The Twins - NaNoWriMo '07

Chapter 9: Thoth


The sun was on its way down when Stefan noticed a smudge in the distance. Wordlessly, he pointed out to Ana. She nodded, and then turned to Elena, finger pointing in the distance. It was too much effort to speak, with the wind throwing all words behind them, so instead, the trio silently turned and walked in the direction of the smudge. As it grew larger, the light continued to dim, and the temperature began to drop. The wind, sadly, did not lose any of its strength. It buffeted against them.

At last, they could make out the forms of a dwelling. It seemed abandoned: there were no windows, and the wood seemed flimsy in such wind. Whistles could be heard as they tore under the house, for the house itself was built on stilts. There was no visible entry.

“O Thoth! Are you dwelling here tonight?” Elena cried in the wind. Ana could not see how the words could possibly have reached the house, much less the ears of its occupant.

“For what purpose do you seek me, Elena a’Mare?” the answer slithered on the wind in a sibilant whisper.

“My companions are the Twins. They seek your knowledge!” she replied.

“Ah, so you have finally come upon my dwelling…” Abruptly, the winds dropped. Elena gestured Ana and Stefan forward, and they cautiously made their way to the edge of the house. There was no visible ladder, nor any way to get up to the house, save by flying: a method that none present could achieve. Suddenly, wind gathered beneath their feet and propelled them upwards. Instinctively, they huddled together in the center, fearful of dropping off. This air-elevator shuddered to a stop at what Stefan guessed to be the door, and he led Mol Ehni, followed by his sister and Elena, through it.

As they traversed the doorway, what had seemed as an abandoned and empty house, proved itself wrong. There were Spartan furnishings: a table, some chairs, a rug or two. Unsteady piles of books in the corner, and a single lit candle on the table. The companions made their way in fearfully, unsure as to where to put the horses.

The make up of a stable appeared to their right, “Your horses may rest there,” came the same sibilant voice of the wind, apparently from nowhere.

“Thank you Thoth,” said Elena as she led Sinev Kimsed to the right and unburdened her of her saddle. Mol Ehni and Úilna walked themselves over, shaking off the sand from their coats.

“So,” began Thoth, and he appeared on the only armchair of the room, sitting comfortably, “You said your companions,” he nodded at Ana and Stefan, “seek my knowledge?”

“Yes,” began Elena.

“We are the Twins,” said Ana, cutting her off, “I am Ana Maria Perwinkle, and this is my brother Stefan. Sha’Ilya prophesised our coming two thousand years ago, and Sha’Djenda did as well, half that time ago. We have been to your contemporaries: Grandmamma, Elwam, and Sulis… The eclipse is in less than three days, and we need your knowledge to be able to face our destiny.”

“You are headstrong,” remarked Thoth, “I like that. I like to know that the fate of my Land is in your hands and your brothers’. I will give you what you seek, but first, you must eat. I can tell by looking at you that the last couple days have been hard on you. Please, tuck in.” He waved his hand, and the table suddenly bore a bowl of fruit, a dish of rice, and a dish of chicken.

“Thank you Thoth,” said Ana, and she hurried to the table. She piled her plate high with rice and chicken, and grabbed a banana to eat after. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she dug into her meal, her stomach eagerly accommodating the food.

For several minutes, they all ate in silence. Even Thoth had some rice and an apple. Finally, when they were full and could eat no longer, the food vanished from view. Ana and Stefan roused themselves enough to pay attention.

“So… you already have your Earth, Fire, and Water knowledge. Know that Air is the ficklest of them all, for it is immaterial. Good luck on receiving this knowledge: and once you have it, be sure to not let it escape you attention,” Thoth imparted the twins with these words, as the three of them settled on the floor. They grasped hands and stared in each others’ eyes.

Elena, minding the advice Thoth had given, retreated in the armchair some ways away. She had no desire to be caught up in wayward winds.

There was no immediate visual manifestation, as there had been for the others. Instead, concentrated winds circled their hands. Sparks the color of the three auras jumped: golden-orange, brilliant blue, and silvery white. The winds picked up, and then they circled their bodies entirely: to the twins, they were neither hot nor cold, simply probing. To Elena, she occasionally felt the heat of the desert, or the deep chilling cold of winter. The wind made their clothing flap and their hair blow wildly. The twins’ straight midnight black hair whipped across their faces and around their necks; Thoth’s sable locks hardly moved. Elena heard whistles as the wind forced its way in every crevice, in every fold of clothing, and through every limb. Before her eyes, the three figures seem to fade from view, as though they were melding with the Air. They flickered in and out of existence, as their auras became more pronounced. Ana’s golden-orange and Stefan’s brilliant blue outshined Thoth’s silvery white, though they all remained steadfast.

