A Line in the Sand: River of Blood: Chronicles of the Scattering, Vol. I
A Line in the Sand: River of Blood: Chronicles of the Scattering, Vol. I
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| ISBN-13: | 9781456752224 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 05/10/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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A Line in the Sand: River of Blood
Chronicles of the Scattering, Vol. IBy Richard Brighton
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 Richard BrightonAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-5221-7
Chapter One
The ScatteringCon G' a Ru
"The Spirits have told us the times before the taking of the land- by those, who were our enemies from the land of the sun, were filled with the life and death of many clans and tribes."
"The People had been given the land from the Spirits, those who came before us. This gift of life was the place of our villages; and after endless passages of the moon, the land was the place of our cities. Hunters, those who would lead the people, would become the Warriors, High Priests and the Nobles of the Cities- from the water of the rivers to the blue and green waters separating the land and the islands."
"The People had walked alone and then in small clans through the land for many passages of the sun and moon. The land was theirs from the open fields of the north to the cold of the mountains of the south, where few lived but much taking from the ground was done. The People would build huts along the trails because the lands had been shown to us by the Spirits, to use for travel and trade."
"After many passages of the moon, the huts would become a village to be their home, as the People moved along the waters and the mountains. The trail through the land was not hard to follow because those, who had gone before us- our Ancestors, had told us how to grow and live on the land."
"Our People started as one person alone and after having joined or fought others, small families, clans and tribes started. The death that was on all sides of us and the need for us to live kept us together as the People. We were all the People, and we shared that which had been given us by the land. The story of how we became the People of the Tribes, who lived along the waters and in the jungles or the fields of the north, is simple enough to follow. All people have gone from being alone to become many people in one place, who called themselves by names now forgotten to the dust of time."
"The Spirits- Ancestors, told us, when we could hear their voices clearly, some of the people who came together did not see the need to make a home or family the most important part of their lives. For some of the People making the villages stronger and using stone to build Temples, to show our riches, was all they wanted."
"When the spirits of the jungle, which the People called gods, took our villages away from us, we returned to the land. Few of the People remained from the villages that had been taken from us through volcano and fire. Our villages, which were near the Temples of the place we called First City, were destroyed and the People ran to the jungles to leave death behind them."
"That which had been taken from the People left us with our lives and nothing more. For these people, the need to take everything from those around them started at the beginning of their life in the jungles, and it became their only reason for living; and for many others, a reason to die."
* * *
"The Spirits- Ancestors, told the story of how the People moved by following animals, and they ate the food that the jungles and the fields allowed them to take. It was the gods- the evil spirits of the jungle, which led us to move through the land; because we believed, if we built huts they would be taken from us by fire and death. Always, there were others banded together as tribes, some stronger than ours, who would take what you had and leave you as food for the animals of the jungle. Even the fire you built was not yours until blood had been shed by the People to keep or lose the fire."
"As we had done at the beginning of the People, we had to move many passages of the sun to see others; but after many People and their families had been born and died, it was not so great a walk between the villages. Still, there was no clan or tribe that had a name or a set way of living. We would move the villages to follow the animals and then move back to where we had come from, as the cold started and the nights became longer. It was the same- always in our past, and nothing was going to stop the way, those who had gone before, showed us how to live."
"There was no need to become different in the way the People lived until tribes, which used strong weapons came to be known; and then our lives changed forever."
"There was safety in our numbers but other people, who looked like us and had many hunters, started to take and kill for the same food we hunted."
"Our weapons helped us catch the animals of the land, the water and even the creatures of the air. All was ours to take until those, who we thought were hunters found our villages and the caves where we hid. They took our women and children and killed all our hunters they could find. We knew of no reason for these people to act in such a manner but their actions were plain for all to see."
"In some places, there were several families, together, and they were taken as slaves or killed by these large groups. When our tribe moved from place to place, we found the bodies of the People, which the animals of the land and air left near the cold fires. There was little left for us to find and none of their weapons to use; but we knew there had been many of these people, at the caves and huts because of the size of these camps."
