The High Keeper - Part 2

‘Is this the home of the Hasufels?’ He asked again.

‘Y-yes.’ My mother answered with a quiver in her voice.

The knight smiled broadly, clapping his immense hands together in triumph, looking at me briefly as he walked past me into the cottage.

I said nothing. My eyes followed him. My mind was a swirling eddy of emotions – anger, fear, sadness. He walked a small circuit of the room that made up the den and kitchen, nodding with approval as he looked around, as if he had some right to judge us. He wore a rich, dark green riding cloak, fastened around his neck with a golden pin, billowing behind him as he went; it looked ridiculous amongst our simple wooden chairs and and handmade trinkets. Though a white smile gleaned amidst his reddy-brown beard, I could see a sharpness in his hazel eyes, something dangerous, hidden behind a mask.

‘You’ve made a lovely home for yourself.’ He said, addressing my mother with a flourish and a bow.

‘Thank you.’ Was her feeble reply. ‘Can I get you something to drink?’

Why is she treating him like a guest!

The knight suddenly turned to me and I gulped down my thoughts.

‘You must be Lendra. It is a great pleasure to meet you. I am Rylan Treatis of the Southern Marches, knight of Nandorun .’

He waited for a reply that I refused to give. Still he smiled, unconcerned by the silent insult I tried to make.

I could see a strange expression on my mother’s face as she looked at the knight. What was it? Terror, shock? I couldn’t tell. Some how it seemed there was a hint of happiness. No, that couldn’t be. The knight had ceased looking at me, his attention now on my bewildered mother. I knew this would be my only opportunity. If I was going to escape this fate there was only one thing to do, one horrible thing. Silently, as noiseless as when I stalked prey in the forest, I slid my dagger hidden beneath the hem of my tunic from its hilt, I took it by the tip of the blade and with all my strength and speed hurled it at the invader.

My mother let out a shriek and gasp. My eyes widened in horror at what I’d done, that I’d had the will, with so little thought, to do. I regretted it the instant it happened.

The knight, without much concern, cocked his head to the side and smiled, the dagger suspended between his fingers, pinched from the air as easily as a hawk catches a finch.

‘That it is not a fitting way to welcome a guest young Lendra.’ He said with a hint of warning. He turned, walking towards me, his great bulk even more imposing now as he towered over me.

‘Guests are invited. You’re not welcome here.’

He looked at my mother, a flicker of displeasure on his lips. ‘You know why I have come here.’

‘Y-yes.’

‘Then you understand that there is no other way, no more time.’

‘I do.’ Her voice was chocked.

‘Mother.’ I protested. Was she not going to even try to resist, put up a fight of any kind! My heart pounded, my mouth was dry and I felt sick. No, he had passed me by. It couldn’t be me, it just couldn’t. Run. Everything inside me said to run. Run now or never. It felt like needles pricked every part of me. I couldn’t kill him, couldn’t hurt him, but I could run. It wasn’t brave but what else could I do? I knew the forest better than anyone. If I wanted to disappear into the trees I could and he’d never find me.

‘Please don’t.’ The knight said in a manner that was less a request and more a command. ‘Running will only delay the inevitable.’

Could he have known what I was thinking? Can Rune Lords read minds?

‘I won’t go with you. I refuse to be part of this sick ritual.’

‘If any of us had free will in this matter I might be inclined to believe you. But that is not what the Powers have decided.’

‘I won’t go willingly. I’ll do everything I can to be free of you.’

‘I am sure you’ll try,’ he started with a grin. ‘as all those before you have. And I’ll offer you the same thing that is offered to all the Chosen: you can come with me, quietly, willingly, bidding farewell to your mother with a kiss, or, I will burn this village with everyone in it, everyone you have ever loved, to the ground.’

So it’s true.

I ground my teeth and practically snarled at him like a feral animal. The filth, the absolute filth. What a soulless coward. Could one man really do something like that? I’d heard stories, things meant to frighten children, horrible tales about what the messengers of the Rune Lords could do with the powers temporarily given to them by their masters. Maybe he could destroy everything with a click of his finger. Maybe it wasn’t real. I didn’t want to find out. I’d never felt the type of heat in my chest that I felt at that moment, it was as if my entire body was filled with fire. I could feel it tingling, coursing through my veins, my hands riddled with pins and needles trying to burst through my skin.

‘Lendra.’ My mother’s voice called to me. I looked over at her. Tears glistened in the edges of her eyes but there was a smile on her lips. ‘Little dove, this is bigger than you or I.’

What was she saying? I felt a horrible welling of fear of what she might say next.

‘It does no good to fight this. You must go.’

My jaw dropped and tears of both anger and sadness began to stream down my cheeks. I knew she was right, but I couldn’t help but feel betrayed. She was giving me up with out a fight, without so much as a word of protest, her stupid philosophy dooming me to be taken away to what would certainly be my end. I knew in my heart she was right but I hated the words, they bashed against everything I believed in, there was no part of me that could give up so easily.

