by Kurtis Smith
The Lady walked over to her. She bent down and put her glowing hand on Kayleigh’s head. A few seconds later, Kayleigh stirred and opened her eyes. Fear filled them when she saw the woman and she clumsily tried to crawl away backward.
“Calm yourself, child. You are safe here.” There must have been some other power in her words because Kayleigh’s breathing slowed and color returned to her face. The Lady hadn’t said much to persuade her.
When Kayleigh had gathered her strength she stood up without a word. She didn’t seem sure as to what to say to the glowing image in front of her. The Lady smiled at her warmly. This seemed to be enough help Kayleigh speak.
“Thank you,” she said, awkwardly.
The Lady turned to address all of them. “It is late. If you wish to rest tonight, you may stay here on the sand, under the stars. It will stay warm throughout the night. It is part of the magic of this place, as well as the clear sky that never changes.” She waved a hand in a graceful arching motion.
“That would be most welcome, Lady,” Egan replied, looking to the others to make sure they didn’t have other ideas. They all nodded agreeably.
“You may call on me if it is needed. When I am not visible I rest in the spirit realm of your ancestors. I will hear you if you call.” There was a slight pause. “Before you depart, I will give you what you sought when you came here.”
When the Lady had gone Kayleigh asked what she had missed when she was out. They told her all about the Auki’s true purpose and how they revealed this place. They also told her who the Lady was, and what she had told them about the King.
“Then O’Hara is no closer to finding all of the pieces than we are,” she said after they finished.
Egan cleared his throat for an argument. “Yes, but he also has unlimited resources when it comes to soldiers he’d be willing to sacrifice in order to get the other pieces. This is the only piece that is guarded by supernatural forces. The others have earthly protections, but nothing more. They can be outwitted by man with some effort. The main task will be locating their exact place. By gathering this piece ourselves, we have actually made his quest easier.”
“I say we go to desert next then,” Kayleigh said boldly.
An image of Niahm waiting for him in the town of Swift River popped into Davin’s head. It had been awhile already. He hoped she hadn’t given up on him. “I think we should meet Niahm first,” he suggested. “If we plan to go all the way to Blind Desert, it’s very close to the Capital. It might be a good idea to have backup in case anything goes wrong.”
“You don’t even know if anyone came with her. She could be all alone and then we would have wasted more time,” Egan rebutted.
“Yes, but I promised her. She is like a mother to me, Egan. If no one came with her and it is a waste, then we have only lost five days at the most.”
“Still, that could be too much time,” Egan came back at him, strong as ever. “One task at a time, Davin. When we have retrieved the next piece of the Scroll we will meet her. We can send word once we are down from the mountains.”
“There’s no way we will know that the message will reach her. What if it doesn’t and she gives up, thinks I’ve forgotten about her,” said Davin, fervently.
“Then so be it. We can’t rely on help that may not be there. If we do have people to stand behind us, they will understand if we take longer than anticipated.”
“From whose standpoint?” Davin argued. “Are you looking at it how you would feel, or how the average person would? People who have been reluctant to do anything but whine about the King’s ways to his back are not going to be roused to rebel for long. They will not linger for us, Egan. It would be foolish to test their faith in me when they have no reason to keep it in the first place.”
Egan cocked an eyebrow at Davin, frowning even more deeply than he had before. “You told me she said they were still loyal to you.”
“Yes, but I don’t know how far this loyalty goes. I told you that I was never very pleasant to anyone there. The only reason they would stand with me now is because of our boldness. We are only ones who have openly opposed the O’Hara and Deverell. Both of us refused to go along with him.”
I haven’t really opposed anyone. This is still for revenge and for freeing Roland. That’s all.
Egan nodded silently. He did not speak a drawn out moment. “I can see we both feel passionately about our different plans. I can’t tell which one seems better right now. There are positives and negatives of each. It would be unwise to split up, so we wait.” His tone lightened.
Kayleigh and Teague had been silent the whole time, letting the other two carry on their conversation.
“I think that is the best idea for now. Maybe we will be able to make a better decision once we get out of here,” said Kayleigh.
“Yes,” Teague agreed, “I could use more time to prepare to face my father.”
Davin lay awake staring at the sky until the moon was directly overhead. As if against his will, he felt at peace for once. The serenity in the sanctuary took all stress away. He was unable to worry about their journey anymore. His only care was the scenery above and around him and the fact he couldn’t take his eyes off of it.
The only time he had been able to tear himself away was when he spotted the Lady of the Lake wandering the beach with her white shimmering glow. She seemed to vanish and come back without any pattern. She looked forlorn and possibly even lonely as she traipsed to and fro, though Davin figured that those feelings couldn’t be held by someone like her. Could vessels feel emotion? They weren’t actually living were they? He wouldn’t think so, but would probably never know.
Not long after the slivered moon passed overhead, Davin heard a voice from a ways down the beach. He looked up instantly. The Lady was coming back into view and walking slowly towards him. Her eyes were fixed on him. He knew she was speaking to him.
