Note: This is 4,503 words! 45,000 to go!
Oh boy...Idk why it's being weird but for the future I will try and make this easier to read...sorry if its really hard...
The girls stood staring blankly at each other, their thoughts racing. What was the other doing here, they weren’t supposed to have to do this until months, maybe even years later. It didn’t seem right to be here now, it was like something had tricked them into coming here, and they hadn’t had any other choice but to come. For Kera, it was to find her most precious possession, and for Sarila it was to save her mother’s book, the one thing that could help her win. Who knew that the one person they had once hated was just about to help them save the thing they needed most, and the same things that would bring them both to war.
Chapter 1 Kera
“Kera please! We really don’t have time for this right now, get going or you’re sleeping outside tonight!” A woman in her early thirties with dark ebony hair and bright green eyes called up the stairs.
“Oh Sharron don’t worry about me, I can finish my field work and get back home before dark if I want to,” Kera, a young tan fourteen year old girl with crimson hair and blue eyes argued, scrambling down the stairs, a ragged cloth bag hanging from her shoulder.
Sharron narrowed her eyes, “That’s what you always say, and yet you never come back until three days later.”
“That’s because I don’t like you.” Kera stuck her tongue out at Sharron and jumped to dodge the fist aimed at her face. “Hey, so I decide to do some sightseeing along the way, big deal! Is there something so wrong with wanting to explore?” She asked before swiftly slipping out the door and into the dirt yard that stretched out as far as she could see. Without waiting around to hear the answer to her question, Kera sprinted down the rocky lane until she was far enough away from the house that she knew Sharron wouldn’t follow after her.
Cautiously, Kera looked all around her, the flat barren land held no trees or grasses and only the smallest snakes and lizards dared to try and make their homes here. Satisfied that no one else was around to see her, she carefully flipped her bag off her shoulders and dug around inside it until she found what she was looking for. She cradled her prized possession in her hands, joyously clutching the jewel’s warmth to her already sweaty palms. The jewel looked just like an ordinary flat piece of white marble anywhere but in Kera’s hands, but when she gripped the stone it burst into fantastic oranges, yellows and reds, an unending blast of fiery colors. The stone was about the size of her palm, barely longer than her thumb and about half as wide as her palm. The stone was chipped in several places, but to her this stone was flawless.
It had been only a week since she had found this stone, and she had already noticed that whenever she held it, she felt full of energy and warmth. She had decided to keep the stone a secret from Sharron since she knew Sharron would only want to sell the stone, despite her best arguments.
So, Kera set off towards town only three miles away, her most prized possession in hand. She wondered what she was going to do once she got to town, she had told Sharron that she had found some field work, but once again she hadn’t been able to find any. She had been telling Sharron the same thing for weeks, and most of the reason she was gone so long was because she was out looking for work further and further from home.
Kera was just now starting to realize the pains of continuing to draw out living with Sharron, she just couldn’t imagine hurting Sharron by leaving, she knew that it would upset Sharron and more importantly she knew that Sharron could no longer do field work. Kera had always been told about Sharron’s difficulties in the field, about how the crops would never grow for her and she knew that Sharron was now just too out of shape for work outside the house. Sharron would never admit it, but Kera had seen her limp.
The town entrance was coming into sight and Kera felt her heart beginning to pound, it was dangerous at her age to come to town, especially with all of the rumors of thievery and murder that were becoming more and more common. She shivered, she had never really believed all the old folk tales Sharron told her about the dark spirits that were always destined to return, coming from an outside place determined to take over. It was the lamest thing she had ever heard, who really believed that the ‘evil’ people could win? Kera knew from hearing every other nursery rhyme and children’s story that the light always prevailed, and that was predictable in every story. After a while it just made all the stories boring and she stopped listening and reading them.
She arrived at the town gate, wincing at the loud tone that announced her arrival and took a deep breath waiting for the guard to check her in. While she waited she slipped the stone into her pocket and switched it for her coin purse, counting her money slowly. She had to make sure that even if she didn’t get field work she still managed to bring home food; otherwise Sharron was going to be suspicious. The guard arrived shuffling sullenly up the path on the other side of the gate. “Here to do field work I suppose?” He asked, taking one look at her raggedly clothes and pitiful pile of money.
