Chapter 20- Thief in wilderness

What's done in the dark,

always comes to light.

~ Jesmyn Ward.

***

  Returning to the present, Elvera tore the bottom of her gown under the cloak, taking the piece to wrap the wound and stop the bleeding. All to no avail. If the blood keeps rushing, she was sure she would get caught in no time.

 With a frustrated grumble, she brought out the Book hidden beneath the pocket of her cloth and dusted it. She scanned behind the cover, checking for any trace of maybe anything as it might take a while before they would catch up with her.

 At the cover, nothing was titled. It was just blank. Nothing written, nothing carved. She flipped the pages hastily and a piece of paper fell from the book to the ground without her knowledge. Elvera stopped flipping when her eyes fell on a dry blood stain. Blood?

 Indistinctly, she scrapped the stain off the center of the page when lines of words were smeared beneath it. Elvera brought the Book to her face to take a closer look and as expected, there were words buried.

 'Cleris benole dela que doomede. 'conterus une pathe nena veda, e vetalie cora de que velida bleue. Mache future doom apparadit lu cerde la blessin'.

 Chante lu three.'

 She examined it carefully. This wasn't Latin, she thought. It was the words of a true Key. Her eyes stared into space, lost in thought. The language of a Key was one thing she failed to learn. But with the little she knew, it seemed like a ritual.

 "Chant it thrice…" she muttered to herself as she stared at the words again. At least, she could understand the last words, she thought. Having no knowledge with the meaning of the foreign language, Elvera felt the urge. A part of her was stubborn because she had no idea what she was planning to do and getting herself into. What was the risk?

 A rustle of the leaves suddenly got her alerted but with a mental message of an option left for her was to either try or die. Elvera didn't contemplate more on it. One thing she believed was the Book wouldn't encrypt letters to lure her astray.

 "Cleris benole dela que…" after chanting the words thrice, she released an exasperated sigh when nothing seemed to work or change. She kicked a rock in frustration. How would she escape when all the boarders have been shut down and those creatures might have quadrupled by the alert? Taking for instance she couldn't even stand!

 She sighed for the nth time and gazed heavenwards, pulling off her veil. She stared into the nothingness until the words of a memory occupied her thoughts.

 'Waw…' Little Elvera gasped at the beautiful sight of butterflies roaming around her mother's palm. Her cherry lips hung open in astonishment. 'I want to be like you, mama!' she cried in excitement pacing back and forth while holding the end of her pooling dress around the young woman.

 Heiress Evana laughed at her daughter's behavior. She squatted and pulled little Elvera closer in her arms. 'No need to wish now, my love…' she said with a bright smile. 'I already see myself in you.'

 Little Elvera smiled at her mother. Her dimples showing at the side of her cheeks, tinting them pink. 'Can you teach me… how to do that?' she requested, her cute voice seeking for something that left the young lady speechless. She looked so adorable that it was impossible not to grant.

 With a small smile, 'I promise, when you grow of the right age, I would personally teach you few basics. One that would be much enthralling to see than this.' then she kissed her cheek.

 The smile on little Elvera's face fell and her face turned gloomy. With that expression on her daughter's face, Heiress Evana sighed and relented. 'Alright,' and little Elvera's face lit up with the brightest smile she had ever seen. 'But just once. After one attempt, that's it. Till you reach the right age. Agreed?' she said and being little Elvera who never thought things twice, nodded frantically, like a child offered sweet for the very first time.

 Heiress Evana sighed before reaching for the pendant on her neck. She unclasped it and brought it forward. 'This would hurt a little, okay?' she promised and Elvera nodded.

 She then opened the silvery box in the pendant and brought forth Elvera's hand. Something sharp pierced her skin and Elvera hissed at the pain. Each drop of her blood caused the pendant to glow brightly. The pain in her eyes immediately disappeared replaced with awe when Heiress Evana handed it to her.

 'No I want you to focus solely. Imagine a butterfly was right in your hands. I want all your attention focused while trying to connect the energy from your body source to your mind.' She instructed and Elvera obeyed.

 The determination in her daughter's spirit caused Heiress Evana's lips to curl up to a warm smile. 'No repeat after me… Quelne a piquo plena mache ben bim...'

 Little Elvera clutched the pendant and recited the same words. She opened her eyes when she felt something prickling under her clutched palm. With great reluctance, Elvera released her hand for her eyes to stretch with indefinite measures, when a butterfly appeared from it and flapped its wings mid-air.

 'Mama, I did it!' What followed next was a happy giggle. She celebrated, running after the butterfly in sheer happiness.

 Heiress Evana was left totally speechless. Wordless. Mindless to be precise. She stood watching the butterfly flap its wings and rested on her daughter's head. It seems it attracted other butterflies, as many gathered around the joyous little princess.

 Her mouth hung agape. Was she dreaming? But she beat herself to that thought. Truth was, she never expected this outcome. She was evoked in mixed feelings.

 It was an ability an Heiress was to possess after the age of twelve. The mind of summoning, they call it. But her daughter is only five! She had learned and adapt so early and quickly too, that it frightened her. But at the same time, amused her. Should she be worried?

 Heiress Evana approached her small figure and picked her on her arms. 'You did well, dear.' She praised her and the little girl smiled in delight. Her eyes sparking in raw emotions. Oh, would she get tired of those innocent eyes, she thought. 'Now off to your room, your break must be over by now. Your governess must have been waiting,'

 'I don't want to learn,' she folded her arms and puffed her cheeks, pouting.

 'Elvera,' her mother warned.

 'One more, mama, please…' she begged, feigning a cute face.

 'That wouldn't work on me this time, young lady.'

 'But mama…'

 'I thought we agreed on just an attempt and you passed the test well. What did I say of the words of an Heiress?'

 Little Elvera fumbled in displeasure. 'It should never be broken.' she murmured half-heartedly to herself that sounded incoherent to the ears.

 But Heiress Evana heard her. 'A word of an Heiress remains a word and shouldn't be broken,'

 'I never made a word,' Little Elvera muttered to herself making Heiress Evana chuckle at her daughter's behavior.

 And it was then it clicked. That was it! Elvera shifted her gaze from the sky to her neck when she came back to reality. She reached for the silvery pendant her mother had gifted her on her fifteenth birthday.

 "Ah!" she hissed when it entered her palm and drew blood. And it glowed. What would it take to give it a try? Her fighting spirit returned as she shut her eyes.

 "Cleris benole dela que…"

 Her body glowed under the dark starry sky, turning her translucent as she kept chanting. The world suddenly felt like fantasy. And when she eventually chanted it thrice, she slowly opened her eyes and gazed at her glowing body.

 It worked!

 She released a warm chuckle, as her eyes turned teary the next moment. But it was only for a short time when she thought of what next.

 She racked her head when her body began to turn into filament of dust, filling the Book at her front. What is happening? Her smile faded instantly, turning into confusion. She was panicking.

 She watched her fingers been blown by an invisible breeze away from her body into the opened Book. "What's happening..." she touched her face to be sure she wasn't dreaming and reached out for the tree beside her, only for the hand to pass through it.

 No, no, no, no!

 She gasped when she saw the state of her legs. It had completely faded, leaving just her waist up to her face. This shouldn't be happening!

 In a twinkling, she turned into total dust and escaped into the Book, disappearing like she was never there before.

***

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