Birdsong

Arianelle struggles to find a way to defeat the Dragon of Sorrow curse.

18.

Birdsong

 

She was relieved to be left alone, and Arianelle first went to the family chapel and prayed, hoping for some sort of revelation or sign of what she could do to save her parents and grandparents.     How could she stay here with her parents dying in Tarmard?     But here her grandparents were dying as well, and her cousin Nolen needed all of his family near him as he dealt with the loss of his parents.

What could she do?

Though she knelt and cried out to God for almost an hour, no response came.     Frustrated, she went back to the royal bedchambers to check on her grandparent’s conditions.   Aidan was asleep in a chair beside their bed, but a servant told her that the king and queen were sleeping peacefully.    Arianelle didn’t want to disturb that, so she made her way to the balcony of the royal suite, to finally ‘get some air’ as she had told her family over an hour before.

The rain continued to fall, a steady, dreary downpour that reminded her of the far-reaching effects of the Dragon of Sorrow spell.   Arianelle stared blankly out into the dark night, hypnotized by the sound of the rain but utterly miserable in her helplessness.

The touch of something warm being placed over her shoulders brought her out of her trance.    Blinking back into consciousness, she looked over to see the glowing red eyes of her cousin Nolen as he adjusted a cloak around her, then fastened it.

“You’ll get a cold in this damp air.”   He told her.

“Our kind doesn’t get colds.”

“Not normally, but with this terrible curse in effect, I wouldn’t want to chance it.    You’ve been gone a long time, Neth.”

She smiled at his use of her fake name, “Yeah, I acted poorly  back there, but it is so frustrating to not be able to do something.   Nolen, how in the world are you coping so well after what happened to your parents?”

He shrugged, “I don’t feel as if I’m doing well at all.    I just know that they would expect me to be strong.   Plus, having family nearby really helps.”

Arianelle took his hand, “I’m here for you, you know.”

Nolen squeezed her hand, “Thanks, that is really important to me.    Now tell me all about how you pulled off your new identity.”

For a few minutes she explained it to him, outlining her reasons for the charade. 

“Aria, I honestly don’t think Lee is a danger to us, right now.    I sent a messenger to tell him what we learned, but so far he hasn’t been located.”

“Well, I don’t want him to have to go through what we’re going through.”

“It is hard for him, you know.   He’s in a foreign land and none of his family is there to comfort him.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I guess.    I’ll try not to think the worst about him.”

“Thanks.”   For a time they just stared out into the rain.   Nolen put his arm around her and she leaned against his shoulder wearily.

“I’m so tired,”   She whispered, “I just want all of this to end.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I don’t think I could get to sleep if I tried.   I just feel like we need to be doing something.”

“All we can do is wait and see.    The others are pouring over all the books in the library.”

“Why aren’t you helping them?”   She asked her cousin.

Nolen smiled. “I was worried about you.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me, I’m alright.”

“No you’re not.”

She bowed her head, struggling not to cry again. “You’re right, I’m not.   Nolen, what are we going to do?”

He hugged her close to him and felt her weeping.    Patting her head as she sobbed quietly against his shoulder, he had no idea what he could say to her.   He wanted to comfort her, to ease her pain, but what comfort could he offer?

As he struggled with what to do or say, he suddenly became aware that there was a bird singing, somewhere nearby, at night in the rain.   It wasn’t an owl, for it had a shrill, almost rattling call.

“What is that?”   he asked after listening to the sound for a few moments.

“What are you talking about?”

“That bird call… at least I think that is what it is.”

Arianelle listened, “I think I’ve heard that all the time I’ve been standing here, but I was too upset to actually consciously notice it.”

Suddenly there was the sound of flapping wings and out of no-where a small bird landed on the railing of the balcony.    It was a beautiful blue color with a brilliant orange chest that shimmered in the light of magic torches lighting the balcony.

“What is it?”   Arianelle whispered to her cousin, so as to not startle the brightly colored bird.

“I don’t know,” he replied, also in a whisper.

The bird looked at them, staring with a strange intelligence, chirping from time to time as if wanting to tell them something.

“Go find Carn and Amala - or grandma Mathlyn, maybe they’ll know.  I’ll try to keep the bird here,”   Arianelle suggested, and Nolen agreed, hurrying through the doorway.

For a few minutes, she just stared at the little bird, wondering what it meant.     Finally she heard footsteps and Nolen came out into the balcony, with a stunned look on his face.

“What’s wrong?   Did you find them?”

He shook his head. “Aria, something strange is going on.”

That drew all her attention to him. “What?”

“Well, I went to find them and when I went out into the hallway, I saw a chamber maid standing there in the middle of the hall.   I asked her if she knew if Amala and Carn were in their room, but she didn’t answer.    I asked again and she didn’t say anything.    I touched her arm and she was like a statue.   Her eyes were open and her skin was warm, but she was frozen in one spot.”

“I feared there was some sort of spell on her, so I ran down the hall and went into Carn and Amala’s room.    When I yelled for them, there was no answer and I found them asleep in bed, but frozen just like the maid.      I hurried from room to room, but everyone seems to be in a state of suspended animation.     I even went out into the streets and there are people on the street frozen in one spot as if time has completely stopped.”

“Are we under some sort of arcane attack?”   Arianelle asked fearfully.

