Venista PROLOGUE The great battle of Venista, a war that left the Venistan people lost, broken and torn between good and evil. Those who fought and died in the battle will always be remembered in the hearts of the Venistan survivors. They were the true heroes, they were not weak or treacherous, but honorable and true to their name, to their heritage, to their blood. What was once a great and powerful empire is now a small nest among the hills, with only a scarce number of Venistan people, as that is all that is left to the world. These broken people, after twenty long years, of living shameful, sorrowful and false lives, have now been given the chance to rebuild their lives and live true to their Venistan blood and heritage. The story of a Venista is a sad, heroic and ultimately hopeful tale of the battle between good and evil. It is a tale which shines light on the importance of family, trust and instinct. Twenty years ago, before the great battle of Venista took place, a magical morning brewed through the mist of the hazy clouds, in the beautiful world of Venista. Venista, to the Venistan people, meant honorable and true. Venista was a place like no other. It was situated harmoniously in a flourished, green valley, among mountains which were watched carefully by the strict border control, for the sake and security of the Venistan Empire. The Venistan empire was one of the many great and powerful empires in this magical medieval world. However, the only thing which made Venista a different civilization from the rest, was it�s pure compassion and good will. Venistan people were kind, committed, highly skilled and motivated. They were intelligent and most had supernatural powers, such as the power to heal and a level of telepathy. Venistan people were usually distinguishable from other races because they had slightly pointed ears and a subtle, yet remarkable sparkle in their eyes. For centuries, Venista had been under threat by their neighbouring kingdoms Rencher and Hyzex. Rencher and Hyzex were an evil allied combination who, for many years had been jealous of the Venistan empire, as it was almighty, it had a great working community and was situated in one of the most secure places in all the land. After centuries of failure to invade Venista, the rulers of Rencher and Hyzex (Archin and Tommic) built up armies big and strong enough to get in, slaughtering hundreds of thousands on Venistan people in the process. They burnt houses, tore down sculptures and stole every valuable item in site. The 1000 year old Venistan culture was destroyed within a week and anyone who was alive when the Renchers and Hyzexs eventually evacuated, didn�t last long, as they were either too badly hurt or had nothing left to keep them alive. After the battle there were very few Venistans left in the world, those who were still alive were normally women or children who had been kidnapped for use as slaves, or perhaps some Rencher or Hyzex soldiers had taken pity on and taken back to Rencher or Hyzex to assimilate into their own society and culture. What the Renchers and Hyzexs didn�t know however, was that Venistan blood was like no other. If you were born Venistan, the sentiment of your cultural and biological background was in your blood forever. The feeling was a strange, yet satisfying rush in your blood, which to the Venistan people was an utterly honorable contentment. A condition that was placed on the surviving Venistans was that if they ever spoke a word of their Venistan heritage or knowledge, they would be immediately killed along with any other Venistans they knew. The Venistan culture became thought of as lost forever. At the time of the evasion, King Henty and Queen Marit had been rulers of Venista. They were a young couple with not much experience, as King Henty�s father hadn�t died long before Henty took the throne. Henty and Marit had not long before given birth to twins, a girl and a boy they named Saris and Glebe. Saris and Glebe were only 6 months old when there parents were tragically slaughtered whilst trying to protect their babies. The twins were kidnapped. Archin and Tommic rulers decided to bring up the twins as their own, after all, Venistans were known to be a strong, attractive, intelligent race. They were to brought up as royal warriors who would lead their armies. The Renchers took Saris and Glebe went to the Hyzexs to be raised, splitting the twins made the most sense to the na�ve invaders. Although Archin, ruler of the Renchers was quite bitter about being given the female child. The children were treated well, often given a chance to interact and play with each other. The children were only young and didn�t understand the world very well, but it was apparent to them both that they had a connection, but they were never told of their past or their relationship, so they never thought about it. When the twins turned five, an