The Adventure Continues
Part 2.
Jacob wasn't getting any better.
It had been two days since Tiera had built the shelter. She thanked the virtues daily that she had learned the ways of magic well enough to start a fire and was warrior enough to hunt and kill adequate food. However her praising of the virtues had not helped Jacob as he had not eaten in a day now and he slept nearly all the time. Tiera was concerned that he would soon slip into unconsciousness and not return. Once she had listened as a healer had spoken with the family of a man injured in a mining accident. The healer had told them to talk to their loved one, even if unconscious.
Tiera felt this had been wise advice then and now. She had been remembering her mother telling legends in the evening as she and her brothers lay before the fire and listened. To the children, it had been great scary stories of monsters and evil and of the triumph of the good and virtuous. Those stories had captured all their attention and energy. Perhaps they would do the same for Jacob. After the evening wood had been gathered, fire started, food cooked, water fetched, Tiera settle on a pile of leaves close to Jacob and began to tell her stories.
Part 3. The legend begins.
"Jacob, can you hear me? This is the story of long ago, The Age of Darkness. Great evil lorded over Sosaria and man and beast suffered under his cruelty; Mondain was his name. He was indeed pure evil and possessed the Gem of Immortality. Many feared his eternal rule." Tiera paused long enough to add wood to the fire and adjust her cloak over Jacob.
"Sosaria consisted of four lands. Akalabeth, The Lands of Danger and Despair, The Lands of the Dark Unknown and The lands of the Feudal Lords. Mondain's minions roamed the land bringing misery and death. Oh, but I get ahead of myself Jacob. It has been a few years since Watcher told us these tales." Tiera looked at Jacob hopeful for that exasperated look he always gave her when she rambled, but it was not there.
"Ah, well … I have much to tell you."
"I must go back further for you to understand things completely, to the times when the Wisps could speak with humans. It was during this time that the Wisps, keepers of the secret of Armageddon, made the mistake of teaching a human, Zog, I believe it was, this deadly secret. The human chose to cast the spell and life ceased to exist for a very long time. But as is the way of nature, life returned to Sosaria and the civilization resumed. It was this time that my people, the Elves, were at their most powerful. They lived in magnificent tree houses high above the earth. Life was just that … life; the inhabitants lived their lives and died for generations. It was also this time that Wolfgang, future king of Akalabeth was born. No one knew of the immense evil he would eventually bring forth on the world."
Tiera took a breath and paused to collect her thoughts.
"Wolfgang fulfilled his destiny of becoming king and he fathered two sons. The first, little is known of, but the second would change Sosaria; this son was Mondain. Evil embodied as a man, he would come to slay his father." Tiera paused again; frustrated that she kept jumping ahead and forgetting critical information.
"Ah, Jacob, perhaps it is good you cannot talk to me. I fear you would never give me peace about my story telling. Now where was I, oh, yes … Mondain. It was during the time before Mondain slew his father that a young man, Cantabrigian British, arrived in Sosaria from a strange land … and through a strange blue Moongate. He soon met Shamino Sallé Dacil, one of the two rulers of The Land of Danger and Despair. The two quickly become close friends and allies." Tiera shifted slightly and continued.
"At the age of fifteen, Mondain was told by his father, Wolfgang, that he was not to cast magic for one year. He was to live in an abbey and learn Compassion and Humility. It was then that he, Mondain, began to show his evil and ruthless nature. The very next night he killed his father, taking the ruby gem and his father's kingdom. Mondain used the ruby gem against itself and created a black stone he called the Gem of Immortality. As long as he possessed the Gem he would be invincible. He quickly began to rain terror upon the people of Sosaria and the Elven race was forced into a great and long downfall." This thought made Tiera somber. Her elfish ancestors must have suffered greatly under Mondain's reign. Tears of despair and sorrow fill Tiera's eyes for the first time since the shipwreck. She felt so alone and helpless. " Mother …" Tiera reached out for hope.
Part 4.
Watcher had listened intently to the tales of the local merchants. Their tales of unspoken evil and foreboding had made everyone uneasy. Watcher had been feeling the same but had just thought it to be her overactive intuitions. Now she was not so sure and she was in deep thought as she walked the path to Nen Amar. The night did not bother her, her Elven eyes allowed her to see as well as day. All creatures were her friends, it was man that had and would bring evil. She began to think of the stories she had been told as a child.
"Mother…" Watcher stopped quickly. She heard it, she knew she had heard her daughter call her, and with a tone of such hopeless desperation. Deep fear gripped Watcher and she realized that her child, her only daughter, was in danger. There would be no time to think or prepare. Watcher summoned A Whisper from her back and stroked the ethereal steed's strong neck. Quickly and silently they slipped through the Moongate and headed to the mainland.
Thank you for reading the next part of the story and to my real life daughter for her help editing this weeks submission. Much of the basic story/time line information was obtained from Wikipedia Timeline