This is a story I've been writing for a while, and debating on still writing. I'm sorry if there mistakes in it, but I don't have time to correct it. Then next couple of chapters will be corrected... well, besides chapter three. Hope you like it! Reviews would rock!
The Phantoms, The Desert City, Book 1
Chapter 1, The Moonless Night
Ray new he had timed it perfectly. He had been planning it for over a month, a way to make a small fortune in a second. He had been coming up with a difficult but possible plan of how to sneak into Castle Esonta and break into Princess Andrea’s room, where he would steal every diamond or ruby that may be in there. He had waited for a moonless night so it would be harder for the guards by the door to see him. That night he wore a brown t-shirt and vest plus a pair of dark green leotards. He also had on a pair of worn out brown boots.
Ray was a boy of average height, but he was extremely scrawny and didn’t look at all muscular in size. His legs were skinny and he was quiet thin for his age. He had long fingers, helpful when throwing things for it meant he could grasp it better. He had light brown hair that in the moonlight seemed to look dark, while in the sunlight it was extremely light. He also had an eerie set of light blue eyes that seemed to give him an almost ghostly look. He had a light complexion and often stood with his arms crossed.
He was crouched in a small patch of trees right outside the biggest castle in all of his country, Castle Esonta. Its was were the king himself was stationed and was in the capital of his country, Soran. He lived in a big country by the name of Etherak. Etherak was a land of forests and fields, full of many animals and 20 different cities. Soran was one of the larger cities, with a large town surrounding Castle Esonta. The castle was beautiful, made out of shining blue brick. It was made up of 5 towers, One of which the kings and princess rooms was in. The only thing separating the town from the castle was a large brick wall, which Ray was staring up at that very moment.
He planned to climb over the brick wall, waiting for the guards to do the daily rounds around the wall. He would then sneak up to the castle and go up to the humungous tree that was in front of the tower that the king and princess’s rooms were in. It had taken him an extremely long time to find out which tower the rooms were in, but finally he had figured it out. He would climb through the window that was close to the top of the tree and go to the princess’s room, were he would look through her drawers until he found valuable things. Which he would put into the small backpack he wore.
Ray watched as the guards started around on their circle of the wall, then when they had disappeared from view he shot forward. Moving as quietly as he could and staying in shadows, he reached the wall. It wasn’t very high and had a lot of moss growing up it, which would make it easy to climb up. He quickly grabbed onto the moss and started to pull himself up, making sure every vine was secure before he pulled himself up.
Finally he reached the stop. He balanced carefully were he stood; the rocks on the top had become smooth from many storms and that made it dangerously slippery. Suddenly, to his surprise, his foot slipped over the side and he fell. He was barely able to catch onto the edge and stop himself from falling to certain injury. Panting, he started edging along the side of the wall until he reached a patch of vines. Quickly, he climbed of the wall and looked around, he had made it into the castle grounds!
Suddenly though he heard the sound of a cracking branch. He swung his head to his left and saw a long shadow slowly coming closer to him. Someone was on guard on the inside. Ray looked around in desperation, but saw nowhere that he could hide except for an oak tree. There was no time to climb up into it so he just jumped behind it and held his breath, praying the guard wouldn’t notice him.
Soon he heard footsteps right behind him and a cough, carefully he turned his head, seeing that the guard was half asleep and was in the middle of a huge yawn. Then he started to walk again, and soon disappeared around the wall once again. Ray let out a sigh of relieve, he then looked around the grounds.
They’re many small bushes, mostly ones with flowers on it. His target was a straight run across the lawn to the humungous redwood. He quickly looked around him, making sure no one was anywhere in sight and took of across the yard like a blur. The whole time his heart was in his mouth, but he had no reason to be scared, for he was soon standing against the tree.
Quickly the young thieve scrambled up the tree into the branches, making sure that each one was sturdy before he pulled himself up onto it. He had one terrifying moment were he grabbed onto a weak branch and it snapped, making him fall. But luckily he caught onto the branch that was right below him. He had to wait a few minutes until his pounding heart ceased, and then he proceeded up the tree.
As he got higher and higher it got windier. Soon his cloths were billowing around him. There had been a strong breeze down on the ground, but up here it was a constantly blowing wind, which made it even more terrifying to be so high. Finally he reached the top of the tree and was only about a meter from the window, but to him it was like a mile. He held onto the branch he was on, swaying in the breeze. He had no idea of how he was to get to the window. Then it came to him.
Jump.
It seemed to be the only option. He stood up, balancing carefully on two branches. Bracing his legs and taking a deep breath, he leaped for the window.
