The Forgotten Isle: Chapter 11 (01-09-07)
Hafise25:
I worked over the cauldron for hours. I felt a few tingles go up my hands but nothing like the sisters said would happen. I didn't feel ill. Honestly I felt nothing. I was completely and utterly void of emotion.
What the..I thought!
"Did it work," Lark called excitedly from behind me.
"I don't know," I said hanging my head, "The sisters said I had to wait until nightfall to see if it worked."
"Please let me know," Lark begged.
"I promise, my sister.."
"Thank you," Lark gleefully said as she wrapped her arms around me.
"Mother!"
"What is it Sulwen?"
"Did you curse Da'Kar?"
"Yes. I'm sorry but you must understand."
"Understand," I screamed cutting her off," Understand what?"
"I love you. I love both you and Lark. I don't want to see either of you hurt. Her Leane was the same as your Da'Kar! They are nothing but trouble makers. The lowliest of filth that Aslemor has ever spit from her bowels!"
"What are you saying?"
"Da'Kar and Leane are nothing more than low born demons. I can't even say demons for they are not that! They are night creatures!"
"What? Vampires," I asked sarcastically.
"No! Did my sister teach you nothing of Aslemorian Lore."
"Uh Duh," I said reverting back to my teenage years in the human world.
"Ah let me find the words."
"When Aslemor was founded by your great-great, however many times, grandmother. She wanted a place were all races could coexist without the fears of us being declared demon and hunted down. Along with the good came the bad of course. They came in the form of Draconians. A race of elvish creatures descended from Dragons."
"I'm supposed to believe this?"
"Believe it or no, my daughter. It is the truth! The draconians thirsted for power. That is all they crave. They are all alike! You were born to stop that rise in power. Instead you fell in love with one. I had to stop it."
"The sins of thy father," I spat at her, "Not everyone is the same!"
"I know that. Believe me I do. You see, you have the blood of the draconians in your veins. Your father was of that race!"
"That has nothing to do with me and Da'Kar."
"It has everything to do with it," she yelled slamming her hands down on the table, "Any child born of your blood and that of a draconian would throw Aslemor into ruin. Don't you see?"
"No! I see a woman who lost her lover and doesn't want anyone else to be happy! Lark does not have the draconian blood flowing through her veins! Yet, you cursed Leane! That can not even have a child! Ah, that is it!"
"Get out! Get out and let my ire cool! You will not talk to me that way!"
"Yeah well I have news for you! I performed the Heart Wish and I hope like Hades it works." I flung at her as I ran towards the door.
Can this possible get any worse? What is wrong with this place? Everything is so messed up around here. There isn't one thing as it should be!
I pondered all of the things that had happened as I got ready for bed that night. It didn't help. Nothing would ever make sense about Aslemor!
"Ow! Help," I cried out as pain seized me.
"Someone please help," I cried over and over again.
No one came to see what was wrong! Where was everyone? Could they not hear me?
That was my last thoughts as I noticed the blood running down my arms in rivulets.
"By the Goddess! Could it be," I called as another prickling began!
When the pain finally subsided I changed and tossed the old gown, drenched in blood, on the floor.
"Sulwen," I heard Da'Kars voice calling. It had the harsh edge of pain to it.
"What? What is it?"
"Help me!"
I ran outside following the voice that was fading fast. Far too fast!
"Da'Kar! What have I done," I cried as I looked down at the figure laying on the cold stones of Aslemor Castle.
"It worked, my heart," he said smiling up at me, "But the pain is unbearable!"
"Please, don't leave me," I begged, "Please not now!"
"Sulwen, my heart! Sulwen, a stor," Da'Kar moaned as I saw the light fleeing from his yellow eyes.
"DA'KAR," I screamed, "No!"
~Side note: a stor (ah-STOR) is Gaelic for "My darling". I just thought it sounded better.
Hafise25:
"Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.
They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
I couldn't stand the pain! I had just found him again. I did not want to lose him this way. I did not want his blood on my hands. I couldn't take it any longer. I screamed at the heavens and cursed every God and Goddess I could remember from mythology. I was at a loss. I was..broken!
"Are you going to give up that easily, daughter of my blood," a silken voiced asked as the wind whipped my hair into my face.
"What can I do," I screamed!
"You can lay down and die beside him or you can fight for him," the voice called.
I was confused by the words that were barely more than a whisper but reverberated off the castle walls. The words came following from my lips but it was not my voice that spoke them. I saw the light in his eyes quickly returning as the song flowed and weaved a healing spell about Da'Kar. The pain and change that was causing his death evaporated into air around us.
