The woman had a terrible smile. Her bloodless lips pulled back, revealing teeth just a shade too white, a little too long, a little too sharp. Madeira took an unconscious step back and nearly collided with Leavou, but the woman did not approach further. Instead she began to circle the two children like a stalking predator as she told her story. Soon her shuffling footfalls, so quiet under the lapping of the waterfall, began to change. Its pattern turned high and young, its step heavier and more sure. Her hair darkened, her skin changed, her eyes swam with blues and purples. In moments it was no longer a Symenestra, a creature poisonous and cold, but one of the friendly, hearty Vantha.
"After the time when all men lost themselves, there was a very powerful mage by the name of Verlyna”, the woman spoke, her youthful voice falling into the patterns of a storyteller as she circled them. Her cane made a soft impact with the earth that mimicked the beating of a heart. Madeira reached for Leavou's hand, and as the girl turned with the woman she let her friend stand between them.
Did they know what hypnotism is? The woman's eyes fell first on the older girl.
"Yes'm", Leavou muttered with a nod, and was that a little trace of fear in her voice? The woman turned to Madeira, and asked again.
Do you know the power of words?
Yes, her sleeping mind cried. She knew the power of words and what it meant to be a hypnotist. She knew, and now she wondered if this woman did too. Did she know what we would become? What was in store for us?
"It's magic", the six-year-old child spoke monotonously, parroting her father and their lessons. "The bad kind. Nobody is suppose to have it, because it's an insult to the city and our core beliefs."
"Is that so?" the woman grinned again, but this grin had crooked human teeth and was almost sweet, though there was no such levity in her eyes. "Your god would disagree. Verlyna was his champion."
Liar, Madeira huffed internally. Ionu hated magic, her dad said so. All magic but Spiritism, of course. Spiritism was the exception to everything, he said.
"Verlyna was young and ambitious", the Vantha continued, her cane puncturing her words with its thump, thump, thump. "She tore through the minds of all she met, twisting their reality with her emerald eyes, bending their will to gain power. And she would have succeeded, too."
The woman had circled all the way around them, so her back was once again to the water. Madeira blinked as the sun glanced off the sparkling pool and directly into her eyes, and when she opened them again the woman had changed. Her dark hair was lightening from black to grey to a blonde so pale it was nearly white. Her eyes grew wider, her skin paler, and the kaleidoscope of her eyes steadied into a soft powdery blue. Across her hands and cheeks opalescent scales seemed to push out from beneath the skin.
"But she made a fatal mistake..."
"After the time when all men lost themselves, there was a very powerful mage by the name of Verlyna”, the woman spoke, her youthful voice falling into the patterns of a storyteller as she circled them. Her cane made a soft impact with the earth that mimicked the beating of a heart. Madeira reached for Leavou's hand, and as the girl turned with the woman she let her friend stand between them.
Did they know what hypnotism is? The woman's eyes fell first on the older girl.
"Yes'm", Leavou muttered with a nod, and was that a little trace of fear in her voice? The woman turned to Madeira, and asked again.
Do you know the power of words?
Yes, her sleeping mind cried. She knew the power of words and what it meant to be a hypnotist. She knew, and now she wondered if this woman did too. Did she know what we would become? What was in store for us?
"It's magic", the six-year-old child spoke monotonously, parroting her father and their lessons. "The bad kind. Nobody is suppose to have it, because it's an insult to the city and our core beliefs."
"Is that so?" the woman grinned again, but this grin had crooked human teeth and was almost sweet, though there was no such levity in her eyes. "Your god would disagree. Verlyna was his champion."
Liar, Madeira huffed internally. Ionu hated magic, her dad said so. All magic but Spiritism, of course. Spiritism was the exception to everything, he said.
"Verlyna was young and ambitious", the Vantha continued, her cane puncturing her words with its thump, thump, thump. "She tore through the minds of all she met, twisting their reality with her emerald eyes, bending their will to gain power. And she would have succeeded, too."
The woman had circled all the way around them, so her back was once again to the water. Madeira blinked as the sun glanced off the sparkling pool and directly into her eyes, and when she opened them again the woman had changed. Her dark hair was lightening from black to grey to a blonde so pale it was nearly white. Her eyes grew wider, her skin paler, and the kaleidoscope of her eyes steadied into a soft powdery blue. Across her hands and cheeks opalescent scales seemed to push out from beneath the skin.
"But she made a fatal mistake..."
