Dreams in Eldrim; Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Knight Cody and the Pilgrimage



"So why'd you come to Gelem?" Erica asked, "I mean, it couldn't have been easy, and you must have left your home town all by yourself...  At your age... um... our age..."

"Well, it's about what I wanted to do with my life.” Don explained, “See, I want to become a knight, and that never could've happened in Troma.  I had to go someplace where I could find training in combat, and I was about to head out to Arin, but in the end, I decided to stop here.  I figured that I might get the chance to find out more about the knights; how they train, how they're selected, what kinds of skills they need.  That sort of thing.  I might even be able to figure out how far I still have to go."

"But I just don't get it..." Erica muttered as she seemed to ponder the boy's situation with growing wonderment, "How could you be out here all alone, away from everybody you've ever met in your life?"

Don, however, wasn't sure how to answer that, so he looked away from her for a moment.  However, when he eventually spoke up again, all he could really think about was his discontentment over some of the things he'd gone through in the recent part.  He didn't even notice that all the other kids seemed to be ignoring him.

"I couldn't stay there anymore." Don said at last, "I mean, I know I had a few friends there, and it is a little hard being out here alone, but Troma felt a lot like a prison for years, because of..."

Don trailed off as he tried to explain it,  but finally, he gave up on that, and just said, "I guess what mattered most to me was doing what I wanted to do with my own life; having the chance to really get what I wanted for the first time.  Maybe that's a little selfish, but the way the people of Troma live...  I never could've put up with that kind of life unless I was sure I was strong enough to defend myself.  That's why I wanted to be a knight."

Erica looked astonished by Don's words.  She seemed to have recognized that he was extremely driven and determined.  It must have seemed, to her, like there was nothing in his life that he cared about as much as his dream; no fear that was strong enough to hold him back.

However, there was something else about Don that Erica seemed to have found amazing, besides just his strength of will.  He was pretty good at reading people, and what he saw in Erica's face looked a little bit like envy, as if she wanted to be in his position; traveling from town to town, on an adventure of her own.

"But, how did you climb that wall?" Erica insisted on asking again, as if to distract herself from the feelings of jealousy that Don had noticed in her face, "How did you get here from Troma in the first place?"

"I practiced climbing trees in an orchard in my hometown." Don replied offhandedly, "It took me a while to get good enough at it, but there's so many rocks coming out of that wall, climbing up them wasn't much harder.  I just had to pack a compass, a tent, some food, a little water and a few other things to get me all the way here from my hometown.  I'll bet my dad misses me, but he didn't want to let me become a knight, or even a soldier.  He didn't agree with what I wanted to do with my life."

Don fell silent at that point, though, and Erica looked more amazed than ever.  For a moment, he was starting to see suspicion in her face, as if she was on the verge of calling him a liar, and he could understand why.  His story was pretty amazing, almost to the point of being unbelievable.  Most people wouldn't even have accepted that someone could be so driven to become a knight, that they'd make an enemy of their own father, and leave everyone they'd ever known behind, but she also seemed to have a glimmer of hope in her eyes after a few seconds, as if he'd given her some kind of example to follow, or inspiration for her own life.  From that point on, he could tell that she was at least going to try to follow him while he was in Gelem.  She seemed very excited, and eager to find out what he was planning to do next.  He only wished that he'd had better plans himself.

"So, what can you tell me about the knights?" Don began, curiously, "Is there some way to find out more about them here?  I know they mainly train in the castle, which is where they keep their supplies and weapons when they're not on a mission, but is there some way I could find out more about what it takes to be a knight?  Is there anybody around who can give me that kind of advice?"

"I...  I'm not sure.” Erica replied at last, looking pretty sad over not being able to tell Don much of anything useful, “Most of them live in the inner courtyards.  I guess they probably train in there, but they don't usually come out unless there's an emergency, or one of them's being reassigned."

"You must get to see them a lot, though." Don replied with a brief grin.  Erica just shrugged for a moment, however, apparently not sure how to reply to that.

