Chapter 1 Memory From The Past

• The memory was vivid, detailed, it was as if she was reliving the whole moment all over again. A memory that would stick with her through all of her lifetime, it was clearly not one she would quickly forget.
• Her parents and her were crouched in the cramped space in their small down beaten house, their heads to the grounds, their hands above their heads. For a child she could never understand why, why it had happened, why there were even bad people in the world.
• She shuddered in fright as the men barked out orders, their swords gleaming in the sunlight that shone from the opened windows. Their neighbors heard their cries definitely but they were too scared to help, anyone would have been. The men were very terrifying.
• “Please do not hurt us, ple
• After the unfortunate deaths of her parents she had moved in to live with Edgar, naïve, only a child and no where else to go she had held on to the man who had comforted her and she had lived with him ever since.
• He was the kingdom’s physician, very skilled, each day people from afar with all kinds of ailments and afflictions trooped in to be sure by him. He was very knowledgeable about herbs and this knowledge helped him greatly. However he was also a wizard and sometimes when he encountered difficult cases and with no knowledge of what herbs to mix, he would use his magic to heal them.
• Once upon a time as a child she had thought she possessed some mystical powers, it was common knowledge that she was different from the other children. If she entertained a mere thought in her head, it would manifest in reality.
• As a child she had paid little or no attention to it. One incident however had changed her forever, she was five. She was playing with the other children on a wide expanse of land, just in front of the houses. She was asked to light a make believe fire so they would cook the stones and leaves they had put into a container.
• She crouched and pick two stones and struck them against each other in a bid to light the fire. She tried several times and before she knew it, the container was set ablaze. All the kids ran home terrified by the increasing fire, some mothers snatched their kids and were told the tales of how Cleopatra had caused the fire.
• She stared at the blazing fire as it melted the container, unmoving oblivious to the rampage around her. Her mother had grabbed her at that moment and held on to her.
• No one could give a reasonable explanation of what had happened, not even her parents, the kids stories were written off as cock and bull as they seemed very fallacious. Her parents had ignored the issue like it had never happened but she had never lit a fire since that day.
• After her parents died, her life had spiraled down, she lost the will to leave nor do anything else. Edgar in those times had been her strength. He tried relentlessly to engage her in all his activities, she helped out with preparing the herbs, she would also accompany him to the woods to fetch leaves, special spices and woods to make healing antidotes and medicines.
• He always made sure she was around when he casted spells or communed with spirits. She would watch on in childlike wonder every time something out of the ordinary happened. At first she had not taken it to thought and had assumed he just liked her company and just wanted to spend time with her, anything to ease her pain. As time went on, the realization hit her that maybe Edgar had other plans for her. Maybe he wanted her to continue on after him. She could see it in his detailed explanations to her and how he involved her in his activities.
• She had once confronted him, however he had downplayed it by telling her she never knew what the future held for her. She did agree with him, life was unpredictable, this much was true. She had lost her family all so sudden, however she did not see herself doing anything of that sort. Little did she know that life was about to hit her with another huge surprise.
• ***
• Edgar prepared tea leaves, his mind strayed to Cleopatra and her recurrent dreams, he didn’t understand any of it, he desperately wanted to get her mind off it. Although he had tried to down play it as nothing, he knew it meant something important just like Cleopatra had said it did. He had nurtured her into a smart and strong willed woman. He knew she would not easily let it slide. However he only wished that she would take a break from constantly worrying. That she would find happiness and enjoy life.
• “Cleopatra”, he called out to her, “Come have this tea”, he stretched his have towards her, the cup in his hands.
• She walked towards him and took the cup from his hand, “What kind of tea is this?”, she asked quizzically.
• “It is a herbal tea…”
• She rolled her eyes, “Of course”, her lips curved up in a smile, “What was I expecting from a physician, sweet tea?”, she asked rhetorically.
• He laughed heartily, “It would sooth your nerves”
• She inhaled it, her nose scrunched in disgust, “This smells awful…”
• He chuckled, “The bitter things of life teach the sweetest lessons”, he said all of a sudden, a distant look on his face.
• She drank a mouthful and quickly spat it out, “I don’t see the lesson this one is going to teach”
• “It would make you feel better Cleopatra, you need to drink it all”, he advised he slowly got to his feet, “I also think a walk in the woods will make you feel better, so when you are done we will take walk, I’ll pick some things on the way. I believe the fresh air will do you a lot good”
• ***
• “I will need some aloe Vera leaves”, Edgar said. They were walking through the dense forest.
• She absentmindedly stared at nothing as she walked through. “We need those leaves to prepare a healing potion of old lady Gertrude. When I was her age…”, he smiled, “I was still very agile and strong. At seventy I still turned the heads of various women”, he smiled, showing a missing tooth.
• They trudged further, “Now all my bones are weak and tired. I fear I might soon join my ancestors”, he added. Then he spotted the cinnamons, “I see some over on the other side”, he pointed with his fingers, “I will go get some”, he moved in that direction but then he turned and saw she was not trailing behind him but was staring off into the distance a twig in her hands. It was then he realized she was lost in thoughts.
• “What is on your mind my dear?”, he tapped her on her shoulders.
• She jerked startled at the sudden interruption, “You have not been listening to a word I said, what bothers you?”, he asked again with genuine concern.
• She smiled sadly, “A lot of things happened here, in the woods…”
• “I know my child”, he interrupted in a calming voice, “I know how hard it is for you”
• “I just have a strong feeling in my heart grand father. Like there is a missing piece of my life and somehow it is connected to my past. I feel it deep within me pa…”
• He nodded, “In time, it would all make sense”, he hoped.
• ase I beg you”, her mother cried.
