The Stranger

This is an alternate beginning to my The Destroyed Trilogy.

I wrote this for my creative writing class. Please comment with questions and critique.

The Stranger

By: Mary Cecil

Our mornings always begin with breakfast. Father is always the second to rise and usually rises almost as early as me, so I’m careful to have breakfast ready for him. That way he can eat before working with the horses in the cool morning air. I quickly started breakfast and rushed in order to finish a hefty portion in time. Father sat down at the table, and I placed a full bowl in front of him. He chuckled as I turned back to finish cooking the remaining portion for myself.

         “I’m going to get fat if you keep feeding me like this,” he said as he started to fill his mouth. I chuckled lightly, but I knew he would eat it all. He definitely needs it, with all the work he does every day with the horses he raises. He will be back for lunch and eat just as much.

         I filled my own bowl and sat down to eat with him for a while. It was silent. It usually was at the table. Meals were brief; our days were busy, and our conversations usually happened elsewhere. When father finished, he stood, leaving his bowl at the table.

         “Have you decided on what we will have for lunch?” he asked, setting his hand on my head as he walked passed. I shook my head in the time it took me to swallow before responding.

         “No, do you want anything in particular?” I said looking up to him. He paused to think for a moment.

         “How about you go into town and pick out something nice for us to eat, hm? I am getting tired of all of this pottage and bread,” he said digging out a handful of golden koins. I smiled brightly and looked up at him. His lightly tanned face smiled at me, wrinkling up his face and making him appear older than he actually was. His black hair was scattered with grays, but he never seemed to act as old as he appeared.

         “Really? I get to decide?” I said almost unsurely.

         “Yes. Anything you want, Lynya, as long as you doesn’t start thinking I can afford Cygnet ,” he said smiling into my bright green eyes. He was joking of course. No one in the Havrile market could ever afford to get their hands on any meat as fine as that. I smiled brightly, so he smiled too.

         “Have something ready by noon, will you?” he said gently rubbing his hand in my strawberry-blonde hair. He started out the door, but he paused again. “And go get dressed, the sun is already up,” he said seriously. I looked out through the doorway, and the sun was gleaming yellow and orange across the streets already. I nodded to him, and he headed out for the morning.

         As soon as he was gone, I dressed and cleaned the dishes from breakfast. Once they were finished, I headed to town joyously. I stepped out into the streets with a clean white and brown dress on. The streets I knew very well since I’d lived here all my life. I looked down into my hand where I held and was counting the golden koins my father had given me. As I counted, I could see the dry streets and bottoms of the wooden houses that lined the thin streets to this small town. I noticed my father had given me plenty of koins to buy some meat for lunch with, probably something he did on purpose to I could buy myself a treat in town.

Suddenly my whole body rammed into someone on the street. Upon our clothing touching, a strong shock jump between us. The shock entered through my chest and ran up into my head, where my head began to throb. I fell back onto the ground, almost breathless. The shock had been so strong; it felt like someone had punched me in the chest.

         I looked up at the man I’d run into. He was extremely tall, and from the ground looked like a giant. He was obviously muscular but hidden by the grey cloak he wore. He had a long broadsword at his hip and lowered his hood to reveal a deviant wide grin. His appearance was ragged but cute, with defined cheek bones and jaw line. The man’s brown hair fell to his ears, and he looked to haven’t shaved in a few days. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, approximately ten years older than myself.

         I shivered despite the warm weather. This man was a magician; that much I knew by the shock I’d just experienced but his power was  no where comparable to mine. He was most likely a rider; possible one of the Dragon riders that fought for the kingdom, someone my father warned me never to fight against. What was a dragon rider doing here though?

I froze; I didn’t know what to do. I knew, standing, apologizing, and walking away would be the best method to ignore this confrontation, but this man, the way he was staring me, something in his eyes, made me freeze. I sat on the ground looking up at the man with my hand clenched around the koins my father had given me.

