There was a woman in the sitting room. She sat by herself on the long couch, her knees practically knocking together and her hands wringing. I walked around where she sat and felt a soft breeze on my cheek. Eyes widening, I turned to my right and gasped softly as I saw that the large, double-doored windows of the sitting room were actually open. In my whole memory, I could not pull out a single time when the beautiful windows had actually been wide open, the pure white curtains moving fluidly in the sea wind coming up from Keel Harbor. I moved slowly towards the opening of the window, fearing that if I moved too quickly, the windows would shut and the beauty would dissolve from the room. But as I looked out, I heard the doors of the sitting room open and shut abruptly and all of a sudden, it was as if the sunshine had been sucked from the room.
Turning, I saw a tall man standing in front of the woman. He had dark brown hair and coal-black eyes, beady little things that flitted from side to side as if he was constantly analyzing everything in the room. Finally the little stones came to rest on the woman, who, I now saw, had bright amber hair and brown eyes. She's very pretty, I thought, examining her. I couldn't help but notice how much different she was from the sour-looking man. He let out a little breath of impatience and began to speak in a deep voice. "Madeline, shut those windows, those curtains are going to get wrinkled and this is a sitting room, not a forest."
The woman, Madeline, rose quickly and hurried to each of the windows, shutting and fastening them. One time, she came so close to me that I breathed in her scent, a mix of grass and ocean air. On the last windows, she hesitated and spun around, her eyes widening with nervousness as she said shakily, "I-I have some good news."
He slammed into one of the chairs, nearly knocking the thing off of its legs. He snorted sarcastically and grunted, "What, you've found a way to overthrow that imbecile Greymane? Far too liberal these days.."
Madeline shook her head, her hands still wringing. "No.. We're going to have a baby. The priestess from the harbor told me it's going to be a little girl." She finished up the sentence quickly, and then bit her lip, watching for a reaction from the man. For a moment he just sat there, his hands entwining with each other. Then a smile appeared on his face.
It was not the smile of a man who was happy to learn of the imminent birth of his child. This smile chilled me to the bone and I took an involuntary step back, flinching. Madeline must have noticed it as well, for her nervous expression turned into one of quiet panic and her hands were clenching at each other so tightly that her knuckles were turning pale. He stood quickly and clapped his hands together, the devious and evil smile still spreading itself across his face. His little eyes were upturned with a sort of sick delight. "Wonderful, simply wonderful," he drawled, taking a step towards Madeline. She flinched. "I will make preparations at once." One of her hands fell subconsciously to hover protectively in front of her stomach. I couldn't help but worry that the windows of the large room would not be open again.
There was a little girl standing in my library. She had long, dark amber-colored hair that hung around her shoulders and big brown eyes and she was struggling to carry a large tome. It's almost as big as her! I thought. I wanted to move and help her, but I was rooted in place, which I discovered as I futilely tried to lunge away. She slammed the book onto a table, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. She couldn't have been more than ten. "Talenne. Do not slam the books." The little girl froze, but so did I. Talenne? Her name is Talenne? I could not speak either.
A man walked out of one of the aisles of books and looked down at the girl. She glanced up at the man, at the books, and then back at the man. "Papa, why do I have to read these?" She looks past the man and a little imp hopped into view, peeking into different nooks and cracks in the library. "And why can't Zurk come play? He does look so very lonely."
The man sighed deeply, as if the little girl were asking ridiculous questions which could only warrant obvious, ridiculous answers. "I told you before, Talenne. You need to learn how to become a.. a witch. A pretty witch. You will help me and come to work with me in the city. You like the city, right? And Zurk is not for playing, Talenne. He.. has other purposes. I told you that, too, remember? When you summoned him all by yourself." He shook his head and turned to walk away. "And I've told you a thousand times, you do not call me 'papa'. It is for children. I am your father." He walked out of the library, motioning for the imp to follow, which it did, although rather sadly and not before tossing a pleading look back at the girl.
The girl's brown eyes lingered on the library door for a moment longer and then she sighed, plopping herself down in a chair and opening the tome. I couldn't help but stare. Her eyes were different. I liked them. Turning my head, I saw the reflection of my own eyes in the glass of a trophy case. They were bright and gold, unnatural. Feral.
There was a young man standing in the foyer. He had dark brown hair with a little bit of red in it and sharp, brown eyes, which scanned the foyer anxiously. I stood next to the front doors, blinking rapidly. I tried to move. No such luck. A door opened from the passage which ran underneath the staircase and a small young lady stepped out. The hair was the same, the stance. But when she turned her head towards me and blinked, I saw that her eyes were dark brown. I winced because I knew that mine were no longer brown.
The man immediately tensed when the girl entered. She took a deep breath and smiled nervously at him. "Prepared?"
He shifted a bit and reluctantly nodded. "Yes.. Well, not really, but I suppose it's best to just get it over with."
