Conor's PoV -
I awoke to the dim morning light that shone through my cell's small window. I rubbed the sleep from my tired eyes and turned to face Devin, he had stayed with me every night after I was taken to this dungeon. Devin's eyes were still closed and he let out little tired snores. I reached through the cell bars and gently ran my fingers through his hair. "Mmmm, five more minutes..." Devin mumbled sleepily.
I chuckled at his cuteness, "Devin, wake up, today's the day we try the nectar!"
"That don't mean I can't sleep in," Devin stretched and sat up, his blankets falling off him.
I smiled at him, "Devin, are you forgetting to tell me something?"
"Hmmm," he stared back at me, "oh, Happy Birthday, love."
He pressed his lips against mine through the bars, "Thank you, Dev."
A door was heard opening from the stairs above, Devin and I quickly scooted away from each other. Heavy boot falls echoed through the cells as the Earl made his way down the steps. Devin picked up his blankets and quickly found a place to hide. "Well, well, Conor, I guess it's your chance to try for a spirit animal today, not that it matters since you obviously won't summon anything," the Earl scoffed, "My son will be the only one summoning a spirit animal today."
I stood staring at the ground simply nodding or shrugging to whatever the Earl said. A guard unlocked my cell door and led me out into the hall. The Earl stood in front of me, "Don't try anything today, this ceremony will be special and you can expect a lot of guards, trust me, they will be watching you," with that the Earl walked away, back up the steps.
The guard led me up the steps, "You are ordered to help Lord Devin prepare for his ceremony today, you are still his servant after all," the guard walked away, casting a sideways untrusting glance at me.
I hurried to Devin's room. The door clicked shut behind me. Devin wasn't there yet, no doubt trying to sneak back up to his room while avoiding guards. I quickly fixed my hair so that my lamb ears were hidden and changed my clothes to something more presentable, after all it was the day of my nectar ceremony.
A few minutes later the door created open and Devin entered. "What took you so long?" I question humorously.
"Thanks to you there are guards everywhere," Devin smiled at me and hugged me, "It's so good to see you not behind bars!"
I snuggled into his chest. "I'm glad to not be behind bars," I smiled at him.
With that the two of us got ready for our ceremony. I helped Devin with his jacket that for some reason had like fifty buttons. Finally, it was time for us to try the nectar. A guard came and got us and walked the two of us to the stage where are ceremony was to be held. A girl our age was already there, she would also try the nectar with us. We took our seats next to the girl.
A crowd had already gathered and I searched the many faces for my family. I finally found them, towards the back of the crowd, I eagerly waved at them. I missed them a lot since it had been months since I seen them last. They waved back at me, smiling proudly. Devin, who was seated next to me, held my hand and smiled up at me. Today would be great no matter if I summoned an animal or not.
A few minutes later and the ceremony began with Trunswick's local Greencloak asking for everyone to be quiet. Oddly another Greencloak stood close by, one whom I had never seen before. Trunswick's local Greencloak gave a small speech and then asked Devin to step forward and try the nectar. He flashed me a hopeful smile before walking over. Everyone watched anxiously as he sipped the nectar. Devin stood looking around nervously, "Devin you may take your seat now," the Greencloak stated.
Devin nodded sadly and sat back down next to me. "I didn't summon anything," Devin stated the obvious but sad truth, "father will be mad at me."
"Why would he be mad, it's not your fault that you didn't summon an animal, it just wasn't you destiny?" I held his hand, trying to cheer him up.
"He just will, it don't matter if it makes sense or not, he'll be mad," Devin stated, he looked to be on the verge of tears.
The other girl had just tried the nectar and predictable didn't summon anything. The Greencloak called my name and I gave Devin's hand a gentle squeeze before I walked over. I was handed a beautiful golden cup and told to take a sip. I brought the cup to my lips and carefully took a small sip, moments later dizziness overtook me and through blurred vision I could see a bright flash of light. My head immediately cleared and before me stood a large grey wolf with brilliant blue eyes. With a yelp I jumped back in fright. "Go on, he's your companion," the Greencloak smiled at me gesturing to the wolf.
