The Twins - NaNoWriMo '07

Chapter 7: Problems

Water Mistress Sulis led the twins and Elena back down the spiral staircase. They reached the ground floor again. Veering to the right, they circled the tower, and found themselves in the open space between it and the stables. She stopped in the center, and lifted her arms up around her head, keeping them straight. A sheer wall of water rose with her motion, and closed over the entire stately home. It solidified into lightly turquoise-tinted ice.

“Now nobody shall disturb us,” she said, turning to them. Without being asked, Ana and Stefan grasped hands and put out their other hands to Sulis. She placed her blue-skinned hands in theirs, and Stefan noted that they were dry, slightly rough and smooth at the same time, and a little cold. Goosebumps rippled softly up his and Ana’s arms. The trio looked into each others’ eyes, and it all began. Elena walked a short ways away and charmed herself a cushioned armchair in which she curled up in and observed the third transfer.

Ana and Stefan lost themselves in Sulis’ bright eyes. Pale on the surface, deep down below, they were seas of their own. Water pooled at their feet while ice crusted over their hands. Warm and humid vapor swirled around their heads.

To Elena, it seemed that they were in a tiny cylindrical room of their own: Water rivulets ran upwards around them as though on glass. The ice encased their forearms, while their hair got soaked from rain.

Roars and whispers of streams and floods echoed in the twins’ ears. They were unaware of what would have normally been an uncomfortable state: wet clothes sticking to their bodies, standing in water up to their knees with their shoes on, and hands encased in ice.

Elena watched, and suddenly, she realized she could see the three individual auras: Ana’s golden-orange one, Stefan’s brilliant blue, and Sulis’s indeterminate green-blue-turquoise shimmering swirl. The water rose and rose, higher than their heads, before spilling over like a fountain, splattering the ice floor. Shots of Sulis’s aura now ran through the water, disappearing as they touched one of the twins’ physical bodies. Ana and Stefan’s icy grasp pulsed brightly with the three colored auras. With a mighty push, the water shot upwards, filing as though it were going through a thinning tube, before spraying near the top of the ice-dome Sulis had erected. Icicles formed, tinted azure. Sulis, Ana, and Stefan still held hands and their clothes dripped magical water onto the floor. Green-blue-turquoise filaments still emanated from Sulis’s blue skin to disappear into the iced hands, and then climbed the twins’ arms. With each major stroke, the twins jerked slightly, but never broke eye contact.

As slowly as the whole process began, it ended in a flash. A blast of hot and humid air emanated from Sulis and the trio fell to the ground, the ice melting quickly to silvery puddles. After a minute on the ground, Sulis lifted herself up, and she looked down at the twins. Fleetingly, Elena thought she saw a look of compassion and sadness. Then, the Water Mistress turned to her. Elena had to restrain herself from gasping: the transfer had aged Sulis Fine spider web wrinkles circled her face. Her skin did not sag, but her eyes had darkened slightly.

“When they have woken, take them out of my sight,” she said, “Lest I do something we shall all regret.” And she disappeared. The overhead dome crashed back to the lake with a mighty wave. Still the twins did not move. Elena went over to them, and summoned their belongings from the chambers they had been led to earlier. She dared not ask Sulis’s permission for her precious water; they would have to make do with what they had until they found a spring. Whistling, Elena called Sinev Kimsed, Mol Ehni, and Úilna. They came trotting out of the stables at an easy pace, their coats gleaming after Zed’s care. While Elena saddled Sinev Kimsed and attached the blankets, Úilna and Mol Ehni tried to revive the twins.

It was to a wet tongue that Stefan and Ana woke. They avoided opening their eyes, and instead, threw up their arms to stave off horse drool. ‘Yuck’ thought Ana.

>And a hello to you too!< said Úilna, giving her another lick.

>Hi?< she said uncertainly, still trying to wake up.

>Apparently Mistress Sulis wants us all out of here pretty quickly so Mol and I thought we’d give you two a push towards being on two feet again< she explained. Ana sat up.

“Mistress Sulis is not extending her hospitality?” she asked Elena.

“No, it appears not. Hurry up and get on your horse, because I don’t know how long the bridge will be up. And trust me, you don’t want to be on it when it melts.” Elena shivered slightly as though she had already been through that experience, and had absolutely no desire to repeat it.