It was agonizing moment as he flew through the air, not sure if he was going to make it or not. Then his handed touched the window, and his hands started to slide of the windowsill. He hadn’t jump hard enough and hadn’t been able to grab onto the windowsill properly. His fingernails scr.aped on the windowsill and suddenly caught in a small crevice, he hung there by his fingertips, heart pounding.
Finally he was able to reach forward and grab onto the edge of the windowsill. He pulled himself over and in, falling onto the ground in an exhausted heap. His fingernails were sending pain shooting threw his whole body and when he looked at them three were torn and bleeding. Finally he got up, wishing he hadn’t been so stubborn as not to turn back.
He was in the largest room he had ever entered, the walls were made out of the same type of blocks of stone that the outside walls were made out of and the lamps made the walls seem to shimmer. The floor was plain wood that had been cut and sanded until it was smooth and comfortable and had no bumps or holes. It was also plainly furnished, with two chairs set in front of the fireplace and a large couch in front of a small wooden coffee table. There was also a small table with four chairs around it cloths to him. It was a beautiful room.
He slowly approached the first door in on the wall; it was made of fine oak wood. As he inched it open he saw that it was the kings study, so he quickly closed it, knowing there would be nothing valuable in there. He tiptoed over to the next door; this room was the king’s bedroom itself. He new there would be no jewels in there. He started as King Harold let out a loud cough in his sleep and turned over, Ray then closed to door, heart pounding. There was only one more door on this wall and he was sure it was the princess’s.
He sneaked over to it, his boots barely making a sound on the floor. He grabbed onto the handle of the door and turned it, jumping as it creaked. He slowly opened the door and looked inside, his suspicions were right, it was Princess Andrea’s room. He quickly walked in and pulled of his backpack. He was heading for one of the dressers when he froze, for lying on a bed was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
Princess Andrea was way past pretty, she was beautiful. She had long straight red hair that was seemed to sheen in the light the moon was making, it also lit up her face. She had beautiful small red lips and light skin. She had freckles below each eye on either side of her nose and on her nose, which was straight and perfect. She also had long black eyelashes. She looked perfect to Ray.
He shook his head, turning his attention back to the task at hand. Quietly he went through the drawer, but found only cloths. He turned around and saw a small night table with a small drawer in it. As he slid the drawer open it squeaked and he glanced at the princess, but she continued to sleep. He looked at the contents and smiled in satisfaction. It was full of expensive looking jewelry.
Ray dug it all out and slipped it into the backpack, the necklaces were encrusted with all sorts of gems, while the rings and bracelets mostly only had diamonds on them. But it was all gold, he quickly zippered up his bag and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He started to walk towards window.
At that very moment a hand clamped down on his shoulder.
“Where do you think your going, thieve?” said a low voice. Ray didn’t need to see the man to know it was one of the Phantoms.
The Phantoms were a group of people who guarded the castle, they were like there own army, there were 2 stationed at every castle at night and since there were five castles in Etherak, there was a lot of Phantoms, 40 in all. They roamed the castle during the night, keeping an eye out for thieves like him. In wars they were a special force, they had amazing ambushing skills and came into the battle only if they were losing or it was an extremely big battle. They fought more defensively then offensively. There was also three stationed in each town around the castles.
Ray had already been caught twice by these Phantoms, and new if you were caught for a third time you would be in serious trouble, the worst was death and banishment, but that only happened to mass thieves, bandits and murderers. Still, he wasn’t taking his chances! He swung his backpack around and it slammed into the Phantoms head, making him stumbled, the jewelry inside the bag made it hard.
He instantly took of for the door, but heard the guard take on the pursuit, Phantoms were extremely fast and only a handful of people could outrun them. He then saw the coffee table and swung around towards it, the Phantom easily turned as well. Ray let his feet slip from under him and slid under the small coffee table. Using his feet he sent the table flying behind him. He heard the Phantoms grunt as it crashed into him, making a huge bang.
By the time the King had opened his door and ran out of his room and the Phantom had stood up Ray was already shooting out the door. He ran down the hall at top speed towards the exit. But then remembered there were probably guards. He had to time to perfectly. He kept on running full speed towards the door. He could here footsteps down the hall as the Phantom to pursuit.
Ray hit the doors at full sprint, they flew opened, hitting the to guards there with extreme force. One of them was knocked unconscious but the other was only semiconscious. He started to run towards the wall, not sure how he was going to get past the guards there, but sure he would find a way. By the time he was halfway across the fields the Phantom was just coming through the door. The table had stunned him bad and he was dizzy from the slam it had given him.
Ray had forgotten one thing though; there were two Phantoms on guard.
