The messenger stumbled out of the Breach into the tall grass.
Thankfully, it was cooler here, on this side of the portal. It was closer
to spring here, in the New World, rather than the balmy jungle summer she
had just left. The cool breeze did little to cool her body; armor held in
heat no matter the weather. The zephyr did lift her dark hair from her
neck, allowing her some small bit of comfort. With a whispered word from
the young woman, the Breach closed as if it had never been.
The young woman raised her head. There, rising in the distance, was the castle Baron and its surrounding town. Close enough that she would reach it by midday, but far enough that no bystander was going to be scared out of his wits by a young woman tumbling out of thin air. It was morning here, the sun slowly making its ascent, a stark contrast to the night she had left in her own world.
She wished heartily for a horse, or one of those oversized birds that the denizens of this world, the New World, reportedly rode. While she was no stranger to exertion, trudging miles in her armor was not a welcome way to spend a morning. Especially not when her internal clock was stubbornly insisting that it was the middle of the night. Sighing hard enough to ruffle the black strands of hair that had escaped her coronet, she set off towards Baron.
*** ***
Cecil Harvey Ya, King of Baron, pored over documents at his desk while his ever-present guard, sardonic companion, and chief advisor sat peeling an apple with his boots up on the table.
"Kain," the king raised his sea-green eyes, "I'm not going to go haring off on some mad quest, or get abducted by pirates, if you take your eyes off of me for one instant. Don't you have anything better to do than stand guard over me?"
"You have to admit," Kain Highwind, captain of the Baronian Guard and last of the Dragon Knights, retorted, brandishing an apple slice, "If anyone on this planet was going to be abducted by pirates, it would be you. And as for mad quests, if you do decide to go on one, I just want to make sure I'm around when you leave so I can go with you." Kain's tone was merry, but his blue eyes betrayed his true emotions. He, like Cecil, was itching to get out of the castle. They had been to the ends of the earth together, seen things no other human had, and saved the world from imminent destruction. And now, they spent most of their time here in this room, managing the kingdom.
Cecil ran a hand through his white hair. "Adventure… I can't even remember what the word means. I wouldn't trust anyone else to do this job right, but being a king is so boring!"
"If you think that's boring, try being me for a day," Kain retorted. "You may be bored, but my job is to sit around and watch you being bored. It brings the word to a whole new level."
"And you two are whining like children," commented a sardonic voice from the doorway. "For shame, would you wish another disaster upon us that we could go and save the world again?" The newcomer was Queen Rosa, Cecil's wife. A cloud of dark blond hair framed her delicate features. Her dark eyes, despite the seriousness of her words, danced with amusement.
Like chastised children, Kain and Cecil both lowered their eyes. "Sorry," mumbled Cecil. Twenty-seven years old they were, and still getting into trouble with her.
A page cleared his throat uncomfortably behind Rosa. "Your graces, Captain, there's a woman here to see you." The boy was a familiar face, and he had lost some of the dumbstruck awe that plagued most new pages at being assigned to serve the King and his companions. "She's uh… very persistent." The youth reddened beneath his freckles. "Sir Cormoran tried to turn her away, and she uh… well… she hit him, your grace."
Kain snickered, earning a quelling glance from Rosa. "Is Sir Cormoran all right?" she asked, concerned.
"He'll be fine," Kain answered for the page. "He's got a hard head."
"Well, should we admit her?" Cecil asked his two closest friends. He, like Kain, could see the humor in a woman, probably some scorned housewife, hitting one of his knights. But, without knowing the woman's intent, he was wary of admitting her into his presence.
"I don't see why not," Kain replied. "I don't think she'd have the ba-," he looked guiltily at Rosa, "-scuse me, guts rather, to hit Cecil."
"Well then, show her in, if you would be so kind," Cecil nodded at the page, who quickly scurried away. "Now where is my-,"
Wordlessly, Kain held out a circlet of beaten gold to the king. Cecil hated wearing it, and often managed to misplace it. Luckily for him, his diligent wife and friend were always a step behind, picking it up whenever he put it down.
"Thanks," Cecil replied sheepishly, placing the crown on his cloud- like locks. "So, O Star of the Morning, care to make any wagers on this woman's grievance?" He smiled at his wife, who was busily trying to clear up some of the clutter that had accumulated during the morning.
