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The Silver Forest
Book Excerpt- Chapter 1-a & (part of) 1-b
Fiction by Stephanie L Johnson

1-a: A Beginning and an End
Cheering and laughing echoes through the empty night, sounding hollow as it
reverberates off the trees. If you follow the noise, it leads you to a large
clearing, at the South of which there is a pool with a small waterfall
cascading into it. The moonlight shines clearly on this, making it look like
a silver ribbon flowing into a mirror that is lit up with nature's fireworks;
the stars.
The stars here are all new or young stars, and so are blue, or the eldest,
white. Each star, like in your own universe, has a name, but unlike in yours,
they are satellites, so the planet stays still while the stars go around in
orbit. The most important thing to know about the stars is that they are
alive, though not in the sense you may think. Each star is a god or goddess.
There is always a goddess of all stars that produces all the magic of the
world, for natural use or to be used for man. In this case, that goddess is
Amaryllis. She is the brightest star of the sky, and burns in the daytime
like our own sun, but also at night, though she cloaks herself, so the glare
of night isn't like day. When she manifests herself on the earth, she usually
comes in the form of a lioness, although when the need arises, she comes as a
stately figure dressed in silver-blue, with a silver circlet on her brow.
Now it just so happens that this night, she chooses to come down to earth to
walk about in the place that she calls Camana Jungha, or in your speech, The
Silver Forest. But it also turns out that someone is already there waiting
for her.
The cheering and laughing rises to singing, and then rises again to a steady
chant. The pitch of the chant mounts and then falls repeatedly, so it is as
if one minute, it sounds like it is the very earth whispering it, and the
next, like the whole forest is shouting out the steady, monotonous tune. This
clamour leads to a small group of shadows, dancing in the centre of the
clearing opposite the moonlit pool. As one voice elevates above the rest, the
chanting continues, but this time more menacing than before.

Before I go any further, I need to tell you about myself. My name is Munira,
and I am Amaryllis' younger sister. I am not a young star, or an old one at
that. I am, what would you say, in my late twenties, and I have plenty of
life left to go.  We are not true sisters. It was by accident that our blood
mixed when we were young. This is why we share the same thoughts and
feelings, and that is part of how I can tell this story. The other part I saw
myself. I am telling this story in the present tense, although it happened in
the past, because to me, it feels like it is still happening. The world that
we look after and orbit is called Cirrian. Cirrian is a lot like your Earth
in the way that it is three quarters water, but all of the land is covered in
some sort of forest, whether it is filled with conifers, with the flora of
the jungle, or plants and trees that you have never heard of. Anyway, back to
the story.

Looking at the small company, your eyes are immediately drawn to the centre,
where there is a greenish glow. The glow changes to what you want to see.
Being a goddess, I see all the images that each different man would see, but
they are so quick, I can only tell you about the one that constantly keeps on
flickering back to me. The image is of one that I often dream of.
I follow a stream flowing deep in a beautiful valley, the sides steep, but
not sheer, covered in lush, green grass. The stream joins with several
others, forming a wide river; the sound of trickling merging into a gush, and
then a roar, as the river's path takes it over a natural weir. The falls
cascade into a vast lake, overshadowed by weeping and pussy willows, and
covered in flowering water lilies. Bees hum, birds' sing, and dragonflies and
damselflies dance over the water in their delicate blue, red and green
costumes. A peregrine falcon suddenly flies overhead, circles, and dives,
snapping a tiny sparrow out of the air. I follow the bird as he flies across
the land, to perch in a tree. If you look closer you can see a nest with
three young, and a female falcon sat in it. The male cautiously edges up to
the nest and presents the sparrow to the female, but the female lunges at him
and chases him away.
This all happens in a few seconds; the image is gone as quickly as it came,
and the darkness of the night presses into your sight once more.  

