NaNoWriMo 2005: 31700 Words

Maia had always lived in the Palace, and Mella had always lived in the forest near the borders of the Kingdom. Maia's hair was dark and Mella's was light. But they were both ten years old, and so when they looked into the mirror that day, they believed.
Mella looked into the strange mirror and saw, instead of her own reflection, the little dark-haired girl. She tilted her head, and the other little girl did not. She raised her right hand, and the other girl raised her right hand. Mella was standing in the forest and the other was in a lavish room.
Fairyland, Mella though immediately. And so this girl must be a fairy.
Suspecting some sort of magic, Mella reached out to touch the mirror's silver surface; the little fairy girl did the same.
And, where Mella had expected to touch glass, her hand touched the fairy hand...

Part Two: Dybera

They were in another garden space, one equally as unkempt as the one they had just left. The border-like walls, too, were the same as the walls of the borders always were. But it was by no means the same garden. That garden, that world had shut behind them when the latch of the wooden door clicked back into place.

What Pearl saw now was... unbelievable.

Yet she didn't question its existence or reality. Not even Talwyr, the greatest wizard known to the Kingdom, could have conjured this. Maybe someone older, who thought themselves wiser, would have disbelieved his eyes.

Emryn certainly did.

"What is this-- this-- what have you--" he stammered. "What is this sorcery?" he managed finally.

"No sorcery of my own doing, I'm afraid. No, this is magic far older than I am and, I concede to you, I am indeed very old. This is the old magic that has protected the Kingdom for hundreds of thousands of years. What you see is very real. It is the border which is an illusion."

They were standing not near the Palace, but a building taller than any Pearl had ever seen before-- bigger than the Temple, bigger than the Palace itself. And it was white, and parts of it gleamed. Its countless turrets were rounded or came to points so sharp that Pearl was sure if she touched one she would prick herself. Beyond this place large enough to house an entire city, Pearl saw more buildings, none of them so tall, but still taller than anything in the Kingdom. They shone in the sunlight. As Pearl craned her neck, trying to see the top of the palace bigger than the Palace, she at last recognized the gleaming shapes shooting by overhead.

"Dragons!" the little girl exclaimed. "It's lots and lots of dragons!"

Emryn gaped. Bhodi rolled his eyes. "Ships, stupid. They're ships. Why do you keep calling them dragons?"

"I keep forgetting," she answered quietly.

Bhodi turned to Talwyr. "You got me home."

The wizard nodded.

"We're... beyond the borders, then?" Emryn gulped. "In the Land of the Gods?"
It certainly looked like the Land of the Gods to Pearl. But Talwyr smiled gently.

"Not precisely," he said. "It's called Dybera."

"It's where he came from, though?" Emryn pointed at Bhodi, who nodded defiantly. "It's why we were holding him in the Palace, like some government secret."

"Exactly like some government secret," Talwyr said, "because very few in the Kingdom aside from the royal family have any idea that Dybera exists."

Bhodi, Pearl, and Emryn all exchanged glances, not knowing how to respond to any of this. Talwyr sighed.

"Come. I should have explained this to you all sooner, I suppose, but I did not know..." he started forward, toward the impossibly tall, towering building before them. "I did not foresee this. I should have."

The wizard pressed something on the building's nearest wall and a door appeared and slid open-- Pearl assumed that it must have been done by magic. They entered, and the girl was disappointed to find the interior to be stark, plain and dull when compared to the outside of the structure. As they walked along though, it began to occur to her that, just as they had gone through many corridors dusty with long neglect in the Palace, this part of the building had not been used in a long while. Not surprising, as what population could possibly take up all of this space?
The rooms they passed gradually began to appear more clean, more lived-in, and more beautiful than most rooms in the Palace, although the beauty was of a very different kind. The floor was everywhere carpeted now, and strange objects decorated the walls. Though Pearl could see no windows, and no torches or candles lit their way, there was light everywhere. It seemed to the girl to be a different color from the sun's light, though the thought, even as she thought it, made little sense to her. Light had no color, not unless it fell through stained glass. Both she and Emryn and even, to a certain extent, Bhodi, were agape at the luxury that surrounded them.

"What's the matter with you?" Pearl whispered at the young boy. "I thought you lived here." She found herself slightly irritated that Bhodi had kept such a big secret from her-- it wasn't as though she could have thought to ask about this.

"Not exactly here," he whispered back, annoyed at the tone of her voice. "You think I could afford this stuff? Not if I ran spice for a living! I think... I think this might be the Queen's Palace."

"What Queen?" Emryn, having caught some of the words, asked now.

"I believe," Talwyr said, "that your fondest wish, Emryn, was not to be king, not to be prince, not to be ruler of any kind?" Emryn nodded. "Here, then, let us say all your wishes have come true."

***
Queen Silvara of the world called Dybera, the fourth planet in orbit around its sun, was concerned. She had been interrupted only moments ago with the message that Lord Talwyr had arrived, and that he had brought a small company of followers with him. This was troubling for two reasons-- the first, that Lord Talwyr only ever came to Dybera when there was some sort of trouble; the second, that Lord Talwyr always only ever come alone. It had been more comfortable this way. Oh, once, apparently, her mother had met the king of that other place, but Queen Silvara never had. She had only ever had Talwyr as an occasional reminder that that other place existed, and the rest of the time could almost convince herself that it wasn't really there at all. But now the old wizard was waiting for an audience with her, and with him were other people from his land.

The Queen was being dressed for the inevitable audience now, a process which would take some time, even with the help of the two ladies who attended her. There was before them a wide array of ceremonial gowns, jewels, diadems, and crowns, and they were carefully choosing which ones were most proper for today's occasion. Silvara left the matter entirely to them; it made little difference to her what combination of absurd finery they decorated her with. As long as she appeared as a Queen should, the specifics did not matter. It was the effect-- the look, the costume, the imperious gaze that could put everyone instantly in awe of her, no matter where in the galaxy she might be. This first impression was essential, for otherwise they might see through her, they might notice that she was not grand and regal at all, but only a child playing dress-up with her mother's clothes.

She was a good Queen-- she had kept Dybera in prosperous peace throughout the short period of her reign, warding off threats and making shrewd deals, taking the counsel of her advisors and listening to the problems of the people. Her name suited her-- Silvara, "Star of Peace." But there were some, nevertheless, who still took issue with the fact that Queen Silvara of the world called Dybera, the fourth planet in orbit around its sun, was only fifteen years old.

***
Emryn, Pearl, and Bhodi sat on cushions so soft and smooth that Pearl felt as though she was floating, in a room in what she could not help thinking of as the Palace of the Gods. They listened to Lord Talwyr speak. They did not interrupt or ask questions, only listened to the old man who paced before them.
"Long ago," he began, "so long ago that memory has passed into legend and myth, so long ago that no living man remembers the time when the memory of what I tell you became legend..."

***
A long time ago, the Kingdom was as big as the whole world. Now, of course, those who live in the Kingdom think that it is the whole world, but they are mistaken. The world is much bigger, and it is not hemmed in by the sea and the borders. The world is called Dybera, and it is only one of many worlds floating among the stars.
Once the people of the Kingdom and the people of Dybera were one people, ruled over by one king, obeying one law, and worshipping together in the temples. For there was more than one Temple then; the world of Dybera is too big for one place of worship to serve the many people spread out over its lands. The Dyberans were a peaceful people and, for the most part, happy.

Then, one day, the people of another world came to Dybera. They offered the people of Dybera the tools they would need to also explore the stars, and to build great building stronger than stone that would reach to the very sky. This was a magic the people of Dybera had dreamed not of, and many of them rejoiced its coming, excited at the new prospects and opportunities such abilities offered them.

But others became afraid that, in accepting these things, our old ways and old magics would be lost. Many of the priests thought this way, although some did not. The world of Dybera became quickly divided.

It happened at this time that the old king had twin children-- two sons. They were as different as day and night, and disagreed about most things. This was no different. One wanted to keep to the old ways, and one wanted to welcome the new. They fell to fighting about it, and each drew a group of followers to himself. Each faction began to proclaim that it would accept no one but its own leader as the next king. It seemed that it must come, at last, to war-- if not in the old king's lifetime, then as soon as he was decently buried, for everyone loved and respected the old king. At last, it seemed that he would not live long; some said his quarrelling sons were driving him to his death.

He called all of his priests and wizards to him, and held counsel with them for a long time. He told them that he could see no other choice but that he must divide the kingdom of Dybera between his two sons. Yet if he did so, each would want to wrest the remaining half from his brother-- either there would be the old ways on Dybera or the new ways on Dybera, and neither son would accept a compromise. Besides, the priests and wizards who sided with the old ways knew that if the new ways were in one place, they would spread, and contact with them was nothing more nor less than blasphemy. So the old king asked if there was some way for them to create a magical barrier in between the two lands, so that no army could pass from one land to the other and the ways of one world would not pollute the second.
The Wise Ones told him that there was, but that it would be difficult and dangerous to attempt. Lives might be lost, and in the end it might not work.

Yet all agreed it was their best chance, since there was no other way.

They would be able to contain the old Kingdom, keep it safe from the influences of the outside, but it would be small. Even the greatest of them all together had not enough power to divide the planet. A great shielding spell would be put around it, so that the rest of Dybera would not be able to find it again, search though they might.

And so all the Wise Ones, upon the appointed day, performed the great work of magic that would separate the Kingdom and Dybera forever. It took all the effort and all the strength that they had. Some died. But when they were done, the spell had worked. Where the Kingdom had been, the Dyberans saw nothing save wilderness. It was as though a tract of land had been removed, leaving no trace, no seam to mark where it had once been. The people of the Kingdom saw, beyond the borders they had erected, impassable forest and mountains and vast waters. The older twin retained rulership of the Kingdom, in the castle where his old father stilly lay dying, proclaiming himself to be too old for change. The younger twin ruled the remainder of Dybera.

In time, the people in Dybera did begin to use their magic-- from disuse more than anything else. Their technology rendered it unnecessary, and it was forgotten. The magical creatures there died off, and nowadays most Dyberans will not believe that their ancestors ever knew or possessed magic power. The people of the Kingdom developed the idea that the Gods live beyond the borders, and the Dyberans did a remarkably similar thing. They still tell stories, although few believe them, of a magical sanctuary of the Gods which vanished from the world of men.

