Chapter 4

When Karith finally awoke she found herself lying on a bed in a lavishly furnished room. The bed itself was of a four poster design with suspended canopy, with satin sheets and down pillows. Bringing her hand up in front of her face she turned it back and forth, inspecting it as she contemplated the dream.

"It was not actually a dream," her internal voice corrected her. "A memory, our memory."

"Who are we? What are we?"

"We are what we are. More to the point, you are what you are, I will fade soon and we will be as one. You will assimilate more of my memories until they become your own and I will no longer be separate. We are an ancient race that spread out amongst the stars, further than even I had thought. We have the ability to shape-shift between two distinctly different personifications; our true self and our bipedal form. We are Wyrm in both guises, the firstborn race of Eldritch."

"What is eldritch?" Karith asked.

"Not eldritch; Eldritch," Tanith replied. "It is the power in all things, that flows from all things."

"How come this is just happening now?"

"Somehow my essence latched onto you when you found him and awakened something already within you. We are bonded to Aaron, or Mann as you have named him."

"We know magic?"

"It is not magic, but we can do that as well. We can tap into the flow of Eldritch and use it and control it."

"Will you teach me?"

"Yes, but we must be careful, very careful. The first thing I will teach you after you are able to access the flow is how to hide your powers. First, we must determine where we are."

Karith examined her surroundings before swinging her legs over the side of the bed and standing up. She was still wearing the clothes she had put on earlier but the mailed shirt and sword belt were lying on a long table near her bed. Apparently, who ever had her was not too terribly concerned about the sword. Leaving the bustier, she buckled on the sword belt and tested the sword in its scabbard.

"Now, I will teach you to access the flow of Eldritch found in all things," the voice explained. "Reach out with your mind, with your senses, and feel the power emanating from everywhere."

Karith did what she was told and soon felt the flow and accessed the power within in all things. She was able to gather it within herself and watched as the silver energy fairly crackled as it danced from her fingertips. She practiced several more times until she was confident that she could call forth Eldritch if necessary. Her mastery of the flow reminded her of Mann lighting his pipe. It was almost funny now that she thought about it. Her fears were completely unfounded and she realized that they were more alike than even she had realized after finding out that she was his reincarnated beloved.

"No, we are not that alike," the voice explained as it corrected her. "His power, when he remembers how to fully access it, is considerably more than ours. He is Tarran, one of the second born races, although that may be no longer quite true, but that discussion is for another time. Right now we need to figure out where we are and how to find our way back to him. He needs us to temper his emotions; you will find that he is rather impulsive with no regard to the danger in which he might find himself."

Looking around the room again she needed to determine her next course of action. Who held her? Where was she? Where was her father? But most importantly, how was Mann, nay Aaron? No, she needed to decide right now and here; was she going to refer to him as Mann or Aaron? The name Aaron held no deep meaning for her, other than the other's memories, so she decided to discard it and continue to call him by the name she gave him when he first awoke. Where was Mann? Her silent musings were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," she replied with a little laugh, as if she was in any position to deny entry to the room.

The door opened and a young woman, about her age or a little older, entered and curtseyed.

"Mademoiselle, my name is Marianne and I am responsible for your comforts," Marianne explained by way of introduction. "If there is anything you need do not hesitate to ask."

"I need to leave," Karith replied crossing her arms.

"I am sorry, Mademoiselle, I do not have that authority," Marianne curtseyed again.

"Then I wish to see my father," Karith countered while weighing her options for escape.

"Again, that is outside of my authority," Marianne replied. "My Master requests your presence at dinner in one hour. If you require I will assist you in your preparations. There is a dress hanging in the wardrobe over there."

She was interrupted by a knock at the door and looked over toward Karith expectantly. She continued to stare at Karith who finally understood that she was waiting for an answer.

"Oh, fine! Come in!" Karith announced irritably.

The door opened and a large tub was brought in by two rather large men and Karith watched as they sat it on the floor and turned to leave as a line of women entered, filling the tub with hot water. After the last of the maids left Karith turned to where Marianne stood expectantly with a slight cock of the head.

