Record Of Lodoss War: Legends of The Future
Prologue...
When sleeping heroes awaken,
When foundations of stone are shaken,
When the voiceless maiden sings,
When the last bell of Midnight rings,
When, for love, the dying thief speaks his last word
And the warrior's spawn at last takes up the sword,
The Land of Lodoss, cursed from birth,
Born from the goddesses' mirth,
Shall either rise like the Phoenix in flight,
Or descend to Death, in the darkest night...
Chapter One: Magnus: The Wandering Half-elf
The desert city of Flame was teeming. Merchants peddling their wares, knights and squires conversing with their comrades in the streets, and villagers walking to and fro, living their daily lives. About what one would expect from a castle town. Those were Magnus's thoughts as he walked over the drawbridge, pass the city gates. Women started noticing him at once. He hated his ears now more than ever! Why did his Elven blood have such an effect on people? All he wanted was to fit in- that's the whole reason he left his mother and the village.
Magnus sighed. Oh well. Perhaps his good looks and strange ears would attract some business. He scanned the street corners for a place to set up. Magnus was a musician. Hard to believe, considering who his parents were. Truth be told, Magnus hated fighting and war. He found sword play and other such combat barbaric. He preferred the healing sounds of music. Especially on his fiddle. Yes, the tall, lean half Elven man played the fiddle. Of all instruments, he felt that this one alone could express his inner soul. Then, he saw it! The perfect place for a minstrel to play and attract an audience. He took the fiddle off his back, took the bowstring from his belt- where it lay next to his dagger - he was a pacifist, but not stupid - and started to sit down in the spot.
"Hey!" cried a high little voice, "Watch it, you big behemoth!" Magnus spun around, and on the ground in the spot sat what at first glance was a little boy, dressed in green and white. But then Magnus saw the ears and realized that this was a sprite.
"Oops," Magnus said, scratching his head, "Sorry. I didn't see you there, little guy."
"No one ever sees the little guy," the sprite said. He looked up at Magnus, smiled, and said, "My name's Maar. Maar the Bard."
Magnus took Maar's hand and said, "I'm Magnus. Nice to meet you. Is it alright if I sit here with you and play music together?"
"With the competition?" Maar asked, aghast, "I have a living to earn, pal!"
"I'll share the profits with you, I promise," Magnus said. "I'm also a starving artist, but I'd gladly share with a fellow musician."
Maar stared at Magnus a moment, perplexed. Magnus knew this look. Others who didn't believe his kindness and sincerity often stared at him like that. But then, Maar smiled once more and said, "Alright, but remember your promise."
"I will, Maar," Magnus said. Maar stood up, and retrieved a small set of pipes from his bag. Magnus stood up and did a few tuning swipes of the bow.
"I've only been back for a short time," Maar said, "But I remember some of the popular folk songs here."
"Alright, which would you-" suddenly, Magnus's ears picked up the sound of someone shuffling behind him. He turned around, and there stood a young girl. She was wearing a dark gray cloak, and had blue-black hair that ran to her waist. Her eyes were wide with wonder at Magnus's fiddle.
"Hello," Magnus said to the girl. "Like it? I made it myself, from the woods bordering the Elf realms." The girl stared at him in amazement at this. "I'm Mganus," he continued. "What's your name?" The girl's bright face fell suddenly, and she looked down.
"Oh... you can't speak?" Magnus asked her. She nodded. Poor thing. Magnus then had an idea. An old trick his mother taught him once. He concentrated, and soon, he heard her silent words.
'Oh, if only I could ask them if I could play,' the girl's mind said.
"Would you like to join us?" Magnus asked her. She looked up, surprised. Then her sweet smile reappeared, and she nodded happily. She drew a small lyre from inside her cloak, and made a seat beside Maar.
"How did-? What are you-?" Maar asked Magnus.
"She wants to play with us. I hope you don't mind, friend Maar?" Magnus asked the sprite as he prepared to draw the bow on his fiddle.
Maar sighed, "Fine. But it'll mean less money for dinner." Maar prepared to blow on the pipes, but suddenly, the girl started strumming her lyre. When the tune reached their ears, Magnus immediately knew it - as well as all the old folksongs- and so did Maar. They began to play the strange song as one. The villagers and market peddlers stopped in their tracks. All were captivated by the jolly music the three were making. At one point, the girl's strumming went low and soft, leaving Magnus and Maar to exchange between playings of the pipes and the fiddle. And before they knew it, they were finished. The people started cheering, and throwing coins- pennies, silver pieces, even a few gold!- on the ground for them. Maar stuck out his little cap to gather some while Magnus scooped up the coins on the ground. He then turned to the girl, and held out a large hand full of coins.
