The Four

Ankel

He thought over the 15 years of this boy’s life, and his own experiences with him. Ankel had always seemed wiser than his years, and had from a young age, been very much alone.

His mother had died in his birth, which is why Enrich had been there. An old tinker he may be, but for a long time now the villagers had come to him as a sort of healer and herbalist.

His skills had been known for a long time, and the villagers had come to accept his rather eccentric style of life.

It had come as no surprise to him when Ankel’s father, Hadlem, had come knocking on his door in the middle of the night. He had, in fact, been waiting for him.

The winds had told him that something was happening that night, something important, and he had listened to them as he always did. So, he was ready when the man came to his door, even though he had no idea what he was waiting for.

It soon became evident that the man was in some panic, his wife was in labor with their child, and the labor was not going well. The local mid-wife had sent Hadlem to retrieve him in hopes that Enrich might be able to help.

Without a word he had grabbed what he thought he would need and rushed after the man to the small cottage he and his wife had shared.

Enrich entered the small room and was at first hit with the sense of powerful magic. It was young, this magic, and as yet untested.

He looked down at the woman laboring to bring her child into the world and saw how faint her lifeforce was. Enrich knew that the woman would not survive this.

He did not share his knowledge with Hadlem, but a look at the mid-wife told him that she already knew.

Kneeling beside the woman he pulled out his herbs and asked Hadlem to bring him hot water, more to keep the man busy than from any real need.

He chanted in his head and spread a little magic to the new life that was trying to come into this world. He kept his hands busy with the herbs so as not to let on to what he was doing and had soon made a tea for the mother and instructed Hadlem to try and get it into her. The tea would bolster her strength for what she was about to endure, and then allow her to slip from this world painlessly.

He wished that he could help the woman, knew that the child would miss having a mother, but fate had pre-ordained this night to play out as it would and he could not interfere.

Placing his hands on the mother’s swollen belly he massaged and helped her push her child into the world. As the night progressed it became evident that the trouble was that the baby was turned around when his feet and bottom came out first.

He shared a frantic look with the mid-wife, they both knew that this put the baby in danger.

Moving over to kneel next to her he whispered, “Do we dare try to turn him?” the mid-wife thought about it but before she could answer the mother pushed mightily one last time, and her son was brought into the world screaming.

Taking the child, he began the process of cleaning him and making sure that all was well with him. The mid-wife tried desperately to stop the blood that had begun to flood from the woman once her baby was free of her. We both knew what the outcome would be, and as the blood drained from her body her life went with it.

Ankel’s father held his wife as her life slipped from her, he wept and screamed. Yelled at us to do something, to bring her back. The emotion this man felt was enough to put a crack even into his own hardened heart.

Looking back down at the child squalling in his hands he wondered how the father was going to treat his son. The obvious love he had for his wife may overcome the love he should feel for his child. Would he blame the boy for her death? How would the boy be raised? 

He still felt the pulse of strong magic in the room, he felt it as it settled over the boy like a cocoon and then Enrich knew one more thing, he knew that the child he held would play a major role in what would happen in the world, he knew that he was holding the future.