Guardians of Muraycia - Chapter 1

The Guardians of Muraycia

Chapter 1

Azareth fell to her knees.  She knew her time grew short. She spread her mighty wings and collapsed on the cold, harsh ground below.  A sonic boom shook all of Muraycia as the great dragon fell with a bone rattling thud.

           

Lady Vaulda gazed deeply into the swirling haze of her crystal ball.

         “So…” Lady Vaulda began slyly, “The dragon is dead.”  A harsh icy laugh emanated from her throat.

“MIDNIGHT!” screeched Vaulda.

         “Yes, Mother.” A pale young girl appeared in the door way. She had short, jet black hair and a pale empty face.

“Tell your Aunt to be up here at once,” Vaulda ordered, “We are taking Muraycia.” Her jaw set in grim triumph she laughed mirthlessly

“But…” Midnight started to speak.

“QUIET!” Vaulda barked, “I know what I’m doing.”

Midnight opened her mouth to protest, but caught her mother’s glare and decided it would be more practical to nod politely and say, “Yes ma’am.” After her daughter had left, Vaulda pushed aside her crystal ball, in which she had witnessed the historic fall of the mighty Azareth, and began to think she had a lot of work to do if she wanted Muraycia for her own.



“In the name of Muraycia,” cried Queen Anastova. 

“Surely this must be rumor. It cannot be… Azareth cannot… is this a direct report?”

“I apologize milady, but Azareth has passed to the stars.” Anastova threw herself onto her majestic throne.  After a moment she seemed to collect herself.  She nodded gravely and said, “We must find a new guardian,” The authority was back in her tone, and the messenger bowed and ran off. Anastova knew what this meant -- war.

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ZAP! A crackle of electricity rang through the air. ZAM! It hit the target with a loud explosion.

“Yes, yes!”  cried Corriet.

“Corriet, Mother says it’s time for dinner.”

          “Coming, Corriel,” She replied glumly, as her little sister retreated to the palace, where they lived along with all the other sorceresses and sorcerers in Greastes, at enchanter’s castle. Once inside their room Corriett went straight to Corrine, her mother.

“Mom, after dinner can I go back out?” 

“Corriett, this guardian training won’t get you anywhere; you should know that by now.”

Corriett’s blood boiled and she stormed off to her room. She had always wanted to be a guardian, to have her name among the others who had served with Azareth. She wanted to help protect her home land. A quiet life was not for her, she yearned for adventure like the tales in the library.

“My own mother should know that,” she muttered angrily.



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Dawn arose with a staggering sunrise, and Anastova ordered letters to be sent to every village in Muraycia. These letters would state that she needed five new apprentices to learn the proper skills of a guardian.  The letter would soon reach Greastes.

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Corriett stretched her arms and slid softly out of bed. She struggled with some clothes and climbed downstairs to the dining area. The tall clock showed it was almost the time to hand out mail. A tall clock looks a lot like a grandfather clock except with a different way of telling time. RING, RING, RING! A bell chime rang softly through the air.  Silence grew, and everyone looked up -- mail time. William, the head sorcerer, cleared his throat.

“Ladies and gentlemen” he began. 

“The Queen’s royal notice has arrived.” He cleared his throat again and began to read.

“People of Muraycia, there have been a tragic loss in Muraycia.  The lead guardian Azareth has passed to the stars.” There was a shocked silence; even William just stood there looking dazed.  Time slowed to a halt as every one took in what they had heard. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, William opened his mouth and tried to say something, but it was a futile effort. Finally some sound came out.

“Be…be… because of this unbearable loss, I am hereby holding a competition to see who is capable of becoming an apprentice. It will be held at the palace, three weeks from today. Good luck, future guardians.”



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Corriett skipped happily into the family’s room, a little apartment that was nicely furnished and cozy. When she came in, she found her parents and her older brother Corbas at the circular coffee table in the center of the room. They were having a solemn discussion. When they saw her enter, they looked up, and her father said, “Corriett, I know you want to enter in that competition,”

“Yes,” Corriett pressed warily.

“But your mother and I don’t really care for the idea so, you’re not going.”   

Corriett’s mind froze solid. Did she really just hear that?  Her lip trembled a little and suddenly she started to cry. Tears streamed down her face accompanied by heavy sobs. She ran into the room she and Corriel shared, and shut the door firmly behind her. At first, she wailed and pounded her fists on the floor, and then a switch clicked on in her mind.

She grabbed her knapsack and began to toss things in.  She had just finished packing when her mother knocked on the door and said, “Corriett, are you all right?” Corriett hastily shoved her knapsack under the bed and a second later her mother entered.

“Hi,” said her mother warmly.

“Hi,” Corriett replied stiffly.

“Look, I’m really sorry about the competition,” Corriett stuck her head up toward the sky and faced the wall.

