The Quest for Nobility

by Debra L Martin

  “Not bad, not bad,” he whispered.

  Eclair was pleased with himself, and wiped the sweat from his brow before walking back across the room to retrieve his personal crystal. Any good telekinetic could open a stable portal with the help of a crystal, but he wanted to be able to open one without any crystal support. After today’s success, he believed it would be just a matter of time before he accomplished that goal.

  It had been quite an eventful day. The fact that he was going to compete in the Grand Competition was exhilarating. He’d never thought it possible. His father would be shocked at the news, and Eclair rather enjoyed that image.

  Training with Darius, however, was another challenge altogether. His relationship with Darius was tenuous at best, and only the image of Dyla training with them kept him from changing his mind.

  Excerpt from The Chronicles of Otharia during the reign of the First Vacancy:

  Division III – Trade and Commerce

  Subsection IV – Grand Competition

  Any team that entered the competition had to have a member from each of the three-PSI disciplines. Additionally, each member was required to complete the entire competition. These rules induced the teams to work as one and instinctively learn the capabilities and limitations of each team member. A team was only as good as its slowest member. Events covered a multitude of obstacles ranging from mountain climbing to navigating vast stretches of desert. The event objectives were usually placed in the most obscure places, and were protected by groups of sentinels. The challenges were designed to be extremely dangerous and deaths were not uncommon. The teams that sweated the most in training bled the least during the competition.

  Chapter 13 – Training Day

  The sun was barely visible over the horizon when Eclair, standing outside the Telkur main portal station, opened another portal just outside the Telkur manor. He had visited the estate before and was familiar with the grounds. Ready for their first day of training, Darius and Dyla were standing there waiting for him as he stepped through the portal. Eclair was prepared as well, outfitted in his own training gear, his unruly blond curls pulled back tightly and held with a leather strip.

  “I knew you’d come,” Dyla said. “Thank you.”

  Eclair chuckled.

  “Don’t thank me yet. You may not want me after today.”

  Darius extended his hand to Eclair.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you everything you need to know, and what you can’t learn, I’ll do for you. We are a team now and we will not fail in this.”

  Eclair grasped the extended hand and shook it firmly. The intensity of Darius’s statement made Eclair believe that they could successfully compete against the other, more seasoned teams, and maybe even win the competition. Darius read Eclair’s surface thoughts from the contact and immediately felt better. If Eclair could imagine them winning the competition then they had a fighting chance of doing it. He let go of Eclair’s hand and actually smiled at him.

  “Let the torture begin,” Eclair said, raising his hands in mock surrender.

  Dyla laughed at his antics. Eclair was amazed at the difference in their grins. While Dyla’s seemed warm and inviting, her brother’s was raptorial and inviting for a whole different reason. He shuddered at the thought.

  “Let’s go. A short run and we’ll be in the training valley,” Darius said as he turned and sprinted away.

  Dyla quickly followed and Eclair brought up the rear. He moved effortlessly, his frame ideal for running, and soon he was matching Darius stride for stride.

  When they reached the training grounds Darius took the lead, familiarizing Eclair with the staging and equipment they would use for training over the next two weeks.

  The unique course the twins had built was both physically and mentally challenging. The obstacles inspired teamwork and developed self-confidence. There were many ways to overcome any of the obstacles and the goal was to practice them all.

  The next two weeks went by in a blur of activity and pain. Eclair was both exhilarated and exhausted. He had never trained so hard before, especially not physical training.

  On their final day together, Darius woke as usual at the break of dawn and headed down for morning breakfast. He was more confident today than he had been in recent weeks. Yesterday’s training session had gone almost without flaw. The minor mishap with Eclair was something that could have happened any time. Eclair’s slip on a wet log while he was crossing, and plunge into the icy waters below, could happen to anyone not paying strict attention to each step.

  The image of Eclair rising out of the water, sputtering, cold and shaking made Darius laugh. The fact that it happened to Eclair made him chuckle even more.

  His initial feelings of anger toward Eclair when their training sessions began were really directed at the powers that be, for it should have been Ty who slipped and fell off that log, not Eclair. The truly amazing part, however, was that Eclair did not give up; he got back on the log and tried the crossing again. It made Darius think they might actually stand a chance in this competition.

  Today was their last training day; there was no more time left. The Grand Competition would begin tomorrow and they were as ready as they could be. Their greatest hopes lie with each other. If they gelled together as a team, they had a good chance of finishing the obstacles and making a run for the win.

  Dyla and Eclair joined Darius in the Telkur kitchen.

  “Morning,” Dyla said.

  “Yeah, morning,” Eclair added, while fumbling with the leather strip and trying to tame his unruly head of hair.

  Darius stared at Eclair. Even after two weeks of training together, he was as much a mystery as ever. He worked hard and Darius appreciated his efforts, but there was much about Eclair that he didn’t understand. Most intriguing was how he seemed to use his telekinetic powers so effortlessly. Even Ty, as good as he was, could not match Eclair’s skills.

  Darius wondered if it would be enough. He shook his head, finding it hard to believe that the fate of his family’s future was in the hands of Eclasius Jortac, the recluse of the Otharian Institute.

