Prologue to Nizhoni
#1 of Nizhoni, Power of the Spirits
Well now...this is just the prologue to my new series. The actual first chapter will be set seventeen years from this day. This is my first time doing something like this though...tell me how it is.
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Prologue
It is of the night and a light snow falls from the domain of Mahpee; the spirit of the sky. Many of the residents of the Aruy village had gone to there homes; to keep warm from this chilly fifteenth night of the Full Wolf Moon. Their homes are made into the natural caves of the valley that they all live in. All the natural light from their fires are beginning to dim as the hour draws late.
All are asleep as their fires turn to hot coals, except in one home where the fire still burns brightly. Inside this home there are three females from the Aruy Eastern fox tribe. One is a pregnant mother named Sinopa who is about to give birth, another is the village midwife Huyana who is about to deliver the kit, and her young assistant Kimi. Both where wearing extra warm clothing while Sinopa was naked except for a fur blanked that was placed over her.
As the hours drew later and later the sun would soon shine down on the world and the people would soon wake as Sinopa screamed in pain as her contractions draw closer and closer. Huyana gave Sinopa an herbal tea that would lighten the pain of labor and she encouraged her to push with her contractions. Shortly after she told Kimi to get ready and then with one last push Sinopa gave birth to a beautiful healthy kit.
Huyana handed the kit over to Kimi while she cleaned up Sinopa. Kimi began cleaning the kit and noticed a glowing mark on her shoulder that disappeared a few moments later. She announced the kit's sex before handing her over to her waiting mother. Sinopa smiled as she put the kit to her breast and as the little kit started to suckle hungrily. It was a beautiful scene, mother and child together for the first time.
The kit had a deep hue of red as her primary fur color, with a creamy white fur that started at the top of her tiny chest that went all the way down between her tiny legs. The top of her head was black where her head hair would grow as was the tips of her ears and tail. She had the same white fur for her tiny gloves and socks...on her right leg though the sock stopped at her ankle. When she opened her eyes she had pale blue colored eyes.
"Nizhoni" Sinopa said as the kit filled her belly.
"What's that dear?" Huyana asks as she and Kimi cleaned up.
"Nizhoni, it's her name. It means beautiful." Sinopa told her.
She smiled at this first time mother but wondered how she would raise her by her self. Her mate died while defending the village from other Eastern tribe raids shortly before the Eastern tribe wars came to an end. At that moment Kimi silently informed Huyana of the glowing mark that was on the kits shoulder. She stopped what she was doing as Kimi packed up the last of the things they brought with them when Sinopa began acting strange.
Before Huyana could act, Sinopa started having convulsions; her arm still held her kit to her breast, as Huyana got up and hurried over to her. Huyana gently got the kit out of her mother's arms and handed her over to Kimi, she then spoke words in their native language into her ear as the convulsions stopped.
Sinopa's face changed from one of fear to understanding. She smiled at her kit as her eyes slowly shut. Not long after, Sinopa died. It was early morning when Huyana and Kimi exited Sinopa's home and closed the door...
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Far to the west in the forest of Amadahy a heavy snow fell from the sky. In the center of this forest is an open area where the Iruwi village of the Western wolf tribes was settled. The snow was so deep and was falling so hard that many of the homes built were destroyed and the wolves couldn't keep a fire alive due to the snow. Most of the villagers huddled together under furs of the animals they hunted to keep from freezing to death even with their own fur.
One pair of wolves, another expectant mother and her mate who were lucky that their home wasn't destroyed by the raging winds and falling snow, had opened there home to let others of their tribe in to keep warm. The male whose name was Tse; a large timber wolf, managed to start a fire and keep it going in their sturdy wood home and passed out furs to the others while his mate Mimiteh was going through child birth.
Mimiteh was in an adjoining room with another fire going. The Iruwi villages midwife had died in the previous month of the Full Cold Moon by freezing in the harsh conditions of the winter so another female who was a friend of theirs named Doba was back with her to help her with child birth. Tse checked on her every so often, he was warming up some water when he heard his mate scream and then heard the cries of a pup.
He hurried back there with the warm water and saw his mate holding his son in her arms. The pup was small, frail and looked like he wouldn't be able to survive very long. Tse brought the water over to his mate and sat down.
"He's...so small." Tse said to his mate who was crying a little.
"Yes he is...if he makes it till the spring his name will be Honiahaka." She said as she handed the pup over to her closest friend.
"Yes...Little Wolf indeed." He said as Doba cleaned off the pup.
The pup was small...too small to be born in these conditions and survive very long yet he seemed resilient to the cold. He had a golden brown fur color everywhere even on his head and his eyes were hazel colored. And on his back with blood colored fur was a peculiar mark. Doba tried to clean away the blood but realized that the blood covered fur was actually the color of blood.
Doba gasped suddenly after she finished cleaning off the pup and realizing what the mark was. She quickly looked up at Tse and Mimiteh then handed the pup over to Tse and told him to look at the pups back and quickly left the room.
Tse looked at his sons back and his look of confusion went to one of horror. The mark on his sons back was the color of blood and looked like a wolf, the fact that it was there was the bad thing. This mark is known as the cursed mark in the Western tribes. Those who are born with it are usually killed or kicked out of the tribe before the time of change; when one with the mark turns eighteen, comes to them.
Both parents where of good standing in the village but if word got out that their child was born with the cursed mark...especially born with the mark in the month of the Full Wolf Moon in the Iruwi village no less, they would all be killed. Doba would not tell anyone of the mark on her friend's son. But they would have to leave soon in order to keep him alive and safe from the others as well as keep themselves alive.
When the morning came and the snow subsided...they fled, taking only what they need to survive the cold nights.
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Mahpee (Ma-fee) Spirit of the sky / means Sky
Sinopa (Say-no-pa) means Fox
Huyana (Who-yaw-na) means Waiting Moon
Kimi (Key-me) means Secret
Nizhoni (Nay-sho-knee) means Beautiful
Amadahy (Aw-ma-day) Spirit of the forests and water / means Forest Water
Tse (Say) means Rock
Mimiteh (Me-me-taw) means New Moon
Doba (Doe-ba) means No War
Honiahaka (Ho-knee-ha-ka) means Little Wolf
Aruy (Ah-roo)
Iruwi (E-roo-we)
Full Wolf Moon = January
Full Cold Moon= December