Bard’s Tale: The Girl and Mage

He huddled in the corner, hair and beard straggly and uncut. Footsteps thudded down the stone corridor towards his end of the cellblock. Shadows fell across the bars of his prison, followed by two guards and a prisoner. One of the guards removed a ring of keys from his belt and opened the gate to his cell, stepping aside so the other guard could shove the prisoner in. 1

The young man stumbled in and fell to his knees. Tobias kept his attention on the guards as they relocked the cell and walked away. 2

“What did they throw a young man such as yourself in here for?” Tobias asked. He shifted gently so as not to jar his aching bones and leaned against the wall.3

The young man looked up at Tobias whose blind gaze was fixated unerringly on Jerryd. “They say I was attempting to start a revolt by publishing my theory. I’m a political studies and history major at the university and came across some discrepancies in the books I was looking through, I decided to write about them for my thesis.”4

“Is that so?” Tobias asked. “Just what sort of discrepancies might those have been?” 5

“There were a variety of differences on the history before the reign of the Ashtari family. Small notations on cultural and political differences for a brief while after the Great War,” Jerryd said. As he spoke he got up and moved to one of the bench like cots set up. 6

“Hmm, yes. Tell me Jerryd, would you like to hear a story?” Tobias asked.7

“I. . . how did you know my name?” Jerryd interrupted his own response with the question.8

Tobias smiled. “I saw your birth. I’ve seen a lot during my years. So much history. So much forgotten. Now, will you listen to my story?”9

“Yes.”10

"Laugh a bit and shed a tear.
For this is an adventure that took many a year,
And stole the lives of many held dear.
But listen close and you may hear,
A tale that will cause your hearts to cheer. 11

While I am trapped within an iron cage,
I shall tell what happened in that golden age.
Bring it to life as if turning the page.
Tell you the story of the girl and mage.12

Magnificent dragons that flew through the air,
Beautiful lasses with long golden hair.
A lonesome mage and a lady fair,
The world saved or destroyed by this unlikely pair.13

Drawn together by more than fate,
Bound by a love that evil did hate.
These two would fight to clean the world’s slate,
Before such beauty, evil could desecrate.14

To battles they were challenged, they fought, and won,
Dangers they faced and much good was undone.
Loved ones were lost to evil one by one,
Yet this tale is only just begun.15

Much more pain would there be,
When the lord, under a spell did decree,
That these two souls were the key,
And only their deaths would set the world free.16

Threatened by those they once fought for,
The girl and mage fled to a distant shore.
Fearing the future lost forever more;
They found hope again in a creature of lore.17

This great beast of power and might,
Gave them a reason to continue the fight.
Returned to them the strength of love and light,
And the will and perseverance to defeat evil of the night."18

~*~*~*~19

Kerylia’s reading was interrupted by the sound of pounding on the door. She glanced at the window, which showed an inky darkness indicating it was well past midnight and most of the palace should be asleep by now. Curious as to why someone was so knocking so insistently she set her book aside and moved toward the door. With her hand ready to pull open the door she was interrupted by a hiss from the secret passage between her and Awnyr’s rooms. 20

Pulling away from the door she turned to face Awnyr who emerged from the passage fully dressed with a packed bag in tow. 21

“What are you doing? Why are you packed?” She asked quietly assuming from his nearly silent entrance that quiet was necessary. After years of fighting and traveling together she had learned to read Awnyr without words. 22

“Get packed, we have to leave. I don’t know what happened but for some reason The King decided we’re to blame for everything,” Awnyr said as he pulled Kerylia’s pack from a trunk and started gathering clothes and supplies.23

“What? That’s ridiculous,” she replied even as she hurried to help pack.24

“Agreed, but that hasn’t stopped him from ordering our arrests. We have to leave. Now,” he added emphatically as the pounding on the door increased. 25

They slipped through the passage to Awnyr’s room where he’d already prepared a length of rope for them to climb out the window. Fortunately for them their rooms were on one of the lower levels so they didn’t have far to go before they were safely on the ground and sneaking to the stables to retrieve their horses. Careful not to wake the stable boys they mounted up and led their horses out a side gate and through the city. 26

Outside the city Kerylia turned to look back and asked, “What’s going to happen now?”27

“I don’t know,” Awnyr replied. “We’ll get away from here, and find out what’s going on. Then, we’ll fix it. That’s what we do after all isn’t it?”28

