Eldrick tossed and turned in his sleep. His dreams were causing him distress.
Eldrick was standing on a mountaintop, one which was both unknown and yet eerily familiar. Looking down he noticed that once again it wasn’t the body he was used to seeing, but that of a young woman in her prime. The hair tickled his back, due to the length being longer than he could recall ever having worn it. Down the mountain, he could see a dense jungle floor. Suddenly he felt a presence, one that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Turning towards the presence, he noticed a small man hunched over a cane standing ten feet away. The man lifted his head revealing softly glowing eyes surrounded by crinkled skin, reminding Eldrick of old dried-out parchment. A smile cracked the tough leathery lips, spreading through the entire body and culminating with a brightening of the eyes. Lifting a small gnarled hand, resembling an old oak burl, he pointed at Eldrick, then made a motion down and around.
“You are very interesting,” the thin cracked voice seemed to echo off the hills. “I have been watching you for some time. You, my young friend, are not what you seem," his eyes brightening. "You have secrets within secrets which you keep even from yourself. I fear you are going to have a very difficult time ahead, as those secrets are stripped away like pieces of clothing. I see your subconscious is already trying to show you some of what you are. Your companions know more and yet do not realize it. I worry that once you partake upon the secondary journey and are without your current company your very life might be in danger. Before you ask, I cannot tell you more, other than this. Follow your heart and let your dreams guide you, for there is wisdom and understanding to be garnered from them.” With the words echoing through the mountains the old man simply vanished, leaving a small pendant lying on the ground where he once stood.
Eldrick picked up the pendant and studied it, fearing that upon waking he would not recall the details. The pendant was about the size of a gold coin, on one side the depiction of a dragon flying over the life tree, while on the other was a small child being carried by a fae maid into a field with a forested background. What made the image uncanny was that it appeared the stalks of grain were swaying in the wind. It was affixed to a thin silvery chain that seemed to glow. With a quick motion, he placed it around his neck, where it felt warm nestled perfectly between his breasts. With an unconscious motion, he brushed the hair out of his face. Looking around he noticed a pair of dragons flying overhead. One looked remarkably like Sebastian which caused a flush of heat to flood his face. His eyes narrowing, he turned from the sight, ran to the cliff face and jumped.
With a sudden thud, Eldrick woke up to find himself laying on the floor. Brows wrinkling in confusion, as heat flooded through his chest. Looking down he noticed the pendant from his dream sitting there. With a tentative finger, he lifted the pendant to examine it. Though it looked the same, the image with the field didn’t have the grain waving in the wind. Rising to his feet he looked at the bed, where Sebastian lay taking up less than half. The shape of Sebastian sent warm feelings running through his body. Turning around he noticed a small pile of books stacked in the corner. Running his fingers down the spines reminded him of the monumental task ahead to which he was still woefully unprepared. Getting comfortable he pulled the books over to his side and prepared to delve into another learning trance. These tomes were nothing like the tomes he had been studying back at the farm, these were about customs and cultures of nearby kingdoms. The knowledge he knew he would need for the journey ahead especially if he were to pass his journeyman trials. These volumes were dry and dull even compared to the instructional books back at the farm.
* * *
Sebastian rose from the bed looking around to find where Eldrick had gone. Seeing him sitting cross-legged with an open book across his lap reminded Sebastian of the trials ahead. Carefully getting out of bed he grabbed his clothes from the night before when the acrid odour assailed his senses. Dropping them he hurried over to the wardrobe to pick out something clean. Laying out a clean set for Eldrick on the bed as well. After dressing, he gathered up all the dirty laundry and quietly left the room.
"Where can I go to wash these?" Sebastian asked lifting the bundle in his arms. Sergei lifting his head from the book he was reading, raised a hand pointed to a small chute. Sebastian headed over and dropped the clothes down the chute. Turning his gaze fell upon the captured man from the night before. Slack-jawed and glazed eyes indicating that there had been no change. "I don’t think we will be seeing Eldrick until his stomach sends him out. He has decided to embroil himself in his studies of politics. There was a pile of about a dozen books surrounding him while he is in trance."
“Good he is going to need the knowledge contained in those books. His Majesty was kind enough to drop those off from his personal library yesterday while we were dealing with the injured guardsman. Those books, unfortunately, do not contain all the information necessary for his training however they are a good basis to start. The writers of the books were not historians but clerks piecing together information garnered from reports of the ambassadors to the countries. There is food sitting on the table if you are hungry,” raising his weathered hand shakily to point towards the side table.
Sebastian rising to get some food, noticed the shaking of Sergei’s hand turned and headed to the fireplace instead for his medicine before considering eating himself. Handing the jug off before returning to the task at hand of feeding himself. Scanning the dishes on the table he noticed there were several pre-proportioned servings there, one for each person in the room. Gathering two servings he nodded to Sergei and Sigmund and headed back to the room.
Moments later he returned to the common room with the tray in hand. Sitting on the chaise he began devouring his breakfast. "What have you discovered about our unwanted guest?"
“My dear boy, he is not unwanted. We brought him here to garner information which is very much wanted. Just because he seems to be involved in the injuries sustained by the guardsman does not mean that he chose to be involved.”
“How can that be? If he was linked to the injury how is it that he wasn’t responsible?”
"Honestly? Sebastian, have you ever considered that maybe there was an artefact responsible and he just happened to find it and had it latch onto him since it was triggered, or that perhaps it was given to him to save the life of the person who triggered it if they had known what the consequences would be."
"Are you suggesting Sigmund, that this guy could potentially be a dupe to throw us off? If that is true then our adversary is not going to be easy to apprehend. I don’t like the thought of this. We are trying to make it to the conclave by the Feast of Servalin and from what I can tell we are falling behind schedule with no real means to make up for the lost time."
"I have a plan though we may not like it. There is a small assembly of Fae about two days travel north. I am going to plead with them for the privilege of using their pathways to make up the lost time. As time runs differently we could be there for only a few days or a few centuries. It all depends on their whim. Of course, we won’t notice the passage of time. But outside the pathways, time continues to roll by.”
Sebastian’s eye quirked, his eyebrows lifted and his mouth contorted. He sat stock-still his muscles rigid with tension. Then a new light entered his eyes, as thoughts seemed to shift behind them. Remembering earlier visualizations of the energies surrounding Eldrick, he was curious as to what was behind the different overlaying patterns. Four types of magic all in a single person was considered an omen. The only thing is, what type of omen, and why did he have to become enamoured by the person upon which these threads lay.
