by Dean Cadman
“Okay, it’s your turn Renn,” Rebekah said excitedly, breaking off his train of thought.
“I suppose it is,” Renn chuckled, and settled down to tell two very excited children the story about the horse and cat; several times over.
The food that Lusam and Renn brought back with them had been very well received by the others, and after eating more than their fill, Renn and Lusam made their excuses and retired to the small office to begin Lusam’s education of Afaraon’s affairs. Which left Neala and Alexia exchanging a multitude of stories with the children in the main room outside. Rebekah seemed to have become quite fond of Alexia, and shadowed her every move, much to the amusement of Neala, who was beginning to foster a similar relationship with Kayden, now that he was fully awake.
Renn pulled two comfy looking chairs towards the fireplace, and they both made themselves comfortable in front of the low burning fire.
“Alright, lad, what would you like to know?” Renn asked.
“I’m not really sure. I guess I need to know the general history of Afaraon, and anything I’m likely need to know once we arrive at Lamuria,” Lusam replied. Renn whistled and raised his eyebrows at Lusam’s request.
“That’s a lot of information, lad. I’m not sure where to begin if I’m honest,” Renn replied, then after thinking for a moment he suggested, “Can you think of anything you would like to know, and maybe we can take it from there?”
“Why don’t you continue from where you left off earlier? You explained about mothers-to-be visiting their local temples, and the priests testing their unborn babies for any magical potential. But you never said what happened to them if they did find any signs of magical ability,” Lusam said.
“Hmm… well, what used to happen two hundred years ago, is very different from what would happen now, lad. But I think for it to make any sense, I should explain the entire history to you. One thing you already know, is that magic used to be far more commonplace in Afaraon before the Empire started its eradication program. No one knows for certain—because records were never kept—but it’s estimated that well over half the population of Afaraon were capable of using magic to one degree or another, before the Empire started killing our people. The vast majority of people were untrained in the use of magic, and usually only knew a few spells that were passed down from their parents or grandparents. In fact, that very knowledge was often used as a bargaining tool when it came to forming marriages. Soon after the end of The Dragon-Mage Wars, families started forming marital alliances more in line with their magical abilities than they did with their wealth. Simply because, with the right combination of magical abilities, the wealth was easier to achieve anyway. This practice did, however, have unforeseen consequences, ones we are still suffering from to this day. Because magic is hereditary, meaning that the most powerful magi usually come from a union of two powerful parents, the magical distribution within Afaraon became dangerously skewed. Instead of magical ability being distributed evenly among the population of Afaraon, often only the most powerful families had access to the most powerful magi.
“Of course, magic still occurred in the rest of the population, but because it was often a union between a lesser magi and non-magi, their subsequent offspring became weaker and more diluted over time. The larger, and more powerful families bickered and quarrelled amongst themselves for centuries, each vying for greater power over the others. It is from one of those families that our current monarchy is descended. They became the most powerful family in all of Afaraon, with both financial and magical dominance over the rest. The High Temple became little more than a relic left over from The Dragon-Mage Wars, and was forced to relinquish its power to the new monarchy. The High Temple chose to search out their new priests from within the general population, not wanting to take on any of the corrupt, self serving aristocracy into their ranks. That was when the spell was first created to discover the telltale signs of an unborn mage. Little did the priests know at the time, how important that spell would become later, for a very different reason.
“By the time the Empire decided to try and eradicate magic from Afaraon, the ruling classes had made it so much easier for them to achieve. The magical ability of Afaraon was now so concentrated within the aristocracy, it took less than a generation to wipe them out. At first they believed the deaths of their newborns were due to the abandonment of Aysha and her Temples, and threw themselves back into their religious practices of old, with little effect. One after another the families of the aristocracy fell, leaving only the ruling monarch and his family within the walls of Lamuria.
“When the High Temple discovered the reason behind all the infant magi deaths, they began petitioning the king to issue a royal decree that all expectant mothers should visit their local temples at least once during their pregnancies. As you can imagine, the King was not held in very high regard by the general population at that time, and that is why many chose to initially ignore the decree. Even two hundred years ago, the High Temple knew an all-out attack on Lamuria was inevitable. It was only a question of when. In the past, the High Temple’s defences had been replenished by the magical donations from the large number of pilgrims that visited each year, but now, most of those same pilgrims were no longer capable of using magic, and therefore the Temple’s crystal began to lose its power. The High Priest of the time, informed the king of the situation, and a bold new plan was put in action to try and save the land of Afaraon. Priests searched out anyone with magical abilities, and relocated them and their families to within the safety of Lamuria. At first no one minded the new arrivals, but later, as the city swelled with their numbers, riots broke out amongst the indigenous population. The living conditions became intolerable for many, and a mass exodus of both indigenous and newcomers took place.
