That night Madelynn found out first hand the night schedule of a baby. Not much of it was sleep. She woke the next morning sore and out of sorts. She did not know quite what to do so she walked slowly down the stairs and stumbled into the main hall with baby in hand.
The man sat behind the bar, polishing large glasses with a rag.
She sat down timidly, an emotion she had little to no experience with.
The man did not speak to her until her baby began to squirm and cry.
"What is his name?" he inquired and looked at the baby with cool blue eyes.
She thought for a moment. "I suppose it is Colt." she said.
"You suppose?" he asked with a laugh.
She looked up at him. She had not been laughed at before. She didn't like it. "I didn't name him." she said. It was the only thing that she could think of saying but it did not put the man down nearly as much as she wished it would.
"Well if you are anything like Balta than I will not ask questions. You learn not to ask anything around that woman. The answers are either too unbelievable or 'to dangerous for my own good'" he made a mocking tone of Balta's voice. It was good. She had to try very hard not to smile.
"You are not what you seem to be." he said after a long pause.
"And what do I seem to be?" she asked.
"What you try to be, I should say. What you try to make the men of the village perceive you as. You are not as haughty and careless as I thought you were."
"You are a quick observer." Madelynn snapped.
The man laughed low again.
"You make quick assumptions I think." Madelynn said. She did not like this man at all. Perhaps the old rivalries between themselves were well earned. She left without a word and walked until she found a barn. It was not what she wanted but it was solitude and that was what she wanted. She sat down and tried to calm the baby. She looked at him and he seemed bigger. But that was impossible, and yet his eyes were open and he looked around intently with wisdom much larger than himself. Perhaps like a colt he would mature faster.
She couldn't help but smile at his helplessness. She hadn't thought this would be much of a punishment, and indeed it wasn't. Balta was not as clever as she thought she was.
Madelynn nursed the infant until it was quiet and then the man entered the barn.
Madelynn sighed. The man did not say anything but sat down on a stool next to a white cow and began to milk it softly.
"I never told you my name." he said.
Madelynn cared not to reply but she did so anyway. "No."
"It's Stanter." he whispered.
"I am Madelynn."
"Yes. I know."

Beside the lake is a woman, nestled in the midst of a herd of horses. Some stand and some kneel, sleeping, and one lays on her side, panting heavily. When the woman sees them approaching she looks up. Her eyes are like stars, totally white and they shine as if made of mercury.
As soon as Madelynn sees the eyes she drops to her knees and touches her nose to the ground.
"You must not bow to me in the same manner you worship the goddess. I am only a messenger."
It's false modesty and Madelynn can tell. But she raises from her bow only a little staying low to the floor.
"Come here." the woman with star eyes motions her to sit beside the horse.
Madelynn sits as far away as possible while still obeying.
The woman sits up and tilts her head towards the sky. Madelynn follows her gaze. The star is a live with steaks of white. Stars shoot across the sky and then dissipate, all within a second.
"Cial speaks to me even know. Her wrath is great. Madelynn is ashamed.
"I am sorry." she whispers. She dares not speak the visions pouring through her mind on what her punishment will be.
"That's the thing." the woman says. She has read her mind. "We know not how to punish you. You have already been degraded to the form you are in now." Madelynn feels the sting of the words as only a tingle.
The horse begins to pant more frantically. "What ails her?" Madelynn asked.
"Her child. She is dying with him. He is not right."
Madelynn thinks her words are strange. She feels sorry for the animal. The woman lays her hand at the heaving mare's side. The woman smiles, a dark, dangerous thing.
"Cial has told me."
The woman gathers her dress and puts both hands on the horse's haunches. She shuts her eyes and the light from the two orbs almost seeps through her eye lids.
The horse shakes violently and then, like a bird let go, Madelynn can feel the horse's spirit fly away. There is a release and a colt falls to the ground.
The woman takes the colt in her hand pulls it close to her. She wraps her blankets around it and then, in the blink of an eye, changes it into a child.
The woman uncovers the baby's face. He is still covered with birth fluids and he does not cry. The woman hands the baby to Madelynn.
"This is your punishment. His name is Colt."
Madelynn looked up. "I don't know how to be a mother." she said a little to loosely.
The woman with star eyes slapped her across the face. "You best learn soon."
The woman got up and walked away.
Madelynn sat dumb founded for a moment and then got up and walked back to her house.
"Where are you going?" the woman asked.
"Home. Where else shall I go?"
"Your house is gone." the woman said as if it would be obvious.
"Follow me."
They walk through the rain to the village.
The woman leads her to an inn where the lights are low and the rooms are full. She opens the door and ushers Madelynn in.
Madelynn stepped through the threshold. The woman follows her. The room is empty. The chairs are put on top of tables and there is a man kneeling in front of the fire, praying.
The woman walks to him and sits down. Madelynn follows and sits, trying to position herself with the baby comfortably.
When the man is finished he turns. His hair is short and his eyes are like river stones.
"Yes?" he says.
"This is my daughter." the woman says. "She must stay here with you. Have her do what ever you need. She can milk cows if you need. Anything." with that she up and leaves.
Madelynn looked panicked.
she turns to the man.
"You are a Kroove?" he asks.
She nodded.
He nods to.
My god has just spoken to me. He told me that I would be receiving an unusual gift." the man laughs slightly.
She looked for the contempt that the Kroove's felt towards Galebans. But where the feud was before now was nothing left but fear and hope that this man would not deny her and her child.

