Chapter 1: The Sorceress

Cori struggled slowly back to consciousness, only to groan at the excruciating pain between her legs. She realized she had been raped, but was not sure how many times. She had passed out from the violence. All she knew was that she had been used many times. She slowly stood up, grimacing in pain. Blood covered her left side from a shallow stab wound.

After examining the wound, she looked around and noticed the family farm had been put to the torch. The bodies of her butchered family were scattered around the farmyard. Her dead father's hands still clutched the broken sword that had slain three of the raiders. His body lay in front of the burned remains of her home, with her mother's slain body beside him.

As she slowly moved towards her parent's bodies, she noticed that several of her younger sisters and brothers were missing. However, it was possible their bodies might lay in the burned our remains of her home. She stepped over the bodies of the raiders, noticing that they had been stripped of all their gear. She knelt by the body of her father, gently closing his now sightless eyes. Cori cursed this day, and asked 'why' of the Gods, that they would allow such things as this to happen.

"I demand my revenge, and I will have my revenge!" Cori screamed to the heavens.

Tears once more clouded her eyes when she found the body of her three-year-old sister, butchered and abandoned inside the burned out remains of their home.

"Athena, stop your crying, your family is dead, and your tears will not bring them back."

At the sound of the voice, Cori whirled around bringing her father's broken sword into a defensive position. Her tearful eyes beheld a beautiful woman wearing a lavender gown, sparkling like the morning mist that covers the pond near her home. It appeared that the lady was walking on the surface of the water. Cori called to the woman, as she got closer.

"My name is not Athena, it is..."

"Hold! Never tell a Mage what your true name is, for once you have given them that, they can control you for the rest of your life ... and into the afterlife, as well. Therefore, I will call you Athena and you may call me Star," the lady said as she stepped up onto the bank of the pond.

"I saw the smoke from far away, and rode quickly here to see what trouble was afoot. I feel your sorrow too, and your anger. You will need to put such feelings aside, if you wish to have your revenge." Star stopped talking and examined Athena with her Mage vision, and with a silent gasp, she determined the girl's fate, "My apprentices are usually younger than you are, but I am sure I can teach you ways to get your revenge. That is, if..."

Suddenly a gruff voice interrupted their conversation.

"Hey, I told you the skirt wasn't dead and look, now she has a friend."

"You can have the kid, I want the woman."

At the sounds of the male voices both Star and Athena turned and saw two scruffy looking men wearing leather armour, the armour was spotted with dried blood. With a shriek, Cori now named Athena darted behind Star's back in fear.

"Those are two of the bandits who raped me and did all this," Athena cried.

One of the men grabbed at his genitals and spoke to Star.

"Come here baby, I will make a woman out of you."

With disgust on her face, she responded to the man's comment.

"Ye think ye are man enough to teach me how to be a woman, when you must rape children to get your pleasure? I do not think you will die easily. In fact I promise that you won't."

At those words, Star raised her arms, and started speaking some words that seemed to slip from Athena's mind even as she heard them.

"Careful, she's a WITCH!" shouted one of the bandits.

They both charged at her with raised swords above their heads. One threw his sword trying to hit Star, and disrupt her chant. The sword spun through the air, and should have hit Star. But, just three feet from her, it hit ... something. It stopped, hung motionless for an instant, and fell to the ground.

Star didn't even flinch as the sword came flying towards her, nor did her chanting falter. As her arms lowered, magical energies streaked from her fingers, striking both men with unnatural magical fire.

Athena watched as the rapists were incinerated as she stood there.

In surprise, she gasped out, "My Lady, you are a very powerful woman. How did you do that? What stopped the sword from hitting you?"

"Athena, magic is a mystical and very powerful art that is very difficult to learn. If you are clever enough and smart enough, you will learn what I will teach you. It will make you a very powerful woman, but you must not use your powers for evil," Star said to the girl as she smiled at her warmly.

Noticing how she had evaded her question, Athena continued with more.

"Why not, my Lady? Would it be evil to want revenge?"

Shaking her head no, Star responded.

"No, child. But to use your magic for evil, will bring down the wrath of the Wizards Council. Even I, a powerful sorceress, must bow to their wishes; for combined, they can destroy me. Come, it is time to bury your slain family."

With those words, Star summoned a staff out of thin air, and struck the ground.

The ground rumbled as if it was alive, and then a head pushed up out of the ground.

