Tylywoch ~ 02

 Tylywoch ~ 02 Early Years I

By Len Morgan

 In primitive societies, female children were considered of little value.   The poor in particular, regard them as a means by which the Gods display their displeasure.   Many newborn girls were abandoned to the elements and allowed to die.   In some circles, this was considered a kindness considering the life that awaited them.   So, a foundling girl child would be left to her fate as a matter of course, this being the common view of most people.  General Aldor was not most people.  His view was, that Weilla’s family had valued her highly enough to hide her from the Huren, so he in good conscience should accord her at least an equal respect. 

 So, He and his wife Meillo took her into their home and loved her as their own.  They were childless, and had long ago given up any hope of having a child by natural means.   His wife had not conceived after two years of marriage, in most societies at that time, this would be sufficient grounds for divorce or having her put to death.   Not so in this mountain village, where men and women were considered equals.   Aldor knew that the fault was his own, and had offered Meillo the opportunity to have a child by another man, but this she had refused.   She was not a bought concubine; they had married for love, such a rare and somewhat strange phenomenon in those times.  She’d refused to conceive by deception, denying herself the comfort of a child when Aldor was away administering the provinces.  Many of the Tylywoch envied their love match, but lacked the vision to emulate it; that was their loss. 

At three, Weilla was fully integrated into the ways of the 13^th clan.   She was treated the same as any native born child. As soon as she could walk and talk, her training for life began.  At this early age, children have no fear, prejudice, or precognitions.  The Young Tylywoch were taught contrary to other societies.   Girls and boys were regarded as equals in every respect.   They were taught to fight, kill, and survive for long periods without food and water.   They were taught where to procure many things they could drink or eat in times of attrition, and where to find them.   They ate foods that would not normally be considered edible by conventional Cheilin society.  Outsiders; would often die of hunger and thirst in the midst of plenty.   They were simply not aware that Insects, grubs, plants, carrion, tree sap, lizards, toads, snakes, and many other exotic life forms were freely available and quite edible. 

The young are trained progressively, to control and live in harmony with their environment.   They are taught to harness the power of their mind.   To control their body functions, enabling them to enhance their physical and mental capabilities.   The best students are able to slow their heartbeat and control the flow of blood to any part of their body or to increase the speed of their heart beat.   Enabling them to cope with sudden heavy physical demands, resulting in increased strength, in short bursts, moving at speeds beyond anything thought possible by outsiders.   In extreme situations they could emulate animals, by entering a state of near hibernation.  They could control bowel and bladder movements, suspending them for days, or evacuate at an instants notice.   They are taught always to be mindful of bad character traits that could get them killed in combat or covert operations:  Traits such as Laziness, Anger, Fear, Sympathy, and Vanity, all are the common enemies and are severely punished when identified.   Lives depend on unquestioning loyalty instant obedience, and the ability to act in the best interest of the community as a whole without thought of self.  Their skills ideals and abilities are tested daily, in life and death situations, where weakness or a wandering inattentive mind could cost lives.   All the basic human virtues, faults, and failings are tested for on a regular basis.  The physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional attributes of each student are known to their trainers.   By the time they reach the age of five (some do not), they are highly trained and valued members of Tylywoch society, as formidable as any adult from outside their mountain stronghold.   By the age of ten, they have been tested to their limits many times.   The numbers that do survive are a testament to the dedication and skill of their trainers.   At this age, they are expected to begin specialised training, according to their talents, personal skills, physique, and natural ability.

.-…-. 

