Moirai
Chapter 2

I rapped sharply on the varnishedoak door. Like the first time, a mixture of surprise and admiration flowedthrough me at the apparent care that had been given to the house. Not a singlechip or faded spot showed on the door, the frame or, in fact, any of the restof the outside of the house. I wondered if the state of the house could be anyindication as to the personality of its owner.

It was the third time I stood infront of the door in as many days, before which I hadn’t even known thecottage, or in fact, the city it was in, existed. It had been almost a weeksince I had arrived in what I came to know in my mind as the ‘book world’. Thehouse I stood in front of was Kasanda’s, the mysterious Dryad woman who,according to Loni, had foretold of my coming…whatever that meant. I had seenher only once three days ago, after I had recovered somewhat from the shock ofreplaceing out ‘the truth’. She had been extremely cryptic, which had led to mypersistence in getting some answers.

I had learned that I was inNerome, the capitol city of the large island nation of Renenta. The stylereminded me of old towns and cities in England, with cobbled streets, stone andwooden buildings, a busy fishing dock and even a castle, towering above thecity with granite walls that gleamed in the reflection from the sea thatbordered the city on the west. Directly in the heart of the city was a largecircular space, where the eight main roads led. In the centre of the area wasthe Damai Fountain – which had apparently been a peace offering given to theKing and Queen by the leader of the country over the Western sea, Azterka.

All this information was given tome on my second day, and it was almost too much to bear. I had asked so manyquestions, most of which went unanswered, especially when I asked aboutAzterka. Loni and the woman who I now realised was her mother (Loni’s orphanstatus having been a ruse) had only said that they had a trade agreement withRenenta and were a mostly peaceful people, but not much was known about theirculture. Apparently, those who sailed across the body of water that separatedthe two nations, intending to explore rather than stick to the capitol, veryrarely returned.

Several times I wondered why Iwas taking everything so calmly, relatively at least. It wasn’t that I didn’treplace things strange; I most certainly did, but wouldn’t a normal person panicor try to convince themselves it was all a giant practical joke? But I didn’t.I accepted the reality of everything with barely a question. It took me a fewdays to realise that the reason was because everything Loni and her parentstold me seemed…strangely familiar. As if I had known it all many years ago butthe memory had almost entirely faded. But how could that possibly be? Thatthought, on top of what Kasanda had said – or rather, what she hadn’t – nearlydrove me mad.

Three days ago, Loni and I hadbeen sitting in her kitchen, which also doubled as the dining room, when adeep, feminine voice alerted us to Kasanda’s presence.

“Hello, girls, I apologise fornot visiting sooner, but I wished to give Alnya time to recover.”

Two things instantly shocked me.First of all, the fact that she had crept up on us without making a sound. Ihadn’t even heard the door open, for one thing. I noticed that she was wearingshoes made entirely of cloth and suddenly realised that she must have been thefigure who walked towards me before I had passed out upon arriving in the bookworld. The second thing that shocked me was that she spoke to us both withfamiliarity, though obviously she had never said a word to me before and Ididn’t get the impression that Loni knew her that well either. In fact, I gotthe impression that no-one knew her very well.

“Hello.” Loni herself saidbrightly, and I felt a strange sense of relief that her upbeat personality, atleast, hadn’t been a lie. My confident thought when I had awakened about Loni’sundeniable truthfulness had been shaken, but the reasons for her deception hadbeen well explained, so I was willing to trust her again.

“Hi…Lady Kasanda.” I murmuredawkwardly. I didn’t know what title to use. I couldn’t exactly call her ‘Mrs’or ‘Ms’ and from what I’d heard Kasanda wasn’t nobility, but she definitelywasn’t poor. Hardly anything was known about her, except for the fact that shewas a Dryad who had arrived over twenty years ago in the city and since thenhad taken on the job of protecting it with her magic; a job no-one realised thenecessity of until then. And, of course, there was the prophecy; the details ofwhich she revealed to no-one. I shuddered at the thought; despite the fact thatI loved fantasy books, the idea of magic being real utterly terrified me…

She gazed at us both; a gaze thatwas kind, yet intense at the same time, almost as though she was trying to seestraight through us. For all I knew, she was. Seeing as all of the authors I’dread had different ideas on magic, I didn’t know what she was capable of.

