City and Glory - Chapter Two (The Fifth Magic(For those people stuck in the past))

[RodneyMcKay]

And she has fired ahead again, and brings for you... CHAPTER TWO (hey that rhymed!)

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Chapter 2 Swords and Shields

When Isabel woke the next morning she felt utterly refreshed. She smelt a peppery smell and wondered what was being made. She sat up and looked around. Honorria was seated by the fire stirring something in a pot.
“What is that?” she asked sitting up and brushing her hair out of her face. He looked up and smiled at her.
“Traveller’s Leaf Tea.” He said. “Good for warming the spirit and the limbs. It will help you to get moving this morning.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem, my heart has been warm since I got here.” She said “I can’t explain it; it’s just so much nicer here than back home.”
He smiled again then reached over by the fire. He produced the other sword he had used the night before.
“It is called Rayziema. It means Sun Blade in Evris.” He said. She nodded and fastened it around her waist.
“Thankyou.” She said, and then added thoughtfully, “Is there more then one language?”
“Of course!” He said, looking shocked. Then his faced softened as though he remembered something. “Sorry, I forget you have no memory of this place. There are three languages of light in this land. Evris, the elven language, Elinor, the language of the ancients, Garnic, the dwarfish language and Jorria, the tongue of man are the languages of the light. Then there are the languages of the dark: Irdrich, the language of the prillas, Ki Evris, the language of the dark elves and Elindarc, the language of the gamblings”
“What do you mean? I have a memory!” she said
“I have reason to believe that you are a descendant of Hopeus, the last dragon friend of the sapphire. I’m not sure of course but maybe you were sent to another dimension when you were younger so as to protect you or something. Anyway, like I said, if anyone is going to know who you are the high priestess’ will know. They are in the Temple City.” He said
“What exactly is the Temple City?” she asked.
“Well, it is the centre of everything in the Dragon Friend Isle, from trade to the war council. They keep records of everything in the world. It was founded at the end of the War of the Races.
“These days, Manara has her headquarters there. When she first took power, she appointed seven others to follow her. Only one of them was ever killed but she chose another. She cannot get into the actual temple though. It is said that only dragon friends and the egg keepers can. These days the world is calm in a manner of speaking. Not many people get killed unless they step out of line. The Lativa guards caught a couple trying to start a resistance the other week. They were both executed that day. Nasty business.”
“The Lativa guards, are they Matara’s personal guard or something?” Isabel asked
“No, they are Karnet’s Personal guard. They get their orders straight from him, Matara just enforces the law.”
“I’m getting confused. There are so many names.” She said
“Just think of it like this. At the bottom is the Lativa Guards, then the Seven Sisters, then Matara, then Karnat and finally the Black Horde priests.” Honorria explained.
“The black horde priests? This place is in a lot of trouble.” She said. He nodded solemnly. “So who is in charge on our side?”
“Our side?” he said with a smile “Well we follow Marna and the first teachings.”
“No hierarchy?” she asked ignoring the first comment.
“The worst thing that happened in creation was creating men, elves and dwarves with the ability to bend at the knees.” Honorria said “Let’s say we try to reduce the effect. Unfortunately, the human nature to follow is almost unbelievable. The common people follow us generally, not something we tend to approve of. Here, drink this.”