“For a decade or two, the remaining number of magi who resided within Lamuria’s walls were enough to maintain the High Temple’s power source, but due to the dilution of magical blood, both outside, and inside the walls of Lamuria, its power soon started to dwindle once more. Fearing they would repeat the same mistake that the earlier ruling aristocracy had made, by concentrating the distribution of magic within Afaraon, the High Temple ceased their policy of relocating people to Lamuria. It was a huge gamble for the High Temple to do this, but their logic was sound. If the Empire believed that all of Afaraon’s magi were within the walls of Lamuria, not only would they know our true strength—or lack of—they would also undoubtedly launch an all-out attack on the capital, one which they were not in any way prepared for. On the other hand, if the Empire believed there was still plenty of magic in the general population, they would continue with their eradication plans, at least for the immediate future. That was when the Hermingild were created. They were to work hand in hand with the priests throughout Afaraon. If they discovered a potential unborn mage, they would summon a Hermingild from the High Temple to assist the mother in concealing the birth of her child, and that child’s power would be assessed by the high temple later. The hope was, if they could trick the Empire into waiting long enough before they launched their all-out assault, maybe, just maybe enough magi might be born for us to survive their attack.
“I know that every brave Hermingild prays for a stronger mage to take his or her place in the world after they are gone, but none have ever achieved more than Asima did. Your mother’s Hermingild… your grandmother, may very well have saved us all, lad. Her sacrifice will be remembered as long as the land of Afaraon remains, of that you can be certain.”
Renn continued to fill in the gaps in Lusam’s knowledge for another hour or so, until Alexia and Neala came to join them in the small cosy room. They gave Renn and Lusam an update on the children’s condition, and told them everything they had discovered by talking to them earlier. Rebekah and Kayden had already fallen asleep on their makeshift beds, and Neala had secured the main door so no one, or no thing, could catch them unawares while they slept that night. Neala and Alexia had been talking with the children
most of that day, and the conversation had inevitably turned towards their parents, and what had happened to them. Strangely, Kayden seemed far less affected by their absence than Rebekah, but it soon became clear why. Alexia discovered that Rebekah usually looked after him most of the time anyway, so their absence probably didn’t seem so strange to him, yet. Rebekah on the other hand, seemed to understand that her parents were never coming back, but thankfully, she never said as much in front of her little brother. Alexia had explained they were all going to go to Lamuria, and promised that she would take care of them both once they arrived there. It seemed to reduce Rebekah’s anxiety a little, but she still insisted that they search for her mother before they left Prystone, just in case she was hiding in their house. Alexia and Neala both readily agreed that they would look for their mother before leaving Prystone the following morning.
Lusam was awoken by a child’s laughter. It took him a moment to realise it was only Kayden and Rebekah in the main temple room. Daylight was just starting to filter through the large window in the office, giving him enough light to see that he was the last one still in bed. Groaning to himself, he sat up and rubbed his tired eyes. To his great surprise, he noticed that the night’s sleep had restored much of his magical reserves. He had expected it to take a couple of days at least to regain so much of his magical reserves. The only explanation he could think of, was as his magical reserves had grown, so had his body’s own ability to replenish them. He stood up from his chair, and stretched out the knots in his back.
‘It’s a comfy enough chair to sit in, but using it as a bed leaves a lot to be desired,’ he thought to himself, making his way towards the main room. He was pleased to see Kayden looking much brighter and playing with his big sister as he entered the main room.
“Good morning sleepy-head,” Neala greeted him with a smile. He quickly realised Renn and Alexia were not in the room.
“Morning,” he replied, stifling a yawn. “Where are the others?”
“They went to get the horses ready about twenty minutes ago. Renn didn’t want to wake you. He said you needed the extra time to recover your magical reserves,” Neala replied.
“I’d never say no to a little extra sleep,” Lusam chuckled, “but, maybe we should go meet up with them, now that I am awake. Besides, I can almost smell the contents of that smokehouse from here… I’m starving.” Neala rolled her eyes at him, and started to collect her things together.
The cool morning air washed over them as they exited the temple building for the last time. The sky was clear, and it promised to be another warm and pleasant summer’s day; perfect for riding. They had only been outside the temple building a moment before Kayden shouted something excitedly, and ran off down the street alone.
“Kayden, come back here,” Neala called after him, but he came to a stop by himself—not too far away—and picked something up off the ground.
“I found it Bekah, I found it!” Kayden said, skipping happily back towards the others, and holding up what looked like a child’s wooden spinning top in his hand.
“That’s great Kayden, but don’t run off like that. There might be more of those monsters out here,” Rebekah scolded him. He suddenly looked very nervous, and grabbed tight hold of his sister’s hand, pulling her back towards the temple behind them.
“It’s okay Kayden, you don’t have to be afraid. The monsters are all gone now,” Neala promised.
“How do you know? They might be hiding around the next corner,” Kayden said, hugging his sister’s leg.
“Do you like climbing trees Kayden?” Lusam asked, completely changing the subject.
“Yes, I’m better than Bekah at climbing trees,” he said proudly.
