Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Black-hearts

I sat in my bed of straw silently. The wind was whipping and wisping as I curled up tighter and tighter thinking about the future: What would I say when I joined the army as a warrior? Would the Baron of Daire call me ‘magicless’ and I would be forced to live this same life. I felt the urge that I wanted so eagerly to fight, like Lingonberry and his fire-raising but I could never use magic, so what was the point? I sighed after a while. I remembered the first day I went to school:

“Everyone has magic in them, you just need to find it! If you focus one single thing, like a candle flame, you will see glows of green sparking out of you. You can now easily command magic if you focus on that again.” The teacher explained. No matter how much I tried and tried I couldn’t. The teacher came round and held out a red ruby, “If you want to see what magic is like, touch this. It has the runes: ᚠᚤᚫᛄᚼ, which contain my very magic. You can’t use a runestone in a fight, though.”

I touched the gem as it glistened and dazzled extravagantly in the light. Nothing happened. The teacher tried to hide his worried look and sighed, “Perhaps you don’t have magic. You might be albino.” Unfortunately, the bullies overheard and shouted, “MAGICLESS!”

“Is there any other way?” I sobbed desperately

He replied, “There was a third way, but that was only ever practised centuries ago when Arcoils of Clodwydar taught it to an albino king, Echo V, but that was only known by the two kings, Echo V and the arcoil king at the time and they never passed the secret.”

I was awoken by the sound of tiptoeing. I stretched and clambered out. Lingonberry was fast asleep next to me, so I crept to the door. I only saw a crow pecking the ground idly, so I presumed it was just paranoia. Suddenly I saw the glint of an axe in the moonlight and jumped out, seeing a black-heart (I could tell due to the black armour, made from duwchus). I shouted, “RAID! BLACK HEARTS!” and Lingonberry and some neighbours jerked awake. The full army had hidden in the trees and were launching a sneak attack. I grabbed my school knife from my pocket and held it up to the soldiers but it looked miniscule compared to their serrated swords. I ran to the blacksmiths in the town of Daire nearby. They had weaponry and we needed it. Lingonberry sprinted towards me and managed a smile as we darted past the well and the pubs. We hit the center and I clanged the old village bell. I found the blacksmith’s house and found him laying outside, drunk. I sped in and took a sword on the wall. I had only ever used a sword at school, so I had very little experience. I grabbed a selection of axes and swords and passed them to the village folk. I charged at the black heart who had a flaming torch in his hand in the stomach. He didn’t expect me to come from the other side and fell head first. I grabbed his armour and put it down again. I wouldn’t want to be mistaken for enemy forces. I seemed to be getting into the hang of things, slashing the heavy sword awkwardly at another black warrior. Suddenly, I spotted a scarred soldier with a mace fighting Lingonberry. I winced as he cut a deep scar in his eye. Stark with revenge, he slashed his sword at the dense chainmail of duwchus, hardly making a dent. I tried my turn, targeting his head. He rapidly turned and I jumped back. The great warrior had his sword at my neck. He cackled at Lingon, “If you try to kill me, you’ll lose your friend’s life!” He hissed in his own tongue, “Marlothu vilæ!” I clenched my breath. 3,2,1. Silence filled the air. I wondered what death might feel like. The sword whistled in the air. Suddenly an arrow darted across the fields. He jumped away and I was alive. I was alive!