Her hair was varying shades oflight brown, pulled back behind her ears with a plait on either side. Herfeatures were angular, yet strikingly beautiful, with eyebrows that curvedsharply towards the temples, a thin, small nose and quite large lips withdefined cheekbones. As I had been told, Kasanda’s identification as a Dryadappeared in her pointed ears and dark, olive skin tone. Lithe was the word to describe Kasanda, as she was several inches tallerthan me and her build was thin and light. Not exactly like the Dryads ofAncient Greek mythology, bit this was clearly where they’d gotten it from.

Approaching me and looking down,she stared straight into my eyes. Hers were the most dazzling shade of emeraldgreen. I looked back, and it seemed as though I was falling into them. It wouldbe so easy to get lost, forever floating in an endless abyss…

“It is almost time.” She said,the deepness of her voice reverberating through me once again and snapping meout of the trance. I couldn’t fathom how a voice could be that deep, yet remainutterly female. “Unfortunately, Alnya, your life will change even more verysoon. Not today, though.” She stepped back again.

I frowned. “Excuse me, but whatdoes that mean?” My mind seemed to explode with possibilities, all based onwhat she could have seen in her vision. Despite it all, I had no idea how itcould relate to me.

She gave me an odd smile, likeshe was both sympathetic and…something I couldn’t place. Expectant?

“You will replace out soon enough.Best not to rush these things. We will meet again. Good afternoon.”

Without a further remark, sheturned in a whirl of the pale green dress she was wearing and disappeared backout the front door, once again not even a whisper announcing her departure.

Loni and I stared at each other.

“That was…strange.” She mutteredwith a nervous giggle.

The frown hadn’t left my face. Inodded. “And that’s compared to all the other strange things. Surely you mustknow what she meant if you spoke to her when you became the Inventrix.”

“She didn’t say. All she told mewas what I had to do, because it was absolutely crucial. Without you, there wasno hope against Indina.”

This ominous-sounding Indina wasas much of a mystery as Kasanda. Loni and her parents told me that she was apowerful mage who used her powers for evil but had disappeared around twentyyears ago. Loni said that Kasanda knew somehow that she was rising again. Oncemore, the feeling that I had fallen into one of my books had settled over me.

When I stopped to think about it,that was pretty much exactly what had happened.

Kasanda’s words rang in my earsfor two days, annoyingly persistent. Several times I wondered why I couldn’tjust forget about them and be patient, like Loni kept telling me to.

Thus, now, for the third time, Iwas knocking on the Dryad’s door in an attempt to at least get some peace in myown mind.

She opened the door with a smileas she had the last two times. Previously, she had politely informed me, “Nottoday.” whatever that meant. This time, however her smile was wider, showingteeth whiter than those in toothpaste commercials, yet there was a strange glintin her eyes; not of joy, or happiness, but something darker. Yet anotherpuzzle.

“It’s finally time, Alnya. I amaware that you have been very patient.” She announced, pulling the door fullyopen as invitation.

Well, I hadn’t exactly beenpatient. I had done nothing but bug her since she’d spoken to me.

I felt a smile grow. Though I wasmore than a bit wary of Kasanda – wariness was wise around any magic user,especially when I had no idea what she could do – I was excited to finally begetting an explanation to her enigmatic words.

The doorway led to a large openroom housing two midnight blue arm chairs and a small table around an openfireplace. A soft brown rug covered a wood floor that appeared to be as welltaken care of as the front door. Other closed doors obviously led to the otherrooms of the house. Overall, it felt cozy and rustic. The faint scent ofcinnamon mixed with the woody aroma from the fire had an instantly calmingeffect, and the fact that the house was built entirely of wood – reminiscent ofalpine ski lodges – added to the atmosphere of warmth.

