Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Silke had been preparing the children through stories and the games she set up for them to play. The elders in the village aided her. Where most schools and parents dissuaded their children from learning to use swords, machetes and small throwing knives, they encouraged the children through play to learn those weapons as well as hand-to-hand combat. It wasn’t normal in any other town or city, but they knew war was coming. They were the first line of defense. If they could defeat Lilith’s army, they could prevent an all-out war. How did one explain that to children?
Silke regarded Evi carefully. She was an exceptionally bright child, as many in the village were. Most were direct descendants of those who had fought off the Romans in AD 28. They seemed to grasp the reality of their responsibility to the rest of the world. It was on them to stop Lilith’s slow takeover. It wouldn’t be a war against another country this time; it was her army of demons they would be facing.
“I like those tiny little flowers.” Evi confessed. “Especially the red ones with the dark centers. They look so beautiful when you have the different colors planted close to each other.”
“They were originally designed to be container plants, but they’ve proven to be hardy and make great borders. This color is actually burnt orange with dark maroon centers. They have their own little secrets as well. They call them shadow lilies, and for us, they make excellent sentries. That’s why I plant so many around the outside of the forest. It isn’t just because they love the light—it’s a warning system to everything in the forest.”
Evi nodded solemnly. “Like the moss maidens and the forest dragons.”
Silke laughed. “Those dragons don’t like to be called forest dragons. You know how testy they get.”
“Cranky,” Evi corrected, her eyes laughing. “Like me when I get sick. They live in the forest and look like little mini trees on a log. What do they want to be called?”
“Wood dragons. They have cousins, rock dragons. Wood dragons can live in any wooded area, not, apparently, just a forest.”
Evi keeled over laughing, heedless of the pretty blue dress she wore. “Woods. Forest. Aren’t they the same?”
Silke laughed with her. “Not to them. They were very indignant about it when the moss maidens and shadow lilies weighed in on the subject. I didn’t dare laugh.”
“You’re laughing now,” Evi pointed out, sitting up again. Her face was streaked with mud and there were clumps of dirt in her hair. The beautiful dress that always made her look like a fairy was smeared with green and brown from the soil and vegetation. With her eyes alight with laughter and her little rosebud of a mouth curved into a bow, the streaks on her dress and face only served to make her look like one of the cute fairies or moss maidens she believed in.
Silke loved being around Evi, although at times, it made her sad. She knew she would never have the chance to have children. Her life had been predestined. She wasn’t ever going to be the fair princess waiting for her prince to come along. She dealt in strict reality. That was her world. She might talk about the fantastical, but underlying every myth, every legend, there was the sober truth of her life.
Silke had been born already imprinted with the knowledge of her ancestors. Demons were a fact, not simply mythology. Every story read to her, the material of every book she studied to commit to memory, was about the various demons and how to defeat them in battle. She knew they were real, and they sought to kill her and everyone she loved. She had never felt safe. Not one single time growing up. Not now. She accepted that she would die young in the defense of her people. She was prepared for that fate. Just because she was pragmatic about it didn’t mean she didn’t have a secret desire for the things she couldn’t have.
Mostly, she wanted to feel safe. She’d never had that. As a young child, she had helped Fenja when anyone in the village needed care. The person sick or with broken bones would go to the local doctor but then call Fenja to help them. She always went. As the local midwife, she was called to every birth. Silke assisted her, even when she was very young.
Eventually, Silke began to take care of Fenja, noticing that the woman was hurting quite a bit. Limping, walking much slower, having a difficult time breathing. The roles became reversed at a young age, although Silke didn’t mind. Fenja was so loving and kind to her. She couldn’t have asked for a better mother. While she didn’t mind the role of caregiver, she had never experienced feeling safe or having the kind of relationship Evi did with her parents. A part of her longed to find a man who would see beyond the exterior, beyond the demon slayer, and see that she might need care.