One So Small

The flickering light reflected in the woman\'s eyes as they stood watching the house burn. The screams had faded, and now the only thing that could be heard was the crackle of the flames and the slight shifting of their feet in the frozen snow.

\"May we do another mother?\" A soft voice broke the silence, and a dark haired woman whipped her head from the sight of the fire to look at the small girl next to her. The girl met her gaze, unflinching, her own startling blue eyes meeting the woman\'s abyss of black with seeming innocence.

\"Another time, perhaps.\" She focused suddenly on the girls clothing, covered in blood and soot, and sighed tiredly. \"Honestly, child, could you be a little careful? That\'s the third set of clothes you\'ve ruined in as many weeks.\" Her words were chiding, but her tone was one of approval and pride.

The little girl shrugged and turned back to the fire which had begun to taper off as the remnants of house became less and less. \"She wouldn\'t hold still mother.\"

The woman chuckled, and in an a gesture that was very unlike her, ran her hand on the girl\'s head softly. \"Next time mother will make sure they hold still for my girl. Must stay clean, as is befitting a lady.\"

They watched the house burn, silently, until the sun had faded from the sky and the only thing that could be seen were the dim embers that remained still alive in the wreckage of the once magnificent home. As if following a silent cue, the woman began to walk into the surrounding wood, followed immediately by the girl, her flaxen hair gleaming in the wan moonlight that had just broken free of the clouds. Snow began to fall as they walked, and soon their tracks were lost in swirling drifts. They came to a break in the trees, and a house loomed up out of the darkness. The girl ran ahead now, straying from the path and trudging her small legs through the deep snow that surrounded the house. She reached the door well ahead of the woman and flung it open, heedless of the snow and the chilling wind that blew in the house behind her.

She ran into the her father\'s study, a dark room filled with books and paintings and scents that were only her father. Tobacco and candle wax, and the faintness of long ago spilled alcohol that even the servants could never get rid of completely, and stopped in front of a massive chair near the fireplace. A man was seated there, eyes dark as his daughters were light, and he waited to speak until the woman had come into the room as well. \"What has my darling been up to tonight, hmm?\" His voice was dark and foreboding, but his eyes shone as he spoke to the blood spattered child in front of him.

The fire crackled and popped and for a moment the girl\'s eyes got lost in the flames, as she remembered the house catching fire, and the delicious way the people had sounded as even in their death thralls they screamed in agony as they were consumed by the flames which had come from her hand. Then with a small shake of her head she turned her face to her father and smiled.

\"Oh, Da...it was marvelous. The woman kept begging me to stop, but mother made her be silent so I could finish with her. And the children were terrified, all huddled in a corner clutching onto one another.\" She giggled wickedly, and pulled herself into her father\'s lap, her legs dangling off the side. \"And mother said I got too messy, but they just wouldn\'t hold still.\" She pouted prettily, as though she had just announced she had forgotten to do her chores, and waited on her father to speak.

He chuckled darkly, running his hand through the child long blond tresses as he spoke, and looked at the woman as though just now noticing she was in the room with them. \"Igraine, she did well?\"

The woman nodded and graced him with a rare, dark smile. \"All of them were done by her hand, my Lord. And quite expertly. She learns fast for one so small.\"

The Duke nodded and stroked the child\'s head absently, as one would a favored pet. \"Tell me, Morgana, did they scream for you?\"

She bobbed her head obediently. \"Oh, Da, yes. The youngest ones especially. They screamed until it was all I could hear.\" She rubbed her nose absently and looked at him with a gaze of pure adoration. \"Mother told me I must wait to do another, but I do not wish to. Can\'t I have someone to play with here?\"

He shook his head and grew a bit sterner as he replied to her. \"Morgana, I have told you before that we mustn\'t kill all our servants; for then who would we have to light the fires and serve us when we need them?\"

She pursed her small lips together and nodded to him. \"Yes, Da.\"

He chuckled again, and patted her on the head. \"Go with your mother and get cleaned up, and I\'ll see what I can do about finding you someone to \'play\' with. Only if you promise me you will leave them with the ability to be healed.\"

She grinned at him, her even white teeth shining against blood red lips, and a pale white face. \"I\'ll use the new spell mother taught me. Mother said I do it well enough to put most witches twice my age to shame.\" Her tone was one of pride, and she looked at the man for approval of her mothers words.

The man raised an eyebrow slightly and looked at the woman. \"Igraine, is this true? Is the child that powerful already?\"

She nodded and smiled with a teacher\'s pride at the girl seated on his lap, noting the contrast of their features; his dark as night, and hers as light as a spring morning. \"Yes, my Lord. Your daughter surpasses any witch or wizard I have ever known.\"

He patted her head again and nodded. \"Go then, my dear. Change yourself and become presentable. We have guests coming soon, and after they leave you will be allowed to \'play\'.\"

She slid off his lap and skipped merrily out of the room, her feet echoing off the stone floor, followed closely by the woman, the both of them watched carefully by the still seated man. After a few minutes had passed, he waved a hand and the fire leaped to life next to him. Then he spoke out loud, his voice breaking the sudden stillness of the room. \"My daughter will do great things, and make the world remember my name.\"

And then he too left the room, to ready the servants to prepare for the guests.