Moirai

I rapped sharply on the varnished oak door. Like the first time, a mixture of surprise and admiration flowed through me at the apparent care that had been given to the house. Not a single chip or faded spot showed on the door, the frame or, in fact, any of the rest of the outside of the house. I wondered if the state of the house could be any indication as to the personality of its owner.

It was the third time I stood in front of the door in as many days, before which I hadn’t even known the cottage, or in fact, the city it was in, existed. It had been almost a week since I had arrived in what I came to know in my mind as the ‘book world’. The house I stood in front of was Kasanda’s, the mysterious Dryad woman who, according to Loni, had foretold of my coming…whatever that meant. I had seen her only once three days ago, after I had recovered somewhat from the shock of finding out ‘the truth’. She had been extremely cryptic, which had led to my persistence in getting some answers.

I had learned that I was in Nerome, the capitol city of the large island nation of Renenta. The style reminded me of old towns and cities in England, with cobbled streets, stone and wooden buildings, a busy fishing dock and even a castle, towering above the city with granite walls that gleamed in the reflection from the sea that bordered the city on the west. Directly in the heart of the city was a large circular space, where the eight main roads led. In the centre of the area was the Damai Fountain – which had apparently been a peace offering given to the King and Queen by the leader of the country over the Western sea, Azterka.

All this information was given to me on my second day, and it was almost too much to bear. I had asked so many questions, most of which went unanswered, especially when I asked about Azterka. Loni and the woman who I now realised was her mother (Loni’s orphan status having been a ruse) had only said that they had a trade agreement with Renenta and were a mostly peaceful people, but not much was known about their culture. Apparently, those who sailed across the body of water that separated the two nations, intending to explore rather than stick to the capitol, very rarely returned.

Several times I wondered why I was taking everything so calmly, relatively at least. It wasn’t that I didn’t find things strange; I most certainly did, but wouldn’t a normal person panic or try to convince themselves it was all a giant practical joke? But I didn’t. I accepted the reality of everything with barely a question. It took me a few days to realise that the reason was because everything Loni and her parents told me seemed…strangely familiar. As if I had known it all many years ago but the memory had almost entirely faded. But how could that possibly be? That thought, on top of what Kasanda had said – or rather, what she hadn’t – nearly drove me mad.

Three days ago, Loni and I had been sitting in her kitchen, which also doubled as the dining room, when a deep, feminine voice alerted us to Kasanda’s presence.

“Hello, girls, I apologise for not visiting sooner, but I wished to give Alnya time to recover.”

Two things instantly shocked me. First of all, the fact that she had crept up on us without making a sound. I hadn’t even heard the door open, for one thing. I noticed that she was wearing shoes made entirely of cloth and suddenly realised that she must have been the figure who walked towards me before I had passed out upon arriving in the book world. The second thing that shocked me was that she spoke to us both with familiarity, though obviously she had never said a word to me before and I didn’t get the impression that Loni knew her that well either. In fact, I got the impression that no-one knew her very well.

“Hello.” Loni herself said brightly, and I felt a strange sense of relief that her upbeat personality, at least, hadn’t been a lie. My confident thought when I had awakened about Loni’s undeniable truthfulness had been shaken, but the reasons for her deception had been well explained, so I was willing to trust her again.

“Hi…Lady Kasanda.” I murmured awkwardly. I didn’t know what title to use. I couldn’t exactly call her ‘Mrs’ or ‘Ms’ and from what I’d heard Kasanda wasn’t nobility, but she definitely wasn’t poor. Hardly anything was known about her, except for the fact that she was a Dryad who had arrived over twenty years ago in the city and since then had taken on the job of protecting it with her magic; a job no-one realised the necessity of until then. And, of course, there was the prophecy; the details of which she revealed to no-one. I shuddered at the thought; despite the fact that I loved fantasy books, the idea of magic being real utterly terrified me…

She gazed at us both; a gaze that was kind, yet intense at the same time, almost as though she was trying to see straight through us. For all I knew, she was. Seeing as all of the authors I’d read had different ideas on magic, I didn’t know what she was capable of.

Her hair was varying shades of light brown, pulled back behind her ears with a plait on either side. Her features were angular, yet strikingly beautiful, with eyebrows that curved sharply towards the temples, a thin, small nose and quite large lips with defined cheekbones. As I had been told, Kasanda’s identification as a Dryad appeared in her pointed ears and dark, olive skin tone. Lithe was the word to describe Kasanda, as she was several inches taller than me and her build was thin and light. Not exactly like the Dryads of Ancient Greek mythology, bit this was clearly where they’d gotten it from.

Approaching me and looking down, she stared straight into my eyes. Hers were the most dazzling shade of emerald green. I looked back, and it seemed as though I was falling into them. It would be so easy to get lost, forever floating in an endless abyss…

“It is almost time.” She said, the deepness of her voice reverberating through me once again and snapping me out of the trance. I couldn’t fathom how a voice could be that deep, yet remain utterly female. “Unfortunately, Alnya, your life will change even more very soon. Not today, though.” She stepped back again.

