Authors: Laszlo,Jeremy
Garret
The four companions went into the bustling street and Garret steered them north through the masses of people. They traveled straight down the main street, always heading north, always walking uphill. Even from the inn they could see that the street ended, some distance ahead, at a massive stone structure. Garret had told them they needed to walk twenty-three blocks north towards Castle Valdadore, then skirt the castle wall following it to the east, and then north again six more blocks.
As they traveled up the road, they watched the castle before them grow as they had previously watched the city grow. The castle sat upon the top of the hill that Valdadore was created upon, and from its vantage point it looked down upon the city surrounding it. It was a giant stone structure consisting of massive towers and walls. Behind the walls arose dozens of large spires with stone staircases spiraling around them all the way to their pointed tips. Upon each spire’s pinnacle, flags blew lazily in a breeze that was not evident upon the streets below. Several of the spires were joined by arched breezeways that hung perilously in the air, looking dangerously fragile from the street below. Upon the walls and twisted staircases and even the breezeways, small figures could be seen walking or rushing from one place to another.
The stone of the castle walls was not painted as was the city wall. Instead it was polished to a shine, revealing hidden flecks that reflected the sun in hues of gold, magenta and silver. The small flakes of metal in the stone made the entire structure appear to shimmer and sparkle as the sunlight struck its surface. The castle was a wondrous sight to behold, and as each of the four companions took their last steps from the street into its courtyard, each of them held their breath while admiring the glorious creation that stood before them.
Directly across the courtyard from where they stood was a massive gate. To either side of the gate stood at least half a dozen guards, each fully armored and fully armed. Several stories above the road, through narrow slits in the wall, several dozen more armored men could be seen watching the street where Garret now led his companions. From this perspective, using the armored guards on the ground as a reference, Seth estimated the wall to be approximately fourteen stories tall, the gate itself rising for nearly eight of those. The towers and spires rose over a dozen stories higher than the wall. The towers were spaced behind the wall at regular intervals and all appeared to be equal in elevation. The spires, on the other hand, appeared to have been built irregularly, each of them soaring into the air to different heights, and sometimes clumping together in pairs and trios. A couple of the spires jutted out from the towers themselves and rose alongside them into the air. It was an amazing sight. Some of the stone structures appeared to be defying gravity itself as they spiraled off into the sky, attached to the other structures by thin, spidery walkways. The four stood staring at the castle before them in awe of its glory, the rest of the city forgotten to them for many minutes.
After Garret had finally absorbed as many details of the castle as was possible from this vantage point, he continued around the castle’s wall to the east. He counted eleven roads before coming to the corner of the castle’s wall. Turning north once again he paralleled the castle’s easternmost wall and continued down the road for six more blocks. Garret had been leading them, Ashton at his side, when he came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the street, nearly causing Seth and Sara to run into them. Turning this way and that, Garret peered all around him in every direction. He looked around the square as far as he could see. He also looked down the road that they stood near, the sixth road they had counted since the corner.
“It should be right here,” Garret stated, still looking around.
“What should?” Seth asked his twin.
“The knight’s training grounds,” Garret answered. “Sasha said it was almost six blocks down this side of the square.”
“What did she mean by
almost
?” Seth again questioned his brother, putting emphasis on the word.
“I’m not sure, but I didn’t ask either. I assumed we would be able to see it easily enough,” Garret shrugged.
Seth
Seth turned around, looking back the way they had come. He sized up the space between them and the previous road they had passed and looked all along the side of the square in between. None of the buildings there appeared to be anything near large enough to train knights in, and so Seth continued his search. Looking back to the castle wall, Seth found what it was they sought. They had been so busy looking away from the castle wall, counting roads and such they had missed another gate in its wall. This gate had no guards around it since it had no need of guarding at present. The portcullis had been lowered thus closing it to all traffic, but the castle within could be seen through the iron bars. Seth began to wander back towards the gate holding firmly to Sara’s hand. Garret, seeing his twin set off towards the castle, shrugged his shoulders to Ashton and the two followed to see what it was that Seth had noticed.