There were doors, of course-- a few places where the magic was weak enough to allow those few who knew of them to pass between the worlds. But most found that they preferred not to do this, for time ran differently in the Kingdom than it did in Dybera. In the Kingdom, the cycles of time had a much smaller space in which to run, and so time began to move faster. For the people in the Kingdom, of course, it seemed no different than normal. But those who left the Kingdom and returned after only a short time found that many years had passed, and so many of the pathways were sealed shut. It still happens, occasionally, to children wandering near the borders. You've heard of it-- heard it said that the children had been kidnapped by fairies. Niama was one of them, but she was lucky; Corbin found her and fell in love.

Recently, though, time in the Kingdom has begun to draw level with that of Dybera. More and more people and objects, like Bhodi's starship, are beginning to come through. The borders are failing. It is a very old magic which built them, and while the Wise Ones who made it intended it to last forever, forever turned out to be longer than they had dreamed. The magic fades now, and soon it may be lost. Then Dybera and the Kingdom will collide, and what will become of us then I do not know.
***

Please do not copy or republish Erin's work without her express written permission. Thank you!

NaNoWriMo 2005: 29105 Words (Or, A Good Place to Pause)

Pearl spent the rest of the day exploring the Palace. It was easy, she found, to move about there; everyone mistook her for a servant girl. Actually, she spent part of the day exploring the Palace, and the rest of the day lost in it. She had never dreamed that one building could be so big-- and to think that people lived there! As she went wandering through room after room, Pearl saw some of the most lavish objects she'd ever dreamed of. There was one room that was entirely filled with books, and in her mind she added learning to read to the list of things she wished to ask Lord Talwyr and Lady Celwyn to teach her.

She might have been lost for the night, not knowing how to get back to the room that had been designated for the time as hers, but finally Lord Talwyr found her. He was coming out of a very dark room, but there must have been someone inside, because Pearl could see candles glowing through the doorway before the old wizard firmly shut the door behind him. He appeared preoccupied with serious matters, but as he looked down on her, his face softened.

"Well, Pearl, and what are you doing in this part of the Palace?"

"I got lost," she confessed. "And I was afraid. Lord Maddeg is here."

"Yes, but he leaves first thing in the morning." This was the most welcome news Pearl could have hoped for, and as Talwyr escorted her back to her room, she was smiling.

The next morning she sought Bhodi out immediately. As she passed the room that yesterday had housed the unwelcome specter of Lord Maddeg, she peeked in and saw with satisfaction that it was indeed empty now. Adding to this the fact that Bhodi was up and about today, she could not have been happier. The boy immediately accepted her proposal to show him around the Palace, as she had taken quite and extensive tour already and knew all the fine points. Pearl had intended to ask a lot of questions today-- whether he was indeed from beyond the borders, if he knew what the borders were, if he was the son of a God. She did not think that Bhodi could have been a God himself, but maybe he was the son of one and did not know it. Somehow, though, all of this was forgotten in a wild, shrieking, laughing game of tag all throughout the spacious and stately corridors. There didn't seem to be many people about this day, which made it all the easier.

And which made it all the more startling when, running into the book room to hide, Pearl came face to face with a somber-looking young man. Bhodi came barelling in behind her, and also stopped short. The young man, really little more than a boy, did little to acknowledge their presence. He sat slumped in a chair, his grey-blue eyes staring into space. His hair was dark, his face pale and very young. Pearl and Bhodi looked at each other.

"Hello," Pearl ventured.

"What's your name?" Bhodi asked.

Now he did look at them, surprise and a little interest stealing onto his face. "Who in Gwyddon's name are you?"

Pearl was about to answer, but Bhodi beat her to it. "Hey, we asked you first."
"I'm Emryn." He smiled a little, sadly, as though he regretted his identity. Pearl's eyes went wide.

Bhodi, on the other hand, went on with the conversation. "I'm Bhodi, and this is Pearl. What're you doing in here all by yourself?"

Pearl nudged him frantically, but he only gave her a confused look.

"Oh, I'm... waiting for someone, actually," Emryn replied. There was a brief pause. "My, um... my father just died, last night or this morning."

Bhodi lost his smile. "Gosh, I'm sorry."

In spite of herself, Pearl heard the words, "Your father is dead?" come in a whisper from between her lips.

He nodded. Bhodi turned and noted, at last, the look on Pearl's face.

"You know him or something?"

"Bhodi!" she exclaimed, still in that strained whisper, "It's Prince Emryn!"

The boy raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a single word out, the door opened. Lord Talwyr walked in.

"Ah," he said, smiling pleasantly. "You've made friends."

"Lord Talwyr!" Pearl went to the old wizard, wringing her hands. "The King--"

"Yes," and in an instant his voice had become very heavy. "So, you have heard. Do not be afraid to speak in front of these children, my Prince." He bowed, and Pearl followed suit, executing her best curtsy. Bhodi, still unsure, nevertheless, attempted an awkward bow. "For their safety, I would prefer to keep them with me at this time."

"Their safety?" Emryn asked incredulously.

"Yes. There is, after all, at least one murderer about."

"Murderer?"

Talwyr nodded. "Your father, Emryn, was poisoned."

At this the young prince turned his back abruptly, gesturing in anger. "That is untrue, and you know it is untrue! My father was an old, sick man! That's all there is to this, that is all!"

"I wish it were so, Emryn, believe me. And I am sorry to bring this added pain to your grief."

"I grieve still for my mother, I grieve for a father I scarcely knew, and I grieve because his death has thrust this..." he waved his hands, "all of this, upon me!"

"What have I to gain from lying to you?" The wizard's voice remained calm and gentle. "I spoke to your father last night, and he had resolved to live. This day he is dead; I have examined him, it is poison. And now whoever has done this will be after you."

Emryn lowered his voice. "I am well aware that there are many who do not want me to come to the throne. Hear me now, wizard, and let it be known to all the Kingdom that I am one of them!"

And now Talwyr grew cross. He drew himself up with all of the majesty of the power he wielded and when he spoke his words could have come directly from the Gods. "Would you throw away your birthright and your Kingdom and the lives of your people so freely? Would you so disgrace your parents' memory?"

The prince was not immune to the force of Talwyr's presence. He backed away, looking frightened now and even younger than he had seemed before. In the whispered voice of a child, he said, "I don't want it. I never have wanted it. I'm not ready, Lord Talwyr!"

"Whether or not you are ready," Talwyr was back to his gentle tone, "it has come to you now."

"What shall I do?" Emryn was pleading now.

"What," Talwyr asked him, "do you believe to be right?"

"Wait," Emryn sighed, "and see if I am to be crowned, I think. If I am not, they may not..." he broke off, unable to complete the thought. "Lord, who has done this? Who could have killed my father?"

Talwyr shook his head. "I wish I knew."

"Lord Maddeg." Talwyr and Emryn had evidently forgotten Pearl and Bhodi, but the children were still standing there, staring agape at these two powerful people arguing about powerful things, and now Pearl finally spoke up. "Lord Maddeg could have done it."

"The high priest?" Emryn asked incredulously. "No, he's my kinsman, my mother's uncle, and he's always supported us. Having us in power only makes him more powerful-- Why am I even taking seriously an accusation made by a little girl?"

"He tried to kill me," Pearl answered solemnly. That stopped Prince Emryn short.
Lord Talwyr didn't tell her she was wrong. He only said, "Perhaps. There are many possibilities, Pearl."

Bhodi said, "What is going on? Somebody please tell me, please-- Where am I?"

Talwyr took him by the hand which was not still in the sling. "I am sorry. This should have been explained to you earlier, but I have been busy, and I apologize. No doubt Niama wanted to tell you, but I insisted that I should, and now I shall. You are still on Dybera, Bhodi, but a very remote part of Dybera."

"Remote," Bhodi mumbled. "Right."

"More will be explained as it becomes necessary."

"This," Emryn suddenly focused on Bhodi anew. "Is the boy?"

"It is," Talwyr replied.

The prince studied the boy for a moment. "What is to happen to him?"

"That, I believe, will be for you to decide. Until tonight, my Prince."

Talwyr bowed and escorted the children from the room.

***
As the sun set, Corbin sat on the bed of the Palace chamber he had been given to share with Niama and Nieve while they stayed there, and sharpened his sword. Lord Talwyr had told him to be mindful, and he knew what that meant. There was going to be trouble, and it was going to be tonight. He had already seen to it that he would be put on guard at the meeting of the High Council. There, he would protect Prince Emryn.

He would have to. The King and Queen were both dead; what choice did they have now, save civil war? Sir Corbin's family had served this house of kings for almost more generations than he could count. Not only was he sworn to protect the last of the royal line, he would do so willingly, and even gladly. This was the way of a knight.
Niama did not see it this way. He could see in the distracted way she moved about the chamber soothing the baby that she was worried about him. When he tried to speak to her about it, to reassure her, she snapped at him.

"Is my love not enough? Why will you put yourself in danger this way, why will you leave me alone-- and not just me, but our child?"

"Because I love the Kingdom, too," he told her. "Because I love the Kingdom I will fight for it, but I will not leave you. I promise. I could never." He took her in his arms. "I am not in danger tonight, my love. This is only a cloak-and-dagger affair, simple as knocking a blade from some blackguard's hand."

"If you get involved in this..." she said darkly. "You don't understand what power the Dyberans have. You've seen a few of their ships, yes, but not everything they have to muster against us. If you put yourself in their way, I fear they will kill you."

"Then I will die in the service of the Kingdom. I will die for the prince." He held her close. "I will die so that Nieve can grow up safely, in a world without fear and with all the beauty and magic of the Kingdom about her. I do not fear these Dyberans, nor anything they can summon against me."

Niama looked up at him with eyes brimming with tears, though he almost never saw her cry. "I do fear them. Please be careful."

***
The Great Hall of the Palace was a vast room of tapestries and vaulted ceilings. All around the long table the High Council sat, with Prince Emryn at their head. To his right was Lord Talwyr, and to his left, Lord Maddeg. Maddeg had had to be summoned back immediately when it was discovered that the King had died in the night. He was to be buried at dawn, but Lord Maddeg was needed, as one of the most powerful men in the Kingdom, for the deliberation that must now take place over who was to succeed Perrian as King.

If not Emryn, then who? He was the King's son and heir, though he was young. The only way in which the throne would not fall to him would be in the event of his stepping down, abdicating in favor of... whom?

