It's early autumn, I have more dreams recently, the weather is changing, snow is still long away.
The time to harvest the wheat will soon be, our family is not one of the farmers, but everyone will work on the field when the time comes.
As far as I can tell this village that I can call my origin is poor, sure every one on the land is poor that is how the lords and lady's of the so called nobles designed the system.
Old wooden walls that crumble with holes big enough for your own hand to enter, leaking roofs made of thatch from the boarders of the lake.
We could repair everything if our lord would allow it, the only thing that bastard does instead is rasing the taxes every year to the absolute maximum so that death craves on our door.
Additionaly is there a blood tax, a certain amount of children from 8 to 13 has to be paid every five years to them.
Every family has to pay at least one child or an additional fee that nobody can provide because nobody has anything.
They prefer the strong boys and beautiful girls, the ugly and weak stay to form the next generation.
Almost everyone wants to be chosen by them to get out of this hell, out of our hell.
They will come after the harvest, maybe in one moon give or take a day or two.
I can tell for sure that they won't take me, I'm to weak, to short, to...
I just want it to stop, the dreams, the nightmares, I can't sleep, I can't think, I can't live like this so please someone help me.
Deep in between trees and leaves, between sticks und grass is a deer, it's dusk, the red n golden sun is sinking in its nightly slumber at the horizon to give away to the darkness, a bright moon, not full, hides behind clouds.
Long shadows run over the ground and meet their own kind.
The deer in majestic brown looks with its big black eyes down the ground for herbs nuts and fruits.
[Crack]
The head high, anxious does it look around, the wind blown through the trees, the leaves rustle, the grass and flowers dance.
Silence.
...
...
Nervously walking in circles, the head slowly turning from left to right, the nose sinking slowly again.
Grazing on heath, ripping, munching and swallowing on the herb, step by step walking one after another to the next.
"Burn them, burn them and their heretical believes" chanted the crowd like a murder of crows "Burn them, Burn them with their false lords of metal and gears"
Silent were the stranger in fine dark clothes hidden in the crowd of crows, a smile from ear to ear carved on to his face.
His deep magenta eyes hidden by a wide hat in dark grey glossed in amusement at the flames that danced to the music of screams and cries.
"Oh high lord of night and day, we your faithful servants have desposed of those that challenge your rules, the rules of this world, your world. May these vile, disposable trash be an example for those that lack the faith in the preservation of the order of these that ceep this world together." These were the words that leaked from him in silence before he turned and disappeared in the darkness of the crows to reappear in an extravagant room full of exquisite furniture.
Lighted by candles sat 4 four persons in elegant gothic aesthetic with identical white masks and shoulder long dark hair and purple highlights.
An endless darkness for each eye and a smile full teeth from ear to ear and no nose or lips.
Three woman, a men.
He had a long dark brown coat with gold and pure hearted red, a light grey gamberson under a breastplate and a ripped shirt on top all held together by belts. The top three over the breastplate were open and the last three were over his pants, which had the same colour as the main of his coat, a dark brown.
Metal kneecaps woven in the pants which ended in the dark grey and red boots with necks up to half his fibulas, hold tight by seven belts in grey and gold.
Dark gloves covered his playfully hands which fiddled with two daggerseach.
They run through his fingers like water in a stream of a river til he threw them up all at once and catched them each one after another.
The three woman had all the same attire, a red chocker, a white verticle folded shirt with matching puffed shoulders, a red and black corset like formfitting bodice over a dark grey open armless elegant jacket with in two spliting long ends down to the highed heel shoes. A skirt in dark magenta was over dark leggings and fingerless long gloves that reach almost to the puffed shoulders.
To finish it all were the nails the same red and earrings in silver.
The one closest to the closed window reed a book in black without a cover or name on it, she sat on a puffed chair in dark brown.
To her left was a couch, the same colour as the chair, the other two woman played dice on a black table there.
The men was sitting a bit off, the distance between his position and those of the others was two to three times higher, in between was an empty chair with a high back in black with silver carvings.
As soon as the one with the hat made his presence clear with a low murr fell the dice in silence, hollow holes came up from the book and glanced at the incommer, only the men while playing with his daggers had his face still to the ceiling.
"Is the job here finally done?" Asked he in an annoyed tone.
"Why the fuck can't you chill out for a few moments, everything needs time for proper development. Only you seem to not see it." Grumbled the right one on the couch, her mask still facing the men that just entered, or to be precise his boots.
"I'm well aware that those like you do not understand the boredom of those like me when we are kept away from our game."
"It's not like you could at least stop with this littles knife play of yours, it annoys the shit out of me."
"Eh, it annoys the shit out of me, eh, stop doing that, eh, bla, bla, bla. You sound like a whiene whinie bitch!" Moving his head like a mockingbird of disrespect and staring right in to her missing eyes.
Almost bursting with fury came the answer of the woman "At least I don't behave like an impulsive little child."
...
...
It went on for a few mean words between those two until he started to move, the hat covering half his face, each step, one after another, made him look bigger, stronger, with more authority, like a tiny wave on the horizon that increases in size until a gigantic zunami tzat hit the shore and bore itself deep in the inland, like an unstoppable force of nature.
Bump! Bump!Bump!
Stopping a close to the table brumped he the words with his deep scratchy voice "Cut the crap, we're done here.
"Get your stuff and get ready to move."
The harvest tax was in a few weeks, the wheat will be collected well in time.
I worked together with my father and my siblings hard on the fields.
Mother was late in her pregnancy so she could that home.
We went up early in the morning and collected till the late afternoon, sometimes even in the evening when the sun flooded the horizon with a golden light. We worked field after field, it took a day to harvest it and brunch it together in fiver strings -made of five root strings.
Our little Northwood has two kinds of main taxes, first Wheat, which is grinded to flour.
And second wood, which gave it it's name.
Most of the people work on the fields at this time of year.
Still some are loggers in all weathers, swinging axes in the colds of winter and spring, the heat of summer or the rainy and stormy day of autumn.
All to carve planks for the tax or firewood for the cold.
Three week until the tax, three week until they came to collect the tax fees did it happen.
A deer was found dead deep in the woods.
Grieve marks of claws were cut in its fur around the throat, the back -between the shoulders-, a front and a back leg.
Some bite marks were there too but it were to few to say that it was eaten.
Roumors spread fast between us, Yves, the logger that found it in the north-east of the lake, close to a clearing in the woods, said that not even the hunter Markov knows what killed it.
The next day went almost as always these days, with the first light of dawn ended the time to sleep, it was a good night, didn't had any dreams..., which is rare so I was kind of happy.
I got out of my bed and in my light brown rags of clothes, took a broom and swept the floor a bit.
I normally wouldn't be so energetic, normally I stay in bed until mother or father calles for me, but today, today was different.
I went to to the shitpit after the brooming to relive myself, washed my hands and face with ice cold water from the washing bucked that was close to the left outside when you just left trough the house door.