Reflections

[Alatriel]

She had only just stepped across the threshold when the large man hit her.  Stunned from the blow, Rose staggered as the man quickly lifted her over his shoulder.  

Scream Rose!  Get help!

She screamed.

The man didn't slow.  He continued down the street.  Behind her Rose could see an explosion of fire.  The man kept going.

She screamed again.

"Be quiet"  The man said gruffly as they ducked down an alley, then around a corner, down another alley, and into an abandoned house.  There, the man dumped her on the ground.

Rose tried to escape, she backed away, trying to find her way to the door, but the man was upon her again, grabbing her arm and wrenching it painfully.

She screamed.

The man punched her hard across the face.  "I told you to be quiet."

"Please.  Let me go... please let me go!"

"You're going to answer some questions."

"Anything, just please let me go!"  She was panicking.  Where was the Mistress now?

"Who is the dark haired archer?"

"What?  Which one?" She asked confused.

The man wrenched her arm again hard.  

Rose screamed in pain again.  The man hit her again.  

"I said be quiet!  The dark haired elven archer!  Who is he?"

"There are two!  I don't know which one you mean!  Please... just let me go!"

"The one you were scrying for!"

Rose wimpered in fear.  "The one I sought or the one I was guiding?  Please... I don't know what you mean, just let me go!  Please!"  She cried out in pain again as the man jerked on her arm.

"WHO IS THE DARK HAIRED ARCHER!?"  

"C- Caleron Guildman.  Please... please let me go!"

The other man, the thin, robed one, shook his head.  "You're lying."

"No!  I'm not lying.  Please... let me go!"

"Who were you scrying for!"

"Gel'larian Windsbreath!"

"I want to stick her."

"No!"  She screamed again.

"I TOLD you to be quiet."  The large pale-skinned brute pulled out a knife.  "This is only the beginning.  I can make this last all night long."  He stabbed her between the ribs.  She could feel air rushing out through the hole in her chest as she struggled to breathe.

The thin one moved closer.  "You lied to me.  Now I don't know that I can trust you."

"Please...." she gasped.  "please... only truth.  No lie..."

"Who told you the name of Caleron Guildman?"  

"He... did."

The brute cut her.

Rose let out a soft, weak cry of pain.

"I'm going to ask you again.  Who told you that name?"

"Gel'larian."

The brute cut her again.

Once again, Rose cried out in pain.  "Please... I told you!"

"His last name?"

She coughed, fighting for air.  "Windsbreath.  Gel'larian Windsbreath."

The brute cut her again... he seemed to be enjoying it.

"Why does he seek him?"

"I don't know."

The knife tasted her flesh.

"Why does he seek him!?"

"I don't know!  Please... please!  Please let me go!"

And again.

"Where can I find him?" the thin one asked.

"Leringard."

Again, the knife bit into her skin.

"Where in Leringard?"

"125. Please... please..."  she cried in pain and fear.  "Mistress... please..."

"We could turn her," the brute said to the thin one.

"Hmm... no.  Leave her alive.  It will deliver a message."

Then a third man stepped out from the darkness.  "Hurry up.  The guard is coming."

The brute picked Rose up by the throat and slammed her hard against a wall, causing her vision to blur.  The words of the thin man came through to her clearly, though.

"Do not tell anyone about us, or we will come back to finish the job.  And if you ever scry for the dark-haired archer again, we'll know.  You've been tasted.  We'll find you."

The darkness closed in on her as she felt herself falling to the floor.

Where was her Mistress to pull her away this time?

[Alatriel]

In and out of her dreams they would flash, the images.

It was just a beautiful day near Krandor, but then the world changed, and there was a demon there.  He laughed, and then disappeared.

A man was calling.  "Rose!  Rose Leigh Marshall!  Get in here, girl, and go help your mother with supper!"  The man's voice trailed off as he moved off.  He muttered to himself, "Where is that girl?"

