Chapter 1 of "Petals"

Kathio remembered what the seer had told her and what the people of the rocks had said. There shall be a journey where the line will be tainted but your path home will still be as clear as ever though the soil will be crimsoned with blood… Take this. The package she’d been handed by the seer was still unwrapped in her sack. The mountain people gave her advice only, not a forecast. Keep that which is dear to you very close, all the time, even in promise that it would be returned. It’s what she did not say that will be of more importance. The truth always finds the liar who opposes it.
She stared over an expanse of marsh. There was only darkness in front of her. Tirdu was an expanse of unbroken shadow. She could see that there was a cliff where it ended so far ahead. It was like a long, thin streak of light at the horizon. She imagined the land was warm and dry, but green seamed to sparkle amongst the white. The horizon was jagged with the tops of tall buildings, one stood out in particular. The castle of Tirsàël was the ruling place of TirHeulwen.
Thargon and his troops were below her, preparing things and fare welling friends among the mountain people. They were inside the canyon of the four serpents where the serpent elves resided. There was light, but it did not shine on the land. In the centre of the vast domain was a huge tower of uneven, black rock. Half way up, the light started to shine on it and she could see that the walls were mostly made of thick glass. She did not step forth. The tower, silhouetted against the sky, looked like a long black cord hanging from the centre of the sun.
“There are three hours of light on these planes. Such short days they have…” Peak stood next to her with his bright cyan eyes set in his black skin. His light green-yellow dread locks hung down over his chest, they were tucked behind his ears. There seamed to be more feathers in each lock. He was holding something, and seamed to be pondering about something.
“Thank you for guiding us, my friend.” No one had made her feel more welcome in these distant lands than Peak had.
“No.” He grinned a demonstration of his pearly white teeth. “Thank you for gracing us with your presence… and especially for bringing Pen and Atheilel with you.”
“You know we are not here deliberately, don’t you?” She smiled and frowned at the same time when she turned to him.
“It’s fate that brought you here, not your own free will.” He spoke to the wind as he stared back over the dimness before him.
“We will be travelling home; I doubt I’ll ever meet you again.”
“You will… you will come back.” He said optimistically. His note changed. “More importantly, as you walk through those lands… you should be protected. It may look baron and deserted but that suits the beasts that live there… You should wear armour and arm yourself with something. Take this.”
He offered her a short sword with a curve at the end. The handle was silver with simple engravings of birds into it. In his hands, it was resting on top of a sheath attached to a loose belt. “It’s a falchion.”
“Why does everyone seek to give me gifts?” She cocked a brow at him. “I don’t wish to be given things by everybody. I’m a simple soul, just like everyone else.”
“No soul is simple, Miss Orien.” He corrected her. “You might understand that when these gifts that so many people give you become useful.”
“Thank you.” She said quietly when he pushed the object towards her and she was forced to take it. She reluctantly grasped the handle and cast her eyes over it slowly.
“No matter what, you must find your way home… no matter what lies for you on the path. You will make yourself their hope and ithout you they might not make it home.”
“You over estimate me, it is Pen who’ll be the hero. She has proven herself twice the fighter that I am even though our lessons showed more promise in me.
“She’s proven herself, aye, but it is your story that this one will become and you will lead yourself not just of her example but of your own.”
She nodded and he smiled as if he had something to hide.
“I have another thing… It’s to guarantee your safety; I didn’t think they’d arrive in time.”
“You mustn’t.” She told him. “Stop giving me gifts.” She half pleaded.
“Just one big gift, after all… It’s better that you make it home, as you.” He said and gestured towards two dark skinned men who carried a large case between them as they ambled up the path, seemingly effortlessly. “It’s to keep you safe.” He excused.
They stopped in front of her and she didn’t move. The case was cracked open to reveal something that sparkled in the light. There was a breastplate, built for a small build man or a woman and a full helm with a mask that looked a threatening pattern of dark and shadow. They were built to look genderless and the metal appeared thick and heavy. There were engravings around the side that matched those on the hilt of the falchion.
“I don’t intend to fight.” She stated.
“You will find the choice will be made for you on this journey and I would rather think you were well protected on the way across the shade of the land.” He continued.
Before she knew it, the armour was being fitted and there were cuffs, gloves with only a patch on the back of the hand and shin guards to go with it. Her hair was tucked into the helm and she pushed her hood over the top so the mask looked even more sinister. Her cloak covered what the breast plate didn’t as it curved over her shoulder. She flexed her fingers and drew circles with her wrists to get used to the cuffs and gloves. The Shin guards were put into her sack as she was wearing, still, a dress.
“You don’t look like a warrior… yet.” He said mischievously and she shot him a look as if to say this blade will be red if you even mention another thing to add. He laughed in response. “There will be room on the way for you to learn what makes a warrior, but you’ll never need to be one.”
She sighed as she pulled her sleeves down to the cuffs to cover her bare arms. She removed the helm and started pushing it into her huge barrel of a bag.
There was barely any room left. She was forced to remove the cage. In the barred box was a small rodent with white fur. The trained mouse was a gift from the desert women. When she opened the trap door the small creature crawled out and up her arm.
“You seam to make him feel comfortable. How do you feel so easy with a mouse on your shoulder?”
“He’s a cheerful little thing who’s only out to have fun… I think I should name him… I’ll name him Peak, after someone else who is also cheerful and out to have fun.”
Peak smiled again. “You’d better be going; Thargon will be pining for you.”
“Good bye, my friend.” She bowed to him and he did the same back. She didn’t understand why he did that, for she was a stranger in his country where he was prince.
Kathio was the traveller who might never find her destination, she felt as she turned away from the place that had given her so much hospitality. She turned away from that place, where the people had been so kind yet they’d had no reason to be.
She barely remembered why she’d left home and how she’d arrived in this place, so far away. She’d been told so many times, by so many different peoples that it was fate that had brought her there and that every wound was a pain to be taught. She’d learnt many things, or so she felt. She didn’t know what it was she’d learnt, but she felt now as if she understood the world even though she was so far away from it.
Her footing was hard to find as she wandered down the small hill with her sack on her back. She was going to keep it close to her, no matter what. She was going to keep Peak, the mouse, close to her and her Pen and Atheilel close to her and she was going to keep herself close to Thargon’s fighters.
She knew the voyage home was going to be hard, and she knew it was going to hurt. She knew it was going to be impossible and every step making life unliveable. The thought of her being so far away from home after spending her life between the same walls was strange, but she didn’t feel it. She felt like she was doing what had to be done, what she was supposed to do.
Now, she was heading home after a journey that had taken her where she hadn’t been going to. She was going somewhere and she was hoping to the higher ones that she was going in the right direction now more than ever before.
Her heart sank as she felt the darkness slip over her and the light that only shone on the trees where Peak lived was gone. She felt cold and left behind by the sun.