THE RED BANDS AND LADY HOSHO: I
There was a lady who lived by the sea. Her skin was flaky and she blamed the sea salt for it. But she didn’t complain, she would go about each day as always.
A cup of tea in the morning, leftover fish and, some seaweed. She then took her two-hour walk to and from Kilping. She returned and had Cobalt, the shepherd, lead the sheep to the pasture. She herself let the geese out of their pen, went to sleep off, and in the afternoon she knitted or weaved, whichever she left like that day. People from nearby towns bought her jerseys, socks, baskets, fish traps, and all she made. Despite her age, she was meticulous and swift in her craft. She always had what a customer wanted and they were always satisfied.
One day she was weaving, using dry reeds, by the rocks and sunbathing all at once. She was now accustomed to the smell of salt, the sound of the water beating the rocks, and the seagulls overhead. She noticed something bobbing on the water surface some paces away. It was round and left visible ripples when it dipped. Her eyes didn’t allow her to see the fine details of the object. It just appeared then disappeared. Then something happened, the object propelled into the air and there was a kaleidoscope of colours which came from it. Blue, green, yellow, white, red. She knew what it was in a heartbeat. She thought that the spell they had worked on her hid her past from mythical beings. I am just imagining things, perhaps it’s passing by. She continued weaving, ignoring what she had seen and nothing happened after that.
The next day she went to the same spot, to prove to herself that it had meant nothing. However, two showed up that day. Lady Hosho rose and dropped the basket she’d been working on. A wind rushed by and carried it away. She glanced again and they weren’t there anymore. She hurried on, her back curved and eyes forward, darting once or twice to the sides. As she neared the door to her house, she felt them emerge from the sea. She was sure of it as she knew the sun was yellow and the sky blue. She pushed the door handle and entered her home. She smashed the door shut and put her back against it. She finally breathed as she ought to; heavy, short breaths, heart thudding, fingers trembling.
She hadn’t weaved in years, the other weaving which she had once been a master at. One which didn’t involve reeds or stripped bark. Lady Hosho used to weave creatures into existence and weave them out of it. Not just beings but the elements and all nature had, she could intertwine with it at a level impossible to comprehend. She weaved into minds imposing disease, thoughts, depression, and all sorts of things. She had last weaved twenty years ago and her last expedition was deposing the Mer-kingdom King, who belonged to the Red-Band line. Those who had loved the King sought her death but those who had been oppressed were grateful, which was the majority. Among the latter were those who worked the magic of discretion, specifically two mermen and three mermaids. They helped her go out of the kingdom forever, conceal her from those who sought revenge. They combined a spell that would allow her to be hidden as long as they lived and mer-creatures were hard to kill. The other condition was she stop weaving completely. So, those two spotting me, what does it mean? Had they discovered it? Had they killed one of the mer-creatures and the link of the spell was now weak enough to allow some powerful enough to see her for what she was?
Lady Hosho felt them walking towards her. The energy of the creatures was undeniable, it was two mermaids, probably in their first century, quite young. Lady Hosho tried to weave but she couldn’t. It felt like a spark in her chest but that was all it was. She was rusty. Her mind was untrained as before, her muscles were wasted and deficient of the muscle memory of a Weaver …. the occasional pain in her body saw her unable to focus on it for long.
She grabbed a knife from the table and decided if she were to die, it wouldn’t be as a coward.
The door opened and there they stood. They were large and could barely fit in the doorway. The one who was pale bowed and entered the house. Her physique was solid, her hair was silver and her eyes were a deep blue of the sea. Her chin was manly, but every other facial feature was of a young woman in her prime. The other was much taller and bent over to fit. Her hair was green and so were her eyes. She had a birthmark on the side of her left eye that looked like a crescent. It was jade green and well contrasted against her caramel skin. She was slender and her body was with such finesse as if she were the prized pot of a potmaker.
Lady Hosho was squatted in the corner, knife pointed tip first at the two mermaids. One stretched her hand out to the Lady but she swung the knife at her, making a fine cut. The blood was blue, just a few trickles but it closed in a matter of seconds.
“We haven’t come to kill you.”
Lady Hosho still held her knife. “Then how did you know?”
“Know what?”
“Don’t be stupid, you know. Why did you come to me?”
“We don’t know!” The pale one who had been speaking all along looked at her companion. “We just felt it. Instinct. Something told us you could protect us, you attracted us like a beacon.” She paused. “We are as confused as you are.”
Lady Hosho mouth formed a horizontal line. She didn’t make an effort to lower her knife.
“Please lower your knife, we seek refuge. We’re in danger,” the pale one spoke again.
“I don’t trust you, leave now!” Lady Hosho protested.
“We can’t plea-“
“Now! Leave!!”
Lady Hosho’s wrinkles hid by her ‘being constantly busy’ suddenly appeared. They showed fear, as a Weaver she was never truly helpless. They showed doubt, as a Weaver no one could really hide their thoughts from her. They showed weakness, as a Weaver, power embalmed her constantly even when she wasn’t weaving.
The mermaids didn’t resist. They turned to leave. But one of them looked too familiar to Lady Hosho. She shot a glance back at the old lady before leaving. Lady Hosho dropped her knife as they fitted out of the doorway.
“Wait,” Lady Hosho said. Green Eyes took her body out of the doorway and returned.
“You look familiar, the both of you. And the fact that you respected my wishes means you were raised by someone who regarded human life as much as a mer-creature’s and those are a few in your kingdom.”
