"Legends of Imocotaria" by Jessica Lyn Thurber

Legends of Imocotaria

            Long ago when the isle if Imocotaria was young, the four races, the unicorns, the fairies, the wild verakka from the sea, and the race of man lived under the Child-Goddess Ashiken.  The men were wild and lived in caves, and there were no stars or moons to light the night sky for them.  The entire island was flat and dry.

            One day, Ashiken looked down from her temple in the heavens.  She saw that, while the four races did not actually fight, they were clearly separated.  The boundaries were clearly drawn and the races did not intermingle.  So the Child-Goddess decided to hold a counsel and summoned the leaders of the four races to her temple.

            Ave, the tiny fairy Queen, dressed in a sparkling iridescent gown of dewdrops, arrived first.  Laekin, Lord of the unicorns, entered soon after, his golden horn glowing softly with power.  A few moments later, Shiplasha, the Queen of the verakka flowed in.  Her kind were tall, devastatingly beautiful women from the sea that appeared to be made of some kind of blue gel.  They could change shape and travel underground.  They were warriors, even more belligerent than man, and every one from the age of six carried a spear decorated with the crimson feathers of the bela bird that lived around their homes.      Shiplasha bore her spear proudly, even though Ashiken had asked that they not bring weapons to her council.  She wore a thin leather band around her forehead with a small silver diamond as a mark of her status.

            The assembled monarchs waited impatiently until Brute, the clan chief of men rushed in.  He was dressed in some kind of animal skin and he carried a crude imitation of the verakka queen’s spear, the tip stained slightly with blood.  He was an ugly, shaggy man who bathed infrequently and carried with him the smell of filth.  He was hot and sweaty, and that served to intensify the unpleasant odor that filled the Goddess’s temple.

            “My apologies, milady.  I was hunting with my clan.”  He explained, his apology insincere.

            “I have told you not to hunt my animals, Brute.  That is why I gave you plants, and growing things.”  The Child-Goddess reprimanded him sternly.  Brute said nothing, but took his place at the council table between Shiplasha and Ave.  The petite fairy queen wrinkled her nose at the smell.

            “What, shhhhh, was the cause for this, shhhhh, meeting, milady?”  Shiplasha asked, her voice like the waves on the shore.

            “I have called you here to inform you of the plans for your future.  I know you all live in relative peace, but I want you to live together and work as one.  The division between you will only lead to fear and hate.  I am sending a famine, and only when your people work together will your children have enough to eat.  That is all.  You may go now.”  Ashiken dismissed them shortly.

            “But milady-” Ave protested, her delicate voice ringing like a thousand silver bells.

            “You may go now.”  The Child-Goddess ordered firmly.  Her tone left no room for argument.  Ave flitted out huffily and Shiplasha followed.  Laekin bowed his regal head and left, followed by an unhappy Brute.

            As Ashiken promised, the famine came, and it was miserable.  But as long as the four races worked together, planting, harvesting, hunting, somehow, there was always just enough for everyone.

            One night, Koru the snake, leader of all that was dark and evil, and the sworn enemy of Ashiken, decided to put an end to the Child-Goddess’s harmony.  He crept into the camp of the men and found the place where Brute slept.

            “The others are stealing your food.  Shiplasha, Ave, and Laekin hate you.  They want you to starve.”  He hissed in his sonorous, hypnotizing voice, over and over again in the clan chief’s ear.  The next morning, Brute awoke with a lust for blood.  He was utterly convinced that the others were stealing extra food for their families, hoping the humans would starve.  He raised all his clan members into a huge war party and they rampaged around the island, slaughtering any unicorn, fairy or verakka they came across.

            Finally, Ashiken looked down from her throne and saw all the carnage and terror.  Urgently, she called to her brother, Lightning, and he struck the insane clan chief dead.  When the humans saw their leader destroyed by a huge lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky, leaving nothing but a black crater, they scattered in panic.  Ashiken looked over the slaughter, and how the other three races were decimated, and she wept.  She knew that the others would now have to leave, or this would happen again.

            So she took the remnants of the fairies and set them in the sky, and called them stars.  She created two moons, one white and the other blue.  She called the white one Alo and sent the unicorns to live there, and she called the blue one Elo and sent the few remaining verakka to live there.

            The Child-Goddess’s tears continued to fall and they turned the sea around the island to salt water. Finally she created a huge mountain in the center of the island and locked herself inside.  Her tears filled it and spilled out the top, flowing down to create the three great rivers that divided Imocotaria.

            The stars and the moon remained hanging in the velvet darkness of night to remind the humans of their horrible mistake and what might have been.