Legend of the Black Rider (Preternatural - book #1)

19: I Would Like A Room, Please

"This is Daniel Karmosyn? But he's so little!"

Zainab, Guinevere and Daniel were in Daniel's room for a private meeting which wasn't as private if some of the guests of The Crow's Nest were quietly standing outside and eavesdropping.

"What did you expect from a nine-year-old?" asked Zainab as she folded her arms in front of her chest.

"I'm just saying — my methods of protection are a bit ... age restricted?" said Guinevere, squinting at Daniel as she studied him like a piece of art in a museum no one understood except for artists who had their own opinions on what it was.

"What do you mean protection?" asked Daniel, finally finding the strength to talk.

"The Black Rider's getting restless the more you race to ten," said Guinevere before Zainab could answer him. "He'll most likely destroy this world in search of you. With my help, and your mara, you might stand a chance of surviving or even killing him."

"How am I supposed to kill him when an entire planet of Enchantants fear him?" asked Daniel. "And what's a mara? Is that, like, my spirit animal or something? Aren't those called regalias?"

Guinevere gave Zainab a nasty look. She wanted to scold the woman for not explaining everything to Daniel, but she kept it all within her for another time.

"Your mara is the amount of power you have." Guinevere explained, slowly walking towards Daniel. "Every living thing has mara. It's that piece of energy that gives them stamina; that gives them the rage and power to win in a fight. It's like adrenaline, but you can harness it and use it more effectively. Mara can only be accessed through hard work, determination, and practice. Unlike the regalia, the mara is the most important necessity that let us gain what we want."

"Gosh, why is everything so confusing?" asked Daniel, grabbing at his hair. "Mara? Regalia? What the hell does all of that mean? I haven't even mastered a hex yet and now I'm supposed to access my mara to fight the Black Rider? What nine-year-old kid do you know is going through this exact problem?"

Guinevere sighed heavily and shook her head slowly. She knew that explaining to Daniel would just take hours of trying to get him to understand it. "Okay, instead of explaining to you what all I just said means," she started. "I'll teach you what it is. It'll be difficult at first, but seeing as I'm gonna be your teacher you should have it mastered in no time."

"Oh great, so I'm gonna be homeschooled all over again?" he asked, rolling his eyes. It was his turn to fold his arms in front of his chest.

"No, you're going to be trained every day after school." said Zainab. "Your birthday is due in a month and nineteen days. When the month's over the Black Rider will begin sending his 'men' after you. If they can't find you, he'll come himself. By then you'll know how to defend yourself using your true abilities: magic."

"So I'll finally get a wand and learn how to cast hexes?" asked Daniel, a smile crossing his face as excitement dropped in his mind.

"Not so fast," said Zainab, stopping from getting any hasty ideas.

"Oh shut up, Zainab," snapped Guinevere. Daniel was shocked at how quick Zainab was to obey the woman. Well, seeing as the whole inn bowed before her she must have been a relatively important person. "Have you and his mother not kept the boy from his true calling long enough?"

Zainab had her hands clenched. Daniel could hear her skin rubbing against each other. She wanted to talk back to Guinevere and give her a piece of mind, but the fact that the woman in front of her was known as The Sorceress, or so Daniel heard, Zainab wouldn't dare do so.