"Well, their job is to protect the people of Gram." Erica replied after just a few seconds, apparently reciting what little she knew about the knights, "I've never heard of one of them training others to be warriors.  Mostly, military training is done by the army veterans, and it's the same in Arin, from what I've heard.  Arin has even better facilities than we do for training soldiers, though."

"Wow." Don said in amazement, as he absorbed the new information, "Have you ever been there?"

"No, I've...  I've..."

For a moment, Erica hesitated in whatever she'd been about to say.  She started to look depressed after a couple of seconds, but before long, she seemed to realize that Don was still waiting for the rest of her answer,

"I read about it in a book." Erica finished, though she still looked nervous and discontented with having to give Don that kind of reply.

"Yeah.  Alright." he said with a shrug, hoping that Erica could get over whatever was bugging her, though he wasn't really satisfied at all, "I found out lots of stuff about the other towns of Gram from books, but I didn't know the specifics about who taught combat training.  Do you think there's anybody else here in town that I could learn from; somebody who's really skilled at something practical for a knight?  For that matter, are there any real knights living in the outer courtyard?"

The continual questioning didn't seem to be making Erica feel any better, however.  In fact, she looked more nervous than ever.  Don suspected that she was probably wrestling with some kind of fear or some feeling of shame, but if she didn't want to bring it up with him, he didn't really feel compelled to ask her about it.

"A few of the knights do live here in town, because they have families here and want to be close to them, but there was one who decided to live here a while back, just because he wanted to be closer to the people he was protecting.  He only goes into the castle when it's his turn to serve as guardian.  His name's Cody, and I hear he used to be one of the toughest knights.  If you really want to talk to somebody about what it takes, I'd go to him, but he can be a little...  Well, he's kind of unreliable.  Sometimes he's in a good mood.  Other times he's not."

"Well, sure, but I think most people are like that." Don replied with a brief shrug, "That sounds like a decent place to start, though.  Do you know where he lives?"

"Yeah." Erica replied, "He's halfway across town, clockwise from here on a street called DaSilva.  His is the third house down."

However, as Erica tried to give Don directions, a blank look spread across his face, and after a few additional attempts, she seemed to have realized that he wasn't following her at all.  He was terrible at following vocal directions, and she wasn't, it seemed, all that good at giving them, so in the end, she just gave up trying.

"Alright." Erica said at last, seemingly in resignation, "I'll take you to his house, but I'm not going inside.  I'm going to hide around one corner of his house, while you knock on his front door, and I don't even want you to tell him I'm there, alright?"

Don was a little confused by that request, but he just nodded.  It didn't make much difference to him whether Erica followed him inside or not, and he didn't see any reason to insist on doing things differently.  After all, she was helping him get that much closer to his dreams, and that was good enough for him.



Don and Erica only needed to walk for a few minutes to reach the house of the knight named Cody.  All things considered, it was surprisingly small, with only one floor, and it didn't seem to be more than five yards across in one direction, though it was more like seven the other way.  It was just enough room for a person to live in, though it definitely wasn't luxurious at all.

Don waited impatiently as Erica snuck around one side of the house, before knocking boldly on the knight's front door.  In only a few moments, it had swung open, and inside, there stood a man of about sixty years of age.  His muscles were well-built and clearly very strong, and his side-whiskers were long and gray.  Most importantly, Don could immediately tell that he was a knight, because of the tough, hardened look in his eyes.  He seemed a little irritated when he saw the red-haired boy on his doorstep, but in spite of that, he was at least trying to be civilized.

"Can I help you with something, Mister...?" the knight asked, probing for information, but careful not to commit to anything.

"Don." Don replied, his fears quickly fading as he faced the older man directly, seeing mainly opportunity in the old knight's presence, "I'm trying to become a knight.  Can you tell me the best way to do that?  I'm just looking for some basic direction; maybe even a little training if you can manage it."

"Well, I'm Cody." the knight said, sounding surprised by the request, "The best way to become a knight, eh?"

For a few moments, Cody seemed lost in thought, but finally, he said "I can tell you all the ways that people have reached knighthood recently, and I can tell you which one I think is best, but you'll have to make your own choice."

