*Note: Much of the story will be in italics, which means that Meinrad is dreaming.*
Chapter 21
Meinrad finds himself in a snow-covered meadow and while the sky was clear, there was no moon or any stars shining in the sky. Meinrad had good night vision, but his strong sense of smell also helped him around.
It was awfully quiet, but then, the howling of wolves filled the night. However, Meinrad was puzzled by these types of howls, they sounded more human than animal.
He listens hard to the sounds and follows them, passing over a hill. He then sees a light in the distance and the howling was growing louder. When Meinrad got closer, he realized it was a hut, and the howling was actually a woman screaming.
Then, Meinrad smelled blood in the air and he quietly walks up to the hut. The woman had stopped screaming, but then a man began to cry out in horror. "What is this?!" he shrieks and Meinrad looks through the window.
He heard a baby crying, but Meinrad sees the infant on the floor. "A monster!" the man shouts. Meinrad looks closely at the infant, it had cloven hooves for feet, tiny horns had sprouted on the side of its head, and it was covered in black hair. The infant was him!
"Meinrad?" a female voice said and he jumps in surprise. To his shock, it was Ishild, but the shock turned to relief, and he embraces her.
"Kill it," they heard the woman in the hut say. "Take it and kill it." The two of them watch as the man, presumably Meinrad's father wrap the infant creature in a bundle and hurries out of the hut.
Meinrad and Ishild follow the man towards the dark woods, while the infant cried, but the man places a hand over the baby's mouth. Ishild then stops when she notices a shape in the grass. It was a woman, probably middle aged with blonde hair. She wore a dark cloak and she looked to be spying on the man. Ishild watches the woman carefully sneak and watch the man.
The man stops at a stream and Ishild's heart stops beating. The man lowers the bundle in the water and the infant continued to cry. Ishild sees the woman take a twig and snap it. The man looks around in a panic.
The woman snaps more twigs and Ishild suspected she was trying to save the infant by pretending to be a forest animal. "It'll drown or a wolf will eat it," the man said and runs off.
Ishild and Meinrad watch the woman rush towards the infant and she takes it out of the water. She removes the wet blanket off of the infant and wraps it in her cloak, while looking at the beastly looking baby.
Ishild looks at the woman's face, there was something familiar about her. "Why would he do that to you?" the woman asks the infant Meinrad. A shock courses through Ishild's body, she recognized the voice.
"Oda?" she said and Meinrad looks at her. "She is our storyteller!" Ishild exclaims, but the young Oda didn't seem to hear her. Oda comforts the infant Meinrad and he calms down.
Oda speaks to the infant Meinrad, "Little one, I know you have a beautiful soul, and I know you are here on this earth for a reason. Now, I must find you a family who would not ridicule you."
They watch her as she walks deep into the forest, while carrying the infant. It was awfully dark, but the full-grown Meinrad helped guide Ishild and they follow Oda. It felt like hours, but then, they notice a light in the distance.
They then hear music and chattering. Meinrad sniffs the air, "It's the dwarf community," he said to Ishild. Oda walks toward the dwarf village and they follow. Once they see the dwarfs, the folks had stopped playing and look at Oda.
"A human!" one cries out and they scatter.
"Please!" Oda calls out, "This infant needs help, he needs a mother. Please, show pity, his parents abandoned him," she explains and the dwarfs stop to see the baby. They took one look and then, a dwarf with blonde hair takes the baby into in her embrace.
"Runa," Ishild said in a whisper when she recognized the young aged female dwarf. Runa feeds the infant and her husband, Hartwig embraces them.
Ishild then sees Oda leaving the dwarf village and Ishild was curious as to where she was going. Ishild, however, looks back at the dwarf couple and their friends. "What should we name him?" Hartwig asks his wife.
"He deserves a good name," Runa replies.
"How about Meinrad?" a male voice asks and Ishild sees a young Helmold. "I believe he will be big and strong when he grows up."
All the dwarfs nodded in agreement and Ishild and the full grown Meinrad leave the village. They follow Oda's footprints that lead away from the dwarf community and they caught up to her.
They came out of the winter forest and Ishild stops to see a village just beyond the meadow. It was small, but it appeared to be expanding. "That's my village," Ishild said to Meinrad.
They then notice Oda running up to a man, a young Chief Randulf. "Chief, I have horrifying news," she said to him, "Theotman and his wife, they had their baby, but they killed it. I saw Theotman drown the poor infant in the stream."
"Theotman?" Ishild repeats the name, but she could not recollect anyone in her village with that name.
"I knew this would happen! That woman is so selfish and vain! They must be punished! Bring them here!" the young Chief Randulf orders the guards. The guards were joined by other men in the village and they leave.
Some time later, they returned with the couple, both were bound and gagged. "Chief, they claimed that the infant was born a monster," a guard said. The couple was crying as if pleading with the chief.
Chief Randulf looks at Oda and asks, "Did you see the infant?"
"I did, but he looked healthy and beautiful, even in death. I couldn't bear to leave him exposed, so I buried him," Oda replies, her eyes filled with tears. The couple then began to scream, but they were muffled by the gags.
