Tharins - Chapter 2

Chapter two: the Work of Tharins

Swiftly sprinting, dodging the trees effortlessly, two girls were racing through the woods. Night had fallen all around them, casting a great shadow. Light was burning from torch beams behind them, slicing through the shadow like knives. They ran, never stopping, the thought of stopping itself was cast from them. Adrenaline carried them like a saint, forcing their legs to move with incredible agility. One of them looked back, checking on the pursuers. The other grabbed their arm and pulled them along.

“Don’t look back, Emily.” She said, breathlessly. The other girl began to run again and they carried on dodging the trees, the twigs beneath each footfall cracking loudly. The girls looked normal enough, dressed in identical uniforms. Black trousers, white blouses and a red and grey tie, though each was dirty from their flight from school. Emily, the younger of the two, had mud splattered down the back of her white blouse and a tear at her shoulder. The other, with long, blonde hair, had a rip at the front with blood staining it.

“Elena, you’re bleeding.” Emily panted as they ran. Elena looked down as she ran briefly, and then shrugged.

“It’s nothing,” she said, breathing heavily as well. Due to their relentless running, both were wearing down. Emily was worse for ware, her breathing was haggard and her face was red with the effort. Elena knew that her companion would not be able to run any further. Elena looked back at saw two figures in the distance running after them, clutching torches. Their beams were getting closer and it made Elena’s blood chill.

“We must keep going.” Elena said to Emily, causing her to look back. Fear etched every inch of her face.

“I...can’t…go…on…much…further.” Emily said between pants. Elena knew that Emily would ware out and she would not be able to retaliate. Elena had one choice, she would have to fight them.

Emily’s running was slowing down, breathing hoarse. Elena nodded to herself, fighting would be the only way. She turned around, noticing how the hariths behind them had caught up. Elena could tell that one was a male and the other was a female. Then, one of their torch beams hit Elena in the face.

“There!” yelled the harith who had seen her. Emily looked back scared and saw that Elena had stopped.

“No Elena, don’t!” She screamed, but she realised that it was the only way. Elena looked at Emily, fearful for her cousin’s safety.

“Emily, keep going. Get away from here!” Elena shouted back, then looked back around it time to deflect a burst of magic heading her way. The two hariths stood there, torches shining right at Elena. She would have looked just like a normal girl. Though, they knew that she wasn’t. That was partly because her eyes were bursting with white light, the sign that she was summoning powerful magic.

Emily looked back in time to see Elena thrusting out her hands, shooting out beams of magic that were invisible to non-magicians. The hariths and Elena were soon firing magic everywhere. The trees around them were being bashed to bits by the deflected spells. Elena was incredible; only fourteen and able to fight two hariths with ease. She finished the battle, leaping upon one of the hariths and elbowing them in the neck. The harith crumpled to the floor, knocked out. The remaining harith attacked her while she least expected it, though she spun around in time.. She simply placed her hand on the harith’s face. Without any light or sound, the harith fell to the floor as Elena knocked them out with a simple spell. Elena was still, silhouetted by the torches that were shining on the floor. With a wave of her hand, Elena extinguished the torches.

“ELENA!” Screamed a voice so loud that it caused an owl flew in fright over Elena’s head. She flinched, hearing Emily voice. A call of distress, Emily was in danger. Squinting in the darkness, Elena could make out Emily’s figure amongst the light of more torches held in the hands of more trouble..

Elena kicked off the ground, magic launching her into the air impossibly. She rose above the top most branches, flying over them. She then dived through the branches, twigs cutting into her as she thudded through them all. Reaching Emily, she slammed to the ground. She was up at once, punching someone so hard in the face that they fell into the trees. Elena was surrounded by hariths, a number that she had never encountered before.

Emily was being dragged by two, holding her tightly as the girl struggled helplessly. Elena tried to aim her blow at the hariths holding Emily but each time she tried, the other hariths got in her way and attacked her. Elena found herself in a desperate but violent battle with several hariths. She was trying to break out and reach Emily. Then, in her desperation, she yelled out a spell. It exploded from her mouth, thundering into the hariths standing between her and Emily. Elena leapt over the heads of the spell-struck harith and towards Emily.

