“I love you,” Sara said, smiling as widely as she was able.
“And I love you, angel,” Seth replied, also smiling.
Together they waited hand in hand for the remainder of The Choosing ceremony. No one came to join them, nor did anyone join Garret and the dwarf. Seth and Sara paid the actual choosing little attention, instead enjoying the time together. Neither of them had any real idea of what was to come in the days ahead, but they were both sure that they would at least be able to see each other frequently and that was enough for them to be happy.
Before long the ceremony was finished. The procession of delegates performing the actual choosing parted ways and each went to collect their new members. Seth and Sara both waved goodbye to Garret as Sirus came to collect him and the dwarf. It was not long after Garret had left the courtyard that Judilanthaliz came to collect his two new charges as well. Greeting them as he approached, he asked both Seth and Sara to follow and he led them across the courtyard the way they had come earlier in the day for The Choosing.
-End
THE CHOSEN
AGE OF THE GODS, VOLUME II
THE BLOOD AND BROTHERHOOD SAGA
Chapter 1
Instruction and Frustration
Seth’s mind wandered as he walked, his chestnut hair bobbing slightly with each step and matching eyes staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. He mimicked the leisurely strides of the gray robed man before him, being easily a few inches taller than the old magician. He could sense Sara at his side, staring at him from time to time, her raven-colored hair cascading down her shoulders and her amber eyes boring into his skull, wondering what it was that kept him so silent. For the moment, however, Seth was lost to the little woman whom he loved more than life.
Seth pondered all that had happened over the last few weeks and, as he did, he noticed a peculiar trend that set his nerves on edge. Too many things had happened supposedly by chance, but without those specific occurrences, his current situation would have inevitably changed. Seth knew that some might call these peculiarities fate, or others might simply call them coincidence, but Seth’s own subconscious warned him of some other unseen factor at play in the happenings of his life. Though he hoped himself only paranoid, he could not help but rifle through his memories going back to the beginning of where the oddities seemingly began.
Seth had been born in Vineleaf, a small, self-sufficient community at the base of the Rancore Mountains, but that was basically where the normalcy of his life ended. Just weeks before, the night prior to his leaving home for the first time, his father had admitted to Seth a great secret which not only his parents, but also the entire community had kept from him since birth. Though born on the same night as his supposed brother Garret, the two were not in fact twins. Nor were Seth’s alleged parents his true ones. Seth had been born to an unnamed woman who had found shelter at his foster-family's inn during a blizzard that had raged down the mountain the same night his brother was born to a different woman. Much to his foster-parents’ dismay, the woman had fled after giving birth to Seth.
Left all alone, Seth was taken in by the family and raised not only as their own child, but as the twin to their very own son, with whom Seth shared a remarkable resemblance. Although it was an act of great kindness, compassion, and love, Seth found the event quite bizarre. He could not help but wonder if he did in fact have another family entirely out there somewhere. But in truth that singular revelation had been only the first in a series of more than coincidental occurrences as of late.
Seth and his brother had left their home the very next morning, with Ashton, another boy who had heeded the call of the kingdom to attend The Choosing ceremony. Ashton was a kind, even-tempered young man with a childlike face, blonde hair and blue eyes whose lanky frame showed a life of study. He was a practiced healer more educated in the subjects of gods and magic than either of the twins. Sharing the road, their supplies and stories of their lives built a quick friendship between the three, which seemed a normal enough occurrence. It wasn’t until they arrived in Stone Haven, and a bar fight had broken out at the inn they attended, Ashton called upon the power of the goddess he served and miraculously healed a badly injured man. This miracle brought the trio unwanted attention the next morning, and feeling uncomfortable, they decided to eat their breakfast outside the inn. This was where Seth met the woman who would become the love of his life. Could it all just be coincidence? Was it that easy? Was life just a series of unforeseen events that lead and guide each person along from one predetermined point to the next? It all seemed like too much, and thus he continued his line of thought further.
Sara was a small, fragile, beautiful creature in Seth’s eyes. Her milky skin, in stark contrast to her raven hair, set something inside him ablaze with passion and desire, yet her deep amber eyes soothed him to the soul and made him feel more capable than he otherwise felt. Sara, however, saw herself as the worthless daughter of a whore, who had been left indebted to the owner of the brothel in which she was raised. She was abused and mistreated, and had come to believe she deserved it over the span of her life.
Bloodied, Sara had wandered into the street that very morning and been seen by the three boys eating outside the inn. Something inside Seth had clicked into place upon seeing Sara for the first time, and against his usually timid nature, he had stepped up to defend the cowering woman, freeing her from the drunken man who abused her both physically and mentally. Falling for Sara with all his being, Seth swore to himself to make her whole once more, and to protect her at all costs. Yet another coincidental meeting that had forever changed the course of his life. He was seriously beginning to doubt there was any possibility that it was all merely chance.
