1: Experience

1

EXPERIENCE

 

 

 

“Experience is the worst teacher; it gives the test before it presents the lesson.”

-H. E. Wells

 

 

          The grass is always green in Ujin Hra. Even in the depths of winter, if you were to dig beneath the snow, you would find green blades. It is a tiny village in a little valley, deep in the Cambrian Mountains of Wales, not far from the tallest mountain, Snowdon. Few ever visit the Mati village, and few ever leave it for the harsh realities of the outside world. Emma would have no choice.

         

 

Shadow’s feet were merciless as she pounded the grass beneath her, racing towards the paddock and victory.  Emma could hear Ty and Windrider behind them; she urged Shadow faster. 

          The pony surged forward and Emma could feel Shadow’s muscles bunch underneath her as she came to the fence. She leaped easily over the low gate and landed gracefully on the other side. Emma turned just in time to see Ty jump Windrider over the fence. Emma sighed; someday she would have a real horse, too. She hugged Shadow’s neck in apology for even thinking it, though. 

 “You cheated!” Ty was glaring at her.

 “I did not!”

 “Did so!”

 “I said ‘go’!”

 “You did not!”

Emma grinned slyly at her older brother. “You never said how loud to say it. I whispered it.”

Ty let out a sound of exasperation and led Windrider towards the stables to cool him down.

          Ty Setanta Cyton was the first child and therefore the heir of their father, cuChulainn Setanta Cyton, hero of the Red Branch of Ulster. He looked almost exactly like his father. Light-brown hair covered his head and a strand of it was always in his eyes. He had an angular face and defined features. But his more noticeable feature was his eyes. They were a light, bluish-green, like water. They were beautiful. 

          Emma led Shadow into her own stable and pulled off her tack. Ty was in the next one over, cooing softly and grooming his precious stallion. Emma rolled her eyes.

 “Who won?” Their father had strode into the stables, his own horse, Grey of Macha, right behind him.

“No one did.” Ty answered. “Emma cheated.”

“I did not! Ty never told me how loud to say it, Father. He just didn’t hear me!”

Their father was chuckling as he began to cool down Grey. 

“She’s a savvy one, you have to admit.”

Ty was still glaring at her.

“Oh, come off it, lad. She needs a head start with that beauty of yours.” He ruffled Ty’s hair and patted Windrider affectionately. “Your mother sent a message with me; dinner’s ready. You’d better go quick, too. She’s in a fuss-budgety mood today.”  

“Can we practice sword today, Father?”

“I suppose so. My little blood-soaked princess…” He scooped her up into his arms.

          As she looked over her father’s shoulder she noticed that Ty was staring strangely at him. But then, Ty was always doing that.

          Ty was a seer, a power that some Mati possessed that allowed them to see things of the past, present, and future. The eye on his palm showed that he was a powerful one, too. He had visions at night, known to the Mati as a Sight.  Some nights he woke up screaming, and sobbing so hard that Emma feared he would shake himself apart. Emma had snuck down the hall to his room once, and heard him pleading with their mother to leave Ujin Hra. Emma could not fathom why, but it scared their mother, whatever these Sights showed him of things to come. It scared Emma too, though they had never told her what he saw in his mind.

“Come on, Lyulf.”     

          Lyulf was a newborn wolf, still wobbly on his feet, and liable to trip. He wasn’t a real wolf, that was just his form. He was Emma’s familiar. A Mati’s familiar is a part of their soul, an everlasting companion, and a guide through new paths of power. Lyulf was a grey wolf. Ty’s was a mountain lion. Their father’s was a white irish wolfhound named Cansha, who helped the younger familiars. Both Lyulf and Ty’s mountain lion Sosha had wandered from the woods to their new masters just a few weeks before. A familiar’s eyes are the same color as their companion’s. Lyulf’s eyes were a deep, emerald green, like Emma’s.

          Emma’s hair fell over her shoulders in slightly wavy strands. It was a light auburn with streaks of gold flowing through it. She had elegant but defined features, like her mother. She was tall for a ten-year old, only a little shorter than Ty, who was thirteen. Emma was not a seer, but she was powerful. Very powerful. Though she didn’t know it yet, her core was more powerful than any her parents had ever seen.  Later she would learn to love her magic, because no matter what happened to her, no one could ever take her magic away. Ever. But as a young girl she wanted something in her hand, something she could see.         