"I will not follow him," a grey-bearded lord proclaimed. "I am sorry, Prince Emryn. I followed your grandfather and your father and even your mother, yes, even though she was not born of the royal blood. But I will not pledge my allegiance to a mere boy, who has never had experience at leading men."

"Leading men against what?" a younger man seated at the table asked. "There has been no war in the Kingdom since before King Perrian's time."

"But," a self-possessed, dark-haired and -bearded man said, "what about Lord Maddeg's prophecy?"

All heads turned to the high priest. Murmurs went along the table to the general effect of, "Yes, what of that? Is it true?"

Maddeg silenced them all with the gesture of a raised hand. "My lords, why must we squabble in this manner? There was a prophecy, it is true, made by one of the priestesses in my Temple. I heard it uttered myself. But such things are only words, my lords, which need not concern us here. I am sure the fate of the Kingdom is perfectly safe in the young Prince's hands... despite what might have been said. I'm sure Prince Emryn can handle any... events which may take place in the near future. Of course, they may not happen at all."

There was more dark muttering. Emryn looked slightly sick.

"I agree," Talwyr said. But his tone said something very different than Maddeg's had. "I might add, however, that Lord Maddeg alone is not responsible for the affairs of the Temple. I know that my authority does not extend so far, but perhaps we should wait until Lady Celwyn gets here..."

"Nonsense," Maddeg snapped. "We cannot delay these proceedings so long."

But there were words of agreement up and down the table for Talwyr's proposal: "Yes, let the Lady come. The Lady ought to be here. We can wait."

"No, we must not lose momentum, we must resolve this--" Maddeg started to say.
Then a scuffle broke out along one of the walls, and three guards rushed at the head of the table from opposite directions. Their swords were drawn, and each had a dagger in his other hand.

***
Emryn stood, knocking his chair back behind him, as Talwyr rushed to his side. To the left, the wizard could see Corbin struggling with a fourth assassin. The knight had knocked the sword from the guard's hand and was gripping the wrist that held the knife, holding it back. He had raised his own sword to strike the fatal blow, but the guard was using his empty hand to force Corbin's arm back. Several of the councilors at the long table, trained from their youths in arms, had instinctively rushed the remaining three assassins, and while a group had succeeded in holding one back, the other two were slashing at the unarmed nobles, running them through with their sword points, and still coming with deadly speed to the head of the table. Talwyr knew that he had little choice as to what he must now do.

The aged wizard extended one hand and let forth a burst of power, of energy almost electric in nature, at the oncoming guards, knocking one of them onto his back and sending the other wheeling back into the wall. Corbin, having at last won the struggle with the first assassin, now rushed across the hall toward this one, leaping over and through the press of bodies.

Taking advantage of the momentary confusion, Talwyr took Prince Emryn by the arm in a grip surprisingly strong and pulled him toward the nearest door. The Prince did not resist, but allowed himself to be dragged along. At the door, to Emryn's confusion, they stopped, and Talwyr nodded down toward the floor, saying, "Come. Quickly." The Prince looked down into the faces of the two terrified children, huddled by the door where no one had noticed them watching the proceedings-- where no one would ever have noticed them save Talwyr. Bhodi and Pearl scrambled to their feet and hurried with the wizard and the prince out the door of the Great Hall.

The four of them ran, Talwyr leading, down endless dark corridors, through dust-filled rooms that might not have been used for centuries. The children gasped and panted with the effort of keeping up, but Talwyr had set a pace that could just accommodate them. He did not remove his iron grip from Emryn’s arm. Pearl and Bhodi, as they ran, exchanged fearful glances. They had only been curious to see the Great Hall and the wise councilors and, besides, Bhodi had expressed reluctance to believe that Emryn was a real prince. They had found the hall, located as it was in the center of the Palace, and had snuck in, crouching low to the stone floor, not worthy of notice to anyone assembled there for the meeting.

Then, all at once, terrible, confusing things had begun to happen. There had been noise and shouting, and everyone had sprung to their feet. Pearl and Bhodi saw the men running at Emryn, but Pearl hadn’t been able to understand what it could mean until Talwyr had stood protectively in front of the Prince and, in a show of magic which had made her gasp, kept them away. Then they’d seen the councilors pierced with swords and fall, blood on their clothes, and they’d heard the horrible screams of dying men. And still they were unable to move until Talwyr, like a burst of light in his white robes, came to them and awakened them from their immobile stupor.

Without thinking, at first, they’d followed him. But now Pearl was thinking, and there were many questions she needed to ask and doubted Lord Talwyr would answer. Now was not the time for questions. Now was the time for running.

But when Pearl and Bhodi looked at each other, the silent question that passed between them was, How much trouble have we gotten ourselves into?

It was strange, really. Neither sought to blame the other-- this was too big for that. Already they were in this together, despite not knowing what exactly “this” might be.

At a crossroads in the maze of halls, a distant light flooded into their path, and voices could be heard. Talwyr pulled them up against a wall until the voices and footsteps echoed into silence. Then they ran on. But Pearl’s impatience had overcome her sense of propriety.

“Lord Talwyr, where are we going? What’s happening?”

“Not the time Pearl,” the wizard muttered distractedly. “No time for questions now.”
Pearl obediently shut her mouth, but Emryn, who had been trailing along in a sort of wide-eyed shock, at last dug his heels into the flagstones, causing the party to halt.

“No, the girl is right,” he said quietly. “I am the prince. I want to know what is happening.” He drew himself up. “I demand to know what is happening.”

“Very well, my lord,” Talwyr answered, and his voice was quiet and strained. “I should have thought it would be clear, but nevermind. Whoever killed your father now wants you also dead. He is not bothering to make it look like an accident, which I had not expected. You are in immediate danger. An attempt has just been made on your life. We are escaping.” The wizard took off down the hallway again.

“What about us?” Bhodi called after him.

“You are in danger, too,” he replied.

“Why?” the boy persisted.

They could see Talwyr ahead of them shake his head. “No time for explanations now.”
After a short time, Emryn pointed out, “We are going in circles.”

“Yes. We are putting them off the trail. We are almost there.”

No one bothered to ask where “there” was. But a moment later Talwyr slowed down, pausing before each closed door they passed, studying it briefly, and then moving on. Under his breath he could be heard saying, “No... no, not quite... this one? No.” Until finally, in front of a plain, splintered wooden door that looked no different from the last eight plain, splintered wooden doors, he stopped.

He said, “Yes.”

Talwyr opened the door, and the others wordlessly followed him through it. They emerged into moonlight, in what looked like a deserted piece of garden, a spot which had been overlooked by the tenders of the Palace gardens for some time. It was narrow, and overgrown, and across the narrow space was a wall. It looked, Pearl thought, somewhat like the border walls all around the Kingdom. Except set into this one was another plain, wooden door.

Talwyr turned to Emryn. “My prince, do you know where we are?”

Emryn looked stricken. “The doors. I’ve heard my parents talk of the doors, when I was little but I never... they never told me... but that’s what this is, isn’t it? Where does it go?”

Talwyr sighed. “I had wanted your father to speak with you about this before... but, things being as they are...” He eyed Emryn. “How much have you heard?”

“That there are doors,” Emryn spoke slowly, reaching far back into his memory. “And that they go... somewhere. Mother always told me that if I was ever in danger I should have you help me find the doors.”

“And now,” Talwyr said, “though I regret it, that time has come.”

Struggling against the overgrowth, the old wizard yanked the door open. It stuck once or twice, but at last, with creaking hinges, it opened wide to reveal... somewhere.





Please do not copy or republish Erin's work without her express written permission. Thank you!

NaNoWriMo 2005: 25513 Words

Now Pearl, too, sat at the table with the adults-- Talwyr, Corbin, and Niama. Nieve had been placed in a nearby cradle, and Niama had placed before Pearl toasted bread with butter and fruits-- the most phenomenal breakfast the girl had ever seen. As she ate, they talked.

The first thing that Talwyr asked was that Pearl repeat the whole story of how she had found the dragon in the forest; she didn't like to talk about it, it was like living the whole thing again. Talwyr, Corbin, and Niama seemed to understand this, and they didn't push her, only gave her gentle words of encouragement. When she was finished, they were silent for a while. They were talking to each other, though, Pearl knew-- exchanging those adult looks that meant they knew something she didn't know and thought she wouldn't understand. This was happening a lot around her lately, and it was starting to get on her nerves.

After a moment of deep thought, it was Talwyr who spoke. "The first thing you must understand, Pearl," he said, "is that what you saw was not a dragon."

"It wasn't?" Relief washed over Pearl so strongly that it nearly overpowered her confusion completely. Now she felt much better about what she'd done to rescue the boy. She hadn't seen a dead dragon, she hadn't looked into its dead glass eye, she hadn't smashed that eye and reached inside, and that made everything, in some fundamental way, perfectly all right. "What was it?"

"It was not any living thing. Most of the celestial objects-- that is, things flying through the sky-- that people of the Kingdom take to be sky dragons are not. Sometimes they are merely shooting stars, but other times... Other times they are what you saw. What you saw was called a starship."

Pearl had never heard of such a thing. She looked at Corbin and Niama to see if they appeared as surprised as she felt, but they did not. They only exchanged an anxious look.

Talwyr continued, "Now, a starship is an aptly named creation. It is a ship--"

"Like a boat?" Pearl interrupted. "I've seen boats on the river by the Temple."

"Yes, a ship as in a very large boat. Only the starship does not sail the waters but, in fact, the stars. The sky, I mean."

"Oh." Pearl thought about this. It seemed logical enough. "Is it magic?"

"Of a sort, though not the kind I specialize in," the wizard answered. "But they enable the person traveling within them to go vast distances very quickly."

Now Corbin began to speak. "These starships-- not many people know about them. They usually appear around the borders, and for the past centuries knights have guarded against them more often than any real dragons. The borders used to protect us from them, but now more and more get through. I've never seen a dragon, myself, but I've seen a ship or two. Never one that had crashed, which is what this one did. The point is, some of these ships are dangerous. Some of them carry dangerous sorts of people."

There was something about this that seemed to Pearl not quite right. "I thought the Gods lived beyond the borders."

"They do," Corbin was quick to reply, but added, more darkly, "and so do demons."
"Corbin!" For the first time, Niama spoke.

The knight looked down. "I didn't mean that. You know I didn't. It's just what my father used to say." He addressed Pearl again. "My family has been guarding this part of the border for ages. I met Niama here..."

