Banished Nightmares

Prologue

Her feet felt like large blocks of lead as she trudged through the dense forest. She felt as if she was in the thickest part of the forest as hardly any light reached the ground to spread its nutrients to the plants below. Her breathing was heavy and her throat parched; she could not go on much longer and knew it. Her vision was the first to fade, everything around her was beginning to blur and spin. The trees no longer remained trees; they turned into blurs of browns and greens. What little light surrounded her began to fade and she was left in darkness. What she didn’t see before she passed out was a young boy standing not too far from her, his eyes wide with fright.

He rushed over to her fallen body and checked her pulse; his breathing settled a little seeing as she was still alive. He quickly jumped up and started running through the forest as fast as his feet could take him.

“Miss Tera, Miss Tera! Come quickly you must help this woman!” He yelled at the top of his lungs as he approached a small cottage built on a small clearing in the forest. It looked like a regular cottage on the outside and along the edge ran a small creek that curved behind the cottage disappearing into the forest. An aged woman walked out of the cottage to see what the commotion was about. Her appearance was that of a regular old woman, wearing a plain brown long skirt and a white long sleeved turtle neck, with an apron tied around her waist. Although aged, she was still skinny and remnants of her youthful beauty still remained in her eyes. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun revealing the peppered coloring that had begun to form.

“What is it Lyran?” Her voice was filled with wisdom when she spoke, just the sound of it made you mesmerized.

“Miss Tera! Come, you must come this way quickly!” Lyran, the young boy, tugged on her skirt and pulled her in the direction of the young woman that had collapsed. Miss Tera followed Lyran as quickly as her aged body could take her. Her eyes finally resting upon the woman’s fallen body in the middle of the forest.

“Lyran, stand back.” Miss Tera’s voice changed into that of a commander as she pushed Lyran a bit away from the body. She began to circle the body muttering inaudible words pausing after the first round. She then placed a hand above the woman’s head and passed it along her body. Miss Tera paused and took a deep breath and muttered more of the inaudible, as her hands began to emanate a glow that pulsed with power. The woman’s body, as if resonating with Miss Tera’s hands began to mimic the glow and float gently off the ground. “Come Lyran back to the cottage, quickly now!” Lyran lead the way as Miss Tera followed and the body trailed behind her still a glow.

Inside the cottage Miss Tera let the body fall gently onto a soft bed.

“Miss Tera who is this woman, she wears clothes that of the wealthy and yet she seems as if she has been worked to extreme depths.” Lyran looked at Miss Tera with a puzzled expression.

Miss Tera held up her hand signaling answers would come soon enough and walked to the bedside, peeling away the cloth that covered the wounded areas. The silken off the shoulder blouse that the woman wore with a deep blood red corset and imprinted floral design that fit tightly around her upper body were now blood stained and soiled. The long skirt that she wore was the same color as the corset but plain. It was now torn and battered looking similar to peasants clothing.

Miss Tera began to clean the wounds on the woman with a damp cloth and a water bin; the woman’s face showed no signs of acknowledgment. She was still knocked out cold with her night kissed hair falling out of its tight braid.

“The wounds are clean now so infections will not come. I however lost the ability to heal at a very young age so I’m afraid this is all I can do for her…Now let’s see just exactly who this woman of royalty really is.” Miss Tera walked over to the far side of her cottage and picked up a staff that was leaning against the wall. The top of the staff contained a jewel that was a deep blue that looked as if it had come from the deepest depths of the ocean. Iron bars were placed on either side creating a spade shape around the jewel.

Back at the bedside Miss Tera took the staff and began to draw symbols in the air with the staff. The room instantaneously dimmed allowing only the light from the windows in creating harsh shadows around the cottage. In the air where the staff passed a silver line appeared floating in the air emanating an almost heavenly glow. Finishing the symbols Miss Tera tapped the staff to the cottage’s wooden floor and placed her hand on the woman’s forehead. The symbols in the air swooped down onto the back of Miss Tera’s hand and faded into her tanned skin.

Although Miss Tera knew she remained standing in the cottage the sensation of looking into a person’s past still shocked her. The images around her changed and the story began to unfold before her eyes.