Pronunciation Guide

Zael- za-elle
Elza- elle-za
Zephyr- zef-pher
Eselldra- ai-cell-dra
Damian- dame-ian
Zaelza- za-elle-za
Fayafir- fay-a-fear
Fiyawin-fille-a-win
Koralser- coral-ser
Cyaneus- c-an-us
Talkey- tall-key
Terra- terre-a
Drettuc- dre-tuck
Tian- tee-anne
Ziarre- z-are
Gaea- guy-a
Enu- ai-new
Emur- ai-moore
Eury- your-ee
Vyl- ville
Destry- dess-tree

Chapter 2
Gods and Demons

The palace was huge. Against the night sky, it resembled like a black jewel. But Aderyn knew better, during the day and especially in bright sunlight, the palace sparkled like an overgrown diamond. Four high towers crowned the palace, each one supporting the king’s banner: a silver dragon and a silver hawk flying side by side.

That was what she saw as the carriage was passing through the gates. Now as she lay in her bed in her new room, she thought about the fateful audience with the king and queen that sounded as if it were a bard’s fantastic tale.

When they entered the palace earlier that evening, they walked into a hall of shiny marble floors and sparkling walls. Imagine what the rest of the palace must look like, she thought in awe. The look of unguarded delight on her face was enough to make any man melt. Finally the long corridor ended and they stood in front of a pair of doors that reached the high ceiling. The doors were covered in intricate silver gilt work. Before Einar opened the door he turned to Aderyn and said, “This is where Raifel and I must leave you, what Their Majesties have to say is not for our ears, but we will see you again don’t worry.” Einar opened the door and bowed at her to enter, she looked from one man to the other, they both smiled encouragingly at her. With a nod at both of them she entered the hall.

Aderyn was almost blinded as she stepped inside the hall, it was that bright. The sparkling walls appeared to be alive. As she walked further in, she noticed two high backed chairs, no doubt where the king and queen sat. Yet they weren’t seated at the moment, the king, Zael, was pacing back and forth; the queen, Elza, was standing worriedly to one side. Aderyn’s footsteps echoed in the large hall, the king stopped pacing; both the king and queen had hesitant smiles on their faces.

“Zephyr!” Elza cried, running towards Aderyn. But Zael stopped her, “Not yet.” He said softly. The queen put both hands to her mouth, stifling a cry and took a step backwards. Now Aderyn was really confused.

“You probably want to know what’s going on,” Zael started. All kingliness on the surface, but beneath that surface the father was trying to break free; to get his daughter back.

“Unfortunately I cannot tell you everything this night, not until I am certain about some things,” He cleared his throat, “but first, I’m sure there are questions you want to ask.”

Aderyn had millions of questions, “why did you send me away?” That one bothered her the most. She waited for him to take away all her confusion with his answer. But all he said was, “Because it was necessary.”

At first she was speechless, then she was furious.

“That’s it?!” she yelled, “that’s all you can say to me?! ‘It was necessary’! Oh yes, that explains everything now!”

“Sweetheart, darling, we want to tell you, but your father can’t right now. Please don’t be mad at us.” Elza, the queen of all Eselldra, --- no, her mother—was crying and begging her not to be angry with them, but that wasn’t possible.

“I don’t know you! I don’t even know me!” She cried.

“You’ll find out, we’ll tell you,” She said soothingly, her dark silver eyes were lined with tears and were silently begging her to listen and understand. “But you must understand that in the wrong hands, certain knowledge is dangerous, we must wait to tell you who you really are. We have waited just as long as you, darling. Your father must find some things out for certain before we can say anything. For now, we ask only that you trust us.” Elza’s dark silver eyes pleaded with Aderyn. Aderyn wanted to trust them, without speaking, she slowly nodded her head. The king and queen smiled in unison, all the grief and suffering that had lined their faces only a minute ago was all gone now, replaced with unwavering happiness at realizing they had earned the trust of this girl that they barely knew; but had waited almost a lifetime for this moment. Suddenly Zael clapped his hands together, smiling at Aderyn, he asked,

“Now, are there any questions you would like to ask us? If it is in my power to answer them I will do so gladly.”

