The Maiden

[LaurelRose]

The Maiden
By Julie Dyson

Lorie sat on the bolder border that framed the small wooden Pier that had been built in the shallow end of the lake. The lake was perfectly round; the supposed result of a meteor impact some Fifteen thousand years ago. Lorie thought it might have been an old volcano but wasn’t going to argue the point. Who would listen to her over the opinions of experts? She sighed and watched the sun rise. It would be another beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. The weatherman had said that by the evening there would be rain and maybe a nice thunderstorm. Lorie hoped so; she had always loved the display that came with the storms. She loved the rolling clouds the vibration of thunder and the flash of electric death.

She smiled as an eagle swooped down to disturb the waters of the lake pulling out of the dive with a large trout clasped in its talons. She watched it fly low over the water slowly gaining altitude until it could land safely on the wide branch of a tree at the far end of the lake. Her eyes were drawn to the small waves and the small wooden canoe that was gently being knocked against the old tire that prevented it from banging against the wood of the pier. This was her vacation, her time away from the crowded home and screaming children that now inhabited it. She couldn’t understand why her father had married a woman with thirteen kids. most of them mentally disturbed. Or so it had seemed to her. Her father had been devastated and surprised when she had had a sudden mental break down at school.

He had wanted to send her to a mental institution. But her stepmother had intervened and had helped her pack for an extended vacation in the mountains. She had over two thousand dollars for spending on a camping trip. Once she had gathered everything that she had needed she had escaped the house. She had packed the small trailer that she could pull behind her moped and had headed out. It had taken her two days to get to the resort and into the nice cabin that her stepmother had arranged for her.

She really couldn’t hate her stepmother for marrying her father. Though she did blame her father. She had had a lot of time to think of why she was upset. It had come to her on her Third night in the cabin. Waiting nervously for dawn. She had been unable to sleep without the sound of traffic echoing in her ears. She felt betrayed, even though her mother was dead. And hand been dead for Ten years now, she still felt her father had betrayed her in some way.

She had come to that realization and had collapsed into sleep, uninterrupted for thirteen hours. She had loved it. She had been awoken by the rolling growl of thunder and had looked up through the skylight at the Gray black clouds that seemed to be slowly boiling. The next day she had gone for a walk in the trees. The air had been cool and the silence welcome. She had been here a month now and had grown into a quiet routine. The resort had even offered to let her stay during the summer if she wanted to. She had proven to be a pleasant tenant and they desperately needed a summer supervisor in this area of the resort. She had said that she would think about it.

The week before she had met a local wise man. His family had lived in these mountains for nearly a thousand years. He came around lunchtime. Lorie found the timing hilarious. But made extra for him to join in. Soon they had been swapping life stories. He had begun to help her through some of her stress and she soon discovered that he had gotten a doctorate in psychology and was the local therapist. She got over her anger and continued with her friendship. Brian WolfSky had only grinned at her explosion of anger and had shrugged. He had just laughed and taken another bite of his chicken sandwich.

They now discussed the local legends and the history of the place. Lorie looked back down into the water and stretched to dip a hot toe into the water. Summer was now in full swing and a dip in the lake seemed more than tempting. But Brian was due any moment now. They had been discussing the origins of the local Storm maiden legends. There were stories like this all over the planet, but this one seemed different. Instead of a lovely maiden being seen by a lonely god then taken up as his bride. There were always variations on that theme. But this one was completely different.

This one had a girl who could control the weather and at a young age accidentally crisped her family with lightning. It was said to have been an accident. As the girl had grown she had become more of a loaner, quiet and very frightened of others. Then one day she had fallen in love, and had become betrothed to the man of her dreams. Only to have him killed in a raid on her village. In anger she destroyed the raiders, using her powers as she had sworn never to do again. Then when her rage left her and her sanity returned she ad called down a bolt of lightning to take her own life with. But the lightning refused to strike her. Instead the storm had taken her to the mountaintops where she has lived ever since. It was another reason why the natives called the mountains The Thunder Mountains. There was another legend about a young man who went to find her and had discovered a woman at the top of Maidens peak, encased in a ball of lightning and clothed in clouds. He had come back burnt and died soon after he had told his tale.

