Chapter One
Key Story
Louie was a retired soldier, although he was not
especially old. Neither was he a young man. He still had the fitness
and
strength of a young man, but he had lost the spirit of the warrior.
He had
retired to a cottage in the middle of
nowhere where he could live as a hermit, and he grew black krim
tomatoes. He
lived this way with much contentment, until the day a girl fell from
the sky
and into his barrel of tomatoes.
She woke up
in a wooden chair, seemingly covered
in blood. No, not blood, not quite the right texture… she licked some
of the
redness off her finger. It was sweet and tasty, not blood. She wondered
why she
had just assumed it was blood.
The girl
tried to remember what had happened and
why she was here, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t remember anything, not
even
her own name.
A man walked
in. He was tall and muscular, and
he had white hair that was tied back into a ponytail, and he was
carrying a
mug.
He said
something in a language she couldn’t
understand, handing her the mug. There was a hot, red substance in it.
She took
a whiff of it and it smelt pleasant, but she didn’t take any. The man
took a
chair nearby and placed it in front of hers, and he looked at her
curiously,
again saying something in his own language.
‘I don’t
understand,’ she said. The man frowned,
and motioned towards the mug that she was holding. She took a sip. It
was hot
and pleasant, reminiscent of the red stuff that clung to her clothing.
Louie stared
at the girl as she sipped slowly at
the tomato soup. There was something strange about this girl. Falling
from the
sky was the first clue of her strangeness. Then, she spoke words in a
language
that sounded unlike any language he had ever heard before, and he had
heard
many languages.
He wondered
what he would do with her. He
couldn’t leave her by herself in the wilderness. Maybe he could take
her to the
nearest town on the off chance that someone might recognise her or take
her in.
Not now, though. Herle was the nearest town, and it took a couple of
days to
travel by foot; and she seemed to be in a state of shock. He would wait
a
couple of days, first. Some company for a couple of days wasn’t
unwelcome, even
if they couldn’t understand each other.
He pointed to
himself. ‘Louie,’ he said, as
clearly as possible. The girl looked at him blankly. He jabbed his
chest, and
repeated his name. ‘Louie.’ The girl repeated it slowly.
‘Loo-ee,’ she
said slowly. Louie smiled and
nodded his head, and then moved his hands towards her, indicating it
was her
turn. Her face fell, and she shook her head miserably. He tried again.
‘Louie,’ he
said, pointing to himself. He then
pointed at the girl.
‘Ka’eethi,’
she said. Louie smiled.
‘Ka’eethi,’
he said, smiling. He pointed to himself
again, ‘Louie,’ then at the girl, ‘Ka’eethi.’ The girl smiled sadly and
shrugged.
Ka’eethi was
“don’t remember” in her own
language. She knew what the man was doing, trying to exchange names,
but she
couldn’t remember her name. She tried to tell him that she couldn’t
remember,
but he didn’t understand, thinking she was telling him her name. It
didn’t
matter, though. Until she remembered, or someone who knew her told her,
she
would need to adopt a name, anyway, and Don’t Remember seemed somehow
appropriate.
Later that
night, Louie put quill to paper, and
began writing a letter to the Mayor of Herle.
Jack
Story
Jack was
passing through the city of Alagore. It
was crowded; Market places everywhere. Jack ignored the people who, a
month
ago, he would have examined with an ardent curiosity. A month ago it
still felt
like an adventure, now he was starting to get homesick. His mother was
probably
wondering where… Jack held back a chuckle. He would be home before his
mum even
realised he was gone. Why, he might even be home before he left!
He had his
fun. Now he would go home. He turned
around and… how would he get home? He couldn’t remember the way. He had
gone so
far, and he didn’t think to keep track; he just followed where his
instinct
took him, but his instinct didn’t know the way back.
Jack shrugged
off his worry. No big deal, he
just needed to catch up with the dark man. The dark man would be able
to take
him home with his magic. All he needed to do was quicken the pace and
continue
to follow his instinct. A little more journeying wouldn’t hurt.
SHIFT
The only thing left of the city was ruins;
burnt to the
ground. The ground was rotten; nothing would grow there anymore.
Pillars of
darkness replaced the destroyed buildings. A creature made of Shadow
stared at
him…
SHIFT
Jack rubbed
his eyes and looked up. The city was
still there, lively as ever. There was a young boy gaping at him. He
tugged at
his mother’s skirt and pointed at Jack.
‘What is it,
Pen? Don’t stare like that, it’s
rude,’ his mother said.
What just
happened? Jack closed his eyes and
shook his head. It was just his imagination. When he opened them again,
the
lady and her boy were gone.
Darcke
Story
A knock on
the door made Mayor Pottricko look up
from his desk. He was a short, skinny man, young for his position. He
was in
his office, scribbling at some documents when his secretary opened the
door.
‘Sir, there’s
a Mister Darcke here to see you.’
‘I don’t
recall making any
appointments with a Mister Darcke.’
‘He doesn’t
have an appointment, sir. Shall I
send him away?’
‘What? Oh…
oh, no. Never mind,’ He said,
frowning at the papers in front of his desk. He wouldn’t mind a
distraction
from his tedious paper work. ‘You might as well bring him in. But next
time,
make sure he has an appointment.’
A tall man in
dark clothing entered. He smiled
at the mayor, his face was calm and serene, and he said in a deep,
smooth
voice,
‘Thank you
for seeing me, Mister Mayor.’
Pottricko frowned up at him. He didn’t like tall men.
‘Sit down,
please.’ Mister Darcke sat down
at the chair in front of Pottricko’s desk. ‘What is it?’
Mister
Darcke’s calm face all of a sudden took
on an expression of worry.
‘I have a
terrible problem,’ he said. ‘I have
lost my daughter. I believe she may have gone in this direction.
‘I have not heard of anything about a lost
girl, I’m afraid. Why don’t you tell me about her? Her
name, her age, what she looks like...’
‘She’s
thirteen, and her name is Kei…’
‘That’s a
strange name.’
‘We’re
foreigners. Which brings me to something
else; she can’t speak Tellian. And she has brown hair…’
‘What
language does she speak?’ He asked,
frowning.
‘Err… Maji.’
‘Never heard
of it.’
‘Oh, not many
people have. We come from a very
small, unknown island to the West of here. And she has brown eyes… are
you
taking this down?’
After he left
the Mayor’s office, Darcke went to
the local inn, “The Green Gobbler” and hired a room for the night.
Upstairs, in
the privacy of the room, he relaxed, and his shape shifted. He was no
longer
Mister Darcke, but just Darcke. A humanoid-shaped creature, but black
as night.
He wished he
hadn’t told the mayor that the girl
spoke Maji. In this age the Maji were mostly forgotten, but there were
still a
few who may have heard something of the cursed race. The Mayor might
accidentally trip over some information, and then what? Of course, the
Mayor
wouldn’t be smart enough to work out the threat, or open-minded enough
to
believe it. But he might be stupid enough to wag his tongue. People
with the
skill to see hidden truths were rare in this age, but they weren’t
unheard of.
Even rarer were those who know the history of the World and of those
that
inhabit the Under; but Darcke knew of at least one who did.
He felt
pressure at the back of his skull.
‘But what
about…Argh!’ Darcke fell to his knees,
clasping the back of his skull with his hands. ‘Yes, I understand!’
The pain went
away, and Darcke knew what he had
to do.