Another fill inspired by the intersection of several prompts! This was inspired by a prompt from
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ysabetwordsmith during the
February 2023 Crowdfunding Creative Jam of "Top Down," the "Rainforest Jasper - Connection To Nature" square of my
February 2023 Valentines Bingo Card, and finally the "Curses" prompt for the
February Ficlet Challenge Day 18. At 1,455 words it is the fourth story of The Earthen, which now have their own
Series Page!
Topple Down There was a legend amongst the Earthen of a Giant creature that would enter the woods and leave nothing but a barren wasteland in their path. The Giants were the height of twenty Earthen, with tender smooth skin they covered with armor made of animal hides or woven plant fibers and heads covered in long fur all around. When the Giants came to a woodland, they brought with them incredible tools designed to bring the forest crashing down around them. Enormous saws worked between two Giants could bring down even the oldest and most revered oak in the wood.
The Earthen knew this was no false legend because they had living with them another Earthen named Basia, a Stranger to their warren who had been given shelter when she ran from the destruction of her home forest. Basia had told them the stories of how the Giants had come one year in the late winter, and using their monstrous tools, they had taken her entire forest to the ground by the beginning of the next.
So, when three Giants were spotted on the eastern edge of the woods by Gnegon, ever Watchful during the first foraging trips of spring, there was great fear and confusion among the Earthen. Zotia Wisely counseled everyone to remain calm, that a solution would be found, but Basia urged them to run, that the Giants were unstoppable, and their only choice was to run to another warren, and as Strangers they would at least survive.
Bendek spoke up, voice shouting over the crowd, “We have a plan!” Next to him stood Feliks who appeared calm and steady. As the murmurs and fearful cries died down, many Earthen turned to watch as the Blessed and the Lucky explained their plan.
“What if, with a little Luck, we had a way to make the Giants choose to leave our forest for good?” asked Bendek.
“What if, by using our greatest Blessing, we could curse the Giants?” asked Feliks.
“Tell us more,” begged Dezydery, who greatly Desired to remain safe and comfortable in her home warren, but clung to Basia’s hand, believing the Stranger might have the only real solution.
“We’ve all seen it before; what one Earthen considers their greatest Blessing, can be a curse to another Earthen. Feliks and I believe that we can use that against the Giants. Our warren’s greatest Blessing is the Tear of Devanna, and the deep mystical connection with the Earth it creates. If we sacrifice the stone, set it amongst the Giants, to them it might become a curse.”
“We hope, with some Luck, that by cursing the Giants with the strong connection to the Earth that the Tear of Devanna creates, it will make them realize the harm they cause when they destroy the forests," Feliks concluded.
Shouts rang out amongst the crowd, “But what about us?” “Won’t we lose our connection?” “That’s our treasure!”
Zotia spoke again, “No. We won’t lose our connection. The Tear of Devanna is our greatest Blessing, this is true. But it isn’t our only. We have other, smaller stones that provide a spiritual anchor to the Earth, and more, we know how to find others. Our warren hasn’t had to mine for several generations, but we’re capable. After the current crisis is past, then we can plan a quest to search for another great Blessing.”
And as the furor died down once more, a plan was discussed in great detail, hammered and smoothed out by the Earthen’s many voices. Numerous fears had to be assuaged, and as was prudent, a backup plan to retreat was also put into place.
~~~
It took most of Spring to accomplish the plan. Moving the Tear of Devanna was no easy task, as it was a perfectly smooth, teardrop shaped piece of green rhyolite, taller than two Earthen, and heavier than ten. Slowly it was brought forth from the depths of the warren, and even slower the team of gatherers spent every day pushing or pulling the stone across the forest floor. Needing all the strength they could muster, even Gnegon was needed for the task of moving the Tear, so the gatherers had agreed to bring young Berna to provide for their protection.
They reached their destination at sunset in late May. They stood in the shadows of the last trees with destruction spread out before them. In just a couple of months the Giants had already taken down the entire Eastern edge of the forest. Stumps and trampled mud were all that lay before them, and as the gatherers settled down to wait for the depths of night to complete their plan, Dezydery clung to Zotia and wept. This close to the Tear of Devanna, every Earthen could feel the way the Earth mourned the wholesale slaughter of the trees.
Darkness slowly fell. The Earthen watched in tense and fearful silence as not three, but seven Giants slowly appeared on the edge of the woods and returned to their encampment. The camp was made of several enormous triangle shaped dwellings made of plant fibers, a flat wooden structure on round metal bands that held it up off the ground that was loaded with lumber, and a firepit of terrifying proportions. Next to the firepit were seven upright stumps, and the Earthen watched warily as the Giants sat and made a meal out of a felled stag.
Time crept on even slower, as one by one the Giants retreated to their fiber triangles, presumably to sleep. All the gatherers had sprung into action as the final Giant left the ring of stumps. For hours they pushed and pulled the stone into position, and then let Zotia Wisely chose which stump to they would attempt to pull the Tear of Devanna onto. The labor to pull the stone up onto the Giant-sized seat took several more hours, and they caught a huge bit of Luck when Feliks stumbled and fell from the stump, but landed in a pot of water, rather than suffering a deadly crash to the ground.
Bendek said a Blessing on the stone, “Goddess Devanna, let the Blessing of the tears you’ve shed meld with our tears. We cry in fear and pain, Devanna, as the Giants have come to tear down our forest, and leave nothing in their wake. We curse them Devanna, with the same connection to your heart that we are Blessed with, let it bring them understanding of what they’ve done.”
Gnegon kept a Watchful eye on the flaps of the Giants sleeping chambers. Pressed against his back was Berna, her cocklebur bow and arrows at the ready should any Giant stir, fierce as a Bear protecting her cubs.
Dezydery was a pitiful sight. The trip had been hardest on her, bereft as it had been of all creature comforts. But she met them now with a glass of warm herbal tincture, an Earthen cure that was known to help those who Desired swiftness and stamina, even after completing other arduous tasks. They gulped it gratefully, and with the surge of energy it provided ran back to the edge of the woods to await the dawn.
~~~
The gatherers returned home weeks later with a story to tell. A story of the grief of the first Giant to spy the Tear of Devanna on the stump seat and pick it up easily in its enormous paw. Zotia only had been able to see Devanna’s green magic settle on the Giant, but all the gatherers had seen how it looked about with wild wide eyes, turning in all directions, before falling to its knees and crying in the mud. When the other Giants had awoken the first to be touched by Devanna had passed the stone to each in turn, each one’s eyes going wild and huge, before brimming over with tears.
The heart deep tie to the Earth the stone had forged was indeed like a curse upon the Giants. Their sounds of anguish were enough to make the gatherers pity the enormous creatures, but not enough to make them regret the choice to spend their Blessing as a curse. Zotia whispered that hopefully, with time, the big beasts would learn to appreciate their connection, that it would turn into the same Blessing the Earthen had perceived.
The gatherers stayed just long enough to watch the Giants pack up their dwellings, load themselves and their encampment onto the flat platform full of lumber, and then watch as it slowly trundled East, away from the devastated area of the forest.
They had all joined Bendek then in one final wish, "We hope, Devanna, that the Giants never return to topple down the trees of your forest."
~~~
The Tear of Devanna looks something like this:
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