A Change For the Light Read online

  A Change for the Light

  Heather M Maginnis

  For the Friends over the years, Magicmaj, Emma, Joanne and for my mum

  Prologue

  The weather was terrible, not a gentle drizzle like the last few days but a hard biting rain that conveyed the ice cold winds with it right through to the bone.

  She had been travelling for the past few weeks searching for candidates to help in their constant protection against any evil that may threaten the land, and so far found no one who'd been marked as nominated by the Goddess.

  "Come on Assa just over this hill and we can rest for the night."

  Her mount seemed to pick up its stride, which was remarkable she thought as the road had turned into a quagmire with all the rain. As they crested the hill, they could see the warm lights glowing in the valley.

  By the time she reached the bottom of the hill it was almost totally dark, she could barely make out a sign swinging furiously in the wind, it was outside a large building at the end of the Village. The sign said 'The Weary Inn’; she laughed a tired laugh when she thought how much it matched her weary body.

  As the mount pulled in to the yard at the side of the Inn an old man came out of the stables "take yer horse mum?"

  Sighing she dismounted stiffly.

  "Yes and give him an extra blanket and hot mash we have travelled hard today."

  Giving the stable hand a half copper she turned and walked slowly round the front of the Inn, her bones feeling more than the forty years old they actually were.

  Just outside the door of the Inn she took stock of her appearance and thought 'this will never do.'

  Taking out her belt knife, she scrapped the caked on mud off her tunic revealing the Grey and Gold beneath, although the Gold was greyer than the colour it should have been.

  "There, at least I do not look like a mud pile anymore, I will have to do something about a new lute case though."

  Looking at the tatty leather starting to peel around the edges, she was also slightly annoyed, she had been doing that a lot recently, talking out loud to herself, she had to smile though, she was not going senile, she may have felt old, but that did not happen to faithful servants of the Goddess.

  As she opened the door, she was almost bowled over by a drunkard on his way out.

  The man mumbled something and looked up bleary eyed and stopped, he backed up a pace with a look of sheer terror on his face now he had seen her tunic, great she thought, ‘just what I need, a scene.’

  "I am sorry mum, I was' na watchin where Ah was goin, please don't sing me away!"

  All noise had stopped in the Inn and she could feel numerous sets of eyes on her. Suddenly a man rushed up with a girth to match the barrels behind the rough piece of wood that served as a bar.

  "Honoured guest please be welcome to my humble Inn, how may I be of service?"

  His obsequious tone played on her nerves like an out of tune violin.

  She sighed. "I would like a hot bath, a meal and a room in that order."

  He bowed though for someone so portly it looked slightly silly.

  "Please come this way."

  As they crossed the taproom she could feel through the back of her neck that the drunkard was making a hasty exit, ah well she thought, another story about the Goddess Bard is born.

  Chapter 1

  She opened her eyes slowly and stretched, her muscles protesting at the sudden movement after a good nights rest.

  Slowly she climbed out of bed and looked at herself in the bronze mirror on the wall, auburn hair and hazel eyes gazed back at her. I shall be glad when I get back to the Temple. As always the faint hum of music raced through her mind, something she took pleasure in.

  A knock on the door interrupted her train of thought. "Come in."

  The innkeeper in pristine white shirt under a clean apron popped his head in.

  "Excuse me, I just wondered if you would prefer to take breakfast in your room rather than downstairs, it will give you a bit more privacy."

  Sera sighed, "ah, thank you I think I will."

  Of course, she knew the real reason, for all the subservience showed by him he did not really want a Bard in his taproom putting his customers off. Despite having a good nights sleep she still felt tired, but then being a Goddess Bard had never promised to be an easy life.

  She smiled to herself at that thought and remembered her choosing and ordeal those thirty years hence and wondered if the Bard who found her felt as she did now.

  * * *

  "Ang where are you?"

  That shout permeated through to Ang's brain and he shook himself out of his daze.

  He was the Innkeepers son but for all his years, he grabbed every minute he could to escape, usually to the loft in the barn at the back off the Inn and sit dreaming of far off places and lands to take his mind off his dreary life doing all the dirty jobs his father was unwilling to hire help for.

  Ang knew his father had tried to understand him since his mother died but he did not seem to understand why Ang wasn't like he was as a boy. He’d had a lot of friends and always up to some mischief or other. Ang knew only too well as a result his father was not a forgiving man, as if he himself was responsible for Ang's isolation.

  Ang spoke softly to himself as he often did, 'well, I had better get down quick or he will give me the back of his hand again.'

  Ang, humming to himself, a tune he had made out of thin air, stood up, stretched looked down at the floor below and jumped into mid air; deftly grabbing a rope he swung on it his mousy brown hair hanging in a pony tail getting in his way; but practised as he was he clambered down to jump through the barn door almost knocking his father over in the process.

  "Playing again?"

  Ing glared at his son when will he grow up, he is almost a man and still no sense of duty and responsibility.

