The Greater Challenge Beyond (The Southern Continent Series Book 3) (21 page)

“If you’re finally ready, let’s be off to the armory for your next big test,” she said, and she led him out of the rooms.

Chapter 16

Grange won every challenge he received at the armory that afternoon, in a series of bouts that lasted until almost dinner time.

“I need to carry out other duties,” He panted after the eleventh match in the armory.  He’d beaten the beaus of Hope and the brothers of Jenniline, and the champions of the guard and court. 

He’d also endured the taunts of having “stolen” a victory – something that he heard after almost every match from a few voices among the many who had gathered to watch the contests.

“Are you afraid the next one will beat you?” someone called as Grange began to strip off his protective padding.

“No, I just have other things to do besides this,” Grange called back.

“We can play some more tomorrow,” he said aloud.

“Will you arrange that?” he asked Jenniline.

“I think you just did a pretty effective job of it,” she said.  “The armory will be full again tomorrow afternoon.

“What is it you’re in such a hurry to do?” she asked.

“I need to go talk to my master, Brieed, to ask for instruction on constructing my wizard’s wand,” he answered.  “We agreed we’d talk at sunset.”

“And what about your dinner?” Jenniline asked, as Grange started to edge anxiously towards the exit, while the crowd began to shuffle out of the armory stands.

“I’ll get something later,” he answered loudly, then turned and jogged away, on his return to his tower.

Minutes later he was at the top of the tower, as the sky overhead began to turn gray with a thin layer of clouds moving across the western sky.

“Master Brieed, this is Grange, here to tell you my story of the past several weeks,” he began, and he related the highlights of his extraordinary adventures, from the battle at the mine, when the demon lord had killed the elemental jewels using Grange’s own wand, to his journey across the hostile wilderness of the south and his stop at Yellow Spring.  He told about Jenniline, and Hope, and the Bloomingians, and he told about captivity, and the extraordinary recognition by Acton.

“So I know I need the power of a wand to help me in the coming battle.  Will you tell me how to make my wand complete and ready?” he finished, still feeling teary and emotional from the recounting of all his adventures and losses.  As he did, the clouds grew thicker, and they began to obscure the face of the moon, causing him to worry that Brieed’s message might not get through to him.  While he waited to hear the master wizard’s response, he decided to move his bed back down to the interior of the tower, to avoid being rained on, then, when finished with that task, he removed his own clothing, glad to be rid of the sweat-soaked clothes.

Raindrops began to fall, and he enjoyed the luxury of a powerful rinsing by the heavenly waters, until he suddenly heard Brieed’s voice speak.

It was both a good and a bad thing; it was good to know that the messages could penetrate the clouds, but it was bad to have to try to focus on Brieed’s instructions while being beat upon by the drenching downpour.

“Grange, such an extraordinary story!  I don’t have words to describe all my thoughts, but you are a remarkable young man.  Listen, the moon has almost set, so I won’t be able to talk for long,” Brieed forewarned.  “I will talk to you again tomorrow, an hour past moonrise.

“Send me a message when the moon comes up, to confirm that you are ready,” Brieed told him.  “And we will commence work on your wand and amulets.  Go ahead and start exercising your wand with energy and discharges.  And I want to talk to you about Grace and ….” The wizard’s words came to an abrupt end.  Grange stood in the rain for several seconds, waiting for anything more, but there were no more words coming from Palmland.

He had heard from home.  He thought of Palmland as home, he realized.  Not Kilau, although Shaylee was there, and certainly not Fortune, though he had been raised there.  He started to head down the stairs to get his wand, and as he did, he tried to understand how Palmland had come to feel like home.

He probably thought of it as home because of the changes that had happened there.  He’d become a regular musician there, playing in Guy’s band almost every night.  And he’d become a wizard – or at least an apprentice – in Palmland.  And he’d developed his relationship with Ariana there, feeling as though he had a household and a family.  He’d been formed there, he decided, as he picked up his wand, and returned to the rainy rooftop.

