Shades of Prophecy

by Tessonja Odette

  My mind moved to the Forest People, picking up the thoughts I’d left earlier. I saw the fur-covered tents and smelled the warming spices wafting over the pre-dawn cook fires. Some of the Forest People were awake, moving in shadows as they prepared for the day’s hunt, while others still slumbered in their tents. I felt a stab of guilt, knowing I was about the shatter the peace of their morning with my arrival, but it needed to be done.

  I refocused on the sights, the sounds, and the smells. I could sense Salinda’s tent, almost hear her even breathing. My heart called to her.

  Her eyes snapped open, and she sat upright on her cot. Wrapping a heavy cloak around her shoulders, she rose and stepped outside her tent, eyes searching.

  My mind pulled away, past the clearing where the cookfires burned, to the trees that surrounded camp. I could still smell aromas of camp, still feel the warmth of the bodies in their tents, still hear the gentle sounds that hummed within, yet they were slightly muffled from my place under the trees.

  I opened my eyes and found myself there, behind the tree line at the edge of the clearing. At my side was Valorre, Mareleau and Liam safe upon his back. “We’re here.”

  Mareleau opened her eyes and jumped. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to this,” she said, taking in her new surroundings.

  Moments later, we entered the camp, leaving Hara and Valorre to wait safely behind. My lids were half-closed as I led the way, searching for the pair of eyes that equally sought me in return. Then I saw her.

  Salinda paused mid-step, shock and pleasure mingling in her features as she darted toward me and pulled me into a crushing embrace. As she pulled away, she scanned me from head to toe. “My dear, you have gotten so strong.” Her eyes moved to Mareleau, who hovered behind me. “And this time you brought friends.”

  I nodded.

  She grinned at Mareleau, but when her eyes returned to mine, her smile faded. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t a lighthearted visit?”

  “It might not be,” I said, trying to keep from wringing my hands like an anxious child in Salinda’s powerful presence. She was shorter than I was, yet she held so much wisdom and calm in her demeanor, it made her seem as if she were fifty feet tall. No matter how intimidated I felt around her, I knew she would listen. “Can we talk?”

  * * *

  Inside Salinda’s tent, I kept my voice low. Mareleau sat beside me with Liam on the cot while Salinda sat across from us, listening patiently while I spoke. For the most part, Salinda’s expression remained neutral, aside from the occasional furrowed brow as I described my time in El’Ara and some of the stranger facts I shared.

  When I was through, Salinda looked down at her hands and sighed. “That’s a lot to take in.”

  My heart hammered with the effort it took not to bombard her with a flood of questions. I chose one to start with. “Have any of you encountered the dragons?”

  “No, this is the first I’m hearing about them. We have been at camp since the start of winter and haven’t needed to travel far. Perhaps they haven’t flown this far west.”

  “What about the things I told you about El’Ara? Did you know about any of it?”

  She stood and crossed her arms, grasping her elbows as her eyes unfocused, a haunted look on her face. “Much of what you’ve said has never been part of our knowledge. Do you really think this Darius, King of Syrus, is still alive?”

  I nodded. “Perhaps Ailan too. Have you heard of either of them?”

  She shook her head. “We learned the stories of the Ancient war, about the Morkaius versus the Morkara, but we were never told the names of those who fought. We learned that we were descendants of the Ancient Ones, carrying the legacy of the Faeran, but we were never taught that Lela was a land from another realm. I’d always thought our ancestors were from another time, not another place.”

  My stomach sank. Had I come to the Forest People for no reason after all? I gritted my teeth, searching for an angle to unearth the truth I sought. “What about the Elvan? Were you taught what happened to them? If the Faeran settled as the Forest People, how did the Elvan settle? Did the Forest People ever speak of Elvan visitors or allies?”

  Salinda frowned, squinting as if she were trying to access long-forgotten memories. “No,” she finally said. “We were taught mostly about the Faeran. I’d always assumed the Elvan disappeared long before the Faeran became the Forest People.”

