To Mom, for all her love.
LEGEND OF THE STONE
City of Hamlets
WADE C. LONG
Smashwords Edition
©2010 by Wade Chandler Long
Design and Literary Input by N. Reginald Long
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HAMLET PEOPLE
We lived a distant measure from modern places or times – but we were human, too. Lack of acceptance was new for Hamlet People. We came from a day when water for the parched sprung from the earth’s soil. This was an era when each man’s supply came by tilling the ground; when slaying the fowl meant feasts by the fireside, and oxen’s milk was like heaven to the body.
(Our garb was strange to the common, as well.)
Hamlet women’s silky skirts flowed to the near bottom of their ankles, as not to draw superfluous awareness from the lout. Their white and ruffled shirts garnered no trouble from the stiffening wind of day. Many dressed their long and graceful hair with flowers. Daisies and Honeysuckles were among the preferred, though they strayed from the latter for the chasing of bees.
Each Hamlet woman had her own natural fragrance; this one like watermelon, or that one an almost cherry, while the elder madams usually left a spicy scent (of some sort) wherever they traveled.
Hamlet men, in hand woven slacks and clodhoppers could be observed daily - tending to their crops and livestock - adjusting their two-tone brown or gray suspenders and tipping the front of their snap-brims, as the debutantes neared by. Short-bearded with full heads of hair were they most. An unfortunate few aimed to suppress their hereditary flaws, posturing themselves in a perpendicular fashion. An even smaller lot were the inherently furry. A less pleasant odor often accompanied the wet stained underarms of the Hamlet men’s eggshell colored cotton button-ups.
Dawn often founded us ever so snuggly nestled in the grip of the wolves’ coat. Guardians eagerly waited the awakening of their young to the new day; to continue the lessons they had begun the one before.
All lined together for the morning meal of figs and nectar, or wine. Those who nursed, along with their infants, came first in these and all other doings. Second were the youthful girls, then the younger lads. Next the damsels, then the pubescent males, and always pas came last. Kindreds sat as one, laughing carefree, in the placidity of their nooks.
At dayfall, each went his own way. Mas gave notice to their houses while pas plowed their land; keeping care to their own crops, unique with substance, that differing from any other nearby. Daily we labored to nourish our houses and for the honor to belong. Clans freely exchanged from one to the next, good for good, the fulfilling source for the other.
On days of labor, each young went for tutelage. Tots delve into the undertaking of their alpha and numeric while those in their tens prepared for the tasks and trials of maturity. Males were learned to maintain an equitable harvest and to behave chivalrously; while females became skilled in mastering their own appearances, and discerning rascals from men of an amicable repute.
When scholars were dense without reason, or played the scoundrel, their behavior was not without witness. They fast found themselves the mules which hauled the things of their newfound masters; the guides. These were the elders of our city. Having bones that had worn weak from ages of labor, their minds were yet quick and keen. Wisdom was their means of supply; and for it, they received the same goods as any able bodied one. The devotion of each was tireless and without relent, and demanding of no less in reciprocity.
Following studies, clusters of chums engaged in their sport of choice. Females informed each other on Hamlet rumor, for the most part; and though many males did the same, frog chasing and worm catching proved to be the greatest admired activities of our persuasion.
Eventide found kindreds together once again. We shared the dusk time meal. We sang the sacred hymn. Mas played their harps as pas crashed the cymbals. We danced together, arm in arm - the two and two - once and again; until all hands had touched all hands. No heart was left to feel deprived.
When the night was black and cold, we made our prayers. We dreamt in the tranquility and warmth of the iron cast fire. The aroma of fresh cut maple wood lingering through the air united each nostril. Altogether as one were we, and would be tomorrow, as one, once again.
The Hamlets famed as villages of promise, like mountains of envy from galaxies afar. Its limits expanded from north to south and utmost as the farthest eye. Each abode burnished luminously, multi-colored like the peacock, fashioning the very temper of its clan. Were they a more effervescent bunch, variations of yellow, gold, orange, and red were visible in the décor. Were the kindreds more hushed and dull, shades of gray, beige, and brown were therefore added.
