Free The Halfblood King: Book 1 of the Chronicles of Aertu by Julian Benoit
Authors: Julian Benoit
memories while you sleep. Only rarely does a dream involve revelation of any sort.”
“Well,” Aleron ventured, “something is telling me that this one means something, Grandfather.”
“Go on.”
“I dreamed that I was in some strange garden somewhere. It was nighttime, but the moon was full overhead and it was nearly bright as daylight. The garden had pools and fountains scattered through it and all the stonework looked very old. Not many of the figures carved into the fountains looked human at all.”
“Interesting, so far, go on.”
“Well, that wasn’t the strangest thing about the fountains,” Aleron continued, “The water in the fountains was all different colors and it glowed like it was lit from inside.” Hadaras began listening intently now. Aleron went on, “You and Cladus were there, together. You were sitting at the edge of a fountain with bright blue water, dipping your mugs into the flow and drinking the glowing blue water. There were others drinking there as well, but I think they were elves, not men.”
“And, what of the other pools?”
“There was another pool, in a dark corner of the garden that had this deep red water. It looked like glowing blood. There were strange men and elves drinking from that one, along with other strange creatures that I didn’t recognize. Everything about that pool said disorder. The stonework was rough but strong and the carvings were a riot of different designs, all clashing with each other. It seemed like the opposite of the blue fountain, where everything was so ordered it was almost too perfect.”
“Were those the only pools? I thought you said there were several.”
“Oh, there were, Grandfather, one for every color of the rainbow.”
“Really and who was at these pools?”
“No men or elves, that’s for sure, but lots of other strange creatures. There was a bright green one that some creature that looked like a walking tree was drinking from. Then it poured a mug-full on the dirt and new plants just sprouted there. There was another that was bright gold, like the sun, that was able to heal things. Sick and broken animals were crawling to it, only to walk away strong and healthy.”
“Were you able to drink from any of the pools,” Hadaras inquired with great interest.
“That’s the odd part, Grandfather. I was able to drink from all of them, even the red one. The people at the red one didn’t want me to drink there, but I just shoved them aside and drank. I drank from every pool in the garden. Then I found an empty basin, in the center of the garden. It looked like it was to have been the focal point, but was never filled.”
“What did you do at that pool?”
“Wow, Grandfather, you’re really interested aren’t you? Does that mean it means something?”
“It might, I’ll have to think on it a bit more”
“I didn’t like the pool being empty, so I brought water from all the pools and poured it in the empty basin.”
“And what happened when you mixed the colored waters together?”
“Kind of what you would expect to happen, the colors mixed to make new colors. The only thing that was different was when I had mixed all the colors. When I’ve mixed lots of colors of paint together, I always end up with some sort of brown. When I mixed all the water from the different pools together, the water turned white and glowed too brightly for me to look at it anymore,” Aleron elaborated. “Why do you suppose that happened, Grandfather?”
“Well,” Hadaras began, “some scholars have ideas about how light works. When sunlight passes through a glass prism, it is split into all the separate colors. So, they think that white light is an even mix of all the colors. But, when we paint something, green perhaps, the paint reflects back the green light and absorbs all the other colors. Because of that, when you mix all the colors of paint, it absorbs all
“Well,” Aleron ventured, “something is telling me that this one means something, Grandfather.”
“Go on.”
“I dreamed that I was in some strange garden somewhere. It was nighttime, but the moon was full overhead and it was nearly bright as daylight. The garden had pools and fountains scattered through it and all the stonework looked very old. Not many of the figures carved into the fountains looked human at all.”
“Interesting, so far, go on.”
“Well, that wasn’t the strangest thing about the fountains,” Aleron continued, “The water in the fountains was all different colors and it glowed like it was lit from inside.” Hadaras began listening intently now. Aleron went on, “You and Cladus were there, together. You were sitting at the edge of a fountain with bright blue water, dipping your mugs into the flow and drinking the glowing blue water. There were others drinking there as well, but I think they were elves, not men.”
“And, what of the other pools?”
“There was another pool, in a dark corner of the garden that had this deep red water. It looked like glowing blood. There were strange men and elves drinking from that one, along with other strange creatures that I didn’t recognize. Everything about that pool said disorder. The stonework was rough but strong and the carvings were a riot of different designs, all clashing with each other. It seemed like the opposite of the blue fountain, where everything was so ordered it was almost too perfect.”
“Were those the only pools? I thought you said there were several.”
“Oh, there were, Grandfather, one for every color of the rainbow.”
“Really and who was at these pools?”
“No men or elves, that’s for sure, but lots of other strange creatures. There was a bright green one that some creature that looked like a walking tree was drinking from. Then it poured a mug-full on the dirt and new plants just sprouted there. There was another that was bright gold, like the sun, that was able to heal things. Sick and broken animals were crawling to it, only to walk away strong and healthy.”
“Were you able to drink from any of the pools,” Hadaras inquired with great interest.
“That’s the odd part, Grandfather. I was able to drink from all of them, even the red one. The people at the red one didn’t want me to drink there, but I just shoved them aside and drank. I drank from every pool in the garden. Then I found an empty basin, in the center of the garden. It looked like it was to have been the focal point, but was never filled.”
“What did you do at that pool?”
“Wow, Grandfather, you’re really interested aren’t you? Does that mean it means something?”
“It might, I’ll have to think on it a bit more”
“I didn’t like the pool being empty, so I brought water from all the pools and poured it in the empty basin.”
“And what happened when you mixed the colored waters together?”
“Kind of what you would expect to happen, the colors mixed to make new colors. The only thing that was different was when I had mixed all the colors. When I’ve mixed lots of colors of paint together, I always end up with some sort of brown. When I mixed all the water from the different pools together, the water turned white and glowed too brightly for me to look at it anymore,” Aleron elaborated. “Why do you suppose that happened, Grandfather?”
“Well,” Hadaras began, “some scholars have ideas about how light works. When sunlight passes through a glass prism, it is split into all the separate colors. So, they think that white light is an even mix of all the colors. But, when we paint something, green perhaps, the paint reflects back the green light and absorbs all the other colors. Because of that, when you mix all the colors of paint, it absorbs all