Akira Rises (4 page)

Her mother raised her eyebrows, “How do you… never mind. There is no time to chastise you for spying on me.”

Akira smiled apologetically. “I take after my mother.”

“I taught you too well to listen and be observant.”

Akira smiled again. “You are a great teacher.”

“I hate leaving you alone. Especially when your brothers are not here. Be very careful Akira. If all goes well, we’ll leave tonight. Make certain no mages see you.”

“Why is it dangerous for mages to see me?” Akira asked.

“Because you have a special, good quality they would find disturbing.”

“A good quality? Why would they find that disturbing? Your fears seem unfounded, Mother.” Akira pressed her mother with her questions.

Lady Shy sighed. “Evil fears good...and you are good. You may have something they want. We needn't have them speculate about you and your presence.” She hoped her partial answer would satisfy her seventeen-year-old daughter. There was much to explain and much to confess when they were safe and the timing was right. A mage would sense a halfling, the daughter of a mage and an ungifted woman. For years, Lady Shy forbade any magic play in the manor house for fear her halfling love child would expose her mixed parentage with suspicious abilities that spoke of mage parentage. Akira’s time of puberty had been a nerve wracking time for her mother, as often mages’ gifts revealed themselves during the turbulent changing of bodies from child to adult. Thankfully, her daughter’s puberty and impending womanhood caused no concern with strange occurrences.

As exciting as it would be for Akira to have special powers Lady Shy was hoping her daughter had only inherited human qualities, abilities and talents. Life as a mystique in the lands they lived in was fraught with danger. Priests claimed magic as work of evil forces, mages and mystics claimed the church full of evil men using religion to manipulate men. Akira’s life would be safer if she was just simply human. She would not be a threat to anyone, and no one would try to use her for unnatural abilities. With no magical gifts, there would be no accusations of witchcraft. No clergy would have reason to demonize her if she simply had no special abilities. Her daughter would be safer far from the evil permeating their home. The storm outside would be nothing compared to the storm inside the manor that would occur if Akira’s parentage was discovered because of special gifts coming to light. A halfling was vulnerable. For persecution was possible from both sides of her heritage.

Those of mixed heritages could draw from the best of both backgrounds, but more often than not, they were looked at with suspicion and derision. The local villagers loved her daughter, but Lady Shy wasn’t willing to chance that they would still love her so completely if they found out she was a halfling. If the baron found out Akira was not his daughter, Lady Shy feared her life would be over and Akira’s life would be in peril.

A quiet tapping on her sitting room door signaled the arrival of Matilde. Akira opened the door and closed it quickly behind her mother’s friend.

“Good morning my lady - Akira.” Matilde curtsied out of habit. She untied her hooded cloak and handed it to Akira. Akira took it in front of the fireplace and stretched it out to dry. The older women hugged.

“Are we ready?” Matilde looked at her mistress. “Does Akira know what to do today?”

“Yes,” answered mother and daughter in unison.

“Then let us swap clothes right now.” Matilde started unlacing the front of her dress. The women had switched clothes in the past. Matilde served as Lady Shy’s double many a time. They swapped clothes quickly. Conveniently, the women were the same size and height. Even their hair color was almost a perfect match.
With hat and veil under a hooded cloak, aided by a discreet distance, Matilde could once again pass for her mistress, providing an alibi and measure of safety for her friend. Matilde arranged her hair the same way as her mistress. Lady Shy unbound her hair and left it loose as was Matilde's habit. Lady Shy donned Matilde’s still very damp wool cape and pulled the hood up over her hair. Matilde did likewise with Lady Shy’s fur trimmed cape.

Akira frowned, she was not as practiced with clandestine comings and goings as her mother and Matilde. The chill in the air seemed more than physical. The subdued morning light seemed ominous. Gloom seemed foreboding. She expressed her concern. “I’ve a gut feeling we should wait.”

“It’s just nerves, Akira. You must conquer them. We have done this before.” Lady Shy gave a meaningful look to Matilde.

“Yes,” added Matilde, “you must not act agitated Akira, for then you do put us at risk.”