"How come you don't flatter me like that?" Kain asked coquettishly, batting long gold lashes at Cecil mockingly. Gone was the introspective, haunted Kain of several years age. Whatever had transpired on Mt. Ordeals had given Cecil back his best friends, and for that, he was grateful.
"Does the Noble Boyhood Companion wish to place a bet?" Cecil asked extravagantly.
"That's better," Kain returned. "I'm going with fisherwife who wants to divorce her husband for tumbling the serving girls at the inn."
"How about an old herb-woman who wants one of the Guard-trainees strung up for trampling her garden?" Cecil offered. Rosa just rolled her eyes. All three had visions of some old, stubborn crone who would set the king on his ear if need be to get her way. Kain receded into the shadows of the room, allowing the royal couple the honor of receiving the guest. If needed, he would be a step away.
When Phedre c'Fenrir appeared in the doorway, the trio could do naught but gape. Her eyes, a startling purple, locked onto Cecil's immediately, as she strode into the room. She was fully armed and armored, with a determined set in her eye. Kain, peering at the girl over Cecil's left shoulder, was astounded. He had never seen a girl dressed in armor like this before, but he wasn't about to take any chances. His own spear was out of reach, but if he stretched his leg just right, he figured he might be able to snag Cecil's sword with his foot. The young woman, however, rather than draw the sword at her back, kneeled to Cecil, briefly touching her mailed fingers to her brow and lips. "Your grace," she said in an alien accent unlike any Kain had ever heard.
Cecil looked pole-axed for a moment, but quickly rallied. "Can I-ah… help you?" This girl was very strange. In full armor? With a sword? While he had been around his share of battle-ready woman in his day, he had never seen one garbed in anything but robes or leotards like the Troian guard. She was also, undeniably, beautiful.
"My name is Phedre c'Fenrir," the girl said musically as she rose to her feet gracefully. "My people seek the aid of yours. There is a… sickness… invading our world. And if it is not stopped, it will soon encroach upon this one." Her luminous eyes held Cecil's beseechingly.
"Your world?" Cecil asked uncomprehendingly, green eyes wide.
"The Old World," the girl said, almost impatiently, as if Cecil should know exactly what she was speaking of. Then, as the Paladin King and his Queen continued to stare blankly at her, horror dawned across her features. "You don't… remember?" she asked. "The Old World? The Corinthii?" When she didn't receive a glimmer of recognition from the regents, she gasped. "Then it's worse than we feared."
"Please, if you would just tell us what you're talking about," Cecil prodded. Was the girl crazy? She didn't seem it, however. There was an lucidity in those dark purple eyes that told Cecil that whatever the girl was saying, she believed every word.
"You have forgotten us…" the girl breathed, color leaching out of her dusky face. She then shook her head as if to clear it. "I am Corinthaya, the Old Race," she said, and then twisted her face into a grimace. "This will seem so absurd to you, if you have truly lost your history."
Kain was inching forward from his place in the shadows of the room to stand at Cecil's side. The girl was speaking gibberish, or near to it, but there was something about her that was calling to him.
"Suffice it to say that my people, the Corinthii, and yours, were once one. The Old World was our home, where we dwelled for millennia, until a great war broke out. Man against man, dragon against dragon…"
"Dragon?" interjected Rosa, but the girl had continued.
"The result of the war was that the People were sundered. Most of us wished to stay in the Old World, with the dragons, but some swore off the kirithii and magic altogether. They became the Children, and they came to this world to dwell apart from the temptations of magic."
"But we have magic here," Rosa offered, refuting the strange girl's story.
"Because we created the crystals. A generation, two, went by, and you could not ignore the call of magic in your blood. Because your world did not have any, you beseeched us to create the crystals so that you could once again use the magic within yourselves."
Kirithii. The word repeated over and over in Kain's head. Kirithii. So familiar, and yet, he was unable to grasp the meaning. He finally revealed himself to the girl by stepping up to Cecil's shoulder. While Cecil and Rosa stared in disbelief at the girl's story, Kain could not discount the way that the alien word resounded within him. "Kirithii?" he croaked. The girl started, unaware until now of the fourth presence in the room.
