The Guardian Bond: Prologue

Lady Jahar was lounging in her favorite chair, an overstuffed chair in the sitting room of Almarin Manor.  She sat slouched sideways; a leg thrown over one arm of the chair, the toe of her booted foot almost reached the floor.  Before her, the rough stone fireplace consumed the ash logs laid on the hearth. She had her head leaned on the opposite heavily cushioned arm and watched the flames dance, her golden eyes glowing with the reflected light. She toyed with the end of her wrist-thick chestnut colored braid, which was pulled over one shoulder and coiled in her lap. She was about to get up when Storm stalked in through the open door.
First Thunderstorm of Spring was a very small female dragon. She was all black with silver frosted scales on her chest. Storm, smallest of the large dragon pride that resided on the estate lands, was used as the messenger since her size allowed her to move about inside the manor. The dragon had a haughty attitude and a direct way of sending, that would have probably made most people think she was being rude, Jahar knew that Storm just did not like her station and could appreciate that. The small dragon crossed the room and sat directly in front of Jahar, drawing up to its full-seated height. Storm's matching golden eyes fell on Jahar's challengingly.

"Thunderstorm." she said nodding to the dragon in front her, not sitting up from her casual position.

Thunderstorm replied with an image of Jahar's eyes and face, instead of words, most dragons had no use for human words. "Sister two legs."

"What can I do for you Thunderstorm?" Jahar asked.

"One of your villagers killed Mountain Stream." sent as an image of a man with a bow and arrow shooting a silver and blue dragon, then an image of the man among buildings.

"I am sorry to hear that. Was there cause?" Jahar replied.

"No! He was doing nothing wrong! “A silver and blue dragon sunning on a hill.”You said that if we remained close and watched your estate that you in return would protect us."  A large pride of dragons circling the manor and then, Jahar speaking to a crowd of people surrounded by buildings. Bursts of feeling punctuated the images; mostly there was anger, sadness, fear, disappointment.

"What would you have me do about this?" Jahar asked cautiously.

"Kill him." an image of Jahar ripping out the man's throat with her teeth, anger strong. “...or allow us to." an image of Jahar shoving the man toward the pack of dragons, the pride tearing the man apart, a feeling of satisfaction.

"And if I do not?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at the small black dragon.

"I have been advised by the Highest to tell you that that we will leave," sending an image of a huge red and gold dragon and the pride walking away from the manor, "You know that you cannot stop us. Your coin does not work on us." an image of Jahar holding her coin with her hand held up in front of her and the dragons walking right by her, accompanied by determination and pride.

As Jahar stood up, the end of her long braid brushed to the top of her calf-high leather boots. She walked over to the hearth and leaned on the mantle, looking into the fire. Jahar sighed, “As you wish, I will have him arrested and you can have him." She said, sounding bored.

Thunderstorm nodded, sniffed, and left. After the dragon had left she fingered the coin hanging from her neck and thought resentfully, “It’s a shame that it does not work on you, you smug little lizard."

Jahar had acquired her rare talent of dragon-speech during her womanhood ritual. Her ritual guide had bitten her during the ritual and she had changed. When she had emerged a woman, her blue eyes had turned to a brilliant gold, which shone and glowed in even the faintest light. Jahar had later found out, that she was the only human who was currently able to speak to dragons. Other people before her could speak to them, but it seemed that there was usually only one dragon-speaker at a time, according to the dragons.

She regarded the dragons with mixed feelings, some interest, and some fear, along with other emotions that she kept to herself. She stood for a long while staring into the fire, still fingering the coin about her neck. The coin was the first thing of power Jahar had collected. She wore it on a thick gold chain; it was also made of gold with a small hole in the middle, and engraved all around on both sides with some unknown markings. She remembered the day she had found it vividly.
 
Lady Jaharwynn Almarin had been on the beach with her caretaker Questa, when she had found the coin buried in the sand. Questa was a very strict caretaker who served no one, least of all a child defying her direction. Jahar had run to Questa to show it to her and asked her what it was."Looks like an old coin dear, but I have never seen one with these markings." Questa had said and handed the coin back to Jahar. Jahar had put it on a piece of ribbon from her hair and tied it around her neck. A short time later Questa announced that it was time to head back to the manor, but Jahar was not ready to go. This was when she had found out that the coin seemed to make people want to serve the wearer out of devotion. "We will stay here longer." Jahar had simply said, while holding the coin between her fingers. Then she stood in shock as Questa replied, "As you command, so do I obey, I live only to serve you my lady."
Her collection now also included people; these were her most prized possessions. Using her coin, which never left her neck, she had collected a very powerful set of allies. Also many personal servants, for those she collected both male and female specimens that were particularly beautiful. These were so heavily devoted that they catered to her every whim and command eagerly. Some of them were even of noble birth, lords or ladies, before they came to serve her.

