The Ashen Queen

by Sidney Gray

  Sofia stood silently for a minute as she realized Ella was right, sometime in the last couple of years she had stopped fighting for what she wanted and had become the type of person she had despised as a child, someone who did exactly as they were told.

  Maybe she resisted at times, but at the end of the day she always gave in. Even now she could hear the voices of her father, her mother, Alex, Cole, Olivia, even Mal, telling her how dangerous it was and how irresponsible she was being, she should just turn around and leave. So for the first time in a long time, she ignored them, because she could, and she wanted to be reckless. One last time. Maybe it was stupid, maybe it would end badly, but she was going to do it anyway because for the first time in a long time no one was there to stop her.

  So she turned and followed Elder Yarrow who was waiting for her next to the waterfall, to her surprise he made no comment, he took her hand and led her to a narrow ledge tucked behind the waterfall, and they carefully made their way over the wet slippery stones to another cave entrance. Once they were inside the cave lit up, just like the first one.

  “Now we just follow the lights,” he said with another smile.

  They walked silently for a while; Sofia shivered suddenly feeling the cold.

  “How far do we have to go?” she asked.

  “Patience child.”

  “Sorry, I’m just not really dressed for this, and my shoes are practically falling apart from the walk through the dark woods,” she looked down at her once pale blue dress, which was now an array of colors and her broken shoes, they were not made for walking apparently. She already had gaping holes where the seams had split, and she could feel the rock cutting into the soles of her feet.

  Elder Yarrow took off his cloak and handed it to her, she took it gratefully.

  “I'm afraid I can't do much about your shoes,” he said looking down at her feet, “but it's not much further.”

  “Why do you call them the dark woods?” Elder Yarrow asked as he turned to continue on.

  “Oh, that’s what everyone calls them now, I’m not even sure what their original name was.” she started to say before she tripped over a rock and stumbled. The lights were getting further apart, making it harder to see.

  “It used to be called the Ashen Woods, it was considered a place of beauty and peace,” he said seemingly unaffected by the uneven ground.

  “Why was it called the Ashen Woods?” She asked, curiously.

  “I believe it was because of the black and grey color of the trees.”

  “Oh, so that’s why you call yourselves the Ashen,” she said remembering what Ella had said earlier. She hadn't really noticed the color of the trees in the woods, but it had been getting dark.

  They walked in silence after that, Sofia was too tired to talk, and it took all her concentration just to stay on her feet, it didn't help that the ground was so uneven, the tunnels twisted and turned, sometimes going uphill and then sloping down again. There were also other tunnels leading off in other directions, it was like a maze, and she just hoped Elder Yarrow didn't leave her down here because she would never find her way out. It felt like they walked for hours before Elder Yarrow suddenly disappeared in front of her, and she gasped rushing ahead, she almost smacked straight into a wall but Elder Yarrow reached out and pulled her aside at the last minute, he was surprisingly strong for someone who looked so frail. She realized that at the end of the tunnel there was a small gap in the rock to the right which Elder Yarrow had stepped into. They shuffled along a couple of steps until they stepped into a dark space, there were no glow worms to light it up this time, and she could only just make out walls around then from a tiny circle of light above their heads. She turned to Elder Yarrow beside her and opened her mouth to ask him what was going on when she felt a wave of nausea hit her before her legs collapsed, her head swam, and her eyes grew blurry before she passed out.

  CHAPTER 22

  Sofia opened her eyes, and she was back in the woods. But it was completely dark this time and eerie, everything was slightly out of focus. The trees creaked and moaned, and she felt a shiver down her spine. It felt like the forest was watching her.

  She looked around desperately, hoping to see Elder Yarrow but she couldn't make out much in the darkness. The trees moved in the wind, but she couldn’t feel it touching her skin, and she started to realize that this wasn't real.

  She stood up gingerly, hoping her legs would support her. She reached out to a nearby tree, and her fingers slipped straight through the trunk. She stared amazed, it was like she was in a dream. She paused wondering what to do next when she heard screams and yells coming from behind her. She turned, scared but couldn’t see anything, curiosity got the better of her, and she ran silently through the woods towards the sounds.

  She stopped cautiously when she reached the edge of the woods, she could just make out people through the gaps in the trees, she crept closer and realized, to her horror, there were dead bodies scattered everywhere, and the ground was shining in the moonlight from all the blood. She wanted to look away, but for some reason, she couldn't take her eyes off the scene before her.

  Two groups of people faced off across a field. The scene felt familiar to her, and she soon realized why as a figure stepped forward from the group closest to her and brought down a bolt of lightning from the sky, straight into the group opposite, who she now realized were soldiers. It was the banishing; it had to be she thought. She watched as the same figure created a tornado out of nothing, others fought beside him, and another bolt of lightning ripped through a line of soldiers, while the earth was torn apart at their feet. The opposing soldiers struggled to hold them off, she could see a small group huddled together behind the dwindling line of soldiers, that must be the royals, she thought.