         “Somehow, I thought this might be more difficult,” he said kneeling down to my level. I jumped but was still held frozen by his gaze. “Wow, your eyes are unmistakable; you have to be the woman I’m looking for,” he said so casually. This statement gave me a shiver that freed me from my frozen state. I kicked my foot out and pushed myself backwards; he must have seen my eyes widen.

         He chuckled softly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said holding out his hand. I hesitantly reached out and took it. Gently, he helped me back to my feet. I brushed the dirt out of my dress the best I could, but I kept my eyes on the man before me.

         “I’m sorry for running into you, but I should get going. I’m meeting someone in town,” I said stepping to the side to go around him. He threw his hand out to block my path. Instinctively, I took a couple steps back, and he chuckled again. Somehow, I’d guessed he didn’t plan on just letting me walk by. My body was tense and ready to defend myself.

         Suddenly, everything started to happen so fast. From my right, two voices called out to me. The first one was female, “Lynya!” It was Ana, my best friend. All would have been fine, but another voice called out; this one was deep and masculine, “Lynya, are you alright?” Leo called out in a gentle voice.

         I saw nothing change in the man’s eyes. His outstretched hand began to glow, and from the palm of his hand, a red sphere grew and shot in their direction; His response appeared to be reactive, not specifically intentional.

“NO,” I called out as I threw my hand out, letting the koins fall to the dirty streets, and placed a force field before them. It was an average force field but this man’s attack made it crumble. His attack shot right through, but my force field slowed it down enough so that both Ana and Leo could side step it. I felt like someone had punched a hole in my chest; my strength wavered, so I fell back onto the ground once again.

“Lynya, NO,” I heard father cry out from my left. I turned in his direction, and he was sprinting toward me. He raised his hand and placed a force field between the man and myself. I looked up at it and found his strength radiating off it. This was the most powerful force field I’ve ever seen him conjure, but why? Does he know this man?

         The man reached his hand out toward the force field. Before his hand reached it, his whole arm began to glow, and his bare hand pushed right through the force field. His smile widened as my eyes did the same. This man shattered my father’s force field with such ease. Who is he? More importantly though, what does he want with me?

         Before I knew it, my father swept me up in his arms and jumped back from the man standing before us. Father carried me like he had when I was a child when I’d hurt my ankle on the beach. From in his arms, he quickly got me to my feet.

         “Go inside, Lynya,” he said nodding toward the doorway into our house. In my hesitation, the man spoke.

         “Lynya, so that is her name; a beautiful name and very fitting of her,” he said gently. He glanced at me as he spoke but turned to my father when he continued. “Honestly, I was hoping you would have made this easy on me and just not have been home,” he said starting to draw the broadsword at his hip.

“Lynya, GO,” father yelled this time. I jumped at his tone but did as he instructed. I entered the house with one thought on my mind; father did not have his sword with him and his sword was inside of the house.

         I immediately retrieved it and returned to the front door. I could see my father still stood in front of the door when I cracked it. The man gave me a glance but turned back to my father when he spoke.

         “If you make me fight you, she will never trust you,” father was quick to say.

         “I know,” he said casually. “That is exactly why I wish you hadn’t shown up. I’m still not exactly sure how I’m going to pull this off. The most important thing though is that she is safe; if I must sacrifice her trust in me for that, please don’t think I won’t hesitate,” he said seriously and giving me a quick glance. His tone was dark. What the hell were they talking about?

         “She was safe here with me until you showed up. You’ll most likely lead him right to her,” my father said energetically.

         “He would have found you eventually, and he would kill her just for being related to you. Just face it; you are not strong enough to protect her anymore.”

         “Exactly how do you know anything about me?” my father said defensively.

         “I grew up in that castle and walked by your picture every day. I have to say though I’m surprised you’ve decided to grow older; I almost didn’t recognize you,” the man said simply. “Now step aside, old man. You don’t have near enough strength to try to defeat me.” The man stepped forward, but father did not budge. I could easily see his hand at his side through the cracked door; it trembled. I know this was not like my father, so this man must simply be that terrifying.