Aderyn thought for a moment, there were millions; but she wasn’t sure he would be able to answer the questions she really wanted to understand. Yet there were a few she thought he might know.

“Is Aderyn my real name?” She asked quietly. She thought she might already know the answer to this one, but Aderyn wanted to hear it from him.

Zael answered without hesitation, “No, Aderyn is not your real name. Your real name is Zephyr. I don’t know if you would want to be called by that yet, but it’s your choice. The reasons why we changed your name will be revealed tomorrow, for I cannot explain why we changed your name without explaining a great many other things; so that will have to wait for tomorrow.”

Zephyr, she liked the sound of that name; it certainly suited her more than Aderyn had. She made up her mind quickly.

“I want to be called by my real name again.” She said softly. Elza burst into tears and ran over to embrace her daughter.

“Oh, Zephyr! My darling, I am never letting you go again…!” She sobbed. Zephyr quite liked the way her name sounded. She moved away from her mother a bit,

“I have another question, two, actually.”

“Ask away.”

Choosing her words carefully, so she didn’t hurt them to much, she said,

“When did you give me away?” Elza looked down and said quietly,

“When you were two.”

“Oh.”

The silence that followed was very awkward; Zephyr finally broke the silence.

“When I was walking back to Tianna and Kael’s house, I was attacked by this shadow creature, the only reason I escaped was because it got caught in a gust of wind; what was that?” She carefully watched the expressions on their faces, only Elza’s face betrayed what she was thinking, because she looked appalled, although that was quickly wiped away. Zael’s face was expressionless, it looked as hard as stone, and his eyes were blank too.

“Well this puts some things into a whole new light, and answers some of my questions; but unfortunately none of yours. I cannot tell you anything more tonight, go get some rest, we will talk more in the morning.” He said, smiling. Zephyr smiled back, bid them good night and walked back out through the doors. A servant appeared; he said he was there to show her to her rooms. When she entered, she didn’t even bother undressing or lighting a candle; she just slipped into bed, she couldn’t seem to get to sleep; her mind wouldn’t let her. So she just lay there, mulling over the events of that day; her last thought before slipping into the blissful void of sleep was, I wonder what I’m going to be told tomorrow…

She woke up to the feel of warm sunlight on her face; she felt refreshed and ready for anything. Zephyr sat up and stretched, surveying her room. The walls were the same kind of stone as the rest of the castle, though much less blinding; they only had a slight sparkle. The room was rectangular; everything had a design on it, all of it intricately carved. Vines carved into the armoire snaked all the way down the doors until it stopped and curled around in circles, making a doorknob; the impression she got when looking at that was of a waterfall except this one was made of vines and leaves. There was a fireplace across from her bed; simple black marble framed it, making it seem very out of place next to the gleaming wood with its delicate carvings. Beside her bed was a chair with a basin full of water and a towel draped over the back. On the end of her bed was a fresh pair of clothes: a loose brown tunic, and green breeches. Suddenly she remembered that she would be hearing the full story today, she hastened to wash and dress, and was out the door the next minute. She realized something after a few minutes, it was almost impossible to get lost in this castle, well, that is if you were trying to get to the Great Hall; practically all the corridors led to it. On her way there, Zephyr passed by a few open doors, they were rooms, like her own, only there was less furnishings; it looked as if they were being prepared for someone’s arrival.

Einar was waiting for her at the two big doors that opened up into the Great Hall.

“Well, you look much brighter today,” he said, smiling at her; she returned his smile. “I’ve been instructed to guard these doors, and to make sure no one goes inside or hears anything that is being said.”

“Is that really necessary? I mean, isn’t everyone here loyal to my father?”

“Oh, yes, of course. But with everything that’s going on…” he trailed off, unsure of what he should tell her. Einar suddenly smiled again, “Never mind, you will find out shortly.” With that he opened the doors for her, and as she stepped inside, closed them behind her as well. The hall looked even brighter this morning, if that was even possible. It probably was because the curtains were now fully open, and sunlight was streaming in through the colored glass windows. Zael and Elza were just coming through a door on the left side of the hall, probably their own chambers, Zephyr thought. Zael saw her walking down the carpet that lead to the two thrones and smiled, saying,

“Ah, good you’re here right on time; I want to be able to tell you everything that I know, and then we’ll be able to make the necessary decisions. Now then, where shall I begin telling this tale?” he seemed to be talking more to himself than to her.