         
At that moment, the chanting immediately stops, along with the dancing. Then
suddenly, a voice is heard, the same one that rose above the rest;
"Amaryllis," the request resonates around the clearing, "queen of the stars,
goddess of all magic of Cirrian, hear my call!"
The waterfall sparkles and shimmers, and a light is seen through the trees to
the east.
"Why was I summoned?" A figure walks towards the circle, shrouded in a dark
blue mantle, a silver coronet just visible.
"Why do you cloak yourself in the colours of night, rather than your usual
pale robes, Amaryllis?" asks the shadowed individual, "They are not as
radiant."
"You should know the answer to that… undemanding question, Gwendolyn,"
replies Amaryllis, moving slowly forward.
There is an oppressive silence, Gwendolyn not hesitating to hide her anger at
her name being exposed. However, she composes herself, and signals for a lamp
to be brought forwards.
"I don't think it would be wise to reveal your face to people that are not
genuinely trustworthy," says Amaryllis, stopping the person with one look.
"Ah," says Gwendolyn expressively, making it obvious she is smiling, "wrong
kind of lamp." And with this word, a lamp appears in her hands. The lamp is
made of pewter, and inside no light can be seen. Amaryllis alarmed, stops
moving towards Gwendolyn.
"Why? Gwen?" she falls to her knees, as Gwendolyn holds up the lamp, "Your
not going to… why would you do this to me?"
Gwendolyn stands just before Amaryllis. "You know I like you," she says
sympathetically, taking hold of Amaryllis' hand and patting it, "well, maybe
not you… but I like part of you. I just need to… borrow that part for a bit."
"I'll give you whatever you want," pleads Amaryllis.
"Oh, I know," smiles Gwendolyn and kisses her and the head, "I know you will."

I can't describe what happened next because it hurts too much, but I can tell
you all I can hear of Amaryllis now is her terrified sobs, and the part of
her I always had with me is gone.


1-b: The Defenders
I must tell you more about Cirrian for you to understand the relationship
between its people. Cirrian has five continents: Armiekai, the largest;
Jahnhey, with the greatest population; Wordonat, the darkest; Sharlohm, the
more powerful of the five; and Nailin, the most beautiful of all. The
placement of the continents goes as follows: Wordonat at the North Pole,
Nailin at the South, and Armiekai and Jahnhey placed halfway around the
centre, which is known as Fintan or 'the white fire'.
You think I am forgetting Sharlohm. In fact, it is impossible to forget it,
as it is the most visible, as well as the most important continent. Sharlohm
is what we call the 'Venetican' or 'Wanderer', for it constantly moves. No
obvious path can be traced, but it always stays more than a mile away from
the other lands. Camana Yungha is on a small island belonging to both Nailin
and Sharlohm. You would say that this could be impossible, for an island to
belong to a stationary and a moving continent, but that is not so. For some
reason that we cannot explain why, Camana Yungha knows when Sharlohm is going
to move above Fintan, and it travels with it, like a burr on a cat. When
Sharlohm is to the South, Camana Yungha drifts towards Nailin, attracted by
some unforeseen impulse.
Over the years, many have tried to gain control of a different continent to
their own, and have given up their life to the defending land, so now most
people are content to stay in their native land or, if they are restless, to
visit and stay for a while in a foreign continent. But all return to their
homeland sooner… or later.

Two decades ago, a young, male star, by the name of Havelock, came down to
Jahnhey, and made a mortal with a child. He then returned to the heavens, and
left the mortal to fend for herself. This woman swore to seek revenge against
the star that conceived her unborn child, and thus declared war. So, as soon
as her child was born, she made herself a powerful sorceress, and combined
the magic elements of the light and of the dark together. But, she abandoned
her child, and he began to wonder fairer thoughts than that of his mother's.
When his mother stated that she was going to move away to Wordonat to study
in a mage college, he refused to go with her. She believed that this was the
fault of Havelock, and cast the child away to Nailin, in the hope that he
would forget. The child's name was Lei, as he learnt from the people that
adopted and cared for him. As he grew up, Lei did not forget, and despised
his mother from his mistreatment as a child, and promised to always keep to
the ways of the light. In his late teens, he discovered that he had a talent
for reading people's feelings, and this helped with friends and enemies. He
became popular with the men for his wisdom and bravery. He charmed ladies
with his smile and they fell for his looks, with his dark, cropped hair, pale
blue eyes, broad shoulders and tall frame. He made many friends, including
stars, but kept only a chosen few close to him. One of those chosen few was
my sister, which is why I went to see him. His home is on Camana Yungha and
he calls his group of friends and himself 'The Defenders', as they care for
and protect the forest.
I am now relaying this in the past, as it is difficult to tell some of this
in the present.

It was the eve of midsummer's day, when I went to see him, (one cannot be too
careful when landing on Camana Yungha, as it is a moving island, so I could
not make it until then).
The first I saw of the boy was before he went on the hunt. His cropped hair,
although dark, had a slight silver gleam, proving that he was the one I was
seeking.          
***

Stephanie L Johnson,  age 16,  contact: vettysteph@aol.com

Copyright 2003 Stephanie L Johnson
Reviews and comments requested
Posted 04/10/2003

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