When I woke up I was just a newborn baby. The first thing I saw was a young couple sobbing in each other’s arms. They were of course, my parents. I wanted to ask why they were crying but all that came out of my mouth was gibberish you’d expect from a newborn child. I thought it would be easy move around and speak in my new body, but it lacked both muscles and muscle memory.
However, my outcry was enough to direct their confused gazes towards me. They wiped the tears away to take a closer look at me before crying again, this time in joy.
“He’s alive! Ellie, look, he’s alive! Praise Nihs! The gods haven’t forsaken us after all,” my father exclaimed. My mother was saying something too, but it was completely incomprehensible because she was crying even harder. Her full name was Elizabeth by the way, and his was Paul. Ellie is just Paul’s nickname for her.
I couldn’t understand their reactions at first, but then I remembered Nihs said my soul would be transmigrated into a stillborn baby. In other words, I was born dead, so of course they were overjoyed when I turned out to be alive. I dread to imagine what would have happened if I was reborn even an hour later. I may have woken in a tiny, wooden coffin 6ft under.
I wanted to let my new parents fawn over me a little while longer, but I was both cold and hungry, so I involuntarily started crying. They sent sent distressed looks at each other, fearing the worst. But before they could start panicking, the wet-nurse stepped in.
“Now now, don’t look so afraid,” she said as she picked me up and checked my condition. “Mother Nihs wouldn’t have breathed life into your baby boy just to let Shin take him away.”
Her name was Betty; she was the wife of the village head, Tom. Despite being only 31 years old, she already had 5 living kids and 9 grandchildren by the time I was born. No one in the village in knew more about childbirth than her.
“But its happened before Betty! Our 3rd son Cedric passed away just 2 weeks after birth!” My mother sounded hysterical.
“Calm down Elizabeth. That won’t happen this time. Cedric was weak and frail, born in the middle of a cruel winter. Its still summer, and this child is strong, very strong. I can feel Lorose’s blessing in him.”
“We can’t know that for sure until we confirm it at the temples.”
“Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. Look, he’s just a little hungry,” Betty said as she handed me to my mother. “You know what to do by now don’t you?”
“Yes, of course! You’re just hungry aren’t you?” my mother asked as she held me up to her breasts. “Here, drink as much as you want.”
My baby instincts took over instantly and I drank until I was full. As I was being rocked gently in her warm embrace, the cold I felt earlier was slowly being replaced by a feeling of drowsiness. I closed my eyes as I listened to the calming beats of my mother’s heart.
“See? Now that he’s full he stopped crying. Look, he’s falling asleep. Have you already thought of a name?” the wet-nurse whispered.
“Yes, if its a girl, Fiona.” my father said.
“And if its a boy?”
“If its a boy, then Lief.”
My mother saying my name was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep… just to wake up half an hour later, crying again. To be honest, life as a baby isn’t very interesting. Most of my time was either spent asleep, crying, or playing whatever I could get my hands on.
And because I’d rather not focus on a time of my life when I didn’t have much control over my bladder and bowels, I’ll just skip ahead to when I met the girl responsible for the revenge I’m seeking, Lucy.
◊ ◊ ◊
“So this is your fake church.” A scruffy, middle-aged man showed up on our farm one day. I’d seen him around, but until that Sunday I’d never spoken to him before. He was the baker in our small village, Micheal. “But where the hell is everyone? I thought the entire village came to pray every Sunday?”
“We never claimed this was a church, and you’re a bit too early to meet everyone,” my older brother, Henry, corrected him. He was 5 years older than me, and nearly as religious as our mother. His neatly combed hair and tidy attire contrasted greatly with Micheal’s unkempt beard and raggedy clothes.
“Ha! Could’ve fooled me with your fancy bible and wooden statues. But last I checked, you still don’t have a blessing, so you’re not a real priest. In the end you’ll all just be farmers no matter how hard you try.”
“What are you doing here Micheal?” Elliot, my eldest brother, glared at him. He was 2 years older than Henry, and was dressed in his best imitation of noble’s fashion. “If you’re just here to mock us, then save it for the pub.”