“Well, last night I asked you what that thing that attacked me was; you said you’d tell me today.” Zephyr said, hoping she would finally get a straight answer.

Zael looked at her, tapping his chin. He looked like he was choosing his words very carefully, like he wanted to get all the information right in the first telling of this tale.

“The creature that attacked you, if it can be named such, is called a Shade. It is made purely out of shadows; no human can touch it, so of course you would think that they are indestructible. A lot of people have thought that, but as with everything else inhabiting this world, this shadow creature must have some kind of flaw. Because even with the tiniest weakness, that can be used in the Shade’s destruction; so that is what people looked for, sunlight is one of them; but obviously they don’t come out during the day. There are a few elements that people have found that are very effective against these creatures of darkness: Light is quite effective, as is Weather, and of course so is Wind.”

Zephyr couldn’t believe it, “So you’re telling me that the only reason that I got away from that Shade thing is because a gust of wind just happened to blow my way?” she said, sarcastically.

Zael laughed, his eyes twinkling in amusement, “oh no, this wind didn’t just happen to fly by; it was called, summoned you might say.” Everything was starting to piece together in her mind; she wanted to know more though, much more, before she drew any conclusions. Zael knew she was figuring it out, so he continued,

“Anyway, the element of Wind isn’t commanded by just anyone; only by a Wind Walker, and they have been very rare. All the other Walkers and Weavers are very common; every generation has at least one, and they are usually born to the Lords and Ladies.”

“How many Walkers are there?” Zephyr asked.

“There are four, including the Wind Walker, one for each element. The rest are Weavers, for the Lesser Elements. As I said, there are Wind Walkers only when they are sorely needed; when there is an evil to be defeated.”

Zephyr was confused by something now, “Why is Wind so important, you said yourself that Light and Weather can be just as effective?”

“Because Wind, although quite powerful, is much easier to control. With Light, you need something to channel it through, like a sword or something; with Weather it’s a totally different story, it is a perfect weapon, but the consequences of tampering with nature can be very dire. So the power of Weather is used sparingly, only when it is absolutely necessary. Using Wind has no consequences, so long as you don’t make the wind too powerful; nobody wants to have a tornado. And thus far, Wind has been the most effective against the Shadow.

Zhal was the last Wind Walker, he broke the Stone to save Zephya; there has been no need for one for a hundred years, the Stone is broken, its Shards scattered all over Eselldra, so why would we have need of one? We didn’t need one, until now that is; the Shadow is reaching out from its resting place, its prison is weakening. The Stone must be put back together, and the Dragon Gods awakened, only then can we hope to defeat Damian once and for all. You are the only one who can do this; you must have figured it out by now.”

Even though she had known she was the Wind Walker before he said it, she was still speechless; it was absurd, and yet it all made perfect sense. Zephyr focused her attention back on Zael, he was speaking again.

“The Wind Walkers have always looked so much different from everyone else, until now everyone has regarded it as a sort of curse.” Zael scanned her face, as if looking for something, reaching out; he stroked a strand of her silver hair.

“This will mark you for what you are, and that will be dangerous. You will have to hide it, under your cloak, change your name as well; use Aderyn that is why we changed your name. Damian’s minions will be looking for a girl by the name of Zephyr Zaelza.”

“Zaelza?” Zephyr said; she had never heard that before.

“It is a sort of title, both mine and Elza’s name combined, which is what people should refer to you as, you are not yet queen. When you ascend the throne, then you will no longer bear the title Zephyr Zaelza. All the other heirs from each land bear this same title, their father and mothers name combined.” He stopped, apparently waiting for her to say something, not knowing if she had to say something specific she asked fearfully,

“Am I to go on this quest alone?”

“No, no,” Zael said, shaking his head, “you will have help in this, other Walkers like yourself. Fire, Water, and Earth; they are already on their way here, they will be here before the week is done.” Zael smiled. Happy to know that she wasn’t going to do this alone, Zephyr returned his smile and asked,

“What are their names?”