          Emma’s father set her down in her chair at the table where dinner was waiting, and Ty sat down next to her.

“See? I told you, Shawna. Safe and sound.” Their father kissed his wife on the cheek.

“I still don’t think you two should be riding that fast. It’s dangerous.”

Ty rolled his eyes. “Mother, Windrider never stumbles, and neither does Shadow. Emma and I are both good enough riders to know how to ride safely. Heck, we’ve both been on a horse since we were two.”

“Alright, alright, I believe you.  Boy, you can argue your point into the ground, child.” She looked sideways at her husband. ”His father’s child.”  CuChulainn grinned. Her mother’s familiar, a sparrow named Petimew, chirruped angrily at Cansha.

          Dinner was always good in their house; their mother was an excellent cook.  Chicken and strawberry sauce, Emma’s favorite.

“I had the Sight again last night, Mother.”

The table grew quiet.

          Their Mother clenched her teeth. “It is not a Sight. It’s just a dream.”

Ty scooted food around on his plate. “But what if it isn’t just a dream? What if…”

“Ty Setanta!” Ty flinched at the use of his middle name. “ I will have no more talk of such things in my house!”

An uncomfortable silence fell, during which one of the many dogs underneath the table whined pitifully. Ty looked at his father, pleading with his eyes.

CuChulainn cleared his throat. “Emma, are you ready to go practice?”

“Yes.” Emma and Ty picked up their dishes and put them on the counter, then wordlessly went outside.

“CuChulainn?” CuChulainn looked at his wife. Her eyes had a pleading look in them. “Do you think it really is a Sight?”

CuChulainn took a deep breath and leaned over to kiss Shawna on the cheek. “I don’t know, baby. That’s your area. I hope not, but I just don’t know.”

          Three-month-old Logan began crying in the other room, and Shawna got up to go feed him.

 

 

Ty and Emma took their practice swords down from the rack and gave them a few testing swings. Ty split the air so hard and fast that you could hear it rushing over his blade. There was a hardness in his eyes tonight; a coldness that sent shivers down Emma’s spine. He was angry with their mother for not believing him, for not believing that what he was seeing was no dream. It was scary how angry he got. He could be soft and caring one minute, and cold and hard the next. But tonight there was something else in his eyes, too: fear.

“Well, children, lets get to work.”

“Father?”

“Yes, Ty?”

“Why don’t you believe me?”

CuChulainn stared at his son. “When did I say that?”

“Well, you’re not fighting Mother too hard!”

“Ty, I don’t know anything about sights or scrying or seeing in general! I don’t know why you keep having that dream, vision, whatever! All I know is that Ujin Hra has never been attacked before. Now, lets get started.”

          Emma ‘s head was reeling. Ujin Hra? Attacked? Never! How could Ujin Hra ever be attacked? And by who? The Mati didn’t have enemies. If this was what Ty saw at night then it must be a dream! Mustn’t it?

          Emma began to go through her sword exercises, trying to swing the blade like her father had shown her.

“Emma!” Her father came up behind her and put his hand over hers. “Like this…” He swung the blade around and down, and Emma’s heart quickened as she felt the rightness of it. “It’s a sword, not a club. A sword is a companion, it should move like another part of your arm. Don’t swing it; guide it. The sword will do the rest.” He let go and suddenly the sword was no longer graceful, it was clunky and heavy. Where had the rightness gone?

          CuChulainn had moved away from his children and drawn his own sword. Matathulaz was its name, and it was the most beautiful sword that Emma had ever seen. The hilt was made of white gold, and cut Sapphires sparkled in the candlelight, three on each side and one on the top. It was their father’s prized possession, and someday it would be Ty’s.

          The sword sparkled as cuChulainn moved it with a flick of his wrist, spinning and flying through the air. The sword flowed like water, like a river through the forest.  Ty watched his father in awe. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe they would be safe. For how could anyone beat a warrior like cuChulainn? But in his heart, Ty knew it wouldn’t be enough.

 

 

 

Emma woke in the middle of the night for apparently no reason at all. And then she heard a low moaning down the hall. Lyulf let out a small whine from the end of her bed.

          Emma pushed the covers away and slipped out of bed. The floor was cold under her feet and the loose board creaked. Lyulf padded along behind her, his nails clicking on the floor.

          Ty was tossing wildly in his bed, moaning and sweating like he was feverish. Sosha was pawing at his face, trying to get him to wake up.

