“Yes, my king?” “Have your way with Tarasoni. If you see Tucker on your way out, send him in. You two make such a great couple,” The Man joked.
His first love screamed for her life as Mad Dog forcibly dragged the woman, kicking and fighting, from the room. She shouted, “I love you, how can you do this to me?”
The Man simply lowered his head. It takes a hardened heart to rule a realm. I will not let love or beauty blind me on my quest. I will never love again.
Tucker entered, “My king, Mad Dog said you called. What was he doing with your love?”
“Former love. He’s ridding us of unnecessary problems before they become just that. Come sit,” he commanded.
Tucker walked around the trail of blood left by Sir Constador. They relaxed at a large table in the Duke’s quarters. The Man grabbed the decanter from the table and filled two glasses. He handed one to Tucker and drank about half of his before saying, “The Crippler believes I can run through a castle’s walls and come away unaffected. I need to hear from someone else that he truly believes we can pull this off, or am I simply mad? Well, what say you, friend?”
“I wouldn’t be sitting here if I didn’t believe in your claim. I don’t believe in the Crippler’s magic. I don’t know if I believe any of the stories of your childhood. What I do know is what I saw on the battlefield at Bear Gate. Those memories are branded into my head. If I make it to be an old and wrinkled man, I may forget my name but I will remember what I saw that day. You saved this kingdom, your kingdom,” Tucker stressed. He continued, “I had heard stories of great warriors but you and Ali-Samuel Wamhoff were everywhere at once on that field. I thought myself a hero killing nearly twenty Goldenfield men but every time I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye, it was either you or Ali-Samuel killing four or five men like you were taking a piss. And I remember thinking, it cannot possibly be that easy. You made the hardest thing in the world look effortless. As time has passed I have seen your development into a strategy expert. Many people can kill at will on the field of battle. Many people can set battle plans. But only a certain few can combine both at a high level. We will all die someday but I would like to die for that man who fights for his crown. I won’t die to defend a king who sits back in the castle and plays war on a map. Where this marker represents a thousand men’s lives but he hasn’t any idea of what that actually means. My king fights right next to me. That’s worth living and dying for. You don’t need the most men, you only need the unbreakable will to win and I have witnessed that firsthand.”
Tucker was quite the opposite of Mattrick the Mad Dog. Although Mad Dog towered over Tucker, who had black hair thick as a raven’s feathers and brown eyes, the smaller man could easily outwit the big oaf. He was a thinker and liked to analyze situations where Mad Dog acted without thinking and out of sheer physical force. The Man’s other top man, Benroy, was a cross between Tucker and Mad Dog, veering a little more to the intellectual side. Despite his size, Tucker was known to be a fierce warrior. The Man knew the strengths and weaknesses of his closest friends and manipulated them as such. However, he didn’t really know much about the men’s pasts.
“It has recently occurred to me that I don’t know much about you other than your name. I have now told you of my past and I would like to know about yours,” The Man gingerly stated.
Tucker softly spoke, “I was a smith’s apprentice back in Abbey Grove. I would get caught sneaking into the holy houses to read the Words of the Gods and found I liked learning more than being a smith. I was torn until one day I saw the men returning from war. They were cheered by all citizens and I yearned to feel that. My master even instructed me to do all work for the soldiers, free of charge.”
“Did you know your mother and father?”
“I knew I had a mother and father, but I didn’t know them personally, if that sounds a bit familiar,” Tucker responded.
The Man filled their cups again and started to feel a buzzing in his head. “And look at us now. The king and his falconer.”
“What? I assumed the Crippler would…” Tucker said in shock.
The Man cut him off, “The Crippler wants to stay in Waters Edge when the fighting is over. We can control the realm better if we have all the dukes on our side.”
Tucker kicked the chair back as he dropped to one knee, “My king, I am honored. I have no words to express…”
“Rise. We fought as brothers on the battlefield and I thought you would be dead by now for as little as you are.” They enjoyed a chuckle. “Now we will rule the same. They will sing the song of the smith turned falconer and all will revere Lord Tucker…do you have a last name?” The Man asked.
