Free Tomorrows Child by Starr West Page A

good.
    Navarre caught
my hand and helped me stand. I was still giddy and the music
permeated the air with haunting sounds. “Here, brother! Don’t let
her sit, make her dance, make her happy.” Navarre placed my hand
into Phoenix’s hand and kissed my cheek.
    Without a word,
Phoenix led me to the open space on the lawn, but he didn’t spin
me, he drew me close and held me until I could feel his heart
pounding. “It was good to see you laugh, I have missed that,” he
said.
    “Yes, I have
too.” I wasn’t sure when Phoenix had seen me laugh or even smile,
but it didn’t matter. He smelt comforting like smoke and sweet
incense. He often smelt like incense and it made me want to snuggle
in and stay like this forever. The music changed along with the
rhythm, but Phoenix held me close and we danced. Navarre had
gathered the children together and was dancing with them, spinning
in a circle and flopping to the ground. They giggled and climbed on
him until he spun them round again.
    Jalani held
Navarre’s hand and wriggled her fingers into Phoenix’s hand “Spin,
Pheny, spin!” So the two boys held their little sister’s tiny hands
and the four of us spun, watching the blue moon wobble as we
crashed to the ground.
     

Chapter 8 ~
BEESWAX, DRAGON’S BLOOD AND A TASTE OF MAGICK
    “A toast,”
Ruben said as he stood and raised an old cup skyward. The others
reached down and scooped liquid from a pot that was warming by the
fire. “It’s spiced mead,” Phoenix said. As he handed me a cup, I
could smell hints of honey, cinnamon, cloves and ginger rising in
the steam.
    “To friends, to
family and to a new earth,” shouted Ruben. I sipped the
sweet-spiced liquid. It tingled lightly against my tongue and its
syrupy warmth flowed through me.
    Libby stepped
toward the fire “To the Earth, our Mother and Great Goddess, may
she provide for us in the days ahead and may the fire in her womb
warm our hearts and souls as we head into winter.”
    I was still
giddy from our spinning dance as I swallowed the sweet mead and
tried to steady my heart. Most of the smaller children had fallen
asleep on a rug just beyond the circle of the fire. Jalani was
still awake, standing wide-eyed beside Navarre, holding his hand.
The music continued, though the drums were replaced by the strings
of a guitar as we settled into the tranquil atmosphere of the
night.
    Phoenix was
never far from my side. We had become friends without the test of
time or the necessary trials and demands new friends normally place
on each other. But it wasn’t just Phoenix, the entire community had
accepted me. I was part of the tribe, I was family.
    In the soft
stillness of the night, a noise, sharp and sudden, shattered the
serenity. Harsh sounds assaulted the air, destroying the harmony. A
screech, a growl, a crash of timber in the forest behind us and the
music stopped. In the darkness beyond the firelight, it was coming
towards us, but no one knew exactly what was causing the noise.
    In an instant,
everything changed. Chaos and commotion surrounded us. Navarre
scooped up Jalani in his arms. The screeching grew louder, closer.
And then, for a sickening moment, there was silence.
    Breathe.
    A deep growl
rumbled across the earth and my chest ached. I could smell it now,
the putrid stench of a creature, long dead. The hair on my neck
began to bristle and my stomach heaved.
    Out of the
darkness emerged a large black animal, its features distorted, its
hair matted. It appeared to be a dog, but it wasn’t.
    It stood beside
the circle of stones that designated the fire pit and looked into
the faces of the people, now frozen in place. The creature growled.
It had found its target. Red eyes glowed and thick globs of drool
fell in ribbons to the ground.
    The beast took
a step closer. Its eyes fixed. Its prey defined. Red eyes burned
into my soul and I swallowed my scream like an ember of fire in my
throat. I was drawn into a world of death – a timeless space where
life