"As the tribes of those, who would kill us became strong; it did not take many travels of the sun and the moon, for the People to see their only chance to be safe was to become many in numbers, also. With more families- children to become warriors, came the strength to fight on our own and keep those who would kill us from taking all we had."
* * *
"Many passages of the sun and moon went by, and we moved from place to place. We hoped to put the jungle and mountains between ourselves and those, who would kill us; but that was not to be. Some of the People moved to the large jungles of the north, and others went to the open fields and low forests of the far north. Still some had gone very far to the south thinking the cold of the mountains could keep away those who would kill us."
"All who traveled found that it was not the same hunters who followed us. We were being taken as slaves and captives by the people of the stone bodies, those known as the Olmec, who took us to their cities. The People, who escaped the warriors of the Olmec, went into the mountains and deeper into the jungles, where the spirits of the jungle would not allow us to rest or to build villages."
"The travels of the sun and moon found the People alone and fearful of those, who looked like us. We could remain together as the People; but only in the jungle, the mountains and the swamps, to keep from being touched by the others; and we would fight to the death any tribe that came near us."
"When the Olmec had been sealed in the underworld and their Cities left empty by the gods, who had destroyed First City; the People returned to their land."
* * *
"The time of standing alone- apart from the Olmec and those, who looked like us, had made the People strong; but we became a tribe of hunters-warriors, who killed and took land from others. The People moved and lived, alone and away from others for many passages of the sun and moon-the days, years and generations of the People. Only the spirits of the jungle watched closely while our tribes turned into the people, who hunted us."
"There was never a time in our memory when those, who looked like us, could live together in one place with the People. We fled to the jungles and mountains to be rid of those who tracked us like they hunted the animals of the land. Neither the light of the day nor the darkness of the night brought any comfort to the People. Only distance from those, who tried to kill us would allow for some quiet in the hearts of the People."
"The People, who lived in the time of standing alone, could not understand why those, who looked like us, would kill us for the food that we would have shared with them."
"The Ancestors knew, but we could not hear their words. It was not the food or the land that turned the others into hunters and killers of the People; it was the spirits of the jungle and the stone gods who told the others- who looked like us, to be the first among all the people. The words of the stone gods filled the others; and these tribes killed any who would stand and fight them."
"There was no peace with other tribes and no place on the land we called our home; where we could live away from those, who made weapons stronger and heavier than our own. We walked through the jungles of our land; and on one passage of the sun, we found a larger tribe- those, who looked like us, moving along our trail."
"At first both tribes, who had been hunted by the Olmec, were ready to fight when our tribal leader laid down his weapon and offered some food to those who held spears up against him. There was much unrest that filled the hearts of both tribes, but after a long time, spears were lowered and a small amount of food was passed between both tribes."
"That night, all those in the tribes did not sleep for fear the spirits of the jungle would send the hunters to attack us. When morning filled the eyes of the people of both tribes, there was talk, of how we could move together on the trails, which both tribes called their own. We used our hands and we made sounds, to make the People known to the others, who looked like us. It was not easy to talk because there was no understanding between us. Only fear of our being taken as captives were our common memory."
"After many passages of the sun did we make some claim to protect this tribe- those, who looked like us. The People had decided to make the two tribes live as one large tribe; but both wanted their leader be our tribal chief and that led us to pick up our spears and face the others to do battle. Again, we shared food and it was decided we would leave this place and go to the mountains to live in the caves that stand over our river. There the tribes could live close by and keep the land safe. Over the passages of the sun and moon, the tribes could decide who would lead. But there was the darkness and the next light to survive and then the People would know if we could live as one tribe."
"The darkness was broken, with the sound of two fighters, the leader from each tribe, doing battle for who would lead us. But the fight between our leaders was short because the hunters, who were the enemy of both tribes, attacked."
"The fight was to the death, with many of the People being killed; but the hunters did not survive. Our tribes fought with all they could use. Men, women and children all took part to keep the People alive. By darkness, we had taken the clothing, weapons and tools of the hunters and left their bodies for the Spirits of the jungle to accept in offering. Our tribes moved to the north, but we were now one tribe. Many of the warriors of the People had died during the fight with the hunters, and our leader had been one of the first killed. The People were now part of the others."
