Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One
Read Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One Online
Authors: Tania Johansson
Thank you to my wonderful
husband for your encouragement, belief, and all round internet wizardry.
Thank you to my beautiful sister
for your interested ear, even with three children running around our feet, and
your discerning feedback.
Thank you to my dear friend,
NOF! You were the first to share this story and I am ever grateful for your
motivating words
Book of Remembrance
Book One of
The
Forgotten Gods Series
By
Tania Johansson
Copyright ©
2012 by Tania Johansson
First published
January 2012
All Rights
Reserved
All characters
and events in this book are fictitious.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. The
scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other
means without the permission of the author is illegal, and punishable by law.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in
or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of
the author’s rights is appreciated.
CHAPTER 2 – From Hunting
to Seeking
CHAPTER 13 - Another Piece
To The Puzzle
CHAPTER 18 – Old Friend,
New Enemy
PROLOGUE – His Beginning
She was
hardly aware of her burning lungs, bloody feet and thumping heart. She had to
continue, for him. He was their only hope.
She stopped running for a moment
and listened for pursuers, but could hear nothing for the rushing of blood in
her ears.
The pain
was becoming unbearable, yet she pushed herself on. She had to get as far away
as possible, but she had been running for what felt like days and her weary
legs could not carry her much farther. She looked at the rise and fall of the
landscape around her. Dusk was already setting in and she to find shelter
before full dark.
Stumbling
on, she saw an opening in the cliff and hurried over to it. She kept glancing over
her shoulder for the men who – she was sure – must still be following. She
peered in before pushing herself through the narrow entrance
.
The cold rock scraped her arms
and the sides of her swollen stomach. As she sat down, the exhaustion that she
had kept at bay overwhelmed her. The black of the night threatened to consume
her, but she shook her head. Alert… she had to stay alert.
The contractions were starting
to come in quick succession. Blood and sweat drenched her clothes. Dark
thoughts crowded her mind while fear asserted itself into the pit of her
stomach as she contemplated her situation. She was alone in a cave and about to
give birth. The pain in her shoulder was bad, the sorrow over her loss even
worse. She gritted her teeth against despair. There were no other options. This
was how things were and she had to deal with it.
She put a shaking hand to her
shoulder. She was aware that she was losing too much blood and somewhere in her
clouded thoughts, she knew she had to try to staunch the flow, but the thought
fled as consciousness briefly slipped away.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
In a
surreal memory, she could see the old man in the market again. She had not
noticed him making his way over to her through the milling crowd.
With more strength than
his frail arms seemed capable of, he grabbed her wrist and held it
.
His face was pale and drawn.
Dark rings circled blue
eyes that appeared to look right through her. It was as if they could see the
child in her womb.
The old man placed a hand on her stomach and said
in a rasping tone,
“A sacrifice is required for him. You must do
it. He must survive. He will save us all.”
A chill
ran down her spine at his words. He fixed his gaze on her belly and his voice
became more intense. “It is not safe here. You must leave this place.
Today.
Your son is the one they have spoken of. You are in
grave danger.” He lifted his ice blue eyes to meet hers. Dread was writ large
in them. His look froze her soul.
“Run. Now!” he pleaded, before
he let go of her arm.
As
abruptly as he had come, the old man turned and disappeared back into the
crowd. “Wait,” she said. “Who are you? How do you know this?” She scuttled
after him, but he had disappeared into the bustling market.
Apprehension engulfed her as she looked up into
the clear, blue sky. The hot sun mocked her cold fear.
Until that day, she had not come
across anyone with eyes like her husband.
Who
was he?
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
A strong
contraction brought her back to full awareness. The stark cave roof replaced
the sky. This was it. Time to push, but she felt so weak.
Her head snapped up at a noise
from outside.
Footsteps.
Someone was approaching. Her
whole body tensed.
What if they’ve found
me?
she
thought.
She reached for her bow as someone
called, “Hello?”
An old woman peered in. Her
bushy white hair hung down to her waist. “Do you need help in there?” she
asked. After waiting for a response that did not come, she said, “I saw you go
into the cave and it seemed like you were hurt. I can help you. I’ve delivered
a baby before.” Her smile was reassuring and her voice sincere.
The young woman lay her weapon
back down beside her. There were no other options. “I think he is coming now. I
think I have to push,” she said, her words halting. She was startled at how
weak she sounded.
