Eahlah's Mark

Chapter 1

Eahlah was merely a presence, like air or the spirit, not tangible, just observing. The land she viewed was black and red like charred skin. She shivered, wondering what this place was. It frightened her but her fear reached a new level when she saw the hounds.
Cwn Annwn. Hounds of hell. Red eyes glowed maliciously and they slavered and snapped at each other. Their matted white fur was falling out and the dogs were impossibly slim like they suffered from a decay that they refused to acknowledge.
Suddenly all the hounds’ eyes turned to her and they howled in unison…

Eahlah woke with a gasp searching her room wildly for a moment before reality set it and she realized where she was.
“My lady?” Ghalah entered from the adjoining room. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Eahlah rubbed at her face trying to get rid of the images and feelings.
“You don’t look well,” Ghalah said, pouring a glass of water from a pitcher on a table near the wall.
“I just had a bad dream.” Eahlah took the proffered glass and drank greedily. “Thank you.”
Ghalah took the glass back to the table. “I’ll get you a bath and some breakfast, that will help you feel better.”
“Eahlah nodded.
“Take a look outside.” Ghalah smiled. “It is grand.” She left the room.
Eahlah’s curiosity was piqued. She stepped out of bed onto a plush rug and pulled on a robe. She walked over to the gauze covered double doors and pushed them open to a small balcony. They’d arrived during the night and although she’d seen the mountains in the distance this was a completely different sight.
She let her eyes take in the rough landscape slowly. Her chest swelled with the sheer size of the mountains, they were so high that cottony clouds wrapped some of the higher tips. There were a hundred shades of green and brown variegating wildly up each slope. There was a soft haze in the valley this morning and it softened the edges of everything, until a flock of dark birds took flight, standing out brazenly against the whiteness, looking like an odd gyrating specter. The strange sight held her eyes, horridly entranced by it.
“Lady,” Ghalah said.
Eahlah started and turned around. “Oh!”
“You’re bath is ready.” Ghalah looked at her oddly.
“Good. Thank you.” Eahlah made her way to the dressing area where the tub had been set up. She pulled off her clothes and got into the tub. The hot fragrant water began to relax her body. Her mind and emotions were another matter. She should have felt that her dream was just that, but it had felt too real, too much like something about to come to pass. The flock of dark birds should have been just that, and maybe it was except for her dream had put her on edge.
She soaked in the water until the steam had faded from the surface and then Ghalah helped her out. They picked out a dress and waited for her hair to dry before pulling it up elegantly. Ghalah had just finished clasping a necklace on when there was a light knock on the door.
Ghalah answered it and a man dressed in the king’s livery entered.
“The crown prince wishes to meet with you now in the gardens.”
Eahlah shared a look with Ghalah, not really an invitation that would allow her to decline if she so wished. “Very well.”
The man bowed. “If you will follow me.”
Eahlah followed behind the man and tried to keep a composed look on her face as she walked through the elegant and grand palace. They had nothing that compared to this on the island and she caught herself with her mouth open and her eyes bulging on more than one occasion. They walked quickly through, but Eahlah wanted to take her leisure. The ceilings in most of the palace were at least twenty feet high and the pillars in the main entrance were so big around ten people could have stood behind it and she wouldn’t have known. The pillars were also carved with many images of animals and people. Eahlah made a point to come take a closer look later.
They walked outside and the air was an autumn crisp and refreshingly cool, with a hint on the bite of winter. Despite the coolness of the season there were a large number of flower bushes in a rainbow bloom. They approached an enclosed canopy and the servant pulled aside the flap and she entered. There was a small table with four chairs and one person. Off to the side was a long table apparently waiting for food. There were also several braziers with blazing fires warming the enclosed space.
They stopped at the table and the man stood. He was probably only a few years older than she was, his body in its prime. His skin was naturally sun dark; in fact everything about him was dark. His eyes sparkled like obsidian and his black hair hung straight and loose to his shoulders. She hadn’t known what to expect when they reached the mainland and learned that the king had been murdered. The crown prince was a handsome, imposing figure.
“Prince Mykal, the Lady Eahlah of the Island of Samtrine. My lady, the crown prince Mykal.” The servant bowed himself away.
“My lady,” the prince said, taking her hand and leading her to the chair next to him. “How was your journey?”
“Long, but uneventful.” She smiled slightly a little disconcerted by the formality. Everything and everyone on the island were very familiar and this just wasn’t. She fidgeted in her chair for a moment trying to find comfort in a position.
“I’m pleased to hear that,” he said sitting in his chair.
Eahlah wanted to say something smart or witty but nothing came to mind and so she just sat there looking around at anything but him. The silence lengthened for what seemed an eternity but was probably only a minute when the prince cleared him throat.
“I wanted to meet with you privately for a moment. I know the initial summons you received was from my father.”
Eahlah nodded feeling uncomfortable at the casual mention of the dead king.
“I wasn’t over the trade committee and needed to get a feel for what was needed.”
Eahlah was confused. Wasn’t this something they could do in front of the counsel?
Prince Mykal leaned closer to her, conspiratorially, and Eahlah automatically leaned closer.
“The truth is, the counsel wants to decline all trade.”
“What!?” Eahlah burst out without thinking.
“Shh!”
“Why?” she whispered.
“They want to annex the island to the kingdom. I thought you should know this before you stood before the counsel.”
“Really? What good is it going to do me? I can’t make a decision like that and it will take months to correspond with the people who could.”
“Later,” he mouthed looking at the entrance to the tent.
Eahlah turned her gaze there and saw two men enter. One man was slight with skin the color of old parchment and twinkling dark eyes. He smiled cordially at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. The other man was more the coloring of the prince with a brooding expression and hard, cold eyes. His dark hair had receded far from its former place leaving almost the whole top of his head bald. They took the remaining two seats at the table.
“Lady Eahlah, this is Loband,” the prince indicated the parchment skinned man, “and this is Sajal, two of my advisors.”
She smiled at Sajal but he merely watched her as he sat.
Servants brought out three platters of food, lamb, duck and pork all dressed up in cooked vegetables and glistening with glaze. Eahlah took a little of everything, having been raised almost entirely on food from the sea, this was a new experience for her. The pork and duck were both rather good but she decided that she could do without the lamb.
During the entire meal Eahlah felt Sajal’s eyes on her. By the end of the meal she was entirely wound up by it. Was he trying to make her uncomfortable or was this just how he was? She finally tried to just pretend he wasn’t making her feel uneasy.
“My lady,” Sajal finally said, the first words he’d spoken all meal, “might I ask where you go that mark behind your ear?”
Her hand traveled slowly behind her ear to touch the mark. She shrugged, ‘I was born with it.”
“I’ve never seen a birthmark like that,” Sajal said, making it sound like an accusation. “A prefect replica of the Sign of Peace.”