Ellenessia's Curse Book 1: The Shadow's Seer

by Fran Jacobs

"Of a demon." Teveriel's eyes were shadowed. "It's the name of a demon, Candale."

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  Chapter Eighteen

  TRELLANY'S ANGER

  I could only stare at Teveriel. "A-a demon?" I gasped.

  "A demon," he confirmed. "So, Dale, whoever it is that is calling out to you like this is afraid of Ellenessia, the demon. I don't know much about it, just that that is who, well, rather what, Ellenessia is. I was flicking through a book that Calran had given me when I found it." He gave a strained sort of laugh. "I think he was sick of me asking questions so he gave me this book to shut me up and left me to read it through for myself. The book tried to identify the various sources for different songs and stories, where they might have come from and how they might have evolved into what they are. You know, being changed for reasons of politics, to promote, or insult, a certain person at the time, or because two old stories sounded the same, they became squished together even when they were from different place and about different things. Or-"

  "Tev," I interrupted, "tell me this another time, please."

  "Oh." He looked embarrassed. "Sorry."

  "No. No. Don't apologise. I go on enough about things that interest me, and I am interested in this, of course I am, just not now. Please, tell me about Ellenessia."

  Teveriel shrugged and got to his feet. "It was just a reference. How it's an old name for a demon that has now been changed, but it didn't say what it had been changed to, more's the pity. If it had, I might have known the songs or stories that were concerned with it and, therefore, who the demon was, what it had done. I asked Calran about it, but he didn't recognise the name and I can't search through all the books in the library to try and find it, there are just too many. I'm sorry, Candale."

  "No," I whispered, sinking back into the comfort of the chair and burying myself further under the blankets. "No, it's all right. You've h-helped me so much already." I closed my eyes. "Now I know that Ellenessia is a demon, a-and that it is possible to use magic to project yourself into another person's head and dreams, like that child did for me. I also know that I'm the Shadow Seer. I had my first vision. Everything is sorting itself out." I opened my eyes when I felt Teveriel's hand on my shoulder and found him standing over me, a mug of wine in his fingers. "How ...?"

  "I brought a couple of wineskins with me," Teveriel explained, sitting back down. "For emergencies such as this."

  "Oh," I said. "Thanks." I took a sip. It was very sweet and warming, filling my body with a slow heat that spread down my throat, to my stomach, and through my limbs. It eased the burning in my throat and the taste of vomit in my mouth, too, which was a great relief. "I wouldn't know any of this, if you hadn't come here with me. I learnt so much more than I would have done at home, and so quickly."

  "Yes," Teveriel said. "That's true. How are you feeling now? Are you still cold?"

  I nodded.

  "Well, there isn't much more I can do about that, I'm afraid. Perhaps talking will take your mind off it. Do you feel like talking about your vision now?"

  "I-I can try," I said. I shifted, drawing my legs up beneath me, hugging my knees with one arm beneath the blankets. "I'm just not sure how to start."

  "It doesn't matter how you start, Dale. And don't worry about how it sounds, just get it out there." He sipped from his own mug of wine. "Let me be the first person in the history of Carnia to hear a Shadow Seer's prophecy."

  I pulled a face at him, but there was something oddly comforting about his words. Perhaps it would help to get the words out into the open, to explain what had happened in any way that I could. "I-I was standing in a stone circle," I said, "which is odd, because there is a stone circle mentioned in the song that the child sings about Ellenessia. Well, it's a ring of stones, b-but that is the same thing, surely? And--"

  The door flew open, cutting me off, as Trellany burst in. She stormed to my side before I had a chance to react and, before Teveriel could even say anything, she had slapped me, hard, across the face. The burst of heat from the contact of her hand against my cheek was so sharp, almost burning, as though she had laid a hot poker against my skin, instead of her hand.

  "I have been looking for you," she snapped at me, "for hours, and now I find you, sitting here drinking wine as calm as you please!"

  She raised her hand to hit me again, but I caught her wrist, my hand trembling with cold. Though she could easily break through my grip, she didn't. She just stood over me, glaring at me, breath coming hard and fast, her shoulders shaking with anger.

