HERALD OF DEATH: THE OPENING OF THE EYES

Whatchamacallme: Sorry it took so long for the next chapter...

Disclaimer: Don't own Valdemar. Just the characters I make up; the others I get to borrow and play with .

:Colons for Thought Speech:

A quiet figure moved towards the unmoving form in the middle of the field. Reaching the small child, he moved to look into the girl's face. The youngster awoke for the first time in four years without a nightmare.

:Are you awake Little One? If you are, open your eyes : the quiet figure asked.

"I don't want to open my eyes; I don't want to see what happened."

:Trust me, Little One; open your eyes. :

The brown eyes opened to find a pair of eyes gazing into her. They were blue beyond all reason, and they sparkled with an inner light.

:Little One, I Chose you. :

At those words, Chailyn lost herself in those beautiful sapphire eyes that surpassed the color in her dream easily. She felt joy so fulfilling that it ached in her heart. She felt sadness so deep that she could not cry. And she felt love so unlimited that it overflowed her heart and poured down her cheeks in tears.

Then slowly she was pulled out of it, and she regretted that she could not stay in it longer.

When she recovered from the immense joy, she whispered, "Who are you?"

:My name, Chailyn, is Zephyr. :

"Zephyr..." the brown-eyed, blonde-headed girl whispered. It was like as spell to her, a spell that when spoken, it would create instant peace inside her.

"Zephyr?"

:Yes, loved one:

"What do we do now?"

:We go to Haven. :

"Haven? Where is it? I mean I've heard of it, but I don't know where it is."

:North. A week or so of travel, I think. :

"What should I do for food? My family is dead, and I don't want to go down there to see if I can find food."

:I understand, Little One; there's road a little east of your holding that will take us straight to Haven. If we travel that, we won't have to use Waystations. :

Chailyn clambered onto Zephyr's saddle and clutched the reins.

:Chailyn, do you mind not grasping the reins so tight. If you need to, hold on to my mane, you can hang on tighter that way. :

She let go of the reins and held on to his mane as he instructed. She soon found out, however, that she didn't need to hang on to either rein or mane because Zephyr's gait was smooth and gentle, but it was faster than anything she had ever experienced. Though she would have to admit my experience is limited because as a woman, she was not allowed to try to ride a horse.

Whatchamacallme: Yes, peoples, this is a verrrrrrrrrrry short chapter. And I'm going to skip the traveling because nothing happened. Nothing. Squat. Zippo. So, the next chapter she should be in Haven.

Yes, I know they can use Thought Speech pretty easily, but that's only because she's newly Chosen and because she is in direct contact with Zephyr.

If you don't review, I don't blame you, there's not much to review on.

Please let me know of any grammatical errors. Thanks for reading!