unforeseen dispute arose between Archin and Tommic. It became known that Lord Archin had conspired to the murder of one of Tommics eldest sons after catching him assaulting a Renchern woman. These discrepancies lead to the two allies becoming independent enemies after years of companionship. Lord Archin, was a strict and cruel man who was good at dictatorship. Hyzex was ruled by Lord Tommic, a less wise man with equal power and status over his Kingdom, he was less harsh to his people but had previously been mislead into cruelty by Archin. They had been friends and partners for years, so the dispute was extremely upsetting for both parties as they relied heavily on each other as powerful rulers of miles of land. At the point of the bitter split Lord Tommic decided it was war. He decided that he was at an advantage having Glebe on his side as he was male. Tommic knew that Glebe is inevitably going to be bigger, stronger, quicker and more coordinated in battle than the average man and this included his twin sister. Archin, furious at the situation, decided Saris, even though female, would be trained the same way, with no lenience�s, despite her being female, because this was war. �How dare you disobey me!� Lord Archin roars as he violently hits Saris to the ground. �Father, I thought�� �Silence! You thought nothing! This is your final warning Saris, bring me back that despicable Hyzexian man by tomorrow or it�ll be you!� Saris knew it couldn�t possibly be her he was going to kill, she was the strongest warrior he had in his army, at 21, she was a fierce killing machine, over the years she had acquired enough speed, strength and coordination to break a mans neck with one hand. But she knew that she had to hunt down this man who had been stealing and reeking havoc among Rencher because deep down she did fear the consequences Archin may use against her. She sank into the corner of her small room and shamefully looked away. �He�ll be locked up by dusk tomorrow Sir.� �Yes he will.� Archin exits her room holding a firm stares at her. Her small confined room is dark, the sun has just gone down and it is getting cold. The room gets extremely dank in winter, muggy in summer and has very little space for her to do much at all. The walls are made of stone which over the years have accumulated a lot of green moss and dirt. No one cleans her surroundings and she doesn�t really see the point of it herself. In her room is a bed, which isn�t too uncomfortable, a decrepit old chair and a huge bookshelf, full of books, which she has read multiples of ten times each. Saris is a beautiful intelligent girl. Her hair is long, straight and blonde and she often wears it up high to avoid restrictions on the battlefield. She has fierce green eyes which have the typical Vensitan sparkle. Her cute button nose match nicely with her small pert lips and defined jaw line. She is what they call a site for sore eyes, but no one is allowed to her appreciate her beauty, as she serves one purpose and one purpose only, that is to defend Rencher and all its people. Its dawn, the sun has just peaked up over the hill and a slither of light has slipped through a crack in her wall, streaming an unwelcome ray onto Saris�s beautiful eyes. They instantly open and her eyes are blinded by the flare of light. Daybreak, she thinks to herself as she grumbles and roles over to face the other way. Her long silky blonde hair falls onto her face and she is irritated by it. She sits up assertively and remembers instantly what she has to do. Hunt and destroy the Hyzec for Archin. There is knock on the door and Saris immediately gets butterflies. Every morning, the same gentle knock heard, followed by the same feeling of anxiety in her stomach. It�s Bess, Saris personal maid. She has not long been working in the castle, she was a replacement after Saris�s previous maid mysteriously disappeared. �Come in� squeaks Saris. The door opens and in comes Bess. She is a stunning brunette, long hair, dark brown eyes and beautiful brown skin. She is a very feminine woman and Saris finds herself consistently unnerved by her. �Breakfast my lady. Lord Archin says you must eat it all because you have something very important to do today?� Bess inquires. �Yes, I-I will�eat it all.� Bess smiles at her. �Are you nervous?� �I�m ok� Saris can�t hold her eye contact any longer and looks down. �I�m used to it.� �You be careful, won�t you Saris?� Saris becomes confused. She gets a strange feeling like Bess knows what she is having to go up against today. She doesn�t like it at all. Saris is ashamed of what she does, all the death, violence and destruction she is put up against every day. She hates it, but feels she has no choice in fear of disappointing her Archin. Saris takes the food from Bess uneasily. �You can go.