Blood Moon Mating Ceremony

The loud clang-clang-clang of the heavy iron bell rang through the village, and its deep sound bounced off the stone houses and echoed into the trees. In our village, that bell meant only one thing: it was evening, and it was time for every child and teenager to gather in the square for story time. We were not allowed to stay home, for the elders said we must all hear the story so we would never forget the price of our safety.

I walked slowly toward the big fire in the middle of the village, and my boots kicked up the dry dirt as I went. All around me, kids were running, but their faces were not happy, and they looked at the dark forest with wide, scared eyes. I stood near the flames and watched the small children, who looked like little birds hiding from a hawk because they knew a scary story was coming. In the middle of the group sat Elder Bram, an old man with many wrinkles on his face, and he began to speak in a low, shaky voice.

"Hear me and to me, children," Bram said as he pointed his shaky hand toward the dark woods.

"A hundred years ago, our people lived in a beautiful kingdom with a princess who was very kind and pretty. But a mean King from the woods, the first Alpha King, saw her and wanted her for himself. He moved so fast that no human could see him, and one night, he broke into her room and took her away into the trees. He said she was his mate, and he didn't care that her family was crying."

I felt angry as I listened to him, for it was the same story every time. Bram kept talking about the war that started because the princess was taken. "The war lasted a long time, and many people died. The beast were dying too because they couldn't find their mates among their own kind, and they decided to come to the human kingdom.

So, a treaty was signed. The beastpromised to protect our village from other kingdoms that wanted to hurt us and steal our homes, but in return, every five years when the moon turns red, they come back to take our girls to be their mates."

I couldn't stay quiet anymore, and I stepped into the light of the fire so everyone could see me.

"Why do we just let them take us?" I asked loudly, and my heart was beating fast. "You call them the Beast, but who are they really? Are they just animals? Why are we so afraid of red eyes in the dark that we just give them whatever they want? We should fight back instead of acting like scared sheep."

Elder Bram sighed and looked at me like he was sad for me. "Kiana, they are too strong and too fast, and we cannot hit what we cannot see. We give them the girls because if we don't, the other kingdoms will come with their armies and burn our houses. The beast are the only ones who can stop them."

"So we give them our sisters just so they will fight for us?" I asked, and I balled my hands into fists. "It sounds like we are just trading one bad thing for another, and I don't think it's fair that we have to pay for a mistake made a hundred years ago."

"Be quiet, child !" Bram whispered, looking nervously at the dark trees. "You are eighteen now, and you think you are brave. But the Blood Moon will come back in two years when you are twenty. The Alpha King is very powerful, and he does not like people who talk back. We follow the rules so we can stay alive, and if you saw the red eyes watching us right now, you would be scared too."

I didn't say anything back, but I wasn't scared. I looked at the dark woods and felt a strange shiver, for I didn't like the rules and I didn't like the treaty. I had two years left before the moon turned red. Most people would spend those two years praying, but I decided I would spend them getting ready, because I wanted to see the monsters for myself before they tried to take me.

The two years had passed like a slow, heavy shadow, and now the village of Ariath was a place of whispers and cold sweat, for the Blood Moon was only one week away. I was twenty years old now, and the time I had spent trying to prepare myself felt small compared to the giant fear that was growing in everyone else's hearts. The iron bell rang again, but this time it was not for a story, but it was to call the fifty of us who were of age to the Great Hall for our final training.

We walked through the dusty streets, and I could see mothers weeping in their doorways, while fathers looked at the ground because they could not bear to see their daughters being marched toward a fate that no one understood.

Inside the Great Hall, the air was cold and smelled of old paper and sour incense, and we were told to stand in neat rows like soldiers waiting for a war we were destined to lose. There were fifty of us in total, and as I looked at the girls around me, I saw the same terror in every pair of eyes. But then, the Village Head stepped onto the platform, and he held up his hands to quiet the room, for he had a new announcement that changed everything.

"Listen well," the Village Head said, and his voice was loud and clear. "Because our village is small and we do not have many young women left to work the fields and care for the elderly, we cannot send all fifty of you to the Edge. The King of the beasthas agreed that we will only select thirty girls to stand for the mating ceremony this year, while the remaining twenty will stay behind to serve the community and keep Ariath alive."

A sudden wave of hope washed over me, and for the first time in years, I felt like I could actually breathe. I was a hard worker, and I spent my days helping the farmers and fixing the stone walls of the village, and I was one of the strongest contributors to our community. Surely, they would see that I was more useful here than as a sacrifice to the woods. I looked at the girl next to me and saw her eyes brighten with the same desperate hope, and for a moment, the heavy weight on my chest felt a little lighter. I imagined staying home, staying with my family, and never having to see the red eyes of the beasts.

