Post by Lorax on Apr 14, 2008 8:55:12 GMT -5
Yahounk stepped softly through the woods, her footfalls nearly silent upon the soft earth. It was not yet dawn and in the misty gloom strange shadows danced and waved. Their last heathen rites before the sun would spirit them away. Through the darkness she made her way, to the very edge of the one of the five Great Basins that surrounded her people's lands, and there she made her sacrifices to the Dragon God of the Rain whom she loved above all else.
Long after her bonefire burned out, Yahounk remained deep in thoughtful prayer and meditation telling the Dragon God of Rain of her great love for him. Never had the god answered, but the young maiden knew he heard her, knew it in her heart just as she knew that he loved her. The sun rose, day came to the world and still she sat in prayer until a servant of her father's house came to her.
"Lord Tuengenseek calls for you," the young man said. "He demands you come straight away."
Nodding her head, Yahounk reluctantly excused herself from her love and went to her father's bidding.
Lord Tuengenseek was the leader of the Mortal Beings and was afforded great respect by them because he had brought them fire from the hearth of the gods themselves. A gift from the Divine Ones that he claimed he had taken of his own accord. Placed on a pedestal for this "brave" act, he grew arrogant and proud telling the Mortal Beings that the gods were no more that only he stood between them and total annihilation. A lie that over the years the people began to believe.
Upon entering his magnificent halls of gold and silver, Yahounk knelt before her father's throne, bowing her head low in silence.
"Where have you been, my daughter?"
"I-I have been out walking, father."
"You have been out praying to the Rain God and offering your daily sacrifices! Two acts I have forbidden! I don't know why you insist on holding to such heathen ways!"
"Because they are the true way, father. Just because you deny them, does not make them false."
Yahounk's voice was soft and humble, but Lord Tuengenseek had heard her just the same. "A childhood dream it's time you left behind. You are a woman now and it is time you were married. Perhaps then you will let go of such foolish juvenile ideals."
"Married?"
Lord Tuengenseek motioned to a young man standing beside his throne. "To Lord Anue of the North Kingdom. By your marriage you will unite our kingdoms!"
He father smiled happily at the prospect of increasing his wealth, but tears filled Yahounk's eyes and heart. "But, father, my heart belongs to the Dragon Rain God! I cannot marry another, for I have given myself to him! Father, please! Please! Do not force me to marry Lord Anue! I would be committing adultery against my God!"
Descending his throne, Lord Tuengenseek grabbed his daughter roughly by her arms, pulling her to her feet. "You speak as if these imaginings were real! Grow up, Yahounk! You are a woman now! My daughter! You belong to me! You will be married day after tomorrow and after the consummation of your marriage, you will be executed for disobedience to my will!" Glancing over his shoulder at Anue, who nodded in agreement, Lord Tuengenseek shoved his daughter backward into his guards and commanded she be locked in her room until it was time for the wedding ceremony.
All that night and the following day as the preparations for her wedding were being made, Yahounk prayed to the Dragon God of Rain and wept for the crime she was being forced to commit. The god did not answer.
Dressed in a gown of beauteous white linen, Yahounk was led to the place of the ceremony. The young prince of the North Kingdom, Lord Anue waited for her beside her father. Resigned to her fate, but with her heart still crying out to the Dragon God, silent tears trickled down her cheeks as she knelt beside her mortal husband to be and accepted her vows.
At the ceremony's completion, Lord Anue led her to a small hut and there made her his wife. Yahounk lay placidly beneath him, unmoving and unfeeling. She did not love him; her heart and body she had surrendered to the Dragon God long ago. The laws of her father could not change it and tomorrow, she would die because he could not change it.
The sun shone brightly on the five Great Basins, barren but for sand and stone. Yahounk was led to a large flat rock at the edge of the deepest basin. Sorrow and terrible fear vied for dominance in her heart. Body trembling in terror, tears streaming her face, she knelt beside the boulder and laid her head upon it.
A large crowd of people were gathered to watch the spectacle, Lord Anue among them. Many cursed the disobedient girl while others in their pity for her, begged Yahounk to change her mind.
Lord Tuengenseek stood over his daughter, a vicious sword in his hand. "You can save your life, Yahounk. Denounce the Dragon God of Rain, denounce the gods themselves, and accept Prince Anue as your husband and Lord and you can live."
"If I renounced the Dragon God of Rain, my lover, if I renounced the Divine Ones, then there would be no reason to go one living." Yahounk closed her eyes. "Strike when you will."
Her father raised the sword.
"Hold here." A quiet voice called.
Yahounk opened her eyes and Lord Tuengenseek angrily turned to see who dared interfere with his actions.
