Chartile: Prophecy (5 page)

“
Taraniz seems to believe
the source of my magic is somewhere in the village. She has no true
desire for more troops or any such nonsense. She is after me and my
power. But she won’t dare kill me or defy me until she learns my
secret. If she only knew I was born this way, she may leave the
rest of my village alone.”

“
Have you tried just
talking to her?” Jack asked gently.

Piper turned to look at him, but her eyes
remained unfocused. She turned away, shaking her head and swinging
her feet back and forth.

“
Much has happened today,”
she said, the strength back in her voice again. “I believe we
should rest for tonight and see what tomorrow brings.” She smiled
at Jack, leapt from the outcrop and entered the cave once
more.

Jack sighed loudly. Part of him believed
this was all still just a dream. A glorious, wondrous, but
terrifying dream. The other part of him wished it were real. His
whole life he had dreamed he could do something to change his
situation, to save his mother and little sister, to help his
father. But in the real world, he was only a fourteen year old boy.
He had no powers of magic and certainly not the courage to face the
hardships in his life. He put his head down and lived his life day
by day.

However, here in this incredible place, in
Chartile, there was a chance he was somebody, that he was
something. The only question was whether to accept it, to do
something about the feel of that bow staff in his hands, or just
follow Piper back into the cave, curl up and hope to wake in his
own world in the morning.

When his eyes had readjusted to the darkness
of the cave, Jack saw Piper and Leo tending to Jayson. They had
wrapped him in more blankets, and Piper had changed the bandage
around his head. Leo and Jack gave each other a brief, side long
glance of concern then settled in around the fire with blankets and
furs Piper had given them.

“
You will need to stay
here for at least a few days,” she said. “I believe his concussion
is worse than I first feared, and the troll broke a few of his
ribs.”

“
What can we do?” Leo
asked. He removed his glasses and set them on a rock beside
him.

“
There is a healing woman
in the village I trust. I will go to her tomorrow. Now rest.” Piper
sat before the fire, silent once more, and added another log to
keep the flames. Jack and Leo pulled the blankets over them, and
feigned sleep. The memories of their day twisted with the words of
the prophecy Piper had spoken to them. It wasn’t long before Piper
heard their breathing slow as they drifted into sleep.

When Leo opened his eyes, it was still dark.
The only light in the cave was the fire that had reduced to little
more than glowing embers. Piper lay across the fire ring from him,
curled under a single blanket. She had buried her face in the
collar of her shirt for warmth. Leo picked up the stick Piper had
used as a poker and added some kindling to build the fire up. Jack
stirred beside him and sat up. They were quiet for a while, then
Jack whispered, “So, what do you make of all this?”

“
I don’t know, man. This
is beyond me,” Leo said. He stood to retrieve a log to add to the
newly revived fire.

“
I’d hoped when I woke up,
this would all have been, you know.” Jack shrugged.

“
A dream?” Leo finished.
He sat back beside Jack and crossed his arms. “Yeah, I know, me
too. Obviously it’s not. I just – I don’t know what to
do.”

“
We have to wait until
Jayson’s better,” Jack nodded toward Jayson sleeping soundly behind
them. “But, Leo, do you think we could be? You know, the prophecy
and all that?”

Leo sighed. He looked from Piper to Jayson
and back again. “I don’t know, dude. None of this makes any sense.
And, like, how did we know how to use those things?” He pointed to
the weapons stacked innocently in the corner. “At this point, I
think I’d believe almost anything, ya know?”

Jack nodded. He covered himself with the
furs and blankets again, and looked at the stars outside. He
thought he could see Pasalphathe’s Courage hovering over the place
he knew Outland Post to be. With the fire newly crackling, Leo
settled back beneath his covers as well and drifted into sleep once
more.

Piper had barely begun to drift off when she
heard Jack and Leo whispering. She steadied her breath, pretended
to sleep, and listened. Similar thoughts Jack and Leo discussed had
been racing through her mind all night. She, too, had hoped when
she awoke her encounter with the boys would have been no more than
a vivid dream. Or nightmare. Her fears that Taraniz was becoming
bolder about usurping the non-elven races of Chartile had been
confirmed today. Had anyone else heard her words as they
fought?

