Jaunty started to rise off the ground. Winn saw this and was confused for a minute then he realized one of the wizards was lifting him. He felt the barrier that surrounded him fade and another invisible force push up against him but slide by him like a punch he dodged. The human wizard had a surprised look on her face. Winn realized he was not in the grip of any of the wizards and he flew up and grabbed Jaunty. He had to pull hard against the force of the wizard’s grip, but he broke her hold on Jaunty and Winn flew away from the wizards.
The wizards reacted fast by casting spells that hurled ice, rocks, and a fireball at Winn and Jaunty. Twenty span from the wizards on the other side of the trail there was a steep drop off that went all the way down the mountain. Winn was flying toward the drop off when he looked back and saw the fireball heading straight for him at an incredible speed. Winn dropped Jaunty on the trail just before the fireball hit him. The fireball enveloped him and then it dissipated. It burned the loincloth completely off him and his arm hair was gone. He didn’t have time to think about that. He dropped to the ground and picked up Jaunty. A stone glanced off his arm before he could rise again, and it spun him around. He saw that more wizards had come out of the cave, about twenty of them, and they were hurling spells at him too. He took off and headed for the cliff edge, and just as he reached it an ice block hit him in the leg and sent him summersaulting and spiraling down the cliff. He dropped Jaunty when he was hit and Jaunty was falling about ten span below him. Winn righted himself and zoomed down the side of the mountain and caught Jaunty just before they reached the bottom. Winn was able to control their decent and they landed on an iced over river. Winn looked up and he saw that some of the wizards were flying down at them and he took off, following the riverbed. Fireballs, bolts of lighting, and bricks of ice were flying past Winn and he flew twenty-five span then touched down and flew another twenty-five span. He touched down for the tenth time and broke through the ice and he and Jaunty plunged into the ice-cold water. Jaunty was dead weight because he was knocked out from the fall earlier, and Winn struggled to hold him and find a place he could break through the ice. He hoped the wizards would cast their spells at them so that the spells might break the ice, but he didn’t see any fire or lightning through the ice. They must have lost us, but that does us no good if we drown.
The current under the ice was moving fast and Winn couldn’t break a hole in the ice. His only hope was that the ice would get so thin one blow would break it. His lungs were burning, and his vision started to black out when the current became furiously fast and suddenly, he and Jaunty were flying through the air because they were shot out of a waterfall. Winn gathered his bearings as he and Jaunty were falling and hovered out from under the waterfall before he was dashed on the rocks. He floated down with Jaunty to the bank of the river below the waterfall and set Jaunty down.
I think we have lost them for a moment. I have no idea where to go or where we can hide.
After Winn rested as long as he dared, he picked Jaunty up and followed the river. He was freezing to death and Jaunty was shivering. He walked along the river for almost an hour. It had become very dark with only the light of a quarter moon to see by. Winn was concerned about them freezing to death and about getting frostbite on his toes. They couldn’t lay in the snow and there was no shelter to be found. All he knew to do was to keep walking, but he was weak, tired, and he didn’t think he could go much longer. The river took a sharp bend and as Winn rounded the corner, he couldn’t believe his eyes. There was a cave with what looked like firelight emitting from it.
The odds of the person who built that fire being friendly are about zero. It is either a Menegar or a wizard. However, we are going to die out here if we don’t get some warmth. I will just have to chance it.
Winn approached the cave as stealthily as he could while he was carrying Jaunty. He creeped up to the mouth of the cave and peeked inside. It was a relatively shallow cave and he could see a man with white hair facing away from the mouth of the cave and towards the fire.
“Don’t be shy,” the man said. “Come in and share the warmth of the fire. There are some robes over in the corner for you and your friend. I’ll get them.”
The man stood up and he was very tall, four span. He walked with grace and power, not like an old man at all. He grabbed the robes and turned to face Winn, and he had the most beautiful countenance Winn had ever seen. In fact, he was beautiful and ruggedly handsome at the same time. Winn was stunned and as scared as he ever had been in his life.
