The Story of Evil: Volume I - Heroes of the Siege (16 page)

In a stern voice, his mother put an end to the begging. “I told you, we do not have the gold for that right now. Stop whining and watch the joust. We may not be able to afford to see this again until you are a teenager.

After Ty heard the conversation in front of him between the mother and son, he motioned to the vendor as he shuffled up the bleacher stairs. The Dwarf stopped and held out the tray of delicious choices for Ty to see. “What can I get for you, warrior?”

“One bag of cotton clouds and a meat on a stick,” Ty selected.

“That’ll be twenty bronze, ten silver, or one gold. All are one in the same.”

Ty reached into his pocket and pulled out some loose coins. Each one featured the faces of heroes and legends imprinted on them. As he was sorting through them, the Dwarf interrupted him.

“Since you’re a warrior, and this is your special day of honor and celebration, I’ll give these to you buy one, get one free.”

Ty handed the cheerful vendor five silver and five bronze coins. “The extra is for your generosity, kind sir,” he smiled. In return, he was handed a stick of pink and blue cotton clouds and meat on a skewer.

Sam turned around, having overheard the warrior’s order. His eyes widened when he saw the fluffy candy. His expression was a mixture of happiness that he was so close to his favorite treat and sadness that he was still so far from allowing it to melt in his mouth. The young boy turned back around to watch the joust.

A minute later, Ty dropped the cotton clouds into Sam’s lap. When Sam turned around, the warrior was frantically looking all around, side to side and under his seat.

“I…I was just holding cotton clouds in my hand, but I can’t find them anywhere,” Ty said, shrugging his shoulders. “I must have dropped them.”

Sam meekly held the uneaten snack up to show the warrior sitting behind him. “Is this it?” he asked.

Ty scratched the blonde stubble on his chin. “No, I think mine looked different. That one must be yours.”

The boy smiled, realizing the gift he had just been given. He erased the smile and looked directly into Ty’s green eyes as he extended his hand, trying to show this warrior he was polite and respectful.

“Thank you, sir”, he said.

“You’re very welcome,” Ty said as he shook Sam’s hand, impressed by his manners. “You’ve got a firm grip, lad. Maybe someday, you’ll be the one jousting for Celestial in front of all these people.”

That made Sam’s smile return, larger than when he realized the cotton clouds belonged to him.

His mother turned around to see the face of the warrior that had been so nice to her son. The man was holding out his meat skewer for her.

“Here you go, ma’am,” he offered.

She returned his warm smile and mimicked her son’s appreciation. “Thank you,” she said as she began reaching into her purse for what little coin she had to pay the warrior.

Ty shook his head. “You don’t have to pay me. It’s my treat to both you and your son for supporting us warriors by buying tickets to the joust.”

The three spectators returned to watching the joust as Celestial’s own Stephen Brightflame landed a devastating blow onto his opponent’s chest. Sam stood up and cheered, arching blue and pink colors back and forth through the air. After sitting back down, the boy pulled off a large piece of the cotton clouds and held it behind him for the warrior, all while keeping his eyes glued to the jouster in front of him.

“Thank you,” Ty said, placing the fluffy treat on his tongue and feeling it melt away. “Do you know the name of Celestial’s jouster this year?” he asked the boy.

Sam turned around to face Ty and looked at him as if he had been living under a rock for the past month.

“Of course, I know his name! He’s Steve Brightflame, the hope of Celestial! He rides his carrot-crunching warhorse Clyx.”

Ty loved the child’s enthusiasm and just like the cotton clouds, he had one more surprise for the well-mannered child sitting in front of him.

“That’s right. And it just so happens that he and I are very good friends. How would you like to go out and meet him after this match?”

The mother turned around again. She was as surprised as her son. “That would be…just magnificent for him. Stephen is all he talks about. Sam is always running around the house with a wooden stick as a lance, pretending to be Stephen Brightflame.”

