Identity Crisis

Amala awakes to find she has been changed.

33.

Identity Crisis

 

She struggled to pull herself out of her slumber with the greatest of efforts, but slowly she came awake, shivering in the cold air with a pounding headache.   Something was on her head and she felt for it, trying to pull it off, only to realize that it was her hair.

 

Very long hair that flowed down her back to her waist.

 

But she didn’t have long hair.    The fog clouding her brain was beginning to drift away with great hesitation, and Amala sat up, finding that the movement made her head throb even worse.

 

She groaned and blindly felt the thick long hair that apparently was her own.   It was definitely attached to her head, for she pulled on it.

 

Slowly the memory of the strange woman returned to her and she recalled how she had taken her form.   The lady had very long, flowing hair.

Amala’s eyes popped open in horror - had she taken the form of the lady just as she had taken Amala’s appearance?

 

She glanced down at her hands that still held the strand of hair.   To her great relief, she beheld her black skin and the hair was a silvery white color.   But how had she made her hair grow so long and why?   She had worn her hair short for years and liked it that way.   Never had it went past her shoulders, even when she was a little girl.

 

She realized then that she no longer wore her chainmail shirt, riding pants and tall leather boots, but instead wore a long light purple gown that was far too lightweight for this time of year.  Except for sleeping, Amala never wore dresses, certainly not one like the one she now wore.

 

“What is going on here?” She asked aloud, getting to her feet slowly so as to not make her head spin.   Why had the mysterious lady - perhaps a witch or some sort of tree nymph- done this to her?

 

Amala took inventory of herself - she still wore the enchanted rings given to her by her parents, but none of her other personal items remained.   The lady had taken them and now was posing as her!

The Drow girl knew she had to find her and stop her, but when she took a few steps in the ridiculously inadequate slippers that had been somehow placed on her feet, she found her head throbbed too hard to move.  So she sat down on a nearby fallen log and held her head in her hands until the pain subsided.

 

What was she going to do?  She looked around her, but blinked in disbelief after a few moments.   She was not at the same location when she had met the mysterious lady.   The road here was much wider and went in a northwest direction, slightly uphill.

 

She was in front of a very old, dead oak tree, but it was shaped differently than the one she remembered.   For an instant, she wondered if she had perhaps been put into one of those strange magic slumbers that lasted for many years like she had heard that the wilder fae creatures of the forest sometimes did to lost wayfarers.

 

Unnerved by the thought, she again stood up, holding her head for steadiness as she did.   She’d walk up the path, heading northeastward, if she could on the rough, snowy ground in the silly silk slippers.

 

Who had dressed her like this?    Why did the lady want to take her place on the quest?   Were her siblings and the others in danger from this woman?    What was she, anyway?   A witch, perhaps, but she seemed more fae than that and far more powerful.    Amala touched her face and was pleased to see that the dried blood had been washed from it.   In fact, all of her injuries had been healed.

 

If only she could find the others.   With a deep breath, she began slowly walking up the path, gingerly in the slippers, which almost immediately grew totally damp in the cold snow.   She shivered in the summertime dress, but she had nothing to keep her warm, so she just forced herself to keep going.

 

***

 

Carn was almost half asleep on the bouncing, rattling wagon as he followed the Faesidhe horsemen down the road.   They had ridden with only a few breaks all day, and though they had intercepted the waypath that his friends would have taken, they never did find them.

 

The snow fell at times much heavier and concealed any tracks, but Captain Linel kept them moving at a quick pace, southwestward, for he claimed that he knew where the rebels would take Amala.

 

It was nearly dusk and Carn was struggling to not nod off as he followed the Elven horsemen, when abruptly they called out to stop and they all drew up to a halt.

 

Carn’s eyes popped open when he stood up in the wagon and looked over the heads of the cavaliers to see why they had stopped.   Standing on the road facing them was a tall, beautiful form in a light purple dress and jet black skin.    Her long silvery white hair flowed to her waist and her red eyes glowed menacingly in the darkness.   But she had her arms wrapped around her and shivered.

 

For a very long moment, Carn stared at her in disbelief, for she looked like Aranthi Dullerm, the very lovely daughter of the Duke and Duchess.   But Aranthi was dead.