Though Athena thought she had seen some surprising things this day, she stood there in shock as a huge creature appeared out of the earth.

"Athena, this is an Earth Elemental. It will help us bury your dead."

Star then turned and said something in a strange language to the elemental. The creature turned and flowed into the ground; as it moved along the ground, a trench was dug out of the hard packed earth.

"Come, we will bury your loved ones here," Star said.

Athena walked over to the house, and knelt beside the bloody remains of her little sister. Brushing the hair out of her sister's face, she kissed her sister's forehead.

"Goodbye, Lissia."

Turning, she slowly carried her three-year-old sister's body to the grave, where she would be buried in for all eternity. As she laid her sister's body down, she realized that some of her family were still unaccounted.

"Star, my younger brother Kandris, and my sister Virisa are not here."

Stars eyes took on a faraway look and then her face returned to normal.

"Athena, those two have been carried off into slavery and there is nothing I can do at this time. I have many duties that I must attend to. One is a wedding that I must attend. I can guarantee you this, as soon as my business is over, I will track them down for you. This I promise to you."

With tears in her eyes, Athena responded without thinking, "No! Star, you must do it now."

Athena realized she was acting like a child, and felt embarrassed about it.

Star cocked her head to the side and saw the pain in Athena's face.

"Child, I do not have to do anything if I choose not to," she said. She stopped speaking for a second, and then continued, "Wait, I know."

With those words, Star started to cast another spell. At the conclusion, a huge grey dog, about the size of a horse, appeared out of thin air. "Quickly, go get me something that belonged to your missing brother or sister."

Athena ran back into the ruins of her home, where she noticed Virisa's doll lying on the floor. She snatched it up and ran out to Star.

"Will this work, Star?"

With a smile, Star said, "Yes, child, that is perfect. Now show it to Masferit, and tell him what you want him to do. He will do the rest."

As she looked at this huge dog, Athena swallowed and took a deep breath. This huge dog could swallow her in two bites. She slowly approached the great beast, holding out the doll. The beast reached out its nose and smelled the doll.

"Please find my little sister, Virisa, and bring her back to me."

Masferit raised his head. With a sniff of the air and then of the ground, he was off and running to the northwest.

"Athena, you should have told him to find your brother, too," Star said as she shook her head.

With fear in her heart, Athena asked, "Oh! I am so sorry. Can we call him back? Or can you cast that spell again?"

Shaking her head Star looked after the beast, and replied, "No, child, I can do neither of those choices. Once set upon a task, it must finish that task, first. Also, I can not cast that spell again until the task is done, for there is only one Masferit."

She stood there, and watched as Star took two vials out of her pouch, and sprinkled their contents on the bodies of her family.

"What is that, Star?"

"This is Holy Water. It will allow your family to rest in peace, and prevent someone from raising them from the dead."

Sprinkling the water on Athena's family, Star then turned to the Earth Elemental.

"Fill in the trench. Level the ground flat so no one can find them. Then go home. Your reward awaits you there."

When the Elemental had done as he was told, Star looked down at Athena, and said, "Come, Athena, we must be off to Kartland City."

"To the capital! I have never been there," said Athena as she marvelled at Star's words.

"Do not interrupt. Yes, it is the capital of your homeland. As I said, I must attend a wedding. You will need suitable clothes to wear. However, for now, I think this will suffice."

With a wave of her arm, Athena's torn and bloody clothes were transformed into a simple red peasant dress made of wool.

"Come along, we must be off."

With a shrill whistle, a white Pegasus flew around the farmhouse, and dropped down to the farmyard. Star smiled at her oldest friend. She reached up and patted his neck.

"Athena, this is Swift. He is my mount, and one of my dearest friends."

Swift was all white, except for his silver wings. His feathers seemed to shine in the sunlight, as had the silver coin her father gave her last year so she could buy a dress for her thirteenth birthday.

"He's beautiful, my Lady. I thought I would never see one. I have heard of the Pegasus. I thought the unicorn was beautiful, but beside the gracefulness of this animal, there is no comparison."

With a musical laugh, Star said, "Flattery will get you everywhere with Swift."

With those words, Swift turned to them and started nodding his head. "See what I mean." Star leaped into the saddle, and reached her arm down to Athena.

"Come, child, we must leave."

Athena started to reach up to take her arm, when she realized she had forgotten something.

