Dominion of Darkless

An Introduction of Sorts-1

Chapter 2

An Introduction of SortsElainya

How unprepared I was for waking! I would arrive at the castle unannounced, a beggar in a dress that looked like a burial shroud. The hem was dirty, the skirt shredded by clinging vines before I was halfway down the overgrown mountain path. The thin sandals I wore did little to spare my feet from stones that hid beneath decaying leaves.

My furry companion pounced upon a trailing thread and I turned to pull off the string. “You are not helping.”

His antics did nothing to improve my appearance but did distract me whenever I started to panic.

He scurried off to chase a bug.

I might survive in the wilds, but this gown would not. I could make a new dress, something woolen and strong enough to withstand a walk in the woods, if I had time and materials. There was gold in the pouch I wore, but who would sell to a ghost?

Some Draska were good with illusion spells, but I’d never mastered the technique. As a healer, I’d never needed such trickery.

The budding trees warned of the cold nights of early spring; I would need shelter before nightfall. No mirage could provide me with warmth.

Food was what I needed first. I felt like I hadn’t eaten in years and laughed, realizing I hadn’t. I paused at a small stream and drank, trying to convince my stomach that this was enough. The kitten batted at some fresh water-fronds in a patch of sunlight, and we munched on them, pretending the bitter strands were filling.

“You’re supposed to be a cat.”

The kitten blinked up at me with pale blue eyes.

“You could catch a fish.”

It looked at the water and then back at me.

“So, you are related to Lyricat, aren’t you?”

I scratched it behind the ears as it purred up against my foot. Its ancestor had been my constant companion, a gift from my mother. More a friend than a pet, Lyricat had communicated her thoughts as clearly to me as if she’d been able to speak. I wondered if this ball of fluff could be taught the knack of thought-speech.

“Don’t worry, little one. You’ll grow big enough to catch those fish some day.”

I tried to ignore the increasingly forceful sense of intrusion into my mind. The distant mental touch was back. If it was Drenil, he had changed since I’d last been with him.

The touch increased, urging me to obey the Shadow Lord. While the cat might not be able to communicate through mind-speech, someone else clearly could.

At last, I spoke out loud, my voice startling several birds from the trees. “Whoever you are, make your own choices, not mine.”

The cat looked around in confusion. My intruder acquiesced, and I had a mental image of shrugging shoulders that felt both familiar and strange.

Nian

Nian could feel her plotting, trying to escape the Shadow Lord. His late breakfast lost its flavor. He stood up from his impromptu camp at the bottom of the hill and untied his stallion from the shelter where the horse had waited. He mounted Singe in a move that was slowed by age. He slapped the horse with the reins and it lunged into a gallop.

The girl was impossible. The Shadow Lord couldn’t possibly expect him to train her; she was as wild and unruly as his stallion on a bad day. He’d already trained a perfectly good replacement. To start over with Elainya would be insane. He was too old for such nonsense. Rebellion was best left to the young.

He quickly altered his mood, bringing his mind back into submission to his master. He slowed the horse and calmed his outward appearance.

His thoughts had bordered on disobedience. If the master wanted her trained, of course, he would train her. He’d learned that lesson long ago. His mouth tasted like ash.

That lesson he would not forget.

Elainya would learn soon enough. He shut her out of his consciousness so he could return to the castle in peace.

Elainya

I choked on a mouthful of greens and looked down at the ring on my hand … a bonding ring. Yet here I was, alone, forty years after my husband had supposedly died. It had to be a lie. Dren had to be alive.

The remaining leaves of my breakfast fell from my hand.

I had to find a way to escape the Shadow Lord. Anger overwhelmed sense. Let the demon do what he wanted, I would not do his bidding. All I wanted was a chance for revenge. Grandmother Nala had warned me that demons always had a plan in their dealings with humans. Some day the Shadow Lord would reveal his plan to me, and then I would work to thwart it. That thought gave me hope.

The day was bright and lovely, but strange in its silence. Why weren’t the birds singing? Nervous, I pulled myself up and resumed my walk, stiff from even the brief pause. I glanced at the kitten, who seemed determined to follow me, and picked up the gray ball of fluff.

I looked into the innocent young eyes. “No. You aren’t old enough to talk yet, are you, cat? I doubt the birds are even afraid of you, you little terror.” I put him up on my shoulder and enjoyed the way he snuggled his wet nose under my ear. “Terror. That would be a good name for you.” He purred in response.

I could find help in Aurora, but I was too stubborn to go where the demon directed. Let him kill me. As long as he left me freedom of movement, I’d move in the opposite direction.

The path had deteriorated to a faint animal track, choked by the budding shoots of cling-vines and nut trees. I struggled towards the castle, trying to think of some way to explain my presence.

Nothing larger than a rabbit had passed this way in years. I’d avoided the main paths, keeping out of Nian’s way. He’d most likely be on his way back to Aurora, but I didn’t want to take any chance of his finding me. The light in the forest was tricky, revealing hazards where there were none and concealing real ones. In a patch of sunlight, I tripped over a vine and went sprawling in the dirt, scratching my face on a stray branch. A faint tearing sound accompanied my fall.

