Katrina, The Beginning (2 page)

I countered Gunter’s move,
our swords sparking once, twice. Out of the corner of my eye, I
could see servants and my other brothers gathering. Guards were now
yelling encouragement from above.

“That’s it, lad, don’t let
Gunter push you about!”

Gunter was strong, but I
was fast and that easily made up for his extra years of training. I
had always been a quick study and even before I was allowed to
train with my brothers, I had mirrored the movements made during
their mock battles, over and over again. Although Gunter had
trained all of us, his eyes showed surprise at my proficiency; and
at something in me he hadn’t seen before- pure rage. The rage
brought an adrenalin surge that made me stronger, quicker, and more
alert. We fought across the compound. Then Gunter made a mistake,
and I seized my chance. As he lunged, I easily jumped aside. As he
whirled by me, I whacked him on the back of the head with the hilt
of my sword.

Gunter grunted, turned, and
charged. I ducked his blow. Too late Gunter realized his mistake;
his momentum had brought him closer than he wanted. With the
new-found power of my anger, I hit him hard in the gut with my
fist. Gunter bent over in with a gasp of pain and shock, and as I
backed away, the now crowded courtyard erupted in cheers and
laughter.

“I guess your little
brother showed you a thing or two, Gunter,” a guard shouted from
above.

Gunter raised his head, his
hands still on his knees, and yelled, “Don’t you all have work to
do? Be gone, morning comes quickly!”

Still breathing hard, I
remained in attack stance, ready to continue if I must. The
adrenalin still rushing though me would enable me to take on
all
of my brothers, one-by-one if I needed
to. I would not be denied. The coming journey was my destiny, now
more than ever.

Gunter slowly stood and put
his sword back in its scabbard.

“Well, little brother,
you’ve learned well and I have obviously misjudged your skill. You
have just earned the right to join us. So it will be the two of us,
plus Thomas and Simon on this journey. Be ready, we leave before
dawn.

I rose with a start, not
even sure what day it was. My head throbbed, and just as I was
about to ring for Sarah, she rushed into the room, a full breakfast
tray in her hands.

She dragged me out of bed,
peeled me out of my rumpled dress, and helped me wash, all the
while bemoaning the state of my beautiful hair. While I ate, Sarah
told me about a fight the night before between Quinn and Gunter.
She didn’t know what started the confrontation, only that had Quinn
won, and everyone had survived intact.

By the time I had finished
my huge breakfast, plus a large goblet of very fresh Crimson, Sarah
had finished braiding my hair back away from my face.

I rose and dressed myself
in a simple, functionally tasteful traveling outfit of the softest
lambskin leggings, riding boots, and a beautifully embroidered
emerald green over-tunic. Sarah then pushed me in front the mirror,
a gift from my father on my seventeenth birthday. Had it been so
long since I looked at myself? I hardly recognized the girl in the
mirror. The tall young woman looking back at me looked surprised
too!

I had to admit, as Sarah
often told me, I
was
pretty. My golden
brown hair shone in the candlelight, and my green eyes, full of
wonder at my appearance, complemented my outfit perfectly. I felt
strong and ready for whatever would come.

The Vampire as a species
has undergone centuries of evolution and a progression of that
development is our ability to slow down the process of aging.
Beginning in our seventeenth year, our metabolism slows and we
begin to age very gradually. For the next hundred or so years my
body would undergo only subtle changes, changes that would leave me
looking more mature, but essentially the same; unless of course I
didn’t feed.
I would have to apologize to
Quinn about yesterday. I also wanted to ask him about the fight.
Maybe it would be better to let him bring it up, I
decided.

It was May in Germany, and
although mornings were still cool, the wind was sweet with hints of
jasmine in the soft mountain breeze. The birds were already awake,
singing and going about their business. The beginnings of sunrise
made the eastern sky glow with soft bands of pink and
orange.

I closed my eyes and drew a
deep breath. In my mind I could still hear my father’s voice
asking, “What do you ‘see
’
daughter?” When I was small, I
didn’t understand what he meant, but soon the purpose of this
action became clear. I was gifted with an extraordinary sense of
smell, one even stronger and more refined than the normal vampire
acute version of that sense. With my gift, I could ‘see’ almost
everything—humans, vampires, and animals alike—and was able to
discern their numbers.

Later, I was able to
identify individuals, using each being’s unique scent (not always
pleasant) as a marker. I was able to differentiate between horses,
dogs, sheep, goats, and the like. When outside the grounds, I could
add my acute hearing to my sensing, and tell not only the kinds of
animals or people, but also how far away and in what direction they
were. If I was patient and practiced, Father said it would become a
very useful gift indeed. I quickly learned, once I found and
identified a scent, I was able to somehow store and retrieve it for
reference later. I have never forgotten one.

“Katrina,” my father called
as he walked towards me. Tall and regal, he looked handsome in his
all-black attire, which included a hat and a cape. His slightly
graying hair fell to his shoulders.

“Yes Father?” I replied, as
I hastened to meet him.

“Are you ready? Did you
have gifts packed for everyone?”

Although it was customary
to give gifts of friendship to his Lordship the High Regent, and
his wife the Lady Margarite, I had also ordered Sarah to pack extra
trinkets and sundries in case we needed them along the
way.

“Yes Father, everything is
in order.”

It must have taken all
night for the servants to complete all the preparations, I
thought.

“Then let us be on our way.
The journey is long and we know not what awaits us. Why his
Lordship demands such secrecy I don’t know, but I’m anxious to
arrive early and have some time to seek counsel with others before
everyone else arrives.”

