BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone, Fantasy Fiction

Book One of the BARD series…

After Bran gets accepted to the same Bard campus his father once went to his father tells him of the wonders of becoming a Bard and how it will allow him to travel anywhere in the world. Bran argues that he would rather help his father with blacksmithing. But his father tells him he has to go, and because it’s harvest time, he must go alone. His father also warns him that things are much more dangerous now. Before he leaves, his mother tells him that someday he must return the gemstone necklace he always wears. A necklace given to him by a girl he saved two years before.

Soon Bran will learn just how dangerous things have become as he travels towards the Bard campus, and that the gemstone is much more than just a symbol of its owner’s gratitude.

BARD: Bearer of the Gemstone will take you on a journey of discovery, blacksmithing, and music. You’ll walk and run with Bran as he meets lurking dangers and learns of a constant threat from afar.

His sight becomes blurry. Images fade in-and-out. Things grow extraordinarily large. Everything becomes unclear and black speckles dance in front of his eyes. He stands up and staggers outside into Cranny’s Forest.

“Off to the Campus, alone,” he sings:

Off alone, to a place far from home
Where the Bards are
So, I can sing to the Earth
Of a love, I don’t understand

Her long brunette hair
The tiny freckles around her nose
Are burned into my memories
And her evergreen eyes
As luminous as a pond,
Under gathering fireflies


For a moment of bravery
When I saved her,
from two ghouls
She clasped a silver necklace,
around my neck

Her farewell kiss,
a bonding reminder
That when we are older,
I must return to her,
This gemstone necklace,
That always rests,
against my chest

Gently, he lays his lute on his lap, and gazes around at his surroundings. To the east there are alternate clusters of apple and cherry trees. Beyond the clusters he can see a wall of pine and spruce. Behind that wall the Druids roam. Through the rustling leaves, and gentle wind, he can hear the faint whistle of the Druids playing their flutes.
He places the strap of his lute over his shoulders, and lightly twangs the strings. He wants to synchronize his lute sounds with their flute whistles but they are too distant. Something inside, some hidden essence, makes him sing as he plays:

He ran beside the forest to find the place of his destiny
Everything seemed dark and overgrown
Alone, he ran,
Through the dense woods

No one knows what creatures he met,
Nor the men who captured him,
Nor the one who let him go

Who would believe the monsters
he saw,
Two-headed men,
With hatchets
Covered in blood—

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