Ty turned to Sam and awaited his response. At first the boy was too excited to answer. “How about it, Sam? I’m sure he’ll let you pet Clyx. If you’re lucky, he might even let you ride him. Then you can see how fast he really is.”

“Yes! Oh, wow…yes, that would be amazing!” Sam bounced up and down in his seat.

“May I have your name, warrior?” Sam’s mother asked. If he wouldn’t accept her money, the least she could do was remember his name.

The warrior extended his hand. “Ty Canard. Pleased to meet you.”

Ty belonged to the Elven race. He was slender and of average height, if not a couple hairs shorter. Elves tended to live long lives at around 150 years. Ty was only twenty-two. In a way, he was very young, but at the same time he felt like he was in the prime of his life. Like his foster brother Stephen Brightflame, he had a warrior’s muscular body and was incredibly fit and healthy.

Ty had dirty blond hair that grew straight. He kept the length fairly long. It stopped at the middle of his neck. He obsessively ran his fingers through his hair to put it behind his head. He would often hold it behind his pointed ears, to show his pride in his Elven heritage. Sometimes he would tie it in a ponytail when riding horses or in battle, so he wouldn’t have to adjust it or bother with it. Ty had bright green eyes and a pure white smile full of straight teeth.

He was a naturally attractive person, a heartthrob for the ladies. The Elf was a person you would glance twice at in a crowd. For the ladies, it was almost always more than twice and longer than just a quick glance.

He was not married; in fact, marriage to Ty was still a far way off. The unbreakable bond of marriage only seemed like a way to tie him down and force him to commit to something long term. It was the exact opposite of his personality. That is not to say that Ty didn’t care about being in the company of women. He had many beautiful girls interested in his appealing lifestyle and sharp looks. Just because he was not ready to get married, didn’t mean that he couldn’t encourage the many girls who found him charming to spend their time with him.

Other than his obligation to serve and protect civilians as a warrior, Ty did not allow anything to hold him down. He enjoyed waking up in the morning and not knowing what would happen to him that day. “Every day is a mystery to be explored,” was something Ty constantly said. Instead of looking backwards or forwards, he always lived in the moment. Ty loved taking on new obstacles and trying new experiences. A day where he went to sleep without a good or funny story was a wasted day.

He was very content and happy with who he was and the life he lived. The happiness inside him was easy to notice from the outside. He was one of the most easy-going people a person could know. Being around Ty was sure to be a time full of laughter, due to his never-ending jokes and humor. He was the kind of person people easily gravitated towards because of his attractive personality. Ty was always the life of the party.

It seemed like the only thing he wasn’t blessed with was gold. Perhaps that was because he spent it all on his girlfriends, but Ty didn’t mind a lack of coin. He had learned that charisma was sometimes just as valuable as gold.
Be a friend to them and they’ll be a friend to you. Friendships are easier forged with smiles and laughter than with gold.
No matter where he went or what he did, he had no worries about anything because he could always use his charm to get someone to help him out.

What made Ty happy most of all was that he was a warrior. Like all other children at the age of sixteen, Ty had learned the basic fundamentals in school and was ready to choose a profession. His class learned about the highlights of every career before they chose which one they wanted to work at for the rest of their lives. Some of the common professions were merchant, messenger, banker, librarian, writer, teacher, pastor, blacksmith, innkeeper, inventor, tailor/seamstress, carpenter, farmer, baker, and a representative to mayor/politics, among many, many others.

Ty didn’t need to know anything about these trades. He already knew what he wanted to be - a warrior, just like his father and grandfather before him. As a boy, Ty looked up to warriors as his role models. It was no surprise that he wanted to emulate them when he became a man. In fact, most young boys wanted to become warriors. They all wanted to create their own legacy, similar to the many tales of warrior legends they were told by their parents before going to bed; or maybe they just wanted people to respect them for being in a position of power and authority. Whatever the reason, many young boys dreamed of becoming a warrior. Unfortunately, the road to becoming a warrior was not an easy one.

