mason seemed to slide off his feet and Jon had him all but tipped over, but then Odellius shifted his weight forward and Jon felt his knees buckle. The gray knight went to one knee and, with a tremendous effort that turned his biceps into massive balls, drove forward, and lifted Odellius to his toes and then a few inches into the air. At the last moment the big man used his little wooden sword to smack Jon on the side of the leg and Jon felt all this strength suddenly leave him. He collapsed to the ground as the big man stumbled and dodged to the side to avoid smashing him.
Jon rolled on his back and looked up at Odellius whose face was red with exertion and whose hand was out in an offer to help him up. It was only when he took the hand that he heard the eruption of screams and cheers that came from every member of the crowd. Jon walked off the pitch his arm around Odellius as everyone continued to applaud. They walked to a wooden bench and collapsed on it together, the thing creaking ominously beneath their weight. A young boy, not more than seven or eight, rushed over with a huge mug of frothy beer that he handed to Odellius and another boy, whom Jon vaguely recognized as Sorus Brewer, handed him a smaller mug filled with water. Odellius tilted back and drank with one huge pass, then pulled off his helmet to reveal wet and sweaty hair.
“Well fought, Jon Gray,” he said with a nod of his head. “I never thought I’d know what it feels like to fly but I was like a bird there for a moment!”
The people nearby broke into laughter, whispering back to those further away the words of the immense mason; laughter began to break out all over the little pitch. Jon stripped off his own iron helmet revealing his shock of sandy blonde hair and began to pull off his jerkin as a dozen young hands immediately reached in to help him.
Mikus Swift ran quickly back to the manor house his feet covering the distance quickly. He burst in the front door of the home, slammed it, and dashed to the large office where his father awaited his report. The man sat behind his large desk and drummed his fingers on the surface. “Well?” he said, his eyebrows arched.
“Odellius beat him, dad,” said Mikus, and Thorius smiled broadly as he eased back in his chair.
“So the young warrior from Tanelorn was humiliated?” he asked and Mikus hesitated for a moment, his face turned down towards the wooden slats of the floor. “Well?” repeated Thorius as his eyebrows came together. “The boy was thrashed, yes?”
Mikus nodded his head. “Twice straight.”
“And this Jon Gray did he take defeat poorly, whine and complain?” said Thorius and sat up in his chair and eyed his son closely. “Tell me what happened, boy!”
“It was a fair fight and… and…,” the story tailed off into silence.
“And,” said Thorius who stood and came around the table to hover over his teen son. “What happened?”
“Jon Gray tried to wrestle Odellius down,” said Mikus suddenly in a burst as his eyes shone brightly. “He had him for a second too, had him lifted up, but then Odellius knocked his leg out and he fell!”
“In the air?” said Thorius as he turned and sat on the edge of the desk. “Odellius?”
Mikus nodded, “He almost had him!”
“I suppose the crowd thought that it a noble effort,” said the man as his shoulders slumped.
“They went crazy, dad,” said Mikus. “Maybe you’re wrong about Jon Gray. He seems like a pretty nice guy.”
“I’m not wrong,” insisted Thorius and shook his head sadly. “You remember that. No matter what happens from here on out that boy will bring trouble to Elekargul. Any sort of alliance with Tanelorn will bring down dangerous foes upon us.”
“We’re knights of Elekargul,” said Mikus, standing tall, his eyes shining with passion. “It doesn’t matter what danger comes against us. We’ll fight it and defeat it!”
“You’re not a knight of anything, squire,” said Thorius. “But the chance to defeat the boy early is clearly finished. I must muse upon a new plan. Get out of here, Mikus. Go practice in the yard, your sword skills lag behind other boys your age.”
“Yes, father,” said Mikus and turned around and left the old knight by himself.
“If anyone is going to be a hero it’s not going to be some trumped up teenager with delusions of grandeur,” he said to himself, and then returned to the desk and looked at its empty surface for a long time.
Chapter 4
Strange draconic creatures apparently spun lthrough the air and battled one another in etched figures on the high domed ceiling. At the apex a massive green dragon with a half a dozen horns thrust from its forehead held court. On its back sat a human with strange, white, reptilian eyes, a long staff shaped like a crocodile in his right hand. Far below a decayed skeletal figure sat on a marble throne, its hands clenching the arms of the chair and its empty eye sockets peering endlessly out towards some unseen vision.
Two creatures appeared in a narrow corridor and argued with one another as the first, and taller, jabbed the second with a forefinger inches from his face.
“I tell you, Usharra,” said the first as his features became visible in the dim glow of the cavern. His head was horny and scaled while long layers of scales streamed down his arms and neckline. The scales were predominantly green but a sprinkle of red and purple gave them an iridescent look. “The staff has been found. How else do you explain the dreams?”
“The great Green One has always dreamed,” said the second creature. It was clearly the same species but its scales were predominantly blue in color although smattered of green giving him a rippled look much like waves breaking on a shore. “There is no reason to suppose these dreams are different than any of the others chronicled over the years.”
“These are more specific than others mentioned in the Chronicle of Dreams,” said the first creature. “You know I’m telling the truth, you’ve read the chronicle as often as I, and you know Chusarausea has never dreamed so specifically of the staff before, so specifically with directions for actions.”
“We know nothing of the sort, Melharras,” said Usharra with a wave of his long fingered hand. “There are many visions, by many people, over the centuries. There is also the untold amount of time that the Great Green One slept before he began to dream. Finally, there is the matter of great Sakatha’s condition,” this last with a glance to the skeletal figure on the throne. “Even if the staff were found, we would awaken not a leader of our people but the monstrosity of death there. It is uncertain how he will react to we children of the dragon all these centuries later.”
“How can you doubt his reaction?” said Melharras and stopped before the skeletal figure on the throne. “He led us in the great rebellion against the emperor thousands of years ago and when awakened will lead us once again.”
“Legends are notoriously inaccurate,” said Usharra with a dismissive wave of his hand. “There are no guarantees of the nature of that thing, nor its agenda if awakened.”
“How can you be so stubborn?” said Melharras. “This is the great awakening, this is the time generations of our people have long awaited. We must find the staff; we must take it to the Great Green One who will use it to awaken his former master. Then great Sakatha will ride the skies again and we will emerge from our skulking in the swamps and waterways of the world to take our rightful place at the head of a new empire, this one our own.”
“The legends also speak of the awakening of the emperor,” said Usharra. “If all you say is true and Sakatha rises and rides the toxic one, then do not the legends also suggest that the emperor will rise again? What makes you certain that this time great Sakatha,” again with a distasteful glance at the thing on the throne, “will be able to best his old foe?”
Melharras stood silently for a long moment his head bowed and the dim light twinkling off his scales. “It is not for me to say what great Sakatha will do upon rising. It is my duty as a child of the dragon to make it happen. The great green one dreams of the lands to the south of us, where the freeriders roam, he dreams of the Staff of Sakatha. We must send spies to find out what we can and then we must prepare a fleet to sail around the Dorian Peninsula and attack, if necessary, to take the staff.”
Usharra also stood quietly for a long moment and gazed at the strange creature on the throne, “I will not
