Binarius (10 page)

Exhaustion had begun to set in. She
had had enough. She stood up with her traveling bag (which she
resolved to carry with her at all times now) hanging by her side.
She grabbed her crystal and turned to leave. There was a loud crash
as the books on the table spread themselves out and simultaneously
banged themselves down on the desk.

Once the books knew (if books could
know) that they had gotten her attention, they lifted themselves
from the desk and formed a line at the same level as her bag hung
at her side. One by one, the books nestled themselves into her bag.
Surely she would be in unknowable trouble for taking books,
especially ones as ancient as these, from this room. Yet, she
couldn’t help but now feel a certain kinship with these books. It
was as if they wanted to befriend her. She didn’t know what use
they would be, but surely there was a reason for their insistence.
She gave a final look to the cathedral of books in thanks and
headed to the twin doors for the journey back to her
chambers.

As she opened the door, she almost
fell backward from shock. There was a little, old woman standing in
front of the door.

“
I’m so sorry to startle you dear.
I couldn’t sleep and thought I would do a bit of reading” the old
woman said.

“
No, really it was my fault. I
should have been more careful.” This was silly of course because
how could she have known that someone was trying to enter the room
just as she was leaving, especially at this hour.

“
It’s nothing, dear. It’s such a
fantastic room isn’t it?” said the old woman.

“
Oh…yes, I’ve never seen anything
like it.”

“
Well, you wouldn’t have would
you? It’s the only one of its kind.”

“
Amazing! Well, I better be going
now…it’s late. Sorry again… about that.” Firinne turned to
leave.

“
You know…I would much rather have
someone to talk to in these late hours. How about if you join me in
my chambers for some tea? I've got an old family blend you might
appreciate.”

“
Oh…well, yes, tea does sound
nice,” Firinne said.

Firinne walked with the woman down
the sleepy corridors. She noticed that the old woman hobbled when
she walked. Most old women hobbled a bit, she supposed, but there
was something unnatural to it, and she couldn’t quite place what it
was. Her hair was pure silver, it curled down the hunch of her
back. Her face was stocky, wrinkled, and sweet. Once they had
passed Firinne’s chambers, she looked back a little reluctant to
continue.

“
Oh, it’s not much farther now. We
just have to go down this bit of staircase up here.”

The staircase was narrow. Firinne
wondered why anyone would put such a feeble old woman in a
downstairs chamber. There were plush seats in the center of the
room, surrounding a fire. The woman instructed Firinne to sit and
make herself comfortable. Firinne felt awkward but did not want to
be rude, and so she obeyed. The woman began pouring a mixture of
herbs into a cloth sack. After that, she filled a copper kettle
with water, and the herbs and hung it from a hook over the
fire.

“
So, tell me your name dear
girl.”

“
Firinne.”

“
Wonderful to stumble upon you in
the darkness” she smirked. “I’m Ednas”.

Firinne smiled back.

“
So what brings you to
Archen?”

“
Business with my Uncle…” She
dodged.

Ednas looked almost offended that
Firinne had not elaborated. Firinne was beginning to feel like
everyone at Archen put their nose where it didn’t
belong.

Perfect timing. The kettle started
screaming over the flames, begging for rescue. Ednas took two iron
cups from the shelf and filled them.

“
Would you like any blood?” asked
Ednas.

Often, they (Blood of Fia drinkers)
replaced honey, stevia, syrup, and sugar with Fia’s blood because
of it’s thick, molasses-like consistency and taste. “Oh no…thank
you.” She said this as politely as she could, although she was
immediately disgusted.

“
Very well. I don’t have anything
else sweet, though. Will this be okay?”

“
Yes, of course, thank
you.”

“
It’s an old family recipe — been
with us for generations.”

“
What’s in it?”

“
Oh, I could never tell. I have
been sworn to secrecy.” She smiled again as she lifted the cup to
her nose and breathed deeply.

Firinne did the same. Chamomile,
Peppermint, Sage, Ginger, Lemongrass…there was something else. What
was it? Clove? No, that wasn’t right. It was so familiar, but
Firinne couldn’t place it. Firinne moved the cup to her lips, about
to take a drink when it finally hit her. It wreaked of Lupine. She
panicked inside, but this had obviously been purposeful. She
couldn’t let Ednas know. She faked just one sip and lowered the cup
back down to her lap. Lupine was a beautiful purple flower. It grew
wild in the fields and as lovely as it looked, it was deathly
poisonous.

Firinne looked at Ednas with
delight. “Oh, that is lovely. It’s very smooth when it goes
down.”

“
Isn’t it though. Really comforts
the right spots on late nights.”

“
Indeed…listen, thank you so much
for your company and the tea. I really must be going now. I’m very
tired.”

“
Oh dear, just stay long enough to
drink your tea. Indulge an old woman, would you?”

“
No, I’m sorry…I can’t. I have a
very filled day tomorrow and I’ve just remembered something I have
to do before I go to bed.” Firinne stood and put her cup back on
the shelf next to the fire. “Thanks again” she muttered quickly as
she turned to leave the room.

In a moment, Ednas had crossed the
distance between them and was now inches from her face. Firinne
stepped back and pulled her hands to her face. Ednas’ eyes were
completely blacked out. She was standing up straight and moving
towards Firinne with every step back she took.

“
I didn’t mean to upset you…I
just…I really need to go to bed.”

Ednas said nothing.

“
Please…I don’t want
to…”

Ednas was cornering her. She didn’t
know what to do. Without thinking of the ramifications, she flicked
her wrist and revealed to Ednas a little ball of spectralin. As she
did, Ednas began to cower like a child, yet still determined to
keep a black eye on Firinne. Firinne slowly made her way around the
room and back towards the door. She never put her back on Ednas.
She continued to hold out the ball of spectralin as a warning of
what she was capable of.

