The Chronicles Of Alexander

Chapter One - Shadows In the Sand

"The men have assembled, Sofia. I regret that it is time for me to be going"

"You know how I feel about this attack, Freed. What would Alexander and I do if something were to happen to you?"

Freed smiled his wide, warming smile. He placed a large palm on Alexander's head and ruffled his hair.

"Pah! The King of the far south has lent me a detachment of his finest warriors."

Sofia looked at him quizzically, and raised an eyebrow.

"Those warriors?"

Freed nodded and smiled again.

"Besides, if anything bad were to happen to me, you would have foreseen it. Isis didn't give you that trinket just to pretty up your neck, my dear. Now, I must be going."

Sofia hated to admit it, but Freed was right, as he usually was about most things. Still, she had begun to wonder whether Isis had chosen the right person to bear the necklace after her.Sofia stopped thinking about that. It would do her no good to relive the past. She must focus on the future - she had promised Isis that much.

Alexander spoke up.

"Can't I come too, Dad?"

Freed laughed and spoke down to his son in his deep, booming voice.

"Not today, my boy. Your mother worries enough about me without you to stress her further. You be a good lad and protect her while I go out. You know where my sword is..?"

Alexander nodded, and Freed ruffled Alexander's hair with his massive palm once more.

"Good good."

Freed fastened the remaining metal plates to his body and pulled the leather straps tight. Turning back one last time to look at his son, he cast the door to one side with his massive right arm, (nearly taking it off its hinges) laughed, jumped on his horse and rode out to meet the rest of his troops. Within moments there was a massive blast of silvery trumpets, and the ground shook as the army of general Freed advanced down the rocky mountains, destined to meet the enemy in the shifting sands beneath.

Sofia mumbled: "I hate it when he does that." - but it was evident from her smile that she was not too displeased.

"You're sure Dad's going to be O.K?"

Alexander looked up at his mother with a face full of concern.

"Yes," Sofia said, touching her hand gingerly to her forehead, "He'll be just perfect.you know your father.now just let me lie down for a moment."

Sofia stumbled over her feet and had to stop herself from running into a wall. Alexander sat her down on the nearest chair and shook her.

"Mum!"

"I just feel so faint.I'm just going to close.minute.later..."

As Alexander went to shake her once more, Sofia's body flew forward in a violent convulsion, knocking him bluntly on the head. With a look of horror and disgust, Alexander watched as his mothers eyes rolled to the back of her head, and felt that look of horror change to one of awe as he looked down at Sofia's necklace. It was a present from her best friend, she had told him - nothing more. His eyes were transfixed, watching it shimmer as streaks of gold and silver snaked across its surface is it shuddered with a bright light. All of a sudden his mother spoke, not with her usual stern- yet-soft voice, but with a voice throbbing with ink on cracked parchment and sealed mystery, breathing out an air of heavy whispers that seemed to fill the whole room up, right to the ceiling.

"Alexander, listen to me. This is the voice of your mother's friend, Isis."

Alexander gazed intensely at the shadow around his mother, his eyes narrowing at the power of the voice. True enough, it seemed that Isis was there, hovering over his mother. He opened his mouth to ask a question.

"There is not enough time to talk about this. I am speaking to you because I can detect what your mother is not yet sensitive enough to, the minute balance of things in the world, and what outcome it has on the near future. Go now, ride to your father, take anything you can to defend yourself and get there as quickly as possible. Do not just stand there! GO NOW! There is something vitally important about to happen at that battle, and you must be involved! Hurry!"

Alexander tried to move, his mouth gaping, but he found he was rooted to the spot. He couldn't just leave his mother like this.in the hands of some crazed vision.then he thought about his father. What was happening to his father at that battle? Was he going to be safe? Alexander found the will to rip his feet from the ground and ran into the next room, where his father kept the spoils of battles long since fought. Everything was a blur. Without thinking, he grabbed his Dad's slender sword that hung on the wall and tore it from its golden case.and it seemed to whisper as he did so..but no time to think about that now, he ran out of the semi-hinged door and mounted his horse, Rynador, before galloping after his father's army.

Shielding his eyes from the sand that flew up into his face, Alexander rode on. Was that a black mist rising out of the valley below?

And far below Alexander, at the bottom of the mountain, Freed and his army began to give battle in vain.