“Are not,” Rebekah replied sharply. “You only get higher than me because the branches are too thin higher up, and they break if I try to climb on them.”
“If we climbed high enough to see there were no monsters hiding, would that make you feel better?” Lusam asked, quickly attempting to defuse the rapidly growing sibling rivalry between them. Kayden looked around the street, then gave Lusam a strange look.
“There are no trees here, silly,” Kayden replied, as if Lusam were some kind of simpleton for suggesting it in the first place. Neala almost choked as he said it, and had to turn away to hide her incredible amusement at the boy’s statement.
“That’s not nice Kay!” Rebekah scolded him.
“Sorry Bekah. But, I’m right, there are no trees here,” he replied, still looking at Lusam as if he were slightly mad. Lusam couldn’t help smiling at the boy’s look, and took a step towards him and his big sister.
“Hold my hand, and I’ll show you,” Lusam said, offering both of them a hand each to hold. He didn’t need to hold their hands to levitate them, but he thought they might feel a little safer if they had something to hold on to. Kayden persisted with his strange look as he took Lusam’s hand, even Rebekah seemed to be looking at him a little strange now.
“Okay, don’t be afraid, you won’t fall, I promise,” Lusam said, as he lifted them two feet off the ground. Rebekah shrieked at the sudden movement, but Kayden simply giggled. Lusam gave them a moment to get used to the idea, then said, “Shall we go higher, so we can see there are no more monsters?”
“Yes! Up… up… up!” Kayden replied excitedly, but his sister only gave a half-hearted nod. Lusam had intended to check the coastline for enemy vessels before leaving Prystone anyway. The last thing they needed was to have another shipload of Empire agents following them while they travelled to Lamuria. Lusam slowly levitated them all to just below roof height, not wanting to openly show their presence if there were any enemy ships nearby. He peeked over the rooftop, towards the ocean beyond, but saw only an empty expanse of water, thankfully devoid of any Empire ships. He continued climbing, until he was high enough to see beyond the cliffs to the south, and was equally relieved to see there were no signs of Empire activity in that direction either. The streets were now far below them, but still clearly visible from their vantage point.
“There, you see, no monsters,” Lusam said, wondering if Rebekah would ever open her eyes and look.
“Look Bekah, look how high up we are!” Kayden said excitedly, tugging at his big sister’s hand so she would open her eyes. Rebekah opened one of her eyes, and squealed loudly, as she gripped Lusam’s hand even tighter than before.
“Okay, I think we better go back down now,” Lusam said, beginning to feel sorry for Rebekah.
“Aw! Not yet. Can we go up higher? Please… Please,” Kayden pleaded.
“Not right now Kayden, I don’t think your sister likes it very much,” Lusam replied.
Kayden looked at his sister for a moment—who still had her eyes tightly closed—then said, “Can we go down really fast then, instead?”
“You wouldn’t be trying to scare your big sister, would you?” Lusam asked, knowing exactly what he had in mind. Kayden just gave Lusam a wide toothy grin, confirming he’d just been found out, then turned his attention back to his terrified looking sister. Lusam smiled to himself, as he lowered them all back down to earth, suddenly feeling sorry for Rebekah for an entirely different reason.
“That was great!” Kayden said as soon as their feet touched the ground. “Can we do it again later, please?”
“We’ll see,” Lusam replied, instantly recognising the phase his grandmother had used on him many times, whenever she didn’t want an argument about something.
“Rebekah, are you alright?” Neala asked, concerned by her pale complexion. Rebekah nodded, and immediately swapped Lusam’s hand for Neala’s. Kayden remained exactly where he was, holding onto Lusam’s hand, and beaming his new best friend a smile.
“Boys!” Neala said under her breath and rolling her eyes.
“Can we go look for mother now?” Rebekah asked, starting to look a little more steady on her feet.
“Of course, where would you like to start?” Neala asked, knowing that Rebekah knew the village far bat
ter than she did.
“This way,” Rebekah replied, pulling Neala behind her. Kayden remained firmly attached to Lusam, and they both followed Rebekah and Neala towards the far end of the street. Rebekah led them towards the docks, scanning the water for any signs of her father’s ship, or the remains of it. All she saw was an empty bay. She was about to leave and check her house, when she noticed the sunlight glint off something on the ground. As soon as she saw it, she knew exactly what it was: her mother’s necklace. She let go of Neala’s hand and ran towards it, tears forming in her eyes as she picked it up and cradled it in her hands.
“What is it, Rebekah?” Neala asked quietly by her side.
“Mother’s necklace,” she whispered, as tears ran down her cheek.
“May I see it, please?” Neala asked. Rebekah hesitated a moment, then offered her it without saying a word. Neala inspected the necklace, and immediately had her fears confirmed. It had been broken, and it wasn’t a flimsy construction either. Whatever had happened to her mother, had involved some kind of physical contact, which would suggest she hadn’t made it out of here before the initial attack. Neala handed back the necklace to Rebekah, and noticed her tears.