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a. b. and c.
The Great God Creton had three hundred daughters and sons by three hundred different wives but the most favoured of all his children was the youngest.
The Child was the offspring of Creton and Lanthea, a wild, free-spirited huntress, and just like her mother, the Child possessed a natural curiosity and fearlessness.
Whilst Creton’s other daughters and sons spent their days training to be great warriors and wise counsellors and renowned thinkers, the Child was free to roam the breadth of Creton’s kingdom, each day returning home at sunset with a new discovery for her delighted father and mother; a giant moth frozen solid as it emerged from its chrysalis; the first blue blossom of spring.
It was on a day in late summer that the Child found herself on the edge of the Valley of Thorns. Here was the one place in Creton’s entire kingdom that was forbidden to her but, being naturally curious, she did not see the harm in exploring.
Soon upon entering the valley, however, she realised why her father had not wanted her to see this place. For she had supposed all the subjects of her father’s kingdom to be as free and happy as she was. But as she entered the valley, she suddenly found herself in a shadowy place full of misery and desperation. A place where the men, women and children of other captured tribes worked day and night as slaves.
And the sight filled her with a sadness that she could not shake.
The following day, the Child found herself summoned to the Great Hall to read for her father, but as soon as she entered, Creton could see the sadness on the Child’s face and, at once, the Great God’s countenance suddenly changed. ‘You have visited the Valley of Thorns!’ he declared angrily.
The Child tried to deny it but at this, the Great God Creton flew into an almighty rage that shook the heavens and rent huge rifts across the earth for ten thousand nights.
‘I love you with all my being,’ explained Creton to the Child. ‘But you have disobeyed me and have saddened me to the very depths of my spirit. In punishment, I will give you a new name and a new nature. And you will go to live with the wise people of Aros.’ The Child pleaded desperately with her father, for Aros was forty days and nights away by boat, but the Great God in his anger would not be swayed and the following morning Creton tearfully watched as the ship carrying his favourite child set sail for Aros.
It was twenty nights into the journey when a mighty storm swept across the ocean, tossing the boat high into the air before splitting it violently in two.
When the Child awoke the following morning, she found herself entirely alone, washed up on the shore of a small, rocky island. She set about exploring her new dwelling place but soon found it to be a dark, barren spot with little of any note, save for some caves around the shoreline and the wild sheep that roamed its stony outcrops.
Blessed with her mother’s resourcefulness, she spent the day spearing fish, gathering firewood and setting traps for the sheep, before promptly falling asleep as soon as she had made a fire.
It was pitch black when she later awoke and, with a growing sense of terror, saw a series of creatures slowly and silently emerge from the caves along the shoreline. What kind of animal they were, the Child could not say, for the ragged beasts were covered in filth and mange and uttered sounds that she could not understand.
And thus several years passed on the island; the days filled with hunting and fishing and the nights with the watching of the ragged beasts until, slowly but surely, the Child forgot about her old life, so that when one morning a boat appeared at the shoreline, she did not at first recognise the man emerging from it. Recognise him as her own father. Only when she ran down to greet Creton at the water’s edge did the memories of her past life return, and the Child wept openly just like her father did – for Creton himself had searched for many years to find her.
It was only when Creton pu...