  "Where were you?" she snapped. "What were you doing?"

  "I went for a walk," I whispered softly. "A-and ..."

  "And he had a vision," Teveriel said. "A proper one. A Shadow Seer vision. Silver and I had to half carry him back here."

  Trellany stared at me, all colour fading from her face. Her eyes widened, until they were all black pupil, as she realised that I was wrapped in blankets and shaking. "You are pale," she whispered. "Are you all right?"

  "It was a shock," I whispered, "and it hurt. I'm fine now, though, just really c-cold. I didn't mean to worry you. I just went for a walk in the gardens with Hazel. I'm so sorry that I worried you, Trellany."

  "Oh, Candale," she sighed, and the anger drained from her eyes and face and her shoulders stooped. "You're apologising for worrying me and I just slapped you, despite everything that you have been through. I should be apologising to you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you. You're my prince. I should never raise my hand to you."

  "You didn't know that this had happened," I said. "And I shouldn't have gone without you in the first place." I released her hand slowly, pressing my cold fingers against my stinging face. I wondered if it would bruise. "I just didn't think. I'm sorry."

  "Do ... do you want to tell me what you saw?" she whispered, and she sat down, very hard, in a chair across from me. She seemed defeated, upset, that she'd hit me, her prince, even though I had deserved it.

  "I-I was just about to do that." I took another sip of wine. I felt a little light-headed, but no warmer. There was a faint layer of sweat on Teveriel's face, and he'd removed his tunic so he was just sitting there in his shirt. He was sweating from the heat from the over-stoked fire, yet I was freezing, still shivering with the cold. Would I ever be warm again? Would this chill just vanish, suddenly, like the pain had? I really hoped so. My muscles were beginning to ache from shivering so hard.

  I told them what I'd seen, slowly, with my teeth chattering, and my friends just sat there watching me, listening to me. Trellany's face was a mask of guilt and pain, and tears shone in her eyes. Teveriel's face was blank and he hid it behind sips of his wine and, when his wine was all gone and he'd set the goblet down onto the floor, he hid his face by staring into the fire instead, but he made sounds to indicate that he was still listening and that I should go on.

  When I was done, I felt exhausted and sank back into the chair, drawing my blankets tighter around me.

  "I-I wish I knew what it all meant," I said softly.

  "I didn't think it mattered," Teveriel said. "The Seer just sees, it's up to others to find meaning and purpose in it all. But it does sound like a sacrifice to me. The boy, that is. His hands and feet were tied, throat cut, and he was lying on an altar of sorts."

  "H-human sacrifice?" I shook my head. "No. No. That sort of thing never happens in Carnia! Never will!"

  "Who's to say that the circle of stones you saw was in Carnia? There are many kingdoms out there, Dale, even ones that you haven't heard about, across the oceans and mountains and deserts. I doubt that your prophecies are just going to be bound to what happens in this kingdom and certainly not to your lifetime. What you saw could happen anywhere, at any time. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

  "I suppose so," I said reluctantly.

  "Of course, knowing you, and your curiosity, you're going to be desperate to know what it all means, aren't you?" I nodded and he laughed. "Think you have to let this one
go, Candale. This and everything else you see. Just write them down and forget them. There isn't much else that you can do and you don't really want to let things like this take control of your life." Teveriel got to his feet. "I need another drink," he explained needlessly. "Candale?" I shook my head. "Trellany, would you like some wine?"

  There was no answer from her; she just sat there, staring at me. I could see tears glistening on her eyelashes. She hadn't said a word through my telling of what I had seen, hadn't voiced her opinion about what it might mean, hadn't offered any words of support, or comfort. It was so unlike her, and it worried me. "Trellany?" I whispered. "I-I'm sorry that I worried you."

  "My sister was raped," she said suddenly.

  My jaw dropped. I didn't know what to say to that and, over the back of the chair, I saw Teveriel freeze and turn to look at the back of her head, his eyes wide. He glanced at me and I shrugged my shoulders slightly. What could we say to that? Why was she telling us this?

