16. The Dream
The young girl with long brown hair and full, plump cheeks cowered in the corner. The other girl who was if anything, smaller than the other, stood in front her protectively.
"Where's the damn food!" One of the few bowls they had left shattered on the floor. "Where's my damn dinner!" The man croaked out, almost overturning the small table that he was using to keep his balance. One of his bare feet stepped onto several sharp pieces of broken bowl and the man howled in pain. "Which one of you idiots dropped the damn bowl!"
"There is no food and there is no dinner. And you were the one who dropped the dish." The smaller girl said. "You're drunk."
"Shut up!" Another one of the last few dishes crashed into the wall beside the girls. The girl who cowered behind the other screamed.
The man staggered up to the girl who had spoken. "Don't you dare patronize me, girl." He said, grabbing a handful of her hair for emphasis.
The girl's eyes watered from the horrible stench of the man's drunken breath. "Fine then. You aren't drunk." she said, her little voice still full of disgust.
The man shoved the twelve year old girl to the side by her hair. "Don't talk to me that way! Don't you dare talk to me that way!"
"You're not drunk, you're not drunk, you're not drunk!" The little girl yelled at the man.
The man roared with anger. "Why, you little--"
The girl scrambled to her feet and ducked past her father, reaching the other girl who still cried and cowered in the corner. "Come on, Asianna." She said as she pulled the other girl up to her feet.
"And grow me some dinner while you're out there with the gift your witch of a mother left you!" The man hollered at the girls as they rushed out the door.
The smaller girl pulled the other girl into a protective hug as soon as they were a good distance away from the house. "Hush, Asianna. Don't cry. Don't cry."
"Delora, why is father so mean to us? Why does he hate us?"
"He doesn't hate us, Asianna. He was just drunk." She said soothingly.
"Well, why does he have to be drunk all the time?"
"I don't know. I don't know."
The two girls sat huddled together under the protection of a great tree whose branches were bent down to cover them from prying eyes.
~~~~~
Take this, Delora. Take this.
She blinked. Mother? She found herself in a misty fog. Mother, is that you?
Yes, Delora. It's me. The voice said.
She frowned. But where are you? I can't see you, Mother.
There is no time to worry about that now, Delora. Quickly, take this.
Then she was struck with a sudden thought. Mother, aren't you supposed to be….dead?
The voice sighed. Yes, love. I am dead.
But then-
Delora! I wish there was time for us to talk, but there is not. Now please listen to me.
Something suddenly appeared in the fog. Long, thick stick with a rose stem circling it.
Take this, Delora. A gift from your Mother. Keep it with you always, and it'll protect you.
She blinked with confusion. A stick is going to protect me?
It is called a staff. Take it.
She took the staff, not even thinking twice about the deadly looking thorns. Things like that had never bothered her. But mother--
I'm sorry, Delora. There is simply no time. Go now. The voice started to fade away.
Go? No, I don't want to go! She protested immediately.
Go, Delora. Go with my love…
No! Mother! But she was already gone.
"Delora! Delora! Wake up!" A trembling voice was screaming in her ear.
"I'm awake, I'm awake!" She glanced up to see Asianna's teary face looking down at her.
Asianna sat back with a shaky sigh. "Gods, Delora. I thought you were dead. I called you and called you and you wouldn't wake up."
She shook her head. "No, no more tears yet, Asianna. I'm not dead yet."
But Asianna continued to look at her fearfully.
"What?" She finally asked, perplexed.
Asianna's gaze lowered. "Where did you get that, Delora?"
She glanced down to see what Asianna was gazing at. And then flinched. She reached out with a finger to trace the pattern of the rose stem around the staff. "I don't know, Asianna. I don't know."
~~~~~
The smell of burnt wood was everywhere. Delora and Asianna quickly ran through the woods and back to the shack they called home, fearful of what they might find.
"There! There she is! She's the one!" Her father said, pointing at Delora as she and Asianna came running into view.
They stopped running, but it was too late. They were surrounded by strange, unknown men.
"Delora." Asianna said fearfully as she reached for Delora's hand.
One of the men who formed the circle around the girls bent down until he was face to face with Delora. He stared at her, with his shrewd black eyes.
Delora stared back, refusing to let him intimidate her. Asianna held on to her hand so hard that her grip almost hurt.
Then suddenly, the man reached forward with a dirty finger and jabbed Delora in the chest.
Both of the girls nearly stumbled to the ground because of the suddenness of it, and the men who were around them, including their father, laughed aloud.
