Hi! My name's AnimeClouds, or Clouds for short. My fanfics are usually Naruto fanfics but I'm such a huge fan of Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series that I decided, Hey! Why not? So here I am, writing a Circle of Magic fanfic. If all goes well, my next chapter will be up after I update my Naruto Fanfics. So enjoy the chapter, suggestions would be much apprieciated.
There was a glimmer, a silver flash, barely noticable, even to the famous Niklaren Goldeye, it remained in the corner of his eye never being able to fully look at it directly. All that mattered to him now that it was still there, radiating magic steadily, in uneven pulses albiet but still they were steady uneven pulses. He was on one of the busiest streets on Emelan, one of the busiest cities, everywhere on the streets lay street vendors who sold a wide asssortment of magical charms and potions, all varying in magical strength which all gave off their own silver glow, adding to his confusion.
Frowning, he silently berated himself for letting such a thing get away from even the likes of him. Pushing off the thoughts of his silent chastisement for himself he strode briskly towards the dash of silver fire. The closer he got, the clearer the source of magic was, soon enough, he was able to many silver threads deriving from the splash of silver connecting to a wide variety of objects in it's vincity. The threads were hooked to people of varying ages and sizes, animals of all sorts, charms rattling in the wind and many more that lay tangled in the mess that was the web of silver threads.
Niko tracked the daub of fire around a block of shops into an alleyway. The alleyway was dark and dank, the walls were the back of most shops. All along the walls were lined with woven baskets, many filled with garbage and such and some simply empty. He followed the trail that the threads made oh-so-convieniently for him to the very back of the alley where it was a dead end. At the very end lay a pile of upturned baskets and torn rags.
His footsteps were barely audible as he walked towards the spot but still the baskets at the end shook slightly. With a sigh, he lifted the basket up gently and dropped it off to the side.
"D-don't hurt me please, I didn't do anything, please don't hurt me," under the basket was a boy, he was skinny and his ribcage showed through the tatters that was his tunic. Upon closer examination, the back of his tunic was also in shreds, bloodied shreds might he add. All across the boy's back were the scars of whippings and heavy beatings, some of the scars were still fresh, some scabbed over and some still oozing blood, but all of them looked infected.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Niko spread his hands, palms up to show he meant no harm. "I'm here to bring you to safety, there's a place that would gladly accept you," the boy seemed to look at him, still scared out of his wits, but something in Niko's eyes seemed get him to relax, and eventually lower his guard.
Niko smiled at the boy, "Wait here, I'll arrange a ride," the boy seemed almost relectuant to let Niko leave, his eyes showed pain and sickness as Niko walked back out onto the main street. It didn't take him long to find some merchant who had bussiness that would take him along the path to the Winding Circle Temple. He turned back down the alley and picked up his new find, who was obviously to weak to stand. Although he was feeble, the boy clutched a irregularly shaped black bag to his chest.
Empty sacks were arranged on the cart to make the boy somewhat more comfortable and a sack of potatoes were used to gently prop him up into sitting position. Niko leapt onto the cart with practiced ease, telling the merchant to head to the Winding Circle temple as fast as he could. Just as the wheels of the cart began to move, a red streak shot out of the alley Niko had found the boy and leapt into the cart. The red streak was a dog, or what looked like a dog, its entire body was mostly a greyish-blue shade but the fure ontop of the head and along it's legs and underside looked like it was made of fire.
"Ignis...good boy," the boy rasped out, stroking the fiery fur without having it seem to burn him. Ignis, the fiery creature panted and curled up on his master's lap, his boney sides heaving slightly as he tried to catch his breath. Niko furrowed his brow, whoever had done this would surely pay, he was sure Duke Vedris would make sure of that, the story would be squeezed out of the boy later, right now, the boy seemed in no mood to tell his sob story.
It took nearly four hours to reach Winding Circle, along the way, they stopped to water the horses at a river and to take a stretch. Niko had finally managed to get enough out of the boy to piece together his story. His name was Talon Sanders, he was an orphan at birth and had taken to the streets as a street rat for the first few years of his life. At about the age of six or seven, one of the Duke's soldier found him on the streets and had taken him in. The soldier had two other sons, both older than Talon by two or three years and both were cruel bullies. The soldier in speaking had died, leaving all his money and inheirtance to Talon, and basically none to his two sons. This angered his sons and they took out their anger on the poor boy, claiming that Talon had done something to the will and then dumped him on the street to die.
