She came to the castle with nothing, not even shoes on her feet. And she was shunned for being 'lower class'. Her family ... when she dared speak of them, was not poor nor were they in a ranking position. They were cruel, insane people, though.

Her story would wrench tears from many people when she told it, all save those most important members of the council - the Lord and Lady of the castle itself. The Lord seemed rather put off that this ragged girl had made it into his Castle at all, past his guards and onto the grounds before someone finally caught her.

It only added insult to injury when the haggard and ugly man who did catch her had raped her and then threw her directly back outside for the guards to find. No one bothered to ask her name, Kell. No one bothered to ask her if she needed medical attention, which she most certainly did. Not until much later, did anyone even remember to find her - clinging to a dirty corner in a forgotten wing of the huge rambling castle.

"You ought not to be here," one of the two servants hissed, worried. "You ought to get away when you can."

"I have nowhere else to go," she whispered back, voice unable to carry farther than a few feet. "This was my only hope, and it's gone... What happened to the kindly lord who I read about?"

The other servant girl gasped and reached down close to Kell's face. Though she sounded harsh, it was more worry for herself and her fellow servants, that she spoke. "Do not mention that any changes have come. Please do not. It is very important."

"So he is different," Kell said, listlessly. She picked herself off the floor, and didn't bother to dust her ragged clothing off. Cobwebs clung to her black cloak and her prematurely silvering blond hair was covered in it. "I hoped that coming here I'd be able to ask him for help. It's obvious that won't happen."

Kell was a reasonably intelligent young woman, and clearly educated well beyond the servants. That she could read was a clear indication of course, that she spoke as though they could grasp everything she'd say was another. People didn't assume much around these servants - but neither were they dull witted.

"You should go," said the first again, a dry hiss. "It will not be safe. There will be visitors and he'll want everything right."

"And I just do not fit in with that rightness, do I?" Kell said, still not even looking at the pair of servants with her deeply-lined tear-stained grey-blue eyes. Her face was red in places from crying, but normally her skin would have been a gleaming tanned-fair color. She had no freckles, not even a single mole or birthmark marred her. Her feet were the exception to that, of course, now that she'd been running and hiding for who knew how long? They were crusted with dirt, blood and grass, callouses had hardly had time to form before she ran away from her terrifying home, so they would have been delicate and in well-fit shoes.

Her fingernails were dark with grime, dirt and blood as well - not her own blood, though. The foul man who had first grabbed her as she sought entry to the castle had not been quick enough to bind her hands, and she scored several deep marks on his arms and face before he took her. That was her one small victory: he didn't enjoy her nearly as much as he wanted to, not with sweat going into the cuts on his skin.

The pair of servants had had enough of watching her stand there blankly staring. "You will catch your death if you stay," the second said, "but we've work to do. If you're caught, it isn't our worry any more."

Kell blandly saw them leave, up the tall arched hallway and around a distant corner. There weren't any people in this portion of the Castle, and she wondered why that was. She was hardly brave enough to go seeking out the Lord again, nor even his chill and drawn Lady. The images that she had in her books did match those two: only in a faint way. The Lady had once been a lovely if a tad thin woman, who was now almost gaunt and had her dark hair drawn up in a tight well-kept bun. The Lord... he had been a strong looking man, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, a long nose and cheerful eyes - that was a photograph, not a painting, she'd seen of him. When she took one look into the pools of murky brown that passed as his eyes two days before, she knew that something dreadful had happened to them.

Was it worse than what her family had in mind for her? She'd never really know.

There was something gnawing at the edge of Kell's mind, almost like a dull red glow in the back of her vision. Kind of like a bitter tang of metallic aftertaste, blood on the back of the tongue. And a buzzing, almost like a distant but large hive of wasps, creeping closer to her ears.

A chill ran through Kell, as she realized that she still had the Sight - and it wouldn't go away. Never had she seen such a taint, as she turned to look. It was beyond the castle grounds, and even though she was apparently staring at a blank stone wall, she could clearly see a small number of outlines - people, beyond.

That she could smell and taste their approach made bile rise in her throat. She had seen such powerful mages pass through her township once or twice, but they had been brilliantly yellow-golden in color, a taste of ripe mango, the trilling of a sweet bird, in her senses.

She wanted to hide, deeply in the shadows of this large Castle, but she didn't even know her way around. All she could do was hope to find a dark place that was well-away from everyone else in it, and avoid these evil mages who approached.

***

She almost didn't see him, and certainly though she knew that he was a mage, she didn't sense much off him at all. The man standing in the hallway where she blindly staggered looked up at her with a bit of surprise. He had long, shaggy brown hair, tied back with a simple cord over his slender back. His skin was quite pale, but not so pale as to make her think he was something other than human.

"You should not be here," he said, his soft voice echoing through the hall. It was a deep, quiet and sensual voice, but it held menace. "There are - you have hardly been trained, why do you look at me like that?"

"I've never been trained," Kell said, still somewhat limping as she approached him. Beyond, however, was a concern that she hadn't counted on. The Lord and Lady escorted by a pair of their personal guards.

"Never-" the man said, but he turned and hastily bowed to the Lord. "Sire, Majesty," he said.

"What is that thing still doing in my Castle?" Said the Lord.

"I think sire," the man said, trying to edge himself between her and them, "that she has merely not been escorted properly out. The needs of the court guard obviously outweigh tending to this waif. Allow me to-"

"No, no," the Lord added a moment later, interrupting the man, who stiffened and his eyes became hard, "I think, she shall join us. This may prove more productive than I had anticipated. Come, Weyland, surely you could use the amusement as well."

The guards moved to intercept Kell, she couldn't even move from her spot. Weyland, the shadow mage, could only stand aside and watch as they took her arms in their strong hands, and removed Kell into the main hall.

*next*