Prologue: Rain

~~~~

It came down in dark sheets, cutting through the canopy of the forest and drenching the four figures below.

As Karen gazed down at her fallen comrade, it all seemed so unreal. The blood staining the ground looked too red to her eyes as it mixed with the falling rain. His hair, usually such a bright reddish brown, was draped limply across his muddied face, matted and dull.

But what was most unbelievable was his eyes. Those once sparkling green eyes now stared blankly into the distance, their depths milky and lifeless.

~~~~

It had all happened so fast that Justin barely knew what was going on until his friend lay, presumably dead, on the ground before him. Karen was standing just a few feet away, her wounds forgotten as she stared at him, not really believing the sight before her. A short distance further, Annie had fallen to her knees. She had her face in her hands, her body shaking violently as she sobbed.

But Justin wasn't really listening to her tears. He found his mind taking him elsewhere; to when it had all begun. It was on a day much like this one....

~~~~

Chapter one: Lost and Found

~~~~

Justin grumbled his displeasure as he watched the rain drops hit the ground outside. What had happened to the beautiful sunshine he'd been enjoying a mere two hours ago?

That was one of the reasons he hated spring. It was so unpredictable.

Sighing dismally, he got up from his chair and prepared to slump onto his freshly made bed and take a nap. There was nothing else to do after all. Of course, he could always study.... 'I'd rather be outside in the storm' he thought bitterly, squashing the option immediately. He didn't feel like school work right now.

Justin was about to drift off when he heard his name being called. At first, he ignored it, deciding rather to pretend that he was already asleep. The calls did not cease however, and soon Justin found himself unable to ignore them.

Cursing under his breath, he trudged out his door and down the stairs. Sure enough, his mother was standing there, a fierce scowl planted on her face from being kept waiting for so long.

Justin didn't notice her displeasure though, for his interest was sparked immediately by the mysterious old man beside her.

The man looked well over 70, which was quite amazing to Justin. He didn't know many people who lived that long. The average life expectancy was around 50 if you were lucky.

He was snapped back to reality when his mother cleared her throat loudly, and he realized that he was staring quite rudely.

"Oh! I'm sorry sir! I didn't mean to-!"

The old man held up a hand to quiet Justin, and merely smiled.

"That's quite alright lad. I get that a lot these days."

Justin blushed and his mother frowned slightly, though her amusement was obvious by the glint in her eye.

"Justin, this is Caideren Kustoft. He's an old friend of your father, so treat him with respect."

Justin nodded and started to canter back up the stairs, but his mother's voice stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going young man? Dinner is ready."

Justin groaned and turned around to face her.

"But mom!" he protested "I'm not hungry!"

His mother simply glared, as if daring him to argue further. Justin slumped and sighed heavily, knowing that resistance was futile.

"I'll go wash up then"

"That's better." replied his mom, making her way to the dining room, followed by Caideren.

~~~~

Dinner was drab and boring. It wasn't that the food was plain. Not at all! The food was always the most expensive and exotic things his father could lay hands on. It was the conversation that made Justin wish he was back in his room, staring numbly out the window at the pouring rain.

Being the King's son definitely wasn't as exciting as most people thought, he reasoned as he pushed the food around on his plate, trying to tune out the drone of the adults' voices. Maybe if he didn't move or say anything, they would forget that he was there and he could sneak away while his mother wasn't looking.

But to his great disappointment, his scheme was cut short when Caideren picked that moment to ask him a question.

"So, Justin; I hear you are being trained as a swordsman by your father. Have you had the opportunity to duel yet?"

Justin winced as all attention was turned instantly to him.

"Well, no but..." Justin trailed off, confused by the sudden look of interest that swept across the old man's face. It was gone as fast as it had come though, and Justin began to wonder if he'd imagined it.

"But...?" prodded Caideren, taking a sip of his wine.

Justin blinked, then remembered what he'd been saying.

"Uh, right.... My father said he'd teach me how to duel this summer"

Caideren smiled and nodded before continuing his conversation with Justin's father.

Justin was not so quick to drop the subject however. He couldn't help wondering why Caideren had been so keen to know whether or not he'd dueled before. Usually when his family has guests over, he was outright ignored until dinner was over, after which he'd get a pat on the head and a goodbye, which was perfectly fine with Justin. He'd never really taken to his father's friends.

Caideren and Justin's parents talked for a long time after dinner finished, so he quietly excused himself while their attention was elsewhere. Heading for his room, Justin could hear his parents laughing about something.

As he lay on his bed, Justin's thoughts drifted once more to Caideren's question.

