Oriel's Destiny - Cpt 1

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"Oriel's Destiny - Prologue" 

Chapter 1

Emma wiped her worn hands on the rag hanging from her apron, while looking for her granddaughter Esme. Where is that girl? She wondered. It wasn't like her to not show up for kitchen duties on time. Emma, who headed the kitchen staff turned to one of her workers and said she'd be back.

Emma left the largest of the three kitchens in the castle, and went to search for the girl. She checked the usual places Esme liked to frequent. Walking the long brightly lit halls, she checked their residence and sleeping quarters. Their rooms were two of the largest and brightest in the castle. Being the head of a large staff, gained her privileges that most didn't have, including a large fireplace in each bedroom, and great windows overlooking the gardens. Esme and Emma also each had separate sleeping quarters with a shared living area, and a washroom containing a smaller fire place for heating water, allowing for long luxurious soaks in an oversized tub. They were also allowed to leave the castle unhindered. Very few had this honor.

Emma looked out the window of their rooms and saw Esme crouching below.  She watched the girl for a moment, shook her head, and went down to collect her.


Esme, out for her morning walk, happened along a baby bird that had fallen from its nest. She knelt down next to the bird and watch for signs of life. Its little chest heaved in and out slowly. Gently scooping the bird up in her warm hands, she looked up to the nest above contemplating how to get the bird back to its home. She felt the bird twitch and looked back down into her hands. It twitched once more and stopped breathing. Esme's shoulders hunched slightly as her heart broke for the tiny animal. Her grandmother had always told her she was too sensitive for her own good. She over sympathized with everything around her.

"You didn't even get a chance did you little one?" She held the bird in her hands, mourning its short life and wondering how to proceed. She gently stroked the bird's head and chest with her thumbs. "I wish you could have experienced more life. I wish you could have learned to fly and soar in the heavens with your kin. I wish you could have your own family and teach your own chicks to fly."

A tear slipped from Esme's eyes and landed on the bird's chest where she had been stroking. The bird, at that moment, twitched again. Esme caught her breath and waited. The bird moved again and began to breathe. Esme smiled and began to laugh. The baby began to chirp and cry.

Emma had been standing back watching the events. "What happened, child?" She asked startling Esme. She felt her heart quicken and fear sneak into chest.

"The baby had fallen from its nest. I thought it had died but I guess it was just in shock. Look it's fine!" She said holding the bird out for the grandmother to see happily amazed.

"What did you do, girl?"

"Nothing. I just held it, Nonnie."

Emma, or Nonnie as her granddaughter called her, watched Esme care for the bird. So it has begun. She thought to herself.

Splinters from the door flew through the small cottage as one of Harnec's generals burst in. Emma turned in shock clutching her granddaughter to her chest. "Please, Sir" she begged, head lowered, "I am but an old woman and this is my granddaughter. We are no threat to you. Please spare us."

The soldier, looked from the old woman to the baby she clutched in her arms. "Where are the parents?"

"Killed, sir; by a band of thieves not long after her birth. I am her only living family."

He stepped closer and pulled back the blanket covering the baby's face. The bluest eyes he'd ever seen looked up at him; they held no fear. The baby smiled and cooed up at the solider, who smiled despite himself. A wave of emotion came over him, and he had an unexplained urge to hold and protect the baby.

Startled out of his thoughts by one of his comrades bursting in, he turned in the direction of the noise. "Sir! All the villagers have been secured, sir."

"Fine." He said, and turned back to the old woman. "Your lives will be spared. You'll come work in the castle." He ordered as he turned to leave. 

"Thank you My Lord, may I take a few things for the baby?" She continued to look down, humbled.

He looked at the child, and the warm feeling rose again. He turned to the other soldier, "Go find a cart and bring it here. Help the woman gather all she can fit."

"But, sir..."

Irritated, the General turned and cut him off, "And since you feel the need to question me, you can push the cart to the castle yourself. No harm is to come to the baby, the old woman or her belongings. Do you have any other questions?"