The old woman slipped into the
cave, looking her over with surprising assuredness. “With your next contraction
I want you to take a deep breath and push as hard as you can.”
Obediently, she sucked in a deep
breath. “I’m ready,” she said, her pulse racing.
She was losing her fight to stay
conscious, dipping in and out of awareness between contractions. The baby came.
She was barely aware of its crying. The temptation to let go was becoming
overwhelming. She wanted to relax, to let blessed darkness take her, but no.
She had to pass on the foretelling.
With her breathing becoming
shallow, each word was an immense effort. "Must... listen,” she paused,
gasping for air. “He is... important... prophecy... saves us... he must
survive."
The elderly woman clutched the new
mother’s hands. “Rest assured that I will take care of him.”
As though set free by these
words, she exhaled slowly. For a moment, it seemed that her eyes focused on something
at the cave entrance and then she was gone.
Hunt
17 Years later
This was
the day. This was what I had been training for, what the village elders said I
would never be able to do. They had made it abundantly clear to me that as I
was not Tretakai.
It was forbidden for
me to learn their secret of the Navitas. Therefore, I would never be allowed to
partake in the traditional induction. Of course, the more they blew and
blustered about consequences of breaking their rules, the more my curiosity was
piqued.
Even unravelling what the
Navitas was, turned out to be an enormous task. When I was seven, I had ended
up sneaking after a group of older boys who were in training. By paying close
attention to what the masters told them, I found out that the Navitas was not
only a way to raise your awareness of your surroundings, but it actually
enhanced all your senses! I could not believe what my young ears heard. I’d run
home and in my great excitement gushed out all my questions to Moma, earning me
the biggest hiding I’d ever received.
Even so, I was not perturbed and
from that day on, I had been single-minded in my pursuit.
Although,
I had learned the hard way to keep my ambitions to myself.
When they started training my
brothers – my four friends who’d become my family – there was simply no way
that I was going to be left out. I quizzed them endlessly about what they were
learning and practicing out in the forest.
When it became clear that I
would not be able to learn to focus my Navitas on my own, I started following
them to their training every day. I was determined not only to learn the
Navitas, but also to be better than any of them.
To escape discovery, I would
watch and listen from a distance while the masters taught them. Each day, I
would stay behind for hours after they left to practise on my own. Once I felt
I had a good grasp of the principles, I stopped following them, as I knew
someone would begin to notice my absences during those particular times.
Instead, I would sneak off into the forest whenever I saw an opportunity.
The first exercise was to clear
your mind of all thoughts. You had to let go of who you were, and pour your
soul into your surroundings, become a part of everything around you. You had to
shift your entire awareness from an internal to an external focus. It heightened
your perception of the texture of the ground under your feet, the whisper of
the wind through the leaves, the soft rush of the distant waterfall. It
sharpened all your senses. It was a discipline that I did not easily achieve. I
was too easily distracted, but I
was
determined. Time and time again, I would still myself and attempt the seemingly
impossible only to find my thoughts drifting off to trivial matters.
My persistence paid off. The
first time I achieved Navitas, my consciousness floated far and wide. The
tether between my body and my awareness seemed so strained and faint. I started
fearing I would not be able to find my way back. Of course, the instant that
thought crashed into my mind, my consciousness recoiled into my body. It felt
as if I had been doused with ice-cold water. I was shivering and shaking all
over, completely drained.
After many hours of disciplined practice, I
eventually mastered my Navitas and I moved on to focusing it on what I wanted
to achieve. The first few attempts failed miserably. As soon as I tried to
focus my Navitas on a single point, it all collapsed back on me.
During one such attempt, I
noticed a very peculiar thing. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a
large sleek animal stalking out from the nearby underbrush. As soon as I turned
to look at it, my focus collapsed and the all too familiar wave of chills washed
over me. I jumped up and looked around, but could find no evidence of a
creature of that size having passed where I thought I’d seen it.
After that, each time I achieved
Navitas, I could see this creature lurking. I was not sure whether the beast
was a manifestation of my Navitas or whether focusing my Navitas enabled me to
see what was already there. Either way, I soon discovered that I could not simply
look at it; when I tried, my Navitas would crumble. So this became another
exercise in dividing my awareness. I still let it float out, yet retained a
small part of it, enough for me to be able to study the creature from the
glimpses that I caught. It felt like trying to contain water in a leaky bowl.