Ana looked over at her brother, only to find that he was already standing and handing her her water skin.

“Thanks,” she said, smiling, and grasping his hand at the same time to pull herself up. Slinging the water across her chest, she climbed up on Úilna and turned her so they were facing the other two.

“Ready?” she asked. Stefan got on Mol Ehni and nodded. He had the food bag. Their supplies were diminishing, but Ana decided to worry about that after they got out of Sulis’s ice mansion. She turned Úilna to the glass-like doors which had been pulled open, and faced the bridge of light-reflecting ice. Breaking into a trot, she began the crossing, and heard the brisk clip-clop of her companions behind her. Thoughts of cracking ice flitted across her mind before she dismissed them.

The bridge stretched seemingly without end in front of them. The shore seemed to get farther and father away, although the disappearing arches indicated that they were indeed moving forward. A high-pitched whine rose behind them, coming from the fortress. Ana urged Úilna into a gallop: the whine became an ear-shattering scream; and still the water was bottomless. She glanced behind her, and saw that the now-distant arches of the bridge were crumbling, splashing into the water. The sky itself darkened, and a wind rose, buffeting waves on the lake.

>Faster Úilna! I fear for our lives!< said Ana, and she felt the horse lengthen her strides. The shore finally began to grow larger, but the splashes behind her told her that the bridge itself was crumbling into the water.

“FASTER!” Elena screamed from her position in last. The splashes grew louder and the waves began to slosh over the now railing-less bridge.

Finally Ana noticed the dark blur on either side of her lighten to a lighter blue-green: they were reaching the shores. When Úilna’s hooves touched firm ground, she continued cantering on for a bit, before slowing herself down and turning around. The bridge had completely crumbled and disappeared: Mol Ehni was wet up to his knees, and Elena and Sinev Kimsed were in water up to the mare’s chest.

But they were alive.

Above them, the sky was dark and heavy with rain clouds.

“Is everyone alright?” Elena asked.

“Yeah… barely…” said Stefan. Ana nodded in agreement.

“Okay… Let’s move away from here. Actually, let’s join the road we were travelling on before,” she said, and turned Sinev Kimsed in that direction. The horses were glad to get away from the menacing clouds. As they turned, the skies opened, and eerily greenish rain fell hard and fast. Even spurring on the horses, they were all thoroughly soaked through by the time they reached the road. There, the rain dissipated and faded away to nothingness. The sun returned weakly from behind the clouds. Wanting to give the horses a rest, the trio got down and led them by hand.

“The only way I can see to find out where Thoth is now, is to contact Elwam or Grandmamma. I had hoped that Sulis would know and tell us, as he is her half-brother.”

>The answer to your question lays a day’s journey from here, with the Goddess’s Star over your right shoulder< Sulis’s distant and whispered voice insinuated itself in all three of their minds. Though they were startled, they thought their thanks, being afraid of speaking it out loud, literally or telepathically.

>The Goddess be with you<


And the trio continued their way down the road. It was already afternoon, and the sun was descending to the West, on their right. Before long, the sky was afire with eye-bright reds and oranges as the sun disappeared from view. The sky stayed light for an hour more, before the stars came out. Elena quickly made sure that the Goddess’s Star, first to appear and last to disappear, was over their right shoulder. She readjusted their course slightly, and pressed on.

As it became harder and harder to distinguish features of the land, Stefan discreetly created a bauble of light similar to that that Djenda had given them. It subtly illuminated their path and them, without plunging the rest of the world in darker night.

At long last, Elena gave up. There was no Tî’rí nearby. With wet blankets and not much food, it was going to be a long night.

“We must stop… we’re tired and we need our rest, especially if we are to find Thoth tomorrow.”

“But… there isn’t a Tî’rí around here, is there?” asked Ana.

“No, there isn’t… tonight will be a night of watches, and hard, cold ground,” Elena answered grimly.

They dismounted, and Stefan went in search of dry wood. Surprisingly enough, he found that with his newly received Earth magic, he could locate it. As he visually looked on the ground with a small bauble of light, his magical senses opened, and the Earth seemed to talk to him. He felt the weight of the tree’s branches, and the lamenting of a dying bush. He also realized that dry wood is not entirely dead, which made him reluctant to bring it back to burn. However, as he thought about this, the dry wood responded through feelings and emotions, telling him that if they could still serve a purpose, then they should. So when he returned to the campsite, his arms were loaded with large blocks of wood that would burn steadily through the night. He put them down, and went to find smaller twigs and drier grasses that would serve as kindling. No dry grass was to be found, but plenty of smaller brushwood.

