Juniper’s Daughter:

                    The Final War,

           A novel by Nick Armbrister

 

 

Walking into a bigger town, the outskirts of which were boarded up or abandoned, a road led up to a hill. She stopped and gazed around her, to the snow covered hills rising to mountains behind them and at the houses along over the valley, before her. Her gaze washed over the town that was even further away, all different places of the same town with so many different names. People still lived there, tough folk who had endured so much.

   In the distance she noticed something very odd that sent shock waves through her soul. Pausing mid breath, she silently screamed, “No!”

   Many miles distant, a hideous sight greeted her. She had seen this before but this was still fresh, fires slowly burnt themselves out on anything combustible after the initial blast. Smoke hung over the distant town centre of Oldham some six or seven miles distant and flickering fires could be seen amongst the wasteland of what was once a town. A huge distant cloud, faintly resembling a mushroom cloud was just about visible, remnants of the event carrying fallout to kill more in a hideous radiological death.     Immediately she knew what this was and what it stood for, what had happened.

   She had to get there now; there was only one way to do it – magic! Opening her bag she got her secret magic crystal, the key to her power in so many ways. Holding it out in front of her at arms length, she chanted incoherent incantations, age old with meaning only known to herself and her mother. With a whip crack and rush of wind Juniper’s Daughter was carried through the very air, her power compressing and changing it so she was there in seconds. Slightly dizzy and disorientated, she opened her eyes to see a ruined townscape beneath her as she held her arms out to land on the scorched earth amidst nuclear devastation. She wanted to cry at the loss of life and destruction but she channelled her energies into bringing positivity here, slighting the Devil’s hand and making way for her Mother’s influence to nourish and redeem her land again, away from the nuclear poisons.

   Her crystal glowed as she brought down magic around her, incantations away dear witch girl! Her small spell done, she walked over the rubble of blocks of houses and climbed over the black bricks and unidentifiable things. Bits of skeletons stuck out of some brick piles. No flesh, just white bone shaded in black from the fire. She picked up an arm bone and tossed it up into the air, caught it and scrutinised it. The witch knew that this was a person once. A tear ran down her cheek, she understood so clearly the loss and death at ground zero. Again it had happened; she wasn’t quick enough to stop it. Carefully she placed the bone back and said a short prayer:

 

   “My great Earth Mother please forgive and heal the unfortunate people who perished here, on this spot before their natural time was up. They are lost souls now and need our guidance and unconditional love. Remove all evil from this place, let peace reign and keep the Devil at bay. So mote it be.”

 

   In her mind numbers channelled out and down, bringing her knowledge of the weapon used here and its destructive power, how many souls it killed and in what way each died. This was a fascinating capability of her unique brain but it did upset her so, yet it was her key to understanding everything, where the weapon came from, who put it where and how it was set off. She focused her mind and was calm for ten minutes. She found one person connected to the weapon but something troubled her, greatly. This person actually didn’t know about it before and now was greatly suffering, due to the detonation and her connections to the people who actually got hold of the bomb in the first instant.

   Focusing harder, she knew one was dead from battle and his body now lost and that one was alive, who was partly responsible for this crime. Yet she knew it wasn’t intended to be like this, events forced this to happen. Coming out of her trance, she opened her eyes and looked around, something grabbed her attention. What was it?

   Relaxing her vision and using a technique to see shadows and faint outlines, she located the distraction; it was a group of people on the other side of the town. Without hesitation she started to climb over the rubble fields, tripping and sliding over debris. Silently cursing she got her crystal and used her quick time jump skill and was at their position. Approaching from behind, she didn’t startle them.

   Seeing them she spoke, “Dear people, I know full well what has happened here and what you are going through. Soon you will leave this world and my Mother will greet you, worry not, your souls will be saved and you will gain peace in the afterlife, not wander here like so many killed by the blast will, trapped on earth. People did evil deeds here. I have to stop this from happening again or the Devil will win and be master of this place, this country and this world. Please listen and believe me when I say this. Here, come to me, I will ease your suffering and help you pass over into the next world, away from this place of evil and suffering.”

   Juniper’s Daughter stood before the six people, men and women of different ages, all suffering hideously from radiation sickness. This she couldn’t cure. She held out her hands and a gentle white light shone forth emanating from her but from nowhere yet everywhere. As it reached its crescendo the people cried one last time and fell to the ground, at rest, no longer in pain or weeping. She cried herself, hating this job but knowing there was no other way, none at all. She prayed to her Mother, silently this time to give her strength and guidance and protection, she felt so vulnerable and alone right now despite her special powers. The image of the six living dead people burned itself into her mind, joining all of the other horrific scenes she witnessed.

   The youngest girl affected her the most. She was a little younger than the witch, with so much to live for, now she was gone like she never existed, ripped away from the cursed world of man. Her haunted blue eyes held so much potential happiness and life; her falling skin and hair killed her beauty poisoned by radiation. Over thirty million other souls had perished this way, ninety million if France was included.

   Leaving this haunted town, she walked to where the one partly responsible for this was located. She was in need of help; Juniper’s Daughter knew and went to assist. She would be in danger of people doing the Devil’s work but it was a risk she had to take. She achieved so much in Scotland and now had a chance of helping ruined England, where so much more suffering and death raped the land and the people.