Ray gasped as suddenly a something hard hit his back, sending him sprawling forward. He looked to where the hard object had landed and saw a throwing knife, the butt of it had hit him square in the back. He looked forward to where he had flung his backpack and started to get up. He never got the chance. A boot landed on his back, pushing him to the ground again. He lay down his head in the sand, defeated.
“I got him Rowan!” came a voice from above him; it was a voice that was full of determination, but also cheerful.
He heard footsteps approached and then the voice of the first Phantom, Rowan came, “Nice job, Griffin, your first day on the job and you’ve already caught yourself a rat!” Rowans voice was lower and sounded a lot older then Griffins, but not unkind, it had a tiny bit of sarcasm in it.
“I know! I was scared my dagger wasn’t going to hit him the right way though and I’d put it threw him!” Griffin’s voice was filled with obvious relief.
“Yes, well, I don’t see any holes threw him, so don’t worry. I’ve already caught this boy twice bef-,” he was cut of by another, deeper voice.
“What, in all of Etherak, is going on here, Rowan?” Ray’s eyes widened in fear at the sound of the king’s voice, knowing his punishment would come from him.
“Oh, just caught are self a thieving rat, your majesty! Get up, boy!” came Griffins voice again; he felt the foot leave his back and scrambled up, standing at attention.
The two Phantoms were dressed identically; each wore an ankle length coat with long sleeves and a popped collar. It was held together be a rope inside the collar, with they had tied together. It was made of a thin dark blue material. Ray could see a dark brown belt around Rowans waist with many deadly looking throwing knifes attached to it, plus a hilt of some type of sword was visible. They also both wore dark black shoes, which almost when up to the knees and were tied extremely tight. They both wore dark blue gloves.
Rowan had messy black hair with streaks of gray in it and dark brown eyes, while Griffin had straight blond hair and dark blue eyes, but there was something about the two mans faces that seemed identical. Ray looked at the king; his eyes were filled with anger, even though his face was casual. King Harold was a tall man with flaming red hair, just like his daughter. His eyes were a deep, aqua green.
“Tell me boy, why did you decide to try to steal from my castle in the first place?” asked the king, his voice quivering with the effort of keeping it low and neutral.
At first Ray didn’t say anything, but then a hard fist to his head told him he had no choice but to answer him.
“I-I wanted m-money, sir, your majesty,” said Ray, quickly corrected him in the way of informing his king
The king nodded, eyeing Ray up and down, then turned to Rowan, who whispered into King Harold’s ear, understanding seemed to light up the kings eyes. He turned back to the young thieve.
“Tell me, thieve, what is your name?” asked the king, keeping a steady eye on the boy.
“R-r-ray, your majesty,” he said, stuttering over his own name, as though he had forgotten it.
“Well, young Ray, did you need this money or were you just greedy?” asked the king, raising one eyebrow.
For a second, Ray wondered if he should lie, he new that he had enough money to sustain himself, and he had just been doing this to make himself a small fortune. He new that if he told the truth he would be in serious trouble, and if he didn’t he wouldn’t, but would have to live with the guilt. Guilt bugged him a lot, making it hard for him to lie. It didn’t help with his career.
Ray finally decided on what to say, “It was based on greed, your majesty,”
“That what I thought. For your punishment, which is more severe since of your target, is to be going to a labor school, where you will not be able to leave and will be put into labor each day except on the weekdays,”
Ray cast his gaze downward, then looked up in surprise as the king continued.
“But, I do have another offer, Rowan here says your have the skills needed to train as a Phantom, he has been watching you for many days,”
Rowan stepped forward so he stood in front of Ray, “You have all the skill that are needed, Ray, you extremely fast when it come to running, you think things through before you do things… most of the time. Also I’ve watched you throwing sticks at trees for fun. 7 out of 10 of those sticks hit home,” Rowan pulled out one of the many knifes attached to his belt, and threw it at a tree beside Ray, it hit it, its blade sinking deep into the bark, “What’s your choice?”
Ray hesitated, he could always escape from the work school, it would be easy for him, then he could continue his life as a thieve, but the thought of become a Phantom seemed to send excitement through his body, finally he nodded.
“I accept!” He said, his voice a bit high pitched with excitement.
Rowan smirked, “Be prepared, you training isn’t going to be easy with me as your teacher,”
Ray nodded, he understood. He turned towards the king and blinked in surprise, the king was smiling and nodding approvingly.
“Ray, there is one more thing, you must promise with your heart, that you will never steal from a person again, especially from my daughter,”
“I do, your majesty, it was a stupid idea!”
