As I was walking through the hallway, making my way to Miss Marie’s room to play with Roison, I heard an interesting chatter from Ruith’s study room.
“Yeah, I was there on horseback, sword ready in my arm and already pointed at Lady Nieve in the forest while Martyn was in front of Miss Marie, acting like a white knight in front of her! haha…” I stopped and heard that it was Arthur retelling about the time we rescued Miss Marie from Nieve.
While hearing Arthur’s recounting, it gave me a bit of a smile and a somewhat blush when I remembered how idiotic that roll I did in front of Miss Marie.
“Hahaha… well I am glad that you four heroes came out unscathed!” Hearing that cheeky giggle, I knew right that it was Ruith. “By the way, won’t you try this milk tea?” and right there… hearing her saying, milk tea, a sudden whiplash came straight to my neck.
I debated to myself if she was really seducing Arthur, considering the sun hasn’t even set, but… I can’t take that chance and went straight to her study room, barging in even, which of course startled them.
It was actually a real close call, Arthur was about to sip the cup of milk tea Ruith just made and judging from the amount of milk tea in Ruith’s cup, I knew that she hasn’t sipped hers too.
“Martyn?” Arthur, a bit startled at my entrance, asked.
“Miss Marie wanted to talk to you! It’s about your outfit for the banquet.” I made up a lie in a whim.
“Seriously?” Arthur then immediately put his cup of tea back at the table in front of him and stood up. “Ehh… Sorry Lady Ruith, but I am afraid I have to go, it’s about my clothes for the Banquet!”
“Ohh, well… it’s okay…” Ruith said in a defeated tone.
Arthur then went pass me and speed walk his way to Miss Marie’s room in the hallway behind me. I then closed the door, shutting me off with Ruith, for I was about to give her a stern warning.
“Look, back in my world drugging people and having sex with them is called rape!” I told her off.
“Why did you do that?” Ruith asked.
“I told you! That shit you did to me yesterday, was not okay!! And I am not gonna let you do that to my best friend!” I told her off again, but…
“Why did you do that?”
“Are you a broken record or something?! I-”
“WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!?!” Ruith said the same thing again but with more force now.
As she screamed at me, the room suddenly felt heavy, cold even, it’s like my surrounding was changing into something and Ruith, she… was different.
Something felt off, her eyes went blurry, shoulders were very stiff, and her glare… it was really unnervingly.
But it got more worse as suddenly snow grew from my leg! I kicked it off the second I saw it but to no avail as it just kept growing, more faster even.
At that point I was more scared than curious as I remembered now… I am dealing with powerful and magical people that can bend the laws of nature by a whim.
The snow eventually reached to my hips, locking my legs, immobilizing me. Ruith then walked slowly and quite menacingly towards me, while straight at me, with eyes as cold as Eleanna’s… her stare was that of a death glare.
When she finally stopped in front of me, I could feel the coldness itself from her face, it’s like staring at a snowman face to face.
“THE SEEREESS WILL GET WHAT SHE WANTS!!!!” Ruith… no… something was off.
I’ll admit, her shout scared me, but her saying that words peaked something else than my fear, it was curiosity, because, her voice seems… no, it was definitely different!
It wasn’t that of a shrilly cheeky 20 something year old woman, it was heavy, too heavy for Ruith to even try to make her voice heavy, it’s like she was a different person…
“Who are you?” I gathered enough calmness and used my curious face at her, asking her with no fear in sight, in smell, nor in tone.
And to my surprise it worked, Ruith took a step back and the snow that almost engulfed me like a sarcophagus melted away.
Ruith on the other hand… sat back down on the chair she previously sat when talking to Arthur, breathing quite heavily while wearing a face that just saw something horrific.
“Leave me…” Though she said it softly to me, the tone she let out was very hostile.
Seeing her cue, I took the chance to get out of her study room as quickly as possible.
