“The Edicts do a lot more than identify your spirit then? It seems like there is a lot of stuff that they run around here. Are they like the unofficial leaders around here?”
Albert shrugged. “It does seem like that sometimes. Truth be told, they have been a lot more active recently. Ever since Vienna replaced Hector as the Legatus, they have been controlling a lot more. They have—”
“Wait, what?” I interrupted. “Hector was the leader before Vienna?”
“Oh yeah! She replaced him as leader about two years ago and kept him on as an advisor. Hector isn’t a bad guy, but they have different methods for leadership. He has a more direct and aggressive approach while she is more strategic and cautious. Their mindsets are different, which makes sense since they came from different barracks.”
He paused and looked around, like he was making sure nobody was listening, then continued in a quieter voice, “Anyway, she kept him as her advisor mostly because he still had the support of a lot of the Argonauts. She also set him back up in his old position as head of the Virtus barracks. It’s no secret that he was unhappy about the demotion. Like I said, he isn’t a bad guy, but he is power hungry. His brief taste of Legatus has left him longing to be leader again. He hasn’t outright undermined Vienna, but he definitely doesn’t respect her like he should. Personally, I don’t like the guy. He doesn’t want to share power with anyone, let alone a girl. That’s the only reason that I can think of for why he dislikes Nyka so much. It annoys him that Vienna relies more on Nyka than she does him.”
I didn’t really know Hector all that well, but he didn’t seem like that bad of a guy to me. I mean, he did punch me in the face and all, but I have pretty much forgiven him for that. I decided to wait until I had a chance to talk to Hector more before I would form an opinion about him.
That was one thing that my parents had ingrained into me: never judge a book by its cover. Or, as my dad liked to say it, never judge soil by its color. He was the natural green thumb of the family. A surprising amount of the food that my mom made was grown by my dad. The memories of my parents were bittersweet. I was happy I had such good memories of them, but it was still hard to accept that they were gone. My mom would have told me to keep pushing forward and not to let grief and pain distract me from what I needed to do.
With that, we made it to the mess hall. We walked through the door and found that the place was nearly full already. It wasn’t very hard to see our spots. Albert’s was over by a cute, blonde girl that looked about my age, who was smiling and laughing with everyone else. That left only three empty seats, two of which were right next to each other. I guessed that one of those was mine and started to head in that direction.
My step stuttered briefly when I realized where the table was and who was sitting at it. The table was at the head of the room in a position of honor, and the seats were right between Vienna and Hector. Uh oh, that can’t be good. I had a flashback to when my parents would put me or my brother in the seat between them if one of us was in trouble.
Yes, Vienna asked for you to be sat next to her. She also said she wanted privacy. Did I forget to mention that? That last part was made to sound innocent, but I highly doubted that was the case. I cursed mentally, fully aware that he could hear me. Yikes! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? I wasn’t sure if he intended that to hurt, but it did. I hit the side of my head with my palm.
I pulled out my chair and sat down in front of a plate with another brown bag on it. I opened it up and poured out a steaming plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and hash browns. On Garrett’s plate was a to-go box with a smiley face drawn on it. Vienna smiled at me, which made me feel slightly better until I saw the look on Hector's face. He smiled too, but it was more of a this-is-going-to-be-very-entertaining smile. I suddenly wasn’t very hungry anymore.
I picked up my fork and took a bite of egg anyway, trying to act confident. I don’t think I was fooling anyone though. Vienna finally spoke, “Congratulations on joining Fide. There are some excellent people there who will watch out for you.”
“Thanks,” I said, glancing at Hector. “My brother was happy about the decision.”
Vienna laughed and gave me a knowing smile. “Ahhh yes, I am sure he was. How is he doing? Nyka told me about his injury.”
I couldn’t help but notice how casually, yet intentionally, she brought Nyka into it. The look she gave me when she said it made me suspicious. Does she know about Garrett’s crush on Nyka? No, there is no way. Only I know him that well. “He is doing really well. You would think a couple broken ribs would put a damper on his mood. Even with our parents gone, he doesn’t seem to be sad.”
