Read an extract from Blood Moon Bride by Demet Divaroren.
Chapter 1
Pa had been buried two days, his ashes not yet one with the Bright Mother’s roots, when the Overseer arrived in our village. I smelled the dirt and sweat of him as he trudged from door to door, heard the scratch of his quill on parchment, the rankness of his breath as he panted in front of our hut like a fat-bellied pig.
‘The Overseer’s here.’
Ma stiffened on her straw mattress. ‘He’s early.’
I laid the rabbit’s carcass on the cutting table and walked to the hearth. I stirred the bubbling pot of broth so hard it spewed out. I imagined Pa’s barking laugh. ‘Aii, my daughter, you have the keen senses of a deer,’ he would have said, eyes glowing like embers, ‘and the grace of a wild boar.’
I wiped my bloodstained hands on my pants and crouched next to Ma. ‘He might be here about Pa. To pay his respects.’ But I knew from the eager drumming of his heart that he was here to take.
The Overseer’s knock scattered dust from the doorframe.
‘Pfft. He’s here to wake the dead, more like. Help me up, daughter.’ Ma smoothed the two plaits resting on her chest like reed rope. I wanted to tug them like I did when I was a child, when her arms and legs could carry more than the weight of my lanky limbs on her back, but I squeezed her hand instead.
‘You’re not well, Ma. Let me take care of this.’ He was here by mistake. He had to be. I still had one more winter at home to hunt and earn enough coin to find a way out of fulfilling my duty.
Our first plan to flee had died with Pa.
I swallowed the building dread, ignored the Overseer’s crazed heart tune. It had been a dull thump when he came knocking a winter ago to note the names and ages of the girls in our village.
I pulled the quilt over Ma but she shook it off and sat up, her arms straining with the effort. Her wasting sickness had sucked the strength from her body. It had started slowly at first. A tremor in her fingers, ache in her legs, until Pa got sick. Seeing him curled up, whimpering in pain, broke her heart and her sickness took hold, robbing her legs of movement.
Ma touched her forehead to mine. ‘I will take care of it. There’s still breath in me yet. Now lend me your legs, my heart.’ She sighed. ‘And hold your saw tongue.’
I helped her onto my back and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I hooked my hands under her bottom to hold her properly and stood up. She clung on, her rib bones digging into me. I’d trade the last of our boar tusks for sheep-tail grease to help fatten her up. To strengthen her fading heart tune so she didn’t join Pa in the Bright Mother’s womb for a long while yet.
The Overseer’s fists thundered on the door and I flung it open.
Spit crawled up my throat at the sight of his yellow smile. He spat onto the ground.
‘Overseer Tohmas.’ Ma’s words were stones.
‘Minna.’ He twirled his patchy squirrel-fur hat between his fingers. ‘My deepest regrets on the passing of Leeyo,’ he said, fist to heart. ‘And to you, Rehya.’
I nodded, clamped my lips to keep from cursing. He was crooked, like all the Governor’s handlers. Power whittled folk like him into hooked blades.
Behind him, across the way, Zayge and her pa had stopped cleaning broom corn to peer at us. I stared back and they dropped their heads, scraping and pulling stalks, scattering seeds at their feet. My stomach curdled at the bloodied white sheet draped over their front door, already darkening under the noon sun.
‘Leeyo was a good hunter, from all reports. May he rest peacefully in the womb of the Fertile Mother.’
I cringed at this smearing of the Bright Mother’s name.
‘We thank you for your respects and prayers,’ Ma whispered. ‘Now we must get back to our mourning.’
‘Of course, of course, yes,’ he stammered, but when I made to close the door he held it open with a thick hand. ‘There is one other matter.’
Ma’s breathing was rapid now. I held her closer. Her breath was tinged with fear. It filled my mouth like the aftertaste of blood. Behind us, the broth bubbled and hissed over the flames.
He looked at his parchment. ‘My records show that Rehya is almost sixteen.’ His eyes sought mine. ‘I trust there are no problems with your blood phases?’
It took all my strength to stop the curse from leaving my mouth.
‘No, no, she has no problem,’ Ma croaked. ‘But—’
‘Good,’ he continued. ‘That means she is likely fertile,’ his eyes grazed up and down my chest, ‘and has no physical failings.’ He grimaced. ‘Except for the improper crop of her hair.’
‘It’s convenient for hunting—’
He held up a hand as if he hadn’t heard Ma. ‘Rehya is to wed at the esteemed Blood Moon Ceremony in four days.’
Ma’s arms tightened around my neck. ‘Respectfully, Overseer. That can’t be. Rehya is not sixteen until five days after this Blood Moon sets so she is not eligible. She will fulfil her duty at the Blood Moon Ceremony next winter when she is nearing seventeen. You yourself told us this when you were here last.’
He smiled but his mouth barely moved. ‘As you know, our fertile lands are relentlessly under siege. Governor Kyra, may he grow ever stronger, foresees a decline in population in the near future.’ His voice grew solemn, but the words were empty of feeling. ‘So, for the safety of all, more girls across Mennama Valley’s villages must help the cause. That is why he has seen fit to change the girls’ starting ages in the Blood Moon Ceremonies to fifteen. Every girl between fifteen and twenty winters must fulfil their duty to help the advancement and prosperity of Mennama Valley.’
My blood roared.
Not every girl.
Not the Governor’s daughter or the daughters of the rich city folk. The Blood Moon Ceremony was held for girls from families who hunted and gutted the valley’s meat, sewed clothes for the rich, washed their greed-stained dishes and wiped the shitty bottoms of their children and elderly.
‘We of course want to help cultivate the best match for you on Show Day.’ The Overseer wheezed like a boar. ‘So be at your best when suitors come knocking tomorrow.’
Cultivate. As if we were soil to be readied for planting.
I laughed then, a rumbling bark like Pa’s that made Zayge drop her broom corn stalks and Ma pinch my neck to stop, but it was a long moment before my breathing calmed and the Overseer’s reddened face swam back into view.
His eyes were slits. ‘Is something funny, girl?’
‘Of . . . of course not,’ Ma said in a fluster, covering my mouth. ‘She is grieving, Overseer Tohmas, you must please excuse her and let us go now, for I am ill. We have much to prepare for her suitors.’
He nodded, brushed sweat from his brow. ‘May the Fertile Mother bring you back to good health.’ He took out a vial of blood and a white sheet from his satchel. He dipped a thick brush into the blood and marked the sheet with a flaming moon, the Governor’s emblem. ‘May this home attract many a suitor in the next two days and be blessed with a fruitful match on Show Day.’
He nailed the sheet to the front door and left.
Ma’s tears wet my neck as I backed into our hut. I lay her down on the mattress and then slumped into Pa’s chair. His tobacco smell curled around me. I breathed him in.
I was to be a Blood Moon Bride.
Extracted from Blood Moon Bride by Demet Divaroren.
Blood Moon Bride
by Demet Divaroren
Forced into marriage for her valley's survival, Rehya must decide: submit or rebel against a ruthless system?
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