Hamlet grass was as the emerald’s green and was charily groomed. Two or more of each tamed animal freely roamed there. Some grazed. Others were for the creation of cloaks, covers and blankets. A number were reserved for meal. But some were just pets.The city’s roads were speckled with gravel, as the many tones of the earth. They were lined with trees and vines of fruits and nuts. Grains rose also close at hand. All were free to plainly fetch an apple or peach as they ventured. Elders demonstrated a more methodical approach: They bowed their wearied frames (often escorted by one much their junior) properly selecting their choice watermelon or honeydew; not too young, nor so mature, but wholly ripe.
A conference of birds sounded far off in the background, rounded by refrains of a dog and his bark. Echoes of tots and their petite and good-humored giggles drifted out from the indoors. Male crickets bickered back and forth about the sunset. Pan flutes serenaded at the mouth of the city.
A great lake ran parallel the roads. Its blue was only second to the midday sky. The shallow waters near land were for swimming. Deeper within, men sailed their boats to cast their nets for fish.
The smell of fresh bread filled the air at noontime. Berries from the patches took space at midnight, as did the new dew to the dawn.
When we were free ones, we soared like the golden eagle. Each had possessions; and that, plenty to spare. A proud people we were, never resisting the nobility to give to the hands of the remote deprived.
We were nothing like the cowards from the south.
On days of rest, the city made one for feast (yet some would escape to be on their own). In these days, Hamlet People’s wealth was more than at any other time. Cities in need drew near to us for relief, when abundance had not so graciously smiled on their faces.
The City of Hamlets was a rebel to war. We declined instigating the ill will of our neighbors. We dared to not interfere in their conflicts, except to give aid in hearings for common ground, for order, and for peace. There were those who found fault with our neutrality, but The People of the Larger Places had always been cordial with us until now.
They dwelled below our land, where no rains fell and hardly any dew. The air there was dry like sand, scorching exceedingly. This was their climate and their only weather, all year round.
They were not prosperous ones, for their fathers had provoked the passions of many kings. Contention from within was a like complication. The People of the Larger Places were but meagerly learned, for even their young were often drafted to battle.
Their king was a gluttonous and stubborn one, who highly taxed the people and took their money for lavish dining to himself, and to buy expensive perfumes for his several concubines. Many fancies had he, yet no true love. Most of his young had also resentment for him. For he was unjust to them, as well.
Resources were furthermore limited. Oftentimes, The People of the Larger Places came to us, seeking goodwill. They made petition for wheat. We gave that not only, but opened our fields to them, allowing for their own choice of barley. They requested whiskey for their brothels. We went beyond their asking; also fetching our choicest grapes and aging for them wine, in our finest cellar. Sending our young by chariot, we delivered these with other good offerings, in time for their festive season.
When they were ambushed by the King of Sudden Anger and his forces (who had once been their ally) we saw to them in their urgent state. With their demise looming, it was us who gathered our men. We hastened, and for them we built arms. Transporting those by hand at the night, they defeated their foe and reigned victorious in battle.
When the land of the People of the Larger places was struck with the plague, we wept with them and gave comfort. We exposed ourselves to affliction, abandoning protection to self, without hesitation. They were our brothers from afar and we loved them as did we our own.
In the City of Hamlets, the sun shone completely for 11 months, at day. The heat was just sufficient, yet not too much to bear. In those nights, the stars reflected themselves like tiny guides for voyage; glimmering and pristine, as if just beyond your reach.
The 12th month was a season of squally wind and lashing rains. And within it, a tempest so plenteous, so intensely profuse with ravaging streams of intolerable gusts, a great stench foretold its arrival; even hours by days before. This was the Storm of Fury.
A LAND OF KINGS AND QUEENS
In the days of our fathers, our land was one of kings and queens. Numerous and distinct were our treasures. Our abodes were great palaces, and we were the possessors of much gold. Our rule was over the lands to our east and to our west. Ours was not yet a City of Hamlets; rather, one of royalty, which prospered much. All looked to us with astonishment and with veneration, that which has not been seen before or since. We were immovable. No city or their armies dared to stand before us; for we were undefeatable, and they would surely fall. Generosity and kindness were the fruits of our nature.
In due course, we would allow our royal status to make us to be as more than that which we were; in our own eyes. Ours was an eminent world, blinded with false presumptions for future excellences. Yet, was it on the eve of hostility’s transition to a Godless one. Humankind as we had known it was soon to be absent of fear for justice; with us, naked of hope or calculation of joy.