Niko was furious by the time he pieced everything together, the moment he reached the Winding Circle, he would send a letter to Duke Vedris, telling him of this outrageous incident. He was already thinking of the ways he could punish those two incomptent fools for doing such a deed. The cart pulled up just outside Discipline, it was already quiet late in the afternoon and not many people wandered outside, preparing for the dinner bell to go off so they can eat.
He didn't bother with knocking on the door, boy in his arms, Niko simply shoved the door open with Ignis at his heels, surprising those who sat at the dinner table. "Where's Lark or Rosethorn?" he demanded, not seeing the two Dedicates in the house.
"They were called down to the Hub for something, why-that boy looks terrible!" Sandry came out of her room, overhearing Niko's question. Her cornflower coloured eyes widened, at te sight of Talon, he was flithy and siclky looking to the point you couldn't tell his hair or skin colour.
"That spare bed is still in the attic yes?" seeing Sandry nod, he continued, "I'm going to carry him upstairs and put him in the bed. Then I'm going to find Dedicate Moonstream to look at him, she was once a healer. You guys try to clean him up, take a wet cloth and just wipe him down, do not touch his back or have him lay on his back, understand?" Niko disapeared up the stairs with the boy, Ignis staggering weakly after his master, his voice easily carrying down through the house. He reappeared shortly hands free of the boy and headed out the door quickly, towards the Hub.
"Bookkeeper Oti have no mercy on the souls of those who did this to him," Daja whispered when she joined the other four in the attic. The boy looked like he was sleeping, with Ignis as his pillow but he kept whimpering in pain. Niko had used some boxes in the attic to prevent Talon from rolling over onto his back, so he lay on his side now.
"Well, this bleater ain't gonna clean 'imself, so we might 'swell get started," Briar sighed and tossed the other three a wet cloth from the bucket of water they had brought up. Briar went and used his own body to prop the boy into sitting position, careful not to touch his back, not that he would ever want to. Bit by bit, the Daja and Tris managed to wipe him down to a cleaner state while Sandry carefully cut away the tattered tunic since they couldn't get it off without causing Talon any pain. They were just finishing up wiping his arms when Niko arrived with Dedicate Moonstream.
"Where did you ever find this one Niko? Deadman's District?" Moonstream turned Talon over so he lay on his stomach, everyone gasped or winced at the state his back was in. Every single inch on his back was covered by scars, cuts or bruises, he han't been able to take care of the wounds properly so some of the wounds were a sickly shade of green or blue. Most of the wounds were scabbed over but some of the deeper wounds were still bleeding slowly.
"No, found him in a back alley in Emelan, rushed him straight here," Niko replied, his lips in a tight line. "He was beaten and then left for dead," That was common in Deadman's District, where Briar came from, but in Emelan? Beating people had a severe punishment depending how badly the victim was injured, whoever did this to the boy would get a death penalty for sure.
"I'm going to heal the major cuts and the ones that are most life threatening, some of Rosethorn's salves will fix up the rest," she lay her hands on his back, directing her magic to heal most life threatening ones and the worst infected ones. Once those were all healed up, she stood up again. "He has a case of mal-nutrition and dehydration, start feeding him some thin gruel to start off, once he get's stronger, you can start feeding him solids."
"Thank-you Dedicate Moonstream," Niko gestured to leave the boy to rest and all of them retreated down the stairs. "Briar, go find Rosethorn and Lark, tell them to hurry back. Sandry, go get some soup from Dedicate Gorse, Daja and Tris can take turns watching him," At Niko's orders, the four charges took off to do their task. Once the four were gone, Dedicate Moonstream began talking again.
"Honestly Niko....I don't think he'll make the night,"
That's the end of chapter one! ooo cliffyish ending! R&R please the more you review the longer and better the chapter so it's a win-win situation! Until next time! ~AnimeClouds~