"a novel chapter 2" by Kristie C Pace

CHAPTER 2

" My name is Rowan, son of Daeron, there is no need to introduce yourselves I already know who you are." the four of them were seated in comfortable chairs in front of a warm fire.

"Daeron, king of Gornon?" Bael questioned

"Yes, he was my father" Rowan replied softly, his head down.

"Was?" Killi looked confused

" I was to take to Evandre three nights after the words written in my fathers keep began to glow. But before I could leave orcs and shale attacked the castle. My father was killed by an orc arrow at the gates before they charged. He was the first to go down. After the gates fell everyone fled or was slaughtered." Rowan was staring into the fire his face grim. Bael and Killi bowed their heads.

"I knew that I must still go to Evandre but with out my fathers guidance, I don’t know what I have to offer"

"You have your strength and your sword" Elora touched Rowans arm gently and smiled. Rowan looked into her blue eyes and smiled back.

Where was she, this place was not familiar. She was standing in a field, the golden grass moving with the breeze but she felt no wind on her face. She reached up to touch her face and noticed she had changed. Instead of her traveling clothes she wore a long white dress that shimmered as if it was made out of silver thread and the light of the moon itself. a greenish gold ring on a silver chain hung gracefully around her neck . Thunder sounded in the distance and she looked up, a large black cloud was on the horizon. It was growing very slowly; red lightning flashed deep within its core. Something moved in the field, she focused on it. A person, maybe a man but he was too far to see any thing in more detail. She looked beside her and found Bael, Killi and Rowan standing there but their forms were smeared and out of focus. She tried to touch them but felt nothing. Everything was starting to go black and she tried to focus on the man standing in the distance but it was to late. She opened her eyes to look at the brown ceiling. She issued a sigh and turned on her side, she froze, four shale hidden deep in their black cloaks were standing next to her bed, their white meatless hands holding drawn swords. Elora could feel their cold seeping into her body as they raised their swords. They were about to bring them down on her when she opened her eyes and sat up a scream on her lips, Rowan was sitting beside her on the bed and when she sat up he put his hand on her mouth and pointed to the window. It was still dark out and the moon gave and eerie glow to everything. A shadow passed over the window and stood there, the room grew colder and eloras blood froze. She pushed Rowans hand from her face and slid silently from under her sheets. Rowan tried to grab her arm as she walked to the window. A dark figure stood there outside, its back to her. Elora closed her eyes and raised her hands to her waist palms up. ‘Warmth’ she thought and the air around her palms rippled sending small waves to every corner of the room. Elora took a deep breath and felt the air in the tiny room become warm forcing the coldness away. The shale twisted around facing the window its white, pupil-less eyes concentrated on Elora. Without opening her eyes Elora sent the heat through the window at the shale and felt the resistance. She probed at the cold and not finding any weak spots sent the heat swirling around it, then it was gone. She opened her eyes to an empty window.

"You should not have done that." Rowan said and walked over to her. " I thought that you were one of the elves but you are the one with the magical arts" rowan studied her face and hair.

"I am not sure which one I am, perhaps I am both" Elora took a step back and looked at rowan.

" everything will be explained when we reach Evandre" he replied. The sun was rising and the streets became busier with every passing minuet. Rowan had trouble getting Killi and Bael up until he tipped the bed to one side causing them to roll off onto the floor.

"Is it time to go already?" Bael mumbled as he stood up

"What did ya go and do that for? I was getting up" Killi was outraged that he had been tossed from his bed and looked like he was going to tear the room apart.

"We need to go, there was another shale last night and we need to get ahead of it wile it rests" rowan explained as he finished packing their things.

They paid the innkeeper when they left and bought extra food and supplies in the market before heading out of town and into the rolling green hills and thickly wooded forests of the wild.

"Adair, Adair wait" a blond elf came running up to him out of breath, Adair stopped with his back to him

"you had the dream again, I know it. You always go out after you have the dream."

" it is no dream, it is a vision. I could see them this time. And there was a girl, she could see me. She moved and looked at me" Adair still hadn’t tuned around, but only stood there looking to the green forests as the talked, his golden blond hair streaming down over his shoulders.

"you need to tell the high elves, they will want to know, Adair!, please" he was becoming frustrated. He walked forward and reached out to touch Adair’s arm but Adair tuned around first. He gave a great sigh then lifted his head to look at his friend.

"you are right, Darius, you are always right" Adair put his hand on Darius’s shoulder the walked back inside.

"tell us of your dream Adair, as clearly as you can remember it" a tall beautiful elf sat on a white throne next to an equally hansom elf on her right also in a white throne. Adair stood in front of them at the bottom of a few stairs.

" I stood in the same place as the last dreams, but this time there was wind moving the grass and yet I could not feel it, and the people were closer, close enough were I could see them but not in great detail, there are two dwarves and a girl, with dark hair." Adair told them.

" any thing else different?" the man spoke this time

" the girl, she was moving and she could see me. She looked right at me, then I woke up" Adair said softly, he was very reluctant to tell this to them. He wasn’t sure why, but he knew that there was a connection with her. No one else who was with her could move. They were just smudges, out of focus. Why could she move? He was thinking about the dream as he walked out of the great hall into a wondrous garden, wild and full of beautiful flowers and plants.