� Bess smile fades and she turns to the door. Just before she reaches for the handle she turns as if to say something, but then decides against it, she exits and Saris feels a sudden feeling of disappointment. A couple of miles away in Hyzex, a muscular, fit, blonde man trains frantically with a sword. He is surrounded by four men in armor, while he is left shirtless and with only a sword to defend himself. He is quick and coordinated. His facial expression does not change, it is unresponsive and un-phased. After five minutes he has all four men knocked to the ground, clenching different parts of their body in pain. He bends down wipe some blood off his leg as Tommic emerges from the gallery, clapping happily with a great smile. �My boy, you make me proud.� �Thank you father� replies an expressionless Glebe. �We�ve been building you up for 21 years Glebe, you�ve lead armies since you were 16, trained younger men to be just like you and sent you into Rencher, to provoke and stir havoc, one of the most dangerous regions I�ve ever known.� Tommic smiles, pats him on the back and falls into personal thought �Astonishing, absolutely astonishing.� He walks back towards the steps leading to the gallery and turns around, this time more serious. �You�re going back to try again today?� �Yes I am, I�ll bring her back this time.� �I look forward to it Glebe.� Glebe enters the dining room where a glorious breakfast has been prepared for him and his fianc�. Glebe has had an arranged marriage prepared for him, his wife, Tashna, is mean and bossy and thinks she is superior to him. Glebe is laid back and not bothered my much, when she talks to him he finds himself ignoring her a lot of the time because he doesn�t have the time or patience for a �beast.� �Glebe you�re late.� �So I am.� �Glebe, all this beautiful food has been prepared for us and you can�t even have enough respect for anyone to arrive on time, its gone half cold.� Glebe pulls out his chair and sits down, he focuses on the food rather than Tashna, grabbing a piece of bread and devouring it before answering her. �Well then, the food is half as cold as you.� Tashna becomes quite insulted. She stands up and storms out of the room past the maids at the door. �I refuse to eat with such a pig of a man!� Glebe finishes his feast more contently than he would if his fianc� had been with him. Energized and ready for the day and his mission, Glebe sets out. It�s just hit noon and the sun is looking for its midday bearing. Glebe has been walking for over two hours and is feeling incredibly thirsty. He ducks down to a hidden stream that he knows about for some revitalization. Glebe is very familiar to this part of the land; he has been here many times since he was child when he was sent out with Hyzex troops and townspeople to collect rations. In all his time he had never come across any other person, which is why he became so shocked when he was climbing down a small edge into a bed of rocks, he heard the discreet footsteps of another person. Immediately he froze, he felt his whole body tense like a dog whose ears had pricked. He then gracefully sunk back into the shade and sanctuary of the rock edge to find out who his new found company was. It was of course too late however, Saris had already heard and seen him. She was already well aware of his positioning and was planning her own attack. She had climbed up above the cliff edge and was deftly moving across to where Glebe had sought refuge. Unfortunately for her, the ground was looser than she had anticipated and one of her steps caused a bit of the ground beneath her to crumble, landing violently on Glebes boot. Immediately both warriors reflexes were put into action. Glebe charges out of his sanctuary and jumps into the nearest tree, swinging himself around the tree to get a direct view of his attacker and at the same time putting himself in perfect arms reach to snap of a low hanging branch as a weapon, whilst mostly being guarded by the big tree. Saris has jumped back, furious with herself for being so clumsy. She rolls herself backwards and finds a secure point behind to small boulders, with just enough space between them for her to have good site of her target. There is about a two minute wait between them before anything happens. They are both settled in their stations and both a little hesitant to make the first attack, as they are both weary of what they are up against. Saris of course, being the more impatient of the two makes the first move. She feels around for a weapon, not once taking her eye off her target, at this stage all she can see is a part of his leg, as the tree refuses to cover his whole body. She places her hand on a rock and instantly stands and viciously throws the rock, accurately hitting Glebe in the shin. The pain instantly strikes through Glebes leg. He yelps in shock but doesn�t move as he doesn�t want to expose anymore of himself. When he feels that his attacker would have gone back behind the