          Emma rushed to his bedside and took hold of his wrists, shaking him.

“TY!”

Ty screamed and sat strait up in bed, sobbing uncontrollably. His scream had woken up Logan, who was screaming his head off like all babies do.

          Both their mother and father had run into the room, and Shawna had wrapped her arms around her first child. “CuChulainn, go see to Logan. Emma, go back to bed.”

“No!” Ty glared fiercely at his mother, tears still streaming down his face. “We have to get out of here! We have to leave! I saw it Mother! You’ll die if you don’t leave!”

“Ty, don’t say things like that! Nothing is going to happen to us!”

“Go get ready, Emma. Pack your things. Go…!” There was an almost hysterical look in his eyes now.

“STOP IT!” Their mother grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, hard. “Just stop it!”

Ty was crying again, looking at his Mother in fear.  “But we have to go, Mom. We have to…”

“It was just a dream, Ty. Nothing but a dream. Please go back to sleep. It was just a dream.”

She had lain him down on the bed again, stroking his hair. Emma could feel her weaving the magic: She was putting a sleep spell on him.

“Go back to bed, Emma.”

“Will he be…?”

“Go back to bed!”  Her mother had never yelled at her like that.

          Emma rushed out of the room and down the hall, almost tripping over Lyulf. Logan was still crying in the other room. Emma covered herself with her blankets and let a few tears run down her cheek. What was going on? What was wrong with Ty? What was wrong with her mother? Lyulf whined and licked at her face.

“Emma?”

Emma snuggled deeper into her blankets.

Shawna sighed and sat down on the bed next to her daughter. “I’m sorry I yelled at you, Emma. Ty’s only dreaming. Sometimes dreams seem real, even when they’re not. Nothing is going to happen to us. We’re safe in Ujin Hra.”

Emma believed her mother without question.

 

 

Ty was quiet at breakfast the next morning. He wouldn’t even look at his mother, wouldn’t answer when she spoke to him. CuChulainn was silent, too.

“Emma, when you finish your breakfast Mr. Lemos is making fresh candy this morning. Why don’t you and Ty go get some?”

          Emma began shoveling food into her mouth. Mr. Lemos made the best candy in all of Wales. Ty continued to push eggs around his plate.

“May I be excused?”

Shawna stared at him. He had only eaten a few bites, and usually you couldn’t fill him to save your life.

“Where are you going?”

Ty averted his eyes from his mother’s gaze. “I wanted to take Windrider for a ride.”

“Don’t you want to go with Emma?”

“I’m not very hungry.”

“Alright,” She said slowly, “but be back in an hour.”

          Ty put his plate on the counter and went outside. Emma stared at her brother and then looked hopefully at her mother. “Can I still go?”

“Yes, you can still go.” Emma leapt up and hugged her mother around the waist. Then she kissed her father on the cheek and flew out the door towards the barn.

“CuChulainn?”

CuChulainn raised an eyebrow.

“Something’s not right. I can feel it.”

 

 

The line infront of Mr. Lemos’ shop was long when she got there, full of children pushing and shoving.

“Here to get some sweets, Emma?” Sandra smiled down at her. Sandra was her Mother’s best friend, and the other healer in Ujin Hra.

Emma nodded excitedly and grinned up at the tall woman.

          It was then that the bell in the middle of the village started ringing, and Ty turned his horse toward home in a dead canter.

          Emma looked fearfully towards the bell. That was the alarm bell. Something was wrong!

          Hoof beats were coming, many hoof beats. Shouts and screams were racing through the village like wildfire. The first house went up in flames.

          Emma no longer knew what was happening, she just ran like crazy towards home. An arrow whizzed past her face and one of the children infront of her dropped to the ground, an arrow in his back.

          CuChulainn grabbed his sword and ran to the front of the house, just as Ty cantered into the barn. He ran up to meet his father, practice sword in hand.

“TY, NO! GO BACK INSIDE!” CuChulainn screamed at his son. Ty wasn’t listening.

          Half of the village was burned now, and the humans came like a wave down the valley, killing as they went.

          CuChulainn fought as a warrior, and now Ty understood why he had been so loved by his men. The humans were circling around them, closing them in. Shawna set Logan down in the manger by the barn and grabbed her own sword, the horror of what she had done to her family driving her mad. Why hadn’t she listened?  Why hadn’t she listened to her son?