"So what's the problem?" Don asked a bit brusquely, his eagerness for the information shoving aside his worry about the possibility of Cody taking offense, "What does it take to be a knight?"

"You really want me to tell you?" the knight asked, "I mean, right here and now?"

Don nodded quickly, with a very determined expression as he stared directly into the older man's eyes.  However, it seemed that Cody wasn't quite ready to explain something that complicated; at least not right on his doorstep.

"Well, I can tell you what you need to know." Cody said after only a short time, "I can give you the official word, and I can give you my advice, but I can't do it right here.  Why don't you come inside for a minute?  In fact, if your friend wants to come in too, you can bring her along as well."

Don was a little surprised by the invitation, but certainly not upset.  Quickly, he turned towards the corner of the house, where Erica had been hiding and said "It's alright.  He's in a good mood.  You can come out now."



Of course, Erica had heard what the old knight had said, and it had scared her in a lot of ways.  She was sure that she'd been well-hidden, but Cody had noticed her in an almost casual way.  He'd accepted her presence quickly and easily, of course, and as a knight and a fellow human being, Erica had no reason not to trust him, but the old knight's power to sense her presence had scared her just as much as when she'd first seen Don climb over the wall of the outer courtyard.  It was a strange ability that she didn't have or understand, and it made her nervous.

Despite all that nervousness, Erica hesitantly followed Don as he stepped into Cody's house, watching him in amazement.  Cody led the two children into a small, kitchen area, where he offered each of them a chair to sit in, just a moment later.  As soon as all three of them were seated, Cody spoke up again to Don, looking very curious, but still calm as well, as if he wasn't sure what to really think.

"Now, you said you wanted me to tell you how to become a knight.” Cody began, still in a very casual tone of voice, “Just to be friendly, let me start out by doing that.  The easiest way to become a knight, for you, would be to join the army right now.  Once you're in the army, just train in everything they teach you until you become more talented than the your fellow soldiers.  Conduct yourself with honor and decency, and be fair and just in everything you do.  Obey orders in battle, unless you know there's a better way to reach victory that you can accomplish alone, that'll cost fewer lives.  Save a lot of people's lives and eventually, you'll be noticed by the royal family for your skill and honor, then offered the position of a knight.  You're so young, that with a little hard work, you could probably be knighted in your teenage years, like Landry."

For a moment, Don just looked confused, and after a couple of seconds of puzzled silence, he asked "Landry?  Who's that?"

"Probably the most talented knight in Gelem, right now." Cody replied, though he clearly found the question surprising, "He did a lot of traveling when he was really young, and was awarded knighthood without even entering the army.  He's one of the knights who actually completed the pilgrimage."

Don just looked amazed by the description that he’d just been given of Landry, and it seemed to had prompted him to make some kind of decision, but he kept his vow silent, so Erica couldn’t tell what it was.  However, there was something about Cody's words that had obviously made the red-haired boy feel a little confused too.

"You could have told me all that on the doorstep." Don reasoned with a puzzled, and slightly suspicious look on his face, "You like it when knights complete the pilgrimage, don't you?"

For the first time, a look of satisfaction spread across Cody's features.  Don didn't seem like he knew much about the pilgrimage, but he'd definitely been seriously studying knighthood before he'd knocked on the old knight’s door, and he was obviously paying very close attention to what Cody was saying as well, because he'd hit the nail right on the head.

"Yes." Cody admitted very seriously, "You wanted to know how to become a knight, and now I've told you, but let me tell you something else; knights today are nothing like what they used to be.  If today's knights were held up to the same standard as in the old days, there'd be maybe five or six knights in the whole country."

"People nowadays just aren't vigilant enough." Cody continued bitterly, "They don't realize that there's danger hanging right over their heads.  Maybe I'm just an old man who can't learn to adapt to the times, but when I was just a boy, being a knight really meant something.  The king's knights weren't just another level to the military; they were the best."

Don's eyes widened as he listened to Cody's story of bygone times.  It fascinated him, because being the best that he could be was something he'd longed for, for quite a while.