  “Let’s go people; grab something and head out,” Darius ordered, heading out the door.

  Eclair stopped trying to secure his hair, grabbed a piece of fruit and sprinted out the door after Darius, his blond curls flopping.

  Dyla moved to the door of the kitchen and watched Eclair quickly overtake Darius as they raced each other to the training grounds.

  “Yes, maybe we do have a chance,” she said, sprinting after the two men who would help decide her future.

  Excerpt from The Chronicles of Otharia during the reign of the First Vacancy:

  Division III – Trade and Commerce

  Subsection IV – Grand Competition

  Studying the events, planning on courses of action, and deciding on the order of events was all part of a team’s strategy. Historically, less than half the teams ever finished the competition. Competition events were located in each Duchy and were set up to take advantage of the unique terrain each offered. Duchies with mountainous regions chose the highest and most obscure mountains while the desert regions simply put their objective in the middle of their inhospitable wasteland. It was not unusual for a house’s sponsored team to go sailing through their own house’s objective, though outright cheating was grounds for elimination.

  Chapter 14 – Movement

  Darius walked up to the box and reached inside.

  Please, any number but 6, he pleaded silently.

  He swirled around the tiles inside and finally grabbed one. He cupped the tile in his hand, pulled it out and silently wished again.

  Anything but 6.

  Team captains were required to pull a tile to determine at which objective their teams would start in the Grand Competition. This year there were a total of 12 events or obstacles hosted by different duchies. Each event had its own unique objective, designed by the submitting duchy. The overall events were built around rug
ged and inhospitable terrain to test a team’s endurance, while the traps surrounding each objective were designed to test their ingenuity. Teams had to negotiate the terrain and deal with whatever surprises awaited them at the objective. Everyone wanted an easy objective to start with in order to work out the kinks and jitters every team felt at the beginning.

  Darius opened his hand and looked at the tile. A large 6 lay in his hand. He inwardly groaned before turning to the other captains and displaying the number for all to see.

  Aketis Dalcon smirked when he saw the number.

  Objective 6 was Grand Duke Vogdo’s entry. His objective was located in the most inhospitable region of the jagged Sharellian Mountains. As if that weren’t enough, Vogdo also employed a large number of sentries to guard his objective. Though every objective had a solution, they were never easy to unravel and solve. Vogdo had a reputation of creating objectives that had tripped up the majority of the teams in the past.

  “Good luck with that one,” Aketis said sarcastically. “I hear Vogdo has added some real nasty surprises this year. Soften up the defenses for the rest of us, will you?”

  Darius was undeterred.

  “Enjoy your luck while you can, Dalcon.”

  “Don’t need it. We have something better. It’s called skill.”

  “What an ass,” Darius mumbled.

  Darius moved aside to let the rest of the team captains draw their tiles. Aketis drew tile number 3, the forest event in the Jortac Duchy. Duke Jortac hid his objective in the camouflage of his trees and many teams never found it. Not the easiest to start with, but by no means as hard as Vogdo’s mountains. Aketis returned to his teammates, not caring what lot the other captains drew.

  When all nine team captains finished drawing tiles, the teams revised their last-minute strategy based on their starting point and prepared to leave. Teams would be transported to the main portal stations of the duchy sponsoring the objective. The event began and ended at that portal station. How the teams completed the event was up to them. Scoreboards were set up at each portal station to show the progress of all the teams.

  Dyla was helping Eclair with his equipment, making sure nothing was loose or rattled. Every objective had to be approached with stealth to prevent the team from being compromised. If a team were caught, they would fail the objective. No team wanted to be discovered by unnecessary noise.

  Eclair was red-faced as Dyla looked him over, pulling and tugging at his equipment. It was obvious that their weeks of training had brought them closer, but Eclair still blushed at Dyla’s close and personal attention.

  “Are we set?” Darius asked his team.

  “All set here,” Dyla said. “What number did you draw?”

  Darius’s slight hesitancy caused Dyla to glance over at him. The look on his face said it all.

  “You’re kidding, right?” she asked. “You pulled 6?”

  “Yep.”

  “Great.”

  Eclair looked at the twins, perplexed.

  “What’s wrong with 6?”

  “Oh, nothing. It’s just the hardest event in the competition.”

  “Well, I’m ready for anything.”

  Darius chuckled at Eclair’s enthusiasm. Though he had a few rough edges, Darius was sure it wouldn’t affect the team’s overall performance.

  The competition rules were simple; the first team to complete all the objectives won the competition. The competition began and ended at the Otharian Institute. There was a two-week time limit and if no team finished all the objectives within that period, the team that finished the most would be declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the team that made it back to the Institute first was declared the winner.

  Teams could choose whichever objectives they wanted to complete, in any order, after their first one. An objective was complete when every team member had inserted their personal crystal into the objective’s recorder at the portal station. The recorder would register each crystal’s unique signature and relay the information back to the scoreboard. Using the scoreboards, teams could evaluate other teams’ standings, evaluate their own progress, and revise their strategy as they moved through events.