JESUS FUCKIN CHRIST I ALMOST DIED!!! What in the actual fuck was that?? Was someone possessing her? but… who? And… shit… what the fuck does ‘the seeress will get what she wants’ mean??!?!?
“Lord… Protector?” Breathing quite heavily and anxiety already taken over me, I flinched thinking it was Ruith who called my title, but it was, thankfully, Amadela. “Are you okay…?” She asked concernedly.
“No, I am not…” Sweating like a pig, I said as upfront as I could with no brakes.
“Calm… down, will you?” When she said that, my fuckin limit just broke. I grabbed her by the arm and just ran from that room.
I ran as quick until I found a branching hallway and took cover with Amadela on the side, then observe my surrounding until I knew the coast was clear.
“Okay you’re really frightening me Lord Protector…” She voiced her fear towards me.
“I am frightening?! You’re fuckin seeress almost killed me!!!!” I bashed her fear.
“Wait… what?! Why would Ruith… wait…” As she was puzzled at what I said about Ruith, she then realized something. “Did her mother came out? or was it her grand-aunt?” She asked me on who possessed Ruith.
“Wait… you know something about her, do you?”
“We’ll talk at midnight!” As she was about leave, I grabbed her hand and pulled her back to me.
“I am not waiting until midnight for you to do some shitty exposition Amadela! I want answers NOW!” I demanded.
“Alright… alright, I’ll tell you everything in my room…” She complied with my demand. “And… can you let go? You’re hurting my arm…”
“Ahh! Sorry, sorry…” Realizing that my anger took me over for a bit, I let go of her hands while subsiding it.
* * *
When we finally arrived at Amadela’s room, I took a peek outside to confirmed that no one was following us. After that I closed the door gently and walked towards Amadela, who was already sitting on a chair, preparing something quite deep, like she was about to drop a bomb at me.
She explained everything to me that the one who almost entombed me was another seeress from the past, she explains further that the seeress of the north doesn’t exactly pass like others.
They, the Seeresses of the North went somewhere else, they went to an island where ice and snow are eternal, which at first I thought they went to some kind of morbid hell that is based on their geography of birth. But no… the land maybe cold, but their standard of living there are pretty much the same when they were alive and even more because it’s their heaven technically.
Well… that’s what Catrin Feannag said, the previous Magus and Seeress of the North, Ruith’s mother and Amadela’s many mentors.
Amadela then added something really interesting about that island of snow, it is located in the soul of the current Seeress of the North, which is why Amadela could talk to her long dead teacher and why Ruith was possessed by some previous Seeress of the North that almost killed me.
“So… why would the previous seeress of the north want you dead? I know Lady Catrin since a child, I’ve even met with Ruith’s grand-aunt through her, she is a very lovely and gentle woman and I also can’t possibly see the other previous Seeress of the North to be that blood thirsty… did you… do something?” Amadela asked me, but it was with an accusing tone like I brought upon this myself.
“Not really… well… I did interrupt Ruith’s ‘meeting’ with Arthur, but that was to stop her from doing what she did to me.” I answered.
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“Hmm…” She only mumbled contemplatively. “Come with me.” Amadela then stood up and lead me outside of her room to… Alaxandair’s study room.
Creek…
She opened it slowly and walked towards the bookcase in our left side, extending her index finger and searching for… an… encyclopedia? Wait, no… she just handing me the encyclopedia, she inserted her hand again through the bookcase and pulling out… a leather journal?
“Here read this.” Amadela gave the journal and I exchange it with the encyclopedia
“Property of… Siobhan Feannag… wait… why are you giving me this?” I asked Amadela.
“I knew it…” She mumbled. “Firstly, I can’t read it, I found this old journal when I was little and I asked Lady Catrin to translate it for me but she too doesn’t understand it because it was written in old Tuath, or Cimrun what the Tuaths call it, but… actually! I realize that I was little and I didn’t know that much about the Seeress of the North back then. Lady Catrin most possibly didn’t want to bother any of her ancestors that knew Cimrun.” She explains.
