Sharian approached atop his steed. He stopped just in front of me.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked. He seemed more nervous than I had ever seen him.
"Absolutely." I said. I gave Zepher's reins a little tug and we started off.
The gradient of gray colors mingling in the sky told me that a storm was brewing. I didn’t care. I simply wanted to get to Ozemis as quickly as possible.
I led Zepher through the woods and Sharian followed close behind. The wind was whipping and howling and I pulled my cloak in around my face to shield me from its bite. We rode for hours before we arrived at Marauder's Grove.
"Here it is." I announced. I hopped down and tried to steady Zepher who was even more agitated than she had been the last time we were there.
"If your animal doesn’t want to go in, you should listen to her." Sharian said.
I looked through the blackened tree trunks. I could not see Qzemis' cottage.
"Come." I said to Sharian.
He spurred his steed and tried to lead him into Marauder's Grove but he would not budge.
"What's wrong with you?" Sharian shouted. His horse reared up tossing Sharian to the ground before galloping off in the opposite direction.
"Are you alright?" I asked as I helped Sharian to his feet. He brushed off his trousers and straightened out his cloak.
"What has gotten into him?" he asked, completely bewildered by his horse's behavior.
I stood at the demarcation that separated Marauder's Grove from the surrounding forest. Even the earth itself was different. The underbrush around the perimeter of the grove was green and full while the underbrush inside the grove was blackened as if it had been burned.
I stepped into the grove and made my way to Ozemis' cottage. Sharian stayed close to my left side. I could hear him breathing but he didn’t say a word. When we came upon the cabin, Ozemis was waiting for us.
"Hello again." he said.
"I'm sorry to show up unannounced." I began.
"Think nothing of it. I knew you would come." he said.
"Did you?" I asked him.
"Indeed. I am sorry to hear of your father's passing."
"How could you have known that?" Sharian asked. "An announcement hasn’t been made."
Ozemis glared at Sharian. "I know a great many things boy."
"Thank you Ozemis." I interceded. "But I have something I must discuss with you."
Sharian huffed loudly. Ozemis and I both ignored him.
"Please come in." Ozemis said.
I followed him into the cramped little space and Sharian came in behind be.
"Did you foresee what would happen to my father?" I asked Ozemis.
"No my lady. I would have warned you." he answered.
"How is it that you can see some things but not others?" I pressed.
Ozemis sat down at his wooden table and rested his elbows on its surface. "I don’t know."
Sharian huffed again and this time I could not bite my tongue. "If you have something to say then say it. Do not behave as a child Sharian."
He looked away, clearly embarrassed by my scolding. I hadn’t meant to sound so cross.
"Tell me something of my future old man." Sharian said. "I need proof that you can do the things Erelia claims you can."
"Have a seat boy." Ozemis growled. The chair across the table from him shot out and Sharian jumped back. He looked at me and I narrowed my eyes at him.
This is a waste of valuable time. I thought.
Sharian sat down, gripping the handle of his sword as he did.
Ozemis removed the black cloth that covered his seer's stone. He gazed upon it and Sharian sat as still as stone.
"I can see the future, but because that realm is always changing, it may be more prudent for me to look into your past." Ozemis said.
Sharian said nothing.
Ozemis stared into the crystal orb, colors danced inside of it and Ozemis seemed to settle into a trance-like state.
"A young boy, raised by a King but not of royal blood."
Sharian shifted in his chair.
"Mother and father, gone." Ozemis continued. "Your love for Erelia, seeded in childhood, has flourished. The scar on your back from the whip of the field overseer has faded."
Tears stood in Sharian's eyes but he did not allow them to overflow.
"And what of my future?" Sharian asked, barely able to speak above a whisper.
Ozemis leaned in towards the seer's stone. The glow that had engulfed the room was now gone and from what I could see, the stone was empty.
"I see nothing." said Ozemis.
"What do you mean?" Sharian asked. It was clear he had been convinced of Ozemis' power.
Ozemis looked at me. "Where his future should be, I see only darkness. It is as if someone is deliberately shielding my view of his future."
I approached Ozemis slowly. "Ozemis, a woman came to Castle Drasal and I watched her drain the last bit of life from father. I saw her hunched over him like a wild animal and a light passed from my father to her."
Ozemis stood up, knocking the chair over behind him. He rushed to the widow and shuttered it. He pushed a large wooden stick under the handle of the door.
"What is it?" I asked him. Sharian stood up and held his sword in front of him.
Ozemis turned to me, eyes wide, mouth slightly ajar. "My lady, we are in great danger."
"From whom?" Sharian asked, his eyes darting around the room.
"The woman you saw with your father, did you see her face?" asked Ozemis. His hands were shaking.
"No. I didn’t get a good look at her." I said.
"Was there anything, anything at all that you can tell me about her?" Ozemis stammered.
"I heard her voice. I had a very strange feeling in that moment. I knew my father was in danger. And her hair, it was red."
Ozemis' shoulders sank down and he wiped his brow with a bit of cloth he had tucked in his pocket.
