FLYING FREE

FLYING FEE
Spain- 1693
Isabella Arandes was in the marketplace, her head held low. She wandered slowly from stall to stall, taking in the scenery, the scenery that she would never see again. As she walked through the crowd, she could hear people muttering and gasping. Young men and boys gawking at her otherworldly beauty. On most days Isabella would have been offended by such behaviour, but, at this time, she could not care less.  For Today is her last day of freedom. The last day before she is whisked away from her father’s house and sent off to marry a man she will never love. Tomorrow Isabella will be the wife of Don Del Portio and her home, her freedom and her father will be all but a distant memory. Her father...
Isabella’s father, Diego Arandes used to be a wealthy merchant, the richest man in the town of La Qudera. However hard times came and his business began to fail. In desperation he sought out moneylenders in Cordoba and Madrid, but he was only forced into further debt. And just when all hope seemed gone, HE came to the rescue. Count Franco Javier Alonso Juan Del Portio Fernandez, young, ambitious and extremely wealthy was Diego’s saviour. He promised wealth, prosperity, and safety in exchange for a single favour in return- Isabella’s hand in marriage.
For Isabella’s father the arrangement was perfect, his daughter, would live a safe, comfortable future as the wife of a rich and powerful noble. But Isabella knew better. Count Del Portio, was sly, cruel and abusive. He used his power to get what he wanted and only thought of himself. Yet, Isabella’s father could not see through his deceitful smile, his hollow praises, his lies. Although Isabella may not have known it, her fate was already sealed from day one.
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Clunk. Isabella reached the steps of the local cathedral.  Its great white stone walls stood alone, towering over the town, guarding it from danger. She sat down. Clunk. The sound was cold and heavy. Isabella shivered. The cold November wind gushed through her long ebony hair before it came to an abrupt, heavy stop. Silence. The word echoed in her head, like the pain in her heart, the numbness in her soul. It felt as if the soaring eagle inside of her was shot dead and set in flames. She could do nothing. Her fate was sealed.
Isabella looked. A mottled grey pigeon landed on the rooftop of the stately stone cathedral. Coo, Coo, It cried. The calls priced the still air. Then, silence. The pigeon flew off. “You are lucky” Isabella said she watched it soar away, “ You can fly wherever you want, land wherever you want, eat whatever you want, marry whoever you want. You have no fate.” A tear streaked down her face. Her voice softened to a whisper. “You are free.”
“So it often is with birds, ‘Bella “said a soft, rich voice behind her. “So it isn’t always with people.” Isabella turned around. A coca-coloured face stood above her, framed by a mass of tight, black curls. Aneena. Aneena used to work as a maidservant in the Arandes villa. Barely two years older than Isabella and of African Origin, Aneena was Isabella’s closest friend growing up and Neena understood Isabella better than anyone else. But today not even she could ease Isabella’s pain.
Isabella sighed. ”Inghene. I have lost my Inghene.” Aneena saw the despair in Isabella’s eyes. ‘Inghene’ meant ‘flying’ in Aneena’s language and ‘Inghene’ meant ‘free’. In her language to fly was to be free.
Isabella stared ahead. “this is it.” She announced solemnly. Silence. A tear rolled down her porcelain cheeks and landed on the cold stone floors of the steps.  “This is the end, Aneena. The Count will force me. Torture me. Destroy me. I know it. ” her voice grew louder.”My father thinks he will make me his wife.” She smirked. “what a joke. Neena, he will make me his slave, his whore, his…” Isabella burst into tears Aneena put a hand on her Isabella’s shoulder. There was a long and heavy silence. Tangible in the frozen air, Solid as stone.

Then Aneena turned to her friend and whispered. “Come with me. What I have to tell you must not be heard by anyone else. Understand?”  Isabella followed Aneena to a small, dark room behind the cathedral and closed the doors. “ what is it?” She asked.
Aneena took a deep breath. “ I… I know a way to help you keep you Inghene.” Isabella’s pulse was racing with excitement.  Could this be? Is there really a way out? Is there a way for Aneena to  help her? To save her from her fate. Aneena began . “There were rites. The elders of my people, they used to practice ancient rituals to appease the spirits, to summon them change the fate of the living, to perform miracles.”
