teacher knights a lot older as I can see trouble brewing with these two. Damn!” but he said to Kajn, “She’ll be fine, but we will need to do the ceremony, even if she’s unconscious, as she’s lost a lot of blood. We’ll do this tonight.”
The smell of incense burning pine and spruce awoke Vanor from her slumber. She felt warm again and felt smooth fabric touching her skin, but she seemed to be on a cold surface. Even though she did not know these voices that were raised, she felt calm and safe somehow. With eyes too heavy to open, she melted back into the darkness.
She had been to the healing temple so many times in her dreams that she now felt its presence. Looking at her hand, she realised that it was glowing, but then again so was her whole body. She mounted the steps and walked through the pillars and the last arch to the temple. She could see the glowing figures surrounding her. She knew that she had to walk down the steps and lay herself on the marble slab.
The twelve figures she could never discern between male and female, eased her down and placed their glowing hands on her temple; she felt detached for a while. She watched as they worked on her body, moving their hands over her, healing the gaping wounds as they did. She always felt in awe watching this ceremony and they always made her feel welcome. The hum of the figures slowly faded as she watched them move away. When she felt fully back in her body, she turned to them, bowed, murmured a thank you and walked through the arch and back into the darkness.
Kajn watched in awe as the injuries to her body disappeared. Even the Old Man came over and smiled when he saw what was happening. “Ahh she is the One,” he said and smiled. While the Old Man unbound the bandages and found all the wounds to be only pink scars, he turned to Kajn. “You are the teacher by whom the One is to be taught. You are to teach her all the skills you know and study with her all the evils of the world so she can be prepared. She will be in great danger and peril and you must learn to let her be as she will be. Do not hold her back from any danger unless she is ill prepared. You are not to return to your friends or duties until your quest has been fulfilled or the One dies and another is to take her place and yours,” he said.
He continued, “This is the beginning and unless we perform the ceremony now under the full moon, great evil will devour this land and all others. Go now and return with five of your closest and most reliable friends so this may be so.”
Vanor awoke to a slight hum of power from an old man standing in the centre of a pentagram of power. His whole body was glowing, with light coming from the centre of his temple to the other six people surrounding him and hitting her chest. It was not painful but she felt the power being drawn into her and she was at ease somehow. She looked around at the men and recognised the one who was now being called forth.
His white loose-fitting shirt that was laced at the front formed three crosses that showed off his muscular features. He turned his eyes to her and she fell deeply into those large dark pools. Smiling at her he winked and she knew she was awake.
The Old Man took her hand and the knight joined them as the power grew. She glowed with white light and when it finally subsided she found herself alone with this tall dark man. He gently kissed her hand and helped her off the marble slab.
“I am your guardian, I will protect and teach you, if you let me.”
She knew it was right somehow in the pit of her stomach and when she looked at that strong jaw line and those dark eyes, she knew that he would be with her forever.
Chapter 2
The beginning
Vanor felt the vibration of her sword creep up her arm and pain shot though her shoulder where he had injured it previously. His dark eyes reflected his amusement at how easily she was letting him win, but the pain turned to anger and she thrust back with more ferocity than she meant, but continued the stroke. “Ah now we see the violence,” he puffed as she countered his return stroke.
They had been going for hours now and both were beginning to tire. Sometimes he would stop her in mid stroke and show her the foolishness of her return. “See here, I could plunge my sword in your side before you could block the next strike,” he would taunt her when she had given a return that she thought she had perfected.
“You should know better than that. It’s amazing you haven’t been killed by now,” and he would provoke her into anger so that she would lose her concentration, and then he would push her again. The pace was gruelling but both knew that within the days and months to follow it would save her life countless times. Kajn was patient with her as always, but he would not allow anything less than perfection and she knew it.
The Old Man was reading aloud from an old parchment about the different variations of lower elementals, when he looked up and bellowed, “Are you two listening or am I talking to the rocks, which by the way seem to be more intelligent than the both of you combined.”
Kajn and Vanor both stopped in mid stroke panting and sweating heavily, and walked over to the Old Man and sat down. He handed over a flask of water and after both had silently drunk a portion he said, “Enough fighting for today, time for study. You both stink. Wash up and meet me in the library, as neither of you are remotely listening to anything I say. At least there I may get your full attention.”
When they moved down the snowy track towards the river, the Old Man watched them and mumbled, “At least she’s concentrating on her training now,” as he packed up the numerous scrolls and parchments.
At the river Vanor had stripped off behind the nearest bush and dived in; Kajn followed from a discreet distance. They relaxed for a while and Vanor circled Kajn and dived, planning to come up beneath and tickle him, when her left foot touched something solid and slimy. She reached the surface to grab one quick gulp of air before it struck. It pulled her under with such force that she almost lost the air she was hoping to hang onto for longer than a second.
Kajn saw her take a deep breath but realised something was wrong when he saw the terror in her eyes, before she was pulled under in a seething whirl of bubbles. He had no weapon on him and he knew that he could not fight something that was that big without one. He quickly swam to shore with powerful strokes.
The Old Man heard the bellow of Kajn as he reached the shore and headed to the river, arriving just as Kajn dived back in with his sword. Kajn returned to the point where Vanor had disappeared moments before but could see no bubbles. He was turning in rapid circles searching for any sign when the Old Man started chanting.
To see if he could see anything, Kajn quickly descended into the clear water. He saw a dark shape ahead and slightly to the left and swam quickly in that direction. When he got closer he realised that it was a huge octopus-like creature that had Vanor wrapped in two large tentacles and was moving slowly away. Kajn reached the squid and started sawing the tentacle that was wrapped around
Vanor. At the first cut the squid turned its eyes towards him, and he felt the grip around his waist of a very strong tentacle As air was squeezed out of his lungs he tried to stay in control.
He was losing consciousness as he felt a great pulling motion of an unseen force that took the squid towards the surface. Within moments he felt the coolness of the wind on his face. He tried to gulp the air but could only manage a deep croak that was just enough to give him the strength to use his sword. He quickly sliced through the tentacle holding him. The squid was held in mid-air and was thrashing about, confused. Kajn saw Vanor hit the water and sink He quickly sawed the last of the tentacle from around his waist and dropped twisting in mid-air to dive towards the water.
As Vanor awoke in watery turmoil, she tried to thrash her way upwards in the direction of the
