Silver Cathedral Saga: Observer Chronicles, Book 1

Warriors of Faiths

Ematay and his group soon thanked them for the mead and help.

As the leader left, he couldn't get the whole picture of the old woman out of his mind; how her normal talking voice was rough and tired—yet when she sang it was as if it came from somebody else.

"It looks like we are going to the Mistless Mountain." He held the map close to himself so nobody around would see where exactly they needed to. And then, there was that feeling again.

That feeling of being watched. They were still at the entrance to where the Nightingale lived. The Star-caster looked around, carefully. He could see them out of the corner of his eye, peeping over a thatched roof on a house close by.

The Star-caster whispered a plan to the others quickly.

The Beast-caster, also known as the Shape-changer, moved away, starting the plan.

The other three were told to go back near the centre of town.

The Beast-caster, Adea, wandered through the streets alone. She noticed almost straight away there was something flying above her and it appeared to be staying near; a bright light that flew in the sky. It was hard to miss. Adea spotted its fiery glow up close as it zoomed by and knew instantly thereon what it was. "A Firefly," she called out.

There has been no known person to know what a Firefly looks like. Its fierce glow always hid what was underneath, its true exterior. The light was a shield, but what most people wondered was—was it hiding something?

The Spell-caster was right near the entrance to the city now. She looked around, still following the Firefly near. "One of these people might be housing the same magick as me. There is no way a Firefly would follow me this far on its own accord." She then saw birds fly over, and decided to close her eyes. A squawk happened before one of those same birds landed on her arm. The Beast-caster whispered into one of the ear's of the bird, as if it understood her, and her, it.

It leapt from her forearm she held it on, and it flew up again into the air. The Spell-caster watched which direction it went before she moved again. "Well that part is sorted," she told herself in relief. "It is on the rest of them now."

Ematay arrived at the fountain. "You know what to do," he said to the rest of the Spell-casters. The other two split up in different directions. "I hope it is me they are after," said Ematay to himself. He leaned against the fountain, feeling the smooth stone against his hands and relished in the glorious light most land dwellers would take for granted. The Star-caster heard the trickle of water flow as he closed his eyes, calming him briefly. He tapped his foot, waiting.

Several minutes passed until there was a sudden ruckus in the background; Ematay opened his eyes to it. He could see one of his fellow Spell-casters had caught one of the watchers.

"Got one," said the Fire-caster Lauretta.

"Let go of me. Do you even know who I am?" said the young male they had just caught.

"No, we were hoping you could shed some light on that for us," said Ematay.

The young male shrugged off the hands of Lauretta. The other, Dak, the Battle-caster, joined the company now.

"Nothing, I'm afraid," said the twenty-something male Battle-caster. "Is this one?"

"Yes," replied Ematay.

"He can't be more than fourteen years old. What is he even going to do to us," said Dak.

The two Spell-casters tried to get close to this new person they caught. Only the male placed both hands out; one for the left side of him, and one on the right.

Suddenly, a constant force pushed against the Spell-casters, as if the air immobilised them, yet there was no breeze. There was only this curious magnificent power, stopping them from getting any nearer the boy.

"I'm a Warrior of Faith," screamed the young boy.

A Firefly came to them, near this youngling, and soon enough the last of Ematay's group, the female Beast-caster, Adea.

Five now stood near the fountain, with little in the way of people around.

"Oh, you've caught one," said Adea. A flying light then lowered itself to the ground. The Firefly. "These people must have magick."

Ematay looked at the male keeping the two Spell-casters back, three including the Shape-changer.

"I think we have all figured that much out," said Dak to Adea, moving his head towards the boy with his hand stopping the others from getting nearer him and Ematay, which he stood in the middle of.

"As I was saying," said the kid looking at the Firefly moving. "We are Warriors of Faith."

This exact same Firefly then touched the stone cobbled path, the light changing into a girl not much older than Eleanor in a blink of an eye.

"You can't be the Warriors of Faith. They are only born every millennium, and there is always six. And we would have known by now if any still existed."

"We are both here now, are we not?" said the young girl, the one who they once thought was a part of their enemy.

"Which means one thing, unfortunately," said the young male in a guilty voice.

"You have failed to protect us," said Ematay, even more worried. "If you could not stop them, how can we?"

"The plot thickens, Spell-caster," said the young girl. "Amaranth is corrupted by darkness. It has been for a long time. There is said to be a supreme figure manipulating all others; making them see only what this person wants them to see. Which is exactly why we didn't go back there. They would find us. Kill us. And we figured if six Edeolon Warriors had a chance, no matter how slim, to stop an entire war—then imagine what just the two of us could do to help defend Astora here: Against these vile Shadows. And we knew they would come back. They always do. That is their way."

Ematay rubbed his rosy lips as he went into deep thought before speaking again:

"We could use your talents on our side now. I bet the two of you are better than all four of us put together."

"Well we have been around a while to practice a bit more," said the young boy backing down the mysterious force he controlled, letting Ematay's group and him move again.

"A while. Try far too long," said the young girl.

"Hmm, the years tend to blur quite a bit when you've lived a thousand years yourself," said the male.

"We were teenagers when we became the Edeolon Warriors," said the female Warrior of Faith.

"Barely," interrupted the male Edeolon Warrior.

"One thousand and thirteen years!" said the elemental caster Lauretta. "But you haven't aged at all. You still look like kids."

"It seems as if their thoughts are genuine," said the Swan Knight, confirming the Star-caster's request in mind after a delay at reading them.

"Okay," said Ematay. "Weneed to head to the Heart of the Mountain to find this Stone Swan. I suggest westop off at Madame Mansion for a quick break, then head straight on until weget this sorted." He looked at the Warriors of Faith who now stood together. "Are you with us?"