Isolus
Lady of the Lexicon
The Children of Dawn
You've come to the end of night,
Come bathe your face in the golden light.
Tell me, child, what lies beyond the river bend?
A new dawn is coming but you're far from journey's end.
Do you dream of those days before?
Can you hear the songs from beyond the forgotten shore?
Destiny has always been with you;
A phantom of a forgotten truth.
You are the newborn fawn,
It’s time to bring forth the new dawn.
Prologue | The Court of the Fairy King
You've come to the end of night,
Come bathe your face in the golden light.
Tell me, child, what lies beyond the river bend?
A new dawn is coming but you're far from journey's end.
Do you dream of those days before?
Can you hear the songs from beyond the forgotten shore?
Destiny has always been with you;
A phantom of a forgotten truth.
You are the newborn fawn,
It’s time to bring forth the new dawn.
Prologue | The Court of the Fairy King
Ariella wondered where Old Inigo had run off to. When the slaves drowsily plodded down the vineyard rows in the cool dusk hours, the little wood elf couldn’t find her friend anywhere. The elderly hound never wandered far from his post at the stables. And it seemed lately that not even her gentle coaxing could draw Inigo from his perch. Where she’d normally receive a tiny tail wag, now he’d merely cast her a weary glower before noisily slumping his saggy head between his paws.
The Master’s hounds frightened her terribly, yet she couldn’t help but pity them. The wolfhounds were kept pinned up in iron kennels for days on end, only permitted freedom when a hunt was rallied either for the venison of a golden stag or for the blood of a runaway slave. It was no wonder they were so vicious, snarling the way they did whenever they heard movement outside their pens.
But all poor old Inigo wanted to do was to curl up in corner away from all the braying and barking. The arthritis in his hips left with a wobbly gait and the first stages of blindness had already clouded his pupils. Any grace he once had was lost to time and the old wolfhound only desired a quiet corner to waste away in. So Ariella couldn’t understand what could have prompted him to roam away now. No amount of searching between empty stable stalls or behind corked wine barrels brought her any closer to finding her companion. Ariella only relinquished her search when the moon the darkness and she heard the angry knickers of the knights horses. She would have to find her friend in the light of day when it was safer to do so.
It was late into the night, as the moonlight seeped its violet glow over the barley fields, when she heard braying outside her cot. Nestled in between the other slave children in the old hovel, Ariella dozed soundly in her bed of straw and soot as they all curled up as tight as they could for warmth. The howl resounded again and Ariella blinked drowsily. Sleep fogged her thoughts and for a moment, she thought she had only imagined Inigo’s distant bray. But that low tone was evident to her elven ears and she slowly perked her curly head over the bed of straw.
In the hallow huts, shadows came and went as they pleased. She often saw the fearsome forms of the patrolling guards on their plodding steads or the spindly grape vines scratching against the wooden frame as the autumn wind teased their branches. But as Ariella’s palms did their best to knead the sleep from her eyes, the little wood elf could have sworn she spotted sharper shadows dance among the darkness. A flurry of what hummingbird wings buzzed past her ears; She jerked her head upwards just as the shadows had vanished from the corners of her vision. Carefully, as not to wake the other children, Ariella softly padded to the open doorway. Her slave collar jingled softly as she shook the straw loose from her frizzled hair. When she lifted the fluttering curtain from the narrow doorway, her hues finally adjusted to the moonlight bathing the open grasslands which surrounded the slave hamlet. Over the hatched rooftops of the scattered hovels, she heard the chitters of distant crickets and an owl crooning its low echoing hoot. Among the nightly warble, she heard something else too. A dog’s howl breached her ears, yet now it sounded as if it came from some distant place. Had Inigo come home at last?
Perhaps he had gotten locked outside. What if he was unable to clear the jump between the narrow fence or worse yet, he had been wounded by the vicious woodland predators who prowled the shadows at night? The little wood elf passed a weary glance around her; none of the Duke’s men in sight. If she was quick enough, Ariella could herd Inigo back into the compound before anyone had noticed him missing.With swift little leaps, Ariella scurried across the clearing and vanished into the meadow. The towering blades of grass shifted this way and that as she did her best to silently navigate through the tall turf. Her fingers peeled back a bustle of grass, sparkling with evening dew, and she lifted a weary step forward into further darkness.
The magical runes on her collar flickered once. Twice. Then in one final spurt, the magical hum exhausted itself completely. Instead of an abrupt shock, a warm sensation spread all around her body. The heat of its receding light left a flitter of tingles all over her body. From the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes, every end of her being felt weightless. Ariella realized now that she hadn’t seen the silver light of the moon vanish. And yet, the soles of her feet brushed upon a velvety surface. Ariella lifted the ends of her hemp gown and gazed down at where she had tread. The drying thicket was replaced now by a cushioned brush that looked as if it were spun from silk itself; its leafy blades sparkled in hues of shimmering ivory and sparkling gold and dazzling emerald painted like that of summer days she imagined only existed in fairytales.
When Ariella raised her gaze once again, it was sunlight that bathed her face now. How could this be? It was the last weeks of autumn, was it not? Why did her elven ears hear the soft breath of summer in these woods? Her ebony eyes traced the fleeting rays of sunlight, finding their beams streaming high over the treetops above her. No, not trees. Vines! Winding, silver vines larger than she had ever seen with leaves so rich, they rivaled the beauty of the sunset. The grapevines bore a plethora of golden grapes the size of gold coins. She could even see their gilded surfaces glittering whenever the sun peeked between the leaves.
Ariella overlooked the crest and the sights nearly stole her breath away. As the golden mist settled, a creek trickled its iridescent water in a swooping waterfall over the rim into the valley below. The valley opened up before her elven eyes in fantastical grandeur; the spring water pooled into a mirror lake where crimson lanterns crafted from elegant papyrus glided seamlessly along its surface. Surrounded by a forest dressed in silver bark and ivory leaves, an island surrounded by golden grass and buxom lotus flowers floated freely among the clear waters. Yet grander still was the structure that mounted itself at the island’s middle. A marble amphitheater the length of a king’s castle glistened among the summer mist like a beacon calling from beyond the sea. Its towers spiraled high into the clouds, with narrow masts and billowing banners that wound around the pearly beams. Sprouting its open roof, among the floating sparkles and hovering lanterns, the grandest tree she had ever seen stood proudly to shade the entire lake. Its top towered over the marble and its leaves wound themselves between the decorated stone like a warm hug. The king tree, the little wood elf thought. The king of the vineyard.
Her ears heard movement from among the silver woods below her. Inigo? Perhaps Inigo was here too! Had he been the one to bring her here? Easing her way onto the stone steps, Ariella’s hand grasped the smooth railing as she tiptoed downwards and deeper into the valley.
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