The woman put her hand in her husband's and said, in her soft yet powerful voice, "The Gods do live beyond the borders, Pearl, in a way. I believe that. But there are other things beyond the borders, too. Another place."

"The borders were put up long ago to keep the more unpleasant of these things out," Talwr said. "But now, for one reason or another, the borders are failing."

Pearl listened to all they said, and she tried to understand. But she found that she could not. She felt that she was not getting the whole story, that huge parts of this tale were being left out. "I don't understand, Lord," she admitted.

The wizard sighed. "I know. Now is not the time for everything to be explained to you. You know that in the Temple the priests and priestesses must be initiated into the Mysteries before they are granted full knowledge of the sacred ceremonies and practices? Well, what we are telling you about is a Mystery of a sort, and you are only now being introduced to it. One day soon you will be initiated, and then, perhaps, you will understand. But today is not that day. You are not yet ready to know. The knowledge would have come to you one day, one way or another. I must admit I was not expecting it to be thrust upon you this way, so soon. But you witnessed that crash, and you deserved to have that, at least, explained."

"Is this," Pearl ventured, amazed at her own boldness, "part of the magic that you and Lady Celwyn said you would teach me?"

"Yes. A great part of it, in fact."

"I will be a priestess, then?" A few days ago the thought had been a preposterous dream, but today, her birthday, standing in the beautiful house of a border knight and speaking to the Kingdom's greatest wizard, nothing was beyond belief. Today, anything was possible-- even a Pearl in the shining white of the Wise Ones, with long hair and shoes and clean skin.

Talwyr nodded a little. "You may be. Your fate has yet to be determined, young one-- at this point, it is entirely up to you."

There was one other thing about what was being said that was bothering her-- what was it? She thought through the past minutes in her head. "You don't think that the boy I found is dangerous, do you?"

"No," Corbin assured her. "He is only a child."

"What will happen to him?"

"We will take him with us," Talwyr proclaimed.

"With us where?"

"To the Palace."

***
Everything happened very quickly after that. Talwyr had very few belongings, but Corbin and Niama had already packed two trunks-- "mostly things for the baby," the wizard explained. Somehow there had materialized for Pearl not only the nightgown she'd woken up in, but a saffron dress-- plain, but to Pearl's eyes the most gorgeous gown she'd ever beheld. "It is, after all, your birthday," Talwyr said. This made it even better than before; she'd never had a real birthday present. Sometimes at the Temple, Celwyn had kept her up with her for the day, looking at books and listening to stories. This, she acknowledged, was even more exciting than those stories had been. She was going on a real trip with people of real nobility, to the Palace, of all places.

Niama and Corbin, as a knight and his lady, were well enough off to have two separate horse litters. While Talwyr rode his dapple grey and Corbin his roan, Pearl and the boy, still unconscious, were to be carried in these. Pearl looked longingly up at the horses.

"I would prefer to ride, too," Niama said, standing by her side. "But someone must tend to the baby and to the little boy. I will be in the other litter."
"You can come visit with me sometimes, if you'd like," Pearl told her, and she smiled.

And sometimes on the journey, when they stopped, Niama would switch over to Pearl's litter and speak with her for a while. She brought the baby Nieve, and when Pearl saw her face she was instantly enamored of the little one.

"She's so beautiful!"

Pearl had never been this close to a baby before, she would admit, but she was sure that Nieve must be quite simply the prettiest baby in all the world. Eight months old, according to Niama, she looked exactly like her mother except that her wide eyes, which put Pearl immediately in mind of a small kitten, were as brilliantly blue as Corbin's.

When Nieve and Niama were not with her, though, Pearl found that the journey grew quickly boring. Mile after mile, hour after hour, all they passed were endless forests of trees, looking exactly the same. They left Corbin's manner near the borders in the late afternoon, and for a while the monotony was relieved by a beautiful sunset and the gathering dusk.

In the gathering dark, lulled by the steady tramp of the horses' hooves, Pearl found herself nodding off. Pulling shut the curtains of the litter, she gave herself over to sleep.

***
Belan and Herel arrived back at the Temple in the night, a fact which greatly relieved them both. This late, Lord Maddeg would be asleep and therefore unavailable to question them, or even witness their entrance. If they were lucky, Herel thought, they could both easily slip back into their daily duties without anything being made of their absence at all.

No sooner were their horses stabled, however, than a message came to them via a sleepy young novice maiden from the Lady Celwyn. They were to attend her upon the instant. Herel groaned. It wasn't enough, apparently, that he was sore from the saddle and weary from a long journey and fed up with Belan's constant company. All he'd wanted was to fall into his bed and sleep straight through the morning services, and probably the afternoon services, too. But the orders of the high priestess could not be refused.

Belan, he noticed with irritation, was practically leaping up the steps to the Lady's tower.

"What was she doing up at this hour, anyway, that she saw us coming back?" he grumbled.

Belan smiled. "Probably waiting for us to come back, my friend. In fact, who knows how long she's been watching us. She is the Lady, you know."

This was something Herel hadn't considered, and now that he was considering it, he didn't like it. The thought of Lady Celwyn using her second sight to spy on him was not what he considered an appropriate use of a Gods-given gift. Especially, he thought guiltily, because what with all of the perfectly reasonable objections he'd raised throughout the journey, he probably hadn't come off very well. Not next to Belan's frankly unnecessary amount of enthusiasm, anyway.

Together the two priests entered the chamber and bowed to the Lady. Celwyn raised her hands in blessing, then promptly dropped all ceremony and asked, "Is she safe?"

"She is," Belan confirmed. "We left her and Lord Talwyr at the manor house of a knight of the border named Sir Corbin." Celwyn sighed with relief. Belan hesitated, nervous, but this certainly wasn't something Herel was willing to tell the high priestess for him. "There was an incident with a dragon."

Celwyn raised an eyebrow. "A dragon?"

"A sky dragon," Belan clarified. "It fell from the sky near her. She wasn't hurt severely. It was..."

Across the room, a door creaked open. Timidly, as though she would bolt at the slightest sound, Fianna stepped through. Her bright red hair still hung loose, partially hiding her face.

"Lady Celwyn," she whispered. "I have seen something."

Celwyn seemed not to know quite what to do. She glanced from the girl in the doorway to the two young men and back again. Finally, she excused herself to the priests and spoke to Fianna. "What have you seen, my dear?"

"The boy I spoke of..." she did not lift her gaze from the floor, determined to ignore the presence of anyone here but herself and Celwyn. "The boy is here. The boy who rides the dragon."

"The dragon?" Celwyn repeated, and now she sounded intrigued at an idea that had not occurred to her before.

Fianna fixed her bright green eyes suddenly on Belan and Herel. "They know," she said.

Celwyn turned back to the two bewildered priests.

"It fell from the sky," Belan started babbling. "It fell in fire. There was a boy... He hadn't awoken, but he was alive when we left..."

"Rides the dragon?" Herel interjected in disbelief. He was ignored.

"But how did you know?" Belan asked Fianna, who looked down at the floor again.

"Fianna has been gifted by the Gods," Celwyn replied shortly. It was really all the explanation needed-- everyone in the Temple knew about this woman whose name, now that Celwyn had mentioned it, they both recognized was indeed Fianna. They had never seen her only because they were not yet advanced enough to participate in the rituals of her Speakings. "Tell me about this boy. Where is he now?"

"At the knight's house, with the girl," Herel said. "He just looked like a normal boy. Not the sort you'd expect to be riding dragons," he added vaguely.

"It is him," Fianna said, still in that soft voice, unaccustomed to much speech. "He has come, and the girl has found him." She closed her eyes tightly. "More dragons will come now."

"More dragons?" Herel repeated faintly.

Fianna gazed up at him again. "Do not worry," she told him. "They have found each other, and the two will protect us."

Herel snorted. "Those two children, you mean? Not likely."

Belan's eyes had not left Fianna's face since she'd come into the room; he nodded raptly. "If you have seen it, my lady, I have no doubt it shall be so."

He was transfixed, Herel noted with an audible groan. That's all we need, he thought. Then, Since when have I been thinking of us as "we?"

For the first time, Fianna actually made eye contact with Belan. Then she turned to Lady Celwyn. "Where is Lord Maddeg, Lady?"

"He has gone to the Palace, for the funeral of Queen Lilien. You need not fear him, nor hide yourself at the moment, Belan."

Belan nodded again, not taking his eyes off of Fianna.

"Be careful, both of you. You have much still to do," Fianna said, then turned and went back into her adjacent room, closing the door behind her.

Belan sighed, coming back from wherever his mind had flown at the sight of Fianna. Celwyn noticed, and did not look pleased. She sharply dismissed them both.

Be careful, she'd said, Herel reflected as they made their way back through the Temple corridors. She didn't need to warn him. What really bothered him were the words, You still have much to do.

Well, Herel had never done very much in his life so far, and didn't intend to start now. Belan, on the other hand-- Herel cast the softly smiling priest a sidelong glance-- Belan was another matter altogether. The best thing would be to distance himself now, before things got any worse.

***
For the second morning in a row, Pearl knew the bewildered feeling of waking up in a room she had never seen before. This room was not the warm, friendly wood of the room in Corbin's manor. These walls were of stone, and for a horrible fraction of a second she thought that she was back again in her room in the Temple. But then she felt the unfamiliar softness of the bed beneath her, and she was again wearing the clean white nightgown. Aside from the stone, in fact, this room was nothing like the Temple. The room was spacious, larger even than the one she'd slept in the night before; the walls were hung with tapestries and woven rugs covered the floor. Pearl walked timidly across the space to the window and discovered that she was very high up-- almost like Celwyn's chamber in the Temple tower. And unlike yesterday, there was no familiar voice to be heard through the walls-- no voices at all could penetrate the heavy stone.

The door creaked open under her hand and she peered down a dim hall that seemed to go on forever. As far as she could see, the place was completely empty.

"Lord Talwyr?" she called in a voice that sounded incredibly small in the vast, lofty emptiness. "Lady Niama? Sir Corbin?" Her voice only became progressively tinier. "Anybody?"

She stepped onto the cold flagstones of the hall, looking this way and that. There were many doors on either side, each tightly shut, or open to reveal nothing but empty blackness. But there was one, open just a little bit, only a little way down the hall. Pearl stood outside it for a moment, debating whether or not to risk opening it. Finally, she peered inside.

