Daughter of the Forgotten

What would happen if you were the only one left of a once beautiful and wealthy country? A young girl lives alone on an island, with only the companionship of Jaygwe: her loyal, talking jaguar.

            The landscape was something that could only be described as untamed. It was completely uncivilized, save for a few old ruins that were lost among the trees upon trees of the rainforest; all that was left of the Ancient ones. Vines crept all over everything: from the trees to the ruins. A light rain drizzled from the clouds and fell onto the waxy leaves of the banana trees, slowly making its way to the already damp earth.

            It was a hot and humid day, but then again it was the rainforest, it was always hot and humid. I woke up like always, with tiny beads of sweat covering my forehead. I wiped them off onto my blankets and swung my feet of the side of my bed. My bed swung back and forth, you see, my bed was a makeshift hammock. I felt a bit nauseous (not from the swinging of my hammock, I was used to that), but I brushed it off as the weather being a bit warmer than usual.

            I jumped off and landed on the cool stone floor. I could feel the little bit of dirt that covered the tiles under my feet, and I sighed, realizing that it meant that I had to sweep the floors again. I felt my stomach toss and turn inside me. I grimaced, trying to keep its contents down. I heard a soft growl from a darkened corner of the room and quickly spun around to face it.

            A large, spotted cat lay curled up in the corner. “Jaygwe?” I asked. The jaguar lazily opened one of its eyes, noticing my presence, then closed it to fall back to sleep. “Hymiti yashritca lenaitysha.” I spoke in the words of the ancients. “Wake up; we’ve got things to do.” I grabbed a colourful woven belt from its hook on the wall and tied it around my waist, over my white cloth dress. I looked back at Jaygwe and rolled my eyes, she lay in the same position not having even moved a muscle. “Come along now, Jaygwe.” I slipped on a pair of leather sandals and made a move towards the door.

            “Lady Taywita, you know I would do anything for you, but dawn has just broken, ‘tis not even light out. Let me rest for a little while longer. I’ve been up hunting all night.” The humming of her words rung in my head as the Jaguar pleaded her case. I looked back at her, cocking my head to one side. She sighed and climbed to her feet. “Isantima!” She cursed. It wasn’t a terribly bad curse, it was just a word of expression; something you used to convey the fact that you were not pleased with the circumstances. My father had explained that to me after I heard him utter it. “If you were not the Lady of Tetticata, I swear...”

“Thank-you, Jaygwe.” I smiled and bent down to wrap my arms around her furry neck. I kissed the top of her head and stood up. She rolled her eyes, but I caught the faint look of a smile on her face. I stood up and walked out of the room and down the stone covered hallway.

 My leather sandals made little scuffing sounds as I made my way up the broken staircase. I could see small rays of sunlight filtering through the darkness of the staircase, as soon as I spotted it I ran up the stairs. I ran into the sunlight, opening my arms wide. I spun around feeling the warming glow of the sun on my golden brown skin. I soaked it in, smiling at the bright new day. I dropped to my knees, then to my stomach, bowing down before the new day. “May this day be followed by many more.” I said in the usual morning greeting of my people. We had greeted the sun like this more many years, normally bowing amoung hundreds of people lined up around the city, on the temple steps, and almost anywhere on our little island. Eventually those numbers dwindled as war closed in on our little island. Person after person was brutally murdered, and city after city destroyed.

Few people survived the first year of the attack. Not but weeks after the first attack it was deemed too dangerous for the royal family to even live within the most barricaded city in the whole country, they were moved to a secret safe house till the war blew over. The Yayta or King denied all protection, choosing instead to fight for the survival of his kingdom alongside his people. He was killed in the final battle and destruction of the capital city. His family was never found, lost and forgotten in the dying country.

After that final battle was over, the enemy country (known as “Leecla Tahjina” or the one who brings death) rounded up all the remaining people of the destroyed civilization. Any men older than 16 and younger than 50 were killed immediately, the children and women were taken captive and brought over to Leecla Tahjina. All the remaining elders were left to die.

Author's Note

This is a little something I've been toying with, let me know what you think.

Reviews

[Paege]

Very interesting idea your toying with here. I love it. It leave you to wonder of the adventures. You could make this into a full book. One question however. You explain what happens after the final battle, but where does that leave her? How did she survive the war?