John SadnessJane
Thistle was wrenched with sobs as the tiny raft was carried by the holy men to the water's edge. She walked in the procession, though she was still weak from the long labor that had delivered the blighted infant. Her husband John Thistle helped support herrunescape money wow gold wow gold cheap wow gold cheapest wow gold. Others, deemed more important in the ritual, walked ahead of them, even though they were the parents. There was the mayor of the village, John Stout, and the village surgeon, John Copper, their black top hats severe like parading towers. The four religious men in their cowled robes and sandaled feet, bearing along the flower-decorated raft, took the lead.
The nameless lake spread out before them, vast and black, misted gray where it blended with a distant horizon, lapping the shore with an insidious calm. Violent storms never blew in off this lake, and the oily waves never much varied their steady, somnambulant rhythmeve isk eq2 plat everquest 2 platinum Runescape Gold ffxi powerleveling. Fish were not caught from this lake, and boats were never sailed upon it. Even travelers from the villages on its far side would rather spend months skirting around it than weeks sailing across it. Too many had been lost in the attempt. Too many had died eating the fish. It was said that these waters were tainted with the fluids from the machinery of those ancient people who had once populated this land, but had died out many ages ago, extinguishing themselves so thoroughly that they took most of their artifacts along with them.
But there was an island at the center of the lake, Jane Thistle had been assured by the surgeon who examined her newborn, and the mayor who had given the Word, in accordance with the laws of their religionbuy wow account mp3 player Touch screen Slip ring tiffany jewelry. No one alive had ever set foot upon this island, but it had been sighted before travel on the lake had finally been entirely outlawed. Though never visible from the shore, it was a large island, thick with black fir trees choked in swirling mist. It was the island to which the waters would either literally - or only symbolically - carry away her child.
And now the robed men set the raft down in the thin water that slurped around their ankles (they would take long purifying baths to cleanse themselves later). All throughout the walk from the village, the infant had been quiet, had not fussed. Was he sleepingTruck tire lotro account guild wars account wow accounts sell wow account, or blinking up innocently at the churning gray skies, the faces of the strangers who bore him toward his fate? His name was John Sadness. The parents of the blighted were discouraged from naming these infants, when they were occasionally born. But Jane Thistle had named him secretly. Even her husband did not know his name.
But now, as if he knew he was to be sent to an obvious death, John Sadness began to cry. And so did his mother, who in a burst of anguish sought to rush to his side. Her husband held her backbuying wow account buy wow accounts sell wow accounts buying wow accounts buy accounts. He was afraid that if he didn't, one of the constables behind him would do so instead. Mayor John Stout addressed the distraught woman in a deep, oratorical voice that belched out steam into the chill air. "Madam, I have given the Word, in accordance with the laws of our Lord and Master, and upon the advice of Surgeon John Copper. But you need no surgeon's eyes to see that your child is blighted, and must be sent from us to the place
"No other blighted children dwell on that island!" Jane Thistle cried, a vein standing out on her flushed forehead like a brand of disgraceworld of warcraft account world of warcraft accounts cheap wow account wow account Shanghai apartment. "You know as well as I that they all perish from the cold, or in the water, or if they do wash up on the island, that they are too young and weak to care for themselves!"
"We do not murder these children. They are the Lord's children, howsoever malformedloyalty card runescape gold lotro gold Terminal block Montessori materials. We simply turn them over to the Lord's hands. But the Word tells us that they must not live amongst us, to spread their polluted seed. Would you have every child born of our village to be as this child?"
In her pain and helplessness, Jane's legs turned watery, insubstantial beneath her, so that she leaned more heavily into her husband's arms, however much she resented them at this momentAloe vera Montessori materials Shanghai villa wow account wow accounts. Her sobs increased as her child bawled more lustily. He wanted milk. He wanted his mother.
"He isn't that badly off!" she rasped, only half believing her own lie. She had had to drip milk into his twisted mouth with a dropper. And she had screamed when first she saw his face - not only because she knew he would be sent away, but out of simple terror itselfworld of warcraft account buy wow account buy wow accounts account for wow business card printing. "Couldn't we castrate him, so that he won't breed? He has two arms, two legs, he could support himself when he's older - be of help to the village"
"There are no exceptions. He would be sent away if he had but a cleft palate, a milky eye. It is the only way that the rest of us can be sure of our puritycheap shoes rings Seamless Steel pipe Stainless Steel Pipe Tiffany jewelry . We cast no blame on you, Jane Thistle. You did not ask for this curse, nor deserve it I am sure. But the Word is the Word. And we can delay the Lord's decree no longer" .
