Zakara: Fire Within (An Allanon Fanfic)

Chapter Twelve - The Siren

My eyes fluttered open, thinking I was still at the bandit encampment, but there was a nice warm fire going in the fireplace next to me and I was lying on big, soft blankets. I scanned the dark room with my brown eyes, taking in my new surroundings. 

It was a small, hut-like building, with a fairly large living room and a little kitchen behind me, but the door was a large, half oval, half rectangle shape, painted with a bright shade of red. How did I get here?

"I see you're feeling better," a woman's voice said from the kitchen.

I sat up with a gasp and turned to look at who it might be, but I became horribly dizzy and could barely catch myself before I hit the ground.

"No, you must lie down," she told me, rushing over to help me get comfy again. She knelt next to me and scrunched up a blanket to make a pillow to put under my head. "You fought well, but I must admit, I haven't done something like that in quite some time. It is awfully exhausting."

I rubbed my eyes to try and make the dizziness clear up better so I could see who the woman was. Her voice sure was familiar. At last, the blurriness washed away and I saw that this woman was at least in her mid thirties. She had very short, light brown hair, a kind smile and gentle, green eyes. I wasn't sure if I'd seen her before, but at the same time, I knew I had. "W-Who are you?" I asked weakly. "And... what on earth are you talking about? Why I am so weak?"

"My name is Embery," she replied and smiled. She gently lifted up my arm and checked some bandages around my wrist before setting it back down and checking the other. "You asked for my help... so I came. The only way out of that horrid place was to link my powers with yours."

Wait... was she? "You... you're the Siren?" I questioned with great bewilderment. "I thought that the Siren was just made of magic water or... something."

Embery laughed so hard she had to wipe away tears. "My dear, you still have much to learn. And I see Allanon didn't care to mention much about me."

I shook my head. "He doesn't mention much about anything really."

"Sounds like him," she replied quietly with an annoyed glint in her eye. It was obvious she knew Allanon in some way, and much more than I probably ever would.

"May I ask... how do you know who I am? I know you must have magic of some kind, but Allanon can't read my mind, so how could you?" I wondered. That was probably the one question at the very top of my list. I just... for some reason, couldn't stop thinking about it.

Embery smoothed out the back of her hair and sat down on the floor next to me. She was very hesitant, but I could also see that she couldn't wait to tell me at the same time. "Because, Zakara... I'm... I'm your mother."

~oOo~

Levi sat up groggily when Allanon shouted at him to wake up and groaned when he saw that the moon was still high in the sky. "The sun isn't even up yet. I rise with the sun, not the moon," Levi told him grumpily.

Mekhi forced himself to get up and prepare his horse. "Zakara is in danger and we are going to save her."

"We can do that after I sleep a little longer." Levi flopped back down onto his blanket and closed his eyes.

Allanon and Mekhi rolled their eyes at him with annoyance. Right now, Allanon wished he hadn't brought Levi along. He was slowing them down more than the young elf prince would, but it was too late to send him back, they were already almost to the pool of water where he'd found me that one night. The only problem was, he knew I wasn't there and never had been, but he didn't know where else to look for me.