“Look at that lot in there Jaime, poor bastards. I bet I could lick every one of them by myself!” said a boy with blond hair.
“Ha you wish, you haven’t even fought yet, I got my first kill. Do you think the princess saw me out there?” said another boy with brown hair. Their clothes marked them as the sons of nobles if Xander was a betting man.
“See you? How could she forget? You dropped your sword on the first swing and was nearly killed! You lucky for that armor or he would have had you dead to rights!”
“He got lucky, he didn’t get me though did he? I could go back out there and kill another one, at least I can say I fought in the arena!”
“I am gonna get my chance, there is still five of them. I want the child of war, I am going to give his head to Princess Aubrey as a token of love!” said Jaime.
“Ha, fat chance! There are still at least 12 other guys who haven’t had a go yet, not to mention if the Queen has a fighter.”
“London don’t you hear anything? I heard the Queen’s fighter was killed in battle at the arena by the High Witches son!” said Jaime.
“Wow I didn't hear that! Too bad there are no young witches here. I have never met any long enough to let my charm come through.” Said London.
“Well you are in luck, my mother told me all of the academy is invited for Aubrey’s 16th birthday. I am going to try for her hand, but if not a magic user wouldn’t hurt!” said Jaime.
“Just wishful thinking boys, you know our mothers would have our asses if we were seduced by a magic user. You are better off not thinking that way, besides there are a lot of single women here to woo” said the last boy in their group, a tall but frail looking boy that looked like he was battling some sort of sickness. Just then a horn sounded as Xander’s tormentors left. Xander could see the fat lady back in the center of the ring, and she began to speak.
“Ladies I hope you enjoyed your break, because the best is yet to come! In an unexpected move, our next fight will be a handicap match! We are going to send out two slaves to fight the Queen’s new champion, Rock Cassidy!”
Just then Xander stared across the arena and saw him. He was not as big as Patrick but Xander could see this guy was big, Gowan big. He carried out a huge shield that Xander could tell was in fact on wheels. In the center of the shield was a small hole. Xander thought about it being a weakness for a second, but then thought better, as that was probably how he could launch some sort of attack. The man’s armor looked heavy, and was so polished the sun’s rays coming off of it made your eyes hurt looking in his direction. Xander said a silent prayer and activated his sword’s markings as the fat woman came over to the cage. Xander was ready to go as the lady instead picked two other men. They were not in bad shape or old like the other men before them, but one had a fat belly and the other looked as if he never handled a sword before. Xander figured if they could get around him they might have a chance.
The men started circling around the man but in opposite directions, keeping their swords in front of them. The armored man bullrushed on of the men with his shield and just before it was about to hit, he leapt away and started towards the fatter of the two slaves.
The fat slave lifted his sword and began to strike but it was over before in started, the Queen’s champion’s axe dug in deeply at the shoulder, almost splitting the man in two. The armored man left his axe where it lay and turned around with his short sword in his hand. The other slave meant to sneak up behind him but he turned around in time. The slave seeing he had lost the element of surprise ran back to the shield and began using it as his own.
It was a stalemate for a couple of minutes, the slave wasn’t really on the attack, he just ran around the shield trying not to die. As this was going on, the fat woman opened up the cage and let another slave out, telling him his opponent is the armored man.
The new slave instantly went to work on his armored foe, unleashing a barrage of attacks to the back of his armored foe. The armored man reached back and backhanded the new slave with an armored gauntlet, knocking him silly. The champion then stuck his small sword through the hole in his shield, going right through the gut of the slave he had been chasing. As he walked over and stabbed the man through his heart, the fat woman let the other man in the cell out to challenge this foe.
As the new slave hit the field, the armored man walked over to the still woozy man and stabbed him through the heart. The new slave just dropped to his knees and started praying to whatever God he believed in, a short while later his head was rolling across the arena floor as the armored man retrieved his axe.
“How was that for a fight! That got my blood boiling, four on one and it wasn’t even close! But the best is saved for last. The last slave of the day was brought here by the high witch herself to test his mettle. This slave is a child of war! He looks like a full Thornian to me!”
Xander heard boos rang throughout the arena. Many was calling for his death before having ever met him.
“Who will this dirty criminal fight? Who has what it takes, to stop a blood thirsty criminal with thornian blood? Is there any man in this arena who wishes to gain glory by fighting such an animal? We will have an auction with the proceeds going to Princess Aubrey on her birthday! Now let the bidding begin!”
Xander had hate in his heart for this fat woman, turning the crowd against him. He could hear all the money being thrown around for the right to kill him and it just wasn’t fair. Many mothers were willing to pay a good price to see their son slaughter a red for the damn princess. The final price was 5000 gold crowns, more money than a normal woman with family would see in her lifetime.
“The bidding is over folks!” the fat woman began before continuing. “The Duchess of Whales has won the right for her son, the dashing Stone Whales to take on the monstrous Thornian! It is just as well too, he told me after he kills more Rangelians he was going to seed me and any other proper Lady he could find!”
