Guardians of Aishod

[† Shazi]

Aishod is a story I have been working on for years (and is still on it's second draft) I started it for NaNoWriMo in 2011 and finished the first draft for NaNoWriMo in 2013. Since then it has been and on/off sort of project (since I started writing a novel for my mumsy) but I have edited and rewritten the first 9 or 10 chapters to a standard I am much more happy with. I'm still not totally happy with the story, there is a lot of explaining that needs to be done and a lot of things that need to be expanded but for a second draft of a really rushed story I am pretty happy with it.

 

The story of Aishod...

Aishod follows the young and somewhat imulsive princess Pippa who has come home from magical boarding school. She had been receiving vague letters from home for years and suspected her uncle Tibbott of foul play. As soon as she returned she was put under house arrest, but little did her uncle realise that her magical ability of the mind far exeeded his own. She easily slipped out of the palace unseen and hired the mercenary Ivy to help her work out what is going on. The two are set on a journey niether of them expected as the Guardans of Magic warn that Tibbott is planning something far worse than just removing the Queen from power and taking the throne.

 

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

etc.....

Edited February 27, 2015 by Shazi

[† Shazi]

Chapter 1

 

Pippa took her hair out of her braid, it fell over her shoulders, and came to it’s full length at her lower back. She brushed her curls with her fingers to neaten them. She was going to into the city of Kutar alone, she didn’t want to go into the city looking like she was the crown princess of the throne. She slipped her castle gown of pale green off and changed into a sturdy pink woollen travelling dress. The skirt fell just above her knees which made for easy walking. She fixed a belt to her waist and tied a coin purse to it, filled with a few silver and gold. She drew a cloak over her shoulders and raised her hood and made her way to the door.

 

Opening it as quietly as she could she slipped out of her bedroom. She worked her way down corridors avoiding any guards she came across and found the gardens. The steward, her uncle Tibbott was in charge of Kutar, and despite Pippa being of age and her mother bedridden, Pippa had been a prisoner in the castle since her return from the Academy of Magic Isryt. Pippa wasn’t stupid, she knew what was happening, the Queen mysteriously has an illness and only allows her brother to visit her for fear of poisoning. Pippa herself hadn’t been allowed to see the Queen, the Queen hadn’t even allowed her own daughter to see her? Pippa found that hard to believe her uncle when everything was pointing to him being wrong.

 

She crept down the hallway and muttered the incantation for an Oblivious spell on the guards. She would normally not need the incantation, as she was powerful enough to not need to focus through words, but she was in a hurry and the incantation was quicker. She took a deep breath and walked past the guards like she belonged there. The guards took no notice of her as walked by them as she expected she ducked around the nearest corner and revoked her spell, the guards still needed to pay attention to what was going on, they just didn’t need to stop her. Tibbott had greatly underestimated Pippa’s magic, or he would have prepared the guards better.

 

Careful not to make too make noise as she walked, Pippa headed through the castle gardens, from there she headed to the tree in the wall. A tree had grown next to the wall, and it’s roots branched under the castle walls, making the stones loose enough to move some. Pippa shifted the stones one by one until she had a hole big enough for her to crawl through. She ducked through and carefully put most of the stones back so anyone walking past it was less likely to notice a hole in the wall. Once she was satisfied with the hole she drew her cloak over her head, there were many in the city who knew her face. 

 

She followed the alleyway beside the castle to the street and tried her best to blend into the crowd walking through. It was dark and there were few people in the streets, but most were like her, cloaked and busy going about their own business, none wanted anything to do with anyone else.

 

She was looking for a tavern, one called “Our Lady Kutar.” Despite it’s name she suspected it had nothing to do with the Kutar family nor would there be many Ladies within. One of the guards stationed outside her room had spoken of a Klee woman staying there, the guards outside her room did love to gossip, it was as though they thought her stupid.

 

Twice Pippa had been almost turned down an alleyway with a dead end by people she suspected were following her before she finally spotted the sign above the tavern door. The silhouette of a woman marked the taverns and the title was written in a poor hand. She smiled to herself, proud of being able to navigate her way to the tavern by herself. She adjusted her hood nervously and pushed the large oak door open. She was greeted by the smells of ale, pipe smoke and sweaty men and merry music filled the air. Her lips curled in a small smile as she swept through the common room.

 

A barmaid, no older than herself curtsied. “Evening m’lady,” she said sweetly, “did you want anything in particular?” her bosom jiggled under her loosely fitted low cut shirt. Pippa was certain the only thing holding her ample bosom inside the shirt was the apron she had.

