Part 1 pages 1-7

The Stormblade
It was night. The blackness surrounded the already nervous travelers as they moved in single file along the path through the Dark Forest, seeing only by torchlight. The travelers were Dargothian men, woman and children who were moving to the other side of the forest. They were hoping for a better life without being oppressed by the cruel king of Dargothia.
They stopped, as one of the wagons fell on its side, one of the wheels having snapped. Five of the men rushed to repair it. Focused on the mild mishap, the rest of the people could not see or hear the figures that began to creep past them and take position on all sides. Suddenly, one of the children began to cry. The mother tried frantically to quiet it, but her attempts only made it cry harder.
One of the men started to come near her with a dagger in hand, but the woman cried out, and the other Dargothians stopped him. The mother began to nurse her child, a boy, and at last he was silent.
“He is too young.” Whispered one of the women to the mother.
She nodded, tears in her eyes. “But how could I have left him?” she asked.
The second woman bent her head to hide the tears that were streaming down her face. “I did.”
There was nothing to say, so they fell silent, sharing the other’s grief. They traveled on, not stopping until dawn. The trees were bathed in a reddish light from the rising sun. They stopped for a meal, but ate it cold, not daring to take time or risk to light fires.
Then, the black figures that had been following the group sprang on the little caravan, their swords flashing as they did their evil work. Blood spilled everywhere as the men fought and the women and children screamed and tried to run away.
The woman that was holding the child held it even tighter as she tried to run. One of the enemy men, his face painted black, cut her off and waved his sword threateningly.
The woman tried to plead with him. “Please, this is my only child. Kill me, if you want, but not him. Please!” she held her breath as his face gradually softened.
“Give him to me.” He spoke with a thick accent. He eyed her as she hesitated. “Don’t worry. I will not kill him.” He said softly.
She handed him over, weeping quietly. The man turned and walked away, the baby in his arms. She turned also, back to her people that were dying under the king’s swords.


Chapter One: The Medallion
It was a hot summer afternoon; the sun shining brightly in a cloudless sky, and Josh Talbot was sitting up in his tree house reading, as usual. One could tell from only looking at the wavy blond hair hanging in his eyes, and noticing his tense shoulders that he was lost in his own, private little world, and would not respond to reality until he had been jolted, quite roughly in his case, back into it.
Down below, Ming Troy and Calvin Thompson rode their bikes on the dirt shoulder of Smith Rd. They coasted to a stop as they reached Josh’s driveway. They hopped off their bikes and slowly walked towards the house.
Just then, Ming glanced up at the oak tree house and saw Josh’s legs dangling out of the doorway. Her brown eyes rolled slightly, though she smiled. Tugging on Calvin’s dark green shirt, she pointed wordlessly at the dangling sneakers.
Calvin grinned and put a finger to his lips. Sneaking up the ladder, he peeked his head just above the tree house floor and watched Josh, who was still happily absorbed in his book.
He jumped into the tree house with a yell, startling Josh out of his daydreams, and sending them both onto the hard wooden floor.
Calvin laughed, almost hysterically, as Josh gasped in surprise. Calvin had succeeded in bringing him back to reality.
“Hi, Josh!” Calvin greeted him enthusiastically, his face teasing. “How are you today, good buddy? Ten four, old man!”
From the look on his face, Josh was about to spout off a mouthy answer, but he suddenly remembered something vitally important as he saw Ming climb gracefully into the tree house.
He glanced frantically at his watch and then smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. “Oh no! I was supposed to meet you at the theater, wasn’t I?” He asked. He might have smacked himself again, if Ming had not stopped him.
“It’s ok, Josh, really. Besides, Calvin found something really cool. Look-“ she gestured at Calvin, who smiled mysteriously before revealing an old medallion that was inside his shirt.
“Yes Josh, we didn’t mind waiting for you for an hour at all,” he shot back in a mocking tone. But Josh wasn’t listening, he was instead examining the medallion.
It was a smaller than a CD but bigger than his entire hand- and looked as heavy. A black leather cord was tied through a hole at the top, probably meant to hang around the neck. It was also covered in dust, but Josh could just notice the risen letters underneath. Josh could scarce take his eyes off from it. He started to reach for it, but Calvin held it just out of reach.
“Like it?” he smiled smugly.
“Yeah, it looks really cool, and really old, too. Where did you get it?”
