by John Grover
Drith smiled. “You always know better, Brother.” He rejoined the table.
“Excellent,” King Endrille said. “My brothers and sisters, this scourge threatens our way of life, our very existence. Our Lord, Thet, would want us to work together. In his name, we must meet this threat head on, and vanquish it. I decree it. My good men, stop them from reaching Cardoon!”
Jorrel saluted the king. “Aye, your grace.” He turned to Tolan. “Easy for him to say.”
“Excellent.” King Endrille smiled from ear to ear, then pushed himself away from the table. “When will the enemy get here?”
Sooth-Malesh turned to the King. “About three days. Their beasts do not gallop as fast as our horses, and many of them are pulling great war machines. They are moving slowly, but steadily.”
“Fine,” the King said. “I will be in my chambers. Keep me informed on the battle.”
A sick feeling filled Tolan’s stomach. He had a bad feeling about all of it… the alliance of kingdoms, the new enemy, the stone… what was it, anyway? Thousands of years of no one knowing of its existence, and now…
“I know what you witnessed, my friend.” Jorrel leaned over to him. “After seeing the kingdoms and their talents, I feel that it is the way to go. We need all of the unique abilities we can get. Ride out to the Wivering in Gonnish. Ask them to send as many warriors as they can spare. Their fleet might be an advantage.”
“Aye, Geyess and I will ride. I just want you to know, the Wivering are not trained soldiers. They’re farmers.”
“I know… that’s where you come in.” Jorrel smiled and walked away.
Tolan sighed and watched the others depart: the mysterious people of Gwythroth, the twins of the South, Olani and her consort, Nachin.
I hope Thet cares enough to watch the battle, or we are all doomed. Tolan followed the rest of them out of the palace and into the courtyard with its flowing fountains and bountiful gardens.
Olani turned back and walked past Tolan, returning to the meeting chamber.
“M’lady,” Nachin called, “the meeting is over.”
“I know, Nachin. I follow my own path. Please, see to the council. They need you more than I.”
He gave her a disagreeable look before continuing on.
Olani watched Sooth-Malesh call the crystal back to his hands, and went to him. “Your king was gracious to take my people in. He must see you as indispensable.”
“The King sees what he wishes.”
“I have always been fascinated by magic. Your scrying skills are impressive. When battle comes, the men will be glad to have you on their side. I can only imagine the hell you will rain upon the enemy.”
“I’m afraid you think too much of me, young lady. My magic is weak, and not fit for battle. I have been assigned to spying and foretelling our fates.”
“Who has assigned you?”
“The men, themselves. They are right. I have not fought anything in many years. I am no match for their mages.”
“Magic never grows weak; it is eternal. Only the user loses his faith. You have the power inside you, I can feel it. You broke through their defenses to see their plans.”
“Only because their focus is in many areas… they can’t block me and fight on all sides of the land.”
“You need to believe in yourself, again. You’re the only one who can do that.”
“I might say the same to you, my young leader. You did not fail your people. You saved them. Had you not sought the help of Cardoon, you would all be dead now.”
“How did you…”
“I have impressive scrying skills.” He winked at her before vanishing through the nearest wall.
Olani stood in the silent room, pondering. I did do the right thing. I did. We will get our land back, and return stronger than ever. A shiver rippled over her shoulders; she held herself and walked from the room. Dull pain filled her stomach.
###
Pim and his friends circled one another in jest when they saw the steeds approaching in the distance. It was two men in full battle armor. The boys stopped, and watched the soldiers approach their village.
Dogs barked. Wivering left the fields to greet the strangers entering their land.
Thousands of Wivering gathered as the horses galloped into the village center. The order of Thet made its way from their temple. The Warrior Guild filed from their training ground, swords in hand.
Pim’s heart thumped in his chest, adrenaline pumping through him. He felt his eyes tingle. His feet itched.
The clouds above stirred as the soldiers came to a halt.