I shook my head stubbornly, flashbacks of the night that wolf had nearly killed me filled my head. Why did I have to be bonded to such a creature?! The wolf wined a little and shyly approached me, could he tell I was scared? I stood where I was and warily held my hand out towards the wolf. He nuzzled into my palm with a small whine. It felt right, somehow, my head cleared a little and my senses became sharper than before.
The crowd of people stared, wide eyed, in amazement. I looked over to Devin, who smiled up at me with possibly a hint of resentment. The other Greencloak, whom I had never seen around here before, walked over to me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, "It's time to leave, you summoned not only a spirit animal but the Great Beast Briggan, Trunswick is no longer a safe place for you or for Briggan." He smiled reassuringly at me, "My name's Tarik by the way."
Admittedly, I was very scared, I don't know this guy or for that matter how could I possibly trust a wolf. I didn't want to leave Devin or my family. Then again I didn't want to have to go back to that jail cell, knowing that at anytime if the Earl decided I could be sentenced to death. With that thought I nodded, "Okay, I'm ready but can I say goodbye to my family first?"
"Of course but make it quick," Tarik stated with a worried look.
With that I hurried off and ran over to my family, the guards had cleared most of the crowd away but had apparently allowed my family to stay. I hugged them all one by one. Briggan trotted over after me and like a dog sat down at my feet wagging his tail. "We're all so proud of you, Conor," my mother smiled at me and planted a kiss on the top of my head.
"Thanks ma, that Greencloak, Tarik, says it's not safe for Briggan and I here," I stated, on the verge of tears, "I won't be able to stay in Trunswick anymore, I'm sorry, I know you need me."
My older brother ruffled my hair, "Conor, we'll manage, we always do," he smiled down at me, "you need to go where it's safer."
The rest of my family nodded in agreement. I gave them all one last hug. I found Devin next, "Hey," I smiled shyly at him, afraid of how he would react.
"Hey, Conor, congratulations," he smiled at me and hugged me but still somehow something didn't feel right between us.
I gave him a quick parting kiss and told him goodbye for now and then I hurried back to where Tarik stood waiting.
"Okay, let's hurry, the Conquerors will be here soon," Tarik stated hurriedly and with that we rushed off.
"Who are the Conquerors?" I panted as we ran.
"You'll learn soon enough," Tarik stated seriously.
Moments later I found myself on a nice sized ship, sailing towards Greenhaven. Tarik was talking to the crew trying to get things organized. So I just leaned over the railing on the deck of the boat, staring at the crashing waves below and nervously petting Briggan. My mind drifted to Devin, he looked so envious when I summoned Briggan. I felt bad for him, I had honestly expected him to summon a spirit animal, he seemed so confident that he would. I wondered what his dad would say or do to poor Devin, his dad would probably say he was a failure to the family, but none of that could be blamed on him. It simply wasn't Devin's fate to summon a spirit animal and no one should be able to blame him for that. I wished I could be there now to protect my boyfriend.
Devin's PoV -
"Father, I'm so sorry, I couldn't help it though," I sobbed, wiping my tears away on the sleeve of my jacket.
It had been a few hours since I had failed to summon a spirit animal, luckily that was all forgotten in the wake of Conor's summoning of Briggan, well it was forgotten by all except for my father. "Do you even know what a disgrace this is to our family, some will question our power, our authority, all because of you!" My father raged and landed a hard smack across my face, once again.
"Father, stop it now, we both know that wasn't Devin's fault!" My younger brother Dawson defended me from across the room, he hurried over and stood beside me.
"Your right son, perhaps you'll be better fit to be Trunswick's next Earl," My father shot a glare at me.
Dawson just stood there awkwardly, looking down at the ground. "That's not fair, there have been a lot of great rulers without a spirit animal!" I fired back.
"Well Trunswick's are better than them other rulers," my father spat out, he slammed his fist angrily on the table, startling Dawson and I, with that my father walked out and our meeting was over.
