[Nano novel] Chapter Nine: All is explained.
All the travelers slept deeply that night, each in a large guest room along a long hallway in the east wing of the sprawling castle, on ornately carved wooden beds, between softly silken sheets. The cool night air was kept at bay by tall glass windows on the outside wall of each room. They slumbered more peacefully than they had in years - even the two who had only recently come from a modern world of foam mattresses and ergonomically correct lounge chairs.
A shadow flitted down the hallway deep in the night, making no sound, and waking no one. The only thing alive that saw the shadow was a songbird, whose tiny black eyes glittered in the moonlight in his perch near a window, and who then tucked his head back under his wing, uninterested and unruffled.
As the sun began to rise in the early morning, the magician continued to snore in his comfortable bedding. The maid assigned to his room slipped in and out with clean robes and did not wake him. She did not draw the curtains or bring hot water, because he had been very specific about being left alone until he decided to rise for the day.
Taliesin woke slowly. It felt like he was in a warm cocoon, nestled deep in, and he was really trying hard not to wake up. Unfortunately, his body decided it was time to wake up. He had a morning philosophy course that he loved, and was used to waking early, even if it was just early enough to jump into a clean pair of jeans and brush his teeth before he had to rush out the door. Thinking about college made him feel disoriented, and it took opening his eyes and squinting in the sunlight at the artfully arranged bedroom furniture to remember where he was.
Memory came flooding back in, although less painfully somehow. Just a little less. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, then swung his legs over the side. Today he needed to find out... well, everything. And he was going to start with Ava. He had to talk to her, to try and explain to her that he had dreamed her, to try and communicate that strange sense of familiarity that he had about her. She might not be happy to hear it, or maybe she wouldn't mind. Over dinner the evening before, they had been laughing a lot and she seemed like things didn't rattle her too much. It might be okay.
His feet had just hit the thick rug under the bed when a maid suddenly appeared in the doorway, holding a large jug of what he assumed was hot water, since there was steam coming from the top.
"Good morning, young master," she said in a pleasant voice. She was very young, maybe a few years younger than he. He was not at all used to having servants around, and he wasn't sure what he thought of it.
"Good morning," he replied. "Thanks for the hot water," he said, and tried to take it from her. She held on tightly and moved gracefully to a large bowl that sat on an ornate side table. A snow-white towel was folded up next to the bowl. She poured the water, then set the jug down and picked up the towel, hanging it over her arm.
"What..." said Taliesin, feeling very awkward and unsure of the protocol. He had never had a girl helping him wash his face in the morning. "...I'll just wash up then," he finished rather lamely, and splashed his face with the water. It did feel good, and woke him up a little more. He blinked water from his eyelashes and found the towel in his hands. He dried his face and put the towel down, and the young maid went around the room then, opening the curtains and straightening here and there.
"Will you be taking breakfast here, young master, or with your companions in the morning room?" she asked.
"I guess... in the morning room," he hesitated. "Will Ava be there?"
"I will find out for you, sir," she said and curtsied, then left the room as quickly and silently as she had come in.
He found a set of clothes that, while they did not look at all like his jeans and sweater that he had worn from home (because he had thought of the college and his dorm room as home ever since the first day of the semester), certainly seemed comfortable as well as slightly dressy. There was a pair of pants, a thin undershirt, and a lightweight yet very warm overshirt that buttoned up the front. Instead of his dirty socks and running shoes, he put on long warm socks and a pair of flexible leather boots. He was quite taken with the boots, in fact, and posed in front of the long mirror for several minutes, admiring them and the effect of the whole outfit; he was interrupted by the maid coming back into the room, silently again, to tell him that Ava was taking her breakfast in the morning room, and would he please be there in fifteen minutes.
