Preface
"Mother! Help me! He'll drink my blood! He'll drink my soul!"
The sleeping woman thrashed in her bed, sweat beading on her brow. As the dream continued, muffled screams escaped her lips.
"It's Aeriel's fault, Mother! She did nothing to stop him from taking me. She ran, Mother, instead of trying to stop him. It's her fault. You must find her. You must make her pay for what she's done!"
The syndic's wife bolted upright, a scream still on her lips. She swiftly looked about the room, scanning the shadows for the voice that haunted her dreams. As her eyes passed the window, she saw that Solstar had set, and Oceanus hung almost directly in front of her. As she gauged the position of the stars, along with Oceanus, she surmised she had been asleep only an hour. The dreams were coming sooner, then. For a little over a year since her daughter, Eoduin, was taken by the icarus, she had been plagued by the nightmares in the few hours before she awoke for the day. Always her daughter's voice, calling and begging for her to save her from the darkangel.
But this dream had been different. It was the first time that the voice spoke of revenge against the servant girl who had been with Eoduin on the steeps of the mountain. Instead of saving her mistress, Aeriel had run. The syndic's wife knew this to be true before the spirit-voice of her dream confirmed it. She had told her husband, the syndic, that she wanted the slave girl sold at the slave markets in Orm the day-month following Eoduin's capture. But the little drudge had disappeared hours before Solstar had begun to rise in the western sky.
The syndic's wife had been in an uproar. She cursed and flailed at her husband, telling him he had best find the girl so she could be punished for her disobedience. The syndic went straight to Eoduin's nurse, for if anyone knew where Aeriel was, it would be she. But Bomba denied any knowledge of the slave girl's whereabouts, and, fearing the wrath of his wife, the syndic ordered Bomba locked in an empty storeroom until she told him where she was. He returned to the storeroom every twelfth hour but Bomba continued to deny knowing where Aeriel had gone. A fortnight after the disappearance of the girl, the syndic went to the locked storeroom, only to find the old nurse lying unmoving on the floor. She had no breath. His only chance of appeasing his wife and finding the slave girl was as cold as the stone floor she laid upon.
She recalled the day-months following Bomba's death. The syndic's wife could no longer look upon her husband without loathing. It was his fault Bomba never told them the little drudge's whereabouts. If he had but had her beaten, she would have broken her silence. But the syndic refused. Bomba had been his nurse when he was a child, and he could not bring himself to have any physical harm done to her. After four day-months of enduring his wife's hatred and spiteful outbursts, the syndic moved into the opposite side of the house, always careful not to cross her path. That suited her just fine.
As she stared out the window remembering the past, the syndic's wife saw a small figure heading north. She squinted her eyes, and after a few moments she recognized the woman as the madwoman servant, Dirna. Dirna...wasn't she the one who brought Bomba her food and drink? Bomba never told the syndic where Aeriel had gone, but perhaps she had shared her knowledge with Dirna...a fellow servant.
The syndic's wife ran from her room and out into the blue shadowed night, catching up with Dirna within moments. The old servant heard her approach, quickly pulled a bandage over her eyes, turned and said, "Who is there?"
"It is I, your mistress," she replied. "I saw you from my window, walking north towards the edge of the village. What task has you leaving before the household awakens? Has my husband given his consent?"
Dirna smiled. "Yes, Mistress. The syndic knows of my departure. I have been called to serve the Temple of Orm. I told him I must leave at once. He wished for me to wait until Solstar had risen, but I am afraid I cannot delay. There is no point in waiting, for it does not matter if I travel by Solshine or earthshine. These blind eyes cannot be guided by light."
The syndic's wife was shocked. Dirna, called to serve the Temple? Why? What need be there for an old hag who had lost her mind before she even began serving the syndic's house? She shrugged. No matter. She didn't care if the servant made it to the temple, or got lost in Terrain. All that mattered was finding out if Dirna knew anything about the girl responsible for her sweet Eoduin's death.
