Anyway, before I could say a proper ‘hello’ to Lucas, Lucas tossed a bag of coins to Jean-Michel for treating my feet and ordering us to go before Helen and her group could show up. I didn’t know who Helen was at the time, and as we were following Lucas, Hayden and Patience, we were told that Helen was a powerful sorceress and a seer for the Raven Coven.
It turns out that the Raven Coven was killing off the Clover’s acorn covens because for the past week or more every seer was getting the same vision. According to Patience the vision is too obscure to know when, where or with whom, but at some point between now and whenever, someone from one of the Clover’s acorn covens will turn the Raven Coven’s kingdom upside-down. Obviously the members of the Raven Coven were trying to avert that prophecy, but according to Patience they haven’t succeeded yet.
Anyway we followed Lucas, Hayden and Patience to the horse stable. At the stable, four horses were ready and waiting for us. I got on the horse with Lucas, and once everyone was on his or her horse we rode off towards the Clover Coven as fast as we could before Helen and her group could reach us.
Patience, with her ability, had chosen the winding unmarked path through the forest that we took, and as far as I know, it was uneventful. With all the course changes that we did, Patience might tell a different tale.
Anyway we made it to the Clover Coven’s citadel before sunset. The Clover Coven normally has twenty adult members, but with the acorn covens that were there, there were over fifty people.
I think it’s funny. By the Raven going after the Clover’s acorn covens, it had caused the line to regroup, and now for the first time since the beginning of the Wizard Wars, I think we are bigger than the Raven Coven at the moment. Of course if the Raven’s acorn covens would regroup that would again change.
After arriving at the citadel, we, along with several others, ate chicken, carrots, peas and bread. The adults had mead. After eating, Randolph went directly to bed.
I wasn’t ready for bed. Obviously, since I’m writing. So I wandered and browsed the citadel. According to Randolph I’ve been here once when I was three, but I have no memory of it.
There are a dozen other kids here. A few of them are even my age. When I came across them playing some game that I wasn’t really familiar with, I watched. When they asked me if I wanted to play the winner, I shook my head and said, “Maybe tomorrow.” My parents, Matthew and Gabrielle were recently killed, and I’ve been on the run for my life for the past few days so I wasn’t in the mood to play games.
I continued to watch them though. Marlow won four games one after the other before losing the fifth game to Edward. I think it was luck though that Edward beat Marlow because Edward lost the very next game to someone who Marlow had beaten.
Anyway I had watched a couple more games before I came back here. As soon as I walked in, I saw the volume on the table next to Randolph. I picked it up and read it. And that’s pretty much it. I’ll talk more later, if Randolph lets me.
Hi, it’s Elizabeth again. It’s Friday morning. Randolph thought that I did okay with last night’s entry so he’s letting me write this entry.
I would like to say that it was uneventful during the night last night, but last night was anything but uneventful.
Including Patience there are six seers in the citadel. Patience and three other seers had the same forewarning of the Raven’s attack minutes before the attack had happened. The Raven Coven even had thirteen of its acorn covens involved, a hundred partisans and about twenty wolf-likens. I don’t really know the details of the battle because everyone who was under the age of eighteen was ushered into a large chamber underneath the citadel. In fact, the chamber was built for such attacks on the citadel.
Anyway, all of us sat quietly and listened to the thunderous sounds that the battle was creating. The chamber walls shook during the loudest strikes followed by dust and small chunks of debris falling down on us.
The thunder went strong for several hours before dropping off into a calm. For some, the sounds of the thunderous war overhead were more reassuring of our war efforts than waiting the twenty minutes that it took for someone to tell us that it was safe to resurface.
As we were resurfacing we were ushered through areas of the citadel that were least effected by the battle and into the main assembly room.
Once we were in that room, some of the kids were pulled away from the main group and spoken to privately. That was five hours ago and we were released from that room thirty minutes ago.
As I was leaving the room, I found out that those kids were being told the unfortunate news of one or both of their parents being killed in the battle.
Anyway that’s all I have to say for now. I’ll talk more later, if Randolph will let me again. Bye for now.
(Patience’s handwriting)
Randolph had talked me into writing out what I can remember about last night’s battle. My name is Patience, but before I talk about the battle, I would like to explain my ability.
I’m a seer and a Clover partisan. As early as the age of six, I would get random visions and prophecy dreams of future events that would, more times than not, come to be. When I was thirteen I was taught a ritual that even a partisan seer can do that would help fill in the gaps between my visions. Doing the ritual frequently improves the results, and so I do the ritual nightly and occasionally during the day. Other seers will perform this ritual as well and just as frequently for the same reason.
Some seers can only see the outcome of a decision once a decision had been made. Other seers are what are known as the ‘Now-seers’.
‘Now-seers’ can only see what is presently occurring in the world without actually being there. Two of the seers in the citadel are Now-seers.
There are other seers (like me) who can see beyond the outcome of a decision. We are capable of seeing all possible conclusions to any possible decisions that a person might make.
Some seers can determine a day or a time when their visions of the future will occur; unfortunately I’m not one of them. To overcome this I look for certain indications that the vision is growing near or is upon us.
