Post by Wolfy on Apr 17, 2009 16:31:19 GMT -5
Curse and Shadow
Prolouge
"Please, elder, they are only children!"
Amid the outcry and grumblings, came the frantic plea of a mother. The small pixie, her wings fluttering uneasily, tried to push past the crowd, reaching for the cave that held her young, her life. The elder, surrounded by the other council members, sighed, looking over at the woman with a grave expression.
"Sylvan, you know it must be done. It was written many years ago that these... creatures... herald the end of all things," he said, gesturing at the infants in the cage. Even for pixie young, they were undersized. Despite the black markings criscrossing their skin and the females black, cloth like wings, they hardly seemed capable of destroying the earth.
"But they are my CHILDREN! They are infants! You can't do this!" protested Sylvan. She managed to break past the crowd, and ran to the cage. As she fought with the lock, the elder looked at the guards, nodding towards the frantic pixie. The guards grabbed her arms, pulling her away from the cage. She fought, kicking and screaming.
"Let me go! How can you do this?!" she cried. The guards looked down at her, frowning slightly. They, too, were disturbed by the council's decision, but they dared not question it if it meant the safety of the colony. With a heavy sigh, the elder turned back to the cage.
"Push it into the river," he told the remaining guards with a frown. As one started upon his task, the other turned to the elder.
"Sir... I do not think-" he started to protest, but the elder cut him off with a swift blow to the chin with his cane.
"We can not afford to be soft, even if they appear to be mere infants," he said sternly. The guard rubbed his chin, then nodded slowly.
"Of course, elder..." he said, going to help the other roll the cage into the river. The movement was rough, and jostled the infants awake. As they started crying, all the pixies fell silent, looking anywhere but at their neighbor.
"NO! ROSEN! ROWAN!" Sylvan shrieked in the sudden silence, breaking free from her captors to rush to her children's aid. She was too late, and the cage rumbled into the swiftly running river. As the current swept it away, she flew after it, trying desperately to reach her children in time to save them. However, the tiny pixie was no match for the thaw-swollen river, and she quickly lost sight of the cage in spite of her best efforts.
For days, she searched the banks, praying, wishing for a miracle. Her children were special, they could survive the river. She knew they could. She just had to find them. After nearly of week of her feverish searching, the elder had her confined to her home. Perhaps he, too, knew the young could survive the river, and was fearful of her finding them. Perhaps he was certain that if she never found them, they would be unable to live on their own.
But because he had stopped her searching, he never knew until too late just how special those two children would be...