“Ohh… and the fact that I suddenly spoke Tuathic a couple of days ago, gave you an idea!” I cracked her code.
“As expected of the Lord Protector’s intuition.” She praised me.
With the opportunity and reason laid out by Amadela, we finally might get some answers from this journal, so I went straight in and read it thoroughly.
The early pages were pretty diary like, it’s like reading a 13 year’s old girl’s diary, recounting the day, writing some things of interest in the day, pretty tame stuff really, but the more I read, the more I could feel a change of personality of the writer.
It became more melancholic, gloomier, depressing even, and… damn… I’ve read this, this is too similar, too damn similar to her thoughts…
12th Day of Eira, same thing as always since I turn fourteenth, act like this, learn this, do this, and… gods… I don’t know if I can take it anymore… mother always criticize everything if it wasn’t the way she wanted and bash every opinions I have…
47th Day of Gwanwyn, still the same thing, but this time uncle was there when I told him about what mother have been making me do… it might be a stretch, but uncle might put a stop or at least lighten all the things mother have been making me do.
71st Day of Haf, nothing change… everything just… god… uncle Alaxandair… uncle Máelcolim…. Father… even brother… they’ve abandoned me, mother even increase the studies and acted more harsher than usual…
92nd Day of Hydref, I hate them… I hate mother, I hate father, I hate brother, I hate uncle Alaxandair, I hate uncle Máelcolim, it’s been years… YEARS!!! Since I’ve seen my friends, but… at least they always came to ask if I can play with them… at least… I still have them.
1st Day of Eira, Mother died today… in her own bed, thank you God… thank you… thank you…
20th Day of Gwanwyn, She’s inside me… I… don’t know how? But she’s inside me and she even sometimes took over my body… why, gods… why… I just… I just want her out of my life, I just want to live free, I just…
As I reached the end of a page, I flipped it to see the next but… there was nothing, it was ripped out… it’s as if… her mother found out and ripped out half of it, not wanting the rest to be known, or… she might have failed to rip it all off.
But I notice something at the inside of the leather cover, near the last page where it should have been.
It was an owl marking and a… love symbol below it.
I’ve pieced it! Her uncles’ name, her not using the Vernum, Aestas, Autumna, and Bruma as months as well as missing the time of year, and the owl… yeah… I think I know who her mother is.
“Amadela, you remember what Alaxandair said about the first Seeress’ name, right?” I asked her.
“Yeah? wait…” She quickly realized what I meant by asking this. “Are, you, serious?! You’ve heard what Alaxandair said about them!”
“But it’s the only lead we got! This journal, the one who wrote it, is the daughter of the first seeress! I could kill two birds with one stone if I go there now!”
“NO! I am not going to let you be a feast for those Tyluns!” She stubbornly said to me.
“I am going with or without your consent Princess! Because…” that dream… that field of roses covered by the snow, those white cloaked person in the snow, staring at Ruith who was crying on her knees… it just came back onto me again and… her, Anne… “I have this feeling of déjà vu…”
“Déjà what? No, nevermind that, you’re going to be killed!” She pleaded.
“Sorry Princess, the only way you can turn off this man’s curiosity is to sate it!” with Siobhan’s journal at hand, I then turned away from her but before I could get to my horse, I was blocked by Sapphire.
“I am sorry Lord Protector, I can’t let you do that! and I will use some force if her highness demands it!” She said.
“Princess… you’re dead wrong if you think I won’t go down without a fight!” I threaten her.
“Urghh… damn… fine, Sapphire, go with him and protect him at all costs!” She caved in and even lend me some helping hand.
With her reluctant permission, me and Sapphire went straight to the stables. But before I could get myself a horse, she stopped me in the middle of the hallway.
“What you do to yourself is none of my concern Lord Protector, even if it’s a suicide mission… but remember this, as this is the only warning you’ll get from me! Don’t you dare hurt her like that ever again!!!” I was puzzled at first and a bit terrified of her warning, but then I remembered my snap recently at Amadela.
