Sojourney

Chapter One Part 1

“Finally!” Gwyneth shouted into the air. The sun shone brightly as she walked down the

dusty limestone street with her protector, Damian. The gardens on either side were rich with life. Black and yellow monarchs fluttered with the breeze back and forth with their precious cargo of pollen. She glanced at the garden nearest her. Giant red lacewings bathed in the sunlight on passion flowers. Its large red wings opened and closed, showing off its beautiful black lace pattern. She noticed few people were traveling the gardens this morning, making it more tranquil than usual. It had been ten seasons since coming to Raytheon to start a life. Gwyneth refastened the cloth surrounding the lower half of her face. Damian had told her when they first came to Raytheon that she should keep her identity hidden in case the men from her village came across her. She had worn it every day since then.

“Don’t get too excited. You may not be finished yet,” Damian warned. He was always the

realist. He made sure she knew when her dreaming stopped and put her head back into the reality of her life.

“Aw, don’t spoil the moment, Damian! It’s about time they graduated me.” she said, darkly. For eight long seasons, Gwyneth trained in the warrior school to learn self-defense when

the time came.

“Gwyneth, I must speak with you. Settle down,” he commanded. She stopped in the street and looked at him. His brown eyes narrowed on her as he put a tanned hand through his greying

black hair.

“What’s going on?” she asked hesitantly.

“There is no easy way to say this. I received a message from Creon, a very old friend of

mine. Something stirs in the east. I must find him.” Damian put a hand on her shoulder as she

continued to stare into his dark brown eyes in disbelief. Tears started to stream from her eyes.

“You can’t! You’re the only family I have left!” She gripped his arm in effort to anchor him.

“It’s time you learn to live on your own. You can protect yourself now. You won’t be

defenseless.”

“You know that’s not what this is all about! You are like a father to me! I love you!” Damian turned away.

“And you are like a daughter. You have no idea how much it pains me to leave but I will

return. I promise. I will send reports of my wellbeing when I can.” Damian turned back to herand hugged her tightly. “Promise me you’ll stay out of trouble? I will be back before you notice I’m gone.”

“I can already notice you’re gone!” Gwyneth squeezed his waist until he pulled himself

from her grasp.

“Goodbye, Gwyneth.”

“No!” She grabbed his hand before he could walk away. “No goodbyes! That’s what

mother said before she died. Promise me you will come back!”

“I promise.” He sighed. “I shall see you soon.” And with that Damian walked toward the Great Wall surrounding Raytheon.

Tears flowed until her eyes had gone dry and she could no longer cry. Once again she had

to harden her heart to the pain like she had done as a child all those seasons ago. Once again her

loved one was forced to say goodbye to her. Hopefully this time she would be able to see him return. Gwyneth looked around at all the familiar faces and began to fidget with the moonstone

necklace her mother had once given her. Some were laughing, perhaps at a joke, and some were arguing, bantering at a price issue. How simple their small lives were compared to the crumbling of her own. She was now alone in the world. She had never made friends while in training, and

everyone avoided her because she covered her face. People didn’t like different and Gwyneth

was very different.

“Hey! Wait up!” A shout from a small boy caught her attention from her spiraling

thoughts. The boy was chasing another boy but this one was older. She recognized him from

warrior training. He was hard not to notice with his bright blonde hair. Curiosity getting the

better of her, she followed the young boy down an alley until the two reached a dead end.

“Please! I need it to get back at Lord Darius! I’ll only borrow it for a few minutes!” the

boy pleaded.

“I said no! It’s way too valuable for you to handle.” Gwyneth watched him tuck

something away into his pocket. The boy cried as he walked away, his feet dragging against the

limestone road in sadness. She took pity on the boy and caught him in the alley.

“Hey kid! What’s your name?” Startled, the boy looked up at her with a questioning brow.

“Evander. Why do you want to know,” he asked.

“I just wanted to know what you were trying to get from that guy over there.”

“Demetri has a special rope that can weave into anything you want. I wanted to get back

at Lord Darius for tricking me but he won’t give it up for five minutes.” Evander wiped his tears

away with the back of his hands. Gwyneth smiled and tapped her chin.

“Well what if I persuaded him?”

“He won’t ever let go of it. Good luck with that.” She laughed.

“I’m quite persuasive, don’t worry. I’ll come back to get you if I can.”