“I thought you were going to ask that; Blaze Fayafir, from Fiyawin, the land of Fire; Kara Koralser, from Cyaneus, the land of Water; and Blair Talkey, from Terra, the land of Creation, or Earth. You are all more than capable of finishing this quest; Damian does not know who you are, we hope. His minions will be hard pressed to find you, the Shades will not come after you so quickly this time; the next time they do, you will not be alone. Now you have a two day lull before you must go on your quest, we must find you a weapon suitable for you; and I think I have just the thing…” he trailed off as he walked out of the Hall and back into his chambers. Zephyr looked at Elza, her mother simply shrugged,

“Have patience, you will see.” Smiling at her daughter.

Zael came back out again, he was carrying what looked to be a scabbard with a sword inside. The scabbard itself was beautiful, it was black with silver vines woven around it; the only part of the sword she could see was the hilt, which was gold. There was a word engraved into it but she couldn’t read it from where she was standing. Zael handed her the sword, astonished she took the magnificent weapon. She looked at Zael and Elza, as if waiting for permission, they nodded at her to unsheathe it. Before she did so, she looked at the hilt of the sword, engraved vertically just below the pommel of the sword, was the word Drettuc. Elza noticed what she was staring at and said,

“It means Wind Cutter, it was Zhal’s sword. It is the weapon of the Wind Walker, so it is meant for your use only.”

Wordlessly Zephyr looked back at the sword, completely entranced by the thing she was holding; slowly she unsheathed it, it let out a small ring as it was removed from its sheath. The blade was a little longer then her arm, and almost as wide. It wasn’t very thick, and it definitely wasn’t heavy; Zephyr wouldn’t have trouble wielding this sword at all.

“It’s beautiful,” she said in wonder. She sheathed the sword, and strapped it on; it felt like it belonged there.

“Blaze and Kara will be here tomorrow, Blair the day after, so you have today all to yourself. You can look around the library if you want, or walk around the grounds; just don’t go into the city.”

Zephyr nodded, saddened by the prospect of never being able to see the one person who had accepted her for what she was: Tianna’s older brother Tian, he was way more opened minded than Tianna. When Zephyr had had the time, she would go to his house and sit there with him and talk; he never said anything, but she had suspected on more than one occasion that he knew more about her than he was willing to say. Zephyr wanted to see him again.

“Can I go into the city tomorrow then? There is someone there I would like to see again, he was the only one who understood me; the only one who probably already knows who and what I am. I can go in the morning, when they aren’t too many people about, and I’ll wear my cloak. Please let me go.” She said pleadingly.

“Alright, you can go in the morning, but don’t stay long; the less people who know that you are in the market the better.” Zael said firmly. Elza nodded her consent, saying,

“We see that this is important to you.”

“Thank you!” Zephyr ran over and hugged both of them tightly, before running out of the Hall.

Zael and Elza walked out of the Hall slowly, heading to the Palace Gardens, looking at Zael, Elza asked,

“Why didn’t you tell her more about her powers? About what will happen when she uses them to a certain extent? And about the fact that she must keep her anger in check”

Zael shook his head, “ I said nothing of that because she needs to find that out for herself, even I do not know when that will happen; I didn’t want to cloud her mind with doubts of her powers, it will happen when she is ready, no earlier than that. As for her anger, she will need that.”

Later that same day, Zephyr was in a secluded corner of the immense library, pouring over a stack of parchment. Bookcases filled with large volumes covered the walls, hardly any of the wall could be seen; Zephyr was in heaven. She knew how to read, Tian had taught her how, but she had never been allowed to bring any of his books back to her foster-home; she agreed with that rule as well, Zephyr wouldn’t have wanted Tianna and Kael to discover her secret studies.

