The Banshee of Fluglen

The field of Luster was Mara’s favorite place in the whole world. No matter the season there was always beauty to be found. In summer the wildflowers grew tall and enclosed her in warmth. The fall brought a gentle breeze that caused the grass to brush her skin in a gentle touch. The winter remind Mara to be thankful to be alive. She would sit in the center of the field watching the snow fall. The spring was like the returning of a dear friend, new life spring from the frozen ground. It was the one place that she was truly happy. The place where she could be a young woman and not just a curse.

She was on her way there now but first she had to go through the city of Bern. A city that was unforgiving in the treatment of her. The towns people detested her, and she understood why. She was a banshee. A messenger of death. Since they were the closest city to her home it was usually one of their deaths she was predicting. She was never wrong.

If it was the other way around, she would hate the person always predicting death. Mara just wished that they would see that she didn’t have any control of these power. It had been given to her. She didn’t want it, but she didn’t know how to rid herself of the curse either.

It had been placed on her at birth. Her mother had been a banshee too. The way she had rid herself of it was by jumping off a bridge. Mara hated being a Banshee, but death seemed worse.

She brushed a stand of her brown her out of her face as she walked along the path. She still felt groggy from sleep. She wanted to go back to the warm of her bed, but the field of Luster was the only thing that helped with the nightmares. She saw the dead in banshee state and then again when she was asleep, she was even reminded of them when she was awake. There seemed to be no escape from the pain.

As she drew closer to the city gates she thought again about the night before. The death she had seen made her sad, more than usual. Seeing the future death of someone was always hard. Something about last night’s death though, was lingering and she didn’t know why.

When she was in Banshee state, she had no control over what or who she saw. She could physically be anywhere, at her home or sitting in Luster, it didn’t matter. Her mind’s eye would go where it wanted. What she had seen last night had terrified her.

She was in a forest, one that was unfamiliar, but Mara had walked like she knew exactly where to go. Usually, she stood in one place watching everything unfold. She never interacted with the soon to be dead. As she walked her feet grew wet from the dew on the ground. Leaves stuck to her dress and hair. Soon she came to a clearing.

In the middle was a wolf. As soon as she saw him the world faded to black. This was how she was used to seeing the people she was sent to warn. She had never warned an animal before though. His fur was a beautiful blend of red with a hint of black and a light grey. His black eyes watched her as she came out of the forest. He looked like he had been waiting on her. Mara took a step forward. She knew death was coming. The screaming was coming.

She waited. Waited for his death but he just stared at her.

Then, the strangest thing happened. She was suddenly upon the wolf or maybe he was suddenly upon her. One minute they were separated by half of a field and the next so close Mara could feel his breathe. His eyes rolled back and as the scream rose forth from her, she saw the sword. The blade blunged into him, the handle in her hand. As he fell away from her, the sword come out covered in his blood, He started to change.

His fur fell away, his ears and nuzzle grew smaller, his legs straightened. The wolf became a man. The only thing that remained the same after the shift was the wound in his heart. Mara came out of the trance violently.

She hadn’t realized that she was in the city of Bern until she made it to the center. The first thing she noticed was how quiet everything was. She looked around but the city seemed to be deserted. How strange, she would usually see someone or hear some form of life moving around. As someone who deals with death daily Mara didn’t spoke easy. This, though, scared her. No help she tried to provide would be welcome, so she quickly walked out of the city and to her destination.

A few miles south was the field of Luster and as she entered her sanctuary, she tried to push the thought of what was happening in Bern away. Maybe on her way home she would try to figure out were the people had gone.

The moon was rising quickly. If she wanted to be situated before the curse was upon her then she needed to move just as quickly. First, she moved to the center of the field. Next, she placed the basket she carried on the ground and removed the contents. A blanket so that she could lay down comfortably. Water for when she awoke and turned back human, she was always thirsty from the screaming. The rest was a small meal of cheese, bread, meat, and wine. She ate as the last few rays of sun disappeared.

Mara laid down and looked at the stars. She tried to count them even though that was impossible. Soon her eyes grew heavy, and she had no choice but to give in to the inevitable.

She closed her eyes and when she opened them the field of Luster was on fire. She stood up. Looking around she felt nothing but shock. The world was in the harsh grey tones that were caused by being in banshee state and now she could see nothing but what was to come. Someone was going to die.

She could see the field was littered with war. All around her men and women were fighting. The dark against the light. Mara stood in the center not understanding who she should be warning. No scream was coming, even though bodies were falling in every direction.

She had never seen so many people die at one time. Usually, she would be warning one person. Only seeing them. Now she could see everything and everyone, and she recognized many of the faces. The whole city of Bern seemed to be in the battle. A lot of them fallen to the ground. Death was all around her.

She looked in every direction trying to understand what she was supposed to see. That when she saw her. Mara stared in confusion at herself. A different version of Mara was on the field shooting arrows. Mara had never seen herself in one of these visions and it was strange. The other Mara seemed like a completely different person. She was more confident and braver. Mara didn’t have to watch long to see this change. It was obvious in the way the other Mara stepped, loosed the string on the bow from her fingertips, moved through the advancing enemies, and didn’t second guess any step. Mara was in awe of her.

She watched herself continue to fight until her name was shouted through the crowd. She turned on her the heels of her feet and the breath left her lungs in a woosh. The man, from her dream, was standing look at her. At least the other version of her.

“Ronan.” The other Mara called back.

Suddenly the other Mara ran past. As she looked on, Ronan and her other version embraced. After a second, they pulled away from each other. The look in his face caused something in Mara to shift. He bent down and kissed her.

Mara had never been kissed, but this future self had been. She was kissing Ronan back without any hesitation. She had never felt love, but she had seen it before. It looked like this. Not because of the kissing, but other things gave it away. The quickness of getting to each other. The looks they shared. The gentleness of touch. Mara wondered if this was really her future. Then dread took hold. She was seeing this for a reason, and it wouldn’t be a good one.

As if reading her mind, a whistling sound shot through the air with the arrow following. It landed in the left side of Ronan neck. He fell to the ground, taking a shocked future Mara with him.

It felt like the next moments were in slow motion. Even though when Mara would look back at this vision it would all seem extremely fast.

The other Mara held her hand against the wound. Gone was the woman from earlier, in her place the old version. She started to cry, she begged for him to not leave her. She did everything she could think of, but nothing changed. Mara found it so hard to watch but she couldn’t look away. She had to see what would happen even though she knew what was coming, and it did. Ronan stopped breathing.

Both versions of Mara started to scream.

You couldn’t fight death. There was no stopping something that was unavoidable. Once death came for you it wouldn’t leave you until it claimed you, and death came for everyone. So, she knew she couldn’t save him, the man she called Ronan. She had never gone seeking anyone in her visions before. Never went out of her way to change the future. Did that mean she shouldn’t try?

As she looked at the anguish on her future self’s face, and at the hollow look now in Ronan’s eyes, she knew she would do anything to prevent what was coming. To bring back what had been happiness just moments before. As soon as the sun rose and the curse lifted, she would find Ronan.