by T. K. Chapin
“What is the meaning of this?” Elenor asked quickly.
“Jor is a friend Mother,” Katlynn snapped at Elenor. “You don’t let me go into the town’s square, what do you expect? Me to have no friends?” Katlynn pushed passed her mother with vial hidden away in her hand. Elenor slammed the door shut after Katlynn walked out.
“Katlynn Tesslarn Durandel!” Elenor yelled as Katlynn was exiting the kitchen. She turned around to her mother and looked her in the eyes. She could see fear hidden behind her mother’s anger. “Don’t fraternize with the help again,” She said firmly. Katlynn nodded in agreement.
“It won’t happen again,” Katlynn said thinking to herself, I won’t be here for it to happen. She could see her mother’s eyes search her for a hidden meaning behind the words, but Katlynn had practiced her ability to conceal and her secret went un-detected. Hurrying back to her room, she made her way out to the balcony and peered across the evening sky. The next time I set eyes on the moons, I will be in the arms of my love, my Amon.
“Ahhhhh!” a voice from down below her balcony screamed. Glancing down, she could see Amon as he hopped through the dagger weeds. Looking up at Katlynn, his frustrated face softened to a smile. “Why is it so painful to love you Katlynn?”
Katlynn covered her mouth in laughter as she watched him heal his leg’s wounds. “Well I suppose it’s a good thing you are of the priestly origin, yes?” Looking up after he mended his legs, he nodded in agreement.
“Tell me, did you get the vial of Dwarven oil?” Amon asked glancing up as he recharged his mana energy with a black diamond. The diamond swirled with an array of colors inside of it as he drew from its power.
“Yes my beloved, we are all set for tomorrow,” Katlynn said. Wondering why they could not escape now, she asked, “Why can’t we go now my love?”
“The watchers in the forest would see us. Tomorrow they’ll all be in the castle’s Great Hall for the ceremony.” Noticing Katlynn’s eagerness to be on with their life, he continued, “Just a bit more time my love.” Katlynn heard a knock come from her bed chamber’s door.
“Someone’s coming, I will see you tomorrow,” Katlynn said quickly blowing him a kiss. Katlynn hurried to her door and unlocked it. It was Jor.
“Katlynn… I wanted to give you this before you are gone forever,” Jor said fishing out a necklace from her ragged dress’ pocket. She held the pendent out in her hand. It was a pendent that was circular in shape and made of brass, a white silvery tree sat in the middle and the tree’s leaves were moving and shifting. What an amazing piece of jewelry… I have never seen anything like it!
“What is it?” Katlynn asked looking up at Jor.
“I don’t know… my grandmother gave it to me before she escaped the castle,” Jor said.
Katlynn recalled the night that Jor’s grandmother had escaped the Durandel castle. It had been raining for several days and created a pond just outside in the castle’s courtyard. Katlynn later learned from Jor that her grandmother had hidden in the pond while the guards spent hours searching for her. She had casted a spell on herself that would allow her to hold her breath as long as needed. It was said Jor’s grandmother had created the spell using both Runic and Curo magic.
Smiling as she put the necklace on, Katlynn said, “Thank you Jor,” and gave her a hug.
Chapter 3
“Come on, Come on, Wake up!” Elenor said rushing into Katlynn’s bed chambers. Opening her eyes, Katlynn saw the sun had already risen fully above the Rocky Plateau.
“I’m up…” Katlynn said sitting upright in her bed. Stretching as she yawned, her mother rushed over to her and checked her curls.
“Your hair stayed in place nicely I see,” Elenor said. Bending down to meet Katlynn eye level, Elenor said, “I’m so excited for you. You are going to love this man and he is going to love you!” Oh mother, my heart breaks for what will come of your thoughts of me after today.
Katlynn’s thoughts drifted to Amon back to when they went to a pond in the Ironwood Forest. Sitting at the shore on a blanket, he smiled as he tossed a rock into the water. “Do you ever wonder why you were born the year you were?” Amon asked.
