The Law

"Are you two alright?" The lizard-man asked as his chain came to rest on his shoulder.

"Yes thank you!" Sophie exclaimed. "You were amazing. How did you do that? Was it magic? Are you a magician?"

"What is magic?" The lizard-man asked.

"You don't know what magic is?" Marybeth said putting her arm around her sister. "It's what you just did. You know with that chain of yours."

"That wasn't… well whatever you just said. That was my Law." The lizard-man pulled at the chain again and in a flurry of showmanship twisted, danced, and swung the chain around like a ribbon.

"What do you mean a…" Marybeth was cut off mid-sentence as Franklin came swooping in and landed on the ground next to them.

"Marybeth. Sophie. Are you alright?" Franklin asked within their minds.

"Yes, we are thanks to… Sorry, I don't know your name," Sophie said.

"They call me Aer. Aer Chainbreaker. Mercenary and bodyguard for hire." Aer placed his hands on his hips and poised like a hero. His eyes flashed with a bright smile.

"Air? Like as in the air we breathe?" Sophie asked.

"Close. It's A E R. It's my father's name. It means protector of freedom. Quite a fitting name for myself I do say." Aer replied. "And am I correct in saying that your names are Marybeth and Sophie?"

"Yes, that's right. Thank you for saving us," Sophie said.

"It was my duty. My honor to help others. I saw you running for your lives and came to rescue you," Aer said.

"How chivalrous of you," Franklin said flapping his wings and hopping a step closer. "Now I expect you would want payment?"

"Payment? No, you have me misunderstood. I don't seek payment. I just wanted to help."

"A mercenary that doesn't want payment? Now that's a first," Franklin snorted.

"I didn't see you helping," Aer said folding his arms. "If I remember right you stayed safe high up in the air making sure you didn't get caught up in the fighting."

Franklin stuttered through his words. Marybeth swore he saw the red feathers on his cheeks grow even redder. "I am not a fighter. I was helping them to the fishing town nearby. I knew there would be guards who could help them. And if you came from there then I guess I was right. So I made the right call and saved their lives."

"A coward taking a hero's credit? Now I have seen everything." Aer laughed at Franklin who in turn squawked out loud, flapped his wings, and then finally settled down.

"Regardless of my lack of a fighter's will and fighting abilities, I am trying to help these two young ladies. Found them thrown out of Greenreed river. Both soaking wet and unconscious. When they finally came to I offered them my assistance and a direction into town."

"A talking bird just comes across two young girls in the middle of nowhere and offers to help them? Now let me ask you bird. What is in it for you?" Aer pointedly asked.

"Honesty. That's what. I need to be honest to others and so I honestly wanted to guide them somewhere safe. Until we got attacked that is." Franklin had taken to fly over and roost on a nearby rock. "I know there is a fishing town just down river. I was going to take them there and let the city guard watch over them."

"Can't do that," Aer replied. "Freebrook is the name of the town you're talking about. Unfortunately, the town has lost most of its fighters to Malis."

"I'm sorry. Who is Malis? What are these Laws you keep talking about and where are we?" Marybeth asked as she walked in between the two of them.

The bird and the lizard-man gave each other a questioning look then Franklin spoke up. "Well, dear. You are just west of the Greenreed river and south of Freebrook."

Marybeth shook her head indicating she didn't know what he was talking about.

Franklin continued. "The Valleys of the Keepers? The continent of Courtia? Well, how about Luxitas? Does the name Luxitas mean anything to you?"

Both of the sisters looked at each and in synchronization, they shook their red hair in the negative.

"My you are quite the outsiders. Where are you from?" Aer asked.

"Seattle," Sophie replied. "We were visiting our mom when…"

"We don't know what happened. We just found ourselves in that river and then suddenly we weren't…" Marybeth started to try and recollect exactly how they got out of the river. All she could remember was a burning bright light and then nothing.

"Marybeth… I don't remember how we got out of the river. Do you?" Sophie asked looking up at her sister with her bright green eyes and freckled cheeks.

"It was your Law. I know that. Never seen one like that before but it was definitely your Law." Franklin chimed in.

"Okay enough," Marybeth spoke louder than she had intended but she was cold, hungry, and tired from everything that had happened. "What do you mean by Law? Did we break the law or something?"

"You really don't know." Aer had a look of confusion and concern on his face. "A Law is the very nature of how powers manifest in Luxitas. If you meet the requirements of your Law then you receive recompense or a gift. Take for example that little snot Krik back there and this knife. It was easy to tell what his Law was. A perception Law. Meaning if he could see his knife then he could call it back to him. The requirement was sight. The recompense was summoning his blade back to him. A simple but dangerous Law if mastered correctly."

"Is that how you moved your chain?" Sophie asked with joyful curiosity.

"Yes. That is correct. My Law is called Oathchain. It is an Oath Law that allows me the ability to control and manipulate chains. Your bird friend here probably has a similar Law. Care to share with the group?" Aer asked.

"Most certainly. My Law is called Truthspeech. It is a Bond Law. Similar to that of an Oath Law but with a much more severe consequence if it is broken." Franklin lifted one of his wings and began to clean at the line of feathers.

"And how do you break it?" Marybeth asked still having a hard time grasping all of this.

"By lying," Aer answered instead. "I understand. If Franklin here lies he breaks his bond and if he breaks his bond he can no longer talk. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, that is correct. I cannot lie or I will forever lose the ability to talk."

The two sisters looked at each other again confused but slowly coming to understand what they were saying. It was Marybeth who finally spoke up. "You say we have our own Law?"

"I believe so," Franklin said. "Or else you would not have burst out of the water and flown almost thirty feet. It was a powerful recompense and like I said I have never seen something like that before."

Marybeth waved her hands in front of her and stormed around for a second before finally talking again. "Okay… Okay… You say we have some kind of power. That this world has magic. Which either of you doesn't know what that means and that somehow we ended up here from our world. This is a whole new world. That's what it is! Look I don't care about Laws or powers or whatever those little yellow creatures were. All I know is that we need to get home."

Franklin and Aer both lifted their hand, or feathers in Franklin's case, and fell into thought. They both eyed each other and then Aer spoke. "It must be your Law. That is how you ended up here. If you wish to go home then you need to talk to a Law Keeper."