What? An update? Yeah, I haven't forgotten about this story! I've had the first paragraph written for a long time! Sorry. The summer got hectic! But things are calming down. Hopefully there will be more updates! Though nothing too special happened here, the next part should prove interesting!
(}--{)(}--{)(}--{)
Alaura awoke again in her bed with a meal ready for her. She took her time dressing and eating before leaving the room. Her heart was heavy as she silently made her way down to the room of canvases to pick out a large canvas. She called for Xi to help her bring it to the front of the mansion. Wordlessly she got to work vigorously painting.
Looking at the cold, dark mansion front for the hours it took to paint did nothing to lift her spirits. She had not yet finished when she put her paintbrushes away, having become weary of the task.
Xi, who had been sitting and watching nearby, tilted his head quizzically. "Is something the matter, princess?"
Alaura looked up from the chest of supplies, and towards the spires of the mansion. Light white clouds floated lazily overhead, the horrible storm from before whisked away from the wind. "I don't know. Maybe it's this place, the dark and dreariness of it is affecting me," she replied dully. "That and I can't take my mind off of yesterday's events."
"You mean your brother coming for you?" Xi inquired, causing Alaura to nod, closing her eyes with a sigh.
"I've never seen him act in such a manner. It was like some strange force was driving him, like something had hold of his mind. I especially think this because of how he changed so much with my voice. But something would drive him to travel all the way here by himself?" She wondered.
"But he wasn't by himself," Xi corrected, causing Alaura to face him. "There was another there, hidden just outside the gates. They had their presence masked by a spell so even the master didn't realize, but such masking spells do not effect me. They fled as soon as you used your voice magic," Xi explained. "I sniffed out the area after things had settled down. It smelt the same as the storm that had come."
Alaura paled at his words, taking a step back. "Are you saying that whoever sent the storm, also sent my brother?"
Xi just stared back at her, unblinking and statuesque, with a strange glint in his violet eyes. He stood suddenly and vanished before her, causing Alaura a cry of surprise. "Xi! You can't just leave like that! Does the master know what you know? Get back here you demon cat!" she cried, looking around frantically for signs of the invisible demon. "If you haven't already, you need to tell the master!"
"Need to tell me what?" came the familiar deep voice from behind Alaura. She jumped at the voice and turned to face the dark druid.
"M-master," she said in a mousy voice, but didn't step away from his towering dark form's sudden appearance. "Xi! He just told me something you should know. About the storm and my brother yesterday..."
The druid raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as his face remained stoic, waiting for her to continue. "Xi said that Drewland had not been alone, that another was with him but hiding their presence with magic. He said they had the same smell as the storm that had come."
She watched the druid as she spoke, looking for a reaction, though all she could see was his gaze wandering off to the distance, unfocused in thought. "Yes, Xi had already informed me of this. Whoever it was came upon the same ship that brought Prince Drewland here. They had moored on the southern shore and walked to the keep, leaving the way they came. No normal being knows the island's location, so it is my guess that whoever this person is that came with Drewland was the one who brought him here."
Alaura listened to his words intently, biting her lip as he spoke. "Would it be possible to find out who this person is?" She inquired, causing dull grey eyes to fall upon her, pulled from their reverie.
"Not currently, but eventually. For now why don't we go for a ride about the island? You look like you could do with getting out to the fresh air," the druid said, and after a moment's consideration, she nodded. The druid turned on his heels towards the stables. "Good. Get changed to more suitable cloths and meet me in the stables. I shall prepare the horses, and Yvette shall take care of your canvas and supplies."
Alaura nodded almost uncertainly and walked back into the mansion, where she hurried up to her room to change. She found a shirt that fit much like the bodice of a dress, and a pair of pants with legs that were so wide and loose and made up of so much material, when standing it looked like she wore a dress. These cloths were navy blue and black, and Alaura felt like they mirrored her current mood.
Once changed she went to the stables, noticing on her way that her canvas and supplies had already been put away, likely by Yvette as the druid had said. In the stables two black steeds were waiting tethered and saddled. They were different from the horses that had brought them to the island from Everim. This was evident in the size and feathered hair above the horses' hooves, both things that the previous horses had lacked.