"Here, miss," Magnus said, holding out the money, "This is for you. For helping us earn our daily bread."
The girl looked frightened, and shook her head, pushing the hand away. 'No," he heard her think, 'I don't want your money! I don't need it!'
Magnus forgot himself, 'Miss, you earned it,' he thought. She looked even more afraid, for she had defiantly heard him.
"You there! Get away from her!" cried a deep voice. Magnus turned, and was tackled down by a large man in armor. Magnus struggled, and saw the face of the man who'd toppled him. He had dark green hair, and a long scar on his cheek. He couldn't be any younger than fifty, but this guy had the strength of a bear.
"Princess Gemini, why are you consorting with commoners?" asked a tall, soft spoken man, clothed in fur and carrying a gnarled gray staff. He gently put his hands on the girl's shoulders, and started to lead her away from the gaping crowd. "Come on, Gerrek," the tall man said to the barbarian on top of Magnus, "The princess is safe now. King Spark and Queen Neese won't have to worry now."
"Pr- Princess!" croaked Magnus as Gerrek got off him and followed the man in fur. Maar stared after the three as well. Magnus rolled over on his stomach, and whispered, "King Spark?" The girl struggled a bit, and managed to turn and look at Magnus, one last time before she and her escorts disappeared into the crowd.
'I'm Gemini,' he heard her thinking to him. Then, she was gone.
Transition
"ARRRGGGGHHH!" cried Princess Gemini as she stomped around in front of her father's throne. She glared at her stately father, and willed her anger to be known.
"Gemini, you know we only keep you under close watch for your own protection. We're not jailers."
"Ugh!" she grunted. She was near tears! Why couldn't they under stand? She felt like a sapling that had been plucked from it's leafy home, and stuck in a dark room, away from the sun. 'That's it!' she thought, 'Leaf!' she got out her lyre, and strummed it once. Then, appeared the Half Elven woman, Leaf. She only looked a few years older than Gem, but Leaf was older than her father. Probably older than Gerrek!
"What do you wish, Princess?" Leaf asked Gem. Gem gestured, and pointed to herself, then lyre. Only Leaf could hear the Princess's thoughts and speak them aloud. "Ah," Leaf said, "So he hears you too? A half Elf with white hair? Sounds cute."
"What are you two talking about?" Spark asked. He hated when they would have their one sided conversations.
"Princess Gem here has a boyfriend," Leaf said, teasing.
'NO!' Gem screamed in her mind. 'Can't you just say what I think for once!'
"Sorry, little Princess," Leaf said. 'Anyway, that guy Gerrek tackled in the street. He's half Elf, too, and he can hear her thoughts, just like I can. He wasn't hurting her. They were just playing instruments with Maar."
"Maar is back?" Spark asked. "I fear for the pockets of Flame. "Well, we must bring him to the castle to and see that he stays out of trouble. You know how Grass Runners can attract unwanted attention."
"Oh," Leaf gasped with delight, "Gem wants to know if the Half Elf boy can come, too."
Gem waved her arms frantically, and shook her head, trying to get Leaf to shut up. She always had to run her mouth!
'Just doing as you wished, Princess,' Leaf thought to her.
'I didn't mean all the time!' Gem thought back. 'Some thoughts I like to keep personal!'
"I think It would be a grand idea," said a calm and serene voice from a side doorway.
"Neese?" King Spark asked.
"She hardly ever meets people aside from our own friends, to associate with. She needs friends, Spark. Not a bunch of old duds." the lovely queen joked. Gem calmed down, and sighed. Her mother couldn't read her mind, but at least she understood her heart.
"If it is your will," King Spark said, "Then it shall be done. Gerrek, Leaf, Alvo, bring Maar and the Half Elf he was with today to the castle for a private audience."
"Yes, your majesty," they all said, thumping their fists to their chests, and bowing. Then, the three messengers left the throne room together. Gem watched them leave, then, she lifted her clasped hands to her face, and smiled. Then she skipped away.