He handed her a cup of the traveller’s leaf tea. She took a mouthful and felt the liquid singe her tongue. It had a very strong pepper taste. She sprayed Honorria with it as she spat it out. He chuckled as he dried himself off with one of his dirty tunics.
“It is an acquired taste.” He said still laughing. She gave the tea a look and could have sworn she saw a whole pepper floating in it.
“Until I acquire the taste, I’m sticking to water.” She said placing the cup down. He downed his cup of tea then tipped out the remaining water in the pot. He began to pack away everything.
“We will need to stop at Marina to get more supplies. I didn’t expect to find anyone out here, probably a good thing I did. I was beginning to think they had won.” He said to himself.
Isabel looked at him hard for a moment then decided not to ask what he meant; she had asked him enough questions for the morning. She stood up and made sure the sword was secured properly. When Honorria had packed away all his belongings they headed in the direction Marina was situated.
They were walking for most of the day and when the time came that Isabel would normally have eaten lunch Honorria didn’t stop. She didn’t say anything though, as she was still adjusting in many different ways. She continued to march on feeling herself growing weaker, until she couldn’t walk anymore. She just sat down on the nearest tree stump.
“There has got to be a better way to get around.” She said between breaths. He looked at her and smiled.
“I could try and get us some horses or no-horns when we reach Marina, but until then you have to walk.” He said pulling her up. “The good news is if we keep walking we may reach it tonight. The bad news is you may not get your no-horn til tomorrow because the gates close at sunset.”
She sighed and started to walk again. She tried to figure out what a no-horn was while they walked but was absolutely clueless. She had to stop nearly ten more times that day and Honorria was becoming steadily more and more annoyed with her. When she walked she spent most of her time grumbling that her legs were going to fall off and she would die of exhaustion. As the sun started to set she still couldn’t see the city and she was starting to slow again. Then Honorria sat down and pulled out his water skin. He took a mouthful and handed it to her. She also took a mouthful then looked around and wondered why he had stopped.
“Where is your city?” she asked.
“It isn’t mine, it is of the Sapphire and it disappears every night and won’t reappear til the morning. So we are resting here until the morning.” He said. “First let’s build a fire then we can have a little practice with the sword.”
As tired as she was she wanted to be some help if they were attacked at any stage so she got up and helped to search for wood suitable for the fire. When they had lit it she sat by it for a time while Honorria stripped a couple of straight branches. She watched as he muttered a few words under his breath and green light made both branches become sword shapes. She suddenly realised the purpose of it all. He stood, pulled her to her feet and handed her one of the makeshift swords. She swung it experimentally testing its weight and strength. After a few swings however she felt it nearly leave her hand.
“Let’s start simple then.” Honorria said watching her with an amused look on his face. “You have to keep a hold of your weapon and the best way to do this is with your hands.”
She swung it experimentally again and promptly dropped it on the ground in front of her. Honorria sighed as she bent over to pick it up.
“Hey, I’ve never held a sword before in my life.” She said. She swung it back the other way and it flew out of her hands and hit a nearby tree. She grimaced as it thudded against the trunk.
“I’m glad we started with wooden swords.” She said.
“This could take awhile.” He said as he watched her fetch it.

