BEFORE THE BEGINNING

B

ehind the closed doors of the Airma palace, Queen Katherina and King Claudio stood before there two sons, Klaus and Nickolas, along with Claudio's illegitimate child, Erin. Katherina fixed her cold blue eyes on to Erin, causing a chill to travel down his spine. Claudio rested his hand on her shoulder to ease her hatred.
"I assume you all know why you three were summoned." Erin stared into her ice cold eyes before replying,
"We do not know the reason." Claudio sighed,
"You have all been summoned, because you all are at the appropriate age to compete for the throne. The rules are simple," The King reached under his cloak and pulled out a translucent blue crystal that hung on a golden chain around his neck, he pulled of the chain and exposed the gem to his three sons. The blue crystal fly out of the kings hand and shout out the window
"whoever retrieves the ice crystal first, will be granted the powers needed to become the next King.Good luck to all of you." without another word the three princes left the room to prepare for there quest. Erin went up to his chambers and packed a leather sack with items he might need. suddenly he head the heavy wooden door creak open,
"Erin what are you doing?" Nickolas asked with a worried tone.
"I am preparing for my Quest just as you and Klaus are." Nickolas entered the room and rushed to Erinn's side and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Erin, I say this as your brother and your friend; I think that for your own safety you should back out of the competition." Erin stared at him with a bewildered look.
"Why do you dare say that?I've been fighting for this opportunity to compete for the throne my hole life .Why would I quit before I begin?" Erinn looked at his older brother firmly.
"I'm afraid that Klaus will kill you." Erin gave him a smile.
"You are probably right, and if you are I will not hesitate to kill him if he attempts to."with out any thing more to say, Erin left the room leaving a baffled Nickolas in his place.
Erin unmounted his horse and entered the tavern. When he opened the door the smell of alcohol hit his face. He sat down on a stool at the far end of the bar, and cupped his head in his hands. Suddenly a large glass mug was slammed onto the counter in front of him. He looked up to see a large balding beer belled man as big as a grizzly, which explained his name, Arto. Arto poured rum into the mug and leaned on the counter.
"I hear that your and your brothers are going on a quest to find the ice crystal. Is it true?" Erin nodded his head yes.
"Its true but I don't have the slightest clue where to start." Arto grinned at him,
"If that's the case then your going to need someone who can

 

find it." Erin scoffed at Arto's advice.
"and who would that be?"
"A witch."
"I don't want an old hag who will kill me and use my blood as a broth."
"not all witches are evil old hags, Erin. Last month a couple from Loemerna were telling me about their daughter is a paranormal. Her name is Maribel. why don't you-" Before Arto could finish, Erin had already left for Loemerna. Before he could find the crystal he needed to find the girl who cold help him.

* * *

Pure white snow owl batted its wings in the air, as it made it is to an isolated cattle farm near the city of Loemerna. In its beak, it carried a white envelope with a red wax seal. As the farm came into view, it swooped down the brick chimney of the cottage. I small girl standing on a stool, who’s face was covered in flower jumped off the stool and made her way over to the owl. She knelt down, took the letter from the owl, and gave the owl a dead field mouse from her pocket. The owl then expanded it’s wings and glided up the chimney once more. The small girl then looked around the room with her wide amber eyes, and leaped of the floor and ran to the other room.
“Tristan! Tristan an owl came and delivered a message!” She slammed the door open and startled her older brother.
“Libby, what letter? Where is it from?” He asked. Libby turned the letter sideways and tilted her head attempting to read it, she then looked up at him in defeat and said,
"I can't read." Tristan laughed and took the letter from her and read the back of the letter.
"It's from Mom and dad, but it's not for us." He got up and went out side. In a distant field a tall thin girl (about seventeen) with long chestnut brown hair tied back, and bright amethyst eyes. She gracefully road a black pinto horse and herded cattle into a corral.
Tristan waved to the girl
"Maribel! You got a letter from Lenzanna!" Maribel waved to him to tell him that she heard him. She locked the gate to the cattle yard and raced back to the horse stable. She lead her black pinto named ,Onyx, into her stall. She ran up the hill to Tristan.
"What is it Tristan?" Tristan did not say a word he only extended his hand holding the letter. Maribel snatched it from him and opened it without hesitation. As she read through the letter her eyes widened when she say the request and the sender. She looked up at Tristan in disbelief.
"It's from Mom and Dad," She could barely speak. Tristan nodded his head to her, she then opened her mouth to speak but stuttered trying.
"They want me to pay a visit in Lenzanna, so they can help me train my powers." after she said this Tristan's eyes also widened.
"Your going, right?" He asked. Maribel closed her eyes and shook her head as she crumpled up the invitation.
"I can handle my powers just fine, and how can I go when I view my powers as a curs?" she then threw the paper over her shoulder and stormed off.a small brown and white ferret jumped out of the leather pouch tied around her waist and retrieved the paper in its mouth and followed after her and her brother.
" Maribel, you have to go! You haven't seen them in years!" Maribel didn't mind him and kept walking. The little ferret, Loki, walked on his hind legs and held the ball of paper in his two paws.
"See, even Loki agrees." Tristan joked hopping it would urge her to agree. Maribel ran to her room and fell down on her bed.
"Maribel, please at least consider going." Maribel sighed and sat up on her bed,
"Why can't you go instead of me?" Tristan shook his head,
"I'm sorry ,Mare , but they want to see you not me. Besides this isn't up to you I'm making you go." Maribel fell backwards on her back and groaned. Yet her mood quickly changed after Tristain left the room and Loki hopped up on her bed and nuzzled against her neck and curled up into a ball.
"When are you going to tell him that I can speak?" Although Loki looked like a ferret, he wasn't hardly one. He isn't a ferret at all and it was normal for animals to talk, but not many mortals knew this. She laughed at him and lifted him in the air.
"And when are you going to stop siding with him?" Loki laughed quietly and leaped of the bed and headed towards the door
"that doesn't mater right now we have to pack for a journey to Lenzzanna."

