The Flame of Wrath

by Christene Knight

  Silence crept into the room, overtaking them. It lingered for some time before it shattered with all the brittle life of glass.

  The Queen of Whispering Winds tensed when Aurea's eyes jerked in her direction.

  “They have conspired against me,” Aurea declared. “For this, there must be consequences.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You will discover a means of conquering them.”

  “How?” Maven stuttered.

  “The Land of Logos.”

  Maven did not understand. Her voice reflected that uncertainty. “The Holy Land?”

  “Yes, Maven.”

  Aurea pushed out from her place behind her desk. She stood slowly then moved to stand near the high-reaching windows. Against their gleam, she all but glowed.

  “The druids fear the Land of Logos,” she said.

  “I didn't think that the druids feared anything. They have always seemed so self-assured. I thought it must have come from being so closely connected to the Dragon,” Maven murmured.

  “Nothing should be more connected to the Dragon Mother than Her Child,” Aurea hissed softly.

  Maven nodded apologetically. “Yes of course.” She felt the distinctive chill in the air brought about by Aurea's hate.

  “Remember, Maven,” Aurea instructed. “The druids are merely men and all men can be killed.”

  “You wish to kill the druids?” Maven gasped in horror.

  Aurea flinched inwardly. She quickly corrected herself with honey-kissed soothing. “It was merely an expression. I meant that all men have weakness, that all men are mortal.”

  The color slowly began to return to Maven's waxen cheeks.

  The Empress drew close to Maven once more. “Do not fear condemnation, sweet Maven.” Aurea reached out a tender hand. She rested its warm softness against a blanched cheek. “You are working for your Empress. You are defending the desires of the Mother's Child. How can this be bad?”

  Maven contemplated those words. “It can't,” she reasoned weakly. She was rewarded with a loving smile. It caused something within her to swell. Feeling her courage returning, she spoke again. “What is your command, my Sovereign?”

  “You will lead an expedition to Logos in order to discover this elusive thing that the druids fear.”

  “But the Land,” Maven murmured. “It is forbidden for anyone to truly linger upon it.”

  “I'm aware of that.” Aurea idly smoothed her thumb along the Queen's cheek. “Still you will venture to Logos.”

  “Would it not be better to send one of your Knights?” Maven's doubt laced her words as well as the stance of her body.

  “No, it must be you because your presence will not be monitored as closely as the Knights,” Aurea answered. “I have made enemies in my short reign. They will surely be watching me and my Knights just as I am watching them. You have the license to travel at your leisure because many view you as enjoying a decadent lifestyle. They will view your leaving the palace as you simply taking yet another holiday.”

  Taking in this probability, Maven silently stood watching her Empress. “What will I be looking for?”

  “Anything,” Aurea breathed passionately. “Anything at all which will give me what I need, but be mindful of something called, 'Wrath'.”

  Maven did not need to ask when she should leave for this excursion. She saw the answer clearly inside Aurea's eyes. She turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand loosely clasping her wrist. Her heart raced at Aurea's touch. She closed her eyes as Aurea tenderly stroked her cheek.

  “I do not know what dangers wait in Logos. Be careful, my Maven. You must return to me,” Aurea spoke. Her eyes roved over Maven's exquisite features. You must return to me because I need the answers you will find, she thought darkly.

  When Maven opened her dazzling emerald eyes, they burned with emotion. No two emotions were more clearly witnessed than devotion and loyalty. “I will not fail you, Empress,” she rasped.

  Furthering her hold upon the blond, Aurea leaned forward. She brushed her lips against Maven's shell-like ear as she spoke enticingly. “Safe journey.”

  The Empress felt Maven gently pull away to leave for Logos. She stared after her with burning cyan flames.

  ********

  During a time when all the world felt tainted by something ominous and dark, their surroundings were blindingly white.

  The women of the Sisterhood squinted painfully in an effort to see the lone figure looming in the distance, but she was so far removed from them. She was always so far beyond them. Whether in mind or in body, it did not matter. The Vessel was the Emissary, the portal through which the Dragon spoke. At times, to gaze upon her was to weep from the sheer magnitude of who and what she was.