I rose up onto my elbows to survey the damage. Brushing the dirt from my face, I was glad to see there wasn’t any blood. Sitting up further, I looked at my tattered dress. Instead of white, it was now a mottled brown with flecks of green. I rearranged the bodice to cover some of the worst tears in the fragile shift. At this rate, I would arrive at the castle dressed in leaves. Terror backed away from me, refusing to climb back onto my shoulder after his tumble.

A scream, quickly stifled, erupted from a thicket off to my right. I got to my feet and crept through the trees to a point where I could peer into the clearing without being seen.

Judging by her clothing, the source of the scream was a peasant. Her dark hair hung loosely to her waist, the brown cloth that had covered it now grasped by a lanky young man, dressed in hunting finery of reds and yellows. He removed his mouth from hers and leered. “Scream again and I’ll do that some more….”

She looked around in panic, but her wild eyes could not see me through the bushes. A hound barked nearby. She gasped. Her face grew ashen, but she did not scream again. The only people nearby would be friends of the youth.

“What have you caught, Jeiwan?” A voice called from somewhere nearby.

“A plump young rabbit — enough for all of us.” The youth plucked at the laces of the girl’s bodice with his knife like a cat playing with a mouse. She tried to pull away but was held by an iron grip on her slender arm. The desperation in her eyes dragged me into the clearing.

“I may be unfamiliar with your customs, but where I’m from, a knight does not court a lady with a knife.” I forced my voice to sound calm.

He started at my sudden appearance from the bushes, then laughed. “I’m no knight, nor is she a lady.” He raised his voice. “Come see what I’ve caught now! Some sort of tree spirit.”

I could imagine how I looked to him, a tattered madwoman daring to challenge an armed man. Self-consciously, I ran my hand over my hair, pausing to remove a bright green leaf. So much for appearances.

“Let the girl go,” I said.

“I’m not through with her yet.”

“Yes, you are.” At least my voice did not waver.

He focused his attention on me and shoved the girl to the ground. Terrified, she looked from one to the other of us but did not move to escape. His eyes roamed up and down my body and his face twisted into a predatory leer. “You’d rather I tended to you first? That can be arranged.”

The moment he turned towards me slowed to an eternity. I noticed the beginnings of his first beard. He was too young for such behavior. He reminded me of the show c***s I’d seen at market, bright feathers puffed up with pride. My anger boiled over despite his youth.

“Oh, be still.” I let a hint of my power reach out to control him. To my shock, he fell as if I’d struck a physical blow. Two others entered the clearing following a pair of small hounds. I pulled the girl to her feet and shoved her towards the hidden path I’d just left. “Run,” I ordered.

She was out of sight before the newcomers recovered from the shock of seeing their leader lying unmoving amidst a patch of bright purple wildflowers, his shirt clashing madly with the surrounding forest.

The kitten was no where to be seen.

Jeiwan’s two companions were dressed in browns and greens for camouflage. One was tall, the other even younger than Jeiwan. The tall one kept his eyes on me while he knelt beside the unconscious boy, joining with the dogs in examining their master. One of the dogs began a mournful howl. I waited to see what they would do, allowing the girl time to escape. He nudged the quiet form and shivered.

He stood to his feet with exaggerated slowness, empty hands outstretched. “You’ve killed Jeiwan.” The younger boy was looking anywhere other than at me.

“I have killed no one. He’s just asleep,” I moved closer to help. Why had he fallen like that?

“Please, don’t come any closer,” he begged. His right hand was open, fingers spread in the warding symbol of Light.

Did he expect me to vanish like a shadow? While I could escape, I didn’t want them chasing after the girl. Besides, this was a chance to get into the castle, even if it wasn’t a good one.

“I’m a healer. I can’t help him if you won’t let me touch him,” I pointed out.

The younger boy was now staring just over my right shoulder. Perhaps there was something wrong with him. Too late, I realized my mistake.

I heard a snap behind me and was plunged into darkness.

Nian

In one instant the distraction of Elainya’s presence was gone. He stopped the horse and turned around as if by looking he could find her. How could she just vanish?

He held Singe to a tight reign. Where could he look? She wasn’t asleep, he would be able to sense her then. The horse snorted his desire to continue towards home.

Unconscious? Not dead. The Shadow Lord wouldn’t let her die. Had she defied the demon? Had the master taken her somewhere for training?

He would have known, wouldn’t he? Nian shook his head in frustration. No, there’d been no sense of pain, just the sudden silence.

With a stiff twist, he dismounted and tied Singe’s reign to a branch. Sunlight dappled the path back the way he’d just traveled, while ahead, the way led into a denser portion of forest. Perhaps he should turn back and look for her, but where to look? He would need direction.

He stood beneath a huge oak and let his head fall forward. With a deep breath for focus, he straightened and looked toward the darkest shadow at the edge of the clearing. “My lord?”

The shadows swirled and Lord Fenshad appeared, leaning casually against a tree, a rakish smile on his face. “Nian, you worry too much.”

“She is injured?”

“No. She managed to get herself knocked on the head, but no permanent damage has been done. She’s being brought to the castle.”