Since he was already dressed, he decided to wander the halls for the remaining time. He stopped a moment in front of the windows, taking in the spectacular view from his vantage point. The eastern wing of the castle looked out over the residential district of the city, and the morning sun made the white stone roofs glow. The dragon's words echoed in his mind again: THE BOY WILL BE CROWNED. Was that him? Was he destined to be king in this castle, of this beautiful city? He was a college student, a boy from the northern United States, a lonely person most of the time.
Things had been going on too long now for them to be a dream, so the only conclusion he could reach was that he was indeed caught up in another world, another dimension, and that there were talking dragons and magicians here and prophecies that might actually be talking about him. It would be easier if he could silence that part of his mind that was still struggling to match his life at college with the life he was suddenly and unexpectedly living; but did that mean he wanted to forget? Was he giving up the hope of going back home? He shook his head and sighed, then turned away from the windows. He still wanted to walk a little down the halls before breakfast, because he wasn't sure at all what he was going to say to Ava. There was too much in his head that might come spilling out badly if he didn't take some time and compose himself first.
The heavy door of his room swung open effortlessly and without a sound. That must be how the maids come and go so quietly, he mused. He shut the door behind him, and it gave out a barely audible click. His room was on the very end of the hall, so there was only one direction for him to walk. It occurred to him that he had forgotten to find out just where the morning room was; so maybe his walk to clear his head was actually a quest to find the room with breakfast in it, and Ava. And maybe Tristan. He hoped that Tristan wasn't there, actually, so that he could figure out what to say to Ava in relative peace.
He passed three or four more doors on the same side as his room door. The hallway was a north-south passageway, and so far all the rooms in this wing were on the eastern side of the hall, probably because the views were better. The furthest end of the hall, which was still a way off, faced directly north, and it ended in a windowed alcove. He was fascinated with the architecture in the castle - it was all so beautifully done, so evocative and solid and... it felt like home. He stopped, shocked that he had just thought that. It felt like home. This place. Like he belonged here.
A strange smile started at the corners of his mouth, and his heart was light. The day suddenly seemed as if it might be quite wonderful: breakfast with Ava, time to spend in this wonderful building, and maybe Tristan would go to the Library and then answer the rest of their questions.
He passed another door just as it opened, and Ava nearly collided with him. She sprang back, obviously flustered and embarrassed, and he stammered out an apology. She looked very fresh and clean and vibrant, in a simple dress of deep reddish-orange. He noticed that she had a pair of new boots too, although hers had slightly higher heels than his, and had laces that criss-crossed up the sides.
"Why are you looking at my shoes?" asked Ava, in a loud voice.
"I - I'm sorry," he said. What was it about her that made him always sound like a fool? Now he was worrying about how their conversation might go, or if it would go at all. "Do you know where the morning room is?" he asked, attempting to shift the focus to something other than his own awkwardness.
"It's this way," said Ava, apparently unconcerned with his inner turmoil. "I asked Greta."
"Oh..." said Taliesin, and followed her as she led the way determinedly. "Who's Greta?"
"The maid!" Ava said over her shoulder. "You didn't ask her name?"
"Uh, no," Taliesin was beginning to feel rather stupid. Breakfast would probably help. He hoped it would.
Ava sighed loudly but did not say anything else, and then they arrived at the morning room. It was the last room on the right side of the hallway, and its walls were completely of glass. The northern wall of the city was also the northern wall of the castle, and behind the city were rolling hills, some gold with ripe grain, some green and dotted with little white things that Taliesin assumed were sheep or cows. In the distance, he could see a mountain range, which was faintly purple. The mountain that Ava and Cernunnos had come from was on the southern side of the city, and so could not be seen from this room.
Ava walked right up to one of the windows and put her hands on the glass, her eyes large. "It's so beautiful," she said breathlessly.
A table had been set with a white cloth and many silver dishes with lids. Taliesin almost sat right down, then remembered his manners and stood by his chair, waiting for Ava to sit down. She stayed at the window for a little while, not noticing that he was waiting for her, but he decided that he didn't mind. Yesterday she had started out as a burden, and he had been resentful of needing to carry her, but today he was seeing her in a completely different light. Maybe it was the good night of sleep he had gotten, or this new place, or the fact that she looked rather breathtaking in that dress.