Standing there, staring with his back to her into a full-length mirror, was Lord Maddeg.

Pearl gasped, but the high priest was so intent on his own reflection that he did not notice her. She immediately turned and ran, as fast as she could, until she reached the very end of the hallway. The corridor there veered to the right and left, and she could hear voices approaching. In desperation, Pearl yanked open the nearest door and bolted inside, pulling the door shut tightly behind her.
She stood for a moment in the doorframe catching her breath. Then a barely audible sound within the room made her turn. Pearl stared, wide-eyed at the boy she had rescued in the forest.

He sat upright in a bed like the one Pearl had woken up in, his arm in a sling, and as wide-eyed as she was herself. His eyes, now that she saw them open for the first time, were quite remarkable. She had expected them to be brown as her own, but they were a clouded grey color. Pearl didn't know how long they stood there staring at each other.

Finally, she said, "It's you! You're awake!"

"Hi," the boy said. "You look familiar. Do I know you?"

"Oh! Yes, I'm the one who... I found you, in the forest. You were trapped in the dragon--"

"Dragon?" he asked, puzzled.

"I mean..." she struggled to remember the word. "starship."

"Oh, yeah." The boy have a half-smile. "I guess I kinda crashed, huh?"

Pearl nodded. "Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"Yeah. Hey, thanks for pulling me out. That nice lady told me about you."
Something about the way the boy talked was slightly odd. Pearl thought. "Niama?" she asked.

He nodded. "That's her," and smiled. "I'm Bhodi. Bhodi Ajinna."

So he was of a higher status than she was, one of the named ones, Pearl thought. He held out the hand that was not in the sling. She shouldn't be so forward, probably, with one of the named ones, but he seemed so friendly, and maybe saving somebody's life gave you certain rights. Pearl smiled back, crossed the room, and shook the hand he'd offered like she had seen men do sometimes.

"I'm Pearl."

"Do you have a last name?" Bhodi asked.

"No?" Pearl replied, and he laughed. Pearl wondered if Bhodi came from someplace where everyone talked the way he did, but then she remembered Corbin and Niama telling her about the things living beyond the borders. Bhodi didn't seem dangerous-- in fact, he seemed nice. Pearl thought that she already liked him.

"Where do you come from?" she inquired, trying to sound casual.

"Oh, here and there," he said, and got up to cross to the window and look down. He stood there for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was quite different-- no longer flippant but quiet, and serious. "So... I guess I'm dead?"

"No!" Pearl exclaimed. "Of course not!" She went to stand beside him. "Why would you think that?"

"It's so beautiful here, and the way people dress and talk... I don't know, it's like a fairy tale. I've never seen anyplace like this before, not even on Dybera. And that was a really bad crash. I guess I shouldn't ever have tried to fly by myself, but..." he trailed off.

He seemed so distant, all of a sudden, that Pearl didn't know quite what to say. "You're not dead," she told him, feeling stupid. "You're in the Palace. In the Kingdom," she added.

"Which kingdom?"

What did he mean? "The Kingdom," she repeated.

Bhodi shook his head, but he was smiling again. "How old are you, Pearl?"

"I'm eight. My birthday was yesterday," she offered shyly.

"I'm eight, too. Happy birthday."

Bhodi grinned. Pearl smiled back. It seemed like maybe she had just made her very first friend.

***
It was the day following Queen Lilien's funeral. Talwyr and his party had arrived at the Palace soon after the burial and were immediately ushered in by the guards at the gate. Maddeg, Talwyr knew, would also be there, and he could only hope that they might avoid any entanglements with the high priest. What with crashing starships, children who already knew more than they should, and prophecies coming to pass, he had little time for the petty but destructive jealousy of the great Lord Maddeg. He had to meet with King Perrian. For all the good that might do him.

Perrian had been a good and just king for many years, ruling the Kingdom well. But seven years ago he had been wounded, his legs crippled, and the effects of the ensuing infection had left his mind wandering on his best days. He had been carried on a litter to attend his beloved wife's funeral; that much dignity he had been allowed. But for seven long years Lilien had ruled for him, and now she was dead and he dying. Try as he might, Perrian could not rule again. The Queen left the Kingdom with no monarch now capable of rule, save Emryn, the prince.

Prince Emryn was now sixteen years old. Talwyr hadn't seen the boy since he was eight, the last time he'd come this close to inheriting the throne. Then he had been an active child, more fond of horsemanship and play than his lessons, and he'd looked up at Talwyr with an awed sort of fear. He had been an ordinary child. To lead the Kingdom through the times that were coming, it would need an extraordinary man. Talwyr could only hope that Emryn had grown into such a man, or else... well, the wizard would somehow have to force him into an extraordinary manhood. With all of the powers at his command, he was not quite sure how he would go about doing this.
King Perrian lay in a dark, candlelit room, staring at the ceiling. He turned his head when the wizard entered, but he could not raise it. There was recognition in his eyes, however, and Talwyr took this as a positive sign. He pulled a stool up beside the bed and sat, looking kindly down at old King Perrian-- an old man, Talwyr thought, though he was some thirty years younger than the wizard himself.

"Your Highness." He bowed his head.

"No, Lord Talwyr," Perrian said weakly. "No such ceremony, my friend." The king's face was worn and drawn, and the look in his eyes was heartbreakingly sad. "My Queen is dead. Lilien is dead."

"I know, my King, and I am sorry."

There was a long silence.

"I shall die soon, now," the King said at last. "Without her I cannot live."

Talwyr shook his head. "Do not say so, lord King. There is your Kingdom, still, and your son."

"My son is a stranger to me. My Kingdom, as well. I have not seen my Kingdom in seven years, Talwyr. And in that time I have scarcely seen my son."

"He needs you to teach him how to rule."

"I have forgotten how to rule." Perrian turned away. "Leave me alone. I want to die."
"They will kill Prince Emryn if you do." Talwyr's voice was no longer gentle.
Perrian did not move, but his voice drifted faintly back over his shoulder. "But he's only a boy!"

"Which will make it all the easier."

"But he's my son!" The wizard said nothing. "Very well. What use am I to him, if I live?"

"Certainly more use than if you die. Hard times are coming, Perrian. It is as I foresaw."

"The borders are failing?" Perrian turned back, frowning. "You must teach Emryn. I can't. You must not let them kill him. You must show him what to do. And I'll do my part and not die of despair."

Talwyr smiled a little at the show of humor. "I shall do as you command me, my King."

Perrian's eyes lost focus, grew distant. "Will they really want to kill him? He's only a baby. He cries around strangers, you know, and that would wake us up." He was gone again, his mind wandering a world of his own, one in which he was still young and strong and a great King. He gazed up at Talwyr. "Where is Lilien?" he asked.

"Very nearby," the wizard answered. "I will tell her that you wish to see her."

"Yes, yes, I wish to see her at once," Perrian muttered, and mumbled himself into silence.

***
"I've been living on ships for as long as I can remember," Bhodi said, picking at the quilt of the bed where he sat with Pearl. "Mostly big ones-- liners and freighters, you know. Just me and my mom and dad. They were both pilots and they used to fly on real crews. But then their jobs got cut, and I was just a baby, and they had to support me somehow, so they started stowing away, getting jobs where they could, and conning and smuggling on the side." Pearl had asked him how he came to be all by himself when she found him, and she was now trying her best to understand his answer. "I went with them, because they had nowhere else to take me. I helped them out a lot-- I had a knack for it. One of Dad's friends, Bruce was his name, called me Little Pirate. It was pretty rough, but it was a really fun way to grow up, I think. Way better than school. I mean, Mom taught me to read and do math and everything. I'm not stupid. Anyway, one day at some spaceport... I don't know how it happened... I lost them. I just looked around, and they weren't there anymore. And I waited and waited... but they never came. I didn't know what to do. I was just six, a little kid. So after a day or two sleeping on a bench, I decided I'd go and look for them. I stowed away on some ship, and the crew sort of adopted me. I mean, they didn't kick me off. Every place we stopped I looked for them. Then I got on another ship, and another one, and... well, I've been pretty much on my own since then. I don't know where my dad was from, but I remembered Mom was Dyberan, so I came here to see."

"What's Dyberan?" Pearl couldn't stop herself from asking; it was the second time she'd heard him mention something like this.

"You are. Here is. This is Dybera."

"No, it's not. I've never even heard of it. This is the Palace, this is the Kingdom."

"What Kingdom?" Bhodi asked for the second time.

"The Kingdom!" Pearl exclaimed.

Bhodi looked askance at her. "Are you simple or something?"

"No!" Pearl spit out with sudden anger. "I'm not the one who crashed whatever it was in the middle of the borderland forest!"

At first she thought Bhodi was going to hate her for that, but after a second he gave a sort of half-smile. "Fair enough, I guess. It was really stupid. I thought I'd try to take off in a ship for myself, now that I'm eight, and I'm a pretty good flyer... but, I guess, not as good as I thought I was."

Pearl was silent for a moment. There was a lot of this story that didn't make sense to her, a few words she didn't know, but she did know what it was like to be a little child on her own.

"My mother is dead," she said. "I don't know who my father was."

"What did you do, after she died?"

"I went to the Temple."

"Did you like it there?"

Pearl looked down, staring hard at the patterns on the quilt. "No," she said, her voice coming out in a whisper. Bhodi didn't say anything; it seemed like he understood. "Lord Maddeg, the high priests is here. I'm scared he'd going to take me back there," she confessed.

Bhodi took her hand. "He won't. You can just come away with me. I'll take you everywhere."

"You will?" She looked up.

"Sure."

Just then the door opened and Niama came in.

"Pearl! There you are! We were so worried about you!" Her face lit up the minute she saw Pearl sitting on the edge of Bhodi's bed.

Bhodi's face, Pearl noted with a strange stirring of jealousy, lit up the minute Niama came into the room. She knew this was silly, though, so she pushed it aside.

"We've just been talking," she said.

Niama shooed her off the bed. "You'd better get back to your own room and get dressed now. You'll make our young friend tired." She smiled down at Bhodi, who blushed.

"Yes, ma'am," Pearl said, and made for the door. "Lord Maddeg is here," she added, hesitating at the door.

"He's with the King right now. You needn't worry." Niama met her eyes frankly. "We're not letting him anywhere near you."

