Chapter 6

The Beast

It didn’t take me take me very long before I realized who it was.
“Rostlyn?” I asked after a few short seconds just make sure that it was who I thought that I was. “But… how…the paws?”
“I will explain it all later. Right now we need to talk about what I came here to talk about.”
“Hold on one minute,” Eldon said, still amazed at the sight before him. “This is all too odd.”
“I will explain, but later.” Rostlyn repeated, “What I have to tell you now is very important.”
“What is it?” I asked, impatiently.
“Please let us have a seat first, and then we can talk as much as we wish.” Klaus said before Rostlyn could say anything.
“You will face many different paths. I will not always be there. I am going to give you something that will help you when you come across these difficult paths.” He said as he pulled to little pouches out from underneath the cloak, both black velvet. “Do not open them until you need them.” He warned. “Use them only if you need them.”
“How will we know when that time has come?” Eldon asked.
“You will know.” He answered.
“Is that all that you had to talk about?” I questioned.
“No, there is one more thing that I have to say and then I must get back. I know who you are and why you left your home. I will not say anything to the others, I am not he one that you need to worry about.”
“What are you saying?” Eldon asked.
“If you are not careful the identities that you have worked so hard to conceal with come out into the open.”
“Who it is that we can’t trust?” I broke in. “Is it one of those who are traveling with us?
“That I can not tell you, only that you must be very careful in the future and try not to do things out of the ordinary.” And with that he vanished as quickly as he had appeared.
Eldon and I stayed to talk with Klaus for a short time after. He gave use two jars. Both had a mini dragon in them. Eldon’s was per black, while mine was blood red.
“Alana will you stay here for a few minutes after Eldon leaves?” He asked. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Yes, I will stay.” I said as I turned to Eldon. “I will catch up with you.”
“Fine, if you must. But don’t take very long; remember the others that we came here with.” Eldon replied.
“Yes, I remember.” I answered. Then he turned and walked away.
I turned to Klaus, “What do you need to talk to me about?” I asked with a questioning look on my face.
“Your dream.” He answered.
“Were should I begin?” I asked.
“At the beginning please. If I am to help you I will need to know everything that happened.”
“Well here it goes.” I said before starting. “Before I went to sleep Eldon had laid Torin beside me so that I would not worry so much about him and I would be able to get some sleep and my strength back. When I opened my eyes I could not move, I was motionless. Torin was standing above me. Suddenly he fell on top of me as if he was being pushed but did not try to stop himself. I did not realize that he was dead until landed on top of me. He had an arrow in his back. I had just saved his life and now he is dead once again.”
“Wait one moment, you saved his life? How?” he asked sounding very interested.
“Well it was not just me, Eldon help. Actually he did most of the work. I was too weak to do it. On a good day I could have done it all by myself. My powers have matured faster than his.”
“But how did you do it? I have never heard of just a sorcerer, or sorceress in your case, being able to do something so difficult.”
“It is very simple, you say a few choice words and you give them a potion and then you wait, it takes only a few moments.”
“Well it seems to me that you two are no longer what you say that you are.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that you may be able to be considered a Witch, and in Eldon’s case a Wizard. There are very few people that are even at my level of experience and still can not do that.”
“Well I will then take that as a complement, and I shall pass it on to Eldon. I thank you very much.”
“You may go on now with your story.”
“Thank you, now where was I, oh yes I remember.
Finally after trying for a long time I gathered all my strength, and I moved my arms. Once I was able to move them I pushed Torin off of me. By the time I got to my feet I thought I would go back down again, I was so tiered. I took a step and another till I was outside the tent.
I saw Eldon, Quentin, and Rostlyn lying on the ground dead. All three of them were shot with the same arrows that Torin had through him.
A fire lit with no one to watch it. I knelt down beside Rostlyn and looked into his face. It seemed so cold and lifeless.
I asked myself how I could have slept through this. I bent down and kissed Rostlyn ever so softly on his brow. I did the same with Quentin. As the tears steamed down my face I realized that I was not changing, this was odd to me because you see when…”
“Yes I know you change forms.”
“Yes, so back to the story, I walked over to Eldon and knelt down beside him then took his hand in mine. I kissed it ever so gently. Then said ‘Sleep in peace my brother.”’
He replied with a smart remark and it was then that I knew that I was only dreaming.”
“What part is puzzling you my child?” He asked.
“I could not move. That is what troubled me the most of all. That probably sounds like a strange thing to worry about, seeing how most of my dreams like this actually happen.”
“So there are other things that troubled you?”
“What?” I asked.
“You said ‘that is what troubled me the most of all.’ What else troubled you?”
“I already found the answer to my other problems. But not this one, this one is different.”
“Did you ever think of Torin?”
“Yes I think of him all the time, we have become very close friends. But what does he have to do with it?”
“You say he was lying next to you, am I correct.”
“Yes, that is what is said.”
“Did you ever think that he might have rolled over on top of you?” He asked.
“No, I had never thought of that. That seems so easy now. Why didn’t I think of that? Thank you.”
“Now tell me what happened after you woke up.”
“Well, let’s see here.” I said trying to remember. “Oh yes, Eldon got up and I explained everything to them.
Then I went to go check on Torin. When I found that he was fine I sat by the fire with Rostlyn, Quentin, and Eldon. Most of the time my dreams predicted the future near or far. This really troubled me. I did not want to see this happen again at all. That is the end.”
“No my child this is only the beginning of a long and painful road.”
“What do you mean?”
“You say it is the end. But this only the beginning of your life.”
“I see but why do you say that it will be painful?”
“I can see the future that you will have and I see a great devastation in your future.”
“Is there anyway that I can stop it?
“That is something that you will just have to figure out for yourself.”
“Alright, thank you for all your help. I really must be going.” I said.
“I have a feeling the I will be seeing you in the near future.” He said as I got up from my chair.
“I will look forward to it.” I answered with a smile then walked away.
I met Eldon on the way out. “What was that all about?” Eldon asked.
“He helped me find the answer to my question.”
“And what was the answer?”
“Torin was lying on top of me.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes that is it.”
“I can’t believe that we didn’t think of that on our own.” He said shaking his head.
“Oh, he told me something else as well.”
“What?”
“I had told him how we saved Torin’s life and he said that we may be able to be considered a wizard and I witch.”
“That is amazing, did he say how much longer before it would be official?”
“No, but he was very impressed and also said that there were even some that were as talented as he is and still can not do that.”
“I just can’t believe all this.” He said not looking at me.
“I think that sorceress sounds better though.” I said in a disappointed tone. He just laughed and then got really serious all of a sudden.
We walked only a few steps more before stopping. Eldon turned to me and said, “Alana, I fell that something bad will happen to me in the future. You must promise that you will let fate run its course.”
“I promise.” I said for argument sake. I was still thinking about what he said. What could he possibly mean? I know that he gets these feelings about things that might happen in the future but I didn’t want him to be right this time. I had just had a dream that foretold of his death, I have seen it once and I don’t want to see it ever again.
“I still can’t believe that it was Rostlyn.” He said after a pause.
“I know, how could I have not seen that?” I wondered aloud.
“That really is not like you, you are usually the first to know about anything like this.”
“But how could have not seen it sooner?” I asked again.”
“I think that he is a lot more powerful than he leads on.” Eldon said.
“He must have messed with my mind with out me knowing it.”
“That is a possibility; now let’s get back to them before they kill each other.”
“Sounds good to me.”