“Again, I may but I don’t know it either,” Tucker smiled. “Lord Tucker sounds quite pleasing to me,” The Man returned.
Tucker got up to leave and The Man warned, “Keep this between the both of us for now. I will make it official at the next council meeting. The bastard and smith, ruling a kingdom. Have you read about that in any of those books?”
“That one, I haven’t seen. At least, not yet, my king,” Tucker responded with a wink. He bowed and left The Man to himself.
Later that night The Man lay on his special table for mental practice. The Crippler put The Man in a state of unconsciousness and circled the table before starting to talk to him. The Man kept repeating phrases as the Crippler continued to pace around the naked patient. He stopped for a second and told The Man to repeat, “My blood will run black when I take the oath of the demons.”
The Man stated the exact line back to the Crippler.
THE YOUNG HOPE
The slight eleven-year-old with shaggy blond hair woke up on the deserted island again. His hair had grown past his shoulders and curled up at the bottom. He thought back to how he ended up on this island.
Riceros remembered being thrown from the boat and sinking in the Sea of Green. The black board he had been instructed to hold onto floated in water and pulled his weight up to the top. He bobbed around like bait for hours until two mermaids showed up and pulled him to this island. The swimming saviors had a glowing look to them like they had been dipped in moonlight. The two mystical water women brought him seafood several times a day and cooked it over the fires they had made. Riceros couldn’t remember how long he had been on this island. He held onto the black board even though it seemed to be rendered useless because he’d lost the white marker. He looked at the black slab and wondered if he would ever get off the island and get back home.
The mermaids had made clothes for Riceros. He wore a loose, short sleeve shirt and matching white pants that hung just below the knee. His black leather belt had several slots for weapons and kept his pants from falling down.
Suddenly, white words appeared on the board, “You shall be off this island soon.” Riceros thought, “How did that happen?” and those words appeared on the board. They were replaced with, “I cannot tell you who I am just yet. You may be the centerpiece of our aerial attack against Damian Doome.” The words vanished, but more appeared, “We knoweth this to be unfair to demand of a young boy to accept this responsibility. You shall be tasked with leading an army of soldiers whose diversity you can only imagine.”
Riceros thought, “I can’t lead an army. I’m not tall or strong and I can’t even talk.” “You don’t talk yet. Look at thyself, inside and out. You needeth focus on what you do well and forget thy shortcomings. You can achieve everything and more than a man twice thy size and strength. Confidence mixed with intelligence kills better than a swarm of swords. There are many skills which can be taught, attained or acquired but more oft than not, a person is capable of a skill or he is not. This could even mean a child of six or eleven perhaps. Trying to force a dull man to be smart or a coward to be brave are therefore impossible tasks. The war for earth has arrived. We estimated the demons wouldn’t attack for another fifteen to twenty years. This would have left plenty of time for thy development into a man. You haveth been selected to lead our attack
but I would understand if you eschewed this burden to seek the normal life of a child. If you accept, thou shalt defend the world’s defenseless creatures. Your name will ring synonymous with Rockarius.”
Riceros couldn’t fully comprehend the situation. He was still trying to figure out who was his real father. With little thought, his words showed up on the black board, “I accept, but I am not capable of leading an army.”
The words changed, “Again, not yet. Thou also don’t knoweth what kind of army you are going to lead. This war goes back to the beginning of time. The First Families and demons shared this world in harmony until the demons started committing atrocities against the humans. They turned to cannibalism and schemed to conquer the earth for themselves. The demons almost won that first war but the Children of the Gods saved man. Josevius sacrificed his body, and his brothers and sister used his body as sustenance to move on to help defeat the demons. The humans forced them into underground tunnels, caves or holes, stricken from the surface of earth. Over one thousand years later, Damian Doome trained the demons into a viable entity of battle and called them coldomores. They rose up violently and tried to erase the human race, only to be defeated by Rockarius and his contingent. Nobody believed Rockarius could lead an army, just as many will not believe you can lead one. The stories you hath probably heard about Rockarius are distorted, I would imagine. The man was only a touch above your size, a bit sturdier perhaps. Your shadow tends to groweth and groweth when you defeat an army sent to destroy the world’s inhabitants. Pretty soon that shadow starts to swallow the world. The stories now portray Rockarius as a giant man with muscular definition, but it was never his physical stature winning battles. No, no, he used his mind to win. You’re a rather intelligent boy, I’m certain you know where this talk is headed.”
