Princess Nymeria's Arc

Chapter 9 of 32

The gray sun rose and touched Nymeria's face. She woke in the small room and felt no warmth in the light. The air was cold and sharp. She sat up and pulled the black book close. Her wolf lifted its head by the bed. This was the morning Mirelle had promised. The youth spell had worked. The bargain was done. Now she would learn if the door out was real. Nymeria stretched and left the room. The wolf padded after her. In the main chamber a young woman knelt by the fire. She had soft brown hair and green eyes. She whispered rhymes into the flames, and the fire bent to her words. Last night Nymeria had spoken with an old witch, gray and bent. This girl was that same witch, made young again by Nymeria's own blood. "You have awoken," the girl said. She smiled and rose. "Look at me. Your blood did this. I have not felt this strong in fifty years." Nymeria stared. "Mirelle. It truly worked." "It did." Mirelle brushed ash from her knees. "And a bargain is a bargain. You kept your word. I keep mine." She walked to the far wall and pressed her palm flat against the stone. She spoke three words Nymeria did not know. The stone shivered. A seam of light cracked down the wall. It widened into a tall arch. Beyond it Nymeria saw green grass and pale gold light. Warm light. Not the gray sun of Shadowfen. She felt heat spill through the arch and touch her cold face. "A door to another realm," Mirelle said. "It holds only a short while. Step through with your wolf, and you leave Shadowfen behind." Nymeria's chest tightened. Her father's hunters could not follow her there. But the curse still bound her bloodline to this shadow world. "The curse," she said. "You said my blood broke my father's curse. Am I free of it?" "Free enough to leave when you could not before, this place you are free." Mirelle's green eyes held hers. "The rest is on you. Learn the book. The realm beyond does not know you. No one there is charmed to love you." She stepped back from the arch. "Go. The light is fading." The arch dimmed at its edges. Nymeria gripped the cold book to her chest. She looked once at the gray window, then at the warm grass beyond the door. She knelt and touched her wolf's head. "With me," she said. She walked into the light. The wolf came with her. Grass met her boots. The gold sun warmed her arms for the first time in her life. She turned. The arch shrank behind her and closed. The tower was gone. Shadowfen was gone. Nymeria stood in a new world, alone but for her wolf and a book of spells she could not yet read.