Griffin then decided to speak up, “Me and Rowan live together, so I will be helping with some of your training, though most of it will be depended on Rowan, since I will have to do some of his jobs whiles he’s training you through the first year. After that you will be able to some with Rowan on his main assignments, though if its an important assignment, you’ll have to come with him on the first year anyway,”
Rowan smirked again, “Like chasing down meddling thieves,”
Ray couldn’t help his cheeks from becoming red, “Luckily I’m not one of those meddling thieves,”
Griffin snorted with laughter and Rowan raised one eyebrow, then spoke, “Meet me tomorrow morning by the forest outside the left side of town, come on Griffin, lets head back to the castle now,”
Rowan turned around and started walking away, Griffin and the king both followed. Leaving Ray standing there in the darkness. Ray noticed Griffin had retrieved the backpack without him noticing. Slowly he turned around and headed for the gate, his heart pounding.
Chapter 2
Ray stood outside the woods, looking around but not seeing his new teacher. He had come to the that he had been enstructed to come to, they were outside the town that was to the left of the castle, and had adopted the name Redwood Forest because of its many redwood trees that inhabited it.
Suddenly though, a fist slammed into the back of his head, sending pain threw his whole body. He swung around, instinctively swinging his fist. He didn’t even notice the newcomer was Griffin, fore he had concealed his face with a mask. Griffin swung easily out of the reach, and the next two as well, then swung out one leg and it made Ray topple over, his legs flung out from under him. He was about the get up to continue the fight when Rowan appeared out of the trees.
“Stop Ray, its only Griffin,” Griffin pulled of the mask, grinning down at Ray, who scrambled to his feet.
“Can someone please tell me why Griffin just punched me in the back of the head?” Ray voice was trembling with rage.
“Calm down Ray, it was a test, we wanted to see how you would react to a fight,” Understanding dawned in Rays eyes, “You did horrible,” Ray seemed to slump in dispare at Rowans words.
“You jumped right into the fight, letting anger take over, and didn’t even look to see who the person was!” said Griffin.
“Be patient next time, Ray,” said Rowan.
“Yes Rowan… sorry Griffin,” Ray sighed, looking at his feet.
“No need to say sorry Ray,” said Griffin, smiling at him.
“Come on Ray, were going into the forest to the Phantoms camp,” said Rowan, he turned around and walked into the forest, Griffin walked past Ray, following Rowan. For a second Ray paused, then ran after them.
It took him a few minutes to catch up to Rowan and Griffin, even when walking they were extremely fast. The woods they were in were extremely beautiful. The leaves on the trees were a light lushish green and many of the trees around them were beautiful redwoods. When you looked up you could rays of sunlight flowing in through the leaves and branches, making the trees shine. Many flowers grew around the path on the ground, making the forest much more colorful.
Rowan and Griffin seemed to think nothing of the colors of the forest, they just kept on walking through the trees, seemingly knowing there way around the whole forest. Suddenly they walked out of the trees, and Ray gasped at what he saw.
Stretching out in front of him was a large clearing with many tents in it. Ray could see that many trees had been cut down to make the clearing larger so all the tents could fit in. Ray could see figures walking around dressed identically to Rowan and Griffin, while he could also make out the smaller figures of apprentices like him, but he couldn’t help noticing that many of them wore flowing cloaks instead of the coats.
It wasn’t until then that Ray noticed Rowan and Griffin were walking towards the tents, he ran after them and when he did catch up to Rowan Griffin had went of somewhere’s else, but Rowan was now facing a new man. He was tall and towered over Rowan, he also wore the same coat as Rowan. He had light green eyes and dark black hair. His skin was extremely pale which gave him an extremely ghostly look, behind him stood an apprentice, who was smirking at him.
The apprentice behind the tall man was also tall and towered over Ray, he had icy blue eyes and dark brown hair, he was pale, though not as pale as the man. He had an evil glint in his eyes. He wore a light brown cloak and black boots, like all the Phantoms boots. Rowan then started speaking.
“Why if it isn’t Verenzo!” Rowans voice was filled with sarcasim.
“Hello Rowan, I heard you took a thieving rat on as an apprentice, is that him behind you? Ha, not much of an apprentice, to lazy to take on a real apprentice?” Verenzo sneered into Rowans face, Ray could tell Rowan was putting up a huge effort not to punch Verenzo in the face.
“I don’t want to listen to your back talk, Verenzo,” Rowan said, his voice now quivering with rage.
“Yeah, well I really don’t care if you do or don’t, cause I don’t have to be scared of you, you couldn’t hurt me if you could… thieve! Come here now!” Verenzo’s gaze snapped around to him, Ray hesitated and looked at Rowan, who nodded.
Ray stepped forward and Verenzo eyed him up and down, then flung his coat around him, so his sword was reavealed. He quickly unsheathed it and held the handle out to Ray, who uncertainly took it. He looked over the sword, it was beautifully made with blue tinted steel that was thin around the edges and a bit thicker in the middle. Its handle was made out of plain black leather.