The board threw in a few words from the old world language that he had read in ancient texts inside the Colbert library. Riceros thought about how Count Sproul had taught him that Damian Doome had retreated back to Venom Island after the defeat. He said they were getting ready for another attack to kill the humans.
The board filled with words again, “This is all true. We knoweth it is an unfair burden to ask a boy to sacrifice his life to fight the demons. To test thy readiness for the ultimate challenge, there shalt be three obstacles to overcome. This will allow thou to know if thou art prepared for the rigors of what lies ahead.”
Riceros thought, “Wait, who are you? Why should I listen to someone who won’t tell me who they are?” The board responded, “Who dost thou think sent the mermaids to rescue thou? Those same mermaids could cease to continue bringing thou the harvest of the sea with our command. Thou shalt learneth in due time about who I am and more importantly, who thou art. Thou shalt learneth a great many details of thy past that may likely influence everyone’s future. Art thou prepared to accept thy first challenge?”
Riceros didn’t think about anything but the word, YES, appeared on the board. For the rest of the sunny day and moonlit night, words wouldn’t appear on the board. The mermaids came and fed Riceros some delicious skipjack. He fell asleep on the sand again. The next morn the mermaids told him to grab his black board and get into the water. Riceros held the board tight as the mermaids hooked their arms around his and shook their tails to start moving.
Words appeared on the soaked board, “Thy first task is to free the giant people of Heldoor from the evil clutches of Queen Hilda. One-eyed giants called Bigwuns had lived on the island for over one thousand years without any issue. Then a war of civility broke out in the nearest island called Allario. A princess named Hilda lusted for power so greatly, she hatched a plan. She came to Heldoor and asked the Bigwuns to fight for her against her other family members for the crown of Allario. The Bigwuns art peaceful by nature, contrary to popular belief, and declined the offer. This enraged the princess. She acted unaffected by the rejection and told the Bigwuns she shalt build a great castle for them as a kind gesture of neighborly love.”
Words kept disappearing and reappearing on the board as Riceros read on, “She brought in builders aided by the Cyclops people themselves to construct a huge frame for the castle. The princess asked for all of the Bigwuns to get inside the frame to be sure their castle would be big enough to hold everyone. When the unsuspecting Bigwuns got inside, the princess got her men to shut the door and lock it. The Cyclopes never realized the princess, or self-proclaimed Queen of Heldoor, had been building a gigantic pen to jail everyone. The cruel old Queen got revenge for the giants’ refusal to fight for her, but she hath held the Bigwuns for many generations in that enclosure. She feeds them just enough to stay alive. She even created a nearly impossible contest to free the Bigwuns. This is where thou obviously become relevant. There is an archery contest, which not one man or woman has been able to best. The Queen has promised whoever wins the contest shalt hath control over the giant people. Thou art moving on to Heldoor. Thou shalt survey the situation and thy challenge is to free all Bigwuns and returneth their island back to them. All men and women are scared of the Cyclopes. You mustn’t be afraid, and must understand that help can arrive in all shapes and sizes.”
The words washed away and when Riceros looked back up, a rocky island met his vision. The mermaids let go, turned around and left. He walked up onto the moist, sandy beach. He headed up a slight hill and into a forest setting that reminded him of the areas around Riverfront. The hill tapered off and a wooden castle sat next to the sun on a high hilltop. As the boy got closer, he could see the castle overlooked a canyon containing the pen full of Bigwuns. Queen Hilda paced around a balcony, looking down on the dirty, naked Cyclopes. The Queen went back inside and then reappeared through the front doors of the castle. Riceros saw that she wore a long black dress. He moved in for a closer look and noticed the set-up for the contest. Four men stood with longbows in their hands. The men didn’t talk, and looked focused on the task at hand.