  Her lack of knowledge about the Elvan explained why my childhood stories about them had been so inaccurate. “What about the elders? Perhaps if I meet with them, tell them what I know, someone will remember something. Nalia must know something—”

  “Nalia is not well.” Salinda pressed her lips tight together and returned to sitting, her shoulders slumped and her face looking more tired than I’d ever seen. “She hasn’t left her tent all week and refuses visitors and treatment. Some think she is preparing to enter the otherlife.”

  A sharp pain shot through my heart. Nalia had been our beloved Wise Woman since I’d arrived with the Forest People. She’d always kept a smile on her face, her bearing of wisdom and grace even more pronounced than Salinda’s. Even though she’d been a woman of few words, she was the most respected and honored person amongst her people. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

  Salinda’s lips pulled into a sad smile. “She has lived a full life. I’d say she has been like a mother to me, but in truth, she’s been a mother to us all. There isn’t a single person among us who hasn’t known her all their lives.”

  Mareleau shifted anxiously next to me, and my eyes shot to her. She and Liam had been so quiet, I’d almost forgotten their presence, but now she seemed unable to contain her composure any longer. “What is it?” I asked.

  She looked from me to Salinda, cheeks blazing, looking flustered as she searched for words. “It’s just…it seems our visit has been for nothing in terms of the information we needed. Please tell me you can at least help me.”

  Salinda narrowed her eyes as if she were seeing Mareleau for the first time. “Yes, why have you brought this friend of yours?”

  “It’s part of the prophecy,” I said. “I never fully explained—”

  Shouts erupted from the camp, followed by a call to arms. We rushed out of the tent and met a flurry of commotion. A rhythmic sound came from up ahead, and I lifted my eyes to see a dark shadow descending from the pale morning sky over the camp. Archers and spearmen circled the clearing, shooting at the beast as it lowered toward the ground. Their useless weapons fell back to the ground as soon as they hit their invulnerable target.

  It was the same white dragon we’d seen twice before. Its tongue flicked in and out of its mouth as it landed, its piercing gaze searching the crowd of screaming, scurrying people, scanning the camp from end to end. Then it stilled. Its eyes seemed locked straight ahead. Straight at me.

  Mareleau stiffened at my side. Or, perhaps, straight at her.

  My heart raced as I sought Valorre. Safe. Hidden, he assured me from his place outside the camp. I could sense his distress, his instinct to flee.

  The archers continued to shoot the dragon, and a few men ran forward with flaming torches. This caught the dragon’s eye, and it arched back. The dragon screeched and hissed, pulling its neck back and opening its mouth.

  No! I looked at the terrified faces around me, at the tents that would burn with ease. This was no castle. There was nowhere to hide, no way I could glamour an entire camp to keep them safe. I trembled from head to toe as I searched my mind for a solution.

  There was nothing. I was about to die. My people were about to die.

  The dragon lunged forward.

  “Ferrah!” A loud voice boomed over the chaos, quieting the camp at once.

  The dragon froze, snapping its mouth shut, while the people turned toward the source of the voice.

  A tall woman with slender limbs and brown skin walked slowly toward the dragon, hand outstretched. Her feet were bare while long, black hair trailed down her ba
ck. The hem of her deerskin dress barely reached far enough to cover her hips, exposing most of her thighs as if it were meant for a much smaller person. Even though I could only see her in profile, I knew I’d never seen her before. “Who is she?” I whispered to Salinda.

  Either Salinda didn’t know or didn’t want to say, because she gave me no answer.

  The shocked crowd parted as the woman made her way closer to the dragon. The archers and spearmen kept their weapons trained on the beast but didn’t loose them as their eyes locked on the approaching woman. “Ferrah,” she said again, this time her voice gentle and soothing.

  The dragon seemed to relax, its tail resting on the ground as it lowered its neck, almost like a bow. A thrumming sound, like a hum or a purr, reverberated from its chest.

