The Silver Arrow Read Online Free PDF

happening the next day. He perused several of the scrolls,
books, and maps, and after several hours, decided to head back to
his room. As he rose to leave, something caught his eyes—a little
green cylindrical box knitted in a finely crafted pattern. It felt
out of place beside the other books. Iseac pulled out the box and
opened it to reveal a scroll that looked untouched. Curious, he
broke the seal and began to read as the words came to life in his
mind.
    ***************
    Alicia, the midwife, and her
maid ran in and out of the bedroom preparing warm cloths,
sheets, and ointment as Archena groaned with pain; the day had
finally arrived that she would be delivered.
    “The cerinum roots will ease
the pain; just chew,” Alicia said to the laboring mother as her
maid moved over to her back, making sure she was propped up enough
by shifting the pillows behind Archena’s back for more support. The
maid returned to her side, wiping off the beaded sweat that spotted
Archena’s brow using a damp rag.
    “Now take slower breaths,”
Alicia said as she checked on her progress. “You are doing just
fine.”
    Alicia’s presence had a
soothing and reassuring feeling. She spoke calmly, with the
confidence of someone who had done this a thousand times.
    The raining season was over and
so, like every other day during this time of the year, the sky was
clear blue with no clouds in sight. The sun was almost at its
zenith, with the air hot and dry, when something strange happened.
The sky started to change in the middle of the day.
    This was not the natural gray
sky that came with cloud cover; instead, the sun was losing its
light and being overshadowed by darkness. Those on the street
turned to look at the heavens. Within minutes, the sun was gone and
it was pitch-black, like midnight. Widespread panic rolled through
the streets as people ran to their homes for safety.
    Silence filled the void as the
streets became empty, and while nothing stirred, a faint sound
suddenly broke the silence. The almost cat-like cry was coming from
the herbalist shop, something that a few minutes ago would have
been lost in the noise outside. It was the unique and unmistakable
sound of a crying child, and a short time later, Archena was handed
a little boy wrapped in white swaddling. She rocked her crying babe
gently only the way a mother can.
    The pains from her experience
were an almost—distant memory as she smiled at him, her face filled
with the joy of a new mother. The rocking motion of her back and
forth soon sent the babe to sleep, and she too drifted off to sleep
a few minutes later, drawn in by exhaustion.
    While mother and child rested,
three women walked briskly along a narrow pathway behind several
homes with orange glowing windows that came from the light inside.
It was a footpath of compact clay that joined the main street,
which was empty. They moved with a single objective, ignoring the
sound of everything around them, their intent as clear as their
destination.
    A creaking sound came from the
door opening at the herbalist shop, followed by several footsteps
as someone walked in. Alicia had been busy putting away some of her
remedies held in little wooden containers on the lower shelves at
the front of her shop and was hidden by the counter in front.
    It wasn’t strange or surprising
to have a visitor in the middle of the night when there was a
problem that couldn’t wait until the next day. So it was a little
surprising to find three members of the village Council standing at
her doorway and looking around.
    Dressed in their usual brown
gowns with wide hanging sleeves, the inside of the dress red, they
looked at her. The hoods of their cloaks were held down together
above their chest by a crystal broach that rested in the middle of
their bosom. The crystal gleamed as it reflected off the lamplight
inside.
    Each woman had a different
color broach denoting her position. The crystals were either white,
which was the lowest rank, then