Part 4 - Parts to Play

Elipson woke up to a strange ceiling, too white and too high to belong to her room. She wasn’t cold anymore and felt no pain whatsoever, which made her take a deep breath of relief.

“Welcome back, Black Lady,” a warm voice greeted her and she turned her head to face two bright eyes watching her in expectation.

“Your Eminence …” she muttered, her throat too dry and her voice too broken to obey her, and the boy siting beside her smiled, his smile spreading all over his young face.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, helping her sit up against the pile of pillows placed at her back, and handed her a glass of fresh water, which she drained in one go.

“Not bad …” she finally answered peering at her injured and bound shoulder. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Good. I had started to wonder what would happen if you were to sleep for much longer than this. Last time I heard them, rumors said you had been severely injured on the battle field, but not before one-handedly killing at least thirty armed men. It would seem the count has been growing by the hour. I was afraid that should you remain unconscious until tomorrow people would start thinking that you alone had defeated the entire Northern Army,” he told her, seeming amused by the idea, and she sighed.

“So? How bad is it?” she asked, facing his light-brown eyes where small sparks of purple glowed here and there, and he smiled unworried.

“To tell you the truth when Sir Denar called me and explained to me what had happened I was ready for the worse. But then I found out that someone had already done most of the work. So, I’d say it’s not really that bad. Still, it’s my advice that you should rest for at least an entire day, since you lost too much blood. And keep your shoulder bound until it is completely healed so it won’t reopen again. Being able to count with the aid of a gifted one really helps things through, but if you don’t take care of your injury you’ll only be wasting His Highness’s efforts,” he told her and she couldn’t help but stare at him in disbelief.

“You know … about Elian’s gift?”

“I was aware of it from the first time I saw him,” the boy replied with a smile.

“But … Melbar never said anything …”

“Oh, he doesn’t know, I’m afraid,” he replied and started folding and packing some of the clean bandages and other instruments that had been laid on top of the nearest table.

Elipson watched him attentively as he worked. So she had been right, she thought, and Elian wasn’t the only gifted one around …

“Can I ask you a question?” she ventured and he smiled, nodding.

“But of course.”

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“Why has such a great Temple like Nar sent such a young boy, all alone, to such a faraway place? Surely they had someone more experience that could have come in your place.”

“Oh, certainly. It’s just that this is my duty, no matter my age.”

“Duty?”

“Hum, yes. Since I was born a boy. If I had been born a girl I would have been consecrated to God and become a High Priestess, like my sister. Later, I would have probably become the leader of the Temple and spent my life dedicated to the study and application of the Healing Arts. As it stands, and since I am a boy, I can hardly fulfill that part.”

“Does that mean your sister will be the next leader of your Temple?” Elipson asked, rather impressed, but the boy shrugged.

“That I wouldn’t know. She’s been a High Priestess for quite some time now, but since she doesn’t have the mark ... You see, no one really knows how to solve this problem. Because even though she was the one destined to be born with it, fate decided that I should be the one to bear it instead of her.”

“Mark?!”

Solara untied the silky laces of his tunic and pulled it to one side, turning his back to her so she could see the back of his shoulder.

“The Mark of the Dragon,” he explained and Elipson bent forward so she could better see the dark spot on his pale skin in the shape of a flying dragon, its wings wide open as if to better catch a draft of wind. “And so the position, and its duties, are kind of split amongst the two of us. She is the woman born under the designated stars, and I’m the bearer of the Mark,” he explained straightening his clothes and shrugged once more. “Zeffíria hates traveling, and so I came instead of her. One of us had to come.”

“I see … so only women can lead the Temple …” Solara nodded and she smiled. “It doesn’t sound all that bad,” she joked but quickly went back to more serious matters. “But did you really have to come on your own?”

“It was decided that there was no need to place another’s life at risk,” he answered and Elipson watched him in disbelief for a moment.

“What about your life? I mean … Aren’t you someone important to them?”

“Oh no, quite the contrary,” he said, that pleasant smile still lighting his young face. “If I should die most problems would disappear with me and no one would question Zeffíria’s right to lead the Temple anymore. Also, sooner or later another bearer of the Mark would be born, a baby girl born under the designated stars, like it has always been. And Nar would have a real leader once again.”

So, she thought with disgust as she faced his eternal smile, they not only didn’t care what happened to that child, but they were secretly wishing he’d never return home …

“And what about you? Have you thought about the matter we last discussed?” he asked, his expression a bit sterner as if that mater were much more important than anything they’d spoken about before, and Elipson took a deep breath.

“To leave again …” she mused out loud, recalling that Lidya had told Elian the same, and Solara nodded.

“His Majesty will soon suggest it, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Endio will?” she asked, doubtfully. She couldn’t imagine Endio suggesting that Elian should leave his side for such a long period of time, much less to travel west.

“I believe so. He’ll understand that that’s the only plausible solution, taking into account the latest events. Besides, His Majesty will rather see his son faraway and safe, than allow him to face the dangers that an invasion by the Northern Armies will imply,” he added. Well, she hadn’t considered that, she thought suddenly more inclined to agree with him.

“And how exactly do you know all this?”

“Because I can see the future?” he retorted, jokingly. “It doesn’t really matter, does it. Just keep in mind that, when the time comes, if you don’t take the chance when it's presented to you, there won’t be another opportunity, and you’ll never be able to leave Mithir.”

“Why come to me? Why not go to Elian. He’s the one that makes all the decisions, after all.”

“We all have our parts to play. Mine is to warn you about this. Yours is to intervene at the right moment. And now, please get some rest. I’ll visit you again tomorrow,” he told her, smiling again, and bowing courteously left without another word.

* If you want to know more about this book or simply access earlier updates, please visit the official site at http://carpersanti.net/arnae/