Story The Linder Legacy (Complete)

kua

Veteran Member
Made me look, didn't you. Well, she will one day write another chapter and we are waiting [not so] patiently. But she is such a good writer we continue to wait.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Chapter 81

Ronald had stopped screaming, at least for a while. He’d screamed off and on through the night and most of the day. I forced myself to look his way again and irreverently an ancient joke still told at the farming fairs crossed my mind.

A traveler seeking a roof to cover his head for the night walked up the lane to a nice, tidy farm. As he came near the door of the farmhouse he noticed a three-legged pig cavorting in the fresh green grass of the dooryard. When the farmer answered the door and asked what the traveler’s business was the only thing the traveler seemed to be able to ask about was the three legged pig.

The farmer answered, "That pig is the most amazing pig in the land, Sir." The farmer then went on to tell several tales of how wondrous the pig was, his feats of bravery and loyalty, how many lives the pig had saved.

The traveler was surprised and agreed, "That is one special pig. But why does he have 3 legs, is it from an injury it sustained during one of its magnificent feats?"

The farmer then said, "No Sir, ya see, a pig that special you just don't eat all at one time."

I realized then that I had slipped into shock. The horror that I had witnessed, that Ronald Nealy had experienced firsthand, was beyond inhuman. I had suspected Ceena and Tonya participated in corrupt practices, had known in my heart that they had, but never in my worst and wildest nightmares during my marriage had I ever thought of anything this horrifying. I was unable to even compute the sheer magnitude of the soul destroying corruption required to perform the acts I had been exposed to on this day.

A sound had me slowly turning my head, like a hand puppet at a fair, to find a stool had been placed beside me and the cloaked man being sat upon it by two helpers who then stepped back a respectful distance. I was silent and it was he that was forced to speak first.

“You are composed beyond the expected. Perhaps the two Damned ones did their duty after all.”

“If you speak of Ceena and Tonya then no, they did not corrupt me.” I fell silent again rather than reveal just how close to hysterics I really was. I expected the man before me, corrupted or not, to be a formidable enemy and to try me at every turn.

Surprising to me is how short of patience he was as he snapped, “Then what? Do you think being a Harper grants you some power over me?”

“I am the one that is bound while you are free to move about … although it would appear you find it a painful process. What is your corruption? Bent bones? Tumors? Some other disfigurement you hide under the cloak you wear?”

“Infidel! Do not speak to me like you hold some high status in this realm.”

He raised the cane to strike me but an unexpected wind whooshed down from the mountains that loomed over us. The flames of the cook fire danced and then went out. Ashes flew into the eyes of those near the fire causing one to stumble into the fire ring, knock over the cook pot sending boiling liquid and … and other bits … pouring onto others in the group. The coals of the disturbed fire lit a third man’s filthy leggings on fire. In front of me the man’s hood was blown off and away from his disfigured face that had a gaping hole where the nose should have been and I realized his lungs were so weak that he was unable to draw breath properly and toppled off his stool and began to hack and cough and claw at his throat with his glove covered hands.

The wind was gone as quickly as it had come. It was not an unusual occurrence. I’ve felt similar winds my whole life – like the ones that sometimes rush through the forest and catch you off guard - but for some reason this wind or the timing of it revealed a deep fear and superstition in my captors.

The man who had been intent on striking me in anger threw the cane away from him and clawed at the tree to stand. Suddenly my antipathy for this man vanished and all I could feel – despite his corrupted behavior - was deep pity. As calmly as I could I told him, “That cloak is insufficient protection. You should wear some type of covering across your face to prevent germs and debris from entering your respiratory system and making you ill. Are you not in enough pain without causing yourself more through thoughtlessness? I have some clean cloths in my pack. Allow me to …”

He drew away from me and made what appeared to be a sign of protection against me and it only seemed to disturb him further that it had no apparent effect on me. He quickly pulled his cloak up and called to his men, “We leave. Now. Put her on the roan mare.”

His actions and behavior infected the others in the group and the nervous and fearful energy then infected the animals making the recalcitrant. Strangely, rather than handle me roughly as they had when they took me from my steed, I was afforded a strange respect when I was placed back upon it. That didn’t mean that they removed my bonds but it did mean that I was able to seat myself in better form so that I was able to control my horse with my knees; a situation which once again put me in an advantageous position.
 

stjwelding

Veteran Member
Kathy you never cease to amaze, great chapter. Thanks, I hope you and yours are doing well, I see that you are experiencing some cold weather also, but I will trade our below 0 and 30 m/h wind any time:lol: have a great day.
Wayne
 

kua

Veteran Member
This is wonderful Maine, a healthy baby! There is nothing finer. Remind me of when the little one is due?

Great chapter Kathy. Thank you. We have been in a deep freeze lately but it will be over 0 today AND for the next several days. Of course when it warms up this time of year, what do you think will happen? Yep, 80% chance. Well, getting to read some more of this story is a great lift for our mid-winter spirits.
 

maineforlife

Contributing Member
Kua, she is due late May. I am really looking for forward to nice warm weather when she comes as we just endured a few weeks of nasty cold cold weather. January thaw coming this week!! :)
 

Lake Lili

Veteran Member
Hey Maine! How wonderful to read you are having a girl. Hope all the snow is keeping the crazies in Augusta. Do you think we might get another chapter if you told Kathy you were naming your daughter after her...
 