“Greetings! I am Tolan of Cardoon. This is my friend and comrade, Geyess.” He gestured to his old friend. “We honor and respect the Wivering of Gonnish.” Both men bowed their heads. “May we speak to your leader?”
Pim’s parents came from their home and made their way to Pim, his younger brother, Tal, with them.
“Pim, what is happening?” His father put his arm on Pim’s shoulder.
“Soldiers from Cardoon,” Pim replied. “They wish to meet with us all.”
An older Wivering, his blond hair mostly white now, wearing a headband of feathers and multi-colored beads, made his way to the head of the crowd. Many of the Wivering’s faces were filled with fear, confusion, and wonder. It had been many years since anyone from Cardoon had been in Gonnish.
“Greetings, sirs,” the Wivering leader, Bru, said. “What brings you to our quiet lands?”
Tolan dismounted, holding the reins of his horse. “We’ve come to ask for your help, by order of my King.”
“What sort of help? What is wrong, my dear lad?”
“A scourge threatens the lands. A strange new enemy has sailed its way through the wall of clouds on the Red Coast, and attacks all of Athora. The clouds you see are not a storm; they are the clouds of war and magic. All of us are in danger… every last person in the world. The North has already fallen, and they make their way east and south. We need everyone’s help to make a counter attack on this foe and send them back to where they came from.”
A nervous chatter spread throughout the village. Some shouted in disbelief, and women cried. Thunder rumbled. The Wiverings looked up at the sky and gasped. Shouts erupted. Panic filled the village. Faces drained of color. Villagers shook their heads, while others stormed off. Still others refused to accept what they were hearing.
“It can’t be!” They yelled.
“It must be some mistake!”
“They are all lies… lies!”
“Are we safe? Are we in danger?”
The stories are true! Pim screamed inside. Both terror and delight filled him. He wasn’t sure if he should jump for joy, or run and hide. It was all happening so fast. The world doesn’t end at the mist! There is land on the other side, dangerous, mysterious land with armies and magic. How amazing and terrifying!
“Calm… we must be calm,” Bru called, putting his hands up to his people. “We must not act rashly. We must seek the wisdom of Thet, and remain strong. We are one family, and we will not fall.” He turned back to Tolan. “What does your king want of us?”
“We need warriors,” Tolan said. “As many of your warriors as you can spare. We need the greatest army Athora has ever seen. Can your people join in the fight?”
Silence swept over the village. The Wivering stared at one another, but the Warrior Guild stepped forward, as few as there were. Tolan counted barely one hundred.
Geyess stared with concern. “Is this all of you?”
“Geyess,” Tolan said. “They are farmers.” He turned to Bru. “We understand an army is not your first path.”
Bru looked around. “Are there any volunteers to the Warrior Guild? Any who would take up the sword to aid our world?”
“We will take any who wish to join,” Tolan said. “And we will train you. The best soldiers of the land will train you.”
Some of the young Wivering stepped forward. More gasps reverberated. Pim looked around, and
then to his parents. They held one another, fear wracking their faces.
“I will join,” Pim said, looking toward Tolan, meeting his gaze briefly.
“No!” Pim’s mother threw herself at her son. “By Thet, himself, you cannot! I will not allow it!”
“Son,” his father went to him, taking his arm. “Would you break your mother’s heart?”
“Would you sit back and do nothing? If you were younger and stronger, would you turn your back on your world? A world in peril?”
“You are not of age,” his father argued. “You cannot join the guild.”
Pim’s mother ran her hands over his cheeks. Her eyes welled.
“I will be of age in only two months! I will be man! No, I am a man now. What is two months? In two months, we all might perish.”
“We will take any who want to join,” Geyess said. “Any age, any strength.”
Tolan turned to hush him, but Geyess rolled his eyes. “We must respect your people’s customs and rules.”
“You need all available warriors,” Pim said. “Our leader may grant permission, this close to eighteen, but I need the word.” Pim looked to Bru and smiled.
