FicWad

Chapter 2
The String




Evan and Lillian walked fast trying to keep up with Garo.
"She was really mad" Lillian said "when you were doing the chores they had a huge fight, that's why he's like this."
"We need to get this done quickly" Garo said sternly "your Grandmother wants you home as soon a possible."
"Yes Grandfather" they both said
"Keep up!" He snapped
"He's really grumpy Evan." Lillian warned "watch out."
Lillian had a light in her eyes that Evan had not seen for years. He was so happy that she could do this. His hand tightened around the dagger on his belt, I will not lose her, he told himself, I swear on my own life. Evan saw the town; they lived only two miles from Eleanor. It was beautiful; the governor's citadel was of precious black marble, with some blue Alaroma, a rare stone from the Casadora volcano, for the roof tiles. Lillian smiled, she loved Eleanor.
"Here" said Garo, a little more kindly "some spending money." He gave them four shillings to split.
"Thank you." Smiled Lillian,
"Be careful." He said sadly "now go explore it is the market after all. I will be at Calian's house to pay our taxes."
"Yes Grandfather" they said, Garo left. Lillian squealed excitedly. They were about to set off when some one called
"Evan, what a surprise!" said the stable man known as Marith
"Hello Marith." Said Evan trying to sound friendly, he wished they did not run into Marith, because whenever he did Marith usually brought him into the stable and had an hour talk and it was always Marith doing the talking.
"What are you doing here?" he said in a thick Scottish accent "Coming to see me I suppose. I know how much you love it when we talk."
"Well actually I was going to go to the smiths." Evan replied.
"No! So was I!" he said excitedly "We can go together, and" he stopped short when he spotted Lilly.
"Oh look! It's the fairy girl. I haven't seen you in years!" he said "That makes it even better; a pretty girl like you will need protecting."
Lillian nodded uncomfortably, "Of course"
"Well come on then!" He said stalking off. They followed, Grandmother probably made Garo do this. Marith, a guard, it was impossible; he probably didn't even know how to use a sword. Marith walked quickly, his straight red hair swinging; he looked back occasionally, his gold eyes sparkling in the sun. His big pants dragging on the ground, the thing strange about Marith was that he wore a large coat every day. He slowed down when he noticed the children running to keep up with him. He stopped to let them catch their breath.
"Want some?" Marith said taking out chewing wheat. Evan took some gratefully.
"Thanks" he said. Marith started walking again, slower this time.
"Here it is. Hard to find these days, keeps on moving." Marith said opening the door of the Gellibrand Black Smiths and Shoppe. The front of the shop was empty except they could hear the sound of pounding. Marith said in a loud voice "Oy! Gellibrand! Are you there or have the slave traders got you too!"
"No Marith, they haven't" said Gellibrand wearily "not yet anyway. We're having trouble with the taxes that's why we've been moving so much. Oh, hello Evan, see you brought sweet Lilly," He and Lilly got along very well, "where's Garo?"
"He's paying taxes" answered Evan "he said I could come here on my own."
"Well to business, what can I do for you?" He said to Marith
"Getting the horse shoes I ordered." Said Marith causally
"I don't remember you ordering any horse shoes." Gellibrand said confused.
"You are an old man! You're starting to forget things already!" he said sounding nervous "Come, there's always some in the back. Evan, stay here." They left.
"Well, lets look at a sword," Lilly said "that's what we came here to do!"
"Alright" He said back. He looked at each sword but touched them like they were a precious artifact. Marith returned with a sack of jiggling horse shoes.
"We're back." He said happily
"Now," said Gellibrand "Marith tells me you want a sword."
"Garo must have told him to protect me," Evan said angrily, "Yes I do want a sword."
"Then try one you like," Gellibrand told him "in the barn, please" he added quickly "Don't want you breaking any thing". Marith chuckled, and Lillian stared at him angrily
"You stop!" She spat "like you know how to use a sword."
"I'd learn to use watch my mouth if I were you fairy girl. Elves don't know everything."
Evan looked from Marith and Lillian, he rolled his eyes and took a sword and stepped into the barn, Gellibrand took one too.
"All right, come at me." he said
"Excuse me?" He asked "I'm not fighting you; you'll beat me like I was a pig at slaughtering season."
"You have a sense of humor, but" he did not get to finish his sentence because Evan suddenly charged at him, knocking the sword from his hand. Gellibrand spun around swiping his hand at Evan grabbing his sword, Evan picked up Gellibrand's as fast as he could.
"Strange." Evan muttered noticing that they had just switched swords. Gellibrand took a swipe almost taking Evans head off.
"Get him Evan, get him!" yelled Lillian.
"You're right Marith;" Gellibrand said "he is good, he'll beat me soon. Evan you can stop now." Evan sat down.
"What did you do that for?" He said "you nearly killed me."
"I know." He said happily "Marith has offered to teach you."
"Garo is teaching me thank you." Evan replied.
"Then you will fight like an old man." Marith snickered, "I am young and can still last a long time, now you need to buy a sword, how much money do you have?"
"Well," Evan said digging in his pocket for his money purse, "I have nineteen shillings, and the other ten is to get Lilly a dagger."
"Nineteen? That's not nearly enough to get a good sword, sorry Evan go somewhere else." Gellibrand said without thinking.
"But this is the only smith shop in town!"
"I know Evan but I can't give you a discount, we need the money, or my family will starve. Marith has a big collection of swords, why don't you go to his place." He said, "Oh Marith, what was that strange thing that you were telling me about?"
"I will tell you later," he said "come on children, I'll return you to your grandfather. Evan can you work tomorrow, I need help with one of my horses, she's pregnant. She's going to have a foal any minute."
"Sure." Said Evan dryly, "I'll come."