He focused on the wand as he stood in the rain.  He didn’t have to stand in the rain, but he wanted to immediately discharge power upward into the cloudy sky, a declaration of his ability, and a celebration of his movement towards success.  Brieed had instructed him to cycle the wand through the charging and discharging process, and so he intended to.  And standing out in the rain did no harm.  With the rain and gloom, no one could see him, and the freedom felt particularly appropriate at that moment.

He focused on the wand, and focused on the power, and he began to shepherd as much energy into the wand as he could, energy that would come out again as brilliant light.  He called upon the energy, and placed it within the wand, for the first time in a long time.  The simple act – which should have been a chore at best, or drudgery at worst – felt exhilarating, a reminder of his status as a wizard with the ability to call upon great powers.

He paused, then decided to release the power.  He was eager to see the resulting fountain of energy, the streak of light that would be a pillar in the rainy darkness, extending the profile of the tower up higher than any building had ever been built.

“Now energy, I call upon you to shoot out from the wand and climb up towards the stars,” he uttered his command.

A stark white light glowed from the tip of his wand, and a tight white beam of illumination rose upward.  He blinked against the falling rain, and against the intensity of the light as he tried to look into the sky to see where the beam rose to.

The light went on and on, second after second, lasting for almost as long as the time he had spent pressing the energy into place to begin with.

“Grange?  What are you doing?  Is there a problem?” Jenniline’s voice called.

He abruptly cut off the last of the light, instantly aware that he was uncovered.

“No problem,” he said.  “I’m just practicing.”

“You’re standing in the rain.  Naked.  Making the whole city wonder what’s happening,” Jenniline shouted at him.  “Come down here and put some clothes on.  There are people in the tower asking what’s happening.”

Grange shook his head.  “I’ll be there in a second.  You go down first, and I’ll be along,” he answered.

He watched her disappear, then lowered his arms which had held the wand above his head.  He cautiously trod down the stairs and out of the rain.  A large puddle was forming on the floor of his room from the rain that was blowing in through the staircase opening.  As he pulled dry clothes on he looked at the puddle, then called upon the power to create a temporary shield over the opening.

His hair was still wet, and his clothes clung to his wet body.  He was ready to go down and face the visitors.

Down the stairs he noticed that the furniture had changed, and he noticed a half dozen men standing, silently facing Jenniline as he reached the floor.

“My lord Champion,” Jenniline spoke with a formality that gave the title a greater sense of power, “these men were surprised by your display of great powers.

“They are interested in knowing what the consequences of your activities might be,” she told him.

“We don’t want any surprises to steal up on us, you know,” one of the men snidely said.

Jenniline looked at Grange as soon as the man used the word ‘steal’, knowing that it was a reference to the now widely-know story of Grange’s pickpocketing past.

Grange stood still, trying to compose himself, and Jenniline spoke up to fill the silence, knowing that she needed to avoid letting Grange focus on the insult.

“Please allow me to introduce your guests,” she said, “before we go any further.

“This is Lord Birger,” she indicated the man who had spoken the insult, “and these are Baron Holmger and Baron Hakan, along with their retainers,” she motioned to the others in the room.

“Should we offer them any hospitality?” Grange asked Jenniline.  “I doubt we have any food or drink to offer, do we?”

“None yet my lord, but we’ll have your household organized to do so in another day or two,” Jenniline answered puzzled about the reason for his question.

“Then come up to the roof and let me show them what I’ve been doing,” he offered.  “They should find it interesting.  And here,” he uttered a soft phrase, creating a bright constellation of floating, glowing balls which burst into being with small explosions of energy, “let us use these instead of wasting candles and lanterns,” he offered, as the men in the room looked at the floating lights with concern and confusion.

Grange whispered a command to the energy, then motioned again, and the candles and lanterns were all extinguished, the lanterns rattling violently as they did.

The men looked even more uneasy.

“Shall I summon forces to carry you up the stairs?” he asked, as no one moved.  “You my lord?” he asked the rude Birger.

