Trials of love
Chapter one
"John stop that, have you seen your sister? She's supposed to be helping Beth." asked Lucus grumpily, as he turned down the pebbled path that led to the barn. John sighed as he replaced the large metal tractor on the ground, which he had been hovering above his head for the last twenty minutes.
"No sorry." John turned to face his brother's outraged face and knew that his sister was in trouble. John followed Lucus down the path towards the barn that he had seen Angie enter two hours before.
"I know where she is" said Lucus angrily as they approached the old rickety barn.
Lucus forcefully opened the large wooden barn door that led into the open area in the middle of the barn and walked inside with furious foot steps. John stood a little back from him, worried for his sister, Lucus hardly ever got angry, but this was one of the few times, Lucus stood for a moment watching his sister, remembering what it was like for him as a young boy to come and sit in this very barn to watch his father practising combat, the way Lucus would always want to practice too and become a powerful worrier, just like his father. Lucus shook his head as he came to his senses.
"What are you doing?" inquired Lucus furiously, Angie stopped in her tracks and looked up at her brother's frustrated and hurt face, immediately she knew she was in trouble and that even though she loved to practice combat just as her mother and father had, it hurt Lucus to see her like this.
"I was just practising" replied Angie immediately.
Lucus look down upon his little sister with tired and disappointed eyes and sighed, "Angie, young ladies should not spend all their time learning combat in a musty old barn, you should be in the kitchen helping Beth."
"No. I should not, I should be off having adventures just like mama and papa always did," replied Angie hotly and threw down her father's sword that she had been wheeling and swiping through the air earlier that day. Then she looked into her brother's worried eyes, "Lucus, you know I want to be a warrior just like mama and papa, why won't you let me? Please Lucus, you know I am good, mama and papa would never have wanted use to waste the gift we have, that we all have," sighed Angie, straining back tears.
"No! Angie," replied Lucus sadly as he saw the eagerness in his sister's eyes that he once had in his own.
"That isn't fair and you know it, you and john are allowed to use your gifts, why can't I use mine?" demanded Angie with tears now streaming down her face, angrily she slammed her way through the barn door and back up to the cottage. Lucus sighed again as he watched the wooden barn door swing back and forth, then with a silent glance at John, they both return to the cottage.
Glazed valley was a pleasant little farming valley; its occupants were a few small farmers and their households. Glazed valley is on the outskirts of Tortall, the largest city in the king's land; it is the home of the palace and its family. King Jonathan the greatest king Tortall has ever seen in a great amount of time and the Queen, whom is so kind and beautiful that many said she is an angel sent to their lands from the gods and goddesses. Tortall is a very rich city, which loves its king and Queen, well almost every body loves the royal family, except for one, an evil wizard called Duke Orephus. He was banished many years ago by King Jonathan's father, King Roald, for trying to kill Jonathan when he was a young lad. Duke Orephus was King Roald's cousin and next in the line of the throne until Jonathan was born which meant that Duke Orephus would never be king, so to make sure he would be king, Duke Orephus tried to kill Jonathan, but his plan to kill Prince Jonathan was foiled by the King spy warriors, Andrew Kirkland and his wife Sarah, and so King Roald banished Duke Orephus to the dark realms, where only those who are truly evil can be banished to. And now 11 years later, that is where he remains to this very day, plotting to rise up and take the throne.
Back in the beautiful paradise of Glazed valley the Kirkland home was very quite; this was a rare thing as the family were always at work.
"You have to stop this nonsense Angie you are a young lady and have to start acting like one," said Lucus, as he sat down on the edge of the rocking chair his wife was sat on, looking up into the angry eyes of his sister beautiful face.
"Beth needs more help around the house, she can't manage anymore she is near the end of the birthing stages, she needs help!" sighed Lucus as he took Beth's hand proudly and looked into Beth's bright green eyes; Angie rolled her own brown eyes. Lucus returned his gaze toward his sister, "Please Angie you have to stop this it is getting ridiculous" pleaded Lucus,
"No it's not, mama and papa were worriers and I want to be one too, it's my destiny, I have the gift, why can't I use mine? You and John can, it's not fair!" exclaimed Angie angrily as she stared into her brother's pleading eyes.
Lucus looked into his sister's eyes and saw what he feared, himself, he saw the passion in her eyes that he once had, before his parents where killed. He sighed; he new that he could no longer stop Angie from doing as she wished to do and what she was meant to do, he looked away from Angie's gaze and into the eyes of his wife and he knew exactly what she was thinking. Lucus sighed and returned his gaze to his sister's furious eyes.
"Darling, you know you can't stop her from using her gift it is apart of her, just as your healing gift is apart of you and John's sorcery gift is a part of him; the warrior gift is apart of Angie, you know if she does not train it, it will one day control her." She placed her hand on her husbands, "Darling?" said Beth with a look in her eyes that made Lucus know she was right.
"Ok I give up, you can keep on practising, I know it would be what mama and papa would have wanted and I know it is your destiny and I can't stop it" sighed Lucus as he looked into his sisters ecstatic eyes and knew he had done the right thing. But why did he wish he had not said that? Angie leaped of the chair she was sat on and flung her self at her brother, knocking them both to the ground.
