Red Strands

It was a dark night and not even a single star could be seen. What was there was a huge black canvas that hid almost all hope. Then, a loud scream can be heard all over piercing everyone's ears like a knife. It was a woman's voice and she was about to give birth.

At the courtyard of the cottage where the woman was, women gathered to sing. It was their belief that the screams of a woman during childbirth is the highest form of worship and so they gathered to join her in such a sacred ceremony. There were also few warriors at the courtyard, making sure to guard the woman who was in labor. She was the Chieftana in their tribe and so they provided her the best security they could offer at her most vulnerable state. In front of the cottage door also stood the leader of the warriors. They call him the Highest Gunta and although he was the toughest and strongest of them all, hiding behind his eyes was fear. He had never experienced such fear before, he didn't even know what fear was until then when he heard the woman behind the door painfully screamed. His heart ached with her.

The midwives had already set their expectations that it was going to be a complicated birth. After all the Chieftana was a woman of fifty four. She was so old enough to even believe she could bear a child and yet, when her sun was about to set, a seed was planted on her.

Inside the cottage, it was so unbearably hot. A woman was weeping at the corner of the bed, legs on the floor and hands on the lump of her stomach. A maidservant was caressing her back, in deep wish that somehow she was giving her Chieftana some comfort.

"Let me see," The midwife sat beside her and carefully slid a finger in between her thigh, trying to measure how close the child was from meeting the world. She was silent for a few minutes, trying to find what she was looking for inside her while the Chieftana was almost losing her breath.

"It's not yet time," She announced and charged the maidservant beside her, "Tie her hair up and wipe off her sweats. Strangely it is very hot tonight,"

The midwife stood and went to the nearby table where all of the things needed for the childbirth were placed. She took a glance at the screaming Chieftana and saw two servants gathered around her to fix her hair. It was all over her body since she had a long one and it had never been cut since she arrived in the Chieftain's household. The midwife then took a bowl and poured some hot water in it. She was going to make something for the Chieftana to drink and alleviate the pain. In the midst of her mixing and pouring, two maidservants in front of her shrieked and immediately ran away from the Chieftana as if they were both afraid of something.

"What is it?" The midwife asked, curious as to what made them afraid.

"The Chieftana's hair…." One of the maidservant pointed at the kneeling woman on the side of the bed, she was shaking, "The roots had gone red!"

The midwife immediately ran to check the Chieftana who was too consumed with her pain to the point that she could no longer care about what her maid servants were talking about. The midwife sat on the bed and checked her hair to confirm the maid servant's words.

"Give me an oil lamp immediately!" She asked and in just a second, one of the maidservants handed her one. She used the oil lamp to bring more light to the corner where the Chieftana was and carefully examined her hair again. There was indeed a red strand, a small portion of it in its roots.

"Have you seen these before?" She asked the maid servants who were always at the Chieftana's company.

"We don't know," One maidservant shook her head, "She had never allowed any of us to touch her hair."

"I do," Among them, one maid servant came forward. She was mostly assigned to the Chieftana during her baths and she swore to them "She allowed me to wash her hair and I swear her hair was all black. It was never there before,"

The midwife thought for a moment. Red was a dreaded color in their tribe and it signifies the worst omen especially during childbirth. It only means one thing. Right then her heart raced against time in fear.

"Call for the messa! Quick!" She hurriedly charged someone. Then with a deep terrified sigh she added, "All of you take watch! The devil is here!"

****

Gunta-tribe warriors

Highest Gunta- warrior leader/general

Messa-priest/priestess of the tribe