“Lets see if your apprentice can do anything Rowan, Zerroc, draw your sword and attack!”
Rowan stepped forward to stop the challenge, but before he could even take a step forward Zerroc was lunging forward viciously, sword raised in an overhand swipe. Ray yelled out and barely had time to block it. Rowan started to yell stop but felt a point at the back of his neck. While he had been watching the fight he hadn’t notice Verenzo walking around behing him and hadn’t heard him draw one of his daggers. He was forced to stand still. He noticed that no one was anywhere near them.
Ray was barely able to block the many slashs that flew at him over and over again. He yelled out as Zerroc’s flat side of his sword hit his shoulder, making his arm go numb with pain. Zerroc launched another wave of blows. With his sword hand now painful and numb, Ray was barely able to block the first blows, and soon the flat of Zerroc’s sword was hitting his body everywheres, leaving rapidly forming bruises. Ray almost dropped the sword, but then as another blow hit him on his side his eyes lit up with rage.
Ray lunched forward, swinging his sword viciously with both hands, ignoring the pain that coursed through his body. Zerroc let out a yell of shock and went into the devensive. Ray realized he had an advantage, then suddenly pain shot up his leg as Zerroc slammed his heel down on his soft boot. Ray yelled out and dropped his sword. Zerroc laughed out and Rowan shouted out as Zerroc’s flat of his sword swung towards his ribs at bone breaking speed.
Then out of nowhere came a throwing knife, sending Zerroc’s knife spinning. Zerroc yelled out in fright, looking to see who had caused this desruption. There stood Griffin, tall and glaring straight at Zerroc.
“We Phantoms do not continue fighting after are enemy drops there weapon,” said Griffin, suddenly Verenzo was beside Ray, shoving him aside so he fell onto the ground, he leaned down and picked up his sword, sheathing it, then turned to face Rowan.
“We’ll finish this later,” he then grabbed Zerroc by the shoulder, who had already retrieved his own sword, and pulled him around the corner of a tent. Rowan was at Ray’s side in a second, who had crumpled to the ground.
Rays body was hurting terribly, Zerroc had left him totally numb. He realized Rowan was trying to get him to his feet, so he rose, stumbling sideways. The foot Zerroc had stamped on hurt considerably. Luckily Griffin was right there, and caught him. Griffin then turned his head to look at Rowan.
“Why didn’t you stop it?” said Griffin, his voice filled with anger.
“I couldn’t! I had a knife at the back of the neck!” said Rowan.
Rays head was swimming now, blackness seemed to be seeping into the edge of his sight. Rowan and Griffin stood in front of him, arguing. Ray groaned, then blackness filled his sight completely.
*****
Ray slowly opened his eyes, his fision was blurry from sleep and his whole body seemed to have lost feeling. He looked around, seeing that he was in a small tent and was lying on one of two beds. Also there was a desk, which Rowan had fallen asleep on, his head lain on a book. Griffin lay on the other bed, twitching in his sleep. Ray wondered what time it was.
Suddenly though, Rowan blinked his eyes open and sat up, yawning. Then he noticed Ray lying there awake. Rowan jumped up as Ray started to push himself up to get to his feet, but before he could say anything Ray yelped in pain and fell back onto his pillow. His yelp had awoken Griffin, who had jumped up as soon as he heard it. Ray noticed that his shirt had been tugged off of him, he looked at where the pain was worse, his shoulder.
His shoulder was badly bruised, it was almost completely black and blue, the only other color was purple. His sides had many little bruises as well. Suddenly Ray realized Rowan was speaking.
“-no broken bones, though the bruises will take a while to heal, espiacilly the one on your shoulder, but with the herbs were using the pain should stop in about an hour,”
Ray nodded, then croaked, “Could I have some water?”
Griffin already had a water bottle in his hand, he put it to Rays lips and the cool water dribbled into his mouth, when Griffin pulled it away he wished it would had never left, he was still considerably thirsty, but then realized it was empty and Griffin was just taking the fill up the small water bottle again. Suddenly Rowan grabbed his shoulder, dragging him to a sitting position, then a standing position.
Ray was able to stand steady and Rowan wrapped bandages around his chest and under his arms, then his shoulder.
“Now that your all bandaged up, you can put your shirt back on, then this!” said Rowan, chucking Ray his shirt and then the same type of small brown cloak that Zerroc had been wearing.
“You really have to practise with the sword no offense, but you weren’t really a top notch swords master,” snorted Griffin, walking up with the water bottle.
Ray glared at him jokingly for a second, then took the water bottle thankfully, “Thanks Griffin,”
“No problem,”
Suddenly a huge dong came from outside, then quickly two more, Rowan looked up and turned to Ray, who had just finished getting the cloak tied up.