Only a certain amount of warrior trainees were accepted each year. Hopefuls had to pass certain mental and physical tests to be admitted into the warriors, which most young men could not pass. Even for those who did pass the test, they still had to score in the highest percentile compared to the other boys who also took the admittance test.

There were five main ranks of warrior: training, apprentice, warrior, captain/commander, and knight. In training, the trainee would practice with different weapons until he found one he was most comfortable with. After three years of extensive physical and mental training and being taught how to react in scenarios of complex moral choice, the trainee would then become an apprentice. The apprentice would train with a master of the same weapon. The master taught his apprentice everything he needed to know about the responsibilities of a warrior. After two years of being an apprentice, the master would concoct a challenge to see if his pupil had acquired the mental and physical skills required to succeed as a warrior. When the apprentice passed his master’s test, they became eligible for the warrior draft. All of the apprentice graduates were ranked and then drafted by the commanders of the watchtowers. Once they were selected, they were officially deemed a warrior. The majority of warriors never got promoted any higher than this basic rank.

In Celestial, the warriors were divided into groups called clans. There were three clans in each of the twelve warriors’ watchtowers. Each warrior could choose which one of the three he wanted to be in: Land, Air, or Naval. Land warriors covered street patrols and the guarding of the inner and outer walls. Aerial warriors flew on friendly monsters and battled enemy monsters. They were also used to pour pesticides on the fields in between the inner and outer walls. Water element friendly flying monsters were used to put out fires in the city. Naval warriors worked on battleships and fought against sea monsters.

The clans became tight knit groups of men who were like brothers to each other. Each clan was led by its captain. There was a Land Captain, Squadron Captain (for the Aerial Clan), and Fleet Captain (for the Naval Clan). The three captains all answered to the commander of their watchtower, of which there was only one. Each tower was named after its commander. Upon retiring, captains had the option to become teachers of the trainees. Retiring commanders could choose whether or not to become masters.

The only warriors who ranked above each of the Watchtower Commanders were the twelve Guardian Knights of the royal family. These men were handpicked by the king, and they served as his personal advisors and security guards. Anyone of them would sacrifice his life to save the king’s in a heartbeat. The Guardian Knights were led by the Supreme Commander. Warriors, captains, commanders, knights, and the Supreme Commander all answered to the king, who commanded all Land, Aerial, and Naval forces.

Ty had been a trainee and then an apprentice. Then he passed his master’s test to become a warrior. He graduated one year early at the age of twenty. He had been a warrior for two years now, and he was having the best time of his life. The fact that he was so young and healthy and had such a bright future only made him happier.

Everything in Ty’s life was great, except for one flaw that always lingered in the back of his mind: none of his male ancestors (who were all warriors) lived to 150 name days. His grandfather, Jackson Canard, was killed in action in his mid-thirties. Ty’s father, Caesar Canard, along with Ty’s mother, were murdered when Ty was only five years old.

Death haunted Ty. It followed his family closely. Ty had already had many close encounters with death, but always seemed to barely escape. He didn’t know if that meant he was lucky or not, but he figured with all of the early deaths his forefathers had had in previous generations, he and his brother Darren were due for a prolonged life. This was part of the reason Ty lived life in a happy-go-lucky way and as freely as he did. He didn’t know when his time on Element would come to an end. So until he found himself in an encounter that he could not escape from and death finally defeated him for good, he planned to live every day of his life full of smiles, laughter, and love.

Chapter 14

After buying Sam and his mother food, Ty went back to watching his friend compete. The Elven warrior was an avid fan of the joust. He had made it far into the Celestial Qualifiers himself, but ended up losing to Steve in one of the final matches. It had been one of the most exciting jousts of the Qualifiers. Ty took an early lead but got cocky and began pandering and playing to the crowd. Steve capitalized on Ty’s loss of focus and won the match.