 

“Wine please,” Pippa’s brow creased as she searched the room for the woman she was after. The Klee were easily distinguishable, they had honey blonde hair, with coloured braids from their temples. They also tended to be taller than Kutarans, though seated that was not usually obvious. She spotted the woman she was looking for sitting in the corner in the shadows, her metal breast plate shone in the candle light, as did the shin guards she wore. She had a bow resting against her leg and a quiver of arrows strapped to the other. The maid nodded and scurried off the fetch the drink. Pippa quickly ducked over to the women sitting down and slipped into the seat opposite her. Now that Pippa was closer she could see the woman’s eyes. Their bright purple gave her away as being a Klee for certain.

 

The woman scowled and looked at Pippa sideways, she was watching the room from afar, possibly searching for someone. Pippa bit her lip nervously and took a deep breath.

“You’re the Klee who I have heard rumours about?” she tried her best to remain calm and look far more confident than she actually was. The Klee womans scowl deepened and she turned her eyes away from Pippa. Pippa sighed to herself and cast a small oblivious spell. Taverns and Inns were a great place to listen to people making plans, Pippa didn’t want people to listen in on hers. She pushed back her hood to show the Klee woman who she was. There weren’t many families that possessed the same golden eyes Pippa had inherited from her mother. The woman looked at her and frowned harder.

 

“This is rich, what the hell would Tibbott’s spoilt Princess Niece want with me?” She spat, “you come down from your castle to tell me how lucky I am that I didn’t die?” she growled. Pippa shook her head.

 

“No, I want the same thing you want, to see my uncle both off the throne and dead.” Pippa replied. The woman’s face changed to a questioning look, though she still frowned. “He is very obviously poisoning the Queen, don’t you find it a little odd that she has been ill for 5 years and only he has been to see her?” Pippa began to explain.

“Why should I care?” she frowned again.

 

“Because if the Queen wasn’t being poisoned and could assume the throne again she would behead Tibbott the moment she laid eyes on him.” Pippa replied. “You survived the Klee massicre, one would expect you to never set foot in Kutar, yet here you are in the capital, staying in an inn called ‘Our Lady Kutar’ and you expect me to believe that you are simply passing through?” Pippa offered the woman grunted in reply.

 

“The man is a menace, and he somehow has all of this damn country under his control. I want him gone, I want Kutar to be open to travellers again and most of all, I want my mother back” Pippa choked a little, she missed her mother, she hadn’t seen her since she left for Isryt. The woman’s face softened and she wriggled her nose.

 

“Alright, I’ll bite m’lady, what is it you had in mind?” she asked her. Pippa was shaking a little, but she composed herself and began to explain her plan. 

 

“Obviously he is using magic to keep the city in a state of obliviousness to her plans, I have no idea how it is not something a single person can do, so I can only imagine he has many many mages keeping the spell alive.” She said,  “I need to get to Anima’s Shrine to the west, but the roads are dangerous, and I am an easy target.”

 

“There are lots of mercenaries, why choose me?” the woman asked, taking a sip of ale.

 

“Because the reward for my return will be far greater in gold than anything I can offer,” Pippa shrugged, “and you have a personal vendetta on Tibbott.” She added. “Don’t you want to know why your people were attacked?” she asked.

 

“Slaughtered like animals,” the woman corrected, “and no, I don’t care why it was done, I just want him dead.”

 

“Did the Klee protect anything, some sort of sacred powerful item?” Pippa asked.

 

“We protected Anima’s shrine, just like Kutar is supposed to protect Nyx’s” the woman crossed her arms and sat back. She gave Pippa a look of contempt.

 

“I will pay you for your services, I am a princess after all.” Pippa gave her a smile, hoping she would agree.

 

“You’re telling me, that this whole endeavour will ultimately end with killing Tibbott.” She raised a questioning eyebrow, “and I will get paid to do it?” she added with a laugh.

 

“Mercenaries are hired swords, or rather bow in your case,” Pippa gestured to the woman’s bow. The woman wriggled her nose and laughed.

 

“You have yourself a deal princess,” she held out her hand for a handshake. “My name’s Ivy she added.

 

“Excellent, I shall meet you at the west gate at sunrise Ivy.” Pippa smiled and shook the her hand.

Edited February 27, 2015 by Shazi

[† Shazi]

Chapter 2

 

Ivy laughed to herself for what was probably the twentieth time. She was getting paid to find and kill Tibbott Kutar, by none other than his niece Pippa. Life had a sense of humour, and it was nice Ivy was finally seeing it.

