The Chronicles of Alaria:
Book I
Echoes of the Past
-1-
Listen to a tale, of a land far away,
Of
a magical world, filled with beauty, and danger...
Listen to a tale, of a land long since lost,
A
legend of mystical creatures, and mighty heroes...
Listen to a tale, of a land full of wonder,
Where
fantasy and illusion reign, and mystery and intrigue follow...
Listen to a tale, of a land immersed in magic,
Where
dragons rule the skies, and faeries roam the forests...
Listen to this tale..
-Blue Rain-
It was raining. Caliana gazed out at the falling droplets of water,
legs dangling beneath her seat among the
branches of a large tree. A wall of
leaves above spared her from any more than an occasional drip, and the gentle
spattering of water against them was the lone sound in the air. She sat at the western edge of the
The song was wordless but full of
meaning, a simple yet beautiful melody that flowed through the air as if it
belonged to accompany the falling rain.
It was bright but held subtle hints of sadness, a mirror of the
expression in Caliana’s deep blue eyes.
Her view was of the plains ahead as she weaved her song between the raindrops,
but her mind’s eye was in a land far away, thinking of companions and an
adventure soon to come. To the entranced
forest animals it was just another song, though it would be the last to grace
their little grove for some time. As
Caliana’s voice gently faded toward the end of her melody, the rain diminished
with her as if it knew its purpose had been fulfilled. Moments later, when the first few rays of
sunlight snuck past the clouds above the scurrying of animals on the forest
floor resumed, though one other visitor remained silently in her hiding place
amongst the trees.
“I see you, you know,” Caliana
called forth in her light voice, looking down from her perch amongst the
branches.
Elora smiled in knowing defeat,
stepping out of her spot in the shadows.
“I didn’t want to disturb the song, and besides, you never let me hear
it otherwise.”
Caliana folded her arms, complete
with mocked frown. “And people say I’m the sneaky one! Hmph!”
A laugh in reply. “Come down, already. Dayna’s ready for us.”
“Oh, fine.”
Caliana hopped off the branch,
golden hair waving in the air behind her as she floated gracefully to the level
of the ground beneath. She never touched
the forest floor, hovering with her toes just barely off the soil below. Even with her added little bit of false height,
Caliana was only as tall as an adolescent human, or a very short elf.
Elora turned and started back toward
the forest’s center. “You know, I’m
beginning to think you never actually learned to walk.”
“Why bother?” she smirked, drifting
in the air over Elora. “Besides, I don’t
want to get my feet dirty.”
“Of course,” came another reply with
a chuckle. “Perhaps, because it is
suspicious for girls to be flying around?
Or have you forgotten that the Fae are supposed to be hidden?”
Caliana flew up ahead, facing a
bird’s nest. “Don’t tell anybody! I’m a Faerie…it’s a secret!” The bird squawked
and she laughed, circling back toward Elora’s side. She floated a little higher this time, at
eye-level with her taller companion.
“You know what I mean!” Elora
huffed, shaking her head. “Oh
nevermind…”
“Don’t worry,” Caliana answered,
giggling. “I’m not going to go flying through
Caryn looping in the air at
“Oh, the very embodiment thereof,”
Elora quipped sarcastically.
“Hey!”
Elora grinned at her little victory,
before pausing a moment. “It will be
nice to visit Caryn again. I haven’t been
to the library there in ages.”
“Only you would be thinking about books.”
Caliana laughed, drifting ahead. “Aren’t you excited about crossing the
“Of course! That doesn’t mean I can’t spend a little time
reading while you’re off talking to Artimer,” she answered, a touch
defensive. Elora loved spending time
amongst the books, learning of history and legends of the distant past.
“You’d be in the library for days if we let you. I only need to talk to Artimer for a little
while, so don’t get lost in there or anything.”
“I’ll try my best. Do you think we’ll get there by morning?”
“Oh dear…I hope so. I wouldn’t want anyone to see me during the
day!” Caliana replied, drifting behind Elora and reaching around to cover her
eyes with her little hands.
Elora nearly tripped, before
brushing her tormentor’s hands away.
“We must travel…under cover of
darkness…” she added while trying to sound ominous, fighting back laughter.
Elora rolled her eyes, “Yes, I’m
sure we’ll sneak through somehow. Who
knows, maybe the birds will try and stop us on our dragon.”
“You never know!” Caliana chirped,
and soared off ahead.
The forest grew much thicker as they
continued toward its center, and less and less of the ground was touched by the
afternoon’s rain. Bits of sunlight
managed to peek through the dense treetops in a few places, but only a dim
twilight kept them out of darkness.
Caliana drifted in the air between the trees like a fish swimming
through coral, darting around branches to keep herself entertained while Elora
set the pace pushing through the undergrowth.
