Shadow of Beginning

Prologue

Thunder crashed over the Companion’s field as Herald Leah trotted through the blistering rain in search of the stables. Just moments ago she had received the news that many of the Heralds and Companions had been anticipating for days now: the Companion Serina had finally given birth to her first foal.

Leah’s own Companion, Morina, had alerted her to the incident. She had made haste to get here before too many curious eyes began to crowd the place. As she finally reached the warmth of the Companion stables, something seemed to be a bit off. There were several of the older Companions there, along with a fairly large number of heralds. Leah’s power of empathy immediately warned her to expect the worst.

She was flooded with the emotions of grief, anger, worry, speculation, wonder… fear. The fear was what caught her off guard. What could have happened in there? She stepped up her already brisk pace to finally reach the entrance into the dimly lit stall where Serina was supposed to be laying with her newborn foal.

What she saw though knocked the breath right from her chest. Serina, bless her soul, lay lifeless on the stall floor. Next to her was an equally still, but thankfully living, foal. It took a minute for the wrongness of the foal to actually hit home.

It was common knowledge. Companions were white. Born white. Grew up white. But this foal was as black as the stormy night that raged just outside the sheltering walls of the Companion stable.

“The poor thing’s very weak.” Leah glanced over at the healer who had spoken, an elderly man that she recognized as someone who often helped with Companion health problems. Not that there were too many of those out there; but accidents happened.

“What should we do with it?” Leah wasn’t paying attention to who was talking anymore. She was staring intently at the foal, which was now making an effort to lift his head. A slight muffling of straw behind her alerted everyone to the approach of the elder Companions. Melodi, Serina’s sister and a Companion that had yet to Choose, was the first to inch toward the helpless infant.

She gently nuzzled it, encouraging it to move. Some of the others seemed to absolutely balk at the idea of her actually encouraging it. Leah simply suspected that this was a reaction to the color maybe, or maybe the fact that Serina had died while giving life to him.

: He is very weak.:

That was Melodi’s voice. Her thoughts were laced with grief. She had just lost her sister, and she was inches away from losing her newborn nephew as well.

: There isn’t anything we can do for him:

:No. He needs to work this out on his own.: Leah didn’t understand the concept Melodi was trying to convey, but she silently agreed and stood back away from the foal as it finally managed to raise its head up off of the floor.

Melodi stepped back as its sapphire eyes swept the room. It let out what almost sounded like a hoarse groan as it tried to get its feet up underneath itself. The Heralds and the Companions stood for what seemed like hours before finally the spindly legged thing was finally standing on all fours.

Only then did Melodi approach him again and gently nuzzle him into taking a few steps. Leah could feel the other Heralds glancing at each other. Wondering what was going on, just like she was. The tight mood was not broken, even when the youngster gave a healthy sneeze due to the dust rising from the dry floor.

Suddenly, the room burst into a conversation via mind speech. Companions and Heralds alike were conversing about what to do with this little oddity.

:It does not bode well to allow this… thing… to live. His destiny will lie only in darkness and evil.: That was the head stallion, Isamu.

:That is ridiculous! Just because his coat is dark does not mean that that is also true for the color of his soul! I thought you were always the one preaching that old saying “Never judge a book by its cover.”! What happened to that: Melodi was not happy. Any Heralds that had been speaking amongst themselves at the time fell deathly silent. It was rare for a Companion to speak to any but his or her Chosen, further proving the immenseness of the issue. so this really must be a big issue if the head stallion and an un Chosen Companion were voicing their opinions to every herald present.

:Even if he does live, who will care for him? The life of his mother was taken! Unless you would be willing to take him in: The head stallion was making it completely clear that none of the Companions particularly wanted that little foal around… Leah felt a huge wave of sympathy pass over her. The poor thing might not ever get to see beyond these walls if the majority of the Companions had their way.

:As a matter of fact, I would be more than willing to care for the young one. As his aunt, I should be suitable.: Melodi had worked the stallion right into her field. There was no reason for them to try and take the foal’s life now. Unless they could find physical evidence that something was wrong with the young colt then they were in no right to be rid of him. And Melodi was absolutely right: as his aunt, she would be a perfect caretaker.

And the head stallion knew this. He obviously wasn’t happy about it… but he knew when he no longer had an argument in his favor. He reluctantly backed down. Leah suppressed a smile as Melodi snorted in triumph. Leah followed Melodi into a new stall away from poor Serina. The gangly little foal did his best to join them at a bit of a wobbly pace. The Kings Own, Jason, followed soon after.

Leah sighed as she leaned against the wall of the new stall and watched Melodi and her new foal settle down in the comfortable straw. “Well… you’ve gotten yourself into quite a mess haven’t you? What on earth are you going to do with him?”

:I’m not sure. But I couldn’t let them kill him like that. All that was just superstitious talk. There’s nothing wrong with him, and I’ll take a chunk out of anyone who says there is.:

The quiet Jason gave a small chuckle at the image that came along with Melodi’s thoughts, and Leah also had to smile at how protective Melodi had already become of her ‘son’. Instead of making her any more edgy, she decided to ask a bit simpler question. “So, what’ll his name be?” Jason seemed to perk up slightly at the question. Curiosity on the King’s side no doubt, Leah thought to herself privately.

Melodi stared at her for a moment before turning her attention to the stormy sky outside. : His name will be Shadow.: Her mind voice was soft, almost thoughtful. The newly dubbed Shadow had already dozed off. And as Leah gazed at Shadow, she wondered what could be so dangerous about a black Companion. As she and Jason both took up their own thoughts, her mind drifted to what kind of change his birth would bring about to their lives.

As this thought passed through her mind and faded into memory, a bright flash of lighting lit the sky and thunder rang out its vicious cry.