by Simon Archer
“I understand,” Godfried said, but I could tell by the way his eyebrows were still raised, and his chest was still puffed out that he remained unconvinced.
I got the feeling that it was difficult to convince Godfried of much of anything and that his mind had been made up long before the discussion began. Thinking back to Noham and Dalibor’s altercation at the council meeting, I was pretty sure that this was an inherited characteristic. That’s when I looked around at the scholars. They all appeared awkward and uncomfortable, shifting in the seats and straightening their robes and glasses, just like I felt.
“Well, this has been fun,” I said, chuckling uncomfortably.
“Well, what shall we do now?” Bernsten asked, holding out his hands and chuckling a bit under his breath.
“We should prepare for our journey,” Nadeine said. “You and I should visit the armory, brother. And you are welcome to join us, Godfried, should you so choose.” Bernsten nodded his assent.
“I would be honored,” Godfried said. I thought that was probably overdoing it a bit, but at least he didn’t appear to be mocking my friends anymore.
“I already have everything I need,” Marinka said. “Would you wish to visit the other library with me, Leo, and search for spell scrolls?”
“That sounds like a great idea,” I said, almost leaping out of my seat in my haste to get away from Godfried. “Let’s go. We’ll meet up with the rest of you later. And it was nice to meet you.” I waved to the scholars on that last part, and bowed my head to them in the kingdom elves customary gesture of thanks, before departing the scene with Marinka close behind me.
3
Marinka and I parted from Nadeine, Bernsten, and Godfried midway down the winding staircase. They left for the armory, and we headed in the direction of the downstairs library. Once I was confident our companions were out of earshot, I leaned in to speak to Marinka.
“Your cousin’s… interesting,” I remarked, and she immediately scrunched her nose up and furrowed her brows.
“I know, Leo,” she said, pursing her lips together. “I apologize for his behavior. He really does mean well, I swear it.”
I found this a little hard to believe, but I wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, and I reminded myself again that he was just a kid.
“How old is he exactly?” I asked curiously.
“He is the equivalent of your world’s sixteen, I believe, from what you have told me of it.” Marinka sighed as we rounded a corner. “He is so young and still learning.”
“So why is he coming on the quest?” I asked, surprised that Godfried was so young. When the council had referred to him as ‘of age,’ I had assumed he was at least the equivalent of eighteen, but of course, Eviorah had different standards than my world. “I mean, you’re coming, right? Just like Dalibor said. There’s no need for another representative of the royal family to come… is there?”
“I do not know.” Marinka sighed again, more heavily this time. “Godfried always dreamed of going on the quest to save our magic. I believe I told you as much before our last journey.”
I nodded, remembering the conversation as we descended the last staircase into the basement where the spell scroll library was located. “So he asked to go?”
“It is more that his father asked for him to go,” Marinka said, letting out a breath she had been holding as she handed me an empty pack she was carrying to pack the spell scrolls in before reaching for the library door.
“Ah,” I said, remembering Noham. “I should have guessed as much.”
“Indeed,” Marinka said as I reached around her to hold open the doors for her. “I believe that my uncle is the source of much of Godfried’s eagerness to go on such a quest. They both attempted to convince my father to allow him to go last time, but he was not allowed. Since then, he has celebrated his day of birth and technically meets the minimum age restriction, although very rarely has a young elf of his age been sent on any quest, let alone one of this magnitude.”
I breathed deeply and closed my eyes as we walked into the library, distracted for a moment from our conversation as a sense of comfort filled me along with the scents of polished wood and old paper. This was the first place I had ever used my magic, aside from for a brief moment in the council’s chambers, and it kind of felt like a home away from home.
“Noham isn’t worried about his son getting hurt?” I asked when I reopened my eyes, incredulous. “He was willing to throw a fifteen-year-old kid into the middle of that quest to find Viktor?”
