Gothel's Child

Part 2

         Cassandra woke with start. The hovel was dark, the light of the stars and the moon covered by the roof. 

It took Cass a moment to realize she was covered in sweat. Was I having a nightmare?

She couldn't remember. She flexed her legs. They ached. How early is it?

Cass hated this. She's been waking up early for the past few days and could never get back to sleep. 

Cass went outside the hovel. All was still, all was silent. "Then why," she said, "Do I feel so uneasy?"She sighed and crossed her arms to keep out the cold.  No one is around, would you please calm down, Cassandra. She thought. 

Then her heart nearly stopped. There was a shadowy figure standing across the road from her, concealed nearly totally in shadow. 

"Who goes there?" She cried, drawing her dagger from a secret pocket in her night clothes. Assesss the situation, be on the offensive, get to your sword in the hut.  Cass thought.

The figure didn't answer. They remained perfectly still for a second, then another. Cass tentatively ventured forward.

"Hello?" She got close to the figure and, for a moment, thought they would attack. Then she laughed. "C'mon, Cass you're better than this. It's just a...black rock."

Her breath got knocked out of her as she reached out and touched the rock. It was tall and pointed, just like the ones that had ravaged Corona for so long. 

"No, no- it can't. They all were destroyed when Raps...I mean, it can't- this can't be happening."

As Cass ran her hand down the rock, feeling it's impossibly smooth surface, she winced. She had done so much damage with these rocks. So much pain caused because of her.  

The worries started to run rampant in her head. 

Is the Moonstone still out there somewhere? Could Zhan Tiri have escaped...no, no everything was finished. Everything was fine. I could just pretend I never saw this and...

"No." Cass shook her head. "King Frederick-," she frowned, "may have ignored  the issue but I'm not like that. I face problems, not run from them."

She took her dagger and ran it along the rock, expecting the dagger to shudder like her sword did with the rocks back in Corona. But instead of shattering, her dagger cut a small groove in the rock.

"That's odd." Cass looked at the dagger. It was the average weapon administered to Coronan guards- not particularly sharp or strong. Definitely not strong enough to make any impact on the black rocks. 

Cass crouched on the ground and examined the base of the black rock. It looked exactly like the ones on Corona from a distance but as she examined it closer, she could tiny turquoise and purple swirls on color in the rock. 

"Interesting." 

She touched the rock again, almost expecting to feel some kind of connection with it. After all, she had been the bearer of the Moonstone Opal. The rocks had answered to her, become a part of her. They were living things, these rocks. Had a pulsating force-magic-running through them, almost like a heartbeat.

But, no. This rock was evidently different. It didn't answer to her (not that she wanted it to) and it could be cut so easily. By now, the sky had lightened a bit, so Cass decided to pack up her belongings, eat a quick breakfast, and be in the road. She had quite a ways to go if she wanted to make it to Dale-n-Elle by that afternoon. Which, as a matter of fact, she did. 

"Well, Fidella," Cass said. She bounced up and down the saddle, riding slowly along the road. "Do you know where that rock came from?" Fidella didn't answer. Cass was glad. Hearing horses talk was a sure sign one had been alone for far too long.