Mage (ON HOLD)

Chapter 4-Quest

I stood quietly in front of Kaline's office, my hands clapsed behind my back. After the duel, in which I had nearly killed her, she had wanted to see me in her room after she had put herself in some measure of order. With a smile to myself, I remembered the last time that I had waited for Kaline in front of the room. The last time, she had gave me my final test, which was usually reserved for people who had at least six summers more than me. I could only guess what she wanted me to do this time. In my mind, I began a wager with myself; would she want me to create a type of magic that could cure all the sickness in Araxia, or would she want me to save it from some new opponent that had suddenly cropped up in Holtra?

"Taya, enter, please."

I jolted myself out of my mental gambling and cautiously entered her dark, stone room, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light. When I could finally begin to see in the dimness of Kaline's room, I gasped. Kaline was sitting calmly on her desk, without a single stray hair. Her burns were barely visible, and when she started to speak, her voice was back to normal, with only a slight rasp to indicate that she had recently been nearly burned alive.

"Taya. Thank you for coming. Take a seat, please."

Mutely, I nodded and slid into a comfy, padded chair across from Kaline. I must have been staring, because a moment later, Kaline frowned and asked, "What is it?"

With a vague flapping motion of my arm in her general direction, I said, "......This."

I know. My vocabulary is amazing, isn't it?

Kaline laughed and settled back into her chair. "I'm a Megara. Along with the whole.... catishness, we-I mean, I can heal myself extremely quickly. It's one of my odder quirks."

I relaxed. Slightly. I was still a bit freaked out about the whole summoning me into her office thing. Leaning back into the cushiness of my chair, I queried, "So, what did you call me down here for, then?"

Kaline's slight smile vanished. Leaning forwards again, she took a quick glance around, as if to make sure that mobody else was in her office, (there wasn't,) she whispered, "I need to ask something of you, Taya."

Unconsciously, I leaned forwards as well, to catch her words.

Kaline took a breath. "Taya, I need you to go into the Veznia Woods."

I gulped. The Veznia Woods was an incredibly large forest in the south of Araxia, ranging from a league south of the Capital to the Sentinel Mountain in the west all the way down to the far south, where apparently the land gave away to a great, heaving mass of water called an ocean that stretched all the way to the horizon. In the east, nobody knew where it ended; the east was the land of the Nomads, and they didn't take kindly to 'visitors'.

So, the Veznia Woods were dark and treacherous, filled with creatures that had snuck over the mountains from Holtra; ghasts, banshees, and I had even heard rumours that the last of the tree spirits roamed there. It was at least a week of walking through Araxia to get there, with only one or two small towns on the way. I would have barely enough to eat or drink, and I would have to sleep outside....

"Kaline..." I started slowly, "Why, exactly, do you want me to go?" I struggled to keep calm. Going there would be possible death, probable injury, and certain periods of starvation. Was she crazy!?

Kaline sighed. "I had hoped that you'd take well to this. You see-"

"Take well? Take well!? Are you completely out of your mind!? Is is because I won the duel? Is that it?"

Kaline looked stunned. "No, no, of course not. Taya-"

"What!?" I was practically shrieking. All of my hurt at being ignored, fear of hurting Kaline, anger at Foodbit, and general craziness that had slowly been building up since That, five years ago, suddenly crashed on me in this one huge wave.

"Taya, I need you. Araxia needs you. Everything that you have ever known or ever will know, is in danger. If you go to Veznia Woods, you will help avert this danger. We need you to help to save our world."

I calmed down a little, mostly out of shock, and the small part of my mind that wasn't frozen won my bet with myself; she DID want me to save the world.

"I need you to go south, to Veznia Woods," Kaline pressed on,  "To meet a contact of mine. Her name is Ariana, and she will be waiting in a small alcove just inside the borders of the woods. There is a small town nearby, so you will be able to rest. Ariana will give you something, and you will need to bring it back to me. Once you're back, we will able to talk about what to do next. I will have a friend of mine here, in case you want to continue."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Kaline held up her hand, stopping me. "The only catch is, while you're traveling, you will be hunted. There is a certain someone in Holtra who has wanted to get his hands on you for a very long time, and once you've left the defensive magic of this place, he will be able to send one of his men to track and capture you. I suspect it will be a Shadowhunter; they have worked with this man for eons. If you wish to do this, I will give you the detalis on how to get there in the morning. If not, then you can leave and nothing back would happen."

I opened and closed my mouth for several seconds, having somehow forgotten how to speak. After  a few seconds, I managed to find my voice again. "What?"

Again, my with my amazing vocabulary.

Kaline sighed. "Let me go put this a different way: You go to Veznia Woods. You meet Ariana. She gives you gift. You come back."

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. It sounded so much simpler when she dumbed it down that way. And besides, if she really needed me to save Araxia, I couldn't exactly say no, could I? "Well, if you put it that way..... I suppose that I'll go."

Kaline grinned triumphantly and was about to say something when I held up my hand. "Just two questions; who wants to hunt me, and when wil I be leaving?"

"The one that wants to hunt you? His name is the Black King. You may have heard of him in several of your myths. The necromancer who was exiled to Holtra by nine spirits?"

I nodded silently.

"And as to when you will leave? Preferably by tomorrow at noon."