Phedre immediately dropped to her knees again, bowing her head. "My Lord Dragon Prince," she said reverently to Kain, who could only gape in astonishment.
The young woman raised her head. There, rising in the distance, was the castle Baron and its surrounding town. Close enough that she would reach it by midday, but far enough that no bystander was going to be scared out of his wits by a young woman tumbling out of thin air. It was morning here, the sun slowly making its ascent, a stark contrast to the night she had left in her own world.
She wished heartily for a horse, or one of those oversized birds that the denizens of this world, the New World, reportedly rode. While she was no stranger to exertion, trudging miles in her armor was not a welcome way to spend a morning. Especially not when her internal clock was stubbornly insisting that it was the middle of the night. Sighing hard enough to ruffle the black strands of hair that had escaped her coronet, she set off towards Baron.
*** ***
Cecil Harvey Ya, King of Baron, pored over documents at his desk while his ever-present guard, sardonic companion, and chief advisor sat peeling an apple with his boots up on the table.
"Kain," the king raised his sea-green eyes, "I'm not going to go haring off on some mad quest, or get abducted by pirates, if you take your eyes off of me for one instant. Don't you have anything better to do than stand guard over me?"
"You have to admit," Kain Highwind, captain of the Baronian Guard and last of the Dragon Knights, retorted, brandishing an apple slice, "If anyone on this planet was going to be abducted by pirates, it would be you. And as for mad quests, if you do decide to go on one, I just want to make sure I'm around when you leave so I can go with you." Kain's tone was merry, but his blue eyes betrayed his true emotions. He, like Cecil, was itching to get out of the castle. They had been to the ends of the earth together, seen things no other human had, and saved the world from imminent destruction. And now, they spent most of their time here in this room, managing the kingdom.
Cecil ran a hand through his white hair. "Adventure… I can't even remember what the word means. I wouldn't trust anyone else to do this job right, but being a king is so boring!"
"If you think that's boring, try being me for a day," Kain retorted. "You may be bored, but my job is to sit around and watch you being bored. It brings the word to a whole new level."
"And you two are whining like children," commented a sardonic voice from the doorway. "For shame, would you wish another disaster upon us that we could go and save the world again?" The newcomer was Queen Rosa, Cecil's wife. A cloud of dark blond hair framed her delicate features. Her dark eyes, despite the seriousness of her words, danced with amusement.
Like chastised children, Kain and Cecil both lowered their eyes. "Sorry," mumbled Cecil. Twenty-seven years old they were, and still getting into trouble with her.
A page cleared his throat uncomfortably behind Rosa. "Your graces, Captain, there's a woman here to see you." The boy was a familiar face, and he had lost some of the dumbstruck awe that plagued most new pages at being assigned to serve the King and his companions. "She's uh… very persistent." The youth reddened beneath his freckles. "Sir Cormoran tried to turn her away, and she uh… well… she hit him, your grace."
Kain snickered, earning a quelling glance from Rosa. "Is Sir Cormoran all right?" she asked, concerned.
"He'll be fine," Kain answered for the page. "He's got a hard head."
"Well, should we admit her?" Cecil asked his two closest friends. He, like Kain, could see the humor in a woman, probably some scorned housewife, hitting one of his knights. But, without knowing the woman's intent, he was wary of admitting her into his presence.
"I don't see why not," Kain replied. "I don't think she'd have the ba-," he looked guiltily at Rosa, "-scuse me, guts rather, to hit Cecil."
"Well then, show her in, if you would be so kind," Cecil nodded at the page, who quickly scurried away. "Now where is my-,"
Wordlessly, Kain held out a circlet of beaten gold to the king. Cecil hated wearing it, and often managed to misplace it. Luckily for him, his diligent wife and friend were always a step behind, picking it up whenever he put it down.
"Thanks," Cecil replied sheepishly, placing the crown on his cloud- like locks. "So, O Star of the Morning, care to make any wagers on this woman's grievance?" He smiled at his wife, who was busily trying to clear up some of the clutter that had accumulated during the morning.
