Chapter 1

The clan kings had gathered at Zosenheim, the land held by Queen Moenna. This was the time when the Kings got together, forming a great council. They talked about the laws of the land, and the honors, which the clans had gained. They lavished praise upon the warriors for their deeds, and they paid homage to those who had fallen.

Tara stood at the back of the boat holding the pole as she had been taught, and waited for the fish to take the bait. It had been a long day starting with Tara having to all but beg both her father and the master fisherman to allow her to go out to fish with the men. It was considered a right of passage to fish the river Batkuk or the “River of Demons”. For Tara it was even more so as the next day was the ‘Day of the Warrior’. It was the day that young men were honored for completing their training and any deeds that they had accomplished and Tara planned on being there.

The end of the poll jerked and dipped and jerked again and she pulled back hard to set the hook. Tara loved it and worked the reel to land the fish; she just knew was there. About one hundred feet off the back of the boat something large broke the surface. Tara continued to crank the reel but it started to feel strange to her.

“Master Marlow, this doesn’t feel right. The pull is wrong.”

“Just keep a reelin’. You’s doing ok. Lookies like you picked up a fat’n.”

Whatever it was ducked under the water again and didn’t come back up until it was over halfway there. Tara didn’t need to say that something was wrong as whatever it was, screamed when it broke the surface again.

“My God! What the ‘ell did you hook into?” said Master Marlow.

Tara looked at the thing, something about the scream stuck in the back of her mind. Then she saw what looked like hair hanging from the top of it. But it was what was also with the hair. Woven with the hair was a braided ribbon of a distinct set of colors.

“Kyri!!!! OH MY GOD!!! Hold on!! We’ll get you!!”

Tara yelled and worked even harder to get the line reeled in.

Around the boat, men worked to make the large boat hold its place against the current as others got ropes ready to pull the girl in.

Tara moved closer to the back of the boat, as her friend got closer, the reel jammed. Cursing, Tara dropped the rod and grabbed the line and continued to work the line in hand-over-hand. She had even taken to standing on the very back of the boat. Her cousin took hold of her to pull her back but she quickly glared at him.

Gosson knew when not to interfere, but then grabbed a rope and tied it around his cousin and then to himself so that if his kin went in he could pull her back out. If he didn’t do something he knew his uncle would have his hide for a rug.

Tara pulled and pulled and had her friend near the back of the boat when she figured out what was on her back. It was a demon and it was trying hard to push her head down under the water to claim its prize.

“Kyri hold on! I’ll get you!”

“Taaarrrrraaaa!” Kyri screamed out as she recognized her best friend.

Tara reached down to take hold of Kyri’s hand but she was pulled under by the demon. Tara didn’t even think but reached into the water and grabbed Kyri by the hair and pulled her back to the surface.

This angered the Demon and it took a swipe at Tara. Tara used the other hand and punched the demon trying to get it off her friend. Tara didn’t do more than one hit at the demon and then went back to concentrating on her friend. In the position she was in she couldn’t pull her friend in and no one else could get close enough to help.

Tara heard her cousin tell her to hold on and then the boat lurched forward as, as many men could, took to the oars to row back to the docks inside the blessed area. Tara looked at her friend with apologetic eyes but never let go of her friend’s hair as the boat plowed through the water.

As they got closer several smaller demons jumped out of the water at Tara and twice Tara had to endure the sting and pain of being bitten or scratched on the arm but she never let go of her friend.

Just before the boat entered the blessed area around the docks a demon jumped and bit deeply into Tara’s arm at the elbow but then burst into flames. With the weight of the demon gone, Tara then pulled with all her strength at her friend. Kyri came flying out of the water with both girls falling into the bottom of the boat.

“Kyri! Oh god! Kyri are you all right? What happened to you? How’d you get in the river?” yelled Tara as she tried to check her friend.

“Quiet Tara,” said Master Marlow, “Let the girl get some air in her lungs. And get out of the way so we can see if she has anything busted that needs to be healed. Then we need to get you both to a priest so they can get your bites cleaned. What were you thinking reaching into the water like that? You could have been pulled in and your father would have killed me!”

“I was thinking I was see’n’ my best friend about to die. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do whatever it took to stop it!” Tara replied but did move to one side so the old man could check out her friend.

The dock was a madhouse as men jumped from the boat to make it fast. Then they all started shouting for someone to get a priest and for someone to get the King. Tara was not looking forward to seeing either but the priest was the better of the two choices.

There had only been one priest that was close to the docks that had the training to help so it took several hours of being chanted over and having special herbs basically rubbed all over both girls. Kyri had too many bites to count so she was treated first and very thoroughly.

Tara watched and waited though several tried to make her take a horse and head back to the encampment to be treated there, she refused. This was her best friend, and only the word of the King could even make her think of leaving but then he had better be standing right there to tell her himself.

Finally it was Tara’s turn as the priest needed to let the herbs sit to draw any poisons out that might remain in the bites that Kyri received.