 

The horsemen surrounded her and called out a challenge, “Who are you?”

The girl stared them down with her chin up, but with a voice trembling from the cold said, “I’m Amala… who are you?”

 

“Amala!”   Carn roared with disbelief, leaping off the seat of the wagon and rushing past the horsemen around her.   She jumped at first upon hearing him speak, but as he neared, her face brightened.

“Carn?!”

“Thank Yesh, you are alright!   What happened to you?   Your hair… is that really your hair?”

 

The girl frowned and pulled at it, “Yes, I guess it is.   How long have I been missing?”

“Since this morning - we’ve all been looking for you.   This is Captain Linel, one of your father’s servants and son of the Governor.”

The Elven captain bowed slightly with a smile, “I believe we met once before - several years ago in King’s Reach.”

“Yes, I remember you.   I am very glad to see you.”

 

The Captain quickly dismounted and flung off his cloak, then wrapped it around her.   They led her up to the wagon and she sat there and explained to them all that had happened to her, while Carn and the horsemen listened.   When she got to the part about the mysterious woman, the Elves all looked alarmed.

“That was The White Lady”  Linel told her, “We don’t know what exactly she is, but she appears all over the forest and sometimes even outside it.   She is not evil - in fact she does not harm anyone that respects and honors the forest.   But she is known to do strange things sometimes.   She is a form changer too and has lived in this forest for eons.”

 

Amala continued with her tale and when she had finished, Linel sighed, “It sounds to me as if she has a grudge against Helios.   If that is the case, that will not necessarily be a bad thing, for she is very powerful and should help your brother and sister and their group very well.”

“Yes, but I need to join them!”  Amala replied in frustration.

“You probably won’t be able to, Lady Amala.”  Linel told her, “She is known for her spells.   She has cast out Faesidhe who wronged her from the forest and the spell would not let them return.   She has old Oak trees throughout the forest that she can teleport between.   I’d guess she sent you through one so you’d be farther away from your questing group.”

“Wonderful!   But what about my hair and these clothes?   When I saw her take my shape, she appeared to be wearing my clothing then, but at the time - before she put me to sleep - I was still wearing my armor.   Why would she take them from me and then put me into this silly dress?   Why would she make my hair grow so long?   It doesn’t make sense!”

“She is telling you something.” Carn suggested.

“Perhaps she wants you to pursue more… traditional womanly ways.”  Linel added, but regretted it from the glare that he got from the Drow girl.

“I’m not like that, and right now is certainly not the time to try something new.   We’re in the middle of a war, for Yesh’s sake!”

“Lady Amala”, Linel replied, carefully choosing his words, “I don’t know what The White Lady’s reasons are, but I doubt we could reach your group now.   It is almost night and travelling would be ill advised in this forest without light.   The White Lady may have put some sort of Geis upon you to prevent you from going after her.”

“How can I find out?”

“Come with us back to our watch station - it is not far from here.   We have a wizard attached to our troop that can cast a spell of detection upon you to see if there is a Geis.   If there isn’t, we’ll help you try to reach the others.   If there is a Geis upon you, then we’ll escort you back to Westmark or wherever you would like to go.”

 

Amala considered this for a moment, and nodded, “Alright, Captain Linel.   I hope you also have some warm clothing and some weapons to loan me as well as a barber so I can cut off this hair.”

“Cut off your hair?”  The elf asked, “Why do that, Lady Amala?   It is quite beautiful.”

 

Amala snorted at the compliment, “It’s quite long, too.   Much too long.”

“Well, we can help you with that as well, if that is what you want.   Shall we get underway?”

 

With that, they began down the path, toward the watch station.

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"She had to find her and stop her, but when she took..." This could be a bit confusing if one weren't paying close attention. Perhaps a bit of clarification, here.
"...dismounted and swooped off his cloak..." This sounds a bit odd to me. The way it's written makes it sound as though he's swooping off of the cloak the way one would swoop down off a horse; rather than that he's taking the cloak off.

[Eddie Davis]

Good points on both of them, Elina, I will work on fixing them tomorrow. Thank you as always for your kindness to me.