***
Kali
Her father took her far from the camp, and part of her expected to die out in the muddy fields. Sunny days had turned to lightning crackling in the sky, and the grass was sodden with persistent rain. Heavy heat sent beads of sweat down her brow.
The stormy weather matched her heart.
Every heartbeat signified another step closer to marriage and unhappiness. Another step away from Andriy and the freedom he represented. The ceremony would only be witnessed by two people, Kali and her father. The earth wept along with her.
He prepared the ceremony in a cave and forced her to stand outside in the rain. He covered her eyes with a blindfold while she waited. She steeled herself for the sound of the bells to ward off evil spirits, but it didn’t come. She realised, too late, that he probably intended to invite them. She swallowed hard a couple of times and smelled liquid grass. Hot rain drenched her back, and she sensed the eyes of small animals watching her warily.
Worst of all, she saw the darkness in her blood. That thing which called to her, clung to her, and lured her in. She ignored it because she didn’t know what else to do. Her father’s ceremony, no doubt, called it down upon her, but she would be brave. She would stand tall and remain defiant to the last.
These were her last days of freedom, and she wouldn’t waste them cowering for mercy that did not exist. She would take her power, accept her responsibilities, and allow herself to mourn for mere days instead of years. She might not take on her destiny with happiness in her heart, but she would not allow it to kill her in her sleep. Andriy’s acceptance spurned her on.
She sensed her father’s presence again, although his steps were soundless. Cold hands drifted across her face, marking her with something cool. The rain would wash it away, but that didn’t deter him.
His hands on her shoulders, he pushed her to her knees, forcing a metal cup to her lips. Taking the cup, she sipped the contents, her stomach turning at the tang. She knew there was blood in the liquid, probably her father’s, and although unnecessary, she drained the cup without complaint. Anything to get the day over with.
For an hour, he stepped around her, chanting and moaning, until he finally removed the blindfold and led her into the cave. She could barely see for the smoke, but the dizziness came from the liquid she drank.
She collapsed to the ground, her cheek against dirt and stone, as she watched her father through bleary eyes. She saw impossible visions of horror, fanged creatures with yawning mouths silently screaming in her face, their rancid breath turning her stomach. Images of shadowy hands grabbed her feet to drag her into the nether. She felt the pricks of a snake’s bite and the sensation of a million spiders crawling over her skin, but when she recovered from her visions, nothing was there.
Her father spoke to nothing and to everything. He pleaded and begged and offered her soul to the darkness. She could do nothing to stop him, but it didn’t matter.
She wasn’t his to give.
She had always been a gift, given to him, temporary and fleeting. Not his in this life or the next. He never did understand that. He never comprehended what it was he was trading when he made his thoughtless deals with devils and demons.
Frustrated, he cried out, but she couldn’t understand the words. Blood dripped from his forearms, travelling down until it fell from his fingers to puddles on the floor. This would never be her life. Her eyes drifted closed, and she welcomed the darkness of her own making.