She turned and looked at him, and he was momentarily afraid that she could read his mind and knew what he had been thinking just now. "Were you waiting for me? I'm sorry," she said, and hastily sat down at the table.
"It's okay," he replied, and sat down opposite her.
"Oh my goodness, look at all this food!" she exclaimed, taking lids off dishes and examining their contents. "I could never eat this much! Can you eat this much?" She spooned out some scrambled eggs onto her plate and took a few pieces of bacon. "Is there coffee?"
Taliesin was still so engrossed in his own thoughts that he nearly forgot to respond out loud. "Here," he said as he found the small silver pot that had the unmistakably marvelous aroma of roasted coffee beans coming from it, and he poured her a cup without spilling a drop. As she began to eat her small portion of breakfast, he put bacon, toast, pancakes, sausage, and several fried eggs on his plate. She cocked an eyebrow at him once, but seemed content to eat her own food and enjoy her cup of coffee.
Ava finished her eggs and bacon well before he was done, and sat back in her chair, sipping her coffee. "This coffee is so great," she sighed contentedly. "It's as good as the cafe I usually go to." Her face fell at that, although he could tell she was trying to keep from thinking about it too much.
"I know what you mean," he said. "I miss home too."
Ava teared up a little then; he could see tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. Her eyes were golden green, which he somehow had only just noticed. She put her cup down and dabbed at her eyes a little with the napkin from her place setting. "Thanks," she said in a shaky voice. "I was trying not to think about it too much, but I guess I shouldn't have said anything in the first place."
"No, I'm sorry too. I could see you were upset and I guess maybe I thought that if I said something it would help, not make it worse."
She wiped her eyes a little more, then put the napkin back and picked up her coffee again. "I think... I think that I'm still getting used to being here," she said. "And I don't really understand what's going on, so that doesn't help either."
Taliesin hesitated. "Can I tell you something kind of strange? And promise not to throw coffee at me for it?"
Ava frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I had a dream, the first night I was here. That was the day before we met you. I dreamed about a dragon, a huge dragon with golden eyes, and I... saw you, too." He waited for her to shout at him or toss her coffee in his direction, but she just sat there, tapping the cup with her right index finger.
"Well, that explains it," she said.
Taliesin was confused. "What?"
"When I first saw you, or I should say when you first saw me yesterday, you had a really odd look on your face. I could have sworn you were going to ask me if we'd met before, except of course I know I've never seen you before in my life, but instead of saying anything you've been absolutely silent about it until now. Which actually is kind of frustrating for me personally, but then not everyone is going to behave the way I want them to, right?"
"Right," said Taliesin. "Wait. You're not angry about this?"
"Why would I be? I can't help that you dreamed me, anymore than you can help that there is some kind of prophecy about you, or that I can help that I met a Great Dragon. Well, I suppose I could have helped that. But I'm curious. My mother always says - " she stopped, and a look came over her face as if she had tasted spoiled milk. "Never mind," she said in a tight voice.
At that moment, Tristan came into the morning room, dressed in bright yellow robes. "Good morning!" he said cheerfully, and Ava's face looked even more sour than it already did. Taliesin felt extremely out of his depth.
Tristan sat down and merrily began helping himself to every food item on the table. "Eat, boy, you haven't even finished yet!" he said to Taliesin, who obediently began putting food on his fork and then into his mouth again, but he was thinking about Ava and why she was so upset suddenly. She sat at the table for a little while longer, and then pushed her chair back and walked back over to the window again, where she stood and seemed to be lost in thought.
"Today, I will go to the Great Library," said Tristan through a large bite of buttered biscuit. He washed that down with some freshly squeezed orange juice. "I have some friends there that I will be happy to see, and they should be happy to see me as well," he continued. "I have been gone a long time..." He trailed off, but continued eating as if it did not at all interfere with either speaking or thinking.
