Golm

Golm - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

While we waited for the soldiers’ arrival, I had my cut examined. With the Aquasians’ magic, the wound was completely healed in about an hour. I waited impatiently, but finally two days later, the soldiers arrived. They apologized for their lateness, because they didn’t quite know the way to get here, the map was very old and hard to read. We met them outside just at the start of dusk. They were all fully equipped and ready for action. Elesia greeted them and so did I. They were the warrior rank. They had the huge pointed horns on their heads and they were buffed with muscles and seven feet tall. Though they looked at me in disbelief.
Elesia scrolled along from left to right introducing them to me. There were five of them. The first one was shorter and had a long red goatee, a scar closed his right eye, he had two swords in his hands and he had long red hair; his name was Rorden. The next man had a sword and shield, he had an orange crew cut and had no facial hair, his muscles bulged the most of the five and he had a black cape; his name was Pias. The tallest and most powerful looking one was Utof. He had the biggest maul I had ever seen, it could easily break diamond, Utof had a white beard and short white hair. Then there was Vion, he had a long staff with blades on the ends. He had really big hands and feet, he also had a pale face and a large nose, and he was very, very old looking. Last but not least, Chen-glok. He carried a very long and wide sword, he had long blonde hair like me, but his was braided at the end so it wouldn’t get in his eyes.
I shook each of their hands, but they still thought I was a weakling. Rorden spoke, his voice was loud and deep, “Your highness, please forgive my judgement, but is this really Herridan? You spoke so highly of him and he looks weak.”
Elesia got cross and told him, “Well if you do not believe my words, maybe you must see to believe.”
I turned to her and asked, “What do you intend on making me do?”
She asked me to draw my sword. So I took my sword out from the holster Elesia made for me. I liked it better, because it went on my back. I showed it to the warriors, they weren’t impressed. Elesia explained, “Prove to them the same way you proved it to me.” I nodded. I walked over to a near by tree. The warriors waited to see what made my so special.
I got to a tree, stood in front of it and clasped my sword. The tree was thick, it was natural, but I had to prove myself. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the task before me. I pulled the sword back, let out a grunt and swiped my sword right through the tree. My wrist felt like it was broken and my sword was a little bent, but the feeling of seeing their mouths dropped was worth it. Elesia smiled and asked her men, “Do you see his power now?”
They all nodded, except for Pias. He shouted, “How can he possess so much strength? I must fight him!”
I waved him over and taunted him, “Let’s see what you got?”
He walked towards me and warned, “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you. You have no armor, how do you expect to survive?”
I said to him, “How do you expect to move?” He raised his arms and ran at me. I saw his strategy. He was to over power me by a huge swipe and knock me with his shield. So at the right moment, I took a step to the right and he swiped to the left. I tripped him, spun around and bashed an open part in his armor, his lower back, with the butt of my sword’s handle. He crashed to the ground and let out a cry. I stood on his back and put the tip of my sword a centimeter from the back of his neck. I declared, “You are beaten.”
He mumbled, “Aie, you have won. Perhaps you are what the Princess claims you are.” I got off his back and gave him a hand. He accepted and when he was up, I shook his hand again.
We both walked over to the group of warriors, that were all amazed at and couldn’t believe what had just happened. Rorden, Utof, Vion and Chen-glok were impressed and maybe even jealous of me. Elesia ordered us, “Now that you’ve made each others’ acquaintances, I’ll leave you six to train and prepare and to guard this place. Runar and his men will be combing the whole world for us.” We agreed. She began to walk away from Solwashi and started to flutter her wings.
I stopped and asked her, “So where are you going?”
She turned back and replied, “I still have a kingdom to rule don’t I?”
I warned her, “But if you go back Runar will kill you!”
She ran her fingers through her hair and explained, “They’ll never know I’m there” She turned away, took a few steps and turned back, “Don’t worry about me Herridan. Trust me.” I trusted her and obeyed her orders.