The crowd jeered loudly as Xander was let out of the cage and led to the middle of the floor. Many people started throwing objects at him and all he could do was duck and deflect. After a couple of minutes so the crowd could get their digs in at him, the other gate opened and in walked Xander’s opponent wearing solid black plate mail.
As the fighter got closer, Xander could see he carried a great solid black sword which stayed strapped behind his back and a small crossbow. Before he closed his helm, Xander could see although the fighter looked imposing in his armor, he was no older than he was and probably inexperienced fighting in an arena. His opponent kept his distance and Xander was instructed to stay put. A horn sounded and his opponent instantly put a bolt into the air.
Sensing his opponent wanted to keep the fight at a distance, Xander dove left and came up rolling, going right after his opponent. Before Xander could reach him however he reloaded and shot Xander in his thigh. Now hobbled, his opponent seemed a lot faster now Xander couldn’t move as fast. His opponent put another bolt in Xander’s thigh before casually unstrapping his great sword.
The sword looked too heavy to fight a fast foe, but Xander was no longer a fast foe. Pulling at the bolt seemed to be disastrous, as it didn’t budge and hurt like hell. Xander could see his opponent get closer. Xander assumed the dragonfly stance as his opponent raised his sword for the final strike.
Xander struck first with the pommel of his sword and knocked the helm off the head of his attacker and left him on the dirt, on his butt. Xander was amazed by the strength the sword had now he had finally used it, he could see his attacker was in no condition to be fighting at the moment. Xander walked over and took the crossbow off his attacker’s belt and shot him in his off hand with it. The fighter in black screamed as Xander reloaded the crossbow. Xander put another one in the other hand as his opponent snapped out of his daze. In one stroke Xander severed the crossbow in two and let his opponent get to his feet.
Xander watched as the boy tried to grip his sword, an impossible feat since his hands were useless in
their present condition. Xander used the flat of his blade to deliver a huge strike which lifted his armored foe off his feet and deposited him more than a yard away. Xander was about to deliver the killing blow when he heard the one word he wished he hadn’t.
Queen Celeste
“Enchanter! That slave is an enchanter! Stop this fight at once!” Queen Celeste yelled. “What are you up too not informing me of an enchanter living in Rangel?” she directed at the high witch.
“That slave is now property of the royal family. Your 100 gold crowns will be brought to your residence for your lost. This is over bring the slave to the palace” Celeste said as she grabbed Aubrey and headed for her carriage.
Once inside her carriage, she looked at Aubrey.
“My dear girl this changes things. To think she would have the nerve to try and hide an enchanter under my nose!” said the Queen still flushed.
“Mother I don’t think she knew, why would she bring him to the arena then instead of hiding him? Who would keep track of a single slave except his owner?”
“This is delicious the Aubrey, my very own enchanter. This could be the leverage we needed to keep those damn witches at bay. He will be good for this nation.”
“How do you know he would want to? You gave your word you would free any slave who won and he looked to be seconds from finishing off that poor boy. You can’t take back your word now.”
“There must be something the boy wants, dead he is of no use to us. We need to turn him to our cause. Outfit the guard with powerful weapons; that would drive those spell flinging bitches crazy. Do you know anything of the boy?”
“Not much mother, I know his name is Xander, I picked that up.”
“Aubrey no man would resist the chance at becoming more than what he is, they are simple creatures, including your father. Ask him to stay throughout the week that will give us time to dig into who he really is. In the meantime be friendly and keep those other damn girls away from him. I am sure more than one of their mothers would not mind in the least if their daughter married and enchanter, even if he is a child of war.”
“I will do as you say mother, although I am not sure where in the castle he would be safe from prying eyes.”
“Let me handle that Aubrey, Let me handle that.”
Patrick
“Patrick get here this instant, I have never been so embarrassed in all my life!” said the high witch.
“What is wrong mother, did our red lose?” said Patrick noticing Xander was not with her.
“Worse than that, way worse, he won his fight impressively!”
“I don’t get what is wrong then mother” said Patrick looking confused.
“That slave was an enchanter! His sword knocked a heavily armored opponent off his feet and knocked off his helm! How did you not notice it before! Now that bitch Celeste is plotting to have him to herself, no doubt trying to match him up with Aubrey as a last resort.”
“He didn't seem so special when I was fighting him, I could kill him easy, besides I told you, Aubrey wants me, not some slave boy.”
“He isn’t a slave anymore; Celeste is paying for his freedom. He is a freeman now, no doubt on his way to becoming a pawn to the Queendom. We need to speed up our plans considerably, possibly even striking before the month is out.”
“Do not worry mother, I will see Aubrey at the ball. Xander will be there too. Let us worry about tonight, enchanter or no enchanter, the only one capable of taking me down would be a witch, and a powerful one at that.”
“Patrick we have the support we need now among all the witches, the only reason we have now toppled the monarchy entirely is because we fear revolt. I am assigning you competition for Aubrey’s hand. I am going to call the council to order, perhaps you are right, we should let this play out.