“I suppose it is,” Kerylia said sadly as she mounted up and turned away from the home they’d worked to protect, but somehow, hadn’t yet managed to save.29

~*~*~*~30

Kerylia pulled her cloak closer around her cold-wracked frame, hiding the rags that had once been a magnificent gown. She dug her feet into the sun-warmed sand and stared out at the sea. The light reflected in her eyes as wave after wave crashed onto the shore, redefining the coastline moment by moment. Tears clouded her eyes, blurring the hazy horizon. A gentle touch on her shoulder drew her attention back to Awnyr and she threw her arms around his neck, and sobbing into his shoulder. They stood like that for a few moments, he holding her and both aching with the pain of loss and remembrance. 31

“This is it. It’s all over and there’s nothing more we can do.” She pulled away, wiping her tears. 32

“Sh, no, it isn’t. We’ll think of something. We’ll find a way to make this right,” he replied. He had always been the quietly optimistic one supporting both of them while she was the public face and voice, reaching out to others to draw in as much support for their weight as possible. 33

“How?” she asked. “Everyone who’s ever helped us has finally been convinced it’s in their best interest not to aid us. We can’t do this by ourselves and you know it.” 34

“My you humans certainly do give up easily, don’t you?” A voice asked from behind them. 35

Kerylia let out a surprised gasp while Awnyr instinctively stepped in front to protect her from danger. They both retreated another few steps when they realized it was a dragon they faced. 36

The dragon lay on the sands, some 20 feet long, its horse shaped head resting on its forelegs. The sun shone dully off its scales, which were various shades of gold, and brown, though the most dominant color seemed to be a russet red. 37

“Sweet Justice ,” Kerylia said, eyes wide with fear and wonder.38

Awnyr stared into the dragon’s eyes, swirling orbs of silver and hidden depths of wisdom and knowledge. Awnyr took a hesitant step forward when it didn’t seem the dragon was going to harm them. “What are your intentions?”39

“I’m going to help you small delectable one,” it snorted with amusement. “Don’t worry, I haven’t actually eaten man flesh in centuries. The bones tend to get stuck between my teeth.”40

“Oh,” he replied. Curiosity overcame caution and he forced himself to ask, “Do you mind if I feel your scales?”41

The dragon let out a roar of amusement, hot air issuing forth from its snout. “Since you asked I suppose you may, but,” it paused and let a bit of teeth glimmer forth from between what could be considered lips. “You must oblige me by scratching between my eyes.”42

Awnyr smiled at this and reached up to do as the dragon demanded. “Thank you,” he said before pulling back in shock and bowing. “My apologies. We should have introduced ourselves. I am Awnyr Blaronst, a mage from Serisna, and this is the Lady Kerylia ni Merynian. We would be honored if you would grace us with your name.”43

The dragon nodded as she accepted their true names. “Your human tongues couldn’t pronounce my dragon name, but you may call me Zer.”44

Kerylia watched the interaction between the two grow more comfortable, as if their species weren’t polar opposites. “Wha. . . What?”45

Silver orbs and deep green eyes turned toward her questioningly. Kerylia pointed at Zer and said, “You, you just appeared out of nowhere! And you!” She pointed at Awnyr. “You’re more concerned studying some rare creature you should by all rights be terrified of then figuring out what we’re going to do next. There’s a crazy person running a kingdom with enough power to take over the rest of the continent and we’re just sitting here doing nothing because there’s nothing we can do and no one’s going to help us because they either believe we’re evil or are too scared of getting thrown out of their own comfortable lives to even look at us on the street not that we can show our faces to the general population anyway because there would be a mob and we’d be killed AND YOU SIT THERE IDLY CHATTING UP A DRAGON AS IF YOU DON’T HAVE A CARE IN THE WORLD!”46

Two pairs of eyes blinked slowly at this outburst.47

“Well, I didn’t really appear out of nowhere,” Zer said to the sand.48

“Ky, it’s going to be alright it really is, we’ll figure something out,” Awnyr said walking over and holding her close to quit her shaking. 49

“Indeed, because you two have forgotten something very important.”50

Awnyr and Kerylia turned to look at the dragon, utter confusion radiating off their faces.51

