The Blackblade Clan (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} blackblade) wrote,@ 2008-01-12 18:11:00 |
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Prologue: In the beginning there was the Clan..
For as long as she could remember, there had always been the Clan, and, she had naively assumed, there would always BE the Clan. There had always been the Matriarch, then her mother, the Heir. Her entire life was centered around being the Firstborn Daughter to the Heir, and the GrandDaughter of the Matriarch. It was beat into her as a child that she was different. She was above the rest, and best not forget it.
The Clan was all. That was the mantra she was required to recite to herself, daily, nightly, whenever she had a free moment, which was rare.
She didn't remember her father-not that it would have mattered, had her mother ever pointed him out to her on a rare trip with her to the Males Compound. She would never have been allowed to have any contact with him in any case. The men were kept seperate. So if he was even there, she did not know.
She did know that she was her mother's only child, the Firstborn Daughter, and that her mother could not have anymore after her. Her mother told her that she was special, because she came first, that she had been allowed to have her instead of a boy as her first-and only, child.
There were the rumors, of course, as to why her mother never had anymore children. One was that she had lain with a man she was not allowed to, in that he was married and had a family. This, of course, was always whispered behind closed doors, when the Matriarch was not within hearing range, for fear of a beating. After all, the First born Daughter and Heir was above reproach. Another was that the gods had punished her for some unknown congress against them. It was always dismissed with a scoff, people saying that if that were true, why was the child a Daughter then and not a boy instead.
The truth was much simpler, of course. Her mother had always been delicate, and slight compared to the rest of the clan. Her only child's birth tore her too badly as she entered the world. The Matriarch feared she would lose her heir and forbade her to carry another child. She recovered slowly, and was never really well for the rest of her life.
But now...
All that was gone. All because of a harsh Winter , a 3 day blizzard and a stranger who came to the gate. The Matriarch allowed him in for the duration of the blizzard. That one act of kindness changed everything.
The the stranger became violently ill, and passed on. His body was burned, as he was not a Clan member and left no documents stating where his family was, who he was, or where he was going.
When the first woman fell ill, it was assumed that it was merely a Winter ailment. Then another fell ill, and another...
One by one the entire Domain was consumed by this Plague, then it spread to the Males Compound. Still, no one thought much of it, thinking it was still only a Winter illness.
They deluded themselves to think this even as the young babies, then the children began to die. The Matriarch ordered her Heir, who herself was by now very ill, to send her Daughter away, in the hopes that she would escape whatever the illness was. And so she did.
She was 16 and the Clan was all she had ever known.
When she returned 2 years later, she found the Domain empty, barren of all life. The Compound was the same, the gardens weed infested. No one was left.
She was alone. She was the last.
She found her mother's grave in the Clan Cemetary. So many fresh graves, so many names she knew. She was saddened that her mother would never meet her grandchild, whom she carried after a one night stand a few weeks prior to returning home. This child who would be the start of a new beginning for the Clan.
Chapter 1
For as long as she could remember, there had always been the Clan, and, she had naively assumed, there would always BE the Clan. There had always been the Matriarch, then her mother, the Heir. Her entire life was centered around being the Firstborn Daughter to the Heir, and the GrandDaughter of the Matriarch. It was beat into her as a child that she was different. She was above the rest, and best not forget it.
The Clan was all. That was the mantra she was required to recite to herself, daily, nightly, whenever she had a free moment, which was rare.
She didn't remember her father-not that it would have mattered, had her mother ever pointed him out to her on a rare trip with her to the Males Compound. She would never have been allowed to have any contact with him in any case. The men were kept seperate. So if he was even there, she did not know.
She did know that she was her mother's only child, the Firstborn Daughter, and that her mother could not have anymore after her. Her mother told her that she was special, because she came first, that she had been allowed to have her instead of a boy as her first-and only, child.
There were the rumors, of course, as to why her mother never had anymore children. One was that she had lain with a man she was not allowed to, in that he was married and had a family. This, of course, was always whispered behind closed doors, when the Matriarch was not within hearing range, for fear of a beating. After all, the First born Daughter and Heir was above reproach. Another was that the gods had punished her for some unknown congress against them. It was always dismissed with a scoff, people saying that if that were true, why was the child a Daughter then and not a boy instead.
The truth was much simpler, of course. Her mother had always been delicate, and slight compared to the rest of the clan. Her only child's birth tore her too badly as she entered the world. The Matriarch feared she would lose her heir and forbade her to carry another child. She recovered slowly, and was never really well for the rest of her life.
But now...
All that was gone. All because of a harsh Winter , a 3 day blizzard and a stranger who came to the gate. The Matriarch allowed him in for the duration of the blizzard. That one act of kindness changed everything.
The the stranger became violently ill, and passed on. His body was burned, as he was not a Clan member and left no documents stating where his family was, who he was, or where he was going.
When the first woman fell ill, it was assumed that it was merely a Winter ailment. Then another fell ill, and another...
One by one the entire Domain was consumed by this Plague, then it spread to the Males Compound. Still, no one thought much of it, thinking it was still only a Winter illness.
They deluded themselves to think this even as the young babies, then the children began to die. The Matriarch ordered her Heir, who herself was by now very ill, to send her Daughter away, in the hopes that she would escape whatever the illness was. And so she did.
She was 16 and the Clan was all she had ever known.
When she returned 2 years later, she found the Domain empty, barren of all life. The Compound was the same, the gardens weed infested. No one was left.
She was alone. She was the last.
She found her mother's grave in the Clan Cemetary. So many fresh graves, so many names she knew. She was saddened that her mother would never meet her grandchild, whom she carried after a one night stand a few weeks prior to returning home. This child who would be the start of a new beginning for the Clan.
Chapter 1