DISCLAIMER -- I do not own several of the charicter's, but Gregory and Glamin Chelsline are both mine.
This is the first chapter, and if you like it, I'll add more, If you don't, I won't...
Sarralyn Salamín sighed after she had finished yet another lesson with Glamin Chelsline, the most powerful mage in the entire world, and, according to Sarra, the most annoying man to ever walk the face of the planet. He might have been the most powerful mage of his time, but that didn't mean she had to like him. Good thing too, because she couldn't even stand the thought of him.
"Tell me that you understand that you must be able to go into the physical state of a small creature, such as a squirrel, or something of the kind, use the hearing of a bat and the smell of a hyena, while casting a fire spell. Then write a ten inch scroll on exactly what you heard, smelled, and felt by our next lesson." Master Chelsline retorted in his high nasally voice, eying Sarralyn like a piece of scum.
"I understand, Sir" Sarra replied through gritted teeth. There next lesson was four days away, but it was still a hard task, considering Sarralyn still had yet to master being one animal while using another's senses, she had never even attempted using her Gift in animal state before, either.
"Very good, I expect it to be a very intriguing paper." He said, smiling evilly. "It had better be worth reading, young Mage, or we might just have to do something about it." Sarra fought to keep from squirming, knowing that Master Chelsline took pleasure in seeing her nervous.
He took up a few scrolls he had brought with him, spelled them to shrink and follow him as he transformed into a raven, and flew away with three small scrolls that seemed to cling to his feather tails.
Only once he was completely out of sight did Sarra relax. She had been lucky today; he hadn't tried to make her do something embarrassing or even punish her for her earlier scrolls that weren't satisfactory.
"Are you finished? Is the man gone?" Hopeful, her puppy asked.
"Yes, he's gone now." Sarra mind-spoke to the small golden. "Do you mind if you help me? Grab my sack and put some of my scrolls in it." She told him. He quickly obliged as he happily grabbed a few scrolls in his mouth and raced to the bag, his tail wagging rapidly.
"Thank you, boy." She said, hurrying back inside, she saw some dark storm clouds hovering over the entire Pirate's Swoop and knew by the pick up of the wind that if she didn't hurry, she would get rained on.
Once inside she went to the hall where she knew her parent's and little brother where. She walked into the room and called, "Mother, Da, I'm finished!"
"Hi, Sweetie, how was you lessons?" Daine asked her daughter. Sarra didn't answer her, but managed to fake a smile. "They can't be that bad." Daine said knowingly.
"Mother, is someone here? I think Da's talking to someone." She said, changing the subject.
"Oh, yes. Onua stopped by." Daine replied. When Sarra shrugged her shoulders, she added. "And Gregory is in Riki's room, if you want to see him." Sarra felt her heart flip-flop. Gregory was Onua and her husband Sarge's oldest son. At the age of fifteen, he was only one year older than Sarra, and she was determined to court him, even though, he seemed to have no interest in Sarra herself.
Daine raised her eyebrows in her eldest child's direction. "Is there something I don't know?" She teased.
"Nothing, Ma." Said Sarralyn in response, but it didn't seem to convince Daine. She, however, let it drop with an "Oh, well."
"I think I'll go save Greg from Rikash." Sarra said quickly excusing herself. She hurried into the direction of her brother's room, then realized that she probably looked awful from her lesson's, so as quickly as she could, she changed and tried to brush her jet black, curly hair. Once she happy with her appearance, she rushed over.
"Riki, do have my… Oh, Hi Greg!" She said trying to pretend he wasn't the reason she had come over. Riki rolled his eyes. He knew better, his sister only wanted to talk to Greg, and take him away from him
"Hello, Sarra. Finish your lessons?" He asked, smiling.
"Yes, only took a few hours to shoo the old, bag of hot air away, this time." She said, smiling. The only person who understood how much of dislike she had to the man was Greg. "I'm hoping he'll stay away, too."
"You know there are millions out there who would love to have such an experienced teacher like Chelsline. Practically any one with the gift."
"Well, they can have him! I was perfectly fine when Da was teaching me!" She said spitefully.
"Yes, then you became a Black Robe Mage, the only Female to ever obtain one, and the youngest one by thirty years!" He reminded her. "Not to mention you also have Wild Magic, too."
"Yes, and all she left for me in the gene lake was healing power for a Gift and a little horse speak!" Said Riki jealously, "Now if you don't mind, I have some important things I need to do in my room."
