Chapter 1: The Beginning

 

The small wooden boat rocked from side to side in the rough water. They were entering a fierce storm. The wind blew the tiny vessel while the rain pelted its four occupants from every side. As the young girl clutched her mother’s side, a huge wave overturned the boat and the people fell out, separating the girl from her mother. The girl struggled to keep her head above the water but to no avail. She tried her hardest to surface again but only sank further down. She descended slowly into the sea, fighting the darkness that threatened to envelope her. Suddenly, she was looking down at an unfamiliar world. There was a small black dot that seemed to be growing. As it expanded, it shrouded the world until there was nothing left but the darkness. Instinct told the girl that the darkness was evil itself. Then, as the darkness reached out to cover her as well, she saw that it started to consume itself, leaving nothingness in its wake. The darkness reached out and ensnared her and she began to scream…

Ruth screamed and sat up straight in her bed. The flower patterned comforter had fallen to the floor as she thrashed about. She realized that she was soaked with sweat.

What a nightmare, she thought. It was the fourth time this week she had that dream. Come to think of it, Ruth had this dream regularly during the last two months. Ever since I turned sixteen a few months ago, she thought.

Ruth sighed. She needed some water. She climbed out of bed and crept downstairs to the kitchen, careful not to wake her parents. She didn’t want to bother them with her dream again. After all, it was just a dream, right?

She went to the cabinet beside the sink and removed a glass. She tip toed to the refrigerator to use the automatic ice maker and water dispenser. As the water trickled into her glass, Ruth caught movement with her peripheral vision. She turned her head to the window above the sink but saw nothing but the deep night. She must have imagined it, but Ruth could have sworn that she saw a shadow move from the corner of her mind.

When she returned to her room, she picked up her comforter, straightened it out and climbed in. She thought it would take hours to fall asleep again. However, Ruth was fast asleep within minutes. She did not dream any more that night.

Ruth sat down at the kitchen table for breakfast the next day. Her mother, Katherine, handed her a bowl with cereal already in it. Ruth poured milk on her cereal. She was already dressed for school. She took a drink of the orange juice sitting in front of her wishing that it was coffee.

“Are you O.K.?” asked Katherine.

“Just tired,” Ruth replied.

“You had that dream again, didn’t you?”

Ruth nodded as her father entered the kitchen. He shook his head and sat down next to her. She figured that he had heard the short conversation between her and her mother.

“You should have told us about it last night,” Andrew stated.

“I didn’t want to bother you with it again,” said Ruth.

“It wouldn’t have been a bother. You should know that,” Katherine responded.

Ruth did not bother to reply. She stood up, put her bowl and glass in the sink, kissed her parents goodbye, and walked out of the house to go to school. As she approached the end of the driveway she waved to her two best friends, Ken and Stacey. The three of them walked down the paved path through the woods to school together every day.

Ken and Stacey had known each other far longer than Ruth had known either of them. Being neighbors, they could not remember a time when they did not know one another. When they were younger, they had decided that they would one day marry. The adults thought that this was cute and dismissed it as a child’s game. Throughout the years Ken was always by Stacey’s side, ready to lend a helping hand or be a shoulder to cry on if needed. Deep down inside, their parents knew that they would be together forever.

“You had that dream again didn’t you?” inquired Ken. He always seemed to know when she had that awful dream. “That means you’ll be taking a nap in English class again, huh?”

Ruth gave him a dirty look before turning to Stacey. “What did you write your paper on?”

“I wrote it on Hamlet’s relationship with his mother. You?” asked Stacey.

“I wrote about fate and destiny and how it relates to Romeo and Juliet.”

Ken snorted at this. Stacey tried to hide her giggling. They both knew well that Ruth did not believe in things like fate and destiny. In fact, if you couldn’t touch it, smell it, or see it, Ruth did not believe it existed.

Stacey thought that much of Ruth’s belief system came from the fact that she was adopted. When Stacey and Ruth had first met Ruth told her about how she had been found by Katherine and Andrew, washed up on a beach not to far away from Bridgeport muttering “Ru, ru, ru”. When she was found, she was wearing strange clothes and soaked to the bone.  She had nearly drowned.  Katherine and Andrew took her to the local hospital. When she regained consciousness she had no memory of her past, including her name. Katherine and Andrew took her in and eventually adopted her. They called her Ruth.

Even though she was adopted and had no memory of who she was, Ruth had a good life. Her parents were wealthy and they had no other children. Ruth was able have just about anything she wanted. A year after she left the hospital, she wanted to learn how to ride a horse. She also wanted to learn archery and how to defend herself. She said that it felt right. All of her teachers told her that she was a natural.

Not only was Ruth athletic, but she was beautiful as well. She had long wavy dark auburn hair that always seemed to fall in all the right places. Her small thin frame allowed her to move quickly and her height permitted her to reach the top shelf. However, it was her eyes that people remembered long after they had met. They were a perfect almond shape and the most beautiful shade of violet. They would sometimes appear haunted, as if a great sadness was hidden behind them unknown to the owner. During those times, the color would change to match the deep purple of a thunderstorm.

The three friends made their way out of the woods and down towards town and school. As they reached the school building, the homeroom bell rang. They went their separate ways knowing they would see each other through out the day.

When they met up again, it was for English class with Mr. Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins was a cool teacher that many students liked. He was however, something of a mystery. While many teachers in the private school would talk about parts of their lives outside of school, Mr. Jenkins never did. He was always calm and collected and could be counted on in a tight spot.

Mr. Jenkins was tall and thin but he was all muscle. Many students had seen him break up fights in the hallway that no other teacher would dare go near. When one first looked at him, all they would see is how skinny he looked. No one could guess that under his brown hair and deep brown eyes lay unbelievable strength and agility.