   Weilla and nine others in her group of five-year-olds were to be tested.   A hole had been cut in the ice, and one by one they were lowered down into the swift flowing but ice cold river.   They were suspended there completely immersed for three minutes, then hauled out and revived.  To survive, they had to slow their whole metabolism, selectively shutting down body systems to conserve air, body heat, and energy.   Effectively suspending all body functions.   Weilla happened to be the last one waiting to be tested.  She knelt on her cloak, beside the frozen bank, concentrating her mind in order to enter the necessary mental trance state required to survive the ordeal.   Her Preparation was distracted by a state of agitation in the people around her.  A tendril of her mind took a peek and discovered somebody frantically attempting to cut another hole in the ice, a hundred yards further downstream.   Others insisted it was a waste of time, the boy would already have been swept past the hole.  The water was flowing much stronger than expected in the open channels, so the search would be more fruitful further downstream.  She gleaned from their urgent discussions that Ferrice; the boy tested immediately before her; had been lowered into the water and his line had snapped, he had been swept away downstream.  Weilla roused instantly on realising the danger to a friend and dove down into the murky waters.  Without the benefit of a trance state, the shock of the cold instantly drew all the strength and heat from her body.  She allowed herself to be carried by the strongest flow; in the direction, Ferrice would have been taken.  Though vulnerable outside the trance state, she did at least have her wits about her.  She intended grabbing her friend and signaling to those above, to rescue them. 

She rose to the surface briefly, to signal to the searchers.  That was when she realised, she was on her own.   She had already been carried way beyond the second hole.   Mind destroying fingers of fear sprang from nowhere determined to undermine her, but her determination was stronger, and she banished fear from her mind contemptuously.  If… WHEN I find Ferrice, she thought.  I will have to haul him to a hole, or to the bank and smash the surface ice.  If I can stand, I can accomplish it, then find us shelter where we will be discovered by the searchers.  Her lungs were now bursting for air.  Forcing her face up close to the ice, she found the free air space she’d been taught would be there; not for a second had she doubted.  Taking three deep breaths then a shallow one, She dove down again, deep into the swiftest flowing part of the stream.  Her body was now completely numb but, it was not necessary to feel it to use it!  Not for an instant would she indulge in self-pity.  She would locate Ferrice and they would survive.  Failure was not an option for the Tylywoch.  Something hard banged against her head and she grabbed for it instinctively, realising immediately that it was a leg.  She had him!  Now all she needed to do was get him to air, then get him to the bank, then get him to shelter.  It was simple, one step at a time, and they would survive. 

.-…-. 

Aldor and others had been called by horn to aid in the rescue.  At that very moment, the rescue party was being briefed.

“They’ve been down for nearly six minutes?” Aldor repeated looking for confirmation, with a sinking feeling in his stomach.  The invigilator nodded in affirmation his distress, plainly evident.

“Then Ferrice is nearly out of oxygen, and Weilla who is not in trance will have been breathing from the ice-water Gap.”  Grabbing a heavy metal bar, he ran along the bank at breakneck speed for about a mile, until he felt he’d outdistanced them.  Then he started urgently cutting holes in the ice.  Holes large enough for a five-year-old to scramble through. 

As Aldor dug furiously he was aware of others running past him at speed, each with an ice breaking implement in their hands. When he’d dug holes for the fastest and most obvious channels he ran on, leapfrogging the others in the rescue relay.  Half a mile further on, he dug more holes, then he ran on and started again…  He kept relentlessly on until he heard the recall horn signifying the search was being called off.  He knew as well as any, that nobody could survive for more than half an hour in water at close to freezing.  Sick at heart, he returned slowly to the assembly point, his wife Meillo waited stony faced, wearing her stoic mask, showing bravery to the world.  Inside, Aldor knew she would be dying slowly by degrees.  He knew that Weilla, their belated gift from the gods would never again jump eagerly into his arms to be hugged, or simply to be near him.  At that moment, he knew that he was more likely to break down than Meillo.  The trainers spoke with admiration of Weilla’s bravery and the selfless way she went to the aid of a fellow student fearlessly putting her own life at risk…  Aldor heard the words but could take no comfort from them.  It was a freak accident they said.  The rope had severed on a sharp shard of ice, and two valued young people had died. 

At their lowest ebb, a trapper arrived hauling a sled behind him.  “Found two strange looking critters huddled together in my canoe, under my new pelts, anybody want to claim them?” he asked, unaware of the drama being played out before him.  Incredibly, he was referring to Weilla and Ferrice, both in a deep trance state, their life signs barely discernible, but they were alive and stable.  They were rushed to the nearest hut where they were revived gradually, over a period of twenty-four hours.  Both had passed the test, though Ferrice remembered nothing and Weilla recalled too much!

 

(To be Continued)

Copyright Len Morgan