November 20
Word Count: 1679
This had arguably been one of the longest mornings in Lasser’s life. He had risen early, as he was used to and found that the entire court was still asleep. He thought he’d make the best out of that time by practicing his new transportation skills. He’d managed to move himself to Tamarin in one try. Pleased with himself, he’d gone in search of a white cassock in order to be more efficient.
Lasser had been assaulted by about ten brothers when he’d announced his plans. They moved in with measuring tape and clocked off what seemed like every dimension of his body. There had been one made, it had seemed by eyeballing him, but someone had told the brothers they couldn’t get measurements until he asked for them. They began talking about inseams and reinforced hems and all sorts of other tailoring terms Lasser couldn’t identify. When he asked for it done in an hour, they gave him a few horrified smiles and politely pushed him out the door, ordering him back in no less than an hour.
Lasser had popped back to the castle to refine his notes and plans for the quest. Snult had returned sometime during the night and was once again happily snoozing in the fireplace. Lasser managed to nudge him awake with the fire tongues and get his consent to participate in the upcoming events.
Lasser entered the tailors’ an hour and five minutes after the first visit and found his personalized cassock waiting for him. The brothers beamed happily at him and insisted he try it on right away. It fit him perfectly. Indeed, studying himself in the mirror, Lasser would not have thought he was a simple ranger. It cut squarely across his shoulders accentuating his features, and was a brilliant white, except for the forest green cord that was meant to be the only mark of individuality. Hopefully he would make a better impression on the king this time.
Twenty minutes later he was invited to a discussion with the king. Brother Valdin was there, and unlike most of the brothers Lasser had met, he was not slightly awed by the presence of a great mage. “I have here a list of those who are allowed to enter the competition,” Brother Valdin said, laying a list of fifty names on the table between them.
“Anyone who wishes may enter the contest,” Lasser stated simply. Valdin ignored him.
“The jousting will begin this afternoon, and we’ll have a feast tonight to announce the new heir. Here are the three names that are acceptable to his Majesty.” Lasser looked at the list, knowing they would all be young high ranking noblemen.
“Anyone may enter. And there won’t be any jousting. It is a three tiered contest… after they pass the entrance literacy exam.”
“Literacy exam… you can’t expect them to take a written test!”
“So you don’t care if your new king can read or not?”
“Of course he should know how to read…”
“Then you’ll agree to a literacy test to screen out anyone who would not be capable of doing the job.”
Brother Valdin looked at the king who shrugged.
“A literacy test is acceptable,” Valdin stated.
“Fine, then let’s set it for midmorning. Send the town criers out.”
“I’ll send the pages. They can deliver the missives.”
“Everyone may enter… even the pages if they so desire.”
“You can’t have Galadin run by a fool!”
“Just because a person has a title, doesn’t mean he isn’t a fool, and besides, the tests that I have designed will hopefully pick the best qualified person for the job.”
With that, Lasser stood and left, before he lost his temper and insulted the king. Even with the cassock, the king thought of him as nothing. Lasser grabbed the first brother he saw, noticing that he had a green belt around his brown robe. In fact, it was the first green brother Lasser had seen, in or out of Tamarin.
“What’s your name?” The brother’s eyes widened as he took in Lasser’s white robe.
“Master Lasser,” the brother stated still rather shocked.
“No, that’s my name. What is your name?” Lasser repeated.
“Uhh, my… I… Weelkes. My name is Weelkes.”
“Good, Weelkes. I need you to have this message delivered to all the town criers, and have them sent out immediately. Can you do that for me?”
Brother Weelkes stared at him for a moment before nodded voraciously. He accepted the piece of paper and went dashing around the corner. Lasser didn’t want to rely on Brother Valdin to correctly do the work. He knew that the brother was loyal only to the king, which wasn’t a bad thing really. Lasser applauded loyalty in all forms. It was more of an inconvenience.
Two hours later Lasser was gathering together whatever brothers he could find to organize the mass of people who showed up to the castle gates, in the quest to be the future king. Brother Valdin was horrified when he saw Lasser sitting peasant, nobleman, and lordling alike all at the same tables in neat orderly rows. Each one was given a quill and a piece of parchment.
