Authors: Laszlo,Jeremy
“Yes, your majesty, I am indeed.” Seth said not only confident but excited as well.
“Good then, we shall have it arranged. Will you need long to prepare?” Again the king was assessing him.
“No your majesty, I will be ready as soon as you have everything arranged,” Seth replied.
“Good. We shall have it organized for tomorrow, and I shall send a runner to fetch all of you when it is prepared. Is there anything you require to be at your test Seth?”
“No your majesty, but if I may make a request?” Seth hesitated, to wait for the king’s response.
“You may,” was the answer.
“Could Sara, the priest from Ishanya’s temple and my brother Garret attend?”
“I see no harm in that,” the king replied. “Where can we locate your brother? I am assuming he is in the city?”
“Yes, your majesty, he trains with your knights,” Seth answered quickly.
“Ah, so you are the brother of one of my knights? That is terrific. I will have to see if he has departed the castle yet. However, if you are as talented as you say, whether he is available to attend tomorrow or not will matter little. If you pass your test, you will join myself and your brother on the battlefield in very short time. I will dispatch messengers in the morning as for your instructions. I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. Now go and get some rest.” This last statement from the king was aimed at all those in the room, for as he said it he rose from his desk and looked at each person.
Bowing low, as they had done when they entered, all the mages, along with Seth and Sara took their leave from the room. Rushing ahead of the mages, Sara led Seth, seemingly very familiar with the castle. He knew that her daily duties led her here more often than not. The other mages fell behind, walking slowly together, and speaking once again in hushed tones. Generally mages were tested by those of the same order, those who were senior and more powerful. For some reason however, the king wanted to test this pupil himself. Seth was excited, if not just a little bit worried. Neither he nor Sara spoke all the way back to the tower that was their home at least for the time being. They climbed the stairs together, hand in hand, and reaching their floor proceeded to Seth’s room to talk.
“Aren’t you scared about tomorrow?” Sara blurted out as soon as she sat down beside Seth on his bed.
“Not particularly,” Seth replied honestly. “I have no idea what I may be facing, so I see no sense in getting all worked up about it. If anything I am excited about it. This could really turn things around for us, and I may get to see Garret too,” Seth finished enthusiastically.
“Do you have any ideas as to what the king might have planned for you?” Sara asked.
“Not really, but he did seem to take particular interest when I talked about killing.” Seth remembered the king’s eyebrows rising when he said he could kill silently at range.
“Speaking of which, I understand it may be a necessity, but I don’t know how I feel about you being a killer, even if it is just animals. Still, I suppose if you had been chosen for the red robes, the knights or the army, it would be much the same as this. I hope that whatever happens tomorrow, we are able to end it together,” Sara said, working through her feelings aloud.
“As for the killer part…” Seth began. “Yes, it is unfortunate, but it is going to be a necessity. It is in essence how I get my power. Unlike everyone else with a blessing, who is temporarily loaned the power from the god they serve, my power must be siphoned from the power given to each living thing at birth. This you cannot tell anyone. It is my understanding that every living thing, when brought into this world, is given a finite amount of the god’s power. As we live we slowly burn through that power and as we use it, it returns to the gods, until it runs out and we die. If we die prematurely, that power which we had left departs our body and is returned to the gods. All living things to my knowledge have the power of the gods inside them, plants, animals, insects and people. Now here is where it gets interesting. The gods are at war. They each gave a portion of themselves to create life here. Each god wants to be more powerful than the others and the only way they can recoup more power than the others is to have people swear fealty to them. A person that worships no one god still contains the power of all the gods, but when a person swears themselves to a single god, the power within them transforms itself to the power of that one god. That being so, all the energy of that person is eventually returned to that one single god giving him or her a small portion greater than the rest of the gods. Do you follow what I am saying?” Seth asked watching Sara’s expression.
Sara nodded her understanding, and after a few moments’ contemplation began to speak.
“The power you talk of, do you think that is our soul?
“I don’t know. I believe they could be one and the same, now that you mention it, but I have no real way of knowing.” Seth answered as best he was able, but realized this gave him something more to ponder.
“If the gods are at war with one another, but their war is actually over our power as you call it, then each time there is a war here, the winning army actually serves the losing god, assuming of course the two factions worship different gods. Yet most blessings are geared toward war. It doesn’t seem to make sense,” Sara said pondering the complexity of it all.
“I hadn’t thought of that at all,” Seth admitted. “You amaze me with your insight. It is odd, though, that a god would bless its followers to help them win wars when in doing so it is actually helping its adversary in the heavens. I am no scholar, Sara. All I know of the gods is from the same books you have read, but there has to be some incentive behind it.” Seth seemed deep in thought as he spoke.