Sparks flew from all three, but they were only absorbed by the colored auras. The winds roared and whistled. They shook the house to the point that Elena gripped the sides of the armchair to not blow away. The wind oddly brought in no sand, but tore around the seated figures, and beneath them. They rose into mid-air, the wind ever encircling them.

Then it began to retreat. The gales were calmed to breezes, and the three figures came down slowly. They became more solid and the sparks retreated. Swiftly, all the winds died and Thoth, Ana, and Stefan collapsed. Elena, used to this by now, continued to sit in her chair.

Thoth was the first to come around. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, then his entire face.

“I would let them sleep if I were you,” he said as Elena reached to wake them, “They now have all four Elementals in them: they need rest to accommodate them.”

Elena nodded slowly and retreated back to the armchair. Unnoticed to her, Thoth widened the bed that was in the corner, and gently Air-lifted the twins. They hardly moved once they were on it. Wearily, he walked to the chair, transforming it into a plush armchair on the way. Sinking into it, he observed Elena with tired eyes.

“Where do you intend on bringing them now? You have been lucky to escape Them on your journey here,”

“I know… I believe I must bring them back to my castle, where, apparently, they saw the inscription of Sha’Djenda in foretelling their coming. From there, I hope that the Mistress can give us an indication of where we are to go next…”

“You cannot go back there,” said Thoth forcefully.

“Why not? I know there is no time; I was going to Transport them.”

“No… but They have found Cael’s dead body. Your castle is under siege, and They have spread to your countryside, spreading terror. You cannot go back there… it would put everything in jeopardy.” Elena was stricken at the news.

“Where to, then?”

“There are power lines across our world. It is true that your castle is built on two of those intersecting lines. However, not too far from here, four lines meet. The Goddess’s line also rises straight up from it: I believe that is where you must bring them. For the Goddess’s line that rises up is a direct link – as I found out recently – to their Land.” Thoth looked out the window at the dark sky. Elena tried to process this new information.

“How… how is it that I did not know of this?” she stammered.

“The power lines were concealed until recently. Reach out now to the South… You must be able to feel them now,”

Elena closed her eyes and let go of her physical body. She let her mind wander, not specifically looking, but feeling for the natural power of the Land. It filled her and tugged her in different directions. She was the wind, and she was the sand, and she was the water of the oasis. But one tug pulled her beyond any other. Her mind was pulled from the other environments, and suddenly she was there. The power lines pulsed with white energy in her mind. She was drawn to their power, and she drifted closer to examine them. Looking down at the desert floor, she saw a strange arrangement of stone arches. Five, to be precise, all interlocking.

Wrenching herself from the view, she tumbled back into her physical body, her breath catching.

“The arches… did you see the arches?” she said breathlessly to Thoth. He nodded, “That’s where they have to go,” she said, “but when? The eclipse is in two days.”

“You may stay the day here, and allow the twins to experiment a little with their newly acquired knowledge. On the day of the eclipse, Transport yourselves to the arches, and help secure the area. I’ll help you because this is my domain, but beyond that, I cannot do much,” Elena nodded in acceptance. Ideally, the Elemental Masters would be present to secure the area of Them, but there was no time to summon them, nor to convey the urgency. They were too detached for that.

On the bed, the twins slept on, their mind awhirl with new knowledge. Unbeknownst to all, while Thoth protected his home, Elena took the risk: she returned to her home castle.


Upon arriving in her chambers, Elena almost choked at the smell emanating from the creature that had been Cael. A smoky atmosphere hung at the top of the chamber. Shouts could be heard from the corridor outside, so she shied away from it. Elena aimed for her desk, pulling out her Healing bag and throwing into it all her herbs and bandages. She also salvaged her most important written work in another bag. Crazy as it all may seem, and unsure if her Land was even going to still be in existence next week, she didn’t want to take the risk in losing all her contacts and notes. Armed with the two bags, she hesitated before drawing her magic again. Edging around the dead body, she aimed for her closet, and pulled the door open. Conjuring some light, she looked around at her clothes, and, startlingly, noticed a door at the back of the small room. Glancing back at her main chamber, she pulled the door to her closet closed and swiftly crossed the room. She touched the door, her hands caressing the ornate carvings.