Meanwhile, Elena and Ana had found large stones to contain the campfire, and had dug a small hole in which to build it. Elena had unloaded Sinev Kimsed of her saddle, bridle, and packs, while Ana had checked the amount of water in each skin, and the food they had left in the pack. There was not much, only a few apples and some smoked meat. With a sigh, she took out the smoked meat, and cut it into strips, using the knife at the bottom of the bag. She then replaced it in the bag, and went to rub down Úilna with handfuls of more-or-less dry grass. The horse nuzzled her contentedly.

>You are preoccupied<

>Yes, I suppose I am… It bodes me no good that we are going to sleep without the protection of a Tî’rí<

>Have no fear. This is not a particularly dangerous part of the country, and besides, didn’t you know that horses are only ever half asleep?<

>You’re winding me up with that last part< Ana laughed >I know dolphins’ brains only sleep half at a time but that is so that they can regularly rise up to the surface to breathe<

Úilna snorted >Sea creatures! Pah! I tell you, Mol Ehni and I are not ordinary horses – we are yours and Stefan’s horses. And that changes everything, because you are the Twins<

Ana was silent. Úilna nuzzled her in the neck, and she stroked her mane absentmindedly. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Ana wandered back to the campfire pit: Stefan had dumped a load of wood, and she wanted to get the fire started because the night was chilling her bones. Taking the logs and kindling, she built a small tepee and stuffed the kindling in it. Forgetting about the flint and stone in the bag, she called on her Fire knowledge and pointed her finger at the kindling. Ana felt the heat flow through her veins, concentrating on that finger, and suddenly, without warning, the bush nearby exploded into flames.

“Ana! Are you alright?” asked Elena, before turning and seeing the burning bush, “Lady!” she said, and hurried over. The flames were golden, shot with purple. Elena summoned some water from a particularly wet patch of grass, and threw it onto the bush. It sizzled and hissed furiously, but didn’t go out.

“Help me Ana!” Ana didn’t know what to do. She pulled the Water knowledge from her mind, separating it. She looked around for a water skin, and grabbed it. Throwing its contents onto the fire, her new knowledge multiplied it, and a deluge of freshwater inundated the bush, spraying Elena, Ana, and Mol Ehni who had been pulling leaves from a small tree nearby.

There was silence for a moment, and Stefan chose that time to come back. He stopped dead, taking in the scene before him.

“Well…. At least I stopped the fire…?” said Ana tentatively as she wiped her wet hair out of her eyes. She looked over at Elena, expecting the older woman’s eyes to be blazing with fury.

As they made eye contact, the two burst out laughing.

“And to think that the fate of my world is in your hands!” Elena exclaimed, redoubling and clutching her stomach.

“Um… what just happened?” asked Stefan, bewildered.

“Oh – oh you’re back!” Ana said, turning to him, “I tried to light the fire,” she gestured the campfire area, “but I tried it with magic,” she chuckled, “And, well, the bush caught on fire instead,”

“And then I tried to put it out, and I couldn’t draw out enough water,” said Elena.

“And I tried to help her, only I multiplied the little water I got from the water skin and,” Ana laughed, “I guess I multiplied too much,”

“A torrent of water came spraying out of the water skin and drenched us all!” exclaimed Elena, and the two girls brought out a fresh round of laughter.

Stefan raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding exactly how hilarious it all was.

“Uh… yeah, okay. I’m going to get the fire started now – with the flint and stone at the bottom of the food bag,” he said pointedly.

He got the utensils out of the bag and struck the two together. Sparks flew, and soon, the kindling roared up, the flames eagerly licking the larger logs. Luckily, the wood had been spared the explosion of water caused by Ana.

The fire roared quickly, and Elena and Ana came to sit by it to dry off. Stefan could see the water steam off of their clothes as they ate their dinner: a single strip of meat.

“We need to set up watches tonight,” began Elena, “I propose myself to take the last watch, simply because it will be very taxing for the next day, and if we find Thoth tomorrow, neither of you can afford to be running on lack of sleep,”

“I’ll take the first one then,” said Ana, “Otherwise there’s no way I’ll ever be alert in the middle of the night,” Stefan punched her lightly.