"No sir!" snapped back the soldier dejectedly. With that, the general took one last glance at Emma and the baby. A small smile threatening to break his stern face, which he managed to control, and then walked out.

This then is how Emma and the child Esme came to work in the service of Lord Harnec.

Emma realized the power the child had, and couldn't risk someone at the castle taking Esme from her. She conjured a spell and potion to cloak the child's powers from the others. It was all she could do to keep her safe until the girl's powers outgrew the spells.

Emma's skill with herbs and cooking quickly landed her a position in the kitchen, where once Harnec learned of her ability, put her in charge of the other servants  and all three kitchens. "It's about time we had a decent cook!" He bellowed happily, gnawing on a roast turkey leg.


"Come, Esme. Bring the bird with you. The mother will never accept it now that it smells of people." Esme stood wrapping the bird in her skirts and went to her grandmother. "We will make a nest for it near the fire, and then later a suitable cage. It will be your charge. After the bird is safe, I need you to go into town to order some salt and spices to be delivered to the castle this week."

"Yes, Nonnie." Esme smiled down at her grandmother.

Emma marveled at the beauty of her granddaughter. So much she looked like her lineage, she could see all of her family in the girl. Esme had grown tall for their kin, for a woman in general, 5'10". Her long black hair neatly braided, hanging down her back, showed off her sapphire blue eyes and skin like cream. She was beautiful and kind, and all who met her, loved her. Wherever she went, things seemed a little brighter, and happier.  No one could explain it, except Emma. Her spells could only hide so much of the girl's power. Truth be told, it was one of the reasons she sent Esme into town. The merchants liked her so much they gave her special deals on the supplies for the castle, which kept them in Harnec's favour.

Emma returned the smile to the girl, but inside fear and darkness grew. She was going to have to tell Esme, soon, who she is. Keeping it from her had been the only way to keep her safe, but watching the girl bring the baby bird back to life with a wish, a touch and a tear was all she needed to bring her biggest worries to the here and now. Seventeen years she has waited and planned for this moment, and now that it was here, all of her preparation seemed inadequate. However, this would have to wait. She would worry about it later. Emma rested her arm around Esme's waist, and they walked into the castle together to attend to the day's duties.

***

Seventeen years on and Sela aged no further, for her that day seventeen years ago when Harnec's warriors failed to bring forth the special one, time had stood still. Oh the normal everyday routine of life continued all around; Harnec continued to dispatch hunters to find the special one, and every time they'd returned from their quest empty handed. Sela had used the dark arts to stave off the ravages of time, much like her master Harnec, although time was against them both; the dark arts have their limits within the mortal realm.

Sela knew unless the special one was found, and found soon, her own powers would begin to flaw. In the beginning it was easy, a mere spell cast on the dawn would last a month or more, but over the years the incantations potency was losing its strength. The more potent the spell needed the more life it sapped from Sela. Oh it prolonged her life in bodily form, but the mind aged, untouched by the spells. Harnec was easier, he was younger, simpler to manipulate with the dark forces, and extending his life by decades so far had not been a problem. But with Sela's mind deteriorating more powerful forces are needed, and so she called upon her demons of the pit to carry weight on her spells.

Sela walked slowly down the stone steps which lead beneath Castle Harnec. Deep down they go, beyond Harnec's dungeons, down deep into the earth to where Sela's domain lay. Down she walks in her earthen frock, enchantment beads and talisman strung from her thin wrinkled neck; her skeletal fingers clasped in front of her showing her inch long, curved black fingernails; her hair rattails of faded black hang loosely over her shoulders. Her deep grey eyes portray a wickedness of unfathomable sin, in which stories of old could be drawn of demons and dragons, of witches and warlocks, of spirits and dark angels, all these could be seen if looked deep enough.

Today Sela needed to reinforce the longevity spell, Harnec had shown signs of weakness, and his eyes were beginning to return to their once shining blue, the first sign of the spell losing its hold over the flesh. But today much more is needed; today she must cross the lake of the dead and make sacrifice to the demon, Ry-ell the Deceiver, Devourer of Souls.

