Chapter 5
1852 Words
CHAPTER FIVE
I awoke to find myself back in my bed with a towel beneath my wet hair. Father Collins sat beside me with pursed lips and a large tome in his lap.
“How are you feeling?”
I cupped my hand over my forehead and sighed. “Like a train hit me.” I received a blank for my trouble and shook my head. “Not great.”
He set his palm on the cover of the large book. “I thought you might feel as such.”
There was something in his manner and words that caught my curiosity, and I couldn’t help but allow my gaze to fall to the book. “Why?”
A deep sigh escaped his lips. “You are not a mere visitor from another world, but someone vastly important to ours, and your coming was foretold in this book.” He patted the cover lightly with one palm. “In here is the prophecy that spoke of one who would fall from the heavens in a ball of white light and return hope to the hopeless.”
I blinked at him. “You have got to be joking.”
The corners of his lips twitched upward. “Would that I were, but this prophecy has been handed down by my order for many countless centuries. So many, in fact, that we are not quite certain when the words were spoken.” He opened the tome and gently flipped through the pages until he neared the back where he stopped at a page that featured a paragraph of text with a picture I couldn’t quite make out in its upside-down state. The father set a finger on the script that ran across the worn pages in long, elegant handwriting. The text didn’t look like the alphabet I had seen in the prayer book. “According to a priestess with the gift of foresight, she foretold that ‘the darkness would grow long and the days hard and bitter. When the hour is late one shall come from the heavens like a fallen angel and rekindle the light of hope.’” He lifted his eyes and smiled at me. “You seem to fit that description perfectly, Miss Kate.”
I gaped at him a moment before I shook off my stupor and shook my head. “But I’m not somebody special! I’m just somebody who-”
“Dropped into our world through her own blood and found herself the last of what this world refers to as a ‘Familiar.’”
I blinked at him. “I’m familiar with what?”
He chuckled. “Not in that way, and yet in that way.”
“You lost me.”
Father Collins lifted his eyes to the ceiling and stroked his chin. “I would describe it as the ability to ‘mimic’ those with the gifts granted to them by animals. Since many legends of those families stem from such animals granting them license to use their attributes, we, that is, those of us from this world, refer to the members within those fortunate bloodlines as one of the Pactus, or the ‘gifted ones.’”
I shook my head. “I still don’t follow.”
“The gentleman you saw with the wings is of a bloodline who, long ago, was granted the power of flight by a bird god. As a Familiar, you are able to ‘borrow’ that blessing and use wings yourself.” He paused and studied me with a soft smile. “Though it must be admitted that your wings are much more spectacular in their appearance than any I have seen in my long years.”
My eyes widened as understanding dawned on me. “Then… then I can fly?”
Collins nodded. “Among other gifts, though,” He cast a side look at the door and cleared his throat, “one must be careful whom one touches. Is that not correct, Ros?”
The door opened and Ros stepped into the room. His usual good humor had been replaced by a solemn expression as he shut the door behind himself. “I thought it wasn’t the best time to come in yet.”
Something tingled at the back of my mind like I was missing an important point the good father was making. “Is... does this have something to do with what happened to me before I blacked out?”
Ros walked up to the side of the bed and sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to start suffocating.”
I blinked at him. “I… I was-” I wrapped a hand around my throat as I thought back to the sensation of burning lungs. “But how? Why?”
Collins gestured to Ros. “Ros here is of a very ancient and unique bloodline where his ancestors were granted the gift of a great dragon.”
I tilted my head to one side and lifted an eyebrow. “So, when I touched you-?”
“You acquired that gift, though only briefly,” Ros confirmed.
I furrowed my brow. “But I didn’t grow wings.”
A ghost of a smile touched Ros’ lips. “My lineage isn’t of the dragon type that can fly. Rather, my family has the ability to swim underwater.”
My eyes widened as understanding dawned on me. “Then I couldn’t breathe because I needed water?”
Ros nodded. “Yes. It was fortunate the good father here had a mop bucket at hand.”