Brian had been scornful of this but Lorie and told him that it might just have been the story of a young man who had gone up the mountain and had been hit by lightning. Brian and agreed that it might just be true but… His cell phone had rung at that moment and he had been called away.

She stretched and got up, heading back towards the Cabin. The soda should be almost perfectly chilled by now. Her alarm Began beeping and she sped up her pace to make it into the kitchen before her pie began burning. It would make a nice dinner once it had cooled. She had started making all her meals in the cool of the day once the really hot weather had begun.

Quickly she slipped into the cabin and into the kitchen. Pulling the pie out and dumping it onto the top of the stove before it could burn her fingers.

“Mmm that smells good is that lunch?” Brian asked as he slipped in the back door behind her.

“No that’s my dinner, how’s the family?” she asked as she turned off the oven and turned back to him smiling. He was pouting over the pie but shrugged. A long strand of silver hair flopping over his face.

“Alright, Marge White Feather had that child last night.” He was grinning now. Marge was his second cousin; she was married to the local doctor.

“Boy or a girl?” Lorie asked pulling the sandwiches out of the Refrigerator and setting them on the counter.

“Both actually.” Brian said obviously overjoyed at the event. Lorie put down a can of Diet soda and frowned.

“Wouldn’t Carl have picked that up though? For the last couple of months he’s done nothing but take her into town for sonograms.” Brian was grinning.

“The girl was hiding behind her brother, every damn time. The sneaky little wench.” Lorie began laughing and so did Brian.

“Oh dear pour Martha, it must have come as a great shock for the old gel.” Lorie said getting herself under control and opening her own can of Soda.

‘Well yes, but she’s sworn for the last four months that the babe had more arms and legs than it should have. “ Lorie raised and inquiring eyebrow. “While one babe was kicking, so was the other. “ Lorie grinned.

“So that was why Carl kept panicking and taking her to hospital every five minutes.” Brian was nodding and chewing on his lunch at the same time. “Honestly Brian if I didn’t know better I’d say your family is related to rabbits the way they pop ‘em out.” There was a knock at the front door and Lorie got up to answer it while Brian spluttered around a new bite of Peanut butter.

She opened the plain pine door and smiled at the two bedraggled looking young men standing on her doorstep. One was Five foot eight, slight and dressed in shorts and a green polo shirt; a multi colored nit cap. His dark hair long and lank hanging over his shoulders and down his back. The other was only a few inches taller than her own Five foot Two inches. With curling Brown hair and Bright Green eyes, a tan and shorts. He seemed to have tied his shirt around his waist. He was quite good looking but he seemed a bit odd. It wasn’t till later that Lorie realized that one of his eyes was glass and it was putting her off.

“Yes?” Lorie closed the door a little more. She had a bad feeling about this. The Shorter man smiled recognizing the nervous habit of someone who lives alone.

“Hi, I’m sorry to bother you, but we’re a little lost do you happen to know the best way to the highway?” Lorie looked past them at the old VW beetle that was waiting by the curb. It had obviously seen better days.

“Uh sure, just go on down this road, at the cross roads take a right, it should take you about twenty minutes to get to the main road. “ the thin one smiled showing very clean white teeth. Completely at odds with his appearance.

“Thanks, can’t imagine how we got turned about.” His accent thick and obviously not from the area. She shook her head as the shorter man turned back to the car and began looking down the road. The thin one turned and walked back to the car. Lorie closed the door and watched from one of the windows as they drove out of sight. She shivered and turned back to the now silent Brian. He was looking at her with an odd expression.

“Do you want to stay with Mira and me tonight?” he asked. He hadn’t gotten a good view of the two men but he had glimpsed the fear and nerves in Lorie. She shook her head and bit her lip.

“I’m just being silly, I have to get over this silly fear of meeting people thing.” She rolled her eyes and went back to her sandwich. Brian set down his cup and looked at her across the table. She wasn’t the kind to get jumpy. She had made great strides towards becoming more of a stable personality already. He had seen her intuition proven right time and again. He decided to have one of his boy’s check on her later in this evening.

