Maiden's Saber

by Marion Faith St. James

  She can see he is visibly shaken, but will not back down. “Darkness will not rule this day Edalvin of the Druids. Prepare to join those before you that have gone to the fires of hell.”

  The Druid is spinning in a circle to build up for a powerful swing, attacks the woman before him bathed in glowing white light. His lack of vision thinking this was only a woman—easily defeated, was his undoing.

  The Maiden brings her sword up to clash with the ebony blade of evil. As enchanted metal meets equally enchanted metal, the black blade shatters into a dozen pieces. The dark sparks that once herald the evil power turns to light and die out. One large piece no longer black, but white as snow strikes Edalvin in his left eye. It exits from the back of his head; killing him instantly. His lifeless body sags to the ground. The undamaged eye is open with a look of disbelief.

  Amari utters a powerful magic spell over the dead Druid. A swirling mist covers the remains—the body turns to dust and carried away by a gentle breeze. She breathes a sigh of relief that this battle is over.

  The Maiden turns to look at her warriors. Two are standing; one is on his knees; the other two are prone on the ground.

  She rushes to them as Truk sits up. “We are still breathing Amari, though drained almost to death. We called upon the Kcaj, combined and gave you all the strength we had left. Natsha gave the most; hers will be many days before she wakes.”

  “You were foolish,” says the victorious Maiden. “Too much of a drain on your powers and energy could have resulted in death.”

  Gareth who has been standing over Natsha says. “Amari, we all have vowed to this quest and knew what we had to do. If we had not, that Druid with the enchanted blade would have destroyed us as well. Only we warriors and you are all who stood between light and dark.”

  The Maiden could not dispute their logic. “Thank you my friends.” Then Dian comes to her mind. “Gareth, do you have enough strength to bring our sister to us?”

  Gareth looks up at the rock overhang. “I will manage.” He is slow in his movements, but he climbs to the small plateau and carries Dian down to them.

  “We will take her back to Kinstridder and place her in a warrior’s grave.” The Maiden says while removing Dian’s helmet. Her fiery red hair tumbles out to frame a serene face.

  Mimna kneels at Dian’s head and caresses her soft cheek. “Would we not send her to the warrior’s heaven as we did with Roarken and Fin?”

  “Her spirit is already there, but these earthly remains must stay with us. I do not know the reason, but I feel that is what the Goddess is telling my own spirit. We will prepare a tomb of glass to preserve her body. She will always be with us.”

  Mimna using a small knife, takes a lock of Dian’s hair and places it in a small leather sack around her own neck. “I carry a piece of my sister for the rest of my days.”

  “Tell us Mimna, why did the Goddess give you Hydrosin just by asking?” Amari questions.

  “Even though Dian and I shared the Water Sword for a time…I could not call it forth without Dian. I knew only the Goddess Aurelia could bestow its complete power on me if it be her will.”

  “I know of no other worthy woman than you to carry on the legacy of the Kcaj blade.”

  Everyone sits in a circle surrounding the departed Dian and the sleeping Natsha. Amari takes Gareth’s hand on one side and Mimna’s on the other. Mimna takes Natsha’s hand; Holl-tu takes the sleeping warrior’s other hand and finally Gareth’s to complete the circle.

  Amari has everyone close their eyes and let her into their minds and bodies. There is a rush of renewed strength as the Maiden gives back a portion of energy they gave her. “I return what you have given me gladly back to my brothers and sisters.”

  As the darkness falls, the warriors of the light and their Maiden leader lie down and sleep of those with a pure heart. None of the six remaining warriors is worried of the night nor what used to travel in its darkness. A full moon shines upon them as they lie there.

  The next day they are up and moving. Gareth has the still sleeping Natsha in his arms, while Truk gently carries Dian. Amari has put a spell on their sister that her slender body will never decay.

  In four days of weary travel, they reach Kinstridder. Gareth reopens the portal, and the warriors make their way above. During the journey, Natsha woke up and walked the last day to their home.

  It was agreed; they would remain here for a time before venturing beyond the mountains. They would search other lands where darkness rules over the light. To those places where heroes were needed who stood defiant against evil ones who preyed upon the weak.

  Many hours were spent reliving the adventures each had while apart searching for and destroying any of the Horde they found.

  Truk recounts once where Dian and he encountered a legion of the horde that just destroyed a village and killed all who lived there. He brought forth a powerful tornado, sucking up the Horde in whole and dashed them to earth somewhere over the mountains. He told Dian, he expects it would be raining evil men on someone’s farm. A tear escapes his eye in the telling. “It made Dian laugh. I will miss my sister.”

  “We all will,” says Amari. The others nod in agreement.

  Holl-tu using his skills, spent many weeks creating statues of all the warriors, past and present. The black stone effigies line a path leading to the great house. Near the end of the long line of statues, a shrine was constructed where Dian’s body was placed. At the end of each day before retiring, they would gather around her glass tomb with heads bowed. Even though the Kcaj was still complete with the addition of Mimna, they still missed their sister Dian.

  Gareth using his earth powers works black stones into smooth blocks and repairs the fallen walls and ceiling. The walls and floors were scrubbed clean. It was unusual to see a warrior who once battled with sword and arrow, to be swinging a mop, or on hands and knees polishing floors. No one shirked the menial tasks that had to be done. The great house is indeed great once more.

  The gardens flourished again. The sprawling vines that covered the stone walkways were cut away. The former Thunderclan Keep was restored back to its magnificence.

  Hard work was not beneath any of them as they all pitched in to make this their new home. They even repaired the oaken tables and chairs of the great hall. Kcaj blades hang on an altar to the Goddess Aurelia.