Rose looked over at Joshua in the hayloft of the barn, and smiled at him, adjusting her blouse and both of them giggling quietly, trying not to be heard.  Joshua kissed her again and then put a finger to his lips as he backed away towards the ladder to sneak away before her father noticed.  

But then the world turned dark, and the barn became a battlefield.  People were dying everywhere around.  Overhead, dragons circled like birds of prey.

The ground withered and died.  The plants, the animals... all of it was dead or dying.  And overhead in the skies, the twin red stars shown down over it all...

[Alatriel]

There was a man in the inn.  He asked her to read cards for her.  But then things changed, and suddenly he was no longer only an elven man, but a man with darker, dry skin and red eyes and hair like black crow feathers.  The world around fell away into a world of death and destruction.  She tried to ask what he wanted with her, but the world changed again.

She was with her Master.  He was here, he was going to take care of her.  Where did he come from?  She didn't care anymore.  He would take care of her.

The Mistress's voice whispered through her mind.  Master Cedric was here, though, and the two conflicted with each other.  They confused Rose as she tried to find what was real.  Master Cedric wanted her to read for him.  

"I'll do anything for you," she remembered saying to him.

She had been grabbed, her mouth covered to stop her screams as they issued forth at the sudden change.  Master Cedric became the man with the crow-feather hair.  The red eyes glared down on her with malice.  She struggled.  This was not her master.  This one was not worthy of touching a witch.  

Unlike before, Rose fought.  This time, she got away.  She warned the crow-feather man to stay back.  He was coming closer.  He was going to hurt her.  She created an image, an image of his death, and sent it after him.  The man continued to walk towards her, shaking off her magic.  Again, she sent the image of his doom at him, praying to the Mistress that he would accept his pain and she would be spared.  But still he kept walking towards her.  She ran for the door.  In the hallway she bumped into Mistress Sophia... but it wasn't her.  She knew it wasn't her.  She felt magic surround her and try to stop her from moving, but she fought again and broke free of the magic running down the stairs...

The world spun and changed before her eyes.  She was on the floor in the tavern.  Her cards were scattered beneath her.  There were people screaming and two women lay dead before her, their faces a mask of horror in their instant deaths.

"Witch!" someone cried.  "Get her!"
"Murderess!" someone else yelled.  
"Burn the witch!" they yelled.

"No!" Rose screamed.  She stumbled and struggled for her feet, pain coursing through her body as the magic left its mark on her.  The people rushed in on her to grab her, and Rose's world went dark.

[Alatriel]

She opened her eyes, looking around groggily for a moment before snapping awake quickly.  She didn't recognize these surroundings.  She'd never been here before.  Her clothes were different.  She had no idea how she had gotten here.  

A man was cooking.  He spoke to her, called her "Sleeping Beauty."  He said his name was Gavin.

"You're not real," she told him as she backed away.  She yelled it at him in reinforcement.  "You're not real!"

He was serving food... food for four people.  She only saw two.  Where were the other two?  Was the crow-haired man coming back for her?

The man was talking.  He was starting to come closer.  "I killed them!" she warned.  "I'll kill you, too!"

He continued to talk, but he stepped back.  He looked afraid.

She looked around.  A window was open.  She could get to it, she could get away.

Rose got up and out of the bed, keeping her hands out to ward the man away from her as she edged towards the window in her bare feet.  The man had a broom now.  He was holding it like a weapon.  Rose climbed out the window, looking back at him once more.

The man looked dead.  His features pale and sunken.  "This isn't real!" she shouted out again and fell the rest of the way out of the window, whimpering in pain as she hit the hard ground below.  She tried to scramble to her feet only to trip and fall.  She started to crawl, but she could feel the pain starting to blossom and the darkness started to swallow her again.




She was alone.  She was in darkness.  She heard the flapping of wings and screeching in the darkness as she shivered in fear.  She had no idea how she got here.