“Corriett,” Corrine began, but her daughter kept her vow of silence.  At last Corrine decided the effort was pointless. 

“I’ll come back later.”

That was all Corriett needed.  The second her mother was out the door, she made a quick grab at her knapsack and opened the window.  She stuck her head out the window and carefully began to stretch. All she needed to do was to get her fingers around the vine that grew on the castle.  She leaned forward and caught the vine between her hands.

      “La, la, la, la,” her sister Corriel sang from outside their room.          

Rapidly Corriett dove forward out the window, clinging to the bright green vine. She swung back and forth, eyes shut tight.  She hoped no one would see her.

      “Corriett?” said little Corriel. Corriett gulped and started to creep down the vine. The plant fibers stretched and strained under her weight.

      “Corriett,” it was her father’s voice this time. She shut her eyes and inched down even further. SNAP! The vine broke away. She tumbled toward the rocky terrain beneath her, and landed violently among tree roots and stones.

Slowly she got to her feet.  She shook her head and blinked a couple of times, but when she reached for her knapsack, her hands closed around pure emptiness. Where on earth could she have left it?  Then a feeling of dread washed over her. She looked up at the castle that towered above her.  Sure enough, there on the fifth story window was her knapsack perched right on the edge. She knew she could not retrieve it until dark.

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“Hello Mother,” Midnight greeted.  Vaulda nodded curtly and asked, “How long until our troops are ready for battle?”  Midnight was silent.

“HOW LONG!” she shouted.  Midnight gave a little yelp and said, “There has been an accident and..... and….” Midnight’s voice trailed off.

“How long Midnight?” Lady Vaulda’s Voice was firm.

“Six months,” Midnight whispered.

Fire gleamed in Vaulda’s eyes. “Six months” she hissed, “Six months…”

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Stars sprinkled the sky, dazzling overhead like a million miniature diamonds. Corriett poked her head out of a bramble of bushes, and seeing that the coast was clear, she detached herself from the thorny rose bushes that had served as her hiding place until the moon came out.  As she walked toward the tall building, it dawned on her that even if she was in no danger of being caught, how on earth was she to reach her knapsack?

“AHA! You would be here!”

“Jaisy!” yelled Corriett, startled at her friend’s appearance. 

“Where have you been all day?” Jaisy immediately interrogated.

“Well” Corriett started “um…, I’ve been hiding.”

“Meaning…”Jaisy prompted, blatantly confused. Corriett hesitated but then decided she would trust her friend.

“Mom and Dad were not going to let me compete in the guardian competition.”

“So,” Jaisy began “you’re headed to the competition?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I come?” Jaisy asked.

“Um... sure,” Corriett answered, completely thrown by her friend’s question. “But first, could you help me get my knapsack down?”

Jaisy was a faylu, a common type of fairy in Muraycia. A quick flutter of her wings and the knapsack was in her hands in no time.



Jaisy was a tall for a fairy. She was also incredibly strong and no child in Greastes had ever gone into a schoolyard fight with her and come out the better. She was kind and all, but perhaps that was not the best word to describe Jaisy Jenkins. Corriett had known Jaisy since she was four and she loved Jaisy like family. She knew Jaisy’s parents and many was the time she had spent the night at the enchanted glade. Corriett knew all of Jaisy’s friends and Jaisy knew all of hers. She was good for a laugh, was very loyal, and was particularly good at archery; however she was proud, tough, and was very suspicious of kindness. She was a good friend none the less.  Today, Jaisy wore a lavender dress, her favorite color. It was pretty, with neat golden trimmed edges and sequins here and there. Corriett smiled.  It would be nice to have a friend with her.

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Queen Anastova stared warily into her goblet, a golden platter in front of her bearing treacle biscuits and moon berries, all topped off with the most delicate spices, but Anastova could not eat. She had to find a guardian, and soon.

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Corriett took long, swift strides, each one carrying her farther and farther from home. Thoughts and worries danced in her head swirling around uncontrollably. What if they did not reach the palace in time? What if they lost the competition?  Then came the thought that all other ideas and worries circled around--the fact that she had runaway!  Every time this crossed her mind, her stomach clenched. A tear trickled down her face, then another, and another. She would like nothing better than to run into her mother and father’s reassuring arms, to apologize, to bury her head into her mother’s shoulder. No! She could not think this way.  This was her one chance to be a guardian.  She was not going to let it slip.

“It’s getting dark,” Jaisy commented

“You’re right.  We had better set up camp for the night.” Corriet said in return.  They began to set up their sleeping bags, and soon fell into a deep slumber.

The next morning, the sun rose, a beautifully illustrated picture stretched across the sky.

“We will be in Zeezen by night fall if all goes according to plans,” commented Corriett.

            “How far to the castle after that?” she asked.

            “A day,” Corriett guessed.  Jaisy nodded and fluttered off after her friend.