**DAPHNE**
*I am walking in the garden behind the cottage, wearing a worn cotton linen over my green velvet gown. The winds blow softly around me, and I wade through the ocean of carrots and onion root that grown about my feet.*
*There is a song in the air. A whispering chant in a melody I can almost remember the words to. Kneeling upon the ground, I smile at my friends that grow in the trees. They grin at me and wave their branches, urging me to harvest my wares.*
*“It has been a very long time, sweet child,” a motherly voice sounds at my back, and I stand up to turn around.*
*A woman stands within the glare of the sun. I cannot see her face, nor her smile, nor her dress. Cannot make out her lips, nor her skin. Yet I know she has green eyes and long brown hair, falling in waves past her rear. She is larger than life and without it at the same time.*
*“The whispers of the forest trees will only speak to you. When the Woodland Witch comes forth, you’ll see, what is false and what is true.”*
*I smile at her rhyme and raise my hand to shield my eyes, yet I am somehow not fast enough. The moment I raise my hand, she is gone.*
*Suddenly the trees begin to shake around me, and a tremble finds my feet. The ground is quaking terribly, and the sky is darkening, yet I am not afraid.*
*“Wake yourself child, for it is time to go.”*
I jolt upright in bed. Glancing around at the sunlight around me and noticing that I am alone. Immediately plagued by my dream, I leap out of bed. I know there was a message, but I cannot quite remember it.
*Ash was here with me! Wasn’t he?*
Yes, he was. I am still wearing his cloak.
Glancing at the bedside table, I sigh in relief. The cloak I traveled with is still there. It remains the way I left it - rolled up around the pocket to stow my book like a makeshift satchel.
I quickly undress, changing out of my bed clothes and into a simple red velvet gown. Slipping my arms through the cloak harboring the book, I sling Ash’s over my arm and slip on a pair of leather slippers.
There is a state or urgency guiding me and I know not yet why.
I tumble downstairs, a strange prompting at my back. The kitchen is occupied by two people. Klyesque and Petra. Their gazes snap to mine and they stand as if to catch me - thinking perhaps I am about to fall.
I wave them off and shake my head. Then, not knowing exactly why, I say, “We must leave. We must go now.”
Klyesque’s eyes narrow, but she nods. Darting out the front door as she yells back, “I will ready the horses.”
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Petra hisses scrambling about for her cloak and shoes.
“I-I don’t know.” I clamp my eyes shut, attempting to will any picture of my dream back to the surface. I come up empty. “I just know we have to leave. Now. Something is coming.”
I finish the last part as Ash and Dionie enter through the front door. I exhale my relief; happy he is really here. Immediately I am soothed, as just his presence seems to calm my nausea.
“Ash,” I whimper, reaching for him.
His eyes are still hard, but he allows me to fall against him for a short moment. “What do you mean, something is coming?”
“I-I’m not sure,” I say, resisting the urge to cry when he releases me to stand back and glare.
He almost looks as if he is disappointed in himself for comforting me and I do my best not to show how much that hurts.
“What has happened?” Dionie asks, glancing around. “Why is Klyesque in the stables?”
Petra stares back at him and says plainly, “If Daphne says it’s time to go, then it is time to go.”
He nods, scrambling to gather his weapons that are lain out on the kitchen table.
*“Slow down,”* Ash says with a roll of his eyes. “If it were time to go, I would know. I would-”
He stops speaking and, in a flash, he is glancing toward the open doorway. Something sparks around him, like a swirl of black smoke. It is almost invisible and yet I can see it as clearly as I could see the energy that danced about the tower room back at the palace.
He looks at me, confused and I hand him his cloak. “Come on,” he says, lifting me off the ground and running with me toward the open door.
He is fast and tremendously strong, running smoothly with me in his arms. Klyesque is standing outside the stables, and Trielle is already kneeling, readying herself for my mount.
Ash places me on the ground as we are joined by the others and urges me to slide onto Trielle’s back. Once I am settled, Trielle begins to glow, shimmering in and out of color, before becoming naught but a phantom that I can hardly see.
“Oh my,” I whisper, smiling as I hold my hand out in front of me. For I have become a phantom as well.
Glancing at Ash, I attempt a smile. “Did you just glamor me?”
He shakes his head, his eyes a steely cold gray. “No. Trielle is Shadow Steed and-” He coughs, lowering his eyes. “She has cloaked you. You will both appear invisible to the mortal eye.”
*But I can see her.*
*And I am mortal, am I not?*
*Perhaps, because I ride her?*
Petra gasps as she is lifted onto a different horse. A large animal for certain, but one of dark gray, and she doesn’t change.
As if in answer to the question in my eyes, she says, “They are not all Shadow Steed. Delago and Trielle are the only two left in the Western Realms.”
“Western Realms?” I ask, noting even my voice seems muted.
Petra smirks, “You will soon see.” Her smile is bright and infectious. As if adventure and danger are alive in her blood. So different from the palace maid I was introduced two all those days ago.
I try not to shiver with fear as the trees begin to whisper to me.
*What the devil is going on?*
"*Ride toward the Northern Gate."*
*"We will clear a path."*
I glance about at the trees in shock, barely aware of the stares I am receiving from Klyesque and Petra. The magnitude of this moment is lost on me as I do not have the time to ponder it, so I simply mouth the words, “Thank you.” A balm of comfort and warmth falls over me so swiftly that I can't help but smile and blow a kiss of farewell.
*These trees are my protectors.*
*They have always been and always will be.*
I do not know how I know such a thing but, suddenly... I do.
Klyesque eyes me. “What, what is it?” She inquires, glancing around as I did, but frowning as if bewildered.
“We must head for the Northern Gate,” I say in an even, steady voice. “The path will be cleared.”
The four of them, including Ash stare at me, stupefied. I ignore them, my eyes falling on Rose. Hayden’s horse from the Hadimere stables.
“Release Rose,” I sigh. “She will find her way home.”
Without taking his eyes off of me, Ash does exactly that. Slapping the mare on the ass and sending her on her way.
“The way to the Northern Gate is dangerous for mortals,” Dionie hisses, catching Ash’s eye.
I repeat, “The path will be clear.”
The moment Ash remounts, he slips into a wraithlike version of himself. I smile at him as I realize he has been cloaked as well. He appears almost like I imagine a ghost might. I can see through him to the trees at his back. He stares at me quizzically as I meet his eyes.
“You can see me, can’t you?” He asks.
I startle. “Am I not supposed to?”
He shakes his head, his jaw clenching. "No. You are not."