“Alright but you know where I live and your welcome at any time.” He offered his voice light and unconcerned but his eyes were deadly serious. Lorie shifted in her chair uneasily.

“Yeah thanks Brian.” They booth looked down at their half-finished meal, an uncomfortable silence grew between them.

“Well I have to go.” He didn’t offer any excuses, that would upset Lorie and he wanted to take his suggestion seriously.

“See you tomorrow then.” She looked up a peculiar expression on her face and he felt a chill go down his own back.

“Definitely and this time I’ll bring my chess set.” She brightened almost immediately.

“ Oh sure, and this time I’ll beat you down mister.” He grinned and shook his head.

“In your dreams girlie.” She laughed lightly and the oppressive feeling in the air dissipated. She watched him leave before cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. Then she walked about the house locking doors and closing windows. She tried not to notice the now ominous darkening of the sky, or shivers it started to softly rain. She went about the house checking locks and latches then went up into her room and pulled out a half finished mystery novel. She put it down almost immediately, as she was at the point in the book where the murder is committed.

Finally she gave up and turned on the Television. She relaxed as she found a show on the Egyptian Pharos and their families. She was looking out the window when the lightning started. It was a Bright flash then by the count of ten the sounds of distant thunder. It was all up in the clouds and seemed to be very relaxing. Lorie caught herself falling asleep and decided to turn off the television and go to bed. It was almost seven and though it was still early she felt exhausted.

When she opened her eyes later that evening she groaned as the lighting flashed almost continuously above the house. Shining directly into her eyes through the skylight. It didn’t help to have the sky seeming to be growling in a very menacing way. She rolled over folded a pillow over her ears trying to ignore the sound and light show. But that wasn’t going to work. Suddenly the lightning gave off a particularly bright spark and a human figure was illuminated on her balcony. She sat up a scream lodged in her throat. It had been a woman, she was sure she had seen a sad woman’s shape seemingly draped in rain. But the next flash revealed that it was just her wooden bear that Brian had given her. It was almost five-foot tall and was carved out of a single piece of log. She sighed and relaxed. She turned back to the skylight and marveled at the light show. Maybe I can slip back into sleep, she thought. The sky growled at that and she gave up.

Sitting up she decided to see what it was looking like over the lake. It was dark and the clouds seemed a bit too low. She could see lightning strikes cross the lake and felt suddenly sorry for any birds that were roosting in those trees. She shivered and reached for the throw blanket that she had thrown on a chair near by. She wanted to go out onto the balcony to watch but knew better than to go out in the middle of a thunderstorm. So she pressed herself as hard as she could against the glass almost unconscious of the fact that one hand seemed to be creeping towards the door handle. She took a breath with each flash of light and breathed out with each roll of sound she was so absorbed in the storm that she didn’t hear the first crash from her front door. But the second crash came in the sudden stillness of the air just before thunder rolled aver the area causing all the windows to shake. The air seemed full of power and promise. Now it also held fear.

Lorie whipped around and stared at her door, willing the storm outside to silence. She could hear the creak of the stairs as some one came up half way before stopping. There was a whispered conversation then the creaking of descending feet. There was a crashing sound in the kitchen and the lighting gave her a bit of a backlight followed immediately by the rolling shaking sound of thunder. She heard a soft curse and a light under the door in the upstairs hallway. She shivered and ran for her nightgown and began wondering if she could climb down the balcony. The steps began creaking again. She desperately glanced about and saw her sneakers. Quickly she lifted a chair and under the cover of a roll of thunder shoved securely under the handle. She jammed her feet into the sneakers. Her flashlight was down stairs and so was her raincoat. The door handle turned as she ran across the room and yanked on the balcony door. It crashed open as the flash boom of the storm rolled over head. She closed the door behind her and clambered over the balcony.

She was out of sight when the door crashed open and the intruder looked about the room in frustration. The bed was empty and all the doors closed. A flash of lightning flashed on a dark puddle of rain on the floor by the balcony doors. His lip curled in a sneer and he turned back around to storm down the steps. His friend was standing at the bottom of the stairs the girl’s handbag in his hands. He lifted a limp hand.