“Yes, Father.” I felt as if
I was rushing behind him like a young pup, in order to keep up with
his long stride.

Then I spotted Quinn and my
heart started to race.  He was standing by the horses, my
beautiful bay mare and his dark grey gelding, their manes
fluttering in the early morning breeze. He was talking to Thomas
and hadn’t noticed me yet.

Why was I reacting to him
this way? He’d been my Watcher for a year now, and after all, we
had grown up together. He was just my Quinn.
My
Quinn? Where had that come from? He’d always been
just
Quinn. I was drawing closer now and
just as I stepped within a few feet of him, Thomas stopped talking
and looked over. Quinn then turned and our eyes held for a moment
before he looked away.

“My Lady,” they both said
at the same time, and made a slight bow of their heads. My Lady?
Not, good morning, Katrina, or why are you late? This was all too
strange and I was determined to get to the bottom of it soon, but
just as I was about to remark on their new attitude, the castle
guard yelled out.

“Caravan
approaching!”

Count Philepe Bistodeau,
his son Gerhardt, and their entourage cantered through the west
gate.

“Oh, good, Fredrik. I was
afraid you would already be gone,” Philepe slowly circled his mount
to a walk .

“We were just about to
depart, Philepe,” Father extended his hand in greeting.

“Excellent, we can travel
together. There’s safety in numbers, and we can talk along the
way.”

Then Philepe turned his
gaze to me.

“Ah, is this Katrina? How
beautiful you have become. You remember my son Gerhardt don’t
you?”

I did. A pompous, spoiled,
self-absorbed peacock, as I recalled; but I greeted him, “Yes, of
course. How are you, Gerhardt?”

“I’m getting better all the
time. I look forward to a long journey together.”

I managed
not
to
show my distaste as I thought of being regaled by his
self-aggrandizing tales of daring-do for days on end. If I heard
him talk about how great he was one more time, I would be
nauseous.

Quinn brought over my
horse, Nulla, and helped me mount. After I was safely in place he
gazed up at me and whispered, “Don’t worry Kat; I’ll always be here
to save you.”

Then he winked at me, went
over to his horse and mounted.

I smiled and turned Nulla
toward the east gate, positioning us so Quinn was on one side and
Simon on the other. Gerhardt then had no option but to ride with
someone else.

I turned to Quinn to say
thanks, but he was looking straight ahead, a wry smile on his face.
I know I would have laughed out loud had I been privy to his
thoughts.

Much later, I was relieved
when finally Gerhardt rode by us and joined our fathers. I had
endured hours of his trying to engage me in conversation. His
surrender was a small victory, but a very satisfying
one.

For the next three days
there was no privacy and no chance to speak with Quinn alone. We
would arrive in Salzburg the day after tomorrow, about which I felt
both excited and fearful. Having the young royal vampires together
at one time and place had never happened before. Up to now, we had
only briefly met with the other European clans to discuss rogue
vampire killings or other clan business. I’d never seen most of the
other clans. Of course Father had visited all of them, responding
whenever help was needed, and knew those members who had been sent
to Council. Along the way I had heard my father speaking to Philepe
about how ‘on edge’ all the clans have been. The council is keeping
the peace for now, but rivals are arguing among themselves over a
new territory across the sea in the New World.

Where will all this lead?
Was it true they intended to send us off to that New World they
talked about? The Viking vampires had been going there for hundreds
of years and had sent an expedition as recently as two years ago. I
hoped there would be an opportunity to hear the tales of their
exploits. These were not things that normally interested me, but
the thought of young vampires from several of our clans being
offered the opportunity of starting a new one in this New World,
was exciting. I knew I wanted to go. Now all I had to do was
convince my father.

Finally, after almost two
weeks on the road, we were in sight of Salzburg. The view was
stunning. I had no idea a place could be so grand, so beautiful. We
rode through the city to the Regent’s palace, located not too far
outside the city gates. We had no time to linger now, but passing
the shops, seeing the lovely outfits adorning the women and the
couples having lunch, made me wish I had time to stroll the streets
and explore all the wonders that abounded there.

“Daydreaming
again?”

Quinn’s voice jerked me
back to reality.

“Yes, and I wish.…” Then I
realized these were the first words we’d spoken for days, and I
wondered where Thomas and Simon were.

He said, as if reading my
mind, “Thomas and Simon are consulting with Gunter about how best
to guard you and his Lordship while in the Palace. What were you
about to say?”

I paused.
“Nothing.”

My heart sank. I hadn’t
been alone with him for days, and now that I did have a chance, I
couldn’t think of anything to say. What a fool I was!

Quinn turned to me, and the
look on his face showed, he couldn’t think of anything
either.

Finally I spoke. “I was
thinking about the reason, we were traveling, the Council’s coming
announcement about the Americas. You’d be coming with me, right?
That is, if they really are sending us to start a New World clan, I
mean.”

“Nothing is sure, Katrina.
What we’ve all been hearing is just speculation. The High Regent
may have called the Council together to tell us something
completely different. He may even forbid anyone to go to this ‘New
World’ as you put it. But I will say this- wherever you are, is
where I’ll be, until I am no longer.”

Then he looked ahead, to
see Thomas was returning.

Wherever
you are, is where I’ll be
, he did love me. I was sure of it
now.

CHAPTER TWO

The roadway turned, and as
we entered a dark forest I suddenly felt the weight of impending
doom surrounding us.

“Listen
,” I told myself. “
Use all
your senses
.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I
could feel Quinn and Thomas tense as they realized what I was
doing. They slowly drew their swords, and as they did, so did
Gunter, Simon, and Father. I could ‘see’ many horses and many
humans.