31 Only Me (1/2)
She opened her eyes in her courtyard, the stones, the flowers, the fountains all familiar but the world itself unsteady. It shimmered in and out in gold light. Ilun whined, nudging her to stand with his nose. ”I fainted,” she said as she stumbled to her feet with Ilun's assistance.
”Why am I still dizzy?” she asked the empty space.
”You cannot stop it so much!” the shade said.
Isilla turned to the voice, before stumbling to a bench and leaning her head into her hands. Ilun whined and growled in equal measure, pressing his body against hers as much for his protection as her support.
”Already, too much! Tsk, you pull so easily, it wants you. Your blood knows what you need.”
”You said I had a few weeks,” Isilla spoke through clenched teeth, her head throbbing.
”Weeks? Mayhaps, if you can calm this now. Sorgia must have found another, one with power! The blood wants it.”
She shook her head, ”No. He's dangerous. He'll kill me.”
”It would be unwise to kill a Sorgia,” the shade said soothingly. ”Just afraid, like before but just like with any man, the pain is quick.”
”You don't understand,” she said shaking her head.
The shade made a tutting sound, shaking her head, ”No, little Sorgia, it is you that does not understand. Even after all you've seen, you do not understand. So I say, you must make, you must build, use this power or it will eat you from inside.”
”I can release it back to the dreamers,” she said attempting to stand and failing.
”Not this power, something different, this power wants to go out,” the shade said, her tone as if she were speaking to a child.
Out, Isilla thought as the world spun and glistened around her.
”You're weak,” the shade said and the world shifted.
”No!” Isilla cried but too late, the shade was in her, taking over her being piece by piece, winding itself around her. Numbness raced through her body and swiftly she became a passenger, a prisoner.
She felt herself rise, the the space above where all the Veil, clear and wide, spread all around her. Thick threads of light came from the spheres of light that were the dreamers, wrapping around her as if she were a beacon. ”This feeling,” the shade said, the words tumbling from her Isilla's mouth. ”I've missed it.”
It's the afternoon, there aren't many dreamers, why is she doing this, Isilla thought, her mind racing.
”There are enough dreamers,” the shade responded, even Isilla's thoughts no longer her own. ”Here, this one will do,” she said plucking one from the spheres that floated around them.
She dropped back down, straight into the dream. The world around them stone, some sort of building but this one held strange relics, crumbling statues holding symbols she did not understand.
The shade walked along the bare ground, weaving color into the world, brightening things as she went, searching for the dreamer.
I know this energy, the feel of this power. We can't be here, please, we have to leave, Isilla begged but the shade, focused on her own work did not listen, the world shifted around her until there, in the center of it all was the dreamer.
”Isilla, the lovely Isilla,” Lehan said, focusing his blue eyes on her. ”Come here, let me see what my brother has.”
No, she shouted in her mind even as the shade smiled and crossed the space to him.
”This one, so strong! What will he make,” she asked as she reached her arms out to him.
No, Isilla thought again as the world erupted in strange, red flowers.
”What beautiful flowers,” Lehan said grabbing her arm, pulling her close.
I don't want this, she shouted again as the shade's arms wrapped around Lehan and he leaned forward.
Isilla woke abruptly, gasping. Late afternoon sun shone through the window, the red flowers beautiful in their light. The strange blossoms covered the bed and the floor, Isilla stared down at the pool of them in her lap through her fingers. This isn't my room, the thought a flickering realization in a stew of panic and confusion.
”Isilla?” Arren's voice drew her attention. He sat on the bed, in front of her, his hand touched her face, wiping at tears.
Ilun pressed his face against her side his many tails sweeping away the flowers behind him.
”You were crying, in your sleep so I woke you,” he said softly.
She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and he responded, pulling her close, into his embrace. She let herself be held, his large hands stroking her back through the heavy fabric of the dress as she cried, shaken and frightened.
As her tears slowed he gently pulled her away from him him. Between them, the crushed, red petals stained her dress and his shirt. He wiped the remainder of her tears away before speaking gently. ”I thought your dress was too tight, that you had overheated when your pet brought you to me.”
She looked over at Ilun, the shifting beast's tails thumping on the floor in an attempt to communicate with her that he was happy, that he had done well. She reached her hand out for him, touching his head weakly, her body still loose and strange after the shade's intrusion on it.
”But,” Arren said softly, grasping her chin to turn her face back to him, his touch the mirror image of his father's. ”That's not it at all.”
She shook her head slowly, unable to explain, her words trapped behind her wall of silence.
”Your book,” he said, ”You must have dropped it when you lost consciousness.”
She nodded.
”Wait a moment, little bird,” he said closing his eyes. A swell of power filled the space and the shadows thinned to nothing.
He's still holding me, she thought as his fingers absentmindedly ran along her side.
A moment later the shadows condensed, their familiar tendrils and waves back, pooling around the bed, reaching for her before dropping her book into her lap.
Arren breathed out, long and slow before opening his eyes again.
”I found that in the halls leading to my father's rooms,” his voice still gentle. ”Little bird, tell me why it was there.”
No anger, his hand still stroked her side. But when I tell him about what happened with the shade, will he change, she thought even as she opened the book to a clean page.
Your father knows I'm the Sorgia. He aid it was a name for brides that came from the Light, she wrote quickly, starting with the first thing that came to her mind.
His hand stilled, tightening on her waist for a moment, ”But that is not all it is, this Sorgia business, is it.”