         “You talk of protecting her, but you, you let an entire nation of people go to hell and for what…” my father yelled. I saw the man’s eyes widen and suddenly thin, and somehow I knew my father had said something unforgivable. With his sword in his left hand, the stranger swung at my father’s right shoulder. I didn’t have time to draw the sword in my hand, so instead, I stepped outside, pushed my father to the right, and caught the man’s sword in my left hand.

         The man froze, as did I. His sword tore into my hand, and blood dripped to the ground. I flinched at the pain but refused to let myself cry out. The man surprisingly didn’t pull his sword violently out of my hand; instead he watched me to see what I would do. I figured my hand was already bleeding, so I took a strong grip on the sword and tried to pull it from his grasp. His hold on it though stayed strong, and I only deepened the scars on my hand. Finally, I stopped pulling and opened my hand. The man instantly pulled his sword back and distanced himself from me.

         “Lynya, get back inside,” my father yelled.

"No,” I said strongly. I knew better than to tell him this normally, but this man…By what I heard of their conversation, he only spoke of protecting me, so I don’t think he will hurt me. He allowed me to cut my own hand in an attempt to take his sword from him, but he was obviously just trying to make sure he didn’t have to go up against two swords without one.

I used the back of my hand to unsheathe my father’s broadsword, and I raised it with my right hand toward the man.

“Who are you, and what do you want?” I said strongly. The man chuckled. I am sure though a woman, such as myself, in a dress and holding a sword was something he found amusing, but my father had trained me to use his sword as well as my own magic. Magically he seemed to focus more on protection and suppression, but I could definitely fight with a sword.

“I have to say I’m surprised you are strong enough to hold a sword in only one hand,” he said, finishing with another chuckle. His statement was understandable. I was approximately half of his size in build, but I was still young and growing. My small petite frame was almost deceiving though; I am stronger than I look.

“Answer my questions,” I said standing strongly and trying to get my trembling voice to match my stance. The fact I could fight with a sword still didn’t change the fact, I was no match for this man magically. I am only trusting that he will not harm me, when in fact he might harm me and just not kill me.

The man chuckled again and stepped forward. I tensed but shook it off, trying to stay strong. The man stayed silent until the tip of my sword could reach his neck. I jumped when he raised his arm and wrapped his hand around the blade of my father’s sword, gripping it tightly. His grip was so strong he drew blood, but he didn’t flinch in pain. He smiled, and I become more uneasy.

Suddenly, he ripped the sword from my hand and took another step forward, “You see, I have time to explain everything to you later. But we really should get out of here before, we make too terrible of a scene,” he said so calmly. He started to reach his hand out toward me, and naturally, I scrambled backwards fearfully. This man’s strength was already fearful, but his confidence was overwhelming. Father instantly pushed himself between us and stood strong.

The man chuckled longer than usual. He glanced at me then faced my father.

“I told you, old man. You are not strong enough to defeat me alone,” he said raising his palms to the sky. In that instant, the ground trembled as a large black dragon landed behind him. The dragon leveled houses under his feet, and his tail flattened anything behind him. The black dragon had a single line of spikes going down his back and a long, rounded head with slitted red eyes that glared down at my father and I.  Stepping toward my father, I placed my hand on his shoulder; he no longer trembled.

“I am not alone as you think,” he said strongly. Suddenly the ground rattled under our feet again. Directly behind me, I heard a crash. Pieces of rubble and fragments of wood flew around my father and I in all directions. I hesitantly turned around. Behind a thin yellow force field a giant scaly leg climbed up to large silver dragon’s body. The dragon’s leg appeared to have landed on the roof of our small house, the house my father build with his own to hands, and he appeared to have crashed in the roof. The front wall of the house was still standing, but it was most likely the only wall still standing.

The dragon’s head curled above father and I, and he let out a bellow that made my rib cage rattle in my chest. The dragon’s ocean blue eyes glared down at me before facing the stranger with another roar.

