Chapter 2- Heart's Desire

Cries of the sick and dying wake Cecinah what from she can only describe as sleep. It had been the strangest dream... she remembered falling onto the street and feeling her body hit the ground, but her conscious had continued to plummet into a sea of stars. Flashes of a mysterious orb interchanged with a myriad of colour and people she had never met before, reaching out, welcoming with arms made of light. When she touches her hair she finds that it's freshly washed, and when she sniffs the new dress it doesn't smell like cows, something completely new.

"You're awake." the same woman from the street enters the room and closes the door. "I was so worried when you passed out, and the nunnery was just around the corner." Sitting up Cecinah could see the whitewashed walls and a plain wooden cross hanging over her bed. The nun set down a heaping bowl of porridige, smiling even more brightly as she sat at her bedside. "Well?"

The girl practically inhaled the steaming mush and moaned with discomfort after licking the plate clean. It was the most food she had ever eaten in such a short time, and her stomach bulged underneath the crisp sheets. Eyes wide wide with appreciation she beings to stammer out. "Thank you, mila-"

"Call me Isolde." She laughed gleefully, and carasseing the soft green strands of her hair began speaking reverently, as if in prayer. "You have been blessed with a gift, sweet Cecinah. When I brought you through these doors, God sent an angel all the way from Heaven just to see you." The gullible little girl's eyes were almost the size of saucers. "The angel said that because you are so beautiful and special that you get a magic power ... that makes people fall in love with you."

Startled out of her reverie Cecinah pushed back the covers and swung her feet over the side of the bed. "B-but..but magic can only be made by witches! And witches serve the bad man below us, so does that mean I'm evil? I don't...I don't want to be evil!" Clutching at her neck she discovered a silver chain, and the nun consoled her as she tried to figure out what the pendant was.

"No, calm down. It's a good kind of magic, given only to a person that God chooses...you're fine, really. Now there's something you must do for me with this very special power. Many people in town are very sick, so this place isn't safe for you. Go to the wealthiest man in town, Lord Thorradon. He will take you in, I'm sure of it."

Taking a cloak from the plain dresser she tied the folds of black fabric securely at the girl's neck. Cecinah noticed for the first time that a silver heart now hung there, glittering in the afternoon light the streamed through high-set windows. "But he's a lord..and I'm...I'm just-."

"Nonsense. I bet an angel has told him about your gift and he's already expecting you. But one more thing...if you don't seek him out and use this gift, then the bad man below will take you."

After stopping a few times to check the pockets of the corpses lining every street, Cecinah evntually reached the grandest house in town. Ignoring a white cross that was painted on the wall she dared give the askew door a tiny push, leaving footprints in the grime that coated the speckled stone floor. She heard nothing but the buzzing of flies and could smell the stagnant stench of rotting food; but finally the floorboards above her head creaked, an indication of inhabitants.

"Hello?" she called, a bit scared how only an echo answered her. Peering around the kitchen she took the rock-hard bread and put in in her pocket, and finally decided to see what was taking him so long. Crawling up the stairs, she made sure her dress stayed dust-free. "Lord Thorradon...?"

The voices of a few men reached her ears as she opened the door to what she assumed was the master bedroom.

"-that won't be problem, and just leave the- hey, I didn't know he had a daughter!" The other men followed his gaze to where she stood, taking in the body of Lord Thorradon lying spread-eagled on the fancy rug, a dent in his skull where the speaker's iron bar had struck him. She turned to run and heard them drop the candlesticks they were taking off the mantelpiece.

"Get the little girl! Can't have her running that mouth." Hands grabbed at her ankles and pulled her back into the room. Cecinah screeched as one of them prepared to hit her with the bar and another held her in place, moldy breath tickling her face. A silent plea for life made her right eye tingle, and the men's expressions softened.

What appeared to be the leader set down a painting he had been defacing and barked an order to the to restraining men. "Fendrel! Hadrien! Release her...now."

When she's let go her legs are shaking, and seeing the bloody iron bar once again gives her the sudden urge to pee. Picking up the sack of loot he had tossed aside, the man in charge stooped down to her height, his gap-toothed smile strangely identical to the nun's. "Hello, dear. My name is Terrin. What's yours?"

One of the men sitting nearby handed her a handkerchief to wipe her greasy hands on, the turkey leg she had just been eating completely demolished. A donkey-pulled cart rattled underneath them; making slow progress to the city. As a band of looters they had to sell their spoils somewhere, and Cecinah assumed that there would be a good number of wealthy families there that had heard about her special gift.

"When will we get there?" she asked, drawing the heavy cloak closer to keep out the evening chill.

"In a few days, don't worry. We're taking back roads to avoid anyone who will stop us." A golden clip, no doubt stolen, had been pinned in her hair, and judging from how the donkey struggled to walk the cart was carrying much more of the coveted metal.

"Are you done, sweetie? Here." One of the men plucked the bone from her grasp and threw it into the bushes lining the road. Cecinah closed her eyes and the creaking wheels lulled her to sleep, awaiting the journey's end.