[Alatriel]

Time had been coming in spurts.  She was in the temple of Xeen.  She was enjoying herself with all of the people milling around.  People touching, laughing, enjoying each other.  But then she would see him through the crowd.  Just flashes of his face as the people shifted before he was gone again.  He was watching her.

The crow-haired man.

But then the world would shift.  She would be in the dark with bats overhead, or in the woods, with brambles tangled around her cold, bare feet.  She was ill.  She vomited.  Something she had eaten... some sort of berries.  She knew he would come after her, so she ran.  Then there would be nothing.  She would find herself on a farm.

They asked her to read for her.  How did she have her cards with her still?  She left them in that cabin.  No, that cabin wasn't real.  She'd never been there.  She couldn't have lost them there.

She was tired.  There was a road nearby, just off in the distance, but her stomach ached, her head pounded, and she curled up to sleep.

She was ported into another time again, once again in her Master's home in Katherian.  He ran his fingers over her back and told her she was such a good girl, and that he wanted her to entertain a guest for him.  Of course she would.  She would do anything for him.

There was pain, burning.  Her wrist was on fire.  Her bracelet that Master had given her was on fire.  She scratched at it to try to remove it, but it only caused her more pain.  She started to panic.  She screamed, feeling as if the etchings of her house were setting her arm on fire.  Darkness closed around her, and off in the distance, she heard someone laughing.

She woke.  Again, she was in another place.  Where was this?  There was a halfling, and a dwarf.  The dwarf was saying something behind his beard that didn't make any sense.  Something touched her back.  She screamed.  She kept telling herself it was a dream... but everything was dead.  She saw it die.  Faces sunken in and gray with hollow lifeless eyes.

And the crow-haired man.

Another person.  A small brownie.  "Rose, do you remember me?  You read my cards.... wise man?  By the water?"

"NO!"  She saw the flashes of the lifeless women in the tavern in her mind.  "I killed them!  I'll do it again!" she screamed at the small figure.  "Don't come any closer!  You aren't real!"
She pressed her hands to her ears, willing out the voices.

"Maybe you could read my cards again?" the small voice asked.

"NO!  Every time you ask me that you change!" Rose screamed back at it.  First the elven man, then Master Cedric... now the crow-haired man was disguising himself as a brownie.

A hand pulled Rose's wrist from her ear, pulling her towards him.  She screamed again.  She pleaded for help.  The Mistress was silent.  Rose was alone.

"We'll ha'e ta chop ut off," said the gruff voice of the dwarf.

He was going to chop off her hand.  In panic and desperation, she knew the words to say, she could see it in her mind... the dwarf's death... the death of the crow man.  This time... this time maybe it would work.

The grip on her wrist released as the dwarf accepted the fate as Rose showed him and fell backwards with a heavy thump against the ground.

And she ran.

[Alatriel]

The fog came and went.  There was one thing that helped clear the fog, though, to focus.  Pain.  Pain was real.  Things that were accompanied by pain were always real.  The dreams continued, the nightmares, the visions.  Sometimes the crow-haired man laughed in the distance.  Sometimes the demon laughed.  But the red stars had appeared and her arm bore the marks of her reaffirmation of reality.

The bard had returned, the one who knew her.  The Mistress was angry, but she was protective.  Sometimes she would stand in front of Rose to shield her.  Some memories had been locked behind the mist and fog of her mind, but the images still came.

Master Cedric was hurt, possibly dying.  But though Rose knew she should return to him, the Mistress would not let her.  Not yet.  There was hesitance there.  She did not want to be locked away, to leave Rose defenseless again.  Not when Master Cedric had not protected her from the crow-haired man.  Master Dominic was attentive, but he wanted much and he was cunning.  There was more to know there, and every ounce of Rose yearned for the knowledge that he held away from her, almost taunting her just out of reach.  