“It’s already the middle of the night dumbo,” he said, laughing.

“Well! You know what I mean,” she said smiling.

“We have nine hours until sunrise,” said Elena, “So we’ll have three watches, each of three hours. Ana, I’m going to conjure a bauble of light that’ll flash three times when it’s time for you to wake Stefan,”

“Okay, that sounds good,” she answered, “I’ll keep the knife nearby too, just in case,”

“Yes. I’m not expecting trouble though, but you can never be too careful,” said Elena, “In that case; good watch my dear,”

“Thanks; have a good sleep,” Ana said, both Elena and her brother.

The bauble of light bounced in the air, as Ana sat with the fire to her side, and watched her two companions lay down on the blankets. They had dried them as best they could by the fire, but Elena and Stefan still huddled together for warmth. Ana watched this, and hoped that her brother’s heart wouldn’t get broken.

The three hours stretched on. And on. And on. Ana played mind games with herself, and then gave up because she always figured out the answer. She tried talking to Úilna but the horse was too tired for chitchat. She drew on the wet ground with a stick, and stared into the flames, trying to see figures. And then stopped because it gave her the creeps. She forced herself to look at the edges of the clearings to make sure that no strange and wild animal was trying to sneak up on her. But the forest was silent, apart from the crackling of the flames in front of her. Her eyes grew heavy, and she pinched herself hard enough to bring tears to them. The fire grew dim, but the bauble of light kept the scene illuminated.

Finally, to distract herself until the watch was over, she explored the new knowledge she had acquired over the last two days. She found that plants responded to her touch: the grass bent towards her, and the fire flared up to life. Water congregated at her feet in the wet soil. Hurriedly, she let go, not wanting to upset the order of life in the forest. Testing her powers with firm control – she didn’t want a repeat of the earlier experience – Ana created a small bauble of light of her own. While she could speak the weak power word ‘lina’ to light her candle, the light magic came to her unbidden, although the proper magical word kimsed echoed in her mind. The light popped in her hand, small and wavering, fading in and out of existence. Ana concentrated, and it steadied. Happy, she released it into the air, and it flew up to keep the larger one company. The young woman smiled, and found that she was completely awake again.

When the large light Elena had created flashed three times, nothing had troubled Ana’s watch. She got up and stretched, and walked around the campfire to where Stefan and Elena lay. Elena lay on her side, curled up, while Stefan lay on his stomach, his arm thrown over Elena’s waist. Noticing this, Ana frowned a little, although she supposed that nothing could prevent her brother from moving in the night. Crouching beside him, she shook him awake.

“Your turn to watch,” she said, “Nothing’s happened.”

“Thank goodness for that,” he yawned, before pushing himself up, “Sleep well Sis.”

“Thanks. Watch well Bro,” Ana lay down beside Elena, and pressed her back up against hers.


Stefan took up his position by the fire, after stretching a few times to wake his muscles and joints up. Sleeping on the forest floor was not comfortable, although he had spread moss under the blanket to provide some padding. ‘Fat load of help that was,’ he thought. Rolling his neck a few times to ease the cricks out of it, he sat by the fire and tested his own powers, unaware that Ana had done the same.

The young man found that he could easily put throw his mind out of his body and roam. This he did, and he surveyed the campsite from above. Looking around, he saw infinite darkness; the horizon was only visible because the lights from the stars and the Moon lightened the purple-black sky very lightly. The night’s breeze washed through his ethereal body, cleansing him. Stefan then returned to his solid body. The two women were still sleeping peacefully, as were the three horses. Nothing was happening tonight.

A tickling at the base of his skull nagged at him. He scratched it, thinking a mosquito had gotten him there, but it wouldn’t go away. Instead, Stefan began to feel anxious, and his fear made him see strange shapes in the trees. His eyes darted around the clearing, trying to reassure him that there was nothing, that his mind was playing tricks on him.

Then, he saw the eyes. They glinted strangely in the firelight. ‘Coldly,’ thought Stefan. They were large, and low to the ground, staring intently at him. ‘If I move suddenly, who knows what it might do… I should try waking up one of the girls,’ he thought pragmatically, and then cast his mind out to Ana; for he always turned to her when he needed the most help. She was, after all, his twin.