The purplish dirt of the ravine had a white line drawn in it, marking where the contestants were to stand. A long row of crisscrossed swords with one more sword over the top created an upside down triangle. One hundred swords with a foot of space in-between each one extended up to the target. The arrow had to sail through this triangular opening and stick into a wooden backdrop, tastelessly painted with a Cyclops’ head. At first glance, Riceros wondered why nobody had ever succeeded. The passage didn’t look extremely narrow or long, but busted arrows around the alley of swords didn’t provide extra confidence for the brave men about to put their lives on the line.
A stream of guards paraded up to the contestants and they all dropped to a knee. Four men arrived carrying a red velvet chair with wooden posts across the bottom. Queen Hilda sat in the chair and the tall men hoisted her up and set the posts on their shoulders. The men led their Queen to a front row seat for the contest. Queen Hilda, ironically a tiny woman, had a long, hooked nose and curled, ashy locks of greasy hair. A silver crown studded with sapphires and diamonds rested atop her small head. Heldoor was known for its diamond mines. The wart covered, wrinkled elderly woman wore a smug look on her face, and seemed eager for the competition to begin. She appeared mean and heartless in accordance with the rumors about her.
Although he considered himself an excellent archer, Riceros couldn’t comprehend why he had been selected for this duty. He didn’t believe he could be the best option to lead an army against the coldomores. Riceros was a confident eleven-year-old, but the lack of battle experience seemed to be an obvious hindrance, not to mention his numerous physical limitations.
Members of the court and armored guards surrounded Queen Hilda as she sat above everyone. A crier wearing a white robe and a coronet of intertwined roses stood by the white line. The thorns caused his head to bleed, but he orated over the crowd, “The gracious Queen Hilda has opened the island of Heldoor and cordially invited four men to take their chance to have the Bigwuns belong to them. One, single shot to win an army of giants who can help you conquer any land. One, single
loosed arrow can result in ultimate triumph or utter death. The task is simple. Shoot an arrow from behind the white line, through the inside of the swords and into the clops’ eye. First to loose is the honorable Prustel Timkins.”
The large man held his longbow above his head to a smattering of cheers, and bowed to the Queen. He took his time to line up the shot, drawing and re-drawing several times. The crowd held its breath during the drama. He finally lined-up and loosed his arrow. Riceros stood off to the side as the arrow went into the maze of swords and sped for the target. “CLANG.” The arrow hit the swords and shattered. The contestant looked to run but the guards seized him. They dragged him toward the Bigwuns pen about two hundred yards away, with the bloodthirsty spectators close behind. Riceros followed the crowd.
The Cyclopes rushed toward the oncoming horde from inside the pen. Huge palisades were more than twice the size of the giants and arranged in the outline of a castle. There wasn’t enough space between the palisades for the giants to fit through and escape. By the time their babies were old enough to survive outside the pen, their bodies were too big to get between the posts. The Queen had manufactured the perfect jail for the Cyclops people. A normal-sized small man could barely fit between the circular posts.
The guards got within five feet of the pen and shoved the loser closer. The man put his hand on the wooden post to stop his momentum when mammoth hands thrust out of the opening with tremendous speed and grabbed the man’s arm. The giant’s hand covered the tall man’s entire forearm. Riceros had always thought giants were slow, but this Cyclops had quick moves. A look of extreme fear crossed the man’s face as the hand dragged him into the pen. Through the opening, Riceros could see other Bigwuns close in and tear the man to pieces. They crunched through bone like whipped butter as they devoured Prustel Timkins. The sounds sent chills up Riceros’ spine and he looked away after the first few bites. He had stabbed and killed a man, but seeing the challenger torn apart and eaten made his hungry stomach turn.
Fractured Families (The Pearl of Wisdom Saga Book 2) Page 10
