The World of Myth Magazine

The year is 514, Vladimir the Young is Sage-King of the human kingdom of Thuraen.

The year is 5,297, Ulan is High Prince, Derek is Low Prince and Sienna Alknown is Mother Druid of the sylvan princedom of Greenwood Vale.

The sylvan druid Paechra Lightheart, the human of Andrapaal Michael Stormsong, and Catherine, the queen of the human kingdom of Thuraen followed after sylvan druid Heidi, Paechra's friend. Paechra knew well the way to the Sacred Druid Grove in Greenwood Vale, yet she hung back and allowed her friend to lead the way. Paechra believed it more important that she help Michael to aid Queen Catherine who had her growing baby to worry about. It was almost as if the child growing within the human queen knew where they were headed as it kicked with eagerness, slowing Catherine as she tried to keep up with Heidi's pace.

"Friend Heidi, please slow down!" called Paechra.

Heidi turned to look behind her and visually sighed.

"Mother Druid Sienna asked that I find you quickly and bring you to the Sacred Grove," Heidi said, obviously troubled.

Leaving Queen Catherine in Michael's care, Paechra made up the distance between her and her friend. Placing a reassuring arm around Heidi's shoulder Paechra gave her a squeeze.

"I shall personally tell Sienna that you've fulfilled your duty as per her request," said Paechra. "You did find us quickly and you will take us to the grove."

"I am not sure that Mother Druid Sienna will see things that way…" Heidi said, unsure.

"I think that our wise mother will appreciate your consideration for the poor, pregnant human," Paechra suggested. "They are not as physically robust as we are."

Heidi considered this before she slowly nodded.

"You are right, as always, Paechra," sighed Heidi before she gave the younger Lightheart a weak smile.

By then Michael and Queen Catherine had caught up with the two sylvan.

"Thank you, Paechra," puffed Catherine. "This child saps me and I do not seem to have the same energy as my younger self did."

Paechra nodded, offering her arm to the human queen.

"I am sorry for my haste," said Heidi. "Paechra has suggested that we travel at a slower pace the rest of the way."

"I am sure that Queen Catherine will appreciate this," suggested Michael. "I for one am not as young as I used to be."

Paechra noticed a pink hue appear around Catherine, an aura that suggested annoyance.

"You go at your own pace then, Michael," Queen Catherine commanded. "I shall happily be escorted by Heidi and Paechra and we shall arrive when it is that we do."

Unsure of what he had said wrong, Michael Stormsong could only stand and watch as Catherine released her grip upon his supporting arm and instead hooked arms with the druids.

Seeing Michael like this so reminded Paechra of her friend Johannas causing her to wonder where Johannas had gone, hoping that he was ok.

'I am sure that we will see each other soon,' Paechra thought to herself.

"Come, Paechra and Catherine," urged Heidi, causing Paechra to return to the moment, all thoughts of Johannas postponed.

Paechra took one of Queen Catherine's offered arms while Heidi took the other.

"Let us lend the queen strength," suggested Heidi. "That we may hasten our pace."

"Would that please you, Queen Catherine?" Paechra asked of the human.

With satisfaction, Paechra saw the hue that enveloped the queen turn from pink to white and then disappear.

"Queen Catherine, you wish only to be asked," murmured Paechra. "To be consulted rather than be directed and spoken for."

"Indeed, Paechra," replied Catherine. "As queen far too often, my decisions were made for me by King Fredrickson or by one of the sages."

Paechra and Heidi both nodded, urging the human queen to go on.

"Leaving the city of Andrapaal and Thuraen I was in no fit state to make decisions for myself, so with trust and gratefulness I went where it was that you led us, Paechra," Queen Catherine added as the trio continued to walk.

"Since your arrival in Greenwood Vale I have noticed a change in you, Catherine," suggested Paechra. "You are becoming your own entity."

"Indeed," agreed Catherine. "Although I miss my home and the life I once had, although my heart is still heavy with sadness, this place has acted like some sort of healing sanctuary."

"This is how we feel also," suggested Heidi. "We feel like the grove, our home, heals us of our fears and sorrows."

"We would do anything to protect it," added Paechra.

"Would you think it possible that I could remain here?" asked Queen Catherine, hopeful but unsure.

"Why, of course," announced Paechra, confidently.

Heidi gave her friend a look of clear surprise. She was not so sure that a human would be accepted by the community. This was unheard of and certainly not something that Heidi thought would be possible.

"Are you so certain?" Paechra heard the voice of Heidi echo in her mind.

"Hush, Heidi-friend," replied Paechra, both druids using a special bond, the bond of the sisterhood to communicate without sound. "I shall convince High Prince Ulan to allow the human queen and her unborn child to stay."

"Just as you convinced High Prince Ulan to send our people to war," mused Heidi.

To this Paechra said nothing.

As both druids bathed themselves in a blue, healing light Queen Catherine found herself strengthened.

"Come, let us hurry," the human queen announced as she quickened her pace.

"Queen Catherine!" called Michael who was still a few strides behind. "Please wait and I will walk beside you."

Paechra noted that the human queen purposefully did not respond to Michael's call.

