Prologue #3
There was no logical way anyone would be able to construct such a large pavilion in the short time I’d had my eyes closed. The tent was easily capable of fitting more than a few hundred people in.
But why was it so big if the only people I could see were myself, Granny, and Ail?
“We’re late, and everyone else is waiting inside, that’s why,” she huffed, her proximity over my shoulder startling.
“I…I have so many…”
“Let’s keep this quick then, shall we?” she said, tapping her temple. I gave a small nod, a silent confirmation that I was comfortable with her sifting through my scrambled mind. A power that had and still did frighten me each time she used it.
“The big marmalade thing you are referring to”—she glanced at me sidelong—”is the pabell.
Our sacred theatre of sorts for all rituals, holidays, and ceremonies.
Having everyone under one roof helps with erecting wards to keep people out.
It’s also very convenient for combatting the atrocious weather we have in this country.
The bonfires you see outside are called Aelwyd; usually, we would only have a central one burning, but this many at one Cychwyniad makes me think it has something to do with the assessment.
” She pointed her bony index finger, tipped with a metal claw, at the circle of fire.
“So, I won’t be the only one taking part in the ceremony today?” I assumed from the amount of Aelwyds dotted outside the pabell. Granny crossed her arms over her chest and began tapping the gold-clawed finger in a steady rhythm. “I can’t go into much detail, Non, as you well know.”
Boy, did I know that all too well. This was another frequent topic of her lectures during her Sunday visits.
I must be kept in the dark as much as possible in the event I possessed absolutely no Wielder capabilities whatsoever and had to go back to my sorry little life with Mum and Aunty Glad in Caerglan.
“But what I will say,” Granny went on, lifting a brow, “is that sixteen is the prime age for any abilities to be tested. Everyone else participating today will be the same age as you. Don’t get embarrassed if a few of them stare; none of them will be used to wielding in front of an outsider.
It’s very uncommon for people to be hidden away like you were.
Every other child here has been brought up in my world.
We have…” She paused for a moment, hesitant to continue, “regional groups that will put forward any children who are of age. Usually, by now, all children can wield, albeit in very small doses.”
“Everyone else here can already wield?”
“Of course,” she said, so matter of fact.
“So why make them take part today if they already know—”
“Because the type of power they wield needs to be assessed,” she snapped. Clearly, she was done answering questions for the day. One still niggled in the back of my mind, but I was unsure I wanted the answers to that one just yet.
Ail and Granny had relayed in the car I was the only outsider they had seen in their lifetime take part in the ceremony. Possibly the first in a century, Ail had added.
I dug my nails into my clammy palms. Pain seemed to be the only thing keeping me from another panic attack.
The thought of sticking out like a sore thumb was one thing, but I had found comfort in the thought that I might not be the only one failing that day.
Turns out, I wasn’t going to be so lucky after all.
Granny pulled her hood up over her wide-brimmed hat, the hood tailored precisely to fit snugly over the hat’s sharp point.
Ail mirrored her, though his hood wasn’t adapted for any headgear.
In unison, they both took the first step out of the wooded area we had been concealed by and began walking into the clearing itself, directly heading for the entrance of the pabell.
“Granny,” I said, and she turned back towards me.
Ail continued to march towards the clearing.
Even though subconsciously I knew the answer to the question I was about to ask, a small part of me hoped this whole situation hadn’t been as I thought.
That all this talk of attacks and my father was just Granny being eccentric and over-cautious.
But the way Lleucu’s parents looked as we left the cottage told me they were paying the price for my safety.
“You sent that family away to act as some kind of bait, didn’t you? That’s why I gave her my shirt, wasn’t it?” My voice cracked. “So she could pretend to be me and lure my father away.” When Granny didn’t respond, I pressed on. “Will they be safe? They won’t get hurt because of me, will they?”
She studied me for a while before silently reaching out her hand and beckoning me forward.
Her silent confession broke my heart into a million pieces.
With all the will in the world, I couldn’t get my traitorous feet to follow them.
My heart was a base drum kicking inside my ribcage, and my head swam with doubt.
The reality of going home a failure was an outcome that had plagued my nightmares for months.
But it was one I could ultimately live with.
But failing when that poor family’s lives would be the price for my safety?
My sorry existence would never be worth more than theirs.
“They are serving a higher purpose, Non,” she eventually replied. “One that all Wielders of D?n pledge fealty to willingly. To protect and preserve. May D?n shield them from darkness.” She turned and continued to the pabell.
Fuck this and fuck her. The voice seethed.
A rustling sound to my right pulled me from my thoughts; something skittered through the dry leaves.
Logic told me it was a squirrel, even a field mouse.
But the set of pure silver eyes glaring at me from behind the closest birch tree suggested it was something not of this world.
Not only did the familiar colour defy any laws of nature, but the only other time I had ever seen that colour was in my own left eye.
The pair only hovered a few feet from the ground.
No person that I knew of, Wielder or not, could only be two feet tall.
The glow emitting from their eyes was so bright, it lit the outline of the creature against the gloominess of the woods.
Its tiny hands were clasped in fists in front of its tiny body, and with a quick dip of its head, it vanished with a crackle just as quickly as it had appeared.
This day was certainly turning out to be one for the books.
Granny and Ail were passing through the circle of hearths when I turned around.
My heart felt heavy and my feet even heavier, but giving up wasn’t an option.
I owed it to Lleucu’s family to at least try and see if I could wield something.
But the voice at the back of my mind kept whispering the same thing repeatedly.
It’s been sixteen years of nothing. You know you have no power.
Sucking in a deep breath of crisp morning air, I took a step into the clearing. A step, little did I know, on a path that would change my whole life. Towards a fate I would never be able to outrun.