Next came a series of events that both played on that previous meeting with Sara, the encounter with Ashton before that, and the meeting with yet another person who was so entwined in Seth’s supposed fate it was ludicrous. As the now four companions traveled, Sara, unaccustomed to walking in her new boots, had slowed them down substantially and in doing so made their journey longer. This had forced the four to stay in a natural shelter formed by some massive stones leaning precariously upon one another. During the night, in the concealment of sheer darkness, they were then attacked by the sole surviving goblin of a raiding party that had been hunted down and slain. Seth had acted to protect Sara, as he had sworn himself to do. In doing so he had received a wound that could have easily killed him had it not been for the new, chance friendship with the healer Ashton. Having protected Sara, Seth allowed her to ultimately deal a damaging blow to the goblin that was then struck down by his supposed twin Garret. Here the web thickened further. If Sara had not been present, Seth could have openly attacked the goblin, but likely would have still been injured. Yet it was Sara who had landed the blow that ultimately led to the creature being felled. However, if Seth and Garret had not befriended Ashton, Seth would have died of his wounds. What was more, due to killing the goblin and Seth’s injury, the four were forced to stay in their makeshift cave.
Leaving to hunt and gather some food for their extended stay, Garret was approached by Sirus, a Knight of Valdadore, who it turned out had been tracking the very goblin that had attacked them. Impressed by the youth's deeds, the knight Sirus rewarded them with more coin than any of them had ever seen at once, allowing them to make up for lost time by renting horses and speed the remainder of their trip to the castle city of Valdadore. That particular event held so many interwoven threads of connectivity even Seth had a hard time of working out all the oddities within his memory. It was seriously almost too much to ignore, and yet there was still more.
Seth continued in a near trance, recalling the myriad of details of the previous weeks that led him to this outcome. The four companions had arrived at the castle city of Valdadore upon rented imperial mounts of the like that only those in the king’s court or the king’s personal guards rode. Returning the mounts to a stable within the city, the four were directed to an inn
owned by none other than the knight Sirus himself, who also turned out to be the commander of the Knights of Valdadore. Still in service to the king, it was the knight’s own wife, Sasha, a woman of immense beauty and voluptuous curves, who managed the impressive inn.
Arriving with several days to spare due to the speed of their unlikely mounts, Seth and his companions had explored the city and discovered Temple Row. Visiting each of the temples there, Seth ultimately had found the last temple dedicated to Ishanya, hidden between larger, more impressive temples. Ishanya, it seemed, was a goddess of little renown, and Seth met her sole follower remaining among humanity. It was there the goddess had spoken to him, asking for his service. Untrusting of the gods, Seth had ignored the goddess's plea, but still resulted in gaining Borrik, the goddess’s last and only priest as his loyal follower and servant. Borrik had then bestowed every volume of information he could find about the gods to Seth, which resulted in Seth distrusting the gods even further. The following days passed as Seth and Sara studied the lore they had gathered, and made ample use of their time together to strengthen their love and affection for one another.
Seth, rifling through his recollections could not believe that up until this point he had not noticed how precise each of these encounters had been. It was as if each step he took better prepared him for the very next one, strengthening his allegiances or leading him to question things he had never before fathomed. Without a single one of the instances he thought of, all of the following would have been lost. They were linked. Every circumstance was bound to those before and after, and Seth felt like the fly caught in their web.
Then the day of The Choosing ceremony arrived. It was a day of the like that Seth would never forget. On arrival, all hopes were immediately dashed of Seth escaping being consigned to the army, as each of those attending was quickly armored and equipped for battle as if they would immediately march off to war. Much to his dismay, however, the intentions of arming those who had come to serve the kingdom were much more sinister than Seth had assumed on his own. As soon as all gathered had donned their armor and weapons, they were commanded not to march out and fight some foe, united under one banner, but instead they were ordered to slaughter one another in a blood sport designed to weed out the weaker of their peers. Though disgusted by the thought of slaughtering his own kind, Seth was forced into the fray by his own loyalties to his brother, Garret. Wanting to remain with both Garret and Sara, Seth fought on through the ensuing battle until he himself was felled, causing Garret to go berserk. In a rage born of bloodlust, his foster-twin laid waste to all remaining upon the field. It wasn’t until Garret approached Sara, the only other survivor of the battle, as if to slaughter her as well that Seth, stealing the blessed power of the healer that mended his own wounds, unleashed a spell that cast both Garret and Sara upon the ground, breaking the grip of the savagery that had overtaken Garret.
Once again Seth had saved Sara’s life. Garret had been the champion of the bloodied battle, and as Seth recovered from the wounds he had sustained, many of those who had gathered for the ceremony, but who had not lasted long in the fray that followed, were already being divided up into groups and led off the field for whatever stations they were chosen for. But it was the short ceremony following Seth’s recovery that oozed with peculiar twists of fate that were just too much to be mere coincidence.
Seth and his three companions had stood in a line formed of all those who had excelled in the battle, though not all were being chosen for the same duties. The four watched as the procession of king's delegates worked ever down the line, growing nearer and nearer to them. At their head, the commander of the Knights of Valdadore, Sirus himself, spoke to all who remained and were being chosen for their future stations in life. Impressed with the four companions’ slaughter of the goblin upon the road to the north, and further impressed by their survival in the battle that same day, Sirus used his station to further his own purposes. Though Seth knew not the knight’s reasons for his actions, it was through Sirus that Garret's dream was more than realized. Instead of being conscripted into the army of Valdadore, Seth’s brother had been given the honor of joining the ranks of the most elite of troops at the king’s disposal. Garret had been conscripted into the fabled Knights of Valdadore themselves.