rock, he makes a quick swift movement onto the top of the rock edge and finds another safe place behind his own set of small boulders. With the large tree branch in his hand, he starts to feel at an advantage. He peaks behind his rock and sees that he is but a mere five meters away. Still, quite infuriated by his swollen shin, he goes in for the attack. He emerges from the bushes and runs over towards Saris, tree branch raised and ready. As he reaches the rocks he receives a swift kick to the face and falls to the ground. Aware that he is vulnerable, he rolls over and sees an opening. He takes Saris off her feet with his own swift kick to the back of her knees. They both bounce to their feet. Saris is threatened by the large tree branch in his hands and makes quick glances to her surroundings in search of her own weapon. No such luck. She ducks when Glebe takes a monstrous swing at her and counter-punches him in the stomach, taking the wind out of him. Glebe gasps for air but doesn�t slow down, he swings the branch harder and faster this time, hitting Saris brutally in her side. She flies about two meters and hits the ground hard, she clenches her side in agony. Glebe is still gasping for air and Saris is seriously wounded on the ground not far away. Saris rolls over, determined to get to her feet. She feels Glebe push her back down, but refuses to lose. She grabs a handful of dirt and throws it directly in his eyes, when his hands reflex to his face, she swings another hard punch into his stomach, doubling the effect of her first attack. Glebe collapses on the ground not far from her. He is alarmed, but he is aware of the damage his hit had caused, so he wasn�t particularly threatened as he hears her collapse back to the ground. They both lie anxiously wounded, taking deep breaths and taking quick glances to see if the other had recovered. As the same time, it becomes too much for the twins to lie beside each other, overly weary of what the other is thinking. They both climb to their feet and stare directly at each other. Staggering tiredly, they circle in defense like two exhausted felines. Saris breaks the ice, she clutches her side and holds her core muscles tight, she jumps up and creates an atmospheric double air kick, hitting Glebe in the head. Glebes head instantly feels like he has just been struck with a boulder, his vision is blurred and all he can see is her swift, quick movements. Glebe side steps her next attack and promptly back hand strikes her in the head, she falls forward and he pounces on her, pinning her reluctantly to the ground. Saris is seeing the same blurring images as this stage but searches for her attackers eyes. Glebes face is directly above hers and he tries to make out the shape of her face. As the twins eyes meet, they both tense in shock. As they stare into one another�s eyes, through the hazy vision they�ve left each other with, they see the sparkle. They see the same sparkle they have only ever seen in their own eyes. They had seen a recognizable sparkle in other remaining Venishan people�s eyes and wondered about, but this was different. The sparkle in the twins eyes was a lot more fiercely evident, it was unique, it was a sparkle proclaimed by royalty. It was a sparkle which they had both seen before when playing together as children. Glebe gasps and pushes himself up off her, Saris is in shock and just lies still waiting for something to happen. Nothing does happen for a good minute until Glebe turns and walks away. He knows he can�t harm this woman right now, he knows that there is a connection and he is scared of what might happen if he did hurt her. Saris, fights her urge to get back up and attack. She knows that if she returns back to Rencher with nothing to show for herself she will have a problem, but she feels the connection with this man is far too strong. She lies still for hours after he has gone. Tired, wounded and confused, Glebe retires to his room. He has snuck past Tommic and his �mother� to avoid being questioned about his day and lack of achievement and avoids dinner with Tashna. He lies on his bed, dazed, sore and confused. Who is that woman, he asks himself. Why do I feel such a strong connection to a complete stranger? His train of thought is interrupted. �Glebe! You�re home! Tell me the news.� Tommic had entered. Glebe prepares himself for the worst. �I-I couldn�t beat her Sir.� �You couldn�t be�show me your head�that�s a hideous lump, what happened?� Tommic hadn�t become infuriated yet, which made Glebe feel a little more at ease. �She was strong father�and fast, I had her, I was so close but I�� Glebe stopped, he needed to think about where the too much information line was. He didn�t want Tommic to know that he had let her go, but he was also unsure about letting him know about the strong connection he had felt with for the enemy. �She had a weapon, a sword and a shield, I couldn�t�.