“No, no, no,” Birger spoke instantly and insistently.

“But my lord, you came all the way up here.  You surely deserve to learn some answers,” Grange raised his hand in a motion, and started to point at Birger, then stopped as the man fainted.

“Perhaps it’s not a good night to be visiting,” Grange commented.  “Can I help you carry your friend to his rooms, or should we just let him stay here?”

“We’ll help him out of here,” Baron Holmger replied quickly.  He motioned towards a pair of the followers, who each took an arm and draped the unconscious nobleman between themselves.  Others went to the door, then stopped, as they looked out into the dark tower staircase.

“Here, let me send lights down to help you,” Grange offered.  He motioned and sent several of the lights floating out into the stairwell.  For a moment the appearance of the globes in the stony interior of the tower reminded him of the lights he had used in Asloe’s tin mine, and to his surprise, the lights took on a reddish hue, making some of the departing visitors moan fearfully.  Grange hastily focused on keeping the lights white, and stood next to Jenniline, as they listened to the group walk down the steps.

“I’m hungry,” Grange said, when there were no more echoes rising up the shaft of the staircase.

“Well, that’s what you get for skipping dinner,” Jenniline said bluntly.

“That didn’t go well.  You’re going to have problems at court because of the way you treated them,” she advised.

“He started it,” Grange said petulantly.

She started to move her hand towards his face, as if to smack him, then stopped herself and gave his chest a half-hearted shove.

“Grange, as of this moment, you’re an admitted thief and a proven bore,” she told him, anger entering her voice.  “You may be called Acton’s Champion, but you are not going to get any support or cooperation from my father the king if you don’t work to make yourself popular,” she told him.

Grange looked at the frustration that was evident on her face.  It was frustration due to him, he realized, and he felt his anger move to the rear as his appreciation for her rose.

“I put you in a tough spot by publically naming you as my ally and counsel, didn’t I?” he asked.

“That’s not an issue here,” she said.  “Don’t worry about me.  Just think about how to do this right,” she told him.

“And can we get dinner?” he asked.

“I ate dinner; I answered questions about you during dinner.  I didn’t dance and make a naked spectacle in the rain during dinner,” she answered primly.

“I’m not hungry now; I don’t need dinner,” she finished sharply.

Grange stood and looked up at the ceiling, wondering what to say or do.

“But I suppose I can go out with you and get soaking wet on the way to the kitchen, so that you can eat,” she added after a pause.

“I can keep you dry,” Grange told her.  He was feeling more and more confident in his use of the power, and was ready to offer to use it for everyday activities.  His confidence was a combination of the healing he had received from Acton, plus the boost of encouragement that Brieed’s voice had given him.  And creating an umbrella of energy would be a way to practice using his wand as well.

“Can we leave the palace?” he asked.  “Is there someplace out in the city where we can go, where we can just be among people?”

“You want to go slumming, do you?” Jenniline asked.  “There’s still time to find some place that’ll serve something to eat.  I don’t know such places very well, but my brother might, if you’ll take me through the palace to try to find him.”

“Is this the brother who’s heir to the throne, who won’t like me?” Grange asked.

“That would be entertaining, but no, this is Inge, the younger brother, not Halsten.  You fought against both of them today at the armory, you know,” she chided him, as he started focusing on his wand.

“Would you look at me while I talk to you?” she said crossly.

“I’m listening,” he answered, while still looking at his wand, as he muttered words to begin to charge it.  “I’m just getting my wand ready to keep us dry.”  He looked up from the tool.  “There, it’s storing energy now, and we can start to go downstairs.”

The glowing lights that had served the departure of the party of nobles were fading rapidly as the pair climbed downstairs; the only noise accompanying them was the sound of the rain falling against the exterior of the tower.

“What are these rooms for?” Grange asked as they passed various floors.

“Some of these were store rooms, and some were residents for palace servants,” Jenniline replied.  “But the servants all moved out after you moved in.”

When they reached the ground floor, the last of the globes stopped glowing, and they opened the door to look out into the miserable night.