“I am afraid my uncle is blinded by his admiration for Godfried,” Marinka answered, scrunching up her nose as we approached the shelves holding so many scrolls. “Do not judge him too harshly, Leo. He is a truly excellent swordsman and possesses a high intellect as well. Had he been of age, he really would have been a better choice to represent the royal family on these quests.”
“Hey, don’t sell yourself short!” I nudged her playfully with my elbow. “You were amazing on that quest. You owned Viktor… not to mention that you are a lot easier on the eyes.”
“Thank you, Leo,” Marinka said, averting her eyes as she smiled and blushed slightly. “And this may be true, but I would have never believed it of myself before we left, and in all honesty, I do not believe anyone else did either. Godfried would have been the obvious choice. But he is still a child, in many respects.”
“So, if he’s so young, why did the council allow him to come this time?” I asked as I thought back on the debate in the council chamber. “I mean, it seemed pretty clear to me that Dalibor didn’t want it to happen, and he’s the king, right?”
“He is the king, yes, but we are not an autocratic government, Leo,” Marinka explained as she picked over the spell scrolls. It was clear that her mind wasn’t focused on the task, though. “The council makes decisions for the kingdom together in consultation with the people, as it should. Noham convinced them that Godfried should be allowed to make his own decision.”
“Is it really his own decision when his dad pressured him into wanting this his whole life?” The whole thing reminded me of some of the child prodigies I had known in the earlier days of my musical training. They had grown to hate their instruments and all of the pressure that came along with it, but they didn’t know how to break it to their parents that they wanted to quit.
“That is exactly how I feel, Leo.” Marinka sighed as she turned away from the shelves and slumped down into a nearby chair. “I greatly care for my cousin, though I recognize he can be irritating at times. I have no siblings, and he is the closest I have ever had to a brother. I worry about his well-being on this quest, mental and physical.”
“Well,” I sat down next to her and placed my hands on the table before us, “we’ll just have to look after him, then.”
Marinka smiled at me, and some of the tension drained from her features. “Thank you, Leo.” She reached out and placed one of her hands over one of mine. “It means a great deal to me that you would do so, especially considering his… rather polarizing personality. There is more to him than that, I promise you.”
“I believe you,” I said, turning my hand over and intertwining my fingers with hers. Then, I craned my head to look at the shelf behind us. “Now, how about these spells? What do we have here that we don’t have at the training grounds?” I didn’t need many spell scrolls myself anymore now that I was an ultimate mage, but if my companions were to continue working on their magic, they would need as many as we could carry.
“Quite a few spells are here that are not at the training grounds,” Marinka said, releasing my hand and standing again to approach the shelf. “Of course, the training grounds have a broader collection. We will want to make sure we keep room for many spells from there, as well. Let us look through them. You tell me what spells you think we need most, and I will find the scrolls for you.”
I nodded, thinking carefully.
“Well…” I ran a hand through my hair to push it out of my
eyes. I would need a haircut soon. Streaks of brown hair had started encroaching on the top of my field of vision. “We should focus on combat spells and spells to help us make camp and other stuff in the forest. I know most of those, but it’ll be good for you guys to know them too, just in case we get separated or have to face lots of enemies.”
As I spoke, Marinka walked through the shelves, running her hands up and down the sides of the scrolls and selecting them one after another.
“I can take some pictures of them, too,” I reminded her. “Though now that you all have magic, we should still bring the physical scrolls.”
“Ah, yes, of course,” she said absentmindedly as she continued selecting scrolls. Once her arms were full, I grabbed the pack from the tabletop and walked up beside her to take them.
“What about the mountains?” I asked when she appeared satisfied with the spell scrolls she had selected. I wished I could have chosen them myself, but my understanding of the kingdom elves’ written language was still rudimentary. Still, I had been working on it in my limited free time and hoped to be fluent within a year or two. “Are there any spells your people invented for surviving out there?”
