The air was hung thick with a mixture of debris, faeces and a gas that was strong enough to take the lives of any men. Trees sprang from ground thin and twisted but harder than any rock; the higher reaches of trees opened up like fireworks in the night sky. The leaves were wide spread stopping the sun-light from penetrating the strange land below. The grass that lay upon the ground grew long and was a dark purple colour. The grass hid the murky blue water that filled the land from corner to corner. Below the surface of the water lay a rare creature, which could swim below water, walk on land and soar high above the clouds.
King Mahra, of the kingdom of Maine was blessed with his first son after having a long line of daughters. In honour of his son’s birth he sent a search for these rare creatures called Sikai, the beast of kings. As legends foretold, a hero would be born out of a great noble house and would be able to control the weather, while riding on the back of a mythical creature.
On the day of the search King Mahra took of his arm band and wrapped it around the prince’s head and said, “Today I leave my son to find a Sikai to ensure that he becomes a hero. I leave him with three things; first I leave him with the Sword of Rain to protect him as he grows up, second I leave him the War band of Maine to give him the power of our people. The last thing I leave my son is his name. Everybody should know him by Prince Baraine Mahra.”
So King Mahra left to search for a Sikai and Prince Baraine Mahra was left in the care of his mother, Queen Serina and his eleven sisters.
One year had gone by and King Mahra had still not returned. The concern in the back of the minds of the kingdom folk begun to grow, at the same time it was the celebration of Prince Baraine Mahra’s first birthday. The celebration took place in the Royal Crow hall and all of the public was welcome. The hall was coloured with bright red and light blue decorations, all of the tables were of a stunning white and all of the tableware was all gold. The Kings and Queens from all across the world came to Maine to celebrate Prince Baraine Mahra’s first birthday. The King of Canster put his hands seductively on the lower back of Queen Serina and whispered soft word in her ear. Queen Serina’s eldest daughter Princess Meila saw the king of Canster groping her mother and made a promise to herself to tell her father.
In the year of King Mahra’s absence he travelled high and low, in dark caves, in musty forests and on top of high mountains. King Mahra looked everywhere; all of his soldiers had long given up hope in finding a Sikai. One night he laid down on a hard floor and look into the deep night sky, which was where he found his answer to his search. The next day he disbanded his army and sent them home. He decided to take a break from the search to think about where a sikai may be.
Flocks of sikai soared high above his head and faded to the west. Big red hairy four legged creatures jumped all over him, tongues licked his whole body and his hand reached up to wipe his face. When he hand came back down he was in the middle of a lake, he tried to swim forward but he could not move. The more he struggled the more he begun to drown until the water finally his lungs and took him away.
He coughed himself awake and realised that he was in the same place as the day before but now he knew he had to go west. He started to walk to the west and the first thing he saw was a cave open up from the ground. Inside the cave spider webs hung from every direction but that could not stop the king from his journey. After travelling two hard days in a dark and dank cave he found an opening in the middle of a shallow lake. He searched for dry land but there was none to be found, instead he found tall trees with a thin base. A strong smell exploded in his nostrils almost rendering him unconscious. In his heart he knew he was close to a sikai nest. The floor began to lower and the lake became deep. He dived down and there it was an egg that had no colour but also had every colour. It shined and was dull at the same time. He went to pick it up but it was heavy and then it turned light right in his arms. He started to swim away then he heard a roar.
A huge grey head came snapping through the trees, fiery sharp curved webbed claws scratched the branches out of the way. King Mahra kicked and splashed the murky blue water in a struggle to get away. The fully grown sikai arced his wings, twitched his ears and dived head first towards King Mahra. King Mahra looked up to see the thing looking one more time and took a deep breath and the murky blue water swallowed him whole. He kicked fiercely to get out of the sikai’s path. His eyes begun to burn from the water but the exit was just in front of him. The exit came quicker than he thought it would have, the same time he reached the cave the sikai’s claw ran all the way down his leg. The water seeped down into the wound giving him a constant feel of pain.
The cave walls dripped with a green slime and the smell that came off the slime made him dizzy. The scratches on his right leg gave him a limp to his walk. The way out of the cave slipped his mind which made him get lost for two weeks. When he found his way out he began his journey back home.
It was three days before Prince Baraine Mahra second birthday and everybody had given up hope for King Mahra’s return, even Queen Serina had found a new partner. The young prince was up and running around causing trouble for everyone. His sisters Meila, Sharone, Rina, Ayyana, Fayn, Linse, Joan, Elaina, Dianne, Henna and Zariyah all did as they pleased. Henna and Zariyah were the only ones that spent any time with the prince, all of the others stayed in there groups of three; Meila, Sharone and Rina in the first group, Ayyana, Fayn and Linse in the second and Joan, Elaina and Dianne in the third. On that day Meila decided to take a walk all by herself and that was when she saw her father holding a large egg in his left hand, a sturdy wooden stick in his right hand and a limp to his walk.