  “That’s right, Ferrah,” the woman said. “You’re safe. I’m here.”

  Silence continued to envelop the camp as the dragon brought its nose to her palm, eyes closing as it continued its contented humming.

  Liam cried.

  The dragon lifted its head, but it remained where it was. The mysterious woman turned around and faced us. Her eyes locked on me, then focused on Mareleau, who was trying to hush her son. There was something about the woman that unsettled me as she began to walk toward us. Something familiar.

  Those eyes, an unforgettable shade of gray, looking so much like ones once surrounded by layers of wrinkles…

  That dress, too short and tight for the body that wore it, looking so similar to one once worn by…

  “Nalia,” Salinda said with a gasp.

  The woman stopped before us, and I knew Salinda was right about her identity. But how? If everyone thought Nalia was dying, how was she standing here, looking younger than anyone had ever known her to be? I was suddenly struck by the calm of truth. “Ailan.”

  She looked at Salinda. “Yes,” she said, then moved her eyes to meet mine. “And yes.”

  14

  AILAN

  Mareleau

  Silence engulfed the camp, as if the two names uttered had everyone under a spell. All eyes locked on the woman who stood before us—the woman who was somehow both the Forest People Wise Woman and our mysterious Ailan. They watched her with a mixture of awe, fear, and suspicion…as did I.

  Ailan seemed undaunted by the silent crowd as her face spread into a warm smile, and her attention returned to Salinda. “My dear one—”

  Salinda stepped back, flinching away from Ailan as the woman reached out to embrace her.

  Ailan’s smile melted into an apologetic frown as she let her arms drop to her side. “I know, dear one. You do not understand right now. I have much to tell you.”

  Salinda’s lips fluttered before she recovered herself, straightened her back, and took a bold step forward, eyes defiant as she met Ailan’s. “You damn well better explain everything. Ailan.”

  Ailan’s face flickered with hurt, but her smile returned, perhaps with a hint of indignation in her eyes. Her gaze moved to Cora, who watched her with distrust. Ailan only gave her a nod before moving on to me.

  My arms tightened around Liam, pressing him closer to my chest as Ailan stepped toward us.

  “Blood of my blood,” she said, reaching a hand to graze my cheek. I flinched at her touch, my breath quickening. Her eyes moved down to Liam, and she sighed. “As is he.” She took a step closer, lifting her hand toward my son.

  I pulled away, teeth clenched as I watched her hand as if it were a snake.

  Ailan’s hand met only air, and she instead placed it on her hip as she let out a heavy sigh. “Very well,” she said. “It looks like we need to talk. We should meet in the tent of the elders.”

  “I’ll gather the other elders,” Salinda said, her tone cold. She turned away, but Ailan put a hand on her shoulder before she could take a step. Salinda reeled around to face her. “What?”

  “I think we should speak in private,” her gaze moved to Cora, then to me and Liam, “before we call in the others.”

  “They deserve an explanation just as much as I do!” Salinda said.

  Ailan nodded. “That they do. However, I think they need some time before they will be ready for it.”

  I again took in the gathering crowd, the narrowed eyes and fearful glances that surrounded us like blades.

  Ailan continued speaking to Salinda. “These two came to find me. They have questions in their eyes and will never get their answers if we spend all night soothing the elders. Let me explain to you first. I’ll need you on my side when we speak to the others.”

  “Who says I will be on your side?” Salinda asked with a glare.

  “I understand you are hurt and confused,” Ailan said. “You thought I was dying, and I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the truth then. But I’m ready to tell you now.”

  Salinda held her stare a moment longer, jaw shifting back and forth. “I’ll be in the tent,” she finally said, then stalked away.

  Cora and I were left with Ailan, the woman we came to find but never expected to meet in such a way. Perhaps I was naive to expect anything less. What had I hoped to find? Some magical, immortal woman, all smiles and flowing hair, floating from the woods on gossamer wings? I certainly hadn’t expected the sharp-eyed, stony-faced beauty with the ability to soothe dragons.