Kera looked down at her shoes and quickly pushed her money back into the bag and back into her pocket. “Uh-huh.” She mumbled politely, knowing it was extremely stupid to argue with the guard who was supposed to let her in.
“All right then, c’mon in, you don’t have any weapons so you’re fine.” He pressed a button and began trudging back up the path.
The town gate began slowly and noisily opening and Kera waited patiently for it to open. It was scary how the rungs of the gate disappeared after they had raised about a foot and it had always creped her out. She always feared that the magic in the gate was faulty since it was so old, but she decided that if other people trusted it she could too, that didn’t mean however that she was going to pass through before it was finished opening.
While the gate took its sweet time opening Kera pulled her pouch out of her bag and carefully placed her rock into it, holding the bag to her chest before dropping it back into her bag. It was going to be a long day, and she didn’t want there to be any chance of her dropping the precious stone.
The gate stopped creaking and she stepped through into the bustling marketplace heading first towards the field. She couldn’t be pessimistic and just assume that they wouldn’t have any work today, she had to hope that today would be different. She had almost made it to the field when suddenly a very tall man ran up to her, he must have been at least six feet, and he towered over her.
“Excuse me, little girl, but have you seen a stone, about the size of your thumb lying around anywhere? It’s bright purple and very shiny, very valuable.” He inquired urgently, a look of worry on his pale face.
Kera looked at the rest of him and almost laughed before answering him. It might have been his worry, but he was extremely pale, she couldn’t imagine how anyone could be that pale in a place like this, it was dry and sunny all the time, and it was very lucky if they got more than 15 days of rain a year. Sometimes they got lucky and more rain came, but most of the time rain was sparse. However though, they were lucky here, and the river that was nearby provided everyone with plenty of water. But, with all the sun, and this man’s sparse clothing it was a miracle that his skin could be as pale as it was, her skin was extremely tan year round, and she had never seen anyone like this man before. “No sir, I haven’t seen anything like that, have you lost it somewhere?” She answered shaking her head.
“Oh no, no, no, I can’t have lost it, I’m going to be in so much trouble now, what am I going to do…” He looked up at her suddenly, “Say, can you help me look for it? I’ll reward you handsomely if you find it, and I’ll pay you for the time that you help me look…”
It seemed like the perfect offer to her, but…she looked around the man at the field behind him, the field looked pretty full already…could she risk it? If she went to go ask about field work and they were already full she would have nothing to do, and this man would probably already be gone. But…what if he wasn’t true to his word and didn’t pay her? She probably wouldn’t have any time left to get food, and she would have wasted an entire day. She glanced up at his worried face, and decided to try, it was the nice thing to do, and even if she didn’t get paid at least she knew that she had tried.
“Sure mister, I’ll help you look, do you know where you lost it?” She questioned respectfully.
His face filled with gratitude and he grabbed her hands, tightly in his, she jumped, his hands were cold as well. “Thank you very much! I appreciate this greatly!” He pulled her over to a spot closer to the field and pointed to a grassy area nearby. “I was working in the field and it must have fallen out of my pocket…”
Her eyes widened, this man was very skilled in his earth magic, he had already managed to grow a lot in the short period of time that the field had been open. It normally took people over half the day to grow even a small shoot of grass, and then after that the growing increased dramatically. But, shaking off her surprise she asked, “Are you sure you don’t mind me going through the grass? Won’t that diminish its sell value?”
He looked at her humorously, chuckling under his breath. “Don’t you worry about that at all, I can re-grow it if necessary, but…” He smiled, “I have a feeling you’ve got strong enough earth magic in you to keep the grass from getting damaged.”
She blushed; he must be a lot stronger with magic than he looked if he could detect other’s magic. She bit her lip lightly and nodded, “I-I’ll try my best.” With that she extended her fingers and let the earth magic she had kept pent up in her for weeks because of lack of work spill out into the grass, relishing in the warmth and acceptance the grass gave her. Then, she began sifting through the grass, her eyes focused for the glint of purple.