  Many hours are spent several times a day with wooden swords fencing and battling each other to hone their fighting ability. They as one decided not to count on just magic to protect them, but with their skills as swordsmen.

  Gareth and Truk traveled the three days to reopen the passage through the mountains so free trade could resume. They dispatched a small band of the Horde that was threatening a village. Before returning to Kinstridder, they ventured to the Fire Woods again, and brought back the three trolls. With the last of the Druids gone, the enchantment of fire protecting the forest vanished.

  Natsha, Amari and Truk made dozens of journeys moving Mod-gin’s secret horde of books, manuscripts and parchments from Acredale to Kinstridder. One of the large outbuildings was repaired and is now the warrior’s library.

  Upon a table in the center of the archives, is a large book, ink still fresh on the open pages. Natsha spends a few hours a day transferring the writings from her journal to this thick tome. Even after all their adventures, the manuscript is only a mere tenth filled. On the cover is titled; Chronicles of the Kcaj Warriors.

  Holl-tu made regular trips to the villages and towns to see how the once subjugated people were faring. The Lands of Aventine were slowly healing. Men, women and children no longer lived in fear. Farmers were once again tilling and harvesting crops in great abundance.

  The king and his soldiers were never seen again. It was presumed they were killed by the Druid’s minions before the warriors destroyed the Horde.

  The castle, now in ruins is only refuge for rats and other beasts. Honest men rose up to govern the populace in their villages. No central monarchy
or ruler was needed. What the farmers and landsmen harvested went to feed their own families or sell at the markets. No portion of what they toiled from the land was ever sent as tribute again. It is a land ruled by the people, beholding to no king or noble.

  Amari rose early one morning, as she walked through the lush gardens…she felt troubled. Somewhere beyond the mountains of Aventine, people are suffering. Her dreams were filled with cries of distress.

  They all took breakfast together. It was here that Amari rises from her chair. They all stop eating and talking among themselves.

  “Friends, the time has come for us to continue our quest. The Goddess has filled me with visions and a need for our tasks to continue. I will not assume you all will join me, but I will leave on the morrow. There is no disgrace if any chooses to stay at Kinstridder or go your own path. You all have battled well and deserve to stand easy. For me, I cannot rest while darkness shadows other lands and their people.

  One by one, the warriors stood and renewed their vows to follow Amari until the quest was fulfilled, or they died trying.

  Holl-tu also rises, a little slower than the rest. “Sister, I am willing, but I am afraid this tired old body is not. The last battle took its toll. I feel that my presence among you on the field or fighting a common enemy may hold a disastrous outcome, if you had to worry about or protect me. As of late, I weaken quickly and require a longer time to regain my energy and strength.

  The three trolls nod their heads as well. Ving says. “We will stay with this sorcerer and protect the keep.

  “My friends,” says Holl-tu lowering his head, “I must watch you go into harm’s way without me.”

  Mimna comes around the table and puts her arms about the wizard's neck. “You have done more than most men. Your enchantments and conjures have saved us more than once. Stay here and grow old without fear of dying by the sword.”

  The sorcerer sees the eye of Truk. “You and I my old friend have known each other for decades. Keep the others and yourself safe.”

  Amari motions for Holl-tu to follow her. They go to one of the pools of water just outside the great hall.

  She waves her hands over the clear water and utters words that the wizard had never heard before.

  She says to him. “Holl-tu repeat these words whenever you wished to see us and know our adventures.”

  He says the words taught to him my Amari. The water begins to swirl and turns a cloudy white. It slowly clears to a scene of the other warriors still sitting at the table inside the hall.

  “Thank you Maiden! I will be with you and at the same time not.” He hugs the woman close and kisses her head. “Thank you for my adventures. It made me feel young again for a time.”

  He turns to go back inside, but Amari takes his hand. “Be not too quick to leave; this pool has one other quality besides vision I must tell you. No matter how far we roam, you can speak to us, and we to you as well. Merely speak into the water and we will hear your words. Of course we cannot see you, but we can answer.”

  A single tear escapes a tired eye. “To hear all your voices will make the days less lonely. The trolls will be company, but they are not you or my brothers and sisters.”

  Amari and the wizard return to the table and finish the first meal of the day in silence.

  The next day comes much too soon. Natsha has given Holl-tu her chronicles of the journey thus far. Within his hands, he holds the thick manuscript which journals the events from the awakening of Amari to this very day.

  She also hands him a clean fresh writing quill and a full bottle of powdered ink. “Amari told me she created a vision pool for you to watch us; also to communicate. At the end of each day, I will tell of our encounters, battles, and the people we meet in our travels. If you do not mind chronicling our adventures; it will free me from carrying this into danger, or losing it.”

  Holl-tu places a hand on one of her shoulders and gently squeezes. “You have put an honored task upon me. Thank you for your trust.”

  The Kcaj warriors, with armor clean and bright; kit bags packed; hugs and arm clasps over, they take one last look around their new home. One by one, they enter the passage which leads to the hidden entrance below. No need for Gareth to open or close it with his Earth Sword, as the wizard’s magic hides it now.

  After Mimna is the last to disappear down the passage, Holl-tu and the trolls enter the great hall and climb the stairs to the upper rooms—and finally, the parapets on the roof.

  Down in the valley below the Keep they see Amari, and the Warriors of the Light come out of the mountain and gather in a circle facing the mountain. The sunlight reflecting off their armor, making the men and women appear like ghostly apparitions. As one, they raise their Kcaj Sabers in a salute to their friends and brothers high above.

  A bright ray of light springs from each sword and bursts high in the air as if it were exploding suns…colors abound.

  When the wizard’s eyes clear from the brightness of those bursts of magic light, he looks to the warriors again…they are gone!

  Not The End