“That’s the bell for all mentors with new apprentices to come, we got to go to the middle of the campsite, were you will be inspected and tested, don’t worry though, it won’t be difficult. But I espect you to try your best, for if you don’t pass you won’t receive your sword and daggers. Now put these on,” Rowan chucked Ray a pair of black boots like they all wore. Then when he had them tied on tightly Rowan turned and walked out of the tent.
Ray followed after them, his foot was sore, but he just ignored it as best as possible. Soon they were walking into a clearing in the middle of the campsite, where a few other mentors and apprentices stood. In the middle of the clearing were five Phantoms that Ray realized must be doing the testing. As they walked up he could see apprentices and mentors looking and him then whispering the other Phantoms beside him, once or twice he caught the wore thieve and castle.
Suddenly a Phantom spoke up from the five in the middle.
“We welcome all you new apprentices, there is five of us and five of you, so please be prepared for your tests,”
Suddenly he broke out from the group and started walking toward them. He appeared to be his teacher. Soon talking filled the clearing and the phantom who was testing him stood in front of him.
“Hello Rowan, Griffin,” said the Phantom.
“Hello Erik, Ray, this is the leader of the Phantoms, he runs the whole thing,” said Rowan, Ray nodded hello to Erik, his heart was pounding.
“I wanted to test you myself, Ray, for you are an interesting case,” said Erik.
Ray nodded, he new he meant him being a thieve.
“Ok, let begin,” Erik then made the mistake of slapping Ray on his bad shoulder good naturly. Ray yelled out in pain, his arm was now on fire. He stumble backwards, holding his arm. Rowan caught him, holding him steady, Eriks eyes were wide.
“Oh! I’m sorry! I-“ he was cut of by Griffin.
“Don’t worry sir, we had a little… incident with Verenzo. He decided it would be funny to let his second year apprentice beat Ray to a pulp, hes badly bruised,”
Erik nodded, though he still looked annoyed with himself. He would have a word with Verenzo after this. After Ray had regained his feet Erik pulled out a knife, looking at it uncertainly.
“Will you be able to throw a throwing knife with that arm?” asked Erik, looking at the knife, then at Rays arm.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll manage,” said Ray, Erik nodded and held out the knife, Ray took it in his hand, it was perfectly balanced. Erik then pointed to a target on a post that had been set up for Ray, there were identical targets set up for the other apprentices. Most of the apprentices had already thrown there knifes, two out of three had hit the targets.
As Ray raised his arm up to throw the knife he winced, Then he threw it, it barely hit the top of the target, and he couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
“Nice job, don’t look so disappointed! We don’t espect you to hit the very middle of the target! You haven’t even trained in knife throwing yet and you still hit the target, that really good!” said Erik happily, “Now, its time to start the questions,”
Ray nodded nervously, for a few minutes it was complete silence, then Erik cleared his throat and asked the first question.
“What qualities do you have to be a Phantom?”
Ray hesitated, thinking his answer threw before he answered, “Well… I’m fast at running, like most Phantoms.I have good aim… I’m good at moving from place to place without being noticed, and I like the dark…”
“Good answers, next question, what do you think we use are weapons for?” said Erik, putting stress on the word you.
“Um… well I’d say the knifes are for fighting from a distance, while the sword would be for close up combat,” Ray said, quickly thinking of reasons, “Though the knifes could be used to cut ropes or food, while the sword could be used for cutting down branches to use for fire wood and-,” he didn’t get to finish, for Erik raised his hand for silence.
“Good enough, Ray, we don’t need to hear everything. I’m only going to put one more question to you, in a one on one battle, would you just kill your enemy to win, or just disarm him,”
“That depends, if the challenge came from a enemy that is trying to kill you, and is extremely evil, you’ll probably kill, but if it is just with a normal warrior or something, no, you would just disarm,” said Ray confidently.
“Good answer, I’d say you passed this test with flying colors, but you won’t find out until tommorow morning when a messenger comes to your tent,”
Suddenly Erik turned around and nodded to the other testers, who came to stand beside him, and raised his voice in announcement.
“I hope you all did well, your test results will be here in the morning, hopefully you passed and will be trained as Phantoms,” said Erik, then he turned around and walked of into the tents, the rest of the phantoms that did the tests followed behind, and soon they disseapeared.
Ray stood there for a few seconds, then felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to look at Griffin, who was smiling again, “I’m sure you did great!” he said enthusiasticly.
Ray nodded, a grim look on his face, “What if I didn’t pass? What if I fail!”
“I’m sure you did fine,” said Rowan, who was standing beside Griffin, looking in amusement at Ray.
