The memory was vivid, detailed, it was as if she was reliving the whole moment all over again. A memory that would stick with her through all of her lifetime, it was clearly not one she would quickly forget.
Her parents and her were crouched in the cramped space in their small down beaten house, their heads to the grounds, their hands above their heads. For a child she could never understand why, why it had happened, why there were even bad people in the world. She shuddered in fright as the men barked out orders, their swords gleaming in the sunlight that shone from the opened windows. Their neighbors heard their cries definitely but they were too scared to help, anyone would have been. The men were very terrifying. “Please do not hurt us, please I beg you”, her mother cried. Even at that age she could hear the pain in her mother’s voice. It was like a potent force, sending chills through out her body. It was going to take a miracle to escape this attack. Tears escaped from her small blue eyes. “I begged you once before Lois”, their assailants voice riveted through out the room. He was the only one who had spoken amongst the men who had attacked them thus far. The rest of them watched on in silence, however the expressions on their faces spoke volumes. He leaned towards her mother and although she could not see this face clearly, she knew their assailant had a menacing look on his face, she could tell by the terror stricken face of her mother, “What could this measly man offer you?, That you are will pick him who has nothing to offer over me…”, he drawled out. There was a noise, one she couldn’t identify but what followed was her father’s screams as he clung to his stomach writhing in pain, she assumed he had been kicked in the gut. At this point she was in tears, her cries were muffled, she couldn’t afford to make a sound or draw unnecessary attention to herself. Her small frame shook violently. “If you will not be with me Lois you will not be with anyone else…” “Please…”, her mother begged, “I would do anything you want, I beg of you” “You already have a child for this sleazy bastard”, the man barked. She was no fool to know she was being talked about. She risked it and raised her face, her eyes met her mother’s briefly. She had a somewhat sad smile and then she shouted, “Cleo the window! Run!” The words didn’t sink in immediately. It took a brief moment for her body to reach as well, however her mother reached towards her and pushed her towards the back door. In that nickel time she knew what she had to do, somehow she was going to run away and not look back. From this house, the wicked man and his people. Most especially from the people she had loved dearly and called family. She went for it, running as fast as her little legs could carry, she ran from the window and jumped through it. Suddenly her life was in her hands. She had to save herself, she knew that much. Although the armed men ran after her, they could not get to her or maybe they had stopped, she could not tell she didn’t have the time to stop and look behind. She narrowly escaped from them but she could not escape from the ear splitting screams of her parents as they resounded through out the whole house and beyond. She looked back at her house and what was once her peaceful abode, a place where she had made a lot of beautiful memories with her family was now her worst nightmare. One she wanted to escape from so badly. Her whole frame shook, her small mind tried to come up with different scenarios, or possibilities. She was no fool however, she was smarter than most children her age. She knew she might never see her parents. With her ruffled hair, tear stained face and bare sore feet, she walked into the woods to hide oblivious of her surroundings, the sharp cries of the birds, the chirping sounds of the cricket and other noise she couldn’t identify. She ran further into the woods until her legs could no longer carry, she slumped to the ground and suddenly an overwhelming feeling of loneliness washed over her. She sat on a log of wood and that was when the tears began to flow freely done her little cheeks, heart wrenching sobs that raked through her small body, tears that her little heart could not withstand. She was formerly a happy six year old with no care whatsoever and suddenly she was old enough to be out alone in the woods and fend for herself… Twenty years old Cleopatra was roused from her sleep by the cold frail hands of Edgar who to her was grandfather. After the unfortunate death of her parents, she had ran into the woods crying uncontrollably. Then he was behind her, soothing her. After the attack on their town, he led her back to the house, somewhere in her little heart she hoped her parents were still alive awaiting for her with arms open wide. However her hope was shattered when she approached her house and found out it was in shambles, destroyed by what Cleopatra could not imagine. People had gathered and were in tears. The bloodied lifeless bodies of her parents were brought out of the house and covered in white linen. It was a gory sight even though she could not see their mangled bodies. The blood was enough to set her off. She had turned to Edgar unable to look anymore and had embraced him tightly and called him… “Grandfather” “Cleo my child, Are you alright?”, he asked in a croaked voice, “You were murmuring inaudible words in your sleep” “It is the visions again Pa”, sweat trickled down her body, her hair was matted to her face. He stroked her forehead, pushing strands of raven black hair behind her ears, “How can you be so sure you just had a vision, it could have been a mere dream or a nightmare” Cleo sat upright, “I am sure grandfather. I can’t be having these recurrent dreams, every single day of my life, maybe there’s something I need to know, some mystery I have to unravel”, she tucked her hair away from her face, “This is more than a dream, I feel there’s something I need to do about it, there has got to be something…” Edgar smiled, “Visions are given to us by benevolent spirits and ancestors who consider us worthy of having an incline in to what is to come in the nearest future”, he placed his hand over her palm, his sad eyes studied her face, “Visions are glimpses of the future and not the past” “Grandfather this is different, it’s like I’m subconsciously living it all over again, it is almost so real…”, Cleopatra replied with tears in her eyes. “It has been many years my child, you are not over that day yet and I understand it”, he wiped the tears from her eyes with his calloused fingers, “This is a nightmare, you have to put up a brave front and fight head on to put the past behind you. Bury it until it’s all forgotten. Do not let these fears make you, you are the master of your life, take charge of your life” Cleopatra reached for him and pulled him into a hug, “It is a very lucid picture, every thing is so