Dina has inherited her mother's gift and can make people feel shameful about their deepest secrets with just a single look. But with this gift also comes great responsibility and loneliness. Only very few people can look a Shamer in the eye and over...
When there was still no sign of their mother in the afternoon, Davin was standing by the window for almost half an hour, just looking at the road as if that would make her appear. They had all started to worry. Dunark wasn't more than some hours ride away if you went fast, and now that the weather had cleared up, she should have been back in the morning. Even Melli knew that and she started crying.
"Where is Mom?" She asked with a shaky voice while she licked the spoon with honey Dina had given her with her porridge to get her on other thoughts. Davin and Dina only looked at each other and it made Melli even more uneasy. Finally Dina suggested that Davin took her to the village to see Rikert Smith and his wife Ellyn. They always enjoyed Melli's company - maybe because Ellyn had never been able to get children herself.
"Are you not coming?" Davin asked as they were getting ready and Dina was still sitting in the rocking chair. "Rikert isn't afraid of you, you know?" And she did know that, but he also never really looked her in the eyes. They had had eye contact a few times before, but it wasn't comfortable for either of them.
"I know, but after everything that happened yesterday, I think it's best if I stay away from town for a while." She lied and brushed her fingers over the red mark that the miller had left on her cheek. When her siblings had left for Rikert's, Dina took the basket full of apples and started peeling them on the bench in the sun in front of the house. The heat and the juice from the apples made swarms of wasps and other insects circle her and she had to be careful everytime she picked a new fruit from the basket. It didn't take long before Beast came to join her and laid down in a beam of sun next to the bench. When he was a puppy, he would always snap at the wasps, but after getting stung three or four times, he had learned his lesson. After a while, Dina was shocked to hear him bark once again. But Davin couldn't be back already, it had barely been an hour. And then she heard hooves on the road behind the house coming around towards the front and relief rushed over her. Her mother was back. But the Beast started growling. He got up and started barking aggressively so chickens were flying away in panic. He would never bark like that at Mom and Blis. A big dark horse turned the corner and its rider looked almost as dark in his black cape with a red dragon crest on its back like the man from last night had worn. Except his cape was dark as night itself and made of a different material, that Dina didn't recognise. The rider didn't descend until Dina had confirmed to him that this was in fact the house of The Shamer.
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"But my mother isn't here at the moment." She added as the strange man came closer. He was tall and handsome with a sharp jawline and eyes the same colour as the sky right after the sun has set. A very dark blue. Dina was confused. How did she recognise his eye color until she realised that he was looking right at her. He didn't hesitate or look the other way when their eyes met and although he was very close now, he didn't seem to regret it.
"Yes, I know. I'm the one who sent for her." Dina almost wasn't listening. Someone who can look a Shamer in the eye, is a true and very good friend. If her mother was right, did this mean she could trust him? It was hard to tell how old he was. He had no beard or mustache, and most men Dina knew had at least one of the two, but though his skin was smooth and young, he seemed much older and wiser than both Davin and Tork, Cilla's oldest brother. "And now it is her turn to call for you." He continued and this caught her attention.
"Why so?" She asked and the man never broke eye contact.
"She better tell you that herself, but if you are not afraid to ride a big horse, I can take you there myself at once." He gestured towards the black stallion behind him.
"I'm not afraid." She said with a firm voice, although the stallion was bigger than any other horse she had ever ridden. It seemed like Beast was, cause he was still barking like a mad street dog fighting over food. "But I have to tell my brother where I've gone." Dina never thought twice about following the man. He had looked her in the eye and according to her mother, that meant he was a friend. And she was in desperate need of friends, even if it was just a stranger on a horse. She had to almost drag Beast to the house and tell him to stay in his bed many times before he finally listened. She wrote a note to Davin, saying that a messenger had arrived from Dunark; Mother needed her help and she had gone with the messenger to The Cliff City. She put it in the middle of the dining table, ensuring that her brother couldn't miss it. She then closed the door properly behind her and let the stranger lift her into the saddle. He did it as if she hadn't been heavier than her 4-year-old sister and he put her in it sideways, as if she was a pretty lady. It was hard holding on, when you were sitting like that, but the man easily put one arm around her and kept steering only with his left hand.
"What is your name?" She asked as he maneuvered onto the road and away from the house. She didn't know if she was supposed to address him in a certain way as she spoke, but if she was being impolite, he ignored it and answered anyway.
"Drakan." Was all she got and he didn't bother explaining if it was a first- or last name. And so the horse started galloping and she was too busy trying to keep in the saddle to hear Beast's still continuous wretched barking.