“Oh, forgive me your highness.” Micheal gave him a mocking bow. “I didn’t realize you’ve finally become our lord.”
“It’s ‘your grace’. You of all people should know that, having worked for my late grandfather and all.”
“You might be named after the old duke, but until you’re officially a part of the Taylor family, I don’t have to call you anything other than ‘little brat’.”
“Tsk. Just state your business and go. Obviously you’re not here to pray or socialize like the rest of us respectable folk, so why are you here?”
“Don’t be like that Elliot. It’s never too late start being more pious. Come, pray with us Micheal.” Henry tried to lead him towards the building filled with sculptures, but he didn’t move an inch.
“Get your hands off me! I’m not here for me, but my daughter.”
“Daughter?” I asked. The few times I did see him around the village, he was always alone. In fact, most people actively avoided him. I never would have imaged he had a wife, let alone a daughter.
“That’s right. You’re Leif right? I’m not surprised you haven’t met her before.” He turned towards the stables and shouted, “Come here Lucy! Do you hear me? Get over here already!”
“Is someone back there?” I asked when no one appeared.
“It’s where she said she’d wait. Hey kid, go get her.”
“Why me? She’s your daughter.” I didn’t know him very well, but his short conversation with my brothers was enough to dissuade me from doing him any favors.
“Just do it. She’s around your age, so you’ll probably not scare her too much. I want to have a chat with your esteemed brothers some more before they go off to live in some fancy castle or temple somewhere.”
“Go Lief. Anything’s better than being around this old fart, trust me.”
“Fine.” I breathed a sigh as a ran towards the stables. If his daughter was anything like him, I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.
◊ ◊ ◊
When I got there, a young girl was gently petting our horse. She looked completely out of place in her white, one-piece dress and wavy, auburn hair. Compared to our dirty stable, she was the very image of beauty.
“Lucy?” I asked hesitantly. It was hard to image she was Micheal’s daughter, but there was no one else there, so I had to assume it was her.
No response.
“Are you Lucy?” I got closer and asked again.
Still no response. I wondered if she was hard of hearing or just really loved horses. I walked up right behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hey, are you Lucy?”
“Ah!” She shrieked as she backed away from me. But as she did, she tripped over the pitchfork lying around. Fortunately I managed to catch her before she could fall.
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That was when first got a good look at her face. Her fair skin was quickly dyed red as I held her in my arms. It made her lake-blue eyes all the more prominent.
We stayed like that for a moment before she let out another shriek and slapped me in the face. She ran away again and completely hid herself behind my family’s horse.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?” I asked as I rubbed my cheek. It still stung, but I was too bewildered at the time to be angry at her for slapping me.
“SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY! Who are you?”
“I’m Leif, and that’s Hufflehoof you’re hiding behind. Are you Lucy?”
“I’m sorry. Yes, I’m Lucy. It’s… a pleasure to meet you.” Her voice barely audible.
“You don’t need to apologize so much you know? It would be nice if you could talk a little louder though.”
“I’m sorry. I get told that a lot.” She managed to raise her voice slightly, but was still hiding behind Hufflehoof, so it wasn’t much easier to hear her.
I sighed. In a way, communicating with her at first was more troublesome than her father. It took a couple of weeks before she could talk to me normally.
“Anyways, your dad sent me to get you. Follow me,” I said as I leaned the pitchfork back against the wall.
“Daddy did? O-Okay.” When she limped out from behind Hufflehoof, I noticed the streak of blood behind her.
“Hey, you’re bleeding!” I pulled a chair next to her. “Sit down. We need to treat this as soon as possible. Don’t want it to get infected.”
“I’m sorry. I got blood everywhere.” She buried her face in her hands as she sat down.
“It’s fine. It’s my fault anyways.” I gently lifted up her foot and examined it closely. “Looks like a pretty deep cut. Wait here, I’m going to grab a potion from the house.”
“Wait! You don’t have to waste something so expensive on me!”
