Chapter 2

Talic goes to the Pond of Dreams and for the first time sees what may happen in the future.

C H A P T E R

 

2

 

 

    Talic darted from corner to corner and scampered into shadows whenever he could. He was going to look into the Pond of Dreams again. Haramin had warned him away from the pond after he had failed the test, going on about despair and the pond not being the right place for his mind, but Talic dismissed those concerns. He had always found sitting beside it calming and peaceful. He had did his best studying while sometimes gazing into it. Arkayin had said that no one had seen a Dream from the pond in a thousand years, but Talic still fancied he might one day see one.

 

    He eased out into the Court of the Rose and looked around for Brother Naymil. The old gardener was the only one who would be near the Door of Thorns to possibly prevent him from going into the walled habitat. Seeing that Brother Naymil did not occupy the court and its hundreds of roses that covered it wall to floor, Talic hurried across the courts flagged stone flooring and around the towering Fountain of Glory with it's drogon styled figurines and sky of swords.

 

    Seeing the Door of Thorns, Taylic could feel his heart beat a little faster. He approached the door and eyed the ink black thorns that gave it the name. Only one gifted with the elements could touch the poisoned thorns and work the secret that would open the door to the wonder it held within it. He took a last look around to make sure no one was around and then carefully began unwinding the bandages around his right hand.

 

    As the bandages came away the stranges rhunes upon his right hand stood out starkly. He marvelled at the markings as he always did. Even though so many months had passed it shocked him everytime the marks shown. He stuffed the bandages in a pocket and started upon the bandages on his left hand. As they came away the glyphs that tattooed his left hand came into view. He stuck his tongue out in concentration as he stared at both hands.

 

    "What a cruel joke to be played on me," he muttered.

 

    Arkayin had been the first to break the news to him of how the test had marked him permanently on the outside. It had come as a fright that for the first time the Elemental's did not have an easy answer as to why he had been marked in such a way by the backlash and rejection of the test. Haramin had been the first to suggest he bandage his hands and dress in long sleeved shirts to cover his upper body when he ventured outside the towering walls of the Elementia Morel. The trickiest bit had been keeping it all hidden from the Sisters and it had become such a habit of wearing the bandages that he now wore them even in the home of the Elemental's.

 

   Shaking himself from the memories he stuffed the bandages into another pocket and held his hands outward to hover against the thorns. He stared at the thorns and forced his breathing to slow down while clearing his mind. He had done this a dozen or more times and each time he did it he had the feeling this time the thorns would reject him as the test had. He didn't care to die screaming in agony from the poison, but the pond beckoned for him.

 

   "Here goes," he said moving his hands and pressing them against the thorns. Slowly his hands pressed against the thorns, and for a heart stopping moment the thorns stayed solid, then to Talic's relief his hands began to pass through the Door of Thorns.

 

    Talic pushed his hands through and quickly followed with the rest of his body into the Court of Dreams. He turned to face the thorns that studded the door on this side and nodded his head at them. It never ceased to amaze him how that was done. He turned away from the door and looked at the dark red path that would take him to the pond. He once had the ability to light the path, but since his testing at best he could do a few sparks. His days of impressing the younger Sisters with light shows had been sadly dashed.

 

    He began to walk up the path passed the shaded willow-mar trees that twisted overhead to block out the sun. The scents given off by the mage-grown trees eased his mind and soothed the aches in his body. Just walking through the four thousand year old trees brought a smile to his face. He would never understand why Arkayin or the others refused to go beyond the very beginning of the path. Just because there had not been a Dreamer since Morvaya De'spar didn't mean the Court of Dreams had to be avoided in embarrassment over it.

 

    He could see the drogon status that were placed evenly around the pond as he made the familiar right turn on the path. He eyed the drogons with their wings raised as if ready for flat and the fierce looks in their hawk faces. Arkayin had told him that the drogon statues had been around the pond long before the Elementals began building around it.