Approaching the iron-barred gate, Seth could hear the clangs of steel on steel and the grunts of men’s exertions. Pulling Sara with him even quicker than before, Seth led them straight up to the bars. Peering between them, Seth gasped in surprise and reeled back from the sight. Sara, curious as to what Seth had witnessed, also pressed her face between the bars. Seeing what lay beyond she too gasped and stepped back, shaking her head in disbelief. Shaking his head, Seth pointed Garret and Ashton both towards the curtain of iron. Taking his meaning, both boys pressed their faces alongside Sara to peer through the bars at the commotion taking place on the opposite side of the wall. Listening, Seth knew when they witnessed what he had already seen. Both of them inhaled loudly and took a step back to look at one another.
“Did you see...?” Garret asked, unable to finish his question.
“Yup,” Ashton replied. “I have never seen it before, though my mother described it to me. I have to admit, I was not sure if she was just telling me tales to keep me quiet, but now I see for myself the stories were true.”
“But what…err…who are they?” Garret managed to ask.
“Those are Valdadorian Knights, the blessed of Gorandor,” Ashton informed him.
“But they can’t be human, so what are they?” This time it was Seth who posed a question.
“They
are
human, Seth, well, at least those two are.” Ashton inclined his head in the direction of the iron bars. “Their size is part of the blessing bestowed upon them by their god. The first man to receive this blessing was the original King Valdadore, and if you remember what that storyteller in Stone Haven said, then you will recall that the first king was able to become four times the size of a man.”
“So the crazy old bastard was telling the truth?” Garret asked amazed.
“So it would appear,” Ashton replied.
They each again approached the bars, and pressing their faces between them, observed the giant men within performing some sort of battle practice. After a few moments Garret pulled back from the bars, and Seth, noticing his absence, turned to relocate him.
“Those guys are two and a half times as big as me, I would guess. Their swords are about as wide as I am, for crying out loud. Yet you’re telling me that they get even bigger than this? Where would they live?” Garret bombarded Ashton with questions.
“Well, let me see if I can explain this well enough. Wait, I have a comparison,” Ashton began, and with a deep breath continued. “OK, you know how I pray, then I repeat words in another language and then I glow when I am healing?”
Seth and his companions nodded to the question.
“Well, the knights do something similar. They are usually normal size, like you and me, but they pray to their god and he blesses them with incredible size and strength. My mother told me the largest of them still alive was the king himself, and he can become nearly five times a man’s normal size.” Ashton said taking another large breath as he finished.
“Do all Valdadorian Knights get the same blessing?” Garret asked, yet another question popping into his mind.
“No, I don’t think so, but each of them is blessed by Gorandor, and each of them receives some sort of blessing to make them better on the battlefield,” Ashton again answered.
Garret seemed to think about the answers he’d received for a moment as his face twisted in upon itself momentarily. Apparently coming to some conclusion, Garret’s expression once again smoothed out and he leaned his head into the bars again for another look. Seth was not surprised he was so enthralled. This was precisely what his brother wanted. What he hoped for. Sure it was impressive here, in a courtyard. Training. But on a battlefield people died. Shaking his head at Garret’s blissful ignorance, Seth returned to the gate as well and watched what all his friends were watching.
Garret
Two enormous men stood in the manicured field opposite them. Both of the giants were armored from head to toe in gleaming, polished steel armor. Each of them held a massive sword the length of a man and a half, and a shield of equal extent. They lunged back and forth, landing blow upon blow on each other. Most strikes glanced off their shields, but scratches and dents on the giants’ armor bore witness that many blows that had gone unchecked. With every step of the giant men, the companions could feel the iron bars reverberate with the impact the ground was forced to endure. Garret was soon daydreaming about how hard it must be to forge a suit of armor so large, when he realized the bars pressing to his head no longer vibrated. Snapping his attention back to the field before him he witnessed one of the giants raising his hand to halt the other’s advancement. The men squared shoulders and, touching their swords together at the tips, they bowed their heads to one another. Lowering their massive weapons, they exchanged words and each of them nodded as if agreeing on something.