I backed up against my father, still watching the dragon that stood behind him. Why would this dragon stand behind us protectively? Whose dragon is this? What has father been hiding from me all of this time? He lets his back stay turned to this dangerous dragon without a thought.

I listened to the screams and panic of the town at the sight of two dragons just about to face off near the edge of the city, but I still kept my eyes on this dragon. I often saw him glancing down at me all the while he snarled at the stranger’s black dragon. Why? Why does this dragon snarl towards me? Why does he seem to hate me?

I jumped back in focus when the dragons suddenly leapt at each other. Their fight climbed to the sky and stayed hidden behind the clouds. I turned and looked over my father’s shoulder when the stranger chuckled.

“Even though your dragon is stronger than mine, don’t think that puts you on equal footing as me,” he said with a grin. Suddenly the air became heavy all around us. The weight seemed to be far too much for my father almost instantly. He fell to the ground face first.

I was panicked. This is impossible. Why was my father on the ground and not I? He was always stronger than me, always. I jumped when I saw the stranger move out of the corner of my eye. He was approaching me casually. I stepped back a couple steps until I found myself cornered against the remaining front wall of my house. My hands were shaking as I tried to create an attack to defend myself, but I could only create sparks I was in such a panic.

The stranger chuckled, “I told you not to be afraid. I am not here to harm you.” He stopped a short distance from me. I jumped when he reached toward his throat and yanked a diamond from around his neck. It was a large, and it suddenly began to glow within his hand. With that, a thick, strong yellow force field surrounded us; trapping myself in with the stranger and locking my father out. The force field was shaped similar to a dome, and it was approximately twelve feet in diameter.

My father sudden got to his feet, as if the pressure that had been forcing him down had disappeared. From the other side, I heard him call out my name gently. The stranger must have seen me looking to my father, because he gave his own glance to him, showing off his smirk. My father’s face suddenly tensed, and right before my eyes he disappeared. When I turned to the stranger, I found my father suddenly standing between us.

The stranger on the other side of him chuckled, “I’m impressed. I should have guessed you would pick up on at least some of the morm techniques; I am surprised though that you have learned one of their most difficult abilities. Unfortunately, for you, I can see that it is limited. It is exhausting and from the looks you can barely stand as it is. I don’t think you can do it again.”

He switched the crystal in his hands to his right hand. His muscles tensed and I could tell he was about to step forward. “Too bad though that you could never keep up with me,” he said suddenly disappear into darkness. In the blink of my eye, he was suddenly directly before me.

I jumped and tensed, pressing back into the wall that trapped me. He smiled and started to raise his hand up to my face. I turned my head to the side, trying to avoid his hand as much as I could, and he stopped. I faced him once again, this time looking him deep in the eyes. I found his eyes were absolutely mesmerizing. His eyes were two different colors. His left was blue, and his right eye was gray. As I looked into his eyes, I swore I found his right eye swirling like the dark clouds did before a storm. I couldn’t turn away on my own.

Suddenly, I jumped with the sound of a dragon’s screech. A large white dragon, one so large that he changed my definition of it, roared as it appeared to be aiming to land on the force field. Instead of landing though, his claws shattered through it. Suddenly the whole force field began to shatter and fall all around us like glass. impulsively, I crouched down and covered my head. I felt the glass like remains cut my arm in one place, but once everything passed, I looked up.

The gigantic white dragon stood defensively over me now, growling and snarling at the stranger who appeared to have distanced himself from me, and I was grateful that he had. The whole right side of his body was covered in blood. His hand was glowing and slowly, the pieces of his hand were being put back together. The diamond was no more, and it appeared to have exploded in his hand.

It didn’t take the stranger long to recover, but his body was tense. His actions were no longer confident. The man stood watching the white dragon, waiting for it to move.

The stranger grunted, as if growing bored with the dragon’s bellows. He suddenly disappeared in darkness. As if moving at speeds faster than my eyes could comprehend, the dragons long white tail was before me. It was swung outward, and the stranger suddenly appeared before it. The spikes on the dragon’s tail dug into the man’s stomach and slung him backwards. The stranger went flying into the rubble his dragon had made. Instead of getting up and standing like a normal person, he disappeared and reappeared standing a distance away, facing me.