Before too long had passed, they came to the large clearing at Lari’s
center.
The warmth of free sunlight flowed
over Caliana as she left the shadows of the last trees. She floated in on her back, with the loose
parts of her blue clothing just grazing the tips of the tall grass beneath, and
her hair mingling freely with it.
Directly in her path lay the stone arch that formed the Fae’s Gate, the
secret portal to the tunnels beneath the Faerie’s home, Alaria. Elora waded through the green sea of waving
grass, her legs and the base of her red-trimmed white tunic submerged beneath
it.
Caliana sat waiting atop the left stone of the arch, and hopped off
when Elora drew near. With a flick of
her wrist a large black staff, nearly as tall as she was, appeared in her right
hand in a flash of light. Atop it was a
glowing blue stone, suspended between four curved and pointed tips. She pointed it toward the center of the two
stones that formed the arch, and closed her eyes and spoke in the tongue of
magic.
‘Aluni karo Alaria’
A small spark flew from her staff’s stone and brought a blue shimmering
light to the air between the stones, as a portal began to form. It swirled for a moment and took on a surface
much like a still pool of water, revealing the blue crystal walls of Alaria’s
subcaverns behind it. Suddenly, the portal’s
surface rippled and two figures emerged.
“Hello, Dayna,” Elora greeted, with a smile.
“Greetings Elora, Lady Caliana,” Dayna acknowledged, nodding her head
to each. She was clad in the shining
white and blue traditional armor of an Alarian Dragon Knight. A sunburst crest was emblazoned on the
breastplate with a gold ring circling it to show her role as leader, a position
she was quite proud of.
“Ready to fly, Captain?” Caliana asked, as she looked upward at the
quickly disappearing clouds. “I know you are, Sapphire,” she added with a
smirk, looking to the silent girl standing behind Dayna. She wore similar armor, though with a helmet
and faceguard that covered all but her silver eyes, turned upward at the sky.
“Of course,” Dayna replied, motioning with her hand for Sapphire to
move into the open area behind them. Before
Caliana or Elora had a chance to turn around to see, Sapphire had already
changed into her dragon form, casting a shadow over them all as her massive
wings spread above. Brilliant blue
scales covered her from tail to talon, with only the same shining silver eyes
to show that she was the girl that stood silently beside just moments
before.
“Very sneaky, Sapphire!” Caliana yelled as she took to the air to
escape the shadows, before turning to face Dayna and Elora from above the
dragon’s wing. “Let’s go!”
Before long they were airborne, soaring toward the distant castle city
of
The farmers to the west of the castle city woke up to the rare view of
Sapphire’s blue silhouette streaking across the sky. Such a sight was widely believed to be a sign
of good luck for the day, at the same time bringing smiles of wonder to the
children gazing up and dreaming of far off adventures. Dayna grinned as she glanced down at the
observers. Most often she flew a little
closer to the ground than normal when people were around to watch, ever since
Caliana had let slip how much the children enjoyed it.
The sun had fully escaped the horizon’s clouds when they landed atop
the Dragon’s Tower, in the center of Caryn.
From its pinnacle it was possible to see almost as far as the
“I think I need to take a nap,” Elora said, yawning as she approached
Caliana from behind. “How it is that you
manage not to get tired on these flights, I’ll never understand.”
“Maybe if you spent more time in the air, you wouldn’t have such a hard
time,” Caliana replied, smirking. “Don’t
fall asleep in your books, now!”
“I’ll try my best to.” Elora
turned back, headed toward the long spiral staircase to the castle below.
“…to fall asleep?” Caliana’s smirk had widened to a grin, as she took
to the air to follow.
“Oh be quiet, you know what I meant,” Elora answered with a frown. “And start walking before someone sees you!”
Caliana sighed, falling slowly until her feet touched the ground,
folding her arms with a frown of her own.
“I have no idea how people manage to do this all day.”
“Lady Caliana, may we take our
leave? I need to rest, as does
Sapphire,” Dayna asked. Sapphire again
stood behind her in human form, silently.
“Certainly, Dayna. Rest well.”
“Thank you,” she said, nodding her
head to each of them before walking off to go down the stairs.
“I suppose I’ll get a little rest as
well.” Elora yawned again, stretching
her arms out behind her.
“Sure.” Caliana grinned for a moment, glancing at the
ledge.
“What’re you,” Elora barely started,
before watching Caliana dive off the edge of the tower. “
Caliana was already halfway down the
tower by the time she heard Elora’s yell.