  As if Ang could hear his father’s thoughts he managed to have a guilty look on his face, which gave him such an innocent countenance for once, his father remembered he was still barely out of childhood.

  "Get inside with you, you know we have got a Bard with us, and we do not want no songs from her or trouble from her Goddess." Ang picked up the broom at the back door and went to sweep dirty straw from the taproom floor.

  After breakfast Sera looked out of the window at the half light and broken clouds and realised the weather had turned. If she’d have had more power to spare she would have tried singing the bad weather away, but in uncertain times, best to conserve what you have.

  So, for all the weeks she had been on the road looking for young girls who bore the mark of being chosen the weather had been foul as if her Goddess were giving her a sign of how fruitless her search would be.

  She realised it was time to replenish herself and her power store.

  A blue Bard as she was may only have limited combat spells but they still required power from within to work, and she needed a top up of that power, taking out her lute carefully and re tuning it she started her prayer to the Goddess, with the music carrying her prayer, a lovely sound began to fill the room.

  One hour later, she felt a lot more like her old self. Might as well take a walk around the village and see if there are any candidates, she thought.

  Little Tare was just over a day’s ride from Sera's base, but as villages go it could have been anywhere in the Kingdom.

  Having a quick look through her clothes she chose just about the only uniform in decent condition, the road was hard on a Bards clothes and the state of some of her uniforms would test the laundry at the temple to the limit when she got back in the next day or so.

  Donning her crimson Cape over her grey tunic with inlaid scrolling gold and grey trews she slipped down t
he back stairs and out of the Inn, now she was outside she could see that it was going to be a lovely day, which was a nice respite from the usual winter weather.

  There were quite a few people about and all the usual smells of cooking and baking one on top of another that always made Sera think of home.

  No one met her gaze easily and in fact went out of the way not to look at her. Stopping at the bakers she bought some sweet pastries, she was delighted when she tried them, some sort of melt in the mouth honey and cinnamon confection she had not had before.

  Two hour's later she headed back to the Inn with a heavy heart, yet another disappointing search, ah well, I tried, time to head for home.

  Slowly, deep in thought she walked back to the Inn.

  Ang had finished sweeping the taproom and ducked quickly out towards the back door hoping his father had not noticed the sudden silence and went sprawling in a heap as he crashed into the woman coming in.

  He was on his feet in a second " sorry I did not see you."

  The woman had her back to him and was busy trying to knock the half dried mud off her clothes.

  "Well next time watch where you are going young man, it's a good way to lose your...” the woman had turned to look at him and stopped talking in mid sentence her expression mirroring a stunned fish.

  "Is something wrong?"

  The woman did not answer and just kept staring.

  Ang got a good look at her clothing at that point and his world came crashing down around him, He had knocked over one of the Goddess's Bards. He had heard a lot of tales of their prowess in battle against the Unnamed ones servants a thousand years ago, but he had never seen one, he stood there half frozen for a moment expecting a tune out of her mouth to call the lightning to obliterate him for offending the Goddess.

  Sera stood up and brushed herself off, she had recognised the adolescent tone of her attacker and stopped herself from hurting him, instead settling for a lecture on a good way to lose customers mer on customer relationsjobs his father was unwilling to hire help forShe turned round to face the lad and got the biggest shock in her life as a Bard, dear Goddess, his face was glowing!

  She just stood there staring listening to the familiar hum that seemed to emanate from the boy. Complex stanzas and arpeggio's seemed to fill the air, she had never heard such complex harmonies, it was beautiful, it was a shock, nothing can phase me or so she thought, but look, he has been nominated by the Goddess, called to her service.

  The thing that Sera could not handle was the fact the boy called by the Goddess was just that, a BOY, all those who are called to her service as Bards are female, now what does this mean?

  Ang stood there, she was glaring at him but not saying a word, he turned and bolted back into the Inn as fast as he could, he ran upstairs and was up the ladder to the common loft in no time.

  Sera walked back in to the Inn and sat down in the corner of the taproom, the Inn keeper rushed over.

  "Would you like a drink?"

  She looked up at him still reeling and not sure of what to think "Kleevan brandy please."

  The Innkeeper returned in what seemed like an instant she was so caught up in her thoughts. Sera sipped it carefully, not a bad quality with a slight sour taste to it.

  She noted Innkeeper who seemed to be hovering waiting for her slightest whim saw her look at him and hurried over to her table.

  "Tell me; who was the tall brown haired young man who I saw earlier?"

  He frowned, and not a pleasant frown from how severe he looked

  "Tall, brown haired?...oh that my Son Ang, he has not caused you any trouble has he? cause if he has... "

  Sera hummed a small tune to invoked her true sight to look at the man's aura, it was a mixture of blue-green, but with enough swirls of red to tell her that this man was disposed to violence, no wonder the boy runs everywhere.

  The Innkeeper who was still waiting for an answer had gone pale as he heard her hum, making her stop as she realised what he feared.

