A Love Forsaken

When Garion left Faldor's Farm all those years ago, it seems he sacrificed more than just his childhood home. He may have decided it was time to leave (or had it decided for him), but there had been someone else with very different ideas. It looks like a piece of his past is back and out to get him. He'd better watch out; at least, if he wants to live up to his immortality, anyway.

Chapter 1: Letters

The golden haired lady fondled the yellowed envelope and ran her soft fingers down the edges with a touch close to reverence. Slowly she slid the parchment from its bindings and unfolded it, smoothing out the well worn creases and caressing the muffled rim. The letter was spattered with tearstains and its pallid hue betrayed its age. By the waterless grief that still haunted the arid page, the contents could be known to be far from welcoming, but the lady forced herself to read again those words which lashed out at her with keen daggers and spelled out the source of her pain. As always, the words stabbed deep into her heart with dull, relentless hurt as she suffered again the distressing news of her uncle's death. In that moment she recalled with horrific clarity the day in which her entire life as she had known it had ended and her new resolve had been born. A single look, one careless glance had been all that was necessary to bring her world tumbling down around her ears and make her swear an oath to avenge the loss of her pride and very self.

She swallowed and managed to contain her anguish. Locking it up inside her, she channelled it to build the resentment and hate up inside her until it reached a fever pitch. Harnessing the hurt in this way helped her to justify her intentions and provide her with a burning need for revenge. It was nearly time for the years of planning and preparation to come to a head, and soon she would be able to vent all her pent up fury in the way she had once vowed, all those years ago. Her childhood sweetheart may have risen higher in society than she would ever have believed possible and accomplished feats that had shaken the very foundations of the universe itself; but through rejecting her with such callous disregard, he had now fashioned himself his most dangerous adversary yet.

With the utmost care, she folded the poignant letter and replaced its bindings. She slipped it back into the envelope and made to replace it on the shelf which was crammed with a multitude of letters. Each conveyed a different part of her antagonist's journey. Categorised and rigidly scrutinized, she had followed his course by way of words, treading his path in her mind and weeping as he found a wife and spawned children in turn. She could not bear that he could be happy and live a life without her. He could not. They had been destined to be together, she knew in her heart, and now she vowed that he would not escape her. She no longer loved him, but he had slighted her, and she would not allow such a crime to go unpunished. He was hazardously unaware of her power and her position, but very soon he would be reminded of the one that he had dared to leave behind.

She reached for the letter that she had just returned to its place on the shelf and rested it on her palm, gazing at it almost reverently. She traced the emerald seal with her fingertip. It was etched with the outline of a Shuriken or Adder Sting, a small throwing blade dipped in poison and the binding of her heritage. An air of determination washed across her face and she raised her flashing eyes to the heavens. A harsh whisper passed by her lips and she spoke to the earth ceiling infused with symbols and strange patterns.

"I shall avenge thee, uncle. Thy cold-hearted murder and mine own cruel dismissal doth rankle in my very core. When the time is right, thine own manipulation and mine also shall be turned against their perpetrators and Justice will see it done!"

The silence that greeted this outburst stretched for several seconds. Slowly the flaxen lady returned her gaze to the letter and tenderly returned it to its position on the shelf. She moved to the window and stared up at the setting sun. She needed to do some more training before the night could claim the land. Turning her back on the reddening sky, she strode confidently towards the door and left the room.

The row of letters filed delicately on their shelf stared around the empty room. Letters of love, hate and destiny; all intertwined. Sharing the shelf, they spelled out between them the crushed hope and abandoned love of a broken woman's heart.