‘We cannot fight this. I love you with every breath in my body but we cannot change what the Powers have decided.’

Breath…

I reached to my side and removed the pounce of flowers, letting it fall open on the table, revealing its precious contents. A terrible thought shook me. Would this be the last time I climbed the alder for the flowers she needed? Who would take care of my mother? She would die without me. A new pang of desperation filled me. She must have seen the look on my face because my mother could no longer bear being at a distance, she ran up to me and threw her arms around my neck.

‘Oh Lendra!’ She wept bitterly. ‘You’ll come out of this. I know you will. You’re not like the others.’

‘Come. Say your goodbyes. We must begin our journey to the capital.’ Said the knight, glancing at the flowers, probably with no clue to their significance, to what ripping me away from my home would mean for my mother.

I spat a look of hate at the knight. ‘If you take me from her she will die.’

‘You may take with you what you need for a weeks’ journey. All else will be provided when we arrive in Nandorun.’ He didn’t acknowledge what I had said. I hated him more for it. Even as anger welled, the calmer portion of my mind registered his words. A week to the capital. That meant I had a week to figure out how to escape this. I was confident I could. My spirits lifted. There was still hope.

‘I will give you time to pack and say your farewells.’ He went out the front door and closed it behind himself.

I looked again at my mother. She had a smile on her face but she looked like she was on the verge of breaking. We both knew what my leaving meant. How long would she survive without me? Who would climb the high branches of the alder tree to find the yellow orchids she needed to keep her illness at bay? I looked at the twelve little yellow flowers, cursing myself for not going to a second tree, not finding more. She gently swept a stray piece of hair out of my eyes.

‘There’s something I need to give you.’ She walked into the bedroom and returned with a polished wooden box. ‘This was your father’s. It was very important to him, a reminder of his time in the capital and our life before.’ She opened the box and inside was a dagger, but not any dagger, this was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. It had a hilt made of gold and with jewels, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds, winding around the hilt like thin streamers twirling in the wind. My eye were wide with shock. Why did we have such a thing! It had to be worth a fortune, the most valuable things in the village, hell, probably more valuable than the village itself!

‘Your father would want you to have this.’

‘Why did dad have something like this?’

‘I think you’ll find the answer to that in the capital.’

I picked up the dagger with reverence, slowly sliding the blade from its jewelled scabbard. It was of such a pure metal that it shown nearly white. There were strange characters etched down the length of the blade.

‘What do these mean?’

‘I don’t know. It’s some ancient language I imagine.’

I returned the dagger to its sheath.

‘I can’t do this, mom. I can’t leave you. I’m not whoever they’re looking for. I know I’m not.’

She smiled feebly, a tear escaping down her cheek. ‘You are so much more than you know.’

I shook my head. ‘I’m going to end up like all the others.’ I sensed my own fear for the first time. I think some part of me had finally acknowledged that death, like so many before me, was now my fate.

‘No. You will succeed. You have always succeeded where others have failed.’

‘I don’t care about me. I can’t leave you. Who will get the orchids? What happens if the alchemist doesn’t come? I can’t leave you. I can’t.’

‘Oh Lendra my dear, all will be well. Have we not always found our way, you and I, even when things seemed darkest?’

‘But this won’t be “you and I” anymore. It will be you. And it will be me.’

‘My little dove, it will all be as the Powers decide. I feel it in my heart this is not the end for either of us.’

‘I wish I could have your faith.’

‘You are more like your father than you know, but remember, whatever great trials await you in Nandorun, as long as you follow exactly the path you feel is true, all will be well.’

The door to the cottage opened. The knight stood, filling the doorway with his presence. ‘It is time we depart.’

My stomach fell to my feet. I gritted my teeth and held back the tears that choked me. I packed the few things I was permitted and added my father’s precious dagger to the collection. I wrapped my arms around my mother, trying to make her feel all the emotions I felt, wanting her to know how much I loved her. We separated, feeling as if I was being cleaved from my very life, and I turned to the knight, replacing my sadness with anger. He nodded a goodbye to my mother, she returned the nod.

I walked out the door. Two horses, one, the knight’s great chestnut stallion, the other a horse of a grey so deep it seemed blue, waited. My heart raced. My throat tightened. This was really happening. Everything had changed so fast that it didn’t seem real, it felt like some terrible nightmare. I would be taken away to the capital, to Nandorun, the Chosen. I would face the horrors and pain of this terrible ritual.

The knight offered to help me mount the horse, an offer I refused in silence by swinging myself up with ease. I took the reins in my hands. I had only ridden a few times, and that had only been on one of the little farm ponies, not a fine horse like this.

I looked back at the cottage where my mother stood, one hand wrapped inside her skirt, the other raised in a farewell with the best she could manage as a brave smile.

‘I’ll come back. I promise.’ I said desperately trying to believe my own words. The knight beckoned me. As I turned to follow I noticed a bucket overflowing with yellow orchids sitting beneath the window.