In the Shadows

ONCE BARNET SAW ARTHUR WITH THE BEAST, he knew that the time he had been dreading had finally come.

He rushed towards the boy, who looked like he had just survived a war and pulled the lifeless beast from his back. Arthur fell to the ground breathlessly, not noticing the furtive glance his uncle threw here and there and the alarming expression on his face.

"Did anyone see you kill this thing?" Barnet asked.

Arthur shook his head. He had completely mis-calculated his uncle's expression. He had expected his uncle to be taken off his feet with joy when he saw him returning with the large beast but his uncle was still on his feet and did not seem the least excited.

"Water." Arthur cried, gesturing to his parched throat.

Barnet ran off into their storage first, pulling the mass of the beast behind him. The villagers could not know what Arthur had killed in their forest, they would banish them from these lands and that would come after they had reported him to the dark lord for weaving the threads.

The beast had all the signs of magic. No hunter with all his weapons could scar a beast like these. The villagers would know as soon as they saw the beast, but it was not them he was scared of. It was the dark lord and his minions which were scattered everywhere.

The reason why he had first chosen to reside in this village was because of how far it was from the dark lord's reach. It was a small backward village which would take anyone plenty of time to find it, even on the map.

They did not have any Sorans here and the few they had had, were now what they termed 'Myths'. They lived more than thousands of years ago and that was before they began to move from place to place, till they finally settled here.

The history which he was sure they had forgotten, told of the two Sorans who had come from this small town and had aided the Yajan in fighting the evil and darkness which had come in the form of something more terrible than the dark lord.

After their deaths, the village had celebrated and known peace for two thousand years before the dark lord began his reign of terror and they had to move. With each new pace they moved to, they became smaller.

Families scattered, each going in search of their own resources and by the time they finally settled, they were left with only four families.

That was several hundred years ago and since then, a lot has changed. They have forgotten their history and become even more ignorant than children. Outside of their village, there existed a whole world which Barnet had been a part of but they knew nothing about.

Until recently, when the dark lord sent his soldiers this way. Established a court in the heart of the town and forced them to pledge their fealty to him. Since then, Barnet became anxious for what was to happen.

It was one of the reasons why he tried to discourage the boy from becoming a warrior and was grateful the boy did not socialize much other than the occasional sparring he did with the general who was a close friend of his.

Even that did not put his mind at ease.

He returned with a bottle of water which he handed to Arthur and glanced around a second time, hoping no one had seen and followed him all the way back home. He pulled the boy to his feet and glanced over his shoulders to the forest.

As soon as he was done caring for the boy, he would go back to the forest and make sure no one saw anything. After all, he was a tracker.

***

Elara hid under the canopy of the shrubs and watched Arthur's uncle – Barnet – as he moved the boy into their small cottage.

His curious eyes had almost caught her and if not for the invisibility thread which she weaved around herself, she was sure his eyes would have caught her. What would he have done if he saw her there? She was sure he knew of the boy's powers and was trying to keep it hidden even from the boy.

Would he believe her if she said she was the sorceress and she was here to guide the boy towards his path which awaited him? Would he try to fight her? His thread said he was a mere mortal. He did not possess the ability to weave the threads and she was sure he could not even see them.

But his threads also said something. Something which made her body itch with worry as his eyes squinted at the forest one last time. He was a tracker and she was sure that from the way his eyes roved around where she was standing – although behind a large tree which was three times her size and shielded her properly, even if she was not to be using the thread of invisibility – that he had seen her.

Her insides were wrought with anxiety when she saw his back disappear into the cottage. She sighed heavily and retreated back into the forest to prepare for the encounter which she was sure was very close.

***

JONN NETHERIDGE WAS SURE SOMETHING WAS COMING.

Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him, trying to make him believe that the dark lord had sent him to this backward settlement, not to punish him, but to make him discover something.

Something which would pivot him straight to the top as special advisor to Tharros. But the more days he spent here, the more he began to realize what this really was.

Punishment. Nothing more.

In the small town of Catterborough, they knew nothing of the magic which existed outside of their borders. The whole world of supernatural beings was foreign to them and in more than a thousand years, no Soran has been born here.

How was he supposed to capture Sorans for his lord if there were no Sorans to capture? For the past ten years, since he was moved here, he has not been able to capture even one Soran. But Jonn's luck was about to change.