  More than the clear winter morning sending its light to reflect off every snow-covered surface, the image of the Vessel made their eyes achy and sore. She had scarcely moved in hours. She appeared almost frozen among the frigid landscape.

  What was it that gripped her so completely?

  “We hear whispers,” she began. Her voice was hoarse. It trembled with age. “The Forest bids us welcome, but cautions us to grow roots.”

  “Roots, Majesty?” a young sister asked. Immediately, she lowered her head as her sisters cast her a chastising glare.

  “The Forest is preparing us to brace ourselves,” the Vessel said. Her voice possessed a sigh as if the act of having to explain herself was a burden. “If we are prepared for ‘the great coming,’ then we will not be undone by it.”

  After having dared to speak once, the sister tested her limits by speaking out again. She asked the question she could feel weighting the air. “What is, ‘the great coming,’ Honored Vessel?”

  “The Land of Eternal Flame will birth a great darkness,” the Vessel foretold while lost in a trance. “No matter how much One will claim that it is ‘Light,’ the world will see the true horrors of its Darkness. The world will quake while lost beneath its shadow. Mankind will weep blood tears and all those possessing magic will burn as kindling to black fires.”

  The Sisterhood of Tears fell silent. Yet all around them, the wind rustled through the trees as if to confirm the feeling chilling their hearts with dread.

  “It is now of the utmost importance that we find the woman carrying Our successor,” the Vessel decreed.

  The women among the Sisterhood exchanged shocked glances. Never in the history of their Order had a child been selected to be the Dragon’s Vessel, let alone an infant still within the womb.

  “Majesty, do You mean to suggest----” a Sister began timidly.

  “We suggest nothing,” the Vessel snapped. Her voice silenced even the world around her. The trees stilled their bodies. “What We have seen, is what is Fated to be.”

  The birds refused to sing. The wind refused to stir. The Sisterhood was no different. The each stood stoic and frozen by the realization accompanying the Vessel’s words.

  “As We stand holding your trembling hands, coddling you in a world you are not prepared to face, a mother walks along the shore.”

  ***************

  The beach was breathtaking. Its sands were smoothed to silken drifts beneath each wave to roll upon the shore.

  In the light, the Sovereign Sea dazzled as if its surface were encrusted with jewels. It cast a majestic likeness for the world to revel in. However no natural splendor could compare to the ease the breeze gave to the solitary woman walking along the shore. She breathed deeply, growing heady off the clean and crisp fragrance of the sea air.

  The beautiful young woman raised her hand to shield her piercing blue eyes. The morning caused a smile to break across her lips like the dawn.

  Lucienne had always loved the sea. She had always felt a connection to it.

  The small flutter within her abdomen caused a quiet chuckle to leave her throat. She lowered her hand to rest against the happy movement. Beneath her touch, she felt the child so small that it was little more than a gentle swell modestly beginning to fill her cuppe
d hand. Happily, she realized that the baby was growing each day.

  *****************

  “She cannot know the magnitude of her importance. How could she even fathom?

  “Her mind dwells on simple things.

  “She wonders if the child she carries is a boy with eyes like her own or if the child will be a girl with dark curls like her late-husband. She wonders happily if her child will share her great love of the sea.”

  *****************

  A gentle song began to fill the air. It was a haunting song, like shards of dreams just before one truly wakes.

  *******************

  “Oh how the Sea does love her and her child.”

  ********************

  Lucienne lifted her head. Her pale skin was flushed at her cheeks by the chill in the air. She drew back her plum hood. Her eyes focused intensely on the singing ocean.

  “The Lady of the Sea,” Lucienne whispered in reverence.

  *********************

  “How could She not? After all, the child the woman carries is of the utmost importance.”

  ********************

  The song grew more beautiful, the sea’s splendor more magnificent.

