stolen our dance rituals to create a new kind of power – a poison created
through metal and fire – that could control or command our will.
Things began happening that had never happened before – harassment,
threats, rape….murder. Mothers were rarely the victims of these
attacks, but they were always the targets. By then, the Hir knew our true
weakness, the people we loved and the communities we served.
And as the Hir’s cruelty spread from the south, without mercy or reason,
the order of the world was lost. Horror poured into our lives until we
were surrounded.
When the Hir rode into the first of the villages at the northern tip of
Kiveer demanding submission of the Mothers, the Amasiti refused until
they understood the price that those around them would pay for their
defiance. He started with the youngest child in the village. It was as
expedient as it was cruel. To protect those whom they had always served,
the Mothers accepted the bondage of the poison chains that allowed the
Hir and his emissaries to use the Mothers’ power as their own.
Children stopped reaching for the safety of their parents’ arms because
they knew that their mothers and fathers could no longer protect them.
Instead, we were forced to send them away, scattering our future to the
wind and breaking the will of our people.
As the news of the Hir’s coming spread, the villages became unsafe for
the Mothers to inhabit. Those willing to break faith with the Amasiti
traded their decency for the baser needs of food, shelter, and the hope
of protection. Those who resisted were killed, enslaved, or tortured to
madness, their lives left in ruins.
By the time the Mothers thought to use their power to fight, it was far too
late. In truth, we had never done it before – organized our power into
a force of destruction. We were created by Amalaki to bring and create
life. Becoming a vessel of war was unthinkable. So when the Hir began
taking the Amasiti, many of the powers they sought to corrupt could
not be used to their advantage, but they kept searching. Many Mothers
chose to ascend from this life, which was their right as keepers of The
Way, rather than see their power exploited. I could not.
NKLC MAGAZINE | 97