The Tale of Magic

Chapter 1

It all started on a night in the Green Valley of the Elves. There was a full moon, and all of the

Elves in the palace were in mourning. Lord Kane's wife had died of an unknown disease. Since then, he had been dealing with the many troubles of keeping unwanted creatures outside the borders of the valley.

Hana, his ten-year old daughter, was in a strange daze. She wandered the halls as if she were

lost. When the others tried to talk to her, she hardly acknowledged their existence. One morning, she was staring at a painting of a mystic mountain, when a cloaked female Elf appeared behind her.

"Who are you?" Hana asked nonchalantly.

"Lady Hana, I have urgent news. It has been discovered that your father... is... planning to kill you," the Elf replied. This seemed to bring Hana back to the world.

"What?" she asked bewildered.

"I am an ally of the Council of Nine. We have been watching your father for some time now. He has been dealing with the power of darkness. We tried to stop him once, but he tricked us. He has somehow bent all of the Elves in the valley to his will, except you."

"But how?"

"I don't know. But you have been selected for a secret mission. There is a powerful being coming to Harth. We need you to find it, and guide it to Delavonder. If your father finds it, who knows what he'll do. Now, go down to the stables, and find your horse. You mustn't let anyone see you. I shall meet you outside. Until then," the Elf said, and then she was gone. Hana, stood for a moment, and then left the room. She ran down the stairs, and into the library. From there, She managed to climb down the balcony overlooking the stables. She nearly landed on a guard, but fortunately he moved at the last second.

Hana made her way into the stables, and found her horse. Just she was about to saddle up, a guard grabbed her hand asking, "What are doing in here, girl?"

Before she could react, he was knocked upside the head by the but of a sword. When he fell to the ground unconscious, the cloaked Elf stepped forward.

"Try to be more careful. Now come, if we are to do this, we must leave now, before it is too late," she said.

Hana slowly followed her out of the stables on her horse. They continued walking for awhile in silence. When they came to the bridge going across the river that surrounded the Green Valley, the Elf turned towards Hana saying, "If I do not see you again, it has been an honor. I was close friends with your mother."

"What is your name?" Hana asked.

"Elia. Here take this," she said handing her her cloak. "A Ranger will meet you on the other side of the forest. Do not worry about getting lost, the Rangers have eyes everywhere."

"So does the Council of Nine, it appears," someone said.

Elia turned around to see Lord Kane along with two guards.

Turning to Hana, Lord Kane said, "I should have known you would try to escape."

Drawing out a long sword, Elia said, "Run, Hana. Run and don't turn back."

Hana did as she was told, and rode away.

"You should not have done that. Shoot her," Lord Kane instructed his guards.

"No!" Elia shouted. She struck the first guard down, but the second one managed to fire his arrow at the moment she knocked into him. The arrow flew slightly off course, but hit Hana in the upper arm. As her horse rode on, Hana screamed in agony.

Before Elia could react, Lord Kane swung his sword, and cut her head clean off.

"Fool," he said.

Injured, Hana fled into the woods. She traveled until she felt far enough away to stop. She unsaddled, and collapsed. She had lost a lot of blood from the arrow still lodged in her arm. Examining her arm, she was able to conclude that the arrow had gone straight through her bone. She would not be able to pull it out on her own.

Unexpectedly, there was sudden movement in the bushes behind her. Before she could investigate, an enormous glowing object smashed down with a cloud of smoke that caused Hana to thrown into a tree.

"Ahhh," she yelled in pain as she landed on her wounded arm. Getting up, she lowered herself down from the tree, with one hand.

When Hana landed on the ground, she was shocked to see a girl, about her age, unconscious on the ground. The girl wore a long white gown and she had very long dark brown hair. She was barefoot and had a strange silver necklace. She also seemed to be glowing.

Then she heard more movement from the bushes. Hana turned around to see a pair of dark brown glowing eyes staring at her. She could not see the body they belonged to.

"Beware," a voice whispered.

Then the eyes disappeared right before her eyes. Still confused, Hana turned her attention back toward the girl. As she kneeled down, her head began to hurt. Suddenly, the girl's eyes shot open, and she sat up.

"... who are you?" the girl asked in an unrecognizable accent.

"I'm Hana. I..." but Hana could talk no more, for the amount of blood she had lost had caused her to black out.

Hana awoke to the face of the mysterious girl. As she tried to sit up, the girl said, "No-no-no, sit back. You've lost a great deal of blood."

"What is your name?" Hana asked.

"Melissa," she replied. "We need to get you help."

"There is a Ranger. He supposed to meet us outside the forest," Hana said. Then she once more went unconscious.

"Hana. Hana!" Melissa shouted.

"She's gone into a coma," someone said from behind her.

Melissa turned around to see a tall figure covered in a black cloak that went down to his ankles.

"Are you the Ranger?"

"Yes. Now, we must get the Elf to Delavonder quickly. Can you ride a horse?" he asked. He spoke in a serious tone.

"Yes. I'm Melissa, by the way." Melissa said.

"I'm Ward. Now get on," the Ranger said pointing to Hana's horse.

Once Melissa had carefully gotten on, Ward went over to Hana, and yanked the arrow out. He place a cloth around her arm, picked her up, and got on his horse.

"Follow me, and whatever you do, don't fall behind. If the Elf does not get help soon, she will die," Ward said.