Okay I know this hasn't brought in any of the main characters yet, buy they will show up eventually. Remember this is The girl;s side of the story. Now please read and review!
I dreamed. For a long time, I dreamed. Horrible images. People burning, screaming for me to save them, yet… I couldn't. I dreamed a great monster would attack me, over and over. It was a creature only I could stop. I stopped it, somehow, but it killed me. From those dreams I can remember waking up, and screaming. My throat would burn with how long I screamed. My face would burn too, I'd try to reach up and pull the fire off, but it only hurt more and more. Someone would yell at me, begging me to stop, and then a quiet voice, the gentle voice of the boy I remember. He would talk to me, as I listened to him I knew I was safe.
I would sleep, when I heard his voice, and for once, There were no nightmares. The pattern repeated itself for the longest time, until finally, I woke to the sound of voices singing. I would lie there quietly and listen to them. In my dreams there were voices too, but no words, nothing that made sense. That was the only way I knew the difference between being awake, and asleep. Everything was black now. I couldn't see… not with my eyes.
I often lay and listen to the voice. I listened to them talk. I learned that the tired female voice belonged to a woman named Rosemary, her son was the golden brown eyed boy, his voice was always soft and gentle, soothing. He was called Kar. I liked listening to him. A person visited frequently, her voice was rough, and deep with age and wisdom. Rosemary and Kar only called her 'Healer'. The way they said it though, that couldn't have been her name.
A woman would sometimes come, and sell Rosemary bandages for me, I think her name was Mrs. Owens. She was older, not as old as Healer, but still old. Sometimes she stayed for dinner, from what I learned her sons had died in a battle, and her husband of a sickness. Kar often went to help her on her farm. Mrs. Owens often promised him her farm when she died.
Other women would come by and borrow things, trade for food items. A man came by once every two weeks to give Rosemary block of cheese. Rosemary liked it when the baker's son came by and gave her, her weekly loaf. Rosemary would hurry the other women in and out of her home, but let the cheese man and the baker's son stay and have a mug of her milk tea. She laughed a lot when those two and Kar were around.
Time seemed to pass in great leaps and bounds for me. I can remember the coldness of winter the first few times I woke, and in what seemed like a few minutes it was spring. The healer came by less, she mentioned frequently how amazing it was that I was alive and more than that, that I was healing.
There was a laugh, a horrible laugh. A blond man chased me through a hallway of pillars. It was never ending. Snakes wrapped themselves around a boy and man I knew. A great vine drained a woman I knew was my mother, and a beautiful blond girl with violet eyes screamed for me to save her. Then the blond man caught me. He turned into a creature made out of fire, swallowed me whole. I screamed, and sat straight up in bed, instantly regretting it.
Kar was next to me then, his hands on my shoulders, easing me back onto my bed. His voice soothed me, and his mother spoke gentle words on my other side. When I was calm, she sent him for the healer. I heard his boots running on the house's wood floors. I'd stopped shaking by the time I heard the healer return, her stride was distinctive. Swish, swish, swish, dunk, swish, swish, swish, dunk. "What's happened this time Rosemary? Another nightmare?" Her voice was slightly annoyed but I could hear the under tones of concern, "It's been a long time since we've had one of those…"
"A blond man chased me…" I said, my voice sounded as though I'd not used it in a million years.
The entire room became quiet, and I continued, having to pause frequently, "He… turned into a fire-beast… and ate me… I couldn't save my mother… not from him…"
"You know where you are child?" The healer asked, she'd moved until she stood next to me.
"No… Not completely…" I answered her, then started to cough. When I managed to pause a glass was at my lips, and water flowed into my throat, slow, mouthful, by mouthful.
"Where do you think you are?" Healer asked me.
"In a weaver's village… There are sheep outside… and a loom in the next room… Rosemary uses it… daily." I answer. "I sometimes hear… about dying clothes…"
"You know Rosemary's name?" The healer asks
I nod, though it hurts, "You just… called her that…"
"What else do you know?"
"Rosemary's son… His name is… Kar…" I answer, "He went… to get you…" I paused for more water, "Rosemary likes to talk… To the Cheese man… and the Baker's son… They are kind to her… The children call Kar… Older brother… He is good with the animals… and children…. Mrs. Owens… she comes over… weekly… and sews embroidery… for Rosemary… I've been here… over four months… and you… can't believe… I still have… My fingers…"
"How did you learn all this?" Rosemary asked, she sounded afraid.