Akira took a deep breath. “Forgive me. I’m usually bolder than I feel today. It is different to be the one waiting and not the one engaged in a clandestine mission.”

Matilde gave her a sympathetic look, then turned to Lady Shy. “It is time.”

The women hugged. Lady Shy took her daughter’s face in her hands like she did when her daughter was a child. No words were spoken. She kissed her daughter’s forehead.

Akira, opened the door. No servants were out and about, as expected, as calculated. Akira walked down the hallway. She signaled for the older women. It was safe to follow her. The only sound was the soft swish of clothing as they flitted through the dark hallways. Akira crossed the great hall first. The dogs in front of the hearth lifted their heads, then dropped them. It suited them to enjoy the heat from glowing embers and ignore all else. They showed no concern for the familiar humans and their familiar scent.

Akira opened the great hall entrance doors. Matilde and Lady Shy slipped out, looking back only once before Akira softly closed the doors and barred them again. Akira was afraid. She remembered word for word what her mother said.
What do I’ve that the black mages would want? I’m just a girl. I’ve avoided anything to do with magic, stayed away from village ceremonies that invoke protection through chants, offerings, and spell making. \What is my mother hiding from me? She hides things to protect me. I’m not a child anymore!
Akira pressed her head against the door and rubbed her amulet.

A stable boy waited in the barn with mounts for the women. He helped them onto their horses, wished them a safe journey before returning to the hay loft where he had waited and watched for the women. He no longer could sleep but he could watch from a hole he made in the thatching as the women rode from his sight. He could see they were wisely holding their mounts to a safe walking pace along the muddying road. He prayed for their safety. Matilde was family. Lady Akira was a friend.

The women rode for what seemed like hours, when in fact it was less than hour. Their intention was to take the ferry across the river that separated the manor from the village of Fernwood. From the ferry it was only a short ride to a fork in the road where they planned to ride in opposite directions. Matilde would take the fork leading to the convent, and Lady Shy would take the fork leading into the village. If they were followed nothing would be reported as suspicious. It would appear Lady Shy was visiting the convent as was her habit from time to time despite the inclement weather, bringing offerings for the poor, coins for the church's collection plate, and Matilde would appear to be visiting her family in the village.

Lady Shy stopped her horse. Matilde looked at her questioningly. She whispered, “is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong.” Lady Shy pulled off her gloves. “Give this ring to the Holy Father. Tell him to melt it down. Tell him to use the gold to buy food for the peasants. After this morning I’ve no need of it. I want to do more for the peasants before we go, for it may take a while to help them from a safe distance. Ask him to pray to his god to protect us. I’m praying to my god. Perhaps praying to both gods we shall be safer.”

Matilde nodded and slipped the ring onto her own hand. She looked at the symbol that represented years of being bound to a man her mistress had not one kind feeling for. Matilde made use of the moment to voice her growing concern. “I fear the river will be high with this rain, my lady.”

“You could be right, but we are committed now. There is no turning back.” Lady Shy rubbed the protection amulet she wore around her neck. It had been a parting gift from her long parted love. She knew that rubbing it would activate a magical vibration that would signal Akira’s father she was in danger. What help it would elicit was beyond her knowledge. What she did know was that once activated, the amulet could attract other magical beings, friendly or not, to herself. What gut instinct made her rub the amulet purposefully after years of keeping it as a last resort was a mystery, but an innate sense of doom made her do so.

Far away a matching amulet vibrated against skin and a grand mage went deep within the secret caves of the White Rose Order. The mage bowed with respect before a great dragon. Their quiet discussion was brief. A high pitched call beyond the range of human ears went out across the great distances for the beasts of the air to locate the beacon emanating from the amulet and provide assistance.

A small dragon felt the vibration. She left her secret lair in the side of a rock cliff and took to the skies above the trees. The rain and mist gave her a veil to keep her presence obscured. She had been hunted and was wary, but when the grand dragon commanded, a dragon of lesser status obeyed. She was close to the vibrating sound, very close. Her eyes scanned the ground beneath her.