After several minutes she noticed that the grass had grown taller, over two inches in a matter of minutes! Was that her magic? She peeked up out of the grass and saw the man standing watching the workers out across the field. It must have been her; she must have had more magic saved up in her than she had first thought. She continued pawing through the grass searching until a sudden ringing in her ears interrupted her; she straightened immediately and looked for the source of the ringing. It sounded close to her, and she glanced down at her bag in confusion. Her bag was glowing!
Fearfully she checked to see that the man was still occupied, seeing that he was she speedily reached into her bag and drew out the bag her stone was in. She almost dropped it in shock, it was extremely hot! The small mesh bag was glowing even brighter now that it was out in the sunlight; she had to squint to even see it.
The bag ripped unexpectedly and the stone erupted out of it. The stone’s light dulled and it dropped gently into her open palms, levitating calmly about a centimeter above her outstretched hands. The stone then abruptly flew forward into the grass and disappeared. She leapt forward into the grass after it; she wasn’t going to lose her stone. Once she was again hidden in the grass she searched feverishly for the stone, and surprisingly she found it swiftly. It sat glowing in the grass right next to the purple stone, and now the purple stone was glowing as well.
Kera’s hands whipped out and grabbed her stone clutching it tightly to her chest. Once the stone’s warmth became calming and soothing, she relaxed and loosened her grip, watching the stone hovering above her hand again. With her other hand she picked up the purple stone and stood up, fighting her way out of the grass that was now taller than her. Just before she pushed out of the grass she slipped her stone into her pocket and held the purple stone tightly in her hands as she emerged.
“I…found it…” She announced walking up to the man.
Chapter 2 Sarila
A man stood in the doorway, his shadow dancing in the flickering firelight. His wide six-foot-four arm span easily penetrated past both edges of the thin doorway, his long elegant fingers protruded at the end of each arm at odd angles. His fingers were sketching odd characters into the air to each side of him. Once his fingers moved the characters appeared in a glowing purple neon light. His name was William and he murmured incomprehensible words as he sketched, his eyes scrunched closed in concentration.
It may have been because his eyes were closed that he didn’t seem to notice the other people in the spacious room. The closest of which looked at first glance to be a small adolescent child of five or six, but upon closer inspection of her face and figure, it must be assumed that she was closer to fifteen or sixteen. Her eyes however led many to believe that she was much older, as her eyes revealed endless wisdom centuries old. These very eyes were staring somewhat fearfully up at the man who towered over three feet above her head. Her long cloak flapped amiably around her in a nonexistent wind, but none in the room seemed to find this odd.
Another man, Devlin who was just slightly younger and shorter than William, stood in the shadows at the corner of the room, his face completely hidden in the impenetrable darkness. Devlin’s stance was very calm and relaxed, his arms crossed loosely over his chest, his back against the wall and his legs shoved out in front of him. He might not have been noticed at all if he hadn’t been continually sighing angrily.
Yet another two young people were in the room, but this couple sat close together on the only piece of furniture in the room, a tiny couch with barely enough room for the two of them. The man, Sherwin and the Woman Adelle had their hands clasped together, and both were conversing in urgent murmurs. Adelle was tall and curvy, the loose baggy clothes she wore, travel worn and torn in several places, her ebony hair tangled and messy. Sherwin seemed to be just barely taller than Adelle was, and he looked just as travel worn, he had a scruffy, brown unkempt beard that matched with his matted and limp hair.
An ageless silence passed, with only the crackling ashes that overrode the mutterings of the room’s occupants as company. There didn’t seem to be anything to do in the room, the only way out was through the doorway as there were no windows, but if one were desperate they might be able to take leave by the fireplace.
A soft thump suddenly sounded in the room, although there was no sign of what might have caused the noise. No one in the room had moved in any way to have made the nose. But, the noise seemed to be the awakening call that the occupants were waiting for as they all straightened slightly in attention.
