Ch. 7

 

7A

Although Rosalyn had left the spiritual world and returned to her physical body fragments of her ecstatic fling with a clean soul still lingered with her as she woke under Neil’s gaze. A smile spread not only over Rosalyn’s mouth but through her whole being only hinting at her nymph-like nature and the smile Neil returned made her glow all the more.

Suddenly she was on her feet, spinning and dancing to her own inner tune. As Rosalyn spun she changed, the radiant glow about her swirled to gold and wings erupted into existence on her back in an explosion of light. Before the light had a chance to fade she had taken to the sky, diving into clouds and soaring with stunned song birds.

With Rosalyn’s bright, golden glow there was a glow darker than the evergreen spins on a moonless night diving and spinning in unison. As the euphoric fragments of the spirit world began to ebb Rosalyn took notice of the dark mass flying with her and gasped.

And when she gasped Rosalyn began her plummet to the earth below, her wings having flickered away. But Rosalyn never met the hard soil beneath because Neil had caught her as soon as she began to fall. When they landed Rosalyn was wide eyed and voiceless as Neil tried to explain such a secret.

“I am aware that a secret like this is wrong to keep from a friend as close as you but I had to follow the orders and they were to reveal nothing until I was sure you were Gamic.”

What Neil said took time to sink in but, as Rosalyn caught on, her voice was returned, “What do you mean ‘orders?’”

Neil hesitated a moment before slowly choosing his words, “As a Gamic person I am entitled to obey the orders given by anyone who is qualified. The orders given to a large group of volunteers, of which I was part, were to watch a person suspected to be Gamic in the human territories. Should the suspicion prove to be true then we were to guide them in The Way of the Winged. If the situation was settled then we were to guide them to the Wings Chapel.”

“So this whole time you were only helping me because you were under orders to?”

“Protecting you was my own decision; my orders were to simply watch.”

“Why did you save me then?”

“I felt I should.

“Explain.” Her crossed arms and creased brow along with the voice void of all joy crushed what spirit Neil had left but it only flickered past, covered at once with a cold mask.

“I don’t take orders from a fledgling. So far as I’m concerned I’ve done my job and if you were to walk away right now it wouldn’t matter in the least.”

Rosalyn’s eye brow arched, “Oh, yeah?” She turned on her heel and walked away without a second glance.

7B

The silence was strangling him as he rode onward towards his home. It was not an absolute silence; Neil could still hear the natural sounds of the forest around him but the absence of Rosalyn created a void, making the world seem duller than it had been before.

Neil felt as if the guilt were tangible but, as he attempted reverting back to his old ways, the guilt turned to anger. How dare she turn her back on him after all the trouble he had gone through to keep her safe. He should be proud to have not let personal feelings cloud his obedience to the queen. It’s not like he was required to bring her to the Chapel, only to teach her to read and understand her inner self.

“But, in that I have failed…” Neil stroked Black Moon’s thick neck, “I fear I’ve made a grave mistake.” Black Moon whinnied as if in agreement and turned around only to be surrounded, defeated and finally captured.

7C

To be nothing more than a mission put in motion by some queen who had no authority to change her life was the most gulling thing of all. Sure, it would have come as bit of a shock when, on her twenty-second birthday, she was suddenly not human anymore without any sort of anchor in her sanity. It was probably a good thing to have someone who understood the change, humans, when caught off guard by something strange, was, at best, unhelpful.

Whereas Neil was, at worst, a steady stone to rest against. And he had said that his saving her was of his own volition. Besides, so far as Rosalyn could tell when her temper had finally simmered down, the only reason she was walking away was because of her hot-headedness.

“I’ve made a grave mistake,” she said, stroking the strong neck of Silver Fire. The mare tossed her head in agreement and turned back. After a heated struggle and defeat Rosalyn was captured.

7D

Strung to the back of strange horses, gagged and blindfolded Rosalyn and Neil were limp, deep in the absence of mind in their unconsciousness. Their heads rolled from side to side while the horses were led on a path all but invisible to any not used to the way.

The men leading the horses talked in hushed tones about their odd catches of the day. The man was seen with wings made from the evergreen, the woman was seen with wings made from the sun’s own rays and the other was a mystery beyond them.

This red-headed slip of a woman was watched as she walked around in no certain direction with no destination or gear for gravel. It seemed all she had was wide, pale blue eyes that took in the world as if she had never seen the likes of it before, as if she were an infant.

The ones watching her were reluctant to catch her at first, there seemed to be no real reason. She obviously lacked wit; her strength seemed to be little. The only possible reason they could fathom was her luck, she was unharmed as far as they could tell and they would be the ones to catch and split her.

But, as the men came in around her, the resistance was stupefying. They had just come out of the brush and trees when her skin literally scaled over then bristled. One man darted at her and was caught to be bitten by fangs the size of her thumb dripping clear venom. The man dropped dead from her grasp and she attacked the next one with her long, black claws protruding where nails ought to be.