She pouted. "Well don't sound so terribly excited!" she exclaimed sarcastically.
Suddenly, it dawned on me what I was watching. This was the beginning. I looked frantically at the front doors and tensed as I waited for them to go flying open.
He seemed to relax a little and he walked to the girl, grasping her arms tenderly and stooping down a bit to look into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Talon. You know what I mean. This is nerve-wracking. You don't feel even a little bit scared by this?"
The girl smiled as widely as she could, her brown eyes glittering. "Of course I'm scared, silly. Of course I'm nervous. But this is exciting! Things are about to get better. Don't you see that?"
"I'm standing here with you, Talon. Things are better already," he said softly. They stood with each other for a long moment, looking at each other with hope. I was entranced by this sight, so entranced that I forgot where I was for a second and when the doors next to me went flying and banging open, I gasped. A small, heavy man came scrambling into the foyer, gasping for breath and staring at the young man, wide-eyed.
"My prince! Come.. come quickly! We must.. get you back to the.. city at once! There is an attack of some sort.."
The young man's eyes flew wildly from the girl to the pudgy man and he leaned down, kissing the girl quickly on the forehead and staring intently into her eyes. "Listen to me. Stay here. When I figure out what is happening, I will send help. If there is an attack on the city, they will need me there. I promise I'll return, Talon."
The girl merely stood there, her brown eyes blinking in confusion and growing panic. The young man swept out of the foyer and onto the cobblestones outside, his scent filling my nose as he went past me. The small man skittered out after him and the doors slammed shut again. After a moment of stunned silence, the girl's eyes took on a sort of fierceness and she called out several names. The door she had originally emerged from swung open and a few creatures came tumbling out, two imps and a felhound. One of the imps bounced up onto his feet and stood straight. "Yes, mistress!" he squeaked.
"Zurk. Get the others together," the girl said. She knelt down and spoke to the imp as if it were a friend and not a servant. "I have to go speak to my father immediately. We may have an attack on our hands. Can you do this?"
The imp shared a look of shock with the other, smaller imp and even the felhound whined a bit. Then Zurk nodded. "I can, mistress! Big attack?"
The girl stood and looked worried. "Yes. Big attack, I think."
Then she looked towards the front doors and bit her lip. "Liam.. Please.."
There was a girl standing in the ruins. I stood where I did before, near the front doors, or what was left of them. Splintered wood hung from the cracked hinges and was littered across the marble floor of the foyer. The polished stone was shattered in some places and dented in others, shards of black and silver rock standing at odd angles. The staircase, I saw, was slashed completely in half and some of the stairs sunk inwards. The rest of the stairs were collapsed, blocking the entrance of the passage beneath. I stared cautiously at the girl and saw that her eyes were still brown. The worst was not over yet.
She breathed in ragged gasps and leaned heavily on her left side, for there was a bloody cut running down her right one. There were slashes, burns and bruises covering her from head to toe and her hair was matted and sticking to her. In her right hand she held a swirling ball of shadow and in the right a small, jumping ball of flame. Her eyes scanned the foyer carefully, but they looked like they were going dull. She looked tired. I wanted to run to her and bat away the mist that was only beginning to take hold. I wanted to run away from her and get help, get someone to protect her. I wanted to get Liam.
Then I saw the movement on the second story, the hulking figure that came slinking out of the library. I looked back at the girl. She was completely unaware of the movement because of where she was positioned, under the landing. Her eyes were dulling and the balls of shadow and fire were swirling erratically now, as if it were a struggle to keep them from extinguishing. I opened my mouth to warn her, but no sound came out. The figure moved towards the shattered stairs. The girl was fading.
I tried to scream louder and struggled as hard as I could to get free from whatever invisible force was rooting me to my spot, to no avail. The figure had caught scent of the girl and leaned it's head over the railing of the landing, the hungry-looking eyes catching sight of the quickly-dulling prey. As it hunched up its muscles to leap over the railing and down into the foyer below, one of my arms managed to move a bit. Then the other arm. I could move. But it was already too late. The figure was already swinging itself over the side of the railing. As I shook my legs free and began to run towards the unsuspecting shell of a girl, the figure landed with a huge thud, some more of the marble cracking and splintering underneath its claws.
The girl spun around quickly but clumsily, stumbling a bit. It was too slow. I was so close! I could have reached her. But I was too slow as well. The figure pounced and just before the jagged claws grabbed her and the sharp, red-stained teeth snapped into her shoulder, the girl's huge brown eyes widened and I could have sworn that she looked right at me before everything went black. In the reflection of her beautiful eyes, I saw mine. They glinted brightly and I forced myself to close them, to close the scene before me.
I will remember her eyes forever. They were mine, but they now belong to a ghost. I was Talenne once, I was Liam's Talon. Who did I become, who am I now? I don't know. I'll probably never know. I live through ghosts and dreams.