Undiscovered Magic
By Kyle Albert
Prologue
A younger lady, dressed all fancy runs up to an older lady, in a slum off the city Exilaz. "Take my babies," she yells to an old woman, "take my babies!" She sets them into the older ladies hand along with a few gold pieces. "Please raise them as if they were your own." She starts to run again. The old lady hears hoof beats, and looks behind her. There are men on horses quickly gaining on the younger one. They stopped and circled around her. One of the nobles, the one in charger stepped off hid horse. He yelled gleefully, "This Lady, will be lucky to have me as her husband!" They rode off, her screaming all the while. "She was very beautiful," the older lady thought, "it's no wonder the noble wanted her for his wife. She then realized that she recognized the man who had stepped off his horse on the horses. He was the son of Landor, the ruler of Aslinor. Someday he would be king. She looked fondly down onto the twins. Having no children herself, she had always wished to have children. She thought "They never even have to know that I'm not their mother." Normally the lady was honest and kind. But she had always wanted children of her own.
Thirteen Years Later
"Hosta!" Darien called, "You need to help me gather firewood."
"Darien, come over here, quick!"
"Fine," Darien replied. He walked over to where Hosta was standing, near the meager herb patch that their mother, Evelyn(The elderly lady had a guilty conscience, and didn't ask them to call her mother. planted to spice their meager supplies of food. Darien gasped in surprise, for the herbs were as green as they had ever been, and they overflowed the patch. The Basil had twined around Hosta's finger. "It's magic," He exclaimed. They looked at each other with amazement. Magic was common enough in Aslinor, but they thought that neither of them had it. Most magic was noticed when people were little. Sure signs of magic were making fire dance, or lifting some things with your mind. Neither of them had shown any of those. Mother had sure asked them many times if they could do those things. If they had, they would have been able to move out of the slums and into the city. But their were whispers of other kinds of magic, like stone, green, or weather magic, but most people dismissed those as myths. Another fact was that if one twin had magic, the other one did to. Darien wondered what kind of magic he had.
Hosta said, "I guess that's why I've always liked gardening. What do you like Darien?"
He said "I've always really liked stones. He liked their sameness, and their almost indestructibility.
Hosta urged him, "Try pushing over that stone." He stared at a medium sized bolder next to the garden. Hosta could see beads of sweat fall down his brow as he concentrated. The boulder wobbled, and then stopped. Both Hosta and Darien were smiling from ear to ear. Hosta thought "I bet I can find work as a gardener, and then we can finally rent an apartment in the city.
Darien just thought, "What can I do with stones?"
Later at dinner, which was heavily seasoned with herbs, the twins told Evelyn about their new magic. Evelyn sighed heavily. The twins looked at each other. They both thought that Evelyn would be overjoyed.
Evelyn looked at both of them and sighed. She then proceeded to tell them about their real mother, and what happened to her. A mix of emotions plaid across both of their faces. In them their was happiness, sadness, and hate. The two twins left the eating area and walked outside to their secret place. A clearing in the woods by a little waterfall. They frequently went their when they wanted to be alone, or if they wanted to be with each other. They both knew what they had to do. Even if they didn't have their newly discover magic they still would have made the same decision. Go to the castle and rescue their mother. They formulated a plan that night. They would leave in the morning, after taking all the food that they could with them. They went back to the hut to sleep. Though Evelyn had lied to them, she had given them a place to live, and kept their bellies full. Both of them fell into a restless sleep, wondering what their destiny will be.
Hosta and Darien started on their journey to the kings castle the next morning. After traveling for half a day, Hosta and Darien thought to rest. Hosta then went over to a patch of lilies and set her hand on them. She had secretly got up earlier than Darien, to see what she could do with plants. She asked them to grow and spread over the whole field. They eagerly obeyed, feeding on her magic and covering the whole field. Darien at the other side of the field looked at the flowers in amazement. He then picked up a couple small rocks. He threw one and pushed it with his magic. It soared quickly over the whole field and fell to the ground in the distance. He then concentrated on pushing the stone fast. He tried again against a tree. It made a huge dent in the bark. Hosta glared at him and put her hand on the trunk and healed it with her magic. In silent agreement they picked up their things and started to travel again. They stopped at a clearing to rest for the night.