“Go and sit down.” Kasandainstructed gently. “Would you like a cup of spiced tea?”

That comment made me realise thatthe explanation wouldn’t simply be a few minutes’ worth. My curiosity waspiqued even more and I felt small bubbles of excitement collect somewherein-between my shoulder blades and work their way towards my head.

“Yes, please.” I answered.

I took a seat in one of the armchairs, picking the one closest to the fire. Loni had told me that winter hadbeen over for a couple of weeks, but a chill still hung in the air. Time mustbe different in the book world, as it was just coming into Autumn in London.

She was extraordinarily quickwith the tea and I wondered if she had used magic. Obviously I was very naïveto the whole concept of what it could do here…but I had little interest inreplaceing out. Even the thought that she may have used it to make my tea wasnearly enough to make me decline the drink altogether, before I reminded myselfthat doing so would be impolite. It tasted exotic – a mixture of spices andsweetness that clung to the tastebuds after swallowing – and I wondered if teawas one of the commodities traded from Azterka.

“Alright, then, Alnya.” Kasandasighed, taking a seat in a chair near me. “I suppose it’s a bit of a relief foryou to be getting some answers. I will warn you, that you may not like orunderstand all of what I am going to say. It will, as I told you in Loni’shouse, change your life forever. Even more so than it already has.”

“In what way?” I asked, curiousbut also wary.

Her eyebrows pulled together in afrown and she appeared to be biting the inside of her lip. “Why don’t I startfrom the beginning? It will be much easier than trying to answer your questionimmediately.”

This was looking as though it wasmuch bigger than I’d thought and I felt a shiver run down my spine. Then Ichastised myself; how could anything be bigger than replaceing out that a worldexists inside a book? “Okay. That does sound like a good idea.”

She nodded sharply. I wassurprised to see that she appeared almost nervous. “I think it would be best ifI give you a brief history of myself, that way it might make what I have totell you a bit more believable.” She settled herself more comfortably in thechair and took a sip of tea before continuing. “As you may have heard, I am aDryad from the forest to the south-east, called Aulaea. I was born in thecapitol city, which is called Flowerage –”

“The forest has a capitol?” Iquestioned, not realising that I was interrupting her. “I thought it was partof Renenta. That’s what Loni said.”

“It is, technically.” She agreed.“It has not got a king or queen. But because Dryads are a different race, we dohave a…governing body of sorts who make decisions relative to us that do notinterfere with the royalty here in Nerome. Thus, Flowerage is known as acapitol.” When I nodded in understanding, she continued. “We live only a fewdecades longer than humans do, but we take much longer to show signs of age.For instance, how old do you think I am?”

I didn’t have to be scared ofoffending her, because she really didn’t seem very old at all. However, Ifactored in the knowledge that she had been here at least eighteen years. “Latethirties?”

She smiled widely, a twinkle inher eye. “That is a wonderful compliment. Last month I celebrated myfifty-fourth birthday.”

I couldn’t help but gape. Therewas not a single line on her face and not a grey hair on her head. I realisedthat the only indication of her age was her eyes; they were deep and strong.Something about them gave me the impression that Kasanda had a burden pressingdown on her shoulders.

She chuckled a little at myresponse. “I had recently turned thirty when I decided that I wanted to leaveFlowerage to come here to Nerome. There were rumours filtering through ofpowerful aura users in this city, and I found within myself a strong desire totutor them. It has been a while since Renenta has seen proper aura users. Theonly prominent auraics in the last century had been Dryads.”

“Auraics?” I asked, thenimmediately regretted it when she answered.

“Magic users. The ‘aura’ is whatwe call magic. I will explain…”

I shifted in my chair,uncomfortable at the direction her tale was heading.

“I don’t mean to be rude, butcould you skip the magical history, please?” I asked.

