The Golden Scepter - Chapter One

" Well, here we go," Linneaus chimed as he stepped behind Elais. Corei hesitantly walked up behind him. Replacing her hood, Elais stepped into the portal. There was a spark of light, and she was gone. Linneaus stepped through, light devoured him instantly. Corei put her hand to the light, it rippled as the water in a pond. Holding her breath she put a foot forward. It was lost in the light. Pulling on her hood, she jumped inside. There was a silent explosion of light behind her, and the portal disappeared from the plaza.

All of Crest lie asleep; undisturbed.

Maryin shivered in the large canopied bed. The thin silk covers were doing nothing to thwart the cool air that was entering the keep from unseen cracks, cracks that had bee acquired ever since Brodens Keep was built many centuries before. She pushed the covers over her, trying to retain as much of her body heat as possible. A candle flicked on a large oaken table in the center of the room. She had requested it to be lit while she slept the night. The maid had refused her, and had stifled the candle anyway. Maryin had relit it by striking some of the loose flagstones of the floor together above the wick. As much as she hated magic, she hated castles. They were just too cold for her kind.

They had been greeted by no one when they had arrived at the gates of the castle. But Xavier only whispered a silent prayer, beseeching Edvard to allow them passage. Somehow the strange thing worked, and a hole in the magic around the keep had been dwindled so they could pass. Xavier had let the griffin fly off, saying it would come to them again when it was time to leave. Upon entering the keep they were flooded by a quartet of maids taking their cloaks, offering them food, clothes, volunteering to wash their clothes, do Maryin's hair, led them to their rooms, offer them wine, breads, desserts, and everything imaginable. She hadn't expected any of this. They were being treated as if they were nobility. They had taken her deflecting dust away from her, claiming it would be too dangerous to use while at the keep.

And Xavier was powerless, since all the spells around the keep prevented anyone with power inside to use theirs. She actually did feel safe, even if she had to admit she didn't care for magic.

Maryin quite fidgeting with her covers and rose from her bed. A shock of cold air immediately attacked her from all around. Luckily, one of the maids had been thoughtful enough to wash her cloak and place in her room. Acting quickly Maryin donned her cloak from its stand of polished marble, and walked to the threshold of the room. She slipped into the woolen slippers the maid had left for her there. She pulled open the large wooden door and peered into the corridor beyond. There were no guards patrolling since guards would be useless in a keep guarded by magic. She stepped into the stone corridor drawing her cloak around her.

A row of blue stain-glassed windows ran along her left. She looked into them, but could see nothing of the night. Walking ahead, the windows turned to blue, orange, and then purple. When she had stopped and looked behind her, she noted with astonishment that the windows had disappeared completely, replaced with a solid wall of white marble. Maryin refused to gasp at the workings of magic, and continued down the corridor.

She turned, and arrived to a flight of steep steps. There was but one candle to aide in her descent, and not hand rails to support her.

Maryin walked down the flight, unaware of the of the tapestries and shields that decked the walls around her, as she kept her eyes on the landing below.