  The fight dragged on, the cult was too powerful, the soldiers didn’t stand a chance. Finally, when there were barely any soldiers left, the Royals, led by a man with a long beard, all formed a line and started chanting louder and louder. A massive wall of light sprung up in front of them, pushing the cult back, further and further until they reached the edge of the woods where Sofia stood. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light which seemed to last forever before it finally faded and the barrier appeared before her, they were trapped.

  She stared around at the vacant expressions of the banished cult around her before suddenly they all just seemed to come to life and she was shocked by the confusion and fear on their faces. They cried and beat their fists against the barrier, they threw magic at it over and over again, but nothing worked. As she studied the faces of those around her, all she could see was despair, there was no sign of the evil monsters she had been told about. She had never seen a group of people look so lost and beaten before. She also couldn’t see any of the people the performers at the tournament had talked about, she wondered if any of the story at the tournament was true because the people she saw now were nothing like what she had been told.

  The banished stayed at the border for days, as did a group of people outside, always watching but they couldn't see in or out, Sofia realized, as she stepped from one side of the barrier to the other. It really was as if there was a fog trapped in the wall like the narrator at the tournament had said, but that didn't make sense, she had been able to see through the barrier where she had entered the woods. In fact, she probably wouldn't have even noticed it if she hadn’t known it was there, yet she couldn't see anything through the barrier here. She was distracted from her thoughts by the people around her, they moved about quicker now, unnaturally so, everything was moving faster than it should, the sun rose and fell within a couple of minutes over and over, but still, the banished stayed at the edge of the wood, scared to venture too far. Eventually, one man convinced them to move. They had to find food and water he said. Some refused, too scared to leave while others followed the man, glad to have a leader.

  They walked for days, Sofia following behind them. Eventually, they found water and food and started to build
a village. Days blurred into one another, and Sofia felt dizzy from all the images melting into one another. Finally, it settled, and she was in the clearing with the waterfall again. There was a group of kids playing, she watched as they discovered the tunnel behind the waterfall and she trailed behind them as they followed the lights just as she had. They came to the same cavern Sofia had been in when she had collapsed before the images suddenly shifted again, and she was back in the village.

  The group of kids she had just been with were arriving back, they all looked tired and worn. One of the oldest boys stepped forward and explained to the rest of the people what they had seen in the mountain. He said it had shown them how to use the power of the land to help them. The people were skeptical and scared, and there were a lot of arguments, but then, together, the kids went to a patch of land and placed their palms against the soil. Suddenly flowers started to grow from the earth. From there the village grew, and the people flourished.

  Then everything went pitch black and quiet, she waited for her eyes to adjust and she started to make out trees, she was in the woods, but it was different this time, the trees were completely silent and bare, without a single leaf. She couldn't hear any animals or birds, or even the wind, it was utterly devoid of life. She felt a prickly feeling on the back of her neck and sickness in her stomach. Then it started getting darker, she could see less and less until she was in complete darkness again. She tried to run away, but she couldn't move, she tried to scream but nothing came out, she was trapped, and she couldn't do anything. She had never been more scared in her life.

  Sofia sat up gasping for air, her whole body shaking, she looked around wide-eyed, trying to figure out where she was, it didn't look like the cavern she had started in. She stood up cautiously, it was dark, but she could still see, and she could make out a tunnel in front of her, where the light was coming from. She walked slowly towards it, treading carefully, still shaking from what had just happened, she was confused and just wanted to go home. At the end of the tunnel she emerged into another large cavern, she looked up amazed to see it stretched up as far as she could see.

  “It’s spectacular isn’t it?”

  She jumped, startled by the voice, she hadn't seen anyone in the cavern when she entered. She was even more surprised to see the voice came from a boy, the same boy she had just seen and the leader of the group that had gone into the mountain.

  She stared at him, too shocked to speak. She didn't know what to make of any of this, it was all too confusing. She shivered, but she didn’t know whether it was from the cold or fear.

  “Don’t be scared.”

  Her mouth opened but nothing came out, the boy just smiled.

  “I don't blame you, I felt the same the first time I came here,” he waved his hand around, and for the first time she noticed the writing on the walls, it was everywhere, she stared transfixed. It was familiar but different, it didn't make sense, the letters were all mixed up, and there were symbols she didn't recognize.

  “Why am I here?” she asked abruptly.

  “Because you are important.” the boy replied.

  “Why did you show me that, the banishing?”

  “Because you needed to see it to understand.”

  She glared at him in frustration, she was getting nowhere.

  “What was that at the end, was that part of the banishing?”

  “Do you know what is written on the walls?” he asked, ignoring her question and gesturing to the writing on the walls.

  “I don’t know,” she replied exasperated.

  He chuckled, “yes you do Sofia, just think back to what you just saw.”

