Fiction novel “The Noreth Story”

By ] Tanaqui
[She lives on the East Coast, near Washington DC, USA]


PROLOGUE

"Loriana! Loriana! Wake up! The council is meeting, you need to be there!"
"You have got to be kidding me, it’s the middle of the night, I’ll go to the summery meeting in the morning."
"There won’t be one" Salne said, her brows creased with worry and fear. Loriana felt her stomach drop at the look on her mother’s face. "The time has come after all" she thought as a grave calm settled down on her.
"This is it, isn’t it? The walls will fall tomorrow?" she said. Her mother nodded, fighting back the tears that were threatening to mar her comely face. The girl nodded and got up, plaiting her flaxen hair for the official event and grabbing the emergency bag that everyone in the city had kept ready for years.

The fear was tangible in the great council hall as Loriana and Salne entered. Chief Councilman Alston was directing a discussion from the podium. From the look on King Colas’ face, it wasn’t going very well.

"We need to decide now! We do not have time to continue to listen to you old hens debate this. Either we move our people into the caves and send out our emissary or we find another way, but there is no way that we can win this fight!" Alston was urging his reluctant council members. He sat and listened to a few more outcries before spotting Loriana and her mother. His face lit up to see the young woman and he beckoned her up onto the speaker’s dais with him.

"Look it’s the emissary!" one of the men in the crowd shouted causing the entire host of large almond eyes set in angular faces framed by fantastic head pieces to focus on Loriana. Taking a deep breath she mounted the podium and addressed the crowd.

"I know what you are asking, and the answer is that I do not know where the Rose is. We have some leads, but unfortunately they are all strains of legends and that does not leave us with much information and we do not have the time." She took another deep breath and steadied her voice for the bad news she was about to deliver. "This means that well, that I failed and have nothing to offer you. What Councilman Alston said was right, we need to think of something now, and I believe that the caves may be the only way," she finished, watching as the previously silent crowd erupted into angry shouts and chaos.

"You were our hope!" cried one woman, her sister weeping on her shoulder."Useless wench! Do you mean that all of this time has been wasted on you? We should have found another, we should have found another...."

"Quiet!" a deep voice said, coming from the back of the hall, cutting off the angry man’s rant.
"Listen now, I tell you! The one you seek you could not have found, the Noreth will come from another place, in a time distant from now! She will find the Rose..." .

Loriana bolted up from her sleep, hugging her arms to herself as she remembered the meeting, where the prophet had spoken and where, after failing her people she was inexplicably entrusted with saving them again. What were they thinking? Surely they must have been wrong and now I don’t have a choice. She thought to herself. Swearing under her breath she got up from her bed of moss and rushes and walked to her pile of books and instruments. She pulled out a battered scribing mirror and spoke the words of enchantment over it and waited as the image of a teenage girl sitting on a hill appeared, her red brown hair shining like copper in the afternoon light. “Maybe not all is lost after all” she thought to herself again, settling down for the long watch.

>> for complete novel and/or comments, please contact her at riannaofthewolves@yahoo.com
[the complete novel is still being drafted]