~~~~

Justin awoke early the next morning, and was happy to see that the rain had ceased overnight and the sun was once again dominating the sky.

Yawning, he sat up and made a weak attempt to flatten his messy black hair. He vaguely wondered why he didn't hear voices downstairs. His parents were usually up and about before he was. Maybe they had stayed up late talking and had decided to sleep for a few more hours this morning. A plausible explanation, but somehow he doubted that was the case.

After pulling on some clothes, Justin stumbled down the stairs, rubbing his dark brown eyes sleepily. Halfway down, he began to sense that something was wrong. It was much too quiet, and every cell in his body seemed to be telling him to run back up to his room. Justin ignored the little warning signs though, and proceeded on his way, pausing only for a moment to stare at his hands and wonder why they were shaking.

'What a strange morning' thought Justin as he looked up once more, now at the bottom of the stairs.

He froze as what he saw began to register in his brain. He rubbed his eyes again and blinked rapidly to try and erase the image from his view, but it remained. Next he tried pinching himself, wondering if this was some bizarre nightmare. That didn't work either.

Terror started overtaking him and he fled back up the stairs, with only one coherent thought on his mind.

'Caideren did this!'

~~~~

A crowd had gathered in the middle of the village. Everyone was there to see the mysterious girl who could conjure fire and create images with the smoke.

Karen resented being called 'the girl who...' but she'd gotten used to it after a while. Besides, she made good money doing these little tricks. Staring around at the awaiting crowd, she plastered a fake smile on her face.

"What would you like to see next?" she asked happily.

A little boy ran up to her and tugged on the dark blue sash tied around the waist of Karen's long white dress, holding out a few small coins.

"I wanna see a dragon!" he exclaimed so excitedly that Karen couldn't help but genuinely smile as she accepted the coins and pocketed them.

"Ok, here goes." she said, concentrating her energy in the palm of her hand. In no time, a small flame erupted and started wavering merrily in the late morning breeze. Smoke began to encircle Karen, making her long, light brown hair appear somewhat grey. After chanting a simple spell, the smoke took the unmistakable shape of a dragon, which danced across the sky for a moment before vanishing in a wisp of smoke.

Her audience cheered, and soon requests were flying all over the place.

'The things I do for money' thought Karen sourly as one man shouted out a rather inappropriate request.

~~~~

Counting her profits, Karen slowly made her way back to the inn where she would be staying for the night. But as she walked past a dark alley, she caught a slight movement out of the corner of her eye. Pausing, she looked up from her money and gazed suspiciously down the ally.

"Hello?"

There was no answer.

After a few more seconds, Karen merely shrugged and continued on her way. The alleyways in this rather large village were narrow and dark; the perfect hiding place for escaped bandits and murderers. And since the village was so close the King's palace, there were more escaped criminals lurking around than anyone liked to admit. Karen wasn't particularly scared, knowing she could burn them to a crisp if she wanted to, but she'd rather stay out of trouble.

She barely walked 2 steps, however, before a quiet voice stopped her in her tracks.

"N-no...wait..."

Karen looked over her shoulder to see a boy about her age, or maybe a year or so younger, standing there. He looked scared to death and he was shaking from head to toe. Certainly not what she would have expected.

'I wonder if he's lost' Karen thought vaguely. 'Best act like nothing's wrong then...'

Smiling, she reached out to shake his hand.

"Hello, my name is Karen; nice to meet you."

The boy returned the gesture with a weak smile that didn't reach his dark eyes. Eyes so dark, Karen noticed, that you couldn't even see the boy's pupils.

"M-my name is Justin. It's nice to meet you too."

After getting a closer look at him, Karen noticed that he was wearing quite expensive clothes, and had a sword tied to his back.

"Justin...what were you doing in that alley? Did you run away from your home?"

Justin winced. "Uh...well..."

