The Mark of Arella(Book One of the Dragonfly Chronicles)

Chapter Twenty Six

Tam, Logan, Sam and Rhylan sat around the camp fire and looked thru the two books. Sam flipped thru the first several chapters and realized this book was a history of Arella and Baelins rule. It spoke of how powerful Arella was with magic and how the realm was unified under she and Baelins rule. The lands were prosperous and faeries were treated with fair and kind rules. There were many magic wielders at the time and a school was developed to train those born with the affinity on how to focus and use their magic in safe, healthy ways. The school was built in Brighton and was called Kaisineers School of Magic. There were several hundred students allowed into the school per year and a full staff of professors who taught all the different arts. The elements, healing, battle, spells and clairvoyance to name a few. The school was considered prestigious and was the only one of its kind. Those who graduated were employed by nobles or had their own shops in which they hired out their magic services. It was a respected profession and could be prosperous as well.

Over time, there were some professors that started to use dark magic. This magic was a distortion of good magic in that all of the different arts could be used for negative purposes. Instead of using fire to warm or cook, it would be used to destroy. Clairvoyance was used to infiltrate people's minds and in some cases be used for mind control. Protection shields could be used as prisons. These professors felt this type of magic could be just as useful as the good magic and wanted to teach this form to the students in the school. They petitioned with King Baelin and Queen Arella to add these classes and they were denied. Three of the professors were angered by this so they broke off and started their own school. These three professors were Angus, Imeena and Ludwin. Baelin and Arella did not want to quarrel with the professors so they allowed them to leave Kaisineers and go off on their own but refused to help them financially and encouraged faeries to stay away from the dark skills.

Time went on and things stayed peaceful until the war started. This is when Arella was said to reveal her strongest magic and she defeated all three of the dark professors in a final battle to save the realm. The realm quickly went back to a peaceful state and Arella and Baelin ruled together until they passed on. The realm was split up into four Kingdoms and things have been fairly peaceful since. The two books really didn't give much more detail than this. What was confusing to the group is how this darkness could rise again. It didn't say anything about who or how it came back. Was it one of the students from the old dark magic schools? There were hundreds of students in those days so it was possible but there was no mention of that. The only mention of anyone was that a female faery would be given the mark of Arella and be the one to save the realm. Since Lilly's family witnessed Arella giving her the mark, everyone assumed it was her.

Sam looked at the group and said "these two books don't give us any information, they are more like history books, not prophecies." Rhylan nodded his head in agreement and said, "This is why we wanted to go after the third book. We think it might reveal more information." "Well," said Sam, "even if the third book tells us more, what is the plan? Is the realm really in all the danger you speak of? I haven't seen any sign of that since I've been here. Everything looks normal. Lilly wants to find out what her connection is to all of this but I don't see how that is going to help us." Everyone fell silent as they really didn't know what to say. This was Lilly's quest and they hadn't really thought past what would happen once they got the book. Sam sighed and said, "I think we should get some rest so we can get going in the morning." The group agreed and all headed to their sleeping mats. Rhylan checked on Finn and made his way to Lilly.

Lilly was in a bed, pain convulsing through her body. She saw blurred images of people moving around her but she couldn't make out who they were or where she was. Suddenly, a huge jolt went thru her and she screamed out. The pain passed and she fell limp onto the bed. The dream flashed to another scene. A woman walking in the forest, she was swaying back and forth and tripping over roots and rocks. The woman was so hungry and the thirst was burning in her throat. It was like hot coals in her mouth. The woman fell to the ground and passed out. Lilly woke up with the glow of daylight working its way into the cave. Rhylan was already awake and getting the camp packed up with the others help. She stepped out of her sleeping bag and stretched. She thought about the dreams and how odd they were. She had been so consumed by the dreams with her locked up in that cell that this one was perplexing. Who was the woman and what was happening to her?