrath on them as well and include them in the bounty. Look for our Priests and Priestesses. Show them respect. Enjoy collecting the bounties they offer.
Enjoy.
Enjoy? Hiberna’s eyes flashed back to red. The Season were talking of this as it if were some joyful outing, some celebration. What they were talking about, what they were asking for and encouraging, was the destruction of a people, her people. Hate filled her, sunk fearsome and unbreakable tendrils in between the fibers of her heart, and in her rage, Hiberna vowed a host of terrible and horrific things, things she hoped Solemn never found out she’d even thought of.
Lessons must be learned.
Oh, they would be taught, if Hiberna ever got the chance. She would find a way to…
The dozens of things she had promised surfaced in her mind, and she relished the thought of every single one.
Bala, Tavasi & Sivah
The subject of her hate had names now, not that she hadn’t always known that these names were behind the slaughter of her people. But she focused on those names and vowed again the awful things roiling in her soul and found comfort in the thought that one day those things might come true. If she ever had the chance, she would see them done.
Unpinning the notice, she began to fold it and put it in her pocket but stopped when Solemn held out his hand.
“Here, Hib. Let me carry it.”
“Only if you promise not to tear it up.”
His tired eye wandered down to the mushy mud they stood in. “Never mind. You can keep it.”
For the briefest of moments, Hiberna’s eyes turned green. He was too good to her, wanting to shelter her from the terror the outside world had become. She was happy she’d adopted him as her brother, even happier that they were bonded. “That’s what I thought. You forget how well I know you.”
He shrugged and shivered again. “You do know that worrying over that ain’t gonna do any one of us any bit of good, yeah?”
“Yeah, but it makes me feel better to be angry.”
The curious look in his eyes said he didn’t quite understand the sentiment but understood that it was true for her regardless. “It always has.”
She adored the way his heavy eyes conveyed emotion. She smiled as her eyes turned violet again. “Come on. Let’s get to the Chapterhouse.”
WC=1,518