Her pretties, as she called them, all wore sheer white robes that almost showed their nakedness beneath. Four of her pretties attended her this evening; they stood against the wall on each side of the entrance. Each one of them waited eagerly for their turn to serve her. Two women and two men today, they waited silently staring at Jahar as though she were the Oricle made flesh.

Her collection had been encouraged by her uncle, Lord Davlor Almarin, who had raised her.  She had never known her parents; her uncle had said that they had died soon after she was born. She had gotten her sword on her sixteenth birthday and had reached the level of blademaster by her ritual day. Then Davlor had died soon after she became a woman. She had been a woman for several years, but running the estates was time consuming no matter how many pretties she had. She drug herself from her memories back to her current issues. She took a deep breath and sighed, then looked over at her pretties by the door.

She snapped her fingers and one male Pretty came to stand before her. She took the time to admire his beauty. Danias was a tall young man with sandy blonde curls and sea green eyes. He had a handsome face and a muscular body with creamy skin. Danias, once the heir to a noble house, was now another prized pretty in Jahar's collection. He looked at her adoringly. "Danias please go and tell the watch captain to go to the village. Tell him I said to offer a reward for the archer who shot a dragon this morning, and to have him brought here to me. Then you may retire." “As you wish my lady." he said as he bowed to her, then turned toward the door and left. She watched him go smiling, as she thought to herself, "No need to use the coin on that one anymore." 

She snapped her fingers three more times and the other three pretties hurried to line up in front of her. She looked over them slowly, appreciating their beauty. The first was a young woman of average height with waist-length, straight, black hair and liquid blue eyes. Named Lanya, she was slim with darkly tanned skin. The second, Hanarra, once a noble also, was in her late twenties. Her bright red curls hung just past her shoulders and she had eyes the color of amber. Hanarra had fair skin and a very curvy figure. The last, Kelvon, was once a temple Keeper. He was a strapping, wide-chested man, with a chiseled muscular body. He had short curly black hair and chocolate eyes, which were set in a very handsome face.

"Remove your robes and entertain me," she ordered, not bothering with the coin. With no hesitation, they dropped their robes and kneeled before her on the rug in front of the hearth, and then the three began to caress and kiss one another. Jahar returned to her chair and smiled broadly, as she resumed her previous position. She knew that they would continue this and more, until she told them to stop or they could physically continue no more. They had no thought for pain, hunger, or sleep, as long as she was pleased. That did please her and she continued to smile, as she enjoyed her entertainment.


* * *

As Aylane Darken walked the path to her favorite pond, deep in the Forest of her family estate, she took in the nature all around her. The deep blue sky, the leaves on the trees and bushes in a hundred shades of green. From everywhere, the smell of flowers drifted on the light shifting breeze. An ever-changing kaleidoscope of scents and colors, reds, blues, purples, pinks, and every other color in every imaginable shade. Around her, she could see and smell the flowers of the Darken family gardens. Roses, poppies, Flax, violets, so many varieties of flower there were too many to count. As custom demanded, every woman of the Darken family to reach Keeper added their own type of flower to the garden. As she walked, she pondered on her life in general and what her selection of flower would be to add to the family gardens. Every Keeper added his or her own type of plant to the garden.

Aylane's mind also kept wondering to the womanhood ceremonies, no one talked about what happened inside the temple after the public ceremony was over, ever. Everyone in the Valley of Legosia had been in the temple, at one time or another, for at least one ceremony. There were many ceremonies: Birth, death, womanhood, manhood, and marriage were some, but of all of them, the womanhood ceremony was the biggest secret. The only thing that any woman knew was that, after the public ceremony, the soon to be woman entered the temple with her court of women assistants. Then, just before dark, the assistants left the woman alone, for a full night and a full day. The next evening there was another short ceremony, and then for royalty like her, three days of celebration. All women had their womanhood ceremony on or after their nineteenth birthday. Tomorrow, by order of the Oricle, would be Aylane's womanhood ceremony, at the age of seventeen and a half, Early but nessecery. Her grandmother, Jazeira Darken, now cared for her and her sister Tirania. Jazeira was currently the ruling Keeper, but was getting too old to handle the strain of Keeper of the entire valley. Therefore, Aylane had no choice but to begin early.