clear…” “What do you mean my child?” “I see everything, I remember the trees in the woods, I remember the look in their eyes. I can still hear mother’s voice as she shouts at me…asking me to run away”, she pulled away and turned to look at him, “No details are left out in this dream, the blood is splattered every where, their bodies…”, she trailed off, “I hear their piercing screams”, she clenched on to the hem of his gown, “Their wailing…”, she broke into a heart wrenching sobs, she cried hard like she had never in a long while. He pulled her into a hug and lightly rubbed her back soothingly, “It is okay my child, it will be fine” “I relive that day, before I know it I am a child again, nothing is left out grandfather, not one piece”, she held on to him tighter, “It is agonizing grandfather…so agonizing”After the unfortunate deaths of her parents she had moved in to live with Edgar, naïve, only a child and no where else to go she had held on to the man who had comforted her and she had lived with him ever since.He was the kingdom’s physician, very skilled, each day people from afar with all kinds of ailments and afflictions trooped in to be sure by him. He was very knowledgeable about herbs and this knowledge helped him greatly. However he was also a wizard and sometimes when he encountered difficult cases and with no knowledge of what herbs to mix, he would use his magic to heal them.Once upon a time as a child she had thought she possessed some mystical powers, it was common knowledge that she was different from the other children. If she entertained a mere thought in her head, it would manifest in reality.As a child she had paid little or no attention to it. One
“And so as I child was a very brave young boy, even among my peers. I knew what I wanted and I went for it. Headstrong, purposefully, determined to clear everything on my path that stopped me from getting it”Maids and servants scurried around noiselessly, their heads bowed as they set the dinning table.“You are king father, you can and have always had what you wanted”, princess Aileen replied in an amused voice.“You are so ignorant Aileen, you are never interested in history”, he took an olive from his glass and popped it in his mouth, he savored the taste on his tongue before he continued, “Father was not born a royal, all he has today he had worked for it”“Take it easy on her Cedric, Aileen is only a child”, King Javaid chided, he was a strongly built man, sturdy with a wide frame and althoug
“Lily my dear, you have to be careful next time, so you do not hurt yourself just like you have now”, Edgar admonished lovingly.The little girl nodded, her dark locks bouncing up and down, little hands rose up to wipe at her tear stricken face.Lily’s mother pulled her close into a hug, “It is going to be okay my child I promise. Uncle Edgar will make you feel better very soon”, she crouched before her, holding her hands and peering with was unmistakably love in her eyes, “And of course your mother will always be here and would never leave your side” Lily smiled sweetly and although it was obvious she was in pain, she limped towards her mother covering up the space between them and hugged her.Cleopatra sat on a stone watching from afar. Her blue eyes was clouded in emotions as she watched the pair. Her long raven black hair cascaded dow
Months passed like antelopes running through an open field and Edgar had kept true to his word. He had gradually taught her all she needed to know about magic. She was beginning to fall in love with that side of her much to her own surprise. Although they had to keep it concealed she could not help but sneak in one or two magic tricks when no one was looking. “Cleo”, he handed over to her a basket of leaves, “Help me lay this out to dry, I’ll crush the powder and I will add to the new potion I am working on. There has been an outbreak recorded in Molvania and although we are yet to trace the origin of this strange disease, we must be able to curb the spread and treat the symptoms before it spreads into our lands” She took it from his hand and nodded in understanding. “Hopefully the scorching heat of the sun will dry them by evening”
“Saddle the horses and get them ready for a ride, the king and I would have need of them”, Cedric barked orders to a servant standing besides him, his head bowed.“Yes sire!”, he scurried off immediately. Not long after the door to his large chambers opened up and Aileen strolled in.“Cedric?”, she called out to him.“Yes my dear sister”, he answered dryly, not sparing a glance at her, he looked into the vanity mirror and arranged his hair with his fingers.Aileen's large brown eyes took in his appearance, “Are you going somewhere Cedric?”“Yes as a matter of fact, father has asked me to go on a short trip with him”Her eyes lit up, “Really? And what would you two be doing there?”&n
Javaid smirked.He moved to the center of the field, he looked around the forest intently. He took a deep breath and began to twirl his hands in a rhythmic motion, his eyes were shut. It was as if a folk song was playing but only he could hear it. He stretched his hands towards a part of the forest and drew his hands towards himself. Out of that part of the forest came a man and son, holding their throats struggling for breath. They crawled on the ground towards them.Javaid looked on in admiration at his son.The man and his son were pushed forward by a force they could not control. Cedric brought his rhythmic dance to a halt as he brought them before the feet of his father.“Look here father”, Cedric smiled with pride, “It was nothing to worry
“How was your hunting trip with father?”, Aileen rushed towards him the moment he arrived at the stables.“Good”, he said in a cryptic manner.“Just good?”, she inquired, “Surely there’s more?”He didn’t say a word to her, he continued to tend to his horse Buckley. He unsaddled it and meticulously brushed his body.Aileen was having none of it, “Come on Cedric, spill the beans already do not ignore me. You and father rarely go out leisurely, if it is not a war or…”“Why is that?”, he cut her off harshly.She stared at him surprisingly, she knew he merely tolerated her but never had he raised his voice at her, “Cedric…”, she called out in a whisp
***“You know what it is like don’t you?”, she rambled on, “It is like he is a different person. Like I don’t even know my own brother…”Kalliste merely nodded. The walk had her listening to Aileen’s pathetic monologue and her nodding in understanding or rather pretending to nod in understanding. If Cedric had treated her badly for any reason it was most likely that she deserved it. She was not one to wish ill on anyone but Aileen deserved all the ills that came her way. She was a wicked…“I am such a sweet person, I do not deserve to be treated like this, not by anyone let alone my own brother”, Aileen’s high pitched melodramatic voice cut through her thoughts.