Chapter 21: Chapter Twenty-one – Hope Amid Many Sorrows

The blood of Solicitous pooled around the roots of the charred tree, and thus it gave life to Glimmering.

Then, sometime after noon, those in the Gathering noticed a single blackened bud as it appeared upon one of the Tree’s scorched branches. This bud slowly grew, until, late in the day, its black skin split open and out blossomed a brilliant flower that shone forth like a golden flame.

Later, as the sun disappeared beyond the western horizon leaving only a colorful glow, the flower produced a single shining fruit. By the time the last light of the day had disappeared entirely, the fruit had fully ripened, and thus it hung glowing in the growing darkness ready for its eater.

While all within the Gathering watched with hushed reverence, Vitalitous returned, gently picked the fruit, and cradled it respectfully in her ancient hands. Thus, she brought it to Propitious, however, the young woman did not stir, for her sobbing had ended in quiet slumber just as the fruit had come forth. In her sleep, she still clung to the lifeless body of the Unicorn.

Abruptly, a thunder of drums broke the reverent silence. The sound came from all around the Sacred Glade, and then suddenly, fire began to glow within the forest that surrounded them.

“Fly!” Vitalitous shouted. “Our enemies are upon us!”

The father of Propitious snatched up his daughter’s bag and held it open to Vitalitous. “I will make sure she eats it,” he promised in a hurried tone.

The great-mother gave a quick nod and dropped the fruit inside.

Once the sacred fruit was safely tucked away, the father of Propitious took up his emotionally exhausted daughter with a swift graceful movement and carried her away from the Glade. Yet in all this, she did not stir in his arms or ask any question, for she had wept all day long, and now she was completely oblivious to what was going on around her.

As Arduous ran down the mountainside, Venturous and Alacritous came along beside him, thus the three ran together until suddenly, they came to a line of small gray men. Those in the line looked startled, and so when they had recovered, they angrily flung their spears at them.

Dodging the flying weapons, Arduous stopped short of the strange line of enemies. He was unsure what to do next, for the Ancients were unaccustomed with open conflict.

Halting next to his father, Venturous, glanced at his own daughter, Alacritous, then at his sister, Propitious, and lastly at Arduous.

“I will keep them busy while you get the girls to safety!” his son declared grimly.

Before Arduous could argue, Venturous rushed forward and quickly lifted a Grayling into the air. Flinging this one aside, he grabbed another and did the same.

The line of little gray men broke, and they scattered in every direction with Venturous pursuing close behind them.

With their enemies dispersed, Arduous watched his eldest son with concern in his indigo eyes. With a frown, he grabbed the hand of Alacritous and rushed forward.

In that same moment, a small handful of the Graylings rushed from their hiding places and flung their spears at the passing Ancients.

Most missed their targets, but one struck Arduous in his back. Its stone tip pierced deeply into his flesh just below his right shoulder blade. In response, he groaned and stagger momentarily. However, the Ancient did not stop to pull out the spear. Instead, he continued to run while gritting his white teeth.

With tears in her eyes, Alacritous still gripped his hand and ran alongside him. During all this, Arduous did not slow his pace, and as he went, Propitious continued sleeping cradled in his strong and mighty right arm.

So it was that he ran until he came to their forested home, but when his indigo eyes beheld the place, all his strength left him. To his horror, their safe little valley was no more. His darkening eyes blurred with tears as he beheld the once great trees, for now they were only smoldering columns of blackened wood, and the forest floor was covered in ash and dying cinders.

However, it was worse still when he came to the ashes of his bower, for there he found charred bones among the ruins of his forest home. This was too much, and stumbling at the sight, he fell to his knees. As utter despair filled his heart, he suddenly felt as though he would gladly welcome death.

Struggling to catch his breath, Arduous carefully and lovingly laid Propitious down into the ashes that surrounded their once lovely home. Then with great pain, he tried to reach around and pull the spear from his back, but he could not reach it.

Without words, he looked at Alacritous pleadingly. Immediately, the young woman understood what her grandfather was asking. Going around him and gently taking the shaft of the spear in her hands, she placed one foot against his back and pulled as quickly as she could.

Arduous roared from the pain, and then took the freed spear into his hands. With a growl, he snapped its shaft like a twig, and then tossed it aside. However, with the spear removed, the giant man’s blood began to flow from his wound like a river.

Gently, he laid himself down and let out a ragged sigh while cradling the cloth bag that was still hanging over his shoulder. To his relief, the pain he suffered was greatly lessened once the spear had been removed, but he could feel himself slipping into the sleep of death.

Propitious was awakened by her father’s roar, and so she finally stirred from her slumber. At first, she only sat up and gazed around like someone who believed she was beholding a terrible nightmare. And how she longed for her mother to awaken her!

However, when she saw her father gasping for air, she rushed over to him. Seeing the wide pale-blue stripes of his swathe stained dark with much blood, she moved quickly to cradle his giant head within her arms. As she held him, she looked at the ruin of their home, and great dread filled her trembling heart. Her breath came in shudders, and like her father, she was near to utter despair.

Understanding this, Arduous wasted no time. He gently took her face in his large hands and turned her gaze to meet his own. As he spoke to her, his indigo eyes shifted to a warm crimson color.

“You must eat the fruit. Let the last scene to play before my eyes be one of hope. Let me see you eat the Fruit-Glimmering, so that I can know that you will not fall into darkness,” he pleaded in little more than a whisper and then indicated where the fruit was hidden with a quick glance and an unfolding of his arms.

