Athine Verses: The Narkurru

by Shannon McRoberts

  Isri looked around dejected and saddened by the truth. She knew she had no choice. She could run away and leave this behind, but she knew what Ila was telling her was true. She knew even if she did run away she would never be able to love anyone but Est’it. She also knew there was a chance that anyone she did marry would be bound to Lye-Ashe because of the far reaches of the blood oath. That is why, after all, Lye-Ashe had made Cerynian into a major town full of wealth. She wanted to export the blood curse to increase her powers. She was indeed an evil creature.

  “What choice do I have, great-grandmother, but to take up the challenge?”

  “That is what I had hoped you would say my dear child. Inside the headstone are the written plans I have laid out for you. You must not tell anyone of these plans. You must burn them after you memorize them here in the cave. I am not able to stay with you any longer, the spirit realm calls too strongly. With love and luck, I send you on your journey.”

  Then she was gone. Just like that. Isri found the scroll with the instructions and committed them to memory as Ila commanded. She burned the scroll and scattered the ashes while citing an incantation that came to her. Now all she had to do was put the plan into motion without telling too much of it to the prince or even her own family.

  Verse Two: Chapter 8

  ISRI EMERGED FROM THE cavern a little pale around the edges. Est’it immediately went to her side to make sure she was alright. Kal’ine was right behind the prince. She was curious to see if Isri failed or if she succeeded. She hoped she would fail so they could leave this place.

  “Isri, did you find anything out about what happened to this village?” Est’it asked in a concerned tone.

  “Yes. I did find something out. It seems that Lye-Ashe killed everyone here to prevent Cerynian from disowning her. It seems that this village was not a failure, but rather a threat to Cerynian and Lye-Ashe’s power. I am sorry Est’it, but I must go home now. Could you please take me back so I can speak to my mother?”

  “Of course, Isri, we will take you home right now. I am sure this news is very hard to receive from someone that has pledged to patronize this Lye-Ashe.” Est’it responded to Isri with pain in his eyes. He was trying to hide the real reason that he was there. To find out what happened to this town so he would know more of his heritage. His own mother was from Cerynian and he had heard of the tales of the blood curse. It was a widely spread tale where he was. He wanted to know what this Lye-Ashe creature might do to him and his kin. The news of Isri’s findings did not bode well for the young prince.

  On the way back to her home Isri sat in almost abject silence. She didn’t know what to say to Est’it. She didn’t know how much she could say without endangering him. Then it occurred to her that he had the right to know that Ila spoke to her about his mother’s lineage, which she assumed was one of the reasons for his visit.

  “Est’it?”

  “Yes, Isri?”

  “Did you come here in part to learn about your mother’s lineage?”

  Est’it sat there in shock. How could she know of his mother? No one, but a very few trusted nobles knew of where his mother came from. How she just appeared one day in the town and caught the eye of his father. How she had strange powers to talk to the dead. What had Isri learned in that cavern and would it make her shy away from him?

  “It is true that part of the reason I accepted your father’s invitation was to see Cerynian and the surrounding areas. As I am sure you have guessed my mother had ties to Cerynian. No one knows that fact but a few trusted family nobles. My father didn’t trust that people would not think my mother was a witch, so her true heritage and powers were always kept a secret. She had powers to speak to the dead spirits. It was unusual to say the least. We know a lot about your culture because of what my mother told us.

  In my studies, I ran across some information about Cerynian and Lye-Ashe. I had also heard about a blood curse. It is my duty as future ruler to educate myself about any weaknesses that could endanger my rule or my family. Unfortunately, my mother has long passed and is unable to answer any of my questions. Another reason I came was to see Ialo. For several years now, I have had dreams about the place and whispers in my head about going there. And I have had dreams of you, Isri.” Est’it confessed in a schoolboy crush kind of way.

