NaNoWriMo 2005: 2015 Words

World Without End

Looking through the mirror, two children saw.
Reaching through the mirror, two children touched.
Coming through the mirror, two children met.
And when they departed from the mirror, two children knew.
But that was long ago and, besides, no one listens when children speak about fairies.

Part One: The Kingdom

There had always been knights guarding the borders of the Kingdom. No one asked what they guarded against, or how, or why. No one thought much about it at all. The knights had simply always been there, riding out in the wilderness, and the Kingdom remained safe, and so life went on.

The borders had always surrounded the Kingdom. Where the land did not jut out into the sea, they were great stone walls, more than twice the height of a man, and ancient—some said old as time. Those who lived within their protection knew that the immortal Gods themselves had set the borders there, at the creation of the Kingdom. Before the living memory of any man, before the legends, before time, Gwyddon and Gwenna, the great God and Goddess, created time, light, and the Kingdom. They set the wall around it. So life came.

No one asked what the knights guarded against. No one asked what was beyond the borders. The Kingdom was the World, where life was created.. Beyond was the land of the Gods, where they walked apart from the little bubble of life they had created for the mortal ones, their children.

The people of the Kingdom, from the oldest lord to the smallest child, knew these to be truths. The royal family had always lived in the Palace, the Wise Ones had always worshipped in the Temple, the knights had always guarded the borders, and life went on that way.

Pearl had always lived in the Temple, where the Wise Ones worshipped.

No, that was not true. She could remember another place, a long time ago. It was warm there, and safe, and daylight came in. Someone would hold her, then-- her mother. She could remember her mother, a little. The memories where very vague, and distant-- brief flashes, like something out of a dream, so she must have been very young then. She was all of seven years old now.

Pearl was small for her age, with light-colored hair cut to her chin. She was dressed in a plain white shift, and her head and feet were bare. And she was dirty. Dirt smeared her face, hands, and the shift had ceased being truly white long ago. She was covered in dirt because she was a lesser creature, the lowest being in the Temple, and the Wise Ones were always so clean that they seemed to glow. Pearl didn't think she'd ever be that clean, even when she wasn't a reviled creature in the Temple anymore. She wondered sometimes how it would feel.

She tried to imagine, as she lay there in the grass outside the Temple walls, a time when she would not be a reviled creature in the Temple. Below her the spiral paths wound down the hill on which the Temple stood, into the gardens and orchards at its base. Beyond the gardens the whole Kingdom lay before her, all the way to the borders of the World on the horizon. Standing on the hill, the second-highest in the Kingdom, she could see rivers, lakes, woods, and villages stretched out before her. Deep forests obscured them from view, but she knew the walls were there, and beyond them, the Gods. Whenever she got the chance, she snuck out of the Temple to daydream there on the hill. Somewhere in the space before her, she imagined, was a place where she could be clean and not be beaten anymore.

She didn't know what it would be like, but she knew it was there. She knew, without question, that she would not always be in the Temple. She didn't know how she knew; it was simply true. Sometimes when she was alone on the hill she watched the birds above her and imagined how she would one day fly far away from the Temple walls.
The bird were sacred because they flew away beyond the borders, into the land of the Gods.

Pearl wondered what it was like there.

***
Queen Lilien was dying. No one wanted to say it too loudly, but the whispers were there. She'd taken ill, they said, and hadn't left the Palace in weeks. The more vicious rumors stated that she'd never leave it again. But no one wanted to believe the rumors, and so they passed on in fearful, whispered snatches, spreading faster than fire. Pearl half-heard them, in the kitchens when she went to sneak something to eat. No one paid any attention to her, unless it was to smack her and send her away, and so she heard many things that others, if they were to ask, would be surprised that such a little girl knew so much. She had heard the murmured conversations about the Queen, but hadn't believed them. Pearl had never known the rule of another Queen in the Kingdom. Indeed, many had not. Then, too, Queen Lilien had been a priestess in the Temple before she had married King Perrian, and so most of the people there spoke of her almost on a level with the Goddesses. Only the Wise Ones seemed to care little for her, not understanding why she had abandoned her life of service to the divine in order to marry the young Prince, and not caring to. But for Pearl, and for most of the Kingdom, the Queen was one to be revered and worshipped. They would only whisper about her death, as if somehow afraid that giving voice to the rumor Queen Lilien is dying would make it more real.