"Princess, I am afraid we have run afoul of a creature that none of us here can hope to defeat." Ozemis.
"Who is she?" I asked. Ozemis' reaction to her description frightened me.
"I do not know her name. I only know that she is very powerful. As sorceress of the highest order and she does not use her power for good. It is the very same woman from my vision. This is the woman who will end you."
"Where can I find her?" I stammered. The woman from Ozemis' vision had been in my home, so close to me. She could have killed me then. Why didn’t she?
"Erelia, did you not hear what he just said? This woman is dangerous, you cannot go after her."
"Do not tell me what I will and will not do!" I snapped. I was on the verge of tears. I had to find this woman no matter the risk.
"No Princess, he is right. You cannot hope to defeat her."
"Well what shall I do then?" I asked. I could not contain the tears any longer. "Shall I lock myself away? Hide? What?!" I felt Sharian's hand on my shoulder.
"Princess Erelia, I do not know how to defeat this sorceress, but I know who you should consult before you make any decisions."
"And who is that?" I asked.
"They are not mortal women. They liger in a world between this one and the next."
"They?" I asked again.
"Yes. They are three and yet they are one. One sees the past, the other sees the present, and the last sees the future. They are sisters, born in a single caul. They are Uror, Skuld and Veroandi."
"The Maidens of Fate?" Sharian asked.
"The very same." said Ozemis.
I had heard stories of the Maidens of Fate. As a child my father told me of their power to command the lives of Gods and mortals alike. My father seemed to regard them as myth, an old wives tale of sorts, but the women who cared for me as a child warned me not to take the tales so lightly lest the Fates cut the thread of my life and send me to the depths of the underworld. A chill ran through me as I remembered those tales.
"How can I speak with
them?" I asked.
"It requires a spell. It is dangerous. Allow me to cast it alone and I will come to you when I have news." Ozemis began to snip of bits of herbs from the many hanging bundles in his home. He fetched several small glass vials and the fire in the fireplace sprang to life. "You must go now."
I turned and removed the bit of wood blocking the door and stepped out into the misty air. Sharian followed and the door slammed shut.
"Do you believe him? Do you believe the things he says?" Sharian asked me as we walked towards where Zepher was waiting.
"I have no reason not to." I believed Ozemis and I knew that Sharian did too, even if it frightened him.
"We will wait for him to come to us then?" he asked.
"Yes." I said. I didn’t know how long I would have to wait for word from Ozemis but I prayed that it wouldn’t be long. The anger inside my belly was building. For the time being, I could keep it contained, I could focus on the tasks in front of me, but I feared that if I waited too much longer, it would break free and consume me.
We reached Zepher and to Sharian's great relief we saw that his horse had returned.
I sat atop Zepher as Sharian mounted his steed. We set off into the woods and were about to ride full speed back to Drasal when all of the sudden a low resonant tone reverberated through the trees. Sharian's horse bucked and he fell, hard, onto the forest floor. Zepher reared up but I managed to hold on as she brayed wildly.
Sharian jumped to his feet and swung his sword around.
"What was that?" he asked frantically.
"I don’t know." I said. I pulled my sword from my waist and scanned the woods. I slowed my breathing and tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. It seemed to be all around us.
Then a read and orange light like a burning fire, appeared in front of us. It danced and shifted like a colorful shadow. It grew very large and in the center there was a dark mass the size of a man.
I looked at Sharian and he rushed towards me but before he could close the distance between us he stopped abruptly.
"Sharian!" I screamed, my voice sounding more animal than human.
Sharian's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he dropped his sword into the damp grass. His face was frozen into a mask of pain and fear.
"He is in tremendous pain Princess, make no mistake about that." a voice said. It was emanating from the glowing light and I recognized it immediately.
"Show yourself you coward!" I screamed.
From the darkened center of the heatless flame a figure appeared. A woman, with long red hair stepped out of it, appearing to materialize from nothing.
"You are your father's daughter." she said smiling at me.
I jumped form my horse and swung my sword over my head. As I did it flew out of my hand and embedded itself in the trunk of a tree.
A muffled noise came from Sharian's direction and I saw his body twist into an unnatural pose.
"Stop it!" I screamed at the woman.
I lifted my hand to strike her and she caught it in mid-air.
"Why are you so angry Princess?" she asked, mockingly.
"You killed my father!" I roared.
She squeezed my wrist and a stabbing pain shot up my arm. "The old fool was dying. There was so little life left in him. I did him a favor Princess, you should thank me."
"I will have your head." I growled.
The woman stared at me with her iridescent green eyes. "You remind me so much of your mother."
My mother? I thought.
Before I could speak, I was sailing through the air. I felt my body collide with something and then there was only blackness.
CHAPTER 5
Past, Present and Future
I awoke to find myself in the all-encompassing darkness of the forest. I thought I was looking up at the night sky but as I tried to right myself I found that my face was pressed firmly into the damp, musty earth.