She raised her eyebrows at me.“Does it bore you? It is relevant to what I have to say.”

“I’m not bored.” I said quickly;quite the contrary. “I just…don’t really care for magic.”

Her eyebrows, as high as they hadbeen, turned down instantly into a deep frown. “What do you mean, Alnya? Lonimentioned that you are a keen reader of outer-world fantasy novels; theseinclude magic, am I correct?”

I swallowed and nodded; it wasnot a topic I was ‘keen’ to discuss. “Yes, but something happened when I was achild and it gave me a deep fear of magic, if it was real, of course. Now thatI know it is…I’m even terrified by the idea of anyone using it. Although, I’mnot scared of you, or anything!” I added quickly.

She leaned back in her own chairand appeared to be thinking something over. “Alnya, what you’ve got tounderstand is that what I have to say deals very much with magic. If you do notwant to hear it, I won’t stop you from going out of that door and returning tothe outer-world. But…and please don’t take this lightly…if you leave, you willbe leaving Renenta in very grave danger.”

“Danger?” The word caught in mythroat.

Kasanda’s piercing green eyes metmine then. “Yes, a danger that will soon be strong enough to devour thecountry, plunging the people into misery.”

Her words were harsh andalarming. I suddenly found my fear of magic pushed to the back of my head as amorbid curiosity took its place. If something was threatening Renenta, what didit have to do with me; an outsider? I didn’t voice the question, however,knowing that Kasanda would answer it eventually.

“Ok. Continue, please. I’msorry.” I said meekly, not wanting to disrespect her.

Kasanda seemed almost amused withmy quick acquiescence.

“Thank you. Well, briefly, Ishall explain about magic, or aura. Legend has it that, at the beginning oftime – not time as you know it, but the time within this world – the Great Auragave some of itself to humans and Dryads. Selected individuals of greatcourage, intelligence and strength received their own auras. The auras areenergy sources buried deep within our subconscious. They can be used to controlthe natural elements of the world, and the energy that exists within everyhuman. Thus, through the manipulation of one’s aura, great acts of healing orharm can be wrought.” She paused, letting me absorb her words.

The Great Aura sounded like somesort of God. It was quite reminiscent of the various creation myths thatexisted throughout the Earth. Kasanda had said it was legend, but all legendswere grounded in truth. Perhaps the Aura did exist, if magic itself existed. Theanswer to that I knew I would have to wait for, and perhaps I would never replaceout. I looked up at Kasanda and nodded to indicate that I was ready for her tocontinue.

“So, as I was saying, I came hereto Nerome at the age of thirty, hoping to replace a squad of auraics eager fortraining. I found nothing. Not a single one of the rumours were true.” Shesighed somewhat absently. “I only spent a few days here before preparing toleave again. I stayed in this very cottage. Its owners were quite friendly andhonoured to house a Dryad.”

Her expression turned dark; itlooked strange on her elegant face.

“The night before I was todepart, a woman arrived on the doorstep. She appeared to be a common streetgirl at first; her hair was matted, her skin streaked with dirt and her clothesstained and torn. However, she did not act common; she didn’t beg for shelter,or food. She merely asked if she could stay with me for a time, and I noticedthat she was very well-spoken. She somehow knew me and my purpose for being inthe city. I began to see that her ripped clothes had once been very fine. Heraccent indicated nobility, it soon became clear that she was an aura user hersDryad.”Kasanda paused and licked her lips nervously, as though trying to remove thetaste the memory left on her mouth.

“She asked to be trained. She washaughty, arrogant and showed no ounce of humbleness or obedience, but I couldsense that there was great power within her. I accepted her as my student,after getting her cleaned up and fed. I discovered neither her age nor her trueidentity until several years after we parted company. She trained under me forsix years, during which I saw her power increase at an alarming rate. In thelast year or so, she began asking me to teach her darker ways of using heraura, ways that could be used to harm or summon great forces of evil. She evenasked me for the location of the Amulet of Kochor!”