The Callindra Chronicles Book One - First Quest by Benjamin Fisher-Merritt Page B

sun was high in the sky by the time she
had finished just the first two of the eight logs she was assigned
to cut. Callindra took her lunch and headed for the welcoming
chatter of the stream. Her body was soaked with sweat; it would
feel wonderful to cool off in the water before eating.
    She was in luck; there was a large pool of
water with a wide flat rock stretching out into it. After carefully
sinking the axe into a large log of driftwood and hanging her sword
high and dry from it she shed the remains of her clothes and leaped
into the water with a gleeful yell.
    The water was cold, but it felt wonderful
after sweating under the sun all morning. She dove under and held
onto a large rock; looking back up towards the sky through the
clear water. A strange flash and swirl of light caused her to
quickly surface and when she did she saw a young man standing at
the edge of the stream.
    “ Good morrow lass, I
apologize for interrupting your swim.” He was a good enough looking
man, dressed all in rather garish red leather armor with a pair of
steel tipped whips at his belt.
    “ Not at all.” Callindra
replied, doing her best to walk unabashedly from the water. In
books she’d read, men and women often bathed together when they
were soldiers, she didn’t want to appear prudish.
    “ Perhaps you could help me
out. I’m looking for a powerful mage who lives in the area.” He
said, not seeming at all interested in her nudity.
    Callindra walked to where her clothes were
sitting and tugged on her underbreeches, trying not to look
hurried. While she wrapped her chest, she answered him. “I’m
Callindra. I don’t know of any mages around here at all, let alone
powerful ones. I’ve only been in the area for a year and a half
though. Why don’t you join me for a midday meal and tell me about
yourself and what brings you here.”
    “ Gladly, I have been walking
for six hours now.” He sat on the rock and watched Callindra set
out bread, apples, cheese and cuts of cold venison. “My name is
Daleus, and I have been teaching myself to use a blend of weapons
and magic now for five years.”
    Callindra glanced involuntarily toward the
place she had stashed her sword. “Magic? Why would you try to learn
to use magic?”
    “ Magic is power and I need
to become stronger in order to accomplish my goals.” He said, not
noticing the fear and mistrust in her voice, “Now that I have
mastered the whip I seek to challenge a Titled mage. If I can just
find him I know I can take that Title from him but instead of
claiming it as my own I will turn it in to The Order in exchange
for admittance to their school. Then there will be nothing that can
stop me.”
    She forced herself to be calm and cut a slice
of cheese with her belt knife. “Why would you need to go to a
school if you have mastered your weapon of choice? If you have the
skill to defeat a mage with a Title what more do you have to
learn?”
    Daleus laughed, “This Titled mage is old, it
won’t be a completely fair fight but the fool has recently put up
his Challenge talismans. What I might lack in skill I can make up
for with youth and endurance.” He jumped up, forgetting the food
set out before him.
    “ I’ll show you how much I
have learned on my own, imagine what I could do if I had Masters to
learn from!” He unlimbered his whips and began moving through the
steps of what she realized was a Korumn. Halfway through, she could
see something happen to his weapons. She looked closer, there were
tiny glowing threads wrapping around the braided leather, all the
way down to the steel tips. When the threads reached the ends,
bursts of flame exploded from them every time they cracked. By the
end of the Korumn Daleus was surrounded by a roaring wall of
fire.
    Callindra was terrified, but fascinated at
the same time. To calm herself, she used the breathing exercises
Glarian had taught her. Something about him seemed so familiar, but
she was positive they had never met before.