“Don’t be silly. You can’t even walk like that.” I ripped my shirt into strips and tightly wrapped them around her foot before running off towards my house.
I found our small stock of potions in our kitchen’s cabinet. Most families couldn’t afford potions, but our uncle would gift us a few each year. I grabbed the largest one and a waterskin and ran back to the stable.
Lucy was nervously combing her hair when I got back.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Alright. Just a bit faint.”
“Here, drink this.” I handed her the water and carefully unwrapped the makeshift bandage. Fortunately she hadn’t lost too much blood yet. “Hold still, this might sting a bit.”
“Okay.” She closed her eyes tight. Potions are extremely effective at healing wounds, but they sting harder the worse the wound is.
I pulled the cork from the glass bottle and poured it’s contents over her foot. The pain made her clench her fists, but she managed to not cry. When it was all gone, her foot was completely healed. Not even a scar remained.
“You didn’t have to waste the whole bottle on me,” she said as I washed the rest of the blood off her foot.
“It’s not a waste. Besides, potions might have a long shelf life, but then go bad really quick once you open them. Might as well use it all at once.” I stood up and offered her my hand. When she took it I couldn’t help noticing how soft they were compared to my rough farmer’s hands.
“Thank you.” After I helped her up she tested her foot.
“How’s it feel? Can you walk?”
“It’s all better now. Thank you very much.”
“Don’t worry about it. Anyways, we should probably get going. Your dad sent for you a while ago.”
◊ ◊ ◊
When we got back the other guests were starting to arrive. Elliot was conspicuously missing and Henry was massaging his temples with his eyes closed. It wasn’t hard to guess why.
“There you are! Why didn’t you come when I called you?”
“S-Sorry daddy, I didn’t hear you.” She was hiding behind me just like she hid behind Hufflehoof.
“Well what took you so long? And why are your faces so red? And why aren’t you wearing a shirt anymore kid?” His nostrils flared as he menacingly walked towards us. “What the fuck did you to my little girl?”
“N-Nothing! Sir!” In that moment he was far more intimidating than Lorose could ever be.
“Don’t you ‘sir’ me. Now tell me what you did!” His yell attracted everyone’s attention.
“Stop it daddy!” Lucy ran out in front of me with her arms spread wide. “He really didn’t do anything. I cut myself and he healed it, that’s all!”
He stopped dead in his tracks.
“Healed? Since when were you a healer? You have Nils’ blessing boy?”
“I used a potion.” I showed him the empty bottle.
“Hmm… a potion huh? And a big one too.” Seeing he calmed down, most of the other villagers resumed their business. They were already used to Micheal’s momentary bursts of anger. He never actually hurt anyone, but it didn’t make him any less daunting.
“Don’t you have something to say to my little brother Micheal?” Henry asked.
“Tsk. Thanks for taking care of my daughter kid.”
“How about a word of apology?”
“For what? I had every right to be suspicious!” He adamantly believed he was in the right.
“Let it go Henry.” I sighed. “No point in asking for the impossible.”
“You’re right. So, you must be Lucy. You’re very brave, standing up to your dad like that.”
She didn’t respond and just hid behind me again.
“Come on, get out and introduce yourself. You need to learn to be more ladylike if you’re going to get a good husband someday. That’s why we’re here after all.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well I want Lucy to learn some proper manners from a real noble, but I’ll have to settle for your mom. Unlike you and your brothers, she was raised by proper nobles. If she wasn’t stupid enough to elope with your father she’d still be nobility, so she’ll have to do.”
“That’s no way to ask for a favor is it, Micheal?” Henry’s gaze turned cold. “Why don’t you get on your knees and beg?”
Normally he was person of infinite patience, but insulting our mother was crossing a line. If Elliot was still around, he probably would have punched Micheal in the face for saying that.
“I’m not asking for anything. You’ve said anyone is free to pray here before right? Well from now Lucy is going come here every Sunday to do just that. She’ll just happen to pick up a few things from your mother while here.”
“Eh? What do you mean daddy?” Lucy seemed just as confused as Henry and I were.