“Tyler? “ Tyler shook his head as he yanked his gun out of his belt and yanked open the back door. The lock broke off and he peered out into the darkness.

“The girl got away.” He ground out through clenched teeth he frowned a little as the lightning flashed revealing a running figure he took careful aim and fired. The figure stumbled and went sprawling he took a step outside just as a bolt of lightning slashed across the sky and struck the tall pine the air and ground seemed to heave a little as thunder slapped him in the face. He fell back a step and heard peter gasp.

“God that was close.” He hissed. Tyler shook himself as he looked up at the top of the burning tee. The body on the ground struggled to her feet. She was weaving and the light that the burning tree gave off showed her in stark relief. There was blood on one side of her nightgown he cursed and went to take a step off of the porch. Another flash of lightning struck the ground not far from him. The force of it slammed him back against the rough wooden logs of the cabin. He sat there dazed and shaken. He could see the blurry figure of the girl stumbling unsteadily towards the lake. Peter pulled him back inside. He was pale as a ghost. “Jesus Tyler that was too close.” Peter took one look at his friends pale face and decided to let the girl go.

Lorie Stumbled over a rock that marked the path to the lake. If she could get into the canoe she could make it to a neighbor with out having to try and avoid the burglars on the track. She shook her head to clear her fuzzy thoughts. She seemed to be in a little pain. But she couldn’t seem to localize the source. Maybe she had been hit by a peice of the tree. It had been struck by lightning. It was still burning. Well at least the fire department would be there soon to put out the fire before it could spread to the rest of the forest. Now that would be just horrible. She shivered as her feet hit the wooden planks of the dock. What was she doing anyway? Oh yes going out to fish on the lake, yes. She shook her head and made it to the canoe. The water seemed unusually calm for a storm tossed lake. She undid the rope and rolled into the canoe.

Suddenly she felt herself floating; she looked about in panic and found that she was starting to pull from the dock. It was the current. Oh what a pretty storm, she thought. Hmm now why would I be fishing in my nightgown? She thought and shook her fuzzy thoughts. And she shivered in cold.

“Now where is all my warmth going?” she asked out loud and was shocked to hear how weak her voice was. “Oh my.” She couldn’t seem to be able to move more than a few inches. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and discovered that she had drifted out into the middle of the lake. The rain began to taper off and she looked about her; her head beginning to clear. There was her cabin. The trees were burning merrily now and there were flashing lights coming up the logging road. She relaxed; the fire would not spread far now.

She looked up into the sky and closed her eyes just for a moment. She opened them to see a ball of lightning descending above her head. In her mind she could see a beautiful woman holding the ball in both hands. She hovered just above Lorie and smiled. Looking her up and down appraising, she bent a little closer so her words could be heard. “Come child you’ll be safer with me.” Lorie smiled and raised her hand.

Brian raced down the track, his sixty-year-old lungs aching with the strain. He saw the two men race out the front of the house and jump into their small car. One was leaning on the other and looked to be in a bit of trouble. His youngest had been banging on his door franticly just a few minutes ago. He had arrived in time to see a bolt of lighting strike the ground throwing one of the intruders back against the logs of the cabin. His gun had gone flying off into the night. By the time he was done telling the whole thing Brian had called the fire department and stuffed the receiver into his sons hands. He had taken off to see if he could find Lorie. He got there when the Canoe floated just out of reach. The rain had started to slack off and he noticed movement in the canoe it’s self. The light of the burning tree illuminated the area quite well. He looked down at his feet and froze. Fear clawing at his guts as he recognized a dark smear on the wood to be fresh blood.

“Lorie! LORIE!” he yelled trying to get her attention. She had floated out to the middle of the lake now. She looked up. But not at him, she was looking at the sky. To his horror he saw a large ball of lightning descend to hover just above the boat. She raised a hand and the lightning seemed to be considering the girl who lay beneath it. Suddenly a thick bolt of lightning descended to the lake surface, engulfing the canoe. Then it was gone, leaving after images in the back of Brian’s eyes. It wasn’t until later that he realized that there had been no thunder, not even a whisper of sound came from that bolt of lightning. He collapsed just as the fire department arrived. He didn’t notice his son running from the trees to catch him before he hit the ground