“I’m sorry, my love, I did not intend to weigh you down with questions when you have such an important day tomorrow,” Sara apologized with a grin.
“No, my angel,
we
have an important day tomorrow. I have a feeling our lives are about to change dramatically. I’m not frightened at all. I’m certain that this is my path. Ishanya needs me, and in needing me, she will not allow me to fail,” Seth declared with what bordered on arrogance. “I should probably rest. I have a feeling I will need to think quickly tomorrow.”
“Are you kicking me out?” Sara asked with a giggle.
“Absolutely not!” Seth said grabbing Sara and pulling her down upon the bed and wrapping his arms tightly around her. “You are my prisoner for the night. Now prisoner, I suggest we get some rest.” After a little squirming, some tickling and a few giggles, Sara relented and eventually followed Seth into sleep.
The fourth day had arrived and Garret awoke with mixed emotions about it. He was both excited and anxious to see what the day would bring, already knowing all too well what was in store for his training this day. Garret rolled out of his bed and stretched, and gathering his clothes given to him by the order of knights he now served, he dressed quickly in the loose pants and tunic that they generally wore under their armor. Pulling on his boots and tightening the straps, Garret then rose from his bed to face another grueling day of sparring.
The previous day had very literally nearly killed him, and having to hold his guts in his bare hands to keep them from spilling on the ground was something he did not hope to ever have to do again. Garret swept his fingers through his chestnut hair, allowing it to naturally part and fall as it wanted. Approaching his door as if to leave, Garret paused for a moment to test his vanity, and looked into a mirror that had been provided for shaving. Garret had little use for the mirror for, as large and developed as he was, a beard was yet beyond his capabilities, and thus he took the mirror and holding it at arm’s length appraised his body.
Garret was both impressed and a little startled by what he saw. Somehow, without even his own notice, he had changed dramatically in recent weeks. He had been well muscled when he arrived for The Choosing, but now he was immense, almost overly large. Muscles bulged from places he didn't even know he had muscles, each one of them so well defined it was as if they were chiseled out of stone just below his flesh. His jaw appeared more square, his neck nearly as thick as his now enormous thighs. Weeks of training day in and day out accompanied by enormous meals had added dozens of pounds of muscle to his frame, and for an instant Garret almost did not recognize himself looking into the mirror.
"What have I become?" Garret asked himself aloud. Pondering not only his newfound body, but also his attire, he knew in his heart he had become a Knight of Valdadore. Only one thing remained to seal himself within the order of legendary knights, and Garret swore to himself and to Gorandor, the god he now worshipped openly and freely, that he would prove himself worthy of not only a knighthood, but also of the blessing the god had yet to bestow upon him. Putting the mirror down, Garret left his room.
Garret entered the dining hall to find Philip, Zorbin and Xanth already eating breakfast, and realized that he too felt famished. He seated himself with them, and found to his astonishment that a large platter of breakfast foods had already been placed there. Talking casually with his comrades, Garret consumed the large meal, hardly chewing so as to conserve time and energy, as he had become accustomed to doing as of late. Letting Garret finish, his companions waited patiently knowing the meal would disappear in short order, and all turned to acknowledge Sirus as he entered from the main door just behind them.
"You men ready for some more sparring?" Sirus asked in his normal, jovial tone.
All three of the men at the table nodded, but Zorbin, looking a bit concerned, stood to meet Sirus as he approached.
"Do you think it a fair match, with me being blessed by Gorandor, and Garret still awaiting the blessing?" Zorbin asked in his deep guttural tone.
"A fair match indeed," Sirus assured them. "Just as Philip and I did not use our blessings yesterday, neither shall you today."
Zorbin nodded his understanding but pursued his questioning further.
"What if I am unable to control the blessing? It is so new to me I do not wish to accidentally invoke my blessing and in doing so irreparably harm Garret," Zorbin protested.
"I have taken that into account," Sirus replied. "I believe today will be a test for the both of you in more ways than one. I also ask that you do your best to convey to Xanth that this time he must not intercede on your behalf."
