The Night Rider

Chapter 33

As a teenager in love I think of the old days, the time before Nuri and Jamie met. He was the first rider I met since I said goodbye to my Nazu. I don't know if you can actually call Jamie a Rider but at least the only one who works with dragons. I have never lost that part in my heart despite all these years.

I feel the presence of Rafiki in my head, actually it should be hidden from her. Right now I am so enjoying the thoughts of the past that I can't afford to send her away. Suddenly flower leaves fly around before my eyes. White and pink fill the air in my sight.

I turn my head and see the source is lying next to me, in the grass. Her fingers steer the leaves. I push her, laughing. She falls laughing on her back, the leaves fall completely on me. 'Celeste tell me something about your youth' My smile disappears and makes way for a continuous line.

I leave a deep sigh and think back to that black period in my life. 'My father who was a complete tyrant, the time when you could still sell your daughter to a man. How I always jumped in front of Elien because my younger brother had done something totally bizarre again. My childhood was hell, literally'

Rafiki lies down on her side so she can look at me. 'The Opper War, you know it, don't you?" I ask her. She nods. 'The War of Chea?'. I nod in the affirmative. 'My father was the opponent of that war, the man was a tyrant, a cold-blooded murderer'. I get a shiver down my spine when I think of him.

'You have to imagine that we're talking about hundreds of years ago, that was a very different time'. Rafiki looks at me full of focus. 'In those days it was quite normal to marry your daughter off. I was sixteen when I was given away to a man who needed my father for his army, ten years older than I was'. I become more aggressive with every thought of both men.

Rafiki is quiet and waits quietly until I continue with my story. 'I was a Rider at the time but not nearly strong enough to fight my father and my husband. Elien had been a child all my childhood since we are six years apart. He did just fine under my father's tight regime. I was a burden on his shoulders, he didn't know how fast he had to sell me'.

I swallow. 'I gave up two years in that house. Not only was I married off, I was married off to the most awful man you could think of. He didn't know women's rights, I was his property and nothing more than that. Once I was eighteen, as a Rider, I was strong enough to pack my things and leave like crazy. I packed a backpack and left on the first night he was in bed under, drunk'.

The thoughts of this time make me dizzy. It hurts like crazy. 'I started flying until I thought I could never be found again. I ended up in this forest, then still the forest of vampires. I was overconfident and thought I could handle all the vampires there. I wouldn't have been there if a young vampire hadn't noticed what I was, Novak'

Rafiki looks at me with amazement. I am reminded of Novak when he was still a twenty year old boy. His dark hair still confused, his brown eyes and his eternal hunger. 'How is it possible that Novak is no longer a vampire?', Rafiki asks in amazement. My head goes on to the most beautiful person this world has ever known, Alisha. Alisha was the purest form of patience and peace. I still miss her so much and so much.

'That's a very long story. Alisha, you know that name, was chosen by the gods as Blue Moon. When the last Opper before Chea disappeared due to the massacre of the Night Riders, and never seemed to return, the magic was split into two people. A Blue and a Red Moon arose. Alisha was the first generation'. So Novak was chosen as Red Moon?', asks Rafiki. I shake my head.

'Novak was never chosen by the gods. He owes his position to the stupidest way ever. In a drunken mood, he kills the magician it was going to be. It was full moon that night and so the transfer of magic, the magic of the Red Moon flew over to Novak'. I'm never going to forget that look the next morning. He thought the red eyes were coming through the hangover.

'How did he ever become as old and wise as he is now?', Rafiki asks laughing. She drops herself back into the grass. 'Over the years the three of us, me, Alisha and Novak, have been through a lot. Many people see coming and going. Novak has lost his wild hair with that time'. Seeing Alisha die has wrecked him forever. We all knew that it was really better, but the connection he had with her was just like that.

'What did Alisha die of,' asks Rafiki. Despite the fact that I find it a difficult memory, there is still a smile on my face. 'Alisha sacrificed herself for Nuri'. Rafiki's eyes grow big. Before she can fall into my reason I continue my story. MDuring your pregnancy your mother has been so sick and weak because of Yin that Alisha connected her magic to Nuri, this became her fatal' Rafikis eyes shoot back and forth 'but that's what you do to me now'.