"Hopefully clean it." Retorted Sarra. Riki stuck out his tongue. "Mature." She said, but Rikash didn't have a smart remark, instead he was laughing. Sarra turned around to see Greg holding up his hand imitating her talking. "Oh, that's much more mature!" She cried, but laughed too. "Let's go to my room, Greg. We have to let Riki do his important thing." She said leading him out of his room and into her own.
"Your room is a lot cleaner." He said when they arrived. Sarralyn nodded, agreeing with him. "And more pink." He added, suppressing a smile. She tried to smile, but failed. She was remembering her lesson, which put her in a bad mood. "Did he do anything to you, today?" He asked worried.
"Not today." She whispered, looking at her feet. She was supposed to be the youngest, most talented Mage in history, but she was being tormented by her teacher! If there ever was someone out to get her, it was him.
Gregory walked over to the bed where Sarra was sitting. Plopping down beside her, he put an arm around her. "You know you can just tell your parents or my Da. He would be more than happy to hurt a man like that." He said hopefully. He had brought this up to her before, but she refused every time. She hadn't even really told him, he had just happen to see her teacher hit her once.
"I know, but I can't. They probably won't believe me anyway. Da practically worships him and had to sacrifice an arm and a leg to get him to teach me. It's not like he's done anything horrible, just made my life miserable."
"You know everything you just said wasn't true!" He said with a frown. Sarra looked at him.
"Can we just drop it?" She asked, aggravated He nodded, but looked defeated.
"Well, what would make you feel better?" He asked, trying to make her smile.
"A hot bath, sleep, and Hopeful." She said, absent-mindedly putting her head on his shoulder. Then, all of a sudden, she realized what she had done. Quickly, she tried to pull away, but he had started playing with her hair, and as soon as she jerked, his hand had gotten caught in her curls. Once they had finally gotten apart, Sarra laughed, but Gregory looked very embarrassed
"Sorry." He muttered, very pink. Sarralyn didn't understand why he was so embarrassed, but didn't ask. However, a smile had grown on her lips.
"Are you better?" asked Hopeful, walking in. "Because I really want to play! Can we play? Please, let's play! The red man can play to!" Sarra laughed, and then relayed the message to Greg, who laughed too, but the pink color from his face didn't seem to leave.
"In a little bit, Hopeful, right now I need to sleep." She said aloud, for Gregory's sake. Hopeful gave a little whine, and with his head to the floor, left.
Sarra laughed a little by the dog's reaction, and then sighed. She knew that she needed to start working, but really didn't want to. Gregory, again put his arm around her, but at the wrong moment. Numiar walked in only a second later.
"Sarralyn? Why is Riki cleaning his room? I can never get… Gregory! What are you doing?" He asked a frown on his face. His eyes glared at the direction of the boy, the mage's eyebrows seemed to be glued together in dislike.
"Nothing, sir!" He said quickly, removing his arm for a second time. "I was just leaving." He got up and disappeared.
"Da!" She complained. Daine appeared behind her husband.
"Why is Greg in such a hurry to leave?" She asked confused.
"Da was threatening him!" Sarralyn said, angry.
"I was not. He had his arm around her!" Numiar said defensively. Daine shook her head, smiling. "Numiar, Sarge was looking for you. He wanted you to do some spell for the Own." He light up at the topic of Magic, and also, disappeared.
"Mother, he is way too protective of me! I'm going to be fifteen soon! And he only had his arm around me!" Sarra said moodily. Daine sat down by her daughter.
"He was that way with me, too. That was even before we where courting." Daine replied, giggling. "You know Emperor Kaddar in Carthak?" Sarra nodded, so Daine continued. "Poor man, Numiar was all over him because he was flirting with me!" They both laughed, but then Daine said "Sarra, listen, is something wrong?"
"No, Mother." She said, dismissingly.
"Are you sure?"
"Ma! I'm fine!" She snapped. Daine gave her a warning look. "Can you help me with something?"
"Anything!" Daine said quickly.
"I have to be able to become a small animal, like a squirrel, but also I have to hear like a bat and smell like a hyena. I don't know how to be so many animals at once." Sarralyn was desperately trying to change the subject. Daine sighed, but nodded.
"Honey, I can help, but you need to get some sleep, you look sick or something. Should I call Aunt Alanna? Or even Sir Nealan would probably come by too. He is always happy to talk to a fellow healer." She suggested, but Sarra shook her head.
"I think I just need some sleep." She said. Daine nodded and left reluctantly, leaving Sarralyn to her thoughts.
Okay, what do you think?? Pleaze reveiw and tell me what you think