“Arica! How many times do I have to
have you called for breakfast?” Annette’s voice was followed by a rapid
knocking on her door.
Arica
groaned and sat up, her mind still fuzzy from lack of sleep. For the past three
nights since she had arrived here, she had had the same dream. Every time the
figure with her mother’s face would appear and give her cryptic messages. This
past night it had sounded urgent, and when Arica begged for more information,
it had gotten angry and flew right through Arica before vanishing. It left a
chill in her that didn’t go away even after waking up and pulling more blankets
on.
“I
will be right out,” she called to her aunt as she climbed out of bed and
grabbed a change of clothes from the closet. Tired of seeing her wearing old
dresses, Annette had given here several new dresses, along with a couple pairs
of breeches and some plain white shirts. Although the woman disapproved of
females wearing pants, she had agreed that it was almost impossible to ride a
horse in skirts. Arica shed her night gown and pulled on a pair of breeches,
followed by a shirt, then bound her hair back with a ribbon and left the room.
“About
time. It is disrespectful to leave anyone waiting,” Annette said when Arica
entered the dining room.
She
looked at her aunt and pursed her lips. She had gotten used to seeing the
strange white figure hovering near the woman’s side. It had not taken her long
to realize that Annette was the one who she had to keep the ‘thing’ away from,
but had yet to figure what exactly the ‘thing’ was. She sat down and silently
loaded up her plate with bacon and fruit.
“After
breakfast, can I take one of the horses out for a ride?” she asked before
picking a piece of bacon up with her fingers and biting into it.
Annette’s
eyes widened at the blatant disregard for manners. “You may take one of the older horses out.”
“Thank
you!” Arica finished off the piece of bacon and grabbed a few strawberries
before bounding to her feed and heading for the door, leaving her aunt
sputtering in shock.
The
groom in the stable gave her a horse so old it didn’t look like it would
survive a long ride.
“Don’t
you have anything better?” Arica asked as she looked around the barn. Most of
the horses were out in the field, but there were a few younger looking ones
inside.
“Sorry,
the master has made it very clear that no one is allowed to ride the good
horses unless they’re properly trained.”
“That
doesn’t seem like something my uncle would say.”
“Uncle?
Oh no, it’s your aunt. To tell the truth,” he paused and looked around, then
leaned down to speak more privately, “she rules over him. He barely makes any
choices around here.”
“She
has him on a shorter rein than a willful filly,” Arica muttered in agreement,
then pulled herself up onto the back of the old horse. “I’m going West. If I
don’t come back before sundown, come looking for me.” She kicked the horse into
a trot and headed for the surrounding forests.
After
several hours of riding, the horse plodded listlessly and Arica let it go where
it wanted. It felt like she had ridden through the whole forest, but every time
she started to turn back home, a new path would catch her attention. They were
riding along the main trail now, and a small break in the trees up ahead
promised another new path. It was barely more than a game trail, and looked
like it had not been ridden in years. Still, she nudged the horse forward,
pushing aside branches and the occasional spider web until the path opened up
to a clearing. On the other side it dropped down in a cliff, with the rest of
the forest stretched out below. Arica dismounted and cautiously stepped up to
the cliff to look down. A sense of vertigo overtook her and she stumbled back.
“Fear
of heights,” a soft voice chuckled. “How ironic.”
Arica
spun around to find the source of the voice, but couldn’t see anyone. “I’m not
going to learn anything if you don’t tell me!” she shouted. A flash of light
behind her made her turn again, and to her amazement, the sky had taken on the
same fire-like aspect as in her dreams. In the distance a bird flew, a bird
much bigger than any she had seen before. It wheeled in the air and started
flying toward her. As it got closer she could see the colour of it; a metallic
blue. Before it could get close enough for her to make out any more details,
though, the sky returned to normal and the bird vanished.
“Is
that the best hint you can give me?” Arica muttered as she remounted and turned
the horse back to the main trail to return home.
She
entered the house as the sun was beginning to set. From the study she could
hear her aunt and uncle talking, but it cut off when they noticed her.
“You’re
dirty,” Annette mentioned, causing Arica to look down at herself.
“Yes,
there were some mud puddles on the trail.”
“Well
go clean up. Dinner will be served soon.” Annette waved her off and returned to
her conversation with her husband.
Arica
nodded and climbed the stairs to get changed. As she passed by what she assumed
to be a closet, she heard a fluttering sound, like a bird was stuck behind the
door, followed closely by a faint blue glow. She hesitated, but compared to all
the other odd visions she had seen, a fluttering and a blue glow seemed fairly
harmless. She opened the door to find not a closet, but a hallway. It was dark,
with no light fixtures except for the glow.
Down
the hallway she found a small room, cluttered with tables, crates and a bed in
the corner. On one table she found a strange chemistry set, and although most
of the organic material had rotted away, there was still an algae growing in
one of the test tubes. But it wasn’t from this that the glowing came. It
radiated from an alcove in the wall not far from the bed. Arica had to move a
couple crates out of the way to see an old chest sitting in the corner. A rusty
lock barely kept it closed, and the lid remained a jar from the base. It was
through this crack that the light came, splashing the wall like paint.
“I
think I’ve found it,” Arica murmured as she bent down next to the chest.
“Be
careful. She wants it,” the voice whispered.
She
had to grab the metal base of one of the chemistry sets to break the lock off
the chest. It came off with a flying of sparks and a shower of rust. The lid
groaned in protest as she lifted it off, and one of the hinges broke. Inside
rested the ivory bones of a human skeleton. Arica grimaced, but it was long
dead and any hair or skin had long rotted away. It curled around the source of
the glowing. As Arica reached in, it started to pulse like a heartbeat, but
when she touched it the light faded to barely a glow. She pulled it out, making
the skeleton fall into a heap at the bottom of the chest.
“It’s
an… egg,” Arica muttered as she turned it over in her hands. “A massive egg…”
She lifted it up for a closer look and the pulsing started again. The pattern
reminded her of a song her mother had sung to her when she was a child. She
smiled at the memory and tried to remember the words.
“Close your eyes, when the darkness
comes.” The egg
quivered in her hands. “The Sun will not
rise when the world hums and the
earth dies.” She could feel fractures forming under her fingers. “Listen for the drums when the dragon flies, for we will not
succumb.” The shell cracked as her voice trailed off, and the light
vanished all together, casting the room into complete darkness.
((And please bear in mind that I wrote pretty much all of this while sick, so it's not my best work.))
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