“You are not a warrior!” Pim’s mother screamed. “You cannot go!”
Bru held up his hands again. A hush came over his people. “There are unknown days ahead filled with unknown dangers and dark skies. We must let go of some of the old ways if we expect to remember them. Those six months from their day of manhood may join the Warrior Guild.”
“No!” Pim’s mother collapsed. His father ran to her aid, helping her back to her feet.
Chatter and gasps filled the village again. Pim went to his mother and kissed her. “I only want to protect you, Mother.”
“My boy, my first boy! The way of the warrior is not your path; it is a path of no return!”
“It is my path, mother, you just don’t want to set me on it. That is why I must put myself on it.” He embraced her, then his father. His father stood speechless, holding his oldest son as long as he could.
Pim pulled away and went to Tolan’s side. As soon as he did, other young Wivering men joined him to the weeping of the entire village.
Pim stood, proud, watching the young men of Gonnish line up next to him. Last came his closest friend, Ono. Arc was nowhere to be seen.
Tolan put his hand on Pim’s shoulder. “I hear your people’s stride is faster than any warrior’s arrow.”
“It is true.”
“I am eager to see this talent I’ve heard only in stories.”
Pim dashed away from Tolan’s side and ran to the back of the village in seconds, his form a blur to Tolan’s eyes. In a matter of a moment, the young man had returned behind Tolan with a sword pressed to his throat.
Tolan laughed. “Very impressive.” He grabbed Pim’s arm and with a snap, flung him over his shoulder. Pim landed on his back, hitting the ground with a thud. “But you’re not a warrior, yet.” He extended his hand to Pim.
Tolan stepped to Pim’s mother, and looked her in the eyes. “I will watch over your son and train him well. He has fire in his heart. He will return to you.”
“I wish I could believe you.” She looked away, burying her face in her husband’s chest.
“We pray that Thet will hear us every night that Pim is gone,” Pim’s father said. “I only wish he’d guided my son onto a different path.”
“Your son will make you proud. I do not believe his entire path has been laid out before him, yet.”
Pim’s father nodded, fighting back tears. Rain fell gently onto his face.
Everyone looked up at the gray skies and watched the cold rain fall lightly.
“We are already proud of him…” Pim’s father whispered.
Tolan walked back to Geyess and the Wivering. The Warrior Guild had just nearly tripled its number. Pim looked at Ono and winked at him. Further behind him, Jun stood, face grim.
“My friends, I thank you. The King of Cardoon thanks you. We must go to Cardoon, meet with the King, and prepare. Are you ready?”
The Wivering nodded, and Tolan climbed back onto his steed. He looked at all the blond haired, fair-skinned Wivering, and furrowed his brow. “Have you no horses?”
“We need no horses,” one of the Wivering called. They turned from their village and ran, their fleet carrying them across the fields and over the distant hills in an instant.
Tolan looked at Geyess and smiled widely, shaking his head. “I think we have our work cut out for us, my friend.”
“Aye, by Thet’s staff, your words speak the truth. Let us catch up to them before they get lost.”
Tolan rode off, but behind him, he heard the sobs of the villagers and their leader, Bru, trying to comfort them.
###
Pim stood in the city’s barracks, wide-eyed. He stared at all manner of weapon and blade, glinting sharp in the weak sunlight. He donned some shiny new armor, and stepped out onto the training grounds.
Cardoon was such a wondrous city. He didn’t know where to look first: the royal palace with its rippling flags and gold-laced balconies and multiple doors, the mansions with carved pillars and posts, or the cobblestone roads filled with massive wagons pulled by six horses, or more.
Even the ordinary houses and hovels were grand compared to his village. The bazaar was total chaos with peddlers and merchants and their customers haggling for the best price. The water fountains overflowed with pure water. Taverns and inns, walls and stone gates were carved with Thet and his many miracles. Turrets and towers sprouted everywhere, but the tallest of them were the black spires to the north of the city, where generation after generation of mages lived and practiced their secret arts. Right now, red smoke billowed from one of the windows.
