Project Finish Wandrian - Week One

I shall begin here.  I had not planned on posting these pieces to my puzzle... but they are proof that I am moving forward.  So, every week, here on this blog, you shall see a small excerpt of this book pressed so close to my heart.

Read with caution... There may be spoilers.

Olave passed between the gray trees of his home, his wings hanging heavy at his back.  They had buried their Lord, watched the river carry its burden beyond their sight, beyond their reach.  They were alone now.  They had no ruler.  They had pledged to their dying Lord that they would wait until faerie Erthe was ruled by a King.  He shook his head, clawing at the weight of thoughts descending over him.  He had been given peace, given answers.  Why should he push it aside?  He must pull his gaze to his purpose, and gain his strength from his God.

Olave stood still, swaying on his feet.  He pushed closed his eyes and drank in the warmth of the wood, feeling the touch of sun on his arms, the deep presence of growth in the forest around him.  He would be still, and wait.  His thoughts fought against him, but he pulled in a deep breath and took hold of the peace held toward him.  Thank you, Father, for granting me your wisdom.  Hold me fast where I am standing.  He shook away the shadows stretching across his heart, and pushed the breath from his chest.  Nothing was in vain.  All things worked toward a purpose, guided by the Creator.  Olave pressed his eyes closed, and promised with all his soul, that he would not despair.

The sound of voices, of moving feet, woke him from the trance.  He caught the flash of movement between the trees.  Then a clear voice came, pushing into Olave’s thoughts and the silence of the wood, a voice that Olave did not recognize, calling a name that Olave did not know.

“Look!  There it is!”  The voice was crowded with breathless excitement and pulsing with eagerness.  “Come on Bino!!  It’s the river! The river at last!”  A note of tearful joy had entered the mellow voice, and Olave slipped forward.  He broke from the cover of trees and stopped.  

Kneeling on the riverbank was a young faerie, and beside him, the long, lithe, white body of a lizard.  Olave had read of the pale creatures, of how they existed apart from their darker kin, neither friend nor enemy, living out their days in the company of the desert faeries.  He had never seen a lizard, and the sheer size of him shook the core of Olave’s soul.  Was their enemy so large?  Were the black lizards, behind their black hills, so massive as this?

He took a breath.  That too was in God’s hands.  He pulled his mind to the wandrian whose dark head was bent beneath the sun.  He had come far, to be so blessed by river that rushed before him.  Olave should bear him welcome.

Aldwin raised his head at the sound of movement.  A blonde faerie had come from the trees.  The faerie bowed his head in greeting as Aldwin rose to his feet.

“You have come far I think?”  The stranger spoke and Aldwin nodded his head.

“Very far.”

“Then welcome.  I hope Azure was worth the journey.”

Aldwin’s head turned to gather in the landscape, the low, gray bluffs, the slender elm trees against the riverbank, and the distant glimmer of a falls, his heart breathing in the goodness of it.

“Azure has already made me its own.”  He turned his face back, a smile showing behind his eyes.  “It sits here, so beautiful, as if it had been waiting for me.”  The smile broke then.  Aldwin felt it creasing his mouth.  “I think, at long last, this wandrian has found his einde.”

The other faerie was smiling with him.  He held out his hand.  “I am Olave.”

“And I am Aldwin”.  Their hands met in a firm clasp, and peace passed between them.