But he had left, and the bard had returned.  He returned while her body was in pain from its first use of the bindstone, the fog gone and her mind clear.  He wanted her still.  But when he left, the red stars appeared, and once again dreams became reality, visions of the future became the present, and time became irrelevant as they blended together once more with Rose floating in the midst of it all.  

There had been a voyage.  They were going to come speak with her, but instead she went to them.  There could still be some control.  She had altered things, and the images had changed.

But out of the blur came a question, hurt and anger in their tone even if gentle.  "Do you love him, Rose?"

"Mistress... I don't understand the question..."

"Then don't answer her, Rose."

"I just want to know how she feels about you, Andrew."

"I know how to answer this, may I?"  

"Yes."

"Safe.  I feel safe," she answered quietly.

"Mistress, I'm not sure that was the right answer..."

"Shh.  Come back, Rose.  I can deal with this.  You want me to help you yes?"

"I'm confused.  There is fog again."

"Yes, come back away.  I'll take care of everything."

"Yes, Mistress."

It was peaceful in the dark.  In the distance the Mistress's voice spoke with calm control to the others.  She could handle the situation so much better.  She was stronger.  She had the powers that Rose only craved.  She rocked herself through the waves of her subconscious.  Finally, the Mistress's voice called to her once more.  "You can come out again now, Rose."

Andrew's hand rested against her shoulder as Elohanna picked up the dishes.  She brushed her cheek against the hand on her shoulder.  "I'll be back," he said softly to her.

"He loves you, Rose.  He'll give you what you need, what you desire, because it's what he wants too.  You will just have to show him."

[Alatriel]

The visions came as she dug deeper and deeper.  Futures brought to present, then the past mixed in, all the same.   Dominic was there, in her grasp and she pulled from him to fuel her search.  He coughed.  There was blood.  So much more blood than she ever would have imagined.

He collapsed.

She screamed.

The fog rolled in and swirled around her, pulling her from the sight of others. 

She ran.

The Mistress pulled Rose back away from the danger as plans were made, and travels taken across the sea, leaving in the dead of night before they came for her.

In the silence of the fog, Rose waited, huddled, wrapped in her own being.

"I didn't mean to."

"Shh, Rose, quiet now."

"Not again.  I can't go back there again."

"Quiet.  All will be well.  Wait and be still."

The broken bracelet fell from her hand and sank into the depths of the cold, dark swirling seas, and Rose was still.

Rose was still as they tended to her broken mind and body and slowly, little by little, it was safe again to emerge here and there. Bree pulled her out of her hiding place.  Mai taught her to find her center.  Ember watched silently, ensuring it was safe.

Through the fractured sections of time, pieces filtered in, filling in the broken void of space between the horrors of past and future brought to future.

 

[Alatriel]

They led her in and left her there.  The room swirled with the scents of incense and magic.  She drew closer to the marble pool and intook a deep breath as the magic awakened beneath her touch, sending prickles through her skin, making her come alive again.  As always, the water beckoned her.

She closed her eyes and took a few breaths, feeling the pull of the magic, the need, the desire, but did her best to resist.

"I have nothing to look for," she pleaded, perhaps wishing for the pull to cease, or wishing for it to grow stronger with purpose.

"Pretty, isn't it?"  The voice was lush, distorted by the influence of the incense.

"Yes."  Rose's voice breathed out with her desire for the pool, not only its intricacies, but the power it contained.

"Come sit," the woman's voice beckoned her with a gentle, yet commanding tone.  This was not a request.

Reluctantly, Rose let go of the pool and turned to go towards the voice and the offered seat, doing as she was told. 

The woman radiated her own power that was only accentuated by her fitted dress that complimented her coloring perfectly.  "Rose is it?" she asked with a slight smile.

Rose blinked, her mind foggy from the incense.  She nodded slowly.

"Good.  You may address me as mistress for now."  She smiled again.  "I'm told you might like to work for Xeen, that you have a very special type of Gift."

"Yes mistress."

