The Chosen and the Marked

Prologue
A Girl From the Plains

I was laying in Sacaen weeds. I could tell such a specific thing because the grass and weeds of Sacae have always made me itch like crazy. The glaring sun was above me, illuminating my eyelids a bright red. I did a mental check and came back positive: I was okay.

I could hear the footsteps of around another lightweight female walking up the hill towards me. I decided to fake unconsciousness and lay there; however, things did not go so well as I felt the world spin around me and fall away.

I awoke to the sounds of rustling around and, strangely, the feel of silk instead of itchy weeds. “Hello…” I heard a voice call out. I made a groggy noise in response “Are you okay?” She asked me; another groggy noise. She let out a small giggle and continued on. “Hi, my name’s Lyn,” she said to me. “You’re lucky I found you, some bandits were planning to rob you.”

I mumbled my thanks and sat up, turning to the sweet sounding voice. I opened my eyes slowly and saw her. Very pretty, I must comment: long, turquoise hair flowing to around her knees and vibrant teal eyes. I blinked a few times and shook my head vigorously to clear all the fuzziness. “So what’s your name?” she asked.

I swung my legs off the bed I was in and looked around; a small ger by the looks of it. “Lily,” I replied, my voice having a slight slur to it from just waking up. By the level of wealth I saw, I realized she must be the leader of her clan, or the daughter of.

“So, Lily, what do you do?” Lyn asked me, grabbing her sword and a sharpening stone. She ran the stone across the blade and got the appropriate sound from it. I love the sound of metal on metal or stone.

“I’m a traveling tactician. I haven’t got the most experience, since I started out as a swordsman,” I responded. My eyes following the stones progress against the sword. I’m easily distractible.

“Your sword’s right there,” she said, running her hand over the blade before gesturing to the beside table to where my sword was. “What’s that mark underneath your sleeve?” she asked politely.

I rubbed my arm where birthmark was: three spirals connected at the outermost ring: the Triskelion. “It’s nothing, a birthmark,” I told her, lying through my teeth. To be able to do what I do is considered amazing, a miracle if used right, but I didn’t want the attention. I didn’t need her, though she saved me, to know that I could summon the three elements without a book. Anima, Arcane and Holy magics were mine to command. But I don’t know why I’m able to.

Over the next few minutes, Lyn talked about herself. From what she said, she’s the daughter of a chieftain from the Lorca tribe. Lyn feels that the Talivern Bandits deserve to burn in fires, since they are the ones that killed her family. As our conversation continued, we heard some talking coming from the outside. Pushing open the tent flap, we headed out to see what the commotion was about; we saw what Lyn feared, bandits.

I dashed inside and grabbed my sword, then dashed outside again. The two of us snuck over to a nearby hill and spy on them; unfortunately, we were spotted. One of the bandits rushed us; apparently he was going to try to kill us both or call attention to their leader. We never found out his motive since I quickly struck him down with a fatal, backhand blow to his stomach. The bandit fell to the ground and rolled down the hill.

After that we knew we couldn’t back down. Being a tactician, I devised a plan to defeat the other bandit. I pointed to the other bandit and whispered my plan to her. She grinned devilishly and patted me on the shoulder in congratulations for the plan.

Lyn rushed down the hill at full speed, her light-blue battle-dress whipping around in the wind and her hair flying in sync. She got up to him and tried to kill him with a quick thrust, but he blocked her katana with his large axe.

“I am Batta the Beast! No one can stop me! Ha! Your pitiful weapons are useless against me!” the Beast yelled loudly, laughing heartily. I sheathed my sword and ran down the hill during his rant and got up behind him. Batta reared back his axe past me to swing at Lyn. He had no idea what was going to happen to him next.

I shook out my right wrist, the side that had the birthmark and charged it up with lightning. I reached out and grabbed his neck, electrocuting him. He screamed in pain as the bolts of energy passed through him. The Beast towered there, paralyzed from the neck down and Lyn took this moment to impale him. It was over in a matter of seconds. With the two bandits gone, we checked on the villagers in the ger.

Seeing that they were safe, I ran my fingers through my shoulder-length, coppery hair and turned to west, where we came from. The body of Batta was staring up at me, unnerving me to no end. He brought this upon himself, why should I feel guilty for the killing? His dead, brown eyes meeting my living green eyes. I knelt down and closed his eyes, saying a quick prayer for the fallen man.

Lyn looked at me in disgust. All the hatred towards these types was evidence on her beautiful face. “Why would you give him such respect, he was just a bandit,” she said icily.

I nodded, she was right, but I had a point to make. “Even so, he was alive. A life is a life, and I always have problems with taking a life, you’ll never see me wantonly kill, its against my own code. Just because I do and can do very well, doesn’t mean I’ll like it,”

“Why do you do it then?” she asked me, actually curious. Lyn came to stand next to me, staring off into the sunset.

“To defend the defenseless, like those in the ger,” I explained, sighing and dusting off my dark green tunic. “That’s why I do it…” I finished quietly.

Lyn sighed and didn’t respond. We stood there, stoic, the wind moving our clothes and hair only. She broke the peace as we looked back to her ger in the distance. “I don’t want to go back,” Lyn said.

I shrugged; that was understandable, after the tale she told me. I gestured to the capital of Sacae, Bulgar. “Let’s go to Bulgar then,” I told her, looking off to the northeast.

Lyn smiled and nodded, following my line of sight. “Yes, that’ll do,” she replied softly. She took a step and then grabbed my hand, giving it a tug. “C’mon, lets go,” she told me with an adventurous smile on her face.

And thus, my exciting friendship with Lyn began.