Excerpt: The First Lesson

Conlan frowned as he heard a twig snap somewhere behind him, and he quickly turned his head to look back. Squinting his eyes slightly he gazed through the darkness, trying to see if there was someone else out there, but he could not see anything. Probably just a wild animal, he figured, shrugging his shoulders slightly. Turning back to the road, he walked on, although he felt almost reluctant to do so. He did not really want to meet with these strangers his uncle had told him about, but at the same time he also knew he did not really have a choice. There was something different about him, something he had always known but never had wanted to admit. But now there was simply no denying it. Other people knew of it too, even though he did not understand how they could know of his existence. At any rate, he would only go to meet with them to get some answers, some better explanation. But he would not go with them if they asked him to. There was just no way he would even consider leaving his village, his home, to head off with some strangers.
Softly he sighed, heading into the small road leading towards the barn. He could see the candlelight flickering in the window and he knew Cael would be there waiting for him, either alone or with the others already present. His pace slowed. How did he know he could trust them anyway, he wondered. If the stories about the people with those powers were already forbidden, and if people, strangers, already knew that he possessed it, wouldn’t that be even more illegal? So how could he know for sure that these men who had come to visit Cael were to be trusted? Maybe they had just heard the rumours of Conlan perhaps having the same power as was talked about in the forbidden tales, and maybe they had just come to arrest him. To make him disappear.
Conlan stopped walking completely, instead opting to stand on the road and look towards the barn. He now felt even less inclined to go up there and meet with these strangers whom he knew would be waiting for him. Waiting to take him away from here and make him disappear off the face of the earth.
How could he know for sure that they were to be trusted? Then again, how could he know for sure that they weren’t? In his village people were raised to be untrusting of strangers, especially those coming from distant places. But at the same time, Conlan knew in his own little logical way, that they couldn’t be distrustful of everyone and everything. Not everyone was evil and only up to no good. The world outside his village might have been known to possess many dangers, but wouldn’t there be many good things out there as well?
To be quite honest, Conlan had secretly always wondered about the world that lay beyond the borders of his village. When he was younger, he used to always go to his little house right at the edge and stare at the forest surrounding it, wondering what lay behind it. Wondering what kind of miracles there could be found there. And now he could have the chance to see for himself what kind of world truly lay beyond the borders and beyond the only village he had known and trusted for all his many young years. The notion daunted him, scared him but secretly excited him at the same time. He guessed he couldn’t know whether the men who had come for him could be trusted, but he also couldn’t know that they weren’t. He had always hoped for some adventure, but he had never dared to dream that it would be away from him beloved village. But now that he thought about it more and more, he began to realise that maybe it would be away from his beloved village. Maybe Cael had been right. Maybe they had no choice but to trust the others, because something was going on, and they might just have the key to help him understand what exactly that was.
Maybe he couldn’t say for sure that he wouldn’t leave this village, and his home. Right now he couldn’t say anything for sure.
Footsteps on the road behind him suddenly startled him out of his thoughts, and Conlan swung around on his feet, looking back at the approaching figured. “Who goes there?” he called out, watching as the figures stopped at the first sound of his voice.
“We are friendly travellers from far away, on the search for someone,” a soft female voice replied, the hint of an accent discernable in her words, and Conlan frowned. A female voice. Cael hadn’t told him of that.
“Who are you searching for? Is he aware of your coming?”
“His friend will have warned him, I hope. In fact, we were told to come back here tonight, to that barn.” She raised one hand and pointed it towards Cael’s barn.
Conlan turned his head to also look at the barn, before looking back. “I was told that there were men who were looking for me. My friend had not told me of a woman among them.”
“That is because he did not know.” The woman lowered her hood, and smiled. “I am Yiornna, lady of Blannach. And you must be Conlan of Aldarian.”
A questioning look came over her face as she waited for some sort of confirmation that her hunch had been right, and Conlan could hardly do anything else but stare. Never before had he seen anyone as beautiful as this woman, her hair long and black as the night, her eyes an otherworldly green. “I am,” he softly told her, nodding his head in confirmation. “And who are your companions?”
“I am Dorran of Wurchtan,” the smallest of the men said, stepping forward and smiling at Conlan. “And these are my friends Ardrim of Wurchtan, and Dastian, prince of our country Nimor.”
