by Tony Johnson
As he led Steve up the stairs of a nearby tower, Sir Lambert realized that he recognized the warrior’s name. “Brightflame? The jouster?” he asked, not turning around as Steve followed behind him.
“Yes sir, that’s me,” was all Steve said.
The Supreme Commander gave out a grunted chuckle, finding it humorous that of all the warriors, it happened to be Celestial’s jouster who he had selected to follow him. “I saw what you did out there,” he said.
Steve instantly thought he had done something wrong by the accusatory sound in the Supreme Commander’s voice.
“I watched you from the archers’ wall as you saved the life of those two men at the risk of your own. Your actions were truly valiant.”
“It was my responsibility as a warrior.” Steve replied, letting out a sigh of relief. A part of him was wondering if he was in trouble for doing something wrong.
“Yes, but few men can make that kind of decision in that quick of a moment. We need that kind of fearlessness today.”
“Fearless? I was full of fear,” Steve admitted.
The Supreme Commander weighed Steve’s words for the next five steps up. “True fear stops or slows down the actions your heart tells you to take. Your heart wanted to see your warrior brother survive. Without even thinking, you went back to help them even with the monsters shooting at you. What you felt was not fear, you were just scared. The difference between fear and being scared is the difference between life and death in those quick moments of instinctive choice,” Sir Lambert philosophized.
Steve saw the wisdom in the Commander’s words and nodded, even though the Supreme Commander wasn’t facing him.
“As you may have realized, this is more than a regular attack.” Sir Lambert gestured outside a small window in the tower, not taking the time to look out of it as he continued to walk up the stairs.
Steve took a glance through the curved open window. The image caused him to stop in his tracks. The view he saw would stick with him for the rest of his life. It was his first chance to see the magnitude of the destruction of the attack from an aerial view. He had known it was bad from what he experienced en route to the castle, but what he saw from high in the tower - it put everything in perspective.
He was standing in one of the two towers at the face of the castle, looking south. He saw the collapsed watchtower of Commander Ostravaski spilled across the large plaza with pieces of the aqueduct jutting sharply up out of the Fluorite River. Other buildings in his view were tipped over or had been completely leveled. He could see the large oval shape of the arena, far off in the distance. Instead of an oval it now looked more like a horseshoe because of the large section that had collapsed.
Steve looked up and saw dragons, phoenixes, gryphons, and warbirds teaming up and killing what was left of the warriors on friendly monsters. I hope Ty isn’t among them.
A warrior was blasted off his dragon and lifelessly cartwheeled through the air before disappearing behind buildings in the distance. His monster was then viciously torn to shreds. Monsters absolutely despised other monsters that had turned sides and served the good god and his people. Few things gave them more pleasure than killing traitors.
Fires blazed in buildings all around the south, sending pillars of smoke rising up high in the sky. Past the smoke and flames, Steve could see that only one of Celestial’s catapults was being used out of the two viewable from his location. Warriors were firing either one large boulder or many tiny boulders out into the advancing monster army. They were rushing to get off as many shots as they could. Even though the castle bells of retreat had sounded, they remained steadfast.
The warriors manning the trebuchet catapult must have believed they would be overtaken within minutes just like the warriors on the catapult further down the curved outer wall. Being too late to retreat to the nearest watchtower, they put their final breaths to good use and used them to kill as many monsters as they could with their projectiles.
Beyond the inner wall and the fields behind them, was the harbor. Dozens of massive ships were burning. Some were already halfway below the waters, pulling the rest of the ship down with it, to the dark bottom of the Darien Sea.
Steve turned away from the scene of destruction he saw through the window. He ran up two steps at a time to catch up to Sir Lambert. They exited onto a fourth story of the castle. Before continuing, the famous warrior turned around and spoke to Steve.
“I need a man like you to help provide an extra guard for the king. I am temporarily promoting you to knighthood, Stephen Brightflame.”
Steve was speechless. “What?” he asked, half laughing and half in shock. At first he thought he had misheard the Supreme Commander. The Guardian Knights were an elite club whose job was to protect the royalty. There were only twelve of them. All were dubbed official knights and civilians were ordered to show them respect by calling them “Sir.”
It had always been Steve’s dream to be one of the twelve knights, one of the twelve guardians of the king. He had never heard of a temporary knight before, but if anyone had the authority to give him his new title, it was the leader of the Guardian Knights, the Supreme Commander.
Steve found justification in accepting the position he felt unworthy of. If this is the Supreme Commander’s wish then who am I to deny this warrior of legend?
“You heard me true,” Sir Lambert confirmed. “Forgive me for not taking the time to dub you officially, Sir Brightflame.”
“It’s only formality,” Steve agreed as he tried to hide his excited smile. Thank you for the honor, Supreme Commander.”
“You’ve earned it,” Sir Lambert said, already turned around and walking again. He continued to lead Steve further into the large castle.
He seemed so composed and commanding before, calmly barking out orders. But up close, his eyes give away his nervousness. Whatever is happening, it can’t be good.
Steve followed closely. They walked at a fast pace through wide and narrow corridors and through large and small rooms. Some were quickly opened by the workers who stood by them, others by a large set of keys the Supreme Commander could easily take off and then reattach to his belt. Steve began to get a headache trying to mentally figure out which compass direction he was facing.