Zephyr was reading about the Battle of Zephya, and of Damian; the man she must one day fight, and defeat. Only a few of the papers were about the battle, the others contained information on the Shards of the Stone of Eselldra. But it looked as if there was a page missing, the information abruptly stopped after the twelfth Shard, it looked as if there ought to be more. That was impossible of course, there were only twelve Shards, unless there was more information on the twelfth Shard. She got up to stretch and clear her head, she was worrying about nothing, the parchment had been carelessly thrust into a bookcase at the other end of the library; so obviously that paper had merely been misplaced, and no one had missed it. Zephyr decided to stop brooding over it; so she started thinking about her visit to Tian tomorrow morning. She want to attract to much attention to herself, she was thinking as she headed back to her room, so she decided to leave at first light, and bring her cloak; just in case though, she would bring her sword and her little dagger. The rest of the day passed by quickly, she ate dinner with her parents, they were in a room to the right of the Great Hall; it seemed like a lot of rooms had doors leading to them from that hall. Thinking tomorrow might come faster, Zephyr went to sleep almost right after dinner, although she lay there for some time just thinking. Around midnight, Zephyr finally fell asleep.

Zephyr woke before the sun had even risen, she splashed water on her face from the basin beside her bed, and hastened to dress; today forest green breeches, and a lighter shade of green for her tunic. She combed her hair and strapped on her sword, grabbing her dagger she headed out the door. The palace was utterly silent, not a single thing moved, now was the perfect time to go to Tian’s house unnoticed, and return with no one the wiser. The air was heavy with the smell of morning dew, Zephyr got a big waft of it as she stepped outside; it was a bit chilly, pulling her green cloak tighter about her, she made her way outside the palace walls. In the pre-dawn light, Zephyr made her way down the deserted streets towards Tian’s house. It didn’t take her that long, she could find her way to his house with her eyes closed; the sun was rising just as she got to Tian’s doorstep. Before she even had a chance to knock, the door opened, and a man in his mid-forties stood there. He had shoulder length light brown hair, and piercing dark silver eyes, his facial features could be described as gentle, but that was before you looked into his eyes; although his eyes usually had a lot of warmth in them, right now, however, there were devoid of that warmth. His whole stance spoke of suspicion, slowly Zephyr lowered her hood. Tian visibly relaxed,

“Child, I have not seen you for days now. What has befallen you?” her old friend asked gently. Walking inside his little house she felt safe and secure now, less vulnerable. He bade her to sit down, after handing her a mug of tea, he took one for himself, and sat down across from her. Starting at the beginning, she told him everything that had happened in the past three days, and what she must do, the journey she must go on with three unknown people. Tian listened silently, making no comments, preferring to let her finish before saying anything.

“…two of them are arriving today, the third will be here by tomorrow; we will most likely leave the day after, all of them will have rested, and my parents will have spoken to them about this journey. To me it seems impossible, the first place we must go is into the Forest of Helm; nobody has been into those woods since the time of king Zhal.” Zephyr shook her head, “I do not know how we will pull this off.”

Tian was silent for a moment before speaking, “the king would not risk the life of his daughter needlessly, if he believes you are capable of handling this, then you should believe this also. It’s not like you will be alone either, you will have three others the same age as yourself; all with unique abilities like your own. The king is right, you are more than capable. But if you are to succeed, you must believe in your own powers, you must believe in yourself. If you don’t, that is what Damian will use against you.” He looked out the window, “you should be going, the market is filling up fast; we do not want you to be seen.” He led Zephyr towards the door, before he opened it he turned to her, his eyes had a peculiar gleam in them, “since you seem to doubt yourself, ask the king to show you Ziarre, and let her decide whether you are unfit for this role.” With that he opened the door.

“Ziarre?”

“Patience, you will see. Goodbye, my child, I wish you luck.” The door clicked closed.

“Goodbye, Tian.” Zephyr said softly. Pulling up her hood, she quickly returned to the palace without anyone realizing who she was, that is, until she was inside the palace grounds.

She took a path that led to the gardens, there was a secret door in the hedges that Zael had told her about. She was halfway through the gardens when someone grabbed her roughly by the arm.

“Hey, what are—“ Zephyr didn’t give the person a chance to finish his sentence. Struggling out of his grasp she unsheathed her sword and had it at his throat in a matter of seconds. Staring at the boy, she realized that he must be Blaze; enraged red eyes stared at her, his features were almost indescribable, the only word that came to mind was beautiful; his face was framed by dark black hair that came to his shoulders. His face had a weathered look to it, but there wasn’t one single flaw in it. She thought she could call him perfect, but that was before he spoke to her.