"your dreams are unsettling, I can see it in your eyes. You are frustrated. we will know what to do soon." Darius was trying to restore Adairs confidence but he could see it wasn’t working. "Adair… please tell me what I can do….."

" it is not your fault Darius, I'm just confused. Why am I having this dream?, why me? And what does it mean." Adair looked at Darius hoping for an answer but knew he could give none, it was not that easy. Adair sighed and turned to the forest. " I just need some time to think, perhaps when the others arrive my questions will be answered. You have been my friend for the longest of time…please understand " And with that he walked away into the forest wishing he was back in the field of golden grass and the dark haired girl In the distance.

The weather was warm and the sky vacant of any clouds as the four companions slowly made their way to Evandre. The day was still young since they had left Bray and from where they had climbed they could look down upon the small town and see the streets busy with all sorts of people. It had been decided that as soon as they were well out of bray that they would stay off the road and when the small town was out of sight Rowan led them into the woods.

"we should get there as soon as possible, five days is too long to suit me. We should rest only when needed" Elora was discussing the travel plan with Rowan when Killi made a suggestion,

"why don’t we cut through this forest here" he pointed to the area on the map he was speaking of, " it would cut two days off the road" Bael nodded in agreement with his brother.

" I know the time we would save by going through those wood but I dare not risk it, these are the Dunmare Woods, the Forrest of the Hidden. What evil lies in those woods would not permit our passing through its forest" Rowan said this with a grave tone then pointed to the map and explained their next rout. " we will have to move around the forest to this pass then down to Evandre, if we move quickly we should arrive by the morning of the fourth day but that is also if we don’t run into any problems."

They hiked quickly across the hilly land towards the dark strip of trees on the horizon, Elora making note of the changing landscape, the rolling hills of golden grass and the clusters of trees that dotted the open plain.

" how long will we take to get to the edge of the forest?" Elora asked Rowan as the walked.

" before nightfall, but with these two running behind I'm not sure" he smiled and looked over his shoulder at the two dwarfs who were in fact quite far behind.

" cant you walk at a steady pace? Always jumping ahead with quick steps" Killi was complaining between heavy breaths as he climbed up the next hill.

" oh come now, its only a days walk then a rest." Rowan stood at the top the hill and waited for the dwarves to catch up as Elora walked ahead.

"you long legged giants, you could at least show some compassion and slow a bit" Killi complained between breathes when he reached the top of the hill, Bael not far behind him.

Rowan just smiled and continued on their journey.

The sun was setting by the time they were close enough to the trees to make camp for the night, Elora stood before the forest looking in at its dark forbidding domain. The trees seemed to beckon her, daring her to enter.

" Enola, don’t stare into the trees. Its not a good idea" Rowan said as he lead her to the fire.

"I had a strange dream last night" Enola mentioned as they ate their meal. " I was in a large field of golden grass, the wind was moving in the grass but I could not feel the wind on my face. In the distance there was a large black cloud that spat red lightning occasionally but elsewhere the skies were blue. And on the other side of me far in the distance there was a man. I couldn’t see much of him, the three of you were there too but you were out of focus even though you were standing right next to me. What do you think it means? I haven’t been able to get my mind off it all day. And now I find myself wanting to sleep so badly just to go back to the field." Enola said all this quite fast as if she had been wanting to get it out ever since she woke and when she was finished she looked at her friends hoping they had an answer.

"I don’t know what to tell you, maybe it is just another dream." Killi said between mouthfuls.

"yes, just your mind trying to filter out the days happenings" Bael agreed with his brother. Enola sighed, unsatisfied with their answers. Rowan who had not yet answered sat silently thinking.

" it definitely means something, but I'm not sure of what" he continued to mumble to himself about the dream for the rest of the evening and it wasn’t until Elora laid down to sleep that she felt released from her apprehension.

The forest garden was peaceful and relaxing. He needed time to think things over, to try and understand what he was seeing. Who was the dark haired girl and why did it make him so anxious to return to the dream whenever he thought of her or the field. Would they be closer tonight? Would he be able to see her face? Or touch her?

Adair sighed heavily as he sat in the forest garden, thinking.

Darius, he was his most trusted friend, they had been through everything together and yet he could not help Adair now, no one can. He sat thinking this, the cool light of the sun filtering down on his face through the tree tops despair seeping into his mind. Adair stood and walked deeper into the forest, hoping that maybe if he kept walking he would find the field and the dark haired girl would be there.

Was she there? She dared not open her eyes afraid she would look only to see the night sky above her. But not able to stand it any longer she took the chance and looked. Happiness surged through her when her eyes opened to the familiar grassy field. The cloud was still there but it had advanced in her direction, and the man on the hill in the distance was closer, close enough to see that he was an elf, with blond hair that the wind tugged gracefully at as he stood there. she noticed the land had changed, the field was dotted with trees and shrubs the reminded her of the area they had been traveling through just that day. ‘it is as if I'm actually traveling closer by day’ she thought to herself.