Dreams of the Oracle

Chapter 17

The woman who hid her name leaned back in her red felt cushioned seat. Her carriage bumped up and down as it sped across the empty dirt road. She closed her eyes and struggled to regain her, normally impeccable, composure.

The strange box that had been sent by her master rested in the far corner of the carriage. Its golden symbols and shiny black surface glinted in the approaching sunlight. Fresh wax coated the edges sealing the contents of the box from light and air. Milady risked a glance at the strange artifact. She had never thought that anything in this world could shake her, but that thing had shaken her to the core.

Opening the box had been a mistake. She hated admitting that fact even to herself, but it was the untarnished truth. To see and feel what was inside was something she didn't care to ever do again. Always before, power had excited her. She had seen things that would have sent lesser people screaming into the night. She had appreciated such things even coveted them. Now with one foolish act she had discovered a degree of power of which she wanted no part. She had found a line that she could not cross.

It was deeply unsettling.

She sighed and reached within her robe to touch the handle of her swearing knife. She smiled as she thought of the people and creatures bound to her will by the wonderful object. Slightly comforted, she looked out the curtained window and watched the morning haze drift over the fenced off farmlands of Tasura. She leaned closer to the window and saw the town that marked her destination.

She leaned back again and steeled herself for what was coming. Her hand drifted from the swearing knife to the dull black handle of another object that she always kept with her. One could never be too careful.

The carriage pulled off the road at the appointed place. This was a wooded area as yet untouched by the cultivated farmlands surrounding it. A path just wide enough for the carriage wound through the trees. The woman drew the curtains and looked out the window unimpressed by the sights and sounds of the forest. The trees were old and big their massive roots causing the wagon to jump up and down at sudden intervals as it made its way to a small clearing.

Almost before the carriage shuddered to a halt the woman threw open the door and climbed out. Her Rashaka driver descended smoothly, somewhat surprised that she had opted to forego having it wait upon her hand and foot. She looked around at the clearing and the dark trunks of the trees that reached up to the sky and rising sun. The spread of the treetops blocked the sunlight, leaving the woman and her slave in a web of shadows. The clearing was empty but for them, the carriage, and the horses. Her eyes narrowed.

"It seems your father is late," she said, looking over at the Rashaka beside her.

The creature made no reply, its strange green eyes sliding across the trees. It was still in its human guise and would remain so until she permitted it to change. She touched the swearing knife and felt its discomfort at wearing its human form for so long. She smiled slightly.

"Bring me some water," she ordered, staring off into the woods.

Almost before she had finished speaking the Rashaka had placed a water flask in her hands. She drank deeply and handed it back to the creature. Mentally she allowed it to change to its true form. The black and white clad carriage drive drifted away like smoke in the wind, and the monstrous body of her slave stood before her.

Such a magnificent sight. She looked up at its huge neck and wolflike head. Its eyes flickered here and there watching every living creature hungrily. As she stepped back to sit on the steps of the carriage the monstrous Rashaka began pacing back and forth like a caged cat. Its shimmering green eyes continued to pick out the various animals of the forest. Soon the forest had gone deathly silent. The sun's rays struggled past the trees. No birds chirped. No squirrels rustled. The Rashaka's presence in the forest had rendered it as silent as a graveyard.