Ohh, yeah… powerful magical creatures Martyn… powerful, magical, creatures… Martyn…
* * *
Knock, Knock…
I stood there in front of her study room’s door, waiting for her to come, trying to make sense of what she almost did to the Lord Protector.
And when I heard the rustling inside, it seems she was running towards the door, where I caught, even if it was a brief, a relieved face before it turned soured.
I think she was expecting the Lord Protector to come.
“Ohh… it’s you… what do you want Amadela?” She asked with a disappointed tone.
“Can I come in first?” She only nodded to my answer.
Stepping inside her room I could feel it was more chillier than the usual, it’s like she just casted ice magic or something, and… I noticed a water puddle, it was right to the door, near the two seat and table for guests…
I was stunt, the Lord Protector wasn’t lying, his panic was justified and… no, for now I am putting that thought aside, as I need to get the very reason why she did it.
When we finally sat down, face to face, I asked her, not Ruith, the one who almost killed the Lord Protector.
She appears as Ruith’s usual laid-back and rascal mannerism change to that of a more aggressive and haughtier one, her heavy voice as well sealed the deal that I was now talking to a different person.
She asked me what I want from her, and I answered her to the point with no breaks about the Lord Protector, and her answer was, ‘The seeress will get what she wants’.
“By the way, where is that boy?” the unknown seeress in Ruith’s body asked me.
“The Lord Protector? He… went to the Tyluns to kill two birds with one stone…” I answered her.
“Tyluns…? But why- wait… what do you want? No! I am still talking to her! hey!” It seems someone barged in and it was Ruith that came back again.
“Wait! Why is the Lord Protector going to the Tyluns?!” She asked me in a panic.
“He’s trying to find answers and as well to find out her… name…” I told her.
“Wait… does that mea-” Suddenly Ruith stopped, her body became like an empty shell, but not for long because, she appears.
Her mannerism was different, it wasn’t sweet like Lady Catrin’s, aggressive like that old seeress that almost killed Martyn, or tactless like Ruith. It was different, it was like staring at winter itself.
She at first didn’t spoke, she only stared at me, observing my reaction most possibly.
“Tell me child, do you know who I am?” She broke the silence.
“You’re… the first Seeress of the North…” I hesitate a bit when answering.
“Keen eyes you have there! Now tell me again, what you have told to Ruith about the Lord Protector!” She asked quite demandingly.
“He… went to the Tyluns to find answers… and your name…”
“My… name? my name!? HAHAAHAHAA!!” She laughed uncontrollably. “Ha… a fool’s errand really, he won’t find anything there!”
* * *
Fwouhh… TEK….
NEIGH!!!!
My horse neighed in terror, as I realized that a knife-like feather was just thrown in high speed right in front of us, it was kind of similar to the knife-like feathers that Chloé used against Aedhyn, but the colour was light grey rather than jet black which made me realize that I’ve arrived.
“We are currently in a good mood human! Leave now!” A voice suddenly came out of nowhere, it’s probably them in the trees, watching me.
“Please hear me out! I’ve come to find out if you all know who the first Seeress of the North is!” As I said that, another knife-like feather came from the trees straight at me, thankfully Sapphire was with me and deflect it perfectly.
“LEAVE NOW! THE NEXT ONE WILL NOT MISS!!!” the same voice yelled at me, more furiously.
“Wait!! Please hear me out! could you at least tell me about this journal!” I pulled out Siobhan’s journal and showed it for every one of them to see.
And surprisingly, one of them showed themselves, it flapped it’s wing towards me and landed near the first warning shot.
“Come down boy… let me see that!” Hearing that one of the Tylun wanted to cooperate, I immediately dismounted myself from my horse and went to the Tylun.
I showed the Tylun the book and especially the owl and love marking.
As the Tylun observed it, flipping the page with magic I presume, because of course their wings can’t be used to flip pages! another Tylun came out of the trees, from the looks of its wings and the way it flapped it give me an idea that he was much more older than the one who was observing Siobhan’s journal.