“How about you?” Her eyes were full of concern, like they were on the first day we met. I couldn’t help but feel gratified. Maybe I wasn’t in trouble after all.
“I am just trying to stay ahead of it. Keep moving, keep working, don’t leave time for thinking. So far it has worked pretty well.” All of that was true, except for the not thinking about it part. I thought about it all the time.
“Glad to hear it. That brings us to the reason I invited you here. (Uh oh) The first day you were here, you saw a side of me that few people have seen or even heard about. I would like it to be kept that way. The Argonauts need a fearless leader, not a grieving orphan. Understood?”
I could totally understand why Vienna was trying to keep up the appearance of a fearless leader, especially with all the stuff Albert told me. In every place I have ever been, there is always a leader, and there are always people working against that leader. I wasn’t sure if that person was Hector, but I knew there had to be someone around here that fit the bill.
“Completely. I will pass it on to my brother as well.” I was starting to understand the look that Hector was giving me. I shifted uncomfortably, but Vienna didn’t seem to notice.
After a momentary silence, she nodded, looking satisfied. “Good! Now that that’s over with, we can move on. I was notified by my Edict that you and your brother will serve as my bodyguards this week. The jobs don’t officially get handed out until tonight, but I usually get an early list of who does what. I thought you might like to know ahead of time. Unfortunately, it isn’t a very exciting job. There haven’t been any assassination attempts for almost a month!”
She laughed at this and I followed her lead. I couldn’t decide whether or not she was kidding though. I ate a little more comfortably once I knew I wasn’t in trouble.
We all continued to talk and eat. I got to know Hector a little bit more too. He seemed like a good guy. He told me about how he got here 7 years ago when he was only 10 years old. He had wished for a whole lot of stuff when he discovered the ability, which was enough to catch the attention of two powerful creatures. His spirit acted a lot faster than they usually do and he was able to actually hold his own. When a couple Argonaut warriors finally arrived, they slaughtered the two monsters. Unfortunately, one of the warriors got mortally wounded in the battle. When Hector arrived at Argos, he immediately took up the warrior’s tasks and responsibilities as a way of honoring him. He also joined the barracks that the warrior was a leader of and soon after became leader himself.
“That guy saved my life. To this day I am constantly on watch for the spirit that was in him so I can thank him. The other guy disappeared about a year later and we haven’t found any traces of where he went. We think that his Edict assigned him a secret mission which he died completing.”
I couldn’t help but be astonished by his story. I couldn’t believe that he had survived two monsters. “You survived against two of them and you were only 10? Me and Garrett barely survived the Bakshazani!”
He looked surprisingly modest. “Well, all I did was survive. I wasn’t really able to do much damage until the other two Argonauts arrived. I wouldn’t have lasted much longer if they hadn’t shown up when they did.”
Vienna broke in at this point, “There is a reason that he is considered one of the best fighters in Argos. If
you need practice with those short swords of yours, he is the guy to go to. He is one of the strongest fighters here, and his spirit is the same one that was in the original Hector! Usually, small squads are sent out to find new Argonauts, but Hector can be sent out by himself.”
Hector laughed, “Yeah, you guys ruined my fun! I was looking forward to taking a Bakshazani down, but you beat me to it. It really was amazing that you killed it.”
The praise caught me off guard. I shrugged, “It was seriously just luck. I have only shot a bow at a summer camp a few times; not enough to know how to aim properly. I imagine the spirit helped out a little bit.” More than a little bit!
Hector smiled at that. “Still, that definitely earned you some extra fame around here. Not very many people heard the whole story, but those that did spread it around like wildfire. There were a lot of people in the Arena last night who couldn’t wait to fight against you and test your skill. That may be why Albert accidentally hurt your brother. He was probably expecting someone stronger and quicker.” Ohhhh, that burns. I gotta tell Garrett that later.
