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CHAPTER 1

PEACEFULNESS SHATTERED

Janet had been alone for what seemed an eternity, now. She was bathing in a secluded cove on the seashore, having just recently returned from a hunting trip of a couple of days. She was playing with a couple of dolphins that had found their way through the narrow gap at the mouth of the cove. She had always gotten along with all animals, whether mammal, bird, or reptile... they always seemed to like her very much.

She had now been living on her own in the wild for nearly three years by this time, toughened up against the weather and terrain, the hardship of this way of life she had chosen after the murder of her beloved family, when she was nearly sixteen.

Most of the animals around this cove where she was staying helped her, bringing her food when she couldn't get some for herself, providing what companionship she had, in return for her help when they needed it, such as tending the wounded. This companionship, however, could not replace human company. She could understand them, quite often, and they nearly always understood her, but this did not abate her desire for true conversation.

* * * * *

She had been in the woods when the incident occurred; gather herbs, fruits, nuts, and checking the snares that she had scattered around the edge of the clearing.

Her family on her mother's side was known to be extremely long-lived. They had always lived apart from other commoners... in fear of what others might believe of them. Because the other commoners were fearful of Janet's family, and might just do something rash.

Janet had once gone into the nearest town, to see what it was like, when she was only nine years old. The rumors about her family that she heard there were atrocious, causing her great fear and anguish. It was believed that they associated with demons, and worse.

When she brought this to her parents' attention, she was firmly told never to go into town alone again. Then, in a deft, startling move, her mother had pushed her hair back behind her ears, revealing something Janet had never seen before. Her mother's ears were not round at the top, as her father's were, but rather, came to a very definite point. Samantha, her mother, explained that she usually kept her ears hidden, covered by her hair, and what small powers of illusion she had. She also said that Janet herself might have a few of these features from their elvish ancestry, especially seeing as she seemed to have inherited nearly pure blood, apparent in the way animals really took to her, as well as her innate abilities in woodlore. At least, Janet's mother thought, even hoped, that it was elvish blood that was running through her daughter's veins. Her prior lover, though elvish, had claimed dragonblood in his ancestry as well.

The human part of her own blood had been dominant for the first eighteen years of her life. Then, in a night of strange, feverish dreams, and nerve-wracking pain she went through the Awakening. The immortal, elvish blood in her veins gained ascendancy over the mortal, human blood. When she'd woken up the next morning, her hair had gone from raven black to a strange mix of gold and silver strands in her black locks. Her ears had become pointed. Her eyes turned from blue to jet-black and she found she could see as well in the dark as she could in daylight, if in a different spectrum.

She hoped the Awakening would be easier for Janet, if it happened at all. She did not really know how to warn Janet, and, unfortunately, never had the chance.

* * * * *

The sun was going down. The dolphins headed back out to sea, and Janet swam back to shore, where she had a quick meal, then went to bed, as it had been a long two days of hunting, and the swim and play with the dolphins had finally tired her to the point where she hoped the nightmares wouldn't return.

* * * * *

The next morning, after a peaceful night's rest, Guardian guided her to a distant clearing in the woods, where she found a wounded she-bear, caught in a bear trap. The bear had only recently been caught in the trap, as its paw was not very damaged yet, but it could still be a life threatening injury, should infection set in.

She released the bear, tearing the trap's chain from the post that held it in place. Then she tended the bear's leg, covering the wound with a paste she had made of medicinal herbs she had found in the woods on her forays. She wrapped this in what clean rags were left of her old clothes, which she boiled regularly to keep them clean, then she covered this with a bandage of toughened hide, which was tied on in such a way so that none of her work would accidentally come undone. Then she guided the bear to her cove, and afterwards went looking for some berries to feed to it.

She headed into the woods, planning to be gone an hour at most. She was only a quarter of the way back, in a small clearing, however, when five men stepped out of the surrounding trees and encircled her. All were armed with swords and knives of various sizes. In addition, each also carried another weapon, two of them having longbows, two of them spears, and the last one, likely the leader, carrying a quarterstaff made of blood-oak.

"Well, well, well. Look what we've got here, mates! Looks like we got ourselves tonight's entertainment. I'd heard that there were rumors of a wild girl living along these woods. I guess they was right. Hey girlie, wanna have some fun with some real men?" the leader asked sarcastically.

Sensing that these five did not mean her well, Janet looked around for a means of escape. At that moment, the alpha female of the wolf pack, whom she called Kimber, leapt out of the woods onto his back, biting at his neck. Two more wolves attacked him and the rest of the pack jumped in as well, three wolves per man.

Then, struggling to remain upright, the leader of Janet's attackers suddenly straightened, throwing Kimber off his back, and holding his staff horizontally above his head. He started spinning the staff, which began emitting a blood-red light, then swung it at Kimber and the other two wolves who had attacked him. With three swings and three dark flashes, the three wolves were on the ground, whimpering in pain.

The man suddenly became a blur, and, shortly, all the wolves were down. "So, girlie has some protectors, hmm? The rumors said there were wolves around here when there hadn't been a coupla years ago." He was interrupted by a groan from one of his men as the latter, one of the spear-wielders, collapsed, his throat having been nearly shredded by one of the wolves. He hadn't realized the man had been badly hurt. The leader's face darkened. "Shoot her down!" he ordered the archers.

As they released the arrows they had put to their bowstrings, Janet was knocked down, almost completely out of the way. One of the arrows hit her in the right shoulder, and the other suddenly sprouted from Guardian's shoulder. The cub had appeared out of nowhere, leaping on Janet's chest front paws first, hoping to knock her down, completely out of the arrows' paths. As Janet fainted from the sudden blooming of extreme, burning pain in her shoulder, the last sounds she heard were Guardian's cry of pain, a sudden and extremely loud roar, the likes of which she had never heard, and fearful shouts of "Dragon!"