He croutched under a blanket, a small wand in his stubby hand as he looked down at the
weathered pages before him, “It was a cold and stormy night. Wind blew the great
branches of the pine against the glass of the creature’s window, sending an echoing ‘click
click’ throughout the palace...”
“Jaceson Marius Shae!” A pump woman burst through the door clad in a deep red
nightgown, her dark hair tied in a bun at the base of her neck, “I thought I told you to turn
out the lights!”
The boy of six poked his head out from underneath the covers, outing the little
light at the end of his wand, “Oh come on, mom....I was just getting to the best
part....”
She raised a thin eyebrow and sat down on the bed beside him, pulling out the
book, “Jaceson...” She closed the book, “You have this book memerized.”
“...I know....But...It just doesn’t have the same effect. Reading it is like being
there. Reciting it is like...” He played with his wand, “...Why am I different?”
She gave her son a comforting smile and wrapped her arms around him, “You
aren’t different.”
He looked around the room, his collection of books scattered throughout, “I don’t
have any toys.”
“Do you want for your father and I to go get you some?”
The boy shook his head, twirling his wand in his fingers, “No. That’s the point. I’m
not like the boys Da talks about...”
She heaved a heavy sigh and nuzzled against him for a moment, “Well...Your
father likes to put pictures in your head....Perhaps you would be like that if we lived
around more people...Being this far out in the country...you don’t have much contact with
anyone your age....”
“Vina?? I need to speak with you...”
Her eyes darted to the door, “Let’s put your want away so I can go see what your
father wants. Alright?”
He smiled slightly and handed it over, “Ok, Mom.”
She took the wand and placed it on top of the book, which she set down on the
desk in the corner. She moved back to the bed and tucked him in, kissing his forhead
lightly, “Good night my little wizard.”
“G’night, mom.”
She looked at him fondly as she reached to shut the door behind her, “I love
you.”
He rolled over, and faced the wall on the opposite side of the room, “I love you
too.”
She shut the door and made her way down to where she had been called.
The room was dark, taking his big eyes a moment to adjust.
His feet made little to no sound as he made his way to the place where his mother
had put his wand. He picked it up and gave it a wave. A small light appeared on the end of
it, and he made his way over to the door.
He pulled the door open and slid outside, being careful to avoid being
seen.
He peaked over the rail of the staircase and looked down at the shadows, one
belonging to his father, the other, his mother.
“Vina....”
She leaned against a large oak table as she staired at the fire holding a yellowed
piece of parchment in her hand, “Yes?”
“You left that life...You promised.”
She looked up at him, “Oh? So it’s my fault??”
“You could have changed him...”
“I like him the way he is, Emund. I’m not going to outcast my son.”
Jace’s father’s shadow raised it’s hand to slap to woman, but he was sent across
the room with a loud crash.
Vina stood looking up at Jace, as if she knew he were there all along, “I we were
going to wait until morning to tell you love...But...” She held up the parchment, “We’re
moving.”
It was a bright and promising day in the city of Jekonta, not a cloud in the sky, not
a blade of grass out of place.
Taking a deep breath of fresh air, the young man pushed his hair out of his eyes
and smiled against the day.
The soft riot of mining sounded from the nearby hills, followed with a great burst
of wind, sending the stentch of bronk, a soft metal that, when hardened, protects against
any and all magical attacks.
He raised an eyebrow, a silver eyebrowstud moving into the crease of his brow,
“Alrighty...” He straightened the buckles on his coat and took a step off of the
porch.
A bright new day, a bright new start, everything was going perfectly....Too
perfectly. He looked around suspiciously, and then....he heard it.
The bell was blaring from inside.
Vina dashed around from within the house, he smiled lightly as he watched her, but
heaved a sigh when she picked up the bright blue tube, pulling a piece of parchment out of
it.
He heaved a sigh and rubbed the base of his neck as he waited for her to come
dashing out of the door, which she did just as soon as the thought crossed his
mind.
“Oh good, I’ve caught you!”
“Oh yay.”
He ran his tongue over his teeth and played with the hoop ring in his lip, “And the
bad news is?”
“You’re needed in the mines....”
“Oh come on!” He turned in a circle, dropping his bag and rubbing his eyes with
his hands, “Mom...I just got a job...”
“I know...But it’s only for a minute...Come on, Jace....You’ve been waiting for so
long for your father to include you in something...he says you were the sixth person they
thought of!”
“Yippie.”
“Jaceson Marius Shae. You go down to those mines and you help your
father!”