Sadly, Seth could not blindly follow upon his brother's heels. Not wanting to spill blood with his bare hands, Seth refused Sirus’s offer to join the Knights of Valdadore so that he could stay with Garret. After learning his options it was decided that Seth join Judilanthaliz, a mix-bred man of elf and human who led the gray-robed magicians known as guardians or shields, to wield defensive magic to help protect the soldiers in battle. It was a station fairly well suited for Seth, his natural instincts being to protect others, but it was a station where Sara could not follow him, having no gift for magic herself. But lo and behold, for his own reasons, the knight commander Sirus was able to place Sara under the same care of Judilanthaliz, where she would act as his messenger and assistant.
Although Seth was relieved at this turn of events, even now as he wandered as if in a trance, he could not help but wonder at the implications they had. Seth had been given the option to stay with his brother, which he had previously hoped to do, but had ultimately declined the offer. Yet in doing so, Sirus had managed to place both Seth and Sara together. Before he knew it Seth was following Judilanthaliz back through the courtyards of the castle grounds, walking beside Sara. His own brother had been led away in a different direction by the commander of the Knights of Valdadore himself, accompanied by a dwarf.
So it was with this odd chain of interwoven supposed coincidences that Seth began to watch the world from a new perspective, looking for inconsistencies or chance encounters that seemed unlikely, but would change his path forever. Seth could almost feel the cunning plans of a god unwinding before him.
* * * * *
Garret and the dwarf Zorbin followed Lord Sirus across the courtyard to the southeast. The head of the Knights of Valdadore led them down the many stone levels back towards the outer wall of the castle. Sirus was a tall man and appeared to be in his early to mid-forties. His fiery red hair was cropped just below his jaw and fell evenly on either side of his head, and he wore a beard and mustache that he kept well-trimmed. He was nearly the same height as Garret though much thicker of muscle, and though he was more than double Garret’s age, the knight’s pace was a quick one that Garret struggled to match. Sirus walked with purpose and Garret noticed that the stout dwarf was forced into a jog to keep up.
They passed quickly between all the varying spires and towers and came once again to face the immense stone wall that surrounded the castle’s grounds. At the southeastern corner, there stood a long, rectangular building made of the same stone as every other structure within the castle. It was only a couple stories tall and had windows at regular intervals along its length. Directly in the middle of the building stood a massive wooden door that was reinforced with blackened iron braces. The crest of the Knights of Valdadore was also upon the door in the form of a brightly polished plaque. As they neared the building, Sirus slowed his pace and eventually stopped and turned to face both Garret and Zorbin.
“This is your new home men, at least for now while you are in training. This is where all the knights live whilst they are in the city, though most are now with the armies to the south. Garret, you may come with me. Zorbin, go and fetch your mount from the city stables and bring it here. I will have a stall prepared for him when you arrive.” Sirus gave his instructions quickly and turned again to begin walking anew.
Walking beside Sirus as they approached the massive wooden door to the building, Garret was fortunate he now slowed to a normal man’s pace.
“Garret, I am happy with your decision to join our ranks. If I have assessed you correctly you shall make a powerful addition to the Knights of Valdadore. I am afraid, however, your training will only consist of the necessities as a war is about to start in the south and before i
t does, I will be needing to return to my men there. I hope to have you ready by that time so that you can accompany me. The same goes for Zorbin Ironfist. You first must learn all you can about the gift you possess as well as swear your soul’s allegiance to Gorandor. Then we will do weapons training until such time that our mighty god sees fit to bless you with his power. When you are blessed, and I feel certain you will be, I shall teach you to master control of the gift. Once you are able to wield it without hesitation, and without thought, when it is second nature, then we will leave the city. You and Zorbin have many long days and weeks ahead of you, perhaps even months if we are lucky. We will be training hard in the days to come, so prepare yourself for little sleep, sore muscles, and a weary mind. I have already asked Karishtala to send us one of her healers so that we may train you beyond your normal physical limits. Though I know not what lays ahead for you, Garret the Hunter, I can promise you this. You will be well versed in all the weapons I am familiar with. You will be in top physical condition, able to fight for days without rest or food. Gorandor willing, you will be blessed with a great gift of power and you will be trained to wield it as best as I am able to,” Sirus gave Garret a moment for the words to sink in before he continued. “You and the dwarf have come at a crucial time, Garret. The knights only number eleven at this time. With you and Zorbin we will make thirteen. Two men might not sound like much, but two knights can sway a battle in our favor. Zorbin will return momentarily I presume, so we will wait to enter until he arrives. In the meantime, perhaps you can tell me what you know of the knights and Gorandor’s gifts.”
“First I would like to ask a question, if you don’t mind.” Garret waited for Sirus’s nod of approval before continuing. “I realize you are the head of the knights, as well as a lord. You also are now my instructor, so what title should I call you by?” Garret asked unsure of what to call the man as to not offend him.
Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) Page 33
