Jewels from the Dark

As the men moved forward into the growing darkness, they did not see or hear who followed them. The Nefas scouts were truly silent, having tracked the three men from the time they entered the Wood. The scouts were cloaked in darkness, able to pull shadows around themselves.

One of the scouts signed, “They seek the Grey Lady.” He had been closest to Darach and alerted the others to what he had heard. One of his companions spat quietly, face contorted with disgust. Meirleach stiffened. Líadan had cost the Nefas much over the years. They had pushed her to the Waste Wind once before, before she was…changed.

The Nefas had seen her enter the Wood as a child, so many years ago. Meirleach had been ordered to follow her since they were both young and had grown up with her, in a way. When he had watched his mother and uncle force her into the Waste, attempting to gain favor with the Void, he had stayed at the edge of the Wilding Wood, hoping that somehow she would do what so many others could not – survive.

When the woman lost the last spark of her ember, Meirleach’s heart leapt into his throat. He knew what that signified. He turned to go, knowing the Void would soon consume her. He could not bear to watch. Yet he turned back when he heard her pained shout, watching her claw her way forward out of the grip of the Void, and felt blinded by the pure light that consumed her instead, echoes of her scream reverberating across the Waste. He then watched her rise, slivers of silver light dancing across her face and lighting her eyes. He pulled shadows deeper around him as she passed by, walking back into the Wood, heat and soft fiery light moving with her.

He kept silent when his mother and uncle spoke with disbelief and outrage after listening to the Waste Wind whisper of her betrayal of the Void. They made it their family’s mission to hunt down the Grey Lady and return her to the Waste, where the Void awaited its promised prize.

But Meirleach had been there. He had seen what happened – what had transformed the young woman into Líadan, the Grey Lady. The way she fought the Waste Wind, then the Void itself…the unexplained light…the continued fire that came from and through her. He could no longer actively participate in returning her to the Void.

For the past several years since that day, he had worked in the shadows to protect her from the Nefas. From his family. From him.