Author Notes: Ha! I win!
Poopy Penguin: I'll be sure to read it when I get off my lazy butt and stop the procrastination train.
MysticSistaKitsune, I could, and maybe would, but the summary, though lyrics, will eventually be a direct quote from Metrion. So I won't. Sorry.
Enjoy!
Chapter Three: Run For The Shadows
"Oh, my gosh, Tara," Estab exclaimed when he saw her, gripping her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. "You're alive! We thought you were dead!"
"What did the witch do to you?" Victor asked, eyes wide with excitement. "Are you okay? Did she cast a spell on you? What happened?"
"Is it true what the stories say?" Robin piped in. "Can she really become a giant raven? Is she really as cold as ice? Does she really have fangs and all that stuff that they say?"
The questions were never-ending and she fought to answer them all best she could, blushing in embarrassment. They were expecting an amazing story of her escaping an evil, all-powerful witch and all she had to tell them was she had eaten cookies and met a pretty red-head with a bouncy personality. She eventually managed to sit down and get them quiet, smiling smugly, as if the story was something to be told for years. And she made it into that. They were the best friends she had ever had, after all. She could not fail to impress.
"She was so scary," Tara said, eyes wide. "Her skin was as white as snow, and she had fangs like the stories said, only they were bigger! They were huge, like some kind of super-wolf! And she was looming over me, and her breath was like… it was freezing! Her hands, they were like claws that could slice through anything and she had this… this dark… aura or something, that just glowed and the ground felt like it was shaking!"
"Weren't you scared?" Estab asked, looking astounded.
"Of course I was scared! She was going to cast a spell on me!"
"What happened?" Asked Robin, eager to hear the rest of the story.
"Like I said, she was going to cast a spell on me… but then this woman came…" She paused, deciding it was best to add Koriand'r in the story if she was to get away with it being true. "She was a beautiful woman, with long, flaming red hair and eyes as green those grass fields outside our village! She was flying, you guys, flying! And she came up and she said--" She raised her voice louder to sound braver. "-- "Leave that girl alone, witch!". And she and the witch fought! And she won!"
"What was her name?" Victor asked, looking absolutely shocked.
"Koriand'r," said Tara happily. "And then the witch floated off and Koriand'r came to me and said, "Child, you are safe now". And she healed the wound on my ankle and sent me back here!"
"Wow," the three boys said in unison and Tara mentally patted herself on the back for a job well-done.
"Now if you guys will excuse me," she said, standing, "I've gotta get home."
And she left.
XXX
"Friend Metrion," Koriand'r's sing-song voice echoed through the small cottage as she floated through it, glancing about curiously. "Friend Metrion? I seek your companionship!"
She landed before the sorceress' room, smiling at the warm, magical aura that radiated from the door. Carefully, silently, she opened the door and slipped inside to find Metrion sitting Indian-style on the floor, surrounded by candles, and chanting. This was normal for the sorceress, and she casually walked over, standing just outside of the circle of light that surrounded her friend, waiting patiently.
"What?" Asked Metrion, opening a single, dark eye, though the red headed girl was standing behind her and out of her line of sight.
"What do you think has become of Friend Tara?" Koriand'r asked innocently, green eyes gleaming at the blonde girl's name. "I hope that she reached the outside of the forest safely."
The dark haired witch closed her eye again, lips forming a grim line upon her pale face. "She will return."
At this, Koriand'r looked overjoyed. "Truly? You have predicted her return?"
"I have," said Metrion, voice flat. "And it is nothing to be happy about. The girl offers us nothing but trouble, and a possible revealing of what needs to be kept hidden."
"I do not understand," the red head murmured, floating up and over to her companion's side. "Metrion… what is it exactly that you have predicted?"
"The cause of what the villagers blame me for, my privacy, a world that they are not ready for… it will all be brought out into the open. I will not allow that to happen."
"What will you do?"
"I will take her to the Hive."
Green eyes widened before anger spread across Koriand'r pretty features. "No!" She exclaimed, floating upwards, looming over the pale-skinned other. "I cannot permit you to do such a thing to someone such as Tara! She is my friend and--"
"I will take her to the Hive," Metrion repeated, voice firm. She did not open her eyes, and stayed in her current position, seeming to be unaffected. At this response, Koriand'r faltered and landed, taking a seat upon the ground miserably.
"Please," she said, voice soft. "Cannot I take care of Tara? I will assure you that she will cause you no grief--"
"I shall take my chances with the Hive," spat Metrion venomously, opening her eyes, glaring at the other girl out of the corner of her vision.
A pause, and Koriand'r spoke again. "Have you had any visions of Tara's home life? Any reason for her to return?"
"Her father beats her, her friends think she's something she's not, she's very weak mentally…" The witch's voice was bored, and she closed her eyes again, lazily shrugging her shoulders. "Nothing important. Nothing that the Hive cannot make her forget."
"Make her forget with pain," said Koriand'r, her own voice shaky. "Make her forget with sorrow. Make her forget like they made you forget."
The bottomless amethyst opened again, narrowing in anger as Metrion regarded the other girl with a cold gaze. Koriand'r met the gaze with her own steady, pain filled one.
"The Hive is not the source, or the answer of the problems. Not the villagers' problems, not your problems, and not Tara's. If you are so afraid of your vision, then you should find the answer elsewhere, for I will not allow Tara to suffer the pain that you suffered. And it hurts me to know that you, Friend Metrion, would."
She stood then, and left the room without another word. Metrion watched her go silently, before closing her eyes again and resuming her meditation.
"Azarath… Metrion…"
"Father, no, I didn't--"
A scream. A sharp pain in her ribs.
Her eyes snapped open.
XXX
She winced, sinking to the floor with a choked sob. She faintly heard her father's footsteps and the closing of the door when he went out, though it hardly registered in her mind. She clutched her sides, groaning softly at the pain that racked through her body.
She had bruises all over, she knew.
Robin had told his father of her 'adventure' in the forest, and his father had told her father. Of course, she'd had no good explanation, and things had gone as they always went. A severe beating, him leaving, her on the floor with the coppery taste of blood in her mouth.
She raised a hand to touch the top of her head which pulsated with pain, feeling something wet there. She brought the hand back to her face, finding her fingertips stained with crimson, and she almost laughed. Her eyes traveled to the window, where it showed the dark night, the silvery moon bathing her room in a pale light. She closed her eyes, as if the light could take away her pain, and purify her somehow.
She wanted so badly to get away… So badly to go somewhere else.
"So I suggest you take this to heart… turn your head, run, and never look back."
But what if she wanted to look back?
Raising herself to her feet with much difficulty, she limped over to her window, slipping out as stealthily as she could. Once outside, she glanced around to see if anyone was watching, but the village was deserted, it's people sleeping comfortably in their homes. She took a deep breath.
As quickly as she could, she started towards the forest.