"Why did you leave?" ventured Taliesin, who had finished eating.
"That is a long and complicated story," said Tristan.
"We have time though, don't we? I need to know some things," said Taliesin. "Please," he added. "You said you would explain things yesterday, but then we... didn't really talk much, not after we met Ava."
Tristan frowned. "You're right, boy. And yesterday I had a lot on my mind. I still do, in fact, and I still have the same pressing urgencies to be taken care of, but I slept well last night, which has cleared my mind of some of the cobwebs that had cluttered it previously. I would rather speak with you about this after I visit the Library and re-read the ancient texts, but I suppose you will not let me wait so long."
Taliesin nodded. Ava had turned to face the two of them, but was still standing by the window. She looked distant, but her eyes were focused on Tristan.
Tristan sighed deeply and tugged on his robes, rearranging himself in his chair, and then pushed back his plate. "Well, then. Where do I begin?" He was silent for a few moments, and then he began. "A very long time ago, when I first came to this world, I first heard of the prophecy. Now this prophecy is so old and so obscure that it has no formal name, so you will have to forgive me for always simply referring to it as 'the prophecy' when I speak of it.
"Merlin was the one who first recited it to me, because he thought that it was possible I was the fulfillment of it. He had studied it himself for some years, certain that there was some deep, great meaning in the words, even though all other magicians since the time the prophecy was spoken and recorded had passed it by. The King was still in this castle at that time, when I was first here, and that fact alone was enough for me to distance myself from having any active role in fulfilling the dragon's words. Time passed and Merlin left, leaving me to my own devices - "
Ava interrupted him. "How did Merlin leave? Why is there no king here? You aren't really explaining much, you know," she said tartly, and gestured at Taliesin as if she expected him to agree with her.
"Right," he said, a little hesitantly, which drew a glare from her.
Tristan frowned. "I don't see how those events are relevant to what you need to know," he said.
"But I want to know - WE want to know," insisted Ava.
Taliesin nodded, then hastily said, "Yes, we want to know," when she turned her head toward him with that glare in her eyes again. She either had a bad attitude in general, or the two of them were making her angry somehow. He racked his brain quickly but could not think of what he might be doing wrong; maybe it was just Tristan. He hoped it was just Tristan, because the last thing he wanted was to have her mad at him.
"Very well. I suppose it cannot be avoided or put off," he raised his eyebrows at Ava, "so I will begin at the beginning and tell you the whole of it."
At this, Ava came closer to the table and sat on the floor, her legs crossed, skirt spread out around her, and sat forward expectantly, leaning on her folded hands. Taliesin wanted to slip off his chair and sit near her, but he was worried that she might take it wrongly, and decided his best bet was to stay where he was for now. He shifted a little uncomfortably, and Tristan began speaking again.
"When I came here, as I said, I was taken in by the nuns of Woodchurch Abbey in the small town of Grainge, which is many miles to the west of this city. They kept me for weeks, nursing me back to health, since I had nearly injured myself fatally in the journey and the lack of food. Until I was well enough to get up, I read books that they had in their small library, or I sat and stared out the window, trying to make sense of what had happened to me. This was painful for me, however, since I had absolutely no idea how I would ever get back to my home, or if it was even possible; so I tried to make myself busy instead. Once I could get up and move about, the nuns allowed me to help them in their gardening. I showed myself to be able to learn the different herbs and their properties, which was mostly the purvey of the Magicians' Order, although the nuns learned it as well out of necessity, so that they could care for their congregation and all rest of the folk who inhabited their little town.