"Just a second, my Lady, I forgot something."

Athena rushed into the ruins of her home, and into her parent's bedroom. She stopped and looked for a certain spot on the floor.

"There, that is the one."

With a quick stomp on one floorboard, another board opens to reveal a small box hidden beneath it. She quickly scooped up the small box. It contained her family's life savings. She then rushed out to Star and took her arm to mount Swift.

Reaching down Star grabbed the young girl's out-stretched arm and swung her up behind her, and said, "What do you have there, child? Up, Swift."

With those words, the great beast leaped into the air, and flew southwards.

Leaning close to Star she said, "Well, my Lady, this box holds all the money my parents saved from their adventures, plus our proceeds from the farm. I do not know what else is in here, for us children were never allowed to look."

Looking over her shoulder at Athena, she responded, "You do know that box is magical."

Athena looked at the box in a new light and noticed that it does feel very light.

"No, my Lady, I did not know that."

Smiling at her, she said, "Well it is. So, child, slip your box into the saddlebags, so that you will not lose it."

Reaching into her gown, Star pulled out a small vial.

"Athena, I want you to drink this. It will settle your stomach," with those words, Star handed her a metal vial.

"Yes, my Lady," Athena said as she took the vial and opened it.

She quickly drank the liquid, and she noticed the taste of cinnamon in the liquid. A feeling of warmth came over her body. The stress of the day, and the pain from her rapes, started to fade.

Star watched the healing potion work on the young woman and said, "Now, Athena, I want you to go to sleep. We have a long way to go."

Athena was terrified of the thought of falling asleep and falling off of Swift, and replied, "If I go to sleep, I will fall off. I am not that tired."

"No child, you are tired, and you will not fall off."

With those words, Star reached into a pouch, pulled some sand out, and sprinkled it over her shoulder at Athena. The sand drifted into Athena's face as Star whispered the words of the spell. Within moments, Athena was sound asleep. She leaned against Star's back, and began gently snoring.

Athena leaned against Star's back, dreaming of her thirteenth birthday. She had her new dress on, and her family made the day special for her.

Suddenly, a voice called to her, and she slowly woke up.

"Athena, wake up, we are here."

Athena yawned, opened her eyes, and realized that they were on the ground. After they climbed down off of Swift, he took to the air again.

"You put me to sleep, my Lady?"

Smiling, Star said, "Yes, I did. I knew you were tired, and your body needed time to heal."

Athena realized what Star was saying was true. All her pains were gone, including the pain between her legs.

"Well, I'm surprised. I don't hurt anymore between my legs."

"Yes, while you were asleep. The potion I gave you did its work. Your body has been healed."

Athena looked around and realized that they were not near a city, and seemed to be in a small valley.

She asked, "Where are we, I don't see a city?"

Pointing at a hill, Star said, "Kartland lies in that direction over that hill in front of us. You need a mount to ride, and Swift has gone to get you one, he will be back soon. Also, you need a meal in you, and a bath. You smell like a fire pit."

Star then turned and raised her arms.

Athena stood and watched as Star cast her next spell. A door suddenly appeared in thin air. What was even more amazing to her, was that there was no frame holding the door.

"Come, Athena. You need a bath, and I need to study a certain spell for the wedding."

As Star walked to the door, she asked Athena, "Athena, do you know how to read and write?"

Walking behind Star, Athena looked up at her and said, "Yes, my Lady. Our parents wanted all of my brothers and sisters to know how. I can even do some figuring, but I was never very good at that."

"Good!" replies Star. "Then I will not need to teach you reading and writing. Mathematics you will need to learn. I have a spell that will allow you to comprehend it better."

With those words, she opened the door. They walked into a room decorated in silks and mother-of-pearl. Three doors led out of the room, and a stairway went up. The banister was of a dark red wood that she had never seen before. Different coloured pictures were sparkling on the walls, seeming to move as if they were alive.

"Athena, welcome to my ... and now your ... new home."

Standing there in awe, Athena said, "Thank you, my Lady. It is very beautiful my Lady. My Lady, how do you make the pictures look so alive?"

With a musical laugh, she responds, "Children are all the same." With a smile on her face, she continued, "Athena, look up at the roof."

Athena looked up, and she saw they were under a crystal dome with many pictures in it. Each picture was of a different animal, all in different poses. There must have been hundreds of them.