They were dragging her over to a car that was parked by the side of a road that cut though the forest. Elena struck out at the hariths holding Emily, they were ready to fight with Elena. To her dismay, they were strong and they forced her back. As soon as Elena stumbled back, the hariths she was ignoring grabbed her and held her back.

“No!” Elena yelled, struggling from the many hands that were preventing her. She forced hot magic from her skin but they still held on despite their scorched hands. Emily was picked up and dragged towards the car again. Elena struggled with all her energy to reach Emily. Angry tears dashed from her eyes as she fought to get free. Elena’s eyes began to burn white again, her magic trying with her to get free. Fire suddenly covered her body. The Hariths let go of her at once, screaming as they all had fire burning their arms.

Elena stepped from them, wreathed in flames. She shook them off, the fire seeped to the ground and covering the dead tree litter with angry fire. Elena shot off the ground like a dart, trying to destroy as much as she could. She slammed into the bonnet of the car, the metal dented inwards.

“LET HER GO!” Elena roared, her voice increased by her many spells. Her eyes were filled with a light so intense that it was obvious that her anger had taken control. There were more hariths than ever, they all surrounded her and the car. Their eyes were deep red, as crimson as blood. Elena could feel the red-eyed gazes pierce into her own eyes, wreathed in white fire.

Suddenly, a tall, muscular, black-skinned harith slammed down from the air and landed on the roof of the car. He was dressed in a long, black, coat with silver buttons covering the front. He was a Reaper, a powerful harith. Elena knew him; he was one of the most infamous of hariths, Hellion.

“Aren’t you too powerful to be a Tharin?” he asked her, in a voice so soft that it didn’t suit the powerful body before her. Elena braced herself for perhaps her last fight. But she didn’t care. Emily’s safety meant more to her than even her own life. Her eyes blazing brightly with the defiance she felt.

“I may not be as powerful as all of you,” Elena said her voice calmer than before. “But with what I have left, I can’t still make as much damage as possible.” She stared at Hellion who laughed at this.

“Oh, I don’t think so, young one. What is your name?” he asked, but then sighed. “Oh I forgot, you don’t tell us your name, do you? Very well, I shall call you Aryuna – It means fire spirit.” he said, and then his eyes began to glow, the red magic of the Aitharith burned brighter than in any hariths Elena had met. Elena felt a stirring of magic being formed, evil magic..

“You wish to see fire, Hellion.” Elena said, summoning forth all her remaining energy. “Then you will burn with the fire spirit inside me, if that’s what you mean with this ‘Aryuna’ nonsense.” She forced a smile. Hellion then thrust out his hand suddenly. Elena, not expecting it, received the full blast. She pushed at the spell with her remaining energy, but the spell broke through like a knife smashing through glass as the hariths joined the onslaught.

Elena screamed as pain thudded into her mind like a noisy memory. It consumed her body, causing her to fall to her knees and then slide off the bonnet to the ground. The light in her eyes faded as all her magic tried to fight the pain. It felt as if a thousand knives were jabbing her constantly. Her bones felt as if they were breaking everywhere. She was convulsing, twitching, yelling in pain.

Hellion watched, the red light fading from his eyes. Then, he leapt from the car and over to Elena. He reached over, uttering a single word. The spell ended suddenly, the pain leaving. Elena looked over to Hellion, shaking uncontrollably. He smiled at her, sweetly but then it changed into something horrible, a sneer. He pulled out a knife from his coat, the blade edge was serrated. Elena looked at it, scared. First he made her feel intense pain, now he’s going to kill her. Elena felt failure as she realised that death would be the final end of this mission. She had failed the Legion, she had failed Emily and now she had failed herself.

“Goodbye Aryuna.” Hellion whispered, then drove the knife into Elena’s chest.