"The magicians themselves, once each year in the spring, would come through each town, looking for apprentices. The nuns were impressed with my ability, and suggested that I attend the meeting the magician would be holding in the sanctuary when he came. The gathering was always held in the Abbey in that town, because it was the largest building that they had. They never knew which magician would come through in any given year, but one always did. That day, I woke early, nervous and unable to sleep, and after completing my chores early, I went to sit in the sanctuary and wait. Merlin was already there, although I did not know who he was, or that he was the King's Magician, the highest of that order. He must have sensed in me something that he was looking for in an apprentice, because he went directly to the nuns and asked to take me with him, even before the meeting was called. They were somewhat shocked at his manner, but they agreed to his request, because the life of a magician's apprentice was the best thing they could offer to me. I did not expect to cry when I left them, but I did; they had become like an extension of my family, indeed the only family I had at all in this new world.
"Merlin brought me here, and I lived in a tiny room adjacent to his quarters for ten years as his apprentice. On my twenty-fifth birthday, I was inducted into the order, and the King himself gave me the Magician's Oath in a ceremony held in the Great Hall. Soon after that, Merlin grew restless, and he seemed to change overnight; although, to be fair, I was extremely busy in my new role as Magician, so I may have missed what signs there may have been that would have indicated to me the change that was taking place. He and the King, with whom he was quite close (in friendship as well as being his chief counselor), began having many loud arguments, lasting long into the small hours of the night. I did not ask what they argued about - Merlin is not a man who is easily confronted about anything, and his word had been law for me for so long that I assumed that all was well. My foolishness and naivete may have cost the kingdom its King, however..." he trailed off, looking out through the glass toward the far mountain ranges, or at least that is what Taliesin thought he was looking at. Perhaps he didn't see them at all.
Tristan continued after a few moments, and his voice was more grave now. "Merlin and the King fought, on the last night anyone saw either of them. They argued loud and long, and at one point they sounded as if they must be threatening to kill one another, because their voices grew harsh and full of rage. The next thing that happened is hard to say exactly, because it was late at night, or early in the morning, depending on how you look at it. There was a great crash and a bright blinding light appeared inside the castle wing where the two of them were; several guards rushed to the room and threw open the door, and found neither the King nor his Magician. There was blood on the floor, and a piece of the King's robe, torn off obviously, was lying next to it. The furniture was in some disarray, as if they had struggled and fought, but there was no sign of them apart from that. It is generally believed that Merlin took the King with him on some type of journey, because to think that the King was murdered was too much for the guards and servants to accept. There was not enough blood, surely, to have come from a dead man, although that does not mean that he is not dead.
"I left the castle after a few months, because I could neither solve the mystery myself, nor stomach the lie that the King's own people wanted to believe. At least to me, it is a lie. I do believe that Merlin killed him, but for what reason, I cannot say. I went away, and I built my little cottage, and I gathered my own people around me that respected my powers enough to obey me as their master. I have waited for another to come through the rainbow's path into the wood that I once came to, so that I could finally discover what the prophecy really means. So that I could find out why I came here, and maybe avenge the King I never bothered to protect because I thought he was already safe." This last was said sadly, in a melancholy voice that touched Taliesin. He was seeing Tristan from a completely different perspective.
Ava sighed quietly. "I'm sorry, Tristan," she said. "I didn't realize you weren't from here, that you came here like us. I thought you were just..." she stopped, her cheeks flushing. Taliesin wondered what she was about to say.
Tristan sighed as well, and got up from his chair. "I will be in the Library if you need me later, but please... don't bother me for a while. I need time to think and read, and to concentrate on my theories." He left, considerably less cheery than he had been when he arrived.
Ava brightened a little as he left, and looked up at Taliesin. "Let's go for a walk, out there where the trees are. Do you want to go? My ankle still hurts but I want to exercise it, so that it gets stretched out. I think it might heal more quickly that way."
Taliesin's heart leapt in his chest a little. She wanted to walk with him. "Of course!" he said before he realized he was speaking. He reached down and helped her up from the floor, and she put her arm through his and leaned on him a little.
Something was happening with him, something that almost felt more important than his recent travel through the rainbow. But he couldn't think about that now, because her hair smelled really good and it was very close to his face again.
