“What have you done to her?!”

“I have put her into a deep sleep, she will wake in exactly an hour.” The son tried to lift her but she was completely lifeless and too heavy for him. “Let me.” I said and picked her up, she weighed nothing in my arms and I gently laid her own on the bed I had slept in. The son watched me do it and then motioned at me to follow him out of the house. I followed him quietly.

We stepped out into the sunshine and then he turned on me lifting me up and pushing me roughly up against the wall as he had done before, “If you have hurt in any way then I will kill you.” He spat into my face.

“Put me down.” I said coldly.

“Or what.” He said.

“I do no want to hurt you on your mother’s behalf, but if you do not put me down then I might.” He still held me up against the wall and did not move a muscle. I had had enough and slowly pushed him away from me with my mind, staying exactly where I was in the air. When I had moved him about a meter away from me I gently dropped onto the floor and walked up to him, keeping him locked where he was. “You should learn to pick your battles more carefully, appearances can be deceiving…. Now where can I go and wash?” He answered me with stony silence, so I dipped into his mind. It was a power I had not used much to my advantage in the past, but considering my current situation, I realised how useful it could become. For instance in his mind I saw a small creek that not many people knew about, “Thank you Nathaniel.” I said on instinct.

“What for?” I bit my lip and wished that I had not said anything.

“It does not matter. I will be back just before your mother wakes up to speak to her and then I will leave. Look after her and cook a watery broth to give her when she does wake up.” He nodded and then I left for the creek, letting him go when I had walked through the trees. I found the water and washed in it leisurely, wiping off the grim from my journey across the Plains.

My journey across the Plains had started off satisfactorily, it had been hard, but no harder than when I had run to Senkrad after the ball; I could not feel the blistering heat or the freezing winds at night, I could draw up water from deep under the ground with magic and I was used to fasting for weeks due to part of my training. Therefore I knew that as long as I did not rush, that I would have enough energy to last me. I was hopeful that I could make it.

It was the start of the second week and I was starting to be able to see a bump in the horizon and was therefor happy with my progress, I was beginning to get hungry but it was only a small ebbing and I knew that I could cope with it for another week. But that is when they came. The sand cats came to hunt the only prey that had come their way in years.

They were huge cats that would have come up to my shoulder if I had let them near me and they could run as fast as the wind that blew them over the Plains. The only warning I had of them were their loud echoing roars as they ran towards me, hunting me, their paws making no sound on the sand they ran over. I did not have enough energy to use my powers to hold them off because I had not eaten, so I was forced to run with no food, no water and no rest for four days.

Eventually I passed out of their domain as I neared the houses, but I knew that if I stopped now then it was likely that I would never be able to get up again so I forced myself to keep going. Getting closer and closer to the houses until I could go no further, I collapsed near the woman’s house. I shivered as I remembered the hunger gnawing inside me and the lack of water drying out my throat until I was unable to talk and could barely breathe.

I dipped my hand under the cool water around me now and felt it swirl through my fingers. Cupping my hands I poured the water over my head, letting it trickle down my face, simply appreciating it’s freshness against my skin. I gently washed my whole body and then brought my clothes into the water, scrubbing away weeks worth of pressed-in sand and grime from the Plains, the water ran out of them in a golden cloud as it furled along with the current, as harmless as the rain on a warm day. When I had finished washing them I put them on the bank to dry and then lay back on the blue water, staring up into the clouds and clearing my mind from the thoughts that were buzzing around inside.

After a wile I got out of the creek and checked on my clothes, they were still a bit damp so I dried them off. I dried off my hair as well and looked at my reflection in the crystal clear pool. My hair was a bit longer than it should have been so I made it shorter and ruffled it up with my finger tips. Then I pulled on my clothes and headed back towards the house.

As I stepped trough the open door the woman opened her eyes and Nathaniel rushed to her side. I stayed in the doorway, just watching her. She looked into her son’s eyes and smiled, then seemed to notice me in the doorway, “Thank you so much, I don’t think I could ever say it enough.”

“Think of it as my thanks to you for saving my life.” I went to the pot and poured her out a bowl of broth, passing it to Nathaniel to give to her.

“But surely your powers could have been used for some more worthy deed.”

“I have enough power to spare, too much power,” I said quietly I was unsure if she even heard me, “And what is nobler than saving the life of someone who spends her life saving other people?” She smiled again and said nothing.

Nathaniel scowled and left the room. I went and knelt by the woman’s bedside. “I think you know what I am but I am curious to know how.”

“It is an old story, a Prophesy; my great grandmother told me when I was just a young girl.”

“Please will you tell it to me, I need to know it.”

“You may not like what you hear.” She warned me, but I took no notice.

“Please tell it to me.”

“It is about a young girl with raven black hair that appears at the edge of the Deserted Plains after escaping a terrible evil. The girl was supposed to be beautiful beyond comparison and have eyes of the brightest blue, she would have the wisdom of one who is seventy cycles old and the powers of the Gods. She appears; weary to the point of death but lives…” She paused for a moment and would not meet my gaze,

“There is more to the story?”

“Yes, but I cannot tell you.”

“Why not?” I asked quickly.

“Because it is not right to know your own future before it happens.”

“Tell it to me.” I pleaded, desperate to know if I was going to survive.

“I will not.”

“Please!”

“No.”

“But I need to know it.”

“No you don’t, you have to find your own way.” I sat there for a moment, thinking of my options; I knew I would not be able to convince her to tell me, so I could either not find out what I was supposed to do, or go into her mind to get it. I could not decide; I needed the truth to find out what I was supposed to do now, I was lost and I had no where to go, but going into her mind for something that she was dead set against telling me was so wrong that I could not bring myself to do it. I got angrier and angrier just sitting there with the answer to all my problems sitting in front of me, but just out f grasp.

“Please tell me, I have no where to go, no one to ask for advice, I do not know what I am supposed to do next, but you could give me the answer. Please tell me, I’m begging you.”

“No, I won’t tell you.”

“You’re refusing to tell me? The rest of the prophesy could save my life.”

“I cannot tell it to you.”

“Do you want me to die?”

“No, I have already saved your life.”

“But you do not mind me dying because of my own ignorance?”

“I do not want you dead.”

 “Yet you condemn me to death.” I said calmly.

“Maybe, but I will not tell you.”

“I will never forget you,” I told her in a calm voice just as Nathaniel was walking into the room, “I will never forgive you, if everything goes wrong for me and I end up in a place where I can barely survive, I will blame you.” I told her, controlling my anger and forcing myself to remain calm.

“Mother what have you done?” Nathaniel cried. I simply looked at him and spoke calmly again.

“She has no idea what she has just done.” Then I left the house, moving silently as a ghost along the path to the forest.

I climbed up the nearest tree and sat hidden in the branches and cried. The silent tears streamed down my face as I tired to figure out what to do, to come so close to having some sort of direction, only to be left with nothing, it was like loosing all hope, like being left in a dark cave with no light or way out, I felt trapped.

Hunger eventually drew me out of the tree and I found another small tree full of fruits. I plucked them off the branches and ate them in silence, I ate until I could eat no more, unsure when I would have my next meal. After that I walked back to the river and started on my path along it, knowing that towns and villages started along rivers because they were sources of water, and everyone needed water.