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Post Info TOPIC: Chapter 1


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Chapter 1
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Everything was shaded in fog. The thick moisture hovering in the air gave the world around him an ethereal quality. Or at least it would to a stranger to this area. Having been born and raised in these Northern woods, the fog was for Avril a matter of course. Long ago he had learned to hunt by sound and as he moved through the small forest this afternoon, he was relying on that sound to keep pace with his target about fifteen feet ahead.

    Kayeen was just as adept at tracking prey by sound alone. As he stalked through the woods ahead of his brother he was listening intently to the grey squirrel ahead. He did not have the luxury of simply pacing it. In order to make the close, he had to come into visual range. On a day like today that was about six or seven feet. It was a very difficult thing to do, but he was slowly closing while the grey squirrel cautiously worked its way toward the nuts and berries Kayeen had left in the center of the clearing.

    From behind his tree Avril listened to the two of them take off like a shot. The grey squirrel was scampering in fear, and the young man pursuing it with furious determination. Both predator and prey knew this forest well enough to instinctively know when to jump or duck. Although the persuer was gaining ground as the squirrel scooped up a nut on its way through the clearing, it was not enough and the squirrel shot up the first tree at the same speed with which it ran across the grass. Grabbing the lowest branch, the young man, Kayeen, cursed and then struggled to keep himself upright as he sucked in air. Through his exhaustion the young man searched hard to make out the squirrel above.

    Once recovered, Kayeen slowly put himself between the tree the squirrel was in and the only one close enough for the squirrel to jump to. He could hear the squirrel nattering as it tried to discover just where in the fog its persuer had gone. After taking three slow silent steps back and to his right Kayeen incrementally lowered himself into a crouch. In a whiplash motion his hand reached down, grabbed the stone, and launched towards the sound. The projectile narrowly missed the frightened squirrel and sent it scampering up and out onto one thick branch. As it neared the end of that branch the grey squirrel launched itself towards the tree it instinctively knew was there. As the squirrel was in the air it came into his line of sight and Kayeen muttered under his breath, "cadea". It was as if the squirrel ran into an invisible wall. Crashing to the ground it quivered where it had landed in fear and pain. Shouting triumphantly, the young man arrived at the same spot almost as soon as the squirrel hit the ground. After another pause to catch his breath, Kayeen pulled out a small dagger from his side.

    While Kayeen had been intent on the squirrel Avril had worked his way around the clearing and towards the lopsided battle. When he got close enough to see his brother leaning over the squirrel he whispered, "ascundi". The squirrel disappeared. Jerking himself straight, the dagger clenched behind white knuckles, Kayeen started peering into the trees around him. Not being able to see his younger brother, he looked back to the spot where the squirrel had fallen and muttered, "spectaci". The squirrel reappeared.

    Waiting for this to happen, Avril immediately said, "sari". In one quick step the squirrel impossibly launched itself from the ground into a branch about six feet up. This move in their little duel caught Kayeen by surprise and he tripped and fell to his hands. He scrambled back up as quickly as he could but it was too late. The squirrel was nowhere in site. As he rubbed the gravel out of his left hand, Kayeen's face contorted with rage and he shouted out, "AVRIL!!!"

    Slowly and silently Avril put distance between himself and his brother.

 

    Again there was an awkward silence around the table as the family began their dinner. Andrei tried to break the silence by asking his oldest, "you left early this morning without doing your chores. What were you about?"

    Kayeen moodily muttered, "I was planning to go squirrel hunting butsomehow my prey proved quite elusive." As he said this he shot an icy glare across the table. Avril was looking down at his plate and studiously ignoring him while trying not to grin.

    Yvenna away from the table, missed the byplay. As she took her seat, she added fuel to the fire by saying, "well, at least one of you men contributed to our dinner tonight." She shot a warm smile to Avril who had only grabbed those wildberries as an alibi to deny trailing his brother all afternoon.

    There was a loud scraping from across the table as Kayeen pushed his chair away. He stood to his feet and huffed to the door. There he stopped, turned around, marched back to grab his plate, and then dramatically left the room again as he shoveled another bite into his mouth. A second later they could all hear the scraping as the heavy stone door was slid shut.

    Andrei chuckled ruefully under his breath, "At least the boy has his priorities."

    Yvenna shook her head at him and lectured, "One of these days he's going to be strong enough to slam that thing and you're going to have a mess on your hands trying to fix it."

    Their youngest, Sevi, volunteered, "I'll help you fix it dad."

    The two parents looked at each other knowingly and then Yvenna turned to Sevi. "Why don't you come and finish your dinner with me outside?"

    "But mom!" Sevi broke off his complaint as he looked into his father's face. He might only be eight, but he knew when his parents meant business.

After the two of them took their food outside Andrei turned intently to Avril, his middle child. "OK son. What was that all about?"

