Fan Fiction ❯ The Keeper of the Orbs ❯ Her Power ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One

Her Power

 

The sky was painted red as the rising sun cast its bright rays along the meadow behind Orbian Village. A young woman of sixteen rose from among the wildflowers and looked towards her village. Peaceful and tranquil. Just as it should be. She wore a tunic cut short so that the cool breeze blowing down from the Orb Mountains could cool her flesh. Her trousers were full of holes from her rough excerptions in the forest and the fights she often got into with the village boys. Her strange midnight blue hair was cropped short and clear silver eyes gazed out at her village. As the cool northern wind caressed her face, the young woman smelled a queer scent on its invisible wings. She pushed aside the flowers and tall grasses, running towards the market.

 

People tossed angry glances as the girl pushed them aside. The hated the little half-breed more than flies in their soup. She ignored these glances and continued towards her family's store in the middle of the market. As she ran, she enjoyed the bunching and contracting of her powerful calve muscles. No one was as fast as her. Her bare feet made no noise as she bound up the stairs and through the open door.

 

"Mother!" she shouted and came to a sudden halt when she caught sight of the man sitting with her mother.

 

He had long smoke blue-grey hair that hung below his waist and a beard to match it. From beneath his hat, deep grey eyes gazed at the young woman. A tiny smile crossed her face at the sight of him.

 

"Grandfather!" the girl cried, launching herself at the seemingly-fragile old man.

 

He scooped her up into his arms and laughed heartily. "My little pup!" he said, spinning her around.

 

 

"Sala, contain yourself." her mother said sternly.

 

"Go easy on the pup, Gemma." the old man said. "She hasn't seen me in over seven months."

 

Gemma smiled at her father. Though he was near his one-hundredth year of living, he acted as though he were only fifty. She shook her head slowly. Did she expect anything different from her Wolf Mage father? Gemma already knew the answer to that. Sala was beaming when her grandfather set her back down onto the floor.

 

"Sala, could you bring some of those instruments into the market for me?" Gemma asked. "Your father is in his shop making a set of drums for the Royal Orchestra and he has to get them done before tomorrow morning."

 

Sala nodded and took up the sack of various instruments. With a parting kiss to her grandfather, the girl left the kitchen. Gemma watched her daughter leave and as soon as she was gone, the woman turned a crucial eye on her father. There was reason for his visit.

 

"I want to take my pup back with me to my pack." he said bluntly.

 

"I forbid it!" Talvar growled from the doorway that joined his shop to the rest of the house. "You will not take Sala away from me, Sathin!"

 

Sathin sighed heavily. "The pack is dying." he said. "When I allowed my daughter to leave their numbers I had no idea that I would be killing my people."

 

Gemma looked up at her father. "What do you mean?" she asked.

 

"Gemma, I never told you of your purpose in our pack." Sathin said softly.

 

"What do you mean?" Gemma asked, mouth trembling as she stared into her father's grey eyes.

 

Talvar moved towards the table and placed a hand on his wife's shoulder. The old wolf man removed a long pipe from with in his robes and conjured up a bit of fire onto his index finger. As he lit the tobacco in the pipe, Talvar knew that he was trying to decide the best way to explain what he was about to tell so as not to hurt his only daughter.

 

"Shining Light," Sathin began, using his daughter's wolf name. "When you were born, the Elder Mage of our village foresaw a destiny that could only be given to you. She said that in the years to come you would excel in the musical arts, but not in the magical. In this trade of gifts you would bear a child that would be what this world has not seen for over two hundred years. Upon hearing this, I figured her mad with old age. As you grew, however, I began to realize that the Elder Mage had been right. You possessed no magical skill.

 

"When you came to Orbian to train as a Harper, I knew that I was letting you go for a much greater cause." he continued, sucking on his pipe. "At the time I had no real clue what it was. When Sala was born, I knew but could not be so sure. So I bided my time. As she grew older and her musical gift with it, I knew from my watchers that it was just as I had thought."

 

He paused to look at the two young people before him. Talvar squeezed Gemma's shoulder. Sathin had told the young man to be prepared to face anything when he married the daughter of a Draega. A faint smile touched his lips as he remembered the young man's reaction when he'd seen how Gemma changed from human to a lovely, grey she-wolf. Sathin quickly erased the smile from his face. There was no reason to smile as of yet.

 

"Gemma, you know that our pack was the guardian of the most powerful and feared magical objects in all of Ravika." Sathin said.

 

"The Four Orbs." Gemma breathed. "They're gone!"

 

Sathin nodded. "Yes, through much fault of our own. They were stolen from us and we must retrieve them."

 

"What does that have to do with Sala?" Talvar demanded.

 

"Sala is the one who can retrieve them." the old Mage replied.

 

Gemma's eyes widened in realization. "Sala is..." her voice caught in her throat.

 

"A Traevakin." Sathin whispered.

 

Gemma felt lightheaded. Her daughter was the legendary Song Enchantress. Talvar had heard the word once, but couldn't really grasp the importance of it. They sat in strained silence. Sathin sucked on his pipe, sending a ring of smoke floating up to the ceiling.

 

"It is her power, Shining Light." Sathin said. "It is her destiny."