Reworked Chapter 1 of The Twists of Fate

PROLOGUE

Mundii is a world where magic can either be a blessing or a curse; depending on who your father is. A long time ago, amidst the lonesomeness of darkness, a tear of a nearby star fell on this once barren world. The tear shattered into ten pieces, one piece creating the plants, animals, and the humans, and the other smaller pieces creating the nine Mages, all of whom were men, and have always been men.

The descendants of the Mages became the powerful advisers to the kings, the rulers of this world. However, a prophecy was told by one of the original Mages which foretold of the future heir to the throne, the only person that would unite and rule all of Mundii:

By the power of the light of the star
That cried the tear of magic
A true mage shall conquer with the power
Of unfortunate
All heads shall bow, and all animals shall praise
For the true and only Mage will carry a honey glaze
Suffering shall cease and laughter will last a life- time
The power of the tear will conquer all that is wrong and all that is thought to be right
Beware those who refuse for death or worse shall come to you

The prophecy was told as a fable to young children, although the descendants of the nine Mages were taught and advised on it. The nine Mages were split and sent to the nine corners of Mundii to help establish the nine Kingdoms of Mundii. In time, two came to be in the same kingdom, one was the most powerful of all the Mages and the other was the least powerful of all the Mages.

CHAPTER ONE
THE BEGINNING OF MY END

To me it doesn’t matter that the road I have chosen ended in this tower cell. I sit writing on the cold stone floor by the light of one of the last days of my life. From the day a person is born they are living one of the last days of their lives, and I now realize how important each moment of those days really is. My life has been a dream. A dream I dreamed of when I was young and not afraid to dream.

My name is Judith. I was born and raised in a small city. The city is slowly becoming a ghost town due to the young adults slowly leaving. The residents do not see or care about the outside world. The end-all-be-all is the small town politics and drama. My childhood was anything but normal, if any normality is possible for anyone. I am a female and I was born with magical powers. I am cursed. It is only acceptable for the Mage’s sons to have them. Anybody else born with powers is thought to be a malediction.

As I got older the people of our city had been threatening my life and my mother’s because I lived there. My poor mother didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t worried about herself, but for me. “There are openings at King Seal’s palace, and they are offering good wages. Over there you could learn so much about how to be a proper lady and help us,” she said late one evening, though I knew that wasn’t the real reason. She sounded cold, but beneath her smooth voice I was able to feel and hear her pain.

The next day was a hard day. We had said so little to each other. She gave me her best stallion, Star. I hugged her, never wanting to let go. We both knew that my coming back home was not an option.

I smiled, forcing myself to let go. I managed to say, “Don’t worry.” I knew life would be better for her.

I slowly made my way toward my unknown future. I waved goodbye only when I knew that she would not see my tears slowly coming down my cheeks.

It took me five nights to get to King Seal’s palace. I felt as though the night sky was the only thing in Mundii that understood how I felt. I can still hear the silence being broken by the hoofs meeting the ground. The immense mountains pimpled with ocotillo hid the moon from me. It seemed every galloping leap that Star took forced me to grow up. I felt as though I was no longer a child in a dream, but an adult in the truth of reality.

Our kingdom is vast. The desert heat makes everyone strong, prickly, and hot tempered. I had been to the palace city of course a few times with my mother, but never alone. Once I got there, I led Star into the stable and I read a note stating:

WANTED: YOUNG MAN AS STABLE HAND 100 GOLD COINS AT THE END OF MONTH PLUS FOOD AND SHELTER.

As a stable hand, I would be paid twice the amount I would if I were a maid. Plus, being a stable hand was what I had been brought up to be.

Rubius was the man I had to see. I didn’t know whom he was or how he looked or what to expect, and on top of that, there were three hundred people named Rubius. I took a deep breath and looked around the bustling stable. Horses were being readied in one area and there were stable hands cleaning the stalls. There was the smell of dirt and hay floating in the air. A boy, not yet a young man but trying to be, bumped into me. He seemed upset as he looked back behind him. He growled, “Watch where you’re going!”

I eyed him. He was a head shorter than me, he had scuffed boots, muddy pants and his brown hair was all tangled. I replied, “I was the one standing here minding my own business when you bumped into me!”

He seemed shocked that I spoke to him in such a manner. He brushed some of the dried mud off of his clothes, which I noticed were of good quality. He asked very indignantly, “Who are you?”

“My name is Judith.” I accidentally tripped as I moved out of his way.

“What were you standing around for?” he asked, now clearly amused.

“I want to apply as a stable hand here. I was looking for a man named Rubius. Do you know where he is?” I helped him dust off the rest of the mud.

“Don’t you have to be a man to work as a stable hand?” he asked as he handed me an apple from his pocket.

“No!”

“How old are you?” he laughed.

I liked how he laughed. It was not a mocking laugh, and it filled the stable with such a sense of peace that I could not help but smile. “Thirteen, and you?”

“Fourteen.”

I laughed so hard I choked on the stupid apple. “You, you…you are 14?” I chuckled. “No, I don’t believe you, I am taller than you!”
He said a little hurt, “I know, my father says I will grow…someday.”

A man came stomping in; his brown boots were covered in mud along with his once white stockings looking brown. His to the knees finely woven breech’s were torn in places and his long green velvet coat was disheveled and streaked with mud. In his hair were pieces of twigs and leaves. He did not seem at all pleased as he made a bee line towards us. I whispered, “Is that your father?”

“No…that is Rubius.” I was not too pleased by that.

Rubius shook the boy. He yelled, “What were you thinking riding your horse off the path when I specifically told you not to?”