>Ana… Ana, wake up… Wake up and don’t move…< Stefan called. He felt her mind sleepy, but not too deeply.

>Ana… don’t make a sound, or any sudden movement, but something is looking at me from the edge of the clearing<

>Stefan? What are you talking about?< she murmured telepathically and sleepily.

>We are being observed. If you turn around and peer over Elena’s head, you’ll see the pair of large eyes staring at us<

Ana turned cautiously, as though trying to just shift her position in her sleep. Wriggling discreetly, she managed to get her vision over Elena’s head. As she peered over, she saw the eyes and, from her angle, could see the vague outline of the body. It was small, rather like a child’s, with an oversized head. The creature was crouched, but Ana guessed that if it stood tall, it wouldn’t be any higher than one meter. But it was the eyes that struck recognition in the young woman.

>Stefan!<

>What?<

>We know who that is! It’s Hrael!<

Disbelief rang in Stefan’s mind. >Hrael? How can you be so sure?<

>Look at his eyes…<

>That’s all I’ve been looking at for the past five minutes, because that’s all I can see<

>Shift over then, so the fire’s not directly under you line of vision. I can see the vague outline of his body, and it definitely looks like Cael’s poor illegitimate child<

>You know… I don’t think he’s illegitimate. I just think Cael didn’t want to show him because it resembled, in part, the real him. Remember? Cael was under a glamour the whole time we ‘knew’ him<

>Oh my gosh, you’re right! I’d never thought of it that way. But doesn’t that mean that Hrael is… one of Them?<

>I’m not sure… he doesn’t seem to have had any particular upbringing, and so could potentially, in my opinion, be on either side<

>So… how do we approach him?<

>I don’t know… maybe I could say his name? I mean, it’ll show that we mean him no harm, that we remember him…<

>Okay… you do that. I’ll stay awake<

“Hrael?” Stefan said tentatively, “Is that you?”

The eyes stayed where they were. The creature blinked slowly.

It took a small step forward into the light. Now, Stefan could clearly see the large ears on either side of the head, and the thin, crouched body. The eyes clearly dominated.

“Hrael? I won’t hurt you,” Stefan said. He left the knife in the food bag, and stepped around the fire, keeping low so as to not overwhelm the creature.

“Hrael is hungry,” said the creature, “Hrael is sad that you is not coming back for him,” The huge eyes filled with clear tears.

“Oh Hrael, we were going to! We’ve just gotten our powers awakened and Elena is bringing us to the Elemental Masters so we can know how to use them. We were going to come back right after that,” said Stefan, figuring that it would be best to not mention that he had somewhat forgotten Hrael in the whirlwind of events.

“Hrael’s Master is dead,” the wraith-like creature continued, “Hrael is seeing him. He is dead in Mistress Elena’s rooms. Hrael is free!” the creature exclaimed, before his mouth stretched wide and exhibiting its rows of sharp shiny teeth. Hrael clapped his bony hands, and spun in a circle.

“Hrael is free! Hrael is freeeeee!” he shouted in a high, cracking voice. The commotion woke Elena, who sat up. Ana, taking this as an opportune moment, also sat up. Hrael caught sight of her, and sauntered over to her.

“Hrael is free! You is not needing to free him!” he said, his eyes gleaming.

“Who is that?!” Elena asked Ana.

“Cael’s illegitimate son. He kept him locked in a secret room back at the castle,” Ana replied.

“Oh… What is he doing here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well… can someone get him to be quiet so I can go back to sleep?” Elena said, a little abruptly. She lay back on the ground, trying to find the peace she had before.

Hrael continued to dance around the campfire until Stefan caught his bony wrist.

“Hrael! Please, stop,” he asked, “Elena and Ana need to sleep, and I need to keep the watch. Please, can you settle down and sleep or just be quiet and watch with me?”

Hrael immediately stilled, “Me is sorry Master. Me is being rude,” He began beating his head with his fists. Stefan grabbed his wrists again.

“Hrael. I am not your master. You are free. You may leave if you want, or you may stay with us for the night. But either way, you must be quiet. Understood?”

“Yes Ma—what shall I call you?” Hrael asked, confused.

“Just call me Stefan,” he answered.

“Yes Stefan. I is curling up here next to the fire and going to sleep.” And he did just that.