"How come you don't flatter me like that?" Kain asked coquettishly, batting long gold lashes at Cecil mockingly. Gone was the introspective, haunted Kain of several years age. Whatever had transpired on Mt. Ordeals had given Cecil back his best friends, and for that, he was grateful.
"Does the Noble Boyhood Companion wish to place a bet?" Cecil asked extravagantly.
"That's better," Kain returned. "I'm going with fisherwife who wants to divorce her husband for tumbling the serving girls at the inn."
"How about an old herb-woman who wants one of the Guard-trainees strung up for trampling her garden?" Cecil offered. Rosa just rolled her eyes. All three had visions of some old, stubborn crone who would set the king on his ear if need be to get her way. Kain receded into the shadows of the room, allowing the royal couple the honor of receiving the guest. If needed, he would be a step away.
When Phedre c'Fenrir appeared in the doorway, the trio could do naught but gape. Her eyes, a startling purple, locked onto Cecil's immediately, as she strode into the room. She was fully armed and armored, with a determined set in her eye. Kain, peering at the girl over Cecil's left shoulder, was astounded. He had never seen a girl dressed in armor like this before, but he wasn't about to take any chances. His own spear was out of reach, but if he stretched his leg just right, he figured he might be able to snag Cecil's sword with his foot. The young woman, however, rather than draw the sword at her back, kneeled to Cecil, briefly touching her mailed fingers to her brow and lips. "Your grace," she said in an alien accent unlike any Kain had ever heard.
Cecil looked pole-axed for a moment, but quickly rallied. "Can I-ah… help you?" This girl was very strange. In full armor? With a sword? While he had been around his share of battle-ready woman in his day, he had never seen one garbed in anything but robes or leotards like the Troian guard. She was also, undeniably, beautiful.
"My name is Phedre c'Fenrir," the girl said musically as she rose to her feet gracefully. "My people seek the aid of yours. There is a… sickness… invading our world. And if it is not stopped, it will soon encroach upon this one." Her luminous eyes held Cecil's beseechingly.
"Your world?" Cecil asked uncomprehendingly, green eyes wide.
"The Old World," the girl said, almost impatiently, as if Cecil should know exactly what she was speaking of. Then, as the Paladin King and his Queen continued to stare blankly at her, horror dawned across her features. "You don't… remember?" she asked. "The Old World? The Corinthii?" When she didn't receive a glimmer of recognition from the regents, she gasped. "Then it's worse than we feared."
"Please, if you would just tell us what you're talking about," Cecil prodded. Was the girl crazy? She didn't seem it, however. There was an lucidity in those dark purple eyes that told Cecil that whatever the girl was saying, she believed every word.
"You have forgotten us…" the girl breathed, color leaching out of her dusky face. She then shook her head as if to clear it. "I am Corinthaya, the Old Race," she said, and then twisted her face into a grimace. "This will seem so absurd to you, if you have truly lost your history."
Kain was inching forward from his place in the shadows of the room to stand at Cecil's side. The girl was speaking gibberish, or near to it, but there was something about her that was calling to him.
"Suffice it to say that my people, the Corinthii, and yours, were once one. The Old World was our home, where we dwelled for millennia, until a great war broke out. Man against man, dragon against dragon…"
"Dragon?" interjected Rosa, but the girl had continued.
"The result of the war was that the People were sundered. Most of us wished to stay in the Old World, with the dragons, but some swore off the kirithii and magic altogether. They became the Children, and they came to this world to dwell apart from the temptations of magic."
"But we have magic here," Rosa offered, refuting the strange girl's story.
"Because we created the crystals. A generation, two, went by, and you could not ignore the call of magic in your blood. Because your world did not have any, you beseeched us to create the crystals so that you could once again use the magic within yourselves."
Kirithii. The word repeated over and over in Kain's head. Kirithii. So familiar, and yet, he was unable to grasp the meaning. He finally revealed himself to the girl by stepping up to Cecil's shoulder. While Cecil and Rosa stared in disbelief at the girl's story, Kain could not discount the way that the alien word resounded within him. "Kirithii?" he croaked. The girl started, unaware until now of the fourth presence in the room.
Phedre immediately dropped to her knees again, bowing her head. "My Lord Dragon Prince," she said reverently to Kain, who could only gape in astonishment.