The Mark of Arella(Book One of the Dragonfly Chronicles)

Chapter Four

Lilly sat in a warm room watching the blue eyed boy holding the baby girl. He looked so excited to have this tiny thing in his arms. When the red haired woman placed their hands together the golden light burst thru both of them. She was pulled out of the dream startled by a short woman cleaning her face and neck with a rag. "There, there sweet child, just stay still. You are very hurt and I need to clean your wounds", the old woman said. "She's awake, has she given you her name yet?" A deep voice said from behind the old woman. "Yes your majesty, she is awake, but she keeps passing out so I haven't been able to ask her name. She has several cracked ribs, a broken nose and I suspect internal bleeding, or a punctured lung. She is likely to pass out from the pain again". "Can't you use your healing powers on her Thea?" "She is human my lord, I fear my magic could kill her rather than heal her. Can't we find a human doctor to heal her?" "That's out of the question", the King said. "You know as well as I do Thea that if a human comes to this realm he must stay or be killed and I won't have two human lives on my hands. Rhylan should not have brought her back here. If she lives, she will have to stay here and forsake her human ties". "Do what you can for her, and I'll be back in a few days to check on her progress" he said. Thea just sighed and continued to clean up the girls wounds as best as she could.

It was late in the day and Rhylan had been training hard with his knights. All he wanted to do was take a hot bath and eat a big meal. He walked down the long corridor and thought about what he would do for dinner. He had no desire to eat in the great hall. He got tired of the courtiers and their gossip. He wasn't betrothed to anyone and at his age it caused a lot of talk. There were many offers, and many of the ladies were quite beautiful, but Rhylan was not interested in a marriage and he was glad his father was inclined to keep him single. He didn't know why though. As the future King of Fairhaven, Rhylan would have to marry some day and have heirs to the throne. His father couldn't say no forever, he knew his time was short. He walked up to the door and knocked. He didn't really know why he was checking on the human girl, she didn't mean anything to him but he wanted to make sure she would survive her attack. Thea opened the door in a haste. "Oh, your highness, what brings you here?" Thea said. "I just wanted to check on the girl. How is she?" he said. Thea stepped aside to let him pass. "She is quite ill actually. I can't use my healing powers on her and the King insists we don't find a human healer. He doesn't want to bring another human to our realm."

Rhylan walked over to the girl's bed and looked her over. She was still badly bruised and her face was very pale. He could hear her struggling to breathe. "What is wrong with her?'" he said. "She has several broken ribs and I think a punctured lung. It is affecting her breathing. I fear she will not recover if we cannot get her help." Said Thea. He sat on the side of her bed and grabbed her hand in his. Suddenly, a bright burst of light grew around their joined hands and Rhylan felt a sudden jolt of energy run thru him. It made him fly backwards onto the floor just as the girl screamed out writhing in pain. Startled, Rhylan pulled himself off the floor not knowing what to do or say. What just happened? "My lord", Thea said. "What did you do to her? What was that burst of light?" Rhylan was just as shocked as her and said, "I don't know Thea. I felt a surge of energy go thru me and then it knocked me onto the floor". The girl was still unconscious, but you could tell the jolt of energy caused her body a lot of pain. Rhylan looked at her hand and saw what looked like a tattoo forming on her palm. Thea pulled his attention away and said, "Well, whatever it was it seemed to hurt her. Perhaps you shouldn't hold her hand again" "Of course", Rhylan said. "I'm so sorry to have caused her distress Thea. I think she felt the pain just as bad as I did." He looked at the girls beautiful and battered face which was unconscious and grimacing in pain. He felt a tinge of guilt and sighed. "I should go get ready for dinner. I hope the girl gets better." Rhylan left the room and started rubbing his hand, he could still feel the pain of the energy that surged thru him. He looked down at his hand and was shocked to find it was covered from fingertip to forearm in a tattoo, and it looked very similar to the one on the girl.