Chapter
“So let me get this straight” said Durgard “You expect us to believe Patrick was scheming on his soon to be bride the Princess?”
“Believe me or not, it is the truth” said Xander.
“Death’s Hand is a damn liar, is what he is” Durgard said loudly. “You were captured by the Palace Guard huh? By order of the queen they kidnapped you eh? More like you invited to live a life of luxury in the damn palace. You were given everything a man could ask for and left when your Thornian buddies tried to test our defenses.”
“It does not matter what you think, I just want to get this journey over with, no one has forced you to listen to me, you could go elsewhere” said Xander as he turned away.
“Well we are about 15 minutes from getting out of this damn forest. Your gibbering must have scared the elves off.”
“Not in the least Durgard, I have waived off two different groups from slaughtering you where you stand. It is not the rest of men’s fault they are led by an idiot” said Xander as he turned to face Durgard.
“Sure you have, I liked it better when you were telling us fairytales. You might as well get all of them out now; once Patrick gets done with you the only thing you will be good for is fertilizing the fields.”
“Now you wish to listen, where was I…”
CHAPTER
Xander kept his hand on his blade as he was being transported, wishing silently to himself that he was smart enough to enchant his dagger instead of just his sword. Xander was surrounded on all sides of the wagon by the Palace Guard, who now looked even more intimidating up close. Every one of them kept on their armor, helms included so the only thing Xander could see was that they were armed enough to take on a small Army and they were much larger than he was.
“You’ll not be needing to use that boy if you don’t do anything stupid. What could you as a boy who hasn’t even seen 20 summers do against 5 of us in a small wagon. Hold on to your little pig sticker in the wagon if you want to, but we won’t be attacking you. All of your weapons though will be taken from you before you meet her Royal Highness though” said one of the men Xander recognized as the arena fighter, since he was the only one covered in blood.
Xander said nothing as he relaxed his grip on his sword, taking the man at his word. Xander noted that there were hardly any seams in the armor, so it would be nigh impossible to score as easy kill. The only point of attack he could see were at the joints, but after seeing the men fight he figured that would be next to impossible. Xander calmed his nerves as he took in his surroundings, if I fight were to break out here he would not win, but he wanted to know if he could take at least one person with him.
“The boy has his head on a swivel he does, this child of war is probably plotting how to stick us good before he makes a run for it he is” said one of the armored men.
“Ha, let him try! I have killed more than my fair share of Red’s. He would just be another number added to my total” said another.
Xander stared at the armored man deciding if he had to kill of one them, this would be his target. The armored man laughed as the wagon pulled to a stop.
“Give me your weapons kid and don’t do anything you will regret. You are inside the palace walls, there is nowhere to run and we employ archers” said a Palace guard as he took away Xander’s sword and even discovered the dagger in his boot. Xander was then taken into the Palace.
Xander looked around the place in awe, this place was as decorated as the school was austere. Rich tapestries hung from various walls depicting battles the Rangelians had won. One such tapestry caught Xander’s eye. It was a man with red hair and two swords attacking the palace while witches and the army tried to hold him back. Behind the army Xander could see the Palace Guard led by who he guessed was Queen Celeste.
“Keep walking kid” said one of his captors as they pushed him along. As the walk grew further Xander noticed the floor changed from stone to some type of wooden floor. The Palace Guard then handed Xander over to two other men dressed in the uniform he saw the arena guards in, who then placed him in a small waiting room. After what seemed like at least 3 hours, Xander was summoned to what he could only call the throne ro
om.
The room was lavish with a red carpet leading towards raised steps upon which two thrones were placed, an overly large thing that Xander could only guess was made out of gold inlaid with countless diamonds upon which a regal looking woman sat Xander identified as the Queen. To her right was a smaller wooden throne not adorned with any jewels but simply decorated with carvings upon which Princess Aubrey sat. Xander was marched right up to the base of the steps where he was instructed to bend his knee and keep his head bowed until it was time for him to leave.
“Leave me alone with this man, no one can over hear our conversation.” Said a voice Xander recognized as the Queen.
But your Majesty, what if this ruffian attacks you? He is a child of war after all!” said one of the men who brought Xander into the throne room.
“I will be fine, now leave us, wait at the door if you wish” said the Queen as Xander heard footsteps departing punctuated by a sound Xander thought was the door closing.
“What is your name child?” asked the Queen.
“My name is Xander your Majesty.”
“How did you come to be a slave, were you born one?” the Queen asked.
“No, I was born free, I became a slave after being accused by Lady Sharon the witch, of running off on my commitment”
“Did you run off Xander?”
“I did not your Majesty, we were attacked by brigands. One of our number was in league with them. I was ambushed and left for dead. After I regained consciousness I was discovered by some travelers who brought me to the city of Meadow, where I was about to be accepted into the Army before Lady Sharon made her claim. I was then brought here to the capital and given to the high witch” said Xander, not wanting to give away Shelia’s or Mesha’s identity.
The Enchanter of Rangel: Child of War Book 1 Page 11
