The Blind Spinners

Imagen de Dasha Riley

The majestic sword gleams on the vast expanse of ice, he lies unconscious a few feet away. He had wanted to defend himself, but his attacker was too fast, hurting him without even being able to make out.

He can feel Death approaching. Will she bring it in your hands? He has heard it said that she usually covers his lineage with a cloak. A short distance away, the pack of wolves hopes to rejoice with his remains, but he knows that she will not let them touch him, for centuries she has honored her promise. His people were to die among beasts, but their bodies would not be touched by them.

The thing about the beasts was “His” thing, before “She” took her place, because there was a time when Death was «He», at that time three blind girls occupied the place that should have belonged to a robust heir…

During her sixth month of pregnancy, the Queen had gone into the forest chasing the peculiar song of a bird, it had seemed to her that its feathers changed color among the leaves; when she could finally distinguish him, he was dressed in the color of afternoon. The Queen sensed that this tiny being with long plumage did not have a particular color, but was impregnated with the essence of the moment.

The bird remained very still, on the branch of a tree, contemplating the sun that, like a castaway, began to sink, spreading its blush to everything visible.

The Queen also marveled at the light of that moment that seemed to her full of passion. Absorbed as she was, she had not seen behind her the shadow that had followed her. Instinctively she put her hand to her belly before turning around. She knew, when she saw him, who he was. She looked at the bird still on the branch, it was beginning to turn gray.

—I have to take you —he told her calmly.

She silently begged him not to.

—I gave you this bird to get away without the others suffering from your departure. I must take you. It’s time.

She got up the courage to speak:

—And my son?

He was surprised that she knew it was a boy.

—He must come too.

The bird was now black, a prelude to a moonless night.

—Night, help me —she asked forcefully without understanding why she was doing it.

The night listened to her at the precise moment when it had not yet finished descending on the earth, so it could let the rain fall.

He understood the ruse of the night.

The rain fell hard, altering everything. He was not so strong under water, it had been agreed since the world was a child that only rain modified a death sentence.

—The child is mine! —he exclaimed angrily, before disappearing.

She returned to the palace feeling that something had changed in her womb.

Pain tore through her the night of the delivery. She tore through the early morning with his screams. She knew that “He” would make everything more difficult for her. Finally she heard the cry of a girl. Where was her son?

—Another one is coming, your majesty, another one is coming.

The painful stitches were endless.

—One is missing, your majesty, one is still missing.

She couldn’t anymore. She called him to come and take her away, but he didn’t come. She had played dirty with him and He would not show up to bring her relief.

When she woke up, the King’s expression let her know that something very twisted had happened.

Seeing the girls, she understood everything. He had taken his son that afternoon in the woods and left three blind girls in his womb.

The girls grew up loved by everyone. The Queen did not get pregnant again. The girls did not seem to realize that they were blind, they saw the world in their own way. They felt “him”, always very close, watching the Queen and them, but they were not afraid.

After eight years He came back for her. The Queen was in the garden with the girls she had come to love, even though she knew they were not hers, when she heard the bird’s unforgettable song and saw its plumage changing color among the leaves. She did not say goodbye, she began to follow the bird, moving away this time aware of his destination. Finally the bird perched on a branch, perhaps the same one from the last time, its plumage was light blue, like the color of the sky for weeks.

—Your son awaits you —he told her. —Now you must follow me.

She nodded, ready to go, as her surroundings slowly faded away, but before it was all gone the bird screeched uncharacteristically.

The bird hung upside down attached to a transparent thread tied to its leg and its colors changed so quickly that anyone would say that the rainbow had come out.

One of the girls brought the bird to her chest, it calmed down, turning white. Death looked at them horrified, no one had ever stolen anything from him.

—Now we have something of yours —said one of the girls, very satisfied.

The Queen looked at them in astonishment.

—Let me go with my son —she asked, afraid of being held back.

—You’ll see him, but when our time comes, you’ll be the one to come looking for us.

The Queen and Death looked at each other blankly.

—What do you mean? —she asked.

—Now you will take his place —said the one holding the bird, which remained very still in her hands without changing color.

—I cannot refuse —said Death —since you have something of mine, but you well know that I have the right to some last words, just as I have granted them to so many.

-Speak.

Before beginning he summoned a ferocious roar that rose from the bowels of the Earth, and then decreed:

—Three by three, one generation after another will give birth, always men, no more girls, and after having engendered, three by three they will die far from home, without having known their offspring, without knowing what hurt them, surrounded by beasts that will long for their meats. And you! You will always be late! —he yelled at the rain that was beginning to accumulate in the clouds.

He spoke thus before turning into black dust.

The Queen felt the pain of childbirth again and after a scream that she thought was endless, she took the place of the one who was no longer there.

She understood at that moment that everything that was beating was enjoying a period of grace and when the end of that time came she had to be there to allow entry to the other side.

She looked at the three girls and realized that they were not really blind, on the contrary, they saw beyond the obvious. The bird had fallen asleep and was slowly changing colors. Now it could be any color it wanted.

She was about to leave when one of the girls asked her:

—Always cover those who carry our blood with a cloak, so they can meet again in the mist.

She nodded. She remembered “His” words before leaving and said to the three girls:

—Even if they die surrounded by beasts, they will never be able to touch them.

Being who she was now, she couldn’t break a promise.

—Go with your son —they told her.

From that day on, “His” sentence was fully fulfilled…

Now She was there, leaning over the ice as the dying prince watched her. She looked at him with infinite sadness as she covered him with her cloak.

One of the blind girls cut the thread. Many moons ago the three of them had decided to leave in unison after having held their fatherless grandchildren in their arms. Now they tirelessly spun thread after thread without losing count, letting she knows when a thread was about to break.

This prince had died surrounded by wolves, one of his brothers was dying among bears and the other was letting go of life before the impatience of wild boars. Since time did not exist for her, she would be with all three at the same time, just as she is with so many who leave this world in the same second. Each of its threads will be cut without the pulses of the girls who have overthrown Death tremble in the final breath.

©Nideska Suárez

Read it in Spanish