Legals: This story is entirely fictional. Some of the characters may be inspired by real people, but most are made up. The events of this story exist only in my mind and in those of the readers.
Also, this is my first attempt at writing anything so any feed back would be greatly appreciated.
Dragon Keepers Chapter 2
Pelath continued to watch as the sun crested the horizon. "It's going to be a hot day", he muttered idly to himself. He looked over at the clock beside the bed. 5:30am, breakfast wasn't for another hour and a half so he decided to head down to the courtyard and practice with his poi.
He reached for his bag and pulled out a black enamelled box. On the front was the carving of a dragon, inlayed with deep blue lapis in a mosaic style and covered in a clear varnish. He flipped open the gold clasp on the front and opened the lid. He reached in and pulled them both out.
They weren't much to look at, each resembling a fuzzy ball attached to a length of chain, but on closer inspection it was clear that each was a master piece of craftsmanship, the value of each virtually priceless. The chain was the length of his arm from pit to wrist, made from terrenium coated steel and etched on each link were the symbols for fire and accuracy. At one end were three smaller chains that were each attached with a ring to be used as finger grips. At the other end, the furry ball was in fact Icanta hide, a type of furry ground burrowing rodent that lived in volcanic regions. Its fur and hide impervious to fire yet supple enough to soak up liquid and so was highly valued and rare to come by. It was wrapped around a stone wood core that had a curious indentation at the bottom and a carved hoop at the top through which the chain was attached. Stone wood was just about as rare as Icanta and just as highly prized. It was as hard as granite, fire proof and it absorbed liquids astonishingly quickly though some oils were allowed to seep out. Also in the box was a vial of litenum oil which was made from the poisonous litenum nuts. The oil was highly flammable, burned smokeless and far more efficient than any other type of oil, leaving a faint citrus scent.
Pelath filled the indentations at the bottom of each poi with the oil and watched as the stone wood greedily drank up the oil which it would then secrete into the Icanta hide, coating the hairs and hide in a thin layer of the oil. Pelath filled each poi once more with the oil and then made his way down to the courtyard wearing nothing but his shorts.
The hallways were void of people. "Just as well", he thought to himself. He walked out through the great doors and into the shade of the courtyard area. He did a cursory glance of the grounds to make sure that he was alone and then he made his way to the centre of the flag stoned plaza. Pelath slipped the rings of each poi over their respective fingers and stretched his arms out to the side. He closed his eyes and concentrated, reaching into the very core of himself, as he had been instructed as a boy by an old fire witch, to find the wellspring of potential and to tap into its inherently magical properties.
Before long he felt the first trickle of potential respond to his call and directed the potential energies from his core to his finger and then braced himself for the next part. The slow and steady trickle of potential from the wellspring changed suddenly to a full on gush that spilled forth from its source and filled his body. Pelath directed his energies down the length of the chains in his mind, mentally charting its progress as it hit each symbol on each link. When it finally hit the stone wood core and began ebbing in the hide he opened his eyes and uttered the word "ignite" under his breath. Both of the poi burst into flame simultaneously, and he started to swing them both forward in a clockwise direction pawing the air with his hands and building momentum.
The flaming poi spun at his side with a semi-audible whizzing sound as it passed through the upper half of its cycle. The familiar noises and motions of the poi were comforting and helped him to relax. The nervousness about what was to happen today slowly disappeared to be replaced with confidence and an ineffable calm.
The poi whirled around and around at his side. He stepped forward with his right foot, turned on his left foot and at the same time as the turn he flicked both wrist behind his back. Swish, Pelath was now standing in the opposite direction having turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees, the poi were swinging in a counter clockwise direction. Pelath stepped forward once more with his right foot, turned on his left foot and passed the poi over and behind his head this time. Swish, he had turned once again to face the direction he had started at.
Olridian returned to his room and got changed into a white singlet and a pair of three quarter length khaki pants and lay down on his bed. He had his balcony doors open, a warm summer breeze wafting through his room and he could see the sky lightening to the west. He lay there for a couple of minutes pondering his frustration.
