Gorinthians

This is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this
novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously.

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Gorinthians

Copyright © 2010 by Justin
Lee Mitchell.

All rights
reserved.

Edited by Marlaine
Mitchell

Book design by Justin Lee
Mitchell

Smashwords
Edition

Chapter 1

It was a cold spring morning
in the mountain city of Chasel Ri’ Aven. The leaves were just
beginning to bud on the trees that lined the wide streets of the
large city. Large granite buildings that towered three stories into
the air surrounded the trees. The mountain city had the appearance
of a city that had been planned before the construction began, with
small gardens scattered throughout the streets that intersected
regularly to form a large grid.

The city itself was alive
and bustling with activity as gardeners made their way to the Rajan
Gardens outside of the large granite walls that enclosed the city.
Throughout the centuries, the gardeners had learned that the garden
was much more submissive in the early morning hours.

In a small meadow outside of
the city walls, a young man of medium height was idly leaning
against a lone, dead pine tree as he read from a large
leather-bound book. He had the lean build of an energetic person.
He wore black trousers with a grey shirt laced up to his chin and
soft leather boots that ended halfway up his calves, both of which
were adorned with a large dagger. His blue eyes had an intelligent
light burning in them, giving his well-defined features an aura of
intensity. His short, brown hair was slightly curly with just a
hint of blonde scattered throughout the top.

The sound of approaching
voices drifted down one of the many paths that led to the small
clearing. Celdic sighed, placing a bookmark on the page that he had
been reading and regretfully closed the book. Given half the
chance, Celdic would spend the rest of his life studying every book
that he could lay his hands on.

Celdic watched the
well-traveled dirt path that descended from the mountainside to the
east expectantly as the voices grew louder. He could recognize his
sister's tone, and guessed that Cha'le was arguing with Lendel.
From the time that he had learned to walk, he and Lendel had done
everything together, half of the time accompanied by their sisters.
When all four of them were together, the neighboring farms usually
kept a sharp eye out for the mischief that was sure to come. Cha'le
was perhaps the most compulsive mischief-maker that the mountain
people had ever seen, finding the most creative and unexpected
opportunities for trouble. Lendel's sister, Li, was the only one
that had any control over her when she was at her worst.

As the three figures
rounded a corner in the path, Celdic saw Cha'le and Lendel walking
next to each other, with Li following closely behind. Cha'le had
the face of an angel, both beautiful and completely without guile,
a feature she used to her utmost advantage. She was slightly taller
than Celdic, a fact she loved to point out. Her slender build gave
her an almost fragile look, though no one who knew her would
describe her as delicate. Her long honey-blonde hair flowed down
the front of each shoulder. She wore the same clothes as Celdic, as
well as Li and Lendel. She had spent the night at Li's house,
claiming she needed extra practice quieting her
yar
, something Li had developed to a
science. Celdic knew it was only an excuse to spend more time with
Lendel. The two of them had grown very close throughout the past
year, to the point they were almost inseparable. Lendel was almost
Celdic's opposite, standing a head taller with broad shoulders that
were at least an axe-handle across. He had light-colored hair that
reached mid-back and blue eyes that were already wrinkled with
laugh lines. Though he affected not to notice, most of the girls
their age were completely besotted with him. He had a strong chin
framed by high cheekbones. His cheekbones accentuated a broad smile
that was almost always on his face. He was without peer on the
combat field, with the exception of Celdic. The two of them had
spent their youth dreaming of being Guardians and they had learned
everything they thought would help them be selected when the time
came.

"I'll tell you what," Lendel
was still facing Cha'le, with a cunning look on his handsome
features, "If I can beat Celdic on the combat field today, you can
cut my hair. If I can't, then you have to tell Celdic what Li said
about him last night."

"No!" Li cried out in
mortification. "Cha'le, don't you dare!"

Li was as different from
Cha'le as Lendel was to Celdic. She was shaped perfectly, as if
someone came up with the ultimate idea of what women should look
like and Li was the outcome. Where Cha'le looked innocent, Li was
ripe and inviting. Where Cha'le was slender and seemingly delicate,
Li was full-figured like a rose in bloom. Cha'le's voice was soft
and mellow, while Li's voice was rich and vibrant. Her entire form
seemed to embody the term appealing.

He had been having an
increasingly difficult time when Li was around. When he felt her
eyes on him, his words would tumble out of his mouth in disjointed
stutters as his ears burned in embarrassment. He still did not
understand how a few years could change so much. It seemed only a
few months ago that he and Lendel had left their sisters behind as
they made camp at the Altar of Gaurdia. Now, he found himself
looking forward to the classes that he shared with Li with a sense
of painful anticipation. Cha'le found his sudden interest in her
friend extremely entertaining, often asking him if he thought it
would be a good idea to have Li stay the night at their house, or
help him with some of his exercises.