  "No, he has not caused any trouble, I was just wondering who he was that is all."

  The Innkeeper gave her a curt nod and walked away as fast as he could without running in an unseemly fashion.

  I would not trust him farther than I could throw him, which was all well and good but did not address the problem the boy gave her. It was her duty on a search to claim any girl for the Goddess, in all the years that someone had been nominated, no one had ever refused to go with a Bard back to the Temple of Light for training. However, that did not help her, how was she going to handle this? In all those years too, no man had been chosen either, she picked up her brandy and sat pondering what to do.

  After what seemed like an eternity Ang slipped out of the loft and bolted outside, he was in trouble, everyone knew that to assault a Bard brought retribution, divine or otherwise, he headed out of the village towards the river so he could think what to do.

  "What have we got here then?” Ang looked up to see Seb and Har blocking his path.

  Seb and Har were only six months older than Ang, but worked in the blacksmiths as prentices, consequently they were very well muscled and dwarfed Ang.

  Not again! Ang was always been picked on by these two bullies, but never really had a chance against them, due to his slight build.

  His feet were his best defence, running out of trouble, but with only one direction, back the way he came open to him he was determined not to run this time. "What do you want Seb? I am busy."

  The bully grinned evilly, "Ooh listen to Mister high and mighty! too good to talk to ordinary folks, always there

  Humming, not right in the head if you ask me well these ordinary folk think you need a lesson in manners."

  Ang saw Seb's fist coming and ducked, straight in to Har's punch, the next few minutes were a blur for Ang, all he could remember was being hit, and trying to hit back, but in no time it seemed he was sprawled in the dirt. "You fight like a girl!" and with one final kick in the ribs Seb walked off with Har just behind him both laughing.

  Fight like a girl? that one statement hurt Ang more than all the blows he had taken. I am so unhappy! Ang wanted to curl up and go to sleep forever, did they know how confused he was?

  Ang just lay there pondering the injustice of life, at an early age he had realised he was different, and now he did not know what he was. He just felt wrong, he could not frame his thoughts what is wrong with me?

  His feelings were threatening to get on top of him again, he could remember time and time again feeling so out of place as if he did not belong, he was a man but he didn't fit, nor he could not relate to his father or any of his male peers he did not understand them and they could not or would not understand him.

  He had only really had two friends his whole life, the first his imaginary sister, who talked to him when he was young, he had always assumed she was his twin sister who died at birth who'd come back to him, but he had grown out of that, the other was Mol, the daughter of the baker, but over the past few years it'd become harder and harder to be around her as he could not tell her what his feelings were so they had drifted apart.

  Staring up into the sky he noticed the first red tinges of dusk that came from the Flame Mountains, it was said the red was the Unnamed One ghost venting his fury at being killed in battle on the Blood Mount.

  He had been dead for almost a millennium now, ever since the forces of good led by the Goddess Bards had defeated the Blood Army and its demonic leader.

  Realising that his father would be looking for him, Ang got up and started walking back to the village, praying all the time to the Gods of Light that he would not run into the Bard again, lost in thought and humming a tune that seemed to comfort him he did not see her and for the second time that day he bumped into someone, but this time he was the one who went sprawling, he had ran to get home and come around a tree and tripped.

  When he took his face out of the dirt he could see Mol smiling kindly at him, "not watching where you are going Ang."
>
  Ang flushed, "sorry Mol," Mol stood up and walked over to him, as Ang stood up he noticed that he was a good head taller than she was now.

  He saw she had an expectant look on her face as she sidled up to him, Ang started to feel a knot in his stomach.

  Mol put her arms around his neck, "you owe me a kiss for that," and before he could think she planted her lips on his, Ang panicked and pushed her away, it felt very wrong and he did not know why, he felt sick to his stomach.

  Mol looked hurt, "Am I that repulsive?" she asked then burst into tears and ran away.

  Ang was tempted to run after her but he could not think what he could say to her, almost in tears too he sighed and looked at the darkening sky and headed for the Inn.

  Sera was sat in her room looking out of the window, she had just finished her prayer to the Goddess and felt at peace, the last echoes of her music always seemed to stay in her mind for minutes afterwards.

  Although she prayed every dusk to the Goddess, there were times when the Goddess answered her, not many, as the Goddess liked her Bards to be as independent as possible, but she did talk to them.

  Tonight Sera had realised the Goddess wanted her to bring this boy to the temple with her and one thing after all these years Sera did not do was question the Goddess's judgement.

  A lone figure caught her eye, mainly because he was glowing, the knot in her stomach twisted again damn it, I feel like a novice again! Before she could finish her train of thought a noise she had never really got used too interrupted her thoughts, her sword started humming.

  Jumping up she pulled the sword free of its scabbard its white radiance lighting the dimly lit room, evil was near, and from the light she knew it was something serious. Sera's senses told her it was outside, the evil always seemed to produce a discordant tune, looking out of the window she saw the trouble coming down the road, and it was after the boy!