The Youngling Quartet:BISCTS Chp1 Flight

Chapter One: Flight

Xer Nemfluenta woke with a start and became aware of himself being carried swiftly, but definitely not gently away.

He shook his head to clear the daze clouding his mind as a firm, female, and commanding voice yelled, “Let’s go Gaarg!”

At the sound of the voice Xer opened his eyes to see that night had fallen. It was hard to see but in the moonlight he could tell that a big burly man with a great-sword at his side, most likely Gaarg, was carrying him over his shoulder.

Gaarg replied to the voice, “Shouldn’t we keep our voices down Reqwal? We don’t want any of the patrols to notice us.”

“I suppose, but there isn’t much they could do if they noticed us, besides they don’t know we took something out of the area, although I am surprised anything survived that,” said the voice, Reqwal he guessed.

He squirmed in Gaarg’s grasp and tried to see what this Reqwal had stolen from his village.

Gaarg informed Reqwal, “Madam, the package is awake.”

It suddenly occurred to him then that he was what had been stolen. He began to bellow with all his might for a second or two before Gaarg slammed him down on the ground. One hand clamped tight over his mouth and another hand kept him pinned as Gaarg stared hard at him, and he took a good hard look right back at him. He was indeed a big burly man with brown hair and eyes with a tough rugged look about him.

Reqwal spoke to Gaarg, “Easy Gaarg we don’t want to kill him. Now listen here kid, you got to keep quite or we are going to have some trouble, now do you promise to keep quiet for me?”

He nodded his head and Gaarg removed his hand from the boy’s mouth.

He spat out, “The only ones that are going to be in trouble are you two for kidnapping me when the rest of the village finds that I’m missing!”

Gaarg continued to stare at him with a firm even look as Reqwal moved into his vision chuckling sadly. Reqwal was a tall woman, with burning red hair and eyes, a strong body, beautiful too. She looked like a noble from the way she was dressed in red amber silk and carrying a blood red quarterstaff.

He was a little scared of her, but her sad chuckling made him ask, “What?”

She spoke softly, which seemed odd of her, from the few minutes he had listened her, “Kid… don’t you remember anything?”

He at her confused for a minute, and then it hit him like a ram, “The light on the mountain…my village!”

She smiled at this, “So you do remember something, good. Just as a heads up, there isn’t a mountain there anymore, I sent a friend to check out the area where the mountain used to be, but it would seem like you are the only survivor of whatever happened here….”

He stopped thinking for a moment, he was shocked, numb even, they can’t be serious, could they? He didn’t have much time to think about it as they didn’t give him much of a choice in the matter.

Reqwal’s kindness quickly evaporated, “It time to go kid, you can grieve latter, get up, if you don’t feel like moving I am quite certain Gaarg wouldn’t mind dragging you along for the ride.”

He pushed his thoughts of home and family away and posed a question “Why don’t you just leave me here?”

Gaarg grinned at him and let out a big loud hearty laugh.

Reqwal smiled too, but not at him, she cuffed Gaarg upside the head and scolded him, “And who was just telling me to keep my voice down?”

Gaarg replied, “Sorry madam.”

Reqwal turned back to him and answered, “Because my boy, anything that could survive whatever happened back there would be quite valuable to have.”

He narrowed his eyes at her and tartly replied, “I am not a piece of merchandise.”

Reqwal smiled again, then reached down and enclosed her hand around his throat. She

lifted him up as he struggled and brought him face to face with her.

She whispered menacingly, “Yes, you are.”

She then proceeded to fling him against a nearby tree. He crumpled to the ground, gasping as the breath was knocked out of him. She motioned to Gaarg to pick him up.

Before he could however a voice rang out, “Look over there, intruders!”

Reqwal grumbled as she flexed her arms and readied her quarterstaff, “Zarr, I would rather not have to fight here, but I think the boy should get an idea of just who I am.”

She slowly and smugly walked toward a group of five soldiers in heavy armor who were rushing toward them and said, “Greetings boys.”