“I just thought I could handle him,” the boy said looking down at his scuffed boots.

“How could you possibly think that? To begin with, it rained last night, which would hint to you, if you used any part of that brain of yours, that there would be mud! Then, the fact that I told you that you should not go there should have made you not go, and finally you should not have ridden that horse so fast. You out ran a damn rabbit!” Rubius yelled, his eyes gleamed in the stable light.

“I’m sorry Rubius!” pleaded the boy, blushing from shame.

“Sorry? Then to top things off, once your horse… our horses slid and fell into the ditch, you took off and ran here, like a coward!” The boy stayed quiet. Rubius rolled his eyes. “Go get out of those rags and muddy clothes before your father sees you!” As the boy hurriedly ran out of the stable Rubius turned his attention to me. “And who are you?” he moaned as if I was too much trouble to be dealt with.

“My name is Judith,” I answered shyly. “I wanted to apply for the stable hand job.”
He chuckled frustrated, “The ad states that a man is wanted, and from what I can see you’re not a man.”

I looked at him in utter disgust. “So what does that have to do with it?”

“Everything,” he said amused. I was getting annoyed that I “amused” so many damn people.
“Sire, I have traveled for five nights straight to get here, please at least let me try to prove my worth!” I begged.

He eyed me. “No, sleep in the stable and tomorrow either go home or apply for a maid’s job.” He left. I was furious but what could I do?
Some men later led two muddy horses, one silver and one pitch black, into the stables. These men completely ignored Star and I; it was as if we were not there. I fed Star the rest of the apple that the boy had given me. At that time Star was young, very young. Her black hair shined in the stable light and I caressed her white patch that she had on her head.

I was in the Royal Stable Yard. Unlike the other stables that housed the soldiers, workers, and important merchants horses’, this housed the captains’, Lords’, the Royal Family’s and their Stable Riders’ horses. But I now understand how foolish of me it was to want to work there. This was a very prestigious stable yard where very privileged people of Mundii were served. The stable itself, if it could be called that, contained enough pens to house fifty horses, twenty Paiges’ mules, along with pets any Lord could have. I was amazed at the sizes of the pens. Two full-grown stallions could fit comfortably in each one. The walls of the stable were made of tumbled brick and the pens of a polished oak-- a far cry from my mother’s small ten horse stable yard.

That night I remember sleeping so peacefully. The straw was so soft. When I woke up, it felt as though gray clouds hung in my mind. Why? I thought to myself. I wondered so many things as I led Star to drink water by a pond near the stable. I splashed some cold water on my face. I looked at my reflection for a long time. My long black hair hung down to below my waist, a few pieces of hay were stuck in it. My dark green dress was in wrinkles and my sun tanned skin shone bare on my arms. I knew what I had to do.

I ran around like an idiot searching for pants, a baggy shirt, a cap and a sharp knife. If they would not hire a girl, they must hire a boy, I thought. I cut my long hair to my ears. I took off my dress and put on the pants that I had found in the trash pile along with the shirt. I found some cloth in the stable and with it wrapped my chest tight so I would seem flat. I put on the baggy shirt and placed the cap on my head.

I led Star back to the stable and searched for Rubius there. I found him in a better frame of mind. He had a wooden staff decorated with different gold symbols. His clothes were perfect and unwrinkled, no mud this time. The golden staff he did not use so much to walk with, more he just, he carried it. I tried to ignore what I was wearing and I said in the most boyish voice I could muster, “Sire, my name is Jude. I would like the job as a stable hand.” I had rehearsed this all the way from the pond to the stable.

He rolled his eyes as if he remembered yesterday’s incident with the girl. “I need to make sure everybody understands the term MAN! Jude I am sure you are a great worker, but you are not a man….How old are you?”

I looked him in the eyes and said, “Thirteen.” A few of the stable hands chuckled.

He laughed, “Just go home, I already hired a MAN for the job.”

I had had enough of this foolishness. I had done all these things just for this stupid job that I was not going to get; I blew up. “Sire, if I may,” I said not caring if he objected. “Why do our human feelings and views seem to be separated by a vast ocean that nobody can swim in order to understand them? Can’t you understand that a boy grows up to be a man?” A sudden hush filled the room. I noticed horrified eyes were on Rubius and myself. A few people near me even took a step back.

All the workers stood there with their mouths open shocked that I spoke back at him. “It takes guts to answer like a man, especially to me, knowing I could turn you to ashes,” Rubius laughed. “Take the job, I’ll tell the other man to go somewhere else.” He smiled and walked away. I personally had not known that he could turn me into ashes. That’s when I realized that this was Rubius, “the Great Mage”, as many people called him. He was the right hand of the King! The reason I hadn’t realized who he was, was not because I was ignorant and stupid…okay perhaps I was naïve, but I had never seen him, not even a picture of him! If I had known that piece of information I would not have said anything.

The Stable Master interrupted my thoughts. “What’s your name?” he asked.

I smiled shaking all my worries away. “Jude.”
He handed me a bucket of water and led me to the pigs. He said, “Jude, nobody has ever stood up for themselves like you did to Rubius. He liked that, and it was probably the reason he hired you. I think he might even grow to be quite fond of you.”

“Of an idiot?” I laughed.

“Yes, of an idiot,” he chuckled.

And so, my new life began. From sun up to midday I would work. Then from midday to sunset, it was my time to do whatever I wanted. Then from sunset to midnight, I would work with sleep time from midnight to sunrise. Star and I lived in a pen together. The other single stable hands also lived in a horse’s pen. At the end of every month I received 100 gold coins half of which I would send to my mother, the other half was mine alone.