"When I was young," Cody explained, "you could get to be a knight by serving in the military, but only if you did a lot of traveling.  Soldiers had to complete a tour of duty in each of the eight major cities of Gram, and demonstrate that they'd learned as much as they could from each of those towns before they were even considered for knighthood.  It was much quicker to become a knight without joining the army, if you were strong enough.”

“Young people; both men and women, went on an extensive pilgrimage all across Gram, learning to master their bodies, their words, their weapons, their jerah techniques, their souls, their understanding of justice and peacemaking, and finally, their devotion to the cause of protecting others, and obedience to their superiors, who shared that cause.  Unfortunately, the standards for knighthood were relaxed about twenty years ago."

"Why?" Don asked, both fascinated and confused by the strange tale.

"Because most people who went on those pilgrimages died." Cody replied, "The land was a little wilder back then, and monsters were bolder when they went on the attack.  Anyone who wanted to become a knight had to be confronted with challenge after challenge, endangering their own lives quite a few times.  There was nothing more dangerous, but because their training was so harsh and the danger was so great, the knights that emerged during those years were really something to see.  They went into battle in carefully-planned formation, each fighting with a hundred clever techniques and backup plans at the ready.  It seemed like there was no stopping them."

Erica, however, had started to look horrified by what she'd just heard, and spoke up a second later, hoping to inject some clear reason into the conversation between the old man and the young boy who seemed to want knighthood so badly.

"Why would they do it if they knew that so many of them were going to die?" she asked, "Why did the crown let it continue like that for so long?"

"You've lived in a city that's mostly peaceful, so you don't know what it's like to live in constant danger." Cody said, a little sadly, "Back then, no town or city was safe.  Let me ask you something.  How much do you know about the force called 'the enemy?'"

Erica was even more horrified when Cody asked her that.  In fact, she couldn’t even bring herself to reply.  Don, however, spoke up right away.

"The enemy's responsible for the wild monsters and curses that exist in the world." the red-haired boy said quickly, "I'm sorry, but I don't know any more than that."

"I see." Cody muttered, looking disappointed, "Well then, maybe I should tell you the truth about them.  Back when I first became a knight, they told us that our real enemies were immortal beings called daemons, who're the source of all the true magick in Eldrim."

Don looked astonished, but he didn't say a word.  He was listening intently, even as the look of terror on Erica's face worsened.

"We don't know much about the daemons because they can't appear in our world directly," Cody continued explaining, “but from everything we've heard, they have such immense powers, that if one of them were to appear just outside of Gelem, not only would they be able to destroy Gelem completely, but they might even pose a danger to our whole country, or even our whole world.  Eldrim is a big place, and there's a lot of it that we haven't explored, but the daemons are hideously powerful and vicious.  They're truly supernatural, and they have nothing but contempt for mortals.  For some reason, though, daemons don't seem to be able to enter Eldrim very easily.  We never found out why that was.  At the moment, all we know for sure is that they live somewhere in some other world, and they produce magick.  Then, they can control all the magick they create."

Erica was nearly shivering by that point, but Don merely looked grave as he continued listening.

"The thing is, daemon magick can't get into our world without the help of a jerah master.  If a jerah master starts using his powers to draw magick into the world, the daemon will usually 'reward' them by letting them cast a genuine magick spell.  It's really just a trap, though.  As soon as the jerah master casts his first spell, the daemon corrupts him from the inside, and he starts leaking magick into the world whenever he uses it.  When that happens, the jerah master becomes a sorcerer, and the stray magick left over from his spells usually takes the shape of dangerous monsters, once it enters the world."

Don paused for a few moments to think about that.  Jerah masters were very common in Gram.  Humans had three special glands in their bodies that were used for producing, processing and wielding an invisible force of energy called jerah, which could be used to perform minor feats, such as lighting torches without a flint or match, or healing small wounds.  The power of jerah usually wasn't particularly dazzling, but it was dependable and could be convenient to have around, so jerah masters were generally well-respected members of the community.

There were hundreds of people in Gram who'd devoted their lives to understanding jerah better and developing new, more practical ways to use it.  Don had never tried to use jerah himself, but from what he understood, it was an extremely versatile form of energy; capable of producing light, heat, cold, or even able to move small objects through the air if someone had enough practice with it.

