Legends of Belariath
NightEyes
As the midwife slowly stood up sweat dampened her brow, and the sound of crying pierced the silence. As the Gods breathed life into the little one so they did extinguish those of the mother. Rocking the newborn child in her arms the midwife hushed him to sleep then laying him down she removed the necklace from the mother and placed it around the child’s neck. A single elm leave wrought of silver hanging from a thin silver chain. It would be the only thing the child ever had to know his mother by. Looking down upon the child she called him by his name, the name she would give him, Katra. In the old tongues the name meant strength and courage, both she knew the child would need to survive as a half-breed amongst the elves.
As she sat there and watched over the newborn another walked into the room and stood over her. “Is it as we all feared?” he asked her softly.
“If you mean is it as you feared, then the answer is yes, your sister carried the child of a human.”
As he hung his head his gaze turned towards his sister, the new mother. “Did she.....”
“ Yes, the moment he took his first breath she took her last, but with her last breath she gave him a name, she named him Katra.”
“They will kill him and I shall be disgraced if I take him in, but I cannot kill what is of my own blood.”
Nodding her head the midwife stood and looked the elf in the eye. “I will not allow him to be hurt, if I must I will raise him here by myself and keep him from the rest.”
As he turned away from her he nodded knowing that it would be the only way he thanked her and departed from the small shack.
As the years past swiftly Katra grew into a handsome man. His red hair grew long enough for him to wear it pulled back, his brilliant almond shaped green eyes seemed to glow with a life of their own, and his tanned body became quite muscular and toned from all of the work he did. His ears were pointed as any elves ears should be, his features though were not as sharp as an elves and without shaving daily the scruff of a beard would grow, evidence of the human blood that flowed through him. He lived with the midwife who had raised him as her own, and he treated her as if she was his true mother, and he would have even if she hadn’t of told him the full story.
It was around the year of his hundredth year when the midwife past on. Until that point none of the other elves knew of him. She had kept him out of their prying eyes knowing that they would have killed him if they ever knew. And until that day they didn’t. When he awoke that morning he made his way into the kitchen as he had done every morning before, but this morning it was not her that greeted him, but a handful of elves. They accused him of her death, and proceeded to take him in as accused to stand trial before the people he wished to call his own. He knew he would die that day, for no one knew anything of him, and he was impure in his blood. And there so stood, with his hands tied behind his back, in front of hundreds of those he so desperately wished to call his own. He stood upon a raised platform in front of a small assembly of elves, those known as the leaders, and with them stood his very own uncle, the only one who knew who he truly was. It did not take the more than five minutes to pass judgment. The eldest of the groups stepped forward.
“You have been found guilty of murder, and also of trespassing, only those of our blood are allowed to live freely amongst these sacred woods. For your crimes you shall be put to death.”
Katra’s head dropped lower as his fate had been sealed, he was to die that very day, or so he thought.
“I beg of you do not kill him, he is no murderer, and he is of our blood.” His uncle had spoken up, and the crowd fell hushed at the outburst, they were just as confused as those who had pasted the judgment.
“What is the meaning of this, do you mean to speak against what the house has put forth?”
“I have no choice but to do so, this half breed is my nephew.”
All eyes closed on him as he spoke, the leader of the house was outranged. “What are you saying? Your sister died while she was alone in the woods at the hands of marauders. Or are you telling me otherwise?”
“That I am, she did not die that day, when I found her she was still quite alive, but she was shamed. I brought her to the midwife and there she stayed as she grew healthy once again, but it had been as we had feared, she was carrying her rapist’s child. We both knew that to return here would have meant her exile. She stood with the midwife until the day she gave birth, and on that very same day that she brought life to her son the great Gods took from her last breath. I beg of you spare this one his life, and let him stay here with his people.”
The leaders of the house convened together and spoke quietly for a moment, and then they spoke. “If what you speak if the truth than he is not of pure blood and is to be put to death for that alone. But since you say he is your nephew the council will grant him a stay of one day. He will stay under your care until when the sun is high tomorrow, and then he will be but to death.”
That night with the dark of the shadows, his uncle lead him out of the woods, and gave him a strong bow, and a short sword.
“Take these and go Katra, both of them belonged to your grandfather. They served me well over the years when I needed them, but now you need them more than I do. Take them and go, else you will die.”
Katra just nodded words failing him he strung the bow over his shoulder and attacked the blade to his belt. He headed off and didn’t stop until he was miles down the road. He stopped and turned back, for one last look at the place he had always wished to call home. With tear in his eye he turned back and continued down the road not knowing what was to come.