Chapter 1

"Aly? Aly, hurry up! I have to leave in the next two minutes!"

There was a brief silence as Alan of Pirate's Swoop tapped his foot on the floor impatiently. He went over his saddlebags once more to make sure that he had packed absolutely everything. Satisfied, Alan turned his full attention back to the impending delay.

"Aly!"

Running a restless hand through his reddish-blond hair, his eyes scanning his home - he would not see it for at least a year if not more, and wanted to secure its current state in his mind; no doubt it would look at least slightly different when he returned. Spotting one of the many concealed passages, Alan grinned. He and his twin had been hiding there not too long ago with their faces covered in blue-berry stains. (No seriously – the last time had only been about a month ago..!)

There was a deafening clatter as Alianne stumbled down the stairs. Her hair, the same shade as her brother's, was tied back to prevent it from blocking her view. They (Aly and Alan) gazed at each other a moment; hazel-green blinking black into hazel-green. Aly was the first to look away as she fumbled with the ties of her bag.

Trying not to grin, Alan scolded his sister for taking so long when he was already pressed for time as it was – he sounded exactly like Ma when she was about to leave to go on one of her great and noble deeds.

"The only reason that I took so long was that I was getting this for you." From her bag she produced a small red velvet pouch. Eyeing it curiously, Alan tugged it open.

Inside was a piece of black thread tied in the same way a necklace should be; with a small black square of material (which seemed to be filled with what was suspiciously like flour) attached to it. Traces of black magic sparkled at the edges of his vision. Alan glanced at his twin, eyebrows raised in puzzled astonishment.

"This," she explained "is a small 'good-luck' present that me and Uncle Numy have been working on."

Alan smiled at the mention of the childhood name – now at thirteen he tried to use Numair's proper name but habits were hard to break and even he slipped up sometimes.

"What does it do?"

"It'll help you see in the dark, when magic is used and generally more clearly than you would usually be able to see."

Thanking her, Alan put it around his neck – instantly colours became sharper and more focused. Things that were usually out of his sight range became visible.

As Alan mounted his mare, Ginger, Aly's hand plunged back into the depths of her bag. From it, she withdrew an envelope, neatly addressed to their older brother.

"Make sure that you give this to Thom," Aly ordered "and tell him that I want proper replies this year." At the age of fifteen, Thom was studying in the University of Corus. Although he was extremely concerned about his studies, unlike his namesake, he occasionally escaped the sea of his books that dominated the majority of his university chambers to catch a little sun every now and again.

"Speaking of which I expect letters from you too. I need some form of entertainment since my two personal jesters have decided to desert me!" Alianne gave a dramatic sigh before reaching up to give her brother a hug.

"Don't get into too much trouble – you know that Ma'll find out straight away from Maude when she gets back from the boarder" warned Alan.

"As if I could avoid it! Trouble practically stalks me! And you too." She added as an afterthought. "Besides, Da'll have my ears if he hears of anything."

"Da'll have Vern's ears if he hears how late he is – it's probably a good thing that he's not here at the moment…"

After about five minutes of Aly muttering darkly about the fuss that Alan had 'kicked up a fuss' as she put it, Vern finally arrived.

"Why are you so late? D'you know what she" he jabbed a finger at the accused; "put me through?"

Alianne's smile was almost sickly sweet as Vern only raised an eyebrow – after knowing the pair of them for the whole of their lives; he was quite used to their antics.

"If you must know, my mother insisted on going through my saddlebags several times, stuffing most of the contents of any room into any free space that she could find (regardless of whether I actually needed it) and made me sit through at least 10 different prayers for good-lick, protection and only the gods know what else!"

Alan grinned at this – he knew just how religious Vern's mother, the area's priestess, was.

Mounting his own horse, Vern trotted towards the gates of the Swoop.

"Come and visit me at the palace." Alan demanded.

"Maybe… We'll see how I feel. In the meantime you have to write to me – and not just for the sake of being able to use long words in mile long sentences that can be described in two syllables." said Aly, referring to Thom's scholarly habits.

With a last word of goodbye, Alan turned Ginger around to join Vern at the gates. Glancing over his shoulder, Alan sighed.

'And so my journey begins…'

-Hollyrose-

R&R please!