Leif Denien Chapter 5

Leif Denien
Chapter Five

Leif woke up the next morning heart pounding. What time of day was it! The sun was quite high in the sky. Leif gasped. He might miss the trials! Leif jumped up and gathered himself. Was last night a dream? Leif looked down, and to his surprise, there was still a burn mark where the stone had been. Leif looked at his hand. He was no longer glowing.

Leif ran home as fast as he could to get supplies for the trial. He crept up the stairs. Opening the door as quietly as he could, he grabbed a few apples from the bushel on their table. Leif tip-toed to the front door.

“Leif-” his father’s voice came from behind him. Leif froze, and slowly turned around.

“You aren’t going to change my mind,” Leif said stubbornly.

“I know that now, and I respect your decision.” Jason smiled. “I’m sorry for getting so upset. It should have been your decision all along. Though being a blacksmith was my dream, I realize that your dream is different. I have something for you, that will hopefully aid you in the trials. I made this for you.”

Jason then revealed the most beautiful sword Leif had ever seen from behind his back. The sheath was leather, with silver and blue gems carefully set. Leif gasped. Leif ran forward and embraced his father.

“The sheath is only the oyster, now pull out the pearl.” He handed the sheath to Leif. Leif carefully pulled out the blade. It was perfectly balanced. Tears came to Leif’s eyes. Engraved on the blade was the Denien crest, a lion with dragon wings.

“I-” Leif choked again. It was the finest blade he had ever seen. “Dad, I-” he burst into tears and embraced his father again. Jason held Leif closely and tightly.

“Happy Birthday, Leif,” he smiled.

“Oh, dad!” Leif sheathed the sword and attached the fine blade to his waist.

“Now hurry, or you will miss the trials.” Jason smiled. Leif’s eyes opened in surprise. He gasped, wiped the tears from his eyes and ran to the battleground.

Henriton and Maryon were waiting for him. Maryon smiled and Leif returned the gesture. Both Zach and Yurken were already there. Zach and Leif shook hands and Yurken gave Leif a searing glare. Leif returned it with equal hatred.

“For your first trial, you must find an arquill and retrieve its feathers.” Henriton announced.

“So, what’s an arquill?” Zach asked.

“You will see,” Maryon said winking. “We have an enclosed area for you to hunt in. There will be only one living creature inside beside the competitors. The arquill. This way please.”

They were led to a fenced off area of the forest. The sun was quite high. Leif took out an apple and was munching on it while Maryon continued the instructions.

“You all have one day to find the arquill and retrieve the feathers. You may use any method to find and kill the arquill.” he emphasized any method and glanced at Leif. Leif knew exactly what he was talking about. He knew that Leif had found the stone. “When your time is up, or one of the other competitors have found the arquill and brought back its feathers we will blow this horn. We will also blow it as a signal to begin. This trial will award the winner two points. The first competitor to ten points will gain the honor of captain’s assistant, which will replace the captain of the guard when he is relieved from duty. The next to ten points will become a standard guard. The last will not gain a position on the guard. Ready?”

They all muttered a yes. Yurken glanced enviously at Leif’s sword. Leif smiled and stroked the sheath, resting his hand on the hilt. The horn blew and they all dashed into the forest.

Leif ran to the right, scanning the forestry for the arquill. The other two ran in different directions and Leif lost view of them.

Leif ran for what seemed like hours. He finally decided that he was getting nowhere. Leif ran up to a tree and climbed it. The forest was large, but he could still see the fence that kept him, and whatever he was after from escaping. He saw something moving further in the forest. That must be the arquill! He jumped down, then ran at full speed toward the moving creature. It was either the arquill or one of the other competitors. Then he saw it. There was what looked like a peacock.

“A peacock?” Leif asked himself. Why would they give him a peacock to fight? This shouldn’t be difficult. Then he noticed. This wasn’t a peacock. When he spoke it had noticed him and turned, revealing the sharp teeth in its beak. Its talons had spikes all over. Leif took out his sword. It flashed its tail feathers making it look ten times bigger. It's tail feather's were red with black eyes imprinted onto them. It screeched loudly in anger. It bared its teeth and started running at Leif. It was terrifying. It's eyes were red and it was panting heavily. Leif braced himself.

As the monster reached him he drew his sword upwards. It stopped and kept trying to intimidate Leif. He shouted a war cry and lunged at it. It backed off by a few feet. This bird was all show and no bite. Leif ran and swung his sword at it. It ducked and bit his leg. Maybe it did have a little bite.