"Enough, both of you! You killed an innocent baby! Therefore, you must be punished! Chop off their heads!" the chief orders and the guards drag the two towards the execution block.
Ishild and Meinrad watch as Theotman and his wife were executed. "Oda," Meinrad said to himself, "She...she saved my life."
"And she spent the rest of her life protecting you by sharing that story," Ishild replies and she looks at the young Oda. "And she taught my mother about compassion and showing mercy," she adds.
"And your mother taught you," Meinrad said and sits down on the ground. Then, they realize that the young Oda was staring at them.
"Do not be alarmed," she said and they remain still. "I wanted to show you this, so you would understand what I had to do. Theotman was a good man, respected by the villagers, but his wife Linza was very foolish. She had no love in her heart and she taunted God when she was pregnant," Oda explained to them.
"Who was Linza?" Ishild asks Oda.
"She was the chief's wife's sister," Oda replies and Ishild's face turns white and tightens her grip on Meinrad's hand. "Linza was betrothed to the young chief, but when he saw how vain and arrogant she was, he broke off the engagement and married her sister, Hildegard. Linza never forgave them and the chief had her live beyond the village.
"Theotman took pity on Linza and married her, but she never loved him. When I told the chief about them killing you, I knew that he would not want a murderer for a sister-in-law. The blood of a dead newborn would stain his reputation, not just Linza's. So, both Linza's and Theotman's names and memories were erased from the village. I am sorry to show you this," Oda explains to them.
"No," Meinrad replies, "I am grateful that you did." He looks at Ishild and she holds him in her embrace. Oda then points to the body of Linza and they notice a black mist seeping out of her.
"What is that?" Ishild asks and they watch as the black mist hovers over the villagers and vanish.
"That was Linza's soul, but Lucifer had stained it. He looks for victims to feed them all evils, such as arrogance, greed, and wrath," Oda answers and Ishild looks down at the ground.
"He did the same to my brother," Ishild said and tightens her hand into a fist.
"I still want to show something, eighteen years after," Oda said and the vision changes. Oda had aged dramatically and so did the village. The now old Oda points to a young girl, wearing a cloak.
"That's me," Ishild said in a whisper and they follow her to the meadow. The young Ishild sits and waits for something. "When I heard the story about you, I wanted to see if it was true," Ishild said to Meinrad. She then looks to see her young self get up to leave, but then, they see a wolf.
The young girl runs away, the wolf was chasing her, but then, a figure catches the wolf. "I caught that wolf," Meinrad said and Ishild looks at him in surprise. "I saved you that night," he adds. They look at the young Meinrad, who appeared no different than the grown version of him.
"Ishild was natural curious at that age and I knew when I told the story about you, she would want to go look for you. I was not expecting a wolf to go after her that night, but you did save her. You didn't realize it," Oda explains to them.
"Wait, you knew that I would go looking for Meinrad that night?" Ishild asks and Oda nods, "And ten years later?" Ishild adds and Oda nods, again.
"In a way, I brought you two together," the old woman replies, "But, like all trials in life, Lucifer taunts those who have compassion towards others. Meinrad, I am afraid that once this dream is over, you will be tested by Lucifer. He will try to break you, crush you with everything he has, but as long as you have love in your heart, you will succeed."
Meinrad stares at the old storyteller and his heart beats faster. Ishild calms him, but he was still afraid of the upcoming test. "What of Saint Nicholas? Will he help Meinrad?" Ishild asks.
"No, Saint Nicholas has allowed Lucifer to taunt Meinrad, but just this once. If you succeed, Lucifer will not test you for the remainder of your servitude," Oda informs Meinrad and she turns to leave, but then adds, "And I am afraid that Ishild cannot provide comfort during the test."
Ishild hugs Meinrad and they held on to each for a long time. "I am not afraid, Lucifer cannot beat me," Meinrad said to her.
"I don't want him to hurt you," Ishild replies, but he chuckles.
"He gave me immortality, so I will be immune to injuries," he said, but that did not help calm Ishild's nerves.
"He can take it away," she replies and she stands up to leave. "I am afraid that I am being called back to Heaven. I don't want to leave you," she adds, holding Meinrad's hands in hers.
Meinrad kisses her softly and releases her, "I will pass this test," he said and Ishild walks away from him and disappears.
Meinrad wakes up in surprise, he was back in his cave, and it was awfully cold. He stands up and walks out of the cave to see fresh snow falling. He looks around the forest, nothing was around, and he heard the rustling of twigs.
Meinrad's breath froze whenever he exhaled and he stares up at the gray sky. Snowflakes fell on his face and Meinrad looks through the tall trees, wondering what animal lurked beyond.
He inhales a deep breath and gives one last frosted exhale before returning to his cave. He lies down and shuts his eyes, "I am ready," he whispers and he falls asleep once more.
From the author: I would like to answer some of yasdnilgoth's questions: Meinrad is or was a member of the Baemi tribe until his parents abandoned him. Meinrad did age normally like a human until he was cursed. Meinrad was eighteen and Ishild was six and ten years later, he was twenty-eight and she was sixteen, so Meinrad was twelve years older than her.
So, will Meinrad survive Lucifer's brutal test? Find out later.