  "Safia was sixteen," Trellany said in a slow, flat voice. "She was in love with Bren, that is the boy that she married, the one she wanted to see at the Harvest Ball." She spoke softly, her voice calm, yet tears ran down her face. "They were courting and everyone knew that they would be married when Safia was of age. There was another boy, who was about nineteen, like Bren, and he wanted Safia, but my sister wasn't interested, so one day he just took her." Trellany closed her eyes. "My sister came home late, close to midnight. My father and mother had been out looking for her for hours. They were so worried a wolf had gotten her, or she might have fallen down somewhere, but she finally came home covered in blood, her clothes torn, crying. I was eleven years old. No one would tell me what had happened. They made me hide upstairs, but I listened through the cracks in the floor. My father went to find the boy who had done this to my sister, and beat him almost to death. The village council supported him and sent this boy into exile, away from the village. And, in time, my sister recovered, she and Bren married, and all was fine." Trellany opened her eyes and when she looked at me, her gaze was fierce and she suddenly flared into anger, a sharp change from the quiet, flat voice she had used to tell us of her sister's attack. "But I swore that no one would ever do the same to me. That no one would ever have that sort of strength, or control, over me, that I would learn to fight, to defend myself, so that I wouldn't need anyone else to do it for me. I also swore that I would learn to defend others, people who I cared about. I would protect my sister, my mother, my friends, and damn it, Candale, when I became a member of the Royal Guard I swore an oath that I would protect the members of the Royal Family and that includes you! Twice now you have slipped away from me! Twice now you have forced me to break my oath and I simply cannot do it anymore!" She got to her feet and wordlessly I stared up at her angry face. "When we get home, Candale, I will tell King Sorron that I can no longer be your bodyguard, that he should find someone else for you. Someone else who they can trust, who you can trust, because it is perfectly clear that you do not trust me!"

  "No," I gasped. I struggled to my feet, trying to untangle myself from all those heavy blankets. "I do trust you! Trellany, don't say this!"

  "You didn't even tell me where you were going," she said flatly.

  "He didn't tell me either," Teveriel pointed out, a bad attempt at being helpful.

  "You were asleep!" Trellany snapped at him. "And it is not your duty to protect him. It is mine! If I had been there with you, I could have looked after you when you had your vision. I could have brought you back inside without drawing attention to you, because, damn it, the whole school knows what happened! It was Haran who came to find me, to tell me that you had been brought back inside, that you'd been found collapsed in the gardens. You could have been found dead in the gardens. As it was, I feared you'd had a fit. But it doesn't matter. I have failed in my duty to you, Prince Candale. Granted, you forced that upon me, but the result is the same. I will resign." Then she stormed out of the room, the door slamming shut behind her with such force that a tapestry on the wall crumpled and fell to the floor.

  "Oh, dear gods!" I whispered. "I didn't want that to happen. I-I never wanted that to happen. Gods!"

  "It will be all right, Candale," Teveriel said, coming back towards me. "I promise you it will. She will calm down and then we can talk her around."

  "But she's right," I said quietly. "She has risked her life for me, but I still don't take her or her protection of me seriously. I don't deserve her, I really don't. She should probably have a charge who is better behaved and less trouble than I am. One who will appreciate her." I closed my eyes and collapsed back in the chair.

  "Yes," Teveriel said. "She probably should, but she doesn't. She has you and I know that she is too stubborn to actually leave you. When she calms down, she will be your bodyguard again, and will take on the whole damn Order if they come anywhere near you. Now, are you hungry? Lunch is long overdue. In fact, I think it is nearly supper. And I'm starved."

  "Yes," I said, "I am, too, but I am not going down to that hall. N-not like this. Shivering, a-and after everyone knows that I collapsed."

  "I'll go," Teveriel said. "What should I tell anyone who asks?"

  I shrugged. "Withdrawal I suppose," I said.

  "All right," he said. "Wait here."

  "I have no intention of going anywhere else," I told him. "Too cold!"

  "All right," Teveriel said sadly. And he left me sitting there, shivering in front of the fire, with just the crumpled tapestry on the floor for company.