The recently arrived old Tylun then joined too on observing Siobhan’s journal and asked me.
“Where did you find this boy?” the old Tylun asked with a surprised tone.
“The princess of this kingdom found it behind a bookcase and lend it to me…” I answered.
“Hmm… follow me!” the old Tylun ordered.
As the old Tylun extended his wing and flew back in the air towards the north, the Tylun that first came to me followed as well and… a huge amount of Tyluns, from the surrounding trees, followed the old one.
Seeing this I grabbed the journal they left, my horse’s reins and followed the direction those Tyluns went.
I Traversed on foot through the forest, almost lost sight of them even, as they were moving much more faster than me, but eventually I caught up to them and saw them standing on the branches of a huge beech tree in front of me, it was… eye catching to say the least.
As my senses came back again from that brief sight of awe-ness, I noticed a tree stump in front of me, where papers were already laid out there by that old Tylun.
I then tighten my horse’s reins at a nearby tree and went to the old Tylun, putting down the journal besides the papers and asked the old one if these were the torn papers from the journal.
“Well, why not look at it for yourself!” The old Tylun gave me the green light to read the papers.
8th Day of Gwanwyn, Brother has ascended the throne after uncle died at 72, we are now truly on our own… well, brother is the one truly on his own, he gets to decide his own future, his own fate, his own life… while I am here, still stuck with mother who commands every move I make…
40th Day of Haf, Brother just married the love of his life, she was a noble lady that he courted back when he was still a young prince, I on the other hand… married with a second Ousion prince, under the command of mother of course, hahaha…. The man is at least nice and sometimes interesting to talk with, but… every time I see brother with his wife… I can’t help but to feel angry at the sight of them living their life, by their own accords.
10th Day of Hydref, Today was actually kind of fun! I met this funny Tylun when I was travelling around the forest, he was cheery, he was mischievous, he was really dreamy… I wanted to talk to him again tomorrow, but mother… mother… that wretched bitch, already took away my childhood and now wanted to take my new source of happiness, well… I am not going let that happen!
94th Day of Eira, Mother almost drove away Falpus from me, she even took over my body just to scare him away, but the most concerning thing this day was that she read my journal and threaten me that she will burn it the next time I sleep. I…. don’t know what to do now, everything that I wrote, all the memories I have in here….
2nd Day of Gwanwyn, I can’t do this, I can’t always be up in the night supressing mother… but thank god I have Falpus! He said that he’ll keep my journal safe and sound, but… this will be the last time I see or write on this journal… Falpus also said that I should write a message for my descendants, so... this is my message for my daughter, and her daughter, and so on, please forgive me… I’ve tried suppressing her, but… we are all bound by her, it’s the only fate for the first daughters of Feannag, we are her puppets, but… maybe down the line, your beloved like my Falpus might give us our freedom, so whoever you are, liberate us… please…
“The reason why it was split in two was for extra security reasons, half with me and the other half right under that controlling bitch’s nose!”
He further explains that he showed the journal to Siobhan’s brother, King Cináed I Feannag, he was beyond horrified at what her sister endured, as he thought for all of his life that her sister was given more special care by their mother, it was even to the point of jealousy that made him stopped caring for his sister.
But… seeing this, all of the abuse, all of the things she endured, he was beyond mad.
But, he knows his own strength, which was the reason why they plan this, splitting it into two and waiting for someone who is much more powerful, who knows the situation and as well cared towards the next Seeress of the North.
I am not powerful in the context the both of them were looking, nor do I give a flying fuck about Ruith, but her situation and that last page… This was a textbook cry for help and… this has been going on for generations…
This goddamn thing was the same as hers! Same as Anne… but pumped up to goddamn eleven… god....
And that dream… that dream was really a hell of an insight, even if it was cryptic as fuck…
Well… I may not found what the first Seeress name is here, but I did found this same feeling again when it was with her mother, yeah… nothing is more sweeter than a symbolic revenge.