Pearl was standing outside the Temple walls when she first heard the words spoken aloud. She was watching the birds that day, thinking that they looked like they were dancing a slow, wheeling, graceful dance up in the sky. She was leaning against the smooth stone wall and trying make up a tune to hum to accompany their reel, and so she didn't notice the rider approaching until he was already out of the garden and breasting the hill, nearly killing the horse under him. Pearl didn't think that she had ever seen anyone ride so hard, and it frightened her. Her instinct was to run inside the Temple, for she would be punished if anyone caught her out here. Her eyes darted toward the main gate, but she guessed that if she tried to sprint for it she would only be run down by the galloping horse. Not knowing what else to do, she threw herself down into the long grass and watched, wide-eyed, as the rider flung himself from the poor horse's back and pounded on the Temple's carved wooden gate.

This action in itself was unusual enough to make Pearl gasp. No one ever beat the Temple door like that; it was disrespectful to the Gods. She imagined that whoever answered the door would certainly tell him so, for even she, small and insignificant as she was, knew better. And, indeed, Pearl could see the scowl on the face of the priestess who answered the door, even though she could not quite make out her words. She could hear the rider clearly though, because he was shouting.

"Show me to the Elders upon the instant!"

"I will not!" Pearl heard the priestess answer sharply.

"Then suffer the wrath of the King, Lady, and despair that you barred his messenger. Blood will be on your hands, not mine!"

The priestess took a step back and inquired something softly.

The messenger nodded. "Aye, it's as grave as that or worse. They don't want me to say it, but sure enough Queen Lilien is dying." He finally seemed to remember himself and dropped to his knees in the proper obeisance to a holy priestess. "For God's sake, Lady! She is dying!"

The priestess, pale now behind her veils, quickly raised him and led him through the Temple gateway. The gate shut behind them, and all was silence.

Gradually Pearl became aware of the buzzing of the insects in the grass and the stomping and snorting of the messenger's horse, which had simply been left, neck drooping in exhaustion, outside the wall. Pearl shivered. Even in the midsummer heat, the desperate rider's words had made her blood run cold. Queen Lilien dying? Truly dying? It was unthinkable. The Queen was the star of her people, she was the Kingdom itself! She was not like ordinary people, who went about all the time dying.

Pearl shivered again and stood up. She would simply have to not die, then. Of course Queen Lilien was not going to die. The little girl set her jaw in determination. The Queen would not die, but this poor old horse would if somebody didn't care for it, and she was the only one around to do so.

Gingerly, holding her breath, she approached the trembling animal. When she was close enough to grab its reins, it jerked away, pawing at the ground. Pearl was half the horse's height, and it could easily have trampled her then, but she didn't like to leave it alone. The girl thought the poor creature must be more nervous than she was, so she smiled at it, and gently reached out her hand.

"Shhh. Shhh, good horsey," she whispered. This time the horse did not shy from her touch, and she gently stroked its lowered neck. The horse was dirty and beaten and frightened, just like her. Its trembling gradually ceased as, still speaking softly and petting it, the little girl laid her head against its side. She had just taken the reins in her hand when the Temple gate swung open and the horse started back again with a whinny.

Pearl spun around, raising her hands in a reflex gesture to shield her face from whatever blow might be coming. When she lowered them she was met with the cold blue glare of the Wise One Dirnas, one of the senior priests, standing with arms folded in the Temple gateway.

"You," he spit the word like poison. "What're you doing out here?"

"I was... I... I'm sorry, Wise One."

"Right, you are," Dirnas snarled, striding forward and roughly grabbing her arm in one hand and the horse's reins in the other in one swift motion. He dragged them both through the main gate and carelessly flung Pearl into a corner, where she collided with a stone wall and landed on her hands and knees. The horse he handed off to a novice boy, saying, "Stable it and tend it well. It's the King's horse. Have a team prepared for Lord Maddeg and his company." The boy nodded and guided the horse off. Pearl watched it go, thinking that of the two of them the horse was treated better after all. She might have cried, if she hadn't finished crying about such things long ago.

Instead, she picked herself up and walked unnoticed through the courtyard and the main hall, past the cellars and kitchens, trying to look very busy. If no one stopped her and gave her some task to do, she would seek out the Lady Celwyn, and if the Lady wasn't occupied with other things she would find out if the Queen could really be dying. It didn't matter that the Palace was on the edge of the sea, miles away from the Temple. Lady Celwyn would know the truth. She knew the truth about everywhere and everyone, and had opinions about everything which she never failed to share, whether they were wanted or not. Some said this would get her into trouble someday, but Pearl fervently hoped not. She adored Celwyn because, although she spoke to the girl harshly, that was how she spoke to everyone. And Celwyn never hit her, like other people did.


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