Of course, like all the functions of the human body, jerah weakened as a person passed their prime, but from what Cody had just said, it sounded like magick was pretty similar to jerah, except much stronger and completely controlled by cruel and cunning creatures living in some world other than Eldrim.

"I don’t get it." Don said aloud, after thinking the situation over for just a moment, "Jerah masters are skilled craftsmen who work to protect the people of their community.  Why would they throw away the trust of the people they care about just to get their hands on a few magick spells?"

Cody didn’t seem to have a clear answer for that, however, and a moment later, he shrugged before he made any attempt to reply.

"Different people seem to have different reasons.  Some of them want revenge against one person in particular, to the point where they don't care about anything else.  Others seem to be so determined to make their mark on the world before they die, that it becomes a fixation.  There are a few who just want to be strong and don't care about anything else.  I've seen a lot of sorcerers in my life, though, and one thing they all had in common is that all of them are obsessed with power.”

“Sorcerers see the incredible feats that magick can perform, and they just don't think about anything else.” Cody continued after just a moment, “When they use magick, they get to feel like they're doing incredible things, even though someone else's power is being used for it.  They assume that that's what real power is, and after that, it becomes an obsession.  I know that might be a little tough to understand..."

"No, it's alright." Don replied with a grin and a nod, "Go ahead."

"Well, anyway, when I was young, people hadn't started using duranium weapons yet, and the monsters won their share of fights.” Cody continued, “Not only that, but there were many more sorcerers than there are now.  Sometimes, it seemed like the enemy was everywhere.  We lived in fear, because we never knew when some monster or magick-wielder might show up in our neighborhood and kill the people we cared about most; our friends and family.  Every day, we were scared of losing the people in our lives, and we recognized that any one of them could die at any time, and we couldn't do a thing about it.  That was why we decided to go on the pilgrimage in pursuit of knighthood.”

“There were only three kinds of people back then.  There were weak people, who couldn't even defend themselves, there were strong people who could protect themselves in a fight, and then there were knights.  They were the only kind of people who could actually protect others.  The knights could do more than just hold their own in a fight; they could protect a whole village full of people while they fought."

"Of course, a knight's real power didn't come from his armor, his sword or even his weapons.  It came from the skills that he learned on the pilgrimage.  Knights risked their lives again and again on that pilgrimage.  Most didn't make it, but the ones who pulled through and kept improving along the way were the greatest fighters in the whole kingdom; with armor or without it.”

“That kind of skill can't be learned from any one teacher, no matter how good they are.  You can only get it from experience; by going out into the world and testing yourself against the worst it has to offer.  Knights had to know all about the land they were trying to protect firsthand when I was young.  Now, most of them have never left the Gelem area at any point in their lives.  You can try to become a knight the quick and easy way if you want to, or you can put yourself in danger and do more to earn the title."

Don was amazed as he'd been listening to the old knight's somewhat bitter words, but he wasn't entirely sure what Cody was trying to imply, so after a few moments, he asked the old knight his question straight-out.

"Cody, I don't get it.  Why'd you tell me all that, anyway?  What do you want me to do?"

Cody looked a little sad, however, as he said "Are you asking me for my advice?"

At that point, it was Don's turn to shrug.

"I don't know." Don muttered, "I guess."

"In that case," Cody replied with a smile, leaning back in his seat, "my advice is this; don't waste your energy on trying to become a knight."

The moment that Don heard those words, however, an angry look started to spread across his face.

"I climbed trees and picked fruit for months so that I could be the best I could be at climbing and carrying heavy weights..." Don said, "I left my father, my friends and my home.  I headed out into the wilderness, walked all day, climbed the courtyard wall and came all the way here to talk to a really incredible knight, and I didn't do all of that for nothing.  Like it or not, I'm going to be a knight; I'm going to be one of the people who can defend their friends from the enemy, and even you can't tell me not to try."

