Chapter I
In London whenever a ship was sunk near port the docks were full with common folk searching the waters for any valuables. Occasionally there was cry of joy for finding a box of banknotes or other valuables but those cries were rare. One such person was a boy about fourteen but very small his name was Chamlin Stevens.
'The docks were stuffed with people today' I thought trying to press my way to the front. The crowd suddenly thinned and in my haste all I needed was a small shove and I would be in the freezing cold water and that is exactly what the crowd gave me it wasn't a small shove I probably flew three feet till I hit the water. Shock consumed my body I sunk to the bottom (about fifteen feet) my feet hit something hard and smooth unlike a rock, I looked down at the thing it was a smallish rectangular box about a forearm big by a wrist width. I was running out of breath I quickly reached down and with my breath almost to bursting I resurfaced. I tucked the box in my inside pocket of my thin jacket I could inspect it later when I was done collecting,
I stared at the meager amount of things I had collected (or stolen) earlier in the day, a cool green iridescent rock, a leather jacket, six muffins, some lumps of coal, and the black box. I started looking over the black box it was a sealed wood case I cut the wax sealing and tried opening it 'locked' I cursed of course it would be locked I found the key hole it was tiny about the size of my thumbnail and exactly the color of the wood which was probably why I hadn't seen it before. I pulled out my picklock kit no thief felt safe without a picklock kit. My trained hands probed and prodded the studs and the little knobs I heard a click after about five minuets I tried to open it, stuck I searched and found two more key holes I opened those much more easily than the first lock. I lifted the top off and I found two armbands of the color unpolished iron with a green stone in one of them and in the other was a red stone I was disappointed I was expecting at least gold nuggets I mean who would have a box with three locks yet have something almost worthless. I reached down and picked one of them up they were surprisingly light I slipped it on my and arm I grabbed the other one and slipped it on the other. I felt them tightening till they fit me perfectly suddenly a white hot burning started on the armbands I stared at them they were changing shape till they were web like I turned them over to my astonishment running down the center of my forearm was a line of pure white opal ending at the center of my palm was a gem like no other I had ever seen it was almost an emerald but the center was white with small blue veins of opal running down the bumps and ridges of the emerald the other armband was almost exactly alike only its stone was ruby red and had a magenta center with yellow ridges. I tried unsuccessfully almost all night to remove them from my arms but they stuck tight. At last exhausted I fell into a restless sleep.
I awoke to sunlight streaming in through the gaps in the woodwork of the shed. I tugged at my thin jacket so that it covered the cool metal of the armbands. I stepped out into the sunlight blinking out the glare of a midmorning sun. I felt a cold breeze coming down the alley I looked at the sky it was quickly being blanketed in dark gray clouds I felt a raindrop land on my lanky black hair. I hurried down the road till it forked I turned left and ran down it. I paid my dues to the bakery and the open air market. After letting the muffin man know I had taken pleasure in eating his muffins, I sprinted through the streets I ran into some people I turned around finding myself confronted by a man; his black rawhide trench coat seemed to be at least three hundred years old. "Sorry" I muttered as I walked past him he looked at me one of the edges of my coat slid up and a little bit of the armband winked into existence I looked around to see if anyone noticed the armband. My sigh of relief was cut short by the baker coming down the street I looked behind him and could see at least a dozen homeless children attacking his open air bread stand. I ran to the network of streets I hopped up a wall and laid on on roof waiting. The baker ran past I was about to get up when the large man in the trench coat walked by, on the corner he stopped held out his hand and muttered "fortus" a small fire appeared in his outstretched hand it wavered slightly and then as if there was a draft it pointed towards my hiding place on the roof. I ducked down behind the lip of the roof and crawled down it. I hopped another six houses, jumped four fences and wove through the maze of streets that littered the city. Twenty minuets later convinced I had lost him I leaned against an old crumbling wall I turned to find the man not ten feet away "you lead me on quiet an journey" he said I turned to run "settin" he said and my feet were stuck in place. "Congratulations on becoming a sorcerer without an intuition you have my respect" he said and snapped his fingers I could move my feet again. I looked him in the eyes "why have you followed me?" I asked "I thought it would be obvious you are a sorcerer, those armbands were once part of Yggdrasil the tree of the world its veins of stone were the fruits of the tree they are now called Dundrathil children of the tree" "and what does this have to do with me?" I asked "you are coming with me to be awakened" "and if I don't want to?" I asked "then you have no need of your Dundrathil and you can't go back after you make your answer you have twenty seconds to answer yes or no and if you don't answer then I take shall it as a no" his counting reached three "yes" I blurted out "okay come with me we have a lot to do". We took street after street, till I realized which part of town we were headed to. We were headed to the rich part which believe it or not was very small. I slowed my pace down "well come on I haven't got all day" he said irritably "its just you know when your on your own you have to steal sometimes and people tend to remember stuff like that"