We began to horde our good fortunes to self, no more making share with those of a slighter fate. No longer did we seek occasion for pleasantry among those who were forlorn, or were plainly not of our own. The hand of nature herself stood in wait; to deliver us to humility, once again.
At the same time for thousands of years came the Storm of Fury, and it lasted for many days. Each year - and bit by bit - it dismembered our land, if but just by fragments at a time.
Amidst an age, we regressed. Once we were the most reverenced of all peoples; in the most enviable land. Now, we had become the least desirable, most ridiculed, and most laughable ones of all.
Suddenly, we were attacked by our enemies to the east, who were covetous of what we had formerly been. Spying on us, they made distant and frequent glances, in wait for their opportune instance. We were taken advantage of in a flash of high-mindedness, blinded by what we seemed to become while failing to grasp that which we were no more. Surely we were to be defeated. Yet, was our foe conquered; and that, by our hand.
We captured the goods of our foes to the east, and brought those spoils back to the place of our dwelling. Our high reputation was now restored. The chief principles of nobility and humility were learned, and we vowed as natives - never to see ourselves as royalty again. We were all as equals now, never to let our benefits to take place of us again. Now, we esteemed each one near us who meant for peace.
One such ally was the People of the Larger places (named such because their land was the greatest and most peopled of them all). The time of the Storm of Fury was the only in which we sought to them for aid.
We would leave our abodes before the rains and winds began, and travel to their city. They greeted us tenderly, with the warmest of receptions. Each clan of ours would arrive with gifts, and be hailed into an abode of the ones of their land. They delighted in us as the nobles we once were. They spoke riddles to our young and shared with them their playthings. They gave us meal as the heap of any royal feast - day after day - throughout the tenure of our visit. Their women made union with ours, and our men with their men. They allowed us no work (though we insisted upon putting our hands to use). They demanded we be their honored guests. Always assuring we found plenteous rest, it was we whom they so ardently sought to serve. This is how it had been for a limitless age, and the way we foresaw it to be always.
But, then came a time of great change; one we have yet to fully recover from.
We smelled the stench of the storm and raced with our women and young - along with our gifts - to the land of The People of the Larger Places. With urgency, we neared the Eastern Gate; that one which connected their land to ours. Faster, we rushed than in any year prior, for the massive gale made hurry, and with more rapidity than had it ever before.
Mas fetched their nursing infants while pas lingered behind, gathering the others. Youthful girls kissed their pets and let them alone. Younger lads let their frogs free; to find shelter of their own. Damsels dashed along with their heads peaking backwards, as if to assure the security of their chums. A pubescent male made last effort to valor, seeking chance to save a debutante from danger’s ensuing snare. Pas ran behind their kindreds now, taking care to their safe arrival. Each outgoing clan warded behind, that they may all cross over at once. All advanced to the entrance of the city of their ally. But this time, there were no opened doors to be spoken of.
Countless brush of fire fell from the hand of our newly turned foes. The gate that had been opened so many times before had now to been blocked to our entrance. Some bawled in dismay; caught within a storm too great to encounter, with reason. Others stood motionless, in inconceivable shock, grasping veracity: Their lives had approached an abrupt and unexpected stop. Other ones attempted to climb the gate, reaching its other side. Only did they fall at the top, to the strength of the mighty gale. Kindreds ran skittishly, seeking a miracle while suspended for an answer to their desperate cries. They – in an instant - became detached from those of their own houses, never to reconnect again. Many of us were simply lost within the storm’s broad eye.
The People of the Larger Places - who moments before were as our own - raced about to the back of our city, entering in through the Western Gate. Running from palace to palace, they took our gold to themselves. They tore our crowns; the very symbols of our lineage and the pride of our people. They captured our jewels and our precious metals and contained them, to trade. Rummaging through our cellars and casks, they became drunk to the point of utter madness. They went throughout our temples - where we prayed and sung to the heart of Pnuema - dismantling our altars, shattering our celebratory ornaments, urinating on the floors in which we paid devotion, and making waste.
They made way to our young and trampled them over as meager rubble. They bound them with chains, and struck each with whips, for a time. Their men took our damsels and debutantes to pleasure. They set our pubescent males and our younger lads to their knees and required them to walk as the four-footed beast. They stripped us of our garments, and made us to carry those things which they had taken from us upon our own backs. Our mas and greatmothers were pelted with rocks. Our pas and greatfathers were slaughtered with weapons that they themselves had carved with the tusk of the boar. They mocked our expectant ones; some - even pulling life from their wombs. The least of us who remained would also not have escaped, but for the blazes set to our castles turning back on many of them which had kindled them.
