Chapter Five
Alone Again
After the sickness had run its course, a nobleman came to Linshart Manor.
"Good sir, what brings you to our humble manor?" Asked Aarana, politely. She did not like the look of this stern man.
"I am Kithella's uncle and have come to claim her estates." He said curtly.
"Oh, um… Do come in Lord…um"
"Lord Falster." And then he brushed past her.
He spent the next few hours talking with Kithella's money manager and then with Aarana's tutor. He later came out and asked to have a word with Aarana.
"So you are that little vagabond Kithella found lying by the road. Probably eating her out of house and home, I expect."
Aarana was taken aback by this but then asked what was of most importance, "Will the servants be able to remain?" She had become very close to them over the years and did not want this Lord Falster to cast them out, as she had been those ten years ago.
"The servants will be able to remain, what's left of them anyway, of course I shall be needing some more men for guards what with the rebels and all… and you, you would have been able to remain, as a servant of course, you have to noble blood in you and there for have no right to live as you do, except for the fact that… Well I heard that you were casting a few spells here and there."
Aarana's face paled.
"I will not have a witch in my house, and that is the end of this discussion." And then he left.
* * * * *
"Here you go miss," said Geoffrey, helping her down from the horse, "This is as far as I can take yer."
"Thank you Geoffrey," said Aarana quietly.
"I wish ye luck," He said gruffly. He would miss her. He remembered the day when he and the lady were riding back home from the coronation and had found her half dead. Now Aarana was a beautiful young woman, and was being cast out into a world in which disease and war dominated.
"Good bye," she said, and walked away. The horse stood for a minute, but then she heard the sound of galloping hooves and knew that there was no turning back.
She was not so unhappy to leave Linshart, she had a feeling that if she had lived there Lord Falster she would have runaway anyway. But she was scared and frightened. She was all alone, and she would be far more noticeable than when she was a little girl. She also would miss everyone at the manor. At least, she thought, At least no one outside Linshart knows I have the Gift. Perhaps this time she could keep it hidden.
Slowly she walked on. She spent the first two nights in inns. But soon she ran out of money. She managed to find farmers that would let her sleep in a their barn. For a week she traveled like this, heading north all the while. She was hoping to reach Trebond and find Lady Asaia, also, she had heard that the disease had not reached the north, and there for there was less reason to use her gift. But she had forgotten about the war.
* * * * *
The path she had been walking on went through a dense forest and there were no houses for miles. It was late and Aarana was weary so she crept into a bush to keep warm and tried to sleep. It was much like the night before Kithella had found her. Sleeping under a starry sky, with the wild animals singing their song. And so, for the first time in almost ten years, Aarana had the Nightmare again.