          The archer was hiding in the edge of the forest, his bow drawn, his arrow ready. CuChulainn turned his back to the woods, and the archer loosed.

          Emma screamed as Matathulaz fell to the ground, and her father’s eyes grew wide and empty. Shawna ran to her lover’s side, but not in time to stop him from falling. The arrow had done its job too well. Cansha faded, almost melted into the air, the spirit that kept her alive dead. In the confusion Ty was hit over the head with a sword hilt and dragged away by a human.

          The world seemed completely silent, even though Emma could see her mother screaming, “Run, Emma!!! RUN!!”

          Shawna Cyton turned and faced her husband’s killers chopping and hacking at whatever moved. She killed three before the sword pierced her stomach, and she fell to the ground next to her lover. Petimew couldn’t even get out a desperate cheep before he died along with his master.          Emma ran for all her worth. She didn’t know where she was going, she couldn’t see for the tears in her eyes.

          She ran away from Ujin Hra, from her dead parents, into the trees. A tree root tripped her and she rolled several feet down the hill, sobbing as she went. When she finally she stopped, Lyulf was there beside her. Emma tucked herself into a little ball and wept. They weren’t dead. They weren’t dead. They couldn’t be dead. Her father’s face just before he died would live with her forever. It had been her father’s face, but there had been nothing left of her father in it.

          She would never know how long she lay there, weeping. But when dusk came she wandered down the hill. They weren’t dead. They were not dead!

          The humans were infront of her house, laughing and joking like they were on a hunting trip, and had just killed a good deer.

          Emma crouched behind the ruins of her burned house, listening. From here she could see that all their horses lay dead in the grass. There was Shadow, her beautiful Shadow, soaked in her own blood. The dead bodies of her father’s precious dogs were strewn about the yard. Windrider’s body lay against the fence, as if he were only sleeping. Emma would have cried if she had any tears left.

“None were left alive, sir, ‘cept that kid we picked up as a slave. Looks to be pretty strong, around thirteen. Should fetch a good price. “

Around thirteen? Ty! Ty was going to be a slave!

          A sound was coming from the manger, like a baby crying. Logan! They hadn’t found him yet!

“What’s that?” A gruff voice asked. Emma heard footsteps coming towards the manger. She shrank into the shadows.

“Look, sir! A baby!” Laughter. “How cute…” The crying stopped abruptly as Emma heard the sword pierce her baby brother’s body. She was going to be sick.

          “Ride out!” The humans rode out of ruined Ujin Hra, leaving Emma alone with the dead.

          Emma walked over to the manger and picked up Logan’s bloody body. Her parents were still lying where they had fallen. Emma closed her parents’ eyes and lay Logan down beside them. The hilt of her mother’s dagger was sticking out of her apron. She had kept it with her at all times. Emma pulled it out and put it on her belt.

          Matathulaz still lay in the dust, unsheathed and unowned. No, it belonged to cuChulainn’s heir, Ty, and Ty was still alive. Emma took the sheath from her father’s belt and put it on her own, put Matathulaz in it. She would find her brother. She would not let him die in the hands of humans. And she would bring him his sword. Emma stood over her parents and said the only spell she knew: the death spell, the spell that released spirits to a new life. Her mother was a healer; she had heard it recited many times. Emma sent her magic to her parents as burning flame, and recited the words:

 

“Burning flame I ask of you,

Send these souls to lives anew

Mighty wind I ask of thee

Guide these spirits, loved, for me

Water I have one request

Guard them on their secret quest

And Gentle Earth I ask thee last

Guide these spirits from their past

What was done is now undone

Underneath the fading sun

Spirits listen to me now

Away with you, away for now

This life is over.”

 

          Her family’s bodies burned under the fading sun, and Lyulf howled into the night. A familiar reflects their master’s soul. Lyulf was no longer a puppy, but a young wolf, ready to fight. Emma was no longer a child.

          Emma Sarasi Cyton turned away from her family, and headed into the trees, her mother’s dagger and her father’s sword on her belt. She didn’t think about food, or water, or where she was going. She was going to find Ty, that was all that mattered. Her parents were dead, and she was going to find Ty.

          She never looked back at ruined Ujin Hra. The burned houses, the dead bodies, the fire that was her family. The grass was burned and charred. For the first time in history the grass was not green in Ujin Hra.

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

I'm already aware of the fact that the ages keep changing xD