“Now young Lady, let’s take a look at that arm of yours.”

“I’m fine. Please just take care of my friend,” Tara said as she looked at her friend.

“She will be just fine. In an hour the wounds will be cleansed and she can go home. You did a good thing today. To die by the demons is to have your soul ripped from our world and sent straight to hell to be tormented for all times. I know of no one so young that is so brave.”

“Bravery had nothing to do with it. Even if she were not my friend, but someone else, I still would have done it. But Kyri is my best friend and I will never let her down.”

“You will make a formidable warrior young Tara. Your heart is true and your mind strong,” said the priest as he worked on the bites and scratches on Tara’s arm.

It was well past midnight when Tara, Kyri, and Gossen made it back to the main encampment. Kyri refused to tell what had happened or how she got into the river. The priest had said it was shock and that it would come out when she felt truly safe.

Being as late as it was, Tara with Gossen took Kyri to Tara’s tent so that she could sleep and then return home in the morning. Well that had been the plan anyway, for as soon as they had bedded down there was a large and loud commotion. Tara was near dragging but Kyri was sound asleep and Gossen was all but the same.

When the Tent flap was pulled back by someone screaming Tara sat up with her short sword in hand, “I don’t care if the Queen herself comes to get Kyri, she is going to sleep here until morning so I know that she is safe! Now shut the hell up and get out of my tent!” Tara growled.

Slowly the tent flap was released. Tara lay back down and soon was asleep, with one hand still on her sword.

The next morning Tara woke with a strange loneliness and found she was still in her tent but Kyri and Gossen were not there. That was when she saw where the light from the sun fell. She had overslept on the one day that she should not have.

Quickly Tara cleaned herself up and got into her clothing that she had chosen for the “Branding Ceremony”. To her disappointment the last petitioner was just finishing the herb infusion. The boy of fourteen turned and walked over to stand with the others then became sick. Not a surprising, the stuff used was nasty and most did lose it.

Tara was heart broken but knew that someone would have got her up unless they were told not to by her mother and father. Squaring her shoulders Tara walked to the front of the gathering to stand in front of the King.

Dropping to one knee, “My King, I believe there is one more petitioner for their Warrior’s Brand.”

Warwick looked down on his daughter, and then glanced to his beloved queen. It was at her order that Tara not be summoned before the ceremony. He, on the other hand was very proud of his only child. She had mastered every task and test set before her where several of the others had not yet begun to train but had met the minimum requirement to get their first Warrior’s Brand.

“The ceremony is nearly completed. If this person was so interested why did they not arrive on time?”

“It is with great regret that with the events of last night the person was unable to get here on time,” Tara thought about saying something else but that was not what a warrior with any honor would do. “I respectfully request to be allowed to have this person receive their Branding.”

“If this person is unable to get to this ceremony on time what makes this person worthy of receiving their Warrior’s Brand,” asked Lyly, as she looked at her daughter. She did not want her daughter to become a warrior, but she knew Tara had worked very hard to earn the right to be a warrior.

“The person has been training since she could hold a blade in her hand. Reaching the level of knowledge and skill that allowed her to use her training for the last three years, she has stood guard at Ineskadel. Last year when the Keep itself was under siege she stood with the defenders and used bow and sword against its attackers. The numbers were too great to get a full count of how many of the attackers were killed by the petitioner but her arrows were found in over a hundred. When it came time for hand to hand combat, her enemies underestimated her abilities, her strength, and her speed. It was a fatal mistake and they died at her hand in honorable combat. The siege was broken and the land held with the enemy driven back in defeat.

“She has learned many skills for one of her age. She has learned the ways of the horse as all her people do. She has learned the ways of those who fish. She has learned the skills of an apprentice in the arts of an apothecary. All these she has learned and though some she is still mastering she has past all tests set before her. And yesterday even as she sailed the river Batkuk to learn the ways of the river of demons and how to fish it, her strength was tested yet again. For as she worked the line to bring in what she and the others thought was a fish turned out to be Princess Kyri. The gods alone know how the Princess came to be there and she would not tell any or how it was the petitioner’s hook that caught the back of the Princess’s dress. While demons tried to drag the Princess under, the petitioner used all her strength to hold on to her friend even as Demons attacked her as well.

“All of these parts make the petitioner more than worthy of receiving her warriors brand and being able to continue her training to serve the kingdom and her King,” Tara finished, now with her head bowed with humility.

The King and Queen had heard of the rescue and were still shocked and amazed by it. It did not go unnoticed that there were several gasps when his daughter made the announcement of the event. They were very proud, however, now that the rescue had been told he had to grant her request for it was law. It was the law that said to rescue a member of a royal house; the rescuer is granted the title of Protector, one hundred large gold pieces, and the right to ask a boon of the King. For this the King knew his daughter would request her branding but with the title of protector, he would just include that of her warrior’s status.