“Join me, Davin, will you?” she said softly to him. Her voice caught him by surprise. She hadn’t said a word to them for several hours, and Davin wasn’t certain she said anything at first.
Next to him Egan sat up, obviously not asleep yet. He said, “Go on. She wants to speak to you alone.”
Davin turned slightly to him. “Why would she want just me alone?” Even though this woman had been nothing but kind to them since they arrived, Davin was still nervous.
“Don’t sit there like an idiot. You won’t know unless you go, will you,” Egan smirked. Davin shook his head lightly. Egan was right.
He got up and slowly walked over the Lady.
“Will you walk with me?” she asked kindly.
“Yes.” They started down the sandy shore, away from the place where the rest of his fellow travelers lay. He could feel Egan watching him from behind.
When they had wrapped so far around the lake that Egan was completely out of earshot, she spoke to him again. “I would like to know something, Davin. You are a young man at the age of Awakening. Have you begun your training yet?”
“Yes,” he answered quickly, wanting to please her. “Egan and a man named Liam started my lessons.” Davin’s heart panged as he thought of Liam, an innocent man who did not deserve death. “Now Egan has been teaching me alone.”
“What happened to the other man?” Davin knew that question was coming next. He didn’t want to tell her, but he couldn’t lie.
“He was killed by soldiers of this land in the port town of Slainte. It is somewhat my fault,” he admitted to her.
She gave him a look of concern. “Why do you think so?” His eyes met hers and she once again convinced him to tell her. There was definitely some magic there.
Davin took a deep breath. “The King and First Captain have been obsessed with finding Egan and me, so much that he placed his men all over in hopes that we would run into them. Foolishly, I caught the attention of soldiers in that city. I practically showed them where Liam lived. They chased me and I escaped but not without them knowing about my abilities. Eventually
they found the home we were staying at, the home of Liam. He was killed because he stood in the way of them getting to us.”
Davin had barely gotten his last word out and she was ready with a reply. It was almost as if she could hear his words before he said them.
“It was his choice to do what he did. His fate was decided not by you. He could have let them have you, but he didn’t.”
This brought up the thing that Davin had struggled with most.
“Wasn’t his fate decided the moment Descendants entered his life? He may have chosen to befriend Egan years ago, but he couldn’t have known that it would lead to his death. It was out his hands.”
She remained calm. “You are right, Davin. Not everything that happens is a result of our decisions. In some ways we are not in control.”
Davin shook his head vehemently. “My godfather didn’t choose or deserve to be lashed and thrown in prison. I didn’t choose to become who I am. How can I be expected to just accept it?”
“How did you react to discovering what you were?”
“I was furious when I discovered that I was a Descendant. But yet I’m still here, trying to help the kingdom, even if only by ridding of a tyrant military leader, when all I wanted to do was continue to hide.”
The Lady continued. “The Scholar made that choice by standing up to the soldiers in his home. You made a choice yourself. Your powers are here because you chose to use them. A Learner cannot be Awakened until he chooses. So there is some part of you that wanted more.”
Davin thought hard about thought this fact, his mind in turmoil.
She turned to him and reached out her hand to his head. He flinched away at first, not sure what she was doing. But in a few short seconds she removed it and smiled. He smiled weakly back, realizing she had read his mind.
Davin argued, “I have never sought this-,”
“It is not always a conscious decision, but the way one reacts to every circumstance shows much about them. I believe you had a lot to do with your current station,” she said, her voice firm for the first time. “Think, Son of Old.”
Davin racked his brain, feeling that once again the effort would be fruitless. Despite this perceived inevitability, though, he still wanted to come up with a legitimate answer.
How had his Awakening occurred? He sorted through his thoughts. Any time that he had showed the slightest desire for knowledge of the world, any concern for things outside himself, the dream woman had come to him more vividly. He had wanted understanding about the connection between him and the Wanderer. That opened the door to his full abilities and realizing who he was.
But what about all he had through in the last of couple months? The important people in his life shifted through his thoughts. He focused on Roland. His godfather was the key.
And then it hit him like a punch to the stomach. At last he knew the last answer he needed, an answer for the Lord of Trials. He felt as if his eyes had been fully opened for the first time, and yet, it was so simple.
“I stood up to First Captain Deverell in Lemirre. That lone act sent my life on a different course. He would have never discovered who I was, and I would have gone back to my closed off world. I am a Descendant no matter what, but I chose to be where I am.”
She nodded gracefully. “So you believe this fully?” she asked.
“Yes, Lady, I do.” There was a long pause. “Thank you for your help,” he said.
“I did not do much, this was your accomplishment,” she replied modestly.
“You helped, more than you realize. I suppose it is an understatement to say that you are wise.”
She smiled at him and bowed at the compliment. “Remember, Davin that I am a vessel of the first Ancients that came to be in existence. Our minds were more developed than any creature that has ever lived.” She paused, then, “But I am still grateful for your kind words.”
“It will come in useful,” he said before he realized what he was saying.
