Chapter 4

The Voice

It is the twenty-second of May now and the day that Galen had vanished two and a half decades ago. We are all riding close talking about, well the guys any way, woman. I am thinking to myself not really paying attention to what they are saying. How much longer until we reach the next town? I asked Eldon.
Oh I would say about three days ride. Why? He answered.
I was just wondering, that’s all.
You never just wonder. He said looking over at me.
Well there is always a time for everything isn’t there.
Yes, I guess that there is. He ended the conversation there.
After that I went back to what I had been thinking about, again not paying any attention to them.
All of a sudden I heard a voice in my head. I knew that it was not Eldon it seemed horse and old, almost warn from the ages. The voice was speaking to me in an old language that I could hardly understand. It whispered to me like a voice in my ear, Turn back, and go no further. If you try to pass this point I will hurt you and your followers. I am warning you. TURN BACK NOW! Before I had time to think or speak my horse reared up. Torin fell to the ground. I jumped off the horse; Quentin grabbed the reins before the horse could run off. I am at Torin’s side within seconds.
He groaned in pain “Get away from me. What do you think that you are doing?”
“Torin you know not what you say. Hush now and rest. It will be fine.” I sobbed with tears rushing to my eyes because I knew that this was entirely my fault. Then I realized I had to stop or I would change, I had to get away, I had to run far away, so that they would not see the beast that I am becoming.
It was almost as if Torin was reading my mind. As I let go of his hand he scolded, “That’s right, go. Leave me. I never want to see you again!” He had such hate in his eyes, as if he was possessed. He also had the slight hint of the old voice that was in my head. Is it he that is possessing Torin. My mind was racing but I had to run.
I got up, grabbed the reins from Quentin, and jumped up on my horse. Far into the desert I rode until I was sure that no one could see me. It took but a few moments to get there but my mind was still racing. I could not think straight. I was not only sad I was mad, furious. But the pain of his words, even though someone else’s, coming from his lips, hurt more than any anger could.
Why did I get all upset? I wondered. I don’t love him, I don’t, I can’t, and I won’t. I am not going to fall for him or any other that comes along. I told myself, over and over again, I climbed down from my horse. “Sit down. Sit down. Sit down Alana.” I said out loud to myself. As I sat down a tail grew, as did whiskers, I shrank down; paws instead of hands, fur grew. I meowed in sorrow. Tears fell as they wet my soft fur. “Calm down, calm down.” I repeated to myself in soft meows of agonizing pain. I sat for sometime saying calm down over and over again thinking of other things; finally I started to change slowly.
Eldon rode up beside me as I finished changing back. I jumped up at him. “I did it. I did it.” I yelled, “I finally did it, I changed by myself.” I had a big smile on my face.
“Congratulations.” Eldon told me, with a joking voice. “It is about time that you are able to do it on your own.”
“Hush up.” I snapped, “I may not be as strong as you are but I can still teach you a thing or two, besides you take the fun out of everything.”
“Sorry, I did not mean it to be fun taking.” Eldon mumbled.
“It’s fine, just don’t do it again.” I scolded using the same joking voice that he had used before.
“
We got back on our horses and rode off, back to Torin, Quentin, and Rostlyn. I was not looking forward to seeing Torin at all. How could he say that to me? I am like a best friend to him besides Quentin; I don’t think you could separate them for more then a few hours.
On our way back I told Eldon about the voice that I had heard before the fall. “It was telling me to turn back. That it would hurt all of us. The voice had a strange sound, like an old man that had the voice of ages and he spoke in a tongue that I could barely understand.”
“It was a warning.” Eldon told me, “If you hear it again tell me.
“I would have sooner but before I could say anything the horse reared.”
I was expecting to find Rostlyn hurt or even worse dead. Knowing Torin, the protective person that he is, or was before today I could see him hurting Rostlyn if he was well enough. Eldon was proud of me, although he did not say anything about it. I have conquered the cat, now if I can only conquer the panther.
As we came into view of where we had left the men we noticed a tent; it was white and looked very small. As we came closer we could see that there was no one around, we rode up to the tent and breathed a sign of relief when Quentin came walking out.
The tent was so much bigger now that we were beside it. I was on my horse, and the tent was still a few feet above me. Quentin welcomed us back as though we had been gone for years. I found his reaction very odd, I could see Torin doing that, but not Quentin. It was like he did not want us to go in the tent. Like he was up to something, it was very suspicious. I could not figure it out; I knew something was not right.
I finally just pushed him aside. I felt bad but I could not take it any more. I walked in and saw Rostlyn holding Torin in his arms. A surprising scene, but very cute at the same time. It was only a few seconds later that I realized that Torin was not breathing. Eldon had not yet come in; I could hear him talking with Quentin.
“He did not make the fall.” Rostlyn said. “I did all that I could but there was no way that I could save him with the injuries that he suffered.”
Why is he so upset? I wondered, only later would I find out. “Give him to me and get out.” I commanded, “Send Eldon in and stay out, you and Quentin have to stay out!”
He ran out of the tent as I clutched Torin in my arms. I tried to keep from crying, but as I looked into his lifeless face I knew it was my fault, entirely my fault. If I had only listened to the voice none of this would never have happened. Eldon rushed in as if his pants were on fire. It was very funny, but I could not bring myself to laugh, all I could do was cry.
“He is dead, and it’s my entire fault.” I sobbed, “Please can we help him, please, I need…” My voice trailed off as I looked up to see Eldon looking deep into my eyes as if trying to read my mind.
