Chapter 1


Lina rubbed her feather-adorned temples. She wanted to do something, anything. Maybe shape some of the rock in the cave into a comfortable seat. Or eat. She sighed and looked at the others, her Companion Amelia, her Herald friend Gourry, his Companion Filia, and the Shin'a'in shaman Zangalus.

Gourry looked calm if preoccupied, 'Probably thinking about that Changechild Sylpheil.' The Companions looked... well... like Companions, and that Shin'a'in, well, she couldn't read him. As she waited for the Wingsib ceremony to start and make her a part of the Tayledras Clan she wondered just how she got into this mess.

Willingly, and with open arms Amelia told her.

I wasn't asking you! Can't I keep anything private!? Lina yelled back. I can't help it if your thoughts echo to me when you get nervy. But you did ask how you got into this and I just told you, the Companion responded.

And I told you I'm not going to play 'Questing Hero' for you and your horsey friends! she snapped back, shocking Amelia. Besides, she continued. How do you know I didn't do better than what you planned?

Better or worse... that I don't know, Amelia answered. Lina blinked in shock, a High and Mighty Companion admitting to not knowing something? Suddenly Gourry spoke, breaking her trance.

"Nervous?"

"Well DUH! I'm MILES away from home and sitting in a cave with you, you thief..."

"Former thief," he corrected.

"Former thief and a bloodthirsty barbarian shaman from the Dhorisha Plains."

"Pardon" Zangalus interrupted politely. "Although I am both bloodthirsty and a shaman I am not a barbarian. The Shin'a'in have a recorded history that predates the Mage Wars. Can you say as much for your people?"

"I stand corrected, oh Elder of Elders," Lina bowed. "Of course the fact you don't do anything with it is of no bearing at all."

"Of course not," her replied, "bearing overmuch on the past shows decadence."

"Point taken," she said, readying a fireball until Gourry distracted her back to the topic that originated this... extra discussion.

"Okay, so I'm here in a cave with you, waiting for someone to come in and demand I swear something unspecified binding me to something I may not want to have anything to do with," she summarized. "I don't see anything to be nervous about."

Gourry chuckled and Lina proceeded to pummel him. When he finally got a chance to speak he responded "If you think a bit Vanyel and his aunt had to go through this and they never had any problems, why should we worry?"

BASH! Lina's fist met Gourry's face head on and Gourry hit the wall of the cave. "They weren't Heir to the Crown for one, yogurt brains! And it was a different Clan, the oaths could be different!"

"Nope," Zangalus interrupted. "They're the same. It says so in the Shin'a'in Histories. And many a Shin'a'in Shaman swear the oaths, and vows to the Lord of Nightmares are far more binding than yours to the crown. And she can actively seek revenge." Lina rolled her eyes,

It was something. If the bloodthirsty shaman knew of them and wasn't worried why should she be. And when would they get here, she was getting hungry!

Oh Lina. They're coming, Amelia announced.

"Well its about bloody time," Lina murmured impatiently.


Lina glanced at Gourry and Zangalus. Gourry looked like he was focusing on every word said, probably because he didn't gotten used to Tayledras yet like she had. But then she was fluent in Shin'a'in thanks to her Sword master Kerowyn, who was related to most of Clan Tayle'sedrin in some way. And Shin'a'in was much like Tayledras.

It was sunset, and shadows hid most of the Vale from view, but what Lina saw took her breath away. The thick growths and towering trees made the wildest forests seem like tame gardens. Amelia and Filia trotted behind them on a well-worn path fringed by plants with leaves bigger than their saddles. Lina could hardly wait to see the place in the daytime.

Zelgadis and Eris had come to fetch them, followed by a dozen Tayledras. She had been somewhat disappointed when she met Zelgadis in his drab scout's garb, but now she was awed. The Chronicles had made the Tayledras to be "as brightly plumaged as firebirds" but that was an understatement. They wore robes with flowing sleeves that mimicked leaves, feathers, flower petals, ice, and even flowing water. Their hair, bleached white by magic use, hung to their waists or passed it, feathers, crystals, shells, and even small chains and silk were worked into it,

Even Zelgadis – drab disappointing Zelgadis – was transformed. His hair, still short and unruly, had a patter dyed into it that made it seem as if silvery lavender birds through flew a golden forest as he moved. His costume was as dazzling as the rest although more practical, very eye catching.