He scowled, glaring at her with the most sinister glare he could muster, however, it
wasn’t very sinister, “Fine! I’ll go.” He pointed a finger at her, “But if I loose my job
because of it, it’s your fault. Mek won’t be giving me a break. I can just hear her
now ‘working for your city is far more important then whatever those baffoons at
the mines are doing. They’ll find someone else, and so will we. You’re fired!’.”
“Oh good!” She clapped, “Now off you go!”
He rolled his eyes and picked up his bag, pulling it up to his shoulder as he headed
on to the road, kicking up stones and seeing how far they’d go.
With his back turned against the city, he found himself heading in to the hills, the
smell of rotten eggs filling his nose.
“Idiot parents...” He murmured to himself, rubbing his forhead with his fingertips,
a headache pulsating throughout his caranium. “Such a nice morning gone to waste....Go
figure...” With a sigh, he tried not to imagine how worse the remainder of the day would
be.
He crossed his arms and marched on, putting more of his weight in his step to
launch him farther, “What the hell am I needed for anyway?”
He could imagine his mother’s voice in his ear, ‘Mr. Hodvant is trapped again.
The sorceress of a wife he married can’t even get him out.’
“Well, duh. Bronk can’t be penetraighted by magic.”
‘Yes, dear.’
He shook his head as he looked up to the sky, squinting against the sun, “Everyone
knows that.”
Back at the cottage, Vina heaved a sigh as she watched Jace slowly disappear over
the hillside, racked with self loathing over her meaningless existance. “I’m nothing to that
boy...I try so hard...but he turns around and make my efforts nothing.”
“Oh come on, Vina. Don’t sound so damn depressing. He’s young and
head-strong, just like a wizard like himself should be.”
Vina jumped when the deep, yet mischievious voice sounded from behind her,
though, recognizing it, she turned around. “Good god, Martin!” She yelled, a large
toothed grin on her face as she all but tackled her brother to the ground. As if all the years
they had spent apart had been in vain just to be overcome, “Where the hell have you
been!?!”
He laughed, holding up his hands to protest her affectionate attacks, “Calm, Vina!
Calm! There is no need to cry, or to loose breath!” He held back the greater laughter as he
pulled a worn cloth from his pocket to dry Vina’s eyes, “Come on, stand up and turn
‘round like you did back in the Day. It’s been a long time since I saw you last, out of that
gawdaweful thing you always wore...I see you’re finally out of it....”
Vina scowled, “That was our grandmother’s wedding dress! And I only wore it to
play dress up...” She blew a stray hair out of her eyes and stood tall before walking slowly
in a circle.
He rolled his eyes and gave a grunt in disaproval, “You’re too thin, and what’s this
with your hair being silver?” He grinned happilly, the thought of his younger sibling
looking far older than he. “You’re beginning to look like the city’s healer!”
With her hands on her hips, she sent him a glare, “There’s been a shortage of food
here in Jekonta, and the government is now sending men to work in the mines to make
shields in order to trade for food. The famine would be the reason for my being thin, you
might say, and my hair is silver because of that gawdaweful, brilliant tyrant of a child I call
son.”
Martin gave a suave smile and an almost pensive smile as he looked around the
rustic home, spotting several pictures of his nephew, “A tyrant, is he?” He picked one of
them up, his smile grew, “He doesn’t seem that bad to me, Vina.” The broadest grin he
could muster appeared on his face as a childish gleam came to his eyes. He set down the
picture and locked his gaze on hers.
“Only because he’s just like you!” Though Vina had a good collection of foul
memories of her brother’s pranks, she had an equal share of fond ones.
A brightness came to her face as she for a moment forgot about her present and
was lost to the passed, she frowned when Martin brought her back to reality, “How old is
he?” His eyes having been locked on hers for a few minutes shifted colors from light blue
to a fogged purple.
She shuddered and rubbed at her eyes, “Don’t do that!” She cried, her fear for her
brother’s magical talent was unbareable. “He’s 16, just out of school for the summer.”
Martin nodded in aproval, “Is he smart, or did he inherit his biological father’s
thick-headedness?”
Vina looked down at the floor before moving over to her favorite chair and sitting
down. She folded her hands in her lap and twiddled her thumbs, “He’s very
smart...Number one in his class. He was given special tests and his scores were
remarkable...The professors are fond of his daily imput, but they’ve grown tired of his
clowning around...They’ve gotten permission from the government to have him graduate
early.”