I frowned. “Excuse me, but what does that mean?” My mind seemed to explode with possibilities, all based on what she could have seen in her vision. Despite it all, I had no idea how it could relate to me.

She gave me an odd smile, like she was both sympathetic and…something I couldn’t place. Expectant?

“You will find out soon enough. Best not to rush these things. We will meet again. Good afternoon.”

Without a further remark, she turned in a whirl of the pale green dress she was wearing and disappeared back out the front door, once again not even a whisper announcing her departure.

Loni and I stared at each other.

“That was…strange.” She muttered with a nervous giggle.

The frown hadn’t left my face. I nodded. “And that’s compared to all the other strange things. Surely you must know what she meant if you spoke to her when you became the Inventrix.”

“She didn’t say. All she told me was what I had to do, because it was absolutely crucial. Without you, there was no hope against Indina.”

This ominous-sounding Indina was as much of a mystery as Kasanda. Loni and her parents told me that she was a powerful mage who used her powers for evil but had disappeared around twenty years ago. Loni said that Kasanda knew somehow that she was rising again. Once more, the feeling that I had fallen into one of my books had settled over me.

When I stopped to think about it, that was pretty much exactly what had happened.

Kasanda’s words rang in my ears for two days, annoyingly persistent. Several times I wondered why I couldn’t just forget about them and be patient, like Loni kept telling me to.

Thus, now, for the third time, I was knocking on the Dryad’s door in an attempt to at least get some peace in my own mind.

She opened the door with a smile as she had the last two times. Previously, she had politely informed me, “Not today.” whatever that meant. This time, however her smile was wider, showing teeth whiter than those in toothpaste commercials, yet there was a strange glint in her eyes; not of joy, or happiness, but something darker. Yet another puzzle.

“It’s finally time, Alnya. I am aware that you have been very patient.” She announced, pulling the door fully open as invitation.

Well, I hadn’t exactly been patient. I had done nothing but bug her since she’d spoken to me.

I felt a smile grow. Though I was more than a bit wary of Kasanda – wariness was wise around any magic user, especially when I had no idea what she could do – I was excited to finally be getting an explanation to her enigmatic words.

The doorway led to a large open room housing two midnight blue arm chairs and a small table around an open fireplace. A soft brown rug covered a wood floor that appeared to be as well taken care of as the front door. Other closed doors obviously led to the other rooms of the house. Overall, it felt cozy and rustic. The faint scent of cinnamon mixed with the woody aroma from the fire had an instantly calming effect, and the fact that the house was built entirely of wood – reminiscent of alpine ski lodges – added to the atmosphere of warmth.

“Go and sit down.” Kasanda instructed gently. “Would you like a cup of spiced tea?”

That comment made me realise that the explanation wouldn’t simply be a few minutes’ worth. My curiosity was piqued even more and I felt small bubbles of excitement collect somewhere in-between my shoulder blades and work their way towards my head.

“Yes, please.” I answered.

I took a seat in one of the arm chairs, picking the one closest to the fire. Loni had told me that winter had been over for a couple of weeks, but a chill still hung in the air. Time must be different in the book world, as it was just coming into Autumn in London.

She was extraordinarily quick with the tea and I wondered if she had used magic. Obviously I was very naïve to the whole concept of what it could do here…but I had little interest in finding out. Even the thought that she may have used it to make my tea was nearly enough to make me decline the drink altogether, before I reminded myself that doing so would be impolite. It tasted exotic – a mixture of spices and sweetness that clung to the tastebuds after swallowing – and I wondered if tea was one of the commodities traded from Azterka.

“Alright, then, Alnya.” Kasanda sighed, taking a seat in a chair near me. “I suppose it’s a bit of a relief for you to be getting some answers. I will warn you, that you may not like or understand all of what I am going to say. It will, as I told you in Loni’s house, change your life forever. Even more so than it already has.”

“In what way?” I asked, curious but also wary.

Her eyebrows pulled together in a frown and she appeared to be biting the inside of her lip. “Why don’t I start from the beginning? It will be much easier than trying to answer your question immediately.”

This was looking as though it was much bigger than I’d thought and I felt a shiver run down my spine. Then I chastised myself; how could anything be bigger than finding out that a world exists inside a book? “Okay. That does sound like a good idea.”

She nodded sharply. I was surprised to see that she appeared almost nervous. “I think it would be best if I give you a brief history of myself, that way it might make what I have to tell you a bit more believable.” She settled herself more comfortably in the chair and took a sip of tea before continuing. “As you may have heard, I am a Dryad from the forest to the south-east, called Aulaea. I was born in the capitol city, which is called Flowerage –”

“The forest has a capitol?” I questioned, not realising that I was interrupting her. “I thought it was part of Renenta. That’s what Loni said.”

“It is, technically.” She agreed. “It has not got a king or queen. But because Dryads are a different race, we do have a…governing body of sorts who make decisions relative to us that do not interfere with the royalty here in Nerome. Thus, Flowerage is known as a capitol.” When I nodded in understanding, she continued. “We live only a few decades longer than humans do, but we take much longer to show signs of age. For instance, how old do you think I am?”