We were left emotionally slaughtered. The innocence we had known faded to absent with the new day. No longer were we the land free of care, which we had fought so hard to become. We were ones prior who knew no absence to one the other nor, to those who were our neighbors. Now, we were separated from our kindreds and instantly stripped from the ranks of humanity. We were lowered as the dog and sold for nickel to our enemies of old, to the east. These were the ones who had been jealous; The People from Abroad.
Together, the two captives united. They surrounded our homeland, that none might enter from his escape. Bricks and mortar and clay were used to build walls of boundary; to keep from entrance to our city. They bordered this - the land of our dwelling - as if to make as it had never before been there. To them, our city was to be forgotten and not remembered, again. We were turned to slaves for The People from Abroad, and remained so, a hundred years more.
In their pastures did we toil; tending to their crops and keeping watch to their flocks. They made us to let them know the manner of our doings. Yet most, they could comprehend not. We saw their youthful ones to maturity, as those same became also our wardens. We knew no freedoms under the law of The People from Abroad. Our young were under their rule and were learned to disregard us; and only hold fast to the words of them who kept us against our will.
Finally, rage made one with our hunger for the feast of freedom. We made speech of the moving body, with groans, and with the lifted eye; that only we could grasp. A plan for revolution was mapped, and a course to our escape. We were low in number; and thereof mindfully aware. The battle before us was a perilous one. Yet, we could no longer afford generations of kindreds to live and die as slaves to tyranny’s undue dominion. Liberty had been lost on our watch, and by the same would it be recalled.
We waited for the sun to reach its highest point (for they had taken us at night). Each one grasped that which was nearest him. This was his weapon for battle; and now, his closest confidant. At once, our mouths opened wide - as a thousand roaring lions - crying out to vengeance. We raced toward the west, disposing of all inhibition.
This battle was not only ours. We fought the fight of our fathers, who never evaded the wrath of the storm. We warred for our expectant ones; robbed of the right to bear life, at the hand of our captors. We clashed for the honor of our lads and our girls, who were disgraced beyond credence. We forced ahead; toward our young to come and for the legacies which awaited them. We fought from our hearts that day. Our weapons were mere icons for the battle within. It was our collective will which waged the war.
Rebellion came not without cost. We gave more lives than had we ever in any encounter, before. The People from Abroad went after The People of the Larger Places, as a city sold a season of damaged goods from a sinister merchant. We were now three nations at odds - all with one the other. One was jealous and sought for vengeance. Another waxed in greed. The third had won the right to be human once again. And we were on our way home.
THE LAND OF OUR FATHERS
The charge of blood that was shed of our people was far too costly to affix. The dear lives given of our men, women, and our young, were further than countless to reckon. A century was lost in bondage. Yet, we were free ones once more.
Those of us who had survived came back to the land of our fathers. We set ourselves at the Eastern Gate and faced our foes no more. They had surrendered, and we left them behind us as a forgotten chapter in one’s life he would eagerly erase from his personal slate of occurrences. We gazed upon the massive margins which had been placed to destroy this moment. Fear found us there; traces of terror as ransom to our newfound liberty.
The lot of us had never seen this place before, with our own eyes. Home. We had only heard of what it once had been, and only few remained among us who were there when our people fell to the hands of imprisonment. Aside from our apprehensions, we were found anxious - determined even - to make way to our future. It was - after all - our freedom’s solitary claim.
We stood in silence. The weapons we had used to conquer our enemies were still in hand. They - for now -were not arms to our rivals’ demise, but tools to our way in. These were the right of passage to the place where we belonged. They were the utensils which equipped our people for things which lied ahead.
One man took his, and began. For other ones in an unlike conquest, this may have seemed as little to naught. To those of us who had decided to continue on; it was nevertheless, a start. It was assuredly hope’s feeble cry, which bid response from the multitude. Before long, another man joined in, then a woman and next, her young. Then we were several, as ones in a chorus. Each joined in with his sole part in the harmony. Many were our sounds, yet one total voice; and without each, our song would be not complete.