The shortest one held up a lantern, saw her face and managed two terrified words before he died, “Oh no…”

Reqwal twisted her quarterstaff, extending two crimson blades from each end and cut the shortest one down, cutting through his armor as if it was thin air. She quickly moved forward bringing her quarterstaff up and twirling it in one hand beheading two of the group.

The last two managed to at least draw their swords. She was elegant, swift and brutal as she butchered the soldiers without effort. Reqwal held her quarterstaff aloof in her right hand as she casually raised her left hand and aimed it at the corpses.

He didn’t know what shocked him more, her butchering of the soldiers or witnessing her obvious skill in magic as flames exploded from her hand to engulf the corpses and a few nearby trees in fire.

She quickly walked back to them and stated, “Time to go.”

Gaarg grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder as they started to run. He was still stunned by what he had seen and by the pain coursing through his back. He quickly decided he had best to get on their good side, it would be ill advised after all to do otherwise.

He noticed the flames were quickly spreading and he groaned inwardly. He had always enjoyed playing in the woods far out skirting the village’s land, he was sad to see them go.

Then an obvious thought struck him “She set the trees on fire on purpose didn’t she?”

Gaarg grunted, “Most likely, we could use a distraction to slip out unnoticed.”

Another man joined up with them as they ran. Smaller than Gaarg, he had light skin and blonde hair, a great-axe strapped across his back. Like Gaarg, he was carrying another person over his shoulder.

The man looked at him with his crescent blue eyes before speaking up as they ran, “Sorry for being late madam, but I found a survivor on the edge of an abyss where the mountains used to be. I had to fix up her wounds quickly or she probably wouldn’t have lasted too long. Tough little nut she was, didn’t squirm or anything as I stitched her up, of course she might have just been unconscious; she hasn’t opened her eyes yet. Don’t worry she is alive, I checked her pulse.”

Reqwal was silent for a moment before she replied, “Two survivors…this is… most interesting; when we get back and have the girl patched up properly, it will be time to find out what they know….”

No further conversation went on for awhile until the other man spoke again “What happened to that place? I’m not even sure you’re entire family together could pull off the kind of devastation that would be required to destroy a mountain, its surroundings for miles, oddly only north and south, and leave an abyss in its wake.”

Reqwal did not reply to this, although he had hoped she would, his only recollection of what they might be talking about was a bright light and he was eager to know more about what had happened to his village. His heart sank at the thought of his village; he buried his feelings and tried to get a look at the other survivor the other man was carrying.

He was startled by what he saw, a young girl soaked in blood, dirt, and sweat. She had hair like nothing he had seen before; it was the color of pure silver! Her face, from what he could see under the blood and grime that covered it, was a strong and emotionless one. She had a ragged grey tunic on, covering her small, yet strong arms.

No sign she had hit puberty yet, so she was probably as young if not younger than he was he concluded. He continued to stare at her and blinked in surprise as she opened her eyes. Yet again he was startled, she had immensely cold, piercing, silver eyes, another thing he had never saw before. She titled her head slightly as she looked at the back of the man carrying her, then at Gaarg, and then settling her piercing gaze upon him.

They stared at each other for what seemed to be hours before he broke the heavy silence with a hearty, “Hello there.”

She blinked once then opened her mouth as if to speak, then decided otherwise.

Reqwal called back, “I’d hazard a guess that the girl is awake, Gaarg, Nuval, let’s stop here for a bit to eat and rest.”

The other man, Nuval replied, “Yes ma’am.”

Nuval gently put the girl down, while Gaarg dumped him off and flopped to the ground himself in a sigh. Gaarg and Nuval however passed out cold on the spot instead of eating.

He sat up as Reqwal approached, she stood over him and warned, “You try to run away and it might be the last thing you do, understand?”

He highly doubted that as she herself had told him he was a valuable piece of property, but decided not to push the point and replied, “Yes madam.”

She dropped him a piece of bread, which he quickly devoured, and moved over toward the girl and looked her over.

She asked softly, “Feeling better girl?”