"Will Mademoiselle require assistance with her bath?"

"No, Mademoiselle will not!" Karith replied hotly. "Mademoiselle is quite capable of bathing on her own."

Marianne curtseyed again and stepped back away from the tub waiting on Karith who continued to look at her hostilely. Marianne shrugged and moved a privacy screen into place around the tub and stood on the other side. Removing her clothes, Karith carefully laid them on a stool and gingerly stepped into the tub and settled into the warm water. Marianne stepped around the screen and added perfumed oil to the tub and after setting out a scrub brush, she collected the dirty clothes and set them aside. Moving over to the wardrobe, she removed a forest green dress and laid it out over the screen, setting slippered shoes next to it. By the time she was done setting the clothes and sundries out for dinner Karith had finished in the tub.

Karith stood and Marianne wrapped her in a large bathing towel and when she was dry a dressing robe. Karith moved over to a nearby dressing table as Marianne began to brush out her hair. She laid down the brush and began to braid Karith's hair on either side of her head, first encircling her head in braids, and then interweaving the remaining length of the braids into a much larger one that hung to the small of her back. She helped Karith step into the dress and fastened it up the back. She then adjusted the drawstring bodice tying the ends of the silver thread in an elaborate bow. After buckling the belt, Marianne announced that she was finished.

Karith admired herself in the mirror and remarked on the hairstyle, which looked like a braided crown. A knock at the door interrupted her examination and she turned to give permission to enter when she saw Marianne shake her head no and hold up a finger.

"Just a moment please," she responded while giving Marianne a quizzical look.

"Here, for your protection," Marianne announced softly while hiking her leg up on the dressing table stool and reaching under the hem of her dress.

She pulled a dagger and buckled sheath from under her dress and smiled while holding it out for Karith. Karith looked at her for a moment and then smiled in return while reaching out for the sheathed dagger and hiked her own leg up and drew the dress above her knee exposing the thigh. She quickly buckled the sheath in place and after dropping the hem back down she removed her leg from the stool.

"Enter," she commanded while moving toward the door.

A male servant entered and bowed low. "Good evening, Mademoiselle. My name is Alfred, and I am the steward for this wing of the keep. My master sends his regards and requests your company for dinner. If you would please follow me?"

"Mademoiselle, I will have your bedchamber prepared and shall wait here for your return," Marianne stated, curtseying.

Karith nodded and followed the man out of her room and into a long hallway with multiple doors on each side. They descended a long sweeping staircase ending in an ornately decorated main hall. Turning toward their left, she followed the page down an intersecting hall which ended at a set of guarded double doors. The guards were dressed in plate armor with a rampant dragon emblazoned in bronze on their chests. The doors opened inward and the steward stopped at the threshold and turned gesturing Karith to enter.

Karith entered the great room and flinched slightly as the doors closed behind her.

"Caution!" she heard in her head and smiled in spite of herself. "Be on your guard."

The room was a large rectangular room with two fireplaces on each side of the large table dominating the center of the room. A large picture window encompassed the whole of the far wall and several doors dotted each side of the fireplaces. The table was lit by several candelabra and candle chandeliers hung throughout the room. The table was set for two; a place setting at the end closest to the window in front of a large ornately carved arm chair and a setting several chairs down on the right. The room was decorated with portraits and murals, as well as suits of armor. Standing in front of the windows with his back to Karith, arms folded behind him was a man, who she assumed was the lord of the keep. The man turned toward her but kept his hands behind him as he slowly approached the table, moving as if he glided across the floor.

He was tall, dark, and handsome, strikingly handsome, with chiseled features, penetrating blue eyes, and dark brown hair cropped short and parted on the side. He was dressed in a charcoal grey jacket and matching trousers with a black silk shirt and a red cravat held in place by a intricately carved bronze brooch. His eyes began to swirl as he approached Karith.

"Enchanté, Mademoiselle," he extended his hand and gently took hers and bent at the waist kissing the back of it. His voice was soft and melodious, words spoken precisely with an almost hypnotic tone.