She flew off the ground and then she was gone. So Pias, Rorden, Utof, Vion, Chen-glok and I knew what we had to do; we had to become stronger for when the time came. Before we even had a chance to start though, Maurna stepped outside, then King Libben. After Libben had our attention, he placed his arms on Maurna’s shoulders and told us, “Maurna is a gifted one. She has the rare drop of individuality that makes her so strong. Please let her train with you, she will help you in your quest.”
We looked at each other. I wanted to shrug, but I didn’t think they knew what a shrug was, so I said, “I don’t mind” Then I shrugged to myself and finished, “The more the merrier.” Everyone stared at me, but knew that I was from a different world, so they ignored it. We began.
Many hours had passed. Still it was our first night training. The fun of it sped it up, but the agony and the ego pushing was unbearable. We had created a few exercises of training. 1st one was for a battle of many targets; we would find a good long path of trees and run through them, we would have to cut every branch off in our path before they smacked into our faces. 2nd was for blocking; we would pick up small stones and we’d throw them at the man training. We didn’t really bother throwing stones at Mauna, because the worst case scenario in a real fight for her was to be sliced into many pieces, and thus she’d just reform herself. Vion insisted on the third exercise. We had to build our reaction speed, by closing our eyes and then opening when the partner said he or she was attacking. I didn’t find that exercise very useful, because in a fight, everything slows down by itself. I guessed it was part of my “gift.” 4th one was the hardest; it was Pias’ idea. We had to sprint a lap around the lake containing Solwashi, and jump over the head of one of us watching once you had finished.
I was pretty good at the first exercise; my light and powerful sword helped with the momentum shifts. Rorden and Vion were better than I was, maybe because their weapons were lighter and less clunky. Chen-glok and Pias did as well as me, even though they had heavy weaponry. Utof, with his huge war hammer, smashed the entire tree trunks with a light smash, but his slow attack repositioning made him miss many targets. Maurna was using the same scimitar, which she had used at the tournament about a week ago.
The next exercise, the stone throwing one was also challenging, but not enough to slow me down. The momentum changes were hard to calculate; I even pulled a few muscles. Maurna’s liquid body allowed her to just continuously rotate her arms and block all rocks and even if she missed some, they’d just absorb into her and sink out of her feet. Utof was surprisingly good at this exercise; he’d just use the pole of his hammer to block everything. Pias had his shield to block, but the rest showed some impressive skills as well.
Third exercise was also easy. I saw the battlefield in slow motion before this training, so quick a reaction to a random attack, was fairly easy for me. Every one else found the exercise a little difficult. Maurna often would get sliced, because of her unique arm movements and her less solid anatomy, but she ignored the fact she wasn’t meant to a fighter and pressed on.
I wasn’t good at the last one. Pias, who suggested it ran the whole, about 1km full speed with ease and gracefully flipped over Chen-glok’s head. Vion was older, slower and weaker, Utof made crashing footprints every step, Chen-glok ran quite fast and jumped well over my head, Rorden had a little trouble on the leaping, because he was the shortest, Maurna couldn’t run long distances, or she would collapse, myself, I sprinted the km barely and when I tried to leap over Maurna, I knew I couldn’t, I jumped waist high and splattered Maurna into pieces. The other warriors laughed and Maurna got angry, but I knew I could only get better, I just needed time.
Those exercises usually took us about three hours. After we did those we would just have regular exibition matches. I was usually a victor, because of my speed and technical skills, but if I were ever caught off guard, their extreme power, experience and instinct of showing no mercy, would certainly threaten my life. We’d plan a 10 hour training session every day. But each day we came back, I was the only one who ached in pain. The warriors, by blood, were already as tough as can be. Training barely increased their strength, so they came in every day looking for more action. I, however, came in with only the instinct in my heart to get stronger and prove myself. Maurna had no bones, no muscles and couldn’t really feel pain. The training was rough and excruciating, I only hope that it would be enough.

* * * * * *

Days before, when Elesia left, she flew towards her palace near my town. Runar was out far away looking for me and it was safe enough for Elesia to make a public return. She spotted her palace from up in the air and made a landing at the front gate. When she landed, a guard stepped in front of her, to stop her. He soon realized that she was royal from the wings, then realized it was Elesia after taking a quick look at her face. He grabbed her shoulder and asked in worry, “Your Majesty! Where have you been? You’ve been gone for nearly three days! We all thought you had been slain by Runar!”