Don looked as if he’d just blurted all of that out before he could stop himself, but given how strong his determination was, it would have obviously been hard to reply any other way.  As Cody had been describing the pilgrimage, Don seemed to have recognized a lot of the feelings and motivations that the older knight had been talking about.  Cody had described how people who were weak were willing to put themselves in danger in the hope of becoming strong enough to defend their loved ones, and the red-haired boy must have known all about that feeling, because it was the reason why he'd left home.

Erica could see it all in Don’s fiery expression.  He wasn't content with being weak, or even with being strong.  He wanted to be a knight so that he could protect the people in his life.  Don had all the same feelings and needs that had driven the old knights of the human alliance.  It had forced him to leave home and try his best to become a knight himself, because it was, as far as he could tell, the only way to get what he wanted.  However, although he'd gotten very upset with Cody just a moment before, the old knight didn't seem angry at all.  In fact, he looked almost pleased.

"If you want to protect the people who matter to you, go right ahead." Cody simply replied as soon as he was sure that Don's outburst was finished, "You don't have to be a knight to do that, but if that really is what you want, then you need to do a lot of exploring and learning.  Go out into the world.  See what's out there.  Learn about life.  The enemies that the knights fight are some of the strongest in the world.  You can't become that powerful unless you know what the world is really like.  The only way to know that is to do a lot of traveling, and you can't travel without being in danger.  If you really want to be a knight, don't waste your time worrying about it.  Just try to be the best you can be.  That's my advice."

Don's anger started to fade again as Cody talked, but it wasn't just because his reply had been a sensible one.  At first, it had seemed as though Cody was trying to keep him from his dream somehow.  Obviously, that wasn't the case.  The old knight just wanted to make sure that Don really knew what he wanted.  At last, however, as that realization sunk in, the boy had one more thing to ask the old, experienced knight about.

"You said Landry was really talented." Don said, his anger having vanished almost completely by that point, "How did he become a knight?"

Cody smiled broadly when Don asked him that, however.

"Twelve years ago, Landry came to my house, like you just did." Cody replied, still smiling as he explained how things had happened, "He told me that he wanted to be one of the greatest knights who ever lived, and asked me how to do that.  I told him about the pilgrimage and the danger, like I told you just now.  After that, he went through with it, though I obviously wasn't watching him the whole time."

"Yeah." Don muttered, apparently thinking it over in silence for a while.  At last, however, he started to get to his feet and spoke up again.

“That's the kind of knight I want to be."

"Well, you're going to be in a lot of danger, then," Cody replied, "but I suppose that doesn't make any difference to you."

"It's not going to stop me." Don admitted resolutely.

"No." Cody said with a frown, "I didn't think so.  You've got a lot of enthusiasm, Don, but you'll need more than that to survive the pilgrimage.  Keep trying to improve as much as you can."

Once again, Don nodded quickly, then headed for the doorway out in just another second, which Erica took as a signal to follow him.  However, before they could leave. Cody spoke up one last time, drawing their attention at once.

"Before you leave Gelem, I recommend going to the front gates of the inner courtyard and pulling on the chain that's embedded in one of the walls." Cody continued as Don quickly turned to face him, "At that point, the gates should open, and a guard will come out to speak with you.  Tell him you're there to watch the competition, and then follow him.  He'll show you something interesting.  Watch it carefully, but don't try to get involved."

"Huh?" Don asked, a little confused, "What's the big secret?  What do you want me to see?"

"The competition," Cody explained, "is a contest of weapons skill between some of the most talented amateurs in the kingdom.  Victors aren't always awarded knighthood, but their names frequently come up first.  I want you to watch their techniques carefully, because if you really want to be the kind of knight that Landry is, you'll need to be better and more skilled than any of them."

When he heard that, the boy with the red hair started to grin eagerly again, clearly looking forward to the experience.

"Bye, Cody." Don replied, "Thanks.  I really owe you."

"Goodbye, Don.  Good luck on your pilgrimage." Cody replied, even less reserved with his remarks than Don was, and in just a few moments, the young boy had left by the front door, with Erica following him.  However, when she took one glance back into the knight's kitchen, where the old man sat alone, she could see that Cody had a broad, hopeful smile on his face.