"Thank- you, thank-you Lucus I won't let you down I promise, I just want to make you, mama and papa proud, thank-you" exclaimed Angie between the breaths, she was panting with excitement. Angie let go of her brother and pulled herself off the ground, then danced her way up the stairs to her room.
"Are you sure I have done the right thing Beth?" asked Lucus, from the ground he was still sat on, but knowing what the answer would be.
"Yes of course you have darling, I have never known you not to make the correct decision and you know she will be a great warrior, just like your parents were," replied Beth comforting her husband.
That night as Lucus laid awake in bed he thought about things and even though Lucus knew he had done the right thing, he had a nagging feeling that something was going to go horrible wrong, You're just being paranoid he told himself pushing the nagging feeling to the back of his mind and falling a sleep.
At the very same time the lights of Glazed Valley were going out, and spirits were coming alive in the dark realms.
"Go and bring me that boy, NOW!" shouted Duke Orephus angrily; throwing a bolt of magic at his minions as they scampered off in fear to get the boy Duke Orephus has seen in the goblet. Panting from being weakened by the magic he had used, when he had been banished, his magic had been absorbed by the gods, but Duke Orephus had been able to get a piece of his magic back from them.
He turned to face the large goblet full of blood, the blood he had taken from himself earlier that evening; the goblet had the innocent face of a young boy of the age about 10 or 11. Duke Orephus looked into the eyes of the boy and started to laugh uncontrollably, then his face changed and he swiped at the face that lay on the surface of the blood, "This boy, you send this boy to defeat me?" Duke Orephus asked the gods, "You send a pitiful little boy to do what a god cannot?" he started to laugh again. "He will not defeat me if he is dead," he shouted to the heavens.
Morning came as usual in Glazed Valley; the Kirkland family woke as normal, not knowing that in a few minutes one of them would discover the horrifying truth of what had happened throughout the night as they slept in their beds.
Screams! Echoed throughout the cottage, Beth stood in John's bedroom looking at the devastating picture before her; the room was in ruins, blankets torn to pieces and John's toys and gadgets scattered all over the hard wooden floor, Beth stood in horror at the sight in front of her. Thunder echoed through the corridor as Lucus came thundering down the corridor, the screams had woken Angie out of a weird dream; she peeled the covers back and climbed out of bed into a freezing cold room, to see what all the noise was for and to yell at the one making all the noise. Angie was not a pleasant person when she was woken, she had a short temper. As she stumbled to the door to see what was going on, and Lucus passed her in a hurry. Angie popped her head around the corner of the wooden frame of the door, what was going on? She followed him sleepily down the corridor in her cotton night gown towards John's room to see what all the commotion was about.
"What's happened? What's the matter?" panted Lucus as he reached Beth, who was standing in a trance in the doorway of John's room, looking from the pall face of his usually bright and happy wife to the horrifying sense of John's usually tidy room to the mess that laid in front of him.
"What is going on? Who is making all the noise?" moaned Angie as she rubbed her sore eyes to wake herself up, and then looked up at her brother and Beth to see the horrified expressions on their faces. She directed her eyes to what had ensnared them both. Bewildered Angie edged slowly into the room stepping over John's toys and cloths that lay erect on the wooden floor, looking around her wide eyes filled with tears, what had happened?
"John" whispered Angie, where was he? But deep down Angie knew that she would not get an answer, "John." Again she said his name not expecting an answer, as she dug though his clothes and searched the room. "John. John. JOHN!" she let a frantic scream out though her lips, pulling the clothes off the floor and throwing them into the air. Collapsing to the floor in tears, she wept into John's cloths, looking up at her brother's pale face and then at the tear soaked face of Beth. Tears streamed down Angie's face, soaking her night gown and the clothes she clutched in her hands, "Why John, he's just a boy, why would anyone what to kidnap a boy, why?" not being able to control herself she wept once more, but it was more of a angry weeping.
That night the land was quiet, the Kirkland family sat down to dinner in silence, no one could bare to eat the food they were given, anger ran throughout Angie. She looked up at her brother and Beth's saddened eyes as they sipped their soup, slamming down her juice cup, Lucus and Beth looked in her direction to see were the loud noise came from," We must do something, we must go looking for him, we must Lucus," pleaded Angie, as she forced back the tears that were once again making there way to the surface.
Locus shook his head shadily, "We cannot. Beth is near the end of her birthing stages, I cannot leave, anyway were would we start to look?"
"Then let me go, I will bring him back, please Lucus" pleaded Angie, looking into the eyes of her brother.
"You can't you are not fully in control of your gift yet, you are to young" replied Lucus.
Angie slammed her fists on the table, pushing back her chair, which fell to the floor with a crash and stood glaring at her brother with detest, for the first time she hated him and knew that she would not win this time.
Storming out of the room Angie ran out the entrance door of the cottage and did not stop running until she hit the edge of the fencing to the brook, hitting and kicking the fence furiously with bare fists, which caused them to bleed. She wept and fell to the ground, "WHY?" she screamed to heaven, she screamed to the gods and goddess,
"WHY WOULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN, WHY?" pounding her fists on the ground with every word she said, she wept uncontrollably know trying to block out the world that surrounded her.