Chapter 3

Chadwick had awoken the next day to the news that his son was abducted by the demon Jaliston, and swooped away by the dragon. Both of which were linked to an evil sorcerer Avendelin.

Avendelin, many years ago, used to be the kingdom's wizard until his mind became corrupt with the need for power and distaste for the young King. His thoughts were that the kingdom and the peasants needed to be ruled by fear instead of compassion and understanding. The King exiled him from the kingdom, when words of animal sacrifices were being used in Avendelin's spell work. A process that was not accepted in the Kingdom, as all life was to be respected.

He knew it was going to be a treacherous battle to win back the life of his son from Avendelin and the mysterious demon Jaliston. He had only one choice and that was to seek the aid of the kingdom's Sorceress, Alana, for answers and guidance.

Chadwick made his way into the forest just north of the Kingdom, where he found the hollowed out tree that housed Alana. He knocked upon the bark of the tree, and it magically opened wide for his entrance. Cautiously, he stepped forward into the cavern.

His eyes adjusted to the dimmed light. He then became aware of bottles of herbs, salves and books of bound leather sitting upon shelves around the circumference of the room. Upon the walls hung tapestries, depicting the elements, Earth, Fire, Water and Air. The tapestries were placed on the walls in the different directions, like that of a compass. A cauldron sat in the center of the room, it bubbled lightly with the scents of flowers and the musk of pond herbs.

Toward the back of the room, sitting upon a large hand woven rug, was a cot, woven from dried stalks of forest grass that attached to a frame made from limbs from trees. It looked surprising comfortable, considering the materials it was created from. This room was many times larger than the ancient tree that held this magical place. He noted that the colors were extremely vibrant, as though this room teemed with life.

As he looked around he saw the frame of Alana, clad in a green leather overdress that laced up the bodice and skirt split many times up the sides. Not very lady like, he noted, but then again, how many ladies were partial to wearing leather leggings and riding bareback on wild stallions. He grinned slightly as he remembered the few times he stumbled upon that vision while hunting in this very forest.

Sorceress Alana was known as a friend to the animals and the spiritual world as well as the mortal world. Her abilities stemmed from living in harmony with nature and for respecting all living beings. For that very reason alone, she was admired, not to mention her beauty and her caring ways.

She sensed he was there long before he entered her home. Having dealt with him for many years, even before he brought Devon in for training, she had become in tuned to his energy. She was actually drawn to it. Drawn to him. She could sense him leagues away, even as he hunted, presumably in stealth. Many times she sensed him as she rode "Daegan" her beloved black stallion through the forest and around the Kingdom. He entered, his broad frame barely making through the door. She watched him as he looked around, his musk scent floating through the air.

Before Chadwick could speak, Alana approached him. The subtle scent of lilacs tickled his nose as she drew closer. She held a black pouch open in her hand.
"Pick the one that speaks to you, that speaks to your heart" She spoke.

Chadwick looked closer into the pouch and saw that there was nothing but a handful of rocks, about the size of pheasant eggs. Unsure of the seriousness of her request, he looked at the rocks, looked up at Alana, then back down to the pouch. Finally chose one that had pale flecks of blue in it. It would be best not to question the beautiful yet powerful sorceress, Chadwick thought to himself.

Alana set the bag of rocks down, and took the blue speck rock from Chadwick's outstretched hand. Her touch was light. Like that of butterfly wings. That thought created a dream-like vision of him sitting against a tree during the summer woods, holding Alana against his chest as butterflies fluttered around, and landing on her outstretched hands. He shook his head, needing to clear those thoughts from his mind. He needed to be focused on journey.

Alana had walked over to the center of the room, where the cauldron sat and held the rock above the steaming brew. Chadwick stepped forward, making up the distance in few steps. He came to a halt when he saw that the color of the rock started to change. Instead of specks of pale blue, the rock itself changed to blue as though the color was melting into the rest of the rock.

Alana removed the rock out of the steam. She looked at it closely as she turned it in the palm of her hand. She rotated the stone clockwise three times before she stopped, held her hand with the stone in front of her face and blew onto it. The blue color turned to white as the stone itself started to expand and with each breath. After the third breath she stopped. The small stone was now the size of Chadwick's fist. The air had pushed the stone out and hollowed the inside. It had turned into a glass sphere.