The Halo Of Vakh (BOOK 1)

THE WINDS OF CHANGE

The village became quieter as she neared her house, except for the occasional moos and neighs of horses from the surrounding stables. The lights from the torches stuck in their brackets cast eerie shadows upon the land as the flames danced under a luminous halo of the silver moon and the sheen of white starlight that drifted from the velvet sky. In the distance, she could see the fire that rose in light swirling flames where she knew the bards sat in a circle reciting their epics and lays, entertaining the few people who had gathered with their tales of the kings' and men's bravery, legends that Sapphire deemed fake and extravagant lyrics of their nation's conquests.

Who didn't want to believe that their land was not flawed?

There was one tale that entertained her particularly when she had been a child. The story about the days of old, when magic used to rule the land and men flourished until war had broken out between the six Septs. It told of how Brumous had been destroyed by the war till The Thunth, the guardians of the two Franthemies had no choice but to banish the surviving men to the Franthemy Afsan in a scrape to save whatever human race was left. six hundred and thirty three winters since The Exile. The Harvest of Silence was nearing.

She had heard of the days of the war when men would drop dead at the whisper of a lone word, how entire dynasties had fallen to plagues that came out of nowhere and had no cure. Draedech had ruled havoc over Brumous, all in a search for power, till only thousands had remained from a mass of billions. She had read how the Thunths, the four guardians of the Faranthemies, had devised an enchantment to lower the Draedechian capabilities.

Now, not every man could control magic or as properly referred to: Draedech. She had heard that those who possessed it had trouble controlling their gifts. Those stories always came with bloodshed. Parr kept his Draedechians close. Any who possessed it would be enrolled in his army or court. Those who resisted, were doomed for the grave. She had also heard about the existence of sylphs, dryads, dragons, dwarves, banshees, phoenixes and manticores, but, as she had never seen any of those creatures, she was forced to believe the instincts that told her that they were the bards' creations.

Men will believe anything these days...

Sapphire neared her house and saw Joseryn and her brother Cygnus taking the laundry off the washing lines that had been strung neatly from a pole that was erected near the kitchen window to a similar stake that protruded towards the sky between the fence around their house. The front door was open, the two lanterns hung above the door, shed their orange light onto the snow below, lighting it up in a blazing hue. She could hear the sound of metal against metal from the forge behind the house, indicating that Orion was still at work.

Joseryn turned around, her clear light jade eyes narrowing and piercing Sapphire with a questioning gaze, one of her eyebrows arching. "We thought you'd never return," she chastised as she folded a piece of linen carefully between her nimble fingers. "Did you hear the shots?"

"You know I'll never spend a night in the Bathran," Sapphire said ruffling Cygnus' raven hair. The boy huffed, his skin as white as the winter he was born in, wrinkling as he frowned.

"We know," Joseryn replied, putting the linen into a straw basket and turning to retrieve another. "But we were worried. You know the tales that go around here. The signal's never a good herald. And then there's the question of your intelligence..."

Sapphire rolled her eyes as she brushed the snow off her leather boots and took them off revealing the woollen stockings under them. "Then, there wouldn't have been any danger."

Joseryn laughed lightly, filling the air with a cool tinkling sound, her full lips turning to form a smile, eyebrows scrunched in a light scowl of worry. "You'll never change. What took you so long? Ma Calitha's been puttering around the kitchen in worry for the last hour and a half."