The Soul Coin

Chapter 3 - Willow

            Willow was dead.

            At least that is how she felt. The pain had gone away. Her illness, the scrapes on her hands, the soreness of constant work all gone. Whatever stress that hung over her head left with her death. All that remained was silence as the world shifted around her. There wasn't even a dream, just her sitting in her mind as the darkness surrounded her. It must have been years by now since she fell ill on the street. The fear that she felt when her head exploded in pain, all of it gone now. Willow relived her memories. Playing them back one after another. The time that Allie showed her a metal bridge from a paper. When Lupin found several cinnamon rolls that were left as an offering. Her favorites though were when she was planning for escape. All of the soulless would gather around a half-burnt candle in the estate plotting how they'd run.

            The older kids would always ruin it talking about the ways they would get caught, starve or die. Willow enjoyed the hope though. The small glimmer that existed with them. Ten years was a long time, and the older ones, the ones closest to the end, knew not to run. Just wait it out, finish the time, and live a life. Willow knew that was why they were jaded, but she kept the hope alive best she could for the younger ones. Giving them something to hold onto. She had seen what hopelessness does, knows how it feels.

            She smiled at that, it was a good thing, a good memory. Willow listened to Allie talk about how she could navigate the cities and find places to get food. How Archer would list the ways he could make a fire. Lupin, an older one, typically talked them down, but sometimes he would talk about salt. How he knew how butchers salted meat to last.

            I do not recognize you.

            Willow didn't know if it was her thoughts. Couldn't tell where the voice had come from. It was not one that she had ever heard before. Willow didn't feel alone anymore, she felt that there was someone, something here with her.

            You have not come to my alter. You have not praised my name. Yet, you come.

            I did not have a choice. Willow said. The words didn't come from her mouth, it came from within her. I was in pain, and then I died.

           No, you are my child, and you are reborn.

           Her eyes use to the darkness became full of light. Her body that was warm and dry became wet. The cold snapped her awake, the bright light stirring her. Willows mind came rushing back. From her place of solitude, and silence Willow could now make out the voices around her. Her arms, she could feel her arms, she could move them. Her legs moved, and twisted. She recalled the pain, how her head hurt so bad. She risked opening one, and then the other.

            Bright light was above her head. For a moment Willow panicked thinking she was in a hole, buried alive. Slowly she realized she was in bark. The smell of summer filled her nose. Outside Willow could hear singing. A low hum radiated outside of the hole. Willow leaned up and reached out the hole. Almost falling to the street below the tree caught her, letting her down gently onto the cobblestone.

            It took a moment to adjust to the sights around her. It was like the entire town was around her. Willow saw faces of people she'd never seen before, tens who lined the street and others leaning out of the apartment's windows. Willow recognized the temple, saw Archer, Lupin and Allie who all sat in the cart. Boshin was leaned up against the cart. Her face bore a large welt mark across the cheek. She wore of look of pure hated that pierced Willow. In a circle around the tree Willow recognized the bishop who would always talk to the bound before leaving for the night. He wore the short hair style of the Tallimon with robes of white with gold. Willow had never seen those robes before. The bishop usually wore brown robes or a red on holidays. Around him were various levels of the Tallimon. Acolytes, priests, and missionaries. Willow made out a strange sight of a women with tattoos that crept up her arms and neck of a missionary, but wore a red coat with the churches seal.

           The low hum of the singing ceased. Silence, everyone stood gawking. Even the bishop stood unsure of what to do. Willow stood, her clothes seemed smaller now, her hair longer. Everything felt different as if she was taking a step for the first time. The bishop and strange woman stepped forward to her with a blanket.

           "I cannot believe my eyes. You are a miracle a complete miracle." The bishop said. His face was older, but not elderly. The woman was younger, not too much older than Willow. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders.

            "Why am I wet, what happened."

            It was the woman who answered, "It was an elvish rebirth, the water was to bring you out of your slumber."

            "What is that, what is an elvish rebirth?" Willow asked.

            "If we are done, I'll be taking her back to the farm now." It came from Boshin who was now making her way to the small group.

            "Respectfully she cannot go back to the farm, this...this has to be studied and understood. Something like this hasn't happened on Bricarth soil for five hundred years, at least." The bishop said.

            "That," Boshin was pointing at Willow, "Is the property of Parker and Sons Farming. And it will be returning to the farm to finish out its debt. I don't care if she's a saint or a demigod. Until I am told by my employer she comes with us, right now. Wouldn't be surprised if we added a few years for this insolence."

            "Insolence! Insolence, you blasphemer. How dare you deny the wishes of the bishop and the Tallimon." A murmur crept through the crowd. It was the sounds of uncertainly as the crowd watched the group.

            "Willow, if you do not get into that cart right now, I will personally whip you until you summon another tree."

            Boshin wasn't the first person to whip Willow. Before Boshin became the head caretaker a bald old man called Tashi oversaw the estate. Willow was new to the home; she had just transferred from picking fruit at Helman & Helman. She was barely eight, and cried the entire way. Willow recalled Lupin in the cart, his face was red too. They had picked him too. The driver was silent the entire ride, even as Willow wailed watching her home being left behind. Helman was cared for, at least that's what Willow could recall. She had more than a mattress on a springboard with a torn blanket. It wasn't perfect, but it felt more homely. What Willow imagined a home was like. She had learned about letters, and a little on how to read. The caretakers were nice, soft. Tashi though, was hard the moment Willow and Lupin stepped off the cart. Willow couldn't stop crying quick enough for him.

            "Grab ahold of that wheel, I will give you something to cry about."

            Willow didn't know hate before that moment, but Tashi taught her how to hate, Boshin taught her apathy. There wasn't a way to escape, but there was a way to survive. Willow always survived. Boshin would take it out on her, the anger she held for the soulless. Willow didn't know how to survive with the bishop. She didn't understand what happened. She trusted Lupin, she trusted the estate. Trusted at least she knew what would happen.

            Willow turned and began walking towards the cart. She kept her head steady, the eyes of all the onlookers on her. The woman continued to yell out at Boshin, "Your employer will hear of this, will hear about how you abuse these people."

           Willow passed Boshin. Boshin who use to be a bit taller than Willow was now at almost level. It was the look that she gave that cut Willow down. That look of anger. "Wise choice girl."

           Willow sat at the end of the cart. Archer was laying down under one of seats snoring as Allie was pushed up against the back almost asleep. Some of the others were nodding off, or fighting to stay awake. Lupin though, he was wide eyed, staring at Willow. She wanted to ask what had happened but would have to wait. Have to wait until night when the caretakers weren't around. Boshin climbed into the front of the cart and yelled at the driver to go. The bishop ran up to the cart, "Willow, take care, I promise you we will find a way for you." He pressed a pamphlet into her hand as the cart pulled off. Willow quickly hid the pamphlet into the waist strap of her frock.

            It was silent the entire ride as the others slept. Willow was awake, she felt better than she had ever felt. Stronger, smarter, sharper. It was as if someone had lifted a veil from her eyes. The voice from the dream coming back to her now, you are reborn

Next Chapter will release on 2/28/24. Until then, be excellent!