A young man stood several paces behind them, glaring at the Lord who was about to slay his daughter. He was strange in appearance with pale white skin, grey eyes and hair silver like moonglow.
"Why do you seek to slay this maiden?"
"She is my daughter who has disobeyed me. She places her belief in the old tales above her loyalty to me. Who are you to be questioning Lord Tuengenseek?"
"Lord Tuengenseek?" The young man bowed low. "I have heard much of you."
Lowering his sword, Lord Tuengenseek turned smiling with arrogant pride. "Then you are no doubt honored by being in my presence."
Walking up to Yahounk, the young man did not answer right away. Gently placing his hands on her slender arms, he gently eased her back and to her feet. Something about him seemed so familiar to her, his touch was cool and comforting, a caress she knew so well from the many times she had stood naked in the rain. Eyes wide with sudden recognition, she looked to the young man, but he continued to look at her father.
"To be true, Lord Tuegenseek, I am disgraced by your presence more than anything else."
The lord's eyes flashed with unbridled rage. "Who are you who dares to speak to me like that? I am Lord Tuegenseek! I am the King of all Mortal Beings!"
The young man released his gentle hold on Yahounk's arms and took a step back, clouds gathered and lightning tore across the sky. His voice was no longer quite, but shook the air like thunder. "You are a fool, Tuegenseek. You denied the tales of the Ancient Ones and disgraced your people, leading them astray on a path of darkness. Who are you to take it upon yourself to make the wife of one the bride of another? You have placed yourself above the Gods!"
Wind lashed around the young man's form, faster and faster, stripping the human skin from him and revealing the magnificent, lithe coiling dragon form beneath. His long muzzle filled with sharp teeth bore a long white beard, slender graceful horns rose above eyes like pools of melted silver. Scales the color of a stormy sky glittered in the rain as the God reared up to tower over the mortals who stood paralyzed by disbelief and fear.
Yahounk fell to her knees, weeping for sorrow of all that had happened. The Rain God lowered his massive head, gingerly picking her shivering body up in his clawed hand. His voice like a low rumble of thunder in the distance, he spoke comfortingly to the mortal woman as he brought her to his eye level.
"My beloved, my wife, fear not. Ever have you been pure in heart and true in your love to me." The sky grew darker as more clouds gathered and a storm such as the world had never seen broke over the five barren basins. It rained hard without pause and the Great Basins began to fill. "I offer you a world beyond this one, my love. Do you accept?"
Yahounk lifted her head, squinting to see the Dragon God's massive eyes through the near opaque rainfall. "But I have betrayed you."
"No, it was your father who betrayed his people. You are my wife, and from this day you will no longer be Yahounk mortal daughter of the fool Tuegenseek who was forced to marry Prince Anue. From this day you will be known as Saundustee Ontehtian, Water Woman, for you shall not be of this world, but my wife in mine."
Magick and water began circling around Yahounk, her mortal dressings stripped away. Her smooth dark skin turned a crystal blue, her long black hair became sea green and from it darted beautiful fish of all the colors of the rainbow. Her long slender legs merged to become one and brilliant scales of blue and green crept over her skin from her hips to her feet, ending in the long graceful tail of a fish. Nothing clad her naked breast but the long tresses of her hair, yet Yahounk felt no shame as she looked down up the mortals on the ground.
The basins continued to fill, becoming the five Great Lakes which the Dragon God of Rain offered his bride as a symbol of his great love for her. Turning to the mortals, he commanded, "These Lakes are the realm of my love. To rule as she sees fit. Ever shall those you traverse upon them owe Saundustee Ontehtian the respect and homage you did not show her when she walked among you. If you do not, I shall wreck your ships asunder by wind and rain upon her waves! Go now! Speak of this to the other Mortal Beings that they may know of the sacredness of the five Great Lakes."
Needing no more encouragement than this, the people turned and fled, leaving their mortal lord to face the god alone. The Dragon God of Rain then turned to Tuengenseek. "And you! For your pride and arrogance, you shall see the price of placing your mortal self among the Divine!"
The earth beneath the mortal lord cracked and crumbled, collapsing into the raging lakes of the east and the west, allowing them to join while separating the two largest land masses.
Tuegenseek perished beneath the waves.
Saundustee Ontehtian, the lover of the Dragon God of Rain, became the Spirit of the Great Lakes and named them Kitchi-gummi, Michigami, Karegnondi, Ontarío and Erielhonan. Her palace, it is said, can be found in the greatest depths of Kitchi-gummi's frigid waters and from it she rules the waves.
