Dreams of the Oracle

Chapter 3

Ashur brought down his axe , cutting deeper and deeper into the side of the great oak tree. Rain poured from the heavens drenching him and everyone else unfortunate enough to be out working this particular day. Rainwater mixed with the sweat from his brow and ran down his face and neck. He raised his axe again for another swing. This stubborn tree was taking much longer than it was supposed to. It towered over the men attacking the trees around it. The green leaves of the woods shown brighter against the gray of a storm that had come out of nowhere. Ashur shook his head in this part of the country one never knew what the weather was going to do.

Except Cass. 

The thought made him smile tightly as he continued to chop at the tree trunk. He was big for his age though not as big as his father.  His skin, like his father and his sister's, was browned from working in the elements. He glanced around briefly for his father, but unable to spot him, he returned to his task. Baron Arinna the local Land Baron wanted his laborers working rain or shine whenever they could see what they were doing. Some of Ashur's fellow workers had remarked that if the Baron thought he could get away with it they would be cutting down trees by torchlight.

The wind suddenly picked up whipping rain into his face and stinging his eyes. Ashur braced himself against it for a moment as ice-cold droplets smashed into his face. He closed his blue eyes to protect them and waited for the wind to subside. It did momentarily and he brought his axe to bear once more. His hair was jet black and, unlike his fellow workers, he cut it short in the Tursan manner. It kept the wind from whipping it in his face.

There was a time when his father had made a point of always asking Cass what the weather would be for each day. They would plan accordingly dressing warmer, or bringing a cloak, or sometimes wearing just shirtsleeves and trousers. They always trusted what she told them and she was never ever wrong. 

But, not long after they had moved here, father had stopped asking her. Then he had told Ashur to stop as well.

"It would be best for all of us to blend in. And we can't very well blend in when we always know something before everyone else does," he had said. 

Both Ashur and Cassandra had asked why, after all, she had a gift why shouldn't they use it to help each other? But father had been adamant. "Magic is mistrusted in this part of the world. It's better to endure some bad weather than a frightened and confused mob," he had said. 

Ashur believed there was some truth to his father's words. Only a couple months ago they had heard of a young man two towns over who could make candles light just by thinking about it. Then a fire broke out. The young man was immediately blamed and run out of town, narrowly escaping a noose. 

But Ashur felt there was something else his father wasn't telling them. 

He and his sister had both accepted their father's counsel and his reasoning behind it, but Ashur thought that his father was trying to hide Cassandra's ability from more than just the people of Bordertown. 

He didn't know what made him think this or perhaps what made him feel it, feel was a better word. 

But feel it he did. His father had always been a little distant. He was a man with secrets, secrets that he refused to share with anyone, least of all his children. Ashur shook his head and hammered his axe into the tree once again. He did trust his father he just wanted to understand him and know things about him. Unfortunately, the things he wanted to know were hidden in a web of smoke and even as he grasped at them he could feel them slipping from his grasp and eluding him. 

Ashur took a deep breath and shrugged his broad shoulders loosening them a little before the next swing. It wouldn't take too many more to bring down this oak. He swung again biting deep into the living wood. He hadn't always had to work like this. Oh he had always worked, just not as a hired hand providing for their living. His father had always provided plenty.