Authors Note:
I'm posting quick small chapters here on fanfiction dot net, but then collating chapters, revising them, adding to them and reposting them onto my fictionpress account.
Read there for a better quality (hopefully) story, or keep here for quicker updates (hopefully).
www dot fictionpress dot com slash u slash 31687Chapter 9
17th Day of Deep Winter 768 n.c
Somehow I didn't black out. I wished that I had.
The roll down the steep cliff was painful, especially when my leg bashed up against a large rock and I heard an audible cracking noise, along with a sharp blinding pain. I landed at the bottom with a thud that knocked the air out of my lungs, I tried to breath in deeply, but it hurt. I started coughing, which only made the pain worse. I looked at the sleeve of my dress that I had coughed into and saw bright red splotches of blood. This was not good. Not good at all. I looked up to the top of the cliff and saw the dire wolves looking down at me, all as one they turned and took off at a run towards the pathway that I was headed towards before their arrival.
They were coming back to get me! Blinking out the tears from my eyes, I crawled away from the cliff. It was slow, and painful. Using my hands to dig into the dirt of the clearing and my one good leg to push. Each breath hurt deep inside me, something dripped down into one of my eyes that I couldn't blink out. Blood, probably. I had just about reached the black stone altar when the dire wolves showed up in the clearing. Their loud growls seemed so close. I dared not look to see where they were. I could hear their great paws on the packed dirt of the clearing as they started their killing dash towards me.
I reached out one bloodied hand towards the smooth black stone. The smooth black stone that didn't have any dust or dirt maring it's surface. I don't know what drew me towards it, why I thought that it would be my only source of salvation. I don't even know what language I used to call out when my fingers did make contact, smearing blood on the black stone. I knew the meaning behind the word though. The meaning was 'HELP ME'.
Everything went black.
I opened my eyes, blinking at the sunlight that lit up the clearing around me. I wasn't dead, I wasn't being eaten alive by dire wolves. I wasn't even in any pain anymore. I took a deep breath and it didn't hurt!
I turned my head to look at the altar and was shocked by what I saw, shocked and relieved. Sitting on top of the black stone was the girl, the girl from my dreams. She was perched on the stone with her arms gripping the edge of it. Her black slippered feet alternately kicking off the side of the altar. She was smiling at me, a smile that promised so much.
"The wolves?" I asked, my voice a little croaky.
"Oh, they are gone, they won't be coming back," she replied. Her voice was melodic, her accent strange but musical.
"Did you?" I asked, unable to finish the question.
"Yes." She answered, "I made them go away, and I fixed you up. You were in a bit of a bad way after your fall."
I swung my legs around and stood up.
"Thank-you, thank-you so much." I gushed, getting a little teary, "I don't know how I could ever repay you."
"Oh, never mind that. I was repaying you, after all." she said cryptically.
"Repaying?" I asked, confused.
"You made the sacrifice, you called the prayer." She stated, "It's been a long, long time since I had heard it."
"Who are you?" I asked, questions running over themselves, begging to be answered. "Why did I see you in my dreams, those visions? What sacrifice, what prayer?"
She laughed, a joyous laugh that I did not feel directed at me.
She held a finger up, "Firstly; you can call me Shard. Secondly and thirdly," she said adding two more fingers, "I'm not sure why you saw me, never before has anybody seen me like that."
"Fourthly and fifthly," she added another two fingers, "Your blood and your cry for help."
Something prompted me back into a semblance of sense, and I managed to respond to her introduction, "My name is Sharein, Sharein Askilain. It's a pleasure to meet you."
I gave her a curtsey, and in response she surprised me by hopping down off the stone altar and embracing me in hug. Just like in my dream, she was cold. I could feel that she was cold, but it didn't seem to affect me in any way. She had her arms around my waist, and I returned the hug with my arms over her shoulders. We fit together perfectly as if we were two parts of a whole separated without knowing it. The world could have shattered around us and I wouldn't have noticed, time could have stopped and the sun fallen from the sky and I wouldn't have paid it an ounce of mind. Her shiny raven hair smelled like the clean freshness of a night-time frost.
What could have been an eternity later, I felt her arms loosen from my waist. I reluctantly let go of my half of the hug and stepped back half a pace. She looked up at me with an impish smile.