*
Lillian tried cheering Evan up but it was no use. When they got to Calian's they saw their Grandfather outside talking to a strange man in a cloak. Marith suddenly grabbed Evan and Lillian, pushing them in a cart full of hay; he reached into his coat ready to take out what was in it. Evan strained to listen
"Did your Grandson do anything strange?" asked the man his voice like ice.
"Why do you ask about Evan? He is as normal as a boy can be." Garo answered, "I need to find him and my Granddaughter."
"You have a Granddaughter too? Must be so precious to you, where are the parents?"
"Dead, five years ago."
"Death of your child must be so painful. Well, I have other business."
He held out a hand, it had a strange glow to it. Suddenly something made a deafening sound, a high pitched squealing. The man looked at the sky like it was falling. He twisted his cloak around him and limped away. Marith found Evan and threw him out,
"Why did you do that?" he asked
"I told you people like you two need protecting." He answered this in a strange way; not so jolly.
"Grandfather!" yelled Lillian "Who was that?" Garo was staring were the man ran.
"No it couldn't be....he.....he died."
"Who died? Grandfather, are you alright?"
"Yes I need to speak to Marith; he is educated in these matters. Really, you should have become a scholar not a stable man."
"I would have, but there are more important people here." Marith said giving a small look to Evan "What shall we do with the children?"
"They can wander, like I said they could."
"Garo, I do not think that would be wise. After what happened here you should much more careful. Now we know the truth, he did succeed. There must be another one in this town. And I think I know who it is."
"What are you talking about?" asked Evan "What happened?"
"All in good time boy." Answered Garo "Come to my house Marith, we can talk there. Come on children!"

