000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Orasin

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Prologue

“Get them! Don’t let any of them escape!” a man roared. Soldiers swarmed over the village, rounding up all of its citizens. Three or four of the men had to be beaten into submission; because they weren’t going lightly.

A ten year old young girl watched, terrified, as a soldier approached her. It was lucky that it was he who had found her, however, as she would eventually come to know.

“Well, well, what have we here?” the soldier asked, peering at the girl. “There’s no need to hide from me, child. I’m certainly not going to hurt you.” He beckoned with one hand to the child.

“W-what do you want?” the girl asked, hiding behind a wooden trough. The soldier smiled.

“Our King just said to come and take everybody to his castle.” The soldier said gently. “We’re just here to follow his orders. As long as everybody does what they’re told, not a hair on their head is going to be harmed.”

“Y-you’re not here to destroy the village?” the girl asked.

“No, child, we’re not.” The soldier said. “Now come out of hiding. You’re coming to meet the King, after all, that’s quite a privilege.” The girl timidly stepped out from her hiding place, and the soldier gently picked her up. He was a fairly strong fellow, so he began giving her a piggyback ride over to the main group.

A few of the other soldiers looked at the girl with some degree of interest. Mostly because her hair was pure white; that attracted a lot of notice. Her eyes, which the more observant looked at, were a bright and cheerful green. Her clothes were what you’d expect; peasant-type and not exactly clean.

“So that one’s not giving any trouble, eh?” one of the other soldiers asked, smiling. “Two of the older boys did, so they got beaten, but they were disobeying His Majesty’s orders, so…”

“Well, it was their decision to make the wrong choice.” The soldier carrying the girl said. “There don’t seem to be any other villagers in hiding; I checked my area very thoroughly.”

“Indeed.” The group commander said. “Anybody not back yet?”

“Ralph and Koma are drinking some of the tavern’s wine.” Somebody reported.

“Humph. Somebody go get them, and catch up to us later. It won’t be hard, this lot probably moves as slow as a snail.” The group leader said. “Move out!” As one, people began heading towards the village gates.

“Mister, what’s your name?” the girl asked, tugging on the chain mail the soldier carrying her was wearing.

“My name?” he asked. “It’s Berion. Yours?”

“Melody.” The girl answered, smiling. “So we’re going to a castle. How long will it take to get there?”

“A bit.” The soldier said. “Depends on how fast everybody moves. We’d really rather them walk fast by themselves then force them to walk, you know? It’s a lot less work for everybody if the people from your village cooperate.” Melody giggled. “So, any family?”

“You mean like a father and mother?” the girl asked. “I don’t think so… The Mayor said that my parents had just disappeared about three years ago.”

“Three years ago?” the solider asked, thinking. His eyes widened slightly as he remembered something. “I see. Well, you may just find them someday.”

About two weeks later, the villagers were standing in rank and file inside the king’s largest courtyard. That was, to be truthful, the only place where they’d really fit that was inside the castle grounds.

“So…” the King said, glaring at the villagers. “In defiance of my law, you have practiced your abilities. Do you know the punishment for this?”

“Death.” Somebody said. There was an uneasy shifting in the crowd.

“Correct!” the King barked. “Death! By all rights, I should have you all beheaded and strung up on the outer walls of this castle as a warning to others! However, because of your mostly peaceful surrender, one of my officers has asked that you be given a choice. Against my better judgment, I agreed.” Quite a few people swallowed nervously. “So you have two options. The first is for your hands to be cut off so you cannot ever use your magic again. You will, of course, be given medical treatment afterwards. The other choice is to allow yourselves to be workers at the Gashan Salt Mines.” There was a stunned silence. “That’s where you get to remain with your families. And as long as you produce enough for a daily allotment, you will be treated well. If you want to be productive members of this kingdom and go to the mines, stay here. Everybody else, the one waiting to chop off your hands is waiting around the corner. Make your decision.”

There were a few minutes of whispered conversation. Nobody left.

“I see.” The King said, smiling. “Commander Takran, your new assignment is to escort them to the Salt Mines. Inform the overseer that I expect them to be housed and fed properly, and will be checking to make sure he’s following the order.”

“Understood, sir! Come on, you lot, get moving!” Commander Takran said, waving to the people. The soldier Berion approached the King and kneeled.

“Yes, Palace Guardian?” the King asked. The Palace Guardians were the elite unit that went along with other combat units to make sure they did what they were supposed to. And each was fully capable of decimating entire battle-groups.

“Your majesty, please allow me to keep one of the children here. She exhibited no powers for which the others are guilty of keeping secret. If she ever does have them appear, you could quite easily give her some training and make her a warrior under your command. Also, I believe it would be good for the Prince to have somebody his own age in the castle. Word may not have reached your ears, Majesty, but he is said to be very lonely.”

“…Granted.” The King said, turning around. “She will be your responsibility to care for. And make sure she and the Prince meet sometime.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Berion said. He hurried back over to the main group. “Melody!” he called. The girl turned to look at him. When he beckoned with a finger, the girl came over, and he sat down on the ground.

“Yes?” she asked politely.

“Would you like to stay here, in this castle?” Berion asked the girl. “The King has given you permission to stay here, and be a friend of the Prince’s.”

“Really?” Melody asked, her eyes widening. Berion nodded. “What’s he like?”

“Well, the Prince is a bit cold-hearted most of the time, but very nice once you get to know him. I think you’ll like him.”

“Thank you!” Melody squealed, hugging the soldier around the neck. That was about all she could effectively reach, because Berion was a rather large man, even when sitting.

“It’s nothing.” Berion replied. “Now listen carefully. First of all, you must be polite to everybody. You’re only here because the King gave his permission, so you should try to make a good impression.” Melody nodded. “Next, if anything unusual happens around you, like what your people could do, come and tell me immediately. Tell me everything you can remember.”

“Yes, sir.” Melody said, nodding.

“And last, be nice to the Prince. You must take care to be especially polite to both the Prince and His Majesty, but you should also be kind to the Prince, because he needs a friend. And that’s something you can do for him.” Berion continued.

“I can do something for the Prince?” Melody asked, her eyes widening. “Wow… This is almost like those tales about fairies that I was told when I was really young! Are there any beautiful princesses around?”

“Not at the moment.” Berion said, smiling.

“Sir Guardian.” An older male voice said. Berion looked up, and found the now-disbanded village’s mayor looking at him. “Please take good care of her. She needs a father figure in her life.” He bowed and left.

“…I intend to.” Berion said, looking at the cheerfully oblivious Melody. “I intend to…”

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Well, time for the end-of-chapter notes and perspectives.

I had fun writing this chapter. Especially because, for now at least, Melody is an oblivious person. She’s not stupid, but she just doesn’t understand a lot of the things that people say. Fun. XP

If you want to know what happens next, review! I upload more often when people review, that’s my personal policy.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000