  Lucienne found herself entranced. She unclasped her cape. Absently, she heard it fall to the sands at her feet.

  Her eyes began to shimmer. The glassy pools reflected the sea and all its mysteries.

  Slowly, she extended her hand. Her fingers stretched in silent yearning. And though, she did not speak, the longing of her searching fingers was unmistakable.

  Lucienne took a spellbound step toward the Sovereign Sea.

  **********************

  “She is Our future.”

  **********************

  Her long dark hair came to hang around her lowered head. Lucienne lumbered forward, her arms now limply at her sides. Each step she took brought her closer to the wait arms of the Sea.

  “No,” Lucienne groaned. Her voice sounded distant to her own ears. It was nearly silenced by the persuasive voice of the Sea.

  Each wave beckoned Lucienne with come-hither graces. Lucienne fought against it, but her battle was internal and in vain. Her body had lost the war. And yet, her soul trapped deep within the mesmerized tomb of her body revealed its ongoing struggle as the tears streaking hotly down her cheeks.

  The waves drew back at her arrival. They parted to reveal a slivered goat path along the ocean floor.

  Lucienne walked out into the sea, witnessing the thick walls of water rising higher over her head as she travelled further along the path.

  When Lucienne found herself staring up from the belly of the beast, she was overcome by a feeling of cold she had never known.

  Suddenly, the spell shattered with brutal fragility.

  Lucienne raced toward the shore. At her back, the growl of the ocean swelled into a deafening roar.

  She had almost reached the shore when all light was snatched from her world. Instead, she knew only blue.

  Lucienne choked on the water attempting to fill her lungs like desperately needed air. She kicked against the consuming currents. Her hands clawed their way toward the brightening surface but just as she was about to burst through to a world of life-giving oxygen, the surface of the water solidified to a thick sheet of ice.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  A young woman among the order tensed with the visions slamming against her mind. She felt weak as if she might collapse to her knees. Inside her quaking chest, she could feel her heart thundering wildly.

  The horrified expression blanching her smooth skin went unnoticed to all but one.

  The Vessel narrowed Her eyes upon the powerful young sorceress.

  “What is your name?” Vessel asked, slowly emphasizing each word.

  Respectfully lowering her head, the sorceress stepped forward. She could feel her every movement studied. She struggled not to tremble beneath the might of the Vessel’s gaze. “My name is Serenity, Honored Vessel,” she answered in reverence.

  With another vision slamming against her mind, Serenity felt the violent rush of air leaving her chest. She could feel each attempt Lucienne’s fist made at breaking through the ice. It was as if it were striking directly against her chest.

  The world fell away. All that existed was her, own, ragged breathing and the two hearts voicing their plea to live. Serenity recognized one heart slowing with each moment. She understood then that it was Lucienne’s dying her heart, but even as Lucienne’s heart surrendered to the inevitable another heart raged against death; that heart grew stronger by the second.

  As Serenity was overcome by the heartbeats drumming throughout her existence, the Vessel closed the distance between them. She was standing over the slumped sorceress before Serenity had even realized that the Queen had moved.

  Serenity gasped at Her sudden nearness.

  “You can feel Our successor,” the Vessel rasped knowingly.

  Serenity could only nod. In the clear reflections of Her icy eyes, she could see Lucienne struggling beneath a thick sheet of ice.

  “How odd that you should feel Her before We can,” the Vessel said with an arch of Her brow.

  Fear caused the final remnants of color to drain from Serenity’s beautiful face.

  “Retrieve them,” Vessel commanded. “It is clear the Dragon wills it.”

  No other words were needed. Serenity could hear the second heartbeat beginning to slow alongside the first. She summoned her magic and dispersed into the air as thousands of black butterflies before vanishing completely.

  When Serenity appeared at the beach, the Lady of the Sea revealed that Serenity was precisely where the Dragon desired.

  The sea took the form of loving hands. Those hands carefully carried the precious burden of Lucienne’s unconscious body forward until they tenderly deposited her into Serenity’s arms.