Vienna added, “What he unfortunately forgot was that bonded pairs are always stronger when fighting together. You may be the strongest warrior pair here, but when you’re separate, you could be just any average Argonaut. Me and my brother are that way. I don’t like to let him fight, but that’s the only way I can beat this guy in a fight.” She smiled at Hector.
I had finished with my breakfast by that time and I was surprised by how fast the time had gone by. I really enjoyed talking to them. They didn’t seem like big intimidating leaders anymore. They seemed to actually care about what I thought and felt. Hector seemed really cool, despite what Albert had told me. In fact, I bet I would have enjoyed having him as my barracks leader. Maybe Albert just said all of that because of barracks rivalries or something.
I got up from my chair and grabbed Garrett’s breakfast. “Speaking of staying together, I should probably go wake up my slacker brother. Thanks for breakfast and the good conversation.” Vienna and Hector both waved at me as I walked away. I walked down the street back towards the barracks with a little more spring in my step. Even with Albert’s opinion of Hector, I couldn’t help but like the guy. I was thinking about taking up his offer for more training.
As I walked towards the barracks, I thought about how much my life had changed. I liked Argos. The weather was perfect and the days were beautiful. The constant hustle and bustle made me feel like I had a purpose. Even better, I felt welcome here. People smiled and waved at me as I walked up the cobblestone street like they had known me forever. I was smiling to myself cheerfully by the time I made it to the door of the barracks. I was feeling at home for the first time since I got here.
I walked through the door and saw Garrett sitting on his bed. He looked like he had fought a losing battle with his pillow. His hair was all sticking up on one side and he had dark circles under his eyes. Still, he seemed to be really excited about something. He was trying to read a book while at the same time putting his shoes on, which is not an easy task. When he saw me, his eyes brightened a little. “Dude! There you are! I woke up and the barracks was empty! I just looked at my Edict and it finally identified our spirits!”
8
The Identity Crisis
KAMARON
From the look on his face, I could tell it must have been good news. I tossed him his breakfast and grabbed my Edict from the trunk. I opened it and saw a whole bunch of writing that hadn’t been there before. It looked sort of like a genealogy record with names and dates. Each name had three dates next to it, one for the time of birth, one for the time of inhabitation by the spirit, and one for the time of death. The most recent one had been over 200 years ago. The name was Lafayette Hamilton, and his date of inhabitation was the same as his time of death.
I shuddered and kept searching for someone I recognized. There was a name in bold and all three dates were in 1200’s BC. The name, which I didn’t recognize, was Teucer, son of Telamon. Garrett was wolfing down his breakfast and had his book open in his lap.
I looked at his Edict and saw the most recent entry was Phineas Hamilton. He had the same birth date, inhabitation date, and time of death as Lafayette. “The last two people to have these spirits were twin brothers!” I sat down next to him and compared each of the names.
“All of them were brothers! All of them died at the same time too, which is a little weird.” Garrett looked troubled at this, but I didn’t think much of it.
I pointed to the bold name in my book, and said, “I have no idea who this guy is. Who is your bold guy?”
He instantly perked up. “That’s what is so exciting! It’s Ajax from the Trojan War! I remember reading about him. He was one of the only people that was willing to fight Hector and he nearly won! Teucer must be his brother. I don’t recognize any of the other names though. I want to do some research on these other guys. Theoretically, they would have joined the original Argonauts if they survived.”
The spirit in my head spoke up suddenly. Many of them didn’t survive. You’ll notice that after Ajax and Teucer, most of them were killed soon after they found us. Bonded pairs always have the biggest targets on their heads. Beating the Bakshazani was no small feat, but that will hardly be the end of it. I looked at Garrett and he nodded, confirming he got the message. So, for the rest of our lives we were going to have giant billboards above our heads: Calling all baddies! These two need to die!
“Well, at least we survived. Speaking of which, I had a very interesting breakfast with Vienna and Hector.” I told him about the morning's events and our jobs for this week. I made sure to include Vienna’s quip about Albert expecting a better fighter, which caused him to visibly wince. That made me happy.