Lasser had to turn away several of the noblemen who sent their scribes to take the test for them. “Everyone must take the test for themselves!” he shouted. “Write only your name at the top!”
Brother Valdin approached. “The king will not approve.”
Lasser smiled, “Then why doesn’t he come tell me that?”
Brother Valdin scowled over the proceedings. “Wait.” He tugged on Lasser’s sleeve. “There are women out there!” He pointed to the sea of faces that stared back at them, ready to take their test.
“Yes,” Lasser said. “It’s going to be a tight fit, so let’s put ten to a table!” he shouted to the test takers.
“But this is a search for a king… not a queen.”
Lasser tried to suppress his smile. He actually hadn’t thought about women wanting to compete at all until a few brash ones at the drawbridge had approached him and pointed out that his missive said ‘anyone.’ They were right… and if Great Mages could be women, then so could the King of Galadin, if she won. When Lasser didn’t respond, the brother went waddling off in a huff towards the royal quarters.
When they hit 500 entrants, they closed the gates. They had no more room to test them. Lasser began to read the 52 question test that he had written. Five hundred heads bowed in concentration. Lasser had designed it to have five sections: mathematical, language, Galadin history, diplomacy, and ethics. The last two questions on the test were essay questions, to be read only if the person scored high enough on the other fifty. That way, Lasser and the other brothers he had rounded up would be able to grade the test in a relatively short period of time.
After exiting everyone from the hall and collecting the tests, five brothers sat down and graded them, giving any that scored a perfect fifty to Lasser so that he could read the short answer questions. Two hours later, Lasser had chosen an even thirty out of the forty seven people who had attained a perfect score on the other part of the test. He had chosen them without looking at names, so even he had no idea until they were called out that the thirty included 3 women, 12 noblemen, 7 teachers, 4 farmers, 2 healers, a cook, and an under butler in the royal household. Only one on the king’s list had made the cut. Thirty was a good amount, Lasser decided. He’d be able to run 10 heats of three through his first challenge, keeping the winner of each for the second challenge.
Lasser joined the brothers with the official scroll of names and watched the faces of the people rise and fall with the call of each name. He was quite happy to see that most of the five hundred seemed content with the results. The peasants were content to see a significant number of their own join the ranks of noblemen, each of which seemed confident that he would be the ultimate victor in the contest. The jibes and boasts were good hearted, and generally, spirits were high.
“Everyone is welcome to join us to watch the next challenge. It will take place in the royal park.” A crowd began to cheer Lasser. He grinned from ear to ear, hoping he could actually pull off the next part of his plan. It was the part that he was most nervous about, but he had planned it down to the last detail.
Weelkes appeared beside Lasser and matched his steps. “Master Lasser,” he practically whispered. Lasser kept walking but turned to acknowledge the brother. “You do know that the royal park is off limits to anyone who is not a nobleman.”
“Not today,” Lasser stated as he strode towards the large patch of green that he was about to destroy… or least was going to attempt to destroy. He waited until a rather large group had gathered, making sure that Brother Valdin had also returned from informing the king of all the rules that Lasser was breaking.
Lasser closed his eyes, holding the image he’d been creating in his head for the past several hours. It was complex, but his little practices had yielded enough positive results to make Lasser fairly confident. He heard the oohs and ahs begin as he pictured the ground sinking into a perfect ten foot deep square maze, delineated by thick walls of vines. Those standing above the maze would be able to watch the participants as they navigated the maze, avoiding the obstacles that Lasser had secreted away into some of the corners.
Lasser opened his eyes to observe his imagination brought to life. It was really quite a creation and a testament to the power the great mages possessed when they created a field sized hole in the royal lawn. Maybe now the king would take him seriously.
“Well, someone has had a lot of free time,” a voice came from behind him.
“You know Saratin has been looking for you?” Lasser said to Lynah.
“Good for Saratin.” Lynah’s appearance was already causing quite a stir. She was supposed to be far away in Tamarin, a prize bride for a great mage…according to the lie she’d told to her parents.