From her union with Anue, Saundustee Ontehtian bore a daughter whom the Dragon God loved as greatly as if she were his own. Naming her Yeentso Utehke, Fish Woman, he charged her with creating all the living creatures within her mother's domain and gave her reign over them.
Long after her bonefire burned out, Yahounk remained deep in thoughtful prayer and meditation telling the Dragon God of Rain of her great love for him. Never had the god answered, but the young maiden knew he heard her, knew it in her heart just as she knew that he loved her. The sun rose, day came to the world and still she sat in prayer until a servant of her father's house came to her.
"Lord Tuengenseek calls for you," the young man said. "He demands you come straight away."
Nodding her head, Yahounk reluctantly excused herself from her love and went to her father's bidding.
Lord Tuengenseek was the leader of the Mortal Beings and was afforded great respect by them because he had brought them fire from the hearth of the gods themselves. A gift from the Divine Ones that he claimed he had taken of his own accord. Placed on a pedestal for this "brave" act, he grew arrogant and proud telling the Mortal Beings that the gods were no more that only he stood between them and total annihilation. A lie that over the years the people began to believe.
Upon entering his magnificent halls of gold and silver, Yahounk knelt before her father's throne, bowing her head low in silence.
"Where have you been, my daughter?"
"I-I have been out walking, father."
"You have been out praying to the Rain God and offering your daily sacrifices! Two acts I have forbidden! I don't know why you insist on holding to such heathen ways!"
"Because they are the true way, father. Just because you deny them, does not make them false."
Yahounk's voice was soft and humble, but Lord Tuengenseek had heard her just the same. "A childhood dream it's time you left behind. You are a woman now and it is time you were married. Perhaps then you will let go of such foolish juvenile ideals."
"Married?"
Lord Tuengenseek motioned to a young man standing beside his throne. "To Lord Anue of the North Kingdom. By your marriage you will unite our kingdoms!"
He father smiled happily at the prospect of increasing his wealth, but tears filled Yahounk's eyes and heart. "But, father, my heart belongs to the Dragon Rain God! I cannot marry another, for I have given myself to him! Father, please! Please! Do not force me to marry Lord Anue! I would be committing adultery against my God!"
Descending his throne, Lord Tuengenseek grabbed his daughter roughly by her arms, pulling her to her feet. "You speak as if these imaginings were real! Grow up, Yahounk! You are a woman now! My daughter! You belong to me! You will be married day after tomorrow and after the consummation of your marriage, you will be executed for disobedience to my will!" Glancing over his shoulder at Anue, who nodded in agreement, Lord Tuengenseek shoved his daughter backward into his guards and commanded she be locked in her room until it was time for the wedding ceremony.
All that night and the following day as the preparations for her wedding were being made, Yahounk prayed to the Dragon God of Rain and wept for the crime she was being forced to commit. The god did not answer.
Dressed in a gown of beauteous white linen, Yahounk was led to the place of the ceremony. The young prince of the North Kingdom, Lord Anue waited for her beside her father. Resigned to her fate, but with her heart still crying out to the Dragon God, silent tears trickled down her cheeks as she knelt beside her mortal husband to be and accepted her vows.
At the ceremony's completion, Lord Anue led her to a small hut and there made her his wife. Yahounk lay placidly beneath him, unmoving and unfeeling. She did not love him; her heart and body she had surrendered to the Dragon God long ago. The laws of her father could not change it and tomorrow, she would die because he could not change it.
The sun shone brightly on the five Great Basins, barren but for sand and stone. Yahounk was led to a large flat rock at the edge of the deepest basin. Sorrow and terrible fear vied for dominance in her heart. Body trembling in terror, tears streaming her face, she knelt beside the boulder and laid her head upon it.
A large crowd of people were gathered to watch the spectacle, Lord Anue among them. Many cursed the disobedient girl while others in their pity for her, begged Yahounk to change her mind.
Lord Tuengenseek stood over his daughter, a vicious sword in his hand. "You can save your life, Yahounk. Denounce the Dragon God of Rain, denounce the gods themselves, and accept Prince Anue as your husband and Lord and you can live."
"If I renounced the Dragon God of Rain, my lover, if I renounced the Divine Ones, then there would be no reason to go one living." Yahounk closed her eyes. "Strike when you will."
Her father raised the sword.
"Hold here." A quiet voice called.
Yahounk opened her eyes and Lord Tuengenseek angrily turned to see who dared interfere with his actions.
A young man stood several paces behind them, glaring at the Lord who was about to slay his daughter. He was strange in appearance with pale white skin, grey eyes and hair silver like moonglow.