“Petula, can you see?” Devlin addressed the small girl from the shadows.
Petula’s blue eyes flashed around the room once before they grew suddenly blank and cloudy. She stood erect in place, completely still, not even breathing and only her cloak continued to move.
It seemed everyone else in the room was holding their breaths as well, but after a while Devlin was impatient, “William, what’s going on? What aren’t you telling us?”
William shook his head, “Now’s not the time to be discussing this, I’m sorry I can’t tell you more.” William turned his gaze away from the shadows and back at Petula, his eyes now worried.
After several more seconds of wait-
Sarila snapped the book shut. She was much too tired of reading her mother’s old legends. Her mother had just so happened to require her to read these stupid legends for her homework tonight, how convenient. She had tired of school with her mother a long time ago; it had been so much better and a lot more fun when she had been allowed to go to school with the rest of the children her age. But no, her mother wanted to teach Sarila herself, a much better education that way she figured.
Sarila sighed, standing up from her desk and walking towards the window. She stared out the tall window sadly; here she was stuck up in a high tower reading when she would so much rather be down in the forest running around in the cool grass. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been allowed out into the forest, ever since she had turned fourteen her freedoms had been restricted by her mother, Sarila was supposed to be learning all her responsibilities in the real world by sitting in a room all day learning. Not to mention the fact that Sarila’s every action was watched and graded, it was ridiculous.
A knock at the door drew Sarila’s attention away from her problems and new hatred of her mother. She went to open the door and tipped over her chair as she went. She half turned to pick the chair up, but another impatient rap at the door stopped her. “Oh fine, you think you’re so important then…” She grumbled to herself. She pulled open the door and let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting of the hallway to see who was bothering her. Of course, it was none other than her mother. “Hello mother…” She greeted sullenly.
Her mother’s eyes narrowed. “Sarila, you will not speak to me, or greet me in such a tone again, try again.”
“Good morning mother, how are you?” She said politely, grinding her teeth after she finished.
Her mother’s lips curled a little at the grinding, “Now Sarila, you know that this is for your own good; however are you to learn if I don’t teach you? It’s simply absurd that you should snap at me so. I could go down to the market and greet anyone there and they would show me the utmost respect.”
“That’s because they’re all scared of you.” Sarila replied, restraining herself from rolling her eyes.
“No, it’s because they have respect for their elders, and while I’m not old I’m still your mother, and I deserve at least some respect from my daughter.”
“Well then you should let me go out into the forest again.” Sarila mumbled.
“That is not something you can do anymore, you don’t have the free time any longer to waste.”
Sarila moved away from the door and picked her chair up from the floor, setting it upright again. “Are you here for lessons already?”
Her mother nodded, “Indeed, you missed breakfast I see, so your clock may be off, but mine is not.”
Sarila sat in her chair roughly, pulling the book she had just closed into her lap, back into the legends for her. Why did she have to read this awful book anyway? It wasn’t like any of the school books she had used before, there was no arithmetic, science or spells to memorize, all it had in it was legends and fairy tales, yet her mother insisted. She could understand if there was some kind of wisdom in the stories, but as far as she could tell all it had been so far was a story about this group of five who had been traveling searching for something. How was that going to help her later? Her only choice for life later was taking over the family business and she had never seen her mother even looking at this book before while she worked.
“Let’s begin dear, tell me honestly now, did you read all of the pages that I told you to last night?” Her mother asked skeptically, she already knew the answer but Sarila knew she was being given the chance to explain herself and be honest.
Sarila slowly shook her head, “No mother, I didn’t finish it…”
“Do you have a reason?” Her mother inquired calmly.
Should she tell her mother? Sarila knew that it would be useless trying to explain that she had fallen asleep while reading; it was seeming to happen more and more lately, which only told her that this book was not good for her. She was getting plenty of sleep and yet this book seemed to put her right to sleep. “No mother, I just didn’t get to it last night, I tried to finish it this morning, but you came before I could…”
“I see, would you like to finish it now?”