Last night’s battle for an example. Two weeks ago I saw the battle in a vision within the same vision that Lucas had told me, “Elizabeth is looking more and more like her mom each time I see her.”
I immediately warned Hanford (the leader of the coven) and Lucas about the coming battle, but I didn’t tell Lucas as to how I would know when it would be upon us. Last night, Lucas had told me what I had been waiting to hear, and that was when I knew that the battle was only minutes away.
The three seers among us who can also see future events had seen the battle five minutes before Lucas had told me about Elizabeth, so Hanford was being told about it as I was joining them.
When I confirmed with a nod that tonight was the night, Hanford sounded the alarm.
As Elizabeth wrote earlier, the children under the age of eighteen were ushered into a large chamber beneath the citadel. The rest of us took our positions for the coming battle. The torches and candles were put out and the only members who were making sounds were the four wizards casting the incantation to cloak us from the Raven’s seers.
A few of the Raven’s wizards and sorceresses were also casting the same incantation in order to cloak themselves from us, and so we sat patiently while waiting for the members of the Raven Coven to make themselves known.
One of the Raven’s wizards maneuvered himself unseen to the opposite side of the citadel, and once he was in place, he magically shot fireballs into the wall of the citadel.
We knew that he was only attempting to draw our fire in the wrong direction, so only one wizard from our side magically fired back.
In response to our weak retaliation, fireballs came at us from three wizards from yet another direction. Again we knew that this was done only to draw our fire in the wrong direction, so we again gave a weak response.
Trying to seize the advantage in a battle when both sides have three or more se
ers is almost impossible, but if you have a good leader, then that leader could take the advantage of a disadvantage. So when the Raven magically fired fireballs from every point, but one, that one point was where Hanford ordered to be heavily fired upon.
Our first round of fireballs took out a good portion of their partisans, and a few of their frontline wizards, but before we could re-aim our fire beyond the partisans, the Raven’s surviving wizards and sorceresses magically fired all they had.
The sky had lit up bright with all the fireballs passing each other in flight. Wizards and partisans on each side were spread out to minimize the casualties, so once each fireball had landed, only one to two people were hit by it—if any.
Once the main fire had begun, our wizards who were reciting the cloaking incantation had shifted their chant to the barrier incantation, so when the fireballs that were fired against us would land, they would have less of an impact. I believe the Raven’s wizards had done the same.
As the wizards and sorceresses were exchanging fireballs, the Raven’s surviving partisans and wolf-likens had stormed the citadel, and as they were entering, they were met by our partisans.
It became immediately obvious that the Raven’s partisans were instructed to ignore our partisans when they could and go after our wizards and sorceresses. Some Raven’s partisans or likens had actually made it past our partisans as they went after their primary target. Most were cut down though by the wizards or sorceresses as they approached them, but a few had succeeded, only to be killed moments later by one of our partisans.
With wizards on both sides chanting the barrier incantation throughout the battle, the battle waged on for hours, and compared to other battles fought throughout history, the number of casualties were light.
Neither side was able to dominate the fight, and just before the last liken-moon (liken-moon is my word for the moon that is needed to change man into beast). Anyway, before the last liken-moon of the month could set, someone from the Raven’s side had sounded a horn.
The Raven’s surviving partisans and likens quickly withdrew from the fight, and just after their partisans had reached their frontline wizards the Raven withdrew completely.
Once the battle was over, our slightly wounded had picked up the dead and the seriously wounded; including the Raven’s dead and seriously wounded. All of the Raven’s dead and wounded were partisans though.
Some had complained about treating the Raven’s wounded as one of ours, but Hanford retorted, “Kindness begets kindness. The Wizard Wars aren’t ever going to end if we continue to behave like savages towards one another.”
And so the seriously wounded (our wounded and the Raven’s wounded alike) were carried to the lab where Catherine and Catherine’s three apprentices could attend to them. Catherine is Hanford’s sister, a powerful sorceress and the main healer for the coven.
The dead were carried away and placed in a room to wait their ceremonial burial.
Once a path between the chamber beneath the citadel and the main assembly room was cleared from any signs of battle, the children were escorted to the assembly room. There the children waited as the adults cleaned up the signs of battle everywhere else.
Later this evening is the burial ceremony for the ones who had died in the battle, so everyone is preparing for that.
That’s it for what I can scribe down.
(Randolph’s handwriting)
It’s Friday night, and before I go to bed I thought I should say that the burial ceremony went as it should. Our fallen wizards, sorceresses and partisans were each given a wizard’s ceremony. The Raven’s fallen were also a part of the ceremony and they were buried alongside our fallen without distinction.
Oh and in spite of last night’s attack on the citadel, several more acorn covens had showed up while seeking refuge.
I should also say that Hanford doesn’t care to keep prisoners, and while ignoring the objections from the others, Hanford had the Raven’s injured partisans escorted to the perimeter of our borders and then released once their wounds had been treated.
Anyway that’s all I have for right now.
It’s Saturday night. Friday night to Saturday morning was uneventful. After everyone had awakened and had eaten his or her morning meal, Hanford had called an assembly meeting.