Mistress tipped her head to the side.  "Is that what you think I want to hear, or is that the truth?"

Through the fog, Rose struggled.  "I..."  she rubbed her forehead and took a couple deep breaths.  "I don't know, mistress."

Mistress smiled again. "Fair enough.  It has been rather trying fo ryou lately, so I hear."  She paused slightly.  "You seem to be recovering as expected, however.  Perhaps you are not beyond salvaging, hmm?"

Rose wrung her hands, appreciating the feel of her own skin to keep her grounded.  There was no other voice in her head to help her.  "Things are broken," she admitted.  "I'm broken."

"We are all broken in our lives at some point, Rose," the Mistress offered.  "Every one of us.  It is how we build ourselves back up that matters.  Would you like to build yoruself back up?"

Rose nodded.

"I won't lie to you," Mistress continued.  "I'm not offering you freedom.  You will remain a slave, but you will have a purpose greater than serving the whims and whistles of some blowhard.  You will get to play with that power you have, so long as you do so constructively.  Is that interesting?"

Rose listened as the words cut through the fog to her understanding, then nodded.

"Show me what you can do, Rose.  Convince me."  She paused and smiled, a touch wickedly.  "You may use the pool you were admiring."

Rose looked up and took a deep breath, searching for the Mistress and holding on to her image even as the fog threatened to engulf her.  "What am I to look for, mistress?"

She pressed her lips and studied Rose.  "Show me the object of your affections."

Confusion cut through the fog like a knife, knocking Rose side to side in her awareness.  There was no affection.  There hadn't been in a long time.  There was desire, longing, need, but not affection.  "The object of my..."  She shook her head to clear it.  "I don't... I don't understand."

"Show me something you want, Rose."  The mistress's tone became cool, and her eyes narrowed warningly.

Rose's heart jumped in awareness, pounding, and her hands began to sweat.  She lowered her eyes and stood, uncertain.  She moved to the pool and laid her hands against its cool marble and closed her eyes.  Once again, the pool came to life, sending jolts of electric power up through her fingertips as it awakened.  As it did so, Rose took a breath and searched for the one thing she knew she wanted more than anything.

The pool flashed to life, the water flickering and then brightening to the reflectiveness of a mirror.  It smoothed away like a pane of glass.  Colors began to swirl around as the magic sought in the direction it was sent.  A moment passed, then another, and another.  The power of the pool and the magic began to fill the seeker, flowing in and out of her.  The desire and fullfillment was overwhelming, and she continued to seek.  Slowly, a form began to coalesce in the still reflective waters.  Purple fog filled the space, condensing down into a cloth, then wrapping, snake-like, around the neck of a humanoid form.  It began to wind its way down around the form, clothing it, but somehow electrifying it in the process.  Sparks of visible power arched away from the body where ever the electric cloth touched it.  The vision flowed down the form with the movement of the cloth, then drew back.  Tendrils of color of black, blue, green, yellow, and more drew toward the figure as the vision expanded. 

Rose's face appeared, floating in space, overlayed, yet not directly part of the body.  Her eyes rolled upward, sparking light flashing randomly from her irises.  Her loose hair blowed dramatically as if from an updraft, whipping around violently. 

It was desire, longing, need... ecstasy.  But the pleasure continued to build more and more, begining to send the thrum and hum of the energy up the Rose's arms.  Electric magic drilled into her bones in her fingers, then her hands, and then upward to her wrists and arms.  The pain mixed with pleasure to fuel her desire as she continued to hold on and ride the waves of power. 

The color continued to build, filling the image of the Seer with more and more magic and light.  The form swelled and her mouth opened, expelling a shock of white light.

The pain increased, spreading further upward into the Seer's shoulders and neck.

The colors darkened, spilling more red around and around the cloth on the form, dark and dangerous.  Pain shot light lightning up through her head and down into her womb.

And the darkness swallowed her once more.