"Why do you seek to slay this maiden?"
"She is my daughter who has disobeyed me. She places her belief in the old tales above her loyalty to me. Who are you to be questioning Lord Tuengenseek?"
"Lord Tuengenseek?" The young man bowed low. "I have heard much of you."
Lowering his sword, Lord Tuengenseek turned smiling with arrogant pride. "Then you are no doubt honored by being in my presence."
Walking up to Yahounk, the young man did not answer right away. Gently placing his hands on her slender arms, he gently eased her back and to her feet. Something about him seemed so familiar to her, his touch was cool and comforting, a caress she knew so well from the many times she had stood naked in the rain. Eyes wide with sudden recognition, she looked to the young man, but he continued to look at her father.
"To be true, Lord Tuegenseek, I am disgraced by your presence more than anything else."
The lord's eyes flashed with unbridled rage. "Who are you who dares to speak to me like that? I am Lord Tuegenseek! I am the King of all Mortal Beings!"
The young man released his gentle hold on Yahounk's arms and took a step back, clouds gathered and lightning tore across the sky. His voice was no longer quite, but shook the air like thunder. "You are a fool, Tuegenseek. You denied the tales of the Ancient Ones and disgraced your people, leading them astray on a path of darkness. Who are you to take it upon yourself to make the wife of one the bride of another? You have placed yourself above the Gods!"
Wind lashed around the young man's form, faster and faster, stripping the human skin from him and revealing the magnificent, lithe coiling dragon form beneath. His long muzzle filled with sharp teeth bore a long white beard, slender graceful horns rose above eyes like pools of melted silver. Scales the color of a stormy sky glittered in the rain as the God reared up to tower over the mortals who stood paralyzed by disbelief and fear.
Yahounk fell to her knees, weeping for sorrow of all that had happened. The Rain God lowered his massive head, gingerly picking her shivering body up in his clawed hand. His voice like a low rumble of thunder in the distance, he spoke comfortingly to the mortal woman as he brought her to his eye level.
"My beloved, my wife, fear not. Ever have you been pure in heart and true in your love to me." The sky grew darker as more clouds gathered and a storm such as the world had never seen broke over the five barren basins. It rained hard without pause and the Great Basins began to fill. "I offer you a world beyond this one, my love. Do you accept?"
Yahounk lifted her head, squinting to see the Dragon God's massive eyes through the near opaque rainfall. "But I have betrayed you."
"No, it was your father who betrayed his people. You are my wife, and from this day you will no longer be Yahounk mortal daughter of the fool Tuegenseek who was forced to marry Prince Anue. From this day you will be known as Saundustee Ontehtian, Water Woman, for you shall not be of this world, but my wife in mine."
Magick and water began circling around Yahounk, her mortal dressings stripped away. Her smooth dark skin turned a crystal blue, her long black hair became sea green and from it darted beautiful fish of all the colors of the rainbow. Her long slender legs merged to become one and brilliant scales of blue and green crept over her skin from her hips to her feet, ending in the long graceful tail of a fish. Nothing clad her naked breast but the long tresses of her hair, yet Yahounk felt no shame as she looked down up the mortals on the ground.
The basins continued to fill, becoming the five Great Lakes which the Dragon God of Rain offered his bride as a symbol of his great love for her. Turning to the mortals, he commanded, "These Lakes are the realm of my love. To rule as she sees fit. Ever shall those you traverse upon them owe Saundustee Ontehtian the respect and homage you did not show her when she walked among you. If you do not, I shall wreck your ships asunder by wind and rain upon her waves! Go now! Speak of this to the other Mortal Beings that they may know of the sacredness of the five Great Lakes."
Needing no more encouragement than this, the people turned and fled, leaving their mortal lord to face the god alone. The Dragon God of Rain then turned to Tuengenseek. "And you! For your pride and arrogance, you shall see the price of placing your mortal self among the Divine!"
The earth beneath the mortal lord cracked and crumbled, collapsing into the raging lakes of the east and the west, allowing them to join while separating the two largest land masses.
Tuegenseek perished beneath the waves.
Saundustee Ontehtian, the lover of the Dragon God of Rain, became the Spirit of the Great Lakes and named them Kitchi-gummi, Michigami, Karegnondi, Ontarío and Erielhonan. Her palace, it is said, can be found in the greatest depths of Kitchi-gummi's frigid waters and from it she rules the waves.
From her union with Anue, Saundustee Ontehtian bore a daughter whom the Dragon God loved as greatly as if she were his own. Naming her Yeentso Utehke, Fish Woman, he charged her with creating all the living creatures within her mother's domain and gave her reign over them.