Leif sliced it forcing it to let go of him. He winced in pain and crouched down. Tears came to his eyes in pain, but he wouldn't let that blind him. Leif rolled to the side as it ran past. It ran like lightning at Leif, and he barely side-stepped in time, for the peacock grazed his leg with its talons. Leif's leg burnt with pain. Leif held the wound. He jumped at his enemy and turned the sword upside down. He drove it down into the peacock which screeched and pulled itself away, furthering the damage. Leif pulled his sword out and watched as it ran around in circles. It soon dropped dead. Leif sighed a breath of relief. That had been close. Leif picked it up by its feet. Perhaps he could bring it home for them to eat and sell the feathers to an artisan.

He couldn’t believe it. He had won the first challenge! Leif ran back to the entryway. As he passed through the gate, a horn blew. Henriton still had the horn to his lips. Maryon winked at him and smiled. Leif was panting. His heart rate just began to drop. He started laughing.

“Woohoo!“ he shouted. He won!

“Congrats, Leif!“ Zach said patting him on the back. Yurken stormed past, throwing a tantrum of anger. Leif wiped his blade clean. Pride washed over him. He beat Yurken in the trials! Yurken might be good at individual sword play, but Leif had often gone hunting for his family and had become quite skilled.

“Well done, Leif,” Maryon said obviously pleased.

“Yes, I can see great potential in you on the guard.” Henriton shook his hand. Leif bowed to both of them.

“We will see you all tomorrow, here, at the same time.” Maryon tapped his staff on the ground.

“That’s it then?” Leif asked.

“Yes, you can do whatever you please with that arquill,” Henriton said. “It will fetch a high price on the market. Here, take this sack.” He handed Leif a rough sack. Leif thanked his two teachers and began the process of extracting the feathers. It took him several minutes. He finally finished when the sun was setting. Leif wiped the sweat from staying in the sun away, and collected the feathers into the sack. He was on his way!

He strolled along the street with the sack over his shoulders and got numerous strange looks and one menacing one. It was Yurken. He didn't say anything but gave Leif an icy glare. Leif pretended not to notice and continued on its way. Leif suddenly remembered. He could stop by the artisan and sell the feathers. Leif soon arrived at the artisan's home. The artisan was known for his amazing work, but also for his solitude. His house was small, but cluttered.

Leif knocked politely and waited for an answer. The door had beautiful engravings that a king would pay handsomely for. The artisan pulled open the door a crack, and Herald peeked through.

"Hello Leif," he said quietly. The artisans name was Herald. He was very timid. Herald had never married. "What have you got there?" he asked with a strange gleam in his eyes.

"This is a bag of wild arquill feathers," Leif answered proudly.

"Arquill?" he answered curiously. He opened the door and let Leif in. The house was cluttered with beads, feathers, jewels, and more. There were many beautiful works of art which Herald probably would acquire a large sum of money for. He snatched the pack away and emptied its contents. The black and red feathers floated down to the ground onto a mat which was beautiful, but not as beautiful as his mother's. "Oh my goodness!" he shouted. "These are arquill feathers! These are beautiful, and not only that but rare and hard to come by! How on earth did you retrieve these!"

"I killed one," Leif said with shock and curiosity.

"You did not!" Herald said with shock and awe. "Arquill are some of the most dangerous creatures in the forest."

"I didn't kill it without a nice tear in the leg though." Leif said looking at his bloodstained pants.

"Oh, these will fetch a high price. How much are you selling for?" Herald asked with his eyes wide.

"They will be thirty gold pieces for the sack, please," Leif said.

"Done," Herald said, knowing that he had gotten a bargain. He could sell them for one hundred gold pieces on the market or even better in his own creations. He laughed with glee. "You are a wonderful boy," he said stroking a feather. "If you want work I could hire you to obtain precious items like this, and I would pay you well."

“I’m going to be on the city guard. That’s how I obtained these feathers in the first place.”

“Oh, well then, you can just sell me everything you retrieve from these, ‘Trials’.” Herald rubbed his hands together and grinned from ear to ear.

Leif pondered this offer for a while. He could use some gold to supply his family. He thought long and hard. Herald intently awaited an answer.

"Alright," Leif said with positively. He grinned to himself. He could get quite a bit of gold from this.

"Good, good, good," Herald said almost dancing. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sounds fair," Leif said smiling at his new side employer. "Goodbye," Leif said opening the door to leave.

"Goodbye," Herald said. Leif left the door and jumped into the air for joy. He ran home to tell his parents the good news. He opened the door and ran in. His mother was knitting and paused to acknowledge her son.

"Mother, I have great news!" Leif said excitedly.

"What is it?" She asked genuinely.

"I will be working for Herald the artisan on the side by collecting rare items for his crafts. He will also sell them on the market!”

She got up and hugged her son with pride. Leif tossed her the bag of thirty coins that he had received for the feathers.

“Oh my goodness,” She said in amazement. “Jason, take a look at this!”

Jason’s eyes widened as he entered the room. Leif smiled in pride. He knew his father would be proud of him.