*

When she woke in the morning she felt a lot worse than the previous morning. Her entire body ached when she had been hit repeatedly but the sword and from crashing to the ground. Also, she was pretty sure there was at least ten pointy rocks which insisted on being under her back. She felt very stiff as well, as though she had turned to a board overnight. Behind all the aches however was the feeling of satisfaction, knowing she could at least provide some sort of combat.
She was woken by Honorria shaking her. She sat up slowly to try and avoid too much pain. She gladly drank Honorria’s foul tea hoping it would help her aches. After a few moments rest she found her body seemed to be less stiff.
“Come on,” Emilas said “We better try and beat all the rogues and merchants who will be trying to get in the city. It will take forever otherwise.”
“When you said it was called Marina I expected it to be near the sea.” Isabel said
“It is named after the Ultramarine friends. One in particular.” He said as they trekked towards the city. She nodded and they fell into silence. The sun was starting to rise. She was amazed to see that as the sun rose higher, more of a giant terraced city would appear. It was all a completely shining blue and looked somewhat like a cake with many layers.
“It’s amazing.” She said in wonder when the entire city had appeared.
“It is said to be one of the greatest wonders of all the lands. A sapphire queen ordered it to be built in honour of her departed mate.” He said “It was designed by elves, built by dwarves and populated by the three light races.”
“She must have really loved him.” Isabel said
“Indeed,” Emilas said “Quite a rarity among the friends.”
“What do you mean?” she asked looking at him with a puzzled look on her face.
“Well of cause the dragonus queen chooses her mate and they are then morally obligated to remain with that friend.” He explained
“Back up! Did you say dragonus?” she asked. He looked a little shocked but just nodded. “You mean to tell me that dragons are flying around in the sky over these lands? Like not just metaphorically but seriously?”
“Yeah, of course.” He said.
She almost fainted from shock but just thought to herself ‘It’s OK, insanity isn’t the worst thing; at least in my insanity I’m enjoying myself.’
“OK,” she said out loud “What is a no-horn?”
“A wise-horn without a horn.” He said, when she still looked confused he continued, “They are the most noble and fair creatures of all. The wise-horns are the most beautiful white with a magic horn in the middle of their forehead. The no-horns are still beautiful and can travel great distances and make for good conversation. The no-horns are some of the most intelligent creatures and are quite often willing to help humans but are rare to come across.” He explained.
“Unicorns!” she said “Wise-horns are unicorns which mean no horns must be talking horses. What a wonder that I will get to see a unicorn.”
“Unicorn… an interesting name but one that makes sense. We have horses here as well but horses are a distant cousin of both but not as intelligent.” He said.
“Yeah,” she said. They resumed there silence while Isabel digested this news. In this time they reached the city gates and saw only a few people were waiting at the gates to get in. They stood around for a bit drawing picture in the sand and just standing around. Isabel suddenly realised she was still in her old pyjamas which had been torn and worn quite considerably since she had put them on.
“You want some new clothes don’t you?” Honorria said looking her attire up and down critically. She nodded realising how strange she must look among these people. “Probably a good thing you really make a statement in those clothes. Don’t want you to be caught.”
Just then the gates started to swing open.
“Are there going to be any Lativa guards in there?” she asked. Emilas looked rather happy.
“Nah, this is the only city not controlled by them. They rely heavily on the night to plan attacks but of course the city disappears at night and when they tried attacking it during the day it was impervious to their advances.” He said. They quickly made their way into the city where people were only just setting up their stalls for a day of markets. Isabel crinkled her nose and frowned.
“I hate shopping.” She said
“Then let’s get only the bare essentials.” Honorria said, “Can’t say I really like it that much either.”
“You know, in another life we could have been related.” Isabel said “Except you are fit and I am lazy.”
“You’re telling me.” Honorria said “I’ve know snails who are fitter then you.”
“Oh… you are so sweet.” Isabel said in a sugary voice. “You really must be my brother.”
“Please Marna; don’t let me be related to her.” Honorria muttered as he pulled out some money.

I would love to hear any input from anyone so fire away

[Kahnmark]

You have a gift for writing dialog that I don't think I possess. Also, in the space of this excerpt you've painted colorful pictures of each character that fleshes them out at a comfortable pace. On the negative side, the dialog may in fact be a bit too dense; it can be overwhelming, especially with all the new information. Your descriptions of the character's body language, thoughts and the surroundings do provide welcome pauses but maybe what I'm picking at is the one-sidedness of the conversation. I haven't had the pleasure of reading the first chapter but I imagine that either Honorria is only helping Isabel to be chivalrous and therefore doesn't really care about her, or he is the shy type and is afraid of getting to know her better. If I sound like a fool because I'm not acquainted with the characters please disregard my criticism.

I think I'll try to find Chapter One to satisfy my curiosity.

[RodneyMcKay]

Had to go into bloody advanced so I could use smilies...

Anyway, thatnkyou very much for your comments. Let's face it, I have made Isabel lazy so of course any wothy soilder is going to get angry when they arn't travelling at a descent pace. Their is also a prologue you should perhaps read, it may slow your confusion although, I tried not to give to much away in the first few chapters. Very difficult when you are someone like me.

Once again, thanks for your input, I really appreciate it