“Sometimes… but most the time, I’m wondering why you aren’t kissing me,” Katlynn said smiling as she leaned over and planted a kiss on him.
Katlynn came back out of the memory to find her mother pulling the wedding dress from her closet. The purple train on the dress dragged across the stone floor as her mother brought it over and hung it on the wooden manikin. Her mother quickly went back into the closet and retrieved Katlynn’s corset, tossing it over onto the bed, her mother said, “Come have some breakfast with your future in laws before you get ready.” Her mother exited the bed chamber quickly shutting the door behind her. A small part of me is going to miss that woman… a very small part indeed. Climbing out of bed, Katlynn tossed on a red blouse and some black leggings.
Joining the rest of the adults in the dining hall, Katlynn smiled and nodded to Nikolas’ parents as she took her seat across from her mother. Looking up from her plate of ham and eggs, Katlynn saw her mother mouthing to her to speak with the new in-laws. Why’s it matter? I’ll be gone anyways. Katlynn thought to herself as she glanced in their direction. She noticed Nikolas’ mother Esyma had a stunning ring that had a stone that looked similar to the black diamonds Amon used to regenerate his mana. Curious to know if it had powers, Katlynn struck up a conversation about it. “That’s a beautiful ring Esyma.” She held out her hand in front of her as she smiled looking down at it.
“Thank you, Brithol looted it from a wizard that was practicing dark magic in the catacombs of Silvermeer,” She said as she touched Brithol’s hand smiling.
“Wow, that’s interesting… Does it have magical properties?” Katlynn asked. Gungar smacked the table.
“Don’t be rude!” he said angered. “That’s none of your business Katlynn!”
“No, it’s fine,” Esyma said. “It’s enchanted, but we aren’t sure what exactly with. I know it increases mana, but outside that, I haven’t really noticed a difference.”
“Interesting…” Katlynn said with a smile as she took a bite of her ham. Wonder if Amon has ever heard about magical rings?
After finishing up breakfast, Jor came out into the dining hall. “We need to see you upstairs to prepare you for your wedding,” Jor said smiling at Katlynn. She knew it was time to defy fate. Looking over at her mother, she asked to be excused.
“Be quick, the wedding guests have already started arriving in the great hall,” Elenor said anxiously. Katlynn went around the table and kissed her father’s forehead and then her mother’s also.
“I love you,” Katlynn said. “Today, I will be happy.” Katlynn went with Jor up to her bed chamber to prepare.
“Are you ready?” Jor said closing the door behind them.
“Yes!” Katlynn said jumping up and hugging her excitedly. “You double checked the-” Jor interrupted her.
“Yes, yes… Just go,” Jor said as she pulled off the dress from the manikin. Katlynn went to her bedside and bent down. Retrieving the wooden box from underneath the bed, she felt anxious and excitement spill out of her. Opening the box up, she looked at what was going to save her from the fate she had so desperately wanted out of. It was a large vial of Titan blood; she set the vial of dwarven oil inside the box next to the Titan blood and shut it. Heading over to the balcony she looked back at Jor to see her opening the bed chamber’s door for the other servants to come in. I sure hope this works, Katlynn thought to herself as she climbed over the ledge of her balcony. With both feet on the outside of the railing, she looked down as she leaped off the ledge.
Chapter 4
Falling into the dagger weeds, both of Katlynn’s legs snapped on impact causing her to lose consciousness and her body fall into the razor sharp weeds. Amon was pressed against the castle’s wall and came running out from the shadow after she landed. Looking up at her balcony, he couldn’t see an
yone up there, so he began to tend to her wounds. “The courtyard or any other way would have been a little more bearable to watch my love,” Amon said.
“If you had listened to anything I said previously, you’d know there are tons of guards and people everywhere… They would certainly see me leaving and alert my parents!”
“Calm down my love, I understand,” Amon said.