• Even at that age she could hear the pain in her mother’s voice. It was like a potent force, sending chills through out her body. It was going to take a miracle to escape this attack. Tears escaped from her small blue eyes.
• “I begged you once before Lois”, their assailants voice riveted through out the room. He was the only one who had spoken amongst the men who had attacked them thus far. The rest of them watched on in silence, however the expressions on their faces spoke volumes.
• He leaned towards her mother and although she could not see this face clearly, she knew their assailant had a menacing look on his face, she could tell by the terror stricken face of her mother, “What could this measly man offer you?, That you are will pick him who has nothing to offer over me…”, he drawled out.
• There was a noise, one she couldn’t identify but what followed was her father’s screams as he clung to his stomach writhing in pain, she assumed he had been kicked in the gut.
• At this point she was in tears, her cries were muffled, she couldn’t afford to make a sound or draw unnecessary attention to herself. Her small frame shook violently.
• “If you will not be with me Lois you will not be with anyone else…”
• “Please…”, her mother begged, “I would do anything you want, I beg of you”
• “You already have a child for this sleazy bastard”, the man barked. She was no fool to know she was being talked about. She risked it and raised her face, her eyes met her mother’s briefly.
• She had a somewhat sad smile and then she shouted, “Cleo the window! Run!”
• The words didn’t sink in immediately. It took a brief moment for her body to reach as well, however her mother reached towards her and pushed her towards the back door.
• In that nickel time she knew what she had to do, somehow she was going to run away and not look back. From this house, the wicked man and his people. Most especially from the people she had loved dearly and called family.
• She went for it, running as fast as her little legs could carry, she ran from the window and jumped through it. Suddenly her life was in her hands. She had to save herself, she knew that much.
• Although the armed men ran after her, they could not get to her or maybe they had stopped, she could not tell she didn’t have the time to stop and look behind. She narrowly escaped from them but she could not escape from the ear splitting screams of her parents as they resounded through out the whole house and beyond. She looked back at her house and what was once her peaceful abode, a place where she had made a lot of beautiful memories with her family was now her worst nightmare. One she wanted to escape from so badly. Her whole frame shook, her small mind tried to come up with different scenarios, or possibilities. She was no fool however, she was smarter than most children her age. She knew she might never see her parents.
• With her ruffled hair, tear stained face and bare sore feet, she walked into the woods to hide oblivious of her surroundings, the sharp cries of the birds, the chirping sounds of the cricket and other noise she couldn’t identify. She ran further into the woods until her legs could no longer carry, she slumped to the ground and suddenly an overwhelming feeling of loneliness washed over her. She sat on a log of wood and that was when the tears began to flow freely done her little cheeks, heart wrenching sobs that raked through her small body, tears that her little heart could not withstand.
• She was formerly a happy six year old with no care whatsoever and suddenly she was old enough to be out alone in the woods and fend for herself…
• Twenty years old Cleopatra was roused from her sleep by the cold frail hands of Edgar who to her was grandfather. After the unfortunate death of her parents, she had ran into the woods crying uncontrollably. Then he was behind her, soothing her.
• After the attack on their town, he led her back to the house, somewhere in her little heart she hoped her parents were still alive awaiting for her with arms open wide. However her hope was shattered when she approached her house and found out it was in shambles, destroyed by what Cleopatra could not imagine. People had gathered and were in tears.
• The bloodied lifeless bodies of her parents were brought out of the house and covered in white linen. It was a gory sight even though she could not see their mangled bodies. The blood was enough to set her off. She had turned to Edgar unable to look anymore and had embraced him tightly and called him… “Grandfather”
• “Cleo my child, Are you alright?”, he asked in a croaked voice, “You were murmuring inaudible words in your sleep”
• “It is the visions again Pa”, sweat trickled down her body, her hair was matted to her face.
• He stroked her forehead, pushing strands of raven black hair behind her ears, “How can you be so sure you just had a vision, it could have been a mere dream or a nightmare”
• Cleo sat upright, “I am sure grandfather. I can’t be having these recurrent dreams, every single day of my life, maybe there’s something I need to know, some mystery I have to unravel”, she tucked her hair away from her face, “This is more than a dream, I feel there’s something I need to do about it, there has got to be something…”
• Edgar smiled, “Visions are given to us by benevolent spirits and ancestors who consider us worthy of having an incline in to what is to come in the nearest future”, he placed his hand over her palm, his sad eyes studied her face, “Visions are glimpses of the future and not the past”
• “Grandfather this is different, it’s like I’m subconsciously living it all over again, it is almost so real…”, Cleopatra replied with tears in her eyes.
• “It has been many years my child, you are not over that day yet and I understand it”, he wiped the tears from her eyes with his calloused fingers, “This is a nightmare, you have to put up a brave front and fight head on to put the past behind you. Bury it until it’s all forgotten. Do not let these fears make you, you are the master of your life, take charge of your life”
• Cleopatra reached for him and pulled him into a hug, “It is a very lucid picture, every thing is so clear…”
• “What do you mean my child?”
• “I see everything, I remember the trees in the woods, I remember the look in their eyes. I can still hear mother’s voice as she shouts at me…asking me to run away”, she pulled away and turned to look at him, “No details are left out in this dream, the blood is splattered every where, their bodies…”, she trailed off, “I hear their piercing screams”, she clenched on to the hem of his gown, “Their wailing…”, she broke into a heart wrenching sobs, she cried hard like she had never in a long while.
• He pulled her into a hug and lightly rubbed her back soothingly,
• “It is okay my child, it will be fine”
• “I relive that day, before I know it I am a child again, nothing is left out grandfather, not one piece”, she held on to him tighter, “It is agonizing grandfather…so agonizing”