Chapter four

4

Zara wondered why her mother told her to wait right outside while  she went inside the seer's  hut alone.

Her mother's behavior was becoming even more suspicious but she wasn't telling her anything. 

Moira entered inside in shaky footsteps as she searched for the blind old shaman 

A scratchy laughter resonated the  whole Hut followed by a wavery voice 

"There's no solution my child...the one who calls you mother has to go ,Its in her destiny! Nothing can hold her back....!" The seer spoke in a shaky but clear and firm voice

Moira knelt down and touched the old Shaman's feet " please you are the most powerful and knowledgeable in our entire tribe...help me save my beloved Zara" she pleaded 

Shaman shook her head sadly 

" Dark days are coming...what's to happen will happen......all I can do is try"

Moira's heart gleamed with hope at the seer's last sentence. 

The old woman began chanting in ancient tongues and a whitish  powder like substance appeared magically on her palms

"This powder will keep her safe for as long as she doesn't cross the boundary of our land.....once she leaves...there will be no coming back!" She warned in a old scratchy voice

Zara entered the hut when her mother called out to her, as soon as she entered a powder was blown into her face which made her  cough uncontrollably

Her mother thanked the shaman and took Zara's hand as they exited the hut

"Dark days are coming History is going to repeat itself after a thousand years!"  shaman mused to herself staring at the retreating mother and daughter.

"Mother what just happened, why did you take me to the great seer?"

Moira didn't reply her daughter's curious question, instead she spoke in a stern and severe manner

"Zara, never, never I repeat will you even go to the edge of our boundary! You must not even think about it in your heart! Am I understood?"

Zara was both hurt and worried by her mother's harsh tone

Never in her entire life had she seen or heard her sounding so stern

She nodded slowly 

"I'll obey your words mother "

When they got back to their hut Moira began to search frantically for something, Zara asked her what it was repeatedly but she wasn't even spared a single glance

She didn't know why her mother had been acting strange ever since yesterday, it worried her so much....

She prayed that the gods would make everything fine again for them..

Moira finally found what she was looking for, it was an old chest that she had kept buried years ago

She didn't know what great danger the seer was talking about ...

She had wanted to tell Zara about the truth of her birth on her eighteenth birthday, but after hearing the seers words she felt so troubled and worried ,she felt like she had to tell Zara now or she might never be opportune to tell her again

She took a shaky breath and struggled for another

"Zara...." She called out gently to gain her attention

"My child.....I need to tell you something very important, you must know that I only kept it from you all these years because I..I was afraid...a.and .I .loved ..y..you so ..much...just like I would my own blood daughter"

Zara was confused by her mother's words , a gasp escaped from he mouth when her mother bursted into tears. 

"Mother what's wrong?....please say something, you are scaring me! " she cried clasping her mother's hand in hers tightly. 

Moira nodded and blinked back tears trying to control herself

"My child listen to me...I'll tell you a story, you must pay attention alright?"

Zara nodded eagerly needing to know what was troubling her mother so much

"Years ago I went to the stream,  it was quite strange that day,  then I found you in the midst of the chaos,  you weren't even crying... you were such a good baby.. my precious little star,  I carried you back home "

Moira paused her gaze suddenly distant at the memories.

"I told you I lived in the outside world before?  that isn't true,  I don't have an husband and.... " She paused again to draw in a deep breath. 

Zara knew what an husband meant, she had heard It from Allegra, an husband is bound to a woman promising to be with her all her life . She'd heard before that a man was required before a life could be created. 

"I'm not your birth mother Zara,  I don't know who she is,  all I  know is that I saw you beside the stream and you were my daughter ever since then. "

Zara stared at her mother but not in shock, it was only in disbelief , she couldn't believe what she was saying, the woman in front of her was all she had ever known all her life....the one she knew as mother

But she wasn't finished yet

"Zarabeth you are precious,  even the great seer have no idea how you passed through the boundary,  but somehow you did"

Moira laughed as if recalling a distant memory then paused and gave Zara a serious look. 

"When you were born you had a pendant on your neck, who knows, it might belong to your birth mother.. " She spoke, Then she cast her gaze on the little chest on her hands before clicking it open. 

Zara sat still,  the hairs on her body froze at its ends. 

It was a beautiful jade like pendant shaped in form of a star. She didn't realize what powerful force clouded over her senses as she snatched it from her mother forcefully 

"Its MINE! I remember...he gave it to me! "

Moira stared in stunned confusion. 

"Who gave it to you Zara? " she asked but got to response 

Immediately Zara's flesh made contact with the pendant ,a bolt of electricity shot through her veins,  travelling all the way to her heart, her whole body felt as if it was burning... 

A kind of fire that didn't burn, ....a fire that felt cool against her skin , that seemed to merge her very soul to the pendant

She kept chanting to herself "its mine Its mine!" As she wounded  it around her neck

She felt like something so precious and divine had been returned back to her, she continued to touch it , then it glowed so bright and intense that it blinded them for some moments.

Her mother screamed out in fear "Zara Take it off! it will hurt you!"

She shook her head, she didn't want to take it off

The pendant would never hurt her, she just knew it

After sometime the glow seized and her mother shook her badly

"Zara what's wrong with you, why did you kept on chanting its mine? What did you remember?"

Zara blinked at her mother blankly , she didn't know what had gotten over her, it seemed like the pendant had called to her and she had answered so willingly

"I don't know mother, I dont know why I said those words, I just said it...." She muttered in confusion. 

Moira hugged her daughter tightly wondering if she had done the right thing by telling her the truth

Her daughter's next words made her heart swell with so much love that it would burst

"She may have been my mother, but so are you, you've taken care and loved me all these years.....I love you so much mother " Zara whispered softly against her mother's bosom

Her hand moved unconsciously to touch her pendant again and she felt as though a bolt of lightning  shot through her again.

It was even more intense than the first time but it all felt so right.......

She felt so at ease almost as if she was with a loved one

A loved one who lived in the pendant who was trying to connect to her. 

Some time later her mother left the hut to start preparing the herbs along with the other tribes women

Zara laid down on the wooden bed and shut her eyes closed

*

*

"Come to me my beloved" She heard a fierce voice roughed with emotions call out

Suddenly she was no longer in her room nor in her bed

She was in a forest, with the rain pelting heavily on her skin. 

"My love don't go!" The strange voice echoed the whole forest again, this time shaking the trees with its fierce intensity

"We belong to each other forever, our heart beats as one!"

This time a loud crack of thunder accompanied the strange voice

She ran the entire forest wildly needing to find him

Oh how her heart has missed his call...

Missed his touch... 

"My love I'm here,where are you?" She sang out in a melodious voice.

A wind blew past and everywhere became deathly silent,the sound of the rain stopped.

She could smell his musk masculine scent everywhere but couldn't find him.

A joyful smile broke out her features, she just knew he was right behind her, her heart pounded crazily in great joy and she spun around to face him.....

Zara's eyes snapped open, she sat up slowly still feeling the intensity of the dream all over her veins

The jade pendant she wore glowed brilliantly at her, she should have been scared from the intensity but she wasn't.

Instead she felt like going back into the dream.....

Back to the unknown person with the deep melodious voice..