“I know that you need him here, or at least you think that you do. But I am unsure if we will be able to help him. I don’t know how long he has been dead, or even if his spirit is still close enough to save.” Eldon said uneasily. “I believe that he has feelings for you but he need to know the truth about your feelings. You can’t hurt him like all the others that have fallen for you. You have to see him everyday and I don’t think that you would be able to live with yourself if you hurt him like this. You know how I feel about these kinds of things. Even though I am only your brother I need you to understand that he is not the man that you will spend the rest of your life with. You know that when we find that guy for you I will let you know, but Torin is not that guy, nor any of the others that we are traveling with.”
“I know that you have that power but it would help if you told me this before I go and fall hard for someone. I just can’t help but know that this is all my fault. I should have stopped as soon as the voice came into my head.”
“Alana, calm yourself, you know what will happen if you keep on like this.”
“I don’t care, how would you feel in my place?”
“Alana, you know that I am behind you all the way and that I am here for you, but you need to know that this is not completely your fault. Lets just drop all of this and try to help him.” he said motioning to Torin.
Eldon took Torin into his arms and looked at him. He could not know for sure if there was any hope for him at all. He only knows that he had to try. There was no way that he could let this man die on his time, without him trying everything that he could.
I walked to Eldon’s horse to get our bag that had all of the potions that we had made in it. We had tried to think of every thing that could go wrong and make a potion that could counteract it. It is better to be safe then sorry.
“I tried, I really did.” Rostlyn said as I past him.
“I know that you did, but it is our turn just stay put.” I went back into the tent and gave the bag to Eldon. He took it and started to dig through it looking for a specific jar the contained the drink that he wanted. He pulled out red water looking substance and opened the lid. As soon as he did so I could smell the aroma of life.
Eldon was very quiet through this whole procedure and told me to do the same. He was trying to concentrate on Torin and I knew that I had to do the same.
When he finally spoke he said only this, “Keep him close to you until he wakes, I think that we were able to help him this time but next time I don’t know that he will be so lucky.” Eldon got up and walked out of the tent glancing back as he left.
I sat in silence for a few minutes after he left then started to talk to Torin. “I know that there is no easy way to say what I am about to tell you but I know the you will understand where I am coming from. It you can hear me, I just wanted to tell you that I don’t share all the feelings that you have for me. I care for you like a friend and nothing more.” I am no longer looking at him but rather at the side of the tent. A few seconds after I looked away I heard soft moaning and felt life in my arms once again. I looked down and found him staring into my eyes.
“What happened? Why am I so weak?” His meek voice filled my ears. “And why are you holding me?” He questioned.
“Everything is just fine now, you will be fine. Just lay back and relax, you need your strength.” My voice low as I explained this to him. “Let’s just say…you were in a deep, deep sleep and I had to wake you up before you faded away.” I smiled. He closed his eyes and went limp once again.
When I reopened them I could not move, I was motionless Torin stood above me. Suddenly Torin fell on top of me as if he was being pushed but did not try to stop himself. I did not realize until he landed on top of me that he was dead. He had an arrow in his back, I screamed in fright. We had just saved his life and now he is dead once again.
I tried and tried but still could not move. I finally gathered all my strength and tried to move my arms. It worked. I lifted them and was able to push Torin off me. I sat up, then I got to my feet; I took a step, then another and another until I was outside the tent.
I saw Eldon, Quentin, and Rostlyn lying on the ground dead. A fire lit with no one to watch the orange, red, and yellow flames dance in the ring of stones. I knelt down beside Rostlyn and looked into his face; it seemed so cold and lifeless.
“How could I have slept through something of this sort?” I wondered. “And how did I survive? Why didn’t they kill me?” I bent down and kissed Rostlyn ever so softly on his brow. I did the same with Quentin. As the tears streamed down my face I realized that I was not changing, this was odd to me. I walked over to Eldon and knelt down beside him then took his hand in mine. I kissed it ever so gently, “Sleep in peace my brother. I will see you in the next life if there is one. I love you with all the many pieces of my heart.
“I can’t sleep in peace if you keep talking to me.” Eldon moaned. I stepped back, shocked as I awoke.
“You’re alive!” I shrieked as I hugged him. It was then that I realized that I was sleeping.
“I was never dead.” Eldon moaned; Rostlyn shot up like a ball out of a cannon.
“What’s wrong?” Rostlyn exclaimed. Not knowing what was going on.
“I think I was dreaming that you were all dead. It was horrible. You were all lying on the ground lifeless.” I explained. “Torin! Where’s Torin?!” I shrieked. I ran back into the tent, I saw him lying there in the spot that I had been sleeping, he was still breathing.
I sat by the fire with Rostlyn, Quentin, and Eldon. I couldn’t stop thinking about the dream, 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.
Rostlyn offered me some lizard, but I refused it. I was in to deep of thought to think of food.
“Leave her alone, she has had a trying day.” Eldon commanded. He could see that I was deep in thought and was not in the mood to be bothered.
Eldon took me up in his strong arms and carried me back into the tent. I lay awake for the longest time thinking about the dream. The only thing that I could not figure out was why I couldn’t move. I thought about that most of the night. I drifted off before the sun rose up over the hills that were to the east of us. The first thing that I thought of when I got up was Torin; I had to see if he was all right.
He beat me to it he was standing over me when I opened my eyes. It kind of startled me, but I gave a weak smile. That was all I could do at that moment.
When we all got up, we headed off again into the vast desert. Not knowing what tomorrow might bring, or the challenges that faced us.