STORMY NIGHT

he stared at her self in the mirror as she laced up her brown bodices that she wore over a long sleeved cotton shirt with gathered sleeves and a olive green skirt. She then slipped on the knee-high cuffed boots, and headed towards the door. Where her sibling stood with smiling faces but heavy hearts.
She bent down and hugged Libbie and Tristan goodbye, and headed down the dirt road with Loki inside her leather sack.
"Don't you want to take a horse?" He called after her. She turned around to face him and pulled her hair out of her face.
"No thank you! I like walking. Don't worry I'm wearing good shoes!" she lifted up her skit to show them her borrowed boots.
"Are those my boots?" Tristan yelled back.
"yup." she said with a smile. she looked back at the home she has lived in her hole life, and her younger sister on Tristan's shoulders waving to her. She waved one last time and then disappeared from sight over the hill.
Loki squirmed out of the leather bag and rested his front paws and chin on her shoulder,
"So what now?" he asked curiously.
"we are going to follow the road until we reach the port."
"wow! great plan." She rolled her eyes to his sarcastic remark and continued walking.
As the sun set and the forest became pitch black, Maribel stumbled around in the dark attempting to to follow the path. The heal of her boot caught the hem of her skirt and she feel to her knees. Loki Flung of her shoulder and scrambled to her side once again.
"My God, Maribel. Can't u summon a flame so we aren't walking blindly!" Maribel glared at him.
" I was working on it".
"sure you were." Maribel closed her eyes and clasped her hands together. As she gently chanted an ancient language an orange light seeped from her hands, she slowly opened her hands revealing a small orange flame. She looked down at Loki with a smirk on her face,
"happy now?" she asked him sarcastically. Loki scoffed at her and climbed back in to the leather sack on her back , as she got to her feet.
"there now we can see."as she continued walk down the narrow path she felt a trickle on her nose. As she lifted her head the sky poured down rain.
"Was that really necessary!" She expanded her arms and continued cursing at the sky until lightning struck a nearby tree. Maribel started running blindly throw the rain. She ceased from running when she saw the distant light of a small village. She attempted to take a steep forward but stopped because she remembered her amethyst eyes which were a symbol of her supernatural abilities. She took her hand and rested it on her eyelids and focused all her energy on her irises. When she open her eyes she revealed her once violet eyes to be a honey tinted brown similar to her siblings.She knew that as long as she continued to focus her energy on her eyes that they would remain brown. She ran down the brick road to the small inn.
She opened the door to the inn, and entered the fire light room. Her long brown hair clung her face, and the hem of her skirt left a trail of rain water. She approached the desk where an older woman wearing a shawl sat with a guest booklet.
"May I help you?" the woman asked.
"Yes, um I would like a room for the night." she said.The Woman flipped threw the large book several times before looking up at Maribel with a sympathetic smile.
"I'm sorry dear, but it seams that all the rooms are not available." Maribel's smile quickly faded when she heard this.
"Is there another Inn in town?" she asked, but the woman simply shook her head.
"I'm afraid not, but I could let you sit by the fire until the rain stops."
"That very kind of you ,but I need a place to stay for the night!" As Maribel tried hopelessly to compromise with the manager she until she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around she saw a man about in his twenty's with chin length black hair.
"I couldn't help but over hear about your dilemma" He looked at her with a warm smile on his face.
"I would be willing to share my room with you if you like." Maribel crossed her arms with a smug look on her face.
"sir that is very kind of you, but I am not about to share a room with a man who I have just met."
"Oh you would not be sharing a room at all, you see I have rented a separate room for my page. So naturally you would have his."
"Well if that is the circumstances, then I will humbly except your offer." The dark haired man lead her up the stairs
"May I ask you name?" She asked.
"Klaus. And yours?" he said
"Maribel." Klaus unlocked the wooden door and handed her the key to her room.
" Well then good night Maribel." She entered the room and closed the door behind her. She quickly changed in to a plain cotton night gown, and hung her clothes near the fire place to dry. She climbed into the small bed and laid down with Loki resting on her stomach.

