Origins: an ECHOS novel (teaser chapters)

Chapter 2 - The Strangers

Once outside the yard, I looked to the hills imploringly while wishing I was within their bosom instead of in the grip of this tyrant. For years, I had believed that Elen was set in the most beautiful location I had ever seen. Set in the valley between two mountains, the location was almost picturesque. The lower half of the mountains were covered in pinewood trees, their greenery encompassing as far as the eye could see. However, the top half of the mountains were shrouded in a dense mist that barely lifted any higher to the snow-capped tops. It was said that the Gods and Goddesses themselves were situated up in the mist, looking down on Elen with their hearts full of love at what they had created. Our history told us that this place was the first community of the Gods. It was where life began when the planet Andair was nothing more than rock and sand. The Gods and Goddesses ventured down from the mist to make men and women, giving us the tools we needed to grow, survive and learn. With a heavy heart, I looked around me at the preparations that were being done within the yard. In the middle of the courtyard, a flowery arch had been set up...the flowers were vibrant blues and reds among the greenwood of the arch. Gathered around the arch were wooden seats that were lovingly carved out of the felled pinewood trees that surrounded Elen. Already the people of Elen were starting to gather around the arch. Those with higher standing and riches sat in wooden seats while those who were the poorest in the community stood on the outskirts looking in. While the servants of my father's home rushed around doing any last-minute preparations, my stomach knotted in fear. This time tomorrow I would be Lady Gor'chan of Elen and there was nothing I could do about it.

While the men dug out the fire pits to the north of the courtyard, the women were hastily preparing the meat from the last hunt in readiness for the joining feast. The staple diet of an Elenite consisted of nuts, berries, cheeses and flatbread were thrown in for good measure. But with the joining feast, our hunters had gone out in search of the mountain bovine—a great beast that was found in the grassy plains beyond the city wall. The animal itself was as tall as the average man and just as wide. Using bows and spears, the hunters had bought down three or four of the beasts, which would feed the entire village this night. Suddenly, a bright orb caught my eye as it appeared on the hills between Aeron and Elen, interrupting my thoughts.

"What is that Master Gor'chan?" I asked the man who held my hand prisoner with his own. I pointed with my free hand off in the direction of the steady orb that appeared to be floating along the hills.

"It is nothing more than a spirit waltzing across the hill my dear," he answered. However even as he said the words, he propelled me towards the gates that separated our village from the outside.

"Gateman, what can you see?" Father called to the guard perched atop the watchtower adjacent to the gate.

"Men approach sire from the west," the gateman answered in a gravelly voice, "but they are unknown to me." He readied his longbow, looking down at my father expectantly. "What are your orders general?"

"Ready the horses, I will ride out there to meet these strangers. Would you accompany me Gwynfor? Lasair, go back to the house with your mother!" Father ordered as he mounted his horse. "Let us go and introduce ourselves." Signaling for the gates to open, he led Gwynfor out to the plains.

"Lasair, come into the house now!" Mother yelled. I waited for her to go into our home before disobeying and heading up to the top of the watchtower to join my father's guards.

"Mistress Ja'el, if your father catches you up here, he will have your hide," Jor'an said, his azure eyes boring into mine as he helped me up the last step to watch over the meeting,

"It will be our little secret, Jor'an," I said, stepping around him. I leaned my hip against the crumbling wall to get a better look. "I wish I could get closer," I mumbled, my fingers tapping on the wall below them. "Who do you think they are, Jor'an?" I asked turning to him.

"Maybe they are these men that Gwynfor was speaking about to your mother?" he said as he pulled me gently away from the weakening wall. "Careful there, Lass, I don't want you taking a tumble over this wall." Leaning back against the wall, I gazed across the way to see that my father had finally approached the men.

"If the Goddess was only that merciful. At least I wouldn't have to marry that tyrant who sits beside my father!" I replied curtly. "But nay, I feel I must have done something wrong for this union must be my punishment!" Before Jor'an could reply, I jumped onto my next thought. "Damn it, I wish I could see what they look like?" I looked up as I felt something cylindrical pressed into my hand. I noticed the slippery sheen of the instrument that Jor'an had placed there. As I looked at him as he just shrugged.

"At least you can look with this eyepiece. It would quieten my heart, which races with the fear that you may plummet off this wall. Please use this so I know you will not be tempted to lean any further forward." He pointed to the person who appeared to be the leader of the group, "He appears to be in charge, and look, lass, he is as dark in hair as you are."

Looking through the eyepiece, I watched as my father greeted the man who seemed to be the leader. He appeared to just be as tall as my father but with a swath of dark curly hair which framed dark hooded eyes. Even though he was a stranger to me, there was something in his face that put my fluttering heart at ease. All of a sudden, he looked up at the watchtower and I swore he looked straight at me as my father led them to the gate. My father, who was usually the most imperceptive man when it came to his own daughters, saw me looking down. Immediately his face scowled, reddening in anger. Involuntarily I gasped and took a step forward.

"Lass, watch your step, these old walls are starting to weaken terribly." I turned to answer Jor'an but felt the wall give way beneath my hip. As I plummeted towards the ground below I jerked to a stop. Looking up I noticed that my dress, which I hated so much this morning for what it stood for, had caught on a sturdy piece of timber sticking out of the wall. Now I was left hanging precariously.

"Lasair, can you reach up and grab my hand!" Jor'an called from above. Nevertheless, try as I might I could not reach the outstretched hand which was barely 3 feet above my head. All of a sudden a shadow appeared above the shoulder of the gateman. It was the man I had seen below speaking to my father. He began speaking to me in the strangest accent I had ever heard.

"It's okay, miss, I'm coming to get you now!" Nodding, I stared at my unlikely hero as he was held over the wall by another man by the legs. Currently, I could see his face more clearly. He had kind eyes, with little laugh lines around them and his mouth. "I want you to keep looking at me. What is your name?" he commanded with such authority that I felt I had no choice but to answer.

"Lasair Ja'el," I whispered nervously while licking my lips, "of Elen." As he came closer I saw he was older than he first appeared, possibly close to a score and ten in age.

"Well hello, Lasair, my name is Doctor Dillon Sanders. If you just reach up slowly I should be able to seize your hand," he said, reaching out his hand to me, "I promise I will not let you fall." Tentatively I held my hands up to his outstretched ones, holding on tight while he grabbed me about the wrists. "This is the safest way I can lift you up the wall, but I want you to keep looking at me, there is only you and I here okay?" I nodded as his men above him started lifting him up the wall, taking me with him. "Good, good. So tell me how old you are Lasair?" he asked while looking at me intently. Swallowing uneasily I forced myself to look into his russet eyes before answering.

"10 and 8, sir!" He smiled down at me as kindness shone out of his eyes.

"Oh you are 18 years old; well I am 30 years old." He replied as I felt myself being grabbed by many hands when our ascent along the wall came to an end. "You were very lucky that your dress caught the wood, otherwise I feel that you would have broken one if not both your legs." He turned to my father who was behind him on the steps to the watchtower. "Would you permit me to look over your daughter Master Ja'el, I am a medicine man in my country and wish to make sure that your daughter has not done any permanent damage from her fall?" Nodding my father scooped me up in his arms and took me back to the house.

"Of course Doctor Sanders of Michigan, as my daughter is due to be joined this eve with Gwynfor so I need to make sure that she is without any ill health." I looked over my father's shoulder at the surprised expression marring Doctor Sanders' features, before he again appeared to be a blank canvas.

"Lead the way and I will tend to your daughter," he said before signaling his men to keep watch outside the hall.