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S. H. Marpel

In the days when people were owned by the land, two young girls found their power by becoming ghosts, then spirit guides. This is their origin-story…

Their parents were serfs, and belonged to two different dukedoms. Falling in love endangered them both. Becoming pregnant with twins made this even worse.

Their Dad had to raise them by himself, as Mother died shortly after birthing them. But her spirit remained on Earth to watch over them. Sal and Jude could see her, and knew their Dad could feel her presence. 

But the problem in survival was staying hidden, because they were on hunting land the King claimed as his own. And forces were at work to find them…

Excerpt:

We were both born as twins. But as you can see, we were never identical. Jude had black hair and I had blond. And our Da told us that we were more alike than not, otherwise. We liked to drink our milk and smile and gurgle. And neither of us cried much. 

But we didn’t know our Ma much, well not at first. She caught a fever a few days after we were born and died soon after. Da was upset by this, but he often told us that our smiles and gurgles took all the pain away. That, and when he went out to hunt that night, he found a white and black spotted milk goat who had wandered off into the woods and was following him around as he tried to hunt. Her udders were full, and looked tight and painful to Da. So he took the goat home to us, so we could have some milk until he could find where she had wandered off from. 

It was that night where we saw our Ma again. She was smiling at us, and we smiled back. Da couldn’t see her, so he didn’t understand why we were so happy. But with full bellies, we went to sleep and Da milked the rest from that goat and put the milk into skins to make into cheese. Then he tethered the goat right outside the hut to graze.

He never did find out who that goat belonged to. No farm around us was missing any. And we had that goat until we could eat solid food, Da said. And then it wandered off again one day. But it wasn’t the last time both tame and wild life around our cabin would take care of us. 

We grew like sprouts, Da told us. Soon we were walking and getting into trouble. When he went off to hunt food for us to eat, he soon devised a system of tying us to opposite corners of the cabin, just long enough to not get us tangled with each other or anything else. Everything up and out of our reach, and secured so it couldn’t fall on us. 

What he didn’t know is that the mice and birds would come to entertain us while he was gone. We would hear symphonies by the birds, and watch balancing and tumbling acts by the mice. And we knew Da was close when they would combine the most dramatic action with the trilling accompaniment of the birds. And

when the door opened, the birds and mice would vanish, leaving us smiling and clapping just as Da opened the door with some game he had caught… .

In those days, the land wasn’t owned by people, it was all property of the King or Queen or Prince, depending on who was in power when. And where the land was deeded to a local count or baron, the property title could be withdrawn at any time. 

People were property of the land. And were supposed to stay with it. Our family, our Da and Ma, were from two different deeds. They'd met at a trading festival and fell in love. 

Both Dukes wanted both of them, or would be just as happy to split them up so they could re-mate to someone else within the land deed they belonged to. But our parents eloped into hiding - and away from everyone they knew, to keep their families and themselves safe.

And of course, Da and Ma loved each other very much. When Ma found she was pregnant, that made the problem very serious. You can’t split a child…

Midwest Journal Press

Ghost Hunters Salvation

Two Ghost's Salvation - Section 01

The story continues, as two young girls find their power by becoming ghosts, then spirit guides. This is their origin-story…

Barely escaping discovery by soldiers from a nearby dukedom, Sal and Jude's dad starts training them to survive in the forest. 

While gathering herbs in a clearing, Sal and Jude find they can communicate to the animals. But find something else - their mother's ghost can appear to them. They can see and hear her voice in their mind.

One morning their dad returns early. He tells them he has seen soldiers forcing local village men to build a road access road through a ravine - that will let them the army find their hut in the forest…

Excerpt:

One day Da was late coming home. When he did arrive, he came through one of the other paths and had no game with him. He put out the fire and had us get into the storage space below the floor. Most cabins in this day were simply dirt floors. Walls of cabins in the woods were often mud and woven wicker. Ours was an old
hunting hut, abandoned years ago. It was made with trimmed logs, and chinked with mud and grasses against the weather. On its back wall, there was an opening just big enough for Da to squeeze through. This
led to a small dugout area that had its own roof. We stored vegetables and meat here, as the temperature was the same all year long and never froze.

This is where Da had us go that day. He opened the dugout door wide and put all our food and toys with us then he scattered dirt all around our table and shelves. When we tried to ask him, he shushed us and said we were going to practice waiting for wild game. We had to be very, very quiet for a long time. 

He climbed in with us, and we watched from that hole in the wall, waiting.

Soon we heard the thumping of heavy boots coming up the path toward our front door.

They kicked the door open. Men covered in leather and shiny metal came in our little hut, shouting to each 
other until one made them all be quiet. He was wearing more colors than the rest and so seemed to be in charge. Da could understand what they were saying. And he quietly put the cover over that hole, the one that looked like part of the log wall. He sat with his back to that cover and braced his feet against the other side of the dugout.

We now sat in complete darkness and silence. And waited while we listened. 

More men came into the little hut and were talking for awhile. Da told us later that someone had said it looked like some bandits had been using the hut as to hide out in. The man in the colors was talking about burning it down.