  Isri was amazed at what Est’it had just told her. She felt sure now that she could trust him with at least part of the secrets she had learned. “Est’it, I would like to tell you something I learned in the cavern. It may be very hard to accept, though, so please prepare yourself. I was able to speak to Ila, one of the founders of Cerynian. She was a part of the group that disagreed with asking Lye-Ashe for help. They moved to Ialo to start their village over without the help of any immortals. They prospered for many years, as did Cerynian. However, Lye-Ashe found them and demanded they rejoin Cerynian so she could further her powers by cursing the blood of all who patronized her. Ila and the others resisted and were slain because of this.

  Lye-Ashe could not risk having a village so close to Cerynian that was prospering without an immortal patron because word may get back to Cerynian that immortals were unnecessary. Of course, Lye-Ashe did not really have anything to worry about because everyone in the village that swore the oath to her initially doomed all their descendants. The blood oath that Lye-Ashe had everyone speak was an ancient ritual that would bind a person’s spirit to her staff when they died. This would in turn allow her to use the spirits to boost her strength, even if no one ever followed her again.

  Lye-Ashe also had a grander scheme in mind. She made Cerynian a lavish attractive city by finding the gold deposits. She didn’t do this for the well-being of the town, rather she did it so she could export the villagers to other parts of the world and further her blood curse’s reach; it’s not just Cerynian anymore that is doomed, it could possibly be half of the world.

  Est’it, your mother being of that lineage has also doomed your soul. Even though you are only half a Cerynian, the blood curse will claim your soul and your children’s souls.”

  Est’it sat there for a minute pondering the options. He looked again at Isri. She was so beautiful, but she had just told him that his bloodline was damned to be trapped in an afterlife of servitude. How could he even think of marrying someone and cursing his heirs to this?

  “Is there nothing that can be done, Isri?”

  “All hope is not lost my prince. However, the journey is not going to be the easiest. Ila told me how to best Lye-Ashe and free the souls. All I have to do is become the next Chreuthecal.”

  Est’it’s heart sank at that news. Isri would have to become the undead servant of Lye-Ashe to enact this plan? He did not think that was a very good option. He did not want her to be put into any kind of danger.

  “Is there no other way, Isri? Can no one else fulfill this suicide mission?”

  “Unfortunately, I am the only person that can stop Lye-Ashe. I cannot yet explain to you fully how or why, but I have to do this or we will never have a future together.”

  “A future? Does that mean you would accept my proposal even though I have not even asked?” Est’it said with a sly grin.

  “Well, the funny thing about talking to the dead is they often ruin surprises for you.” Isri snickered back at the prince. This gave him some reassurance that she could pull this off and come back to him in one piece free of any blood curses.

  Verse Two: Chapter 9

  ISRI HURRIED THROUGH the corridors to her mother’s study. She only had a few minutes to get her mother to agree to her plan before the Chreuthecal ceremony would begin. Luckily for her the candidate had not yet been revealed. This would make it slightly easier to keep her secret. Lye-Ashe could always reject her if she thought something was awry.

  “Mother, please excuse me if I talk like the wind, but I need your help.” Isri screamed as she burst through her mother’s study doors.

  Aesurnu had no idea what her daughter could be talking about, but she ha
d a feeling it had to do with the handsome prince she met today. She could only guess that she had received a marriage proposal that she truly needed to consider. She was quite taken aback by the words that her daughter spoke next.

  “Mother, you need to name me the next Chreuthecal. I cannot explain everything to you just yet, but know it is in the best interest of the people. As future Raelisuir, I need the experience of seeing our patron immortal on an everyday basis. I need to be the one to help her with her duties.”

  “My dear child, what has gotten into you of late? First you desire to run away to a far-off land and marry a handsome prince. Your father goes to great lengths to find you suitable mates and you dislike all of them. Then you are gone half the day with this one from your father’s land and now you suddenly come back and want to be the Chreuthecal? What about leaving this boring old town for adventure? Did this prince you met today scare you in some way for you to want to go away for a whole year?”

