Stormchild: Emeline and the Forest Mage

28 Gathering

    Looking down from Götteril, laughter and chatter could be heard on Ketiya's little farm. Horses snorted, friendships grew, and the red field disappeared from memory once again.

    Everyone had forgotten it seemed, but he hadn't. Huiden watched the mortals as they prepared for travel and finally departed with the darkening of the sky. Another fruitless night.

    Gorst was preoccupied with his silly crush on the Mistress of Tales. He would never admit it, of course, that his behaviour was altered by his smitten state, but silence had taught Huiden to see clearly and he saw his brother without guise now. Huiden sat in his chair, slumped over, watching Erdil below with sorrow. His vision swam with the blood of a red field. The darkness in his soul ate at him as he relived his loss. Here he was seated above the planes, exalted over the mortals, with power and luxury, but miserable. Utterly miserable.

    The Immortals of Götteril spoke of the Fathers as fair, just, loving, majestic – he knew better. He had seen. Seen the field of red, the sadistic humour of the torture of existence, and the merciless judgement the Fathers render on the ones they made.

    He sneered. In his heart, he shouted curses, but his tongue lay dormant like a sleeping dragon, his mind the only witness to the vengeful hate within his soul. He was disgusted by it all, by this game the Fathers played with their creatures. He did not believe in their goodness anymore.

    Instead of slamming his fist into the floor or breaking the chair with fury, Huiden wallowed deeper into the apathy that rescued him from his eternal hell. His eyelids fell halfway closed and he leaned back even further into the chair. Nothing to do this night but hide from his memories. Pitiful.

    He was about to close his eyes and give up the effort of staying awake, when he saw something in the woods, near the road where the girl travelled. Intrigue made him open his eyes a bit more and lean forward to see what it was. Damnit! He wished he knew The Way like Celissa did, he would be able to peel away the shroud of darkness on that exact spot.

    One can only take what the Fathers give, Huiden thought, and then cackled a silent laugh into the air. The Fathers. Give. It was a ridiculous saying really.

    He focused again, trying to see what it was. A flash of green, a yellow tail. Well it definitely wasn't a creature of Götteril. If he'd cared more he might've tried a bit harder to see what it was, but the apathy that was his closest companion rested on his shoulders and he slumped back into its embrace with ardour.

    Huiden's mind would not stay quiet. It was a torture that plagued him. He could not speak, but his mind could not be silent. It was as though some universal law of balance was out of whack with his being mute and it was corrected with his unquiet thoughts. He did not have anything left to give his faith to, but he was realistic enough to recognise that he was only a creation, bound by laws the Fathers had made. He would not be foolish enough to forget that again.

    In the next room laughter erupted. Gorst and Celissa. Huiden's mood soured even more. They knew nothing. He had to do something to quiet his thoughts, to avenge his pain, to change the path of time and the destiny of Erdil.

    As soon as he figured out what, he would do it. Now was the perfect time, his ignorant brother so preoccupied, but his anxious mind would not cooperate. He had nothing. Maybe Gorst had the right of it and Celissa was the key.

    He rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index finger in frustration and his long, blonde hair hung over his shoulders, as he leaned on his knees with his elbows. Stop Huiden. Just stop.

    He breathed in and out through his nostrils slowly, calling the apathy back to him, wishing for his mind to be as quiet as his lips were. It didn't work. His thoughts sped on, torturing him as the darkening deepened in Götteril. Celissa giggled, obviously intoxicated with the heavenly blue wine Gorst seemed to have an abundance of. Ugh! Disgusting. Huiden sat slouched in his chair, glowering at the two guileless fools before him.