A Woman's Burden

She touched the little box in her pocket and smiled a small, half-sick smile of relief that it remained. In the horizons of her eyes mountains rose and conquered the sky,1

and vanquished the defeat in her mind. The heart in her breast pounded as ragged as her breath and as haggard as her steps and her tired brain drifted back to thoughts of fear,2

of what was behind.3

A deer interrupted her thoughts and she jumped out of the way just in time, stumbling and falling over a rock in the process. Blood leapt to the newly-formed escape route in her palm and her eyes thought she was in bed and asleep. The sun licked her wounds as she drifted into a dark, unfamiliar place.4

A sharp wind cracked at her aching head, and suddenly she was aware of the world. Again a hand automatically fingered the box in her pocket, which had gone nowhere during all her trials. It sparked a voice in her mind that tried to persuade her with a silver tongue to lift the lid just a little, because it couldn't hurt anything, right? The better part of her was currently subduing that cunning voice, and she had not yet had the courage to see what was inside. 5

Her sympathetic nervous system geared itself for flight, but she stood and resisted, allowing her ears to collect all they could. Forest sounds filtered in, but there was nothing unusual. Cautiously, she moved along a faded path, forcing herself to focus on the jagged peaks ahead. 6

The prickly feeling of eyes focused on her began to overtake her senses, and the beast called panic started pulling at its chains. It jumped at her chest when out of nowhere a man appeared in front of her. Suddenly her eyes drank in the truth of the situation;7

she was surrounded. 8

A challenge issued from her lips as though she were a braver person, but fell quickly to silence when the leader of the hunting party stepped forward, bearing a menacing axe. His muscular arms flexed as he swung the deadly blade back and forth,9

and she unconsciously followed it with her eyes. 10

"Give us the box," he growled, feral as a wolf. His deep voice shook the forest and she began to tremble uncontrollably. 11

"I can't," she barely whispered. "It belongs to the gods." 12

"You are weak, woman," he roared. "You know nothing, and you especially do not know the gods." 13

The axe swung perilously close to her slender legs, and she cried out in fear and tried to run. Another man grabbed her tightly while yet another thrust dirty fingers at the box and wrenched it open. 14

As tears fought to leave the prisons of her eyes, a cold wind threw clouds across the sky that blocked the sun. The earth groaned and she, forgotten by the men, tried to close the now-discarded box. Before the lid was shut forever, she noticed a fragile, winged creature crouching fearfully at the bottom. She clutched the box to her chest and hoped that whatever it contained would help combat the evils of the world.15