New Eyes

Memory's tricks

Dinner was as usual: her brothers argued with each other and father, her sisters fawned over the nearby kingdom's princes, and mother ate in silence. Elysian never felt quite at home with her family. After dinner she went to her room and quickly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

She woke early as the sun barely crept above the horizon. She could just see the first rays of the yellow light over the high Rhuluudahn walls. She thought of Valmür chained up in the dark suffering. She decided that she had to see him again. If for nothing more than to hear more of his story. She tiptoed down the hallways towards the library. She knew that at this hour the only ones who were awake were the servants, and they all dearly loved her as she was much kinder than most of her other siblings. She made it into the library and even managed to sneak past the keen eye of the librarian, however, once she reached the hidden path she noticed something alarming, or more accurately the lack of something. The guard's snoring was absent. He must be awake. If she opened the door she would be caught for sure. She crossed her legs and sat down to think.

She thought and thought before an idea struck her. Once she hadn't slept in days and her father was worried sick. He had already called the court physician who claimed that if there was anything wrong it must be magical. Her father wrote to an old friend with a strange purple quill. This friend arrived the very next day. She always had trouble remembering him as if he were stepping in and out of fog. What she did remember were his shining silver eyes and his skin was so pale that it almost seemed grey.

The friend examined her briefly and smiled "Ah, no need to worry any longer Readin. Your daughter has merely come into contact with some Öurah root. She'll be completely fine once she sleeps".

"What do you mean when she sleeps! It's been five days already!" Her father said with exasperation and worry.

"Look," the silver man began "and she's no worse for the wear for it is she?"

Her father looked at her then back to his friend, "be that as it may she's been keeping the servants and everyone else up all night too, and we are feeling much worse. So, can you solve this?"

Her father's friend chuckled a little and smiled "Of course I can. With ease in fact; just who do you think I am?" He prodded jestingly.

"Then fix it!" Ordered her father.

"Hmm?" The silver man raised an eyebrow "what was that? I didn't quite catch that. It might've been your tone. You know I'm hard of hearing".

The king cringed slightly and spoke "Would you please solve this for me?"

"Ah, that's much better," the friend smiled "I'll fix this in no time old friend." The odd man lifted two fingers and spoke again quietly "Slundrus Nocte".

Suddenly her eyes had felt heavy and she passed into a wonderful slumber full of pleasant dreams.

That was it! She spoke the passphrase quietly and the doorway swung silently open.

"Who goes there?!" Said the guard.

She remained silent. The guard stood and walked toward the doorway. She pointed two fingers at him and recited the spell from memory. The guard fell asleep where he stood then slumped over onto the bookshelf. She hopped over the newly slumbering guard and made her way down into the dark stone hallways that kept Valmür.

When Valmür heard the soft patter of the little girls feet it filled him with an unfamiliar emotion: joy.

"Why hello!" He greeted her "I didn't think you'd return".

"Don't be silly," she stated "I promised".

Her reply brought a smile to his dry cracked lips, "Do you remember where we were?" He asked.

"Umm," she hesitated for one awkward moment then said "your father had been taken by the army".

He nodded to himself "Yes. That's right," he cleared his throat and coughed, "Even though my dear parents had departed I still had to feed myself, so I began running the clinic myself. I used my father's old supplies to the best of my ability to make ends meet. If for nothing but to spite the specter of my grandmother. Four years passed in a muddy work fueled haze until one foggy evening. Patients had been having trouble finding my clinic with the fog obscuring the way, but even more strange was the amount of wounded that showed up. Many were covered in deep cuts, and nearly fatal wounds. Stranger still was that they all shared a similar story with me they all claimed to have been attacked by something fast, strong, and as pale as the fog".

The little girl shivered in part do to the cold of the dreary corridor, and in part due to his eerie tale.

"The fog kept getting denser, until it was as if the world itself had become nothing, but the bleak whiteness. The flow of patients became ever slower until there were none left able to find my clinic. It wasn't long after the patients ceased their arrivals when I began hearing things from outside. It was like the howling of a wolf mixed with the cry of an injured rabbit. I shut and locked my windows and doors. I knew of things that lived out beyond the limits of our town, but I had no idea how vulnerable we truly were. The cries came ever closer to my home until they were deafening. Once they were outside my walls they seemed to increase in frequency like they were excited. Before long I hear a thump at my door. Something strong had struck the exterior of my home. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. I fled to the back room where I kept the most expensive herbs, and tonics. It would seem as if it wasn't strong enough to break down my door. I began to feel hopeful, but that hope was dashed when I heard the sudden shattering of my window. My heart sank. My clinic was filled with a putrid smell of rot like that of a severely infected wound. I heard the scratching of long claws across the wooden floor. I held my breath, and remained silent. I squeezed myself behind a shelf searching for some sort of protection. I heard it bumbling through the house breaking things, and sniffing the air, but all of the herbs seemed to cloud its sense of smell. The scratching grew closer to my hiding place until it was right outside of the door. It let out that ungodly screech once more before flinging itself at the door. Thunk. I pushed the shelf I was hiding behind down onto the door. Thunk. Thunk. I could see the wood begin to splinter, and I caught my first glance at the awful creature that was on the other side. It was as pale as the stories that I'd been told, and it's eyes were clouded over and small. Thunk. I leaned against the shelf. The smells of the mixed up spilled medicines were nauseating and overpowering. It seemed to have an effect of the creature as well. I staggered back for a moment and batted at its snubbed bat-like nose, however, once it shook off the effects it seemed angry. It launched itself at the door once more with renewed ferocity, and broke the old wood into splinters. This was the first time I got a good look t the thing. It wasn't nearly as massive as I had imagined it to be. In fact it was quite small, appearing malnourished, and frail. It was far from it though; the creature tore into my legs, and abdomen. It began pulling me towards the door with its claws and teeth. I thought for sure that I was a dead man. Some part of me hoped that I was, so that I could join my mother, and father in the afterlife. I saw something shift in the mists behind the vile creature. From the nothingness a man clad in sturdy iron armor emerged wielding a straight sword. He beheaded the creature, and it's head fell beside me. Despite the clear slaying of the creature its body thrashed, struck out, and its head shrieked. I threw the beast off of me with what little strength I had left. My savior held up his gauntleted hand and set fire to the fiend with magic. It was the first time I had ever seen it performed. I remembered thinking that it was beautiful before the darkness overcame my consciousness," the prisoner paused i for a moment, "isn't there someone who would come looking for you when you've gone missing like this?"

Elysian instantly knew that she had been down in the tunnel for far too long, "Hovala!" she gasped.

"Go, quickly!" urged Valmür urged.

Elysian sped up out of the corridor, and up the stairs. She leapt over the guard, and darted out back into the library.

She shouted to the librarian as she passed him "I'm late for my lessons!"

She threw open the doors to the library, and ran right into the flashy robes of the adviser knocking them both to the ground.