Empress of Clouds - Chapter 24
Chapter
24
Brythia dreamt. She was in the snow-drenched forest—deer
woods with birch, ash, and elm trees so thickly situated as to make moving
through them difficult. Although it was
nighttime, the air was aglow with an astral luminance, indicating the presence
of mystical energies. The snow covered
branches cast twisted and bizarre shadows in its eerie shimmer.
She was looking for something. She reasoned that she was probably searching
for Tolian. She wandered the woods for a
while before she remembered that Tolian was in Faerie. Even so, it did not stop her from searching,
though it struck her as strange that she did so. She treaded through the knee-deep snow,
twisting herself between the close tree trunks.
Wait, she thought.
There was something there, not too far away, moving towards her. It was white and fairly large. Recognition dawned. That was what she was searching for, though
she did not know why. It was the White
Hart.
“Well met again, Princess Brythia,”
it called out to her.
She was startled only slightly this
time. “Well met indeed,” replied the druidess.
“What can I do for you?”
“For me?” The White Hart asked. “Why nothing, but how thoughtful. I have come to you on a mission from my
lady. I believe that we both serve her.”
“Well,” said Brythia, “since I don’t
know who your lady is, I can’t well say.
Is she Magara, the High Druidess?”
The beast chuckled—an unusual thing
for a deer to do. Ah, but so was talking
in human language, she remembered.
“No, no,” said the White Hart. “My lady is no mortal. She is the Queen of the Night Sky, the
Empress of Clouds, the Mistress of the Hunt, the White Goddess. She has dispatched me to bring you to her as
quickly as possible. Unfortunately, with
the abduction of her earthly manifestation, and the suppression of her powers,
my lady is now a prisoner in her own tower.
This is why you have been summoned.
She needs your help. And she
wants to help you.”
“I’m confused,” stated the
druidess. “I thought Tolian was the
Moon-Goddess. Who’s this other lady?”
The animal nodded. “Yes, she told me that you would be
confused. These matters are quite
complicated for mortals. If you come
with me, I will attempt to explain as we go.
It will take us some time to reach the Moon through the Dream-gate,
probably several night’s dreams.”
“That’s fine,” agreed Brythia. “I can’t think of a better way to spend my
dreaming hours.”
“Excellent,” said the White
Hart. “My Lady will be well
pleased. Come, we should start at once,
we have a long dream-journey ahead of us and you have many questions I am
sure. I will do my best, but for some
you must wait until we arrive, for the Goddess to answer.”
Without further ceremony, the white
animal stepped right up to the golden-haired nature priestess and lowered its
head. “Climb on my back, Princess, I can
carry you.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Quite the contrary, I am honored to
carry you who are my lady’s earthly consort.”
“But, you said...” began Brythia
totally confused.
“Please, we must hurry.”
Brythia did as she was bid and climbed
upon the hart’s back. It was a
sufficiently large enough animal to accommodate her completely. As soon as she had done so the talking beast
began to dart through the narrow trees with easy strides, yet in such a way
that Brythia had no difficulty in keeping herself on the creature’s back.
“Now,” she said, leaning forward
toward the hart’s head. “You must
explain exactly what’s going on...”
“I shall endeavor to, Princess, but
unfortunately we have already used all of our time; you are beginning to stir
already. You will be awake in a few
moments. We will have to pick this up in
your next dream.”
“Already?” She asked out loud as she
found herself awake in her bed in the inn.
Copyright 2004, 2015 Diana Hignutt
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