His eyesight had become hazy like he was wearing smudged sunglasses. It had been a year since he had found the sikai egg and the scars on his right leg still pained like it had happened yesterday. The stick in his had looked as if it had been there a long time because the branches and his finger nails seemed to flow as one. His rich elegant hunting clothes were ripped into dirt stained rags. He looked up and out of the haze that shrouded his eyes he saw an outline of what looked like his daughter Meila. Tears screamed down her plumped cheeks as she ran to her father.
In a croaky voice he said “Ah Meila it … it is good to see you … how … is … the … lad?”
Meila replied in a comforting voice “He is doing just fine dad, but I have some bad news to tell you. Mum thought that you had died when she saw all of the solders return and you did not. She has found a new husband, father.”
King Mahra straightened his back and stood upright he looked at his daughter cleared his throat and said in a strong voice “Take me to your mother and when we get there call your brother and sisters down.”
King Mahra and his daughter Meila walked to the small family hall at the back of the keep in complete silence. The small hall had two entrances, one being at the back of the keep a small door that takes you underground. The other entrance came from a spiral stairs that came out of the castle. Light filled the room from the windows above that were hidden on the surface and from the long pole candles that lined the hall.
King Mahra sat in his thrown and waited for his wife and children to come in. All at once a thunderous sound of footsteps came marching down the spiral stairs. His eyes were drawn to his wife and her new husband. After all of the children sat in their chairs, King Mahra called his wife and her second husband to him. In a low voice he said “Get out of my kingdom now. You (pointing to his wife) come here in a month’s time and we will talk. Now get out.”
His wife and her second husband ran out of the hall as fast as they could.
King Mahra then asked his son to come to him. His daughters Henna and Zariyah took Baraine Mahra hand in hand and walked him up to their father. King Mahra picked up his son and put him on his lap. He then took his sons hand and put it on the sikai egg. The egg started to glow a bright yellow colour. The bright yellow colour transferred from the egg to the prince. Then in a flash of light the prince was sitting on the back of a sikai floating in mid-air.
The sikai’s legs sprang from his body; his tail was long, flat and thin with a point at the tip. His wings unfolded into flawless arched wings, the gills on the side of his neck flared up and his small sharp teeth poked through. His body was covered in rosewood scales that made the hall look as if it was on fire. The young prince grabbed the back of the sikai and its colour vanished. The rosewood colour was only retained on the tip of his tail and in its eyes.
The beast roared and the hall begun to shake. The roar triggered the young prince to grab the back of its neck again. The prince and the sikai started to shake, then in a flash of light they dropped to the floor and the sikai changed into a puppy. The young prince looked at his father and said “Fore” and passed out. The king picked up his son and told his daughters to go to their beds. As he walked up the spiral stairs to his castle the sikai or Fore as his son had called it, followed the king quietly. The king took his son to his bedroom and laid him down and whispered in his ear “you were born to be a hero.”
The king left his son’s bedroom to find a doctor. He limped down the long narrow hallways to the doctor’s chambers. Once he got in front of the room door he placed three rhythmic knocks upon the door. A skinny old man with long hair and deep wrinkles popped his head around the door. The old man looked at the king and said “I’ve been waiting for you my Lord.”
The king followed the old doctor into the room. The room was filled with a green mist that smelled of sweet flowers. The doctor pointed to a chair for the king to sit on. As the king sat on the frail wooden chair, he looked around the dark room. Painting hung crocked on the walls, books lay scattered all over the floor, a cabinet was filled with jars of strange things and the windows were sealed by a green slime. The doctor looked at the king with a toothless smile and said “let’s have a look at that leg of yours then.”
The next day the king held another family meeting, in that same small hall. His son and eleven daughters all showed up. The king waited for all of his children to be seated before he spoke “Children I have to tell you all something. I saw the doctor last night and he gave me bad news.” The kings voice started to break and tears started to roll down his cheek “The doctor said that I don’t have long to live, one maybe two years at the most.” All of the children started to cry and the hall turned into a sombre mood.
The king lived for five years after that day. He managed to arrange marriage’s for all of his eleven daughters into different royal families in different nations. He was unable to make his son succeed his position because he was too young and untrained. So his ex-wife and her husband gained rule over the kingdom. However, he managed to save his son by making him a squire of the royal family of Dy’syst, the kingdom of secludes. The last thing the king done for his son was to give him his sword, The Sword of Hail, and told him “son you must find the rest of the sword of the element of weather.”
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