“What are you doing in here, thief? Thinking to steal from the king and queen?” his tone was arrogant, almost sneering, “Well you wont get in there without a fight!” with a cry he unsheathed his own sword, Zephyr caught a glimpse of a blood red blade, and a black hilt, before he pushed aside her own sword, and had pushed her to the ground. Before he had a chance to keep her there, she leaped away from him and stood her ground. Sheathing her sword, she said to him,

“I have no time to play these pointless games, I am no thief, and you had better come to terms with who I am very quickly. Unless you want Their Majesties to hear about this.” Looking at him, she saw that he wasn’t going to be deterred, not until she gave him proof, she knew that much from the way he was looking at her. Sighing slightly she pulled down her hood, revealing beautiful long silver hair, and piercing bright silver eyes. Blaze gasped, red eyes opening wide, realizing his horrible mistake. Before he could apologize, she said to him,

“It seems as though you were gravely mistaken, my parents need not know of this. They will be waiting for us, now that I have returned.” Without waiting to see if he would follow, she walked inside the palace and headed towards the Great Hall. Blaze was following, she could hear his footsteps. Again Einar was waiting at the doors outside the hall,

“My Lady,” He said, bowing to her, “and young Lord Blaze, I see you two have gotten acquainted.” There was a twinkle in his eyes as he said that. “Their Majesties await you in the dining hall.” Opening the doors he bowed at them to enter. Nodding to Einar, Zephyr entered, Blaze following a step behind. Going through the door to the right, Zephyr found her parents seated at the table with a girl that could only be Kara; her blue black hair fell past her shoulders, framing her soft features, and clear blue eyes; she seemed as tall as Zephyr, if not a bit taller, certainly not as tall as Blaze; he was at least a head taller than Zephyr.

“Zephyr,” her mother said, “Good I see you’ve already met Blaze; this is Kara Koralser, from Cyaneus; Blair will be here tomorrow, he had much farther to come. I hope your parents have told you the nature of this venture?” Blaze and Kara nodded in unison, “Good, then you know of the dangers as well; you will be pursued, hunted, and attacked every step of the way. But you seem to be well equipped in the way of weapons, you all have swords; doubtless Blair has one as well.” Elza turned to her husband, “Is there anything you would like to add?” Zael shook his head,

“I do not like repeating myself, we will tell them more of this tomorrow, when Blair is here. You may go to your chambers or wherever now; it would be a good idea if you three started to get acquainted now, you have a long journey ahead of you.” He smiled and nodded a dismissal to them.

The three of them walked silently out of the Great Hall, and down the corridor where their rooms were; suddenly Kara spoke up, sounding like the voice of reason, “maybe we should go into one of our rooms, and talk. I mean we might as well, Blair only gets here tomorrow, and then we’ll be on our way soon after, so…” she trailed off uncertainly.

Zephyr nodded, “I agree, we should, good idea Kara.” Kara smiled at her, Zephyr returned her smile. She could feel a friendship forming with this girl, and she was glad, we all need to be friends, Zephyr thought. Zephyr and Kara looked at Blaze; he was looking at the floor, carefully avoiding Zephyr’s eyes.

“Yeah, I think we should,” he muttered. They went into Kara’s room, since they had been standing right in front of it; Kara sat on her bed, and Zephyr and Blaze brought over two chairs. Zephyr removed her cloak and draped it over the chair; out of the corner of her eye she caught Blaze eyeing it. Smiling, she caught his eye and winked; his face turned so red that she couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Kara was looking a bit lost, so Zephyr filled her in on what had happened in the gardens that afternoon. To make Blaze feel a little bit better, she removed her sword and put in on the floor; to her surprise, Blaze took off his sword as well.

“So,” Kara said, looking at Zephyr expectantly, “have they told you anything they haven’t told us?” Zephyr shook her head,

“I have been in this palace only three days, I only know as much as you do; I was told what I needed and wanted to know. I did not know who I was until then; I was living with abusive foster-parents who probably knew what I was, though they most likely did not admit that even to themselves.”

