The Birthspear of Alisca

The firecircle grows as silent as the encompassing darkness tightens like a battle drum around them all. Close to the fire, shining in that golden heat, the elders of the village elbow and coax one of their number to stand. He rises like a reluctant jumble of sticks, smiling as the people cheer and drum their feet. As he begins to speak, his audience feel the stars above them vanish and see through his eyes an ancient shore, barely recognisable as their own... *** Black, furious tides swept the shores for many weeks before Alisca was born. In the last days of her mother’s long labor, a roaring storm churned the sea and filled the air with water and ash. Her name was Anya - a powerful figure in the village of Farralone since her sixteenth birthday. As Earthmother, she had shown a renowned ability to foretell the seasonal moods of the land and sea. With her mystical cunning guiding the village, Farralone had thrived. But on this night, Mother Nature seemed bent on a terrible rebate. The...