 

First of all the two of them had to leave the city, Pippa’s plan was to go to the shrine of Nyx to the west. From what Ivy had observed of the guards on the west gate, the chances of them leaving were going to be slim at best. Ivy had observed them for a few hours and so far every single person that had tried to leave had been refused. The city seemed to be in lock down.

 

Ivy shuddered at the thought of Nyx’s magic, it was commonly called dark magic and Ivy had seen the dark part of the magic first hand. Her home had been destroyed by soldiers under Tibbott’s orders, she had been out hunting at the time, she had stayed out to make sure she caught enough food for everyone. She had come home to find her home butchered like animals.

 

The worst part was when the people she had grown up with were resurrected, and attacked her. Killing her own friends and family for a second time was worse than being the only one left. She ground her teeth at the thought of seeing Tibbott’s face. She was busy lost in thought and didn’t notice the sun was beginning to rise until Pippa appeared by her side.

 

“My apologies for being late, the castle guards seemed to have upped their patrols.” She whispered breathlessly causing Ivy to jump.

 

“Where in the world did you come from?” Ivy whispered back harshly. She glared at the princess.

 

“Sorry, I had to use a spell to make myself unnoticeable, as you can she the guards are everywhere.” She frowned back and Ivy and gestured to the guards at the gate.

 

“I have a feeling they’re paying too much attention for a little spell like that to get us past.” Ivy said. She shifted on her feet to balance herself properly, she was ready in case they needed to fight their way out. Pippa studied the guards, they were clad in full plate armour and armed with a crossbow and sword each, one bolt in the leg from one of them and there would be no way to escape.

 

“They will notice us even with my inconspicuous spell, perhaps a compelling charm could get them to let us through?” she thought aloud to herself. She looked up at Ivy who was at least a foot taller than her.

 

“Just what kind of Magic is this Dark Magic.” Ivy shook her head. 

 

“The basics of Nyx’s teachings,” Pippa replied hastily. She tugged on Ivy’s shirt and swept across the street. Ivy noted she looked very much like a princess as she walked across. She stood before the guard and smiled sweetly, Ivy stood beside Pippa quietly and hope she knew what she was doing.

 

“Excuse me Mr. Guard sir, my friend and I need to leave the city,” she said to the guard and batted her eyelashes. The guard regarded her for a moment and frowned.

 

“No one is allowed through on the orders of the steward Tibbott.” He replied dully. Ivy glanced at Pippa who was scowling, she made symbols with her fingers before trying again.

 

“My friend and I are leaving the city,” she told him firmly and walked past the guard without another word. The guard didn’t seem to see her. Ivy quickly followed Pippa and jogged a little to catch up to the Princess.

 

“The basics of Dark Magic?” Ivy tried to follow up with her question. “What is that?” she knew she didn’t know a great deal about maigc.

 

“Most of it is mind tricks, things like compelling charms, spells to make you inconspicuous in a crowd. There is also temporary and permanent mind links, which is often used in Kutaran marriages.” Pippa explained, “Small amount of summoning as well I suppose,” she added offhandedly. Ivy’s stomach turned to ice.

 

“What kind of summoning?” she asked slowly.

 

“Small animals mostly, cats and rats mostly.” Pippa waved her hand a little as she spoke. “As I said, it’s mostly mind tricks, animals have a different sort of mind to us so summoning animals much bigger than a cat or small dog is difficult for even the most powerful Mages.”

 

“What about necromancy?” Ivy asked, the princess’s mouth tightened.

 

“Necromancy is forbidden, even if I had wanted to learn how, there would be no one at Isryt Academy to teach me.” She replied. Ivy sighed with relief.  The last thing she wanted was to be hired by a necromancer.

 

The road to the shrine of Nyx was very empty, Ivy wondered if this was because of the lockdown the city was in, or because something had happened to the shrine itself. Both were just as likely since Tibbott had begun ruling Kutar.

 

Ivy took in the landscape, there were a few trees littering the side of the road and fields with crops growing, it was almost springtime so it would not be long before the harvesting began. When spring was in full swing many farmers would be bringing their goods to local markets in the villages, and some even venturing to the city. A farmers cart was a good way to ease a travellers feet, she remembered often riding in carts filled with hay and grains when she was on her way to Kutar.

 

“Any chance you could summon a horse and cart?” Ivy said jokingly, she grinning hoping the princess would see the humour.

 

“Summoning a horse would be a Forest spell,” she gave Ivy a hard look. “I can not use Forest magic unless I visited the shrine and felt the Forest Spark.” She explained, Ivy sighed to herself, her joke was lost on the princess.

