A Warrior's Redemption

  *****

  I walked through the corridors of the castle headed for the hall to which I had been summoned by my grandfather. The clothes I wore had been delivered to my quarters early this morning and had been accompanied by a note that stated that I needed to come to the chamber that I was headed toward now. As I made my way past servants and guards alike, I was the recipient of overly reverent displays of respect. I had to admit that I did feel rather lordly, as I strode through the timeworn halls of my forefathers.

  The orange tunic I wore, on which was the family crest of arms, was trimmed on the fringes and arms with tanned deer hide. The crest of arms itself was unlike any I had ever seen before. The crest was of a doubled edged sword shining brightly, its point thrust down into a field of azure blue from which lighting strikes of a fiery gold color radiated out into the surrounding azure blue sea. The crest was surrounded by a burnt orange backdrop with the words, ‘Keepers of the Word’ written in purple and outlined in silver across the top of the crest. My pants were of a deep purple with silver stripes going up and down the sides. It may have been a bit ostentatious, but I liked it.

  I entered the hall where all the hubbub and chatter was coming from, figuring that was as good a guess as any as to my destination. When I entered the room full of finely dressed people, the chatter immediately stilled. Was I in the wrong room? I kind of hoped that I was and I was about to turn away when I saw Thaddeus in the glittering throng. He came to my side with a sly smile. What was he up to? He turned to face the crowd of castle lords and their attendants.

  “My fellow lords, it is with great joy that I present to you all my grandson and only heir, Roric Ta’lont.”

  Instead of applause at the proclamation, I was surprised to see looks of seriousness come over the faces of the finely dressed northern castle lords. They set down their cups and approached one by one to stand quietly before me and Thaddeus. They then knelt down on one knee before me, surprising me even further.

  One lord spoke up as a spokesman for the others. “It is with great relief that in these troubled times the Creator of us all has given his servants a warrior of the house of Ta’lont to once again lead us into the battle fray. We, and all that we possess, are at your disposal for the great conflict ahead of us all.”

  With that he bowed his head in a show of fealty, which was echoed by the others. I stepped forward and knelt as they had done before me. At my strange action they looked at me curiously.

  “I am but a common man. I have been a slave and now I am a free man. I am not worthy of the honor you bestow on me as your leader, but I accept it. I ask, rather than a belief in a man of the house of Ta’lont, that we all rise giving our fealty and faith to the Creator of us all, who is able to deliver us from our enemies far above the actions of just one man.”

  The castle lord’s spokesman shook his head wonderingly and said, “Long has it been said that the aspect of humility present in those of the house of Ta’lont has been forever their greatest of strengths.”

  I rose and the castle lords rose with me. I raised my hand in a clenched fist, “Not by might, not by power, but by the Spirit of the Living God will we attain the victory over our enemies.”

  In unison, the castle lords repeated my words, shaking their fists in the air, while those in the hall around us erupted with applause at my choice of words. I turned to my grandfather, who leaned heavily on his cane, emotion heavy upon his face.

  “The Creator is good to show an old man once again the strength and righteousness of my son magnified even greater in the form of my grandson. The blessings of the Creator upon you my son! You have made me a very happy old man!”

  I turned back to the room and the continued applause. How had a farm boy - former arena slave - former robber baron, come to a position of prestige such as what had been bestowed on me? The Creator’s doing was the only answer to that question. He certainly wasn’t a respecter of persons to have picked someone like me for such honor.

  The castle lords came forward and introduced themselves to me. Their spokesman was Nannarin of Castle Esthol. The other were as follows; Rangold of Castle Ells, Stanith of Castle Rantha, Aenas of Castle Sarta, Kerr of Castle Fidnal, Sasta of Castle Varrow, and Banthus of Castle Erginal. Seven castle Lords in all, representing the entire northern side of the Valley Lands.

  Servants brought out trays loaded with delicacies and I was fairly mobbed with questions on tactics, religion and what not when I would much rather preferred to have sampled the contents of the trays which were vanishing fast. Such are the trials of leadership I thought to myself, as lord Rangold held onto my arm, jabbering out a plan to defeat the entire Zoarinian Empire in a campaign lasting only three months.

  A cloaked figure moved away from a window looking into the hall and started down to a lower section of the wall. This upper section of the wall wasn’t typically put under guard, so the spy made his way towards a guard house and down the stairs it housed, into the castle grounds. As he slid into the guard house, a strong brown hand seized him from behind. The spy gasped loudly as a sharp blade was shoved between his ribs and twisted.

  The spy slid to the floor dead and Rolf stepped into the morning sunlight with a grim smile on his face. His master’s business would remain his and his alone. He ambled into the hall, not liking the crowd, but understanding the need for it.

  I felt Rolf’s gaze on me and as I looked at him I saw his brief hand gestures. Gestures that told their own story if you knew how to read them.

  I nodded my head in confirmation that I understood and Rolf left the room.

  I was going to have to warn my grandfather about Rolf’s intolerant nature and his tendency for exterminating vermin. I turned and my eyes met those of Thaddeus. He lifted his goblet of spiced wine in a silent toast. He had clearly witnessed the whole exchange and guessed what it had been about. His eyes were twinkling with glee. Into what exciting times it seemed we were all hurtling. I shook my head at the irascibleness of the old man. My reprimanding look only seemed to encourage him more. He ambled over to me, setting his empty cup down and snatching another from a passing servant while en route to me.

  “Ahh, the intrigues of court life, such as they are. You’ll learn my boy, if you live to be too old for anything physically useful, that there’s always the intellectual pursuits of a fine game of chess or cat and mouse, if you will, for the sure minded. When I lose the ability to play the game of intrigue you have my permission to bury me,” he slurred out drunkenly.

  I took the cup of wine from his hand and placed it on a passing servant’s tray as deftly as Thaddeus had snatched it from one earlier. Turning back to Thaddeus, I was surprised to already see another goblet of wine in his hand.

  He smiled and said, “Roric, I only allow myself excess when excess is manageable.”

  He said it without any hint of the slurring I had detected before. My already considerable respect for my grand sire only increased. It was a valuable lesson to learn. Affectation of a condition of weakness can often deceive a confidant opponent into dismissing an individual’s worthiness and threat as a possible opponent.

  “Rolf said the spy was of our own people and not a Zoarinian.”

  A dark look came over Thaddeus’ formerly cheerful face. It was a look of tired but determined tenacity.

  He looked back at me and said, “Roric, there are many secrets that I keep and many would like to know them. Some of the secrets I keep are as old as our time on this world. I promise, I will tell you what you need to know when you need to know it. But I pray that your consciousness remains free of what I and those before me have known and protected our people from for so long. There are those within our own people who would use the secrets that I, and others like me, protect for their own benefit. Secrets that, if unveiled, would likely bring about the fall of our people and even perhaps our world.”

  There was a faraway look in his eyes as he said that and then his eyes refocused on me.

/>   “You have made me very proud today my boy. All will be well now, I’m sure of it.”

  He walked away then, suddenly looking very old, and I wondered what kind of secrets there could be, to have such an effect on him.