“
Soon,” Taraniz had said.
Did she intend to kill the King, to kill her own father? King
Aramor had done little to advance his kingdom during his reign, but
he was a good king. He cared for his people and meant well for
them. What little he had accomplished before falling ill was to
build up the resources of the basilicas and chantries that helped
the widows and orphans in Chartile. He did not deserve to die,
especially at the hand of his own despot daughter.

Piper often wondered what had made Taraniz
so wicked when Aramor had been so kind. The rumors said magic was
to blame. Three years ago, she might have laughed at such things,
but now?

Jack and Leo had ceased their conversation,
and one was breathing loudly again. Piper rose and collected a dark
cloak from the corner where her weapons were stored. Her eyes
lingered on the sword and staff the boys had used only hours ago.
She tore herself from her thoughts, smudged soot from the fire
around her right eye and nose, and disappeared into the night.

Piper reached the top of the hill that
overlooked Outland Post. She lowered herself flat against the
ground and surveyed the tiny village. It was still. Thin lines of
smoke rose from the chimneys of the thatched roof homes. Everyone
lay asleep. She crept down the rock strewn hill and wound her way
through the boulders, finally emerging onto the dirt paths that led
to the heart of Outland Post. The home she sought was close to the
outskirts, and she did not have to travel far.

She found the little house and looked up and
down the street before approaching. She knocked softly on the
window to the right of the door three times, then on the door
itself twice, and finally on the little window again twice. Then,
she waited. She sat on the doorstep, bundled in her cloak, with her
face shrouded in the darkness of her hood. Her heart pounded in her
chest as it always did when she came here for fear of being
recognized and caught. The curtain beside the door moved faintly. A
moment later, the door opened. Piper stood and entered without a
word.

A candle was lit in the center of a
scrubbed, wooden table. An old woman with a long silver braid of
hair flung her arms wide to embrace the girl. Piper leaned into the
woman. The cloak fell away from her shoulders, revealing how thin
and worn she and her clothes were.

“
Gran,” Piper whispered.
“How are you?”

“
Better it appears than
you, my darling girl,” said the old woman, and she held Piper out
at arm’s length for a better look. “Come, I have some things for
you.” The old woman motioned toward one of the chairs at the table.
Piper sat and watched as her grandmother busied herself at the
stove. “What brings you so early?” Gran turned a questioning eye on
the girl. “I was not expecting you for another two
weeks.”

Piper sat with her elbows on the table,
pressing the heel of her hand between her eyes. She said nothing
for a long time, but accepted a cup of herbal tea and drank deeply.
Finally, very softly, she spoke.

“
Gran, what do you know of
the prophecy of the four kings?”

The old woman sat a bit straighter, and her
eyes narrowed with curiosity. She leaned toward Piper and set her
own cup on the table. “What do you wish to know, child? I thought I
had taught you that story well.”

“
I do not remember it all,
I am afraid. Gran, you will not believe– I scarcely believe it
myself. I—I think it may be true. I believe it may be happening
now. I met three boys yesterday. They are not of Chartile. I do not
believe they are of this world. Their clothes, their speech. It is
unlike anything I have ever seen or heard. And, when I am with
them, my magic—” Piper stopped. She trembled, and looked fearfully
at her grandmother. With a deep breath, she recounted the previous
day’s events: her fight with Taraniz, the sudden appearance of
Jack, Leo and Jayson, the mountain trolls – even her use of fire
and magic. When she had finished, what little tea was left in her
cup was cold. She felt surprisingly relieved, and yet still
trembled.

Gran sat quietly for several minutes. She
took Piper’s hands in her own, locking her blue eyes to Piper’s
green, and asked, “Piper, my darling, do you know who you are?”

Piper pulled her hands away quickly. The
fear on her face could not be hidden by the soot smudging.