A shudder went up and down Karith's spine, not one of pleasure but of revulsion. She pulled her hand back and almost against her will she looked him in the eye and began to fall into the swirling, penetrating stare that seemed to peer into her very soul. Concentrating hard, she gently shook her head and broke the connection, settling her gaze on the cravat at his neck. The brooch had a blood red stone set in bronze and seemed to glow with its own internal light. Looking down she failed to see the smile drop to a small frown before he recovered and smiled again.

"I am Prince Tarn Dracul, lord of this manor," he said by way of greeting. "What is your name, dear child?"

"Karith, and I am not a child," she replied, pivoting toward the table and completely breaking the spell he had tried to weave. "I wish to know the whereabouts of my father."

Again she failed to see his expression shift from the fake smile to a concentrated frown as he studied her harder. Had she turned back toward him she could not have failed to recognize uncertainty and perhaps even a trace of fear etched in his expression before he was able to master his emotions.

"Your mother, what was her name?" he spoke in even clipped words, trying to hide the emotion just below the surface.

"Gwynith," she replied, turning back and catching the tail end of his expression of surprise before he again mastered his emotions. "Why?"

"No particular reason, really," Tarn replied vaguely, gesturing toward the side seat. "Please, sit down, dinner is served."

"I would like to see my father," Karith stated as she sat in the offered chair. "I also want to know where I am."

"All in good time," he replied taking his seat and picking up a silver bell and ringing it. "It will make for good after dinner conversation."

A side door behind Karith opened and several servers entered with covered platters which they set at predetermined places on the table. Removing the covers revealed roasted meat, potatoes, various indigenous vegetables as well as fruits and cheese. They filled her plate from the various platters after determining what she desired. After the servers exited the room an elderly man entered dressed in formal attire carrying a bottle of wine and a white cloth over his forearm. Showing the bottle first to Lord Tarn, who nodded, he removed the cork and approached Karith and poured the wine into her glass. He repeated the procedure with Tarn and set the bottle next to his master. Bowing toward both of them he backed out of the room and closed the door.

Karith looked at the glass of wine and her vision blurred for a moment and then refocused more sharply and magnified at the glass which showed an oily film on the surface of the wine.

"Poison!" she heard in her head as she turned her attention to Tarn and moved her hand toward the glass, accidentally knocking it over and breaking the crystal goblet. "Oh! How clumsy of me! I am so sorry."

She dabbed at the spilled wine with her napkin as Tarn rang the bell with some force. Immediately the older server appeared and hurried to the table taking over the cleaning duties from Karith. She sat back watching both the server and her jailer at the same time. The servant quickly cleaned up the spilled wine and removed the glass as well. Karith watched him back out of the room and then return with a clean goblet and set it down and looked at her expectedly. She nodded and he filled her glass with more wine. Smiling, he backed out of the room and shut the door.

Karith looked up at Tarn and once again her vision blurred before sharply refocusing on her host. His image shifted to a silhouette of a reddish-brown dragon! The Prince was a Bronze Wyrm! She sat back in her chair and brought her napkin up to cover her gasp.

"Control your emotions!" echoed in her head. "Do not let on that you know."

"My a-apologizes," she stated, trying to cover her faux pas. "I am not feeling well, a little light headed."

"No apologizes necessary," he replied smiling. "Perhaps, a little wine to calm yourself?"

"Yes," she replied absently, reaching for the glass and raising it.

"Careful," the voice told her. "Reach out with your mind; gently now, feel the flow. Let it fill you with power and then concentrate on your hand. Purge the wine of any contaminants, but no more than necessary; you do not want to tip your hand."

Karith followed the instructions, feeling the flow of power fill her slightly as she concentrated, and for a brief moment her hand glowed softly while small bubbles appeared in the glass as Eldritch purged the wine of any poisons. Bringing the glass to her lips she sipped it cautiously. Placing the glass back down on the table she smiled at Tarn who was watching her intently.