� Tommic is very aware of Saris�s strength and skill, he didn�t want Glebe to know, but he did know that the battle would always be a very close match. Tommic didn�t want to put Glebe off the idea of bringing Saris back, so he didn�t want to get angry. �Glebe, I know that she is fast, but I also know that you are faster. You�re more skilled and more powerful, I know that if you keep trying, you will get her, don�t rush it son, but use your discrepancies. I�ll send in some aid for your head.� Tommic gives Glebe a half smile and exits his room. Glebe rolls over onto his bed, frustrated and angry. He doesn�t want to let Tommic down, he doesn�t want to let himself down. He decides that despite his connection, he must find and kill this woman causing him so much confusion and grief. Lord Archin had beaten and banished Saris to her room for the night. He was furious when she told him the story. Archin was very different from Tommic, he infuriated a lot easier and had a lot less respect for Saris than Tommic for Glebe. Archin had always felt like he had pulled the short straw when choosing the twin he got to raise. He was bitter and angry and wanted Saris to beat Glebe to prove a point. Saris was sore with a broken rib from Glebe and battered and bruised by Archin. She lay on her bed feeling sad, confused and very sorry for herself. At the stroke of midnight, there was uplift to her mood. The same distinguishable soft knock on the door startled Saris as she lay in the darkness. �Come in.� Saris answered knowingly, butterflies taking off in her stomach. The door opens and Bess�s hand, holding a candle enters the room. As the moonlight hits her face and the candle creates striking shadows, Saris finds herself smiling. Bess is very concerned and upset. �My lady Saris, I bear news that I cannot keep as a secret of my own, they would have my head if they knew I was speaking to you about such shady instances, but I know that you are a good person and I know that we are the same, I know a lot of things that you don�t know my lady.� Saris is confused by Bess�s intense baffling. She is on edge because she wants to know the information but also very distracted because Bess is very close to her. �What is it? What do you know?� Bess reaches her hand up and gently places her palm of the explicit bruise around the side of Saris� head. Saris shivers as she feels a cool, soothing sensation move through her body. �Saris, you are a Princess.� Saris sighs with relief, she already knew she was the warrior princess of Rencher. �I already knew�.� �No Saris, you are not a Princess of Rencher. You are the Princess of the Venistan people, a congress you have never heard of but you are a big part of.� Saris looks confused. �That man you have been sent out to capture or kill, the one who has been creating havoc on Rencher, he�� Bess stops for a second and takes a deep breath. �He is your twin brother.� Alarmed and confused Saris tries to sit up, the pain in her ribs is too much and she falls back down, weeping in pain and angst. �Saris, don�t try and sit up, stay still.� �What are you talking about, how do you know all this?� Saris whimpers. �Shhh, calm down Saris.� Bess bends over and kisses Saris gently on the lips. Saris opens her eyes and stares into Bess�s. In the light of the moon, she see�s the familiar sparkle in Bess�s eyes. �Saris, my mother works as maid her in Rencher as well, she has brought me up telling me all the stories of our heritage, all the stories about you, I know more about you that you even do. I came here to tell you that you can�t hurt your brother, or all hope for the Venistan people will be entirely lost forever.� Saris is overwhelmed and tired. �Kiss me again.� Bess smiles, she moves in closer, keeping her hand on Saris�s head and kisses her gently and passionately. She moves herself onto the bed with Saris where they fall asleep together. Saris is woken by loud chirping bird outside her window, she rolls over to touch Bess, but Bess is no longer beside her. She opens her eyes and finds a note. Saris, I came to you last night because you are the only one who can save our people. You are Venishan royalty and your parents were great rulers. There are a lot Venishans living in denial among the Rencher crowd and we need to be saved. My mother brought me up with Venishan values, you have them in your blood. Please save us, talk to your brother, his name is Glebe. I hope you feel better today. Bess Saris puts the note down and sits up, she feels strangely healthy. Her head isn�t throbbing, her ribs feel normal and she is completely revitalized. It�s a miracle. How could this have possibly happened she thinks to herself. At this point she realizes what she must do, if she is able to recover from serious injuries after one nights sleep with Bess, then she must have heard the truth. The kingdom that Saris had grown up in, had never felt right, she knew that Bess felt right and she knew that Glebe felt right. She grabs her sword and shield climbs out her window, she sets out to find her brother, foolishly leaving the note open and exposed to Lord Archin. When Archin finds the note he immediately sends a search party for the town witch. He knows that his troops wouldn�t stand a chance trying to kill Saris, so black magic becomes his only option. The witch enters �My Lord, what pleasures brings me to your Kingdom?