But then the men all got very quiet. 

And we heard a woman singing. She was singing an old song, one we hadn’t heard before. Soon the men were trying to get out of the hut all at once. Maybe the song was to get them to find her. Both Jude and I tried to get out, but Da just held us close and pushed against the back wall of the dugout to keep us all inside.

And we kept quiet.

Then we heard horses whinny and scream, then the sound of them galloping away. We heard men who were shouting loudly go after them, clanking in their metal and squeaking in their leather.

Da didn’t let us go for a very long time after that…

Two Ghost's Salvation - Section 02

In the days when people were owned by the land, two young girls found their power by becoming ghosts, then spirit guides.

This is their origin-story...

Their parents were serfs, and belonged to two different dukedoms. Falling in love endangered them both. Becoming pregnant with twins made this even worse.

Their Dad had to raise them by himself, as Mother died shortly after birthing them. But as a spirit, she remained on Earth to watch over them. Sal and Jude could see her, and knew their Dad could feel her presence. 

The King's soldiers have visited the forest and found their hut, only to be chased away by a specter.

In Spring, they returned, forcing nearby villagers to make a crossing into the ravine that will enable wagons to bring a hunting party.

Their Dad starts training Sal and Jude to hide themselves in the forest as they hunt and forage for food. What they find in their training is unexpected...

Excerpt:

Da returned one cold morning and was worried. He had been near the ravine and saw that some workers were improving the road. There was a seldom used trail that led to the one crossing horses could take their riders across. These workers were widening this road so that a wagon could travel it.

He told us that he had seen them bring tools in their carts so that they could bring gravel and small rocks up from the bottom of the ravine to make the road solid. They wanted it passable and keep wagons from getting mired in mud during wet weather.

Da said he saw the captain and some soldiers nearby. They were all mounted on horses and looked to be arguing with the men who were getting rocks out of the ravines. At any loud noise, even a crow's caw, the men would run up the side of the ravine and then have to be forced back to their work of getting the rock and gravel. Everyone's faces were white with strain.

Da's face was coated with mud and clay so that it couldn't be seen by them. So he watched for a good while and then crept quietly away.

He came back to our hut and got us ready. But today we didn't need our packs. We each got a small bag of the meat-berry-fat mix instead.

Da again said we were going to practice being ghosts. We were going to make no sound and leave no trace of our passing. "Like Ma?" we both asked at once.

Da cocked his head to the side, and smiled. "You've felt her too?"

"Yes," we both replied as one. And started to tell him our stories of seeing her, but he held his finger up to his lips.

"We must first learn to be quiet inside our little hut," he said. "You'll be able to tell me later, and I want to hear all about it. But right now, we must practice being as good as your mother in being able to disappear anytime we need to. No one can ever be allowed to follow us back to this hut, or anywhere we go. Our family staying together depends on us being able to vanish whenever we need to."

That day, we never said another word until we returned to the hut and had closed the door again...

Two Ghost's Salvation: Section 03

In the days when people were owned by the land, two young girls found their power by becoming ghosts, then spirit guides.

This is their origin-story…

Their Dad had to raise them by himself, as Mother died shortly after birthing them. But as a spirit, she remained on Earth to watch over them. Sal and Jude could see her, and knew their Dad could feel her presence. 

The King's soldiers have visited the forest and found their hut, only to be chased away by a specter. 

These three make improvements to their hut to make it harder to find, or to find the entrance they use. And learn to leave no trace as they move about the forest, even in snow.

In Spring, the Captain and his troops returned, forcing nearby villagers to make a crossing into the ravine that will enable wagons to bring a hunting party.

Their Dad starts training Sal and Jude to hide themselves in the forest as they hunt and forage for

food. What they find in their training is unexpected…

Excerpt:

When the morning light finally came, the overcast sky matched the mood of the soldiers. The captain was probably the first up, and got busy kicking and rousing his men into some sort of action. He found that no one had died. Several were burned, but no one burned badly.

Their wagons had been destroyed. Their horses could probably be recovered from the peasants (who weren’t allowed to own horses. ) Their tents might be able to be salvaged. There was no food, there was no firewood. 

The captain found his officers and made them disentangle their next in command, who had to find their juniors, and so on down the line. Finally, he mustered them all together. 

One of his officers took a small group of men into the nearest town to get the horses rounded up and returned. 

Another officer’s group was organized to get the tents recovered, folded properly, and stacked for transport.

A third officer’s group was to clean the grounds and salvage anything of value. The trash, especially any bottles, were to be buried in the center of the camp. On top of this spot, they were to make a bonfire of anything too damaged to be repaired.

The captain walked to the edge of the ravine and stared out into it. He waited for reports from his officers when their actions were completed. 

By the time the first officer and their horses returned, the other actions were also completed. 

At that, the captain had the men lead the horses down into the ravine and then back up, saddle and ride around the entire encampment. Then repeated this many times. 

At last they rode off. Later that day, a single wagon arrived, with a small handful of men to load up the tents and return them to the soldier’s headquarters. 

And it was quiet on the land again…