"Now where is she going?" King Spark asked his wife.
"She has to get ready for her company, dear," Queen Neese said, taking his arm. "remember when we were that young?"
"Oh yes," King Spark said, "I fell in love with you the minute I saw you."
"Now, I wish for such happiness to come to Gemini." Queen Neese said. But inside her heart, she secretly feared. She hoped that her daughter would never have to endure such hardships as Neese had, in order to gain her true love. Yet still? That nagging feeling. 'Oh Marfa, Mother of the Earth,' Neese prayed in her mind, 'Place your protection around my daughter? and whoever this young man may be.'
Transition
"Now you've done it!" Maar cried as the soldiers encircled them. "Why couldn't you just leave that girl alone! But NO! You had to go and spark with the Princess!"
"I didn't know she was a Princess, alright!" Magnus cried to all of them. "Come on, guys, I'm just a wandering minstrel, what does the king want with me?"
"Never mind that, just come along," said the captain.
"Oh d----! This always happens, one way or another! Now I'm going to have to do it to these poor people too!" Magnus despaired.
"Do what?" Maar asked, afraid.
"This," Magnus sighed. He drew his dagger- the one thing he hated most of all, and was the only other thing he was good at- and the last thing his father gave him before he disappeared- and charged at the men. He waved the sharp weapon around, making sure not to actually hit people, and started to make a break for it.
"Manner of all creation, become a chain to bind him!" cried the tall man in fur from that morning. A chain of light headed straight for Magnus.
"Spirits of Water, become a sword to break the chain!" Magnus called. The Water Spirits appeared, and grasped the chain, break it asunder.
"Careful!" the man in furs said, "This is more than just any normal Half Elf! He has the Spirit of the High Elves within him! His magic is powerful, and he will not be easily conquered.
"Then let me try," said a young girl. Magnus looked at her, and was stunned at her ears. She was a Half Elf too! He couldn't fight one of his own kind! What would his mother say?
"Spirit of the Wind, become arrows to pin this boy!" the girl cried. The wind spirits rained down on him, and pinned him to the back wall. He could not move, though he struggled.
"You fought bravely, son," said the man with the scar. He carried a kicking and whining Maar under his arm.
"Come on, guys! I thought we were all old friends here?" Maar cried.
"Shut up, Maar," the man with the scar said. "You didn't have to run from us."
"I didn't! He's the one who fought you guys! That Magnus guy!"
"So much for fellow musicians," Magnus sighed. "Mother and Cecil were right. I had no future beyond the village. Now I'm probably going to hang, and all because I'm a nice guy."
"Wait a minute," the man in fur said, "You know Cecil? The Wizard?"
"Yeah, from the time I was a small child. He was kinda like a step father to me, after my own father disappeared."
"Your father?" the man with the scar asked. "What was his name?"
"Parn," Magnus said, "Knight of Lodoss. I sure did him proud, didn't I?"
"Then this is Parn and Deedlit's son," said the man in fur.
"Wow," the Half Elf girl said. She stepped up to Magnus, and took a closer look at him. "He kinda looks like Deed. Gem was right; he IS cute!"
"What?" Magnus asked, embarrassed. "I... uhhh... uh..."
"Well, don't just stand there," the girl said. She snapped her fingers and the Spirits released him. He fell hard to the ground.
"Ow!" Magnus said.
"For a Half Elf, you're sure not graceful," the man with the scar said.
The Half Elven girl took both his hands in hers and smiled, saying, "I'm Leaf! A Half Elf like you."
"So I gathered," Magnus said.
"And that's Gerrek," she said pointing to the scarred man, "And Alvanova," she said pointing to the in furs. "And we weren't trying to hurt you or arrest you or anything."
"Really?" Magnus asked, "You're not just saying that so I'll go quietly?"
"Course not, son," said Gerrek, "However, His Majesty would like to meet you. You're invited to dinner."
"Then could you put me down?" Maar asked, "If you do, I'll give you back your change purse."
"You little thief!" Gerrek cried as he grabbed the purse from Maar's hands. "What'd you do that for?"
"Well, I figured if I was getting arrested, it might as well be for a real crime instead of guilt by association." Maar explained.
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AN: Look whose coming to dinner! But surely there must be a reason for so many legends to converge in one place? All shall be explained in later chapters? that is? if you review. Otherwise? YOU GET NOTHING:)