Short Story: "Cottonwood Bride" (Original Fiction)

Cottonwood Bride | 2,358 words | Fantasy

Trees in the desert are cunning. They guide the weary traveler to water, but they may very well demand a price for doing so. Paying that price is up to you, if you are wise. So, go, drink and rest and refresh yourself, but be wary when the trees begin to speak. They will welcome you, comfort you, lull you into trust, and then, they will begin to question. Think carefully about your answers, and remember, it is no sin to leave.

Whatever you do, don’t say yes to the trees.

It is a tale as old as the valley itself, a warning passed down through generations. Manuela had heard it all her life, from her mother, aunts, and grandmothers, but with the sun on her back and a dying child in her arms, the legend was the furthest thing from her mind.

She had been traveling, as part of a disparate group, to meet her husband in a mining town along the river, some seventy miles from her home. All had been going well until her child had taken ill, and required more than her allotted rations of food and water to recover. Angered that Manuela had brought such a delicate, needy child on such a harsh journey, some members of the group seized upon this temporary inequality as an excuse to deny Manuela and her daughter their proper shares later, reminding Manuela that she was welcome to leave the group, should she believe she could find help elsewhere.

Manuela tried to withstand their treatment, and their jeers, for the sake of her daughter, but, ultimately decided that she stood a better chance of surviving at the mercy of the desert than at the hands of this group. Gaunt from hunger, lips cracked and tongue swollen from thirst, Manuela slipped away from camp one dawn, praying for a miracle.

( Read more... )