Tyranny and the Talisman

Chapter 2: Family Time

"Hey kiddos," Mother Mallory began, "It's very hot out, please apply olive oil so you don't get burnt. It would be awful to celebrate an anniversary with charred skin right?" she giggled. 

"Yes we know mom!" said Lilith, rolling her eyes when her mother couldn't see. Blaire noticed her annoyed expression and brought a smile to her sister's face by chuckling with her. 

The Mallory's, along with Dixie, sat together on a quilted blanket made Mother Mallory's father. He was a great quilter, and made plenty of money from his business. The girls, Lilith and Blaire, inherited some of his quilts he never sold. As Father Mallory sat down and adjusted to get comfortable, he noticed a HUGE spider crawling over the blanket next to him. He screamed such a girly scream that even a woman couldn't best it. The family broke out into laughter, Mother Mallory falling on her side as she laughed like a hyena, and Blair almost howling as she swiped the spider away from her father. 

Lilith teases, "Father Mallory, King of Runswick, deathly terrified of spiders, yet you can protect the land from dragons?" 

Father Mallory gives his daughter a goofy glare and goes in to tickle her, the best payback for her teasing comment. 

After Lilith almost blacks her father's eye for tickling her, she notices her sister staring off into space. "Blaire, are you ok? You look spacey."

"Yes I am fine, sis. Something just... doesn't feel right. Do you feel it too?"

"Remember Blaire, I wasn't born into magic. I don't have the ability to sense what you can. Should we tell mom and dad?" asked Lilith.

Blaire replied, "I believe it's alright. The weather is good, the gods are pleased. We will be ok."

The family played tag, threw sticks for Dixie to fetch, climbed trees, and ran around the park with their arms out to feel the cool breeze. Blare had a natural connection to animals, and one of her powers was the ability to communicate with them. Multiple bunnies, birds, ducks, squirrels, and other animals arrived at the picnic. Blaire was asked by the bunnies to give them some carrot pieces, the squirrels asked for peanuts, the ducks asked for water, and even snakes showed up to ask if they had rats. Unfortunately, the Mallory's did not have any rats on hand, so the snakes were disappointed, but they left the family in peace. 

The animals left, and the family was sitting on their picnic quilt chatting with each other. Lilith talked about a new plant she wanted to grow, and Blaire mentioned that she planned to go crystal mining sometime that week. Her father scolded her, demanding that she stays away from the mines. He always thought that the mines were cursed. He believed it so much that he had his own minors relieved of their jobs. Suddenly, he stopped his ranting. Then... 

The ground shook. The wind started circling around them. It was so fast and forceful that the trees were leaning almost completely sideways. Leaves, sticks, water, every bit of debris near was being slung towards everyone. Dixie was barking and whining, unable to maintain her composure with the chaos. The Mallory's were shocked. They tried to stay together but were being pushed by the wind and hit by droplets of water. All the food and grandpa's quilt went flying to who knows where, while the pins in the girls' hair struggled to grip strands. 

"Blaire? BLAIRE WHERE ARE YOU?!" screamed Lilith, fearful that her sister got carried away by the storm. The storm was so destructive it caused wooden roof pieces from Runswick homes to fly by the park. It was like a hurricane, except they weren't near an ocean. "Could this be what Blaire was sensing earlier?" she thought to herself. Lilith and her parents, including Dixie, tried their best to hear Blaire through the sound of the gushing wind. They couldn't hear anything, not a peep or a single mutter of a feminine voice through the water and wind. Lilith then had a gut feeling, and darted away, ignoring her parents yelling for her. 

Lilith ran and ran and ran until she couldn't, and once she stopped, she yelled. "Blaire!! BLAIRE!!! Blaire can you hear me?" Suddenly, she heard a faint voice. She looked to her right, and heard the voice again in her left ear. She then sprinted in the direction of the sound, yelling her sister's name as loud as she possibly could as she zoomed. The storm calmed a little, the wind and water settled, and Lilith could finally see more than ten feet in front of her. The environment around her was overgrown, a forest. She was in a small clearing with a path stretched out on front of her. There were flowers o' plenty all around her. From mums to lilies, pansies to tulips. The lilies made her smile, as they reminded her of the sound of Blaire's voice when she calls her "Lily." It was that thought that made her snap out of it, and walk the path to find her sister. Her parents were to far away to be heard, she wondered if they were trying to find her or if they went back to the castle to send the guards to find them both. 

She trudged along the path, following the round stepping stones leading the way. The ground was mushy, and it made a "squish" sound as Lilith stepped on the stones. She called for her sister once more, and heard a voice respond. "Hello, Lilith." The voice was behind her. Lilith turned to face the voice. Her eyes widened as she gasped with fear. Whoever this was, was not Blaire, and surely didn't look like it just wanted to have a friendly chat.