Chapter Two.

Madelynn sat in the dark house. It was hours before the woman came back. She slunk into the house like a cat freshly fed on the flesh of mice.
"What have you done?" Madelynn said, forgetting her fear. Anger rose like fire from her mouth.
"Silence yourself, girl." the woman said. "You foolish idiot." She put a blood stained knife on the counter.
Madelynn's hand rose to her mouth and she felt her stomach roll. Had she done this?
"Come with me." the woman said and left the house.
Madelynn felt the woman's magic pull her behind like the pull of a magnet.
She could barely see the woman's dark dress but she followed. They walked until they got to a lake.

I have to go to bed so I guess I will finish this later...

Chapter One

This is a blog where I will not be blogging really. Tee hee. Blogger.com is now serving as my personal website for posting a book that I am working on. It's called Our Lady Madelynn and is about a woman named Madelynn and her life. I don't know the story behind the church but it made a good name.
Anyhew. I will cut to the chase.

Chapter One.

Madelynn sat in the tavern. She frequently did. As men churned smoke into the dark rafters she sat unmoved in the darkness. She could scarcely tell if they even knew she was there. She often avoided their notice. All eyes were on the bar maiden anyway.
Her ears perked at the sound of her name. She searched the room with black eyes until her eyes fell upon the men whispering about her. They were fat as bears and the words about her fell from rotten teeth.
She heard snatches of, "-as fine as they come." and "-most beautiful as I ever seen."
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly. She could not help herself. They were right.
She got up and walked to the bar. She withheld a laugh as she saw the men's eyes bug and tongues loll as she danced to the bar maid.
She sat down, tossing her golden hair slightly towards the man next to her. She brushed his leg with hers and then withdrew from him. Sitting further away than the polite distance. She ordered drink and sipped from the liquid, letting it slither down her throat.
She soon felt light and the men began to look less fat and rotten. For only a moment she looked in one's eyes and then she sat upright. She had almost forgotten who she was. She was not like these. She was as a deer in the midst of rams.
She drew herself up and walked from the door. She pretended not to notice the men get up and walk towards the door after her.
She walked to the side of the building where her horse was waiting. Not until she was closer did she see a man waiting on her white horse.
She stopped mid stride. She quickly composed herself.
He spoke first.
"Hello."
She stared at him with eyes as black as cold coal.
He waited a moment and then continued.
"You wouldn't be riding home alone tonight, would you?"
"Yes." she said quickly. "In fact I am always alone." She said it slightly bitterly because it was the truth. He wrinkled his brow.
"Only in person. You are frequently in great company in the thoughts of the village men." the man sniffed and pushed his hair out of his face.
She did not laugh. But she did not speak either. She did not trust her voice. She now felt as if she had to hold her guard like a curtain in front of her for it threatened to fall. She wanted to snap back in her usual way but something about the way the boy looked at her, for he was only a boy, made her stay her tongue.
"I am not frequently in your mind?" she asked.
He thought for a moment and then replied, "Yes. I might say frequently. But I am safe in saying that we were both sober and abstinent in my imagination."
Now she did laugh, but only a short cut off thing which quickly fell dead on the ground. This boy was completely slipping beneath her shield where he was far to close to be safe.
She walked towards her horse and untied him from the post where he was pegged.
"Dismount my horse. I feel I should be on my way. The moon is high."
He jumped down and before she could summon any of her charm which was now dormant his lips flew towards hers and before she knew it the boy slipped beyond the wall and was gone.
She gathered the little power she had and shot it towards the boy and it returned with one thing. His name.

Madelynn rode home on her white steed. Her presence in the forest was like a star in a dark universe.
When the cottage was in sight she parked her horse outside and walked through the front door.
The house was dark and drying lavender hung like dead birds from the window panes. She sensed a person at once and turned around.
There was a woman sitting in her chair. She was rail thin. Her face said that she was not interested in beauty but indeed she was beautiful. Her pale gray eyes looked worn at the floor.
Madelynn recognized her at once. She bowed her head a little.
"Miss Giggim. I did not know you were coming. I would have been home."
The woman looked up and as steel met coal Madelynn felt her stomach knot.
The woman spoke in her worn voice. "I ask one simple thing of you, Madelynn." she handled her name like a snake.
"I gave you everything in our kingdom but it was never enough. I let you live in this world but it was never enough. I let you touch them. I let you see and speak to these people but it was NEVER enough." Her voice cracked with her anger, like a violent whip barely contained.
"It was never enough."
The woman paused for a minute and looked at the ground.
"I don't know what you want from me. But I set rules and time after time you break them. But this time I will not relent."
The woman got out of her chair and walked towards the door. She turned on her heel.
"What was his name? Some random farm boy that was so important that you would deny your own mother?"
Madilynn would have told her that she was not her mother had she not been so afraid.
"William." she whispered.
The woman laughed. The name was so plain. "The boy is lucky. He is probably the first boy from around this wood to have kissed an angel."
And with that the woman left the house with knife in hand.