We would that just our men would take part in the travail of tearing down these walls. Yet, our day was new. Male and female, akin; from the lesser young to the eldest of us all, each hand labored as one. We were wearied some infinite measure. To our people, tire was not new. As in the war past us, it was purpose, which bred us the strength to endure.
Onward we progressed from dusk until her dawn, from sun to its fading, only taking turn in pause for breath and for small meal. We abolished each confinement - one by one - until all had fallen. These fences were far more than simply physical, but furthermore metaphoric for the generations of us which had spoiled beneath the reeking foot of oppression. They were made to give way, as well. The age of serving vigorously for a land of enemies once regarded as natives was finally gone. Our day was new, indeed; and never to be the same, again.
A few of our young lingered behind, convinced of loyalty to those who were our captors. Many of their guardians journeyed with us, conceiving that they most go forth if they and those whom we would leave our legacies to were to have a just chance at liberation. Some made choices to settle in tyranny, unwilling to bear the severing of connections with those who had turned against us. This cause made for them to oppose us; and they too, then - by default - became our adversaries.
With home, our history was but a memory and our hearts were in the land in which they desperately did long for. A tomorrow could now be sought for, albeit a distant away. Our expedition that was to be but a pair of weeks at most had lastly ended ages later.
In plain sight, our native soil was little more than a wasteland. No abode survived the carnage that had overtaken its earth so many years earlier. There was more rubble and ruin than could have been amassed in one’s mind. The aura of dismay from the day in which we were taken still was there.
We walked about our city. Sporadic screams happened frequently and were taken notice of, for miles. Those which rang most agonizing were of they who remembered the night of our downfall. We persisted. Wandering in many directions, we had perchance more questions than freedom bargained for: Where would discarding begin? Where and how would we rebuild? Would our enemies counter and come for us, again? Or were we - in truth - free for good? Was this – home - truly what we all desired? Or had our people fallen again; this time to error, in the wake of our courageous return?
Slowly we commenced to dispose of the refuse, seeking the warmth of slumber by night. The roaming beast was caught in the fields and was brought by his hunter for share among us all. Wolves were seized and their coats were spread for warmth. On occasion, supply just would not be bounteous enough for us each.
We were all poor ones now. Some were naked and disturbed. Others were hungry and fearful. Bickering began, then clamoring arguments. Fights were among kindreds, even within the very clans from which they had come. Now our hearts were permeated with sordid morals and discombobulated ideals, foreign to the ones our fathers had given to us. We fought over divisions of land, division of work, and divisions of divisions divide. Everyone wanted to be in charge, and charged one the other with each petty crime, unparticular. For the first time, there was need for government among a people which once ruled itself by the laws of love.
Voting was held. Each man and his fancy appeared; that they both may be counted and their voices heard aloud. He with the most votes would become our king, and they which followed, his council.
The people’s surveys were speedily cast. When all were tallied, our highest chair was given to he who began the tearing down of the walls at the gate: Jenteel was elected the first king of the City of Hamlets.
He was a man of wisdom with much mental soundness, and his years were many. Yet his way was not foreign to our young. He gave particular heed to both them and the elders. His ear was always open to the voices of the people's concerns. Jenteel gave fair time and thoughtfulness to those of each gate. He often went without, in order that those in which he served would not be in lack. Jenteel was one with eyes that were soft and a voice with depth and gentleness, akin. He was skilled in such a way that he not only united those of diverse times, but separate social schools as well.
The first charge for our new king and his council was to devise a plan to bring back our homeland to its position in prominence once known; and this time it must be, to stay. Among them it was settled on that we not begin in the places in which we had left off; with palaces and castles and things. Great patience would now be required while making way to such ranks in wealth, again. It was needful to begin with that which was smaller; both in riches and in weight.
We recovered our native soil little by little, and built the City of Hamlets with scrap left a century before. Led by the council, we were divided into villages. Each one was assigned a task and their sections while each clan, a subdivision and a subsection. All toiled night by day and with scarce rest, for the recovery our land from where it had fallen.
Many of us gained connection with those who were our kin. Whenever possible, each clan was placed to live nearest those who were of their same line. Others would speak among themselves and look upon the other, to see from which peoples they had come. Some saw his reflection in his neighbors face, and knew their pas and mas had been kindreds. The greatest number of us traced our ancestry against the one next to us. They were found often doing the same. Together we strove to reclaim those who were ours.