  Ailan turned toward me and Liam. “He’s beautiful, by the way.”

  My tongue struggled to form a reply; I wasn’t sure if I wanted to thank her or scowl. I was saved from the struggle by a low reverberating, something like a growl, coming from the other side of the clearing.

  Ailan whipped around, facing the men who still surrounded the dragon with their spears and arrows. “Lower your weapons.”

  The warriors hesitated, looking from her to the dragon.

  Ailan stormed toward them, head held high. When she spoke, her voice carried fierce authority. “Put your weapons down. Ferrah won’t hurt you.”

  This time they did as told, taking slow steps away from the dragon as they lowered their weapons.

  Ferrah extended its neck toward Ailan, who reached out and stroked its white scales. “We will need to give her this space to nest,” she called out. “Everyone, move back.”

  The Forest People sprang away from the clearing, gathering their belongings and overturning the pots that hung over the cookfires in their attempt to get away.

  Cora took a step forward. “She can’t give the clearing to—”

  Before she could say a word more, Ferrah turned in a circle, sending wafts of flame onto the ground beneath her while heat seared the air. Gasps of terror echoed around us. The ground beneath the dragon began to glow with shimmering, orange embers. After circling the area a few more times, Ferrah laid down, a puff of smoke trailing from her nostrils. She tucked her legs beneath her, wings folded along her back, and rested her long neck on the ground, head near her hind legs.

  As terrifying as it was to see the dragon curl up on her bed of flame, there was a small part of me that felt tender at the sight.

  A very small part of me.

  Cora frowned, watching the dragon. “I think that’s what it was trying to do at Ridine when Teryn and I found it on the charred field.”

  “You think it was making a bed?” I asked.

  “Yes,” said a voice beside me, making me jump. I hadn’t noticed Ailan’s return. “This is how dragons nest.”

  “You didn’t need to give it our clearing,” Cora said. I noticed she used the word our instead of their. Although she was queen, it seemed she still considered herself one of the Forest People. “Where are we supposed to put the cookfires now?”

  “We will find space for the cookfires,” Ailan said. “Now that Ferrah has found me, she won’t leave my side. If I didn’t give her a proper place to make her bed, she would have made her own. That would not have fared well for our camp.”

  I swallowed hard at the thought of the dragon creating her own clearing amongst the towering trees. Then an even darker thought came to mind. “What does
she eat?”

  Ailan’s mouth flickered with a smile. “Not us, my child. She will find her own food, but no harm will come to you or your kind.”

  “How do you explain the fact that she has tried to attack us three times now?” My voice trembled more than I intended it to.

  Ailan regarded me as if I were dense. “Ferrah has been searching for you, my child. She has been trying to protect you, not harm you. It isn’t her fault she has been received with fear and violence each time.”

  “Why would she be searching for me?” I asked.

  “She was most certainly searching for me, originally. But since I’ve been dampening my powers, she was drawn to you instead, guided by my blood that lives within you.”

  “Were you the one who summoned the dragons from El’Ara, then?” Cora asked. “To find Mareleau?”

  “No,” Ailan said. “I didn’t know they were here until I saw Ferrah.”

  Cora’s brows furrowed with suspicion. “Then how do you know that Ferrah was searching for Mareleau?”

  Ailan’s eyes locked on Cora’s. “You, my child, should know precisely how I am able to glean such information.”

  Cora’s eyes widened before she nodded in understanding.

  I pressed my lips together in annoyance. Whatever had become clear to Cora was still unknown to me. “What is it?”

  Ailan faced me. “Ferrah is my familiar. She and I have a bond, much like your friend here and her unicorn companion.”

  “If you didn’t summon them, why did the dragons come here?” Cora asked.

  Ailan squinted as if she were trying to see something in the air between us. “Like I said, they were likely trying to find me. As to how they got here…I have a feeling the two of you will help me understand that.”