That was when things got interesting again. Garret and his three companions watched as each of the giants began to shimmer. Their bodies began to lose shape as they appeared to lose definition around their edges. The more the shimmering encompassed the men, the more unstable they appeared, and with two large booms wind gusted heavily into the four friends’ faces, forcing them to close their eyes momentarily. When the wind vanished, as quickly as it had come, they reopened their eyes to reveal two armored men of average height walking away from them, across the field beyond the gate. Garret watched them go, filled with regret, wishing he had been able to keep his eyes open to see the transformation.
Seth
Though Seth and his companions continued to watch for many minutes in hope that more knights might appear, no more being forthcoming, they eventually stepped away from the gate and decided to carry on to their next location. Garret and Ashton led the way as before, following the eastern wall of the castle towards the north, all of them talking excitedly. Sara, clinging tightly to Seth’s hand, slowed for a moment to put some space between them and the pair ahead of them. Seth, curious about Sara’s change of pace, looked to see her expression, and again he found the teasing smile upon her lips.
“Oh no, what now?” Seth asked jokingly.
“Well, I was thinking it’s probably safer if you don’t receive that particular blessing,” Sara stated.
“Why is that?” Seth asked her in return. “It seemed pretty amazing to me.”
“Yes it is amazing, but look at it from my perspective. Let’s just say that in the near future we are joined, as we both hope we will be. Following that I will finally be able to give myself to you, and who’s to say that one day I don’t bed you so well that you start saying things like “oh god, oh god” and then
kaboom
, I get split in two and die in our bed.” Sara tried in vain to look serious as she explained.
Seth started laughing so hard he snorted, and Sara, unable to contain herself any longer, giggled both at her own words and then at Seth’s snort. They were laughing so hard they had stopped walking. Realizing they had fallen some distance behind, they rushed to catch up with their companions. Seth was so taken aback by Sara’s descriptive narration, that every time he thought of it or even looked at her, he would start laughing again, and this would cause Sara too to start laughing anew. Several times they shared a look, followed by laughter, and received questioning looks from their companions in front of them. Each time they would wave it off explaining that they could not explain why they were laughing.
They walked to the northernmost corner of the castle and turned back to the west, still following the castle’s wall. After making the turn, Garret and Ashton walked a few dozen more steps and came to a stop.
“Well, here we are,” Garret announced.
“Where is here?” Seth asked his brother.
“Temple Row.” Ashton was the one to answer as he turned to point opposite the wide street of the castle. “Sasha told us the temples span from here all the way to the western wall of the castle. There are supposed to be nineteen gods and goddesses represented here, each with their own temple.”
“So what do we do now?” Seth again asked.
“I am going to visit the temple of my goddess,” Ashton stated.
“I have to go learn about Gorandor,” Garret added.
“What about you, my angel? Is there any temple you care to visit?” Seth asked Sara.
“Not particularly, my love, I will come with you if you have one you would like to see,” Sara answered.
“Well, I had just thought to walk the street and admire them, but I suppose if one should stand out I might go inside,” Seth said and then added in a whisper for Sara’s ears only, “After all, we have to get joined somewhere. We might as well pick a place.”
Sara nodded happily and smiled lovingly. Going their separate ways, they said their farewells and agreed to meet back at the same corner in a couple of hours.
Seth and Sara watched Ashton lead Garret away down the wide street where they eventually vanished among the other people traveling up and down the road. Losing sight of his brother, Seth tightened his hold on Sara’s hand and led her slowly in the same direction his brother had gone.
