"Windshaper" by Jennifer L. Post

It was nearly midnight. The entire village had gone to bed. The moon with its silvery light shone silently down upon the forest, making queer shadows beneath the trees and turning all the streams into rivers of liquid silver. Owls hooted and the songs of the night birds thrilled through the forest. All was peace and tranquility.

          But Beesha could not sleep that night. She had not even gotten dressed for bed, but kept pacing back and forth by her window. Something made her restless. She had just decided to go for a walk in the moonlight when she heard something at her window.

          “Beesha! Beesha it’s me! Open the window.” A voice said. She recognized it at once and ran to get the window open.

          “Rosh! What are you doing here? How did you get up to my window? Mother said you were cast out of the village for threatening one of the elders.” She stepped back so that he could get inside. Rosh shook his head as he climbed into the room.

          “Now’s not the time for questions Beesha. You must hurry; the men will reach here tonight! Quickly, climb down the ladder.” He took her by the arm and led her to the window. Now she could see the ladder propped up against the wall outside. A shadowy figure stood near the bottom of it.

          “But my parents and my little sister, they’re sleeping, they’ll be killed!” Beesha whispered urgently. “And what about the others in the village?” she was now standing on the top rung of the ladder.

          “Don’t worry, everyone will be taken care of, I’ll explain later. Now climb down quickly and go with Aza.” He kissed her on the forehead and then turned to go into the rest of the house.

          Beesha obeyed him and climbed down the ladder as quickly as she could. Aza held the ladder steady and when she had reached the bottom he whispered for her to be very quiet and follow him as closely as she could. They went silently down the empty streets of the village, staying in the shadows and heading east.

Soon they reached the eastern edge of the village and plunged into the forest. It was then that Beesha noticed that the forest had become unnaturally quiet; as if the very trees were holding their breath. Tenseness seemed to build in the still air and the moonlight began to play tricks with her mind.

“Is that really a man crouched over there?” she thought, peering desperately into the gloom beneath the trees. “No, it is only a large rock.”

          Suddenly, the loud clamor of bells rang out in the silence. Beesha froze wondering what it could mean; but Aza whispered for her to follow.

          “It’s only Rosh ringing the bells of the council house.” He said. “He’ll be coming along soon with your family. Don’t worry.” Then he started off again and Beesha, who couldn’t help but worry, had to follow.

          After what seemed like hours, but was probably only about thirty minutes, Beesha and her guide emerged from the forest. Before them was the huge expanse of the plains; stretching for mile after grassy, moonlit mile as far as the eye could see. To their left was a small knot of people, twenty at most, standing around with various bundles; some rocking small children and all talking in low worried voices. As they approached, Aza began to speak in angry tones with the men in the group.

“Why haven’t you gotten everyone moving yet?” he whispered urgently. You should have been half a mile from here already!”

“We didn’t want to leave without the others.” One man replied. “And besides, we aren’t sure where we’re going, so how do you know we wouldn’t get lost or something?” A short man with an untrimmed beard stepped up beside the first man.

“I’ll bet,” he said suspiciously. “That this was all some sort of plan to get us lost so we’d starve somewhere on the plains! You and Rosh just wanted us dead all along!” Beesha recognized the man as Ois. He was always suspicious and had never liked Rosh in the first place.

“Nothing you wouldn’t expect from someone whose true shape was poison ivy!” Beesha said to herself, glowering silently at Ois.

“If we wanted you dead Ois, we would have left you all to the humans.” Aza calmly pointed out. Ois couldn’t seem to find a reply to this, so he simply glared. Aza gathered up the rest of the people and told them it was time to move out.

Within ten minutes the entire group was organized and headed east across the plain. Occasionally, one of the villagers would look longingly back at the forest, now a hastily shrinking line of silvery green, shimmering in the moonlight. The bells, which had still been audible a few minutes before, were silent and the silence closed in around them all.

          Beesha walked with the women and children at the head of the group. Behind her, the men kept rear-guard. Her friend Holliny walked beside her and the two girls whispered their fears and comforted each other.

          “Oh, I do hope they’ll escape.” Holliny said, speaking of her family. She had tried to get them to come with her, but none of them would listen and in the end she’d had to sneak out the back door to make it to the rendezvous point. Beesha put a comforting arm around her friend. She was worried about her family too.

          “I’m sure they’ll be alright Hol.” She whispered.

They had been walking for maybe twenty minutes, when suddenly a strong gust of wind blew through the line of travelers. Aza called for them to halt as the wind seemed to form a small tornado, swirling wildly in one spot and then slowly beginning to die down. Beesha watched as the dying wind seemed to form a figure, no two. Then the wind was totally gone and a tall man with dark hair holding a small scared looking girl in his arms stood before her.

          “Rosh? Kariel? What happened!?” Beesha cried. Kariel saw her and wiggled out of Rosh’s arms.

          “Beesha!” she said as she rushed over to her. Beesha picked up her sobbing little sister and hugged her close. She looked over and saw Rosh and Aza in whispered conference.

“The council should be told of this unexpectedly quick move.” Rosh said.

“You go then, you’re faster.” Aza replied. The rest of the group had gathered around and stood muttering amongst themselves. 

          “I thought Rosh was a plant shaper Beesh.” Holliny whispered.

          “He never said he was.” Beesha replied. “And no one ever asked.”

          Kariel was somewhat quieter now. She was still weeping silently and Beesha wondered if she had been terribly scared when Rosh shaped her; after all, she was only four. And where were their parents? She gently stroked Kariel’s hair and murmured soothingly.

          Rosh and Aza finished their conversation and then Rosh turned to Beesha while Aza reorganized the group to continue their journey.

          “Beesha, I have to go to the council and I’m taking you and Kariel with me.” Rosh said as the rest of the group began moving out.

          “Ok,” Beesha replied, and then she stopped. “Rosh,” she said looking up at him, a strange fear growing in her eyes. “Rosh where are my parents? Are they following behind?” She whispered the words, almost as if she didn’t want to know the answer.

          “Beesha, we were ambushed, I couldn’t save them.” He replied, unable to meet her gaze. Mentally he cursed himself, as the tears welled up in her soft brown eyes. “I should have shaped them all here in the first place!” he told himself angrily.

          The tears ran down her cheeks and splashed on Kariel’s, now sleeping head. Rosh put his arms around Beesha repentantly. Then slowly all three became transparent and the world blurred around them as they sped away, winding sadly across the lonely moonlit plains.

Oh how sad the wind blows,

Through the ruined forest.

Singing of the lost ones

We will never meet again.

Coldly now the winds blows,

Through happy haunts of childhood.

Singing of what once was

That can never be again.

Oh how long the wind blows,

In our hearts, now broken

Singing through the memories

And the pain we live again.