“Oh, well then,” Kara said, quietly; then she said eagerly, “What happened when they came and got you?” so Zephyr told them all that had happened on the day when her life changed forever, from what the people in the market said about her, to the attack of the Shade, and finally the confrontation in her home with Einar and Raifel. Kara was entranced by her tale, and even Blaze looked intrigued. She then told them what Zael had said about the elements that were useful against the Shades; immediately the arrogance of Blaze resurfaced and he said,

“So if we get attacked by a Shade again, which we will, you’re the only thing that can stop it? Well that’s not very comforting.” Zephyr glared at him angrily, suddenly the shutters of the window burst open, letting in a great gust of cold wind. All three of them jumped. Kara ran over to the window to close it.

“Wow, it’s windy out there tonight; you guys should go check your windows, you don’t want to be sleeping in a cold room.” She grinned at them. Blaze hadn’t seemed to hear her, he was staring at Zephyr in amazement; Zephyr just glared at him, outwardly angry. Though inside she was very uneasy, and she was certain that only Blaze and herself had realized what had caused that window to fly open. Slowly she rose from her chair and gathered her sword and cloak, turning to Kara she said,

“Goodnight, Kara.” And gave a halfhearted smile. She didn’t even glance at Blaze, just walked out of the room on shaking legs. She heard Blaze say goodnight to Kara, she knew he was right behind her, but she didn’t slow down; she didn’t stop until she had gotten to her own room two doors down. Closing the door tightly, she sagged against it. She realized now that Tianna and Kael had known about her, and her powers; that was why Kael had slapped her, she had felt the wind in the room. Thinking about it now, it scared her; she could never lose control like that again, she must keep it in check. Putting on a long silver silk nightgown, she crawled into bed; she didn’t fall asleep right away though; she just lay there thinking. She wasn’t the only one thinking though, standing outside Kara’s closed door, Blaze stood staring at Zephyr’s door; long after it had closed. Finally he walked silently to his own door and closed it. All three companions lay awake for a good part of the night, each lost in their own thoughts. One by one, they fell asleep.

Zephyr was awakened by someone knocking on her door. Groggily she got up and walked to the door, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. When she opened the door she found Blaze standing there; for a minute he just stared at her, realizing she was only wearing a thin nightgown, Zephyr said,

“Well are you just going to stand there gaping, or are you going to come in?” coming out of his reverie, he came in to her room, albeit a bit hesitantly. Silently she laughed to herself over his behavior; his emotions seemed to change constantly. Turning, she found him staring at her again, blushing a bit and avoiding his eyes, she said,

“Wait here while I go get changed.” Picking up some clothes she walked into another room that looked more like a large closet. Zephyr got changed quickly, not wanting to keep Blaze waiting. Walking back into the main room, she washed her face and combed her hair; noticing Blaze was wearing his sword, she strapped hers on too.

“Is Kara awake?”

“Yeah, she’s in the dining hall eating breakfast; Blair is probably there as well. Hey, Zephyr, I’m sorry for what I said last night and…” he looked as if he wanted to say more, but decided against it. Turning on his heel, he practically ran out of the room. Slowly Zephyr followed, thinking about is behavior, oh well, she thought with a sigh, we’re traveling together so he won’t be able to run away from me all the time.

By the time she reached the dining hall, everyone was seated, eating breakfast. Zael and Elza were at the head of the table, Kara was on one side, Blaze was sitting across from her; and sitting beside Blaze, was the biggest man Zephyr had ever seen; his shoulders were very broad, and his arms were heavily muscled. He had a mop of unruly brown curls, and green eyes; Zephyr realized one of the reasons that he seemed so immense was due to the large battle axe that was strapped to his back. But after you got over the fact that he was quite large, he seemed gentle, his green eyes were kind when they focused on Zephyr; and his smile was genuine. She smiled and bowed her head in return.

“Zephyr, this is Blair,” Zael said, “Why don’t you sit down, and we will tell you what the plan is.” When she sat, her father started to speak,

“You all know why you are here, and what it is that you must accomplish; so there is nothing much that I can tell you. But you should know that the Shards must be found in a certain order, starting in the Forest of Helm, into Aerii, then Ikar, and so on. Do not think you can go into Lira’s Valley without first getting the Shard of Mist; from what I’ve read in the library, they will not work properly, or it might just be because that was the order in which they returned to their Temples. Just do it, don’t question it.

