JUNIPER’S DAUGHTER - FRAGMENTED WHOLE/BLACK LENSE
a few extracts out of my short story/poetry collection
JUNIPER
The three great tribes were at war, many hundreds of people had perished in the huge conflict. It wasn’t clear who would win. It could easily end up with only three men remaining, each a warrior of the warring tribes. After that, there would be no one left. Juniper had let the war go on long enough, now she had to act. If not, she would be guilty of letting the slaughter get out of hand. The tribal warriors had killed and been killed enough times, their lesson had been learnt. It was time to stop the killing. She picked the strongest tribe to be the fulcrum of the event.
Juniper was always earthbound, doing her roles of healer, witch and warrior woman. She was divinely worshipped as a Mother Goddess of fertility and a dozen other things. Her battle skills were equal to her life giving skills; she needed to fight to defeat her stubborn opponents when her magic wouldn’t work. Skilled in arcane arts, she was a spell weaver and magician of supreme power. Her hands could give life and take it away. Her crystals were her magical key and her bows and arrows were her life taker. A weapon she crafted herself and used with deadly efficiency. Dressed in animal skins, Juniper was an athletic figure of intelligence and emotions. She understood herself, her world and her subject. There was nothing she didn’t know. Experience taught her everything and knowledge was her key in winning her battles against the darkness. Dark energy balanced out the light side and goodness, like the day replacing the night. Such was Stone Age life in what would become Europe many eons later.
She could travel by foot, silently and stealthily, to surprise her enemies and bring them to heel. Or she was able to travel instantly from one place to another by using her magic power channelled through her crystal wand. This was a skill she used sparingly, early humans were very superstitious and their fear of the witch could overcome their desire to be led. Moving from place to place, the witch did her job. When the war broke out, this threatened to undo her previous efforts at keeping the peace and healing. She had to act now.
***
Overlooking the flat plain on two sides, the low hills gave whoever held them command of the area. They were occupied by the stronger tribe called the White Spears. Their enemies were living uneasily side by side on the grasslands below, often fighting one another or attempting to take the high ground. Many warriors were killed in these forays. The coming battle would decide the issue of who kept the hills and also the low ground; there was a danger the two opposing tribes would be wiped out by the stronger enemy. Could Juniper stop this? She crept up the hill, keeping low to blend into the metre tall wild grass. Her bow and arrow were ready to be used in anger. With her senses keyed up, she was ready for anything; this was her time. Up ahead she saw camp fires and heard voices, several warriors were on guard and would be armed. Slowly she advanced.
In the White Spear camp a warrior named Nian held his spear to his chest. His weapon shone in the firelight. He hadn’t killed a man yet but he had been involved in several skirmishes with the tribes on the flatlands. It was a matter of time before he got his first kill and became a seasoned warrior veteran, one of the men. Then he could claim a wife and build his own dwelling for his family. He itched for war and to kill an enemy, he felt it in his veins; they ran hot with a lust for action that often overwhelmed him. Nian wanted to go down the hill alone and wipe his enemies out all by himself. His warrior elders warned him not to do this, he would be cast out of the tribe and be an enemy himself. There were ways of doing things. Just then, he saw movement in the grass, past the flames of the dying fire. He instinctively knew something or someone was there. Maybe an enemy or a wild beast. He judged the distance and threw his white spear into the grass where he saw movement. His sleek two metre spear arced out and into the grass. A scream of pain was Nian’s reward. He got up and ran to the grass, shouting to his brethren to join him, that there was an enemy in their midst.
Juniper had fucked up; she moved too close to the edge of the camp and was spotted. The spear caught her in her thigh. It was a bad wound and bled profusely. She knew she was beaten before her battle had begun and this changed everything. Suddenly there were figures standing before her, towering over the grass, shouting and pointing. Before she passed out, she felt them roughly lifting her and taking her to their camp. Mercifully she felt no more pain. Juniper never even got a single arrow off.
***
HIS LATEST FLAME/FUGITIVE
Feel like a fugitive in my own
life,
kind of use to it and enjoy it.
Filling the gap where your life and love should be.
Do you know how fucking alone I am
now?
That doesn't matter.
My views go to ink, captured in my
poems.
What will you think when you read
it?
I know you exist, somewhere.
If you didn't, I'd be totally
alone.
Like now.
What if you don't exist and I'm wrong in believing that you do exist and you actually yearn to be
with me?
What if I chose to leave
here?
My
choice.
No one can stop me.
Someone should save
me.
But who?
You? An unnamed angel?
My latest flame?
Dark delicious pull of you being too late tugs at
me,
like gravity at a comet passing a gas giant. A cataclysm.
No worries.
Pathways to where?
I had it all before, a caring witch wife, bakery job, car, holiday a year.
That was fifteen years
ago.
Why do I wish I had it now, not then?
Was I young and innocent back then?
My life, so back to
front.
If you do exist, I promise to wait for you, for a
while.
And when I'm gone,
you'll follow me and we'll be together
forever,
even though I don't know your name.
You wanted me to wait for you
forever.
I need you now.
Oh how Goth.
His latest flame dying now....
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