Karen could see that he looked uneasy, and he certainly wasn't much of a threat, even with that sword tied to his back, so she decided to lend him a hand.

"It's ok, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Why don't you come stay with me for a while?" she asked sincerely.

At first Justin looked surprised by the offer, but he smiled gratefully and nodded.

"Right then, let's get going. Have you had dinner yet?"

"Well I..."

"Oh, of course you haven't. You've been crying in that ally like a lost kitten all day."

"Hey! I was not crying!" Justin shouted defensively, crossing in arms with a scowl.

"Right" Karen answered, grinning. "Of course you weren't"

~~~~

The walk back to the inn where Karen was staying was very quiet after that. Karen could tell that her newly acquired companion had something hanging over his head that he didn't want to talk about. Well, whatever it was, Karen was sure she'd be able to squeeze it out of him in due time.

"Ah, Karen! Welcome back!" greeted a plump middle aged woman as Karen and Justin walked into the dusty, crowded inn.

"And who is this?" she asked cheerfully, smiling at Justin, who was trying to choke down a fit of coughing from the onslaught of dust that hit his lungs.

Karen cracked a smile too and slung an arm around Justin's shoulders, startling him out of his poorly suppressed coughing. "This is my little brother Justin."

Now Justin was utterly confused, but the woman didn't notice as she cooed over him.

"I didn't know you had a brother Karen. Does he live out of town?"

Justin opened his mouth to say something, but Karen elbowed him in the stomach painfully when the woman wasn't looking.

"Yes, he's just come to visit for a few days Nancy. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh don't be silly dear" beamed Nancy "You stay here so often it's like I've known you my whole life! Of course I'll let your brother stay here."

"Thanks a lot Nancy! We're going to grab some dinner quickly and then we'll be back." said Karen, grabbing a stunned looking Justin and dragging him out the door.

"Bye!" Nancy called from the doorway, waving to them.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Justin pulled himself out of Karen's arms.

"What was that all about?!"

Karen snickered at the expression on his face, then managed to calm herself down adequately enough to explain.

"Well, you're what-15 years old? And I'm 16. Don't you think Nancy would be a little suspicious if you were sleeping in my room?"

Justin blushed furiously. "Ok! I see your point. Now let's go get some food, I'm starved."

Karen grinned and grabbed a hold of his arm again before running off to what he could only hope was a restaurant.

~~~~

Justin squinted, trying to make out what was written on the menu. It was an old piece of parchment nailed to the wall with some scribbles that he supposed was meant to be writing. Karen laughed at his futile attempts to decipher the menu, and pulled on his arm, dragging him to the counter at the front of the restaurant, which was even more dusty than the inn, if possible.

"No one ever reads that scrap of paper the owner calls a menu, Justin. Everyone in town has already memorized it, why not you?"

Justin sifted through his mind, trying to think up an explanation. He couldn't just tell her that he was the king's son and he'd never eaten here before.

"Uh...well...I'm from out of town." said Justin quickly, looking back at the menu so that Karen couldn't tell if he was lying from his expression.

"Oh, ok." replied Karen pleasantly, not buying a word of it. "I'll just order for the both of us then.

"Ok..."

Karen turned to the grumpy looking man that stood behind the counter and smiled brightly.

"Two lunch specials please" she said, dropping a few coins onto the counter.

The man grunted his acknowledgement and shuffled to the door behind him, shouting something to the cook.

Karen grabbed a spaced-out looking Justin and dragged him over to the nearest unoccupied table.

"I wish you would stop grabbing my arm all the time. I know how to walk." grumbled Justin irritably, rubbing his abused arm.

Karen grinned and reached over the table to pat his head, purposely ruffling his hair.

"Oh, but what would happen to you if I didn't?" she asked teasingly "You'd probably end up lost again."

Justin scowled and swatted her hand away from his hair.

"Stop treating me like a little boy! I'm barely younger than you!"

That did nothing to lessen Karen's grin as she started baby-talking to him.

Glowering, Justin pretended to ignore her until the food came.

Karen was almost halfway done eating and Justin hadn't even lifted his fork.

"Is something wrong?" Karen asked, slightly concerned.

Justin stared at the food for a second, and then looked up at Karen, an uncertain look on his face.