“Sit, I can’t have you freezing to death, can I?”
Winn put Jaunty down by the fire and took the robes from the man. He covered Jaunty up with one and put the other one on and sat down. The man sat across from him and Winn looked at him and saw the flames from the fire dancing in his eyes.
“You never thought you would see me,” the man said. “Yet here I am sitting before you, and my brothers are not running to your aide to run me off. It’s just one of the many lies the old one told you. Do you think I would let Him groom a Champion of Aviel that would thwart my plans? Who do you think took your swordsmanship ability away when you were a child that forced you to turn to Pho Ren. It was me. Who took you away from Sarah? Me. Who gave you your fury that causes you to kill more than necessary? Me. I let you become a leader. I sacrificed my own people, so you could be a hero. I could have stepped in at the battle of Tolevo Rise, but I let you have your victory. I made you. Not the old one, not my brothers, not Sarah, not Master Chen, but me.”
As the old man was speaking Winn realized that he wasn’t a man at all, but rather Jezel, the fallen one.
“Jezel, you are the father of lies,” Winn said. “Fight me fairly, let me send you to your abyss.”
“You are a fool. If I merely thought of your death, you would die, and I would send you to the abyss, not the heavens that you saw as a child. You are in my power now, and you will fulfill your true destiny and serve me.”
“Never willingly. If you must resort to destroying my mind, then it is really not me who would serve you. You are believing the lie, not me.”
“Young Winn, you speak some truth. I would have you choose me willingly, but even if I must force you, you will serve me. Wouldn’t you like to keep Sarah in your memory, and reunite with her and hold her in your arms? Serve me willingly, and I will make her appear in an instant. What about your mother and sister, you haven’t seen them in years either. I can bring them here right now; you only have to say the word. Your Uncle Lokke passed before you could say goodbye. I can bring him back from the dead. All you have to do is serve me.”
“Who is the fool now? Sarah would kill me before she let me serve you. My mother would die from heartache. My sister would spit in my face. My uncle would curse me from the grave. Your promises are empty and foolish. I am Avish, I am a servant of the Almighty, and my life is in His hands. If I have done everything I was meant to do, and it is my fate to spend my last days as your prisoner, then I will take it because I have known love and I have known joy. I have lived a life like no other, and a full life it has been. A life well lived, and I will end it, I will die, before serving you.”
Jezel clapped mockingly. “What a speech. Too bad Jaunty, your best friend, wasn’t awake to hear it. Maybe it would have helped him bear the pain that he will feel every day before his life is ended by being butchered alive so that he can be fed to my pets. My wizards will drink his blood and eat his flesh. As for you, your life is mine now, not yours or your Almighty’s. I will not waste your life. You will know glory and victory. You will wipe my enemies from the face of Arath. You will kill in my name. In fact, because of your unwillingness to serve me, I will have you kill your family, your friends, and your wife.”
Winn jumped up and hurtled over the fire towards Jezel. He froze directly over the fire and Jezel laughed.
“For a strategic genius you made an unfortunate move. I think I will leave you there for a while and let you cook, or at least feel the pain of the
fire.”
Winn found he couldn’t speak, but amazingly the warmth of the fire wasn’t unbearable. Winn could smile, and he looked at Jezel and smiled. After a moment Jezel realized Winn wasn’t in pain and he cursed.
“I am not a mere fire, boy. You will not withstand the forces I will unleash upon you. You will not prevail. You will become my instrument; all I must do is say the word. Now I tire of you. The next time you see me you will bow before me and call me Almighty.”
Jezel flicked his wrist and Winn flew into the wall so hard it knocked him out.
Chapter 5: Reactions
June 6, 850 A.A.