Below the dragon, two riders were nearing an angry river. Her beady dragon eyes were not as sensitive as her ears. She honed in on the sound of a calling rock, tilting her scaly head from side to side. The sound she was searching for came from below her wings. Her leathery wings and body reflected the colors around her, making her blend in with the clouds and rain. The ability to change colors, to match her surroundings, was unique to her breed. The ability to hide in plain sight served the smaller dragon breed well. Her kind were finding it easier to escape hunters. She circled above them, watching and waiting. She saw the human from where the calling rock amulet around the human’s neck thrummed a sound, a sound the human could not hear.

Matilde and Lady Shy’s plan to secure help for an escape was solid; however, the river bank they rode alongside for a short distance to access the ferry crossing was not solid. Rising currents undermined the river bank where the road hugged the river’s curves. It gave way just as the heavy horses followed the curve that would bring them to the river crossing. Their horses screamed in panic as the ground beneath their feet plunged out from under them. The horses lunged trying to gain footing to scramble back up the sliding river bank. Matilde screamed as she was tossed into the rushing waters.

The old man who ran the ferry, heard a scream in the distance. He came out of his hut shielding his eyes from the rain.

Lady Shy tried turning her struggling mount into the deeper waters and tried to reach for her friend. The panicked horse reared high and Lady Shy was thrown violently into the cold waters. Her strength was no match for the weight of her heavy wool cloak and clothes in the water. The current pulled her away from Matilde. Each time she thought she could feel the bottom of the river her footing would slip on the rocks. She struggled to get her head above water and catch her breath. A floating uprooted tree banged into her leg just as she thought the river was about to pull her under again. The pain was intense. Water went up her nose and into her lungs. She coughed and gasped. She held her breath. She was pulled under again. She lost sight of Matilde. She felt the river bottom and pushed hard against it. Miraculously she resurfaced. She thought she was as good as dead when her cloak hooked on a branch of a tree that had been uprooted and swept into the river. The relentless current pushed her against the tree. The branches seemed like arms from the gods reaching out for her. She hooked her arms around a broken branch and pulled herself up enough that her head was more out of the water than in. Just as she thought, she had a fighting chance the life-saving tree banged into jagged rocks. A searing pain ran up her leg. Then all was black.  

The tree carried its unconscious passenger away and out of sight, the arms of the tree cradled her body, her loosened long hair tangled in the branches, securing her head above the current. Thunder boomed and lightning split the air, and the rains poured down harder as if trying to wash the sins of the earth away.

The old chilled ferry man looked upstream towards the road's approach to the river. Water dripped in his eyes and off his nose. He thought he saw two riders being swept away in the churning waters. A horse made its way to the opposite river bank. It was rider less. It appeared to rest for a moment. A crack of thunder, a flash of lightning, the horse bolted. Fools, he thought. What fools would want to risk crossing the river when a deluge from the heavens was swelling the river? He cursed the rain, and slipped in the mud as he tried to run along the river bank. What business could be so urgent the travelers would risk life and limb? He would have turned them away. No fare was worth the risk of being swept away never to be seen again. There was naught he could do but report what he witnessed when it was safer to travel. He returned to his hut muttering under his breath.

What e did not see in the next flash of lightning was a winged beast swooping down to snatch the woman up like an eagle would snatch a fish. The only difference was the beast’s talons did not penetrate the flesh of the unconscious woman. The tree had, as if on cue, let loose of the woman’s hair, and then as if it had legs seemed to walk up the river bank and root itself into the ground. The green shimmering scales of the flying beast looked iridescent when the the lightning daggers allowed brief glimpses of the flying beast’s ascent towards the mountains. The sounds of pounding rain and thunder masked the sounds of its magnificent wings beating the air. The beautiful dragon used her breath to gently warm her passenger.

~

When her mother and Matilde failed to return by evening Akira could wait no longer idly. How did one explain the disappearance of a mother who was supposed to be in bed? The storm had abated. Surely her mother and Matilde should have returned by now? She fretted. The mages and her father were still behind closed doors. Akira felt it was only a matter of time before the mages would leave by the back gates and her father would emerge from his quarters.