Why did Pelath make him feel the way he did? He had plenty of male friends and none of them made him feel like Pelath did, in fact he had never felt as attracted to anybody, male or female, before. Yet ever since they had first met standing outside the keep in the rain Pelath had captivated him. It was his eyes that had first gotten to Olridian. They were a dazzling golden colour that made Olridian think of warm summer days and log fires on cold winter nights and other such gushy nonsense.
His face was nicely proportioned with a square jaw line, a slight cleft in his chin, a dimple in each cheek, made more pronounced by his grin and short, tight, thick, jet black curls framing his gorgeous face. It had taken all his willpower not to jump him there and then when their hands had met for the formal greeting.
Now that Olridian thought about it, Pelath was gorgeous, but there was more to it than that. He was attracted to him from the very core of his being, each time he saw Pelath, Olridian had to remind himself to breath and, when forced to, think.
Olridian got up and went out on to the balcony to watch the sun rise over the sea. He looked to the west and noticed that the sun had risen halfway over the horizon bathing the sea in its light and turning it a fiery golden colour.
Olridian saw a movement in his peripheral vision and looked right and saw Pelath leaning out his window staring intently at the rising sun. Olridian watched him for a few minutes and saw him leaving his window. Olridian went back inside and lay down on his bed listening to the sounds of morning all around him.
Before long he heard the creaking of the floor boards outside his room. Olridian went to his door and peeked out to see who was skulking around at this time of the morning. He shouldn't have been surprised to see that it was Pelath but he was. He saw that Pelath was dressed only in a pair of shorts, showing off the rest of his well toned, athletic figure.
"Damn" Olridian thought to himself as he felt the now all too familiar stirring in his loins. He also noted that Pelath was carrying something curious in his hands and that he was headed for the courtyard.
Olridian was torn between following Pelath and giving him his privacy. Curiosity however is seductive by its very nature and today it was turning on all its charms. After a few half hearted attempts at trying to talk himself out of going, Olridian watched as Pelath disappeared around the corner and then quietly followed him.
Olridian watched Pelath walk to the centre of the courtyard from just inside the great doors. He watched as Pelath raised his arms at his side and drop the objects he was holding. They seemed to be fuzzy balls attached to his fingers by a long chain. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as a wave of energy charged the air around the courtyard, the sense of the power being summoned wafted around and through him.
"Great Denasi, what the hell is happening here?" Olridian thought to himself. As he stood there watching he felt a whispering surge and then the balls at the end of the chains burst into flame. Magic!? Pelath was a mage? Olridian was startled by that.
Mages were rare on the continent of Tar'El. Even though Denasi was the Goddess of Magic and their Primary Deity, she didn't want them to fall prey to the deprivations of power that had so inflicted the old races and had forced the gods themselves to take steps and ultimately destroy them. For that reason she stripped their mortal descendants of magic, allowing only a few people to be born with the innate ability to perform magic, although anyone could learn to draw on and shape potential if they studied long and hard enough, they would never be as powerful as natural mages.
Olridian watched transfixed as Pelath began spinning the poi, nothing could make him look away, and he was still watching as Pelath did a turn. He ducked behind the doorway just in time, preventing Pelath from noticing that he was being watched. Olridian peeked from round the corner and saw Pelath turn to face his original direction; he was going to have to be careful to keep up his ruse. Rapt fascination descended upon him gluing him to the spot; as such he was not aware of the potential energies flowing from himself towards Pelath.
Pelath brought both of the poi together in front of him in the butterfly formation, creating a single spinning circle of fire. As it was still early in the morning and the sun had just crested the horizon to the west, the shadows were still very deep in the east facing courtyard.
He passed both poi behind his head at the same time with practiced ease. He smiled wistfully as he remembered the old fire with who had taught him and the first time they had met each other.
