Worlds Within Worlds is the working title of a series of metaphysically inclined writings that are shaping themselves into a story without my conscious direction. These are essentially unedited first drafts that I have made no attempt to shape. The idea is to let creativity flow as it wishes. Please comment on whatever aspect you would like.
An introduction to the series and a list of the posts in order (should you wish to begin at the beginning) is on the Writer’s World page. Click here for the previous offerings in reverse order.
Today we go back to the novel Prunella is editing: Kelee’s world in the Magan Village.
Forbidden Warrior Lore:
Worlds Within Worlds #5
Voices. Slade’s mellow tones and the thin, wobbly voice of the stable master drifted across the courtyard. Kelee looked up from her reading and smiled. The grooms had arrived for work. She found herself at the window again without conscious thought. Her body had a mind of its own when it came to Slade. Indeed she feasted on the sight of his strong shoulders and slender hips. Even groomsmen wore swords and this one would have the wand of a magician tucked in his belt. She envied him his tutor in the magical arts, the masters only ever took on those with natural talent, like Kestril. Her brother’s illusions were perhaps the best in all of Minion Hills – the high granite peaks and deep forested gullies that surrounded the Menhir lands and separated them from the other Magan clans.
Kelee fared better with the sword than the wand, but herbs were her true ally in the endless bid for power that drove Magan society. Her tutor, Mirimar, was a master of the healing arts, the best in all of Minion Hills. That was why her father, Lord Menhir, had permitted the Warrior Clan woman to be Kelee’s mentor. He didn’t know she had opened Kelee’s mind to Warrior lore forbidden to the Mage Clans since the formation of their alliance.
The wheel barrow trundled from the stables pushed by Slade’s strong arms. Even with a stinking load of horse manure before him, the boy smiled and whistled a tune. Kelee suspected that he learned more than magic from his tutor, or at least from someone, for he had the mental fortitude of a Warrior Clan Magan, another reason why she had found the book Mirrimar had suggested she read.
She returned to the table, took her seat and rested her gaze on the open page once more. Already the words had opened her mind to other possibilities. In the old world, before the clans split, every Magan learnt the skills for defeating the demons that now wandered their streets so freely. The black fluid creatures that glided through Menhir Village were rarely seen in the Village of Minion Hills where Mirrimar lived. Though neutral territory where trade prospered freely, the Warrior Clans kept the beasts at bay there.
Kelee admired the composure of the Warrior Magans and was determined to make that power her own. But her studies had to be done in secret, and time this morning was running out. It would be another hour before Slade would be free to go riding, but her mother could rise at any time, and someone had hidden this book well.
That’s it for today folks. Any comments?
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