SciFi and Fantasy Stories: The Eilia Legacy: Chapter 1

"This, my love, is a story to surpass all other bedtime stories," whispered the fair-faced woman, as she opened the sheets for the tiny girl to crawl inside. The light from the energy bulbs were low, bringing the cluttered cubby to life with shadows of troubling shapes of ancient jagged trinkets and ominous orbs. The pale woman moved her graceful hands over the massive dark wooded bed to tuck the blankets about the child, who barely made a ripple in them. "We usually do not tell it until a girl is at least thirteen," she sighed, seating herself next to the bed. "But these times are not well with us anymore."

" What is it, Mum?" The little girl sat up in her bed. Her large green eyes were striking, highlighted by the fading lamps. "Is it another adventure of Ridhame the Bumbler? A scarier version?"

The woman cracked a weak smile. "Nooo."

"Is it something to do with our family, like great aunt Dreilia setting fire to the tapestries in the King's Dinning hall?"

The mother chuckled a laugh that did not lack mirth. "Well yes, sort of. It has to do with our family." She rested her hand on her daughter's. "But this one is different."

The girl laid her wispy blonde head back down to listen.

"You see, the story I'm about to tell you is very much a true story. It is the telling of our heritage; of the Eilia women legacy."

"It starts in a time long before ours, when the South was still thick with impenetrable forests, and the Icy Northland boasted no civilized inhabitants. There were rivers of clear aqua, and no sharks within. The plains lands were green and lush, and there was no industry to speak of. At that time, the known world was governed by two Kingdoms. The land stretching from the Eastern shore to nowadays Aphame was ruled by King Gregrey, and was called Ghel. The land West of it was ruled by Queen Vesti, and it was called Equinia. The King of Equinia, King Cottre, had died when both he and his prized stallion took a fall down a ravine during a hunt. King Gregrey's queen, Ilisah, died while giving birth to their son Prince Efra. It was in the Summer of the Willow, that Gregrey of the East proposed a royal conference with Queen Vesti of the West in the hopes that they would come to an agreement and form a union of their Kingdoms. Queen Vesti would not agree to such an arrangement. Her own son, Fruderich, was only eleven years old at the time. Gregrey's son, Efra, was fourteen. If their Kingdoms joined, her son would not be the next reining king. The union did not come to pass. A year went by and all was well with both Kingdoms, when tragedy fell upon Ghel. The boy prince, Efra, was killed on a hunt that he led into Wellturn forest. He and his guard were ambushed by barbarians traveling from Clestro forest in the North. When the king's guard went out looking for Efra, they found his guardsmen strewn about, riddled with crude arrows. It appeared that Efra had been burned at the stake, charred beyond recognition. When King Gregrey found out about it, he went mad. He spent much of his resources hunting down the band that did it. He spared no one, killing every band he came across, until he exhausted himself. The King locked himself away in his despair. It wasn't until the Spring of the Cedar, that Queen Vesti contacted Gregrey for a revival of His initial proposal of a union. This was the year that our First Mother became a woman.

"The very first of us mama?" The little girl interrupted the story.

The grown woman shook herself as if awakened from a daydream. She gazed lovingly down at her daughter.

"Yes. Let me tell you about her. Her name was Leilia Welder. She is the Eilia from which our family descends. Her blood runs in you, I and every other Eilia sister. She lived in a small village in Equinia for most of her life. Her father was a horse breeder, and well known in town. He taught her everything she knew of the trade. Her mother was a craftswoman, who loved thread and fabric, and tried, to no avail to make Leilia into a fine young lady. But Leilia was not the type to become a woman of the court. She delighted in the work of men. After a hard days work with her father, she would spirit off to the Thyre River where she would submerse herself, and let the water wash over her senses. She found herself drawn to its mercies daily. More than that, she was in love with the river. She knew all of its bends, rocks, and every possible ripple. It flowed in her and through her, and filled her every waking moment. It appeared in her dreams as well. She could not escape it, nor did she want to. As our legend has it, she eventually surrendered completely to the water and was given the gift that has been passed down in our family for generations."

"The Intuition!" The child exclaimed.

