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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
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1,454
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1/1
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7
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1,282

Blessings

Summary:

Summary: Some blessings are not so benign.

Work Text:

Blessings
by Kata Avalon
kata_avalon@yahoo.co.uk

 
A raven looked at a young man lying on a ground. One moment it was not there, and the next it was. Odd.
 
***
 
James woke up to a hangover. His eyes hurt and bird song stabbed at his head. *Weird, I do not remember drinking too much last night.* He moved his fingers. *Grass, pebbles.* He opened his eyes, it hurt. *Tree tops, sky. Definitely not my tent or Castle Ellison.*
 
He sat up and looked around, recognising nothing.
 
*Now, what do I remember? Father was visiting Lord Brackett, I was -* His breath caught in his throat as he remembered last evening.
 
***
 
As Lord Ellison’s eldest son, he had been hosting the evening meal with his father’s second wife Caroline sitting beside him. She was always proper and knew how to run a large household, but for some reason James was suspicious of her. Something was not right. He had not told anyone of his suspicions, as he did not understand himself why he had doubts.
 
After the meal, he had talked with the men about the coming trade season. As James went off to see about his horses, he heard something in the kitchen garden. His father had told him sternly never to let anyone know about having good hearing. No noble born had even a drop of sentinel blood, and definitely no-one of the Ellison clan. Sentinels were of the earth, for Goddess’ sake. By now, James was quite good at covering up, or so he hoped.
 
James walked noiselessly up to the low wall separating the kitchen garden from the main courtyard. He did not want to disturb in case it was just a lover’s meeting. *On such a cool spring night?*
 
It was his stepmother and one of her maids, picking herbs in moonlight.
 
“What are you doing?” James could not stop the question, though he knew the answer.
 
Caroline turned to look at him with cold eyes. She told her maid to continue and walked over to the low wall.
 
“What does it look like to you, James?” she stated more than asked.
 
“You told father that you had no knowledge of spells.” The head of the Ellison clan would not have married a magic-user. Magic-users were to be respected, but they were not to be family members. They would cause too much trouble.
 
“That I did.” She uttered a strange word that blanketed James’s head, rendering him unconscious.
 
***
 
James woke up on a hillside north to the castle. Caroline and three of her maids were standing in a circle around him. His legs and hands were bound as well as his mouth. He could still mumble angrily at the women.
 
“Do not worry, I will not hurt you. In fact, I will bless you before sending you away,” Caroline told him with a ghost of a smile.
 
The women started to chant.
 
***
James stood up, wincing at sore muscles. He breathed deep and calmed his heart. The bird song was not so loud anymore, but the light was dancing in his eyes instead. *Please, Goddess, it can’t be.*
 
He looked around, concentrating on his eyes. Suddenly the tree some hundred feet away was right in front of him. He closed his eyes in fright.
 
After his breathing had calmed, he opened his eyes again. The tree had not moved.
 
*Eyes, ears, touch.* James squared his shoulders. *I swear, I’ll have my revenge on that witch.* However, first he would have to get back home.
 
James looked around. He was standing among a few trees on a mountainside. The nearest mountains were the Cascade mountains, two days’ travel away from Castle Ellison. *Caroline certainly knows spells, and she had planned this for some time.* This way, when questioned by a priest she could truthfully say that she had not hurt him and did not know where he was. After all, waking up his senses so he became a full sentinel was not a curse, she had not exactly hurt him and she had simply sent him somewhere, anywhere. *She has definitely planned this for some time, damn her.*
 
James sighed. At least he had a knife and a heavy dagger, plus some coins in his purse. Unfortunately, judging from the morning sun, he was on the eastern side of the mountains, on the tribal lands. The Cascadian tribes were notorious slave dealers and sentinels fetched quite a price in the coastal towns.
 
James started to walk toward the sound of water he could hear. *Just hope it’s as close as it sounds.*
 
***
 
The water was quite a bit further than it sounded. James spent the night with a growling stomach and testy senses. He could feel every pebble under him, hear every night creature in the vicinity and some quite a way off. In addition, he was having nightmares about what Caroline was up to as well as kicking himself for not telling anyone about his suspicions. He hardly got any sleep at all.
 
The next morning he was hungry, thirsty and feeling irritable.
 
An hour after setting off, he could see the small waterfall. There was a caravanserai near it, with a Cascadian tribe camped near the buildings.
 
James watched the scene and cursed his luck. The tribe was waiting for the first caravan of the trade season. He could see a couple dozen slaves penned up by the horses and goats.
 
James concentrated on the tribal people he could see, when suddenly his sight focused on the tribe shaman and his apprentice. He could see the chestnut hair of the apprentice as well as the colourful beads in it, but then his eyes popped back into his head. Or at least that is how it felt to the sentinel. He groaned as headache blossomed behind his eyes.
 
***
 
Blair listened as the shaman, Berall, chatted about the Summer Gathering. Blair was to be introduced to the tribes as a shaman, a young one, but still a full shaman instead of an apprentice.
 
The apprentice felt a Sentinel’s presence, watching them. He stood still so as not to alert the watcher.
 
“You felt it?” the old shaman asked.
 
“Yes. You think the Anaids are preparing a raid?”
 
The shaman shrugged. “Take a few warriors and find out. I’ll tell the chief.”
 
***
 
James lay on the ground, waiting for the pain in his head to ease. Slowly, it did, somewhat.
 
The sentinel crawled carefully to the cover of trees. *I have to wait until nighttime. With some water, I could risk the pass on my own. With some luck, I could find a trader on the other side that knows the Ellison family, and is willing to send word to father.*
 
Plans made, he looked around for a good spot to rest and wait, when he sensed something. As if something was missing. He shook his head, thinking his senses were playing up.
 
Suddenly, he was attacked by two tribal warriors.
 
***
 
Blair watched as the sentinel was quickly subdued. They had not seen anyone else around, but what would a lone sentinel be doing here? Unless he had run away and was looking for a way to cross the mountains, or just get some water.
 
The warriors bound the sentinel’s hands and took his knives. One of the warriors, Rafe, walked to Blair.
 
“The knives are well-made. The sentinel probably stole them from his previous owner,” the young warrior commented as he put the knives under his sash. “No mark of his owner, far as we can see.”
 
“Wonder why he ran away? Those hunting clothes are of good quality, so he was not ill-treated.” Blair bit his lower lip in thought.
 
Rafe shrugged. “Does it matter?”
 
***
 
James sat on the ground in front of the chieftain’s tent. He was trying to follow the discussion going on between the large chief, the old shaman and the apprentice, but was only able to catch a word here and there. His knowledge of the language the tribes used was poor, he was better at the trade language, but so far everyone had ignored him, no matter what he said. The cursing ad helped cool down his temper, though. He would escape, somehow.
 
***
 
“What if someone from the caravan recognises him?” the shaman asked.
 
“He’s one of ours now,” the chief, Simon, stated. “He’ll stay with the warriors until he’s properly bonded.”
 
“And if he’s not?” Blair asked.
 
“We’ll sell him after the Gathering, but I don’t think it will come to that,” Simon said, signalling to Rafe. “He’s obviously a hunter sentinel, one of the warriors will claim him.”
 
The apprentice looked on as Rafe took the sentinel to the warriors’ area of the camp. There was something about the runaway sentinel, something intriguing.
 
Blair turned to follow the shaman, time for more important matters. There was still much to do before the Gathering.
 
***
 
The end of a beginning