With my head bowed low, I sat and listened to the night sounds of the islands. A few island birds squawked noisily, looking for leftover scarps on the streets before disappearing in a huff again. In the distance, I could hear the flapping of sails as the merchant ships lay calming in port, the only interruption the intermittent voices of sailors calling each other and the thumping of cargo boxes on the ground. My attention was interrupted with the marching past of guards, they were carrying something heavy as I stood up and grasped the rusted steel bars in my hands. For a few solid hours, I watched them carefully as they started assembling the structure; hammering planks and boards together. When they brought out the rope and slung it over the top wooden bar, I smiled grimly to myself and knew exactly what it was. There was no mistaking the ominous sight of a hang man’s noose.
I was to be executed in the morning.
Turning away in disgust when I saw them test the rope on a straw doll, I closed my eyes and shook my head. It was a pathetic way to end a life I thought to myself. A limp body on a rope, kicking for all she was worth but all for nothing; just waiting for the crows to feast on her flesh. Who would have thought I would end up like this?
“Oh honey, why do you want to give up now?” a melodic voice drifted up from behind my shoulder as I spun around. A thin, tall woman with silver grey hair and dressed in ghostly white robe was sitting behind me. Her face was taut and she had a sadness about her, one that came of seeing many a horror over the ages. I couldn’t explain it but there was something about this woman that I instantly trusted, a calming and comforting aura that I had never felt before in my life.
“Who are you?” I asked, climbing down from the bars and looking at her intently.
She sighed and smiled introspectively to herself. “I am and I will always be. I am the conduit to Death and the shield that protects humanity against my sister, but you can call me Famine.” She held up a bright red apple in her hand and watched it wither away till dust.
“I don’t understand, what are you doing here?” I tried to make sense of it all but failed.
“The Four Horsemen are watching you with keen eyes and I couldn’t let my sister win the bet so easily now could I? You need to know that there is someone in your corner taking care of you.” Her ghostly appearance faded in and out of reality. She was old, almost as old as time itself. I could feel her energy ebbing around me, steady yet gentle in her ways.
“It’s too late and there is nothing you can do anymore.” I replied glumly, sinking down on the cold stone seat below me.
“Oh child, you cannot lose faith now. You would not believe how many times I’ve screwed up Death’s plans over the eons and ages. For every massive army she claims, I keep a single child from starving. But I am far from perfect, there has been many a time where I had to destroy an entire harvest and watch the farmers and their child fade away to nothing. This is the antithesis, the light and the dark of being a Horseman. This is the cosmic role I have accepted and which I embrace.”
“But why me? What makes me so special that they chose me for this bet?” The frustration was boiling over in me till I felt Famine’s hand on my shoulder. She placed a thin finger under my chin, lifting it up till I looked her straight into her blue grey eyes.
“You humans are a fascinating specie and you know so very little. There is a bigger plan in motion for you child, bigger than anything your mind can imagine. But I cannot reveal it yet for that would be tampering with the events of time itself and I am forbidden to do so. Just know that whatever happens out there today, your story will continue. Be it in death or life, this is not the end.”
“I’m scared.” I whispered, burying my head in her shoulder. Famine held me by the shoulders and I could the belief in her eyes through the tears in mine.
