|
Karranatey
K’tey grunted as she shouldered the heavy bag. Remarlin showed no pity, merely nodding his head to the gangplank. She grunted again, shifting the awkward weight and heading up the ramp. She followed her eldest brother, Kartenalin, down into the hull of the ship where she left the bag atop another. She looked about her once she had dropped the load. Each stack of bags was labeled differently. The bag she had just deposited said SEED, but another was marked FLOUR, and yet another said SUGAR, all in bold letters. She shook her head, not bothering to check the labels on the other piles. She knew none of the labels spoke the truth, she had enough of magic in her for that, but she did not dwell on it. She returned to the dock, grunting as she shouldered another heavy bag and casting a hateful sidelong glance at Remarlin. Once all the bags had been loaded Remarlin began giving orders for the ship to be prepared to sail. K’tey stood on the dock with her arms crossed beneath her breasts and watched, an angry, envious glimmer in her eyes. Finally the boat was prepared and she steeled herself for one more bout of pleading, approaching Remarlin just as he was about to climb the gangplank. “Let me go with you!” K’tey cried, grabbing his arm and pulling him around to face her. “I will not let you down.” “No,” was all the master sorcerer said as he turned away from her. “But why not?” cried K’tey, frustrated and desperate. “I bear the name of a future sorceress, you force me to bear the burden of loading the ship, but you will not teach me, you will not let me take my place on my family’s ship as is my right. Why, I ask?” “You are not ready,” said Remarlin, turning his cold steely eyes on her in anger and reproach. “When you have learned to control your impulses then perhaps you will take your place. Until then you shall bear the dishonor of an incomplete name and you will not join your family ship. Go now, you delay the launch.” K’tey scowled and cried out in frustration. She released her grasp on Remarlin’s arm and ran from the dock. If he would not grant her what she was entitled to, then she would not do her duty and see the ship safely from the harbor. Remarlin shook his head as she fled, then boarded the boat and commanded the launch proceedings. Kartenalin frowned at his sister as she dashed away through the streets of the town and exchanged a disappointed look with Remarlin. “She will never be the great sorceress she was born to be, will she, Master?” said Kartenalin as Remarlin took his place beside him. “No, Captain, she will not, not until she learns to use her head.”
K’tey kept running until she was beyond the town, high in the hills that overlooked the harbor. She sighed, furiously swiping at the tears that dared seep from her eyes and trail down her flushed cheeks. She had done her duty, done what she was told, for years and still her birthright was denied her. It all seemed so unfair, so unjust. Flinging herself to the ground K’tey sat, knees pulled up under her chin, she hugged her legs to her and rested a cheek against her knee. She had so looked forward to this launch. She thought for sure this time Remarlin would consent to let her go, to let her learn, and to let her claim her birthright. But she had been deceived yet again. Countless times had Remarlin promised her she could go and then come launch forced her to stay behind. But she was done waiting for him, she made her resolve then and there, her fists clenching so tight that her long nails bit into the flesh of her hand. A tiny droplet of blood slid from each fist and dropped to the ground at her feet. K’tey watched the droplets in horror, then steeled her resolve. She was done, by her own blood and the salt of the earth, she was done. K’tey reached forward, extending one long nail to carefully draw a circle in the dirt about the two tiny droplets. She clapped her hands thrice, made three slashes through the circle on the ground, stood, and stomped her foot three times. “Three threes,” she chanted softly. “Three to acknowledge, three to release and the last to guide me on my new path. I am done.” K’tey stood firm, not jumping in the least as a tiny sliver of lightning came dancing out of the clear sky to strike the very center of her circle. The flash blinded her momentarily, but when her vision cleared she looked down and found a tiny talisman resting in the center of her circle. She bent, scooping it up to examine it. It displayed two pictures, a ship tossed by the wind and being struck by lightning on one half. On the other, a dragon, mouth open with flames dancing forth from between its sharp teeth. K’tey gasped, wondering what it could mean. The lightning struck boat was a symbol of her broken ties to her family, and the dragon should signify her future, but what could that mean? She gripped the talisman in her palm determined to seek the answer in any way she could.
On the boat Remarlin turned himself about to face the shore. His gaze traveled up the hills so that he was the only one aboard who saw the sliver of lightning pierce the sky. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, his brow creasing as if in pain. Not even Kartenalin, who stood at his side, heard the words he whispered, nor saw the slight movements of his hand as he drew a circle in the air before him. “Be safe, Karranatey, be safe ‘one who goes alone’,” he tapped his foot three times and turned his sad gaze back to the waves before them, knowing full well he would never see the headstrong girl again. Continue...
|