Pearl felt reassured at this, and overjoyed when she heard Bhodi call out after her, "Come back later, Pearl!"

Even with Lord Maddeg in the building, she skipped back down the hallway to her room, humming a song that she made up as she went.
***


Please do not copy or republish Erin's work without her express written permission. Thank you!

NaNoWriMo 2005: 20501 Words

When Pearl woke up in the morning she was alone on the forest floor. She wondered briefly if the appearance of the unicorn had been only a dream, but she was in a part of the forest she had never seen before. It was different from the forest around the Temple. The trees were widely spaced and their trunks were so thick that it would have required three of her to reach all the way around most of them. The sun shone through the cover of the leaves more brightly here, and she could see patches of blue sky above. Pearl stood and brushed leaves off of her dress, feeling renewed and refreshed, as if the whole world lay before her and anything was possible.

Of course, she still did not know where she was going. Nor where she was now. At the speed the unicorn had been going last night, she must be miles and miles away from the Temple-- safe, for now. The important thing, she decided, was to keep moving. So, choosing a direction at random, she set off again, enjoying the feeling of not having to do chores in the Temple, of not being afraid of receiving an unexpected kick or slap. There were squirrels capering in the nearby trees, and she paused to watch them, laughing for the pure joy of it.

She realized that she was hungry, but she'd gone a day without food before. There was no need to worry yet; she'd keep her eyes open, just in case. And she didn't mind the long walking, either. There was so much to look at, so much to see that she had only heard of growing up in the Temple. A few times she surprised a group of deer, and on some of the hills she crossed over tiny waterfalls. If she grew tired she would stop in the shade and rest until she was ready to move on.

Sometime in the midafternoon Pearl came across an apple tree. She ate her fill of fruit there and picked two more apples to carry with her for later. All in all, she thought that this was indeed one of the happiest days she could remember.

Then she saw it. It rose directly in front of her, grey and forbidding and more solid than anything she had ever seen before. It was the borders. The wall rose so far above her head that she had to crane her head back to see the top. To either side it stretched as far as the eye could see. Eyes wide with awe, Pearl stepped closer, close enough to touch the rough surface of the border with her hands. It was cold to the touch, the lines between the individual stones weathered away so that they were barely visible. Its age showed in other ways, too-- moss and lichen and ivy grew over much of the wall, and a few of the stones, she could see, were crumbling in places. Yet this did not detract from the power of the place. Pearl had the distinct impression that this wall had stood and would continue to stand here, in this spot, for all eternity. The feeling swept over her, making her feel very small and very insignificant, yet not in the way she felt small and insignificant in the Temple. Here she felt special, too, one of a great many people to have touched this place before her in its history, but one of very few to have touched this place in her lifetime. And beyond this wall, just a breath away, was the realm where the Gods walked. She could almost touch them.

Pearl did not know how long she stood there with her hand to the wall, but at last she backed away and paused to think. The border wall was imposing, it was true, but it did mark a distinct path, and she'd been looking for a direction to go. This way she would at least be sure that she was heading somewhere.
She would follow the border for a while, and see where it would lead her.

***
For what may have been the fifteenth time that hour, Herel snorted in indignation. Talwyr pretended not to hear, but Belan turned in his saddle and glowered at him.

"What is it, Herel?" he asked in a voice made slightly vicious with irritation.

"Riding a unicorn!" Herel exclaimed to the world at large. "Who ever heard of a child riding a unicorn? Everyone knows that unicorns never let people ride them, everyone knows that!"

"Except," Belan pointed out, "that that is exactly what we both saw."

Talwyr chuckled quietly, and that only served to upset Herel even more.

"We must have been mistaken," he stated matter-of-factly. "It was very dark, and we were in an unfamiliar area."

"It was not dark around that unicorn," Belan sighed, slipping into a reverie. "It practically glowed. And besides, Lord Talwyr believes us."

"That I do, my boy," Talwyr spoke at last. "That I do. The tracks and traces of their passing are plain as day for those who have the knowledge of such things. I am certain that it was Pearl you saw and that we are going in the right direction and that eventually we will find her. I only fear that you were not the only ones who witnessed this miraculous vision last night, and that others will find her first."
Belan silently spurred on his horse and Herel, snorting again, urged his mount into a trot to keep up.

"Who ever heard of such a thing?" he muttered darkly. "Miles from home chasing down a child on a unicorn. I want to go to bed."

"You are, of course, free to turn back if you would prefer," Talwyr told him.

"Don't be ridiculous!" the priest snapped. "I couldn't find the way back there by myself! Besides, I'm under orders of the Lady. Turn back, indeed."

Talwyr smiled into his beard. He might be able to make something of this lot yet.
If only Pearl would show herself, so that he could stop worrying so.

***
Walking along beside the border wall in the deepening night, Pearl watched the stars. They amazed her. Sleeping in the little dark room in the Temple every night, she rarely got to see stars at all. Now, on this cloudless night, even the glimpses she got of them between the tops of the trees were enough to take her breath away. There were so many. How could the sky be so big, to hold so many stars? Could she hold one in her hand, or would it burn or freeze her fingers off? She wondered what the stars were. People said different things about them-- that they were the spirits of the dead, or the tears of the Gods, or other kingdoms like this one far, far away. She knew that some of the sparkles of light that at first appeared to be shooting stars were actually the sky dragons. In the day they couldn't be seen, but at night their fiery trails across the sky were visible all across the Kingdom.

Strange-- here, on the very borders, they looked closer than they ever had before. The one she could see now was tracing erratic patterns in the dark sky. Pearl wondered if she was getting closer to the mountains, where the dragons were still supposed to live. She had never seen the mountains, except in pictures in Celwyn's books sometimes, when the priestess was in a good mood. The prospect of seeing them in real life excited her. Would she have to climb them?

At the thought of climbing what Celwyn said were great towers of rock, Pearl suddenly felt very tired. She would sleep, she decided, here where she could look up and see the stars looking down at her. In her hand she still held one of the apples she'd picked from the tree earlier in the day; she would save that for breakfast in the morning. Smiling, the girl settled down onto the soft, short grass.

All at once, she became aware of a strange sound. It was not quite like anything she'd ever heard before-- the closest she could come to describing it was like a very strong wind whistling through the empty corridors of the Temple at night. Only louder-- much, much louder, as though it was very rapidly coming closer.

On icy winter nights in the Temple, when no one could go outside without freezing on the spot, sometimes priests, priestesses, and even servants would gather around the fire and tell stories. If Pearl stayed back in the shadows, sometimes she could hear them. One in particular, she remembered now with piercing clarity, had been about a fearsome monster that roamed the borders and made a noise like... like... well, it probably sounded a lot like this sound. Pearl could not move. She stayed absolutely still, her eyes frozen wide open, and prayed harder than she had ever prayed before that whatever it was would pass her by.

Then a light burst into her vision, brighter than the festival bonfires lit across the countryside at midsummer, almost as bright as the sun itself. The noise shook the earth as it swooped overhead-- sometimes winding one way, sometimes another, but as surely as the setting sun heading down. Pearl leapt to her feet. She knew, now, was this was: it was a dragon, the sky dragon she'd seen earlier careening wildly over the treetops. Even as the realization hit her the bright ball of light ceased to be above the treetops at all, but dipped below them and out of sight with a tremendous crash.

Without even thinking about it, Pearl ran in the direction of the place where the dragon had disappeared, the uneaten apple dropping from her hand. A short distance into the unfamiliar forest, however, she stopped herself. What precisely was she doing? Wouldn't the smart thing be to run away from the fearsome dragon? But curiosity soon overcame her doubts. She'd never seen a sky dragon; she didn't know of anyone who had, including Lady Celwyn or Lord Maddeg. There were some who said that they sky dragons weren't even real. How could she not take just one little peek? This one might even be hurt-- she didn't see how anything could crash into the trees like that and not be hurt. Then there was the horrible noise it had been making-- it sounded sick or wounded to her. And if it was hurt-- well, then maybe she would be able to help it.

Once this thought occurred to her, she couldn't turn back. But she did creep forward more cautiously now, bit by bit moving toward the place from which smoke drifted through the trees and odd noises still reached her ears. She braced herself to run away at the slightest hint of immediate danger.

And so Pearl came into the clearing newly created by the fallen sky dragon. The air was thick with smoke and permeated by a horrible smell-- a uniquely dragon smell, the girl thought, as she had never smelled anything like it before. A number of trees were on fire, their leaves crackling high above or flickering with flame in patches on their trunks. She had to climb over a fallen maple that impeded her progress, splintered in half by the horrible creature's landing. Four or five other trees had met a similar fate. And one of them... one of them was bent nearly double over... a form, indistinct through the clearing smoke.

Pearl had a hard time describing it later. It was... greyish in color with smooth skin and sort of round, from what she could tell. It had wings which were spread, and what might have been a tail. But other than these things, it had no distinct features. It was not at all what she would have expected one of the majestic sky dragons to look like-- but then, she'd never seen one before, or met anyone who had. Who was to say that this wasn't the way they had always appeared? It was, at least, certainly very big. The great creature was not moving at all, and she didn't hear breathing, although noises she didn't like the sound of at all still emanated from it. Uncertainly, Pearl moved closer, and gasped.

Immediately she slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound, but she hadn't been able to help it. She could see the dragon's eye. It had only one, in the center of what she supposed must be its face, though it had no neck that she could see. Below that the face curved down to a point where its nose and mouth must be, but-- oh, that eye! It was wide open, blank and hollow, reflecting the shadows of the forest back at her. It looked dead. Pearl felt tears brimming in her eyes, already stinging from the smoke. A sky dragon-- and there were so few of them now, magical creatures from the dawn of time-- a real sky dragon lay before her, dead. It was almost more than she could bear.

Then she noticed something odd. There was a crack in the dragon's eye. A series of long, spidery cracks, in fact, almost as if it was made of glass and it had almost shattered with the impact...

It was glass! Pearl could see that, now. If she looked beyond the shallow reflection of the trees she could see more smoke billowing, and shadowy shapes beyond the eye and... the little girl's stomach turned over.

There was a hand.

A small hand, a child's hand, bleeding, pressed up against the glass eye of the dragon. The scream she wanted to let go choked within her throat, and all that emerged was a horrified squeal. There was a person in there. The dragon had eaten a person and it was still there... alive.