“Nimor?” Conlan let out, recognising the name instantly, and taking a step backwards. “You are from Nimor?” He looked at Dastian who looked back at him with a surly look plastered on his face. “The prince of Nimor?”
“We are,” Yiornna spoke, smiling at Conlan still. “But do not fear us. We mean no harm.”
“There is great rivalry among our people,” Conlan spoke, looking at them distrusting. “How do I know that you mean me and my fellow people no harm?”
“You’ll just have to trust us,” Dastian spoke up, glaring his eyes and slowly beginning to smirk. “Do you think you’re brave enough to do that?”
“Dastian.” Yiornna looked at the young man warningly, and he sighed.
“What?” he let out, shrugging his shoulder. “Look at this guy. He is almost shaking in his shoes.” He looked back at Conlan. “The war was hundreds of years ago. Get over it! And besides, if your people hadn’t started it, we never would have been in this situation anyway.”
“Excuse me?” Conlan stuttered indignantly. “My people? It was your people who started the war, not mine!”
“Is that what they’ve been telling you? My god, you poor people, living a lie for all those years.” Dastian shook his head. “Why are we even here Yiornna? It is clear that this,” he looked at Conlan, “person does not own the power like you thought he would. Your sources were wrong. He doesn’t even have ownership of the truth, let alone something else.”
“It is too soon to judge that, Dastian,” Yiornna softly scolded him. “And let’s not make him dislike us. We are visitors in his country and his village, so the least we could do is show him a little bit more respect.”
“You do as you must. I’ll go for a walk.” With a scowl, directed at Conlan, Dastian turned around and headed into the darkness of the night again.
“Do not mind him,” Ardrim spoke up, looking into the direction in which Dastian had just disappeared before looking back at Conlan. “He’s been having a really bad day.” He took in Conlan’s appearance, almost sizing him up, before nodding. “You know why we are here?”
Conlan looked at Ardrim. “You are here because you are looking for me. You were under the believe that I had something that you might have interest in.”
“Your power,” Dorran spoke up, nodding, and looking directly at Conlan.
“What gives you the impression that I might have this ‘power’ you speak of?” Reluctantly, Conlan walked forward to sit down on the top step leading into Cael’s barn. “You do not know me. I do not know you. To my knowledge there’s never been anyone from your land in our village. So why would you say that I have this ‘power’ of which you talk?”
“How old are you?” Yiornna spoke up, walking up to stand in front of Conlan.
“I am 20 summers old. But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Twenty,” Ardrim said, nodding his head. “That is the right age.” He looked at Yiornna and she nodded.
“It is. The age in which it can be set free.”
“What?” Conlan looked at the three people in front of him confused and questioning. “What are you talking about? Set free? What can be set free? What is it you wish of me, or wish to do with me?”
Yiornna looked at Conlan. “We believe that you are in possession of something not a lot of people have. Our people believe it is a gift of the gods, a means given to us mortals by those who cannot die to help us fight our battles they cannot help us with.” She smiled a friendly smile, raising her eyebrows shortly before looking at the void on the step Conlan was sitting on, as if to ask if she could sit down next to him. Conlan nodded. Yiornna sat down next to him. “We are on the verge of one such a battle. However, to even stand a chance to win it, we are going to need your help. We are going to need the strength and the power you possess. Our source, a powerful magi who goes by the name of Nerodan and who is in fact my husband, lord of Blannach, pointed you out to us as one of us. One who is in possession of the same power we all possess. We call it the power of Nirmudan, who was the first to wield it.” She gazed at Conlan curiously. “Do you know of which power I speak?”
Conlan opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything Dastian walked back onto the little area in front of Cael’s barn, a screaming and kicking girl placed over his shoulder. “We have ourselves a spy,” he said, dropping her onto the ground and onto her ass. “I caught her lurking on her heels in the bushes and listening in. What shall we do with her?”
“Allenna,” Conlan cried out the next moment, rushing over to the girl now sitting on the ground, a shocked and scared look on her face, her eyes slowly filling with tears. “Are you alright?” He looked up at the others again, and scowled. “You idiot,” he told Dastian, helping Allenna back up to her feet. “This is no spy. This is my little sister, Allenna.”