HuntingWolf

Membership Revoked
knead-moar-o.gif
 

juco

Veteran Member
Ok Kathy, now that we got all these folks looking you might as well give us some MOAR!!!!!

Please. And thank you.
 

maineforlife

Contributing Member
Lake lili- we were planning on naming her Isabelle Ruth but for another chapter, I'll definitely think about it. However, if Kathy were to finish the story, I might be willing to give her a 13 year old. She rolled her eyes at me this morning.
 

kua

Veteran Member
Isabelle Ruth is a beautiful name. How did you come up with it? Family name?

My closest friend has a granddaughter named Isabelle but is called Bella by everyone. In fact I thought that WAS her name until just last year when she graduated from high school.
 

Lake Lili

Veteran Member
Maine - Isabelle Ruth is a lovely name (Ruth was my aunt's middle name). As for the 13-yr old... I'll pray for you. Actually that's how old I was when my parents sent me to Maine... hmmm... There used to be this dairy in Waterville that had these amazing sundays and if you ate it all you'd get a pin saying "I ate an Icky Orgy at Rummels"... hmmm... ice cream.... Hope you are both well.
 

maineforlife

Contributing Member
Isabelle because she is a blessing from God and Ruth for my husband's maternal grandmother. We give our girls a middle name that has family significance to remind them of who they are and where they come from. To few people today have strong family connections.
Rummells isn't there anymore, sold out to Giffords.
 
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Landcruiser

Contributing Member
Time for someone to save the day yet? We've been without stories for months and months, have they gone somewhere else?
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Chapter 82

We travelled for several hours and then stopped to make camp for the night. As hard as I had tried to focus on my own predicament and make a plan to escape my thoughts were continually interrupted by the picture of Ronald Nealy hanging in the tree like a field dressed deer. I will admit that despite the change in the way they handled me I wonder if my fate is to shortly be the same as his. It should have given me reason to seek an escape all the harder but it was like a fatalism had infected me.

I was left astride while several of the corrupted Borderlanders ministered to their leader who did not appear to be doing well. That’s when I noticed none of them in the party seemed in very good health. I had noticed that as some passed me on the trail they exhibited a smell of purtrification, as if they had wounds that were not being tended properly. Several also looked like they were in pain though none said anything.

It was that silence in the face of so much pain and suffering that I believe bothered me the most. I wondered if they did not feel it or if they simply accepted it as the way things were … or if they viewed it as evidence of the blessings by their dark god. I berated myself for feeling any such curiosity for my captors but I could not stop feeling pity for them. It made me itch to help at least one of them. It was like something was driving me. Part of me wanted to believe it was simply my training trying to take over to keep me sane, but another part of me wondered if it wasn’t something different.

I was interrupted when the Borderlander leader snapped, “What are you looking at? Believe you are so much better than we do you?”

Answering him as calmly as my nerves would allow I told him, “I wasn’t thinking much beyond it irritates me to no end to not be allowed to address the wounds and illnesses I see all around me. The pain and suffering I see is completely unnecessary.”

“Hah! So I heard our god’s warning correctly. So you seek to take our blessings away.”

Shaking my head I said, “What I see I do not view as blessings but the foolishness of men. Do your women not minister to you at all? Do you not have those amongst you that are healers?”

The old man spit, “Blasphemy! Our afflictions are badges of honor.”

Trying to use logic I asked, “Then why call them afflictions? Why hide them? Why cover the seeping wounds or the twisted bodies?”

“Silence you Harper harlot!”

My outrage peeked out at being thus called. It may have not the best of sense to snap at him but I did. “Harper I am but harlot I am not! This is lunacy. By what right do you judge me and call me thus?”

“I am a Priest of the Damned! And you conspired to marry a Linder!” he roared.

Still in anger I responded, “I am not damned … at least not by your definition … therefore you are not my priest and hold no authority over me. As for my marriage, I assure you it was not of my choosing but was wished upon me … apparently with the assistance of some of your own people conspiring to bring about some silly false prophecy. And whatever could have been made of the marriage was prevented from being by your people as well … namely my sister wives and any that were their accomplices in the matter.”

“You slut!” he cried in fury and raised his cane to strike me.

I do not know whether it was a conscious decision or not but my knees directed the Linderhall horse to protect me and all I could do was hold on while it spun and kicked out with its hind legs. In the gloaming darkness all I got was a brief glimpse of the self-proclaimed priest as he went flying and his men running to his aid and protection. The horse, now having a mind of its own took flight back down the trail and all I could do was hold on for dear life to the saddle as my hands were still tightly bound in front of me and unable to grab the reins.
 

kua

Veteran Member
Holy Moses! Out of the frying pan into the unknown! Thanks for the new chapter Kathy. I almost did not check it out but glad I did. Your writing is like a bit of relief on a very busy day.
 
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