Zorbin again nodded his head in agreement, his braided beard bouncing with the motion, and he strode down the table to where Xanth laid, his head on his paws, dozing lightly. Scratching behind the beast's ears, Zorbin whispered quietly to the giant wolf, then thinking better of his actions he simply visualized his thoughts in his mind as images. Raising his head, Xanth nodded his agreement. Though the others in the room simply saw Zorbin and the wolf, eyes focusing on one another, all knew that the message was being relayed and none were surprised to see Xanth nod his head in understanding. That done, Zorbin returned to his seat, and seeing Garret’s meal finished he picked up his tremendous war hammer. Garret took this as a sign and he too rose, as did Philip. Sirus gestured to the door and all four men filed outside into the sunlight together, Xanth sliding through the door behind them just before it closed.
The sun was already cresting the castle walls, and Daniella could be seen approaching the sparring field, her white robes gleaming in the early morning sunlight. The four men intercepted her at the edge of the field, each greeting her politely as all honorable men should. Sirus quickly summed up the day’s plan, explaining not only to Garret and Zorbin but also to Daniella that the day would consist of three matches, and the best two out of three would be considered the victor. Daniella assured Sirus that if after any of the matches she felt too weak to heal the men, she would send for another healer to assist her and so it was decided that there was no time like the present to begin.
Both Garret and Zorbin walked to the middle of the field, eyeing each other eagerly. They realized this was not solely a competition between them, but also a competition between their leader Sirus, and the knight Philip, to see whose pupil would be victorious. They also knew that this would be a lesson to them both, not only in weapons training, but also to one of them in humility. Reaching the center of the field both combatants raised their weapons and looked back to their instructors for the affirmation to begin but it appeared the two men were deep in conversation and were not paying them any attention as of yet. They both continued to watch as Xanth padded up to Daniella, who now sat in the grass behind Sirus and Philip, and they continued watching as the giant beast lay down and rested his head in her lap silently begging her attention. Sirus at last turned to them and gave the command to begin, and from there on out never took his eyes off the men, barely sparing the time to blink.
Seeing that the moment had come, the two opponents began to size each other up. Zorbin was the shorter, but his long-handled battle hammer made up for his natural disadvantage of reach, and Garret made for a very large target. Garret realized that Zorbin, being significantly shorter than he, was a much smaller target, but knew also that the heavy war hammer was unwieldy at best and should leave him ample chances to strike. Thus after many minutes circling each other, both felt they had a slight advantage.
Hoping to get an early blow in, Garret swung his large sword parallel to the ground as if to cleave the dwarf in two. Using this as only a feigned attack, he did not put his body into the swing, so as Zorbin brought his hammer down to deflect, Garret twisted the blade up gracefully to miss the hammer entirely, aiming a blow for the chin. Zorbin hadn’t seen the attack for what it was and realized a fraction of an instant too late his error. Leaning back on his heels he tried to avoid Garret's blade, but the downward stroke of his own hammer inhibited his ability to dodge the blow, and the point of the blade cleanly split the tip of his nose in two, spraying the dwarf's face with blood.
Zorbin took note of his failure, and focused himself further for the battle, his facial wound already forgotten. Yesterday the dwarf's opponent had swept in and out past his lumbering hammer to deal damage, and Zorbin had learned much from that fight. He adjusted his grip on the long handle of the hammer, shortening his swing, but also giving him greater control and better reaction time. This slight change of tactic also would allow him to use the great spike on the handle end of the hammer to his advantage. Garret recognized Zorbin’s change of tactic, but though he had hoped to dance in behind the heavy hammer and deal damage in between the dwarf's swings, he now realized that he, not the dwarf, had a greater reach with his weapon. Garret feigned another attack, swinging his large sword down from overhead. Zorbin moved to intercept, but just before their weapons met, the dwarf lunged in, ramming the great spike into Garret's gut, causing Garret to release the sword with one of his hands, and the swing to go wild. Garret never saw it coming, and being already possibly mortally wounded, his time was limited. Using his entire body, Garret threw his weight into the dwarf, the spike still lancing through his organs, knocking the dwarf off balance and causing him to stumble back several steps. Garret quickly assessed his wound and realizing it was very deep, but not overly large, reckoned he still could fight on for some time.
Changing his approach, Garret again raised his great blade above his head as if to attempt the same stroke. As before he brought the large blade down as if to cleave his opponent’s head in two. Again Zorbin raised his hammer to intercept the blow, and thought to lunge in again, just as Garret pulled his swing off center and he himself lunged. Slowing the stroke mid-swing, Garret thrust, driving his blade with the weight of his entire body straight through the dwarf’s shoulder. Glancing off the bone, his blade made no more than a large flesh wound and Zorbin staggered back from the attack, disengaging the blade from his flesh. Garret was crafty and Zorbin knew now not to underestimate him. Being more determined than ever he charged back into the fight, raising his hammer to deflect a blow already thrown by his opponent.