Elena gasped, waking up so suddenly that she sat bolt aright. She touched her chest where the knife had been plunged into her flesh. She closed her eyes, breathing deeply to get control again. Her hand was over the old scar, the memento of the night she had lost her cousin, Emily. Elena sat still for a moment, realising that her face was wet with tears. Surprised by the fact that she had been crying in her sleep, Elena stood up and walked over to her window. It was still dark outside; the streetlight outside Elena bedroom was still burning orange light through the window.

The clock on the wall read 04:34, which made Elena sigh. There was no way she could go back to sleep; not now she knew she would dream of more horrible things. Instead, she walked over to her bed again and slipped under the covers. Elena couldn’t help herself think about the dream again. It was perhaps the worse moment of her life; she believed that death was better than suffer the failure. She would never forget when Valerian found her in the forest, lying on the floor. He thought she was dead, but then he realised that her magic had kept her alive.

The wound in her chest was very serious, so he sat there for a very long time just to heal her. She remembered waking from unconsciousness to see that there was some hope left for her. He believed in her, and to Elena, that meant so much. A month afterwards, Elena and Valerian went to the Tharikoa to report the information to the Leading Authority. Elena was so surprised then to find herself being taken to the High Lord of Light himself.

She remembered Valerian walking with her to the large hall where Tharius lived. When they went inside, Elena would never forget what she saw. The hall was gigantic, with a huge dome roof. It was completely empty except for the very centre where there was a single desk and chair. There sat Lord Tharius, writing away behind his desk. He looked up and his eyes staring right into Elena’s.

She sat down opposite him at the desk and told him absolutely everything. At the end of her tale, Tharius sat there, pondering deeply. The sheer strength of his power made Elena feel so small, so insignificant.

“He named you Aryuna,” Tharius had said afterwards. “How interesting,” Elena remembered feeling a strange feeling of pride at just being addressed by him. Valerian and Tharius began to mind-link, obviously the information was private. Tharius looked at Elena intensely afterwards that she knew that they had been talking about her. He then told her that she should not be ashamed of her failure. The fact that she survived was worth more than anything. Those words were what Elena could hear at that moment, even after two years they brought the same feeling.

It was that feeling alone that he cared about her and it was worth more to her than anything. It was that moment alone when Elena realised that being in the Legion meant so much. She knew that she would do anything from then on to make Tharius happy because to her, he was more a father than her own step-father.

That was the other strange thing about Elena; she also lived a normal life. In the room next to her, her mother and her step father slept. They had no idea that their daughter was perhaps the closest thing to a comic book hero. Then again, would they believe her if she told them?

Her real father was perhaps the only thing that connected her normal life to her Legionnaire one. He was a Legionnaire, just like Elena was. But he died a long time ago which made Elena's life very lop-sided. According to Valerian, Elena’s dad was destined to be her watcher but after his death, he entrusted Valerian with the job. A watcher was the name given to the legionnaire who looks after a new one.

So, when Elena first discovered that she was a magician, Valerian had to teach her how to live two lives. For six years, Elena had been sneaking out every week to visit Valerian and do her rounds of patrolling the town.

Due to her unfortunate situation, the Legion made her a Tharin which is probably the only job that could enable her to be living both lives. Another reason for this was because the Legion wanted to keep an eye on her elder brother as magic was passed down from parent to offspring. Though Elena was certain that he was not a Potential, she could not be sure.

But what if he was a harith?

Elena smiled to herself as she thought of this foolish possibility. The single thought of her brother being an evil magician was pointless. He was too lazy. He wouldn't even do homework let alone harith work.

But then she frowned, her step father was a different matter. Elena didn’t like him that much because he replaced her father who could have made her life so much easier. Each time she saw him, she knew that he was trying to fill a gap that was impossible to fill.

Her eyes skimmed over to her desk where a red envelope was perched upon her Spanish folder. She blinked, why didn't she think of that before? Leaping out of bed, Elena reached her desk and snatched up the envelope. She lent over to the light switch of her lamp and then sat down on the end of the bed. She turned the envelope over; her name was printed in silver letters. The symbol of the Legion was embossed in gold in the corner. She ripped it open, careful not to make too much noise.

