M.M.F.F. Challenge: Week #29

                                                  

Amy C over at Romance Book Wyrm and Dottie over at Tink's Place
have come up with the idea for a Monday Morning Flash Fiction challenge. Each Monday a new picture prompt will be posted and if you choose to participate - you post your story on Friday - 350 words, give or take. 


And here is picture prompt #29:

                           

                The Tree Of Lost Souls

                 By Brenda Sessoms             

Mara and her sister Ilsa stand at the altar of their  little church where they light a candle and pray for their mother Tressa.

The little village they live in is full of hard working people. People who live off the land and trade with other villages to make money for their taxes and things they can not make for themselves.

When people start disappearing searches are made , men start carrying weapons and doors which were normally left open were being locked.

One night in spring Tressa kissed the girls and sent them off to bed, she told them she would be in the barn  she was afraid the nanny goat was going to have trouble delivering as it was her first kid.

The next morning the girls came downstairs to find the kitchen empty. They went ahead and prepared breakfast.When it was finished they went to the barn to relieve their mother so she could eat but she was not there.Although they searched for an entire year she was not found.

One afternoon as Mara was feeding the goats she heard a cough and as she turned and old woman was standing watching her.

Amara did not recognize this woman but asked if she would care for something to drink and a place to rest as the woman seemed very tired. The woman accepted her offer and thanked her.

As she sat she began to tell Amara where she was from and why she was there.She lived in a village fifty to sixty miles away and had lost her son in the same way. As it was growing late Amara asked the woman to stay the night . The woman agreed.After they had eaten and cleaned the kitchen, they began to talk. The woman's name was Sadara and she was a seer.She lived with her son who was a black smith by trade.He was a good son and the light of her life. As with the people of Amara's village they had done everything they could to find the people who disappeared,no one had been found.

Two months after Sadara's son Joseffa had disappeared she had a vision of a tree encircled by mist when she awoke she knew if she found the tree she would find her son.

Sadara found the tree on the outskirts of the village deep in the woods.  A very large and twisted tree. As she came close to the tree she heard whispers and realized those whispers were coming from the tree. Then she saw the faces on the tree and she screamed when she found the face of her beloved son. She rushed back to the village and begged people to follow her and help her save him, but when she returned to the spot it was as if the tree had been ripped from the earth.

Her search for the soul snatcher and the tree of lost souls had brought  her to Amara and Ilsa...

The End. 

Word Count:394

B.