  “No mother, it is hard to explain. Please, just know that I have my reasons and because of who you are and how close you are with Lye-Ashe I cannot tell you beforehand. I have had quite an enlightened day while visiting with Prince Est’it. All I am asking is that you allow me to become the servant to Lye-Ashe this year. Next year we shall be preparing for a wedding.”

  Aesurnu stopped in her tracks. She whizzed around and grabbed Isri in a huge hug and began to dance up and down. “Does this mean that you have finally found the person you wish to marry and have already accepted a proposal?” She yelped with great excitement as she clutched her daughter even tighter.

  Dizzy with the excitement and the dread of the future, Isri steadied herself in her mother’s arms. “Yes, mother, that is what it means. However, I need to accept my path as a Raelisuir before I can begin a new journey as a queen. This is why you must make me the Chreuthecal this time.”

  “Oh, Isri, I had hoped beyond hope that you would want to do this. I knew you would come around. I already had plans to make you the Chreuthecal this year if only you asked. However, you are cutting it very close my dear. Go and prepare yourself in the sacred robes of Lye-Ashe and meet me in the Shirasute.

  Isri quickly dressed in the golden robes of Lye-Ashe for the ceremony. At one point in time she would have felt honor, but now she only felt disgust after finding out what she had about Lye-Ashe. She attempted to bottle all of these feelings up inside her far away from where anyone could sense them. She cleared her mind as she prepared to walk down the long corridor to the Shirasute. The Shirasute was the pool of the dead where the Chreuthecal would enter Lye-Ashe’s realm.

  Lye-Ashe was most powerful in her home dimension of Perib’a. It was part of the Underworld. Most humans had to die in order to arrive there, but with a few magical rituals one could become a Chreuthecal, an undead. By becoming undead this allowed the person to cross over to the dimension of the dead without leaving their body behind. This was especially necessary for the servant of Lye-Ashe who had to handle the staff, Shultash, because a non-corporeal body would be of no use. It was also necessary because Lye-Ashe promised to return all Chreuthecal candidates back to their former lives, but in order to do this the soul must not leave the flesh.

  In a matter of minutes, Isri would meet Lye-Ashe and have to gain her trust or be rejected. It would be especially hard for her to convince Lye-Ashe because she knew that the ritual to turn her into a Chreuthecal servant would leave her with her will intact. She would not be an obedient slave bound to the will of Lye-Ashe, which is what the ritual usually did to the candidate. Isri would have to play her part and be on her toes at all times until she could steal Shultash back to the dimension of the living.

  When she arrived at the pool her mother was standing at the great alter with her grimoire. The joy in her mother’s face pained Isri. She knew if she were successful that it would break her mother’s heart. If she did not succeed then that would break her mother’s heart as well, but she had to do what was best for her future children and the children of the past that did not ask to be bound to this terrible creature.

  Isri stared into the dark pool and began to become very drowsy as her mother chanted to the beat of the drum. Each beat made her forget more and more what she was doing. All she could think about was Est’it. Her body became numb and she collapsed into the waters below plunging deeper and deeper into the cold. Soon there was nothing. No sound, no motion, no cold, no thoughts—only a single light.

  Alaestiphos pulled Isri out of the pool of water in the Perib’an dimension. He chanted a few words and then all of a sudden Isri’s senses came back at once to the point where she awoke with a start. Wet hair clung to her face and she coughed out water from her lungs. The present Chreuthecal helped her up and dried her off. Alaestiphos was a young man of no great regard from Cerynian. He was in a lesser class than Isri as most Chreuthecal were. It was only on very rare occasions that nobility of any kind became the Chreuthecal. Isri noticed that Alaestiphos looked very different. His eyes were hollow and his face was sunken. He looked more like a zombie than a servant. Of course, no one really knew what you looked like as a Chreuthecal, other than Lye-Ashe. When a Chreuthecal returns home, they are usually the same as when they went in and with hardly any memory of the service. Isri hoped that the return trip for Alaestiphos would rejuvenate him.

