Myth of the Phantoms Page 2

     Her thoughts were interrupted as the clouds suddenly opened up taking with it the rain and leaving a ray of sunshine beaming down on the wet landscape. The sun gave everything around her a strange essence of life.
     She looked at this sky in wonder and then the voices spoke to her again, this time with more urgency. She looked down at the box for a minute and then at the carriage master. He was busy yelling obscenities and telling the workers to stop gawking at the sky and get back to their duties. Now was her best chance if she was to open the box with out getting caught.
     Mud spattered as the box hit the ground. Yukama examined it, looking for some way to get the lid off. There was a latch on the front and on the sides were two carvings in the shape of handprints. They seemed almost like the were made to fit her hands. She placed her hands on the handprints and the latch flipped up, startling her. She jumped back for a second and then slowly reached for the lid. She pushed it about half way and could see that whatever was inside was giving off light. She paused, took a deep breath, and opened the lid the rest of the way. She peered inside.

     "Dear, you needn't worry," said Ambralia, a pheasant woman who despite her social status and having giving birth to a child, was beautiful. "I'll only be out a short while."
     "I still worry about you mother. It's dangerous in the forest at night. After all, you wont let me go hunt with you." Whined her daughter, Lemaya, impatiently.
     Lemaya was 16 and already a skilled hunter but compared to her mother she was inexperienced. However, Lemaya thought otherwise.
     "I'll be fine. I know the forest well. I need you to stay here and tend to the fireplace." Ambralia said sternly.
     "As you wish," Sighed Lemaya.
     Ambralia leaned forward and kissed Lemaya on the forehead, and opened the door of their small run down home. She paused for a minute to look at Lemaya and went out the door.
     Lemaya walked to the window and looked out. She could see her mother get on a brown horse which they decided would be named Kiarot in honor of their last horse who died three months earlier. Ambralia yelled out a Heeya! And rode off into the darkness.
     Lemaya Sighed.