ShadowKnight

Chapter Three

"Tarin! Tarin wake up!" Tarin shook his head to clear it and found himself back at the table, a scorched set of handprints were impressed on the wood of the table where his own had been resting. Jim was shaking his shoulder.
"Sorry... I don't know what came over me." Tarin mumbled. They stood up to leave, when the fortune teller took Tarin's arm. "When you get the chance, please come back," she said. "My name is Angela, and I have something of grave importance to tell you."
Tarin nodded distractedly, and followed his friends out into the bright morning sunshine.
It some hours later, after they had bought several sweet treats and Tarin was looking at a long cloak that he was thinking about getting for Ella, when Jim approached him hesitantly.
"What did you see, Tarin, in the crystal?"
"I saw..." Tarin thought about lying, but when he looked into the honest face of his friend, he knew he couldn't. "I saw, chains. I think the thing that was chained was me. Though, maybe I was chained to some beast. I don't know. I saw... Someone talking to me, calling my name. Only... It wasn't my name. But it felt like my name." He shook his head, confused, "I don't know, it was strange. What did you see?"
Jim looked at Tarin seriously. "I was a knight. I was, standing over you. You were looking at me, you had been hurt. I was going to kill you. But... You weren't you, any more. You looked like you, in the crystal, but you didn't. You were wearing armor, for one. Really fancy stuff too." He elbowed Tarin in the ribs. "So, are you some fancy prince in disguise, and someday you'll realize it and make us all pay for our lack of respect?"
Tarin grinned at him. "Yeah, that's it. I'm a prince, and when I'm king I'll put you all in the stocks." he said, laughing now. "Of course not. Besides, if I were a prince, who would save you when you went to slay a dragon?"
"Oh," Jim retorted. "You think I couldn't handle it on my own?"
"I know you couldn't!" And then, grabbing a wooden sword from the stall behind them, they proceeded to fence across the field, each one blocking and attacking in turn. Jim was skilled, and taller than Tarin, so he had more leverage, but Tarin was stronger, and the two ended rather breathless, with Tarin's sword at Jim's throat.
"You are going to surprise a lot of people when they see how strong you are for a little guy," Jim gasped. Tarin just nodded. Jim was still the tallest of the four boys, though Rich was the most solidly muscled. Tarin was a little shorter than average, and slightly built, though not as skinny as Mark, and his strength was as much a surprise to him as to everyone else.
Mark came up behind them as they sat, panting, with a withering look on his face. "You owe me three silvers each for the swords you stole."
"We were going to return them..." Jim began, but then looked down at the blunted wooden blade. There were several dents in the blade, and the twine wrapped around the hilt was already slightly frayed. Tarin's sword was in no better shape. Feeling foolish, they handed Mark the coins, which he pocketed, mollified.
"Come on, you two. There are games over on the other side of the field."

They played until all their money was gone. Tarin did end up buying that cloak for Ella, but they frittered away most of it on the games and foods covered in sugar and honey. With the cloak tucked under his arm, and feeling tired but happy, Tarin and the other boys went up the hill that evening to meet Ella, where she sat on a spread out blanket, looking over the festivities. The boys sprawled in the grass as Tarin presented the cloak to Ella, wrapping it around her like he imagined a gallant knight would. Then he sat down heavily beside her, and looked up at the fading sunset.
"I heard a strange thing today, Ella," Tarin said. "A fortune teller told me something about, my dad."
Ella looked at him. "Don't they usually tell you about your future?"
"I guess... She told me some stuff about that too."
"I hope you realize it's all nonsense." Ella said sternly.
"Look!" Rich shouted suddenly, looking toward the forest. High above the trees, there was a flash of white light, which then exploded into a thousand tiny sparks.
"Fireworks," Mark said, gazing in awe as another light shot above the trees, followed by even more.
"The elves are beginning their celebration," Ella explained. "Tonight will be even more spectacular, because the princess is turning fourteen."
"You attended the midsummer's festival when Lunaria was crowned queen, weren't you?" Mark asked, his eyes fixated on the flashing lights.
"No, she has ruled for a longer time than I have been alive," Ella said, "But I was six years old when I attended her wedding to an elf named Eodred, a young lord from the mountain forests. It was at that festival where I met my husband for the first time. He was about eight years old, and we played in the trees for hours after the ceremony. It is a shame that Eodred does not live to see his daughter grow up. To be cut down at 500 years old..."

Tarin listened in silence as he watched the fireworks over the forest. The fortuneteller had given him a lot to think about, about a family he didn't even know he had. About his powers. And what did the fortune teller know about them? Abruptly, he stood up.
"Hey, where are you going?" Rich asked, noticing the sudden movement.
"There's something I've got to do," Tarin said, moving back down the hill, his sharp eyes fixed on a brilliantly purple tent. "I'll be right back."
"Want us to come with you?" Jim asked.
"No, I'll be fine," Tarin said. He was pretty sure that Angela had wanted him to come alone. He thrust his new wooden sword into his belt, though, just in case.

Angela was waiting for him outside her tent as Tarin approached.
"You came," she said, sounding almost relieved. "Look, there's something I want to tell you. Your father--" She looked around furtively. 'He's alive,' Her voice echoed in Tarin's head again, the same as he had heard that morning.
'I am the one who gave your father his magic.' She said, still without moving her lips. 'Though he took a great deal more than he asked for. You don't know how much I long to take it back." Angela reached out toward's Tarin, her fingers desperately clutching at something in his chest. Tarin felt the pull and flinched back from her, and Angela pulled her hand back.
"I apologize, Tarin. The pull of such power, it has swayed people much stronger than I am." She wrung her hands, staring at him with a mix of fear and hunger. "But you will need it more than I will, in the days to come."
"How can I use it if it's always just coming out of me without direction?" Tarin asked.
"You must learn to control it. It is something within yourself. Accept it as a gift, and it will obey you. The knowledge will come. Someday, you will have a teacher. But that day is not today."
"You have magic," Tarin protested. "If you gave my father magic, why can't you teach me how to use it?"
"Because there is no time now." Angela argued gently. "I leave at dawn, and soon you will leave to become a knight with your friend, Jim. I fear it will be several years before we meet again, Tarin."
Tarin looked at her curiously, but didn't say anything, and after a few seconds of silence, Angela nodded once, and turned back to her tent.
"You should go now. I wish you luck. Goodbye, Tarin, I do not envy your fate."