 

“I remember why I chose to be a hunter,” Ivy muttered to herself, “Magic is too complicated.”

 

“It’s only complicated once you begin to learn spells,” Pippa laughed haughtily. “I could teach you some of the basic knowledge of magic, though I would not be able to teach you spells.

 

“I have a feeling that the Shrine isn’t going to be the only magic we will see this trip so I may as well.” Ivy crossed her arms and shook her head.

 

“I take it you know of the seven Guardians?” Pippa began, Ivy rolled her eyes, this was the basic of basics.

 

“Raan of Water, Nuri of Fire, Yuma of Sand, Silas of the Forest, Neiva of Snow, Anima of Spirit and Nyx of Darkness.” Ivy recited the names in a bored tone, this was what all children were taught all over the continent of Aishod.

 

“Good, then you also must know that in order to use any of the magic given by the guardians, you need the Spark.” Pippa continued her lecture. “The spark is something you are born with, but you only know if you have the spark if you visit one of the shrines, most parents take their children at around 8 to see if they can use magic. Many people make the Pilgrimage to all the shrines to see if they can use magic once they become adults.”

 

“So basically the Spark is some sort of compatibility thing you have so you can use the magic.” Ivy explained in her own terms.

 

“More or less,” Pippa agreed with a nod, “most people use the magic of the region they are born in, such as myself using Nyx’s Magic,” she added, “If you had Anima’s spark I would say you were likely to be the only person in Aishod who could use Magic of Spirit.”

 

“I don’t think I have the Spark,” Ivy replied hastily, she wouldn’t know the first thing about using magic, even if she had the spark, as a child she had only wanted to be a hunter.

 

“Well, it was said before the massacre that the Klee kept Anima well hidden and that only those of the Klee could harness her magic.” Pippa smiled, “So if anyone could use Spirit magic it would be you.”

 

Ivy spotted something the over the hill before them and fired an arrow. Pippa jumped and gasped.

 

“Necromancy,” Ivy growled and nocked another arrow her eyes never leaving the target.

 

With a horrific groan the creature somehow managed to pull itself up and began to charge at them. It's gaze looked on the woman as they stood there, it's arrow-free eye milky. One of it's arms swung wildly behind it's decaying body,  as there was not enough flesh for the creature to have motor control. It halted suddenly as Ivy let another arrow fly, like a marionette's strings being cut, it fell to the ground with a thud and a sickening snap.

 

Ivy grabbed hold of the shocked princess and began running them through the trees.

Edited February 27, 2015 by Shazi

[† Shazi]

Chapter 3

 

Pippa had never seen necromancy before, it intrigued and horrified her at the same time. Bodies of the deceased reanimated with the will of the summoner. There were charging towards them through the trees and hills, Pippa could not work out where they were coming from.

 

As they fled an idea came to Pippa. The creatures were once people, by all logic of her magic she should be able to get into whatever was left of their mind, or even locate who was controlling them through their link. Either way she just might be able to stop the advance.

 

Coming to a stop Pippa quickly turned and face the advancing horde of undead. She scrunched up her face in concentration and reached out with her mind to find something. Immediately she found Ivy, her mind was full of confusion, fear and anger. Pippa disregarded her and tried to find even a shred of a mind from the creatures. When she found nothing she opened her eyes in shock. She was face to face with one of the creatures, it’s one useful arm reaching our towards her face, it’s milky dead eyes wide.

 

Pippa stumbled back and fell on her backside. The creatures face was so close her hers she could smell it’s putrid breath. Just before the creatures claw like hand could close over her throat an arrow sunk into the middle of it’s forehead, causing the creature to stumble pack. A tanned hand grabbed Pippa’s shoulder roughly and dragged her away,

 

“Stupid,” Ivy huffed and stepped in front of Pippa, rapidly firing arrows at any creature who was in view. “Just what in the hell were you thinking?” she growled as she shoved the princess into a nearby bush.

 

Pippa couldn’t say anything, she was busy trying to breathe. Ivy let loose a blinding flurry of arrows and Pippa watched as the creatures stumbled and fell, arrows sticking out of them every which way. If there was anything Pippa could have done to help she would have but there was not enough of the their minds left for her to do anything.

 

“I have a feeling Tibbott was expecting an investigation.” Pippa managed to stand up before Ivy snarled.

 

“Not surprising, he seems to be prepared for anything” Ivy snapped and shot another quick flurry. “You know I could use a hand here, you know magic don’t you?”

 

“I tried, but there isn’t enough of their minds left, there is nothing I can do.” Pippa replied, she took a knife from her belt and prepared to fight any creatures that Ivy missed. Ivy sighed and muttered  a curse in Klee before the last undead creature fell to her arrows.