She stared at that hand for what seemed like an eternity. None of this made sense, or maybe she just couldn't think clearly enough to make sense of it. It did not make sense to her, really, that the dragon had eaten someone and she could now see that someone through the dragon's dead glass eye. But that didn't matter now.

All that mattered was that there was a child in there alive, and the dragon was dead, and its eye was made of glass. She knew what she would have to do. Pearl ran to the edge of the clearing, where she found a heavy branch felled in the dragon's wake. She could barely lift it by herself, but somehow she managed to drag it up to that dead glass eye. She aimed for the edge, as far away from that small hand as she could. Then, eyes closed, sobbing uncontrollably, she swung.

The glass eye shattered. The sound was sharp and cruel to Pearl's ears. She dreaded what she would find when she opened her eyes but, when at last she brought herself to do it, she saw only dark, empty space where the glass had been. Pearl dropped the branch, dreading what she knew she had to do next. As best she could, she cleared the glass away from the edge of the dragon's eye and reached inside. Her hands touched empty air. Moving them down she felt something hard, with many things protruding from it-- teeth maybe? or bones? It didn't matter. Lying across the dragon's hot, burning nose on her stomach, with both hands she groped into the eye until she touched the warm, living hand. She seized that hand in both of her own as though it was a lifeline, all that connected her to shore as she floated in a dark and terrible sea. She thought she felt the hand give some pressure back.

With all of her might, all of the strength she had and more, Pearl pulled. A few times it seemed as though the child was stuck or her strength would give out, but she refused to surrender. It didn't even occur to her that she was putting herself in danger by lingering here, or that the fire in the treetops was spreading, or that the smoke was making it harder and harder to breathe. Though she could not define exactly why, she knew that this moment-- right now, right here-- meant everything. Everything depended on her being able to save this person whom she had never even met.

And then she was kneeling on the ground some distance away from the body of the sky dragon, and the person she had pulled from the dragon's eye was lying in the grass beside her. It was a boy. He looked about her own age; his skin was slightly darker than her own and his short hair was dark enough to be called black. He was covered in soot and smoke, his clothes almost as ragged as Pearl's; there was a large gash on his forehead and he was bleeding from a dozen places... but he was breathing. He was alive, and he lay as if sleeping.

Now Pearl did notice the fire in the trees overhead. Burning branches were beginning to rain down onto the forest floor. Pearl didn't think she could move the boy any further. Pulling him free from the dragon had taken everything that she had, and her hands were already bleeding from the glass. The smoke was making her dizzy.

Just then she heard the boy moan, and she looked down to see him open his eyes and stare at her, confused. "You're all right now," she told him soothingly. The boy seemed to believe her, for his eyes closed again and his face returned to blissful, blank unconsciousness. Pearl had only a second to worry that he might be dead before something else registered in her mind. Hoofbeats. There was a horse coming.

It was either someone come to rescue them or someone come to take her back to the Temple, caught up with her at last. She struggled to get to her feet, to run, maybe, or to defend the boy if she needed to. Even now, she was not going back to the Temple without a fight; she refused to. The feeling came to her again that, either way, she was going to die.

The demonic vision that burst into the clearing, though, sent her reeling back to the ground again. Mounted on a roan horse, the figure of a man, covered head to toe in armor which reflected the flames in a glowing red. He held a drawn sword over his head and charged at the dragon, uttering a vicious cry. Pearl tried to scream again and found herself choking on the smoke, the world around her a swirling cloud of grey and red. Suddenly the frightening man on the horse was riding back toward her, shouting something. There was a blinding flash and a deafening noise, and the velvet silence of darkness took her.

***
When Pearl woke up, she was in a bed. She had never slept on a bed before, and so it took her some time to realize that she was awake and not still cushioned softly in sleep. What brought her fully out of sleep was the feel of a soft breeze blowing across her face and the white light of day shining through her eyelids. Somewhere nearby, the silence was giving way to the sound of birds singing. Pearl opened her eyes and blinked in confusion. This was certainly not her room in the Temple.

She was in a room she had never seen before, except maybe in her dreams. The walls were paneled with a light-colored wood. On the opposite wall was a small desk, and a rocking chair was in the corner near an open window. Billowing white curtains framed a neat, flowering garden with the forest behind it. Pearl herself was lying in a big white bed, stuffed with feathers. It was like being on a cloud. She sat up slowly and felt sharp pain stab at her with a suddenness that almost made her gasp. It burned her like fire.

All at once the memory of the night before washed over her. The burning dragon with the horrible dead glass eyes and the boy she'd dragged from inside the creature's body and the armed man on the horse... It all seemed like a dream, now. But the bruises on her body and the cuts she could see crisscrossing her hands told her that it had been real. She looked around the beautiful room again. Maybe she had died, and this was the land of the Gods. But no, she wouldn't be feeling pain if she was dead. Which meant that she was alive. Pearl smiled. Alive was a good way to start the day.

And not just any day, she realized. It was her birthday. She had lived through the night, and now she was eight years old.

Pearl pulled the covers back and slipped out of the bed. For the first time, now, she noticed that someone had dressed her in a clean, white nightgown, much nicer and softer than her greying shift. There was a bow tied at the collar. And, she thought with a shock, the nightgown wasn't the only thing that was clean. She must have been given a bath while she was asleep-- there was no dirt on her hands, her legs... There was a round mirror hanging over the desk and she ran to it. Yes, her face and her hair were clean, too! In spite of a few small cuts on her cheeks, she was practically shining! Pearl looked around the room again. Was this what it was like to be a normal little girl?

Her gaze drifted to the room's closed door, and she found herself afraid to open it. What if the whole room, the nightgown, everything were to vanish the minute she stepped outside? What if whoever had brought her here decided to take her back to the Temple?

Now that she thought about it, who had brought her here?

The man who had ridden into the forest with his sword drawn had been a knight, she knew that now. She had never seen one of the knights who guarded the borders before, of course, but she knew that they rode horses and had swords and wore armor. And she knew that one of their jobs was to fight off dragons. And another was to rescue maidens who were in danger. Especially maidens who were in danger from dragons. Now that she was free from the Temple, Pearl figured that she might be considered a maiden, or at least be mistaken for one. So, if the knight had rescued her, he might have taken her back to his house. That would make sense.

But... what if she was wrong? And where was the boy? Surely the knight wouldn't have left him there. He might be dead, Pearl thought. But, no, he couldn't be. She wouldn't believe that. She wished desperately that somebody would come and tell her what was happening and what she was supposed to do.

As if in answer to her prayers, she caught the sound of a familiar voice beyond the door. She couldn't make out the words, but she would know that voice like ancient music anywhere. It was Talwyr. And as long as Talwyr was here, she was safe.

Pearl slowly opened the door and peered into down a hallway lined with other doors, all closed. The end of the hall opened into a large room, lit with sunlight from six windows-- two on each of the three walls that faced outdoors. Near one of the windows a man stood holding a baby. In the center of the room was a great table where Talwyr sat with a golden-haired woman and two men Pearl recognized, with a sinking heart, as priests from the Temple. But Talwyr looked up as she emerged from the hallway and smiled at her, and she knew that everything was going to be all right. She smiled back.

"Good morning, little Pearl," the old wizard greeted her. "Or good afternoon, I should say. Come here, child. There are some people here I'd like you to meet." Shyly, Peal stepped forward to stand beside Lord Talwyr's chair. He indicated the two priests. "This is Belan and this is Herel. From the expression on your face I gather that you are already aware that they are priests in the Temple." The one called Belan looked friendly and very handsome; Pearl remembered that he played the harp and she'd always thought that he was rather nice. Herel, on the other hand, she did not remember much at all. He did not look very happy to be there. As if reading her thoughts, Talwyr added, "You needn't worry, child. They aren't going to take you back. They were helping me to find you. Lady Celwyn was quite worried, you know-- you running off like that. Not to say that I'm anything but glad that you did." He winked. "Well done." Pearl couldn't help but smile. "This," Talwyr continued, pointing to the kind-faced man holding the baby, "is Corbin. Sir Corbin, I should say, though I knew him when he was no bigger than you, Pearl. But nevermind." Sir Corbin-- who, even Pearl had to admit, looked too boyish yet for the "sir" to fit him, despite being so tall and muscular-- had bright blue eyes and brown hair that, in the light, showed traces of red. He was holding the baby so gently, yet there was something in his bearing that seemed familiar...

"You're the knight!" she exclaimed. "You're the knight who rescued us from the dragon!"

Sir Corbin grinned and bowed his head. "No trouble, my lady."

"Corbin and his lovely wife, Niama," here Talwyr bowed his head to the lady seated with them at the table, "were kind enough to bring you here after the incident with the... dragon, and then give us shelter for the night when we came here looking for you. Niama is an accomplished healer, which is why you are up and about today."

Pearl thought that Niama was one of the most beautiful ladies she had ever seen. Her hair fell down her back in a golden braid, framing a fair face with green eyes and a shy smile. "And finally," Talwyr continued, turning back to Corbin, "the dazzling young beauty in the arms of Sir Corbin is their daughter, Nieve." Pearl couldn't see the baby from where she was standing, and she thought it might be rude to crane to see her. Besides, there was a question she had to have answered.

"Where is the boy?" she asked. "The boy..." Suddenly, in her mind, the phrase the boy I rescued from inside the dragon's eye sounded stupid. "The boy who was with me. Is he all right?"

Talwyr's countenance hardened to seriousness. "He will be," he answered. "He is here, Pearl, and he will not die."

"Did you find out his name?"

For the first time, Niama spoke. "No, Pearl, we haven't. We were hoping you might know. He was hurt much worse than you were, and has not been awake long enough to say anything yet."

"He didn't say anything to me," Pearl said. She looked up at Corbin curiously. "Is the dragon dead? I thought he was before, but..."

Corbin, Niama, and Talwyr exchanged looks, but the priest named Herel merely threw his hands up in the air. "Dragons! All I've heard since we left the Temple is made-up stories about unicorns and dragons! And in speaking of the Temple, why aren't we taking her back there? I thought that was the whole point. I don't like this, I really don't. Lord Maddeg will have our heads."

"Herel, for the last time," although Belan was plainly frustrated, his voice remained gentle as it always was, "we are acting under the orders of the high priestess, and so Lord Maddeg can't punish us. And we're not taking her back there because--" he stopped abruptly, looking at Pearl. "Well, it should be obvious why we're not taking her back there. You can't say you like what they did to... And anyway, you saw the trail of that sky dragon the same as we all did. And the unicorn as well."

