any danger unless she is ill prepared. You are not to return to your friends or duties until your quest has been fulfilled or the One dies and another is to take her place and yours,” he said.
He continued, “This is the beginning and unless we perform the ceremony now under the full moon, great evil will devour this land and all others. Go now and return with five of your closest and most reliable friends so this may be so.”
Vanor awoke to a slight hum of power from an old man standing in the centre of a pentagram of power. His whole body was glowing, with light coming from the centre of his temple to the other six people surrounding him and hitting her chest. It was not painful but she felt the power being drawn into her and she was at ease somehow. She looked around at the men and recognised the one who was now being called forth.
His white loose-fitting shirt that was laced at the front formed three crosses that showed off his muscular features. He turned his eyes to her and she fell deeply into those large dark pools. Smiling at her he winked and she knew she was awake.
The Old Man took her hand and the knight joined them as the power grew. She glowed with white light and when it finally subsided she found herself alone with this tall dark man. He gently kissed her hand and helped her off the marble slab.
“I am your guardian, I will protect and teach you, if you let me.”
She knew it was right somehow in the pit of her stomach and when she looked at that strong jaw line and those dark eyes, she knew that he would be with her forever.
Chapter 2
The beginning
Vanor felt the vibration of her sword creep up her arm and pain shot though her shoulder where he had injured it previously. His dark eyes reflected his amusement at how easily she was letting him win, but the pain turned to anger and she thrust back with more ferocity than she meant, but continued the stroke. “Ah now we see the violence,” he puffed as she countered his return stroke.
They had been going for hours now and both were beginning to tire. Sometimes he would stop her in mid stroke and show her the foolishness of her return. “See here, I could plunge my sword in your side before you could block the next strike,” he would taunt her when she had given a return that she thought she had perfected.
“You should know better than that. It’s amazing you haven’t been killed by now,” and he would provoke her into anger so that she would lose her concentration, and then he would push her again. The pace was gruelling but both knew that within the days and months to follow it would save her life countless times. Kajn was patient with her as always, but he would not allow anything less than perfection and she knew it.
The Old Man was reading aloud from an old parchment about the different variations of lower elementals, when he looked up and bellowed, “Are you two listening or am I talking to the rocks, which by the way seem to be more intelligent than the both of you combined.”
Kajn and Vanor both stopped in mid stroke panting and sweating heavily, and walked over to the Old Man and sat down. He handed over a flask of water and after both had silently drunk a portion he said, “Enough fighting for today, time for study. You both stink. Wash up and meet me in the library, as neither of you are remotely listening to anything I say. At least there I may get your full attention.”
When they moved down the snowy track towards the river, the Old Man watched them and mumbled, “At least she’s concentrating on her training now,” as he packed up the numerous scrolls and parchments.
At the river Vanor had stripped off behind the nearest bush and dived in; Kajn followed from a discreet distance. They relaxed for a while and Vanor circled Kajn and dived, planning to come up beneath and tickle him, when her left foot touched something solid and slimy. She reached the surface to grab one quick gulp of air before it struck. It pulled her under with such force that she almost lost the air she was hoping to hang onto for longer than a second.
Kajn saw her take a deep breath but realised something was wrong when he saw the terror in her eyes, before she was pulled under in a seething whirl of bubbles. He had no weapon on him and he knew that he could not fight something that was that big without one. He quickly swam to shore with powerful strokes.
The Old Man heard the bellow of Kajn as he reached the shore and headed to the river, arriving just as Kajn dived back in with his sword. Kajn returned to the point where Vanor had disappeared moments before but could see no bubbles. He was turning in rapid circles searching for any sign when the Old Man started chanting.
To see if he could see anything, Kajn quickly descended into the clear water. He saw a dark shape ahead and slightly to the left and swam quickly in that direction. When he got closer he realised that it was a huge octopus-like creature that had Vanor wrapped in two large tentacles and was moving slowly away. Kajn reached the squid and started sawing the tentacle that was wrapped around
Vanor. At the first cut the squid turned its eyes towards him, and he felt the grip around his waist of a very strong tentacle As air was squeezed out of his lungs he tried to stay in control.
He was losing consciousness as he felt a great pulling motion of an unseen force that took the squid towards the surface. Within moments he felt the coolness of the wind on his face. He tried to gulp the air but could only manage a deep croak that was just enough to give him the strength to use his sword. He quickly sliced through the tentacle holding him. The squid was held in mid-air and was thrashing about, confused. Kajn saw Vanor hit the water and sink He quickly sawed the last of the tentacle from around his waist and dropped twisting in mid-air to dive towards the water.
As Vanor awoke in watery turmoil, she tried to thrash her way upwards in the direction of the bubbles. She desperately needed air. As the light became brighter she made one final lunge towards the surface and gulped in a large amount of clean air. The coughing started immediately, and then she seemed to go between deep breaths and coughing from the pain in her lungs.
By the time she felt that she had coughed up the whole river, her other senses came into play and she felt bubbles against her legs and water dripping from above. She looked up and let out a little scream as she saw a squid suspended, turning and thrashing only a few feet from her head. She kicked out and hit something solid beneath her and swam as fast as she could away from the bulk above her.
Kajn had seen Vanor rise towards the surface and had followed a moment later, but was not expecting the kick in the side of the head as he approached her. Stars swam before his eyes and he could only half raise himself to the surface. Disorientated as he was, he saw
Vanor fleeing towards the bank and with pain in his head started to follow. He had lost his sword in the last dive but the shore seemed a better option until the world stopped spinning.
On hands and knees he reached the shore and collapsed. The Old Man was still chanting as Kajn felt his body slowly sink into sleep.
He was aware of a strange building in front of him and he saw Vanor waiting outside. As he moved easily to her side she reached over and took his hand. He felt warmth from that touch and looking down noticed that her hands were glowing with white fire. Her touch was soft and when he looked at her eyes they glowed with a fiery essence that penetrated his soul and he followed her to the top of the steps. They moved between the arches and he was bewildered by twelve beings of light that walked up to Vanor. She placed his hand into the largest being’s hand and stood aside as they led him down more steps to the altar. As he looked at Vanor he felt compelled to lie down. The warmth of the beings’ light on his head hummed through his body and Kajn saw the world turn white.
Kajn awoke with Vanor leaning over him touching his forehead. He could still feel the residual warmth from her hand and mumbled, “You’re beautiful,” as he stared at her eyes. She blushed and pulled her hand away from him and moved towards the Old Man who was inspecting the squid now lying askew on the shore. “Is it dead?” she asked as she came closer.
“Yes, more than dead I’m afraid as now he cannot tell us anything” he assured her as he stopped her reaching out to it. “This animal has been conjured from a demon