Soon the distance between Michael and the trio in front of him began to grow. It continued to grow until it was a lengthy gap just as Heidi, Paechra, and Queen Catherine reached the edge of Greenwood Vale's Sacred Grove. There all three stopped and gasped in surprise. It was here that Michael found them, he rested, bent double with his hands on his knees.

"No, I must admit I am certainly not as young as my Truth Keeper days," gasped Michael. "I thank you for waiting," he then added with a grin.

When the two sylvan druids and the human queen did not answer Michael looked up and finally witnessed what it was that had stopped Heidi, Paechra, and Queen Catherine. In the center of the grove, not far from the water's edge, a figure stood bathed in moonlight. All four could clearly see Mother Druid Sienna Alknown, painted in the bright colors of pink, yellow and sky-blue. The paint was streaked through Sienna's hair, across her face, down her body, and over her arms and legs. There seemed to be no part of her skin that was not marked. The moonlight seemed to focus upon Sienna's upstanding form, the markings glowing brightly with some regal, arcane power.

"Ah, at last," called the mother druid, her voice loud and confident, almost youthful. "You have arrived, now we may begin."

Paechra made to move towards where Sienna stood and addressed the gathering.

"Nay, daughter Paechra," called Sienna's surprisingly strong voice. "For once it is not you that we are waiting upon."

It was then that Paechra and Heidi both noticed that Thomas and Anton stood beside Sienna, off to the side and out of the curtain of illumination gifted by the moon.

"I believe you are being summoned," whispered Heidi to Queen Catherine.

"Michael it seems that your presence is needed also," suggested Paechra, turning to look behind her, catching Michael's eye.

"Queen Catherine, if you would please allow me…" began Michael, again offering his arm for support.

"If I must," announced Catherine, reluctantly. "I am still displeased about your comment earlier though, Michael."

"My queen, please, I wished no disrespect," mumbled Michael apologetically.

"And yet, disrespect you did achieve," Paechra overheard Queen Catherine reply as the duo slowly made their way towards the waiting mother druid.

"Poor Michael," Paechra suggested as she watched the pair disappear amongst the gathered.

In the evening's light, it was difficult to tell who was present, but Paechra sensed it was not only her sister druids and the humans. Switching her sight to that which could detect auras Paechra smiled as she discovered staff from the fortress, tinkers, carers, and pickers, even some of the forest guardians.

Paechra heard a gasp come from her friend Heidi and so she returned to normal vision.

"What is it?" Paechra asked but Heidi did not need to answer.

There standing beside Heidi was High Prince Ulan.

"I am surprised that so many have come to the sacred grove this evening," the high prince muttered. "I am still trying to determine if it is a betrayal against me and my brother's rulership or if it is just the curiosity of an ancient people."

"High Prince Ulan," Paechra said in greetings. "I would suggest it is less disrespect for you and my betrothed and more a show of respect for our mother druid."

'Jhathrani,' Paechra then thought to herself as she witnessed her friend Heidi blend into the gathering, leaving Paechra on her own to deal with the prince.

Heidi had been just like the winged little forest hens, slinking into the shadows of the forest when the Ffnenk came stalking. Heidi had been smart.

"High Prince Ulan," Paechra began.

She was cut short though as the prince raised a hand.

"Hush, young Lightheart," urged the high prince. "We have come to listen, have we not?"

"Indeed, we have," agreed Paechra before she thankfully returned her attention to Sienna.

"… followed our daughter, Paechra Lightheart, sister druid of this sacred grove…" continued the mother druid with all eyes upon her. "They trusted that Paechra had in her mind and heart the best interest for the safety of the human kingdom of Thuraen…"

At the mention of her name Paechra completely tuned in on what Sienna was saying and so she noticed the figure of Anton in his usually agitated state push into the moonlight, Sienna stood her ground though forcing Anton to share the space, this made Paechra smile.

"Not all of us followed so blindly," announced the head truth keeper.

"Anton," hissed Thomas, so loudly that even Paechra at the back of the crowd could hear him. "You cannot say such things."

"Quiet lad," growled Anton towards where Thomas remained in the darkness. "I can say what I like."

"Agreed," stated Sienna, her voice still strong, confident. "Yet follow you did and here you are."

The matter-of-fact delivery of Mother Druid Sienna's words made Anton pause for a moment to think them over. Sienna took that opportunity to address the crowd once more.

"What Paechra did not realize though is that there is a deeper, darker reasoning for why the sylvan of the past drove the vorsurk into the desert lands…" announced Sienna. "Our reason for giving the lands to the human people, for gifting them with language and for helping them to flourish was not through kindness, but instead was purely for preservation… We wished only to protect ourselves and our own way of life."

'No,' Paechra thought to herself. 'Surely that is not true.'

As she opened her mind's eye Paechra felt and saw many of her kith and kin were feeling the same. Far ahead of her Paechra could see the aura that surrounded Mother Druid Sienna Alknown. It was the aura of truth.

"I was there as a child, a child that listened, that learned, and remembered," continued Sienna.

