Chosen (7 page)

“Jon…”

He looked up to meet her eyes and saw the worst thing he could imagine seeing. Anger he could deal with, a blank, an unfeeling stare he could handle. But the look of pity he saw in her wondrous onyx eyes was more than he could bear.

Jon turned and ran for home, her voice echoing in his brain. He could picture the other students laughing as she told them of his puppy love. His feelings and thoughts spun out of control and his imagining how everyone would react got worse the closer he got to home. By the time he burst through the front door, the incident had
blown out of proportion, and in his mind the whole thing had been a set up by Kaelin and the others, to see how far she could string him along. Deep down he knew that what he was thinking was preposterous, yet he couldn't help the thoughts from creeping about his brain.

He ran through the family room and into the kitchen, banging his hip on the kitchen table as he ran around it and made his way up the stairs.

Jon threw open the door to his room and ran to the cherrywood trunk at the foot of his bed and fell to his knees. His vision blurred and he found himself fumbling for his clothes. He lay across the open trunk and sobbed out all of the heartache at having been spurned by his first true love. Sadness, anger, and humiliation filled him in turns.

Jon angrily shoved his clothes in his pack, cheeks burning with anger and humiliation. His sister, Holly, had made the bag for him as a gift. The thought of not seeing the girls or his parents for a long while tore at the piece of his heart Kaelin had left intact, but the thought of staying and having to face her again was worse.

He turned to leave but stopped abruptly. He glanced down at his robes that he was required to wear during his Mystic training.

“These will never do.” Jon mumbled to himself. He changed to leggings and tunic but kept his well-worn comfortable shoes, and exited his room, keeping his head down as he passed his sisters' rooms, unwilling to look at them this one last time.

Jon raided the kitchen for bread, hard cheese, fruit, and dried meat to take with him on his journey. He filled several water skins, stuffed the food in his knapsack, and pulled the flap down, grunting with the effort of tying it over the bulging top.

As he made to walk through the front door he stopped. He turned back around and walked slowly through the family room, gently touching the back of the chair and couch facing the large, stone hearth. He could see his ma and pa here, Beth busy sewing and mending, and Willam, wooden pipe clenched between his teeth, slowly turning the pages of one of his favorite books.

Jon took a deep breath and walked to the scuffed, dark wood desk along the wall separating the kitchen from the family room. He
dipped a quill in the ink bottle and wrote a brief note, telling his family that he was going to spend some time camping in the Stone Mountains. They would not miss him for at least a few days; he often spent time in the wilderness, either alone or with his fellow classmates and Master Brok.

Jon put the lid back on the ink bottle and lay the quill next to his note. He picked up his knapsack and slung it over his left shoulder. After one last look around, he walked out the front door, closing it softly behind him.

* * *

“Master Brok!”

Brok turned and greeted Beth Stone, a tall, handsome woman with sandy blonde hair to her waist and merry blue eyes. Those eyes were anything but merry this morning, and her normally smooth brow was furrowed with worry.

“Is something wrong, Mistress Stone? Is it one of the girls? Has one of them taken ill?”

“No, it's not any of my girls.” Beth wiped a hand across her forehead and smoothed her hair back. “It's Jon.”

Master Brok's eyes widened. “What about Jon? Has he been hurt?”

“No, I don't…” She was a little taken aback at the urgency in his voice. “The trouble is, I don't know.”

She shook her head and crossed her arms across her ample bosom. “He's been gone for over a week. He left a note saying he had gone camping in the Stone Mountains. But he has never been gone longer than a few days.”

Master Brok felt the faint stirrings of fear, like a small creature gnawing at his belly. If something were to happen to Jon, it could have catastrophic effects that would touch much more than this one family.

“Did the note say anything else?”

“No. It simply said he was going camping in the Stones. Oh Master Brok! What if something's happened? Should we gather the
Village Council to begin a search party?” she asked, her voice cracking under the strain.

Brok shook his head and held his arms up to placate her. “Let's go speak with the other students first. Perhaps Jon said something to them of his purpose in going to the mountains. It may be nothing more than his going on an excursion for medicinal herbs and plants.” Brok said this to convince himself as much as to soothe the frightened mother. But he didn't really believe a word of it.