The girl cocked her head and looked up at her, and said in calm, even voice, “My name is not “girl”, its Silver.”

Reqwal looked at her hair, then eyes and retorted sarcastically, “And I wonder why.”

She slowly knelt down, face to face, and looked Silver straight in the eye before speaking in her own even voice, “Don’t you get lippy with me girl; we saved you from dying here and from being found by the Zarr, now you owe us a debt that will be paid. Consider it a price to pay for getting your ungrateful carcass out of the area.

Silver spoke again, with a slight hint of anger creeping into her voice, “I am no one’s slave.”

Reqwal smiled and replied, “You are correct, you’re my student, not my slave, as soon as I have felt that you have fulfilled your debt you’re on your way.”

Silver snorted and replied, “Doubtful, have you done this for any of your current “students” as you call them? As I highly doubt I am the first.”

Reqwal chuckled before grabbing Silver by the neck and slowly standing her up. Silver did not struggle; all she did was lock eyes with Reqwal, saying nothing. Reqwal’s right index finger began to burn as she slowly brought it up to Silver’s neck.

She burnt a pattern on Silver’s neck and dropped her to the ground. Reqwal clenched her fist as she walked away, casing the pattern on Silver’s neck light up and began to burn. Silver coughed and tried to breathe, the pattern was obviously cutting off her ability to in addition to hurting her.

He bit his lip to keep himself quite, Reqwal wouldn’t kill her, somehow he knew she wouldn’t. She let it persist for a moment more before unclenching her fist. Silver took a deep breath before sitting down and glaring at Reqwal.

Reqwal walked over to him and said, “Misbehave and that happens to you too.  Now I think we should all get some rest before we get moving again.”

What could he do? He went to sleep. He awoke a little later, the fading night still upon them. He couldn’t put his hand on what had woken him, and then he saw them. At least ten Zarr soldiers were inching their way toward the unsuspecting group. He pushed himself to think, would captivity in the hands of the Zarr be worse than Reqwal’s?

He thought about some of the stories he had heard from visitors and the other villagers about what happens to Zarr prisoners and captives and began to bellow, “Zarr soldiers are sneaking up on us!”

One of them cursed and charged in his direction. He quickly looked around, Gaarg and Nuval leapt up weapons already in hand as the soldiers charged at them, however he could not spot Reqwal.

Xer glanced up and saw the Zarr soldier had reached him, holding his blade over his head. He rolled as the soldier swung down, and rolled again at the second swing. The Zarr soldier pinned the boy to the ground with his foot and raised his blade one last time.

He stared defiantly at the soldier, and saw Reqwal gliding down from the treetops with her quarterstaff over her head. She split the soldier literally in two as she touched down unto the ground and quickly moved for the rest.

He scurried away from the cloven body in horror and stared at the battle. Gaarg and Nuval were making quick work of many of the soldiers until they came up to a more heavily armored soldier, obviously the captain, and yet he was no match for their combined might.

Gaarg’s great sword knocked the blade from his hand and Nuval finished him with one cleave of his axe. He tried to hide himself as best as he could as more soldiers poured out of the forest. Reqwal fought like a beast, felling soldiers left and right. They just kept coming one after another.

Reqwal yelled, “Grab those two and high tail it out of here, I’ll keep them busy.”

Gaarg spotted and fought his way towards him, clearing the area with a swing of his mighty blade. He quickly lifted him up and began charging away from the fight, Nuval followed suit with Silver.

Gaarg said to him as they got farther away from the battle, “Reqwal might be a mean one at times lad, but she looks out for you, just you remember that.”

He agreed with him and looked back towards the battle. His eyes lit up as an explosion rocked the ground.

Within seconds Reqwal was speeding towards them yelling, “Move it! Sisters here!”

Nuval and Gaarg exchanged glances quickly before running faster with a burst of speed they probably didn’t know they had. Reqwal muttered something as she caught up with them.

All three of the runner’s feet lit up in flames and became a blur as they sped off into the night. He took another glance back and saw a woman running after them with soldiers at her heels. She was tall, and nearly completely armored. She had long saffron hair, and dark, jagged golden eyes. She held a long staff with double-bladed axes at both ends aloof in her left hand.

