| I could not, in any form of honesty, tell you what I was thinking at that time, or exactly why I did what next I did. In the depth of that night, I simply left. Before I even knew that I had made the decision to go, I was standing just outside the boundaries of the village, without even bothering to put on shoes. I looked over my shoulder, just once, and for some reason that I could never again recall, decided that it was alright that I had neither supplies nor shoes...nor any other travel necessity. I traveled in a dreamlike haze for what felt like years and was in reality no more than two or three weeks, until finally perceiving that if I did not eat soon I would die. To tell the truth, it didn't matter much to me if I did die, but I was so very tired. I had somehow found myself in the mountains, and I wandered until I found a place to rest at the foot of a shrine door, where I lay on the ground and waited for death to come for me. Needless to say, I was surprised to awaken at all, much less to awaken wrapped warmly in a good, soft quilt with nourishment close at hand. I was weak from the damage that I had inflicted upon myself, so it was several days yet before I would see who was taking care of me. So full as I was with tales and magical adventures, this seemed magical to me, as if I was being cared for by a benign spirit of some sort, like an injured hero on a quest. As I became stronger, however, I came to meet Sauron, the kind, elderly, and very human man who had been caring for me. I think he was amused when I could not hide the hint of disappointment I had at finding him to be human rather than a spirit or otherwise enchanted creature. Then, I saw the garden for the first time. Of course, I had no way of knowing how central it would become to my life in the coming years, and at the time I had no thought that it was anything other than a seemingly endless garden filled with scarlet roses. It was the most beautiful garden I had ever seen. I wandered through it all of that first day, resting when I needed to, and gently touching this or that blossom gently with my fingertips. Each time I did so, I felt a strange but not unpleasent thrill of love and welcome, as if those roses were quite happy that I was here. It never seemed odd to me that I remained there with Sauron, that my grief faded to no more than a distant memory. He became like a grandfather to me, like the grandfather I had envied others for having and like the father that I could not remember. Sauron taught me many things easing me slowly into the tasks that would face me as priestess. He started with the little care that the garden needed when it grew ill, branching out gently into ways that I could help him when visitors came, and eventually into magic. I didn't know that I was being groomed to take on his position, for he seemed to be a tireless creature of legend and I think some part of me honestly thought that he would live forever. It was just past my twentieth birthday when it happened. We were on our way back to the temple from the town nearby, returning from a trip to purchase supplies, and blithely unaware of anything but out enjoyment of the fine clear night and the good company. Something loomed out of the darkness before us, sweeping my beloved grandfather out of the way with a negligent hand. Before I knew it, this creature had a hold of me, and was actually biting me. Rather belatedly, I tried to get away and run, to no effect, and I remember realizing distantly that this creature was drawing the blood out of my body. I had never yet heard of a Vampire, much less seen one, and so at this moment I had only the vaguest idea of what was going on. With the topmost thought in my mind being a rather curious thought about what was going on, I was once again plunged into the world of shadow. |
| The Chronicles of Sorrow Marikalay's History |
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