"Are....are you sure this is edible?" he asked shakily, pointing at the 'food' on his plate.

Karen rolled her burgundy eyes at him. "I'm eating it, aren't I? What are you; royalty?"

Justin winced at the comment. "No...it's just that..." he glanced down at his plate again "is that moving?!"

Karen stared at his plate and shrugged, finding nothing odd about the food.

"Just eat it for goodness' sake. It won't kill you."

Justin hesitated a moment before picking up his fork and tasting a bit of food. He found it rather hard to keep from gagging, and decided that he'd rather be hungry. Spreading the food out a bit to try and make it look like he'd eaten some, he slid his plate over to Karen.

"You want the rest? I'm not that hungry."

Karen raised an eyebrow at him, but took the food anyway.

~~~~

It was getting dark by the time Karen and Justin started walking back to the inn.

"Shouldn't we hurry?" asked Justin, a little concerned about the depleting sunshine.

"Karen just winked and held out her hand. In a matter of seconds, swirls of energy began dance around in the palm of her hand, materializing into a small flame that lighted their way. Justin gazed at her in awe.

"You never told me you were a mage!"

"You never asked" replied Karen mischievously, her dark blue eyes sparkling in the firelight. "Now, didn't you say we should be hurrying? C'mon, I'll race you!"

~~~~

By the time they reached the inn, Justin and Karen were both flushed and out of breath, but happy all the same. With a quick wave and a hello to Nancy, the two bounded up the stairs and collapsed onto the floor of Karen's small room, panting and laughing. Justin was relieved to find that Karen's room wasn't nearly as dusty and stuffy as the lobby of the inn was.

"Ok" said Karen, seating herself cross-legged so that she was facing Justin "I want to hear all about you!"

"What do you mean?" asked Justin, mimicking her pose.

Karen looked thoughtfully at the ceiling for a moment before speaking again. "Well...where do you come from? You said you were from out of town, right?"

"Uh....."

Justin was at a loss for words. He didn't really want to lie to Karen, but then again, he didn't really want to tell her who he was just yet.

"Well?" prodded Karen, snapping him out of his musings.

Panicking slightly, Justin said the first thing that came to mind. "I don't know."

Karen raised an eyebrow at his answer. "You don't....know?" she repeated slowly.

"Uh...yeah...." confirmed Justin, hurriedly trying to conjure up an excuse. He silently rejoiced as one came to mind. "I was hit in the head. I can't remember where I'm from."

"Oh..." said Karen softly, wondering why Justin hadn't mentioned it earlier. "How did you get hit in the head?"

"I...uh....don't remember that either."

"Then how do you know you were hit in the head?"

"My head hurt when I woke up."

"How do you know you didn't get drunk and pass out in that alley and don't know where you're from because you've killed all your brain cells?" asked Karen, grinning.

"Karen! I did not-!"

"Oh shush, I was just kidding!" said Karen quickly, cutting him off with an impatient wave of her hand.

She decided to pursue a different subject.

"So.....what about your family?"

Justin scowled and looked at the floor. "I don't want to talk about them."

"Are you sure?" Karen coaxed, hoping to squeeze some more information out of Justin.

"Yes."

"Why? Did anything happen to them?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

"How old is your dad?"

"I don't know."

"Is your mom a good cook?"

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Do you have any pets?"

"No."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"No."

"What color is your mom's hair?"

"Black."

"What does your dad do for a living?"

"He was the-" Justin stopped, realizing what he was about to say, and glared accusingly at Karen.

"Stop that!"

"Stop what?" asked Karen, feigning innocence.

"That weird mind control thing you're doing!"

"It's not mind control, it's called fast-talking." said Karen proudly, grinning from ear to ear. "So anyway, what were you saying about your dad?"

"Nothing. Let's just go to sleep, I'm tired."

"Ok..." said Karen despondently, annoyed that she'd been so close to finding out some important information about her new companion.

Sighing, she pulled the blanket off of her bed and laid it down on the floor.

"There you go Justin. Your bed." she said, pointing to the blanket and climbing onto her own bed, which consisted of a thin mattress supported by a rickety bed frame.

Justin sighed, and lay down on the blanket.

"Night Karen."

"Goodnight Justin."

~~~~