Then the man stood back up and stared at her father. "She can grow plants at will?"
Her father nodded. "Yes." It was the first time Delora had ever heard him sound proud of her.
The man turned back to stare at her again. Then his gaze turned to the object she held in one of her hands. His eyes narrowed.
"Is that a staff you hold?" he asked.
The grip she held around her staff tightened. "Yes."
"Interesting." he said. "And those are…thorns that surround it?" His gaze lowered to the grip she had around her staff. He absorbed the fact that the thorns were not hurting her. His gaze was thoughtful.
Then he suddenly stood, turning back to her father again. "I'll take her."
Her father suddenly sprang forward and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her away from the men and from the frightened Asianna. "You can't take her without striking a bargain with me first."
"I don't think you understand, foolish man." The strange man suddenly motioned to the others, and then the clearing was full of the sound of swords being drawn. "You give her to us willingly, or we take her after you are dead." He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her father an arrogant look. "Which is it?"
Her father opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a sudden cry.
"No! Delora!" Asianna suddenly pushed past several men in her hurry to get to her.
"Hey! Watch it you little brat!" One of the armed men started to reach for Asianna.
"Asianna, no stop!" Delora pulled herself away from her father and swung her staff with strength that she didn't know she had.
The armed man let out a grunt of pain and stepped back from Asianna. He glanced down in surprise at his bloody arm. Delora quickly stepped in front of Asianna and glared at the men. The armed man glanced down at her, obviously angry. She cringed but refused to back down.
"Stop."
Delora suddenly glanced up at the man who had said he would 'take her'. He motioned the angry armed man away and stared down at her again. He then reached out a hand as if to grab Asianna and Delora slapped the hand away. He stared at her contemplatively again. Then he laughed.
He actually laughed.
He turned back to her father. "I'll take them both."
~~~~~~~
The ride away from her home and into the forest seemed to past in a blur. She suddenly found herself roughly placed onto the ground by the man who had taken them away, the man called Torhte.
She gripped her staff with tense fingers and glanced around frantically. Where was Asianna?
Torhte seemed amused by her anxiety. He motioned to somewhere behind her. "Your sister is over there."
Delora turned to watch as another man lowered Asianna from the horse after getting off himself first. But instead of placing her on the ground and bringing her over, he suddenly heaved her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Wait, Asianna? Asianna!" She was getting more and more frantic with each step the man took away from her. "Asianna!" She started to rush forward, but Torhte grabbed her arm.
"Where is he taking her!" she demanded hotly to Torhte.
Torhte smiled. "You and your sister belong to me now. You will do whatever I say you have to do."
She shook her head. "No. No."
The grip Torhte had around her arm got tighter. "If you do not obey…we will hurt your sister."
And then, as if on cue, Asianna began to scream. "No! Where are you taking me! Delora!"
Delora frantically tried to break Torhte's grip, but he was too strong. "No! Stop it! Let go of me!"
"You will obey me. Unless you want us to hurt Asianna."
She beat at the hand around her arm uselessly. "No!"
Torhte started to laugh again.
And Asianna continued to scream.
"Deeeeeelooooooraaaaa!!"
~~~~~
Thorn sat up and suddenly found that she was laying in a pallet. A cup of cool water was placed into her hands. She almost dropped it; she was trembling so badly. She hadn't had a dream like that in a long time.
"Bad dream?" Evin asked her sympathetically.
She stared at him; the world around her still a bit fuzzy.
"Bad life." she said after a moment.
"It can't be that bad."
"Oh yes, it can." She paused, glancing down at herself, and realized that she no longer had a god awful stench of rotten food. "I'm clean?"
"Yes. You're clean."
He gently took the cup of shaking water away from her. "The woman who was with Torhte when they tried to turn you, that was your sister wasn't it?" he asked her quietly.
She suddenly glanced up. "My staff. Where is my staff?" She started to pull herself off the pallet.
Evin gently pushed her back into it. "It's right here. Beside you."
She glanced at the ground beside her and saw that it was indeed there. She settled back with a sigh of relief.
There was a short silence in which Evin stretched before pulling a stool over beside her pallet and sitting down. He gazed down at her patiently, waiting for her to speak.
"Yes." she finally said. "That woman was Asianna. My sister." Thorn pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.
Evin hesitated for a moment, and then placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."
She glanced into his big blue eyes. Looked at his concerned face. Tried to give him a brave smile. "Yeah. Me too." she said. "Me too."