"I'm sorry Devin, that should have been you who summoned Briggan," Dawson wrapped his arms compassionately around me.
"No, I'm glad that Conor summoned Briggan, you know as well as I do if he didn't summon an animal he would have been hung," I hugged my brother back, "though I do with I could have summoned something, maybe some powerful animal, maybe a bear or wild cat, they're even more powerful than a wolf, then no one would question that I deserved to be the leader of Trunswick, one day."
My thoughts drifted to Conor. I hoped Briggan would treat him okay, I know he is terrified of wolves, what sheep wouldn't be? I wondered how long he would be gone, I seen that Greencloak take him away, presumably to Greenhaven. There were so many questions in my head, what would happen if anyone found out that he transformed into a sheep at midnight? Would Briggan be okay with that or would he try to hurt Conor? My feelings between the two of us also didn't make since. He had been my boyfriend for several weeks now and I loved him with all my heart but I still felt jealous of him. My thoughts were interrupted by a small hug from my brother, "Will Conor be okay?" Dawson asked gently as if not to scare me.
"I'm sure he will be fine," I smiled reassuringly to my younger brother even though I wasn't so sure of anything myself.
Conor's PoV -
Finally, the boat had just docked at Greenhaven, Briggan eagerly jumped off the boat, glad to be on dry land once again. I was equally happy, haven never ridden on a boat before, it was kinda scary. Tarik followed and took the lead, he briefly showed me around the Greenclaoks's castle and showed me to my room for the next few nights. It was a nice sized room, definitely better than anything my brothers and I had shared back home. There were shelves of books, like that did me much good but it added nicely to the atmosphere of the room, there was a comfy looking bed with an animal bed next to it. This room was on one of the higher floors of the castle and two large windows overlooked the surrounding coastline.
It was night now and so Tarik left me for bed, he said something about starting training tomorrow. I quickly changed into some more comfortable clothes and cuddled into bed, I silently wished Devin was here.
Briggan whined and curled into his dog bed. I stared at him with a hint of fear knowing that in only a few hours I would transform into my sheep form, would Briggan try to kill me? I thought about hiding in Greenhaven's halls and locking Briggan alone in my room but I thought better of that, Briggan was a Great Beast and would find a way out if he really wanted or our bond with each other would be even more broken. Not to mention people would question why there was a random sheep in the hallway. I ran my fingers through the wolf's fur, "You wouldn't hurt me would you?" I asked him.
Briggan just stared up at me in reply. "What's that supposed to mean?" I cast the wolf a worried look.
Briggan whined and licked my face. I just hoped he would stay this kind.
I stared at the clock as it ticked, 11:58 P.M., only two minutes till midnight. Briggan was still curled up in his dog bed, he wasn't asleep though, his blue eyes stared up at me. A moment later I felt the all too familiar dizziness and sharp pain as I transformed into my sheep form. I stood on my bed, my hoofs digging into the soft blankets ready to run if I needed to.
I glanced worriedly over at Briggan who was now sitting up in his dog bed looking terribly confused, his head tilted to one side. Then he jumped up on to my bed, the wolf was so closed to me, flashbacks of the night of my first transformation when another wolf had nearly killed me haunted my brain. I quickly scampered off my bed and ran across the floor hoping onto the windowsill, that would be my only escape, though high up on a slick tile roof was not the most ideal escape plan. Briggan bounded over to me and with a quick leap jumped onto the slick tile roof, my hoofs searched for proper footing but found none and I began to slide rapidly towards the ground. With a howl Briggan dashed out after me, fear gripped me realizing I would die either from falling twelve stories to the hard ground below or by the teeth of my own spirit animal. Briggan bit into the wool on the back of my neck, I let out a scared bah, but moments later Briggan was dragging me, like a small cub, back up the roof and into our room. He jumped down off the windowsill and laid me in his dog bed, he curled his body around me protectively and moments later the two of us were asleep.