“Not really, I don’t want to get behind in what you have to teach me.” Sarila congratulated herself on the good comeback; it was perfect for stroking her mother’s ego. “I’ll just make sure to catch up on it with tonight’s reading.”
“I’m glad that you’re taking the responsible route about this, but I really need for you to have read this passage in order to understand what I have to teach you tonight.” Her mother explained.
“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t think it was going to be that important.” Sarila apologized. In her head hoping, maybe she’ll delay this lesson until tomorrow for this and I can leave…
But unfortunately not, “Would you like to read it now? That way you’re all caught up and I can explain it afterwards, we’re just going to have to make it a longer lesson today with less breaks to make up for it.” Her mother smiled understandingly. Sarila could almost see the unsaid words in her mother’s face, ‘Of course I don’t expect you to understand how important it is, that’s why I have to teach you.’
“Okay, thank you for giving me the time…” She responded as politely as she could manage. She sighed and re-opened the book under her mother’s watchful gaze. It looked like she was going to have to read these legends whether she liked it or not, and she couldn’t fall asleep this time.
After several more seconds of wait Devlin wasn’t the only impatient one.
“William please, we’ve worked just as much as you have, and maybe given up even more than you, we need to know.” Sherwin prodded.
William shook his head, “It’s not something I can tell.”
“Why not? Do you think if you protect us it’ll do anything? If anything it will just hurt us more not to be informed, we’re all in this for the same goal, we know the risks we’re taking in being here.” Devlin argued.
William again shook his head, “It’s not that-“
“I see her!” Petula’s low eerie voice cut through the argument like a knife, and everyone was immediately went silent, to listen. “She’s left the house and she’s heading towards town.”
“Does she have a stone?” Adelle questioned calmly.
Petula shook her head, “I can’t tell…”
“What town is she heading to?” William asked preparing himself for travel.
“Um, I think Painten…” She murmured uncertainly.
“I’ll check it out, I’ll see if she has one, don’t worry.” William assured her, pulling out his own purple stone. He gripped the stone tightly in his hands and closed his eyes. The magical symbols he had been drawing swirled around him and a few seconds later he was gone.
“How is she hiding herself?” Petula muttered frustrated. “I saw her clearly when she left, but now she’s gone!”
Adelle and Devlin exchanged a nervous glance. “How can she do that? I’ve never heard you complain about something like this before.” Adelle asked.
“That’s because it’s never happened before! It’s so annoying when I can’t tell how much power these stupid kids have! She has more than most of them have, but we’ve still yet to find one of them with a stone. All this searching is going to be useless if she doesn’t have a stone. It’ll be nice to be able to use her powers, but without a stone she’s useless to us.” Petula complained, her eyes returning to their normal blue color. She blinked a few times, frowned and then left the room.
“She doesn’t have to be so harsh; I wouldn’t go so far as to call them useless…” Sherwin muttered frowning.
“But it’s true for our purpose, no one except stone holders can help us now…” Adelle said, smiling and rubbing his hand.
After that they all stood and followed suit, leaving the room and the crackling fire behind.
Sarila closed the book once again, softer this time though, since her mother was in the room. “I’m finished mother.” She announced.
“Good, now then let’s talk, do you understand everything that happened?”
“I think so…the girl they found, they were talking about that…Kera girl right?” Sarila asked uncertainly.
“Excellent, yes they were, Petula found Kera and do you understand why William left?”
“Because they needed to find out whether she had a stone, the one that will only change from a regular marble stone to a magical stone in the presence of another stone or when it’s in the possession of it’s true owner.”
“Good,” Her mother glanced out the window at the setting sun, “Alright we’ll finish this tomorrow, for tonight’s homework I would like you to read the next few pages and be prepared to tell me how they tested to see if she had a stone.” With that she stood from Sarila’s bed and left the room.
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There are a few parts in there that sound like telling instead of showing. In the frst part where she is reading the story. And the beginning is rather confusng with the field work thing. I still don't really undertand it. But that mght also be something you explaine later, so that can easly be accepted as ok. Other than that I really like it! I can't wait to keep reading! ^_^