She had taken three more lives before she was finally brought down with a hard blow to the head. As the remaining men buried their deceased her skin crawled back across her body, the claws shrunk back to nails and the fangs sank back to normal sized canines.

At first they were reluctant to touch her motionless form but the power that she might give to their people was enough to spur them on. Having learned their lesson the red-head was bound hand and foot, the ties far from her vanished claws and her mouth as tied shut with strong rope.

When the hunters returned to their small village the women and children set to work immediately on the night’s festivities meant to thank their god for such a grand feast of boar, deer and fish the men had caught as well as for the people who would soon be adding to their numbers of the Lost.

It wasn’t until they had been changed into the custom garb of the Lost and been placed at a table did the three wake from their unconsciousness. At first they were oblivious to everything going on around them, the pigs being roasted, the deer being butchered and the fish being some sort of raw snack before the main meal. The Neil took notice of the bars of vision missing from his vision as if they were at some sort of caged table…

“Rosalyn!” He stood, so fast the chair shot out from behind him and broke against the bars of their prison, and then he darted to her side trying to smooth the frays of her rattled mind.

“Neil…Neil?” Rosalyn jumped up and wrapped her arms around him, “I’m sorry, I never should have walked away from you. I’m so sorry, Neil.”

After a moment of shock Neil returned her embrace, “Don’t’ apologize Rosalyn, it was my fault. I deserved to see you back but, please, never do that again.”

“Never.”

“Never say ‘never.’” When Neil and Rosalyn registered the new voice they turned to the red head who showed no sign of ever speaking, only sat there with her hands spread out on the table and her eyes staring straight ahead, unfocused.

“What’d you say?” Rosalyn stood away from Neil and hazarded a question aimed towards this strange woman.

“Never say ‘never.’”

“And why shouldn’t I say ‘never?’”

The woman smile, focused her eyes and laughed, happy to be challenged, “Because things always go wrong and someday you may need to walk away from that man.” Rosalyn looked at her in astonishment and when she failed to answer quickly enough the woman’s eyes unfocused again and her smile faded.

Neil stared at the red head, both annoyed and curious, until he remembered their current predicament, “Do you know where we are?”

She watched a couple of men walk by with burns across their torsos, “No, but I do know how I got here. I had been busy attacking those men when I felt something hit my head.”

Holding his head Neil grimaced, “Yeah, I was hit as well.”

“That’s their preferred tactic.”

“And how is it you know this?” Neil had answered to Rosalyn without a thought until he realized that it had been the red head again.

“Because I was hit on the head too. And it makes sense. They obviously don’t want us dead yet, so they knock us out for easy transportation.”

“I suppose that makes sense. How is it you know so much about them?” Rosalyn sat in her chair, opposite the woman.

“What I just shared was gleaned from obvious facts both of you knew but didn’t bother trying to put together. Everything else I know I’ve learned since I woke up. I’m watching them and listening to them instead of blabbering continuously.”

“So what have you heard and seen while we blabbered continuously?”

“What I have learned is easy enough to learn for yourself. Stop being so human for a moment and take in the world around you.” Rosalyn blinked as the woman’s eyes unfocused again then shrugged, getting ready to do as instructed.

First the only strange thing noticeable was all of the people who walked by were staring at them with expressions of excitement which turned out to be not so strange if one were to overhear the conversation across the wide walkway.

“Two of them are winged you say?” The man speaking gave a wicked smile; half of his teeth were either missing or broken. “It should be interesting to see the effects after their soul is distributed.”

“I’m more interested in the lizard woman…” the rest of his sentence was lost to the red-heads angry hiss.

“I hate it when people call me that, I am not a lizard.” At least she wasn’t totally in control of her human mannerisms, Rosalyn thought to herself meekly.

“What does he mean by that?” Neil’s voice drifted from the spar chair that had since been covered in shadow.

“Listen.”

“…horrifying. The one she bit died almost instantly and the two others attacked are slowly dying in their homes as we speak, those claws were huge. I had sent a number of poison tipped arrows and they all hit her but they wouldn’t break through the scales.”

The one with a wicked smile laughed, “She is most definitely the more interesting. But think of what could happen if we entwined all the souls together.”

The other man, who was somewhat small but built with wiry muscles, thought to himself for a moment before his eyes brows shot up, “Everyone here would be more powerful than ever.”

“Exactly. The feast tonight will certainly end with everyone happy,” his eyes slid over to look at the three caged people, “even our donors.”

At this point Rosalyn stopped listening and refused her curiosity’s longing to listen in again. She tried to see Neil but the shadow was too drastic a change in lighting, “Neil, could you move your chair over here, so I can see you?”

“Just a moment,” he emerged with his chair in hand then sat down between the two women, “Well, this is an interesting problem we’ve gotten into. How do you suppose we get out?”