Motioning with one hand in the air while the other hand held a parchment scroll of Major Healing, Amon began to cast the spell on Katlynn’s legs that were broken. Paranoid, he kept checking over his shoulders and up at the balcony to make sure nobody had seen the two of them. Her legs were just about healed up when Amon took note of the cuts all over Katlynn’s face and arms. With no scrolls left, he began circling with his hands to cast a mending spell that would heal over time and close up her cuts. Reaching up from the ground, Katlynn stopped him.
“Save your mana for later,” She said smiling. Amon leaned over her and kissed her as he cupped her face.
“My love, you have healed!” Amon said excitedly. “We best go, you have the box?” Amon asked quickly. Katlynn raised her head scanning the area and saw it in a thicket of dagger weeds. Reaching through the weeds, her hands sliced open as she fished the box out from the weeds and handed it to Amon. Opening the wooden box, he mixed the golden dwarven oil into the vial of Titan blood. As the oil dropped into the blood, they mingled and looked as if they fought as they meshed together inside. Speeding up the process of the mixing, Amon shook the vail. “Drink this,” He said popping the lid of vial off and putting it to Katlynn’s lips. The taste was that of dirt as the concoction slid over her taste buds.
“Yuck!” she said coughing. Amon cupped the liquid into her mouth as she coughed some of it up. Downing the rest of the vial Amon’s face distorted with disgust.
“Just the pleasures of love I suppose,” Amon said coughing as he fell onto the ground next to Katlynn. They both began to convulse. Shaking violently on the bed of dagger weeds, Katlynn looked over at Amon and grabbed his hand. This pain is so intense, I want to die.
The convulsing lasted only a few moments before stopping. Standing up from the weeds, they both looked at their hands and bodies to find no markings. Amon laughed, “I don’t remember the priestess saying anything about it healing, just the invisibility part… I’m glad it did both though!”
“Honestly I was worried there towards the end of the convulsing, I thought I was going to die,” Katlynn said moving close to Amon as she placed her hand on his chest. Amon pushed her hair back and looked into her eyes.
“I wasn’t worried at all,” Amon said as he leaned in and kissed her softly. Pulling back, he looked in her eyes and kissed her passionately until Katlynn had to stop him from getting carried away. This boy knows how to drive me crazy with his passion! Grabbing her hand, Amon led Katlynn through the courtyard over to the opening in the castle wall that let the stream in. They climbed through the slit and made their way into the Ironwood Forest. The forest sat just over the castle’s wall and ran alongside the back of Ashengale.
Walking through the Ironwood Forest, they came up to backside of a supply shop. Amon checked to see if the backdoor was locked with a jiggle of the handle. It was.
“I have an idea,” Katlynn said. She went up to the door and knocked. “Shhhh…” The sound of footsteps against the wooden floor could be heard as someone approached the door. Unlocking it and stepping out, a large man huffed in agitation. He took a few paces out from the backdoor and looked around trying to spot who had knocked on his door. Katlynn motioned to Amon to follow her and they sneaked into the shop.
Taking an immediate left, they went upstairs into the shop keeper’s loft. Glancing over the railing that looked down at the shop, Amon and Katlynn could see his shelf full of goods. Whispering to Amon, Katlynn said, “I don’t want to steal stuff, that isn’t right.” Amon placed his hand on her shoulder and pulled out his pouch of coins.
“I’ve been saving for a while now; we are leaving money for the items we take. I’m no thief,” Amon said in a whisper to Katlynn. The two of them waited until high noon when the shop keeper left for what they assumed to be lunch. Locking the door behind him when he exited, Katlynn and Amon knew it was there time to strike.
Carefully and quietly they made their way downstairs and split the coins between themselves. Walking around the room, they dropped coins in the spot of any item they would pick up. Katlynn grabbed a few potions, gymer bread and a waterskin. Amon grabbed a few black diamonds, a Cure Poison Scroll and a Major Healing Scroll. Just as they were about to leave, Katlynn tripped over a mandolin. Looking down, she felt a strange desire to pick it up.
