Chapter 2 - Kira remembers the past

1)

-Come along Korran… Hurry up and get your chores done. We are leaving for the village.

It was a beautiful day in Faywood village. The Sun was shinning bright announcing a beautiful day, and good merchandising. As usual Lyra Heartaxe had to pry Korran from his daily dreaming. The boy, although lean and strong, was a loner who often spent time in the cavern near the farm. After a moment she called again: Come along Lazybones… and do not forget to feed Orion…

After a moment she heard a growl coming from the cavern. This always made nervous.. And yet, as she saw Korran immerge from the Cavern, she knew that her fears were unfounded. The boy grinned at her and made his way to the front of the house to meet the carriage that would take him to the Harper's house of learning. Soon, the boy was leaving with the boys of the village. Glancing back at the cave, she went back to the house to get the hears she would sell during the day.

It wasn't long before she heard the musical tone of the village square reminding the villagers that business would open soon. Looking once again, in her basket of herbs she made her way in the village reaching her stall. As she entered , she gasped: two eyes glared back from underneath the counter. Kneeling down she looked under the counter to find Orion staring back at her. She cursed Korran for allowing the creature to follow. At this moment, she heard the horn of the village announcing the market's opening. Looking down again she saw that Orion had disappeared.

The day passed by and no villagers seemed to acknowledge the presence of dragonet. As the bell sounded announcing midday, Korran appeared in the stall to eat with her. Chatting happily, Korran told of the day's lesson. He seemed unaware that Orion followed the conversation closely from the corner of the shop. After the midday meal, Korran went out too join the other boys in a game of hay ball.

Lyra grinned and smiled as she watched the five boys playing on the market place. How long had it been since that fateful night? Centuries it seemed, yet time had passed quickly since Korran and Orion had arrived in her life. After the death of her husband, they had been her main reason to cling to life. But Korran had shown wisdom from a very young age and saw that he was different from the others, but for a reason he could yet not understand.

As she watched she wondered how she would tell the boy. “How can I tell him he is not from this land, that he is not of these people?” Orion looked at her, a puzzled look on his face. “And what about Orion?” It was clear that Orion was still growing. Soon it would be too difficult to hide him much longer from the Chancellor's wrath. Then what would she do?

As she cleaned up the shop, her mind wandered back to the night she found them. It had been a dreadful season of high wind and rain, Third season of the year of the war of Legend. The sky seemed to cry the numerous creatures and men who had been slain by the chancellor's evil patrols. That night, Lyra was sowing a new tunic for her husband, gone to fight.

Back then , creatures and humans were linked together at birth, sharing each others lives, making one. Lyra wandered what creatures would have been her half if she had been a member of Legend. “Maybe a fairy-maid or a female gnome” she thought. But she would never know for she was a member of the Wholes, people who were friends with magical creatures but not bonded with them as the people from Legend were, which meant they lived shorter lives and has to rely on themselves when in trouble. She snapped back to see that her finger had been prickled by her needle and her husband's tunic was now decorated with tiny droplets of blood. At that moment she heard it. It first sounded like the wind singing in the trees, but as she listened ,she noticed that the sound was coming from somewhere near the village. Wolves would not enter the village at night for the watchers looked out for them, and there was no dog that could howl that loud or that long. “Hydra hounds” she realised,horrified.

The howling became louder. Knowing the hounds left no survivors on their paths, Lyra quickly ran out of her small house and headed for the forest.. Unable to stand the fairies `s tricks for there magic confused them, the hounds rarely came in the forest. Lyra continued her course through the forest until she reached the great willow. For people who did not believe in magic or were from far away the tree looked all crooked but for friends of the fairies it was the most beautiful of all trees.