"You are right on one count, however," Talwyr said to Herel, which appeared to come as a surprise both to Belan and to Herel himself. "It is time for you to return to the Temple."

Belan balked. "Both of us, Lord Talwyr?"

"Yes, both of you. I'm sorry, Belan. You did well, but your work here is done and Lady Celwyn has need of you at the Temple. I am not merely saying this, I mean it in earnest. She has great need of people who will be loyal to her now."

"We will be loyal," Belan agreed. "You may depend upon it." He rose, and dragged Herel into a standing position as well. They bowed to Lord Talwyr and turned for the door.

"Thank you," Pearl called after them. "Thank you for helping Lord Talwyr find me. And thank you for not taking me back."

Belan bowed to her. "May the Gods light your path, Pearl," he said.
Herel looked embarrassed. "Yes. Quite."

Then they were out the door. Corbin handed the baby Nieve to Niama and went to help them.

Talwyr stood watching out the window, deep in thought, as the two priests departed. Pearl had many questions to ask, but knew better than to interrupt a powerful wizard when he was thinking. At last, when Corbin had come back in and the two riders had disappeared down the trail through the woods, he turned to Pearl and said, "Now is the time for us to talk about dragons."

***
Herel and Belan rode much of the way back to the Temple in silence. Only once it was broken by Herel, who quite spontaneously turned to Belan and said, "The girl... she's just a normal little girl. I mean, all clean and everything. She reminds me of my sister-- I had a little sister once, who died." He sighed heavily. "Talking to her, seeing her like that, what gets me is... she's just a little girl."

Belan nodded. "No one is more blind than he who does not wish to see."

"Are you quoting some holy text at me?" Herel asked irritably.

"I'm not sure," Belan answered. "Maybe, but I can't remember which one."

"Well, whatever it is, stop it."


Please do not copy or republish Erin's work without her express written permission. Thank you!

NaNoWriMo 2005: 15354 Words

Celwyn watched Lord Talwyr and the two priests ride out from the Temple walls from the window of Fianna's chamber high in a tower of the Temple. The girl seemed to prefer it there, whether because it brought her closer to the gods or lifted her farther away from the cruelty of men she did not know. Perhaps it was both.

One or two other men had left through the gate this night after the events in the courtyard as well. She wondered whether they were acting of their own volition or under Lord Maddeg's orders. They looked like large men, which made her suspect the latter. She did not worry about Talwyr. He was old, true, but he was powerful, and everyone was afraid of him. Fear could be a greater weapon than any amount of physical strength. And if these men did not fear Talwyr now, the wizard had ways of seeing to it that, having met with him once, they would experience a sudden change of heart. He did not like to resort to these methods, but the Gods knew that he had done it before. So Celwyn was not worried about him. She told herself that over and over. Of course she was not worried about him.

It was the young priests she should be worried about; the didn't know what they were getting into. None of them did, but at least Celwyn and Talwyr knew that they didn't know. These two probably thought that they did. Oh, well. It was probably all for the best. They needed all the allies they could get now.

Fianna stirred on the narrow bed pushed up against the opposite wall. Celwyn went to sit beside her. It was always hard for Fianna, after awaking from one of her visions. Celwyn and many of the priestesses of the Temple knew the feeling firsthand-- a little different for everyone, true, but it was always akin to waking up the morning after having drunk too much-- but Fianna had never been particularly strong, and so the effects were harder on her. Only to be expected, Celwyn thought darkly, after what they'd done to her as a child.

The young woman called Fianna opened her eyes and blinked hard, orienting herself to her surroundings. "Did I do it?" she asked weakly. It was always her first question after waking up after a Speaking; Celwyn appreciated its directness, even if it was not the most intelligent think to ask under the circumstances.

"Yes, dear, you did very well," Celwyn answered soothingly.

Fianna smiled a little, and closed her eyes again. "What did I say?" Celwyn told her. Sometimes she worried that one day the girl would utter something horribly dire and would panic or fall into despair when it was repeated back to her, but so far this had not happened. It was as though she had lost the capacity to fear. Even now, her only response was to furrow her brow a little and say, "Was anyone very upset?"

"No, not very."

"Lord Maddeg must have been angry."

This gave Celwyn some pause. "Why do you think that, lamb?"

"I don't know. It just seems like... he must have been angry."

Celwyn sighed. All too often she got answers like this from Fianna-- not really answers, only a sort of bewildered puzzlement. "He was. He was quite angry. I had a bit of an argument with him."

Suddenly Fianna gasped and sat up straight. "Is she all right? Where has she gone?"

The high priestess was now completely taken aback. "Who? Where has who gone?"

"The girl, the child-- the child-- he beat her, he was going to kill her--"

Just as if she'd been there, Celwyn thought. Just as if I'd told her. What I wouldn't give to understand this girl...

"Shhh." Celwyn lowered her back down to the bed and tried to soothe her frantic cries. "She's safe. Lord Talwyr's bringing her back right now."

"She's gone!" Fianna sobbed. "She's gone, she's gone..."

"Listen to me, Fianna!" Celwyn said, forcefully enough to get the girl's attention. She felt that her nerves were about to snap, and only partly because of how frustrating it was to hold a conversation with Fianna. "Do you know where Pearl is? Can you tell me where she is, Fianna?"

The younger woman took some time to pull herself together. "Trees," she answered finally. "She's in the trees-- the wood. I think."

"All right." So Pearl was safe, for now. That was all that mattered. "It will be all right. Lord Talwyr will find her soon." She said it as much for her own benefit as for Fianna's, but at last the girl appeared to be calming down.

"The Gods will care for her," she said. "The Gods will not let her come to harm. They will guide her steps; I'm sure they will."

"That's right," Celwyn agreed. She hesitated before going on. Perhaps now was not the best time... but if not now, when? It was possible that she would not have another chance. "Fianna... I may have to leave soon. Would you come with me, if I do?"

"Leave the Temple?" Fianna asked. Celwyn nodded, and she was silent for a moment. "I don't think I could leave the Temple, Lady Celwyn," she said finally. "I'm sorry."
Celwyn only nodded again, without surprise. Fianna had been tortured here, and starved, and at last been lifted up and shown kindness and mercy and shut away in her little tower. The Temple was the only home she'd ever had. When all one knows is a cage, the world outside is as frightening and unreal as the land of the Gods.

***
Pearl wandered through the forest alone. The trees loomed up on either side of her like menacing giants, blocking out the thin moonlight. There were sounds in the forest, too, that made her jump at nearly ever step-- animal sounds, and other, unidentifiable noises that could have been made by anything. Pearl tried to make herself as small as possible so that maybe whatever was out there would not find her and tear her to shreds.

She might have turned back to the Temple if she wasn't as certain of death there as she was here. Neither place even offered an easier death than the other. Besides, she wouldn't have been able to find her way back to the Temple now if she'd wanted to.

It did occur to her, at this point, to wonder exactly where she'd thought she was going. There was no place that would shelter her, she had no friends or family that she knew of to take her in. She'd always dreamed of flying away from the Temple like the birds-- that would certainly have been faster and less scary than going on foot. And somehow, she admitted, she'd always imagined herself finding her mother somewhere and living happily ever after. Except her mother was dead, and nobody cared about her, and she was all alone and afraid, and nobody was going to come and hold her until morning.

Feeling more despair than she'd ever known before, Pearl curled up on the ground. She would not cry, she told herself. She was going to be brave, no matter what. She would sit here and wait, even if she had to wait for morning by herself. Or wait to die. What was it Talwyr had said?

Sometimes the greatest magic of all is simply to be still and wait for we know not what. Sometimes all it needs is to go forth into a place we may not know. That is my first lesson to you, Pearl.

Well, she had certainly gone forth into a place she did not know. And she was quite sure she didn't know what she was waiting for. I must be on the right track, after all.

As the wind blew though the trees, making more mysterious noises, the thought was not very comforting.

Suddenly, out of the jumble of noises sounding in the depths of the forest, Pearl heard one she recognized. It was hoofbeats. She tensed, too afraid to move. They had found her. They were going to drag her back to the Temple where Lord Maddeg would finish what he had started. And, because of her attempt at escape, he would probably make it hurt more. She hid her eyes in her hands.

The hoofbeats came closer, and she could hear the sounds of branches being bent and broken by a passing creature. Maybe, she hoped wildly, they would not see her. She was very small, after all. Maybe--

The hoofbeats stopped right before her. She could hear the sound of a horse snorting and pawing the ground.

She didn't hear a rider. Nobody shouting at her. Nobody cursing her. No one reached down to grab her up off the ground. Slowly, Pearl looked up.

It was the unicorn.

Its white-gold radiance lit up the forest, made all the more brilliant in its contrast to the deep nighttime darkness. Looking at it, Pearl forgot everything. She forgot that she was tired and cold and afraid and alone. She wasn't alone anymore. Nor was she afraid. Smiling, she reached out and caressed the unicorn's soft coat. He seemed to like the touch, for he bowed his head low and closed his eyes contentedly.

He tossed his magnificent head and then lowered himself onto his front knees. All at once, Pearl understood that he wanted her to-- or was giving her permission to-- ride him. The little girl climbed onto the unicorn's back and clutched his fine, soft mane between her fingers as he raised himself and took of into the night.

They rode more swiftly than the wind-- or, at least, it seemed so to little Pearl. The unicorn had no trouble weaving in between the trees, and once he knew that Pearl was comfortable he broke into a gallop. Trees blurred and startled woodland creatures leapt out of the way as they went. The girl laughed at the exhilarating feeling. And best of all, the luminous creature of magic broke of the darkness she so hated and surrounded her in light.

Pearl did not know how long they rode like that. At one point she thought they might have passed other riders, but they went past to quickly for her to be sure. It could have been one hour later or several that she felt her head begin to droop and her eyes close as exhaustion overcame her. She fought it for a while, afraid that she would fall, but finally she decided that the unicorn would not let that happen and drifted off into the most blissful, contented sleep she could remember.

She awoke some time later to find that they had stopped. There might have been a little light now in the sky as Pearl slid sleepily from the unicorn's back onto the forest floor. The great creature lay down beside her in the leaves and, leaning against his soft side, she was quickly asleep again.


Please do not copy or republish Erin's work without her express written permission. Thank you!