He was convinced Sir Lambert could read his confused mind, when the man blurted out, “We’re almost there.” He opened a set of large iron trimmed wooden doors with his keys. A giant spiraling staircase was revealed to be on the other side.
Steve knew where they were headed as soon as he looked up and saw how high the staircase reached. He had just entered the famous King’s Tower, the highest manmade building in the entire kingdom. From the top, it was said you could see for hundreds of miles on a clear day. The tower from base to tip was exactly 1000 feet.
The second tallest man-made structure in the world was a tower in a city called Misengard. That tower was only 625 feet tall, so the King’s Tower was quite an architectural feat. That was the reason it was so notoriously popular. People came from far away to Celestial just to catch a glimpse of it.
As he followed in an endless upward, circular motion, Steve noticed beautiful paintings on the stone walls. All along the inside of the tower were intricate drawings and paintings of the stories of legend told in chronological order. All of the tales Titus Thatcher had told him as a child were depicted here. He had forgotten that Thatcher had told him long ago about how the stories could be seen on the stones of the King’s Tower.
“They’re amazing aren’t they?” Sir Lambert asked Steve. Again, he was not even facing Steve as he talked, but somehow he knew the warrior was in awe of the paintings. “It’s ironic isn’t it? The depictions of the heroes of legend form the base of the most iconic building in the world. If it wasn’t for their sacrifices and victories on the battlefield, who knows if this tower and this city would be here today?”
“Yeah, it’s something isn’t it?” Steve responded. That was a stupid answer. I shouldn’t have even sai
d anything. I wish I knew a fun fact or something about one of these stories, but I doubt there is anything I know that he doesn’t.
Steve was very self-conscious about everything he said in front of (or behind, as he was) this man he admired. He wanted to make a good impression rather than embarrass himself. He turned his eyes back to the paintings. It was like watching the story play out of a hero against a villain. As soon as one ended, another began. The pictorials were just like how his mind imagined them as a child.
Steve smiled as he saw some of his favorites: the first warrior, mighty Atomis; the first friendly monster, a dragon named Frostbite and her warrior rider, Sima; and the legend of the White-Armored Warrior.
The Supreme Commander purposely did not strike up a conversation. He allowed the captivated, newly knighted warrior to marvel at the beautiful renditions of history. These were the men and women who paved the way for Steve to be in the position he was in today: a free Human, living in the greatest city on Element, who was allowed to choose whatever profession he wanted.
The last painting was of King Zoran and his legendary battle against Draviakhan. Steve slowed down and ran his fingers along the wall. Out of all the legends, this was his favorite and by far the most important.
After Oliver Zoran’s story, the paintings ended. Only the gray stones of the castle tower remained. Room for future legends, Steve thought.
“We’re almost there,” Sir Lambert exhaled. He was past his seventieth name day, but was a man with the body of someone twenty years younger. Even if he were only fifty, he still would have been winded from the mountain of a staircase hike. Steve himself began to feel sore as each step was a repetition of the previous one, time and time again. His thighs and calves ached as he ascended further.
How is Sir Lambert keeping up this pace at his age? The man’s body must be as strong as they say his mind is.
To distract himself from the boring, repetitive steps, Steve began to count each of the steps before he reached a window. He had determined there were fifty steps between each of the windows. As he briefly looked out each one, he saw the buildings far below getting smaller and smaller with each pass. The wind grew fiercer, whipping through the open windows the higher they climbed. Eventually, they made it to the top floor.
Steve followed Sir Lambert onto a strip of red carpet that led to a pair of golden doors. A guard stood to the side of each door. One wore a full suit of red armor, the other, a full suit of blue. Both bowed in unison at the sight of the Supreme Commander. The two warriors turned and walked towards each other and then grabbed the golden door handles at exactly the same time. Their movements mirrored each other perfectly.
Steve smiled in impression, but the smile was more for what he anticipated to see once the two veterans opened the doors. Beyond them was the only room in the entire tower:
The King’s Throne Room. At exactly the same speed the two warriors opened the doors and the room was revealed.
“Sir Brightflame, welcome to the top of the King’s Tower, the King’s Throne Room,” Sir Lambert said with a hint of pride.
They entered into a huge circular room. Inside the throne room stood eleven of the Guardian Knights. That number became the full twelve now that the Supreme Commander joined them. These respected men were the sworn protectors of the royalty. It was the highest rank a warrior could achieve. They all had moments of heroicness that were told throughout the kingdom to warriors and to children as bedtime stories. None of the stories were so impactful that they would become legends, but they were stories that would orally live on for the next couple of generations before eventually being forgotten; either that or they were reduced to outlandish tales that only children would believe plausible.
These were the most honorable, trustworthy, and morally good men in all of Element. Two thirds of them had risen through the warrior ranks in Celestial itself. The rest had come as warriors from other cities, after their stories had reached the ears of the king, and he wanted to meet them face to face.
Twelve knights and one honorable mention. Steve felt completely inadequate among these men and knew his small action to save the Giant and the Dwarf could not even begin to compare to the sacrifices and decisions these men had made in their moments of glory.