Her gaze bore into him. She knew what he was talking about, which was what he was afraid of. He didn’t want to reveal his embarrassment about failing the Lord of Trials test twice, and the possibility of losing his powers.
“This matter we just spoke of was your Istigmirt, was it not?”
The word threw him off guard. “My what?”
“It is the word we used for the internal struggle of our people. Many of us took a long time to pass the final test of the Lord of Trials. I’m sure you know what it deals with by now.”
Davin had to think for a minute. He’d never had to explain it in words. It was a difficult test to describe. He stopped walking and let his feet sink a feel inches into the soft sand.
After several moments the description of the test became no clearer. “I don’t know,” he admitted.
She did not look impatient or irritated with him. In fact, another warm smile rose out of her flawless skin. “That creature tests the truth we have the most trouble coming to accept. It is different for each person, but the creature always knows what your Istigmirt is when it tests you.”
They began walking again, passing the halfway point around the lake. “What is that thing though? Where did it come from?” Davin asked.
“We created it,” she said, sounding a little surprise he hadn’t riddled it out by now. “It was meant to test all the newly Awakened after their training had begun. The Ancients who never passed the final test were the first to dabble in the Forbidden Forms of Driocht. They became frustrated with the test and the removal of their power. It caused them to search for ways to get it back. Their true corruption became known once men had entered the world, but discovering the Forbidden Forms was the first step down that path.”
The Forbidden magic intrigued him, though he would never admit aloud.
“Egan never told me that part of the story,” he said in mild indignation. Switching to another topic that had caught his interest, he continued, “What are these Forbidden Forms of Driocht, not that I want to learn them, I just wonder what makes them so bad?”
She seemed to be searching for the answers. Davin waited for her, entertaining himself by dragging his feet through the sand and feeling it pass through his toes.
“That is beyond my realm of knowledge, Davin. I am sorry. It seems you have met my limit.”
Davin nodded, understandingly. He didn’t know anything else to say so he walked without saying anything more. At first, he felt awkward. She quickly absolved him of that feeling, however, by her contented demeanor traveling alongside him in silence.
Davin looked up at the stars. They were still bright and glittering, but the moon had been lost from view. He tried to find it but it must have gone beyond the mountains around them.
The stillness of the lake reflected the sky perfectly. The sand was so soft and sifted soothingly across his feet. He had never felt so at ease in his life.
They eventually rounded back and came upon the place where the others were sleeping. Davin realized, only then, how tired he was. It had been nearly a league around the lake and back.
The Lady spoke to him as he sat down. “I will leave you for the night, Davin. Rest well.” Davin nodded and she disappeared into the ether.
As he lay down to get comfortable, he heard Egan’s voice behind him. It startled him. He had figured everyone really was asleep at this late hour.
“How was your conversation with the Mistress?” Egan asked.
Davin knew what Egan wanted to know. “I have an answer for him,” Davin said vaguely, yawning at the same time.
“Just what I wanted to hear.” Davin smiled despite his exhaustion.
***
When the morning came, Davin realized he had slept better than anywhere he’d been since leaving home. His dreams were replays of his conversation with the Lady and the Lord of Trial. The morning seemed late when he finally woke, but he really had no concept of time in this place.
As they gathered up their necessities he noted that now the Lady of the Lake
was now nowhere to be seen.
“I will call to her,” Davin volunteered.
“Do it,” Egan said, offering his consent. Davin was going to do it anyway, but he liked when he and Egan were thinking along the same line. Kayleigh and Teague looked uncomfortable.
Davin called out loudly into the direction of the placid waters. After a few short moments of waiting she faded into sight, at first transparent in her white glow and then a solid mass. She floated above the water until she reached the shore and then landed and walked toward them. . Her eyes passed over all of them in turn. Great blue irises twinkled as if tiny sapphires circled her pupils.
“If you are ready to leave I will give you the piece of the scroll that you came for. And I also have another gift.”
She clapped her hands lightly and, in a small flash of blue light, two things appeared next to her. One looked like the piece of the scroll. The other was a familiar spherical shape in the color of brownish-orange. It was another Driocht orb. She gestured the two items over toward the four of them. Davin caught the orb while Egan reached for the parchment.
Before any of them could say anything, she spoke again. “I give you this Driocht orb to aid your quest. It was lost to the High Passes, but I called it here for your usage. It controls the power of the earth. Use it as you see fit. I also entrust you with the piece of the Driocht scroll. Do not let it fall into foul hands.”
She paused for a moment, as if deciding to say something else. “Allow me to give you one other encouragement, a blessing that we used in our time.”
Without any ado she broke into another tongue, though Davin noticed he could still understand it.
“The dawn always follows when the night is darkest
Let it be true in this
Windfalls may snare and storms may rage but still those troubles will pass
Let it be true in this
A purpose for good lies in fate’s alignment of comrades
Let it be true in this
Love, the everlasting bond, places fire in the soul and strength in the heart
Let it be true in this
