Prophecies of the Umbra - Prologue

Part one - Portents of doom

= Prologue =
= Powerless =

In a dark and violent sea, a storm was rising. Waves thrashed, the winds whipped and the vast expanse was unforgiving. In this sea a ship bobbed up and down; attacked by the waves, it danced with the storm; for now at least. The ship was bound for the great delta, the entrance to the mainland and it would get there at whatever cost. It was all ready nearing its destination, battling against the elements like a valiant warrior.
  Below the deck, in a cramped and barely lit room, Avina sat and cried. Just glistening tears dripped from her vivid green eyes, she would clutch her head to stop the throbbing pain if she had had room. About thirty people were squashed into the same space as Avina; at times she could barely breathe, verging on a panic attack. She could hear rasping breaths, the air down here was stuffy and impure. She forced herself to stop thinking about that; she would have a panic attack if she wasn’t careful.
  Bile rose up Avina’s throat, as well as the headache and cramp she was struggling not to be sick. Every few moments the ship would lurch, a stomach churning motion. Not that she had anything to sick up; she and everyone else had not been given a thing to eat. Not a morsel of bread. Not even water to drink. Avina’s stomach grumbled quietly in dissatisfaction.
  Another tear dripped down Avina’s face, sorrow filled her gullet and she fought back the pain. Where was her family? She had no clue. Three days ago her life had been destroyed by the mainlanders. Mainlanders. The thought made her tremble and she desperately tried to move, but a rattling sound greeted her; she had forgotten her feet were bound. She shook her head angrily, her fiery red hair flowing in front of her eyes.
The man next to her was breathing the heaviest out of anyone she could hear and within moments he had passed out. But he had nowhere to fall, the bodies surrounding him held him up. Was he dead? Avina didn’t know, but she couldn’t move to check. Why had they done it! Avina had to stop her teeth grinding in anger, and her fists clenching, but there was nothing she could do. She was helpless. She was powerless.
  Then the ship violently shook, Avina gulped because she knew what was happening. She had been on a ship before, many times back on the isles. They had reached land. Worry filled her as much as joy. Hopefully she would receive some food, some water and her seasickness had died down because the ship was no longer lurching in the storm. And perhaps she wouldn’t be so powerless anymore. Perhaps she could fight back… The positive energy acted like adrenaline willing her on.
She had no time to mull over her ideas though, a beam of light poured into the room and Avina heard groans from all directions. The hatch was open and a gruff sounding man was poking his head through.
“Time to meet your slave master.”

*
Selene watched the sparrow through the glass as she wiped the next table absently. How she longed to be like the bird, free to go wherever it chose. Money; that was the problem. She had no money to go out traveling anywhere.
  Perhaps things would go her way though; the tarot cards had certainly suggested so. The star had been the first card she had drawn this morning, a star of hope…?
Selene was pulled out of thought by a tapping on her shoulder. Spinning round she came eye to eye with Master Gal. A plump fellow, his beady brown eyes staring at Selene intently. His shirt and breeches looking ready to burst. “I do not pay you to day dream, now work!” Selene nodded and apologised quickly, scrubbing a hand through her long dark hair in frustration. The idea of a bonus drifted out of the window.
The Silver Swan sign hung above the door and the fireplace was turned on warming up the room. Even with that, Selene shivered. She’d probably caught something, a chill from being out so late at night. One day she’d have to quit going out all the time, it was getting slightly out of control; waking up next to a different man every morning.
Realising she was daydreaming again, Selene frantically wiped at the table with vigour. If that didn’t clean it, nothing would, it just seemed the stain in front of her had been placed just so she couldn’t remove it.
  After nearly an hour more of cleaning, Master Gal gave her permission to leave, giving her a small pouch of silver marks. No bonus for me! Stepping out of the tavern, Selene stepped through the dingy alleys of this part of the city. She walked quickly; this place was a hotbed for thieves and muggers. 
The twin moons; Orion and Vesta shined brightly in the sky, it was a very clear night. It would have been beautiful if only Selene could stop her nostrils curling from the hideous smells wafting down the alleyways.
  The block of flats that had become so familiar with her rose before her and she rushed up the stairs to get back home. Opening the door her cramped living room and kitchen all in one greeted her with just a pang of frustration.
Her tarot cards were laid out on the table as she had left them. The Star taking centre place. She settled down before the table and shuffled the cards again. The moment of truth.
  Different cards greeted her as she drew them, the empress, the star once again and perhaps most worrying; the hanged man. Opening her small guidebook she leafed through looking for the meaning but when she reached the page she nearly recoiled back onto the floor.
  The page had been ripped out and a piece of paper was sitting in its place. Find the slave. Find the slave? She grabbed it, frantically looking at both sides hoping for more information. How in the name of the goddess did this get into her book? Something told her the slave was female, the empress. The star, did that mean her hope, finding her, saving her. And the hanged man? Danger, doom? Selene blinked heavily, was she just imagining all of this? She felt powerless, something was happening, someone had put this into her tarot book and she could not do a thing about it.