  Serenity gazed down at the woman with a mixture of adoration and protectiveness alive inside her eyes. She extended a trembling hand to gently smooth the water-laden tresses from a peaceful expression. Lucienne was still, achingly still.

  Concentrating her magic, Serenity called upon her element the Sea. She summoned the waters from Lucienne’s lungs, commanding them to take their place moistening the sea-air.

  With a gentleness they had not shown her in their arrival, the waters left Lucienne’s blue lips.

  Serenity slid her hands over Lucienne’s body in an attempt to warm her. She gathered Lucienne to her, sheltering her within her flowing cloak.

  Bodies tangled within the warmth of her cape, Serenity’s eyes scoured the horizon. The sea refused to move. Never in all her life, had she witnessed water so still.

  Then almost timidly the sands of the beach began to beat with the pulse of a heart waking. As Lucienne’s gasped to life, the ocean drew close then rolled away from the shore.

  Lucienne’s eyes slowly opened. She stared up at the beautiful dark-haired woman watching over her. Weakly, she smiled. It was a smile laced by sleep and dreams.

  A laugh huffed past Serenity’s lips. Blinking away tears of relief, she lifted her head to once again take in the sea, which sparkled like a thousand stars in an attempt to bless the woman who had survived gazing into the eyes of what cannot be seen.

  The Vessel had followed the trail of Serenity’s magic. She stood at the far side of the beach, watching everything from the vantage of the dunes. The golden reeds around her knees swayed in the breeze, attempting to release the Vessel’s long hair from its rigid restraints. Her eyes paled to something far cooler than they had been before. Pulling her cloak closer to her body, she turned away from the picture of the child who would replace her, the child who in her very existence threatened to challenge everything the Vessel knew.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Night had swept over the land, bringing with it a certain still tranquility. But a Queen with a heavy mind could not join those sleeping peacefully. Aurea was the ghost which haunted the halls. Sh
e could not sleep in her bed. It was inhabited by what she feared most: being alone.

  Why wouldn't Autumn wake? Why couldn't she simply return to her? All these questions and more, played throughout Aurea’s mind with unfailing persistence.

  Sighing, Aurea lingered near the chamber doors. Her fingertips traced over its cool surface. She ached to join Autumn, to hold her in her arms and drift to the sleep which had claimed Autumn if only to be with her again, but as she thought of that, of sleeping forevermore, she was overcome by fear. She could not follow Autumn into that abyss.

  She turned her back on the room. With a lowered head, she walked down the hall. Soon, the shadows of the night swallowed her up.

  ********

  She had had little sleep. It was clearly written within the dark circles scribed beneath her eyes. Her scathing gaze voiced the body's plea for sleep. She grouched over everything, but nothing more so than her bitterness toward the doctors who had no answers for her.

  “How long has it been? How long?” she grumped.

  Her voice was a chastising flog to whip across their backs. She was livid. She stalked about the hall in a violent pace. Her arms waved with impassioned rage while her eyes dazzled in seething fury.

  Behind the gargantuan doors, the doctors were once again searching for a means of curing the incurable. It had become the mystery of the royal court. Why did Autumn continue to sleep? Was it poison? Was it dark magic? Would she ever return? And as these questions became more like hushed concerns, others began to look to Aurea with pity inside their eyes. Aurea hated that look. It infuriated her.

  The Empress stopped brutally as the doors cracked open. She narrowed sharp blue eyes upon the befuddled doctors leaving Autumn's room.

  “Well?” she snapped.

  The doctors lurched upright with such force that it racked their spines. Their fear was read easily within their desperate eyes.

  “Still you have no answers for me,” Aurea growled. She motioned them away with a disgusted wave of her hand.

  The Empress looked to Angelos IV who glared after the doctors. “And I suppose you have no answers for me either,” she grumbled. “She is your sister. Surely you must know something.” She searched over him with angry eyes. “Has this ever happened before? Could your father have used a poison we don't know about? A rare poison known only to your clan?”