    Avril frantically thought up story about how he could have interfered with his brother's hunting. It was quite difficult to come with a story on the fly that did not included the two of them speaking magik. Although their parents both studied it religiously, Kayeen and Avril both knew that neither mom nor dad could actually use magik and so both children did their best to hide the fact that they can. Abandoning the long and complicated story he was working through in his mind Avril simply said, "All afternoon I kept scaring away the squirrels before Keyeen could get a clean shot."

    Andrei, knowing that Kayeen hadn't even bothered to grab his slingshot before leaving that morning simply stared at his son. The uncomfortable silence grew. Finally, Avril broke it, "You don't understand, dad. The things he does to them its he's"Avril threw up his hands at a loss for words.

His father looked at him with compassion. "I do understand. He is curious. He wants to know how things work. Your mother and I see what he is bringing home. We know. I might not have been quite so thorough but I did much the same when I was hiding out here at his age."

    "But dad, he does all that and then he kills them." Andrei wrinkled his brow in confusion so Avril continued on, "Its he's changing. I'm worried. Ever since he"Avril broke off knowing he had gone too far.

    With an intense icy stare Andrei looked over at his son. "Ever. Since. He. What?"

    After another pregnant silence, Avril burst forth, "He stole it dad. A couple weeks back. We've always known you and mom were in the army or something before coming up here, but a while ago we we found your swords. Kayeen took yours. The big black one. Moms is still there, but Kayeen has hidden yours somewhere down by the Lonely Oak."

    Seeing nothing, Andrei looked up at the ground overhead as his world crashed down around him.

 

    After Sevi was asleep that night Avril met at the table with his two parents. On the table sat the one remaining sword inside it's mahogany scabbard and an old, folded and faded letter. Kayeen had not yet returned home. Avril was staring at the sword with a longing look of deep desire. Something about it was calling out to him, but he sat on his hands resisting the impulse to reach out and grab the sword.

    "These swords were never ours." His father's statement broke him out of his reverie. Avril looked questioningly at his father who continued, "We were only holding them. For you. For your brother. We were planning on giving them to you on your eighteenth birthday. The man you were named after, he brought them to us before you were born."

    "Gavril?"

    "Yes. We thought that because of because of what we did, that we would never be able to have children. But when Gavril came he told us, well actually he gave us this." Andrei pushed the old letter in front of his son. "Perhaps you should read this first, we can answer some of the questions for you afterwards, but to be honest much of the prophesy is still a riddle to us."

Avril pulled out the letter and began reading.

 

Hello Andrei,

    I'm guessing you never imagined you would be getting a letter from me. To be honest, I never expected to be writing you. I thought we got rid of you, but somehow you are still managing to make a mess of things here.

    You killed it. It was supposed to never die, but somehow you killed it. Just thought you should know that as an explanation for the swords. It took a long time in dying, but it has been dead for almost a year now. Before the tree died it did drop two seeds. For almost two months there was a debate in the Council as to what to do with them. Should they be planted to produce two new trees of life even though the Law clearly stated that this should never happen? Should they be eaten as all other seeds before had been for the knowledge they would impart? That was the decision the Council was voting on when this prophesy was given:

Two seeds two swords

From one tree.

And then one more.

 

Two exiles two children

From one crime.

And then a third.

 

Two lives two paths

From one rivalry.

And then one more.

 

Two teachers two schools

From one goal.

And then a third.

 

Two battles two flights.

Then one death.

And then one more.

And then a third.

 

    As is the nature of all prophesies, this one raises more questions than it answer. I mean, two seeds, two swords, from one tree, and then one more. One more what? Another seed? Another sword? Another tree? Each stanza is its own mess of confusion. That doesn't even get into the question of how the stanzas build on each other. Or do they at all?

    Only one thing seemed to be clear to us. You two, and your two (or three?) kids are tied up in all this. I didn't even know you two were able to have kids. I thought that because of well anyways, let me go on.

After the prophesy was given on the Council floor there was silence. Nobody dared speak until finally a newly raised member, Mykal, said, "I can make the swords." After a brief discussion, it was agreed to give him the seeds and to table any further discussion on the matter until they have been produced. Those swords were completed this morning. Besides Mykal and myself, only Uriel has seen them. The two of us were together when Mykal presented them and all three of us knew no that isn't strong enough. We felt compelled to bring them to you. Uriel will be traveling to intercept a young member of the Society, Gavril, who will find you and deliver them.

    Part of me doesn't want to give these swords to you. You can't be trusted. But I feel as though I have no choice. Perhaps this is a way you can make amends. You can never forgiven for what you did to the tree, but, well, at least you can't possibly ever be able to mess up that bad twice. Please don't prove me wrong.

Ever His,

Raval



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