Chapter 20
Layla wobbled sleepily outside of the carriage. Rubbing her eyes open she took in the quaint little town around her. The buildings were small and huddled together as if everyone in town wanted to be as close together as possible. Touches of color from flowers and vines sprinkled across the town in window boxes and ambitious gardens. Beyond the small town were rolling green hills covered in lush grass and secretive forests. The only strange thing was that no people were walking the streets of the town.
Layla blinked.
Amazed she hadn't seen it before, she realized that standing before her was a ghost town. The buildings crumbled into one another. The gardens were trampled and rotten. And those bright touches of color were reduced to dried up brown twigs. That happy town she saw before was merely a vision of what once was. The souls that made this town vibrant and colorful had left long ago. Layla's sharp intake of breath caught Rahl's attention.
"Have you seen anything?" Rahl inquired, trying to be lackadaisical, but Layla knew better.
"No," She shook her head, "What is this place?" Layla changed the subject.
"Paccor" Rahl answered, "A town long forgotten."
Layla rubbed her arms as a chill crept over her skin. "What are we doing here, Rahl?" Her voice quaked.
"There is something here I wanted to show you." Without saying anything more Rahl continued toward town. Curiosity got the best of her and Layla followed. They stepped into an old temple whose floors creaked beneath their feet. The faint scent of rose wafted through the air then vanished. Brightly colored murals came into view then faded to dull and covered with dusty cobwebs. The past was mixing with the present and Layla's head spun with pain from seeing such beauty so eerily rotted.
Layla was too overwhelmed to keep moving. She stopped and pressed her hand to the wall to steady her. She focused her attention on the ground to keep from seeing old life crumple in front of her.
"Rahl don't you see it?" she took a breath as Rahl turned to face her, puzzled. Tension hung thick in the air as it became obvious that Rahl hadn't seen a thing.
"Everything is dying right in front of me," Layla explained, "I don't think we should be here, Rahl."
"Dying?" Rahl was thoughtful for a moment before a look of realization lit his face, "Have you seen any people?"
"What?" Layla was surprised, "Of course not. There's no one here. No one alive anyway."
"Then we're not far enough yet." without another thought, Rahl marched on.
"Wait!" Layla chased after him and grabbed his arm to stop him, "We definitely shouldn't be here. These visions are just a glimpse of the past. I think-" she paused, unsure whether to finish her thought.
"You think what?" Rahl was still anxious and tense, meaning that he had even less patience than usual.
"I think they're a warning," Layla declared adamantly, "A sign that this is no place for the living." Rahl paused for a moment, and Layla got the sense that he had already known that they weren't supposed to be there. His brow crinkled again. Layla could tell he was looking for a way to comfort her without giving her more information that would only prove her suspicions.
"Layla," Rahl lilted his voice sweetly to soothe her nerves, "I brought you here for a reason. We can't go back yet."
"There's something you're not telling me, Rahl," Layla challenged, "Don't you think I have a right to know?"
Rahl walked on without answering. Layla followed, waiting for him to answer.
"I brought you here to show you something," Rahl responded cooly, "In this case, you need to be left in the dark. Otherwise, things will certainly go wrong." Layla nodded in response, knowing that nothing she said would change Rahl's mind.
The tense pair traversed many hallways and staircases until they came to a round room made from stone, unlike the rest of the wooden building. Here the past stood nearly untouched. Where every other room had been rifled through and sullied nothing in this room had been touched. Paintings hung neatly on the wall and the books were stacked on their shelves. The drapes on the windows were in perfect condition. The room had an air of stillness and order as if someone had protected this room's condition where the rest of the building was left to rot.
In the center of the room stood what looked like a stone birdbath only far more ornate. Carvings on the bath depicted all of nature's creatures from bugs to rabbits and nymphs to mermaids. A river ran along and around the stem leading down to the base which became a lake. Green tile on the floor beneath the base had the appearance of grass surrounding a lake full of lovely creatures. Though the outside of the basin danced with lifelike carvings of prancing deer and fluttering flowers the inside was plain polished slate, black and deep and empty.
"This is amazing." Layla exhaled with wonder, "All these years, completely untouched. And the paint on this basin. Not even a chip."
Layla's curiosity got the best of her and she reached out to touch the basin. The instant her fingertips brushed the basin her body froze and her mind went blank.
The eerie place had pulled her into the past and she now stood on the steps of the temple. The town still had its color and charm. Gardens bloomed and children played in the lush grass, but a rising tension filled the air. Soldiers marched through town banging on doors and pulling families out into the streets. They lined up the men and Layla heard the sound of screaming cries as children watched their fathers die. Layla's eyes followed the sound and she saw several men's bodies lying on the ground slumped over in pools of blood. Women and children wept and screamed as they were herded into the center of town and told to keep quiet.