Others picked up the best ways they knew how. Some found no remnant for their brood, besides themselves. They resolved to create new histories through marriage and procreation. Those who had been learned how; began to raise clans in the same ways our fathers did before us. They who had no examples raised their young as they themselves saw fit.
Civil organization only led to more opposition inside and outside the City of Hamlet’s borders. For some, being at home again was not enough. They sought for the blood of them who had taken us. They wanted to return to the outskirts of our city and by revenge, take control of the lands of those who had enslaved our people. The rest of us sought for stillness. We figured to just as soon ponder on rebuilding our land and bringing our people again to the standings we once knew. That, we willed before considering any such attacks to our rivals.
Yet and though, those who wished for war could not seem withstand the temptation to provocation. They stood near our borders, mocking our ex-captors until they willed them to battle. Soon, were we attacked by the same ones we had fled from. It was our steadfastness which once again, kept us from being demolished. Even in the midst of another war, we knew we must continue to build. All able bodied men and those males in their upper pubescence were our fighters. They fought for the peace of our women and our young, our elders, and our hobbling ones. Those whom they defended - in recompense - saw to making life stable again and readying our city for the coming home of its champions. Our warriors - still dying by dozens a day - held fire and sword to the outside of our city, while keeping safe our villages and those who dwelled within.
For moments there was peace in a place of unity dissolved. Being at odds once more with those who were not of our own, appeared to unify us - if but only for the interim. A people once set on keeping stillness while fostering unity, now we were bent by the art of combat, disbanding and aborting the principles which once for us, stood the cornerstone.
TOUGH, AND THEN BEYOND
The forty years since emancipation had waxed tough and then beyond, for Hamlet People. Meat and drink was nearly not feasible to gather for meal. Those who once had shared would now no longer; for fear that they would find decease by way of starvation. Those things in abundance were memories distant, as the days of our wealth to them who had existed in such times.
Proper dress for us was well beneath seemly, but for the lot of our infants and our young. Many of them had coverings all about. These were made of shavings from the roaming beast. Our most young were too, the only ones with foot coverings. Those who were their seniors dared not to wear them; for there was always somewhere, a youthful one which went without. Damsels and debutantes donned varied stitchings from their shoulders to their ankles. Mas and pas along with our elders dressed in weavings of branches and leaves, and only to those places which were to be kept in secret.
Our lake had turned a dull and murky gray. This was from the fire set to it during the invasion of our enemies, and from its abandonment and neglect for such a long period of time. Far portions had dried and become polluted by and with residue. Nearer waters had just grown discolored. But none of it was safe for swimming, and all the fish had gone some infinite measure prior.
Among the Hamlet People were some who were seemingly overtaken by the stories given about our homeland. They had given ear to amplified accounts by those who lacked incorruptibility. Some told tales of golden paved roads and food which fell from the sky at dayfall. Those ones who believed such things found grave disenchantment once reaching a land that had been left in such utter ruins. They sought for quicker resolution to our deficiencies, demanding to know our city as they were told it was. Complaining that our king had done too little to bring back the ways in which our fathers had dwelled, they suggested we were better off as slaves; though none returned to give themselves back.
There were also people which had sick and lonely hearts. They missed the years where several clans dwelled as one (first under tyranny, then when we rebuilt). Such ones struggled for living on their own; having neither chums nor kindreds to speak with, or added hands to help meet due costs.
Most of us had hoped we could return to the days of trading. We wanted for all to have meal and met needs. Some of those same forlorn became attached to the familiar faces of poverty, however; and vowed to carry along in solitary. To them it was foolish to give away any which they had gained, even if by the means of equal bartering.
Making voyage also grew hard. Seldom were occasions of visits to chums or for offering aid to those who guarded the gates to our city. Many natives no longer made conversation. They would just simply watch as one passed by their abodes. Holding bitter scowls on most their faces; they appeared to be in rage. Rather, had they found fear that the other had come to seize what belonged to them. Not often did any steal - of the few who did traverse - yet did passers by find offence with their neighbor’s cold countenances, and by what appeared to be such arrogant sets of mind.
Resentment soon found place among our people. Elders no longer gave trust to our young, for they had heard rumor of a planned ambush against them. Our young no longer took care to the elders. They felt betrayed; for many of their own greatmothers and greatfathers had turned from them, in silence.