Zelgadis smiled shyly as he saw the surprise and approval in her eyes. But said nothing, leading them onward. They emerged into a circular clearing lit by mage lights ringed with stones, a strange monolith rose from the center, Lina assumed this was the Heartstone. Zelgadis had warned her to keep her shields up and now she understood why, the Heartstone radiated a wrongness, the wild energies barely held in check by heavy shielding.

Iceshadow stood at one end, looking in his Tayledras robes to be half man, half frozen fountain. Suddenly her raised his arm and a familiar blue glow surrounded Lina and the other two oathtakers. 'A truth spell? So, did the Heralds get it from the Tayledras or they from Vanyel, she wondered. She also wondered, somewhat enviously, how Iceshadow could cast it so easily. He'd done it in a heartbeat, making it look like a child's trick. It took her a good while to do it, and she was the best in her class at Haven.

He lowered his arm and a white horn-tufted owl landed on his shoulder, "Do you bring any ill intent into this Vale?" It looked like the oathtaking had begun.

Lina shook her head and Gourry mouthed "no."

Iceshadow smiled and continued. "Is it your wish to be made brothers of this Clan?" again they nodded. "Hear then the privileges of the brotherhood; to come and go freely within all the lands held by Tayledras K'Sheyna; to call on your brothers in times of need; to ask of us teaching; to make your home among us. Hear also the responsibilities of the brotherhood; to keep the secrets of the Clan; to neither lead or bring strangers among us; to keep the lands and guard then as we do; to answer to our needs if no other oath prevents; to teach when it is asked of you; aid when it is asked of you; to give shelter and succor to your brothers of the Clan, Tayledras and Shin'a'in. Can you be bound by this?"

"Yes," Lina agreed. It was nowhere near as strict as she expected. Gourry seemed a bit surprised as well as he nodded.

"There is another oath you must take, but not in ignorance." Iceshadow continued. "Listen. Watch. Heed."

Lina was thrown back in time, inside a great crater while people who looked like the Shin'a'in milled about with their animals in the destruction. This was once their homeland, laid to waste by the final, deciding blow of the Mage Wars.

The scene changed, now they were within a forest, accompanied by the hawks and falcons that would give them their name. But animals could not be discerned from plants. Creatures stood rooted to the ground and plants reached hungrily towards them, while unknown... somethings... prowled barely out of sight. It was clear there was no way to survive in this mess.

So they prayed to the Lord of Nightmares for aid. And She answered them, on the condition the mages spent their lives devoted to cleansing the lands of the tainted magics, and the non-mages protected the mages. As they agreed she offered them a haven of safety until they could make their own, and gave them the ability to create a storehouse for energy, Heartstones, so they could create their own havens.

The visions faded and Lina shook her head. She now had some idea of how King Valdemar felt when his prayer/spell was answered with the first three Companions.

"This is the last oath you must swear, to aid your brothers of the Clan in their duty as your oaths permit – and to never use what is taught to you for your own power, pride, or status."

Lina sighed in relief, it was enough like the Oaths she took to become a Herald that wordings didn't matter. 'Now as long as these two sets of oaths don't conflict.' She nodded. Slow the blue light faded.

She saw a hawk circle overhead. Nothing unusual in Hawkbrother lands, but this was a vorcel hawk as large as an eagle and seemed to be glowing. 'Martina?' she wondered silently. She glanced at Zangalus, who was watching the hawk as well, seeming both excited and disturbed at the same time. The hawk circled one last time to be lost in the last lights of sunset. Zangalus' lips formed the slightest grin as he turned his attention back to Iceshadow.


Chapter 2   |   Fanfiction