*
"Evan did you hear anything? The hay muffled everything." Asked Lillian as they walked,
"The man asked about me. He asked if I did anything strange, Grandfather mentioned you, but he didn't seem to care."
"The noise, what made it?"
"I don't know."
"Just a little farther children." Said their Grandfather, "then you two do your chores" Marith and Garo were silent, Marith kept staring at Evan.
Marith whispered something in Garo's ear that Evan didn't catch. Garo slowed to let his grandchildren catch up with him and walked with them back to the house.
*
Katrina was waiting for them at the door. "You have been gone long." She said "it's dark, and I didn't think that you would leave without doing the chores." Her eyes were still red from crying. "Now go do them, supper will be ready when you are done."
"It's good to be home." Garo said kissing his wife on the cheek, "I brought a guest!"
"Hello Marith," she said "I have not seen you in a long time."
"Yes it has been to long!" he said excitedly "I love to come to your beautiful home. You see, I do not have the best cooking skills."
Katrina laughed at the remark and said, "Come in, Evan and Lilly will be in shortly."
*
They did their chores in s Evan had a confused look on his face that Lillian noticed.
"Evan is there something wrong?" she questioned
"What Grandfather said when the stranger ran, He died. Who died? Marith said that there was another one in the town. Another what? Lillian there is so many questions. I have a strange feeling that the stranger was looking for me."
"Why would he be looking for......" suddenly Lillian screamed. She fell writhing on the ground.
"GARO COME!" Evan yelled
"NOOOO!" yelled Lilly "Your not coming to my mind! You're not going to kill them! NOOOOO! EVAN!"
Marith was the one that came first; he bent down and said "Don't worry, she's having a vision, all elves do, the first one is always hard to bear. It does no harm but she will be different after this. But tomorrow all of you will" He put a hand on Lillian and she relaxed.
"I guess it is time for you to know who you are." Marith said not looking nothing like Marith in Evan's eyes he was still dazed when he said "I'd like to know who you are too."
"Come to the barn, we can talk there, your Grandfather would come too, but he is explaining it to Katrina." Marith said as he picked up Lillian. As they got in to the barn Marith placed Lillian on a hay pile.
"Now," Marith said when they got settled "I saw something that made me think." Evan was silent
"Remember when your Grandfather placed you in my care when he went to retrieve the bodies of your parents?" Marith continued "You were asleep when this happened; it was Kalama's soldiers that killed them. You were angry."
"Yes" said Evan "But does this have to do with anything?"
"A lot. You see, I heard you say something, in a strange tongue that I did not know but recognized. It was the Summoner's tongue. You had summoned death upon the king's son. You killed him. And from then on, I knew, and wanted to protect you. Not from enemies, you will dispose of them in a heart beat when you know how to, but from your self, from the people you love. You can not trust anyone Evan. Summoners' do not make friends."
He did not believe that he believed every thing that Marith said, "does Grandfather know too?"
"He does not. I would not tell him. But he does know that Lillian is an elf."
"She is? How do you know?"
"Well this little incident proved it. That doesn't happen to just anyone. I wonder what she saw."
"How do you know that I killed the king's son? The palace is miles away."
"I my sources," they fell silent, Marith wanted to let this sink in but Evan was having a hard time with it, me, a Summoner. That's impossible, he thought, Lilly an elf. I can't trust anyone? Marith is the one I shouldn't be trusting. He's gone mad!
"I think your having a hard time with this." Marith said "Here this will help you." He handed Evan a scroll, it was written in a different langue.
"I can't read this!" Evan said
"Just try." Marith said softly. Evan looked hard at it suddenly he understood every letter in the scroll, it was a prophecy.

There cannot be two who walk this earth.
One will stand living, one on the dirt.
They both have the power.
They both have the hate.
They both want to kill but killing will wait.
One has in his fist the string that holds up the world.
One has the knife to cut it down,
The fate of the world stands at an edge.

Is the string strong will she take up her fate?
If she does not he will kill her with hate.

Some who were enemies will learn how to cope,
With what the Summoner has in scope.
One healer, one nenyun, are there to protect.
But a path they want to take is full of regret.

Do you know what is in store Summoner?
You do not. It will be hard. Do not reach out and take it.
You will know when you see.

"Did you read it?" asked Marith "It is of great importance. It means that there are two Summoners here and the old one wants to kill the new."
"The last line, I do not understand it." Said Evan
"There is something that will tempt you."
"I don't see anything about you."
"All in good time boy." Marith chuckled,
"Now we need to get you to bed." He continued "It has been a hard day, so much has happened. Come." Marith stood picking up Lillian who was still unconscious. They walked slowly to the house, Marith went inside but Evan stayed out side, Lillian is the string, I am a killer, I killed someone, he thought darkly, I can't handle this! Tears started to run down his face. He tried to stop them but they still came. Evan had changed in a matter of minutes. He now had this prophecy on his shoulders, his life would change forever.