KIDNAPPED

T

he next morning Maribel was woken up by a knock at the door. Maribel climbed out of bed and made her way to the door. when she opened the door the small girl holding her breakfast tray looked up at Maribel in horror.
"Here's you breakfast ma'am." the small girl barley managed to speak. Maribel smiled at her warmly and took the tray of food. The little girl turned around and ran down the hall
"Mama!" she called frantically as she raced down the stairs. Maribel was confused about the young girls reaction to her. She decided not to mind it and set the tray on her bed and made her way over to vanity on the other side of the room. As she brushed her hair her eyes drifted to her reflection of her face. When she saw her eyes she gasped and dropped the brush from her hands.
"L-Loki! We need to leave now!"Loki's head shot up,
"what is it now?" he groaned, but when he saw her eyes he understood completely.
"your eyes are amethyst again." Maribel looked at him with fear and quickly changed into her original clothes. She grabbed the room key and rushed down stairs with Loki healing her. She placed the key on the desk and rushed out the door. When she left the inn Klaus caught her shoulder and stopped her.
"Maribel, are you leaving?"
"I am afraid so."
"Then let me be your escort to where you need to be." Maribel looked over her shoulder to she the inn keepers rushing towards them.
"If you insist!" without a second thought Maribel Leaped into Klaus' carriage. After several miles Maribel Looked at Klaus.
"This is far enough, I don't want overexert your kindness." Klaus shook his head at her,
"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Maribel. You are dreadfully far from Lenzanna, that would not be-"
"I never mentioned going to Lenzanna."
"I know who you are Maribel, Elizabeth, Remy. Your the famous witch of the north. Your also the key to my succession of the throne." Maribel's eyes widened with both fear and
shock she slammed on the roof of the carriage.
"Driver, stop!" Maribel jiggled the handel on the carriage door,
"I need to get off." Klaus' eyes turned cold and heartless
"Like I said before Maribel, I cannot do that." The page who was sitting next Maribel grabbed her wrists with one hand and covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief just long enough to make her blackout.
When Maribel came to, she woke up in a small luxurious room. She abruptly sat up and tried to recall what had gotten her here.
"Loki? Loki where are you?" Maribel heard a rustling sound coming from the wardrobe. When she opened it Loki leaped out of the leather sack and gasped for air.
"I thought I was never going to see the sun again!" he exclaimed dramatically. Maribel laughed for a second and then knelt down in front of him.
"Loki, where are we? what is happening?" Loki washed his face and then looked up at her.
"They want you to help them find some stone, and as for where we are.. I take it we're on an airship." Maribel rushed to the porthole and unlatched it. She gazed above her head at the small jets and the large mast peering over the side of the ship. She then closed the porthole and looked at Loki,
"your right." She ran to the door and tried to open it, but had no success.
"Mare, your powers!" Loki barked at her. Maribel remembered her powers and pointed her index finger at the door. A small blue spark zapped the door handle. Maribel then tried again to open the door but failed again.
"Dammit! The damn door is charmed!" Maribel walked over to the wooden desk in the corner of the room and sat there with her head cupped in her hands. She sat there for hours felling like a fool for trusting him. Suddenly there was a loud bang on the door, followed by two more,the final bang sent the door swinging open. The person who had kicked it open was a young man with golden hair and deep green eyes. Maribel stood there petrified with fear. He came to were she was standing and cover her mouth with his hand to stop her scream,
"Listen carefully, I am not here to harm you. I only ask for your cooperation, allow me to hide here, and deny that you saw me." Maribel stared into his green eyes and saw not hatred only sincerity. She glanced down at his wrist and saw a large bruise on both wrists that wrapped around his wrist like a ring. she realized that that he was telling her the truth and that he needed her help. She then nodded her head yes, and almost like a reflex he ran to the wardrobe and hide himself inside. Maribel watched as the guards ran past her room. she looked down the hallway to conform that no other guards were coming. Maribel ran to the wardrobe and knocked on it quietly.
"um.. the guards are gone." she whispered.The man jumped out of the wardrobe and grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the door.
"Hold on! what do you think your doing?" the man looked at her and said.
"you are a captive, right? I saw the exit let me help you." Maribel's eyes widened and she fell silent and followed him up the stairs.
She could hear the guards casing after them and wondered if she had only made the situation worse. When they burst threw the door of the sky deck, Maribel's fear had become reality. There the were cornered with men behind them and in front of them, in all directions. Maribel remembered looking out the window and seeing a forest far below them. She then peered at the men between her and the railing of the ship. The blonde man saw that her eyes were fixated on the men's feet and that she appeared to be counting them. Which is exactly what she was doing. Suddenly a narrow flam shout from Maribel's feet and darted towards the men as if it following a trail of gun powder. The men scattered and left reviled an opening. Maribel ran to the edge of the ship and leaped over the edge followed by the ferret.A bright golden light appeared and the Blonde man ran to the railing and looked over the railing ,not to see a woman falling to her death, but a woman riding on the back of a griffon. Maribel waved to the thirty baffled men and called
"sir, I suggest that you join me now before you are captured again." before the guards could grab him he had thrown him self over board and was caught by the griffon.