"Sulwen," he spoke as weakly as he had before.
"Da'Kar," I wept happily.
"A chroi, you brought me back!"
"Not I," I said hanign my head in shame.
"It was your voice I heard, no one else's."
"Da'Kar, what are we going to do?"
"How would you feel about a trip to my family's home?"
"Leave here," I said a little dismayed.
"Just for a little while," he said scouping me in his arms.
"Let's go," I said not thinking what would happen of the consequences.
"Sulwen, a stor, we have much to talk about!"
Those words brought a cold hand around my heart and wrenched it.
It tooks us four days to reach Dracon castle. The journey was hard as we covered a lot of mountainous terrain.
"Mother! Father! Da'Kar is home," a boy of no more than fifteen announced. He looked like Da'Kar although his lips were a little broader.
"It is good to have you home, my son!"
"Father it is good to see you," he said then motioned for me to come forward, "This is Princess Sulwen of Aslemor. She has recently returned home, herself."
"It is good to finally meet you," Da'Kar's mother said stepping forward.
"The pleasure is mine," I said dipping into a low curtsey.
"She has manners," she said, giving Da'Kar a hug.
"That she does, but she does not know the truth."
"We will fix that, my son," Da'Kars father said, clasping him on the back.
I wanted to sink into a bottemless pit. I couldn't take anymore truths. I saw the open archway behind and bolted.
"You move pretty fast for a princess," I heard from behind me.
"Who are you?"
"I am Leane and I do believe I have you to thank for my current form," she said taking a step closer.
"Leane? Lark's Leane."
"Yes. How is she? I have missed her. Seeing her in wolf form is not the same. I wasn't given the ability to talk like Da'Kar," she explained.
"She loves you still and would like nothing better than to see you."
"Truth," she asked and I gave her a bright smile, "I must go to her."
"Safe journey," I called after her.
Hafise25:
"Do you see this? It is beautiful," I said as Da'Kar came in.
"That is Draconia before it became Aslemor and the dragons were drive out."
"What?"
"I see your mother left that out," he laughed, "Once long ago in the time of my great-great-great grandfather this land was called Draconia. The Dragons that were here protected us from outsiders. Until Morrigan came, with the light elves. She enchanted Fi'Ror and he fell in love her. She bewitched him so that he exiled the dragons to this very castle. Do you know who Morrigan was?"
"No, should I?"
"She was your great-great-great grandmother."
"Do you mean we are related?"
"No, they never had kids. Once the dragons were exiled to here, she cast Fi'Ror out of his own castle. She sent him packing to the very castle where the dragons were exiled. She eventually married her lover and renamed the isle to Aslemor."
"Why would she do this?"
"No one knows why exactly but that's how the legend goes."
"Not according to my mother."
"Are you going to listen to that woman," Da'Kars mother sneered.
"I don't know," I sighed. My shoulders felt heavy and my eyes teared up. "I have no clue what or who to believe."
"It will be all right, a stor," Da'Kar said laying a hand of my shoulder.
"How?"
"It is simple," Da'Kars father announced, "You will wed my son."
"What," I screamed. Yes, I love him but marriage?!?!
"Do you not love him?"
"I.. Yes, I do but I do not want my life planned for me," I said noticing the highness of my voice, "I must think!"
"Do not push her, my parents. She has a strong will now. Stronger than before," I heard Da'Kar whisper to them.
"Sulwen, I am sorry if my parents upset you."
"No, it's not that. Ever since I came here my life has changed soo much. I learned that I went through puberty not once but twice. I learned that my mother is not my mother but my aunt and my acutal mother is a Queen. I learned that the father who raised me was nothing more than a ghost, a wisp. My actual father well who knows," I halted taking a deep breath, "Not to mention, you. Or Lark. Or even those stupis Goddesses!"
"My heart, you have been through much and I only fear that there is more ahead of you."
"I can't take anymore."
"Are you positive, Sulwen? Do you think you could handle just one more," he asked as he dropped to his knees.
"Marry me. Make me the happiest man on this isle and become my wife. This and only this wil I ask of you," Da'Kar stated staring up at me with those glowing yellow eyes.
"Goddess," I groaned, "Yes!"
"Ta gra agam ort," Da'Kar sai kissing the top of my head, "I love you."
"I love you," I said melting into his arms.
After an impromptu feast thrown by his joyous parents, I headed off to my rooms. I heard the sobs before I even opened the door.
"Leane, what's wrong?"