Now there are some places that you can seek refuge safely, and there are some places you cannot; go to an inn everywhere but Fiyawin, Cyaneus, and Terra. You will be welcomed in the castles there that I know. In places like Gaea, Enu, and Emur, do not draw attention to yourselves; those lands are faithful to Damian and especially Scath. Be careful in Eury as well, for that is Damian’s homeland and I do not know what has become of those related to him. Now,” he stopped, looking at them all. “I want you to leave today.” There was a slight stunned silence, and then…

“What?! You can’t be serious!” Zephyr yelled, not believing what she had just heard.

At the same time, Blaze said, “It’s too soon, Blair just got here!”

Zael put up a hand to stem the flow of arguments; Zephyr and Blaze quieted at once.

“I am quite serious, Zephyr, I have never been more serious in my life; it may indeed be too soon, but Blair certainly does not need rest, and the followers of the Shadow will not expect you to leave so soon. The element of surprise is our best defense.” He looked at them all in turn, his piercing silver eyes delving deep into their souls, seemingly satisfied with what he saw he said,

“Go and pack, be ready to leave before nightfall.”

Zephyr didn’t leave right away though, suddenly remembering something.

“Father, who is Ziarre?” Zael’s head snapped up sharply, “Who told you that name?”

Surprised by his tone she answered hesitantly, “the friend I went to see this morning, his name is Tian.”

“Tian…it figures,” Zael laughed suddenly, “come with me, my child, I will introduce you to Ziarre.” He led her through the Great Hall, and into his own chambers. The room was larger than her own, with a large four poster bed in the middle of the room; tapestries hung from the walls, she didn’t have time to study the room because Zael was already walking through another door. This room was practically empty, except for a tall bird perch, and a dish of food and water on a stand as tall as the perch. Apparently Ziarre was a bird, but she didn’t appear to be in the room; there was a window just under the ceiling that was open. Zael whistled sharply, another whistle answered, and suddenly a large bird flew into the room. At first glance, she looked like an eagle, but then Zephyr realized that Ziarre was silver, and she was much larger than an eagle; her wings were about two feet long, and she had two long silver tail feathers.

“Ziarre,” Zael crooned softly. Without hesitation Ziarre landed on his outstretched arm; turning to Zephyr, Zael said,

“Zephyr, this is Ziarre, she’s a vyl. A sort of relative of the eagle family.” Ziarre cocked her head to one side, appraising Zephyr with her yellow eyes.

“Make no mistake, this bird is no fool; if she believes you are worth protecting, she will protect you. An invaluable ally. It’s a bit harsh, I know, but very true.”

Zephyr tried her best not to blink as the vyl stared into her eyes; finally Ziarre gave a single chirp and lifted herself off of Zael’s arm.

“Hold out your arm.” Zael said softly. Zephyr did as she was told; right away Ziarre landed on her arm, and gave her another low chirp.

“Can I touch her?” Zephyr asked softly.

“Ask her, not me.”

“May I stroke you feathers, Ziarre?” the bird made a movement that looked like a nod, and chirped. Smiling, Zephyr slowly stroked the vyl’s soft feathers.

“You may bring her with you, but you must hurry now, everyone else will probably be waiting with the horses; your things have been packed for you, provisions, clothes, and the like. I will bring Ziarre to your horse so you can go get your cloak.” Zael kissed her on the forehead,

“I will miss you little one.”

Five minutes later, Zephyr was sitting atop her horse, a white stallion named Destry. Zephyr had her cloak, sword and dagger; she had been given a larger dagger, which she had strapped to her back. Her little dagger was in her boot. Her pack was filled with extra clothes and food; the packs the others were carrying were the same. Waving goodbye to her parents, she turned Destry and they took the first steps on their quest to save the world. Before they reached the city gate, Zephyr turned to look at her latest home; it seemed like she was always leaving some home behind her, and she was sure that she wouldn’t see this one again for some time…