Silent Eden

Chapter Twenty-One

Mother Hannah was sitting down to her afternoon meal when Thomas came barging in. He was visibly shaken and paler than he should have been. Sitting down across from the table from her, he put his hands flat on the tabletop.

She would have asked him what was wrong, but she knew that eventually he’d just tell her. She silently picked apart the thick, unleavened bread in front of her, dipping it in the fatty soup that had been provided to her. She took in his ragged appearance, taking a bite of her meal as he began to shakily tell her what he had learned. She listened with learned patience.

It was unusual for Thomas to be so shaken by something as simple as speaking to someone. They had dealt with enemies before and he had stared his own death in the face without so much as sweating. Even Mother Hannah had to admit her surprise when he finally paused to take a breath. But she hadn’t heard the best of it- not yet.

She paused mid-chew when he told her that the girl that had been captured was Eden the Mute. She had the birthmark. She couldn’t speak. She knew about The Divine Magician. She had claimed that she didn’t learn any magic, but that the discovery had been an accident.

Thomas didn’t know what to believe, he admitted. It had been a hundred years since the Subhumans had come to the Island of survivors- give or take a decade or so. If she were lying, or even if she were telling the truth, there was nobody left from the original pilgrimage that might have been able to confirm or deny her story. The last surviving member of The Compounds had passed away over ten years previous. But there was no denying the birthmark. Nobody had since been born with it.

There was a painting that portrayed the young girl, Mother Hannah swallowed her food. It was in the chapel that Mother Hen had gotten the survivors to erect upon their arrival. Had it been Gardener that painted it? She wouldn’t remember if it was Gardener, or if it had been the Divine Magician himself. It was more likely to have been the Magician, since Mother Hen was going blind when they had arrived. But who cared? The painting was probably the only thing they had that could reveal the plausibility of the girls’ story.

Thomas nodded stiffly. If it really was her, he wondered what could have kept her so young all of these decades. She didn’t look very old. Maybe she really was a witch. If she hadn’t learned anything from the Divine Magician, perhaps she’d learned something from those strange red skinned people that she kept as company.

Unlikely, Mother Hannah murmured. If she were a witch, then why not just use a spell to get out of the cell? Why not just leave? No, she lowered her voice. The girl wasn’t a witch. Perhaps she was Eden the Mute, but it was highly unlikely. Then again, she second guessed herself. If it really were that girl, maybe she only knew one kind of magic.

Thomas leaned back against his chair, taking in the entire conversation. He thought about what he had seen. The birthmark alone had left him with a chill in his bones. If they had imprisoned the person who had been responsible for their freedom, wasn’t that a sin? Would they be punished by the Gods?

Mother Hannah seemed to understand the expression on Thomas’ face. If it really was the girl, she would be able to answer a few simple questions, she offered. It would be best to get the Wise Men and Women of the village together. They were the oldest and knew the most about what had gone on in the Compound of the Divines. They would be the ones who would know the most about the Legend of Eden and the great Migration.

This made sense. Thomas ran his fingers through dirty blonde hair. He left Mother Hannah alone in the little house, putting his attention entirely on the compound that they used to house prisoners. Until only recently, there had been two dark eyed, dark skinned prisoners in its damp, dark cells. They had only executed the trespassers only a few days before the new ones had arrived, leaving the unit empty.