“There are still those in this world who will aid your cause. You just haven’t looked in the right places yet. This mad king of yours is more dangerous than even you can imagine and his advisor behind the scenes is of course worse,” Zer said. Its voice was calm, musical even as it pointed out the dead obvious to them.52

“But who?” Kerylia asked. “We have no way to convince the leaders of the surrounding countries to believe anything we say. We’ve lost any influence we might once have had. Our friends are too afraid to talk to us. There’s not going to be any underground movement, the King simply has too many spies.”53

“Not everywhere dear. You’re only looking at this from the human perspective. Unfortunately, the king’s advisor, whoever he may be, has enough power to ruin the lives of every magical being on the continent. He’s draining the land of magic and beings such as myself survive on magic, so I’m sure you’ll be able to find more than enough allies to help you fight. It just might take time, and it certainly won’t be easy.”54

“We. . .,”55

“Hadn’t even thought of that. Of course you hadn’t. You humans are always just thinking about yourselves. You never think about the impact your actions have on the land around you. You’re selfish fools who only want money and power. But to get it you destroy everything around you, and eventually that money and power will be completely useless because there will be nothing to influence, nothing to enjoy, nothing left to corrupt.” Zer let out an exasperated breath and stared past the two humans into the sea, and the sun slowly sinking out of sight. “I’m sorry, you’re trying to fix this mess, at least to an extent. You’re just all so short sighted. You understand that nothing happening right now is good, but you don’t comprehend the full extent of the damage that can be done. 56

“This advisor has more power than you’d dream. He’s calling on every evil force out there, promising it whatever it desires to fight on his side. He is a strong Chaos believer and wants to bring hell to earth. At this rate he might just succeed. Mythological creatures are few and far between, few of them are of any size to be considered formidable, though the smaller creatures can cause damage in their own fair ways. Most are peace-loving creatures or remain fairly neutral in most cases. The demons however care about nothing more than chaos, even at the expense of their own lives in the long run.”57

“So you want us to gather all the good little fairies and fauns and convince them to fight for us?” Kerylia asked sarcastically.58

Zer ignored Kerylia’s tone and responded as if it had been a serious answer. “And whoever else you can gather. Yes. Some of them are not currently aware of how dire this situation has grown, but I can help you to point it out to them. Follow me,” the dragon said. 59

Zer turned away from the sea and headed toward the cliffs a few hundred yards away, squeezing between spaces too small to contemplate. The dragon slithered farther and farther into the darkness leading them to its lair. 60

They stared in wonder at the gems and various artifacts gathered in neat piles around the cave they eventually came to. Glowing moss covered the walls lending an eerie golden glow to the entire space. Throughout the years Zer had evidently accumulated a large amount of treasure. Despite the belief some held that only certain dragons collected it seemed Zer was not one of the more sociable examples of its species. 61

“Ah yes, here it is.” Zer shuffled through some piles with her snout and rolled a small globe toward the pair. 62

Awnyr picked the globe up and was immediately assaulted by images. Burning villages, bodies spread across the land, the sky darkened to black by all the smoke, screams echoing. 63

“Careful with that,” Zer said as the globe fell from his fingers. “It’s only a simple seeing orb, but there are few left in the world. Not many are interested in replicating it’s magic. It can show what the world is currently leading toward. At least the most likely outcome. You’ll have to carry it with you to convince those less ready to accept the truth. It may take years for either army to gather enough strength to begin any sort of battle, but we have to be ready. 64

“You must spread the word of what is happening and gather as many humans, humanoids and mythological creatures to your side as you can. Some have already begun preparations. The dwarves are in the mines designing and creating weapons, training as well. You’ll find others of their ilk, more inclined toward battle that will be easy to convince. But creatures such as the fairies will be more difficult; they also see things in a much more short-term fashion and will be content to wait things out. You must have their aid. Every little bit of magic helps and as small and abhorrent as they are, they will prove useful.”65

The two stared at the dragon for a bit taking it all in. They’d been fighting for years, but this was different, more immense. Bigger than they were. Bigger than they could handle. 66

“We,-” Kerylia paused, “We do still have some connections in the cities. Perhaps if we can get word to them secretly,-” She looked at Awnyr. “We can do this, we have to do this.”67

~*~*~*~68

"And so our heroes set forth anew,
To find the allies that they must woo.
Though day and night evil would pursue,
For all they held dear they would stay true."