Reyin

Below is the first chapter of my new novel, Queen of Men. It is certainly still a rough draft, but I thought I'd see if I could get some initial reactions to it. I have continued to develop the story, and am quite happy with it at the moment. But it will be a little while before I post more details about it. :)

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Reyin

The children ran in circles and screamed in delight. Reyin chased his sister around the yard as their mother smiled. It had felt like an age since the skylords had seen fit to bring sunshine. Fourteen days of grey clouds and harsh rain had preceded this, and only on such a long-awaited day would she allow her children to run about in the mud.
Birds flew about and chirped, but the mother paid no mind, her thoughts returning to times long lost. She enjoyed the moment’s rest, though unaware that they were not alone. There was something nearby that no woman or child had seen: a pair of eyes in the dark of the forest, watching the boy as he ran. The hands reached into a pocket and removed a small glass vial. The green liquid within it bubbled wildly.
The mother had watched for nine years as Reyin had grown from infant to boy, and she sought to not miss a day of his maturing, as it felt only so recently that he breathed his first breath. Yet she frowned upon the memories of his first days, as so often she had thought him lost; his body would convulse and then lie still, only to awaken again. She believed he would not last, yet the days passed by and his heart tread on, and for that, his mother loved him more than all else. He was her marvel.
She had kept his presence silent, for she knew the Queen would not allow him to linger, as no man is able to do. There were underground groups of Men, as she had learned from the mothers of the village, and the time was near that she would send him there, for it is better to be in hiding than to be of the shackles and made to work endless hours. She was glad her second child was a girl, for that one she could keep. Elna was a lasting joy, while Reyin would fade. In her heart, the mother had already begun preparing herself for the day she would no longer have a son.
For the moment, she drowned these thoughts in the sounds of her children as they ran about. She smiled as Reyin approached and took a drink of water from the cup beside her.
“Mother, won’t you come run with us?” he asked, but she smiled and shook her head.
“I have not the vigor of your youth,” she replied. The boy laughed and returned to chasing his sister.
Then the girl screamed, and the woman lurched forward. Her son had fallen into the mud with a splash, his body turning limp. The mother picked him out of the mud and laid him on her lap. His eyes were vacant.

* * *

Reyin saw a darkness around him, and he sought to scream, but there was no voice in his throat. A form appeared before him with the palest of skin and dark dreadlocked hair. He sneered at the boy with a devilish grin and spoke in harsh tones.
“Mordi Thorus a lin orra. You will not escape me this time Thorus,” he said, laughing cruelly. “For this time I found you first. Your blood shall be spilled this day, this very hour, nearly this very moment. And you, Marith, you will not be spared either.”
Reyin suddenly noticed the woman beside him, her face fair and her smile true. She reached her hand down and took his in hers.
“He cannot harm you, my boy,” she said softly, “for his powers are not of your world. You are the hope of humanity, and through you the nations will prosper and endure through the darkness. He fears you and the light you will shine into the night, for he is a night dweller. Do not fear him.”
The man scowled at her and unsheathed a long sword. “Foolish woman,” he said, “his mind has not yet returned to its true self. He may have been the world’s savior before, but in this life, with this mind, he cannot save them. He cannot stop the world from perishing.”
“The hope of the humans is not yet lost,” Marith said.
The man sneered at Reyin. “Mark my words, Thorus. Whether you know that name or not, you will fall this day, and your kingdom will remain a darkened memory. The Soul Keepers will fail.”
“Son, no, please!” came his mother’s screams, and then he saw her once more.

* * *

“Oh, thank the lords!” she said, holding her son to her chest. “I thought I had lost you!”
His sister placed her arms around him, and the three of them sat in a quiet embrace. The mother gentled kissed each of her children on the head, and smiled, wiping tears from her cheeks.
“Perhaps the lords do shine upon us,” she said.
Elna then turned her head toward the forest, and screamed.
A figured walked toward them from the forest; his skin was pale and his hair was dark. He held a sword in his muscular arms. Reyin turned to look, then his body wrenched, holding tightly to his mother.
“Who are you? What do you want?” the mother yelped. He did not answer.
Suddenly, the mother and her children were surrounded on all sides by several figures, both men and women. They held swords in their hands and stood in defensive positions, facing the pale figure as he approached. They moved to stand in front of the mother.
“Protect Thorus,” they said, or chanted, as the man came lunging at them. His sword tore through the first defender with ease. A defender swung at him, and his sword passed through the man as though he were not really there. The man swung his blade and lopped off the defender’s head.
“He has the beacon!” the defenders cried with desperation, but still they stood in defense. One by one they swung their swords in vain, only to be chopped and pierced and laid out upon the grass.
A figure suddenly appeared beside the mother and her children.
“It’s you!” Reyin screeched as he sprang to his feet. Marith smiled gently at him and took his hand.
“Do not worry, love,” she said. “The beacon is not the most powerful of magical artifacts.”
Only four defenders stood before them and the attacker. One by one they fell, and then there were none. “Your time has come, Thorus,” the man said, “for all your shields have cracked!”
“One last shield remains, oh weakened assassin,” Marith said. “You will not touch him.”
“Will I not? My blade thirsts for more, and I cannot now deprive it!”
He lunged forward, but suddenly stopped and stood up straight, his sword dropping to the grass.
“You should listen to me, foolish one,” Marith said. A sword in her hand now protruded from his stomach. “For you have killed your last mark. You have failed.”
The man fell to the side and then was still.
Marith turned and smiled at Reyin, and he couldn’t help but smile back. His mother and sister stared at him, wide-eyed. “There, my boy, you are safe now,” Marith said gently. “Come to me now and I will hold you close, like I did in the days of the last age.”
Reyin could not recall ever being held by such a woman, but at that moment, he did not care to question it. She took him in her arms and vowed never to let go. Reyin turned and gazed upon the lifeless body of his attacker.
“Who was he?” I asked.
“A fool, Thorus, and nothing more. Only the most foolish would dare bring harm to my love.”
She kissed his cheek and looked into his eyes, smiling.
“For, my dear Thorus, it is well known that only I have the right to smite you.”
A blade suddenly passed through him, and he fell to the ground with a painful squeal. Reyin tasted blood and saw only blurs. Dark figures appeared around him, and Marith vanished into the air. The dark figures stooped above Reyin’s fading form and spoke with fearful voices, ignoring the wailing of his mother and sister.
“She was the assassin,” one said. “The other was simply the tool. She has done it. They have once again sent our king away.”
“Indeed. Now we must wait for the final attempt. Only one remains.”
And with that, Reyin breathed his last.