“I am afraid not.” Marinka sighed, turning her back on the shelf she was looking at to face me. “A kingdom elf has never once ventured into the mountains, and I do not know of a forest elf ever going there, either. We know not what to expect when we arrive there.”
“Nothing at all?” I asked, struggling to keep the disbelief out of my voice. “You don’t know anything about what we’ll find there?”
“No.” Marinka shook her head and pursed her lips together. “This is why this quest is so dangerous, and why we did not go straight into the mountains when we realized we had an enemy there. We wanted to avoid such drastic measures, but I agree with the council that to do so could be a fatal mistake, not just for ourselves but for the entire realm.”
“I agree,” I said, nodding. “We need to go. Get rid of this guy before he comes after us. But I do wish we knew what we were getting ourselves into here.”
“As do I,” Marinka said. Then, shaking her head to clear it, “But we will have much time to ruminate about such distressing things. Let us not do so any more this evening. Will you accompany me to the armory to fetch our friends and go celebrate the beginning of our quest?” She held out the crook of her arm to me.
“Of course,” I said, slinging the pack over my shoulder, straightening up a bit, and interlocking my own arm with hers.
“How has your progress at the training grounds gone since I returned to the royal castle?” Marinka asked as we climbed back up the staircase towards the armory.
“It’s been great,” I said, and I meant it. I’d been worried about it but found I had a knack for teaching. “The kids are really funny, though I do worry they’ll take off my head once they get to combat spells. And the adults are progressing really fast. Not as fast as I did, I guess, but faster than they expected. I think some of them will be able to move on to the combat spells soon.”
“Really?” Marinka asked, looking at me with surprise as we rounded the corner towards our destination. “That would be wonderful. How soon do you believe they would be able to do this?”
“Probably not long,” I said as we approached the armory doors. “Nadeine, in particular, is really good. Hopefully, she’ll be able to start work on the combat spells before we reach the mountains.”
“That would be excellent,” Marinka said, a gleam in her eyes.
Before we reached the doors, our companions came lumbering out themselves. Unlike the last time, they weren’t wearing the kingdom elves’ customary heavy armor, but rather were carrying some spare armor in packs and still wearing their mage’s robes.
“Leo Hayden,” Bernsten called, reaching out to clasp my shoulder. “Your timing is perfect, my friend.”
“I guess so.” I gestured to the pack he was carrying with a sheath of silver armor sticking out of it. “Are you just going to wear that on the quest or what?”
“It is just in case, Leo Hayden, just in case,” Bernsten said. “As our friend Godfried has so aptly reminded us, we ought not to forget the skills we have spent our life cultivating. Magic will be our first priority, but we do not wish to be left defenseless in a situation where we cannot afford to be so.”
“We will only use the armor if it is necessary,” Nadeine clarified, sensing my continued confusion. “Just as our swords, which we have had freshly sharpened.” At that, she unsheathed her sword to show me. True to her word, it was shinier than I remembered and gleamed in the light from a nearby fire lamp. Godfried, not to be outshone, unsheathed his own sword and held it out parallel to Nadeine’s.
“There is nothing like a freshly shone and sharpened blade,” he bragged, turning it so the lamplight hit it just so that it shined a bit more than Nadeine’s. I did my best not to roll my eyes and just nodded in affirmation that the sword looked cool, which it did.
“Did you find the spell scrolls you sought?” Nadeine asked, shaking her head slightly and turning to Marinka and me as she re-sheathed her sword.
“Indeed,” Marinka said, gesturing to the pack on my shoulder.
“We’ll grab more from the training grounds,” I said. “But this is enough for now. Mostly for you guys to work on your skills.”
“Anything to help us on our trek through the mountains?” Nadeine asked dryly, already knowing the answer.
“There are no spells for that purpose,” Marinka reminded her.
“Not yet,” I grinned. “I’ll just have to make some myself when we get there.”
“That you shall, Leo Hayden,” Bernsten said, clapping me on the shoulder again. “I have no doubt. Now, let us celebrate!”
