Power Awakens

Lost in her head Taegan thought about Jaac, he seemed so ordinary, he wasn’t bad looking but so broad, he looked dangerous in his bulk, so much muscle for one so young, but it was attractive. She had idly wondered what he would look like in a guard’s uniform, tailored and fitted rather than the loose Naming Day robes he had on. He did have such expressive eyes. Although at that moment they had looked scared half to death, she wondered how they would look should he smile. She had given some thought to honouring each with a dance at the evening festivities but that was before all hell had broken loose in Bowltown.

Taegan sat up on her bed and thought back to all that had occurred in the hours since the moment she had found out Jaac was a Nexii. It seemed surreal to her now the danger was passed. Like a nightmare when you wake in the morning and can’t remember the detail of what had seemed so real in your sleep.

The soldier had reported to her father of a beast running through the countryside in a direct line for Bowltown. A Demolt he had called the beast although it was something Taegan had not heard of before. Her father had been quick to react as always, he was such a good leader and Taegan always thought he was at his most masterful when there was a crisis. Little did she realize she had been learning the same strength of character from him since she was a child? Before she knew it two of her father’s guards were herding her and the boys up to the Keep whilst her father and Fraykus followed discussing the attack with his captains. Captain Petrek had turned out to be Jaac’s father and it was pretty obvious, Jaac was just like his father in shape and bulk. But what the hell was a Demolt, she had wondered lost in her thoughts all the way back to the Keep.

The citizens of Bowltown had been running scared ahead of them and the reports coming back from the soldiers on the town’s wall spoke of the destruction the beast had been causing. Her father and Fraykus had spoken about the Nexii and whether he was the key to the attack on Bowltown. Typical, Taegan had thought, all the upset caused because of one boy, and her Naming day left in ruins. The entertainment had been cancelled in short hand and her father had ordered all citizens back to their homes. Plus the pace the soldiers were setting to get them back to the keep had ruined her slippers and her dress was looking decidedly dusty. She had scowled at the boys but they were all quiet.

This beast, this Demolt sounded truly frightening, just like something out of her history lessons of the War of Attrition. Once they were back at the keep and in the Library the day just got stranger and stranger. Captain Petrek was sent to the town wall with the rest of the soldiers and Majee Fraykus with plans on how to stop the Demolt. All that she could do, along with those left in the keep, was to wait of news on whether the planned assault at the town wall had been successful.

It was a nervous time she had tried to engage the boys in conversation to ease the tension. The boys Ainy and Tem had been reticent to talk but had answered her questions politely; Mort was obviously shy and had been completely tongue-tied, Jaac had just point blank ignored her lost in his own thoughts, he had seemed so rude. Tem and Ainy had eventually made up for this as they became more relaxed in her company their easy banter had been amusing and for a moment she had forgotten the immediate danger that her father and the town was dealing with.

Tem and Ainy had told her of some of the funny stories of the boy’s daily pranks and how they lived their lives and she had begun to realize that she had more in common with the boys than she would have suspected. The way they spoke, their accent, was a bit rough but there was genuine intelligence behind those accents and a wicked sense of humour. Even Mort was brave enough to have added a few words every now and again.

Jaac’s father and her own were worried as the attempts to stop the beast had failed. Looking back now she still had a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes as she remembered Majee Fraykus, he would never be coming back having given his life at the town wall to save the city.

Then the Haittee Priest had walked into the library and Taegan had thought she had been removed to some alternate universe. All these events did not just happen in Bowltown in one day! Even more bizarrely Osakee had not been here to help her father but to act as bodyguard for Jaac, a boy who had only found out his own fate that day. It was too much for her to take in.

Jaac had looked up and blushed red when Osakee had addressed Jaac asking what he wanted to do about the monster, it was quite endearing Taegan had thought, her sensitive side wanted to go over and comfort him. Jaac had instructed Osakee to kill the Demolt and Taegan had felt pride for Jaac that he could act like a man in this crisis and also confused as to why her feelings were strong for this blushing boy.

Her father bowed slightly to Jaac, something that had shocked Taegan who had never seen her father bow to anyone other than the King himself. “Good thoughts boy” her father had said “Lets to it then, Osakee please follow me.” The others had trailed behind but Jaac went first with Osakee and her father.

Nothing could have prepared her for the beast before her pounding on the side of the keep and she could not have described it in detail again had anyone asked her. The Demolt was huge, with rows of sharp teeth in its large mouth, it seemed to be oblivious to everyone but Jaac, but Osakee had been the one to rush forward and engaged the beast, the next minutes seemed to have passed in a blur where she had been thrown back and found Tem, Ainy and Mort in front of her naturally forming a protective circle around her.

Taegan had caught her breath and watched as first Osakee and then Jaac had tackled the beast. She had been amazed at the speed with which Jaac moved. Her heart had been in her mouth and she was petrified for Jaac, but completely captivated by his natural grace. Why was it that she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off him as he swung under the beast and gutted it? All this from a relatively untrained sixteen year old boy, it had been unbelievable; Taegan had spent her life surrounded by the Keeps soldiers and had seen them at their training. This boy had more natural talent than anyone she had encountered, and still she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off him.

As quickly as the battle began it was over, Jaac’s father and hers had congratulated the boy. She had quickly thanked the other boys graciously for protecting her and had been rewarded by more blushes. She had to get out and think, watching Jaac had evoked feelings in her she couldn’t understand. She felt she had been with him during every movement he had made, his face as he fought the beast was etched in her mind.

And now she was here in her apartment sitting on her bed her Naming day dress in ruins around her wondering what this Nexii had done to her, to so capture her thoughts. He wasn’t even the best looking of the boys, Tem was handsome, but Tem just didn’t hold her attention anymore than Ainy did for all his great humour. She just couldn’t stop thinking about Jaac.