Daughter of the Lake

“When I became aware of my surroundings again, I found myself in the middle of lush green countryside, the only land mark being small stone castle. It was still night, but it seemed like a long way from the city of Memphis and its surrounding deserts.
“You are correct; you are not in Egypt any more. You are much closer to home than that. You are in fact in Lleogr.” The man said from his position behind me.
I think I need to learn to guard my thoughts, I thought, How else could he have known that I guessed we weren’t in Egypt? I felt the man laugh slightly.
If you don’t know, Lleogr is the Welsh word for England. It was actually pretty clear now that that was where we were. I recognised vaguely the green of home and I could almost feel how close I was to my country. I guessed that we were somewhere in the south from the mild weather, maybe Cornwall or Devon.
We rode directly up to the small castle, where the portcullis was raised to allow us inside. We entered a small courtyard with a stable on one side. The man dismounted, and then lifted me off the horse as my hands were still bound. He then proceeded to pull me through an oak door into the castle. We went down corridor after corridor until I was hopelessly lost, then he opened a door on the left that was identical to all the others and pushed me inside.
“These are your chambers. There are clothes in the chest at the foot of the bed you can use. In the morning, someone will come and get you to escort you to the hall, where breakfast will be served. From there, we shall have to see what you can do. I bid you good night.” He said, pulling a knife from his belt and cutting the rope around my wrists. Then he left.
Well, I thought, my circumstances have defiantly changed, but are they for the better? That can only be answered in the morning, but let’s see what I have been given to work with.
So, I took stock of what was in the room. It had two widows, one either side of a double four-poster bed with drapes. There was a chest, just like he had said, at the foot of the bad. Apart from that, I could see nothing much of interest. An oak writing desk with no paper or pens, a chest height wash stand with a brass bowl, and a chair sat by a small fireplace, the only source of heat or light in the room. At least it’s lit, I thought.
I went over to the chest to examine the clothes that I had been given; a black cotton dress with intricately embroidered patterns on the bodice, a simple white cotton night gown, a few petty coats and under garments, and some more dresses in deep colours, usually blue or green. But, right at the bottom, was a beautiful red and black dress. The skirt was red with a black hem, the bodice red and black with white embroidery. At the top of the bodice, pearls had been hand stitched and it had red flared sleeves. I had never seen anything like it before.
I carefully folded it all back into the chest, then went to look at the writing desk. As I had suspected, it did not have any writing material, but what I had not noticed was the wooden box which was ornately decorated with pictures of different animals. The lid had a picture of a pair of swans gliding across a lake. I opened the lid excepting it to be empty. Again, I was proved wrong. It contained a gold tiara set with rubies. Also inside was a necklace in a matching style with stud earrings, a bracelet and a ring. I marvelled at the flawless rubies and intricate gold work.
I closed the lid and found a brush in the draw of the desk. It too was beautifully inlaid with mother of pearl. I brushed my hair and tied it in a plat. Then I retrieved the night gown from the chest, changed and settled into the bed, closing the drapes. Sleep found me soon after.

I woke to the sound of a key being turned in the lock. Sitting up in the four poster bed I pulled the drape aside to see a thin, red headed man walk into the room. It took me a minute to remember where I was, but it took even longer for the man to locate my head by the half open drapes.
“Oh, forgive me; I thought you would be up. Shall I…” the man said, quickly averting his eyes from me.
“It’s perfectly all right,” I replied, slipping into the formal speech naturally. “I will only be a moment. I will knock the door when I am more suitably attired.” With that the man left.
I wonder how long I slept…
I quickly got out of bed and found a dress that I thought would be suitable. It had a blue bodice and long fitted sleeves with white corset style strings, a white skirt with blue swirls and trim, with a blue over skirt that left some of the white showing. Once I had changed, I brushed my hair and tied it back into a plat. Feel slightly more respectable, I walked over and knocked on the door as promised. The same man opened it and, locking behind me, led me through the myriads of corridors.
Soon, they arrived at a small hall. On one wall were tapestries, the opposite a large fire place to heat the room. Light was also given off from various candle sticks in the room, long with the two windows on a third a wall. The other wall was plain except for the door. In the centre of the room was a table with six chairs that was laden with food. Only one chair was occupied by the man who had brought her there.
As I entered, he briefly looked up from his plate, only to incline his head towards the chair on his right and then look away again. I slowly walked to the chair, sat down and helped myself to a piece of bread. I nibbled on it thoughtfully, waiting for him to speak.
“After we have finished here, you will get changed into something more suitable as you will be attending court with me. Be warned, you are not to speak unless I bid you to, or you are asked a direct question, understand?” the man said after a long period of time. I nodded in response.
“Good. After that you will attend your lessons, the first of which will be archery. Then you will break and have lunch with me here. Next I will teach you combat. Then your last lesson will be in the arcane arts. After that we will have our evening meal, and then you will proceed to your chambers with some scrolls that you will be tested on in the morning. Is that under stood?” He continued, and I nodded again in response. “Now, do you have any questions?”
It was a lot to take in, and as always I did have questions. “Yes I do have some questions. Firstly, where and when am I?” I asked.
“Ah, I see you learn fast.” He replied, “You are as I said in Lleogr, and we are four days away from the winter solstice and the start of Yule. I believe you can guess as to roughly what time. Is there anything else?”
“Yes, who are you?” When I did not receive, nor think an answer would come, I tried a different approach, “I mean, how am I to address you?”
He laughed slightly. “Well, in a more private situation you would call me sir, at court it would Lord. If you are finished, it would be best for you to go and prepare yourself. One last thing, here you are to be known as Cary.” He said standing up.