4
We headed towards the royal castle’s entrance, where we dispensed our packs with a servant boy who ran off to get them ready for our journey. Then, we walked a short way down the cobblestone path to the first tavern I had ever frequented in Eviorah. The air was crisp, and the sun had started to set, giving the bright green grass and the golden-plated architecture a distinctive glow.
“Will there be no feast tonight?” I asked as we walked, feeling a grumble in my stomach.
“Alas, we arrived too late, I believe,” Bernsten said, “but fret not, my friend, the tavern will see to it that we are well fed.”
“Alright, but make sure you eat enough.” I flashed Bernsten a mischievous grin. “You’re a bit of a lightweight.” I jabbed him playfully in the side with my elbow.
“What does this mean, lightweight?” Bernsten scoffed.
“It means you get drunk pretty easily.” I laughed, remembering the many evenings I had spent sitting next to a snoring Bernsten at a table in one of the kingdom’s many taverns.
“Ah!” Bernsten gasped, clutching his chest in exaggerated shock. “I am hurt by this accusation, my friend. You cause me great pain.”
“Alright,” I chuckled, “we’ll just see how long it takes you to conk out tonight.”
Bernsten reached out and slapped an arm around Godfried’s shoulder. “I am willing to bet that I will not grow tired before my young friend here. Your first quest, your first night of heavy drinking, I imagine.”
“I have drunk before,” Godfried said indignantly. “I am of age.”
“Only since this past week.” Bernsten chuckled, his arm still draped around Godfried’s shoulders. “We shall see how long you last, my friend.”
Everyone laughed, but Godfried looked uncomfortable as he slithered away from Bernsten’s grasp.
“I will be quite alright, Sir Bernsten,” he said, a hint of annoyance in his tone even though he was doing his best to appear jovial. “In fact, I would wager that I will outlast you all on tonight.”
“Oh-ho,” Bernsten scoffed. “We have a confident one here, do we not? I will take you up on that wager, I believe.” I rolled my eyes. Of course, Bernsten would be one for gambling.
“Good, I am glad,”
Godfried said as we turned a corner and approached the doors of the tavern. The wooden structure was made more of planks than walls, and the golden lining of it appeared less like paint and more like some kind of metal embedded in the wood.
“I truly hope that you all do not take this wager too far,” Nadeine said warily. “We do not wish to start off this quest on the wrong foot.”
“The right foot, you mean,” Bernsten said, laughing off her concern and reaching for the door. “A great quest is cause for a great celebration.” He swung open the doors as Nadeine rolled her eyes and exchanged a wary look with Marinka, who just shrugged as if to say there was nothing they could do to stop the foolishness.
The tavern was full of kingdom elves fresh from their day’s work and the feast we had missed in the royal castle. Where previously the tavern’s crowd had appeared as a sea of silver armor, it now resembled a rainbow of brightly colored mage’s robes. Nearly everyone turned to look at us when we entered, and the crowd erupted into applause the moment we crossed the threshold into the tavern. Word must have gotten out about our quest.
Nadeine and I nodded awkwardly, Bernsten and Marinka shot the crowd slight smiles, and Godfried raised his hand in greeting.
“Thank you, thank you,” Godfried said, continuing to wave to the crowd. “We promise to represent you well in our great quest across this realm.”
His whole attitude and tone reminded me of annoying awards acceptance speeches I’d seen on TV.
“Come, Godfried, let us take our seats,” Marinka said, ushering him away from all the attention.
He seemed like he wanted to say more but obliged her. Maybe he really was born to go on this quest. We’d see if his skills lived up to his ego. We walked over to a round table off to the left side and took our seats on either side.
I shot a glance over at the wazo tables across the room. I’d have to get a match in with Bernsten before he got too wasted. Speaking of which, Bernsten waved for the bartenders, who rushed over with giant glasses of beer for each of us.
