Chapter four
The melody of a berserker
"One is gone but not forgotten a name lived on when body was rotten."
Early morning had come; the village was fairly peaceful despite the worry of its people. The wives had kept their children inside, or allowed them out to play with very close watchful eyes. A few boys sat upon a porch of a fairly big hut, this was the hut where the orphaned children lived, and their families had died from disease and the war that happened that time ago. They lived fairly happily there, at the young ages they hadn't understood what had happened and had lived to accept it. Further more they where being looked after by a beautiful young woman named Kikyou. Kikyou was a Miko, a holy woman who dressed in white robes, or a haori as it was named, and a long red skirt which fell to her sandled feet, as with her long black tassels of hair, which intertwined with one another, bound back by a white ribbon. Also upon her back was a bow, a few ribbons flowing down its handle, a few arrows where propped up against the side of the village door, She watched the children not standing to far away from them so that they where in no danger. Some held a skipping rope, two small girls. They grasped the end as another small child hopped up and down as they swung it around gently. Kikyou smiled warmly as her chocolate brown orbs wandered upon each child naming them in her mind. They did this every morning, they played and played outside until they where hungry, she brought them small meals then they'd go back to playing, She refused to teach them, she knew they'd learn though playing anyhow. The children gathered around Kikyou in a circle as she held two close to her, another upon her lap. They loved to hear her sing because she sang as beautifully as she was. They knew today she was to teach them a new melody, but what they didn't know is that this one was very, very different. She parted her lips and began to chime into a haunting melody filled with small pauses then growing faster a little while afterwards. "The pure are soiled and the soiled are purified." She almost whispered, her wispy but somewhat powerful voice caught their attention, they watched with glassy hues. "What is good is evil and what is evil is good." They mouthed the words with her as if they knew them, but they'd never heard the haunting melody before, not in their tiny lifetimes. "To live is to die and to die is to live." They expected her to go on, but she didn't she stopped and nodded her head slightly. "Why lady Kikyou? Why didn't you continue?" She smiled sweetly, patting the young Childs head. "Nay' child, I do not know any more of this song, I regret this, its so beautiful, so." The village leader stepped forward. "So haunting?" She nodded to him the children bowed to their knees then went back to playing, singing the haunting melody. "That's an old song lady Kikyou." She took a seat from the grass to the porch, placing the bow upon her shoulder to the ground next to her; he soon sat with her waiting for her answer. "Yes, it is, the village doctor, Suikotsu wrote it, he used to sing it to the people that came to him one of them myself when I was younger we got on well I felt I could talk to him about things I'd not tell another. But then the fire, and the attack, when he was killed I swore to myself I'd look after this place, and the people who came to it, including the children who live here now. I'll always have him in mind, much like the song." "Is it not a poem? Its length is short." She nodded placing her hands into her lap. "Indeed, I never knew the rest, he knew but never told me. He said that his mother used to sing it to him. And her husband taught her it before that, so its been going for a long, long time." Some of the children, listened with curiosity, others continued skipping or play fighting, two girls picked flowers, giving them to Lady Kikyou and the village leader it seems they believed that there was more to the two than just friends. "And what was his mothers husbands name?" He asked quickly, taking one of the flowers and placing it upon the porch beside him. "I think.No I know, I am definite that his name was Olson." The village leader stood, taking the flower and placing it into the woman's hair. "Wasn't there a legend about him? He was famous for something?" She nodded smiling up at him. "Yes, Olson was a berserker."
The melody of a berserker
"One is gone but not forgotten a name lived on when body was rotten."
Early morning had come; the village was fairly peaceful despite the worry of its people. The wives had kept their children inside, or allowed them out to play with very close watchful eyes. A few boys sat upon a porch of a fairly big hut, this was the hut where the orphaned children lived, and their families had died from disease and the war that happened that time ago. They lived fairly happily there, at the young ages they hadn't understood what had happened and had lived to accept it. Further more they where being looked after by a beautiful young woman named Kikyou. Kikyou was a Miko, a holy woman who dressed in white robes, or a haori as it was named, and a long red skirt which fell to her sandled feet, as with her long black tassels of hair, which intertwined with one another, bound back by a white ribbon. Also upon her back was a bow, a few ribbons flowing down its handle, a few arrows where propped up against the side of the village door, She watched the children not standing to far away from them so that they where in no danger. Some held a skipping rope, two small girls. They grasped the end as another small child hopped up and down as they swung it around gently. Kikyou smiled warmly as her chocolate brown orbs wandered upon each child naming them in her mind. They did this every morning, they played and played outside until they where hungry, she brought them small meals then they'd go back to playing, She refused to teach them, she knew they'd learn though playing anyhow. The children gathered around Kikyou in a circle as she held two close to her, another upon her lap. They loved to hear her sing because she sang as beautifully as she was. They knew today she was to teach them a new melody, but what they didn't know is that this one was very, very different. She parted her lips and began to chime into a haunting melody filled with small pauses then growing faster a little while afterwards. "The pure are soiled and the soiled are purified." She almost whispered, her wispy but somewhat powerful voice caught their attention, they watched with glassy hues. "What is good is evil and what is evil is good." They mouthed the words with her as if they knew them, but they'd never heard the haunting melody before, not in their tiny lifetimes. "To live is to die and to die is to live." They expected her to go on, but she didn't she stopped and nodded her head slightly. "Why lady Kikyou? Why didn't you continue?" She smiled sweetly, patting the young Childs head. "Nay' child, I do not know any more of this song, I regret this, its so beautiful, so." The village leader stepped forward. "So haunting?" She nodded to him the children bowed to their knees then went back to playing, singing the haunting melody. "That's an old song lady Kikyou." She took a seat from the grass to the porch, placing the bow upon her shoulder to the ground next to her; he soon sat with her waiting for her answer. "Yes, it is, the village doctor, Suikotsu wrote it, he used to sing it to the people that came to him one of them myself when I was younger we got on well I felt I could talk to him about things I'd not tell another. But then the fire, and the attack, when he was killed I swore to myself I'd look after this place, and the people who came to it, including the children who live here now. I'll always have him in mind, much like the song." "Is it not a poem? Its length is short." She nodded placing her hands into her lap. "Indeed, I never knew the rest, he knew but never told me. He said that his mother used to sing it to him. And her husband taught her it before that, so its been going for a long, long time." Some of the children, listened with curiosity, others continued skipping or play fighting, two girls picked flowers, giving them to Lady Kikyou and the village leader it seems they believed that there was more to the two than just friends. "And what was his mothers husbands name?" He asked quickly, taking one of the flowers and placing it upon the porch beside him. "I think.No I know, I am definite that his name was Olson." The village leader stood, taking the flower and placing it into the woman's hair. "Wasn't there a legend about him? He was famous for something?" She nodded smiling up at him. "Yes, Olson was a berserker."