On reaching the base of the staircase, far enough down in the pit of the castle where no one would follow, Sela crossed the small sand shoreline to the edge of the dark, silent, still lake. She looked out across its distance, not a sound to hear, not a ripple broke the waters stillness, a flat sheet of lurid mould green liquid. But within its depths screams the haunting souls of the dead, waiting eternally to reach up and drag anyone who would cross the lake down into the blacken mire below. Anyone who doesn't possess the knowledge of course; Sela has the knowledge, as do most sorceresses of the night.

A few inches from the water's edge she stands, she removes the talisman from her neck and dips it into the water, a ripple forms and widens rushing outward, growing in intensity as is cascades towards the far-off shore. Stalactites of luminescence emit an eerie pale green glow in this demonic cavern, allowing just enough light to see the way. Sela waits; she knows it will come, the boat to carry her to the other side, and sure enough a rickety wooden boat floats from the other shore, unmanned but steering a straight course towards Sela. When it touches the shore, Sela steps in and sits, and the boat slips back from whence it came, carrying her over the damned. Glancing down over the side of the boat, within the depths she sees the tormented faces of the lost souls , obscured in twisted form by the waters movement. No new sight to her for she had made this trip uncountable times, and it is always the same; ever since the castle was built on the site of the lake the damned had gained no new flesh, no one other than Sela had been this way for a long time...

***

Emma made her way back to the kitchen and began putting together a list for Esme to take with her into town. Some supplies the castle could not be provided by the farms and livestock raised on the castle grounds. As she was in her methodical process, a large handsome man of forty walked into the kitchen. He had dark hair with a touch of grey, serious dark eyes, and a smile that lit up a room. "M'lady!" He bellowed. She was reaching up on a shelf that was too tall for her small frame. "Here let me get that for you!"

Emma smiled at the voice and stepped down out of his way. "My Lord. Thank you." She smiled. The voice belonged to the knight that had spared Emma and her granddaughter so long ago. They had grown close since she had been taken to the castle. Technically, they were servants, and owned by the King, but Sir. John had been instrumental in securing their status.

"And how many times do I have to ask you to call me John?" He asked placing the box on the wooden counter.

"And how many times do I have to remind you it is not proper, My Lord?" She smiled.

"You are a stubborn old woman!" He laughed heartily. The other scullery girls in the kitchen huddled together a tittered among themselves. "Are you sure you're not kin to my wife?"

"Quite, My Lord." she smiled, "To what do I owe the honor of your visit? Are you after my sweet cakes again?" she teased.

"Those are, and always will be my weakness, but that is not the reason of my visit today. The king has decided to throw a dinner party in two days time. The notice is short, I know, but I have no doubt you will prevail."

"How many people in attendance M'Lord?"

"Just twenty. It is a small affair."

"Does the King have a special desire?"

Sir. John, gave her a wry look. "Not about the food."

"M'Lord!" She chided.

He laughed. "I will let the King know you have all under control."

"Yes, M'Lord." Emma walked over to a pantry, pulled out a tin, and handed it to the knight.

He opened the box and found it full of sweet cakes. "You spoil me M'Lady. Soon I will not fit in my armor."

"For which I am sure your wife and children would be happy."

"Without a doubt. Speaking of children, how is Esme?"

"She is well My Lord, and your family?"

"Also well," he paused, "except for my oldest, he has now decided to be a Blacksmith."

"What happened to being a farmer?"

"That was seven occupations ago. He is a whimsical child. I fear next he will want to be a bird."

Emma laughed.  "Let him have his dreams. Life will be upon him soon enough."

"Yes, as my wife has also said. She fears he will follow in my footsteps."

"As would I. We cannot all be Sir. John the Brave."

"Yes. However, Sir. John Jr. the Whimsical is not an option either."

Both laughed at the absurd title. "Don't worry he will find his way. Make sure to share those with your family and send them our love."

"I will pass along the message, as for the cake, I cannot promise." he grinned sheepishly.  "Please give Esme my love."

"I will My Lord." Emma bowed and Sir. John left the kitchen.

***