The Protectors of Loegria: Chapter 1

    It was her eyes that haunted him.  They wouldn’t leave his head as he tried to put his usual energy into his morning chores.  Intense eyes, one a glowing sapphire blue and the other a startling emerald green, staring out from a pale face framed with curling, fire-red hair.  He seemed to see those eyes before him in the water trough he was filling for the cows.  He could see those perfect eyebrows arch mockingly over those evocative eyes.  Even just remembering them seemed to freeze Thorne’s blood, and he shivered.

         He looked back toward the house to make sure his mother wasn’t watching him.  This was the third time he had stopped working this morning, and he didn’t want to alarm her.  Ever since his father had disappeared three years ago, his mother had seemed more…fragile.  Thorne would catch her staring off into the distance, her forehead creased with worry.  Thorne tried as hard as he could to keep from worrying her more.

         Which was why he didn’t want her to see him stop – she would probably think he was coming down with a summer fever – and also why he hadn’t told her about the dream.  He wasn’t sure why, but something told Thorne that this dream with the sinister woman would worry her.  The past three mornings, Thorne had woken, clammy with sweat, the echo of the woman’s laugh ringing in his ears, and her bi-colored eyes burning in his brain.

         “Thorne!  Come eat!” his mother called.  She frowned at him as he came in and sat down.  “Thorne, are you feeling alright?  You look a bit pale, and you have circles under your eyes.  Let me feel your forehead, dear.”

         Thorne, loading his bowl with oatmeal and new bread, tried to wave her off.  “I’m fine, mum, I’m fine.  I just…just…” he sighed.  It was no use trying to put it off any longer, and a lie of any kind would probably just worry her more.  “I’ve just been having a strange dream.”

         His mother froze momentarily before sitting down, very slowly and with false composure.  “A dream?  Just one, not many?”

         “Yes, just one.”  Thorne closed his eyes and began to describe his dream.  “It starts out in complete darkness, and I am being pulled down this passageway by invisible fingers.  But I can feel them; they’re slimy, and fluid, and… Then I am pulled into this underground cavern all lit by this green light.  There are many people in the cavern, but I am really only aware of two: A red-headed, richly dressed woman sitting on a throne-like chair and the man chained at the woman’s feet.  He has black hair and grey eyes, just like mine, and he is so thin and tired and –“ Thorne’s eyes snapped open as he came to a realization.  “It’s father!  He is chained to the woman’s chair!”

         “Go on, Thorne,” his mother said after a moment.

         “Ummm…and I look up from where…where father is chained, and I see the woman’s eyes for the first time: one blue, one green.  And she smiles slowly at me and says, ‘Well met, Thorne.’  Then she laughs, closing her eyes, and I wake up.”

         “The Eyes of the Fey,” his mother breathed.

         “What?”

         “How many times have you had this dream?”          

         “Three.”

         “Thorne, if this dream was disturbing you, why didn’t you tell me about it?”

         Thorne shrugged.  “I didn’t want you to worry over a little dream.”

         His mother smiled and kissed the top of his head.  “I would rather you just tell me when something is bothering you, or else I might just worry more.”  Thorne nodded.  “Now, why don’t you get out there and finish your chores?”

         Thorne rushed out, smiling once more, but as soon as he was outside, Kerra’s smile dropped from her face, and her eyes, as she watched Thorne, said that his dream worried her more than she had told him.  Tonight, Kerra said firmly to herself, tonight he must be told.