Daughter of the Forsworn

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Four: Muirgen's Destiny

Muirgen was sitting by her window, leaning her head against the wood as she stared out into the moonlit field as a knock came on her door. Her aunt poked her head in as Muirgen looked around and Margery smiled slightly at her. "Are you calm enough to talk?"

"Not about Lord Connor," she responded. "I'm sorry, Aunt, I love you and Uncle Niall both, but I can't marry him."

"Hmm, your uncle will be furious about that as well," Margery said with a small smile. "I doubt that he'll ever forgive you if you don't . . . but I will never forgive you if you do." Muirgen looked up and saw her aunt was smiling. "Now come on," she ordered, sitting down on the bed. "We need to talk."

"About?"

"I think that you know what about," Margery answered. It was only then that Muirgen noticed that she had the silver necklace in her hands. Getting to her feet, she joined her aunt on the bed. "Now, like I said earlier, your mother wanted you to have this when you were old enough to have it. 'When she is old enough, give this to my daughter,' she told me. 'One day, she will confront her destiny, her heritage.' I'll never forget the look in her eyes when she said that. Oh, she loved you so much," Margery said, pushing Muirgen's hair behind her.

"My mother wasn't Annabelle, was she?" Muirgen asked. "It was never your sister that was my mother."

Margery sighed. "It was the perfect ruse, Muirgen. My sister had just died with her husband and your mother wanted to protect you at all costs. You see, I found her outside our home, in labour. She barely made it to our door before she collapsed. It was a long night, one of the longest labours that I've ever encountered, and a difficult delivery.

"It was a just before daybreak when you finally appeared. Your mother had lost a great deal of blood and her strength was just about gone. But above everything else, she wanted was to keep you safe. She gave this to me for safekeeping until you were ready."

"She died?" Muirgen whispered, looking down at the silver necklace that Margery had given her. "My mother?"

Margery nodded miserably. "She only lived long enough to name you, and to warn me about some man that would be coming after you. All she told me was that some evil would be coming after you and I would know when he did. She made me swear to never let him lay a hand on you, to never let him find out about you. I don't know what evil it was that was to come after you, but she made it clear that you were in very real danger from him."

"Do you think . . . she meant the King?"

"I don't know what she meant, but whatever it was, it was very real. The pain and desperation was clear in her eyes. She hoped that by being raised far away from him, you would be safe."

Muirgen closed her eyes. "What was my mother's name?" she asked, remembering the voices that she had heard earlier. She opened her green eyes again and looked at Margery. "My real mother's, I mean?"

"I don't know; she never told us. But I managed to translate the letters on the back of the necklace there," Margery said, tapping the silver pendant in Muirgen's hands. Turning it over, Muirgen saw there was some kind of ancient lettering on the back of the necklace. "It said 'Celandine' on it." Muirgen's head snapped up. "I don't know if that was your mother's name or not, but I'd say that it was a pretty good guess."

"Celandine . . ." Muirgen whispered. "Daughter of Celandine." She closed her eyes, finally understanding why the voices had called her that.

"I'm sorry that I hid this from you, lass, but your mother made it clear that you were in danger and she made me swear to protect you at all costs. But I think that it is time for you to confront whatever destiny your mother knew that you would face. There is something bigger out there than to just be a little wife or poor girl from Carvahall. You were born for something much bigger than that."

"But what?" Muirgen asked her. "What did my mother want to keep me from? And what about my father? What about him?"

Margery shook her head. "I'm sorry, darling, but your mother never told me anything about him." She looked truly sympathetic.

But somehow Muirgen didn't care; she had the feeling inside of her that the knowledge was only going to cause her heartache. "It's all right. I didn't really want to know, anyway."

"Yet, you may find out one day," Margery sighed. "Destiny always has a way of telling you things that you don't want to know." She smiled at her niece. "I love you, lass, even if you weren't my niece. If you had been my daughter, I couldn't have loved you more. It was good to have another woman here. Now, try and get some sleep, all right?"

"All right," Muirgen sighed as her aunt headed out the door. "Aunt Margery?" Her aunt stopped and looked at her questioningly. "No matter what, I do love you and Uncle. You were my parents, in every sense of the word. And I will always think of you with fond memories."

"I don't know where you plan on going, but I'd advice leaving soon, before you uncle tries to get another marriage proposal in for you," Margery warned her. "Good night, darling."

She smiled and left the room, leaving Muirgen alone with her very disturbed thoughts.

--

Muirgen awoke very suddenly in the night. Wondering what had caused her abrupt awakening, she opened her eyes very carefully, in case there was an intruder in the room. But she didn't sense another being in the room and when she opened her eyes, there was no one in sight.