Lady Hosho trotted to the hearth and used the tinder to start a fire.
“You,” and she pointed to the one with green eyes, “How do you live among them with your -” she hesitated.
“Skin, my impure skin. But it’s odd you ask it and you are like me.”
“I am a human, it’s safe. Wait.. It’s less dangerous to be black here on land. And yes, I was looking for a nicer way to say it.”
“There is none, Lady Hosho.”
Lady Hosho’s eyes widened. Knowledge came to her; she knew why they were familiar.
“You’re Toyap’s children, how is she?” When the words left her mouth, she knew she’d been stupid to ask.
Their gaze left her and went to the walls then to the floor. Lady Hosho realized the bitter truth of it. She held her chest and chose to say nothing about their mother’s demise, it only seemed appropriate.
“The link is weak. That is why you found me.” Lady Hosho knelt, added more tinder, and blew. She put two logs when the fire was strong enough.
They still looked down.
“So why didn’t you tell me who you were at first?” Lady Hosho asked.
“We didn’t know. We spoke the truth. But as we spoke, I saw my mother’s mannerisms in yours. I saw the cocktails you mixed on the table there; she also mixes… used to mix such. Then to confirm it all, I saw the bracelet on your arm. Our mother claimed she had lost it on a journey. It’d been in the family for centuries and bound to the eldest of each generation.”
The pale one snarled.
Green Eyes cast a glance at her and the humming in her throat stopped. Green Eyes continued, “She also used to talk of a hero, in our bedtime stories, of a dark-skinned woman who used to rule the sea, of her brave acts. We knew it not true, but the details of the stories were too good not be true. I connected the dots. It’s you, the lady from our mother’s stories.”
Lady Hosho leaped, full of energy again, and hugged and kissed them. Green Eyes was unstable on her footing, she swayed Lady Hosho embraced her. Lady Hosho looked behind her and saw a streak of blue on her calf.
“Sit!” she commanded. Green Eyes sat and extended her left leg. Lady Hosho hurried to fetch a clean cloth and put a pot of water by the hearth fire. She grabbed a needle, a thread, and a needle holder.
The pale girl stood still, arms folded. She remarked, “Our danger is imminent. They might be on our tails now. If we sensed you, they might have — ”
“Was it Tareka?” Lady Hosho asked.
The pale girl nodded.
“Aaah!” Green Eyes shrieked when the alcohol touched her wound.
“You never did tell me how you lived with your.. our kind of skin with them,” Lady Hosho spoke.
The pale girl growled deeply.
“Mother used her magic of discretion. She was the best in the land, not even Jekren knew I was.. dif… different. She’s still shocked.” Jekren looked away from her sister. “If I weren’t her sister, I swear she would have killed me or somehow shamed me to death for my skin.”
Lady Hosho then washed Green Eye’s wound with warm water and cloth. When the pieces of crust from dried blood were removed, she stitched her up, poured more alcohol on it, and gave her some to drink.
Green Eyes drank and remarked, “It stings on my leg but has no taste.”
Lady Hosho laughed, “You drink stronger stuffs down there, I remember — ”
“Please Lady Hosho, you forget what I told -” Jekren spoke up.
“I know. I’m aware.” Lady Hosho stomped her foot. “Should I take you to some secret place or jump in terror to show you I know what it is we face? And you gave me the impression you were well-mannered at first, I see otherwise. Toyap knew better.”
Jekren smirked. Lady Hosho lifted her upper lip in a snarl, showing her canines. She still knew the gestures of annoyance among the mer-creatures.
“I left that life entirely. However, if those you claim attacked you knew you were here, we would be dead or you would have never reached this place.”
“So you have no solution yet you keep us!” Jekren spat on the floor. Green Eyes spoke up, “Forgive my sister, the death of our mother has had a toll on her. She has been highly irritable for the past few days.”
“The practicality, pragmatism, and anger of your father.” Lady Hosho remarked, staring at Jekren.
“Neither did I say I had no plan,” Lady Hosho continued.
Jekren cursed in her native tongue.
“Jekren, don’t be rude to a friend of Mother’s! She might yet know what to do. She has yet our mother’s bracelet. And don’t act like I don’t weep for her too.”
Jekren’s face reddened like an overripe tomato. “The bracelet should be mine.”
“But Mother chose otherwise, we know best than to question her judgment. She had her reasons. Lady Hosho is competent, you knew it, otherwise, you wouldn’t have called me here when you saw her yesterday. Would you, Sister?”
Jekren just stood there, contemplating. “I apologize, Lady Ho-”
“Ssshhh,” Lady Hosho interrupted.
Not again, I was apologizing. Old brainless woman, Jekren thought.
Lady Hosho spoke in a low tone, “They are here.”
“What shall we do?” the two sisters spoke at the same time, franticness all over their faces.
They looked at Lady Hosho and she was gulping down a yellow liquid from a small glass. They saw it enter her mouth and it shone as it went down her throat. When it got near her chest on its way to the stomach, it spread to her heart and made an outline of it. Her eyes became yellow and so did her hair for but a few seconds. All her veins became yellow, also for a brief moment and the colour disappeared.
The two sisters took steps back with gaping mouths.
“I am sure your world is full of much more magic,” Lady Hosho remarked.
Suddenly, door was blasted open and it flung at Lady Hosho. The world felt slowed and the three of them exchanged glances before the horror began.
READ PART II HERE:
