I skidded to a halt outside the old house and was about to knock on the door when I heard some commotion over the other side of a thicket. There was a rustling and a few beams of light. I looked through the bushes and saw an amazing sight. This would probably never be seen again. Xandile and Crystal were opposite each other on a patch of grass, in a clearing. Xandile was astride his horse and Crystal was sat on the ground. Xandile was glowing with an incandescent light and he was murmuring in the strange language again. He reached up to the sky and a single bolt of lightning shot from the heavens into his hand. He somehow grabbed the lightning and moulded it into a rough circle. This circle was almost as wide as the clearing and he threw it up in the air. As the circle once again reached the sky of it’s origin, more tongues of lightening hit the edge of the circle. Bolt after bolt struck until there was an intricate mesh of light on the space that had been left empty in the centre of the circle. Xandile leapt into some bushes and let the circle fall back down onto the clearing. I knew well enough not to interfere so all I did was sit back and watch the circle make it’s awful descent. It eventually reached the head of Crystal and she began to glow. As the circle gradually pushed it’s way down her body she became clad in the same style of armour, a tad more feminine but still similar, as her father’s. Eventually the circle of light reached the ground and disappeared in a flash. Then it was over, Crystal was standing admiring her own armour and her father rushed to meet her.

"Now you’re a real mage, love. Your training starts now.” As he said that I stepped out from my hiding place and went to meet them and discuss the occurrences.

I had to ask, "What on Earth was that?”

He just smiled his smile and said, "One day lad, you will learn of these things. For now don’t talk about it as we mages find it embarrassing. All you need to know is Crystal here is now a real mage with real powers. So don’t get on the wrong side of her, eh lad?” He chuckled as he walked off. Crystal came running over excitedly, clinking loudly in all her new armour, she looked glorious.

"Wow you look great! I hear you’re a real mage now. You can do it all and not just the mind reading?” She was grinning from ear to ear as I said this. It more or less answered my question but just to clarify the matter she answered, "Yes isn’t it great? I can finally live up to my lineage. I will join the ranks of mage warriors as you do. I can’t wait! We will be fighting under my father’s regiment. You never know, I might get to train you!” In the events of the evening I had forgotten about my impending training. I did hope it wouldn’t be too hard. We set off that very night on our way to the hidden valley of the Magi. This was where the mages honed their skills, apparently. We all tried to get some sleep on the bumpy horse ride around the vales. I hadn’t been far out of the village. The furthest I had ever been is the next town. I hadn’t even been to the big city. This only lay a few miles away.

I woke up the next morning half asleep and stiff as a board. Have you ever tried sleeping in the saddle? Be sure you don’t, because it’s the most painful experience you will ever know! As we woke the valley came into site. This particular valley was particularly strange, considering it was floating a good few hundred feet in the air. Once again Xandile dismounted and spoke the queer language. This time I caught some of the words. They were something like ‘Skurndahl basinal fornurashint kerskahnal’, then he simply remounted and carried on at a trot. We followed but instead of just riding on flat land we gradually lifted up and gained height until we were as high as the valley entrance. My horse seemed extremely disturbed by this, even more so than I was, and began to rear. Crystal simply placed her hands on the horse’s head and a blue nimbus surrounded him. The horse calmed and relaxed back to the slow trot we had been travelling at. As we moved towards the entrance of the wide valley, I noticed how high we were from the ground. I felt quite sick. Before I knew what was happening, I was surrounded and I had no time to react.

Xandile shouted the warning. "No, we are all friends here. Don’t attack.”

I simply sat in my saddle and tried to look the opposite of menacing. I saw no visible weapons but I knew they must be mages to be able to get into this valley and to be floating in mid-air as they were. I felt the hot prickles of many knives at my throat. I was taken into the valley in this state. I thought it was ironic that I had come to help their cause and they were treating me like this! I didn’t struggle. I knew I had no chance of escape. I was brought down to ground with a thump, which the troop who did it regretted later! Xandile leant over and talked to the surrounding guards and there was a lot of nodding and mutterings, in a language I was later to learn was called Banadise. Xandile came up to me and said, " Don’t worry lad. These two will take you off to a comfortable room. I have to talk this over with the supreme commander. He will decide if you can stay and train with us and ultimately fight against the evil forces afoot here. You just stay there and you will be fine. Don’t make any trouble though eh?”