"I wake sometimes… and hear voices… The voices comfort me… in this dark…" I say, "Their words… are the only things… I'm sure… are real… Because… Everything else… is too terrifying… Or… just… gone…"
"You mean you have no memories?" The healer asked.
I shake my head, "I can remember… My mother's face… The sound of her voice… I can remember… someone begging me to stop… And I remember… Brown eyes… with gold flakes…"
"What is the last clear thing you can remember?" The healer asked.
"The eyes… Looking down on me… worriedly…" I say, "And then the sound of… Kar's voice… I can't remember… what he said…"
"And before that?" Kar asked gently.
"Something that burned… and then something that froze…" I say, shaking a little, "And then… Something… sniffing me… Then Kar… In that order…"
"Anything before that?"
I shake my head, again it hurts, "No…"
"I'm going to change your facial bandages…" The healer said after a long time, "When I'm done taking them off, open your eyes and tell me what you see…"
I do as I'm asked. It takes a long time, and hurts… but I'm growing used to the pain. The Healer finally spoke, "Alright dear… How many fingers am I holding up?"
I sat still for a moment, "I'm sorry… Could you… turn on… the lights? It's completely black…"
There was silence for a while, before the Healer managed to say anything, "Dear… I think we should put your bandage back on…"
"I'm blind. Aren't I?" I ask her.
Silence followed my question before the healer found her voice, "I'm afraid so… But we are not as advanced as some other places. We'll send word to the queen and get permission to bring you over to the other side of the vale in hopes of regaining your sight."
"The vale…" I say, the word practically tastes familiar. Like I'd heard or spoken it a thousand times.
"What is it?" The healer asked, "Do you remember something?"
"No…" I said she began bandaging my face, eyes, and head, "Just… a feeling…" Gently the healer changed all my bandages. She made me exercise my hands in a bowl of liquid, before she would bandage them. The liquid was warm, and it felt as though it burned, against my skin. She said it was strange how my lower body was mostly untouched. Kar was ordered out of the room, and they sat me up, changing the bandages on my back, around my throat, my chest, and checked on what she called little scratches over my torso. She commented on how well I appeared to be healing, and how surprised she was that I still had part of my ears left. Rosemary helped me exercise my legs, and then laid me back down. Everyone walked out into the kitchen to talk. I don't think they realized how well I could hear them, even with the door to my room closed.
Rosemary wanted to know what my consciousness meant.
Healer said it was just a sign that I was healing, and they should continue with my treatment. I listened to them for a time, until I couldn't stay awake any longer. I wondered if the healer had drugged me, or if my body was still this weak. I prayed to something that I wouldn't dream of the blond man again.
Kar finished pulling on his good clothes and grabbed his mother's lute before running out of the house to go join the rest of the village to celebrate the end of the planting season, and the end of the sheep shearing. Everyone had been working hard to make the town square bright, and happy. Merchants had flocked to the area, wanting to buy the undyed wool, and woven cotton, they brought with them the tools needed to make the special foods, and drinks they'd have only at the spring celebration. At the summer equinox everything would be different, there would be games and contests, but the spring and fall celebrations were feasts, to celebrate gaining money for they're work. Summer and fall was to keep up their spirits until the coming next season.
Tonight there would be singing, dancing, and married couples disappearing into the bushes at various times of the festival to privately celebrate the fertility of spring. Kar's mother would sing and play her lute for the dancers, taking turns with the others who could sing and play instruments. Kar would as normal, be in charge of the children, making sure none of them wandered after the couples, and when they fell asleep to take them to a parent to be put to bed. Even so he was looking forward to this festival for some reason, maybe it was because he was finally old enough to disappear into the bushes with a merchant's daughter, or some other single woman.
He handed off the lute to his mother, before going in search of what would be his dinner. By the time he was taking his second bite into an expensive beef sausage the music began. As it grew darker, he joined others, children gathering around him to listen to him tell stories from the books he'd read. The younger ones fell asleep gathered around him, and their parents took them back into houses, and put them to bed, before they came back and rejoined the party. A merchant's daughter eventually came up to him, and asked Kar to dance. He grinned and took her hand, leaving Taylor, the next oldest boy, in charge of the littles. The dance was intended to test the dancers endurance, and Kar was doing pretty well in his opinion. Then the music came to a sudden stop, Kar almost tripped over his partner, who had stopped to stare at something behind him. In fact everyone was staring in that direction now. Kar turned too, it only took him a minute to see it. She came like a ghost, in white clothes, dirtied with dirt and blood.