Sitting up in her bed, Muirgen pushed her sheets aside, looking around carefully as she climbed out of bed, pulling her shawl around her.

Without warning, she heard a squeak and she whirled around towards the sound, trying to figure out where it had come from. "What in the name of Alagaesia . . .?" she muttered, rubbing her hands over her tired eyes. It had been a long day and she wanted to get some sleep.

When the squeak came again, her eyes fell on the silver stone that lay in her basket by the window, gleaming in the moonlight. Hesitantly, she walked over to it, kneeling down beside the stone, frowning.

No doubt about it; the stone was what had woken her up. She jumped back as it gave a particularly loud squeak.

She pushed herself back as a crack appeared on the stone, grabbing a knife from underneath her pillow and yanking it from its sheath as she scrambled to her feet, ready to defend herself if need be. Her breath caught as the stone because to rock back and forth, bouncing itself in the basket.

Watching in fascination, Muirgen was unable to tear her gaze from the stone as it made several large cracks in the shell. The few minutes felt like hours as something oddly shaped pushed its way out of the stone, emitting an odd purring sound as it looked up at Muirgen.

"Merciful gods!" she breathed, lowering her knife and kneeling down beside what remain of the stone. "A dragon!"

The dragon was a beautiful silver colour, the same colour as the stone that it had been encased in. Not a stone, rather, but an egg. It had the same purple specks that had been flecked across its egg speckled across its body. The eyes that stared interestedly up at Muirgen were a deep purple.

"Hello, there," Muirgen said softly, edging closer to the dragon. A smile spread across her face as she reached towards it. "Easy," she said gently as it backed away, uncertain. "Easy. It's all right. I'm a friend."

It gave the same purring sound that it had given before and allowed her to move closer, still reaching towards him. As her palm touched its skin, a sharp pain exploded from it, tearing through every part of her body. Muirgen tried to pull away, tried to scream, to even so much as move, but her body wouldn't answer her commands.

Finally, it was over and Muirgen was left lying on her back, gasping for breath as she stared at the dragon. It only gave her a mysterious look before scurrying around her room, curious.

Muirgen slowly pushed herself to her feet, still breathing faster than usual. Was that normal? she thought incredulously as she fixed her gaze on the dragon. It was only humming to itself in delight as it went back to Muirgen, purring contentedly.

She was about to flinch away, afraid that the pain would explode again, when it touched her arm, rubbing it reassuringly. Muirgen frowned, reaching out and stroking the dragon tenderly as it purred. A relieved smile broke out across her face as no pain exploded.

Letting out a small laugh, Muirgen allowed the dragon to climb into her lap, yawning tiredly. Why, it's only a baby, she realised as it curled up and was asleep in just a few minutes.

As she leaned across the wall, stroking her dragon tenderly, Muirgen could've sworn she'd heard the voices say, Well done, daughter of Celandine. Now, your journey is about to begin.

Muirgen looked up at the sound of the voices, still wary of them, as her dragon opened one eye, apparently having heard the voices too. Well, at least she wasn't imagining them. That, at least, provided some comfort.

Getting to its feet, it growled slightly and then pounced as a rat scampered across the floor. Muirgen winced slightly as the dragon swallowed the rat whole. "Well, at least I know it can get its own food," she muttered with a small smile.

Her green eyes looked around as the sounds of her uncle leaving emerged from downstairs. Getting to her feet, she walked over to the window, looking out as Niall climbed onto his horse and headed out into town, ready to start the day.

He didn't look up as his niece looked out into the horizon. Her dragon walked over to her, rubbing her ankles as though to comfort her. Muirgen looked down at her dragon before looking back at her uncle for a moment, recalling his words from the previous evening.

"When you're old enough, we're going to be leaving here," she told her dragon. "We'll wait until you're big enough, then we'll leave here. Maybe get out of Alagaesia, what do you think about that?" She chuckled as the dragon emitted a cheerful note. "Well, first things first; we're going to have to give you a name." But what did one give a dragon? she wondered as she sat down beside her dragon.

She cast her mind through names, both boy and girl, uncertain what gender the dragon was. Naming off a couple boy names, it seemed to like none of these, but she had the feeling that it was a male dragon.

Suddenly, she thought of a name that she had particularly from stories that Brom, the storyteller in Carvahall had told. It was the story of a young dragon that had fallen in battle and its Rider had picked up his sword to defend his dragon.

"Are you . . . Diathí?" she asked him. It looked up at her and considered before emitting a cheerful purring, seeming to be giving her an affirmation. She smiled broadly. "All right, Diathí it is," she laughed.

Diathí only purred louder as he scurried around the room. But Muirgen had no idea of knowing that there was another Rider appearing at that very moment, not even five miles away, on the other side of Carvahall. And she knew ever less that their fates were entwined by their destiny.