As she stopped and calmed herself ,she began praying that the hounds had not made too many victims (for it is said that hydra hound's bite is deadly).Exhausted and praying for her husband's return, she fell into a deep slumber. She dreamt of: High walls decorated with banners showing a dragon and a fairy, royal emblems of Legend” “ A temple hidden, magicians, mages, sorceresses, witches casting a spell” “a young woman and her court, one carrying a bundle, the cry of an infant” “The young woman and her half looking sad, the woman wearing a crown” One of her aid calling her: Lady Nira?”

She suddenly woke up, recalling the dream. Over the years, she had often heard of the Lady of Legend, Heir to the Horizon family but never had the privilege of meeting neither her nor her husband. As she fell back asleep the dream continued:

“ Then swords clashing , war cries on a battle field” “Mages trying to make a spell” “Screams of women mixed with the cries of an infant” “A giant bird carrying a basket” “a great splash of water, the howling of dark hounds” “The laughter of a mad man, and blood, so much blood”. “ Then a woman , lying dead somewhere”

As if stricken by some imaginary hot iron, Lyra woke up in sweat. She then walked to the stream and began splashing her face with water, determined to rid herself of the bloody images from her dream. But why did it look so real? She thought. AS far as she could remember, she had never had such a vivid and frightening dream.

Then she heard it, a baby's cry and the howl of dark hounds. As she searched for it , she saw a bright light coming to her. It first looked as if the sun had came up in the forest but it suddenly diminished to the state of a tiny light. As she watched, she saw that the light was heading for her and that it was guiding a huge basket the way a navigator controls and guides a ship. As it passed near , Lyra took the basket and gently landed it.

In it ,lay a baby boy asleep, covered by a red and gold cloak, sign of royalty. Puzzled , she saw that he was wearing a pendant around his neck, bearing the form of a dragon carrying a sword. The boy looked like he had been born a few seasons ago. Crouching near him, lay a tiny creature that looked like a lizard with wings, born maybe one or two seasons earlier. As Lyra examined the child, the dragon awoke and gave a few cries that sounded somewhere between the song of a summer bird and the hissing of a reptile as a warning he was protecting the boy.

AS she attempted to touch the small creature's head, it flew close to her. Caressing him , she found that it's skin was soft as leather but very fragile for a couple a scales stayed in her hand. Responding to her touch, the small dragon let out a loud purring sound . She then picked up the baby. As she did, the dragon dived and gave Lyra a bump on the shoulder. She turned to it, trying to protect the baby, and for her action, she was rewarded by a stronger bump on the side. Trying to protect herself, she addressed the small creature:

“ Easy young one. I won't hurt neither you nor him.”

Not understanding her words ,the small dragon continued his game, bumping her harder still. At that moment , a soft but firm voice was heard addressing the dragon whelp:

“Orion, that is enough.”

Surprised, the dragon stopped and letting out a piercing sound, hid itself in the basket. Lyra turned around facing the direction from which voice came from. She then saw a bright light that was soon followed by the arrival of fairy queen Nadira. Ever since there first meeting, Lyra was always breath taken by the queen's beauty. She had long coppered hair with streaks of gold. Her ivory skin ,her painted lips and fingernails,of amethyst and her pair eyes made her long emerald dress and her wings dazzling.

“Welcome Lyra Heartaxe” said the queen , looking calmly at Lyra.

Lyra bowed to her , but the queen stopped her and made her stand up:

“The time is not to bowing, Young friend, but to fighting. “

“I don't understand, your highness.

“As we speak, dark forces are searching high and low for the heir of Legend. You Lyra, were chosen for a special task, to guide the prince in life so that he might restore Legend one day.”

“Your highness, when will I meet this great monarch? when will he come?” asked Lyra, sounding very surprised.

The queen continued ,as if she had not heard the question: “Young friend ,know that prince Sollan is in great danger, and does not yet know of his destiny. You must protect him. As for the moment of your meeting , know that you have already met him.”

“I don't understand, your highness, if we have met, where is he now?



Instead of the queen's answer, Lyra heard a great shriek coming from the queen's voice, which made her snap back to the present. Soon, she realised that the villagers were running away as 3 dark hounds began chasing the villagers.

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