Free FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE by S. K. Ng

canvas was treated with a special type of resin. Ray had, through the use of his Elemental Sorcery skills, raised a wall of solid rock on the upwind side of their tent and used it as a windbreak. Then all three of them went to sleep in the coldness and the darkness of the wet night.
     
         The next day, Ray, Lance and Spirit continued on the lonely road eastward. Lance was taking in the beautiful sights of nature, as usual, when suddenly Ray stopped. A piece of dark blue canvas stood out slightly amongst the green of the forest. Lance did not know the significance of this, but Ray and Spirit did. It was a sad sight, but a familiar one. The canvas that they saw was a piece of clothing from a dead man. Ray went to take a closer look and confirmed his suspicion. The distinct headband on the corpse identified him as an Elementhar, though its jewels were gone. Lance stared at the body, but felt neither fear nor revulsion. He had seen dead bodies before.
     
         Ray searched around and retrieved a book from a backpack nearby. He examined the book closely. It had a slightly damaged dark blue cover, but the pages within were undamaged. He knew the significance of the colour of the book’s cover and the dead man’s robe but he read through some of the pages to be certain.
         “Ordered Elementhar _ he is one of him, and of the Order of Water Elementhars as proven by this book,” said Ray as he showed the book to Lance.
         “Know _ how do you do of this, master ? ” asked Lance.
         “Identify _ one can normally do of this through the centre jewel of an Elementhar’s headband, or the colour of his robe, or the colour of his book cover, and most certainly through the contents of its pages,” answered Ray.
         “Book _ of it, what is its significance ? ” asked Lance.
         “Book _ the significance of it is that it is his personal copy of the Vanguard Manuscript, a hand-written document of our history, laws, the spells that we have mastered and also of our life experiences. Vanguard Manuscripts _ every Ordered Elementhars’ one of these are similar in its record of our history and laws, but are individual in its record of the spells that that particular Elementhar has mastered and of his or her life experiences. Vanguard Manuscripts _ each copy of these are the individual Elementhar’s identity, or you may describe it as his soul expressed in words and recorded on paper,” explained Ray.
     
         Lance took a good look at the book in his hand.
         “Colour _ of this, what is its significance ? ” asked Lance.
         “Colour _ of this, dark blue signifies water, orange-red represents fire, dark brown symbolises earth, white denotes wind and golden yellow is identified with mind. Vanguard Manuscripts _ every copy of these are distinct and individual, and it is a courtesy to return such a manuscript to the owner’s order so that they know of his demise and are able to honour him or her properly,” answered Ray.
         “Reading _ of this and of writing, I know neither ! ” said Lance in a sudden burst of panic.
         “Teach _ I shall do of this to you,” comforted Ray.
     
         Ray took the book back from Lance and placed it in his backpack. He also salvaged the dead Elementhar’s canvas tent roll and his backpack, which he gave to Lance. The backpack contained some cooking utensils, a bamboo water container and some clean clothing. Unfortunately, the robbers or scavengers, whoever they were, took the dead Elementhar’s sword and hunter’s knife. A hunter’s knife would have been very useful to Lance. Ray and Lance dug a grave and buried the dead Elementhar. They then proceeded on their journey. Lance was curious as to the cause of the Elementhar’s death but did not ask, though the white eyes of the corpse and its shrivelled skin gave an almost clear indication of demon attack. The dead Elementhar was probably robbed by thieves after his