 

    Walking the final steps to the pond, Talic let his hands rest upon the nearest drogon and stared into its eyes. The carvings had a very detailed cut to them all the way down to the scales that marked their wings. He sighed wistfully. It was too bad that the last drogons had vanished more than two thousand years before. He'd have enjoyed riding the backs of them or linking with them. Removing his hands he walked over to the pond and stared into it.

 

    It looked like any other pond to him as always. Crystal water so you could see far down into it. He had met Ikirian's tale of the Pond of Dreams with a skeptics eye when his first teacher had told him the story behind it. If he had not seen and done wonders himself he doubted he would believe them even now. The ability to look into it's depths and see the past, future and present was almost too much to believe. It had even been said that a Dreamer had the power to reshape the future if they had enough strength to do so.

 

    He found his usual spot by the pond and seated himself. It was always quiet in the Court of Dreams. He had drifted off into sleep many a time gazing into the pond. The interested thing to come out of it though was that he could never remember having dreamed at each time he slept. He reached out his right hand and let it hover over the ponds edge. Since his testing he had not dipped his hands into the pond to see the ripples dance. He couldn't remember why he had hesitated to do so since the testing. All the times before he had enjoyed making splashes and watch the ripples multiply.

 

   "What is wrong with me?" He asked the pond. "It twisted me up somehow. Why am I the first to survive the rejection?" He held up his hands. "Why did it do this to me and why can't I remember any of the testing?" He wiped moisture from his eyes angrily. "Why am I talking to a pond?"

 

    With a scowl he looked into the water at his own reflection. The ever shifting color of his eyes seemed to mock him, his hair now streaked so oddly made him want to cut it off, and cruelest of all, his once unmarred dark skin was now marked by these strange alien markings. He wanted to know desperately what had happened, what had gone wrong. Arkayin had said he was the most gifted Elemental to take the test in a century, yet he was the first since Radrizi the Mad to fail it and now was the first ever to survive the failing.

 

    With an angry curse he used both hands to dash at the water in the pond. The moment his hands touched the pond his mind opened as if a flood gate. He gasped as images came into his head...

 

    ...and Imperial edict held in hand being read aloud to a rabid and out of control crowd eager for blood...tens of thousands fervent in their beliefs...an edict promising genocide with exile of thousands of D'elitian's from an empire known as The Empire of the Sands...an edict first read upon the Steps of the Souryn...images of the Meghus-Arkel Archen Tegus holding names written in blood...a searing image of a continent known as Alatia in flames and awash with blood amidst of reign of terror...a whisper of madness in an emperor known as Takayne Dred...

 

    Talic tried to jerk his hands frantically from the pool, but the images gripped him in their power and poured into his mind...

 

    ...a hellish nightmare image comes into view of a plain known as Kior'Larcor and upon the plains the Gray Wizards of Zurkul-Sanit begin to close all one hundred and eighty-three of their towers for the first time in recorded history...a great rising begins to build in the ice held waters of Greinv Mac'ul as the serpents begin to awaken...

 

    "What is happening?" Talic cried out. The images gripped him and continued without mercy...

 

    ...an ancient city calls forth the Hunt of the Vas'Bringor and the city-state of Anoyl Tain trembles in fear...tens of thousands flock to the Sier Crystal city of Marseil and take the Mark of Fihtor Ur Ur'Darcon as the earth trembles and molten rock flows...

 

    Talic searched around frantically for a way to get the images to stop. Tears poured from his eyes as the images continued...

 

    ...an image appears of Eskarp Kohrtyn and of the Rven Lords of Shadow agitated upon the news of the Werkayel awakening in Erlinard. For the first time since the Second Forming they can feel a tug upon the 'Weave of Worlds...a last image forms of a haunted queen, the seeress Kestrel tasting fear and seeing doom, her hands reaching out with a cry upon her lips...

 

    The images stopped with the mysterious and haunted queen reaching for him. Talic held himself and wept.

Author's Note

All reviews are welcome. Especially after I reweave the first chapter :)