The mother druid's voice grew louder as the gathered crowd of sylvan began to mutter and murmur. Paechra could see that Queen Catherine was surrounded by confusion, as was Thomas the Butcher. Michael had worry forming as a solid mass while Anton's anger was growing darker in color.

"We, the sylvan of Greenwood Vale and that of other settlements throughout our lands, we did tell ancestors of these humans in our midst that our actions, our sacrifices, our gift to them of so-called freedom was a blessing," added Sienna, somehow her voice becoming even louder and stronger. "In fact, it was a curse!"

At this, the gathering erupted in a cacophony of wild noise. Paechra could just make out Anton mouthing the words ""I knew it" while Queen Catherine and the other humans seemed overwhelmed by exactly the same feeling Paechra herself felt, disbelief.

"For more than five hundred years," continued Sienna, the magic she sucked from the moon's beams fueling her elderly voice so that it somehow managed to be clearly heard amongst the chaos. "The human kingdom has acted as a shield for us, a way that we could protect ourselves from our jealous enemy…"

Paechra and Heidi both saw that Anton had drawn his weapon, a forbidden act in the sacred grove. Sienna was oblivious, so caught up in her spell to notice. Certain that the worst was about to occur both Paechra and Heidi were surprised to witness Michael come up from behind Anton and tackle him backward into the darkness. Thomas came up beside Queen Catherine as she suddenly fell. The young butcher held his queen and her unborn child up for a moment before guiding her to a sitting position. All the while, Mother Druid Sienna continued to cry out to the crowd.

"I say enough! I say it is now time that we do what should have been done all those centuries ago," announced Sienna. "It is time that we truly commit to saving the humans and treated them as equals."

'Equals?' thought Paechra, and at this, she smiled.

"It is high time that we march from our safe haven and reveal ourselves to the humans, the vorsurk, and all of the other races," urged Sienna.

"Yes!" cried some members of the crowd in reply.

"It is time that there was a show of strength from the sylvan kind, a true demonstration of our love and gratitude for the human people," added Sienna.

Again, the crowd responded, again there was a cry of support.

"Our high prince says no, we cannot go, we must send these humans away," continued Sienna. "But I say we are free spirits, and those who wish to, shall have their own minds decide."

The gathering calmed for a moment, Paechra could see that those present seemed to hang on Sienna's every word.

"I say that we go to war with or without the blessing of High Prince Ulan and his missing brother," announced Mother Druid Sienna Alknown. "I say that we owe this to the human kingdom, for five hundred years of betrayal and trickery."

At this Sienna paused, the moonlight faulted, flickered, and then vanished. It did not matter though. The paint upon Sienna's body still pulsed brightly with power, a chaotic rainbow of raw energy. When the mother druid spoke again and broke the moment of silence her words were but a whisper. It mattered little though, for all there who were present in the sacred grove strained to hear. No one wished to miss a single utterance.

"Those who agree need but to follow…" was all that Sienna had left to say.

At this, the gathered crowd erupted. Some argued, others shouted with joy. Paechra turned to gauge the high prince's reaction, but as silently as Ulan had arrived at the gathering he had also vanished. Paechra wondered just when it was that he had left and how much he had overheard.

'Enough,' she thought to herself. 'What Ulan does not know already he shall discover sooner rather than later…'

Regardless of what High Prince Ulan thought though of the words of the mother druid, such words had been spoken and the seed had been planted within the hearts of the sylvan people. Paechra could sense that there was a change in the winds, a choice that needed to be made. Sienna had opened the eyes and minds of Greenwood Vale showing all that it was their choice and not one that they needed to have made for them.

"Well, that was completely unexpected," said Heidi as she once more stood at Paechra's side.

Paechra nodded to her friend and smiled.

"What do you believe will happen next?" Heidi asked, trying to hide her obvious feelings of worry and concern. "Friend Paechra, are you not afraid?"

"I do not know, Heidi, I do not know how to feel," laughed Paechra. "What I do know though is that the sylvan of Greenwood Vale will choose for themselves, and I sense that they will make that choice quickly."

Paechra watched as the crowd dispersed, many different conversations were beginning to form, proof that Sienna's seed had in fact been planted and in some places was already sprouting.

"Come, Heidi my sister," Paechra said, motioning towards where Sienna had spoken. "I feel that our presence is required in the aftermath of the storm."

"As you say, friend Paechra," agreed Heidi, making her way through the last of the gathering.

When the two druids reached the mother druid and the humans they discovered disaster.

"I don't know what to do," groaned Thomas.

The butcher had one arm around the shoulders of Queen Catherine, supporting her as she winced in pain. His other arm was patting Sienna on the back as she breathed in short, shallow breaths.

"Quickly, Thomas and Heidi," urged Paechra. "Help me to get them back on their feet."

"But…" began Thomas.

"We need to get them to the water," Paechra urged.

Michael came over to help, Paechra noticed that Anton had vanished somewhere.

Between the four of them, quickly, Queen Catherine and Sienna were stumbling towards the water.

"Now let us go," ordered Paechra.

As she entered the water with Sienna and felt Heidi and Catherine follow after there was one thing on Paechra's mind.

"I hope that we are not too late…"

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