Aneena closed her eyes in thought. “My grandmother was one of those elders – a gifted shaman. When I was young, she used to train me in the sacred rites, hoping I would one day become a shaman too . That was , at least, before I came here.” Aneena continued. “ Bella, tonight is full moon, when the spirits are at there strongest. If there is any time to perform a rite it must be tonight.” Aneena’s dark eyes glared sternly at Isabella. “At midnight, we meet in the woods. Do not tell a soul where you are going and don’t bring anyone with you. Understand.” Isabella nodded with an eager look in her emerald eyes. If there was a way to break free of her fate , she was in.
Midnight.  The great white moon shone upon a clearing in the forest. In the clearing stood a lone figure, a short, slender young woman topped by a mass of wild black hair.  The figure stood bare-chested and wore a short skirt made from goat hide. Intricate swirls of ash and ochre covered her naked torso, arms and neck. And around her neck hung a pennant of ivory- the shaman’s amulet- an instrument of magic.
Shuffle. Crack. the brush parted as Another woman arrived at the clearing. She was taller, paler, with long brown hair and vivid green eyes. She had a look of determination and excitement upon her youthful face. Tonight, thought Isabella, her life would change for the better. How wrong she was.
At first Isabella could not barely recognize Aneena. Aneena’s usual warm, kindly demeanour, was replaced by that of grim seriousness. It was almost as if the woman standing before her was not her best friend but a ancient and powerful sorceress. For now even Aneena’s gaze commanded respect. “ undress!” Ordered the shaman  Aneena. The air was icily cold yet, slowly,  Isabella took off her gown. “remove everything”. Isabella took off her shoes, her stockings, her undergarments. And stood shivering in the cold.
“Good” said the shaman. She came up to Isabella and took bowl of ochre paint. Then, slowly drew a line down Isabella’s forehead .  a second line from her chin down to her navel. A circle around each breast , a large triangle on her left shoulder, a spiral on her right hand and above each knee.
Aneena took a step back and She closed her eyes. Then slowly she raised her hands skywards and recited the spell “ NGANKA KERA DA KA WODE, JU KESS AL MUN SEKKA DO.  JAGADO MORR ES INGHENE RAKOR MESK HORTH FALEKASKA MUNKORD AKOSS!” Then Aneena fell on her knees and bowed her head then -silence.
Isabella was baffled. She had expected lighting, thunder, pillars of fire or at least something grand to happen. But there was nothing of the sort. No flames, no magic, nothing. Nothing apart from a small itch under her chin . Her chin.
Isabella stroked her chin  and let out a sharp yelp. Her chin was covered in a patch of soft white hair, in almost the exact spot Aneena had drawn the ochre line on her. She felt the rest of her body. The white hair was on her knees too and her shoulder and everywhere Aneena had drawn on her. And the hair was spreading, fast.”What is happening?” Isabella  asked Aneena in fear . Aneena did not answer; she was still on her knees in a deep trance.
The hair swept across Isabella’s body, covering everywhere it could leaving only her calves and feet bare. But the hair did more than just spread. Each follicle began to fray at the edges, unwinding into multiple strands protruding from a hollow shaft. the hair had become a sort of fuzzy down, the start  feathers. On Isabella’s arms and above her buttocks these feathers, lengthened and grew and reshaped into the thin, aerodynamic blades necessary for flight.
Suddenly, Isabella felt a sharp pain in her feet. They too was changing, her bones crackled and creaked as they morphed and stretched, lifting her heel of the ground. Her toes too began to rearrange themselves, elongating themselves whilst her big toe migrated to the rear of her foot and her pinkie toe disappeared and Each toenail became a claw.  
Isabella would nearly have fainted at the sight of her bird feet if it weren’t for the fact that her hands were changing too.  In a matter of seconds, her fingers melded together and her hands became small paddle shaped organs, disabling Isabella’s dexterity. Isabella was now sweating, panicking, frightened. She now recognized that  Aneena had tricked her. Aneena had not cast a freedom spell, but a transformation one. Whatever was happening, Isabella knew one thing- at the end of it all she would no longer be human,
The transformations began to pick up pace, now. On Her arm feathers grew and grew, whilst her arm bones shrank, leaving her with two large white, avian wings. And just above her buttocks her, a short tail shot out crowned with an equally magnificent fan of white feathers.