An extraordinarily tall man in robes walked up to the oldest woman in the crowd. His dark hair gleamed in the moonlight. The old woman stooped at least two feet shorter than him. With a bark of orders, two soldiers yanked her off the ground holding her up to his eye level. The man placed his hand over her eyes and began to chant slowly. His hand seemed to be affixed to the old woman's face as it glowed a burnt orange that turned dark red. Then the old woman started to scream with pain. Moments hung in the air like hours until he released his hand and the woman stopped screaming. The soldiers dropped her to the floor and she let out a wailing sob.
Chaos ensued as a few women tended the old woman grasping at her eyes. Others screamed with terror. A young woman no more than 18 bolted from the crowd and ran halfway to the forest before being tackled by a soldier who returned to the crowd with blood on his hands. The dark-haired man grinned predatorily as he towered over the women performing the same spell on each in turn.
A group of soldiers stormed into the temple, and Layla was swept along with them. The soldiers marched through the building and banged on the door to the round stone room with the ornate basin, but heard no answer. They banged again, harder this time so the door shook. Slowly the quiet lessened as the sound of chanting crept from the room. The soldiers shouted and banged on the door, causing it to shake and rattle its hinges. The priests chanted louder and the rhythmic pace fought eerily with the soldiers' chaotic screaming. Until the soldiers battering ram fell into the rhythm of the chants. Layla could hear the panic growing in the priests' prayers as they willed their impending doom away. She was both eager and horrified to see what would happen when the door was finally beaten down. But as the first streaks of light peeked through the door she was thrust from the vision, prevented from seeing what lay beyond the door.
Layla knelt at the foot of the basin as tears streamed down her cheeks and fell into the lake at the base of the birdbath as she returned to reality. She could still hear the melodic chanting of the priests' prayers as the soldiers broke down the door. Every bone in her body ached with the pain of what she had seen. The same question kept repeating in her head and her heart. Why? Why did this happen to such an innocent town?
Rahl never said a word. By the time Layla had calmed orange light glinted through the window, signaling morning.
"Rahl?" her voice wavered precariously.
"Yes," he responded calmly.
"Do you know what happened here?" Layla stood to face him.
"Yes." He didn't need to ask if Layla knew as well.
"Then why did you bring me here to witness it?" Layla's voice rose violently.
"I once told you of women who could see the future as you do. Long ago they cast a spell on themselves blinding their clairvoyant vision. For a long time, I've thought that was a legend invented to cover up the truth. What you saw will either confirm or deny that theory." Rahl paused watching Layla's reaction. It was several minutes before she gathered her thoughts enough to respond.
"There was a man," Layla paused unsure how to continue, "He- he was hurting them. He had his hand on their eyes. He caused them so much pain." Layla's face crumpled from the pain she felt on the women's faces.
"Yes," Rahl's brows furrowed, "I suspect that he thought he was removing their sight permanently. What he wasn't expecting was that the trait would be passed on, only needing to be awakened. Planting magic and removing it is a very painful process but simply awakening it is quite underwhelming.
"I still don't understand why you brought me here." Layla wondered.
"Don't you see," Rahl gestured. "I wanted you to see where you came from. What those women lost. I want you to start valuing your gift, Layla. It makes you unique."
"Those women died that day when they had their powers taken from them, and you want me to cherish something that could land me in the same position?" Layla was aghast. She could not understand this man in front of her. How could he think that seeing that horror would make her cherish her vision? If anything it made her dislike it more.
"No." Rahl was no longer comforting, but stern. He desperately wanted her to see what he saw, "I want you to cherish what they cherished. You said the man that took away their clairvoyance was hurting them, causing them pain?"
"Yes," Layla responded meekly, wondering what Rahl was thinking.
"It hurt to have their gifts taken away and not just their bodies but their souls." Rahl stared at her intently, willing her to understand what he was saying.
"Screams like that don't just come from being wounded. They come from being unwillingly forced to change and ripped apart in the process of doing so."
"Exactly," Rahl said, "I'd feel the same way if my magic was taken away. And I imagine you'd feel the same way now if you're Sight was stolen."
Layla nodded silently. She didn't want to dwell on the topic anymore, but she had one more question she needed to ask.
"Rahl," he could hear the question in her voice and acknowledged with a nod that he was prepared to answer, "Why did all of those awful things happen here?"
"I still don't know," Rahl's face fell dejectedly, "There are several myths and legends about what happened here all those years ago, but no one truly knows. The only people who knew why the soldiers were there were the priests that lived in the temple. But legend has it that when the guards stormed the temple and broke down the door that the priests had vanished."
"That's not possible," goosebumps rose along Layla's arms as a chill swept through her body, "I saw it in my vision. The priests were here. They were in this room praying the moment the doors broke down."
The air stood still. Rahl and Layla didn't dare move and simply stared at each other questioning everything they knew.
"Rahl," Layla barely whispered, "the priests never left."