"However," the Village Head continued, and his voice turned cold as he pulled out a list. "The selection is not based on who is the most useful, but it is based on the purity and the strength of the bloodline. We have already made our choice." He began to read the names, and the room was so quiet that I could hear my own heart thudding against my ribs. Name after name was called, and girls began to sob with relief when they realized they were staying, or they fell to the floor in grief when they were chosen.

"Kiana," the Village Head said, and his eyes met mine for a split second before he looked away.

My heart broke right there in that cold hall. All the hard work I had done, and all the help I had given the village, meant nothing. I was on the list. I was one of the thirty. The tiny spark of happiness I had felt was blown out like a candle in a storm, and I felt a cold, sick feeling spread through my stomach. I was going to the Edge, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Now that the thirty are chosen," Elder Bram said, stepping forward to replace the Village Head. "You must learn the truth of the Vow. You are thirty girls, but not all of you will be taken by the beasts , for the beasts only claim those they find worthy. But those who are taken must know the rules, or you will bring death back to your families. The Beast Legion does not tolerate mistakes, and the King of the beast expects absolute submission from the human mates that he allows to live in his forest."

He pulled out a thick, black scroll and unrolled it, and the sound of the parchment was like a bone snapping in the quiet room. "Listen well to the Five Laws of the Edge, for these are the rules you must follow from the moment your feet touch the forest grass."

"First," he shouted, and a girl next to me let out a small, choked sob. "You must never look into their eyes when they snatch you, for the red glow of the beast is the last thing many men have seen before they died, and it is said that looking into their gaze will steal your soul.

Second, you must never scream after you cross the boundary line, for the beasts hate the sound of human fear, and if you cry out, they may decide you are too weak and leave you for the wild dogs instead.

Third, you must keep your hands open and empty at all times, for any sign of a weapon or even a closed fist is seen as a declaration of war, and they will kill you where you stand. Fourth, you must never ask them for their names or speak unless you are spoken to, for they are our masters.

Fifth, and most terrifying of all, you must never try to run back once they touch you, for the moment the beasts hand is on your skin, you belong to the forest, and if you try to return, they will burn Ariath to the ground."

The sound of crying in the room was like a soft, miserable wind, and I felt a hot, bubbling anger in my chest that replaced my broken hope. These were not rules for a marriage; they were rules for a prison. The elders then began to give us their "advice" on how to behave once the blur of red eyes snatched us.

"When you feel the wind of their movement," one elder whispered. "Do not fight them, but let your body go limp, for they are stronger than a hundred men and if you resist, they will break your bones. They move faster than the eye can see, so do not blink, and do not try to find your way home. You must learn to be silent, for the King of the beast is a man of iron, and he does not want a girls who asks questions about the past."

I looked around at the girls, and I saw them sinking to their knees, but as I listened to the elders, my stubborn heart only grew harder. They wanted us to be quiet, and they wanted us to be invisible, but I had spent two years learning how to hide a small, sharp blade in my skirt. I didn't care about the red eyes or the soul-stealing gaze, and I didn't care about the speed of the Beast, because I was not a sack of grain to be traded.

"We will spend the next six days in this hall," Elder Bram announced. "You will learn how to walk to the Edge and how to wait for the red eyes without trembling. You should be proud to pay the price that keeps your parents alive, even if it means you never see the sun over this village again."

I watched him, and I realized that the elders were just as afraid as we were. I stayed silent as we practiced our "waiting pose," standing still with our heads bowed, but inside my mind, I was already breaking every law they gave us. I would look into their eyes, and if the beast thinks they are getting a submissive girl, they were wrong. The week would pass, the moon would turn red, and the screaming would begin, but I promised myself that I would be the only one who didn't let the fear take me.

The sun was setting for the last time before I had to leave, and the sky was a deep, bruised purple that made the village feel like it was holding its breath. Tomorrow morning, I would have to pack my small bag and move into the Great Hall for a week of training with the other twenty-nine girls, and the thought of it felt like a heavy stone sitting in the middle of my chest. Inside our small cottage, the air was thick with the smell of vegetable stew and fresh bread, but nobody was smiling, and the only sound was the clinking of wooden spoons against bowls.

My mother sat across from me, her eyes red and puffy from crying all day, while my little sister, Mara, sat next to me, clutching my hand so tightly that her knuckles were white. My father sat at the head of the table, his face as hard as a winter frost, and he refused to look at me as he chewed his food with a grim look on his face.