Calvin shifted from one foot to another nervously. Ming watched him with a frown. She had noticed his strange behavior even if Josh hadn’t seemed to.
“Very old, Josh. I got it from my father and-“
Ming interrupted him. “But, Calvin, I didn’t know that you still had a father-you said he had died in a car accident.”
Calvin looked at her sharply, about to reply angrily, but he caught himself and smiled; it was a fake smile, but neither Josh nor Ming seemed to notice. “Why, yes, Ming, he did.” he said patronizingly. “I meant that it used to be his, but my mother had it-she gave it to me.”
“Wow, Calvin. It’s really nice. You sure are lucky. And your mom trusts you with it-that’s more than I can say about my mom.” Said Josh.
Calvin winced. “I know. I was kind of surprised too. Would you like to look at it?”
“Would I!” breathed Josh, in total rapture.
He sat down next to Ming and Calvin, and studied the medallion. It was obviously old, and he had to wipe the dust from both sides. It a picture of what looked like a hurricane on the front while the back was covered in words.
Josh began to read the words inscribed onto the bronze medallion.
“Death only comes to the weak;
The brave and strong know no fear.
Come and find what you seek,
The storm that rages is never meek.”
He paused.
“Keep reading!” demanded Calvin.
Josh took a deep breath and began reading again.
“Fulfill the prophecy by living the past
Believe in a peace to come.
You’re not the first, neither the last
Merge together as one.”
He finished reading the insignia and glanced up at Ming. “What does that mean?” he asked her with a puzzled look.
Ming touched the medallion gently. “I don’t know-“ she stopped, and her eyes widened. Josh looked down at the medallion and realized that it was glowing a strange blue color. He gasped and threw it to the floor. “Whoa!” he stared at Ming. “What did you just do?”
Ming was scared. “I don’t know!” she cried.
“Touch it again.” Suggested Calvin. “Maybe it’ll stop.”
She glared at him, but Josh encouraged her. “It wasn’t hot.”
She reached down timidly and touched it again. They waited.
But it continued to glow with its eerie blue light and now all three could hear what sounded like thunder in the distance.
The slight breeze that had been lightly tossing Ming’s hair while she sat suddenly turned into a gusty wind. Josh jumped up and looked out the tree house door. His mouth dropped open in surprise as he stared.
Ming, noticing his expression, also stood up to see. Calvin impatiently stood up beside her. Their eyes widened in surprise.
A storm had risen and turned the clouds above them black. It began to rain.
“Nothing to worry about.” Calvin said, his voice trembling a bit. “It was pretty humid out today, a storm was bound to break out.”
Josh nodded slowly. “Still, we had better head inside; summer storms are always pretty fierce. We’ll come back out here afterwards.”
“Let’s.” Ming’s monosyllable had enough power to break the trance they had all been slipping into. Josh left the medallion on the tree house floor and followed Ming and Calvin down the ladder.
They had all barely reached the ground when the storm struck in full fury. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Josh ran towards his house, calling out to the others to follow him. He could barely see the patio’s glass doors through the blinding rain.
Only a few more steps…
But he never got that far. Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind seemed to pick him up and whirled him into chaos. The wind whipped the rain against him so hard it felt like tiny ice pellets cutting into his face. He shut his eyes tightly and didn’t even dare guess what was happening.
And then, as suddenly as it all began, it ended. Josh felt himself land gently on the ground, as though a giant hand had placed him there. Everything was quiet. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a blur of bright sunlight. He closed them again and mentally checked his whole body for any injuries.
Finding none, he decided to sit up, slowly. Looking around, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t in his yard anymore. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere in his neighborhood; it occurred to him that he wasn’t even on earth anymore. He was sitting on the greenest grass he had ever seen, and the trees in the distance looked black. The flowers that surrounded him were blue and purple, and they were strangely shaped.
He turned and saw that Calvin and Ming were lying beside him. They were also sitting up slowly, and Ming looked about ready to cry before she saw Josh.
Josh stared at them. “What just happened?” he asked.



The three teens paced the ground as they tried to put together what had happened.
“Ming, when you touched it…” started Josh
“I know; it lit up,” replied Ming. “I don’t know how, we don’t even know for sure that it was me that made it do that!”
Calvin, who had been muttering the word ’impossible’ over and over again, began to rant. “It was!” he said angrily. “The question is: how did you do that, and can you do it again?”
Ming whirled on him with a flash of spirit, her long black hair tangling. “Fine! It was me! But I don’t know how, and even if I could do it again, where’s the medallion?”