“So… this is how the Twins came into my closet… I wonder where it leads to…” Elena murmured, and pulled it open. Light from the bobbing ball spilled into the dark passageway, illuminating bare stone. With a small glance over her shoulder to her closet, Elena pulled the door shut behind her silently. She made her way down the passage, finding it odd that there were no secondary passages off the sides. She followed it, and it abruptly gave into a circular stone chamber. A fleeting movement at the corner of her eye made her head turn to the right, but there was nothing. The markings on the wall recalled her instead.

They were the same markings Ana and Stefan had seen. But new additions had been made. Below them all, five lines pointing to the interlocking arches Elena had seen in the desert. But now, it seemed that an earlier marking had been rubbed out, or tried to. And other strange squiggly markings that Elena could make no sense out of adorned the wall.

Elena started, as though a noise had sounded. But the caves were as silent as they were before. Almost too silent, but that was to be expected, seeing as they were, Elena was sure now, built in the very foundations of her castle.

It was time to go back to Thoth’s home. It was time to try and prepare the twins for whatever they were going to have to do when standing in those arches the moment the eclipse was total.


Turning to the cave, she picked up a chalky stone and began to draw a circle. As she completed it, Elena became aware that she was being observed. Nervously, she looked up, and gasped. Standing in the doorway of one of the passages was medium-aged woman. Her hair was long, white, and braided. Her clothes were old and worn, of murky browns, greys, and blacks, as though they absorbed the colors of her surroundings.

“It is already midday, Elena,” said the woman, “The twins will be waking soon, if they haven’t already.”

“Who… who are you?” Elena said, her magic poised as she relaxed in to a defence stance.

“You have nothing to fear from me. You know me as I know you, and the twins have met me before – I did not, of course, look this way to them,”

“You… Oh my Lady,” Elena fell to her knees as she realized to whom she was talking, “You are the Mistress…”

The woman chuckled, “Yes, I have been called the Mistress… I suppose that is what I am now, although three hundred years ago, I was roaming the world. My name is Sha’Djenda,”

“But… so you… I am so confused,” said Elena, shaking her head.

“It is alright, child, to be confused. I myself am still confused about my existence. All I know is that the castle must have a Mistress, and that when one dies, another must replace her. I replaced Sha’Ilya as Mistress three hundred years ago. She was one Seer who lived an incredibly long time,”

“Oh,” was all Elena could manage.

“So, are you planning on going back to Thoth’s today or tomorrow? Because by tomorrow, it may be too late,”

“Too late for what?”

“Too late for me to be of any use or help,” said Djenda, “Now, get up off your knees as though I were some deity, because I am not, and work your magic because mine has long since begun to fade.”

“I… yes Sha’Djenda, of course,” said Elena, and she resumed her magicking. Within minutes, the crudely drawn circle was aglow with Elena’s silvery-blue magic, and the two women stepped into the pool together…

…And reappeared at the bottom of Thoth’s seemingly unsteady structure he called ‘home’. Elena vanished her pool of magic behind her, and called up to Thoth:

“Thoth! I’m back!” she yelled, inhaling sand at the same time by mistake as the winds tossed it around. She coughed to get it out of her throat. Thoth stuck his head out the window. He frowned when he saw Djenda, but he didn’t feel her as a harmful presence. Waving his hand, they were Air-lifted up to his entrance. The two women gratefully stepped in, out of the vicious wind.

“You’re alright?” asked Thoth, concerned, “You didn’t meet any of Them?”

“Beside the dead one in my chamber that Stefan killed? No, although my rooms were filled with Their smoky atmosphere though, clearly showing They’d been through,” Elena pulled a face, “They at least could’ve removed the body.”

“But then, who is…?” Thoth let the question hang in the air, clearly wanting to know, but not sure how to phrase it.

“I am Sha’Djenda,” said the woman concerned, “I was the second and last to prophesize about the Twins’ coming. They’ve met me before. Elena also knows me as the Mistress of her castle.”

“Ah, I see,” said Thoth, familiar with the prophecies and their history, “Do you want anything to eat? Drink? A place to rest?” As he enumerated each of the three things, a pitcher of water, a bowl of fruit, and a comfortable couch appeared, accommodating themselves to the already present furniture.

“Water would be great,” Djenda replied. She lowered herself gracefully to the couch as Thoth did some intricate movements with his hands and arms. A glass of water appeared in front of Djenda, and she took it, “Thank you,” she smiled.

“My pleasure,” Thoth replied, before turning back to Elena.

“What did you get from your rooms?”