Her real name was lost to the annuls of time but everybody called her Lakina, an old Keloi word meaning mother flame. She was about five feet six inches in height, her skin burned brown by the sun and of the same consistence as tough leather. Her hair was pure white without a trace of any other colour and though she looked older than time itself her eyes were a deep brown and the whites of her eyes sparkling and clear, making her seem years younger and increasingly difficult to judge her true age.
She had been going to the festival of fire for almost two centuries some people said and even then she had been old. Because of her powerful affinity for fire magic, hers was one of the most favoured performances of the whole event and as such she was left until the last to close the festival off with a spectacular finale.
When she performed most of the city would turn out to watch. The logistics involved in the planning for just her finale was a yearly nightmare for the city council but some how they always seemed to just manage it.
The first time Pelath remembered seeing her in real life was four years earlier. He was fourteen at the time and his parents had only let him go because he had pestered them for months on end before hand. They couldn't understand his obsession with such common forms of entertainment, and as could be expected, and ultimately preferred by Pelath, his parents refused to go, not wanting to be seen in the presence of commoners and other such riff raff as television coverage would be extensive enough for them even if they did want to watch it.
They did however insist that he take his bodyguards and general staff and brought out an entire section of the stands beside the festival square and just outside the entrance to the Temple Complex for his own personal use.
The fire festival was held on the day of the spring equinox, signalling the beginning of the hot dry season. The day as it turned out was hot and dusty. Pelath watched as the parade made its way down from the waterfront which lay to the west of the Great Temple, in the direction of the rising sun, and made its way east towards the festival square and Great Temple, finishing within its walls, and following the path of the sun. When the gates closed it would signal the beginning of the real festivities.
Pelath was itching with anticipation. He wished they would hurry up, he had been sitting here for most of the afternoon and patience from a fourteen year old boy was a bit much to ask for. Just then Pelath heard the sounds of chanting and singing and saw the first pennants came over the dip in the road ahead of the square. He waited and watched as more of them came into view, flapping on their long poles in the warm evening breeze, being led up the hill by the Avatar of Denasi and held aloft by two flag bearers standing in the middle of a cadre of mage priest, there were nine in all each a delegation from the nine holy cities on the nine continents.
They all marched behind the Avatar of Denasi, each singing songs and hymns of praise to their respective gods. The cacophony of voices and songs all melded together and, strangely, instead of sounding like some unholy noise capable of waking the dead, they complemented each other all seeming to be harmonies of the same unknown and unknowable song. Then as the procession moved on to the very centre of the festival square the song died on a single note, the silence making the air quiver in the songs absence.
The Avatar raised her arms in benediction, a soft blue light suffusing her, and began to dance to music only she could hear. Then the priests all started to chant wordlessly in time to the movements of the Avatar. She continued to dance as she moved through the square and on towards the temple walls. The people all round the square and in the stands were all watching the progression with rapt fascination. Pelath however had other ideas.
It had gotten interesting for a wee bit there but now boredom was starting to set in again. He looked up to see the sky full of dragons, their blue hides coloured green in the dying light of the setting sun. His breath caught in his throat as he tried to imagine what it would be like to fly dragon back. He was snapped out of his daydream by the sound of the gates beginning to close as the last of the procession stepped into the confines of the complex.
The torches were lit when the gates had fully closed, signalling the beginning of the performances. "Finally" Pelath whispered under his breath, adjusting himself in his chair to make himself more comfortable, he called for more wine and was handed a chilled glass of white wine, he sniffed it and took a sip, rolling it round on his tongue, Tartilian he thought idly to himself.
When the first performers came out the sun had just disappeared behind the cliffs that rose up behind the great temple, setting the sky on fire with a dazzling display of reds and oranges. Pelath took that as a good omen and turned back to watch the performance.
It was full twilight by the time it was Lakina's turn to perform and all the others had finished. A hush rippled through the crowd and a reverent silence greeted her as she made her way to the very centre of the square.
She had dangling from her hands the two fire poi that would soon become very familiar to him, but which filled him with curiosity at the time. She had never performed with them before, preferring the fire batons and spinning tales and images from the torches lining the festival square.