"Just to be alive was enough. We could work, as we had fought, together, and we would become strong and powerful. It was decided to go where we could live and no one would fight us."
"We could not bury those who died on our walk to the north, but we left them behind as our offering of peace to the jungle. As we traveled, we could hear the animals of the land and the air fight over those who had remained as an offering."
"We ate what the jungle could give us, and we kept moving through light and darkness and the rain that cleansed our bodies and our hearts. After many passages of the moon, we found a place that had large fields, forests and water. It did not take us very long to see we could protect this place, and we could live here forever. We started to build our huts, and we found caves for our protection, nearby."
"We learned to talk the same language, which was hard at first because we had to give up how the People talked, but it was best we could understand each other. We made peace with the land, the water and among ourselves but neither of our tribes felt safe. We knew the spirits of the jungle would not let the deaths of the hunters pass without sacrifice. Our tribe would be hunted and offered to the gods."
"We had no words to name the many passages of the sun and the moon, past the memory of the People. But over many passages, we came to know as the years and the lifetimes of the People, which had been counted in First City. It was time we watched to see how soon the hunters, and those who sent them, would find us- if they were not watching us, already. We learned, by remembering the stories of our Spirits- Ancestors, to know our lives as part of this passage of time, something which we could see and feel. We learned to be ready for an attack from the others- hunters because that is what happened in our past."
* * *
"The hunters had a name, but it was not for us to say that name or to speak of it in any manner except through the High Priests and the later the shamans that became our seers. The hunters were the people of the big heads, the Toltec."
"The people of the big heads could build temples and altars like the People of First City from whom we had come; but also, they could make the sun's brightness start fires and destroy huts and villages. It was the light and fire, we feared the most; because our tribe believed the power to make the sun set people and huts on fire had gone with our past."
"Those of our tribe, who had become the High Priests of First City, had this power, and it had been a part of our tribe for many generations. But the Spirits of those who came before us had taken the light and fire with them to the underworld after the City had returned to the jungle."
"We believed the Spirits stood over that which had been First City to keep the secret of the light and fire from being taken from the People. We felt the presence of the Spirits, and after the City was destroyed, we did not go very far from where our tribe had built temples. But after the ground shook and the floods followed; the temple to our stone gods broke into the rocks, which made it. We had to leave the place of the People to stay alive. Only the Spirits- Ancestors of those who came before us stood between the stone gods, the spirits of the jungle and the People."
"We believed that as we walked from our land and met more people, who looked like us, we could become one tribe, of warriors. But during this time of walking alone, we lost our knowledge of how to build the temples; because many of our leaders had died in battle to keep us alive."
"We became part of a tribe that had come from the People and others, who came together many generations in the past. There were some among this tribe, who had the secrets to building temples and strong wooden walls. They knew how to make water flow through the ditches we dug into the land to water the crops. We had given up our name as the People and taken theirs because we needed to live and to grow in strength."
* * *
"Very few who joined us decided to leave and go off on their own because the nameless ones, those of the big heads, would track and follow all who remained of the People. This was the way of the jungle, and it was the way we, as the People lived, for many years. We did not know there was any other kind of life or other people, like us anywhere near."
"We feared only those who had been like us and who had changed to look like the Nobles of First City, with their heads bound and shaped to look long and large. They were once like us but their change had removed them from our lives. We fled these hunters and the off spring they raised to hate and to keep killing anyone who did not look like them."
"We had fought the people of the stone bodies and the nameless ones during the time of the sun, when the temple was the center of First City. After the destruction of the City and the Olmec had gone to the spirits of the jungle, we still fought the people of the big heads."
"The City had the strength of the sun, which we were told the High Priests, and the Nobles controlled to rule the People. The Warriors of First City took many slaves and captives from tribes far from our land; because the people, who looked like us lived in the villages that were near the City. They brought us food and things we could trade because they lived in fear the Warriors would kill them."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A Line in the Sand: River of Blood by Richard Brighton Copyright © 2011 by Richard Brighton. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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