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Fiction » Action » A Drop of Fire font: B s : A A A . width: full 3/4 1/2
Author: Thea Lowe
Fiction Rated: K+ - English - Fantasy/Adventure - Reviews: 9 - Published: 10-06-03 - Updated: 10-11-03 - id:1415960
Ho hum. This is a random story that I started writing, basing it off this world that I create who knows when. Here's the prologue, more to come soon, I promise!

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One: To Forget

The girl sat down, and looked at the adults around her. They all looked so tired, so worn out, although weary. Curiously, she glanced at the five other children who were seated near her. She knew one of them- he was her cousin- but she had never liked him much before. He was too much of a wussy; when all of the other children in their family had run to the lake, and giggling, stepped in its cold water, he had shaken his head, terrified, and stayed behind. Plus, she had heard her mother telling his mother about how his Fire Magic wasn't progressing at all.

She was quite different. She was the best in most all of her classes, especially at magic. Many times before, she had been told that this was because she was the seventh daughter of the Fire King, and seventh's always had the most magic.

Her cousin was a seventh too, she remembered, but he didn't seem like much of one. He was pudgy, and he was sitting next to her, snuffling. She rolled her eyes, deeming him utterly pathetic, and looked at the next two people.

Instantly, she knew what clans they were from. Both the boy and girl had deep green eyes, which looked thoughtful. The two people looked an awful a lot alike too, the girl realized. Both had curly brown hair, sharp noses, and they looked like they were the same height. The Plant Clan, she realized, must be very smart. The two children held this air of deep wisdom, one that the girl knew she wouldn't have for quite some time.

With a sigh, and feeling stupid compared to them, the girl looked at the last two children.

One of them, the boy, met her gaze, and stuck out his tongue, mocking her. She glared at him, and he made a rude sign at her, laughing at her silently. She scowled. He was from the Water Clan, the Fire Clan's great enemies, and she already hated him. His long, shining blue hair was tied in the back of his head, and sharp gray eyes watched her, laughing at her.

She ignored him, fuming silently, and glanced at the other girl. She was sitting up in her seat, her back straight, acting as if she was superior to almost everyone else in the room. The girl noticed how her eyes would occasionally flick proudly to a certain man, who was hunched over in discussion with more men from the Water Clan.

The girl frowned. She knew she didn't like the Water Clan, but why were they all here than? Hadn't the three clans been fighting for dominance for a long time?

She glanced at her cousin. "Why are we here?" She asked, leaning forward.

He shook his head. "I don't know," He admitted, blinking at her. "But I think it has to do with us."

She nodded. That morning, her father had woken her up early, and told her that the two of them were going here. She was surprised to say the least. Her father hardly ever paid much attention to her. He was always to busy with the war, or with training her eldest sister, Caeylaryn in how to rule the Clan.

She had followed him, however, as he lead her to the magic rooms, where they had been teleported to this room.

And now, here she was.

"Attention!" A tall, thin man stood up, and instantly, the room grew silent around him. He cleared his throat, looked around at the adults, and avoided the children's curious eyes. "We are here today to discuss peace among the three great clans." There was a general rumble of agreement, and the girl yawned. This sounded boring already. "After many letters and messengers, we have agreed that the only way to do this is to make all clans have a similar weakness. We have taken the two Seventh's who were born in the Year of Nine to become Soul Bound."

The girl looked up. She had no clue what 'Soul Bound' was, but she hadn't known that the others were Seventh's too!

"Please stand, children," The thin man instructed.

A bit cautiously, the girl did so, and she looked over at her father, who didn't meet her gaze. Instantly, she knew that something was wrong. Why wasn't he looking at her? She stared at him, but he never once met her gaze. Something bad was going to happen, she could feel it, and she knew that her father didn't want to be responsible for it.

"Now, walk to the center of the room," the man instructed, his eyes watching them, concerned.

Cautiously, the girl stepped away from her chair, and turned to the center off the room. There was a large mosaic in the floor, of a large, colorful triangle, showing the reds of fire, the greens of plant, and the blues of water. The center of the triangle was white, representing the mystical clan of Air.

The girl stood in the red section, alongside her cousin, and looked up at the others.

Now, even the prissy water girl looked worriedly.

"What's going to happen to us?" Her cousin wondered, his chubby face pale.

She shook her head- and looked at the thin man.

"Princess Kaelyn Ry'Coryna, please step forward."

Her. He called her name. Shaking, but trying to hide it, she wobbled into the center of the triangle, trying to calm her breathing, her heart thumping against her chest.