  Isri had expected Alaestiphos to be waiting with Lye-Ashe so she could send him back home; however, there was no one around. Alaestiphos moved to the left of her and struck a large golden gong. Trumpets began to blare and then there she was in all of her glory, Lye-Ashe, Queen of the stolen souls. She looked nothing like her statues in Cerynian. Down here she looked like a human. She was still darkly beautiful and she carried herself with great authority. She quickly eyed Isri and snorted.

  “So, another wide eyed princess comes to me. What is the matter? Is Cerynian out of real servants that they can send,” Lye-Ashe asked Isri in a mocking tone.

  Isri gathered her strength and replied, “No, I am daughter of Aesurnu and future Raelisuir. I plan to wed next year so I asked to come here to learn all I can as I have been lax in my studies in the past and wish to make up for it”.

  This response caught Lye-Ashe off guard. Most of the time when the candidates arrive they are too fog minded to say much of anything. Lye-Ashe wondered if maybe this girl were something special. For a second a cold chill ran up her spine, but she brushed it off to being caught off guard. There was nothing that anyone could do to stop her from getting souls to power Shultash and this girl certainly posed no threat. Although, she was a little more clearly minded than Lye-Ashe liked her servants.

  “Of course, dear child. And what might I call you daughter of Aesurnu?”

  “I am called Isri and I am here to serve you my immortal patron,” Isri said with a grand bow to Lye-Ashe.

  “Splendid. Your first task is to send Alaestiphos home. Take this grimoire and read the incantation while he steps into the pool. This will effectively send him home and bind you as the new Chreuthecal, Isri,” Lye-Ashe instructed as she handed Isri a book.

  Isri did as Lye-Ashe asked all the while wondering how long she must stay here in this dank Underworld dimension. After she was done reciting the incantation Alaestiphos disappeared to the bottom of the pool. Isri stood there half expecting him to bob right back up, but he did not.

  Isri was relieved when Lye-Ashe spoke and told her what to do next. Lye-Ashe wanted her to follow her to the temple where her brother Seorithcal, the maker of the staff, was inspecting Shultash.

  Lye-Ashe led Isri up a long, dark winding path. The flowing magma below it was the only light upon the path. One wrong move and it would be a very hot bath for anyone that fell.

  Lye-Ashe saw the disdain in Isri’s eyes at the magma. She began to wonder if this princess would be able to handle her responsibilities. She did not seem very sturdy.

  They arrived at the top of the path where it opened to a beautiful mountain temple lit by moonlight from a huge orange
moon. It was something out of a fairy tale, thought Isri. The temple looked like an eastern themed palace. Although it was not very large, it had several rooms within it and in the center stood Shultash. The moonlight was pouring in over the staff. It was actually a very beautiful weapon. It had intricately carved runes running down the top of the metal. The staff also had an immaculately carved handle with deep grooves for grasping. In the center of the staff there was a beautiful glowing light that caused sparks and zaps between the two great wings. Isri could only imagine what caused the staff to spark, perhaps the souls.

  Isri was lost in the sparks of the staff when she heard a voice from the shadows.

  “So, you are the new servant? You look much like a princess to me? Are you sure you are up to the tasks at hand?” The eerie voice surrounded Isri as she felt cold eyes piercing her very being.

  “That is enough, Seorithcal. You will leave this one alone. She is to be wed when she returns and you shall not touch her.” Lye-Ashe spoke to the shadows.

  “But, sister, you promised the next girl that came when I was here would be mine. I have been so very long without a companion and she is so beautiful. I only want to touch. I will not hurt her,” responded Seorithcal still from the shadows.

  Isri suddenly felt a shock run through her spine. Touch her? What did this voice in the shadows want with her? There was nothing about this in the legends of the Chreuthecal.

  “Seorithcal, this one is not as foggy minded as the others. She will most likely reject your advances.”

  “I have potions for that, sister,” hissed the voice still hiding in the shadows.

  Isri could feel this Seorithcal pacing around her in the shadows of the room. She did not like the feeling at all. It would be all that much harder to steal the staff if there was some crazed Crythl trying to seduce her at every corner.