He nodded once I finished and said, “Nyka said the same thing about Hector that Albert did. I am not sure what to think about him. Maybe it’s like barracks feuds or something.”
I shrugged. “That’s what I was thinking. I really don’t know though. Either way, at least we will have an opportunity to get to know both of them better. We will pretty much be with them 24/7 for guard duty. We are even going to be training with them. Luckily, guard duty is usually only a one-man job, so we can take turns.”
“Well, we better get ready. Our jobs don’t apply until tonight, right? Nyka told me that we are meeting in the Arena for practice at 10:00.” He checked his watch. “It's 9:30 right now, so we should probably get ready.”
I nodded in agreement. Garrett finished getting ready and we walked out the door together. We had a near-fatal collision with Albert, who was trying to catch us before we left. “Good! I thought I might have missed you. How are the ribs?”
Garrett shrugged, like he hadn’t even noticed them. “They are a bit stiff, but I’ll live.”
Satisfied, Albert said, “That is very good! Sorry about that by the way. Anyway, I need you guys to do me a favor. My assistant, Donovan, hasn’t been seen for over a day. He was originally assigned to go and fetch you two, but nobody could find him. Vienna sent Hector because of how urgent the situation was. Just keep an eye out for him and let me know if you see him. He is a huge guy with blonde hair and the biggest sword you will ever see. He is almost impossible to miss. Whatever you do though, don’t mention it to Nyka. They are really close and I don’t want her to worry about him. Now you better hurry if you want to make it to your training!”
He walked past us and into the barracks before either of us could say anything. We looked at each other in bewilderment and then hurried down to the street towards the Arena. There weren’t nearly as many waves and smiles now. It seemed like everybody had someplace to go or a job to do.
We ran into the Arena breathing heavily at exactly 10:00, according to Garrett’s watch. The look Nyka gave us though made me think his watch was wrong. “You’re late!” She barked, causing both of us to flinch. Garrett was so startled that his shield momentarily appeared on his arm, then went away.
G
arrett spluttered an excuse, “S-sorry. We got held up. Albert needed to talk to us about—”
“—Garrett’s ribs! I think he felt bad about it,” I interrupted. I gave Garrett a meaningful look, which I hoped communicated how much he owed me one. “What are we working on today?”
Looking slightly less angry, she said, “Well, I was originally going to do more training, but with Garrett’s injury I would rather not risk it. You can injure yourself when I am not responsible for you. Vienna suggested that I give you a tour of Argos, since you have really only seen the Argonaut Quarter.”
“There are other parts to this castle?” Garrett asked.
Nyka laughed, “Oh yeah! You got knocked out when you were brought here, huh? Everybody must have just assumed that you knew about the other Quarters. Argos is shaped like a triangle. There are three parts, or Quarters, with the Arena in the middle. The three Quarters are the Argonaut Quarter, the Horatii Quarter, and the Aegean Quarter. With me so far?”
We both nodded, and she continued, “The Argonaut Quarter is reserved for active Argonaut warriors; pretty much anybody that is on call for questing. The Horatii Quarter is for warriors with lesser spirits or for injured Argonauts. They serve as reserve troops and defenders of Argos, but usually aren’t strong enough for quests. The Aegean Quarter is for civilians, mostly surviving family members of Argonauts or people that are in danger. It is relatively empty compared to the other ones. It’s actually pretty rare that anyone who doesn’t have powers survives an attack. The Dark Legion is very careful to eliminate anyone close to an Argonaut. I think it is sort of their way of telling us to keep a low profile, or else.”
My head was spinning with more questions. One of these days I was going to finally know everything about this place and the new crazy world I live in. I was beginning to feel like a toddler, asking about everything I saw like it was my first time seeing it. It gets better. It may seem overwhelming right now, but it won’t be long before you are giving this very same orientation to another person. The voice was surprisingly comforting. I guess these spirit thingamajigs have more sides to them then just sarcasm after all.
The Wish Box Page 6