I could still hear them breathing. I could still hear whispers, scuffling foot falls, but the music had stopped, the laughing and happy voices had disappeared. I kept my hands outstretched searching for someone, anyone. I had just wanted to know what everyone had gathered for. I called out to the people, my voice no louder than a whisper, hoarse and weak even then. I'd been having small conversations with Ker and Rosemary for nearly a month, yet my voice was no stronger. The Healer said it was simply because my voice was still healing from the fire that had burned me so horribly. Still I wanted to be able to call out, to ask them where they were, to ask them for help.
"Hello?" I called out hoarsely, "Hello… someone… anyone… Help me…" My foot found something in my path, and I fell forward. Not for the first time, my battered knees met the packed earth, and I fell onto my hands and face. It hurt, and there was a lasting warm, wet feeling. I tried to climb to my feet, and warm gentle hands wrapped around my upper arms. The person smelled like sweet, and cooked meat, and flowers. I didn't recognize them at first.
"Easy… Easy Laurel," Kar's voice soothed in my ears as he helped me stand. He'd named me Laurel, for the small bushes he said lived in the forest. He said I was as tough as the plant, growing when I should have died. "How did you get here?"
"I… walked…" I said as though that were something he should have thought of.
Kar laughed, and that seemed to ease the tension which floated through the air. "Yes, but how did you find your way here?"
"I followed… the sound… of the music… even when… I fell…" I said, as loud as I could, wanting to talk at normal levels, but still not able.
"Why?" He asked sitting me down on something that had a back. I nearly collapsed in exhaustion.
"Because I wanted… to join… everyone else…" I said, waving my hand out to the side to try and find him on one side.
He took my hand between two of his, his voice light as he spoke, "Well… who wouldn't want to join a festival."
The healer's voice rang out from nearby, "What are you all staring at? She's just a girl. It's not like she's got the strength to curse you or something." Something was draped over my head and shoulders, and I felt gentle hands tucking it around me as the Healer sat next to me, and pulled my foot into her lap. She was brisk but kind as she cleaned my knees from my multiple falls. "Always getting into trouble, aren't you? Looks like you fell on gravel… All these stones in your knees…"
Soon my knees were bandaged and I was sitting back in the chair. Kar still sat next to me, and the music had started again, less eager this time. Kar would tell me which songs were being sung, and introduced me to the few people that dared to come greet me. Mrs. Owens was one, and a few of the children came over to stare at me, Kar insisting they greet me properly. I smiled at them, and offered my free hand. The oldest, Taylor spoke up, "Won't it hurt if we touch you?"
I felt a silent laugh bubble into me, "I suppose it would… But I don't want you to be afraid of me either…"
"Are you a monster, or a witch?"
"Taylor!" Kar said sharply I could tell from his tone he was worried about them hurting my feelings.
I touched his shoulder with my free hand, then turned my attention back to Taylor, "You know… I don't know… My first memories… are of the day… Kar found me."
The boy didn't speak for a moment, and I didn't push it. I guessed he was trying to figure out what to say in reply, "So you don't even remember who your parents are?"
I shook my head, "I can remember… a woman's face… and I think she's my mother… but nothing I can… say is defiant."
"It must be scary, not remembering anything," Taylor said softly
"It can be…" I agree, "But I'm trying… to look at it… in a different way… I'm getting to meet… all kinds of people… for the first time… in a different way… than most… I get to judge people… on what they say… not how they look."
"So… What do you think of me?" He asked sounding nervous.
"I think… You are a very… well spoken, young man… that you are kind… and understanding… but you need to learn… a little tact… But otherwise… you'll be a very good… man… when you come of age…" I said softly.
I could hear his blush, "Thank you… Lady Laurel…"
"I'm no grand Lady… Just…" I was at a lost for what to say next, and paused for a moment, "I'm just a lost wanderer."
I hope you guys are liking the story so far. Since my Editor (Wonderful Gerry-sama as you all remember) has already finished all the editing that has to do with this story, I will attempt to post this every Friday around 2pm my time, so be sure to check it every week. I will post double chapters if the chapter is short.