A little bit of color drained from my face. “A… mop bucket?”
“Only slightly used,” the good father assured me.
I lifted up my hands and studied my upturned palms. “So I… can I touch anybody here?”
The good father leaned forward and set his hand in mine. I looked up to find him smiling at me. “There are many of us without the gift, Miss Kate, though I am sure in time you will learn to control your own gift.”
“But how do I tell who’s a Pact one or not?” I asked them.
Collins pursed his lips. “The word is ‘Pactus,’ though I fear you are correct. There is no way to tell one from another unless their gift is being used.”
“What about some gloves?” Ros suggested.
The good father turned his head around and lifted an eyebrow at him while a slight smile touched the corners of his lips. “An excellent idea. I believe you have a fine pair of gloves, which your-”
“Going to give to her without hesitation, as an apology for putting her through that ordeal,” Ros finished for him as he bowed his head. “It would do my gloves an honor to be worn by such an illustrious, and might I add beautiful, woman.”
I cut through the crap and frowned at him. “Did you know that would happen if I touched you?”
Ros’ good humor fled as he folded his arms over his chest. “Truth be told, I wasn’t sure what, if anything, would happen, but I’ll admit I suspected something would occur if you were to touch me.”
I launched both my pillows at him, and both struck him in the face. He stumbled back in both surprise and at the pricking of the goose quills inside the pillow covers. A few of the feathers fell out and clung themselves to Ros’ face, ringing his features in a frame of guilt and slight bemusement.
Father Collins chuckled. “A new fashion among those of the Hadrian Empire?”
Ros pulled the feathers off his face and revealed a smile. “This custom extends beyond the boundaries of all the kingdoms. It’s also something I deserve to wear.”
I dropped my gaze to my upturned hands in my lap and pursed my lips. “I suppose you didn’t really know…”
An eager spark illuminated his brilliant green eyes. “Then you forgive me?”
I lifted an eyebrow but gave him a crooked smile. “I didn’t say that…”
Ros sighed and feigned regret. “Then I must make amends by other means. Namely that I show you about the city.”
Collins cast a look of suspicion at him. “You know the city well enough, but should you really be showing yourself to the public?”
Ros grinned and gave him a wink. “Nothing to it. Nobody would recognize me in these clothes, and I’ll be sure to keep my head down and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.”
“Would that were possible…” the good father muttered as he returned his attention to me. His expression softened and he set a hand atop mine. “But how are you feeling?”
I shifted among the sheets and pressed my hand against my chest. “I’m a little tired and hungry, but other than that I feel fine.”
He dropped his eyes to my clothes. “And you are still in need of new attire. If you feel well enough, we may remedy that by fitting you with some new clothes. I apologize for their plainness, but-”
I held up one hand and smiled at him. “You don’t have anything to apologize for. I’ll just be glad to get out of these ragged ones.”
“Then let me fetch a shirt and pants,” Collins offered as he eased himself onto his feet. He cast a side look at Ros. “As for your suggestion to lead her out into the city, might I remind you that she is being sought by all the guards?”
“And all the rats,” Ros added.
Collins frowned at him. “This is no joking matter. She cannot be found by the king.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Why does he want to find me?”
Ros crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “Because the king of Mavros is one of the leading villains in that part of the prophecy about darkness.”
“Nothing is certain,” Collins countered.
Ros scoffed. “Nothing is certain but that he poisoned his own father to take the throne and now holds my-”
“Whatever his crimes, she cannot be captured by anyone,” Collins insisted as he set a hand on Ros’ shoulder. “During your stay here, you must be her protector until that time that we might send her out of the reach of the king. Do you understand?”
Ros pursed his lips but nodded. “I understand.”
Collins smiled and patted his shoulder. “Excellent! You do your house honor.” He turned to face me. “Now, Miss Kate-”
“It’s just Kate,” I assured him.
He bowed his head. “Now, Kate, let us see to your clothes.”
- Writer