Calvin and Josh fell silent. Where had it gone?
“Besides,” Ming continued. “Josh was holding it. Did you press a button on it or something?”
“It was a medallion, Ming, not a control panel.” Josh rolled his eyes.
Just then, Ming happened to glance up. Her eyes widened, and she bit her bottom lip as she tried not to scream. Her normally pale Asian skin went a shade whiter as she pointed wordlessly at two figures that were approaching cautiously.
As Calvin saw them, his jaw dropped, and his eyes widened in surprise. “Lovely, a welcoming committee; I don’t think we should stay here, guys. Those people make me nervous.” He was biting his bottom lip.
Josh rolled his eyes. “Dude, I am nervous. Somehow we went from Kansas to Oz. Except instead of munchkins, there are tall, freaky people dressed in gray.”
“Get a grip, Josh!” Calvin exploded, his face turning red. “This isn’t Oz! Do you see the swords they are carrying? Do you want to be skewered by one of those?”
Ming held her head up high. “They’re coming, it’s too late to run. We might as well stay and find out who they are and what they want. Especially since we don’t have anywhere to go to.” She added under her breath.
There was no time to say more, as the two figures came into view. A tall man dressed in a gray cloak and a woman appareled in the same came close, slowly, and then stood in front of them.
The man spoke first, in a different language. His green eyes were narrowed as he looked at them, and his finger caressed the hilt of his sword.
Josh tried to speak, but his voice cracked, so he tried again. “We-speak-English.” He spoke slowly, so that they might understand him. The man and woman exchanged glances, a smile playing on both their lips.
“Obviously.” Commented the man dryly. He held out his hand. “And so do we. I’m Ventural, by the way, and this is my partner Dilaylin.”
He waited, his hand outstretched, but Josh could only gape.
Ventural lifted is eyebrows. “Do you not understand the custom of shaking hands?” he asked, a little sarcastically.
Ming elbowed Josh hard, breaking him out of his trance. He started, and blinked.
“Oh, Yeah, I-“ he shook hands, berating himself for being so dumb, while he shook his head in disbelief that he was on another planet, shaking hands with ‘aliens’. “I’m Josh-Talbot. And these are my friends Ming Troy and Calvin Thompson.”
Ming shook hands, but Calvin ignored them.
Ventural eyed him suspiciously for a moment, and then seemed to dismiss him.
“So, how did you land up here-I can assume that you aren’t from Dargothia?”
He added. But Ming heard him mutter under his breath, “They must have found the medallion.”
Josh nodded once. “Yeah, um, we aren’t exactly sure how we are here,” he glanced at Ming. “But-we are planning on finding our way back home, and then you’ll find that we won’t bother you again.” He smiled, seemingly pleased with his negotiation skills. But the smile was quickly replaced with an open jaw as he listened to Dilaylin speak.
“We are sorry to say that as much as you want to find a way out of here, you won’t be able to-right now, at any rate. We have specific orders to see any strange beings safe to Dargothia.”
Ming’s voice trembled as she spoke. “What do you mean? Who would order you to bring us to them, when we only just arrived? And how are we strange?”
“And where is Dargothia?” threw in Josh, for good measure.
Ventural smirked. “Just look at you, of course you are strange-where did you pick up such strange apparel anyway?” He fingered Ming’s sleeve for an instant, then snapped back into a business like attitude. “He knew you were coming, of course. He ordered us just yesterday to find any unusual beings. You, my friends, qualify as ‘unusual’. You are to be taken to Dargothia and questioned. On exactly what, I have no idea, but my orders were perfectly clear.”
Calvin’s face was livid with rage. He exploded. “And you think that we‘ll just come quietly to who knows where with a couple of weirdo's?”
Ventural grinned, but he also put his hand on his sword hilt and moved closer. “Yes, I do. Would you like to know why?” His voice was dangerously soft, and he continued to speak, as if to distract them from the fact that he was moving closer, while Dilaylin closed in behind them. “You see, we have the upper hand, having weapons and all, but in case there is a chance that you might be persuaded not to give Dilaylin and I any grief, let me remind you that it is the king who wishes to interrogate you. If being important enough to require special attention does not appease you, perhaps the fact that he needs you alive for a time might.”
Ming had started to back away in horror, but she bumped into Dilaylin, who quickly grabbed her arms. She tried to twist away, but the Neptunian woman held her tight and put a dagger near her throat.
