Kapitel 17: A Plan
"So, if I understand this correctly," Saayan was saying, "this supposed sister of yours could be the carrier of maladies to the Palace, and your father closed the door to the outside to stop it from entering the Palace? It seems to me that common sense might not be your father's strong suit."
Saayan was sitting on the dinner table with her guests just for company, but Aelanor noticed that she did seem to look at their food with something of a longing expression.
"Mother believes that father was hoodwinked by Moraen's magic, and that rendered his judgement erroneous," she replied.
"Yes, banishing his only daughter to face death all those years ago certainly seems like the judgement of a man in possession of his mental faculties," Nimuel scoffed.
Aelanor shoot her a look, and Nimuel went on to concentrate on her bowl of beef stew, intending to whisper something to Haz'th. To her slight surprise, she saw Haz'th look at Saayan with something like anger, and perhaps sadness too. The latter, however, had her mind focused on the problem at hand.
"The Morning Bells... hmm... I've heard about the place," Saayan mused, "years ago. When a traveler crossed the barriers of this land. Unknowingly, of course, but he knew. He knew Norgael."
"Who's Norgael?" Aelanor asked.
"A carrier of secrets and souls of the Realm of the Shadows. That is, before he was banished from the land. Of course, he was not called Norgael back then. What he was called, I would rather not remember."
"Banished? Why?"
"Because souls and secrets made him covet power. He thought that if he could learn the secrets of the whole world, he could possess all the souls, thereby granting him immense power. He started leaving the Realm in search of more souls, and more secrets. We turned a blind sight to his twisted experiments for long, until it became impossible to ignore his dark rituals, and he was banished."
"I apologise, Princess Saayan," Nimuel cut in, "but why would you ignore such atrocities when you knew all about them? In our Realm, the wrongdoers are punished most heavily, or sent for healing, unless..."
She stopped, her mouth slightly open- in an expression that suggested she understood something. Saayan took a deep breathe before saying,
"Norgael was my offspring."
-
"When you say offspring... you mean that you can...?" Aelanor hesitated.
"No. Shadow creatures don't mate, at least not physically. Our intercourse is of the shadows and secrets. When a creature shares a deep secret with one of the Shadow creatures, there emerges a new creature."
"And the new creature is made of shadows?" Nimuel mused.
"Not necessarily. Norgael's father was a human, so he wasn't a real shadow creature, but a multiracial one. Of course, he could transform into shadows or solids at will. It probably made it a lot easier to deceive everyone and move undetected through the realms to reach his destination."
"So, Norgael went to the Morning Bells? Is that what you are saying? And the traveler who told you about the place, he went with him?" she asked.
"It is virtually impossible for any creature of the known realms to set foot in the place, but the traveler had told Norgael about The Morning Bells, the way there, and a lot more. It seemed that they had become friends. He knew of his plans for world dominance, but he never thought Norgael would succeed in putting his plans into action. He feared that all the information he had given him might have helped him on his course, and he was so ashamed of himself he never told this to another living soul," Saayan said.
"So, that was a secret, right? He shared a secret with you?" Aelanor had the same expression Nimuel had a few moments ago. "And the offspring you had was..."
"It was me," Haz'th said.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein