November 25
Word Count: 2061
Lasser was inventive. Lynah could see that much when she arrived for the second day of challenges for heir to the throne. There were only ten left of the five hundred or so they’d started with, and with the challenge he had set before them, only three could come out victors.
It was a sight to see, ten thousand men all less than six inches tall, suited up in battle gear waiting in the field marked off by flags. Each contestant was given a colored sash and an army of a thousand soldiers to maintain. It was amusing to see the armies waiting, each man moving of his own accord, polishing up his metal armor, tending his miniature horse or testing his tiny bow.
Even before Lasser finished announcing the rules, armies were saddling up, forming and edging closer to the nearest opponent.
“Remember,” Lasser said, finishing his speech, “Each move you make takes a certain amount of points. You only have a thousand, and they are kept track of there.” He pointed to a brilliantly large score board lit up with magical glowing numbers, each of the ten colors glowing one thousand. “The last three persons with any portion of their army standing will move on to the next round. Let the challenge begin.”
Immediately two young lordlings began ordering their armies to hammer each other. The tiny men fought each other viciously, as the points quickly diminished on the board. They were quite stupid, Lynah knew, because this was not a game about pummeling your opponent into the ground. Years of being force fed Galadinian history had taught her that much. This was a game of strategy. Already, a woman in green and her nearest opponent in purple had formed an alliance. When a third yellow contestant attacked her left flank, her ally swooped in and surrounded him, managing in the process to divide his army in half and outnumber them at least two to one.
The battles were fierce, each tiny soldier fighting to the death. Their final cries were little shrieks of horror. When they lay still upon the ground, their bodies slowly faded. Their comrades did not grieve, but simply turned to reform their ranks and begin the new battle.
While the yellow army was being devoured, the red army closed around the decimated remains of the two lordlings’ armies. It was a quick defeat. The black army was stupid enough to divide itself into ten parts and attack each enemy equally, being completely destroyed in minutes. The white and blue armies saw the power of an alliance as well, and formed up, but only after they had destroyed half of each other’s armies.
There was a pause as the armies assessed the situation. Of the original ten thousand men that had started on the battlefield, only about two thousand remained. Only four armies had not been destroyed. Only three could make the final cut. It was time to rethink old alliances and decide who would not be continuing. The blue army did not wait to consult with his old ally, the white army. He went straight after the green and smallest army. It was a fatal mistake.
Purple immediately came to her aide, and white sat back for a moment, enraged that blue had not considered him, and began to attack blue’s rear flank. Surrounded on three sides, blue, the attacker, became the attacked. The largest army was eaten by the three smaller ones. After a last ditch effort to kill purple’s army before blue was killed by all three, the last blue was hunted down, his throat slit, and his body faded from sight.
A cheer went up among the remaining tiny soldiers before they all lay down, and faded into nothingness. Only their three generals remained.
“Lordling Yalan Esenius, Baker Deseda, and Farmer Rigsto,” Weelks announced to Lasser. Lynah tried to suppress a smile. She didn’t even have to meddle to that her favorite had made the final three. He had managed by himself.
“Prepare yourself,” Lasser admonished the three. “The final challenge is the most difficult, and only one will pass to be heir. You have proven yourself worthy to come this far. You have shown that you have the skills necessary to be a king. So get some rest. I will see you at the edge of the forest after midday meal.”
Lynah couldn’t help but to have a chat with Lasser. She knew it was risky to call attention to herself, but Lasser was so far in the dark, she could have lit ten candles and he wouldn’t have figured her out.
“That was some contest,” she said, coming up behind him.”
“I didn’t realize you were here.”
“And what are you going to do if a girl wins?”
“Crown her heir.”
“Papa will never agree.”
“Papa won’t have much of a choice. I thought you were the one who tried to show him that, by taking his mouth away.” Lynah giggled. It was true, she had lost her temper a bit.
“Did you ever tell Saratin you weren’t really missing?”
“Oh, I’m quite sure he knows I’m not missing now.” She smirked.
“That’s good. Would you like to join us for a meal?” Us meaning Lasser and the brothers that had sort of crossed over from Brother Valdin’s leadership to Lasser’s.
“No, I still have some bouncing
about to do.” Lynah smiled brightly, batted her eyes at Lasser and then
transported herself to the
Her presence sent people scattering. She supposed they weren’t used to people popping in and out of their village. She smiled and shouted pleasantly, “It’s all right. It’s only me, Lynah. The one who freed you.”
Only the elder stepped out to greet her. He cleared his throat. “Good morning, Master Lynah. Please, come have a meal with me.”
“I just stopped by to pick up my calca and will be off with shortly. Where is it?”
“Oh, we keep it in a warehouse on the other side of the village. Why don’t you step inside and I’ll send Jant to go fetch it for you.” Lynah supposed she wasn’t in an absolute hurry. After all, she really didn’t have anything to do besides this until Lasser’s next challenge.
“All right,” she said climbing the steps to the elder’s house. He opened the door for her and escorted her inside. He pulled out a chair for her and seated her at the table.
“At least let me make you some tea.”
“Where’s your granddaughter? The crazy one?” Lynah asked.
“Oh, she decided she wanted to leave, and Master Iber accompanied her.”
This was good news. Iber was off somewhere else and couldn’t make a stink about her payment plan. He’d probably try the same argument as Saratin, that the Great Mages worked for free. If that was true, then Lynah would have no way to get any calca for her friend.
“A moment, please,” the elder said after he put the kettle onto the fire. He left the house and closed the door behind him, leaving Lynah alone. Everyone always seemed to be leaving her alone. Even when she found someone who was attentive, like Brother Ilden, they tried to find ways to take them away from her. Saratin had taken Trevelyn from her, and then he’d tried to take Brother Ilden, who had elected to serve her, and not anyone else. It wasn’t fair that Saratin thought he could order anyone about, which was why she’d gotten mad enough to accelerate her plans a bit, especially when the three had ganged up on her and tried to convince her that her friend was bad.
Did they think she was stupid? Did they think she wouldn’t know Nelyr if she saw him. Even if her friend had not told her his name, he had still taught her freely and openly anything she had wanted to know. Why would anyone who was evil teach her to be so powerful that she could overpower him if he tried to hurt her. Her friend never tried to demand. He asked, and she complied. Saratin never asked. He assumed.
Lynah could feel her temper rising just sitting still. The kettle began to whistle and Lynah removed it from the fire when the elder did not come back. He’d been gone for quite some time now. Something was not right. Lynah stood and walked out onto the porch. The rest of the villagers were still nowhere in sight. Not even the dog she had seen before was out.
Lynah walked down into the middle of the street. She turned and looked up and down the row of houses. Nothing stirred. She stood there for a moment, not sure of what to do. A faint sound caught her attention. It grew louder and soon she recognized it as the sound of a horse at full speed. A black stallion appeared and raced into town. It pulled up short and the rider deftly dismounted. Iber walked swiftly toward her.
“I thought you were going out rescuing damsels in distress?” Lynah asked, crossing her hands over his chest. Obviously the villagers had been waiting and stalling for his arrival.
“I’m back.”
“Yes, I noticed. What do you plan to do now?”
“I plan to tell you that your demand for calca is not going to be met.” Iber looked sternly at her. She should have known that he would turn on her too.
“And what are you going to do about it? I can quite easily make sure the villagers follow my every command.”
Iber pulled a scrap of parchment from his shirt cuff.
“In times of trouble or great evil
protect the village and its people
So that no harm can come their way
No Lynah magic here in night or day.”
Lynah giggled. “And bad poetry is supposed to stop me from doing whatever I want?” Iber had apparently not figured out that magic did not have to be spoken aloud. His rhymes were as useless as a nobleman’s silly hat.
Just to show him, she’d magic the whole village to a size that would fit in her had. Lynah closed her eyes and held out her hand. She opened her eyes again when her concentration yielded nothing. She looked around. The village was still the same size. She tried again, this time imagining flames licking at the buildings. Nothing. She tried putting a bubble around Iber. That failed too.
“What did you do?!” she demanded. Iber smiled, suddenly realizing that his poetry really had worked.
“Well, I thought about it, and realized that several times when I’d written poetry, or been thinking about certain lines, they mysteriously happened. So? I came prepared. Goodbye Lynah, you won’t be able to harm these people, or collect their calca.”
For moment, Lynah could do nothing but stare at Iber, who was grinning from ear to ear. People began to come out of their houses when they saw that Iber had the upper hand. Then she realized they were laughing at her, standing there as powerless as peasant.
“Ooooh!” She shouted as she pushed Iber, “I’m going to get you. Just watch. I’m going to do to you what I did to Saratin and the others, but something worse.” Lynah tried to make her exit, before she realized she couldn’t even transport herself from the village. She stomped her way down the street towards the village edge.
“What did you do to Saratin?” Iber called after her. Lynah didn’t answer. She simply stormed to the edge of the village, and disappeared from sight.