Tirania, her younger sister, was one of a chosen few who had been born with the Oricle spark. She received fortellings from the Oricle, but so far did not remember them. Jazeira said that she was too young for her to recall them for more than a day. Most people born with the spark were women and it usually showed up in the late teens, but Tiri, as she was called, had showed it at the young age of ten. She had very little control when it came to communing, but she could commune with the Oricle if she tried really hard. Now at 15 it was still not easy but she was improving more rapidly the more mature she got.

Aylane was secretly a little envious of her, but she was soon to be Keeper. Their mother had been Keeper, but since she had died, it was now to be Aylane’s job much earlier than expected. You could not become an apprentice for Keeper until you had reached adulthood; this was why her ritual was allowed to be set for tomorrow. Although she understood this, she was still nervous about the ceremony and wondered why it was all a big secret. Things happened in there. Things, which women knew about, but they would not share with another soul. It scared her to death, but she would not let it show, she could not let it show, she was a lady after all.

“I think Gardenia will be the flower I choose, tomorrow." Aylane said to no one as she walked and thought. Her womanhood ceremony was set for tomorrow, she cringed at the thought of not knowing what to expect. She shook off the thoughts and the almost tangible weight of her duties to the valley. She looked around her, butterflies and other buzzing things flitted from flower to flower in the garden. A few deer on the far side of the open meadow lifted their heads to watch her pass. A couple of strides to her left, among the knee-high grass and wild flowers, she noticed that something seemed to be following her. She stopped. It stopped. She could not see what it was so she presumed that it must to be very small.

"Probably just a squirrel or something" she said to herself. She kept walking toward the trees that hid the pond where she was going to take a swim. Experimentally she took a few more steps, the same; it followed and stopped as she did. Aylane started to get a little nervous. She decided to run a little, and took off toward the trees at the edge of the woods. The bending trail followed her step for step. She skidded to a halt at the edge of the woods. The trail of bending grass came right to the end of the grass but Aylane did not see anything come out. Aylane now became nervously curious. She slowly crept toward the trail in the grass, until she was right at the end of the trail of bent grass. Aylane examined the grass trail and the ground near the end of it. She found tiny footprints in the sandy wooded floor, Prints but no animal.

"It could not have just disappeared!" she said aloud. She turned and walked back to the path she had come from, and then she turned back toward the meadow and stared at the end of the grass trail.

"How could I not have seen it come out?" she said aloud to herself. It was very hot out and sweat was beginning to trickle down her face, neck, and back.

"Oh well, I am going swimming." she huffed and turned in the direction of the pond.

She stopped mid-stride, her jaw dropped, and she stared wide-eyed at the creature sitting in the middle of the path, just a few yards ahead of her. Stunned, she examined it. It was small and fluffy, and looked kind of like a fox. Fluffy tail, pointed ears, but the reason her mouth was still hanging open was its color. Instead of red or brown like a normal fox, this one was a very lovely shade of purple. It had white markings on its face, chest, paws, and the end of its tail and ears. Just as odd, its little eyes were a vibrant green and almost seemed to be glowing slightly.

"You do know that it is not polite to stare, don't you?" Aylane heard.

Aylane whirled all the way around looking for the source of the voice she had just heard, but there was no one that she could see. She turned back to the path and the little animal was still sitting in the path, staring up at her from the same spot it had been.

"Do you see anyone?" she asked the animal not expecting an answer.

"Just you." Aylane heard the voice again. Starting to panic, she spun around again looking harder into the trees.

"Wh - who's there?"

"Just you and I are here my Lady Aylane, What are you looking for?" The voice said again. Aylane, on the verge of real panic, was still looking all around almost wildly.

"Who's there? Who said that!

“I am here my lady."

"Where are you? Show yourself!" she yelled.

“But my lady I am not hiding, I am right here in front of you.'"

"Where?"

"Why, my lady, I am here right in front of you, sitting here in the path."

Looking back at the path and the little animal, Aylane noticed that it had moved closer and was sitting just a few feet from her now, looking up at her.

“You?"

“Yes my lady."

“But how, what, you’re..." Aylane collapsed.