Seth took them to the nearest temple, almost directly across the street from where they had separated from Garret and Ashton. The building was a magnificent structure covered from the ground to the highest arch with intricate stone carvings. Each of the carvings that sprawled up the walls depicted scenes of nature and various animal and plant life. The door to the temple sat between the trunks of two large stone trees. The trees’ branches were interwoven above the door, and at the door’s peak was carved a nest. Standing inside the nest was a majestic bird, its stone gaze peering down at the two people in the street who stood gawking at the temple. The building was beautiful. It was as if it were a part of nature that had petrified here beside the road. However, as beautiful as it was, the stone gaze of its protector made Seth uncomfortable and so he decided to move on.
With Sara walking beside him Seth again traversed the street to where the next temple sat. Though the buildings were large, they were placed so close to one another that it was not long before they again paused to admire the second temple. This too rose majestically from the ground, covered with carvings and sculptures of its own. It looked much like the first temple in design, only here the scenes of nature were replaced by various symmetric symbols carved into the stone walls. Above this door was a carving of two hands. The hands reached palms out toward one another, holding between them an open eye. This too unnerved Seth but even so he waited until Sara was done admiring the building before leading her once again to another.
Sara and Seth visited the doorstep of temple after temple to admire the painstaking detail that was poured into building each one of them. Even after stopping to admire each and every temple on the street, they realized they still had a significant amount of time before they were to reunite with their companions. After they had inspected the last temple thoroughly, Seth once again turned to walk away, this time in the direction they had just come. But before he could take a step, Sara squeezed his hand, asking for his attention.
“Did you see any you were interested in?” Sara asked, her amber eyes pleading.
“I’m afraid none of them really stuck out,” Seth replied. “But there are a couple that seemed more appealing than the others,” he added in an attempt to not destroy Sara’s hopes.
“Really?” Sara asked enthusiastically. “Which ones?”
“There was the one with the teardrop above the entrance. That one felt the least uncomfortable. Then there was the one with the weird symbols and the eye. It was a little creepier, but it was kind of intriguing. Then after that one, I think I quite liked the temple with the big dragon statues at the entrance,” Seth told her honestly, letting his discomfort with the temples be known.
“I know the gods and worshipping isn’t anything you hold in high regard, Seth, but would you stop to take another look at those three for me?” Sara asked, still clinging to the hope that he might choose one and in doing so allow them to make plans to be joined.
“For you, my angel, I would do anything,” Seth answered earnestly.
Sara led Seth back the way they had come, a slight bounce in her step. Seth couldn’t help but notice the happiness mingled with hope in her eyes as they walked. He did not want to disappoint her so, as they walked, he again gazed upon every temple they passed. They stopped at the temple guarded by the immense stone dragons. Nothing on this temple made Seth feel awkward. The dragons did not stare at him with empty eyes. They did not menace him with bared teeth. The thing about this temple that Seth did not like was the fact that dragons were fairytale monsters used to frighten children into obeying their parent’s rules. Seth imagined if the temple was inhabited by people worshiping a god that was depicted by a dragon, then he must assume that their religion had a lot of strict rules the followers were frightened into following. As Seth reached these conclusions about the temple, he could not help but notice Sara watching his reaction. She seemed to recognize his decision before he could speak it, seeing something in his face he had not intended to show.
Sara pulled him down the road to their next stop, still holding her head high despite Seth’s obvious disdain of everything religious or cultist about these buildings. She still had a bounce in her step, though it had diminished greatly. Seth hated that he was making her unhappy, and could not stand to look upon her in his guilt. He instead chose to look to the temples they were passing. It was then that he noticed something he had missed previously. The temples were exactly the same as before, but as they walked away from the dragon temple and approached the next one, Seth noticed a structure nearly completely hidden between them.
It was nothing magnificent, it was not even large. No grand statues or carved scenes marked its entrance. Nothing wrapped its walls at all. The building between the two grand temples was as plain and bare as the road beneath his feet. Looking down to actually make the comparison, Seth realized he had stopped. Looking up from his feet he found Sara staring at him with a questioning look in her eyes. Smiling to reassure her he hadn’t forgotten how to walk, he gestured towards the small stone structure between the temples.