Propitious nodded with a horrified expression frozen upon her face, and then she reached into the bag and retrieved the glowing fruit. She had no appetite, but for her father's sake, she put it to her mouth and took her first bite. Suddenly, as she ate the sweet fruit, the world around her faded from view and a vision played before her tear-filled eyes.

She beheld the young Unicorn’s body lying still in the lush green grass of the Sacred Glade, but then, to her joyful surprise, Solicitous began to stir. However, as he slowly rose from his resting place, his form changed into that of a man.

The man stood before her without shoes. A halo of refracted light encircled his head like a rainbow-colored crown, and he was dressed in a brightly glowing swathe of pure white. The fringe of this garment came down to his bare feet and was stained crimson. In truth, it looked as though he had waded through a pool of blood.

In form, he seemed to be less than an Ancient and yet more. Unlike her race, his features were only mildly handsome, but it was his gaze that arrested her attention, for it was full of compassion. Also, unlike her people, his eyes did not change color with his mood but were a fixed mixture of blue, green and brown. The blue formed a thick outer ring that surrounded his irises and then faded into a green and lastly to gold nearest his pupils.

His hair hung down in long snow-white locks, and upon his face grew a long matching beard, though he did not look old enough to have even graying hair. The whiteness of his beard and hair was strikingly contrasted by the brownish-tan color of his skin.

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As she studied this remarkable man, she noticed a light emanating from behind him. Thus, she saw for the first time that the charred tree was no longer lifeless.

The Tree-Glimmering now shone with a radiant golden glow. Its shape was like that of a weeping willow having long vine-like branches, and its trunk and limbs were a luminous brownish-gold. Its glowing, heart-shaped leaves were a light-green color upon one side and pale-gold upon the other so that they seemed to flicker when a breeze blew through them. Moreover, the rustling leaves made a sound like the jingling of wind-chimes.

There were many beautiful gleaming blossoms upon the tree which resembled, in many ways, the white blooms of a dogwood. These flowered upon every branch and even dangled within the curtain of tendrils that spilled down like a waterfall from the limbs of the tree.

Among the glowing leaves that fluttered upon every luminous branch, there also dangled an abundance of the most beautiful shining fruit. The bright lovely fruit was just like the one she was eating, for they resembled oranges except that their peels were thin and edible like those of apples. However, unlike the fruit she ate, there glowed a brilliant pinkish light deep within their round shapes.

When she saw that the charred tree was alive again, she knew who the man had to be, for though she had never seen His like before, she knew only one could have healed the Tree-Glimmering. He had to be the Promised Son.

The man spoke only seven words, and His voice was slightly deep and lovely in her ears. Moreover, His words were full of hope and comfort. “I shall always be by your side.”

When Propitious awoke from the vision, she found that she had eaten all of the fruit and her father had breathed his last. Though he was dead, there was an expression of peace frozen upon his face. He looked only to be asleep and enjoying a blissful dream.

As she caressed her father’s motionless cheek, a thought came into her mind. The words were so alien to her own thoughts that she wondered if she had actually heard them. The only way she could ever describe the experience was to call it a still small voice, but however small it seemed, the thought was so powerful that it pushed all others out of her mind.

The still small voice said, “As you saw that the charred tree will live again, so also shall your father, mother, and siblings rise from the dust of their death-sleep.”

By these words, Propitious was greatly comforted even as she cradled her father’s lifeless form and gazed upon the charred bones of the rest of her family.

As she tarried, the drums of her enemies suddenly began to thunder anew in the distance.

“We must find some place to hide!” Alacritous whispered fearfully as she wiped her tears from her beautiful cheeks.

Propitious seem to awaken from her thoughts, and so she nodded to the other young woman. Tenderly, she let her father’s head down, and then the two of them mounded ashes over his lifeless body.

As they covered Arduous, Propitious noticed the bones of her other family members, however, as she looked upon them, she realized that they were too few.

“Is it possible?!?” she whispered with wonder as a small piece of hope kindled within her heart.

“Is what possible?” Alacritous asked with confusion.

Without answering, Propitious hurried to the rim of the valley searching for any signs of her remaining siblings.

Alacritous followed close behind. “What is it?!?” she asked with growing alarm.

Suddenly, Propitious stopped and pointed at a trail of small footprints leading away from the burned vale.

“Some of the little ones are still alive!” Alacritous gasped.

Propitious nodded while gazing with disbelief at the small prints.

“What can we do?!?” the other young woman groaned with hopelessness.

Again, Propitious gave no answer, but instead she followed the prints for a few paces. It was then that she noticed something odd.

“They are following each other in a straight line,” she pointed out with a frown as her eyes turned indigo. “And there are other strange prints walking around them.”

“They are captured!” Alacritous declared with a shudder and then added miserably, “What do we do now?”

Propitious took a deep breath. “I cannot ask you to…”

“You do not need to ask,” Alacritous interrupted as her eyes suddenly burned with a fiery orange hue. “You are the Seer!” she declared with growing resolve. “Only tell me what I must do, and I will do it.”

Propitious let a small smile drift onto her beautiful soot smudged face while her eyes shifted to a bluish-green color. “I thank the King of Heaven that you are with me.”

She then looked back down at the footprints, and her eyes returned to indigo.

“I will not leave my little brothers and sisters to a dreadful fate,” the Seer remarked thoughtfully. “But we cannot follow these tracks, for look, they are already fading as the wind blows the desert’s dust.”

“Then how can we find them?” Alacritous shrugged.

Propitious turned toward the sounds of the thunderous drums. “Our enemies are easy enough to find.”

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