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Umm, I got into a writting mood tonight so I took everyone's suggestion and put it all into one story. Also to seeing that the previous thread was pretty long I decided to do a new one...... Let me know what you think ">



To the outside world Steepleton was much like any other hamlet fringing the great city of Farfield, although travellers passing through it were regularly known to comment on its particular quaintness. It was a sleepy town except on market day when it thronged with purveyors of goods flooding in from the surrounding villages with their wares to sell. Today, with the hint of summer on the wind, was one of those marketing mornings and the smell of freshly baked bread filled the air from its perch on the baker's window sill. Children, enthralled in a game of tag, weaved through the recently erected stalls threatening to knock over pyramids of fruit and vegetables.

There was, in fact, nothing remarkable about Steepleton on this or any other day ... apart from its terrifying secret that is.

Fiercely kept for centuries, even from its own folk, the current protector of this grim information was Father Francis. He carried the weight of it well although in truth, his knowledge of it had never been threatened.

That was all about to change.

As the market square bell sounded the commencement of trading, so did Father Francis commence his day’s duties, the most important of which was attending to the training of the young acolyte, Cruthos. The lad was as open and guileless as the early summer sun which shone through the great arches of the cloisters where they walked now. Cruthos had been selected as early as his first year of life and was still not privy to the decision that he alone would bear the sacred task which Father Francis had shouldered these past 86 years and was preparing to hand over.

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Satine looked up from her magical pool with a chuckle. Those simple villagers, and their even simpler little lives. She knew the dark secret that surrounded the village. She also knew that if she couldn't somehow find a way to seduce Father Francis' Cruthos, then it might bring further destruction onto the Mystical World. Her mother was supposed to have seduced the Father. She had dissapointed her grandfather, Master Darkone, when she had failed. Satine had no intention on failing. With a quick touch to her emerald pendant, she went in search of her father.

Lord Darkone was sitting over some papers. He wasn't an old man, but the tolls of ruling now showed on his once handsome features. He hated being Lord of this realm. He had never asked it. His sister was supposed to have filled the place. But no. She had to run off to who knows where.

"You called, m'Lord?" Came a sweet voice. Lord Darkone looked up to see his daughter, Satine, enter. She was beautiful. Her violet eyes, long dark hair, and her sweetness seemed of another race. But she was an enchantress. She passed off an 18 summers look, and didn't look her actual age, 180.

"Yes Satine. Come in and sit down." He stood up, stretched, and followed her out onto the balcony. As they sat in the cool evening breeze, Lord Darkone decided now was as good a time as any to bring up the matter of Cruthos.

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Father Francis walked over to the tower window and began staring out of the tower. Watching Cruthos trian in the court yard from a distance, he begain to wonder if he would be able to handle such an enormous task seeing he was still quiet young. He was well trained in the arts of martial arts and hand to hand combat, he was well educated and had a wide vaste knowledge of the world around him. Yet he lacked the experince and soon all his knowledge would be tested as time was running out and the future rested on his shoulders. Cruthos was a tall and slim with wavy black hair that falls to his shoulders and is tied at the nape with a strip of leather. His tanned brown skin, inquisitive deep blue eyes and a mischievous smile impressed all the ladies in the city.

While the bright summer day seem to never end, Cruthos grouling training session was soon interrupted by a preist. "Come, Father Francis wishes to see you young Cruthos."

With that Cruthos grab his shirt and followed the preist to the bottom of the wine celler in the monastery where father Francis was patientally waiting. They walked into the room full of old wines being rested for the wine season that happened just before autum came. Cruthos was happy to see Father Francis as he had been kept in that awful tower all morning. His face was full of concern, and even the room filled with tension.

Father Francis scurried off to a small dark corner and opened a door never seen before by Cruthos. Father Francis waved at Cruthos to come, as he followed obeyingly. The lower levels of the monastery were damp and made slippery by the various fungi that grew in the cracks between the floor stones. The narrow corridor was thick with moisture, water condensed on the walls and trickled to the ground. They followed the trail of water which formed where the right wall met the floor, it seemed to get bigger the further they went. The torch sizzled and popped as it strained to stay lit. Cruthos had never been this far below the monastery, besides Father Francis, no one had been in over 8 decades.

Abruptly, their slow descent ended as they reached what appeared to be a solid wall. As Father Francis shuffled around in his pocket, Cruthos noticed that the water was not stopped by the wall, it seemed to flow unhalted through a crack at the base. Having found the item he searched for, Father Francis removed a small stone near the top of the wall and placed the rod-like key in the hole which had been carefully hidden.

Cruthos let out a gasp as the wall slowly slid away, the chamber beyond was too dark to make out, but the sound of water became much louder. Father Francis held his palm out and whispered something almost imperceptible above the roaring of what sounded like a river. The chamber was immediatly flooded with light by torches mounted on the walls, seemingly bursting into life at Father Francis's command.

Cruthos took in the sight with awe. The chamber was very tall, the top of it being swallowed in darkness. In the center of the large cavern was a lake fed by a waterfall. The walls were covered with runes, the purpose of which went unknown to Cruthos. Two pedestals rose from the water near the far end of the lake.

For the first time since Father Francis had taken on this duty, he broke his vow of silence and spoke to Cruthos.
"Your heritage."

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umm, here I was thinking - maybe we can go back to Satine and what her evil father might get her to do about Cruthos, umm, also not revealing a little too much, either, anyway let me know what you think or what we might be able to add.....

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Hey, sounds great for a love interests - who is gonna be this charicter, Lisa ?? Umm, Obviously sounds like Cruthos and Jasmin are going to bump into each other at Steepleton !! ">

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Who what when where?? I haven't had time to read this yet... I think I might print it out and read tomorrow night at work. If we're up to love interests already, it must be good. ">

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Thought it was time to sneak in a few more characters. Maybe a love interest for young Cruthos?

Jasmin drew her well muscled arm across her sweaty brow trying to remove the long dark tresses stuck there as she continued to pump the bellows for her father. Johan looked across at his beautiful daughter and smiled and inwardly felt a wave of grief at his loss. Jasmine was the image of her mother at the same age who had been taken from him in the act of giving berth to Jasmin. Worry also clouded his mind. Jasmin was a fine young woman but had never had the teachings of another woman or spent much time in there company. He taught what he could but that was of smithing and rudimentary numbers and letters not what a young woman would need to find herself a husband. He pushed these thoughts from his mind and continued with the wheel hub that he was preparing for the local bakers cart.
Jasmin caught the thoughtful expression which came across her fathers face and new full well what was going on in his mind. They had had this conversation many times before and Jasmin had no intentions of looking for a husband. She kept telling him that she loved her life at the smithy and her time spent with their animals and besides who would look after him if she left.
Jasmin walked over to the the wooden bucket in the corner of the workshop bent over and submerged her head completely and scrubbed her face. As she straightened she shook her head from side to side shaking the moisture from her lush waist length hair. She was strikingly beautiful and tall for a girl and the years spent with her father in the smithy had her well muscled and deceptively strong. She tucked the blouse which had come loose during her efforts at the forge into her trousers which emphasised her slim waist and caused much annoyance with her father. He insisted that Jasmin wear a dress like the woman she was becoming but his words may as well not have been spoken. Jasmin smiled at her father and walked out of the workshop heading for their small but cosy cottage which was a short walk through Steepleton and located on the road to Farfield.
As she stepped into the bright midday sun she had a feeling of unease which gave her a strange premonition that something was not right. As she walked she concentrated on this feeling which caressed lightly across her senses. She had learned in the past to trust these feelings.