Thor hugged Khron with one hand as he breathed hard, trying to figure out if he was awake or asleep. It took him a long time to realize it had just been a dream. It had felt so real.
Thor heard a screech and turned to see Ephistopheles, perched on a rock, just a foot away. He looked right at him and screeched, again and again.
The sound sent a chill up Thor’s spine. It was the sound from his dream, and at that moment he knew, with every ounce of his body, that his dream had been a message. The king was going to be poisoned.
Thor jumped to his feet and, in the breaking light of dawn, sprinted down the mountain, heading for King’s Court. He had to get to the king. He had to warn him. The king might think he was crazy, but he had no choice: he would do whatever he could to save the king’s life.
*
Thor raced across the drawbridge, sprinting for the castle’s outer gate, and luckily, the two guards recognized him from the Legion. They let him through without stopping him, and he continued running, Khron by his side.
Thor sprinted across the royal courtyard, past the fountains, and ran right to the inner gate of the king’s castle. There stood four guards, who blocked his way.
Thor stopped, gasping for air.
“What is your purpose, boy?” one of them asked.
“You don’t understand, you have to let me in,” Thor gasped. “I need to see the King.”
The guards looked at each other, skeptical.
“I am Thorgrin, of the King’s Legion. You must let me through.”
“I know who he is,” one guard said to the other. “He’s one of us.”
But the lead guard stepped forward.
“What business have you with the king?” he pressed.
Thor still fought to catch his breath.
“Very urgent business. I must see him at once.”
“Well he must not be expecting you, because you are ill-informed. Our King is not here. He left with his caravan hours ago, on court business. They won’t be returning until tonight, until the royal feast.”
“Feast?” Thor asked, his heart thumping. He remembered his dream, the feasting tables, and eerily felt it all coming to life.
“Yes, feast. If you are of the Legion, I am sure you will be there. But now he is gone, and there is no way you can see him. Come back tonight, with the others.”
“But I must get him a message!” Thor insisted. “Before the feast!”
“You can leave the message with me if you like. But I can’t deliver it any sooner than you.”
Thor did not want to leave such a message with a guard; he realized it would seem crazy. He had to deliver it himself, tonight, before the feast. He only prayed it would not be too late.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Thor hurried back to the Legion’s barracks at the crack of dawn, luckily arriving before the day’s training began. He was winded when he arrived, Khron at his side, and he ran into the other boys just as they were waking, beginning to file out for the day’s assignments. He stood there, gasping, more troubled than ever. He hardly knew how he would make it through the day’s training; he would be counting down the minutes until the night’s feast, until he could warn the king. He felt certain that the omen came to him so that he could warn him, that the fate of the kingdom rested on his shoulders.
Thor ran up beside Reece and O’Connor as they made their way out to the field, looking exhausted, and began to line up.
“Where were you last night?” Reece asked.
Thor wished he knew how to respond-but he didn’t really know where he had been himself. What was he supposed to say? That he had fallen asleep outside on the ground, on Argon’s mountain? It made no sense, not even to him.
“I don’t know,” he answered, not knowing how much to tell them.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” O’Connor asked.
“I got lost,” Thor said.
“Lost?”
“Well you’re lucky you made it back when you did,” Reece said.
“If you had come back late for the day’s assignments, they wouldn’t have let you back into the Legion,” Elden added, coming up beside them, clapping a beefy hand on his shoulder. “Good to see you. You were missed yesterday.”
Thor was still shocked at the difference in how Elden treated him since their time on the far side of the Canyon.
“How did things go with my sister?” Reece asked, in hushed tones.
Thor blushed, unsure how to respond.
“Did you see her?” Reece prodded.
“Yes, I did,” he began. “We had a great time. Although we had to leave abruptly.”
“Well,” Reece continued, as they all lined up side-by-side before Kolk and the King’s men, “you will get to see more of her tonight. Put on your finest. It’s the King’s feast.”
Thor’s stomach dropped. He thought of his dream and felt as if destiny were dancing before his eyes-and that he was helpless, fated to do nothing but just watch it unfold.
“QUIET!” screamed Kolk, as he began to pace before the boys.
Thor stiffened, with the others, as they all fell silent.
Kolk walked slowly up and down the lines, surveying them all.
“You had your fun yesterday. Now it’s back to training. And today, you will learn the ancient art of ditch digging.”
A collective groan rose up among the boys.
“SILENCE!” he yelled.
The boys fell quiet.
“Ditch digging is hard work,” Kolk continued. “But it is important work. You will one day find yourself out there, protecting our kingdom, in the wilderness, with no one to help you. It will be freezing, so cold you can’t feel your toes, the black of night, and you will do anything to keep warm. Or you may find yourself in a battle, in which you need to take cover, to save yourself from the enemies’ arrows. There may be a million reasons why you need a ditch. And a ditch may be your best friend.
“Today,” he continued, clearing his throat, “you will spend all day digging, until your hands are red with calluses and your back is breaking, and you can’t take it anymore. Then, on the day of battle, it will not seem as bad.
“FOLLOW ME!” Kolk yelled.
There came another groan of disappointment as the boys broke down into a line of two, and began marching across the field, following Kolk.
“Great,” Elden said. “Ditch digging. Exactly how I wanted to spend the day.”
“Could be worse,” O’Connor said. “It could be raining.”
They looked up at the sky, and Thor spotted threatening clouds overhead.
“It just might,” Reece said. “Don’t jinx it.”
“THOR!” came a shout.
Thor turned to see Kolk glaring at him, off to the side. He ran over to him, wondering what he had done wrong.
“Yes, sire.”
“Your knight has summoned you,” he said, curt. “Report to Erec at the castle grounds. You’re lucky: you’re off-duty for today. You will serve your knight instead, as all good squires should. But don’t think you’re getting out of