  She frowned at the wall in front of her, trying to make sense of the writing, one word was jumping out at her, it looked familiar like she had seen it before, or heard it.

  “It’s the ancient language,” the boy explained, and her eyes widened in realization. “This mountain is the center, the beginning of all magic in Latheria, and we are in the heart of it. The writing on the walls is the ancient language our ancestors used to speak before they learned to use magic without it. They grew lazy, and they forgot.”

  She thought back to her lessons with her tutors, they had told her something similar, the ancient language was just a way to access their power, but when they had learned to use their magic without the ancient language, there was no need for it anymore.

  “Except at the banishing?”

  “Yes, that was the first time in hundreds of years it was used, but the people didn't understand it.” He paused for a long time before continuing, “they didn't understand that the ancient language allows a person to combine their magic with the magic of the land around them. And because they didn't understand it, they didn't know how to use it, and they created something they didn't mean too.”

  “What did they create?” she asked intrigued.

  He shook his head, “not yet, in time it will all become clear. For now all you need to know is that you need to learn this language and how to connect with the land if you are to stop what is coming, but for now, you should rest, you've been through enough.”

  He smiled at her sympathetically before he disappeared and she was lying on the cold, hard floor staring up at Elder Yarrow, hovering over her. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realized she was back in the cavern she had started in.

  “You’re okay, just take some deep breaths.” Elder Yarrow said soothingly.

  He helped her sit up and held a flask of water to her lips, she drank deeply, she was surprised at how thirsty and weak she was, her body didn't feel like hers, and she struggled to hold herself up.

  “Relax, you shouldn't move too fast.” he cautioned.

  They sat there for a while before Sofia finally began to feel more like herself. Her mind was racing, and she was glad Elder Yarrow didn't badger her with questions; she was still trying to wrap her head around what she had seen. The banishing had been terrifying, all those dead bodies, but it didn’t make sense, the people who had been banished into the woods were so confused, it was as if they had no idea how they had even gotten there and they were scared. But she had seen them only moments before ripping apart the soldiers standing against them, completely unemotional.

  Her head was swimming, but one question kept running through her head, why her? Why did Ella want her to see this and why did the boy say she had to stop what was coming?

  CHAPTER 23

  She followed numbly behind Elder Yarrow all the way back through the winding tunnels to the entrance behind the waterfall. They moved slowly, stopping often to rest, Sofia's body felt heavy and awkward, and she struggled to stay on her feet.

  She couldn't stop thinking about the images she had seen. It was just all so overwhelming. Only a couple of hours ago she was worried about which four girls she was going to choose as her guards, it seemed so inconsequential now.

  When they finally arrived back at the clearing, they found Ella and a couple of others still waiting for them. They had built a fire and were all huddled around it, but jumped to their feet when they saw them emerge from behind the waterfall. Elder Yarrow went ahead to talk to the others, and Ella started to rush over to her.

  “Give her a minute to herself,” she heard him say to Ella as he passed her.

  Sofia sat down on the ground with her back against a tree, she didn't know how she had even made it back through the tunnels she was so tired. After a while, Ella came over and sat down next to her silently, she put her arm around Sofia and pulled her into a hug.

  “We should go back to my village so you can get some rest.”

  Sofia just nodded, too tired to argue, they sat a minute longer before Ella stood and pulled her to her feet. She let Ella pull her along, she had no idea where they were going, all she could think about was sleep. She stumbled through more tunnels and then finally back into the woods, Ella was practically carrying her at that point. They eventually reached what looked like a house, although it was dark and she was so tired it w
as hard for her to keep her eyes open. Her feet finally gave way underneath her, and she collapsed from exhaustion.

  She woke up to the light shining through a window above her, her head spinning. Ella was there beside her, she had a bowl of water which she dipped a towel in and used it to wipe Sofia's face.

  “Sorry, I should have warned you about that,” she said quietly, “don’t worry, you'll feel better soon, just drink this tea.” She pushed a mug of steaming tea into Sofia's hands. Sofia gulped it down immediately but grimaced at the taste, it was not normal tea.

  “What is this?” she asked warily.

  “Honestly, I don't know what’s in it, but it will help, just drink it.”

  She reluctantly had another sip and found Ella was right, the more she drank, the more her head stopped spinning, and she was able to think again.

  She looked around the room she was in, it was small with just a bed and a small table, but it pretty. There was a brightly colored rug on the floor, and little wooden carvings of animals lined the shelves on the wall.

  “Sofia, what did the mountain show you?” Ella asked softly. Reluctantly she told Ella everything that she had seen, Ella watched her closely but didn’t comment until she had finished.

  “So do you believe me now?” Ella asked.

  “I don’t know what to believe anymore, I thought I knew the story of the banishing.” she shook her head, trailing off.

  “Do you still believe we are evil?” Ella prompted.

  After a long pause, she finally answered, “no I don’t.”