Disclaimer: Susan Cooper owns the tree, but thats pretty much all in this chapter. Traci and Alana belong to themselves still, nothing has changed. Craig is my own character.
Somewhere far from the site of the tree that
blossomed every seven hundred years, a capsule floated alone. It forlornly
turned over as a wave struck it from behind. The capsule had floated in
this ocean for seemingly thousands, millions of years. It was part of it's
essence. It was part of the Balance.
A small fishing boat was not far from the
small peice of debris. And in this small fishing boat was a passenger.
A man with long black hair and beard. He was clearly very old, and the
lines on his face told something about him, to the trained eye. He had
once known a smile as his friend, but as the years beat upon his brow he
had traded that ability for power. And by the look of the rags he wore
he had lost even that. Now the lines showed malice and deciet. His name
was Craig.
Craig sat yawning ferverously. He had been
lost at sea for three days now, and his fresh-water supply had been nearly
used up. He frowned as he examined the half empty bottle of water.
Suddenly something bumped against the side
of the boat. Craig grabbed his pole and hoisted it in; but it seemed to
be latched on to something in the water. It was the capsule, and it would
not leave the ocean. Craig muttered an oath and reached for his bottle
for a short swig.
The capsule suddenly leaped out of the water
and slammed into the bottle, almost knocking it from Craig's hands. Craig,
startled, pulled at the capsule, but to no avail. He realised that the
pull of the capsule to his bottle lessened with every sip he took. However,
Craig was not stupid. He wasn't going to waste his water to get this tiny,
useless junk off his bottle.
He examined his find thoughtfully. In flowery
letters, written in smeared ink, was the phrase 'Hisame Ko Issun'.
Underneath this, in the same script, was the word 'Mizu'. Craig, who couldn't
make heads or tails out of this particular coin, absentmindedly rolled
it back to the end of his boat and cast his line into the sea.
* * *
A few yards from the site of the tree, the
green-eyed girl sat examining a piece of metal. She didn't recognise it,
not being under the control of the High Magic any longer. The inscriptions
seemed to make partial sense, if you left out the fact that 'Hisame Ko
Issun' meant absolutely nothing. Frustrated, she threw it down the side
of the hill.
The other girl sat nearby, examining a little
black book. "Find anything?"
"Not a thing." She stood and looked daggers
at the piece of metal. Slowly, the metal just sunk right down into the
earth.
"If it doesn't make any sense, why keep it,"
she grumbled.
"What did you do with it?"
The green-eyed girl shrugged. "Sent it through
the earth. Unless it's something of great magic it'll burn up before reaching
the other side."
"Do you often do this when you are frustrated,
and have you consulted a doctor?"
* * *
Craig slept, with his head on the bottle.
He didnt notice the peice of metal slowly
rising from the bottom of his boat and laying at rest on the side.
A/N: In case you couldn't tell, Im sort of changing the direction of the fic. Its no longer merely about who controls the Wild and Old Magic, its more of Why and How'n'stuff. So if you liked, and if you are not Susan Cooper's lawyer, please post a li'l review thing ^^