Ray nodded, though he still looked extremely unconvinces.
“Come on, we’ll take you around t he camp,” said Rowan, who turned around and started walking towards the tents again.
Griffin jogged after him, soon catching up to him, Ray trotted on behind him, looking around in amazement at all the things. He saw many Cloaked figures walking through the tents, but none stopped to say hello. Most eyed him with untrust and disbelieve in there eyes, and once he even caught site of Zerroc glaring at him.
Suddenly a man walked up to Rowan, “Rowan! How are you?” he asked.
“Hello Moltar, I’ve been better, but then, hasn’t everyone?” answered Rays mentor, smirking.
“Of course! Oh, and this must be the new apprentice!” roared the man, his voice was extremely loud and he was short compared to most Phantoms Ray had seen, but he still was a intimidating figure.
“Yep, his name is Ray,” said Griffin, looking back at Ray.
“Fine looking lad, I heard he was a former thieve, is this true?” asked Moltar.
“Yeah, We caught him stealing from Princess Andrea, a big job for such a small kid!” laughed Rowan, though he did glance at Ray, his eyes filled with warning that he was not to make a remark.
Ray didn’t understand why, but he new better then to say anything. Rowan spoke again, “Well Moltar, we better get going, I want to get back to the tent to get some things done,” Moltar nodded farewell as Rowan and Griffin turned away, they walked through the tents quickly, obviously knowing there way through easily.
Soon they reached there tent, Ray followed them inside and saw down on the edge of one of the beds. Griffin collapsed into a chair, sighing in exaggeration, Rowan walked over to his desk and pulled open a droar. He pulled out a small green plant, he then turned to Ray.
“Take your shirt of,” He said, Ray quickly tugged of his cloak and then his shirt, Rowan undid the bandages on his shoulder and snapped the thick plant in half, sending a pool of vile smelling liguid seeping onto his shoulder. Ray almost gagged, but before he even could move at all Rowan tied the bandage up.
“There, should not hurt after a while,” he said simply, then turned away and walked towards his desk. He settled down to read, for a few minutes Ray just sat there in silence, the coughed to get Rowans attention.
“Not gonna need some of that liguid in your throat, are you Ray?” muttered Rowan, turning his head to face the boy.
“No, no! I was just wondering if I could go to the woods or something?” he said, shuddering at the thought of the gross liguid dripping down his throat.
“Yes, yes, if you want to,” said Rowan, who had turned back to his reading.
Ray nodded then stood up, quickly walking out of there tent, which was right at the edge of the clearing. He walked towards the woods, and soon the trees closed in around him. Ray soon begang to calm down as he walked through the trees, everything was so peaceful here, you couldn’t stay tense.
Suddenly a branch cracked in the trees beside him, he jumped behind a tree and looked slowly around, and what he saw shocked him.
Princess Andrea stood fighting against two vile looking creatures, who had gagged her and tied up her hands, but still she struggled against them. The two creatures were large and reminded him almost of frogs, they had no eyes and he evil looking green liguid oozing out of there body. There mouths hung open to reveil a set of long black teeth. Ray swung back a round the tree.
He had no idea of what to do, he had no weapons, but he couldn’t leave the princess to be kidnapped by these… things. If he attacked, there was a large chance his head would be lopped of. He moved his head slightly around the tree again and noticed that one of the creatures had a sword on its belts, actually they both did. If he could somehow get the sword….
Ray quickly started moving around, slipping silently through the trees. He started moving in from the side, as he got closer he heard a series of grunts and clicks coming from the creatures and the muffled crys from the princess. He moved in slowly, and as he approached the creatures the girl met his eyes, her widened and filled with what was terror. She shook her head, an obvious gesture that said turn back, but he shook his head, and reached out for the sword.
He had just grabbed the hilt when one of the creatures saw him, the creature roared and the one he was stealing from started to turn. Ray quickly pulled the sword out of the scabbard and jumped back, one of the monsters was swinging a clawed arm at his head, but Ray jumped just in time and it missed him by and inch. They both dropped the princess, who fell to the ground in a heap, and started moving towards him, clicking visciously. Ray held his sword ready, but he new he was hopelessly outnumbered.
Suddenly there was some one else beside him, he turned his head slightly to see Griffin, looking furious, he had his sword ready, and a second later lunged forward. Ray followed, his heart pounding. He swung the sword at the armless creature, it dug straight across his chest, but all that spilled out of the green lguid that was oozing out of him already. The creature swung his claws, but Ray ducked and the claws missed him by a lot. He swung again, chopping of the clawed hand completely, and the showered in the green goo. He shuddered, but suddenly felt something hit him in the side, the monster had swung his fist and now Ray flew sideways through the air, landing on the ground with a loud thump.