"Crown Prince Phocan Nor Vitulinan, step across from the Princess," The thin man commanded.

A bit warily, the boy from the Water Clan walked to the center of the triangle, and looked at her, his eyes no longer mocking. Neither of them knew what was going to happen to them- and both were too terrified to ask.

The thin man nodded to someone near him, and three men in long black hooded cloaks walked up to the two children, nudging the others aside.

"Do not speak, for fear of your life," one whispered as another pulled out a long, sharp knife.

The girl stared, and tried to back away, but she was grabbed roughly, and in one fast movement, one of the men slit the palms of her hands, before reaching for the boy, and doing the same to the boy, who was obviously in some state of shock.

"Clasp hands," one of the men whispered, and fearfully, the two of them did, the girl wincing away pain.

"They are bound by blood," Thin Man announced, a bit uneasily.

Was that it? The girl wondered.

"Now they must be bound by heart," Thin Man said, his voice shaking.

The two children stared at each other, gripping each other's hands, to afraid to let go, to scared to look at any one else.

The girl began to cry as the man with the knife dropped it, and took out another, thinner, sickly white dagger.

"To the heart," he muttered, grabbing the girl's shoulders and stabbing the dagger into her chest.

For a moment, she couldn't breath. But suddenly, she could, and she gasped, choking on her breath, staring at her chest, where there was a charred mark on her clothes, but no blood, and no wound. Just a scar.

The man jabbed the dagger, which now had some odd, blue substance on it, into the boy's heart, and pulled it out.

She could see the scar on his chest, over his heart and through his clothes. He looked at her, and as one, they turned their terrified gaze to the man, who smeared the blue liquid on the backs of their hands.

"They are bound by heart," the Thin Man said, his voice wavering as he stared, horrified at the two children and the three men. "Now," he took in a gasping breath, as if he was the one who was going through the ceremony, "now they must be bound by soul."

The boy choked on his breath. "No," he whispered, and the girl saw that he was crying too. "N-no. Please. no." He tried to move away, but they were still holding hands, they couldn't let go. Something, either the liquid or their mixed blood, was keeping them standing in the white center of the triangle, in horrible pain and the greatest fear.

The men turned their attention to him, and the one behind him hissed, "Silence, remember?"

"Do you wish to be killed?" The one behind the girl asked scathingly.

The boy shook his head fearfully.

"Good." The man dropped the white dagger, and instantly, it vanished. "Now, the binding of two souls. It is a ritual that has not been done for many a years. Not since the druids, actually."

The two children shuddered at the thought of the ancient, barbaric druids, and clenched each other's blood stained hands fearfully. What was going to happen to them? In many of the druids ceremonies the victims had died.

"Two souls." the man knelt down, and began whispering in a long dead language, one that sent shivers up the girl's spine. The words seemed to echo around her, paused from vanishing forever, hovering in the air, weighting her down. "So far apart, but closer than One," the man hissed, sprinkling something on the floor near the two children's feet. He began to chant louder, and louder, until he was on his feet, his face red, spit flying from his mouth, screaming the words which no one but himself understood. The two of them staring at him, wrenched in pain, their hands burning against the others. still unable to pull apart. screaming. She was screaming. It was as if she was drowning in a black, absorbing sea. She was lying in the desert the next second, her body in flames. was on the ground, gasping for breath, her hands were bleeding again. her heart was beating uncomfortably and at a horribly fast pace. tears streamed down her face, and she felt to weak to even stand.

Instantly, some one was at her side. She couldn't see through her tears, but she could feel their presence.

"Oh. my daughter." She was in someone's arms.. Her father," she realized. He held her tightly, rocking her back and forth, crying too.

"No more!" Some one close to her yelled, and she felt them stand up. "No more! You can't do this to them. No more."

"But what about the Plant Clan, m'lord?" the familiar sneer of the man who had. had half killed her, asked.

"No." A different voice whispered. "No. Not to the children. You said yourself that if the souls do not agree, one or both could die. No. There will be no more."

"How will we know that they will keep their treaty?" A gruff voice asked from the distance, away from the girl as she lay there, the world swimming in and out of view.

"If they attack the Water Clan," her father said softly, "We will unleash our armies, and they will be destroyed."

"Very well," the soft voice replied.

There was a pause, filled only with hers and his loud, harsh breathing.

"We will have to forget," A new voice said. "For if we remember, our warring ways will return."

"Very well." Her father stood up, still cradling her, and the adults moved into a circle, holding the four other shaking children close to them.

"We will forget," a different voice chanted, "forget who of us received this binding, but we will remember, remember that war shall be now more."



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