“Lynya,” my father called out. My father suddenly appeared before me and swept me up. This time, he disappeared with me in his arms and teleported us both away from the large white dragon. He was trembling again and couldn’t take his eyes off of the dragon.

The stranger turned to my father. “I will not give up, and there will come a day when even he won’t be able to stop me,” he said motioning toward the white dragon.

“You will be stopped every time,” my father said strongly.

“Definitely not by the likes of you,” he said darkly. The ground trembled when the strangers black dragon landed beside him; my father held me closer, I still being held in his arms like a little girl. The stranger mounted his dragon at the base of his neck where the spikes that went down the dragon’s body length were absent. The rider and his dragon left the only town I’ve ever known, Havrile, in pieces.

My father finally set me on my feet but kept me by his side. He continued to look at the white dragon who stood proudly in the distance who also looked in our direction. His head was a long rectangle shape, but well rounded especially at his snout. Two horns on either side of his head spiraled around on the sides of his head. Layers of spikes lined his back, the largest on the top of his neck growing smaller until the tip of his tail, except at the base of his neck; the spikes were only half as tall as the ones around them. This wasn’t like the other two dragons that appeared here, but this dragon’s eyes were different too. His eyes were a deep, blood red, but, at least from a distance, were gentle.

I wanted to approach this dragon, seeing it had just saved us both from that man, but when I stepped forward my father pulled me back.

Suddenly, the silver dragon landed between us, standing as tall as he could considering he was still smaller than the white dragon. The dragon snarled defensively at the mysterious white dragon. The white dragon didn’t seem fazed by the silver dragon’s threats, but still opened its wings and leapt into the sky.

The silver dragon then turned to us and waited, as if waiting for instruction. I jumped when my father began to speak in a language I couldn’t understand. It was a simple, short phrase; most likely a thank you for saving us.

“Father, what is going on? Who was that man?” The questions went on but in my mind that was the most important one. Who he was might explain what he might want with me, but my father’s answer was simple and explained little.

“That man was Zain,” he said simply. I jumped and tensed, unable to keep myself from stepping backwards. I knew that name well; I knew only what my father taught me, and that name among his father’s and his grandfather’s was often used in the stories of the past my father told me. Zain was the sole heir to the Syl kingdom.

Three nations were born out of the wreched Syl kingdom, but slowly Zorz, Zain’s grandfather, and Zordian, Zain’s father, have taken all but one out. Ceodia, the kingdom I’ve lived in all of my life, is the last one remaining. We are preparing for the inevitable battle for when Syl attacks to force our submission back under its rule.

This man’s name though still does not explain what he might want with me. The prince to the Syl kingdom has invaded Ceodia and sought out me; why?

“What does he want with me?” I asked gently, wonder if I would really want the answer.

“At first, I thought he wanted your power, but when he didn’t kill you on the spot, I…”

“What power father? What power are you talking about? You know my power better than anyone else. I cannot…even defeat you…but earlier…” my voice was getting louder, but with it came an unstoppable gasping for air.

“Calm down, Lynya,” father said stepping in toward me. He placed his hand on my chest, pressed inward, then released. With that my breathing slowed and slowly returned.

“What does he want then? If he’s not here to kill me, what does he want?” I said trying to stay calm. Why was he looking for me?

“I’m afraid he might be planning much worse for you,” he said almost darkly. I tensed; worse…than death? The only thing worse than death is enslavement.

“Come on,” he said turning and starting toward the silver dragon.

“Where are we going?” I said hesitantly, still taking in everything and ignoring everything still not explained. He stopped walking to speak but didn’t turn to me.

“He is right, Lynya; I am not strong enough to protect you. I’m taking you somewhere safe. A friend of mine, someone you should probably meet, can and will protect you…and I think that is where I should leave you,” he said softly, trying to hide his last sentence.