With feigned admiration, the syndic's wife said, "What a great honor you have been given to serve the Temple. I wish you safe travel as you journey to Orm." She paused. "Before you go, I do wish to ask you something very important. When Bomba was being held in the storeroom all those day-months ago, you were responsible for bringing her provisions, is that correct?"
Dirna quickly hid the expression that sprung upon her face. "Yes, Mistress. I was the one who brought Bomba her food and drink. Poor Bomba. She was such a sweet woman. Loved everyone around her so. It's a shame that she died...but her age finally caught up to her. I think that is what caused her death."
"Yes, yes, I'm sure you're right," she replied. "The manner of her death does not concern me. As you know, Bomba was locked in the storeroom because she wouldn't tell us where the servant girl went. An entire fortnight passed and she did not break her silence to the syndic. But you, Dirna, were not her master. You were another slave, perhaps even her friend. Did she ever tell you the location of the child?"
Dirna shook her head. "No, Mistress, I'm afraid Bomba never spoke a word to me of it. She sat in the corner of the storeroom with her hands folded in her lap every time I went to her. The only thing she ever said to me was to leave the food and the water and to be off." Dirna shrugged. "If she knew where Aeriel had gone, she never shared it with me."
The syndic's wife looked at Dirna with suspicion in her eyes. After a moment she turned and looked towards the steeps where Eoduin had gone the day the winged vampyre had take her and whispered, "I don't believe you."
"What's that you say?"
"I don't believe you." This time she said it loudly, almost screaming. She turned and grabbed Dirna by the shoulders, shaking her violently. "You know where she went! Bomba told you! And you're keeping it a secret! You WILL tell me where she is! You will! I don't care if I have to beat it out of you! I can't make her pay for what she did until I find her! I HAVE TO KNOW WHERE THE LITTLE DRUDGE WENT!"
Dirna yelped as soon as the hands were upon her. As she continued to be shaken by the crazed woman, the bandage shielding Dirna's eyes began to slip. She struggled to free her arms, wrenching with more strength than she thought she had. But the syndic's wife's hold never broke. The bandage fell.
The syndic's wife gasped, dropping her hands. "Your eyes! What is wrong with your eyes?" She stared in disbelief. Maybe this was still part of her nightmare. It had to be. There was no other explanation, no sane reason as to what she was seeing, for staring back at her were two red orbs, the color of carbuncles. There were no pupils, nor were there irises. They were solid, glassy red orbs.
Dirna laughed. "What's wrong with my eyes? Oh, there's nothing wrong with my pretty eyes. I see everything around me, better than you do, I'm sure! They are a gift from my one true mistress! The one who gave me back my sight, and at such a small cost! And who better to give them to me then the one who sees all, the water witch, the lorelei!" By now Dirna was laughing hysterically, spinning with arms raised to the sky. She abruptly stopped, looking at the syndic's wife, her red orbs glowing. "Poor old Bomba didn't know where sweet Aeriel went. Neither did I, but I know where she's going. Alas, my mistress wants her, and I'm afraid I can't tell you where Aeriel will be, but..." Dirna paused, raising one eyebrow, making the red orb below look larger than the other. "If you tell me why you have to know, perhaps then..." Dirna let the end of her sentence trail off.
The syndic's wife, frozen since Dirna began her display, found her tongue and replied, "Because she has to pay for what she did to my Eoduin. She did nothing to stop the icarus from taking my beautiful daughter. It should have been her instead. She did nothing, did not try to stop him, did not offer herself as a replacement. Instead she ran like a coward. The icarus took the life, the blood, and the soul of my Eoduin. I want Aeriel's in return."
Dirna lowered her eyebrow. Her lips formed a menacing smile. "Well, I think my mistress may be able to help you with that, for a price."
The syndic's smile mirrored that of Dirna's, the lorelei's catspaw.