“Right now we don’t have any option but to sit here, so I vote we introduce ourselves.” Rosalyn gave a long look to the red haired woman.

“I know your names already, Rosalyn and Neil. I also know you’re both Gamic, and by the looks of it, both of you are pretty new to the game.”

“What do you mean by that?” Rosalyn looked from Neil to the woman in confusion.

“I mean that you’re both freshly ‘found’. He’s a little older than you, but not by much.”

Rosalyn looked as if she were going to question Neil then she shook her head, changing her mind for the time being. Instead she looked at the woman and changed the subject, “And who are you?”

“It’s not lizard woman, that’s for damned sure. When I was actually allowed in human establishments I was called Lady Morrigan. Now, it seems I’m not a Lady any longer, so Morrigan will do.”

At this point Rosalyn’s eyes grow large and she gasped, “The Lady Morrigan?”

“I know of no others, so yes, I suppose.”

“What is it, Rosalyn?” It was Neil’s turn to look from woman to woman in confusion.

“Well, you know I grew up in a well off house hold. And as a budding lady I had to sit through sewing circles with grown woman who are renowned for the gossiping.

“Oh, yes, do continue. I do love to hear gossip about myself,” Morrigan’s eyes were dark and her voice dripped with sarcasm but Rosalyn continued undaunted.

“It was on the tip of every wagging tongue for at least a month. It was about this woman, Lady Morrigan, who had caught the heart of the High Mage’s predecessor. She had refuse him time and time again until he finally lost his temper, placing a spell on her like some old time witch, making her scaled. But, since he stilled loved her, he wouldn’t let her go unprotected. That’s where the gossip ended, although I could hazard a guess from what I just heard on just what that protection was.”

“To listen to a bunch of blabbering women who are only talking to hear the sound of their own voices, you get gossip. The problem with gossip is it’s generally wrong.”

Suddenly torn out of her victory, Rosalyn huffed in annoyance, “What’s the truth then?”

“That is none of your business.”

Morrigan and Rosalyn locked eyes then, as Morrigan is prone to do, she unfocused her eyes and ignored the presence of all. Rosalyn threw up her hand in defeat, “No wonder she could only catch the love of an old, senile man, this woman is impossible!”

“Rosalyn please, she’s right, it is none of our business.” She blinked at Neil and scowled, feeling betrayed.

“We’re in a cage with her, I think we have a right to know what’s sitting a breath away.”

“Be that as it may, it’s not that important when we get right down to it. I believe getting out of this cage and away from these people to be a higher priority.” At this a chilling and familiar voice sounded.

“If I were part of your little trio of locked up freaks I would have to agree with this man here, Neil, did you call him? But there are two problems to that. One, make figuring out the red head’s past your highest priority, there’s no getting away. Two, I couldn’t be part of your trio because then it wouldn’t be a trio, now would it?”

Everyone in the cage stared at the man, who had been getting informed of the day’s catch not too long ago, who had a wicked smile, an insane laugh and untrustworthy, darting, pale eyes. He stared right back, silent with his grin wide and his head cocked to one side until he suddenly cackled, still staring with his constantly twitching eyes.

Rosalyn darted a look to Neil before clearing her throat in discomfort and looking at anything besides the barking mad man. He saw this and the laughing stop abruptly, to be replaced by screaming, “You treat me like some raving lunatic in my own grand home! For this you shall be the first to die!” When the words stopped, he made no attempt to stop screaming.

At first Rosalyn only ignored his screeching, trying to come to grips with dying but every second the sound of his scream crept further and further into her resolve until finally she jumped up, appearing as new and frightening inner self.

Her wings were the black, like the depths of the void, as well as her hair and long dress that flowed in wicked tendrils. Rosalyn’s eyes were the color of still flowing blood and her skin was ivory. When she spoke, her voice was low and menacing, it reached into every soul in the small village, as if her were right there with her deathly cold hand gripped around each and every heart, “I have heard enough from you, Dread. It is your time to die and every bloody soul in this damned village shall follow you into the fiery abyss.”

Neil, putting off his shock and fear until another time, found his inner self and placed himself at Morrigan’s side, “Keep by me,” surprisingly Morrigan, scaled but otherwise unchanged, held onto Neil, getting as close as possible. Just moments before Rosalyn released her judgment Neil built a dome of light around himself and Morrigan.

The explosion was frightening and fast, in a flash of black fire the whole of the village was engulfed. For a moment, a life time in the eyes of Rosalyn, Neil and Morrigan, the pale face of Dread was glimpsed laughing in maniac delight as the fires consumed him. When the fire died and Rosalyn fell to the ground, nearly lost in the black of unconsciousness, the voice of Dread was heard, “I am Dread and you cannot banish me to my own realm forever.” His laughter echoed in Rosalyn’s mind and heart.