STRANGERS

W

hen they landed Maribel leaped of the griffon and was followed by the blonde.
"What might your name be?" he asked her. The Griffon was submerged in the golden light once more and revealed to be Loki. Maribel Knelt down to Loki and tided a string with a bell attached to it around it. The small bell was tarnished and had a six pointed stare with with wings engraved into it. The star on the bell glowed the same golden light as before. Maribel turned to face him and simply replied,
"Maribel, and yours?"
"My Name is Erin , I am the third son of King Claudio."
"Then I suppose your here to take me away and force me to help you as well."
"Then your the witch of the north?" he asked her. Maribel shook her head.
"I'm afraid that title is a false name given to me. A witch is a mortal with an ancient blood line, and is granted either demonic or holy powers. A white witch , as I am called, receives her powers from God and uses a pendent as an amplifier." Maribel motioned her hand over her chest.
"As you can clearly see I wear no such thing." Erin stared at her with utter confusion.
"Then what are you?"
"I'm not human but I am not a beast either. In other words ... I'm not sure. I only know what I'm not." Although she tried to explain it as accurate as possible Erin still stood there looking at her with confusion.
"But, your eyes. there-"
"I am fully aware that I share the same eyes as a witch, but as I said before, I am not a witch. I am much more powerful then that." Maribel strayed from her train of thought.
"Perhaps I am some form of a superior witch. However I won't know for sure util I get to my parents, in Lanzanna." Maribel slung her bag over her shoulder and started walking away. Erin snapped back to reality and ran after her,
"Wait! I have a deal for you!" Maribel stopped in her tracks and spun around.
"what kind of deal?"
"I'll give you Fifty-seven silver coins, but in return I need you to find a crystal." He briefly explained.
"make it eighty-seven."
"fine. do we have a deal?"
"deal. Now where is this 'crystal' you speak about."
"I haven't the slightest idea."
"then do you have a fragment?"
"No."
" a drawing, scroll anything of the sort?" Maribel continued to ask him frantically.
"non."
"Have you even caught a glimpse of the thing?" After she said this Erin Looked down at her.
"Yes, but only once. Why?" I faint smile appeared on her face. With out warning she placed her hands on Erin's temples.
"Relax, and only think of the crystal." She ordered him.Erik watched as Lavender light illuminated from Maribel, and her soft chestnut hair fluttered as if there was a gale. He had the urge to brush his finger tip threw her soft hair. Maribel sighed,
"Think of the crystal not me." He blushed slightly and remembered that at this very moment she could see and hear everything that went through his mind. He focused his mind on the vivid memory of the ice crystal dangling in his fathers hand, and then flying out the window. The Light that surrounded Maribel shifted slowly from Lavender to an icy blue, the light faded and then shot to the ground and dashed into the forest. Then far over the horizon. A pillar of light shot up into the sky but disappeared about as fast as it appeared. Maribel removed her hands and slung her bag over her shoulder.
"There's our prize." She said as she walked in the direction the pillar appeared. Erin and Loki followed close behind her.
"So exactly how do you intend to find it?" He asked her.
"I simply attached my own energy to the crystal, and we will have to find it before the energy connection breaks." She explained. Erin held a confused expression on his face and nodded as if he only partially understood.
"We do not expect you to understand." Loki told him
"Did that ferret just speak?" he asked her.
"Of course he can speak. Most animals can. Furthermore, Loki is not a ferret he is a bound Griffon."
"What do you mean 'bound'?" He asked her.
"I found him when he was fairly young. He was battered and on the brink of death. His left wing was torn and shattered. I found him terrorizing our chickens. So I turned him into as lesser form to make it easier to mend his wounds. After he was healed he kept returning. So I kept him and named his 'Loki' after the God of misfortune and trickery. As for the term 'bound' it means he will remain in his temporary form unless I break the seal."

"So he is your fermiliar?"

"Of a sort yes."

DARK WOODS OF ESBURUM

The night was silent

Impressum

Texte: cover art- "The Tower's Cemetery" by Cris Ortega.
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 29.05.2011

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