Guardian Spirit

Chapter 12

It was early morning when Nala began to rouse from her unconscious state. It took her a moment to realize where she was after carefully inching her eyes open. She was laying in a bed in a room she had not seen before. Her head felt like someone had been swinging around inside it with a sledgehammer. She felt weak and groggy. She noted the curtains that had been drawn before the window, allowing only a small sliver of light into the room.

She cranked herself up from the bed and wobbled to the curtains. It took considerable effort from her not to fall flat on her face on the stone floor. She ripped open the curtains and shivered as the full force of the sunlight hit her. A small voice escaped her lips. She tried to expose as much of her skin as possible without stripping naked, though the temptation to do so was considerable. She figured the place was not right for that.

She could see the palace ground through the window. It seemed extravagant compared to the city she had walked through yesterday. There were large gardens and even small lakes. The buildings themselves were full of intricate details and decorations and instead of being made from grey stone, they were made a white marble and other much finer stones. She could see small figures running in formation on the large parade grounds.

There was a knock on the door. “Are you awake, Nala? May I come in?” came a question. It was Skander.

Of course. This was his bed chamber, realized Nala. “Yes, come on in.” Her voice quivered, but carried on strong enough for the old wizard to hear.

There was a concerned look on his face as he entered the room, though it lightened up as he saw Nala standing by the window. She still looked pale, but at least she was conscious and out of bed under her own power. “Oh, you're up. Good. We feared the experience might have taken more out of you.”

Nala smiled weakly, “I'm up, but no thanks to you. Closing me in a dark room. What were you thinking?”

Skander looked uncertain what he was being accused of, but soon remembered the details of her story. “Oh, right. You need sunlight.” He actually managed to look embarrassed at overlooking such an important piece of information about her.

He took the single chair in the room and moved it into the sunspot so Nala could sit down and recover. “How do you feel?” he asked as Nala settled in the chair.

“Like someone probed my brain through my nose with the handle of an dagger,” replied Nala in a sour voice.

“Do you remember what happened?” asked Skander as he sat down on the edge of his bed.

Nala closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair, “She got angry.”

“That much is clear,” said Skander dryly. “The question is why? And why did she manifest herself through you so violently?”

“Proof was demanded, proof was given.” It was all Nala could muster as an answer. Her memory was hazy at best over the details of what had happened during the event. She had been gently pushed aside into a small corner of her mind while the goddess took control. The cold rage of the goddess had not touched her in full force, but it had been enough to make her seal tighter the little corner that was still hers. She knew the goddess had tried to be as gentle as she could with her body, but it was impossible to be used in such a way by a power like her and come out of it unscathed. She counted herself lucky a monster headache and a momentary weakness was all that had happened to her.

“Could it happen again?” pondered Skander.

Nala shrugged her shoulders weakly. “Loriel does what she wants, though personally I hope she has the patience to stay out of things.”