She slowed to a stop and motioned for her soldiers to stop as well. She took two good, hard, questioning looks. One at Silver and one at him, before turning around and disappearing as the distance between the two groups grew.

He thanked Reqwal as they ran.

She asked, “What for?”

“For saving my life.”

She dismissed his thanks, “Just protecting my investments.”

He went silent at that, before he decided to ask, “That was your sister?”

Reqwal replied, “Indeed she was, now still your mouth I have some thinking to do.”

After a few hours of non-stop running, dawn broke through the horizon. He breathed a sigh of relief that the eventful night was over and looked at the surroundings that passed him by.

These woods were different from the one he was used to. The trees were taller, the plants were different. The smell was foul, putrid even. He wrinkled his nose and looked ahead over Gaarg’s shoulder. He noticed a city appear in the distance as they came to a halt.

Gaarg and Nuval set him and Silver down as Reqwal approached. She held up a cloth and almost tied it around Silver’s neck. She paused for a second before grabbing a canteen from her belt and dumping it over Silver’s head, using the cloth to clean off Silver as best as she could. She then tied the grimy cloth around Silver’s neck, hiding the pattern.

She spoke to the two of them, “When we hit the city of Argu, act natural, don’t draw attention to yourselves, understand?”

He nodded his head and Silver just stared at her. Reqwal made an about face and the group strode into the city, Gaarg and Nuval bringing up the rear.

Nuval pointed out stores and other important buildings to him and Silver as they walked. “See that store over there down Yakle Street? It’s the food market run by Herol Jecro, grumpy old man, be sure not to make him mad or you had best grow your own food.”

“Over to the left on Lekon Street is the blacksmith’s shop, which is where you get all your metal goods, weapons, armors, and any other blacksmithing needs. Old Vance Jecro has them all. He’s Herol’s brother, his temper isn’t half as bad as Herol’s though.”

“Now up ahead around the corner on Unilc Street is the local Inn, the Barter’s Pub, run by old Barter Jecro, what a jolly good guy he is, you couldn’t get him mad no matter what you do. In case you two haven’t figured it out yet, the Jecro’s own all the shops in the city, they have a complete monopoly over Argu economy.”

“After we turn down Nafei Street there is a store on your right, it’s Ojark’s General Store, run by none other than Ojark Jecro. Now that store is where you get all your daily needs and such.”

“See that left turn onto Justionic Street? We don’t often go down there, mainly because about half-way down it is the old Zarr embassy building. Also, directly next to the embassy is the prison, only Reqwal usually goes down here, to take in poor young criminals.

“Where was I? Oh yes you see that big building directly in front of us on main street? That’s the Argu City Hall.”

“Ah you see that huge rundown, err…beautiful brick mansion over there on Lavaley Street, which, by the way, was named after Reqwal’s father, Zectal Lavaley. That building is our destination.”

The gate surrounding the mansion opened for them as they neared and they walked in. Across the top of a great big door, carved into stone, was the words “Boarding School for the Criminally Troubled Students.”

Reqwal informed them, “Welcome to your new home, we call it BISCTS for short.”

He gazed into several of the classrooms as they entered the school. Many other kids, younger and older, were occupying them. They stopped when they reached a large hallway.

Reqwal addressed them, “This is the grand hall of BISCTS, my office is down to the left, and the dorms are down to the right. They are all co-ed dorms but don’t get any ideas. Each of the fifteen dorms has its own shower and bathroom. The cafeteria is up the stairs and all the way down the hall on your right. Classrooms are scattered all over the building, most meetings take place in this hall. I’ll have one of the other student’s take you to the dorms to get you settled in, then you will take a shower, dress in clean clothes that will be provided, and wait for my tester, Val Cofneray to call you.”

She began to walk off, but stopped, turned around, and asked him, “What is your name?”

He thought about lying to her but decided against it and replied, “My name is Xer Nemfluenta.”