"That's right. And no one told you about it, did they?"

"No, mama. I've always known it was there, just like you and all the others before me."

"Yes, love. It is something you must always trust. It is not magic. There is no magic. Just as there are no witches, or people who can harness some invisible power to do their bidding. The greatest power we know of is that of the dragons. Even they cannot make something from nothing or wield an invisible force to destroy the wicked. All they can do is change what already exists."

"But mama!" the girl frowned. "What does our gift actually do?"

"Well, it is a window really. It helps us to see what others cannot."

"What do you mean?"

"Think of it this way; there is a flow to nature that keeps our world from bursting apart in a single instant. It is the movement that holds everything together. There is no stopping it, there is no turning back. It is like a river that keeps flowing. Normal people cannot understand it. It is all those things in life that are hidden from plain sight. The truth that hides behind the lie, the moment when a strike is right for the win, the word to detect a secret emotion, and signs of those that do not wish to be found by us. All the answers are already there. We are the ones who have been given a better range of detection for these things. Unfortunately, the view of the future is obscured after a short distance. We cannot foresee what is random, nor can we predict what will happen. That would be magic indeed."

"What about stories people believe about witches, and magical beings? Why don't we tell them the truth about us?" the girl asked.

Her mother smiled. "People believe what they want to believe. Besides, we have found over the years that a certain amount of fear gives us control. As a result, we have stood at the sides of Kings for many generations."

The little girl grinned. "Tell me more of the story of Leilia."

"Alright. A few days after Leilia turned fifteen, her father was killed by a thief. He was a random vagrant passing through town that no one ever found. Her father's death caused the women to become vulnerable. Leilia tried to keep up her fathers business, but their prized stallion, Trijho, had been stolen. They ended up having to sell every horse they owned. Soon the women had trouble scraping up enough money for food. Eventually they could not pay taxes anymore. They were arrested and made to be slaves. Leilia's mother was sold to a wealthy family to the North of the castle. Leilia was brought into the castle to serve as a stable girl." The pale woman stopped speaking and placed a palm over her creased lips.

The little girl reached out and squeezed her mother's free arm. "What is it mum? Is it something terrible? You can tell me."

"No, love. That's all I can tell you. It is the end of this part of the true tale, though the tale continues" The woman's features had dropped considerably, and no longer reflected the warmth of the dim energy lights. The contrasting dark walls of the cubby seemed to accentuate her pallid, blue hue. All the stresses of her responsibility had gathered over the years to this point in time, and it began to show in the small wrinkles at the corners of the mother's face. "There's only one thing left to do. It must be so." She creaked back in her chair and pulled out from behind her a small wooden chest with the name Leilia engraved in the top. She opened the lid and hesitated. She's so young. She thought to herself. Then she squinted her eyes and lifted from within a glorious silver flask engraved in fine knotwork, and polished to a radiant gleam.

The little girl gasped as the mother set it on the bedside table. The girl's petite fingers stretched out to trace the patterns around the engraving. "It's beautiful!"

"This has been passed down through ten generations of Eilia." Replied the woman. "Contained within, is pure water from the Thyre River, the way it once was." The elder reached in the wood box again and pulled out a pinky sized, deep ladled silver spoon. She lifted the shining flask, and from it poured several drops of the clear liquid into the spoon. "I want you to drink this, my daughter. But before you do so I want you to know why." The woman's hand began to shake as she spoke. Never had this been given to an Eilia heir at an age younger than thirteen, let alone eight.

"That drink is the rest of the story, isn't it?" The child inquired, sitting up.

"That it is. You must Listen to me carefully. This is our inheritance. Once you drink of this water, you will be imparted with the knowledge of our mothers. It will envelope your mind to finish the story that would take me days to explain. It may seem like a long fairytale that you are traveling all by yourself. At times, you may feel that you will never escape. Do not fear. The story has to finish. Afterward, you will awaken as if you merely fainted. I will be here and it will be that only a moment has passed. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

The elder lifted the rim of the spoon to her child's lips. The young one watched the patterns of the flask swirl away before her, as the cool water invaded her system to wash over her mind.