She tipped the contents of the envelope on the desk top. There were four different things; three of which were laminated photographs and the other was a letter. Elena picked up the letter and read intently.

Dear Miss E C Borquen, Elite Tharin of the Legion,

The MSP satellite has picked up a faint trace of raw magic in a student attending Attenborn Upper School. The computer tells us that you are the current senior Tharin in the area. Due to this, we are giving you the responsibility of finding the Potential and releasing their magic. However, Lord Tharius wishes to alert you of a serious threat from the Aitharith. The potential in question has moved from Luton due to a 'fire' at their old home. We have evidence from the legionnaires near the house that the 'fire' was in fact cause by arsonist hariths. It is believed that they don't know about the potential activity but we can never be too sure.

The warning is too approach the Potential with caution as there might be hariths patrolling him. They have been known to use Potentials as bait.

Potential details

Name: Kieran Gavin Sindow

Age: 16

Nationality: British

Ethic Group: Caucasian

Magical Potential Rating: 8.6

Due to the intense magical rating, we ask for you report to the Tharikoa when the Potential has decided to become a legionnaire.

Yours in magical honour,

Shirikoin, Head Tharin

Elena read through it again, warm pride burning at her cheeks. They hadn't given her some lame patrol but a Tharin mission. What was even better was that she had a brand new Potential to look over. Problem was that she had never heard of him before, even though he was supposed to be in her year at her school. Today was the beginning of a new term so it was likely he was a new student. She put the letter down, the black official text blinking at her. She looked away and picked up one of the photographs. It was a MSP photograph, which stood for Magical Sensory Projection. It was a taken by a special kind of camera that only picks up magic. There were three types of magic; Martial magic, Raw magic and Neutral magic. Martial magic was the type of magic that exists in magicians that are in the Legion or the Aitharith. Raw magic is the magic that is uncontrollable; it is the magic of Potentials which they can't connect to. As soon as a Potential learns to connect their magic they become a magician. Neutral magic is the faint traces of magic inside normal humans; it is only used once in an entire lifetime, the moment of birth.

The photograph was a dark blue colour with traceable lines that showed buildings, roads and other facilities; basically a map. There were tiny bright blobs all over the ‘map’. There were lots of green blobs almost everywhere. There was one white blob and one pale blue blob. Elena noticed that the blobs were labelled. The white blob was labelled as her, which made her smile and look at it closer. The pale blue blob was labelled as 'Kieran Sindow', which made Elena frown slightly. The photograph was taken of the town 'Atten', which was where Elena lived. It surprised her to realise that at the time that the photograph was taken, she was barely twenty yards from him.

She picked up another photograph which was the same photo as the MSP only it was an aerial photo. Elena glanced at it and realised that she knew where Kieran was at the time. She put them both down and then picked up the last photograph. A full blown picture of a boy's face filled the square photograph. The boy had dark hair, almost black which was quite long and covered his forehead. His face was a bit tanned, probably had Hispanic blood in him. His eyes were a hazel brown colour and they were averted downwards.

"Kieran," she muttered, putting down the picture. It was always easier to picture a face with a name, but to put magic to a face was much harder. The letter had said he had a MPR of 8.6, higher than average. Shirikoin was right; hariths could be attracted to that. I'll have to be careful, Elena thought as she gathered the photos and the letters together. She shoved them in the red envelope and then opened up her drawer. It was completely empty, but that was an illusion charm. Elena lifted the charm and in place there was an entire store of red envelopes. She put the new one on the top and replaced the charm.

Closing the drawer, Elena had to stifle a yawn. She was so tired that she realised that she might as well suffer the recurring nightmares. She switched off the lamp and then sunk back onto her bed. She pulled her duvet over herself then closed her eyes.

She rolled over, thinking about the Potential she would meet in a few hours time. She sighed, hoping that when she wakes up, the day will be lucky. She hoped that she wouldn't meet any hariths and lose yet another Potential to the Aitharith. She scowled at the thought, knowing that she would never lose another one. Wherever you are Kieran, I'm not going to fail you like I failed the others, she thought. And with that thought she fell asleep.