Life and Death in Virtigia - 3rd Chronicle
The third chronicle tells of the beating black-and-blue of the girl named Fleur, who was the offspring of Strykos and the Witch Enschantara the night they locked legs after Virtigia was named. The 2nd Chronicle tells of Fleur's birth.
A fair hind though she was, Fleur subsisted as a self-imposed Curse upon Virtigia--and upon the mind of our beloved leader Strykos himself.
It was in fact Strykos himself who beat the girl-hind black-and-blue, with his hands and with a dried strap of cedar brush.
This happened the day the youngster first took to her feet.
He beat her in a clearing amidst a stand of birches--their leaves, he remarked, a darker shade than the usual green. He did it alone. Unwitnessed except of the birches, the sun, and the victim herself. He did it within an inch of her life.
To occupy the hinds meanwhile, the Witch Enschantara made Spirit Song that day on the slopes of the western hill while we all sat on our hinds on the hill-side. She spoke spirits that day--the sad, the delicate, the violent, the remorseless--too many altogether and the unnameable beside--
Strykos returned from the North carrying Fleur in his arms. His steel gray eyes showed signs of earlier tears. Upon handing over Fleur into the Witch Enschantara's care, he called forth Hepae. In front of all the hinds gathered before the Mighty Oak, that day Strykos embraced Hepae.
We all believed Strykos would bleed himself that night, but he did not.