After she ruffled his hair, Gwyneth set off into the forest just outside of the Great Wall to

find Demetri. She wandered through the trees until she came to a small clearing with a fallen log in the center of it. Demetri’s tracks ended here. Confusion overcame her as she examined her surroundings. He must’ve jumped into the canopies. A small knife sliced her temple as it

whizzed by her head. The sunlight reflected off its metallic surface into her eyes.

“Identify yourself!” It was the boy she followed. Gwyneth turned and looked up into the trees canopy.

“Tell me your name first.”

“No way! I asked first!”

“Then I guess we shall never know each other’s names,” she rounded back at him.

She heard him sigh heavily as he jumped out of the canopy to land perfectly in front of

her. He stood taller than her as he moved into a defensive position. He wore a loose black t-shirt that showed off some of his lean body and worn out blue jeans with holes in the knees. His

boyish features tensed, ready.

“Demetri Bertram,” he said through clenched teeth.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it? My name is Gwyneth Wright. But you can call me Gwyn.

It’s a delight to meet you Demetri.”

“So why were you following me?”

So much for pleasantries.

“A little boy by the name of Evander asked repeatedly to borrow your little magic rope. I

just wanted to know why you couldn’t let him borrow it.”

“A kid like him doesn’t need to be messing around with something he can’t control.”

“But I’m guessing you never let him touch the thing. How do you know if you don’t train

him to use it properly?” Demetri spat at her.

“That requires my time and I don’t feel like wasting it on a spoiled brat.” He folded his arms behind his head and closed his eyes.

“How about a deal then? If I win a duel against you, you teach Evander how to properly

use your toy. If you win, I’ll never bother you again.”

Demetri’s eyes opened wide as he smirked. “I’ll take that deal.”

“Then let us begin,” she said quietly.

Demetri rushed toward her with a pulled back fist but she ducked out of the way and twisted herself behind him. She snapped her head back to see him pull out the very rope in question. This was what that kid was going on about? The rope was only a foot long, maybe less, and could be passed off as a piece of junk. That thought quickly went out of her mind when she saw the object growing longer and longer until it started

slithering its way towards her. Gwyn turned to run but tripped over the forgotten log as the rope wrapped itself around her ankle. She quickly reached behind her to grab her knife, cutting away at it until she snapped free. She felt his presence grow faint as she looked behind her and noticed he disappeared from the clearing. So, he wanted to play hide and seek, huh? She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She sifted through all the scents that assaulted her precious nose until she found the strongest of them all. She withdrew throwing knives from her pockets. A slight breeze played with her long black hair and the grass swayed as she waited for the most opportune moment. Demetri flew from the trees straight towards her as if to catch her off guard. He was wrong. She threw her knives in his direction and nicked him on his arms and legs barely missing him. He ignored the small cuts and lunged forward, his fist drawn back. Gwyn grabbed his arm as he was about to land his punch and swung him around into the trunk of a tree, making the tree vibrate and the leaves fall loose from their home. He grunted as the air rushed from his lungs making him breathless for a moment. In that moment of weakness, Gwyn took the advantage and

punched both left and right. After she had beaten up his face, Demetri held up his hands in

defeat.

“Alright! I give up! You won!”

“You aren’t a bad fighter, Mr. Bertram.”

“You aren’t so bad yourself. I will keep to my word, don’t worry.”

She smiled at him and nodded. “I never do.” She started walking away.

“Wait!” She raised an eyebrow in question.

“Where are you from?” He asked. She sighed

and sat down on the fallen log. Sad thoughts that were long forgotten rushed to the surface from the deepest part of her mind. She felt the pain resurface but she was careful to keep it concealed. The less questions the better.

“I’m from a place far from here,” she said finally. Demetri didn’t bother hiding his

curiosity as his eyes narrowed and eyebrow raised. “Have you always had those marks?” she asked in return. She had always noticed them through training, wondered what the thin red line on either side of his face meant. Finally, her curiosity had gotten the better of her. This time it was his turn to fall silent.

“You don’t know what I am?” She shook her head so he volunteered to explain further.

“When I was born, an animal spirit attached itself to me. It allows me to do things normal peoplecan’t. Things that can hurt or help.” He looked at her.

“What do you mean an animal spirit? I’ve never heard of anything like that before.” Maybe this would explain what she was.