“What? No,” I called out. He turned to me; his face was serious.

“I am only a weakness to you now, Lynya. You will grow stronger and only leave me behind; it is best for both of us if we stand together but from only a distance,” he said frankly. I didn’t know how to respond. “Come on,” he said turning back to the dragon.

“Father, who are you?” I said frankly. In all honesty, the father I knew raised and bred horses. He lived by my side, and I had no reason to question him, the magic we both had, or why he taught me to use his sword.

“This dragon is yours, isn’t he?” I said in the silence he left with a hesitant response.

“Yes, he is,” he said casually. I found it odd that I have never seen him. My father had taught me about dragon riders, obviously with experience; but he’d taught me that becoming a dragon rider was like giving away half of your own soul. It was not painful and not as terrible as it sounded, but your souls, your own and that of the dragon, blend in a mix of fate.

When he reached the silver dragon he pulled himself onto his back and turned back to me. I looked at my father differently now. This man that I’ve always known, I truly have never known. He’s hidden his past from me, and being a dragon rider, that could be centuries.

“Father,” I called out gently. “Who are you?”I heard my father sigh.

“You know me, Lynya. You just don’t know who I was in the past. I gave that life up for you, to protect you,” he said strongly.

“Then who were you, because this man standing before me isn’t the father I know,” I said strongly.

“I was a dragon rider for the Ceodian army. One of the king’s highest captain’s and closest friends,” he said simply. I took his answer and ignored the fact that I knew there was more to it than that.

“Who am I?” I asked softly as my head lowered.

“Lynya,” my father called softly. I could hear it in his voice, what he would say. He would go off about how I already knew who I was, but how could I?

“Who am I? What power could be so desirable that the Sylian prince would seek it out?” I said strongly.

“The power of the guardians,” father said simply. My head jumped up. The power of the guardians? My father had mentioned the word guardian to me once, during his lessons to me of the past. One guardian was created for each kind in order to protect them from wars against each other.

“What?”

“Lynya, you were born to be the second guardian of humans. No one knows how it has happened, but you are not the only one. All we do know is that, Zain is the other guardian for humans,” he said simply.

“What? Father…why wouldn’t you tell me something like this?” I asked with a tone so loud it was almost a yell. I wanted to take a step back, but I refused to let my father see me stepping away from him.

“Because I didn’t want this life for you! I didn’t want you to be fighting all of your life, so I abandoned my past life, even Zyxer, in order to hide you, protect you, and give you a chance at a real life,” he yelled. Sounds of life appeared all around us. I looked around and found the town had come back to life now that the large black dragon was gone, but my father’s dragon was causing curiosity. Everyone whispered, stared, and peeked around the wreckage of the town.

“Come on, Lynya. We should go,” he said simply.

“I have one more question,” I said strongly. I took a step forward and his dragon’s head snapped toward me. Silently, he raised his lips, aggressively showing me his teeth.

“Is that why your dragon hates me, because you abandoned him in order to protect me?” I asked softly.

My father sighed a response, “He doesn’t hate you, sweetie. Now come on, he won’t hurt you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because in the time we’ve been apart, he has gotten himself a daughter,” he said frankly. The dragon then turned to him and started growling. My father spoke to him in a foreign language he seemed to understand. When my father’s words finished, the dragon turned and faced the east.

“Come on, Lynya,” he said simply. He offered me his hand from on top of the dragon. I took it and he helped me on the dragon. He helped me keep my balance as the dragon took off into the sky.

My father had taught me well of the past, but now that I think about it, he would never explain how he knew it so well? Was he there living it? How old is he anyway?

He has hidden so much from me. I feel like I am only able to trust him because he is my father. He has suddenly become a stranger to me.

The man that appeared to us today, Zain, he was not trying to hide anything from me. He was only trying to protect me, just like my father. I have to say I am quite curious about him. What exactly did he want with me, and who was he and my father trying to protect me from? I wonder if we are anything alike, besides both being guardians. I wonder if we will ever meet again.