Pelath felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as the air around the square became charged by some unknown energy source. He felt a whispering rush as Lakina's potential energies infused the poi and caused them to ignite in a burst of flame. Pelath was transfixed by the display as she began spinning the poi and the familiar creation tale, and noticed that she was incredibly graceful and limber for one so old.
He noticed that the flames from the torches had increased and seemed to be leaking down their poles as if called by some unknown summons, flowing towards her making a spiral pattern as they slowly circled towards the centre of the plaza. He felt an odd tingling sensation from his heart area that seemed to flow through his body and before he realised what was going on he was halfway down the steps to the square.
Lakina continued to spin her poi throughout all of this and was in the process of doing a windmill, alternating which side the poi were spinning by moving her wrists and hands in a sideways figure eight pattern, she turned one hundred and eighty degrees to face the east, cycling both poi in front of her during the turn and reversing the original direct to keep them spinning in a reverse windmill.
Through all this Pelath had descended the stairs to the bottom and made his way on to the square. His bodyguards chose that moment to snap out of their trances and made to follow him. Before they could get very far though a wall of fire sprang up at the bottom of the stairs preventing them from going any further.
Pelath felt his potential energies trickle forth from him to mix with those of Lakina. When they mingled he felt as if he was inside her head seeing everything from her perspective and just as incredibly remembering everything she was remembering as she performed. Tears came to his eyes from what he saw and he was unaware that her performance had come to an end.
He looked up at her and noticed that she was looking at him with tears in her eyes. Her face broke into a beaming smile at him and deep in the vaults of his mind he heard her whisper to him, "Welcome child, I have searched for you so long. So very, very long."
Pelath had just finished up his practice session when he became aware of another presence near him; he looked up to see that Olridian was standing at the door watching him.
As soon as he saw Olridian all the feelings he had for him flashed through his mind. He felt shock and confusion come from him and it was then that Pelath realised they had linked. Pelath abruptly broke the link and silently cursed himself for not being more careful.
He extinguished the poi with a thought. Olridian was walking towards him. He gathered the poi up and broke off in a run, passing Olridian without looking at him. "Shit" he thought to himself, "Olridian's a mage and I've stuffed up".
Pelath didn't stop running until he reached his room not even bothering to say hello to the other guys who were up and on their way to the showers before breakfast. He closed the door behind himself, threw the poi in their box, sat down on the edge of his bed and started to sob. "Why him?" was all he could say, "Why did it have to be him?"
Olridian was surprised at first when he linked with Pelath, seeing everything from his perspective and feeling the practiced precision with which he moved. Then the memories started and Olridian was moved by the tale that unfolded before him. Olridian started walking towards Pelath before he even knew what was happening and when Pelath finished Olridian was almost in tears at Lakina's tragedy. All he wanted to do was just grab Pelath and hold him. Then Pelath had looked at him and the feelings of love and adoration that Pelath had for him that were broadcasted along the link shocked him. Confusion followed "Why should he feel that way about me?" Olridian thought to himself.
He felt the breaking of the link even before he could ask the question. Olridian was filled relief and hope. He wanted to tell Pelath that everything was ok, but the look of hurt and defeat that crossed Pelath's face nearly broke his heart.
Olridian walked towards him to try and set his mind at ease but Pelath refused to look at him and as he got closer Pelath broke into a run, sprinting past him and back towards the rooms.
Olridian spun round and watched Pelath disappear through the doors. He felt as though his heart had been ripped out and dashed against the flagstones of the courtyard. "He didn't even let me explain", he muttered mutely to himself.
Olridian made his way back to his room. Everybody seemed to be up now. He mumbled greetings to those who greeted him and made straight for his room. He entered his room and shut the door firmly behind himself. He threw himself down on his bed and began sobbing into his pillow. "Why does this have to be so hard?" he thought to himself "and why does it have to be him?"
End of Chapter 2