She answered nicely, “You need not worry servant.” She took his hand off, “When Runar murdered my father, I got away. I had…retreated to a…a friend’s home for a while, until it’s safe.”
The guard informed Elesia, “You need not worry Princess. Runar is away looking for that Herridan. Rumors say Herridan has burnt down two small villages. Security is tight, Herridan cannot get in, and I believe Runar is so hell bent on capturing Herridan, that he won’t attack you again.”
She asked, “When is Runar’s return?”
He answered, “He wants to return to his castle in one month, then he will be staying here in five weeks from now.”
Elesia thought, “That doesn’t give them much time.”
The guard looked at her dirty, ripped clothing. “You must have been doing a lot of flying. Your clothes are ruined and you look like you haven’t slept in days.” Elesia looked at him angrily. The guard apologized, “Please forgive my rude remark.”
Elesia said nicely, “Do not worry, your eyes tell me you love to think beyond. Please except my forgiveness and escort me to my room.”
He solute “Yes your majesty.”
When Elesia was being escorted, everyone in the palace was staring at Elesia, like she was a ghost. They wanted to greet her, but they knew the thank she wanted was to be freshened up, so they just continued their work. When she got to her room, her maids were very happy to see her and began to dress her in new clothes immediately. Elesia sat down on her chair in front of a mirror and the maids started. As she was unwrinkling Elesia gown, a maid asked, “It must have been horrible.”
Elesia’s other maid added, “Yes, that Runar man, colder than ice. Must have been dreadful.”
Elesia replied, “It yes my father was a great man, like the men before him, he was murdered by Emperor Runar.”
A maid replied, “And that monster went after you didn’t he?”
The other maid added, “But you got away right?”
A pause. Then a tear came out from Elesia’s eye. “Please don’t talk about it Tell me what has been happening around our town?”
The first maid moved over to her hair and combed it. She answered, “The town is in a big dither about that Herridan fellow.” Elesia paid more attention.
The second maid continued, “It’s an even split of who believes that tail man is good or evil. I think it’s a great idea for the Emperor to go after that little mistake. He’ll be nothing, but trouble in my picture.” Elesia listened to their messages.
The first one explained, “I think that Herridan boy is a courageous man. He stood up against a lot of odds, but did he really do all those bad things?”
Elesia turned to both of them and asked, “What do you two honestly think of him?”
The second maid answered, “He’s as bad as Runar.”
The first one crossed all her arms and said, “If he lost the tail and grew some other arms he would be a handsome one.” She giggled and then they all giggled.
Elesia looked like the gorgeous Princess that she was with her new clothes. The second maid left, but the first one stayed. Elesia asked her, “Oh, Lopa. I don’t want to see Herridan get hurt. I just hope Runar doesn’t find his hiding place.”
Lopa replied, “I wouldn’t worry. From what you told me on that hectic night three days ago, he’s in good, ‘hands’ at Solwashi. Oh before I forget, Dulahin the master sage, returned to his home to discuss very, very important matters. Channdis is giving speeches around town in support for Herridan. Perhaps you should go and talk to him later.” Elesia nodded and thanked her servant and friend, Lopa.
Elesia later on had a ‘welcome home’ feast that night and then went to bed. Thinking only of me and what I was doing. I was training by sunset to sunrise, to prepare. For her, for myself, for everybody. Time was ticking.
The next morning Elesia planned to see Channdis, for more in-depth information on our situation. It was about noon and I was asleep on my blob, living bed thing, which I named George. Elesia was on a carriage to the town, Vinna. Many people saw her as she passed through town. Most of them were happy to see her. A small countable number of people didn’t flock around her carriage. At Town Square, there was a huge crowd of people. In the center of the crowd was Channdis. He was giving a lecture on my behalf. Elesia asked her driver to park along the street, so she could listen to Channdis. Elesia heard mid way of Channdis’ lecture.
“…That is if we can’t stop him. Runar cheated his way through that trail and we know it. Herridan is innocent. He was my slave like I said before; he was the greatest friend I have ever had. And you people first thought of him as a stereotype, then a serial murderer, now I hope you see him as your savior. So please, if you ever do see him, please protect him, you won’t regret it. That’s all I can say.”
People mumbled and whispered to each other about me as they left. Once the crowd died Elesia stepped forward to Channdis. Channdis was looking the other way at some children playing. When he was tapped on the shoulder.
He turned around and exclaimed, “Wow! Princess Elesia! What an unexpected surprise!”
Elesia said to Channdis, “I must speak to you.”
Channdis grabbed her shoulder and took her down an alley. He told her, with great fear, “The unthinkable has happened. I must speak to you!”
Elesia ordered her carriage driver to take them to Channdis’ home. During the trip they didn’t say a word. After they arrived, Elesia ordered the driver to return to the palace, she would fly home when she was done. So he did. Channdis and Elesia walked inside his house and went to the study.
Channdis asked Elesia to have a seat, “This will take a while.” He told her. Elesia got comfortable, by placing her wings behind the back of the chair and straightening her gown out. Channdis let out a deep breath and started. He pulled out a book. The book was extremely old. So old it was falling apart, because the pages couldn’t stay strong anymore. He asked Elesia, “Before I start laying this down. Where is Herridan?”
Elesia answered, “He’s training with my five best warriors at Solwashi.”
Channdis replied, “Solwashi…hmm…did that Aquasian take him there through the aquifer?” Elesia nodded. Channdis politely asked, “I’m sorry about your father. Runar went too far and you had to order your men to train with Herridan to give an attack on Runar?”
Elesia was calmed down a bit and said to Channdis, “Yes, an attack might be a little risky, but I was too anxious for some revenge. I can’t call them off or their training would be waste. Oh what a fool I’ve been…”
Before she could finish, Channdis interrupted. “No no no! The training is a good thing. Frankly I hope they’re training harder then their limits for what’s coming.” Elesia didn’t understand. Channdis further explained, “Not only is Runar searching for Herridan and trying to protect himself, he’s searching for something else. Do you have any idea why Runar is so blindly obsessed with killing Herridan?”
Elesia answered, “Because, according to prophecies, Herridan is the only one who can slay him and take his throne.”
Channdis nodded, “Yes that is the main reason, but why do you think, at this moment in time, Runar really wants to keep his throne?”
Elesia shrugged, “I don’t know.”
Channdis opened his book, he flipped a few pages, carefully, pointed to an illustration and turned the book right side up and show it to Elesia. Elesia gasped and clutched her mouth. She saw the illustration. It was in colour; it took up half the page. The illustration was a symbol of four pieces. The symbol made some sort of palm and three fingers, made from drop like shapes. The front one, or the palm, was the largest; it was red. The two drops on the topsides of the big drop, were pointing inwards and were much smaller. The left one was green; the right one was blue. The top one was the smallest. It was right above the large palm drop in the center, but the being held up by the points of the two side drops. It was pointing upwards and was yellow. It seemed so simple, but seemed to be very powerful.
Elesia knew what the symbol was; it was the most feared symbol in everybody’s mind. Elesia couldn’t bear looking at it anymore, so she pushed it away. She started to break a few tears and cried, “What are you suggesting? Runar is going after that?”
Channdis softly assured her, “These are just theories. Runar has the insane, sadistic, evil mind for the quest, but the odds are too much against him. I have heard, Master Dulahin has left to study in the great libraries and I might want to spy on him. I however, think I might know why now.” Elesia wiped her tears and stood from her chair.
She told Channdis, “I’ve heard enough. I’m going to Solwashi to warn Herridan!”
Channdis argued, “No! We don’t know where Runar is or what he’s doing; he’s become suspicious of you, so if you get caught on route, he’ll surely kill you. We don’t want that. Stay at the Palace until we know for sure, that Runar is at his castle. Then that will give you a few days, before he comes to your castle.” Elesia didn’t want to stay, but she knew he was right.
So Elesia left Channdis’ house and went to the Palace. All she could do was sit and wait for a month. She said to me, “Don’t fail me…Herridan.” She closed her eyes.