The cheerful voice of Yanka woke us up early in the morning. Despite the evidently early hour I felt wellrested and pleasantly relaxed. It all went away pretty quickly though, when the memory of yesterday's evening crystallized from my sleepy thoughts. I snatched my haversack and left the hovel. For now, I wanted to avoid any conversations until my mind settled down.
"Did you get a good sleep?" asked Yanka, when a little fox fled from her side at my appearance.
"Oh yes, it was wonderful..."
My gloomy face didn't escape her notice though. "Are you sure? Did something happen?"
"No, don't worry... may I freshen up by the brook?"
"Of course... you need it, I have no idea how you managed to convince your hair to do that overnight."
Not very surprised by that comment, I made my way to the place where I saw the does yesterday. The sun wasn't very high yet, not enough, to fall into the clearing. I kneeled down by the bank, scooped some water in my hands and splashed it right into my face.
I felt like an intrusive idiot. I wanted to help Sril, but he seemed to not even want to know that word. I could understand his fear, but was a life like that really worth living? But maybe... maybe I still knew too little about his situation. And about him. It was easy for me to talk about fighting the pain, but for Sril it might be an unfeasible effort.
I splashed more water in my face and shook my head, trying to stop the thoughts. I glanced towards Yanka's hovel, where she and Sril were discussing something quietly. For a moment I felt like I didn't fit in there... She was so graceful and confident, he was so balanced and almost dignified... I got up and stared miserably at the silvery water for a moment.
It was then, that I heard the gentle jingle at my side. I turned to look into Yanka's beautiful eyes. "Something is troubling you," she stated softly, looking at me with concern.
"Must be your imagination," I forced a smile, trying not to blush again. "Can we set off?"
"Yes, after breakfast..."
We had it with the archdruid. Half an hour later we left the camp with all the other druids bidding us farewell. I noticed that they were mostly adults in the prime of life, there were hardly any children...
We went back the same way we came here, along the same subtly marked path among the whispering blades of grass. When we arrived at the valley again, Sril led us north-west.
If it weren't for Yanka, we probably would have remained silent throughout the whole journey. She knew how to draw us into a conversation though, asking us various more or less important things, from our age, to our opinions on some life matters. And she always knew where to stop. Her loveable and warm attitude finally dispelled my gloom.
On the third day after leaving the Sevren Forest and the last night among a cluster of trees close to the northern border of the valley, we set off at the chilly hour of daybreak. We were approaching the forest, leaving dark tracks where we erased the morning dew from the grass and stems of herbs.
"Why do I feel like I'm returning home?" I asked at some point.
"Probably because this is the very same forest, but some way to the west from your village," explained Sril.
Before I could ask anything else, Yanka suddenly cut into the conversation. "Say... are you feeling alright, Sian?"
"Sorry?"
"Do you fell alright? You're pale, as if you have a fever..."
I had to admit I felt a bit weird and was pretty tired, but I assumed it was the result of the long wander, and I didn't want to complain and delay the journey.
"Well, we've been on the way for quite long," Sril agreed with my thoughts. "We will soon reach our destination, you will be able to rest properly."
Indeed, not half an hour passed, until we saw a clearing ahead, sun reflections on some water body and the "house" of Sril's acquaintance...
In reality it was downright a little palace. The main entrance was half hidden in the shadow of a little balcony on the first floor, supported by two pillars. I could see the edge of a garden and a stable further back, from which the neigh of horses was reaching us every now and then. The mansion's windows were tall, the walls bright and behind them we could see the azure surface of a vast lake, that complemented the feeling of harmonious entity.
All of that together had to be at least the size of half the royal castle, gardens included.
"You call this a 'house'?" the shocked question escaped Yanka's lips. "That's... a palace!"
"Well, yes... but Kaan always says it's a normal house, like any other..."
It was then, that the enormous front door opened and two figures emerged to meet us. One of them was an elegantly clad young man of average height, the other, smaller but massy, a big dog with silvery-black fur.
"Welcome," the host greeted us with a cheerful smile. "I didn't expect you to return at full strength so fast," he put his left hand to his chest and bowed his head. "My name is Kaan." He then extended his hand to shake mine. "You must be Sian. Sril told me about you."
I nodded. "It's a pleasure."
"Likewise," Kaan gave me another smile and his gaze turned towards Yanka. A hint of amazement crossed his young features. "I was expecting one of the Apostles to be a woman, but not, that it would be one so gorgeous..." He approached her, gently took one of her hands and lifted it to his lips, never touching her skin. A more lively color dusted Yanka's cheeks. "Would you please reveal your name to me?"
"Yanka..."
Our host nodded, not seeming very surprised. "I admit, I suspected it would be you, my lady. Allow me to introduce my friend, Veth."
The dog waved his tail upon hearing his name. I crouched and the beautiful beast came closer, then proceeded to sniff the trousers on my knee, then my carefully extended hand.
"I'm sure you would like to get some rest, you look tired," Kaan glanced at me with a hint of worry.
Was it really that clearly visible...?
We soon followed our host inside. A storied room with magnificent stairs leading to the first floor served as the entrance hall. Golden finishing adorned the furniture, the walls were covered by maple wood up to half of their height, soft carpets were preventing the marble floors from emitting too much chill into the interior. Kaan led us through a hallway at the first floor. At the end of it I noticed a door, partially transparent due to the glass elements.
On the other side was the weirdest, and at the same time the most stunning sight I've ever witnessed.
Before us stood another, a bit smaller building. The distance between it and the main part of the mansion was around twenty meters, which made the other building stand mostly in the clear water of the lake. Both parts were connected by a bridge at the level of the first floor.
"This part is meant only for you three," explained our host with a hint of pride in his voice.
I didn't even realize I was gaping. Such a huge building just for three people? And built by someone, who had nothing to do with all this, who shouldn't even care about our accommodation and anything that we did?
All of that magnificence would have probably fascinated me even more, if it weren't for my steadily worsening discomfort. A headache and a slight pain beneath my shoulderblades joined the harmless tiredness and feeling of heat, but I tried to calm myself by thinking that all those hours of carrying the haversack were at fault.
First came a kind of anteroom, from which three doors lead to three enormous bedrooms. There were also two sets of fancifully curved stairs, one leading up, the other - down. Each bedroom had its own set of colors: sky-blue, scarlet and forest-green.
I curiously peeked into the first one, because it looked like the only one that was lived in, and that was the last thing I saw clearly.
I suddenly felt a pain so sharp, I had to lean on the wall in order to not fall over.
Sril quickly noticed, that something was wrong and came up to me immediately. "What is it?"
I managed only a faint whine: "It hurts..."
"Where?"
"My back..."
The next wave of pain would have probably brought me to mu knees, if Sril hadn't held me up. I felt his cool hand press against my forehead, then someone, probably Yanka, freed me from my haversack and lifted my shirt. "I don't see anything here..." I heard her panicked voice.
I barely heard their next words. They helped me to enter one of the rooms and lay down on the bed. I felt Sril take one of my hands in his own. "It's alright..." he soothed gently. "It will be fine, don't worry..."
"How, according to you, can this be translated into 'It will be fine'?!"
The pointless bickering was totally misplaced, so I wanted to interrupt it, but didn't manage. I tried to concentrate on evening out my breath, because short, sharp breaths that the pain was forcing me to take only made it worse.
And when the final strike of blinding heat made a desperate scream escape my lips, I just heard Yanka mutter something in what might have been the language of druids...
And everything turned black in an instant.