"You must eat, Kiana," my mother whispered, pushing a piece of bread toward me with a trembling hand, and her voice was so soft that it almost broke my heart. "You will need your strength for the training, and I want you to remember the taste of home when you are... when you are gone."

"Why are we acting like this is a normal dinner?" I asked, and I dropped my spoon because I couldn't pretend anymore. "Tomorrow I go to a hall to learn how to be a silent slave, and in a week, I will be standing at the Edge waiting for a beast to snatch me into the dark. We are sitting here eating stew while the village elders are preparing to hand us over like we are nothing but cattle, and I cannot understand why everyone is too cowardly to pick up a pitchfork and fight back against these monsters."

My father slammed his hand down on the table, making the bowls jump and causing Mara to let out a small, frightened cry. "Enough of this talk, Kiana!" he shouted, and his eyes were full of a dark, cold anger that I had seen many times before. "You think you are so smart and so brave, but you are just a girl who doesn't understand the world. We do not fight the beast because the beast cannot be killed by men like us, and if we even tried to resist, the King of the Beast would send his Legion to tear this village to pieces before the sun could rise. Your stubbornness is going to be the death of you, and if you do not learn to control your mouth and follow the rules, you will not even survive the first night in the forest."

"Then let me die!" I shouted back, standing up so fast that my chair fell over backward. "I would rather die fighting for my freedom than live a long life bowing down to a creature I do not even know. You call him the King of the Beast, and you treat him like a god, but he is just a kidnapper who hides in the shadows and steals girls because his own kind is dying out. How can you sit there and tell me to be submissive when you are the one who is supposed to protect me?"

"I am protecting this family!" my father roared, his face turning a deep shade of red as he stood up to face me. "By giving you to the treaty, I am keeping your mother and your sister safe from the invading human armies and from the wrath of the wolves. You are one girl, Kiana, and your life is a small price to pay for the safety of everyone else, but you are too selfish to see that. If you go to the Edge with that angry look on your face, the beast will see it as a challenge, and he will kill you slowly just to show the rest of us who is in charge."

Mara began to sob loudly, her small shoulders shaking as she reached out to grab my skirt, and her voice was a high, thin wail that cut through the room. "Please don't go, Kiana! Please don't let the beast take you! I'm scared, I don't want you to leave us!"

I reached down and pulled her into my arms, hugging her so close that I could feel the frantic beating of her heart against my ribs, and I looked over her head to glare at my father. "Look at what you are doing to her," I said, my voice shaking with a mix of love and fury. "You are teaching her that we are nothing, and you are teaching her that she should be afraid of the dark for the rest of her life. I am not selfish, Father, but I am the only one in this house who still has a soul that hasn't been crushed by fear. I will go to the Hall tomorrow, and I will go to the Edge next week, but I will not bow down to anyone, and I will not be silent just to make the elders feel better about their cowardice."

"Kiana, please," my mother begged, reaching out to touch my arm with her gentle fingers. "Your father is only scared because he loves you, and he doesn't want to see you hurt. The beasts are very fast and very cruel, and the stories say they can hear a heart beating from a mile away. If you keep this fire in your eyes, they will see it, and they will want to break you. Just for one week, try to be quiet, try to follow the rules, and maybe... maybe they will choose someone else and you can come back to us."

"They won't choose someone else, Mother," I said, my voice going flat and cold as I remembered the look the Village Head gave me when he read my name. "I am on the list, and I am a descendant of the royal line that started this whole mess, so the Beasts will want me just to prove they can take what their ancestors took. But they should know one thing before they reach for me in the dark. I am not the princess from the old stories, and I am not a prize to be won. I would rather be torn to pieces than be a willing mate to one of those monster."

My father pointed a shaking finger at the door, his voice low and dangerous. "Go to your room, Kiana. Pack your things and prepare your heart, but do not speak another word of rebellion in this house. If you want to throw your life away because you are too proud to bend your knee, then that is on your head, but do not bring the shadow of the beast down on your mother and sister before you are even gone."

I didn't say another word, but I didn't look down either as I picked up my chair and set it back in its place. I kissed Mara on the top of her head and squeezed my mother's hand one last time, and then I walked toward my small bedroom without looking back at the man who was supposed to be my hero. That night, I didn't sleep, but I sat by the window and watched the moon, which was growing larger and brighter with every passing hour. I thought about the Beasts and their red eyes that was waiting for me at the Edge, and I felt a strange, cold calm settle over me. My father thought my stubbornness would kill me, and maybe he was right, but at least I would die as Kiana, and not as a nameless girl who was too afraid to look a monster in the eye.