There were those elders, however, who kept the standards of our fathers and the morals they had held, since the very beginning. One such man was a Godsend, called Author. His words were proper and were as direct as his small legs. Always he held high his head. His years were ten dozen and one forth. Most Hamlet men lived to be ten dozen and two fourth, yet Author showed no sense of such taxing. There were pains from all his time, to be certain. Grief and weariness had must set in. Yet, Author spoke not of them, nor grumbled about the days he had seen.
Author had dwelled throughout our destruction and captivity, and had fought in the wars which were of its aftermath. There were no lapses in his remembrance to be spoken of. Often did he give word to me, since I had been a younger lad.
"There was once a day, Trekker, when man would willful give his being for his brother’s, in battle. Now, selfish, is the rule. See to it that you not forget the lessons given to us by our fathers. Grow tall and strong and furthermore wise, Trekker. And do become a man of your own convictions. But never forget the days of those who made way for us, and of them who are akin."
Just newly had Author removed himself from battle (although he had been urged to do so for quite a time). Each able bodied man past seven dozen, and each hobbling one beyond five-and-a half dozen were permitted to depart from combat in that same year, on the day of his birth.
A legend in the things of conflict, Author was most infamous for saving lives of over a hundred comrades during an oil fire; in one of the war’s most deadly battles. No one spoke of his heroics, however; out of deference for him. He saw himself not as a brave man, yet as a servant. And did Author take opposition to ones who hailed him as the former. To him, being a warrior put him not in place to receive honor. For to him, he was the fortunate one - being called to do battle for his homeland.
Many times prior, did our council try to sway Author to take his permanent leave. And each time he responded by saying that he shall retire, but only once life had gone from his body. Ultimately, even Author submitted to their appeals and took an honorary chair with the council as a favor to our king; his chum, Jenteel.
Author had somehow seen to looking after my ma from the vanguard, once her pa had died in the wars. She was then, a damsel. He gave to her words of care, direction, and even rebuke. This was all done by way of them who stood inside our walls, fetching meal and drink for our warriors. They - being hobbling ones - were the personal servants to them who were at battle. These ones would deliver instruction and even make house with their young, were such the petition of the warrior in which they aided. When my ma became a debutante, it was Author which gave permission to my pa to be her suitor.
Younger fighters without clans of their own were charged to come from battle for a time, to begin a clan. This was so their line and that of the Hamlet People were to go forth. Those who abused their furlough in non-related merrymaking and acts of the rascal were fast ordered back to battle. They who were wise employed this occasion to marry and make child. When his fancy became expectant, then the fighter must return to war. Weepy partings between newly wedded ones (with child) and their champion men - returning to war - were far from a peculiarity, in this era.
Meanwhile, The People from Abroad had begun to bring their women as troops in their battalions; for they knew it was against the customs of the Hamlet men to raise hand to the kind that bear life. We - in turn, and by force - enrolled Hamlet women to battle, though the men of our contention were not so chivalrous. This provoked the rage of our champions and we no longer resisted confrontation with their women, as well. Now the wars were men against men, and women and women against women and men.
The clan from which I had come, and our record in the wars was not quiet. My ma was one of these first Hamlet women to fall in battle to the hands of our male enemies. When my pa received word that his one true love had fallen to the hands of a man - while he was not there to stand for her - he took his sword upon himself. With both of my guardians departed, Author now sought also after me.
Not having any young of his own loins, the two of us were as much kindreds as any house in The Hamlets. We were known for making peace among natives. Were there disputes among those who found trust in us; we stood as mediators, giving care to the concerns of both parties. We assisted in finding a likeable agreement between those ones which differed. Often, the two sides would end up as neighborly ones toward one the other; because of our influence on them both.
Our fame was found in doing those things which seemed as silly to them who knew us not. We invited those who had less than we, into our abode and charged them none. We would share meal with them and make them to rest. We covered their backs with our blankets, and made warmth for them with our cloaks. This had become a day absent in compassion and trust among natives. These kinds stretched beyond reasonable realms to keep that which was theirs to self. While others took none to their fellow ones, it was our clan which learned to give much of the little we had away. In a day where the lot saw themselves as one verses the masses, we strove for unity among all those who were of our own.