  ***

  Teveriel and I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting before the fire, talking and avoiding the subject of Trellany, visions or anything like that. The evening wore on and, slowly, the cold began to leave me. I stopped shivering and was able to ease the blankets away, a few at a time, until I felt back to normal. We gradually let the fire burn down, too, but still Trellany didn't come back. I grew tired waiting for her, my head lolling against the chair, my brain fogged with a heavy cloud of exhaustion. It had been a very long day, or so it felt.

  "Candale," Teveriel said softly, "she probably won't come back tonight."

  "She has to," I said stubbornly.

  "No, she doesn't. She can stay with Haran." I stared at him. "Dale, they spend most of their evenings together, talking, I'm sure he will let her stay the night. Go to bed. I'm sure she'll come back tomorrow when she has calmed down. You can discuss this with her then."

  "Yes," I said. "Yes, all right. Good night, Tev."

  "Good night, Dale."

  ***

  My dreams that night were haunted by what I'd seen in my vision, but also of my death at the hands of murderous assassins, with glinting silver swords, and of demons. I'd never seen a demon, never read a description of one, yet in my dreams they were dark and scaly, ugly creatures, with numerous legs, and squat, misshapen bodies. Their eyes were black pits, empty and lifeless, and their breath was rancid, the smell of rotting eggs, of sulphur. They had sharp claws and teeth, yellow, but hard as flint and in my dreams they ripped me to pieces, tearing my flesh from my body, while all the time I could hear a child screaming, crying for help.

  I woke, bathed in sweat, trembling with fear and exhaustion, with the carved wooden faces staring down at me, watching me. I got straight from my bed, shivering in the cold air, pulled my cloak on around my nightshirt, and fled the room.

  It was still dark out when I pulled open the curtains in the sitting room, but that meant nothing. It was winter, it could be dark well into the morning. In the dim moonlight I could see a blanket of pure white snow glistening as it lay heavy on the ground. It must have snowed all night to have settled like this. There was thick snow everywhere and, as I stared out the window past my own reflection, fresh flurries began to fall, blown gently about by the breeze. I rested my forehead against the glass, watching as my breath steamed the window. It was a beautiful clear night, heavy with stars and a swollen moon and no demons.

  When I grew cold standing by the wi
ndow, I went to sit by the fire. It had died somewhat in the night, but I stoked it up and added fresh wood, and soon it was crackling away happily once more.

  A few minutes later Teveriel came out to join me. "Couldn't sleep either?" I asked him.

  "I heard you moving around," he said. "Thought I'd come and join you."

  I smiled. "Thank you." I would definitely appreciate the company.

  "Actually, I heard you screaming in your sleep. Nightmare?" I nodded. "Not surprised, yesterday was a bad day."

  "Yes," I agreed. "In many ways." I yawned, trying not to think about it. "Would you like to help me draft out my letter to Sorron? With your bardic silver tongue you'll probably be better at writing something that puts me in a positive, mature, light. I don't think I can come across like that on my own."

  Teveriel laughed. "All right," he said. "What have you got so far?"

  ***

  Our heads were pressed together, leaning over the parchment, the room lit up by the cold winter sun's dawn rays, when the door opened and Trellany came in. She looked at us, pointedly, then silently turned to walk towards her room. "I'm sorry," I said. "Trellany, please."

  "I know you are," she said. "And so am I. I shouldn't have stormed out of here." She turned to look at me, her green eyes sad, hidden beneath her lashes. "But my decision remains the same, my prince. I'll do my duty until your grandfather arrives and then I'll resign. Your strangeness I can handle, Prince Candale, your complete disrespect for me I cannot."

  My 'strangeness'? I fought the urge to ask her what she meant by that. It was something I'd heard all my life, but I still had no idea what people found strange, or eccentric, about me. "I-I do respect you," I whispered instead.

  "No," she said. "You don't. You don't take it seriously that you need me, even though I've saved your life and, if you don't take it seriously that you need protection, then you cannot have any real respect for the person appointed to do that." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sure that once back in Carnia Castle, I'll still be the one to teach you lessons and we'll still see each other around, but someone else should be the one to protect you."