“
I—I don’t understand,”
she said.

“
Yes you do,” Gran said
softly. “You have suspected for some time, I know. Your mother and
father knew. I knew. And so do you.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me?”
Piper’s eyes pleaded with her gran for answers.

“
We never thought we would
need to. No one could have foreseen Aramor’s sudden illness. No one
ever thought Taraniz would have been so…well. I cannot imagine what
horrors befell that poor child to make her so. Spoiled and
pampered, yes, but a tyrant? How she managed to convince the entire
Elven army and the Noble’s Conclave to follow her before Aramor’s
death, and at such a young age, is beyond me.”

“
If you never saw a reason
to tell me, then why try to train me?” Piper crossed her arms
before her, her voice turning haughty and defensive, “Why
calligraphy and law? Why the etiquette, and dragging me all over
Chartile? Why teach me to control my magic?”

“
Precaution, child.” Gran
patted Piper’s hand. “We couldn’t have you losing control and
draining someone’s life, or burning –” She stopped and looked away,
lost for a moment in tragic memory.

“
I never wanted this.”
Piper stared at the table top, following the intricate lines of a
knot in the wood. “I don’t want it. I should have run away to
Duneland. None of this would be happening.”

Gran reached across the table again, but
Piper pulled away.

“
No, my child, I would not
wish Duneland on anyone,” she said and reached for her cup
instead.

Piper looked at her grandmother, brow
furrowed in confusion and anger. “Why? Because it is hot? Because
it is full of sand where nothing ever grows? Never seeing a tree
again would be worth the escape and freedom from…this!”

“
Because Humans are
slaves,” said Gran rather coldly. “Had you gone to Duneland, you
would have had orenite cuffs slapped on your wrists and been sold
into the pleasure trade, or bought as a beck-and. Elf or Human,
they can little tell the difference anymore.”

“
Orenite? I’ve never heard
of such a thing,” said Piper more calmly. She hated seeing her Gran
angry, and curiosity had tempered her for the moment.

“
Orenite is a rare metal
found only in Mount Kelsii. Its discovery is what made the dwarves
extend their settlement past the Tutarian Mountain Range. Once
inscribed with the ancient Draconian runes, an orenite item can
keep magic from passing forth from a person. If they attempt any
form of magic, the orenite holds the energy inward until the body
can no longer contain it, and they perish.”

“
That’s horrible!” cried
Piper. “Who would do that? And why?”

“
The prophecy, my darling.
Duke Noraedin, brother to King Pasalphathe, wished the rule of all
the races of Chartile to be turned to him. He was a very powerful
man, and a great alchemist. He was a natural leader, but a cruel
man. He killed many in his lust for the crown. It was King
Pasalphathe’s own proposition to use the new-found orenite to strip
Noraedin of his magic. But orenite alone could not do it. If the
orenite item was removed, the wearer’s magic remained, if only
temporarily suppressed. It was Kahiri, King of the Dragons that
gave the Draconian runes to the Dwarves to make the orenite
stronger – and permanent. King Pasalphathe would only allow this if
all Humans and Elves agreed to have their power taken, so as to
prevent such evil from ever happening in Chartile again. I am sure
I have taught you this, my child.”

“
Perhaps you have, but I
cannot recall it. I still have yet to see what it has to do with
me.” Piper drank the last of her cold tea, and rose to pour more
from the kettle hanging over the fire.

“
The four kings tricked
the Duke by acting as though they were resigning their rule to
Noraedin. They gave him an orenite circlet to show their defeat and
acceptance of the new King of Chartile. During the crowning
ceremony, Noraedin did not survive. A similar ceremony is how the
Elven Royals eventually eliminated magic from their bloodline. Most
survived, but some still perished, even with the weaker orenite and
Draconian rune magic. And through laws of selective marriages, the
rest of the elves lost their magic over the centuries.”

“
What is this to do with
Duneland, and why such practices are still used? There is no more
magic. Or at least, there wasn’t.”