 

Ivy began to retrieve any of the arrows that were unbroken from the bodies, Pippa followed behind and investigated them, trying to identify any of them. Many of them were just commoners, in simple clothes. A disturbing amount of them were wearing robes from the shrine of Nyx. Pippa said a small prayer to the Guardians for them and stood up to help Ivy.

 

“We need to burn them,” Ivy said heavily. “So their bodies can’t be used again.” She explained. Pippa nodded and headed into the trees to find as many loose branches as she could. Ivy began to pile all the bodies together and covered them in whatever she could find.  She grabbed a flint from one of the pouches on her waist and starting lighting what she could on fire. Pippa dumped the wood she found onto the bodies. She held back tears as she sat on the hill watching the fire.

 

Those were the people of her country, they were innocent people that were killed and reanimated for whatever sick purpose Tibbott was using them for.

 

“Why would he kill the people from Nyx’s shrine? They were priests and simple mages?” Pippa asked. Ivy sat next to her and shrugged.

 

“He killed an entire race of people,” she replied, “I still can’t figure out why he would do that.”

 

“I’m sorry Ivy,” Pippa said quietly “I will make things right.”

 

“I believe you princess,” Ivy patted her shoulder. “Someone has to,”

 

They sat in silence and watched the pyre burn all of the people to ashes. Pippa tried her best not to, but she cried for them all, the villagers, the priests and the mages. She would fight for each and every one of them, she would stop Tibbott so all of them would get their peace.

 

The pyre began to recede to embers and Ivy checked to make sure all the bodies had burned. Pippa sat on the hill still and wiped her eyes clear.

 

“They’re all ashes,” Ivy announced. “We should continue on, there may be more that we need to put to rest.” She added and looked towards the shrine. They had spent most of the day waiting for the fire to die down and the sun was almost setting. The late spring chill was still in the air and Pippa shivered from both the dead and the cold.

 

“We should leave before it gets dark,” she agreed and pulled her cloak tighter around her. Ivy helped the princess stand and they began walking down the road to the shrine. Pippa stayed quiet, magic had made those people into monsters and magic had made Tibbott into the monster he was. She knew that magic would be the only way to stop him as well, but how that was going to work she didn’t know.

 

Night fell, and the stars lit their way, The moon was only half today, but it was enough for them to see the road before them. They walked all through the night, not seeing a single traveller on the road before the sun rose again. 

 

Finally the shrine came into view over the horizon and Pippa breathed a sigh of relief, though her relief was short lived. There were no candles lit in the shrine, and the gardens were overgrown.

 

“That looks about as creepy as I was expecting,” Ivy said with a cold smile.

 

“It used to be a lot nicer,” Pippa replied, she gathered her skirt and made her way down the hill to the shrine. Ivy followed carefully behind and had her bow poised ready to shot anything that emerged from the shrine.

 

They got to the bottom of the hill before a body shuffled out from the shrine, Ivy struck it will an arrow and it crumbled to the ground. The two of them stopped in their tracks as more bodies poured out of the shrine, all of them wearing the robes of the shrine. Ivy took them all down with arrows, and they piled the bodies like the first time. Pippa set about burning them. Ivy tossed her the flint before turning her attention to the shrine.

 

“Whoever is summoning them will be in there,” Ivy said in a low voice. “I can hear a flute,” she added. She drew her bow ready to fire and entered the shrine. 

 

Ivy slowly traversed the shrine, following the sound of the flute and taking care to make as little noise as possible. The place looked like it had not been in used for some time. Ivy wondered how no one had noticed what happened here.

She reached a door with no handle, the flute sounded like it was just beyond it. She drew a deep breath and nocked an arrow.

 

Pushing the door open slowly with her foot, Ivy kept her lose grip on her bow, it was the only thing in this world she trusted.

 

The room was almost pitch black save for a glowing circle on the floor surrounding and illuminating a figure sitting crossed legged. Whoever the necromancer was, they were very small and hooded. With the shadow of the hood in the way, Ivy couldn’t tell where the necromancer’s neck was, but she could wager at this range she would hit the heart without a hitch.

 

Slowly Ivy raised her bow and levelled it aiming at the area it's heart would be, she drew it back tight with a deep inhale. There could be no mistakes, she let the arrow fly on exhale and the room when dark. The circle had disappeared. Ivy nodded to herself in satisfaction and went back to check on Pippa.

Edited February 27, 2015 by Shazi

[jobonline20]

YAY! butterfly is back (i hope so) :happy: