Mothers and Magic

CH 1: Mage Findings

Xyrenia Kolfox walked through the brambles and tangles outside the abandoned castle that she had claimed as her shelter for the time being and sighed gustily. It had been nearly two years since she had left Greetal, the capital of her home nation of Hemnala, and turned her back on the ridiculous war that her king had gotten the kingdom into. Despite being a black level mage normally, she hated killing, though she didn't mind violence and in fact often would go to battles merely to fight. It had the amusing side effect of greatly annoying the prince, one of her arch enemies, something awful, a fact that amused both her and the king to no end. Still, being on the run from royal patrols was a tiring and lonely existence; she hadn't had true human contact for nearly as long as she'd been on the run. Sure, the animals that she had run into had been cordial for the most part, but it was different from talking to a human who could understand human things. Her only constant companion besides loneliness was Aolani, her hawk familiar.

"Well Aolani, what are we going to do now?"

"Do you think that the spoiled brat has found us?"

Xyrenia smiled slightly at the name Aolani had bestowed upon the arrogant prince, her dark blue lips tilting slightly with the unfamiliar maneuver.

"No, not yet, but I have no doubt that he will find us soon."

"Then what do you think we should do?"

Xyrenia sighed again and shrugged, not bothering to waste anymore breath. She turned back from the path she was on, ready to head back to the castle, when a surge in Nature energy around her caused her to stumble, her wide eyes focusing instantly on a section of forest not far from her current position.



"What on Earth...?"

It took no effort for Xyrenia to vanish from her position in the woods toward the anomaly, she was the most powerful mage in the world, super speed was nothing.

The sight that greeted the two magical creatures was confusing and angering to say the least. On the ground in a clearing was a small boy, though Xyrenia couldn't tell far beyond that due to the child's condition. His short hair was matted to his head with blood pouring from a large gash that showed Xyrenia his skull and his face was obscured by weeks worth of filth in addition to blood. He was emaciated and looked more tired then even the old war horses that Xyrenia had treated in Greetal and on the battlefield, that tired look that creatures get when the world had given them nothing but hardships and pain. She knew then that without a doubt the boy's eyes would hold much pain.

"What? A child?"

"The boy is badly hurt. He probably will not survive."

"I can see that Aolani. Sight of Horus."

Xyrenia's eyes turned hawk yellow and she looked at the boy with eyes to see the soul. She was shocked at the state of the soul.

It was totally pure.

As damaged as the boy was, and she could tell that the abuse that had led him to her world was long-term, his soul was unstained by hatred or depression. His soul was still bright, though she could see that there was something darker tethered to it. She had seen things like that before, when evil men tied beastial souls to their men in order to grant them the powers of beasts. She could tell though that this beast couldn't influence the boy yet, not much anyway through the 

thin cord of power connecting them. She could see that his wounds were beginning to heal in correspondence to the increased amount of red energy coming from the second soul. She quickly made her decision and knelt by the boy's side, gathered him up into her arms and cradled the child in her arms. She smiled at her familiar, a brighter smile than any she'd had in years.

"Come Aolani, it's time to bring my son home."