That morning I was awoke by a hard knock at the door, Briggan was sitting up next to me and bright sunlight flooded the room through the open windows. I sat up and cleared my head, Briggan licked my face comfortingly, "Sorry about last night bud, I was just scared of you," I apologetically smiled at Briggan, the wolf whined and laid his head on my thigh, "Don't worry, I'm not scared anymore, you saved my life."
Another sharp knock brought me back to reality, I ran my fingers through my hair making sure my lamb ears weren't showing. With that I walked over to the door and opened it, Tarik stood in the hall looking rushed, "You're not dressed yet, well hurry up and meet me in the training hall downstairs, I have some people I would like you to meet," Tarik shut the door, to rushed to wait for a reply.
I hurriedly rummaged through the closet, not having had time to pack luggage before I left Trunswick, I found some suitable clothes and quickly changed and finished getting ready for the day. With Briggan following we ran down the halls of Greenhaven.
The training hall was a large room with all sorts of weapons and armor randomly stacked throughout the room. Inside stood five figures, one was Tarik, two looked to be about my age, and the other two were older adults. I walked over to join them. I stood with the other two kids and we all mumbled a greeting. "Well looks like we're all here now, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Olvan, leader of the Greencloaks, and this is Lenori, and of course you know Tarik," he gestured to the other adults, "You all have summoned very special animals, not only are they your spirit animals but they are also part of the fallen four, the three of you and your spirit animals have great destinies ahead and we are here today to help train you for what is to come."
With that we went through some random challenges of trying to follow our animal while blindfolded and weapons training. It was kinda boring but the other two kids seemed fairly nice at least. Rollan seemed to be the comedian of the group, Meilin was perhaps a little grumpy but I figured she would turn out to be friendly once I got to know her, she also had the best bond compared to Rollan, summoner of Essix the falcon, and I, she had summoned the panda Jhi.
Weeks went by and slowly we got to know each other better, we all missed our homes, well Meilin and I did, and we were all scared for the future not knowing what it held. We had been told about the Conquerors who forced bonds with something called the bile, basically the opposite of the nectar the three of us had drank. We also became closer to Tarik who helped us to strengthen our bond, though it seemed Rollan looked up to him the most. So far I had kept the sheep side of me a secret, though I wondered how they would react if I told them. Briggan and I seemed to be getting along better despite our rough start, I even started to have what Lenori called 'prophetic dreams' so I began to tell her about my dreams, well all the ones that didn't involve Devin.
Days later we started our first mission, to find the granite ram of Arax. The three of us and Tarik traveled to Amaya, Tarik apparently had good connections with other Greencloaks and managed to find us two guides, Barlow and Monte, to help us on our quest. Everything went fairly smooth for the most part with just a few minor hitches along the way. Finally, after a lot of hail storms and high wins we make it to the top of the mountain, there we find Arax. Tarik tried to talk to him but Arax refused to listen, moments later the group of people Tarik called the Conquerors showed up. "It looks like we have no choice but to fight now," Tarik sighed and with that we all split up and began battling different enemies.
I noticed a Nilonian girl with a purple eyed leopard who fought for the Conquerors, the stories of Great Beasts I had always been told as a young child always included a purple eyed leopard named Uraza, I wonder was this the same leopard? In the end she joined our side after the tragic death of Barlow. We had won and the Conquerors retreated.
Tarik and I welcomed the Nilonian girl, named Abeke, into our group, Rollan seemed to be a bit less welcoming to Abeke but Meilin flat out refused to trust her even the slightly bit. We began our long travel back down the mountain, that night we set up a camp and to prevent the others from learning my secret Briggan and I ran off into the woods. The great wolf and I sat side by side on a rock, I ran my fingers through Briggan's fur to pass the time as I waited for midnight, Briggan whined a little and licked a spot on my arm and in an instant he disappeared as a tattoo.
Moments later he jumped out of passive state seemingly knowing he had to protect me when I changed into my sheep form. I curled up next to the wolf and feel asleep, that night I dreamt of a wild boar back in my hometown of Trunswick.