"Out Of This World" The Golden Age of the Celestial Atlas
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"The Friends of Ing" is chapter #2 of my first novel, "Star Scroll." The main heroine, Princess Celia, is introduced here, as well as the Indomite antagonists--Senator Canto, General Flac and the sentient hare, Lupas. The main elements to grasp in this chapter are the complex undertones of political struggle in Ingdom, and the important roles of sentient animals. Enjoy, and please comment in my Guestbook!
The Constellation Eridanus
Joshua’s first day in Ingdom had been grueling. In the first place, he’d had to deal with the culture shock of leaving one time frame and entering another. The transport through the Fountain of the Deep had left him physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.
Besides that, he was having difficulty comprehending the Laurasian mother tongue. The Ingdomite language was an offshoot of one of the original protolanguage from which all tongues would eventually branch out. Every word sounded somewhat familiar to him, and yet the more complex sentences utterly confused him. In all probability, it would take him years to relearn the language of his early youth--and that fact depressed him.
After touring the extensive mountain fortress quarters, he chose to take up a somewhat secluded residence in the Tower of Dwarfin. He wanted a place he could watch the stars through his telescope and look down over the long southern valley enclosed by the snow-covered east and west mountain ridges.
He retired to the privacy of his upper room early after supper that night in order to relax and catch up on some much needed sleep. He was right on the edge of a dream when a Cheruvian messenger suddenly appeared under the stone arch of his open tower window.
The mysterious being had four faces, six wings, and two hands. The first face was like that of an eagle, and the second was like a lion, and the third was like a man, and the fourth was like a bull. The man had arms and hands, but the other three creatures had great white feathered wings with which they covered their one body.
“Fear not, son of David, son of man,” said the face of the man while Joshua trembled and struggled to sit up on the edge of his bed.
“Grace has brought you this far and Grace shall be sufficient for you in your many times of need. We have come to warn you not to reveal the Gospel of Grace to the people of this age, for the mystery of the Lamb’s death, burial, and resurrection must remain a secret until His miraculous birth far in the future.
“You may keep your small book of the Word for your own personal comfort, but you must not share the Mystery of the Ages with the people of this dispensation. Be careful that you guard the book from prying eyes. They do not yet have either the Law or Grace to bring them to the knowledge of Salvation. They have only the natural law written in their hearts and the Scroll of the Stars above to guide them.
“The fulfillment of just one small part of the Scroll of the Stars is the reason you have been Called to Ingdom. The Spirit of Truth, which Called and Comforted you while living in future Earth, will continue to sustain you on your great mission here in the past. You have been Caught Up to fulfill a portion of the work of the Sign of the Son of Man. Be strong and very courageous for we will watch over you on your way.
“To assist you, we will open your eyes and ears to the work of the Spirit in the age of this dispensation. The language of your childhood is now restored to you. In the continued fellowship of the Spirit which brought you here, you will eventually comprehend, in due time, what is the height, depth, width, and breadth of your Calling. We only ask that you be strong and very courageous, son of David.”
Joshua had only blinked once, but in that brief space of time the mysterious messenger disappeared. It all seemed to have transpired in a mere moment--in a twinkling of an eye. Setting his fears aside though, he felt strangely refreshed once more in his inner being. He slept peacefully the rest of that night while illuminated by the ageless light of the stars shining down through his tower window. The stars sang their ageless song that night in his dreams along their circular path across the night sky.
The Tower of Elfin sits alone on the north side of the Ingdom Wall, along with its spires and gates, built by the native Tinsu, Bunsu, and Vasabu Clans of Elves who have blue-black hair and brown eyes. They were the first of the Arctic Sea clans to band together with Ing’s Highland Dwarves during the great turmoil which forced the northern tribes of Laurasia to build the great fortress wall encircling Mount Norsdon.
King Baldur, who had died along with David Blackwell during the Druid-Hobgoblin War, had hailed from the royal Tinsu Clan. He had married Helaina of the Vasabu Clan, and she had conceived Prince Ody and Princess Celia.
After the death of King Baldur, the Elf Senate took over the ruling powers of Elfdom until such time that Prince Ody reached his twenty-first birthday, or in the case of his death, that Princess Celia took a husband of the Elf Senate’s approval. In the mean time, the Elf Senate had stripped Queen Helaina and her royal children of almost all true political power.
Next to the Tower of Elfin, the Tower of Lepri sits on the west side of the Ingdom Wall, along with its spires and gates, built by the Aiken, Kaiden, and Jayben Clans of Elves who have blond hair and blue eyes. The pale Elves of these clans were thought to be distant relatives of the albino Hobgoblins of subpangaea. Despite this legend, the Elf Senate was filled almost exclusively from these three Lepri Clans.
Next to the Tower of Lepri, the Tower of Dwarfin sits on the south side of the Ingdom Wall, along with its spires and gates, built by the red-haired, green-eyed Gumo, Puefo, and Zubo Tribes of Dwarves. Mighty Ing Bootes had hailed from the royal Gumo Tribe, and King Benthor was one of his direct descendants.
Benthor’s father, King Yosef, had married Tifini of the Zubo Tribe, and she had conceived Benthor and Cassi. Cassi had married the six-foot-six Herculonian, David Blackwell of Earth, and she had conceived Joshua Blackwell. King Benthor had married Princess Miomi of the Puefo clan--but they were barren.