Beth nodded in agreement and the two set off down the dusty road to Master Brok's house. Despite the gravity of the situation, Master Brok couldn't help but appreciate the beautiful fall morning. The sky was blue and cloudless. Flowers opened their petals to drink in the warm, golden sunlight. Birds flitted from tree to tree, frolicking and singing dozens of different tunes. Colorful butterflies and fat, bright orange nectarbees flew lazily among the flowers.

The two adults turned down the thin dirt path leading to Master Brok's home. His pace was quick, tight, and determined. Beth's pace was broken, moving quickly to catch up to Brok after her distracted thoughts caused her pace to slow. She was quite out of breath when they reached the Mystic's home.

The four Chosen sat in a semi-circle, studying and questioning each other on herb lore. One student would describe a plan in exquisite detail, and another would provide the name of the plant and all of its uses, medicinal or otherwise.

The students stood as they noticed Master Brok and Mistress Stone approaching, and brushed the dust from their robes.

“I have something of great importance to ask you.” Master Brok's blue eyes sought those of the Chosen. “Have any of you seen or heard from Jon Stone in the last week?”

Gwen, Saemus, and Keera all looked at each other in puzzlement. While none had seen the boy, they had assumed he was helping at the family farm, which he often did this time of year. Kaelin looked at the ground and shuffled her feet, unable to meet the eyes of her fellow classmates.

“Kaelin, what is it?” Gwen's voice shook. Kaelin's reaction to the question posed by Master Brok, and the presence of Mistress Stone, face pinched and eyes tight with worry, made Gwen's heart fall to her feet.

“Kaelin, speak of what you know. Quickly child!”

Kaelin's tear-filled onyx eyes met Master Brok's stern blue ones. She took a shuddering breath and spoke in a rush.

“It's all my fault. I told him the truth and I thought I was doing the right thing. If something has happened to him I will never forgive myself!” Kaelin sobbed.

Master Brok looked at the other students in utter confusion. The hysterical girl's words made no sense. Saemus had his arm around her shoulder.

“Can someone please tell me what is going on? Kaelin, what could you have done to drive Jon away?” Mistress Stone said. Kaelin took a deep breath to still her sobs and blew her nose on a delicate lace handkerchief. She tentatively met Mistress Stone's eyes and seeing only worry and concern in their blue depths, she felt a little better.

“I didn't mean to drive Jon away, honest! Well, I did mean to drive him away, from me, but…” Her breath hitched with emotion “I didn't know he would run away”

“Why would you want to send Jon away?” Master Brok moved closer to the distraught girl and laid a hand on her shoulder. He could feel her trembling. Whatever had happened, this girl truly blamed herself for Jon's disappearance.

She kept her eyes glued to the ground as she told everyone how Jon had been behaving since the incident with Saemus and her at Midsummer Festival. She thought she was to blame for his unwanted attention, and she felt ashamed. Why, she couldn't say, but she felt it all the same. She explained how she had talked with Jon and made her feelings clear.

“The conversation happened eight days ago, Mistress Stone.”

Master Brok turned and gazed across the Town Center, trying to gather his whirling thoughts. He had been given a sacred duty to watch over the Chosen, and one had run away.
Over a girl!
He shook his head in disgust, more at himself than at the boy. His heart raced as he imagined Jon injured or perhaps dead.
How could I have missed his being absent for a week?
. He turned abruptly as he heard Beth speaking.

“—and I will need all of you to run and gather the Village Council at Town center. We shall have to begin searching in the Stone Mountains, as that is our only clue….”

I must put a stop to this!
The last thing he needed was to be saddled with a bunch of men who all thought they would know best where to look for the boy.

“Wait!” Brok's voice cut into the excited chatter of the young people, who were all too glad to have something to do that might help find their classmate and friend. “I have a better idea.” Brok turned to Beth. “Let me and the others go in search of Jon.” He indicated the students, who now stood open-mouthed at his suggestion. “We all have use of magic and will be better able to find him. The truth of the matter was that Brok could not afford to allow the Chosen out of his sight. What if the signs appeared while he was out searching? What if something happened to one of the Chosen while he was gone?