He saw the the monster was closing in on him, coming in fast, but suddenly a sword stuck straight through it, and with a gurgling nosie it fell forward, completely dead. Ray looked up to see Erik standing over the monster, his eyes blazing, Griffin stood a ways away, Rowan at his side.
Rowan turned away from there monster, which was already dead and bleeding green goo onto the ground. Rowan walked over towards him, his eyes on fire, Ray could tell he was angry, but then he spotted the princess, and understanding lit his eyes.
The princess was struggling to her feet, choking on the gag that had been stuff in her mouth, a thick gross moldy cloth, Rowan stepped forward and quickly removed it, she started caughing and gagging loudly, then she vomited. Rowan helped her to her feet and pulled of his coat, and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Ray, what happened?” suddenly said Eriks voice.
“Well, sir, I was out for a walk and I heard a branch crack, so I hid, but when I looked around the tree I saw these two… things dragging the princess, I couldn’t just leave her, so I stole this sword and attacked…. Well they more of attacked me,” he said.
“And you thought you could take them on alone?” snapped Rowan, glaring at him.
“Well, I didn’t really have much of a choice, I didn’t know how fast they were traveling, and I didn’t want to go get reinforcements and come back only to find they were gone!” Ray snapped back, then instantly regretted it.
“Ray, don’t ever snap at me,” hissed Rowan, his eyes now only slits of anger.
Ray was hit by a wave of embarrasement, he had let his tounge get away from him and now he was sure he was in trouble. Griffin wass looking at him with widened eyes that seem to scream, Back of, don’t mess with Rowan! And Erik was staring in shock at Ray, Ray lowered his gaze.
“Sorry,” he muttered, and looked up into Rowans eyesm which to his shock was filled with understanding.
“I get that you thought you were doing what you thought was right, but it was a stupid idea, and if Griffin hadn’t spotted you going towards them, you could have been killed. I also do not tollarate snapping and back talk, take that as a warning,” at the last words, his eyes flashed with anger again.
Ray nodded, and Rowan quickly pointed to Griffin , “Griffin, help the girl why I inspect these… things…” he said, and Grrffin quickly took the girl in her arms, Rowan turned towards one of the monsters and rolled it over with his toe, he raised his eyebrows in shock.
“Desert Demon, from the Desert city, there controlled by the inhabitants of the city of flames, a large group of pale tall people that have the ability to turn completely invisible,” he said, mainly to himself, Rays eyes widened.
“But what are they doing trying to steal are princess?” said Griffin, before Ray could ask the same question.
“I don’t know, but we all know that the Desertions have always threatened on war,” answered Rowan, his eyes clouded over with confusion.
Ray nodded, even he new this, the Desertions were always coming across the border that had been set years ago and raiding people, which they sacrificed to there god.
Suddenly Ray realized Eric was speaking.
“Come on, lets get Princess Andrea back to are camp, Rowan, Griffin, I will place her in your care until she can return to the castle,” said Eric, then he turned and walked into the trees.
Rowan and Griffin walked along behind him, supporting the princess, Ray jumped to his feet, and instantly wished he hadn’t, dizziness made him stumble, but soon he regained himself and sprinted after his mentors.
Ray caught up with them just as they entered the camp, The princess had her eyes closed, so Ray couldn’t see her emerald eyes, but he still could see her facial features, but there was something different about her, she didn’t seem to look the same as of what she looked like wshen he had first met her. Rowan and Griffin quickly walked towards there tent, but slowed down as Andrea groaned inwardly. Finally they reached the tent, and as they disseapeared inside Ray noticed that many people were crowding around, whispering to themselves.
Ray ran into the tent and found that Griffin had just helped Andrea lay down, Ray winced as she groaned again. Then Rowan turned towards her, he had been leaning over his desk with one hand on his forhead and one on the desk.
“Griffin and I need to go to the Commanding tent, we need to discuss what has happened, we need you to stay here and watch the princess,” he then turned around before Ray could say anything and taking long stride, walked out of the tent, Ray heard a flurry of questions from outside, but never did hear Rowans voice. Griffin followed him after a glance at the princess.
Ray sat down in one of the chairs stationed in the tent and looked at the princess again, again he felt that there was something different about her, then he realized it, her hair was short! She must have cut it. Suddenly though she blinked her eyes open, and Ray gasped, for he stared now into two bright blue eyes.
“Your not the princess!” he said, and she smiled faintly at him.
“No… I’m her twin,”
I just keep forgetting!
I adore it, its so pretty, and elegant, and pretty, and detailed, and PRETTY! Awesome job *Claps* I sure wish I could draw!