Martin folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against a wall, “I’ve been
gone a long time....” He mused alloud, “Sixteen years....16 since I’ve been with my
family.” He gnawed on his lip as he locked over to the chair Vina was sitting in, she was
nodding in agreement, “You know, Vina...The boy’s just old enough to-”
“No!”
“Oh, come on! It’s tradition!”
“No way in hell, Martin! He’s staying here! Right here! He’s my son! Mine! I’ll not
be letting you take him away from me, Martin, so don’t you try!” Her rage began to show
on her redening face, “He’s has Shae blood! He’s working for the government! The Office
of Political Potions!”
Though she had a point, Martin wasn’t about to tolerate his sister’s decision,
“Vina, he’s not working at the O.P.P.!” He yelled, walking closer to her, tripping over
himself a few times as he stumbled towards her in a rage. “Because of Shae, he’s missed
his first day of work, to help at the mines which do nothing for this society! Don’t give me
that look, Vina! You know that he should have gone to work, that he belongs in the
wizarding world, not here, not with the non-magic folk who have nothing better to do
than shovel bronk! You know that Hodvant didn’t need Jace’s help to get out of that
mess.” He took a minute to breath, “Shae’s turned you against your own family, Vina.
You’re denying him his birth rights! Never again say that that boy isn’t a Valor and the
grandson of Luke Tucker! Who gives a damn about Emund Shae, the bloody traitor, Jace
has the blood of the Greats! You can’t stop me from taking him! Your son or no, he’s my
nephew, my obligation!” By the time he was finished, his voice had reached a roaring
howl, his eyes flairing a fierce crimson.
“He has to work at the O.P.P.! If he loses his first job for the government, he’ll
never find a job in Jekonta besides the mines! He doesn’t have time for this nonsence
quest!” Her voice broke off in a scream, becoming hoarse. She sprang from her seat, he
apron almost flying off of her slender body as it caught on the armrest, leaving her sleak
blue robe wrinkled.
“Vina, now don’t you be an idiot!” Martin could barly hold back a laugh, knowing
how insulting it would be to her if he let it loose. His eyes changed again, to a calm, bright
green, “If you miss your first day of work at the O.P.P, you loose your job.”
Vina covered her blushing face with her hands, feeling like an idiot. She had forced
Jace to go, not to his job, but away from it. She furrowed her brow and folded her arms
over stomach, “You won’t take him.” She repeated quietly as she began to stair off into
nothingness.
He shook his head and licked his bottom lip as he made his way up to the door. He
ran his fingers along the door handle before coiling them around it. He turned the knob
and stepped outside. He looked over his shoulder at her for a brief moment, “It’s up to
Jace.” He looked away from her and slammed the old oak door behind him.
With a sigh, he ran his half-gloved fingers through his hair and stepped away from
the building, shaking his head. He popped his neck before pulling his coat tight, buttoning
it. “Well....there’s only one way to hind out.”
His walk towards the minds started out slow, but soon turned into a quick
jog.
With her eyebrows arched, Vina watched Martin through the window. She bit
down on her lip and shook her head, “He’s gone mad...” She clenched and unclenched her
fists repeatedly, breathing slowly to try to calm her down. “Don’t let my Jaceson go...He’s
all I have...”
Going at his great pace, Martin bounded over the hill in a blind movement, running
head-long into an oldman that he hadn’t predicted would be in his path. He fell back from
the force, his eyes rolling about in their sockets.
He shook his head and waited for his vision to clear, “I’m so sorry, sir.” He
jumped to his feet and dusted himself off before holding out his hands to help the fallen
man up.
The man smiled wirely, “Not to worry, my son, not to worry.” Once he gained his
balance, he too dusted himself off, straightening the new wrinkles in his musty gray
cloack. He pulled his hat low into his eyes and started to slump away.
Martin raised an eyebrow. There was something familiar about that old man’s
slump... “Mr. Hodvant, wait!”
The man turned to look at Martin over his shoulder before turning to face him
completely. His eyes grew wider and he jumped.
With a slight burst of energy, he scurried back to Martin’s side, poking and
proding him, “Lower yourself, Martin.”
Martin bent at the knees to let Mr. Hodvant continue his inspection, “How’s
this?”
“Very nice, very nice.” He pushed his half-moon glasses up the bridge of his nose,
“Haven’t aged a day...haven’t seen you in what? Six years?” Memories began to flood into
his mind, those of mischief and no-good, spread throughout the lans by a young hooligan
by the name of Martin Valor.