“Well…I'm not sure…” Beth chewed her lip as she looked at the faces of the four students.

“My students are more than capable of handling whatever we may face on our journey.” The Chosen all stood a little taller. Praise from Master Brok was a rare gift. “And they shall be with me; no harm will come to them.”

Beth seemed to take Master Brok's words to heart. All the young people
did
know magic. She would not soon forget the day that Saemus and Kaelin had healed that little boy. Since then, their combined powers had been tested several times and what they could achieve together was extraordinary.

She began to see the wisdom in the Mystic's idea. This meant that none of the menfolk had to be gone during the harvest. There was no telling how far Jon had gone in a week. He could be on the other side of the Sea of Solace by now.

“Go now, Mistress Stone, to Master Cawlins and tell him all that has transpired here. Tell him of my decision to take the students and go after Jon.”

Mistress Stone nodded and took her leave. Brok hoped this story would have a happy ending.

* * *

Brok and the Chosen were ready to set out. The other parents had to be convinced of the wisdom of Master Brok's decision to take his students along. It was especially difficult for the Barlow twins and Keera Flint, whose parents lived in Willow Haven and Oak Brook. The old Mystic had personally traveled to each village, giving assurances that the students would be perfectly safe, as well as being of great use to him in his quest to find Jon Stone. He had ridden hard, impatient at the delays, but it didn't change the fact that these young people were someone's children. He forced himself to understand the parents' concern and to be sincere in his pledge to keep their children safe.

The morning of the journey dawned cool and crisp. Seven horses stood in front of the inn's stables, their breath steaming out from their noses in twin jets in the morning air. Six were saddled and bridled while the other was laden with supplies.

The four Chosen sat their mounts, hoods up and cloaks pulled tight against the morning chill. They didn't talk with one another, apprehension stealing all desire to speak. Kaelin could not even meet her fellow students' eyes. She had barely eaten or slept in the last week. Her skin, though normally pale, had taken on a sickly grey pallor, and her eyes were sunken in deep pits. Her hair hung dull and lifeless. Saemus was sick with worry. This was so unlike the Kaelin he knew. She was usually so fastidious, and took great care with her appearance. Nothing he said or did had any affect; she was filled with guilt and misery.

Gwen was in her own world of misery. She looked at Kaelin Barlow and felt a moment's flash of anger.
If you had kept your big mouth shut, Jon would still be here!
But Gwen was glad that Kaelin had told Jon the truth about her feelings for him. And yet a part of her wished the girl had put up with the attention, and not broken Jon's heart.

He stood and made his way to Midnight. He mounted gingerly, the cold and old age wreaking havoc on his joints. With a final farewell, the five travelers headed north, along the main road,. Brok paused here for a moment. Now was the time to do the locator spell.

“I am going to do a locator spell in an attempt to ascertain which direction Jon may have gone.” He noticed their confusion and decided to take a few moments to instruct his students on the use of this spell. Being on a journey was no reason to stop their lessons.

“A locator spell is incredibly complex. It requires training all thought on the thing you are trying to find. It sounds easy, but it is surprisingly difficult to keep the mind focused on only one thing. It will be easier for you to understand if we try a little exercise. Now, close your eyes and picture an apple in your mind.” He looked at his students to see that their eyes were closed. “Hold that thought. In a moment, I will ask you to tell me what you are thinking about.”

He watched their faces as they sat on their horses. Keera's mount was bored with all of the standing around, and she began to fidget and prance around. Keera's face screwed up in frustration as she obviously lost focus on the apple.

“Let's start with Keera.” Her face grew red with anger and embarrassment. She knew Master Brok had seen her lose her concentration. “What was the last thought in your mind?”

“I was thinking about Fire, and wishing she would stand still so I could concentrate on the apple!”

“Quite understandable. If you had been actually performing the spell, it would have begun to orient on the closest apple, then as your thoughts began to shift, it would be attempting to locate either a spirited horse, or the nearest hearth.” Brok's blue eyes twinkled as he saw Keera's sheepish grin.