“Hold to your papers until the end of class,” Mr. Jenkins said as the class settled down. He ran his hand through his thick black hair. “We finished our Shakespeare unit a day earlier than I planned, so in order to help you clear your minds and empty your heads, I’ll just have to tell you a story. This story comes from where I grew up.”

At these words most of the class sat up straight. Mr. Jenkins never mentioned anything that wasn’t school related. Great, thought Ruth. Maybe I can get a nap in after all.

“This story begins with the birth of a princess,” began Mr. Jenkins. “She was a beautiful baby, much loved by her parents. Needless to say, she grew up fast and anyone who knew her knew she was destined for greatness.

As wonderful as life was for her, a shadow lay over the castle. Yes, I said castle. I mean, come on! Where else would a princess live? Anyway, no one knew where the shadow came from, how long it had been there, or who cast it. All that was known was that this shadow was trouble.

On the princesses’ eighth birthday she wanted to go to the beach and sail on the ocean. Both her parents and a knight,” Mr. Jenkins raised an eyebrow, looking at the class, daring them to interrupt.

“Both her parents, a knight, I think his name was Sir Peter, and the princess climbed into a small wooden sailboat after the picnic lunch. The princess was delighted and wanted to go further out. Her parents obliged, they wanted to make this day special for their daughter.

They sailed further away until a storm hit. They got lost in the storm. It had been widely believed that the storm, which was always there, was a portal to another world. They sailed right into the center of the storm. The Royal family and the knight all disappeared. They haven’t been seen since. Many knights volunteered to venture out and try to find them. They too disappeared and were never seen again.”

There was an intake of breath from the class and then silence. Suddenly, there was a scream and a loud crashing noise. Ruth had fallen out of her seat and onto the floor. She had fallen asleep and had that dream again. Mr. Jenkins was there in a flash and helped Ruth up. Who knew the man could move so fast?

Shaking, Ruth got back into her seat. She covered her face with her hands to try to calm herself down.

“Are you alright?” Mr. Jenkins asked.

Ruth could only nod. She was very shaken up. She noticed that the entire class was staring at her curiously.

The bell rang and the room emptied. Ken and Stacey waited for Ruth in the hallway.

“It’s just like my dream,” she said. “The little wooden boat and the storm, it’s the same.”

“What dream?” her teacher asked.

“The one I just had. I had it last night too,” Ruth replied. She looked at Mr. Jenkins. He had an inquiring look on his face and concern in his eyes. She told him about the reoccurring dream. Mr. Jenkins had a surprised expression on his face when she finished. It was as if he knew something but wouldn’t tell her.

“What would you do if I told you that the story I just told you was true?”

Ruth looked at him quizzically. Suddenly she remembered that she had another class to get to and her friends were waiting. She reached into her backpack, pulled out her paper, and handed it to her teacher. Then she got up and left the room.

“Ruth,” Mr. Jenkins called. “What is this?”

“The assignment,” replied Ruth.

“What language is it?”

“What do you mean ‘What language is it’?” Ruth pondered.

“I only ask because it’s not English.”

Mr. Jenkins handed her paper back so she could take a look. Ken and Stacey looked at the paper over each of Ruth’s shoulders. They instantly saw what Mr. Jenkins was talking about. The paper had strange words and unfamiliar letters all over it.

“How is it possible to write in another language without knowing it? Or without even knowing what language it’s written in?” Ruth asked herself.

Mr. Jenkins took the paper back and told Ruth to rewrite it and hand it back in on Monday, in English preferably.

“Strange,” he murmured aloud to himself. “If I didn’t know better I’d swear this was Elvish, but that’s impossible. Isn’t it?”

Mr. Jenkins went back in the classroom leaving his students to wonder what was going on.

“Come on,” said Stacey. “We better get to class.”

The three friends walked to the end of the hallway. They said their ‘goodbyes’ and ‘see you laters’ and then parted. Ruth headed off to Math class with the story that Mr. Jenkins told her floating around in her head.

Mr. Jenkins sat at his desk. He stared at Ruth’s handwritten paper. He was baffled. He did not understand how she could write these strange symbols without knowing it. Was it really Elven?

Now he was really glad that he did not allow the use of a computer for written assignments lie the other teachers did. It had been his hope that something like this would one day happen. He knew it would not if his students were required to type their papers. So he always made the use of a computer optional and if a student did choose to type a paper, that student had to hand in a handwritten rough draft. After all, the computer did not have the Elven letters on it.

Mr. Jenkins put Ruth’s paper down and picked up another. He started reading it but realized a page and a half later that he had no idea what he just read. He put down that paper and ran his fingers through his hair. He picked up Ruth’s paper again. He did not know what he should do about it.

He reached down under his desk and grabbed he lunch. He read Ruth’s paper as he ate. Even though it was not written in English, he could still read and understand it. When he was younger his father, a knight in service to the king, took him on a mission to the Elven Forest. The king had hoped to undo what his father did and become allies with the Elves. They had stayed in the Elven Kingdom of Larlac for over a year. While there, he learned to read, write, and speak Elvish. Even though the mission failed, Mr. Jenkins felt that it was worth the trip. At least he learned something. He had no idea just how useful it would become.

He finished reading Ruth’s paper. Defiantly an A paper, once it was written in English. He finished eating and folded the paper into fourths. He put it in the inside pocket of his jacket. His instincts told him he should keep it on him at all times. He would have to contact some of his old friends.

Like Mr. Jenkins they come to this world to find the royal family. They set up contacts in almost all occupations. There was also an exclusive “club”, or rather a dingy looking bar where only knights could meet up and talk or have a beer. All that was needed to get in was a knight’s ring and the correct password. Mr. Jenkins decided to get out of his house and stop by the bar tonight. He wanted to know what the others would think of this. He never made it to the bar.