With that he walked off the direction of a small shack on the far side of the valley. I was half dragged, half carried across to another little shack which turned out to be a well furnished prison. I stayed here for many hours. They brought me some dinner, which consisted of many unrecognisable vegetables made into some sort of a rough stew. I was really too nervous to eat anything so I just picked at my food. Much later Xandile arrived, I heard his marching footsteps along the corridor long before he arrived. When he finally reached the door I was more than happy to meet him. I had been extremely lonely in my isolation. I was even happier when he told me his news.

"Well done lad. You’ve made the cut. Training starts first thing tomorrow!” I fell asleep straight away, after all the events of the day, I was exhausted.

It was VERY early in the morning when Xandile came into my little cell again. The sun hadn’t even risen, and neither was I prepared to. Oblivious to this fact, I was woken up and taken straight to another shack. This was some kind of mess hall and there were a few people sitting around eating fresh food. My stomach growled and I realised that I hadn’t eaten since yesterday. Xandile led us to a table near the back and a woman walked over with a huge tray, laden with food. I was tucking in before it had even reached the table.

"Eat up now, lad. There will be no time later. I think we will start off with some simple sword fighting skills. Have you ever handled a sword before?” My mouth was too full of food to answer so I just shook my head no.

"Well that will soon change, eh? You will learn from the best there ever was and ever will be. We’d better start off with the wooden swords though. Can’t have you getting hurt so soon.” I had swallowed my mouthful and now felt quite sick. Xandile took this as a sign of readiness to train. He led me outside to a open piece of grassy plain. He went to grab something in the air and his hand came back down with 2 wooden swords. I wasn’t complaining, I didn’t really feel like making swords anyway. He gave 1 to me and kept the other to himself.

Our training was hard and lasted over many, many months. It started off shaky and gradually I began to learn Xandile’s tricks. He would always go in for a thrust, wait for you to block it then snatch the sword behind your back and hit you with the hilt of the sword. It really hurt, but then again it taught you not to make that mistake. We gradually made our way through basic training. I was learning really quickly, he said. Apparently it takes many years for people to train up in the art of sword fighting. I didn’t really know, as I hadn’t even seen a real sword before, let alone a swordsman in training. After about a month I had moved along enough for us to start on the real swords.

Xandile came into my little room one morning, with a really long package wrapped in cloth, in his hands. He had brought me my first sword. It was beautifully crafted and was perfectly balanced, just above the hilt. It was long, slender and had a dragon motif along the hilt and along the sides of the blade. The dragons had ruby inset eyes and were made of pure gold. The long cross bars were inset with many jewels. The scabbard was gold and silver and it’s pommel was finely crafted and also encrusted with many jewels. I could tell this had cost Xandile a lot of money or a very great favour. I was speechless. It was all I could do to mumble my thanks and overwhelming happiness. It was a thing of great beauty. I swung it around a few times. The perfectly honed edge sung a beautiful song, a song of death! I decided to name it. After much thought I named it Asenguard. I think the name suited it. I was filled with immense gratitude towards Xandile for all he had done for me. He had shown me the true reason for my life, had given me a reason to live. He was my true father. The real sword fighting was even tougher than the wooden sword fighting. I had to learn how to oil my sword and clean it regularly. I treated my sword better than myself. It was probably worth much more than me anyway. It was polished to the brightest sheen. It reflected my face better than any mirror ever could.

The sword training was much more dangerous now as it wasn’t just bruises you could receive, it was fatal injuries. There were many different types of slice, cut and thrust to learn. Each could counter the other. It was hard to remember how each stroke went. The slightest change in incline and it would become another. What was even harder was remembering the names for all 58 strokes. I would list them all but it would be boring and pointless as they would mean nothing to you. After I had learnt all these strokes I learnt all the parrying moves. A simple flick of the wrist could remove the sword from the hands of your opponent. Another would break their wrists and yet another would pull their arm away from the socket. These were not tested out on people. Xandile conjured up beings to fight against. One day it would be a goblin, the next a troll. If I had performed badly it would be a dragon and I would come back with burns. Even with all this going on, I still enjoyed every second of it. It was great fun.