I ached all over and as I sat up I realized that I was alone. Sharian was gone. The woman was gone. Even Zepher had run off. I stood up, bracing myself against the trunk of a tree.
With my legs planted steadily beneath me I began the arduous process of walking. Every step brought pain so numbing that I felt as if I may lose consciousness again. I took each step carefully as I inched my way through the trees.
I walked for hours and only when I saw the dim flickering of torchlights coming towards me did I allow myself to stop. I fell to my knees.
"I'm here!" I yelled.
"Princess!" I heard a man's voice call out.
I felt hands on me. I saw torches surrounding me. They had been searching for me. The guards carried me back to Castle Drasal and I asked to be taken to my father's room. They placed me in his bed.
"Has Sharian returned?" I asked them.
"No Highness, we thought we would find him with you."
"Please send for my attendants." I said.
The guards bowed and left me alone in my father's chambers.
Earth and grass clung to me as I lay in my father's bed, smelling his familiar scent. I looked to the portrait of my mother that hung on the wall and the sorceress's words rang out inside of my head.
"You remind me so much of your mother." she had said.
A cold breeze whipped through the room causing the bed curtains to sway. I sat up and looked around.
"Sharian?" I called out. No, Sharian was gone.
The breeze swept through again and this time it snuffed out the torches. I heard the door close and I heard the lock turn. I began to shake uncontrollably. I clenched my teeth together.
"Be still child." I heard a voice say from the darkness.
In the shadowy blackness of my father's room I saw a figure standing at the end of the bed. Fear gripped me so completely that I forgot about all of the pain I was in.
"You've nothing to fear from us." it said again.
Us?
The torches sprang to life and washed the room in an orange haze. I saw, standing at the end of the bed three willowy figures.
"Ozemis sent word to us on your behalf." said the one on the left.
They were identical in size and stature. Each with hair as black as night worn straight down their backs. The only difference I could see was that their eyes each burned a distinctly different hue. One pair of eyes black as the hair that adorned their heads, one pair blue as the sea, and the last pair a shade of lavender.
"She's observant." said the one with the blue eyes.
"The Maidens of Fate" I managed to blurt out.
They didn’t move. "We do not make a habit of interfering in the lives of mortals other than to usher them into the underworld." said the one with the lavender eyes.
"Ozemis said you were the only ones who could help me." I said.
"In this particular case, he was right." said the one with the black eyes.
"I am Uror." said the one with the lavender eyes. "She is Skuld." She gestured to her sister. Blue eyes.
"And I am Veroandi." said the last, eyes shining and black.
"You can help me then?" I wanted to believe that they were not here simply to tell me that they didn’t interfere.
"We must." said Uror. She walked to the left side of the bed while her sister, Veroandi walked to the right side, Skuld stayed at my feet. I watched as they each closed their eyes and tilted their heads back.
I felt a surge of energy course through me and instantly I was transported into a burning white light. I closed my eyes and put my hands up, trying to shield myself from the blinding light.
When I opened my eyes I was standing in a room I had never seen before and the Fates were there with me.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"The past." said Uror. "We cannot affect what happens here. These are merely images of what has been."
I saw in front of me two young girls. One with flaming red hair and one with hair not unlike my own.
"We will be together forever." said the girl with the dark hair.
/> "I hope so." said the other. "I love you like my own sister, and I don’t have a sister Ambriel."
"Ambriel." I said in awe. "That was my mother's name."
"This was your mother. She was very young, seven to be precise." said Uror.
I saw the girls embrace, giggling. My mother's playmate had the most beautiful red hair…
"This girl…who is she?" I felt my heart quicken.
"Her name is Neira. Your mother's closest companion. You know her. She is the one you seek."
"They knew each other?" I asked. I could barely breathe.
"Indeed." said Uror.
A light flashed and then I was in a field. A wide open expanse of land stretched out before me and the sky was a beautiful pale pink.
"Look there, on the hill." said a voice. I saw my mother now a young woman and her red-headed friend.
"They seem so real." I whispered.
"They are but images of what was." Uror reminded me.
My mother waved her hands in the air and I saw that a young man was approaching them on a beautiful bay stallion. He galloped up to them and hopped off the horse in one fluid motion.
He bowed to them both and kissed the backs of their outstretched hands. There was no mistaking who this man was. He was my father, young and strong and free from any hint of the illness that would ravage him in his last days. Tears stung my eyes.
"Wandering the grounds alone? It doesn't seem like a safe thing to do my lady." he said to my mother.
"We are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves." my mother said to him, smiling.
I saw my mother push her hair behind her ear at which time I noticed something very strange. The curve of her ear pitched up steeply and came to a perfect point.
I looked at Uror. "Yes child." she said to me. "Your mother was elven by birth."
I was so young when my mother died that I did not remember her face. I held no memory of her other than those constructed in my own mind from the countless stories my father told me.
"My father never told me." I said.
Why didn’t he tell me?
"He wanted to protect you." said Uror. Another bright flash and I was in a stable. It was dark and rain was pounding on the roof.
Drasal Lands Page 3