Dreamer’s Blade

The Bleeder will give rise to the Dreamer’s blade and the Child of Storms will be devoured by her own tempest.

Prologue:

Nitora held her breath as the icy current of darkness swept over her body. She turned, still unable to breathe. Her mind scrambled to figure a way from this all too familiar place.

"Don’t disguise your hatred with fear, I can see it in your eyes," the man paused, "You can not delay your pregnancy much longer, Kayyos yearns to breathe air from the surface."

Nitora raised her head with a sudden rise in confidence. "I will damn my daughter before I allow you to even touch her…" New vicious tons sparked out in her voice that the listener had never heard from his ex lover before.

"So be it. Damn her and see if it makes a difference. She is already cursed with the fate that was written the day you lay with me in my bed." The man stayed abnormally calm, not a muscle of his face twitched with even a thought of emotion.

"You will not have her. Even with my last breath I will keep her from you" Her speech had grown shrill and desperate. However, the other half of the conversation acknowledged the truth in her words, but still he did not worry.

"I can wait forever, Nitora. Even you do not live forever. You are a good woman, take what years you have left in your world without worry. No matter what you do she will be mine in the end. I know you will accept this in time."

Nitora clenched her fists with rage, but what he said she knew was the inevitable. Even a sorceress could not prevent death forever. Determination had given birth inside her however since the day she learned her daughter’s fate, and no matter what words were spoken to her she would not accept it.

Chapter One

Kayyos gave little sign of attention as her teacher lectured over the cautions one must take when entering the realms of necromancer magic. Her classmates were awed however, so her teacher ignored his one uninterested student.

Her eyes danced from side to side following some sort of ball game outside her classroom. She was particularly interested in the young man playing. He seemed somehow familiar to her and it perked her curiosity to a new level for the game. Her left ear twitched as she tried to hear what he was calling out to his teammates when she was interrupted.

"Kayyos… Kayyos, class it over"

She turned to look at her teacher. Her two other classmates had already left. Kayyos bowed her head and stood up from the table.

"The girl gets creepier and weirder as she gets older…" the instructor sighed to himself.

Kayyos ignored the comment, it wasn’t meant for her ears to begin with. Sluggishly she walked down the hall towards the main exit. The academy wasn’t the place for her, she knew it and so did her mother, but it was the one place her mother would allow her to step foot into. "The last place that Ujiba magic is used," she wasn’t sure why that was important but Kayyos didn’t ever question her mother.

Her mother was a Sorceress of Ujiba magic, the only one left besides the old woman in the east. Ujiba was an ancient form of magic used in the days of the Blood Wars; it had died out long ago along with the war. The students at the academy called it sword magic. Her mother had once tried to teach some of the students the ways of Ujiba. The learners however didn’t find much of an appreciation for it and soon gave it up all together. It was a hard magic to learn and there was little use for it in the day’s world.

Turning Kayyos followed with her eyes the boy she had watched from the window. He spoke to his friends and his friends, in return, laughed. Kayyos smiled, though she didn’t hear what he said. She had never had any friends besides a cat she called Eqin, she always wanted to laugh, but she never had. She dreamt once that she laughed, but when she woke up she was crying.

She perked her ears towards the boy hoping to hear at least one word from his mouth, but the halls were too crowded. She wasn’t sure, but she had the embarrassing feeling that one of the boys noticed her curiosity for the group.

Eqin scattered up the tree after his prey but before he could make it even half way up the tree the squirrel had already escaped. The cat growled at his incompetence in climbing trees. It didn’t matter anyway; if Kayyos had found out he had killed a defenseless squirrel she would have given him that same chastising facial expression.

He really had no reason to still chase any rodent; he had even grown slightly fat with all the treats Kayyos fed him. It was the thrill of the chase though that always ended up luring him in. He was often too bored while Kayyos attended the academy. He strayed around outside the neighborhood often and watched the Diatsins carry out their daily labors. The people were the closest civilization next to the town of Miac, the home to Kayyos and the academy.

The town was a secluded mountain top home, often covered with snow. Most of the time however, the academy’s lawns were covered with grass rather than snow. The town, on the other hand, was almost always covered with snow and was more often than not, cold. Eqin liked the snow, even though he didn’t blend well with it. He was a pure black cat and it was a challenge to catch anything besides a cold in the snowy region, but he liked the challenge.

Eqin could hear the soft sound of footsteps on snow behind him and he slowly turned. He recognized the pace and began to purr immediately. Kayyos smiled and bent down to pet her friend in greeting.

"Good afternoon Yossa," Nitora welcomed as Kayyos came in through the door and instantly began to shed her many layers of clothing. "I hope your day was a good one at the academy?" Nitora put her attention back on the dishes she busied herself with.

Kayyos nodded as she sat down at the kitchen table near the roaring fire, now only wearing a long shirt and calico pants held up by a small drawstring.

Nitora did not face her daughter but smiled knowingly. "I have given notice to the academy that you will no longer be attending."

Kayyos stroked Eqin who sat on her shoulder and gave a thoughtful look at the fire.

"I think it is time to leave once again, however I will not be joining you this time. Your birthday once again draws near and the season of rebirth is coming upon us. The woman Elder in the east has agreed to take you in."

Kayyos sat up startled, the cat on her shoulder shaken from the sudden upright dropped of her shoulder to the stone floor.

Her mother finally turned to look at Kayyos. "The academy can no longer offer you the protection you need and I do not have the time to give you it. Time is growing short for both of us and I must hurry my studies."

Kayyos lifted Eqin from the floor and held him once again.

"Not even Eqin can keep you safe anymore, my Yossa."

Eqin growled with protest and rubbed up against Kayyos’s chest.

"You will leave within three days, until then you will be staying within the academy with Master Redik in the library. The Elder will arrive there, in the morning on the third day. Pack lightly, you will be traveling by foot and it is a week long trip to the first village you’ll be passing."

Kayyos stared blankly, her arms tightened around Eqin.

"Don’t worry, Yossa. I promise I will be only two weeks behind your travels." Nitora hugged Kayyos then, the cat sliding down between the two and then watching as a tear slid down the older woman’s worn face.

Nitora freed herself from the embrace and glanced down at Eqin. "I put my daughters life in your hands, Eqin."

The cat answered with a meow.

Kayyos bent down and swooped up her protector and began to head out the door not bothering to stop and place the layers of clothing back on.

Zikar brought himself to his feet after a moment of delaying. He looked his master in the eyes and sighed.

"You’re too offensive, you don’t care enough to what happens to yourself. The problem with that unselfishness is you’ll never win the fight."

"You’ve told me this before" Zikar growled, angry with himself rather than his instructor.

"Don’t take your eyes from mine while I speak to you" Liath commanded.

Zikar wearily made eye contact once again. "My patience is too thin today. My mind is elsewhere and I simply can’t do this today. I’m sorry father."

"This is not finished. You will continue your lesson and you will remove whatever it is that distracts you now," Liath demanded as he dug the tip of his sword into the ground.

"Did you not hear me? Don’t you think if it was that easy to stop thinking about I would have done it by now?" Zikar snarled now irritated with his teacher and father.

"You WILL stay and finish, is that understood?" Liath pushed his blade forward towards his son.

Zikar guarded it with ease, his father obviously not actually intending on harming his son. His face now twisted with a vicious determination; Zikar and Liath once again began.