  Darius pulled on his pack.

  “If you two are ready, let’s get moving.”

  Eclair bent to pick up his pack and stumbled as he threw it over his back. Dyla reached out a hand to steady him.

  Eclair righted himself.

  “Slipped,” he said sheepishly. “Must be something on the floor.”

  Darius shook his head.

  “Yep, ready for anything, huh?”

  Eclair smiled ruefully and followed the twins to the portal.

  Darius surveyed the other teams waiting, mentally sizing them up. He considered the Dalcon team the biggest threat. There were a number of other teams, comprising a wide variety of competitors, but none with the experience of Bacara Dalcon. He gave the Dalcons a decided edge in the competition.

  Darius turned to Dyla and Eclair for last-minute instructions.

  “Once we get through the portal, we set out immediately and no more talking. We move quickly and quietly. I’ll be on point, Eclair next, and Dyla bringing up the rear.”

  “Got it,” Dyla said.

  “Yeah, I got the middle,” Eclair chimed in, eager to say something.

  Darius nodded. He moved them forward and gave his tile to the official. Once the coordinates were set, they stepped through the Vogdo portal. They wasted no time in moving out of the station and toward the mountains. They had a long way to go and time was of the essence. Half a mile out from the station, Darius signaled a stop and motioned for Eclair to come forward.

  Darius pointed to the mountain range that filled the evening sky.

  “Let’s not waste time traveling by foot. Can you open a portal?”

  “Yes; but it’s getting dark and I have to be able see where I’m going to open a portal safely.”

  “OK, get us to the bottom of the range. I don’t want to get any closer and risk discovery from any PSI guard sensing a portal opening.”

  Eclair looked ahead and focused. In front of him a pinpoint of light materialized, gradually growing to the dulled shimmer of an open portal.

  “OK, it’s set. It leads to the base of the mountains, partway up the foothills.”

  Darius stepped through the portal to the base of the mountains. He crouched behind a rock, immediately scanning the area for any of Vogdo’s guards. At this time of twilight, and in the lee of the mountains, the stars would only afford a scant measure of light, but it was enough to detect signs of movement.

  Dyla came through the portal next, with Eclair following closely on her heels. After Eclair stepped through the portal, it quickly winked out. As they had drilled countless times, Dyla shifted left and found cover. Eclair was supposed to step through the portal and immediately find any cover available to prevent exposing the team.

  This task proved too simple.

  Eclair, in his need to find the perfect cover, moved from one spot to another, making enough noise to alert any passing patrols.

  Darius groaned at the racket.

  Dyla jumped up and grabbed Eclair, shoving him to the ground. She muffled his protest with a hand over his mouth.

  “Stay down and don’t move,” she whispered in his ear.

  Eclair didn’t know if it was the words or the closeness of Dyla’s lips that made him lay still.

  Darius rechecked their map. They still had about 20 leagues to cover, through rugged mountains, to reach their objective. He surmised that their distance from the objective should be far enough away to prevent casual discovery, but he had not factored Eclair into his strategy.

  He glanced over and saw that Eclair had kept his head in the dirt where Dyla had pushed it. His breathing had caused the dust and dirt to irritate his nose and he gave off a viciously loud sneeze. The sound echoed endlessly through the night.

  “Damn,” Darius swore under his breath and motioned for them to move
out immediately.

  On his signal, Dyla grabbed Eclair, pulled him to his feet, and guided him along the path. Eclair stumbled along, trying his best to walk quietly on the hard packed earth. This was not how he remembered practicing movement. The path that Darius had chosen to follow was extremely narrow, overgrown with brush, and went straight up. The oncoming night and the undergrowth were compounding the climb and made traveling difficult. Stealth was not one of Eclair’s strong points.

  They traveled the first few leagues without incident, until Eclair tripped over an exposed tree root, falling hard on his face. Dyla quickly came to his side.

  He looked up at Dyla.

  “How much farther?”

  Dyla hand-signaled him to be quiet.

  Eclair climbed to his feet.

  Darius heard Eclair’s question and decided to pause for a short rest. He steered the team toward a thicket of bushes just off the right side of the path.

  Once in the protection of the bushes, Eclair dropped to the ground like a sack of meal. The tension and emotional excitement of the last few days were taking its toll on him.

  Darius walked over to him.

  “We’ve only a short way to go,” Darius whispered. “Maybe a league or two, then we can stop for the night. Can you handle that?”

  “Yeah, I can make it. Another couple leagues won’t kill me.”

  Moving at night hid them from the casual eye, but required intense concentration to minimize noise. The landscape around them was mostly scrub brush and low-growing trees, bent at strange angles from the unrelenting winds that swept through the mountains. The objective was in an area high in the mountains, and Eclair had not realized how difficult it would be to climb the trail quietly. They had practiced movement at night, but the training didn’t quite match the current situation.

  I can do this; I know I can.

  He climbed to his feet and gave Darius the thumbs-up.

  “Remember, there will be patrols the closer we get,” Darius whispered to Eclair. “We need to pay attention and keep the noise to an absolute minimum.”