Pim imagined what might be going on up there. He might even be able to zip over there and back using his fleet before anyone noticed! Before the thought completed itself, Tolan appeared to address the Wiverings.
“My friends, I know you have trained back home in your guild. But this is no ordinary enemy, this is a force from lands we never knew existed. Time grows short, and the enemy makes its way up the Red Coast. They will attack Cardoon in less than three days.”
“Three days,” Ono whispered to Pim. “I can’t learn to be a swordsman in three days.”
“Sure you can,” Pim replied. “I learned in less time.”
“You’re not a swordsman.”
“No, but I can fight and wield a sword during my fleet. That makes me something.”
Tolan raised his voice. “Has anyone here seen battle?”
Pim looked around: not one Wivering raised their hand. He knew it would be the case, of course, but to actually see it, to see the lack of experience, was unsettling.
Tolan shook his head, and then looked back up at them. One lifted his hand in the back. “You.”
Pim turned his head to see Jun with his hand raised. “I once fought a tusked Trow. Ran it off from my father’s farm.”
Tolan paused for a moment. “Alright… that’s better than nothing. Did you use a sword or an axe?”
“A garden hoe… and… the Trow was half-starved…”
“Uh-huh.” Tolan was unimpressed. “Well, good improvisation with your, ah… garden hoe.”
The Wiverings laughed.
“Alright!” Tolan glowered at them. “This is not a laughing matter. We don’t have time for this… people are going to die. Your friends, your loved ones, you! We are in great danger, and these creatures show no mercy. They mean to destroy us all.”
Pim eyed Ono, who held back a grin. Silence swallowed the grounds. Everyone stood at awkward attention. Tolan whistled, and a group of Cardoon soldiers exited the barracks. They joined Tolan’s side, Geyess with them.
“Training begins now,” Tolan said.
“This is who we’re training?” One of the soldiers said.
“What of it?” Tolan asked.
“They all look so… delicate. I would hate to muddy their
fair skin.”
The men laughed, grunting and slapping each other on the backs.
Pim’s heartbeat thumped, and his adrenaline surged. He ran from his friends and launched his fleet. In the blink of an eye, he raced past the Cardoon soldiers to the one who’d made fun. Pim unsheathed the soldier’s sword, and before the man could flinch, he drew it to his throat.
The soldier’s eyes widened, and he raised both his hands. “I yield,” he said.
Tolan turned, sliding up behind Pim, and swept his legs out from under him. “Very nicely done, young one,” Tolan said. “But one must be aware of all of his surroundings. There are many enemies in all directions. Performing tricks on one target will get you killed.” He put out his hand out to Pim. The young Wivering took and it and pulled himself up. He felt the blood rush to his face. There was nothing worse than being embarrassed in front of his friends. “You are with me,” Tolan said. “The rest of you, find a partner. Let us begin.”
###
Pim and Tolan faced each other with swords. The young man noticed Tolan was wearing his best armor, decorated with many runes, glittering jewels, and tinted plates. His knee and elbow joints were crowned with spikes; his gauntlets were studded with bolts.
“Sword fighting is like a dance,” Tolan said to him. “You must make eye contact, anticipate the enemy’s move, parry and defend, lunge and swing all to gain an advantage, and move in for the kill.”
“Yes, yes, I know.”
“Excuse me, young Wivering. Why don’t you show me your skills?”
“You’ve experienced only a fraction of them.”
“Your fleet is indeed astounding, but without being able to fight and defend, you will be using it for escape. Your disarming trick is good, but once revealed, is all too predictable. You need to have many more moves in your arsenal to keep your foe off his feet.”
“Like I said, you have only seen a fraction.” Pim lunged for him.
Tolan side-stepped him, and Pim crashed to the ground, landing on his face. “Too headstrong,” Tolan called.
Pim grunted, jumped to his feet, and gritted his teeth. He ran toward Tolan again, swinging his sword like mad.