Read Online The Stone of Blood by Tony Nalley - Free Book Online
Authors: Tony Nalley
Tags: Fiction, General, Historical, Mystery & Detective, Christian, Fairy Tales; Folk Tales; Legends & Mythology
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that became a part of me, a part of who I was and a part of who I would become. It may have held no meanin’ whatsoever, to anyone other than this same small five year old boy who sat upon her soft lap as she would hug me and tell me that I was loved.
I could only hope that one day I too could grow to such heights as to have a special and long life as that of my aunt Leathie.
I wish that I could convey more about her upon these pages before you. But I can’t say that I have many more memories of her to relate.
I know that her eyesight had been less and less as she began to age. I know that her lap was soft; her face shown of wrinkles and her heart was filled with love!
I am sure that my aunt Leathie affected change in the lives of a great many people throughout her lifetime. And I know that she must have been a light in many people’s lives other than mine alone.
But in the still small moments that have made up my life, she made an everlasting difference in me.
Would anyone have need of words greater than these to be written upon their stone?
***
October 1833
Nathanael and his officers sat on horseback at the eastern most edge of town, laughing and drinking whiskey in celebration amidst the carnage.
The flames from the fires burned high into the night’s sky as by his direct order, his soldiers ran rampant through the city’s streets, pillaging and murdering its people!
Store windows shattered as torches were thrown; buildings catching fire, burning quickly!
Men, women and children ensnared by ropes and dragged like animals behind their horses; children crying, as they sat helplessly beside their parents who lay dying in the shadows.
“Go get em’ boys! Bring me the stone!” Nathanael shouted. Hatred had consumed him for most of his life. He embraced it, nurtured it. It kept him warm.
“How could such abominations be permitted to live?” he asked his men loudly as he held up his whiskey bottle as if to make a toast.
“They can’t!” he answered abruptly and in slurred tongue before his men could speak. “I won’t permit it!”
The alcohol coursed through Nathanael’s veins as he broke away from his posse and rode straight upwards through the fields to higher grounds; the highest point of the surrounding hills.
Lystra had been built here covertly; no one would miss it, there was barely even record of it!
But as for him, it was important enough that he should not miss one second of its burning!
“Who would have ever thought that ‘I’ would be the one to see the last of the Order fall?” he said to himself.
Nathanael laughed an evil laugh. “There will be no ‘Order’ here!”
“Run you accursed beasts! Run!” He shouted in drunken stupor from the highest point of the small mountain, firing his pistols into the air, looking down upon the fires!
“Run you …a …bêtes maudites!” he shouted.
Nathanael fell from his horse then, striking the ground solidly with a thud. And he lay there alone in the darkness, passed out upon the moistened grass …with bourbon whiskey spilling out onto the grounds beside him.
Eight
Wrought with Great Passage
I watched as the great hawk spread its wings and soared upon the winds; held in direct contrast to the blue skies beneath which it flew. I imagined its vision, lookin’ down to the fore of our rooftops, tobacco barns and freshly painted fields. Its continence suggested freedom wrought with great passage. And likened unto this bird of prey, my world had become a gateway to great adventures. Mountains and valleys rushed to meet me like the cool waters of a mountain stream.
…I flew through its meadows and I rested upon the limbs of its tallest trees…
Daughtry Avenue would forever remain a facet part in my memory, but life demands change.
We moved before Mr. Jones had gone to
I could only hope that one day I too could grow to such heights as to have a special and long life as that of my aunt Leathie.
I wish that I could convey more about her upon these pages before you. But I can’t say that I have many more memories of her to relate.
I know that her eyesight had been less and less as she began to age. I know that her lap was soft; her face shown of wrinkles and her heart was filled with love!
I am sure that my aunt Leathie affected change in the lives of a great many people throughout her lifetime. And I know that she must have been a light in many people’s lives other than mine alone.
But in the still small moments that have made up my life, she made an everlasting difference in me.
Would anyone have need of words greater than these to be written upon their stone?
***
October 1833
Nathanael and his officers sat on horseback at the eastern most edge of town, laughing and drinking whiskey in celebration amidst the carnage.
The flames from the fires burned high into the night’s sky as by his direct order, his soldiers ran rampant through the city’s streets, pillaging and murdering its people!
Store windows shattered as torches were thrown; buildings catching fire, burning quickly!
Men, women and children ensnared by ropes and dragged like animals behind their horses; children crying, as they sat helplessly beside their parents who lay dying in the shadows.
“Go get em’ boys! Bring me the stone!” Nathanael shouted. Hatred had consumed him for most of his life. He embraced it, nurtured it. It kept him warm.
“How could such abominations be permitted to live?” he asked his men loudly as he held up his whiskey bottle as if to make a toast.
“They can’t!” he answered abruptly and in slurred tongue before his men could speak. “I won’t permit it!”
The alcohol coursed through Nathanael’s veins as he broke away from his posse and rode straight upwards through the fields to higher grounds; the highest point of the surrounding hills.
Lystra had been built here covertly; no one would miss it, there was barely even record of it!
But as for him, it was important enough that he should not miss one second of its burning!
“Who would have ever thought that ‘I’ would be the one to see the last of the Order fall?” he said to himself.
Nathanael laughed an evil laugh. “There will be no ‘Order’ here!”
“Run you accursed beasts! Run!” He shouted in drunken stupor from the highest point of the small mountain, firing his pistols into the air, looking down upon the fires!
“Run you …a …bêtes maudites!” he shouted.
Nathanael fell from his horse then, striking the ground solidly with a thud. And he lay there alone in the darkness, passed out upon the moistened grass …with bourbon whiskey spilling out onto the grounds beside him.
Eight
Wrought with Great Passage
I watched as the great hawk spread its wings and soared upon the winds; held in direct contrast to the blue skies beneath which it flew. I imagined its vision, lookin’ down to the fore of our rooftops, tobacco barns and freshly painted fields. Its continence suggested freedom wrought with great passage. And likened unto this bird of prey, my world had become a gateway to great adventures. Mountains and valleys rushed to meet me like the cool waters of a mountain stream.
…I flew through its meadows and I rested upon the limbs of its tallest trees…
Daughtry Avenue would forever remain a facet part in my memory, but life demands change.
We moved before Mr. Jones had gone to
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