Dastian raised an eyebrow, before looking at the girl now looking at him with fire almost blazing from her eyes. He guessed he managed to piss her and her brother off thoroughly. “How was I supposed to know? She was sitting in the bushes, acting all suspicious and listening in to the conversation!”
“I’m not a spy,” Allenna now also piped up as she folded her arms across her chest. “I couldn’t even hear anything.” She looked at her brother, and sniffed slightly. “Who are these people Conlan? What do they want? And why did you sneak out in the middle of the night to meet with them?” She frowned before shaking her head. “You know mother does not want us to be out after dark.”
“She doesn’t want all you little ones out after dark,” Conlan corrected her, his hand now placed on her shoulder protectively. She might be a little pain in the ass, but she was still his sister, and nobody was allowed to harm her in any way. He shortly glared at Dastian again, who immediately glared back. Then he looked back at Allenna. “I however am a grown man, and am allowed to go where and when I want.”
Dastian snorted, before letting out a soft “Ey” the moment Dorran hit him on the shoulder. “What?” he spoke up, looking at Dorran before looking at Conlan. “Listen to him. He’s a grown man, allowed to go where and when he wants to. But he hasn’t even left his precious village yet, have you?” He looked provocatively at Conlan, before smirking. “You are what, 4 years older than me and yet I have seen a lot more of the world than you have.” He put his arms across his chest, raising his chin slightly. “It is time you left your sheltered world and looked around you. You act like you know it all, but you don’t know anything.”
“Dastian, please,” Yiornna interrupted him, but Dastian just shook his head.
“No Yiornna. Don’t stop me.” He kept looking at Conlan, before looking at his little sister who was still busy glaring back up at him. “I am sorry for hurting the little one,” he started again – “The little one?” Allenna spluttered indignantly – “but we cannot be careful enough,” he continued like she had never even spoken. “You have no idea what is going on out there, in the real world. You just live here in your safe little bubble, your head in the sand.” He stepped up to Conlan and seized him up, before sneering. “You are gifted with a power, a great gift. I can sense it all around you. But I can also sense that you don’t even know that you have it, and if you do know, you have no real idea of its and your true potential.” He shook his head. “And I can’t believe I’m saying this, because I do not like you, not at all, but we will need you and your power. We need you to join us. Many centuries ago, as Yiornna had already started to explain to you, the first of our people, the first of the Nirmudanians arose. He was able to talk to and enlist the help of animals, controlling them as you could say. This later on turned out to be a great gift, as he was joined by more people like him.” Dastian paused for a moment, a slightly proud look coming over his face. “My great great great father was one of them. This power has been in our family for many years.” Shortly looking down at the earth, he smiled, before he looked back up to Conlan and sneered again. “Then the Dark War started, which I’m sure you must have heard about.”
“Yes,” Conlan nodded, frowning at Dastian’s constant sneer. He shortly glanced to the other people surrounding him, all now silent and just watching Dastian. Then he looked back at the other, younger, man. “Your people sent plunderers and rapists over the border into our lands, planning to overtake us.”
“Plunderers and rapists?” Dastian let out an outraged cry, almost throwing his hands in the air. “I cannot believe my ears. Is that what your history books tell you? That it was our people who took on your people?”
“Do you mean to tell me it’s not true?” Conlan looked at Dastian disbelievingly. “I hardly think our people would lie about our history.”
“They would if they were scared.” Dastian ran one hand through his hair, shortly looking over at his fellow companions, who nodded. He looked back at the man in front of him. “In order to understand this you will need to know the entire truth of the history of our world. The world we both live in. Now this is a long story and would take hours to tell properly. However, we do not have such time. We have already stayed here longer than we intended, and with every minute we spend here talking about this the danger for us grows. But I shall tell you the true history in short, because it is vital for you to know it. Vital for the decision you need to make.”
Slowly all the youth had left Dastian’s face and suddenly he looked older than his actual age. Conlan couldn’t help but feel respect for this young man, younger than himself, but obviously a lot wiser when it came to the world. “Decision?” he softly repeated, his hand still on his sisters shoulder. “What decision.”
“We will get to that soon,” Dastian replied, looking at Allenna shortly. “Maybe you should send your sister home. What I am about to tell is dangerous. People will come after us, and if they find out that she knows more than she has to..” He shook his head. “They will not spare her.”