The black druid stood among them, and when he saw Alaura, led the horses out. He wordlessly helped her onto the smaller of the two, before also mounting up.
"I thought you had said if I wanted to ride, I would have to paint my own horse," Alaura said as she gathered her reins.
"I did say that, but it was I who asked you for a ride, not you asking me. So it would just be right that I would be the one to supply the horses," came the reply, as he urged his horse to walk on, Alaura doing the same, coming behind the druid. Though she wondered where these horses had come from, because she had not seen them in the stables before.
"They were in a pasture behind the stables, along with several other horses I own. Each has their own purpose. These are simple horses with nothing extraordinary about them save for their fine breeding. They are meant to be plainly ridden, unlike the horses that brought us here," the druid said, causing Alaura to startle.
"Were you reading my thoughts?" she asked, causing him to chuckle.
"Though I have the ability to do so when I wish, I was not. You are observant, and would not have seen these horses before. So it would be common sense for you to wonder where they came from. Now come, ride beside me instead of behind me."
Alaura bit her lip a moment, before urging her horse a bit faster so as to come up beside the druid. They had already passed out of the gates and were now on a gravel trail winding through a mossy wood. It was a pleasant day, warm with a gentle breeze. Strange bird song echoed among the tree branches, and there was the occasional glimpse of a scurrying squirrel. The two rode in silence for some time, allowing Alaura to take in all of this, her heart calming and spirit lifting the longer they rode.
The forest ended at an open field. The druid glanced at Alaura then and tilted his head for her to follow, before spurring his horse off into a canter across the field. Alaura almost smiled with delight, before urging her steed into a full gallop, catching up and passing the druid. She lived the feeling of riding fast upon a horse, with the wind in her face and blowing her fiery hair behind her. The pounding of hooves thundered in her ears as the druid's horse caught up with her and came even beside her.
They came to a stream and jumped across before entering a wide trail that led them through scattered trees, and finally came to a beach where they slowed their horses to a trot and rode along the shoreline. The horses tossed their heads from the excitement of stretching out, their hearts racing. The riders slowly pulled them into an easy walk along the beach, Alaura looking out across the horizon now.
"There! The color returns to your cheeks, as I hoped it would," came the druid's gentle voice, causing Alaura to look up at him.
"Blanched? But I have always been pale, a complexion I was born with, given by my mother," she said, a bit confused. "I do not understand, master."
"Xavier. Please, call me Xavier. I think you should no more call me master."
"Alright, Xavier," her voicing of his name causes a slight tug of a smile at his lips.
"Good. And aye, you are of light complexion, but there is usually color in your cheeks, but for the time you have been here, it has faded." Alaura looked away at his words. "I know I have not been the most kind to you. And I have not been around much, either, leaving alone far too much with only the company of a demon cat.
"My research has been keeping me occupied, but what I have been doing is coming to a close. In the future, I would wish for us to be together more. Since you have discovered some of the abilities of your powers, you can now use it to aid me in some of my tasks. If you would," he told her.
"If it would please you, though I would like to put the condition that whatever I aid you in, it is for good, and not for ill," Alaura replies, watching the waves lap the sandy shore as they rode.
"I will not make you do what you do not wish to when it comes to those tasks. I promise you that now. I you think it is ill, then I will not ask your magic of you," Xavier agreed, watching her with eyes the color of the ocean's froth. They rode in silence again for some time, before Xavier spoke again.
"There is another reason I wish to have you close. A reason I brought you here," he said to her, causing Alaura to look up at him once again.
"What is it, Xavier?" she inquired.
Xavier tugged the reins of his horse, drawing it to a halt upon the beach. After a few steps, Alaura stopped her horse, turning it to face Xavier, her hand gripping the reins tighter in anticipation. What was he going to say?
"I feel that first, I should explain something, then you will understand," he told her, watching her carefully. "If you think you are ready.
Alaura nodded.