| I
had to run. There was no choice. Lord Morlen was evil!! Yes, slaves were
commonly scared to mark them as such, but Evan was not Lord Morlen's to
mark. He belonged to my master, and when Morlen grabbed Evan and sliced
his face, Maeve fled, Crying for Orlo who had interrupted the powerful
lord at his task.
In retaliation, Morlen had
forced Lord Indol to sell both Evan and me to him. Luckily, I overheard
the conversation and was able to remain out of their sight. When they left,
I entered the room, forced open the chest where Lord Indol had placed our
purchase price, appropriated it, and hurried to my mother, Lila.
Lila refused to leave with
me, saying that her life was nearly at an end and that she had only held
back death to see me one more time. She had made me a dress fit for royalty
from bits and pieces of scraps. A dress that I could wear once out of Lord
Indol's estate and pass as a free person.
My father she told me (I never
had known anything about my father) was a Dreamwen, one who could walk
through dreams, visit other realms, aid the dying and heal the minds of
the living. The lords had hunted them nearly to extinction in their quest
for power, so the remaining Dreamwen had taken refuge among the lowborn
free.
Morlen, on the other hand,
was an Ebrowen, one who could invade the dreams of anyone whose eyes they
have looked into and learn everything the dreamer knows. Morlen had fallen
into the ways of evil, and had looked into my eyes.
My only hope was a family treasure,
the Dreamwen Stone which would protect the bearer of the stone from invasion
by an Ebrowen. My father had left the stone for my mother who told me where
and how to find it. We hugged goodbye one last time.
Then, I gathered up my things,
told Matron Jill that Morlen had sent me for Evan, and escaped from the
estate with him. Now, all I had to do was retrieve the Dreamwen Stone,
hope that it would protect Evan's dreams as well as my own all while traveling
through a countryside that would be on the lookout for the two of us.
Sam Marsh (Colorado
Blue Spruce Children's Award) |
