The Guide

Chapter One

A scream reverberated through the cabin and I was instantly alert. Nothing could have entered. I was innately aware of every entryway in this building and none of them had been breached. I sprinted silently through the room I was in and down the hall to where he was supposed to be.

I drew both of my swords from my back and rolled into the room. I pounced up into a fighting position with my weapons poised ready for a fight in front of me.

"Help!" he screamed, "Kill it! Kill it!" He was standing on his bed pointing frantically to something behind me.

I spun around, swinging my swords in an arc along with me. They sliced cleanly through the air and hit...nothing. I furrowed my brow in confusion until I saw the two-inch spider on the wall. My eyes widened in fury. I slammed one sword through the spider and lodged it into the wall as I shoved the other back into its sheath on my back. My hands clenched into fists at my sides as I turned angrily towards the prince who had finally stopped screaming on the bed.

"You go screaming bloody murder because of a Headsmith spider?!" I demanded. He flinched at my language. I'm sure a spoiled prince like him rarely heard curses like Headsmith.

"I--Is that wrong?"

"You Headsmith calve biter!" I cursed.

"You can't talk to me like that!" he squeaked.

"I just did!" I spun back around and yanked my sword from the wall. Slamming it into its sheath, I stormed out of his room and back to my own. I muttered some more foul curses as I angrily grabbed my brush from the bed I had been sleeping in. I walked to the mirror to brush out my wavy copper brown hair. Still fuming, I tore the brush through the short tresses, making sure not to hit the sensitive, cat-like ears that peaked out from the top of my hair. They marked me as an Anari, the most respected class of warrior in my clan: the Astataninth people. Ninth for short. My charge--the arachnophobic calve biter in the other room--was Develurious. Also known as Devels to my clan. Our mortal enemies for the past three centuries.

Before there were the nations of Astatanine and the Develuria, there was just one prosperous group of people who called themselves the Valatorna. Admittedly looking back on the faults of that society, the men were treated poorly. They were usually more considered slaves than people. Women controlled the government and excelled in the military. The Anari was born in the Valatorna days, as well, and not a single man was ever allowed in. Men, meanwhile, tended fields, took up house chores, and picked up all of the necessary tasks that women were too busy solving the universe to deal with. About 290 years ago, the men revolted. It was the battle of the genders and the war lasted on and off for thirty years. There had to be multiple truces just so children could be born as both sides' populations dwindled. Finally, the sides came to an agreement. Kacey Astataninth and James Develurious decided to separate and end the fighting, instead living in peace. The Devels took over the Northern Scapes and the Ninths had the Southern Realm. There was no need to have any interaction between the men and women of the two nations. If anyone wanted to have a child, they went through the process of artificial insemination. If the child was male, it was sent to the Northern Scapes to live with his father. A daughter would remain in the Southern Realm with her mother. In Astatanine, we retained a fair democracy. The Devels, on the other hand, had merged into a monarchy. I thought the idea of just winning the right to rule a country because of parentage was simply ridiculous. And my charge only proved the point. He was born into the high life of royalty in the Northern Scapes and because of that, he morphed into a weak, petulant prince that I had to risk my life for. I, on the other hand, had to go through Anari training. Ten years studying fighting, strategy, sneaking around, hunting, lone survival, strength, speed, agility, and even a bit of magic. It was grueling and painful for a lot of reasons. But it was all worth it when the Master of Spells created the enhanced ears that sprouted from my head.