A few hours after they had fallen asleep they awoke to, "Don't move or we'll shoot. It was two robbers, who had their bows pointed at the twins backs. With the adrenaline boost that came with fear, the twins both used their more powerful magic in different ways. Hosta called to the thorny plants at the edge of the clearing to grow all over the archers. Darien, concentrating, called a good-sized stone to hit the bow out of the two archers hands. By the time the thorns were next to the archers, they were bow less. The thorns crawled over the archers until they couldn't move with fear their eyes would be gouged out. Hosta sent the plants to grow into their mouths so they couldn't scream for help. She asked the plants to release them at dawn. Hosta and Darien left and walked for a mile or two before settling down again. For the rest of their travels, whenever they fell asleep, Hosta created a thorny barrier around them. Darien slept with a stone next to him to use in self defense if necessary.
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Hosta and Darien learned to control their magic better. Hosta could make plants grow faster than ever, and she learned to take energy from plants when her magic reserve was low. Darien learned to make stones hold heat, and light up. A blessing as the nights grew colder and longer. After their food ran out, they killed animals with their magic, and ate fruit and berries along the way. Finally they came upon a castle. They knew from Evelyn's description that this was the castle that held their mother inside its depths. They camped at the edge of the forest near the castle and formulated a plan. Rather than attack the castle frontly, they would sneak up in the cover of night to try and rescue their mother. As they day grew slowly darker, both Hosta and Darien became restless. When night finally came they could not wait to rescue their mother. They walked silently around the castle. Hosta had asked the plants not to make any noise. When they came to a certain point in the castle, Darien asked the stones to come out of the wall and let them through. He put them back, but loosely incase they had to make a quick escape. They wandered through the looming dark hallways as quietly as possible. But soon Hosta heard sobbing come from the right. As they turned the corner they walked smack right into a guard stationed in front of the doorway.
He muttered, "What in God's name?", but before he could sound the alarm, he was hit in the back of his head with a large rock. They silently stepped into the room that he was gaurding, not daring to hope that their mother was their.
All of a sudden Darien thought, "How will I recognize her?" He didn't realize that similar thoughts were going through Hosta's head at around the same time. "Don't be silly, he told himself, of course you'll know her, she is your mother after all. They stepped into the room. Sitting on a luxorious bed was the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Even thirteen years of hate and fury had not taken away their mother's beauty. She said, "I must be dreaming, two children around the same age as mine coming to my rescue. The king, he has finally driven me mad.
"It's really us mother", the twins said, "It's really us. She looked at them and started to weep so much more loudly, then before, Daerin was sure that gaurds would come running. Daerun filled in the doorway with stones but he was sure that it wouldn't last long.
Their mother said, "Is it really you?"
The twins replied, "Yes, but mother, we really need to get out of here."
Of course she replied,"Just tell me what to do."
As it turned out, the whole castle had heard her wailing and had come running. Daerin hurriedly made another way out of the room, and Hosta blocked the other doorway with a now giant potted plant. Their mother stared, eyes wide, but quickly shook her head and followed them out of the room. They ran down the halls, Hosta and Daerin occasionly stopping to make barricades of either stone or plant. They finally made it out of the castle and made a break for the forest. Hosta knew that if she made it their they would be safe. After making it to the forest, their mother collasped. Hosta and Daerin picked her up and carried her. Relieved and a little scared that she was so light. After running and hearing dogs behind them, Darien steared them into a cave and sealed the entrance. Making sure that it only let enough air in so the could breathe comfortably. Their they rested for the night. Feeding their mother water from the homemade flasks at their side, they told her all that had happened and how they had discovered their magic. They stayed in the cave for one more day, sure that by then the King's troops would have stopped looking. They didn't think that the king would be so persistent. Luckily for them, only a few soldiers were still patrolling the forest. Hosta and Darien managed to make them uncapable and unarmed in a few seconds. With their mother at full strength again they headed for the border as quickly as they could. Occasionly they had to fight off battalions of soldiers. Eventually they made it to the border country of Naminer who was Aslinor's more powerfull neighbor. They settled their, both Hosta and Darien making their fortune. The king dared not make the Naminer's emperor angry so he did not go after them.Hosta as the emperor's gardener, and Daerin who built houses for all they rich nobles. They put great trust in him to build them almost industrucdible houses that were as beautiful as safe. They lived happily ever after for the rest of their days with their mother in a large but homey house overlooking the sea.
The End
Evelyn's Epilogue
Evelyn wondered for many days what had happened to Hosta and Darien. She eventually heard the rumor that two children had taken the queen over the border to Naminer. She was happy about this but was even more happy when she recieved a big package filled to the brim with gold pieces. She lived happily for many more years in a beatiful house built in the middle of the slums. She took in many more homeless children and fed and clothed them till they loved her. She lived happily ever after.