“I don’t know of one that would freeze an entire city.    Look!   Even the rain has stopped.”

He pointed off the balcony, and to her amazement, he was right.    Drops of rain hung suspended on air as if time was standing still.    Unnerved by the sight, Arianelle rushed back into the palace.    The doors opened and closed when tried, but just as Nolen had said, everything else seemed to have stopped.

“My God!”   She exclaimed a minute later when she rejoined him on the balcony, “Yesh, preserve us, Nolen; what does this mean?    We’re the only ones moving.”

“No, the birds are active… you know, I’ll bet I know what kind of birds they are.”

“What?”  she asked, dreading his answer.

“I’ll wager that they’re Kingfishers.”

“Kingfishers?!  T-Then-“

Before she could verbalize her thought, the bird gave a very shrill whistle and suddenly flew off the balcony.     But as they watched it go, they saw a strange white light, shining a short distance away, outside the western gate, at the edge of the Faesidhe forest.     It looked like a wide city gateway,  similar to the one leading out of Westmark, but this one consisted of shimmering silvery white light and it hung in the air.

“It’s a portal, Aria!”   Nolen whispered.

“Do you think it’s real?   Could this really be a portal to The Fisher King’s castle?”

“It fits - the birds, the flow of time suspended, and now some sort of magic portal.”

“But why are we the only ones experiencing it… is it because we are the heirs?”

“That would be my guess.”

“So what do we do?” 

“I think we’re expected to go through that portal.   Hopefully to find the Fisher King.”

“What should we take?”

“I have no idea - but we should wear our armor and carry our weapons - Carn said something about going through ‘many trials’ before reaching the Fisher King.”

“Alright --- I’ll get my armor on.”

“Meet me in the hallway as quickly as you can.”

 

They rushed off toward their quarters, their minds spinning with wonderment at the adventure that awaited them.

 

***

 

It was a surreal experience for the Sylvan girl, donning the plate armor that her grandmother had just recently given her, in the heavy stillness of the night.   Arianelle’s head spun as she fumbled with the plates and straps, hurrying as fast as she could.

Were they doing the right thing?     Was it some sort of Toi-Migg trap to get the three heirs of the three elven kingdoms together to ambush?   Yet what choice was left to them, with time apparently frozen, except for them?

She was grumbling under her breath as she tried stretching her arms around her to fasten the back plate buckle at her hip.

Someone suddenly touching her made her cry out in alarm, spinning around to find Nolen (already suited up), strapping the troublesome buckle.

“You scared me to death!”   She told him, recovering from her start.

“Sorry, I thought you’d heard me come in.”

“I was mumbling to myself… Nolen, this is absolutely crazy!    It’s like a crazy dream… or nightmare.”

“Yeah, but we’ve got to stay focused on our goal " to save your parents and our grandparents.”

“I know…I think I’m ready.   Do we take horses?   Where will this portal lead us?”

“There’s no way to know.    We’ll check out the stable, and if our two horses are… uh… ‘unfrozen’, then we’ll know we’re supposed to take them.”

“This is crazy!”

“Yes, but maybe we’ll be able to save them.   Come on, let’s get moving.”

 

***

As their mounts were fully animated, whereas all the other horses in the stable were frozen in time, the cousins quickly saddled them and minutes later were riding through the western gate (which thankfully could be opened with both of them pushing against it) and toward the white portal that hovered on the edge of the great Faesidhe forest.

They had just paused in front of the magical portal to look it over before going through it, when they heard the sound of a galloping horse coming from behind them.    Surprised, they turned to find Prince Lee, riding furiously to catch up with them.

He wore the oriental armor of the Hutcaiah cavalry, and they knew immediately that he had decided on the same course of action, independent of them.

  “I received your message.”  He told them as he drew up along side them, “In fact, your messenger had just finished telling me a brief account of The Fisher King legend when suddenly he froze in place.    I was unsure what had happened, but I happened to look out the window and see the portal shining in the night.   I was going to investigate when I saw both of you riding out toward it.   Then I knew that this had to be ordained that we three heirs of our fathers… or grandfather… were supposed to experience this alone.”

“We’re not sure what this all means,”  Nolen told the Hutcaiah prince, “But it is clear that we have few options left to us.”

Lee nodded grimly, then turned to look at Arianelle with a faint smile, “I suspected you were Maelneth, Princess.    I assume you are no longer pursuing that falsehood?”

“There is no need now, Prince Lee.    We’re all allies now in an extremely important common cause.”

He nodded again, now turning to Nolen, “I regret to have heard about the deaths of your parents, Nolen, I am truly sorry.”

“Thanks, Lee.    I heard about your brother… I too am deeply sorry.”

“Thanks, my friend… I should also thank you, Princess Arianelle, for I have learned of your attempt to stop the spell.    Your actions killed those who cast it, so at the very least, it will not be cast again by anyone who knows the incantation from memory.    You are a remarkable and courageous young lady.    My people owe you their thanks.”

Arianelle shrugged, looking down at her gauntlets, “I only regret that I could not have stopped the assassinations and activation of the spell as well.”

There was a moment of silence and finally Nolen cleared his throat, “So, shall we ride through and see what awaits us on the other side?   I am anxious to have a resolution to this whole nightmare.”

They agreed, and so after checking their equipment and taking steadying breaths, they led their horses in a line, through the shimmering light of the portal.