I didn’t have to be scared of offending her, because she really didn’t seem very old at all. However, I factored in the knowledge that she had been here at least eighteen years. “Late thirties?”

She smiled widely, a twinkle in her eye. “That is a wonderful compliment. Last month I celebrated my fifty-fourth birthday.”

I couldn’t help but gape. There was not a single line on her face and not a grey hair on her head. I realised that the only indication of her age was her eyes; they were deep and strong. Something about them gave me the impression that Kasanda had a burden pressing down on her shoulders.

She chuckled a little at my response. “I had recently turned thirty when I decided that I wanted to leave Flowerage to come here to Nerome. There were rumours filtering through of powerful aura users in this city, and I found within myself a strong desire to tutor them. It has been a while since Renenta has seen proper aura users. The only prominent auraics in the last century had been Dryads.”

“Auraics?” I asked, then immediately regretted it when she answered.

“Magic users. The ‘aura’ is what we call magic. I will explain…”

I shifted in my chair, uncomfortable at the direction her tale was heading.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but could you skip the magical history, please?” I asked.

She raised her eyebrows at me. “Does it bore you? It is relevant to what I have to say.”

“I’m not bored.” I said quickly; quite the contrary. “I just…don’t really care for magic.”

Her eyebrows, as high as they had been, turned down instantly into a deep frown. “What do you mean, Alnya? Loni mentioned that you are a keen reader of outer-world fantasy novels; these include magic, am I correct?”

I swallowed and nodded; it was not a topic I was ‘keen’ to discuss. “Yes, but something happened when I was a child and it gave me a deep fear of magic, if it was real, of course. Now that I know it is…I’m even terrified by the idea of anyone using it. Although, I’m not scared of you, or anything!” I added quickly.

She leaned back in her own chair and appeared to be thinking something over. “Alnya, what you’ve got to understand is that what I have to say deals very much with magic. If you do not want to hear it, I won’t stop you from going out of that door and returning to the outer-world. But…and please don’t take this lightly…if you leave, you will be leaving Renenta in very grave danger.”

“Danger?” The word caught in my throat.

Kasanda’s piercing green eyes met mine then. “Yes, a danger that will soon be strong enough to devour the country, plunging the people into misery.”

Her words were harsh and alarming. I suddenly found my fear of magic pushed to the back of my head as a morbid curiosity took its place. If something was threatening Renenta, what did it have to do with me; an outsider? I didn’t voice the question, however, knowing that Kasanda would answer it eventually.

“Ok. Continue, please. I’m sorry.” I said meekly, not wanting to disrespect her.

Kasanda seemed almost amused with my quick acquiescence.

“Thank you. Well, briefly, I shall explain about magic, or aura. Legend has it that, at the beginning of time – not time as you know it, but the time within this world – the Great Aura gave some of itself to humans and Dryads. Selected individuals of great courage, intelligence and strength received their own auras. The auras are energy sources buried deep within our subconscious. They can be used to control the natural elements of the world, and the energy that exists within every human. Thus, through the manipulation of one’s aura, great acts of healing or harm can be wrought.” She paused, letting me absorb her words.

The Great Aura sounded like some sort of God. It was quite reminiscent of the various creation myths that existed throughout the Earth. Kasanda had said it was legend, but all legends were grounded in truth. Perhaps the Aura did exist, if magic itself existed. The answer to that I knew I would have to wait for, and perhaps I would never find out. I looked up at Kasanda and nodded to indicate that I was ready for her to continue.

“So, as I was saying, I came here to Nerome at the age of thirty, hoping to find a squad of auraics eager for training. I found nothing. Not a single one of the rumours were true.” She sighed somewhat absently. “I only spent a few days here before preparing to leave again. I stayed in this very cottage. Its owners were quite friendly and honoured to house a Dryad.”

Her expression turned dark; it looked strange on her elegant face.

“The night before I was to depart, a woman arrived on the doorstep. She appeared to be a common street girl at first; her hair was matted, her skin streaked with dirt and her clothes stained and torn. However, she did not act common; she didn’t beg for shelter, or food. She merely asked if she could stay with me for a time, and I noticed that she was very well-spoken. She somehow knew me and my purpose for being in the city. I began to see that her ripped clothes had once been very fine. Her accent indicated nobility, it soon became clear that she was an aura user hersDryad.” Kasanda paused and licked her lips nervously, as though trying to remove the taste the memory left on her mouth.

“She asked to be trained. She was haughty, arrogant and showed no ounce of humbleness or obedience, but I could sense that there was great power within her. I accepted her as my student, after getting her cleaned up and fed. I discovered neither her age nor her true identity until several years after we parted company. She trained under me for six years, during which I saw her power increase at an alarming rate. In the last year or so, she began asking me to teach her darker ways of using her aura, ways that could be used to harm or summon great forces of evil. She even asked me for the location of the Amulet of Kochor!”