Prologue Two
"Here... let me help you."
said the girl, her long, red hair falling over her shoulders as she bent to aid
the old woman in rising from the ground.
The crone coughed wearily and
acknowledged the youth with a nod of her head, the gaudy, red kerchief that
adorned her snow-white hair slipping back.
Carefully, the girl lifted the old woman to a standing position, then
quickly led her to a nearby bench and sat her down.
"I thank ye, Miss Beauty." the old woman rasped, her ninety-year-old voice cracking.
Beauty smiled at the woman's
unexpected knowledge of her name.
"You've heard of me, have you?
Has my father been boasting about me again?"
"Aye, I know ye... but it
didn't require any of me skills of prophesy jist yet." the woman smiled,
revealing strangely perfect teeth for a woman as old as she was.
"Prophesy?" Beauty echoed,
as she used her apron and a nearby pail of water to clean a minor scrape on the
woman gnarled hand. "Are you a
fortune teller, Madame..?"
"No Madame, dearie... plain old
Nezra will do. And I'm no two-bit
fortune-teller either, I'll have ye know.
Fortune-tellers look to the stars and make fortunes up... I look to the
powers that made those stars and tell you what they say." she replied
amiably.
"I see... are you hurt anywhere
else, Nezra?" Beauty asked.
"No, Miss Beauty... I took
quite a tumble there, didn't I?" Nezra grinned with self-mocking.
"Yes, you did... I'm surprised
you're not hurt any worse." Beauty smiled back.
"I'd have known if a major
disaster were to befall me old bones... and I thank ye again fer yer help, Miss
Beauty. Can I do anythin' fer ye?"
Nezra asked, bidding Beauty to sit beside her on the bench.
"There's no payment required,
really." Beauty insisted, sitting down nonetheless.
"Yer about eleven or twelve, am
I right?" Nezra asked suddenly.
"Why... yes."
"'Nother two or three years and
ye'll be fittin' fer marriage, aye?"
Beauty sighed, "Unfortunately,
for all my father's hard work, we're a poor family... I have no dowry. I'm destined to be an old maid."
"Humph... ye'd best leave
predicting destinies to me. Would ye
like to find out, Miss Beauty? I must
admit... there's somethin' about ye that bodes well." Nezra asked.
"You could tell me what kind of
man I'll marry?"
"Aye, of course, dearie... just
sit calm like and I'll contact the spirits." Nezra said softly, closing
her eyes and regulating her breathing.
Beauty stiffened as an enveloping,
gray cloud suddenly blocked the bright summer sunlight and the comforting
noises of the forest were abruptly silenced.
The wind picked up, tossing Beauty's red locks of hair about her
shoulders wildly. She was beginning to
become frightened, but the old woman seemed oblivious to the change in
atmosphere, but remained completely still.
Nezra smiled inwardly as her vision
began...ah, I'd known this child was
important. If only I could tell poor
Rayven that she exists! But that evil
Bylana had to cut him off from all outside contact. Good thing she never knew about his little soothsayer! Beauty, sweet... you have quite an adventure
ahead of you... I don't envy you the task you'll take on... but you're our only
hope.
Beauty was startled again when Nezra
began to speak in a melodious voice, not at all like her previous one. "Beauty... a good husband waits for you
even now. He is suffering and needs you
to save him... only your love can save him from his fate."
"A husband? Suffering?
Where? Where is he?" Beauty
asked, almost yelling over the violent wind to be heard.
"I cannot tell you where he
is... but it will be at least five years before you find him. A few words of advice, young Beauty... do
not let your eyes deceive you; for the heart of a man can beat in the breast of
a beast, but it cannot survive there alone for all time. It will wither and die like the summer roses
under winter's frosts. Take heed and
use your heart to see his soul... beware your eyes..."
The voice faded and as it did, the
wind calmed to the playful breeze it had been before, gently tugging at her now
tangled hair. The sun emerged from
behind the clouds and the birds and insects of the forest resumed their chirps
and chatters. Everything returned to
normal; even Nezra opened her eyes and smiled her near-perfect smile at the
dumbfounded Beauty.
"I told ye, I could tell
ye." she grinned.
"Indeed..." Beauty chewed
on her lower lip, trying to decipher that cryptic prophecy.
"Ye'd best run along home from
the fair, dearie... yer father's lookin' fer ye."
As if on cue, the voice of Beauty's
father rang out clear across the forest.
"Beauty! Come along, girl!
Time to go home and make supper!"
She turned away for a split second
to reply, "On my way, Papa!"
As she turned back, she found that Nezra had disappeared, leaving only
the sound of her mild laughter drifting through the trees.
"Beauty!" her father's
shout came again.
"Beauty..." the wind
echoed in a breathy whisper. "The
heart of a man beats in the chest of a beast... take heed... beware..."
"I don't want to know..."
Beauty said to herself before running for home.