Josh, seeing her struggle, started to go to her defense, but Ventural whipped out his sword and held it close to Josh’s neck. “You move, you die.” He warned, as Josh froze. “My sword is sharp-I hone the blade every day.”
So they stood there, Josh and Ming with blades at their throats, and Calvin with an upset expression.
“Hey,” he said, “Listen, you don‘t need to do that; we’ll do what you want, but we don‘t have the medallion anymore.”
“Shut up!” Ventural hissed. “When we want your advice, we will ask for it. And I know you will all do what we want; you have no choice. As for the medallion,” He added, “That will be taken from you in due time.”
Calvin started to retort, but a shout cut him off. He whirled around as two men, wearing black, ran towards them waving swords. A woman with long blonde hair was behind them, and she held a bow and arrow. She carefully took aim, and then fired. The arrow flew gracefully through the air before landing a hairsbreadth away from Ventural’s foot. He cursed as he hurriedly released Josh and signaled Dilaylin to do the same for Ming. They took to their heels and ran away.
Calvin watched their rescuers for a moment, and then turned to Josh and Ming. They were staring at him.
“You just told them about the medallion?” Josh was dumbstruck. “That was rather stupid!”
“Sounds like they were after our lives, if you ask me.” shot Ming. “And how did you know that they wanted the medallion?”
“I read it, in a book!” Calvin said quickly.
“A book?” Josh just stared at him.
“I know, I know,” he spoke desperately. “Look, I’m sorry, really, I know this is partly my fault. But please don’t mention the medallion to these people. I’ll tell what I know later, I promise. But I’ve got a really bad feeling about all this!”
“You have a bad feeling about this?” asked Josh incredulously. “And you think that we don’t?” He had time to say no more, as their rescuers arrived at that very moment. Calvin shot him a pleading look, but remained silent.
“Well! They sure had you about skewered, didn’t they?” One of the men spoke. He was tall, and handsome. He had short black hair and strange light gray eyes. He sheathed the sword he had been carrying and grinned. “I’m Fox Stormblade, by the way, in case you’re wondering.”
The woman spoke, and looking at her, Ming realized she was pregnant. “I am Reba, and this is my brother Drake.” She said, gesturing to the tall, quiet, glaring man behind her, sporting a long scar on his right cheekbone.
Ming shivered involuntarily; she thought she saw a strange darkness surrounding him.
“Drake doesn’t talk much, and he’s one for winning staring contests, if you know what I mean.” Fox winked at Ming, having caught her shiver. “But I assure you that it is quite possible, though sometimes quite difficult, to get along with him. He won’t give you any trouble. Reba, on the other hand,” he grinned at Drake as he wrapped his arm around her. “Now, she’s something to watch out for. Killer aim, killer looks …man, she’s one heck of a woman!”
Reba smiled at him, her blue eyes gazing up at him with obvious love. Did they marry in this weird, whacked out world along with the swords and clothing from the Middle Ages?
Josh didn’t know, and he really didn’t want to stick around long enough to find out. “Excuse me,” he said, frowning. “This is all very nice, but can you help us out, here? We don’t know how we got here, except that it might have to do with a medallion, but now the medallion’s gone, so we have no idea how to get back.”
Calvin opened his mouth to speak, but Josh stared him down.
Fox nodded gravely as he exchanged glances with Drake. He held up a hand. “Yes, yes, I know. We’ll help you, eventually. Right now, we’ll take you all into the forest, and we can discuss what just happened there, where we don’t have to worry about anyone coming after us.” He grinned again. “Trust me, you’ll want to know all the details. And then,” he paused, as though unsure what to say, then continued softly, “And than, maybe you can help us.”
Josh wasn’t too concerned about the ‘you help us’ concept. Surely one could expect it in this primitive world. What worried him was ‘all the details’. “Wait a minute here, we just met you and you want us to follow you into a creepy black forest?”
Fox shrugged. “Or you can stay here and let Xavier’s minions find you again.”
“I’m going with them.” Ming said a matter of factly. She tried to convince Josh. “Well, they did just save us once, if we can’t trust them even a little after that, I don’t know who we can.”
Josh took a deep breath and looked at Calvin. “Guess she’s right. Let’s go.”
The three teens followed their rescuers into the looming trees. The sun was just beginning to set on the horizon behind them. The shadows deepened, and swallowed up what remained of the light.