Apparently Elizabeth and I weren’t the only ones among the acorn covens who had to leave their Legacy volumes behind. Most of the Legacy volumes are only different within the last two hundred years. Before that the history of the Legacy volumes are mostly the same for everyone. Therefore, starting Monday morning, there will be a workshop to teach the history of our legacy.
The attendance to the workshop is open to all ages and it’s voluntary.
Elizabeth is planning to go to that. I wouldn’t mind going to that workshop myself, but there’s another workshop that is taking place at the same time that I want to go to. That workshop is on learning incantations and potions, and anyone fifteen years old or older can attend.
If I was going to get Elizabeth and myself through this, I’m going to have to learn all I can.
Anyway that’s all I have for right now.
It’s Sunday night. Last night was again uneventful. I learned that a lot of the adults were planning to attend the workshops. To accommodate the number of people who are planning to learn the incantations, the workshop was moved from a small room to the dining room. The dining room will be closed during the few hours that the workshop will be taking place.
The workshop on learning the Legacy volumes will be held in the assembly room.
These workshops will be held on every Monday through Friday until further notice, and as I wrote yesterday, the attendance to the workshops is voluntary.
Anyway, that’s all I have for right now.
It’s Monday evening, and things were somewhat eventful, but not because of the Raven Coven. Thomas (a nineteen-year-old who thought that he knew more than our mentor about mixing potions) had mixed things before being told to and had blown pieces out of the table that he was sitting at.
A few people around Thomas were shot with small chunks of flying wood. Thomas (I’m sad to say) had suffered piercing wounds about his chest, and the bright flash that had occurred had burned his eyes.
Catherine said that Thomas will live, but she’s very doubtful that he’ll see again.
That’s all I have, but Elizabeth wants to write down what she had learned from her workshop.
(Elizabeth’s handwriting)
Hi, it’s Elizabeth again. You knew that though.
Anyway, here’s what I learned…
Chapter Five
Harris, Shannon and Avery spent most of Wednesday arranging for Tanya’s body to be moved to the airport on Monday, in order for Tanya’s body to be sent back to London. Harris had also planned to attend Tanya’s funeral in London, so he had to purchase a round-trip ticket for himself as well.
Allyson spent her Wednesday and Thursday doing what she could to prepare for Michael’s funeral.
Ellen helped where she could on both days, but for the most part Harris and Allyson had wanted to involve Ellen with the arrangements as little as possible, which gave Ellen a lot of free time from Tuesday evening to Thursday evening.
Ellen had used her free time to read as far into the first Legacy volume as she could. She had made a deal with Shannon to read the first three Legacy volumes before picking up the books on incantations, and as to how captivating she found the first volume to be, she found that deal easy to keep.
When Friday morning came, Ellen ignored the Legacy volumes as she, Harris, Allyson, Avery, Shannon and Jane prepared themselves for Michael’s funeral services.
The turnout for Michael’s funeral services was better than Ellen imagined. Michael’s friends, some of his co-workers and Tanya’s friends had showed up for it.
Ellen didn’t prepare a eulogy for the services nor did she want to speak out to the mourners; however, when the clergyman called her up to
say a few words, she went with very little coaxing.
Ellen spoke longer than what she had intended, and when she was done, everyone was surprised to learn that the eulogy she gave wasn’t prepared.
Once the funeral was concluded at the funeral home, the mourners got into their respective vehicles and went to the cemetery.
The mourners were there for only a few minutes, listening to the clergyman before Ellen, Harris and Shannon felt the presence of others from Merlin’s descendants. When the three looked, they saw two fifty-year-old men who looked very much alike.
“Do you…?” Harris was only able to get out as he faced Ellen and saw that Ellen had hurried away towards the two men.
Harris quickly followed Ellen, and after a slight hesitation, Allyson, Avery, Shannon and Jane had followed as well. The clergyman and the mourners just looked to see where the six were going.
As Ellen was approaching the two men in half the time it would normally take, Mitchell, Ellen’s biological father, questioned, “How are you doing, Ella?”
“My name is Ellen, you worthless pig!” she angrily shot at him.
“Hey-hey now,” Mitchell calmly said. “A little respect for your father.”
“Father?” Ellen laughed without humor. “I have no father, and neither did Michael.”
“I know you wish that to be true…” Mitchell was only able to get out.
“You’re not welcome here!” Ellen shot at him before he could finish. “Now get out and take your friend with you.”
“He’s your Uncle Brandon,” Mitchell informed.
“I don’t care who the hell he is; you two aren’t welcome here!” Ellen retorted.
“Ellen…!” Harris uttered before he was cut off.
“I want them gone!” Ellen hissed towards Harris.
“Yes,” Harris agreed. “You’d made that perfectly clear, but this is a big cemetery…”
“This city isn’t big enough for the both of us!” Ellen shot back.
“An old American Western had just flashed through my mind,” Avery commented.
Ellen indifferently glanced at Avery as Harris continued with, “Ellen, today is the time to set aside grudges and for love ones to mourn…”
Legacy Page 8