The wood felt smooth against her fingers as she held it and the strings were that of an angel’s voice as she strummed it. I need to have this.
“I want it,” Katlynn said with a soft voice. “I think this was meant for me in this moment,” she said as she strummed.
“Okay love, here’s the rest of my coins. Those are not cheap,” Amon said dumping his pouch of coins into her hand. She took his gold along with hers and set a pile of coins where the mandolin had been sitting. Hearing the door begin to jiggle open, they made their way to the front near the entrance. Thank goodness the invisibility spell works on anything I’m touching, Katlynn thought to herself as she held her mandolin close. They waited for the shop keeper to enter and then slipped out the front door. As they moved around the corner of the shop, they could hear the shop keeper shouting in anger until it shifted to laughter. I’m glad he’s okay with it! Katlynn thought as they re-entered the Ironwood Forest.
Running through the forest, they came to a path just as their invisibility was fading. There was a horse tied to the wooden fence and Amon loosened it. “Wow, that’s rather convenient,” Katlynn said climbing onto the back of the horse. Amon smiled at Katlynn and kissed her as he climbed on.
“I placed it here this morning my love, otherwise yes, it would be rather convenient.” Amon dug his heel into the horse’s side and off they were into the woods away from the trail, they went deeper into the Ironwood Forest to remain unseen from the king’s watchful eyes. A few hours into their journey, Amon slowed the horse down as they came upon a small village of tents. Looking back at Katlynn, Amon said, “I’m sure it’s fine if we stop here, this village is so deep within the woods, and I don’t suspect they’ll know what’s going on in Ashengale.” As they entered the village, their eyes fell upon an intriguing race of creatures that resided there.
The creatures stood and moved as men would, but their skin was covered in hair from head to toe and their faces were like that of a cow. Katlynn could see what she suspected to be the leader standing taller than the rest in the center of the village. He had a headdress on, made of bone and feathers, and a large twisted wooden staff in his right hand. He raised it up in the air and slammed it down causing a rain to fall from the tops of the trees on the villagers around him. The villagers dropped to their knees bowing their heads and praising Omad. Wow… what are these creatures? Katlynn thought to herself as she climbed off the horse.
Amon tied the horse to a nearby tree and joined Katlynn’s side as they approached the villagers. The creatures backed away from them as they approached and the leader weaved through the crowd to the front of the pack. Raising his staff he slammed it into the ground knocking Katlynn and Amon onto their backs. They began to scramble to get to their feet and the leader held out his staff which prevented them from standing.
“Don’t hurt us!” Katlynn said raising her hand up to him. The leader stopped and moved closer to Katlynn and bent down into her face. His snout dripped with snot only inches away from Katlynn’s nose as he reached out with his hairy arm, he cupped her necklace in his hand. Looking up from the pendent to Katlynn’s face, he looked up at her breathed hard through his nose before pulling away from her as he stood upright.
The creature took his staff and touched it gently against Katlynn’s shoulder as s
he cringed from fear that he was going to kill her. Please don’t hurt me… She thought to herself.
“Where did you get that pendent from?” the creature asked in a deep and booming voice. Relaxing from her fear, Katlynn looked upon the leader.
“You can speak?” She asked surprised.
“Yes. I have spoken your language before, but lost it over time. Just now I re-learned it when I touched you with my staff. Now where did you get that pendent from?” He asked again.
“From a friend, why?” Katlynn asked as Amon stood up next to her side. The leader made a motion with his staff that caused the rest of the creatures to go back into the village and continue with their tasks.
“That pendent was crafted by an Elder of the Forest and if you had not been wearing it, you would be dead right now. What business do you have within the Ironwood Forest this deep? There are trails and paths for humans to stay on.”
“We were on our way to Elvark, just on the other side of the Ironwood Forest,” Amon said. The creature looked over at Amon and raised his staff to strike him but Katlynn jumped in front of Amon preventing him from being able to strike him.