"Lark, she.. she. By the Goddess that woman deserves to die," Leane gasped in between sobs, "Your mother cast the wolf spell on Lark. She met me at the edge of the pass before I even got off the castle grounds. She told me that after your mother found you missing and bits of fur on the ground she assumed that you had cured Da'Kar. She turned on Lark and King Zephry."
"Goddess," I hissed.
"Lark came to warn you that she is on her way here," Leane sobbed, "You should have seen her eyes, Sulwen. So full of joy at seeing me and not the wolf. Then the shame of what her mother had done."
"I'll figure out something," I swore.
"Thank you," Leane smiled and wrapped her arms around me, "You will make a great queen!"
"Yeah," I sighed, "Where is Lark now?"
"She said she would stay by the pond at the edge of the pass."
"I will go to her!"
"NO," Leane screamed, "She said that Aya and Phoenix are close. She was adamant about you staying in the castle."
"Fine," I said pulling at my hair, "I will stay inside. In the mourning you can help me plan my wedding."
"Truly!"
Hafise25:
"Sulwen there you are! I've been looking all over Dracon Keep for you."
"I'm sorry, Azale. I've just been thinking."
"What about, child?"
"Everything!"
"You are wondering. Are you not?"
"Yes, I need to know."
"Let me see if I can help."
"So much confusion in one so young."
"I know. I can't seem to make any sense of my thoughts. Fi'Ror and MOrrigan keep entering my thoughts. Then there's my father and my mother, not to mention my sister and now the wedding."
"So much on such tiny shoulders."
"I can't see, Sulwen. Everything is wrapped in fog and mist."
"I was hoping."
"Maybe after the wedding we should try again, yes?"
"Yes, thank you! I need to know the truth."
I wandered out of Dracon Keep in hopes of finding Lark. I needed to see if I could help her. Over the last few days something had been building up inside of me and oddly enough I though it could help her.
"Sulwen!"
"Lark. I didn't know she would take it out on you."
"She killed my father!"
"Leane told me."
"Sweet Leane. I need her Sulwen, just as you need Da'Kar."
"I know, sister. I know."
We talked for until after the witching hour and Lark feel asleep at my feet. Suddenly there was a buzzing in my ears and Larks wolf form soared into my hands. The light that came from nowhere bathed us in reds, greens and yellows and before I knew it I was chanting words I didn't know.
"Sulwen, what are you doing."
"I don't know. BY the Goddess I don't know!"
Thw light pushed us back sending Lark spiraling to the ground and me to my knees. I was blinded as white light poured from Lark's body and just as suddenly fled into the dying lights.
"Lark! Lark, wake up. Please, wake up."
"You made me whole, Sulwen. Goddess, you did it. It took only a few seconds when it took her hours to curse me! You ARE more powerful than her and she knows it."
"Lark, what are you talking about?"
"Nothing. By the Goddess it's freezing out here! Do you have any clothes I can wear?"
Hafise25:
"Sulwen where have you been and why is your dress drenched?"
"I'll explain while we walk. I have something to show you."
"What is it? Is Lark hurt? Have you seen you mother?"
"Nothing so dire! Follow me."
"Lark! Stars in the heavens, how?"
"Sulwen. She cured me without casting the Heart Wish spell."
"Sulwen, thank you."
Shrugging the words off I watched as the couple hugged!
"Sulwen, your wedding?"
"Huh? You are getting married and you didn't tell me."
"Well it's more of a handfasting then a wedding."
"Soo...You little imp."
"I have to go get ready. The sun is coming up."
My stomach twisted when I saw Da'Kar waiting for me.
"You are beautiful," he said when I reached him.
"I hope so. It took me forever to get into this thing."
Behind us Va'Zar, Da'Kars father, cleared his throat.
"May we proceed?"
"Yes," I said blushing.
Everything was perfect. The rings we exchanged had been in Da'Kars family for generations. When he placed it on my finger I heard singing. It was almost as if angels had come to bless the union. I knew it wasn't so but one can imagine.
When Da'Kar leaned in for the kiss, my heart took flight. I was on top of the world!
I heard the cheers behind us, as if generations of Draconians and Aslemorians were gathered with us.
Perfection!
In the back of my mind doubts slithered. Could this truly be perfect? Was it even real?
"NO! You little witch! How dare you?"
I heard the scream and the venom filled words. I even saw the choking smoke before I saw who was in the smoke.
"No! How dare you? After all I told you about them!"
"Stop," Lark shouted, "You were not invited Mother!"
"Who cares? I should have killed you when I had the chance!"
Gasps were heard thoughout the little chapel and I heard a keening sound but I couldn't figure out who was making it!
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