“Actually, sir, it’s been 16....Just before Vina had her son.” Martin corrected, he
smiled as he saw into the old man’s thoughts, a memory of cherried chestnut wars fled in
his mind. “Well, you know what they say. Never buy a clock with wings.”
“Ah yes, how time flies.” He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Martin, “What’s
with your eyes, boy?”
Martin, who had just turned them from green to light blue grinned proudly, “I’m
one of the Greats!” He was a bit relieved, he had been wanting someone to ask the entire
time that he had journied to Jekonta, “Just after I left, they initiated me.”
Though an elder, Hodvant got that ever so childish gleam in his eyes, “Is that so?
How is it to have your name in the book of Legends, boy? How is it to be a
Legend?”
“It’s no different than I was before my quest...I look no different, besides my
eyes-”
“Don’t worry, Martin.” Hodvant blurted, cutting Martin’s sentance short.
Martin raised an eyebrow, “Wha....?” Confussion fell upon him like a box of rocks,
though, he didn’t think much of it. Back when he was a boy in a smaller city than Jekonta,
Hodvant was known for his story telling and his abrupt change in topic. He hadn’t
forgotten his old friend’s way of communication.
“The only reason you’re here is because you’ve come back for Vina’s boy, Jaceson
Shae.”
“Please sir, by birth right, he is Jaceson Valor Tucker, by lie he is Jaceson Shae. It
is dishonor to him to call him Shae...”
Mr. Hodvant nodded sadly, “Aye...it’s a pity how Emund took his father’s
grandson and tried to beat the magic out of him...It didn’t work though.” He smiled,
“You’d be proud of Jaceson, Martin. Every time Emund pushes against magic and the
sort, Jace pushes back. He knows he’s destined for great things, he just needs the
guidance.”
“Sometimes I wish Vina hadn’t married Emund...he’s a right bastard if you ask me.
Sure, in her mind she though, ‘Oh, the son of a Great! How wonderful! What power
would be passed to our children! They’d have the best of futures!’ but she got a powerless
little leach who is a disgrace to the race of Man.”
“He is,” Mr. Hodvant claimed hotly, “Hey, have you ever wondered why I’m
always getting stuck in the mines?”
Martin was growing impatient, his mind set on finding Jace, “No, I haven’t.” Out
of respect for his old friend, one of whom he hadn’t seen in years, he decided to tolerate
the length of their conversation.
“That moster of a man pores fresh bronk all over me, says it was an accident. He
doesn’t tell anyone to help me until it’s completely dry, so when I’m inprisoned in solid
rock, he gets all the ‘oos’ and ‘ahs’ from the miners as he ‘saves my life’. A load of
poppycock if you ask me!” He raged on, “And me, an old man, about to retire, why he
doesn’t do it to some younger worker is beyond me.”
Martin nodded in agreement, his loathing for Emund coming forward from the
back of his mind, “That’s terrible...”
It was a well known fact that non of the Greats liked the Shaes, in fact, most
people didn’t like them.
Vina’s husband, Emund Shae’s last name wasn’t even Shae. Tucker was Emund’s
real last name.
Luke Tucker, the greatest of the Greats in any written history, was Emund’s
father. Emund, having no magical power at all, hated him for it; hated him so much in fact,
that he changed his last name to avoid confrentation. And in the wizarding world, that was
a very shameful thing to do.
“Even now,” Martin thought to himself, “to be called a shae in the
Land of the Dragons, and beyond, for that matter, is a probably the worst insult one can
conjure... How fun.” He laughed and shook his head, “The fool has made his life
worse on his own...”
“Well, if you want to find the boy, he’s down at the mine getting yelled at for some
reason or another.” Hodvant said to break the silence.
Mr. Hodvant startled Martin, making him jump. He shook his head and focused,
“What?...Oh, yes. Thank you, Thomas.”
Hodvant nodded, “Of course, it was my pleasure, Martin the Great.” He bowed his
head with a bright smile.
Martin blushed and took a deep breath, “Alright...well....I guess I best be on my
way.” He nodded to himself and looked up to the sky, squinting lightly as the sun cast it’s
rays throughout the atmosphere. He admired the shape-shifting clouds, slowly moving
across the sky.
Suddenly, a gust of wind sparked in the sky, the clouds darkening from their
perfect white to a dark purple in shady overcast. What was once a bright and sunny day,
was now a sure with the chance of rain.
Again, Mr. Hodvant nodded in agreement, “Aye, that’s me as well....Mrs.
Hodvant’s expecting me for tea...”
They bobbed their heads with a smile and turned on their heals in opposite directions, heading to their destinations without any further words.
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