� she speaks slyly with a crackle in her voice. Archin explains to her what has happened and she reassures him, Saris will not be able to spread her knowledge. Archin accepts that it is likely Saris will be killed on this day but he can�t kill Bess and the others until he knows she is definitely dead, otherwise he will have no source of blackmail or compromise. Over in Hyzex, Glebe had been training frantically since before dawn. He is determined to capture this woman, even if it kills him. Tommic is looking extremely proud and feels that the day is to bring good fortune. Glebe feels strong and ready, he leaves Hyzex in an attempt to bring back Saris. As Saris makes her way through the thick shrub and trees surrounding the forest, she panics when she starts to feel her lips mould together. Her hands reach up to her mouth and she feels that her lips have been molded together. She knows this is the work of a witch and fears for Bess and the others. She has no choice other than to find Glebe and somehow tell him, she needs him on her side. Dramatically, both Glebe and Saris find each other at the same time as they walk into each others site on a big cleared paddock. They walk all the way up to each other, stopping only four meters away. Glebe stares at his sisters lips and then thinks it must have been the work of witch in Hyzex, by Tommic, although he thinks it is quite cruel and not necessary, he thinks to himself that Tommic was just trying to help him. He raises his sword in attack mode and is absolutely shocked when Saris drops hers and puts her arms in the air. Is she surrendering he thought? No she couldn�t possibly be, it�s a trick. He once again goes in for the attack; she dodges his attack and pushes him from behind, causing him to stumble. He turns around angrily and she still has her hands in the air, she shakes her head trying to tell him she doesn�t want to fight. He swipes for her again; this time she finds it necessary to grab her shield to protect herself. Bang! Bang! The sword hits the shield loudly and fiercely. Saris tries to push him away with the shield, but he keep coming at her. She tries to run away a little but Glebe is very persistent. He thinks she is playing a game and he doesn�t want to be a part of it. He has handcuffs in his back pocket which he decides he needs to use fast. He drops his sword quickly whilst she is hidden behind the shield. Saris doesn�t feel an attack for a small amount of time and hopes that he has given up. As she peaks over the shield, Glebe reaches around and grabs her wrists, quickly and efficiently cuffing her arms together. Saris felt very angry at herself for letting this happen. Not only is she at a huge disadvantage to try and get away, she had been hoping that if all else failed, she could cut through her lips, after all the affects of black magic never leave permanent damage. Glebe pushes her to the ground and she refuses to let this be her capture. She kicks him hard in the chest causing him to fall on his back. She jumps to her feet then decides to pin him down by the throat with the chain on her handcuffs. He is too strong though, Glebe manages to push her off and roll her over onto her back, and she is unable to use her hands. Saris tries to scream and yell, but all Glebe can see are the desperate tears in her eyes and hear a muffled plea. Fortunately for Saris, Glebes instinct and curiosity gets the better of him, he pulls out a small knife and unseals her lips. �Glebe! You can�t kill me! Don�t kill me! I�m-I�m your sister, I�m your twin sister!� There isn�t a word that comes out of her mouth that Glebe disagrees with or doesn�t believe. Saris sits with him and tells him everything she knows, everything she�s heard everything that�s happened to her in her life and everything she�s felt. The way she talks and the way she has felt all her life, differs very little from Glebes own feelings. They both cry together as they show each other the small tattoo mark on each of their feet, they are matching and they are Venishan. They both know what they have to do, they can feel it, they have to save their people, they have to destroy Rencher and Hyzex for good, they are Venishan royalty and they will honor what they feel, not what they know. This is what felt right and this is what won the Venistan kingdom back after 20 long years. Jessica O�Reilly 2006
Copyright © 2006 Jessica O'reilly |