Isabella’s  face was changing. Her eyes grew large and dark,  her earlobes vanished, her nose flattened and her long dark  hair shrank back into her scalp, becoming small white feathers in the process. She yelled at her friend “Anweena! How couod yooo!” she could barely form words. ‘sommbuudy huuuuurp! She tried to scream again but her lips grew hard. They stretched forward and solidified as a short yellow beak. All that came out were light whistling sounds and dove-like coos.
Isabella felt herself shrinking, the world getting bigger.  She kept shrinking until she attained a mass of three kilograms and stopped. Her breasts flattened, her nipples vanished, her legs grew stouter and her back grew shorter.  Isabella body leaned forward, as her body could no longer support an erect posture. lastly, Isabella took in a huge breath as her lungs sprouted the four internal air sacks. This put incredible strain on her chest and Isabella passed out. Darkness.
Morning. A little white dove awoke in a forest. Isabella ruffled her feathers and shook her head, confused bewildered. As a bird, the world seemed different- And a lot bigger. Isabella took a few steppes forward but stopped, frightened. A few meters before her lay an enormous woman, in the same clothes Aneena had worn the previous night. Yet the woman was not Aneena. She was taller, paler and had a long mane of straight, jet-black hair. Then the figure turned around and its gaze met Isabella’. Isabella froze .The face was strikingly beautiful and eerily familiar. For the woman had Isabella’s own eyes…her own face.
Suddenly the figure stretched out a mighty hand an grabbed Isabella by the belly and drew her in. then the impostor spoke- with Isabella's  own voice. “Bella, I know you must by furious for what happened, but let  me explain. “ she began. Isabella knew at once. This was Aneena. Whist Isabella’s own transformation was going on, Aneena had cast a spell upon herself- a spell to turn her into Isabella. “Bella, you must know the truth. I never wished to harm you, but this has to be done. For me, for my people.’ A tear shed her face. “my people are slaves, Bella. They are exploited, abused, treated like nothing. They are worked to death for you Spanish, both here and in the new world, yet get nothing in return.”
“Before I was captured and sent here, my grandmother told my mission. She said: “ whatever is needed to free our people, you must do, Aneena. It is your destiny, my child, to liberate us.”” She sighed. “for many years I had been secretly searching, concocting many failed plans, trying many hopeless spells. I had almost given up until… until yesterday, when I met you by the cathedral. When You told me of the Count and of your desire to be free, an idea struck me. If I could switch places with you, I would be the wife of a rich and powerful Count, a man who has the ear of the king. From here I could have influence beyond imagining. I could perhaps persuade the king to release my people. Even he would be powerless against your heavenly looks.” Isabella felt a feeling of pity for Aneena. Aneena truly understood the count’s cruelty yet was willing to stomach the torture in order to free her people.
“And as for you, Isabella?” Aneena continued “for you, in return, I would grant you the one thing you desired- your Inghene. As you see, there really is no such word as freedom in my language; only the word Inghene -Flying. And the bird form? Isabella, the ancestors make no mistakes. They gave you what they thought you deserved- Inghene in its highest form.’ Aneena’s voice softened. She nuzzled her face against Isabella’s soft, white feathers and whispered. “I know you are upset right now. Confused, angry even. Isabella, I never meant you harm, never. But, Bella, take this as a new beginning, an opportunity to find your true self, to reach new heights. Because After all, the greatest freedom is to soar.
With that Aneena uncupped her hands and threw Isabella into the air. At first it was clumsy, Isabella struggled to stay aloft, her wings flapping furiously. Yet, soon she got the hang of it, darting in and out in the cool morning air, twisting, diving, soaring.
The wind flowing past was incredible, the rush was amazing.  Nothing she had ever done before felt this good
Isabella flew higher and higher as her spirits began to lift. This would not be so bad after all, she thought, racing higher and higher, because this is what it really means, flying free.
END