Isildilia.(Book 1 of the White Lily trilogy)

Chapter 28- The singing of children

(Picture- Looking in a mirror) 

   A single, childish laugh echoed through Isildilia’s head, scaring her awake. All the candles in her room weren’t lit leaving her in the complete dark. She took a minute to still her pounding heart, wondering if she just imagined the sound.

    Lily?

   Yes?

   Was that you?

   No.  Isildilia leapt out of the bed and pulled on her cloak, which she managed to save from before. Her muscles screamed in protest as she lifted her arms.

   Reaching behind to massage her shoulders she asked, why does it hurt so much? It hasn’t hurt this much in nearly a year.

   My guess is; since we’ve spent so long in here, our marks began to seal over. So it was like reopening a healing wound. It will hurt.

   What do you suggest we do? Isildilia asked.

   If we do have a balcony, like Dakelo does, I suggest we go out every night, weather permitting of course. Else it will just get worse. The laugh came again, echoing through the walls.

  “Who is that?” she said out loud.

   Let’s find out. Isildilia slipped through the door; luckily her guards were nowhere to be found, so she left without a fuss. She wondered who brought her back to her room, and hoped the commotion didn’t get Dakelo into more trouble.

   Outside, she picked up on a curious set of scents, which she decided to follow.  She ran for ages, following the scents and sounds, which were slowly getting stronger.  Something flew through her line of vision making her stop in her tracts.

      There was a branching side tunnel, and it was glowing bright white. She crouched at the corner and peered around. There was another spirit orb, in fact, there were loads. She flinched when she saw them, remembering what happened the last time.  She watched them taking turns to strike the crystals on the wall, to produce a music-box tune. She didn’t go unnoticed for long.

     She turned around to find one directly in front of her. It emitted the same childish laughter that she heard in her room. She stood up and stared directly at it.  The whole group suddenly surrounded her, each one inspecting her.  She waited, standing deadly still. She didn’t know how they did it without any visible hands, but they started to tug on her robes and even on her tail. They were trying to take her down the corridor.

   What shall I do? 

   Don't worry about them, follow. Isildilia let them lead her away. Eventually she started to relax, increasing her pace. These ones were much bigger than the ones she met in the forest, and their voices were much louder. They sang with indecipherable words, like a noisy nonsense. Each time one passed near her, it made her hair stand on end, brimming as it was giving off its own energy. She realised, after a while, where they were finally leading her.

   She found herself at the entrance to her field, the real one. Once they passed into it, all the spirits flew off laughing. Why did they bring her here?

     She looked around. Something in the distance stirred amongst the flowers; in fact there were quite a few disturbances. She ducked down and ran over to see what it was. Crouching down, she halted a leap away, remaining hidden among the tall growth. The group stirred and stood up. Isildilia was surprised to see it was a troop of five children.  The oldest one looked no older than ten.  They must be some of the new ‘volunteers’ that Dillith spoke off. But they looked like perfect humans; they had no physical faults like all the other ones she has met.