-Chapter One-
"Mother? Father?" Draya Salamin's panicked voice rang through the still forest, strangling the silence, smothering the solitude. She shivered cold with fear, her blue-ish black eyes wide. Again she called out into the abyss:
"Ma? Da! Where are you?! Help me please!"
Being alone in the Forest of Dreams was not a good idea. Things lived here. And the recent addition of problem Immortals made it no better. There were no paths in the Forest. Specters led you to your death, and all plants were poisonous. Yet here was Draya, lost and unsure. Stuck.
"MOTHER!" she screamed, not caring what creature heard. She had been wandering, and now regretted it greatly. What can I do? She thought, sweat forming on her brow. She wondered if she'd ever get out of Scanra, see Tortall again, or her dear family for that matter. Maybe she would die here. She'd starve, or be taken by a spidren. She imagined her dead body being picked apart by Stormwings and shuddered. After all, isn't that what happened to all that got lost the Forest of Dreams?
The Gift. Use the Gift! Was what her good sense told her? If she did, it would tell her where her family was. But she was afraid. She hated the sense powerlessness, that an unseen force controlled her.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," the girl said aloud decidedly. She pushed back her dark-brown-streaked-with-silver hair and closed her eyes, quickly finding the pool of silver magic inside her that was her own. Reaching into it, she found what she needed. Then, looking into a mirror she stored in her pack, she concentrated on the image of her parents, hoping they weren't too far away.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Veralidaine Sarrasri the Wildmage, mother of Draya Salamin, rested her
head against the cold stone wall of the cave and closed her blue-gray
eyes.
"We need to get out of here," she whispered to her lover.
Numair Salamin was the greatest mage in Tortall; his Gift feared and
respected by all. Yet he could do nothing to get them out. They were in
Scanra, and mages here used magic he could not control. He turned to look
at Daine from where he sat, Kitten the dragon in his lap. His dark eyes
were worried.
"Are there any animals near that can help?"
The young woman shook her head. "I've been trying to find someone, but no
one's near. And Draya---she's lost. I can feel it."
Numair nodded. He had known that already, and had not spoken.
"Mother? Father?" Draya Salamin's panicked voice rang through the still forest, strangling the silence, smothering the solitude. She shivered cold with fear, her blue-ish black eyes wide. Again she called out into the abyss:
"Ma? Da! Where are you?! Help me please!"
Being alone in the Forest of Dreams was not a good idea. Things lived here. And the recent addition of problem Immortals made it no better. There were no paths in the Forest. Specters led you to your death, and all plants were poisonous. Yet here was Draya, lost and unsure. Stuck.
"MOTHER!" she screamed, not caring what creature heard. She had been wandering, and now regretted it greatly. What can I do? She thought, sweat forming on her brow. She wondered if she'd ever get out of Scanra, see Tortall again, or her dear family for that matter. Maybe she would die here. She'd starve, or be taken by a spidren. She imagined her dead body being picked apart by Stormwings and shuddered. After all, isn't that what happened to all that got lost the Forest of Dreams?
The Gift. Use the Gift! Was what her good sense told her? If she did, it would tell her where her family was. But she was afraid. She hated the sense powerlessness, that an unseen force controlled her.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," the girl said aloud decidedly. She pushed back her dark-brown-streaked-with-silver hair and closed her eyes, quickly finding the pool of silver magic inside her that was her own. Reaching into it, she found what she needed. Then, looking into a mirror she stored in her pack, she concentrated on the image of her parents, hoping they weren't too far away.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Veralidaine Sarrasri the Wildmage, mother of Draya Salamin, rested her
head against the cold stone wall of the cave and closed her blue-gray
eyes.
"We need to get out of here," she whispered to her lover.
Numair Salamin was the greatest mage in Tortall; his Gift feared and
respected by all. Yet he could do nothing to get them out. They were in
Scanra, and mages here used magic he could not control. He turned to look
at Daine from where he sat, Kitten the dragon in his lap. His dark eyes
were worried.
"Are there any animals near that can help?"
The young woman shook her head. "I've been trying to find someone, but no
one's near. And Draya---she's lost. I can feel it."
Numair nodded. He had known that already, and had not spoken.