The king’s Guardian Knights were all standing around in their full sets of armor featuring red, blue, and some gold pieces. Some were talking amongst themselves in small groups, similar to how Steve saw the warriors talking in the castle lobby.
This attack has shocked them as much as everyone else.
Four of the knights stood around a miniature replica model of Celestial. It was a perfectly accurate representation of Celestial on a smaller scale. Each one was pointing at different sections of the city with the tiny sticks they held in their hands. No doubt they are in the middle of planning strategies.
Steve’s eyes went to the center of the room. A magnificent tall and golden chair sat in the center of the room facing away from him. The King’s Throne! There it is! Steve had seen paintings of it, but not even the finest color could match the perfect gold it was made out of. In the back of it, he could see a warped reflection of himself standing next to the Supreme Commander in the doorway.
In front of the throne a man stood looking out an enormously wide observatory window. His back was to Steve, but Steve saw that he wore golden armor from neck to boot. He also wore a long red cape, the same color as Steve’s armor. Just as Steve knew he was entering the King’s Tower, and then the King’s Throne Room, he also knew right away who this man was.
The window was the widest and largest Steve had ever seen. It took up more than half the circumference of the circular tower. The view to the north was amazing. He could see miles and miles away. Whitebark Woods. Evergreen Forest. I can even see the beginning of Lake Azure.
Even though he didn’t want to, Steve could also see the entire north side of the city. Sadly, it was just as destroyed as the south side of Celestial, if not more. He could partially see the east and west sides as well. The fires and plumes of smoke looked like a ring around the outer part of the city. This was because cheaper houses made of straw and wood were farthest away from the castle and closest to the inner wall. They burned more easily than the stone buildings towards the middle of the city. Also, most of the flaming projectiles from monster catapults in the fields could not fly far enough to hit most of the stone buildings.
The last of the monsters were climbing over the inner wall with their ladders or entering through breaches. Most of the attacking army was in the streets. All looked tiny specs flowing through the city from so high up.
A hand lightly tugged Steve’s tunic sticking out of the plate of armor at his waist, bringing Steve back to reality. The Supreme Commander was already on the ground kneeling, trying to get Steve to do the same by pulling him down. Steve went down on one knee and stared down into the royal red carpet.
How could I forget to kneel in the presence of this man? He felt like a low class slave with no manners. Everyone knows you’re supposed to kneel at first sight of the king.
“What is your report?” The golden armored man asked, still looking out the window. He had known his Supreme Commander would be the next one that walked into his throne room.
Steve remained kneeled as Sir Lambert rose and gave his answer, “Your honor, this is the largest attack we have ever witnessed. We’ve never had so many causalities in one day. Seventy-five warriors have made it back to provide additional support in the guarding of the castle. As you know, multiplying that number by five would still not be enough men to cover all our stations.”
“Any word on Prince Silas’s location?”
“We have searched everywhere, but he is nowhere to be found, your majesty. He ditched his guard and disappeared this morning.” The Supreme Commander cut an angry look at two guards who stood talking to each other. Steve assumed they had been the ones who lost track of the prince.
The man breathed a deep sigh of frustrat
ion. After weighing the possible meaning of his missing prince, he asked, “Who did you bring with you?”
Steve was amazed that the king knew he was in the room, especially since the king’s back was to them the entire time since they had entered. He must have seen our reflection in the window.
Steve continued to kneel with his head lowered. He heard the sound of clinking armor and footsteps as the man turned and began to walk towards him. Steve’s heart was beating faster than the times when Ty convinced him to talk to a pretty girl.
“For his heroic sacrifices on the battlefield, that I observed firsthand, I present to you an honorary Guardian Knight,” Sir Lambert announced.
Steve saw golden boots enter at the top of his view of the floor. He was standing before Steve.
“Rise.” The man’s powerful voice boomed as he commanded such a simple word. Steve obeyed and stood up, meeting King Oliver Zoran face to face.
Chapter 8
As Steve stood up, his eyes went from the golden boots, upward to the weapon the king kept in the sheath at his side. There it is. Steve thought. The Aurelian Sword! The very sword Oliver Zoran used to kill the five-headed dragon, Draviakhan. Steve stared at the long, double-edged weapon. The Aurelian Sword (also known as Aurelia [meaning golden] or the King’s Sword) had a curved golden blade, classifying the weapon as a scimitar. The hilt was beautifully decorated in jewels. Five stones representing the elements were attached above the sword’s optional one or two handed handle. There was a red ruby for fire, a green emerald for wind, a blue sapphire for water, a yellow topaz for electricity, and a brown jasper for earth. In the center of the circle of jewels was a large diamond. The diamond symbolized that there was strength in bringing the five elements together. The diamond was a rare jewel. It was a perfect, flawless gem, incapable of being scratched, thus making it highly sought after.
For someone like Steve, who had spent many years of his life designing swords and weapons for warriors, Aurelia was an amazing sight to behold. Steve stared in awe at the beautifully crafted weapon of the king. He finished standing up, realizing he was as excited to meet the sword as he had been to meet the king himself.