Page 5

DREAM

E mryn didn’t know where she was. That was odd in the extreme, and very unusual for her.

She remembered where she’d been, in the palace healing some sort of mild fever that had cropped up among the servants.

She knew she’d overdone it and had been heading back to the temple, but she didn’t know where she was now.

It was dark all around her, a sorrowful sort of darkness, lonely and somehow familiar. But she didn’t know where she was. Emryn had to get out. She was due back at the temple, had a vow to keep and she couldn’t do that from here.

“Child,” a broken voice whispered through the darkness. “Vow child, my child, my eyes, my Wings, you are my last hope.”

Emryn squinted through the darkness, finding a tiny light and walking toward it. She knew that voice, it had been in so many of her dreams lately, and it was past time she figured out what was behind the dreams.

Because there was something behind them.

She walked into the tiny ring of light, to face someone that she never thought would appear to her. Her holy women saw the Goddess, but Emryn had never thought to. Not with the lie that burned in her bones. The one she didn’t dare speak.

That she was no true healer.

But there was something direly wrong here.

The Moon Mother was seated, as she often appeared to the holy women, but it was clear to Emryn that she wasn’t seated by her own choice.

There were chains around her, wrists, ankles, even a thick collar around her neck that held her to the throne she was seated in.

“M-mother?” Emryn stammered, legs buckling as she went to her knees before the Moon Mother. “Who has done this thing?”

The Moon Mother lifted her head, looking Emryn in the eyes. It felt like she was looking her directly in the soul and Emryn had to force herself to not squirm. “Seek them, my Wings, seek your Three. The Phoenix, the Seeker, the Flame, only then will you know.”

“Know what?” Emryn was trying to hold on, but the edges of the light were beginning to run like chalk in a rainstorm. “Mother,please, let me help you.”

The Mother raised a hand, the chains striking the side of her throne, it sounded like doom. “There is time yet, my Wings. Seek your Three and find the others.”

The light went out, leaving Emryn crying in the dark, reaching out for something that was no longer there.

And the dark went on forever, stretching into infinity.

But there had to be an end to it. She had to wake up so she could do the thing that the Mother had told her to do.

The words made no sense. Phoenixes didn’t exist. They were a thing from fairy stories and fancies for children.

But the Mother had told her to find one?

The other two didn’t make sense in context either. Were they concepts? People? She needed more information and there was none to be found here in the dark.

Which meant that she needed to get out of the dark.But how?

Darkness dies to light, and Emryn’s core was fire. So if she let the fire out, would it burn the darkness away?

Emryn nodded, wiping the tears off her face and rising from her knees. She was tired, she’d been tired for a while, but the Mother had given her a duty and Emryn needed to see it done.

She released the blocks she kept on her fire, letting it swirl out and pool in her hands.

It spiraled, miniature maelstroms cupped in each palm and only Emryn would ever know how much power was locked into them.

She could do so much damage with what she held, one of the reasons that she was so glad she was beholden to the temples of healing.

Locked into vows that said she could only do good with the power inside her.

But she would burn now, burn into the dark until it released her

“Emryn.“ She knew that voice, but didn’tknow why. Couldn’t explain why it lit something inside her in a way she’d never been lit before. “Emryn, you’re safe. You can rest here and when you wake up, I’ll explain.”

Emryn nodded, letting the fire slip away, letting it go back to her core.

If that voice said she could rest then she would rest. She settled back on the ground wishing she had a bed, somewhere soft where she could rest. But Emryn had slept in far worse places and it was only a moment before the darkness around her became the same stuff behind her eyes.

When she woke, she still didn’t know where she was. The room was clearly somewhere in the palace. It was too fancy, too large to be anywhere else.

“Good morning, miss.” a chirpy voice came from her left as she was trying to sit up. “His Highness asked that we alert him when you woke.I’ll get you something to eat.”

The owner of the voice vanished out the door before Emryn could ask what was happening. The woman was back in a few minutes with a large tray of food as well as the prince of Rodilla who was walking in her wake.

Emryn fought the blankets, trying to rise.

“No, Emryn,” The prince stopped at the side of the bed and smiled. “The head of the Temples says you must remain in bed for another three days.”

“He is likely put out with me.” Emryn said as the woman settled the tray over Emryn’s lap.

“Slightly,” the prince said. “It took a royal order for you to be allowed to remain and rest here.”

“Who would do that for me?” Emryn looked down into the massive bowl of chicken soup and picked up the spoon in a shaking hand.

“I did,” the Prince said, sitting in a chair at the side of the bed. “I have some questions that only you might be able to answer, Emryn.”

Emryn put the spoon down and looked up at the prince. “I can try to, Highness.”

“Eat first,” he smiled at her and rose. “Shana will send for me when you finish and are slightly more rested.”

Emryn nodded, watching the prince leave the room and turned her attention back to the bowl of soup. She would eat first and then after that, she would feel more up to having a conversation about healing with the prince of Rodilla.