Back in my room, I started searching through the dresses again, trying to decide what to wear. At last I came to the beautiful red and black dress.
I think I would like to make an impression.
After changing, I went over to the desk to brush my hair, intending to leave to fall about my shoulders. As I was doing it, my eyes strayed to the box on the desk. I remembered the ruby and gold jewellery inside and made a decision to wear them as well. Once I had put them on, I wished that I had a mirror; I thought that I probable looked like a medieval princess.
Eventually, the door was unlocked and I was guided to a hall bigger than the one I had been in earlier, but also darker. This one had a similar lay out, with the table being replaced by seats. At the far end, closest to the fire place, was a chair set apart from the rest. As I looked at it, the man entered from behind me.
“You are to stand behind me.” He said striding past me. I hurriedly came along behind him. “Remember, not to speak unless spoken to.”
Once we were both settled, he signalled for the doors to be opened. As the people walked in, I could feel the power and greed and ruthlessness radiate off them all like a bad smell; it made my head spin. I could see looks of curiosity, surprise and even hostility as people became aware of me standing beside the chair. More and more people came into the room, filling every seat. As they settled, I felt as if every mind had been turned to me. I even could have sworn that I could actually feel each mind.
This was actually the case, because with seconds I could feel each thought. They were all studying me, searching through my mind, through all of my thoughts and secrets. I could feel the power from each and every one of them, the power coming from their dark minds. It was overwhelming me. I started to feel dizzy and faint. The only thing that prevented me from falling was a strong arm that I could vaguely feel around my waist. Then I felt a sort of wall form around my mind that seemed to block everyone else out.
“Restrain yourselves.” the man shouted, making sure that I was ok before returning to face all assembled. The tide flowed away reluctantly.
“I welcome you all here. Now, to the reason for our gathering.” He said.
As talk turned to matters of tactics and war, I focused on building my own wall around my mind. It was a slow painstaking process that required my full attention. Once it was complete, the man started probing it to make sure it would hold, and then he let his fade away so that it was just me protecting my mind.
When things began to come to a close, I started to become more aware of what was being said and soon attention was drawn back to me.
“As you have noticed we have a new face amongst us. Cary will be joining our number as soon as I believe that she has enough experience. She will attend court, but will not have any duties as of yet. Now, I bid you good day.” The man said, dismissing them all by turning his gaze away.
Who is this man to command so many people? I wondered.
As everyone left the hall, one man came to stand in front of the chair. He was thin and tall, with orange hair and leaf green eyes.
“Lord Cardew,” the man seemed to falter as he looked up. “is this… is this girl really the one we have been looking for? This child is not even strong enough to turn aside our minds when we do not even try to enter, let alone fight.”He said spitting out the word girl as if it was distasteful. He had a gruff voice that reverberated around the room.
“Peace Donovan, she is more powerful than you believe. I stole her right from under the noises of the Old Ones. Those fools don’t even realise the full extent of her powers yet. Have no fear, she will be ready to fight soon, and you had better hope that she does not remember your words today.” The man replied.
Oh, I will remember you, I thought, but at least you have done something useful, you have given me a name.
“But Lord, she is not a warrior or a sorceress. I bet that she can’t even hold a sword or bow.” Donovan protested.
“Well that will soon be tested. If you want proof why not attend her lessons today maybe that will banish these thoughts. Meet us outside on the archery rage in an hour.” Cardew said.
“Yes Lord.”