If anyone were watching, they would have seen naught but a blue streak
soar down the shadowed side of the tower, gone in just a few moments. Upon landing, Caliana called forth her staff,
and with a quick tap on the ground, a flash of blue light swirled around
her. Over her clothing appeared a set of
white robes, and her previously bare feet were now inside a pair of shining
black boots. She quickly straightened
out the robe, tucking her hair inside before pulling the hood over her head. After glancing around and smiling at the fact
that none had seen her, she scurried off toward the
*****
The planning room was quiet that
morning. Artimer sat alone at the large
desk, with maps and papers laid out neatly across it. He was in the middle of a sip from his
morning tea when a knock came from the large door across from him.
He set down his teacup. “What is it, Toras?”
The door slowly crept open, and his
advisor Toras’ grey-haired head poked through.
“Pardon, Highness, but there is a young lady here. She claims to be a courier from the Order of
the Star, asking to speak with you directly.”
His voice revealed his reluctance to trouble Artimer with such an issue.
He glanced down to the table,
quizzically. “A courier? I can’t imagine…”
“She says it is a matter of great
importance.”
“Well. Send her in, I suppose,” Artimer replied,
taking another sip.
The door opened wider. “You may enter,” Toras stated as he stepped
out of the way, gesturing to the short robed figure.
“Greetings,” Artimer said, after
Toras closed the door, taking his leave.
“What news do you bring from the Spire?”
“The best of news,” Caliana
answered, before flipping her hood back to reveal her face. “I’m here!”
Artimer laughed. “I should’ve known. You’re a little short for a courier, after
all.”
She brushed off his comment with a
little mock frown, taking a short and swift flight over the large table to sit
in the chair next to Artimer. Before she
had a chance to speak, another knock came from the door.
“Enter, Toras,” Artimer called
forth, and the door crept open once more.
“Begging your pardon again Highness,
but I thought you’d like to know that an Alarian dragon has…” He stopped
abruptly, seeing Caliana’s wide smile.
“We know,” she said, enjoying the
shocked look that Toras wore.
“Lady Caliana, how did you,” he
stopped with a sigh, realizing he should be used to her surprises by now. Toras had been in the service of Artimer and
his father before him for nearly twenty years, and had crossed paths with
Caliana on quite a few occasions. “I’ll be
preparing for our mid-day audience with the delegation from
“Very well Toras. I’ll join you shortly,” Artimer said, sighing
as the door closed.
Caliana glanced over. “Being King not all that it’s cracked up to
be?”
“I’m surviving,” Artimer answered
with a grim smile, looking toward the window as he drank the last of his
tea. “I was prepared, but ready? Not at all.”
“Don’t worry,” Caliana said, with a
smile more of warmth than amusement for a change. “You’re doing well. Your father would be proud of how you’ve
handled everything.”
“Thank you. Your words means a great deal to me.” Artimer stood up from his seat, strolling
toward the window. “But, you aren’t here
just to shower me with praise. Is it
time already?”
“It is.” Caliana’s voice had taken on a more serious
tone. “Elora’s headed to Taslan this evening with Captain Dayna, and they’ll
set sail tomorrow.”
“What of the Dwarves? Has word been sent to Lord Kassomer?”
Caliana nodded. “It should be there within a day or two at
the most. I’ll be returning home and
waiting at Lari.”
“Well, it would seem everything is
in order.” Artimer stood silent for a
moment, thoughts occupied both with the day’s trade negotiations and the
importance of the coming events Caliana spoke of. He would have much rather joined the group on
their adventures, but he knew he could not abandon his own role. Her light laughter interrupted his thoughts.
“You’d better go before Toras gets
upset,” Caliana said, with a smirk.
“I’ll be back here again soon, don’t worry. I won’t let your royal life get too boring.”
Artimer smiled. “Thanks,
*****
Elora navigated her way through the elgant maze of bookshelves that made up Caryn’s library. She felt a sense of home there, as it was among those same stacks that she had spent much of her three years time living in the castle city. Her quest for knowledge had extended far beyond her normal Academy studies, and by the time she was through, Elora knew as much if not more than many of her teachers. She smiled, reaching to the top shelf for the small book of maps she had been seeking. Before she had a chance to open it, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to look, before shaking her head with a little laugh.
“I know it’s you,” she said, taking her free hand and flipping back Caliana’s white hood.
Caliana stuck her tongue out. “It fooled Toras. Artimer too,” she added with a smile.
Elora opened the book, flipping through the various maps. “Did you come all the way to the library just to brag about your disguise?”
“My,
my. Someone didn’t get enough sleep on
the dragon last night, did she,” Caliana scolded, as she fixed the hood. “I’m heading home, I just came to say
goodbye. Say hello to
“Of
course,” Elora said, looking up from the open book in her hand. “I’ll see you soon,
Elora
traced her fingers across the route she was to take after crossing the