Cha'le was watching Lendel
with a small smile on her plump lips, "I'll think about it." She
said at last, looking at Celdic with the gleam of mischief in her
large eyes.

Celdic cleared his throat
loudly, "I think that we had better get going or we will be late,"
he said, glaring at Cha'le. "Tarya Selindria is really good at
helping us remember why it is in our best interest to be on
time."

Cha'le made an indelicate
sound in her throat, turning to follow him as he began walking down
the trail to the city. "A sound beating isn't a scratch on what
Tarya Plato did last time
I
was late," Cha'le said with a shudder.

"Oh?" Lendel asked
curiously, "What did he do?"

"Do you know that cabinet in
the storage room behind his class?" At Lendel's nod, Cha'le
continued. "He told me I could make up for lost time by testing the
third year student's defense elixirs. The first one made me see
things that were not there, like giant spiders and creatures that I
don't even have a name for. I passed out when a scorpion larger
than you, bit my head off."

"They're teaching third
years how to make elixirs that do that?" Lendel asked
incredulously.

"No," Cha'le shook her head,
"He was giving me the ones that he thought were made wrong. He
shook me awake and poured another vial down my throat before I was
even coherent, and I spent the next five minutes puking up my
shoes." Cha'le shuddered again, looking sick at the memory.
"Suffice it to say, I am never late to his class
anymore."

"I can imagine," Lendel said
fervently. "Tarya Heckel is too out of phase with reality to notice
when we are late to Defensive Compounds." Lendel barked a laugh. "I
heard that he was hit by a Transient Wave in one of the Gardens and
he never really found his way back to the Physical
Realm."

"That's not funny!" Li
snapped at Lendel angrily, her large eyes flashing. "He could have
died!"

"Yeah, but he didn't,"
Lendel said pointedly, "So we can laugh about it all we
want."

Li rolled her eyes
despairingly, "Why did all of the brains have to come to me?" Li
asked the sky above her. "I could have spared some for
Lendel."

They wound their way through
the thick evergreen forest that surrounded the city of Chasel Ri’
Aven, squinting as the sun began peaking above the western horizon.
The trees had been cleared away from the city walls for five
hundred meters in every direction, giving the city watch that
patrolled the towering walls a clear view. Lendel caught up to
Celdic as they broke free of the trees. He glanced back to where
Cha'le had fallen behind to hold a whispered conference with
Li.

"Have you had any more
dreams?" Lendel asked quietly, glancing sideways at
Celdic.

Shaking his head, Celdic
stared straight ahead, "I haven't had any dreams for a month now."
Celdic reached down and plucked the head off the waist high wheat
that surrounded the walls. He heard Lendel grunt with satisfaction.
"I had a vision."

Lendel stopped in his
tracks, staring at Celdic oddly. "A vision?" Celdic heard the doubt
in his voice, and wondered if he should go on. Motioning Lendel to
keep following, Celdic glanced back to make sure his sister and Li
were still behind them.

"I was washing my face in
the wash basin last night, before I went to bed," Celdic explained
quietly. "I was looking at my reflection in the basin by the
candlelight, when my reflection suddenly disappeared and I saw a
man dressed all in black walking toward me. It was as if I was one
of the Guardians, and I went to apprehend him. When I came closer,
I could see raw power radiating in his eyes. I moved toward him to
disable him and then everything went black," Celdic finished
hoarsely. He had described the details of what happened, but he
could not convey the feeling of helplessness that had filled him as
he watched the figure walk toward him, radiating like a sun blazing
in the night.

Celdic glanced at Lendel
expressionlessly as he felt a tingling sensation pass through his
body. The tingling sensation stopped when Lendel saw Celdic staring
at him stonily.

"I just wanted to check your
system for anything unusual," Lendel explained defensively. "It's
altogether possible that Cha'le just slipped something in your food
yesterday."

Celdic looked away sourly.
"It wasn't a hallucination." Cha'le never took advantage of his
inability to use
yar
. He could feel what other people did with their
yar
, but he could not use
his own for anything. Cha'le thought of exploiting his handicap no
more than she would a person born without a leg, which only made
him feel worse.

Unfortunately, most of the
subjects they were learning this year at the Tar Ri' San required
practical application. Celdic was forced to sit in class and
observe the other students practice their technique without ever
being able to practice himself. His only real joy this year was
Combat Training with Tarya Selindria, where she alone could defeat
him.