“Now go with these boys and pray. I’m sure Henry here would be more than happy to show you around. I’ll come pick you up before dinner.” Micheal waved her goodbye as he turned to leave.
“Wait! I really don’t think your plan is going to work,” I yelled. “Mom spends most of her Sunday praying; She usually doesn’t even talk to anyone else here.”
“Then maybe she’ll learn how to not act from your idiotic brothers. Either way, she’s coming to pray from now on.” Without letting us get another word in, he hastily returned to the village.
A long silence befell us before Henry let out an awkward laugh.
“Well, I’m Henry. It’s nice to meet you Lucy.”
“…It’s a…pleasure to meet you too.” She gave an adorable curtsy before hiding behind me again.
“Why haven’t we met you before? It’s a pretty small village; I thought everyone knew each other here.”
“I don’t leave the house much,” she said after another long silence.
“I see. Why don’t you show her around Lief? The other villagers are starting to show up and I have to go greet them. Enjoy your stay Lucy.” Henry flashed Lucy an awkward smile before rushing to the entrance, pushing the task onto me.
“Come on, I’ll give a tour then.” I pointed towards the wooden building the others were entering. “See that? It’s where everyone goes to pray every Sunday.”
“Why is there a church here? I thought they only existed in big cities?”
“Well it’s not a real church.” I explained to her as we walked in. A few people were already inside praying. “There aren’t any priests, and some of god’s statues aren’t done yet. The statues wouldn’t be lined up in grid like this to save space either. They’d be in a giant circle.”
“Wow! It’s so big!” She marveled at the spacious interior and life-sized statues. They weren’t accurate depictions of their divine counterparts, but father wouldn’t listen to me about the designs. “Who made all this?”
“My dad did. He was a carpenter before he became a farmer. After I was born, mom became super religious and had him make everything here. But I helped with a lot of the statues,” I bragged. “Come, lets pray before it gets too crowded.”
“O-Okay. If I have to.” She wasn’t very enthused. “But how do you do that?”
“You don’t know how to pray? Everyone prays, even if they don’t have a statue to directly pray to.”
“Sorry.” She looked down dejectedly. “We never pray at our house. Daddy says the gods are a bunch of good for nothing th-”
I covered her mouth with both hands before she could continue.
“Shh. Don’t let anyone else hear you say that, understand?”
Eyes wide open, she nodded head rapidly. After looking around and making sure no one heard her, I let her go.
“I’m sorry.” She looked like she was about to cry.
“It’s not something you have to apologize for. I’m telling you this for your sake. Saying stuff like that is dangerous. If the church finds out you’ll be forever branded a heretic.”
“I-Is that a bad thing?”
“Yeah. I haven’t actually seen one, but I’m told it’s worse than being a slave. The church literally works them to death. It doesn’t matter if you’re man, women or child; heretics all suffer the same fate. So don’t ever say anything like that again, alright?”
“All right. If you say so Lief.”
“Good. Now, let me show you how to pray. See that pretty lady over there?” I pointed at the woman kneeling in front of the statue of Nils.
Her statue was that of a mother with a baby in her arms. And unlike the real Nils, Shin wasn’t attached to the back of her head. He had his own statue, a faceless cloaked man carrying a large scythe.
“She’s so beautiful!”
“Most people have that reaction. That’s my mom, Elizabeth. She was blessed by Alpsri, Goddess of Beauty. And that’s Nils’ statue she’s praying to.”
“Oh, she’s the lady daddy says I have to learn manners from. Do I have to say hi?”
“Don’t bother, she’ll be like that all day. Nothing can interrupt her when she’s praying. But that’s how you do it. Just get down on your knees, clap your hands together and close your eyes. Then you just tell the gods anything you want to say.”
“What if I don’t have anything to say?”
“Then act like you do. I don’t think the other villagers would turn a little girl in to the church, but I do know Henry will at the very least will give you long lecture about how amazing the gods are. It’s not worth it, trust me.”
“Okay.” I thought I saw a slight smile on her face before she knelt down and pretended to pray.