Sarah waited for three days in Azure. She refused to leave on the first day because no one from the admiralty knew what happened. By 4:00 pm on the day Winn was supposed to arrive in Azure there was a mild but easily readable panic in all nine of the officers she spoke to regarding why Winn’s ship had not arrived. She heard more phrasings of ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I am sure there is a perfectly good reason’ and ‘there is no need to worry’ than she ever heard before. By midnight the panic had escalated and Fleet Admiral Nonce himself came to her hotel suite and assured her that a flotilla of ships would sail at first light to search for the whereabouts of the AMS Invader.
The next day there was no word until late that evening, and the signals indicated that nothing was found. Nonce had the most pained expression and ashen look on his face when he told her that he feared the worst. He said they would expand their search the next day, but he wasn’t hopeful that it would turn up anything good. Sarah did not break down in tears until after Nonce had left. Cera held her all night as she cried, trembled, and prayed for Winn’s safety. She did not sleep.
The third day was much like the second. Fifty ships were at sea searching far and wide, halfway across the Gulf of Skal and further. Again, the signals came in late in the day that nothing was found. Nonce went to Sarah again that evening and told her the bad news. He begged her to return to Alexandra. He assured her that the search would continue until they found something and that it was his top priority to find Winn. He promised that as soon as there was news, good or bad, she would be the first to know.
She left for Alexandra the next day, and the entire way back it was like she was in a trance. She didn’t cry, she didn’t talk, and she didn’t eat. She was stunned and in a state of shock. Cera was so worried about her that when they arrived home she had Healer Fife Mote examine her. Fife gave Cera an elixir to administer to Sarah that would have a calming effect and if she drank a sufficient dose would put her to sleep. Cera administered the elixir to Sarah right away and gave her double the dose that Fife recommended. Sarah finally slept, and she slept for two days. When she woke up, reality hit her and she cried and keened for four days, never leaving her bed. She was inconsolable and almost hysterical. She could not sleep, and she refused everything but water. Cera tried to give her more of the elixir but Sarah refused it. Queen Octavia visited her and sat with her for hours and hours but even she could not stem the flow of Sarah’s tears.
On the seventh day she was home, Sarah finally went to sleep on her own. When she woke up it was in the middle of the night. Her heart was still broken, but she was all cried out. No more tears would come. She sat up in bed, alone in the night, and thought of every second she spent with Winn, like she was cataloging every moment so that she would never forget a second of it. After a while she climbed off the bed and kneeled beside it.
“Almighty, Lord of all, please hear my pleas tonight. I have prayed to you a thousand, thousand times to keep Winn safe, and you always have. Please I beg you to keep him safe now. I have waited so long to be reunited with him, and your promise to Winn was that we would be reunited. I hold you to that promise. I implore you to keep that promise. Logic screams at me that he is dead. If he is, then take me too. If he is, I want to die. If he is, I refuse to live. I would rather be with him in the afterlife than spend another minute in this world without him.”
“I must admit, despite my worst fears, my sorrow, and my pain, there is a small part of me, buried deep in my soul, that refuses to accept that he is dead. I feel like I would know in my heart for certain if he died. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, I don’t have that certainty. I am so afraid to believe that he is alive. It would be such an act of faith to embrace that notion. Yet I am even more afraid to accept that he is dead. Give me the strength and the will to have faith that You are with him and he is serving Your purpose. Please continue to keep him safe, keep your promise, and bring him home.”
She got up off the floor and crawled back in bed. She fell asleep quickly and had the best sleep since the day Winn was supposed to come home. When she woke up, she dressed for the first time in days and sent word to Master Chin that she wanted to train. She decided she could not afford to grieve any longer especially if she was choosing to believe that Winn was alive. He was coming home, and she was going to be ready.
She sparred with Master Chen and he taught her some Gaoji Pho Ren. It was harder than what she learned so far, but she was determined to master it. After the early morning session with Master Chen, she ate breakfast with her parents, who treated her very gently.
“Mama and Papa, it is all right,” Sarah said. “I am done with grieving and fearing the worst. I know Winn is alive and I know he will come home.”
“Dear one,” Landis said. “I admire your faith, but most of the time what is before us is in fact the truth. I am afraid that Winn is lost to us.”
“For once I agree with your father,” Octavia said. “I know it is the most terrible thing, but Winn is gone, sweetheart.”
“No, I have the Almighty’s promise that he is still alive, and I have faith that he is,” Sarah said. “I am not asking that you believe it too, but I do ask that you respect my beliefs.”
“Of course, Sarah,” Landis said. “We just want to spare you more prolonged pain.”
“Sarah, we want what is best for you,” Octavia said. “You can’t live your life on wishes and wants. However, we will respect your beliefs and will pray that you are right. We all need Winn, and we all hope fervently that he is alive.”
“Thank you, Mama.”
Sarah resumed her princess duties that day and though she was at times stricken with doubt, she held on to her belief and her faith that Winn was alive and coming home to her.
King Arkyn was fuming. He took a break from preparing for the Menegar invasion to eat dinner with his family, and they all had lost their minds.
“What do you mean you are not going to Aggenburg, Astrid? Don’t you understand that most likely in less than a week this place will be overrun with Menegar?”
“Husband, you are not going to die here alone without me. I refuse to be packed away while you risk life and limb.”
“Sister,” Thora said. “Perhaps Arkyn is right. We certainly can’t shoot arrows or fight with swords, and we don’t have any medical training, so we wouldn’t be much help for the wounded. We would just be in their way and we would be another thing that Arkyn and the rest of the men would have to worry about.”
“I want to stay,” Tiga said. “I am good with a bow. Winn taught me how to shoot. I can hit a target at 100 span. I am seventeen, which makes me of legal age and old enough to fight.”
“Tiga, I would not deny you, but I would not defy your mother by having you join our forces,” Arkyn said. “It is up to her to allow that.”
“Heavens no Tiga,” Thora said.
“Let her join, and I will join with her,” Torvee said. “I can’t fight, but I can cook. I’ll learn how to make arrows and sharpen swords. I’ll do whatever is required. Please don’t make me go to Aggenburg and wait out this war without knowing what is going on.”
“I’m sorry Torvee, Tiga, and Astrid. I am heavily inclined to have you all go to Aggenburg. The last party for Aggenburg is leaving tomorrow, and I want you all riding with it. It is just too dangerous here. When the Menegar get here, they will outnumber us ev
en with the Avish troops that are coming. Many will die, and perhaps all of us will.”
“Then send everyone here, including you, to Aggenburg,” Astrid said.
“Astrid, you know I can’t. We cannot abandon our capital. There would be nowhere for our people to go after this conflict is over, and they would starve to death. Plus, I made a commitment to Landis that most of our troops would fight the Menegar. That is the only reason he is sending support troops to us. Those troops give us a better chance of defending Trellheim.”
“I still say we should all go to Aggenburg,” said Astrid.
“There are only enough stores there for twelve months,” said Arkyn. “The people will have to find a way to eat after that. If we survive the Menegars, we will secure food for our people and once it is safe for them to leave, they at least will be able to eat.”
They were about done eating when a butler came in the room.
“Your Majesty, the Aviel force has arrived and all of them are safely inside the city. Their commanding officer General Jael Rackam and his aid, Lieutenant Reed Sexton, would like a word with you.”
“Send them in,” Arkyn said.
The two Avish men entered the room. The general was a short and stocky man with a bald head and a rough complexion. He was dressed in a full uniform with riding boots. He had mud spots all over his uniform. Lieutenant Sexton was the polar opposite of Rackam. He was tall and had long, flowing dirty blond locks. He looked muscular, but he walked with grace. His face was so pretty he almost looked like a girl. His uniform was spotless, and his brass buttons shined. Torvee and Tiga both almost swooned when they saw him. They both sat up straighter and looked at him intently. For the first time since she was thirteen Torvee was interested in another man besides Winn. She planned on getting to know this Lieutenant Sexton much better.
Trials of a Champion Page 6