"It's starting to get dark Sharein, you shall have to leave soon if you wish to make it home in time." She said.
Confused, I looked around to see that the sky was indeed starting to colour with sunset. Where had the time gone?
"I should like to," I began, "may I come to visit you again?"
Her beaming smile was apparently not answer enough, "I would love that very much Sharein. But I need to you to do something for me."
'Anything.' I almost said, but instead nodded sincerely.
"You must promise not to tell anyone about me." She required, "In fact, I should need you to swear an oath."
"Of course!" I said, before I really understood her words, "What is the difference between a promise and an oath?"
"Normally not much." she answered, "But in this case, It is a very special type of oath."
"Of course." I answered straight away, but she laughed again.
"I would be remiss if I did not mention that there may be some consequences to your oath."
"I don't care." I stated.
"I hope so." she replied, and she reached behind her onto the altar and withdrew a curious black knife. It seemed to be made of the same material as the altar. Instead of being long and thin all the way along, it's blade was more of a triangle. Despite producing such a strange weapon, I did not feel any fear at all. I felt that she could stab me through the heart with it and my trust that she would make everything right again would not waver.
She opened up her hand and placed the tip of her knife against the top of her palm. I reached out in shock at the awareness of what she was about to do. Quickly she sliced a line across her palm, blood welling out from between her pale skin. I put my hands over my mouth in shock. She looked at me curiously, perhaps a little unsure.
"I need to do the same to you." She said, perhaps with a little bit of a challenge, fear or unease in her voice.
Without hesitation I thrust my palm out towards her. Her eyes widened in shock at my sudden willingness. I could not tell her that no matter what she asked, I would give. I could not even explain it to myself. In that moment, I became aware that I would willingly lay down my life for her, even though we had only just met.
She placed the point of the knife against my palm, but stopped, "Are you sure?"
I nodded again, slightly hesitant at the pain I was likely to feel. It would be nothing compared to the pain she had already removed from me though.
She ran the tip of the blade along my palm, opening up a gash similar to the one on hers.
"Now." she said, placing the blade back on the altar behind her, "Repeat after me…"
She said a series of words in a language I had only ever heard once before. A language that I used when I cried for help, about to be eaten by dire wolves. I didn't know how, just like I didn't know how I knew what to say then, but I repeated those words perfectly. She held up her bloody hand in front of her, her blood making small drips down onto the ground underneath it and I copied her gesture. Together we moved the palms of our hands together. Once they touched, what I could only describe as 'black light' shone out from where our hands joined. It shone out brightly (darkly?) and I felt a tingle coming from my hand.
Only when she looked at my quizzically, gave a strange nod and pulled her hand away, did I do likewise with mine. I looked amazed and a perfectly smooth, unblemished and clean hand in front of me.
"What did that do?" I asked, curious.
"You just swore an oath not to tell anyone about me, until I release you from your vow, you will not." she said grimly, but quickly became pleasant and happy, "But because of that, you will now be able to come and visit me whenever you like! Also, you should be protected from the creatures in this forest, they will see you and recognise me."
Her happiness turned once again to unease and she asked in a meek, unsure tone, "That is, if you will still wish to see me?"
I was confused by this sudden change, "Why would I not?" I started, "Of course I wish to see you more."
She embraced me in another hug, but with this one, time didn't stop.
"Okay," she said, "off you go now."
"Do I have to?" I asked
"Your mother will be asking enough questions as it is, without you returning in the middle of the night." she replied, "But I'll be here, whenever you need me."
Regretfully I parted from her and made my way up the pathway to the top of the cliff, where I turned to look down into the clearing. There Shard was, sitting back on the altar; head tilted, looking at me with a smile.
On impulse I blew her a kiss. Her smile brightened and she blew one back to me.
I think then that I knew what Mari felt when she left our house after delivering her news. I cannot be sure, but I quite possibly skipped all the way home.
Opening the door, I kicked off my slippers and made my way inside, "Father, Mother. I'm home!" I called out.
"I'm sorry I'm so late, I lost track of time completely." I said as I entered the dining room.
Mother, Father and all of my brothers and sisters were staring at me.
Confused, I asked "What is it?"
Mother pointed at me, "Your hair Sharein, what happened to your hair?"
"What about my.." I began as I pulled my braid over my shoulder to look at it. It was black. Black, just like Shard's.