Ednas appeared to be having
convulsions. With every move near Firinne, her body twitched into
morbid angles — distorted — slow motion. Then, Ednas’ mouth flew
open and black mist flew out of her mouth. It stretched itself
across the room like vines. There was a deafening guttural scream
like there was liquid in her throat. Firinne ran towards the
stairs. One step after the other, in the tiny corridor. Behind her,
Ednas was after her, in convulsing movements of speed and slow
motion. Firinne could hear her nails, like claws, scrape the marble
behind her.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

A Means To An Escape

Her feet
were smacking hard against the floor but her torso was taking the
lead. She had to get to her room. For some reason, that was the
only place she felt she would be safe. She could hear Ednas’
breathing following close behind her, raspy and hollow. The harder
Firinne ran, the longer the corridor seemed to be. It stretched out
farther ahead of her. She could barely see her chamber
door.

Then, she was there. She slammed
the door behind her. Her back resting against the opposite side of
the door. She double-checked to make sure she had locked it, she
had. Seconds passed. She was waiting for the door to crash in, or
scraping at the door — something — nothing.

Minutes passed over her gasps which
lasted seconds.

Knock, knock, knock. Slowly,
Firinne turned to face the door. She turned the latch off of the
eagduru, hesitated for a moment, as she opened the little miniature
door. She let her eyes adjust through the iron grate. Ednas was
standing in front of Firinne’s door.

“
Hello dear. You’ve just dropped
your hair pin in the corridor, just there.” She looked behind her
in indication. As she turned, Firinne noticed black mist rise from
the base of the old woman’s skull. Her face was twitching, and
Ednas didn’t seem to notice. “Are you okay dear, you look like
you’re in a state of shock?”

“
Oh! Yes…I’m fine. Yes, thank you.
If you could just push it under the door. I haven’t got any clothes
on at the moment.” To herself, she prayed that this wouldn’t raise
suspicion.

“
Alright, my dear, have a lovely
night. Do get some sleep won’t you. I hope you enjoyed my tea. I’m
sure I will see you again.”

“
Yes, thank you. It was lovely.
Good night then…” Firinne watched as Ednas walked back down the
corridor. She pried herself from the door only after she had
confirmed that the corridor was empty — several times.

She could hardly grasp what had
just taken place. Yet, she didn’t know why she should be so
surprised. Scared, yes. Surprised, no. This Mist of Blacken, after
all, was successful in taking captive the Desideriums, so why not
Ednas? It was as if Ednas hadn’t even had the slightest indication
of what had just happened. That couldn’t have been an act. No, she
was definitely taken, momentarily, by the Mist. She had to have
been. So if Ednas could be taken, why not anyone? Why not Firinne?
Why not…Cyneric! Was it possible? She was pacing now. Maybe she was
just latching onto any excuse not to believe that Cyneric was the
monster she hoped he wasn’t? She was dizzy.

Firinne woke up early. She had
hardly slept the night before. Every hour, it seemed, she would
wake up from dreams of running down the corridor. At the end, every
door would open into something different. The first door was a
forest that was on shaking. The second door was complete opened
into a field with bolts of lightning raining down on Fia, and so
on. Eventually, she gave up trying to sleep once she saw that the
sky was lightening. She decided that she would go visit
Mabon.

Mabon was down by the stables. At
first glance, Firinne still couldn’t believe that he had chosen
her. She felt inferior next to him, and honored. He was standing a
little ways off from the stables; disassociating himself from the
horses.

“
Mabon, how’re you?” she slid her
hand down his chin, to his chest. He bowed his head briefly; in
thanks. “I don’t like it here either. We’ll leave soon. I promise.
How about a brushing?”

His hair was coarse and matted.
After a good hour of brushing, she stepped back. He was reborn. His
whole body gleamed in the sunlight. There were hints of gold that
Firinne hadn’t noticed before. She kissed him on the bridge of his
muzzle.

A hand rested gently on her
shoulder. She turned to find Etheldra standing behind
her.

“
Would you like to go on a walk
with me?” Etheldra said.

“
Is there a place to walk, around
here?”

Etheldra chuckled and said, “I know
what you mean. Surprisingly, they do have a garden. It’s not nearly
as impressive as Citrine’s though.” She winked and locked arms with
Firinne.

Together, they walked through the
outer corridor. Once at the end, it opened up into a wooded area.
At odd distances, scattered from each other, were carved out areas
of soil with flowers of various kinds. Firinne thought that it was
just like this new kind of humanity, to destroy the natural beauty
of Fia with generic, man-made beauty. Why couldn’t they just leave
her alone? Why did they have to try to fix something that wasn’t
ever broken? By doing so, they break her.

“
Your stag is beautiful. I’ve
never seen one so close before.” Said Etheldra.

“
He’s not mine. He chose me. If
anything, I suppose I am his.”

“
That’s remarkable! When did he
choose you?”

“
On my way here…”

“
How did it happen?”

Firinne stopped and looked Etheldra
in the eyes. “Why does it matter? Aren’t such beasts below you?
Below Aldithenih?”

“
Well, you’re right about that.
I’m not like them, though.” She gestured behind her.

“
No offense, but you are in union
with my Uncle. How could you not be?”

“
Things aren’t always as they
appear, Firinne. Despite what Bricius might have told you, I didn’t
choose this. I didn’t have a choice. So now, I just play my
part.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
I mean that I am not one of them.
I just play the ‘good, little Aldithenian’. I stay faithful to your
Uncle and in return…well, I’m safe.”

“
That seems like a pretty
miserable existence.” Firinne was in no mood to
sympathize.