“Documents of mine for work, and all my medicines. I don’t know what’s going to happen at the eclipse tomorrow, but I do know that I want to be prepared for any potential Healing. It is, after all, my second area of expertise.”

Thoth nodded in agreement, “Good thinking.”

“Have the twins budged at all yet?” Elena glanced over at them.

“No, although they should soon. What do you intend to do until the eclipse?”

“I don’t know yet… I wish I could instruct them somehow, but apparently it’s for that purpose that Sha’Djenda insisted on coming with me,” Elena shrugged, “I guess we’ll have to leave it up to her,” She didn’t like the prospect at all, but there was little she could do in facing the ancient Seer.

Djenda didn’t offer anything up to clarify her role. Elena brought a chair over to where the twins were sleeping, and sat down. Softly, she ruffled Stefan’s hair, brushing it out of his face. She thought no one was watching her, but Thoth saw the look of sadness and affection on her face. She sighed quietly. Kissing her fingers, she pressed them to his lips. Then, she took the blanket at the end of the bed and covered them. It was neither hot nor cold, but she felt like she should do it. Composing herself, Elena returned to the couch and sat down next to Djenda.

>You are pining for him, aren’t you?< asked the Seer without looking at Elena.

Startled, Elena replied >Yes, I suppose I am…<

>Do you realize how dangerous that is?< Sha’Djenda was indifferent about this. No note of outrage or sharpness. Just indifference.

>I… No. Yes. I don’t know.<

>His feelings for you, and you responding, may well affect the outcome of the prophecy. It is important for both of them to have a clear mind when the eclipse is total.<

>But how can I hope to undo the past?< Elena sighed, both at the effort of maintaining the mind-speech and at the situation in which she had gotten herself in.

>Dissuade him. Ignore him somewhat, impress upon him that what you two shared in the forest clearing was nothing more than a friendship kiss; comfort between two friends. Remember that you are married, Elena. Remember your vows to your husband and children. You cannot put any or all of that in danger<

Elena was slightly startled that the Seer knew about the kiss. Then again, she was a Seer. But remembering the marriage ceremony and the vows she had sworn to her husband and then-unborn children, a blush rose to cover her neck and cheeks. She had been disloyal: she had entertained thoughts of another man in stead of her husband, she had even gone as far as kissing that man. Those were grounds enough for her husband to divorce her and take custody of her children so that they might not be infected with her treacherous thoughts and manners. No, she could not allow that to happen.

Djenda watched out of the corner of her eye as all of these emotions crossed Elena’s face so plainly for her to see.

>Nothing I have mentioned, nor anything anyone saw in this place will be known. But know and remember your position when Stefan awakes. The future of this Land and his home Land are partly in his hands.<

>Even if he doesn’t get over me… Won’t his sister’s power overtake that?<

>I do not know if one is stronger than the other… And if their powers are equally matched – as they should be – then who knows what might happen? Perhaps both worlds will be annihilated as a result<

At the thought of losing her own Land at partly her fault, Elena nearly crumbled. The overwhelming realizations made her want to return to her castle and be taken prisoner of Them. Surely being Their prisoner and at Their mercy was better than living – or dying – with the knowledge that she had unknowingly played such a large part in the final outcome – whatever it might be.

>Running away will not solve anything<

Elena wanted to forcefully make the Seer be quiet. To stop the horrible twisted images of her beautiful but dead planet in her mind. To rewind time and take back the kiss, no matter how electrifying it had been. To…

Stefan stirred on the bed, and sat up, pushing back the covers. He stared unblinkingly at the opposite wall, which happened to be the stable wall. Like a zombie, he swung his legs over the bed and made his way, slightly unsteadily, to Mol Ehni. Oblivious to his surroundings and the three people fixating him, he leant heavily against the horse, and whispered in it’s mane. The horse nuzzled him, obviously puzzled at his master’s behavior. Mol Ehni’s ears moved constantly, trying to pick up the sounds Stefan was making. The young man’s shoulders shook spastically, and he could hardly stand straight. Just as Elena was going to make a move towards him, two things happened simultaneously. First, Djenda restrained her. Though she was becoming an aging woman by the minute, her arms were surprisingly strong, and her magic placed a vocal binding so Elena could not cry out. Thoth launched himself at Stefan, pulling his arms behind him. The twin seemed to not realize anything was going wrong, until Thoth kicked his knees out from under him and made him kneel on the floor.

“Now, you are going to do exactly as I say,” he murmured in Stefan’s ear, menacingly.