Next to the Tower of Dwarfin, the Tower of Hobbit sits on the east side of the Wall, along with its spires and gates, built by the Baning, Haning, and Yuda Tribes of Dwarves with curly black hair and black eyes. The Dwarf military regime almost exclusively selected its officers from these three Hobbit tribes. Although the regime’s focus was upon collecting taxes, protecting the mountain fortress and surrounding villages and training the army, there was still an undercurrent struggle for political power between the royal and military Dwarf tribes.
Within the north mountain citadel, the Elf Senate convened every day inside the massive-columned Hall of Ancestors, and it was there that the daily Seat of Judgment was held for the Twelve Clans of Ingdom. The Elf Senate shared equal ruling power with King Benthor in all matters both public and private. Benthor had delegated most matters of judgment concerning trivial civil law into the hands of the Elf Senate, while Commissioner Bin and his Black Scorpion Elves took care of all the policing responsibilities.
Since Benthor could not judge every menial case, he usually made himself available only for key matters affecting Ingdom’s security or royal family matters. Occasionally though, he interceded for old friends and just-worthy causes to keep the Elf Senate honest.
During the Seat of Judgment on his second day in Ingdom, Joshua found himself standing uncomfortably beside King Benthor within the Hall of Ancestors as the Senate Delegates filed into their stone amphitheater seats. Feeling like the only adult in a seventh grade class, Joshua fidgeted uncomfortably under the steady scrutiny of almost everyone within the facility. Then he caught a glimpse of Princess Celia entering the Royal Plaza, and he instantly forgot everything else.
Although he had not seen Celia for over fifteen years, and had remembered little about her except for her name, his heart nearly jumped out of his chest with excitement. She had grown into a beautiful and graceful young woman just over five feet tall with long, lustrous, blue-black hair, deep brown slanted eyes, and a soft brown, arctic complexion. She was wearing a royal white caribou gown decorated with royal Elfdom border designs of purple and red.
Celia had small ivory hair-combs neatly holding her hair out of both sides of her pretty face. She wore little other jewelry except for a braided, gold necklace around her neck which designated her as a member of the royal House of Baldur. She looked back at Joshua with a slight smile touching the corners of her mouth, and he instantly and irrevocably fell in love with her all over again. Memories of them as children suddenly burst upon his mind in amazing detail.
“What am I doing?” he finally said to himself while taking a deep breath and forcing himself to stop staring at her. No matter how hard he tried though, his eyes somehow managed to find their way back to her captivating beauty. She seemed equally uncomfortable before the Senate assembly, but she waited patiently while the elder members continued to file awkwardly into the horseshoe-shaped enclosure which was recessed symmetrically into the rock-face of the mountain.
Celia’s brother, Prince Ody, stood at her side with their father’s great horned owl, Vigil, sitting wide-eyed on his arm. The creature seemed to have a slight problem of staring as well, so Joshua painstakingly averted his attention to the prominent Senators whom Benthor had vainly been trying to point out to him.
“Pay attention lad! There will be plenty of time for admiring the princess later, but for now you need to know whom you can and cannot trust. The three coming in now are Commissioner Bin, Senator Canto, and General Flac. Tread very carefully around them, lad, for they are the ringleaders of my opposition.”
Commissioner Bin was a middle-aged, black-clad Elf with piercing eyes and a hawk-like nose. He walked slowly with an arrogant air of authority as he took in every detail within the Seat of Judgment. Joshua saw him nod several times to the black-clad Elves guarding the entrances to the Hall of Ancestors.
The aging Senator Canto was whispering something incoherent to General Flac behind him. The Dwarf general was a chin high soldier of the old school who epitomized military spit and polish. Joshua noticed uncomfortably that the general was watching him as Senator Canto whispered in his ear.
No sooner had Benthor finished talking to him, then Joshua caught his eyes drawn over everyone’s head in order to steal another glance at Celia. She made eye contact with him once more and smiled shyly while adjusting one of her delicate hand-carved, ivory combs. However, she straightened herself regally as the amphitheater noise suddenly dropped in volume. Joshua composed himself just in time to turn and stare down on his uncle’s bald spot, as he listened to him bring the Seat of Judgment to order.
“Let the commencements begin this fifth watch of the twelfth day of the fourth moon!” said the king of Ingdom with a touch of impatience while watching the last few straggling senators making their way toward their seats as if the whole world awaited them.
“First on the agenda this morning is a report on the recent movements of the invading Impish Host,” said Benthor while waiting for an aid to set up a three-legged easel. The young Dwarf officer hung up a large walrus-skin map which depicted the outlines of Laurasia, the Tethys-Mede Sea, and the northern coast of Gondwanaland.
“Bagely, my southernmost spy, has recently reported to my peregrine, Aquila, that the Imps have finally crossed the Bridge of Nisan.”
Benthor stabbed at the fabled bridge on the west side of the map with his royal scepter in order to emphasize to the assembly that the Impish Host had crossed into the Iberian Peninsula during the last full moon. He then proceeded to show the Senate the proposed circuit he thought the Imps would take on their way to siege Ingdom Castle.
Tracing a path along the Iberian east coast line, Benthor continued up the map until he reached the delta of the Rune River. Then he moved across the Alps and the Black Forest of the West Laurasian continent and up into the frigid Norselands of Southwest Eden.
He reminded them that the retreating glaciers had not yet completely withdrawn from the fjord valleys above the almost pyramid-shaped Mount Horn. Finally, he pointed out the Valley of Elah near Mount Horn, where he proposed that the Ingdomite army should march to make their stand against the Imp invaders.
Mount Horn and the Valley of Elah would be a rugged, 800-mile march to their south across the frozen Norwegian Sea and the icy slopes of northern Scandinavia. Benthor had described the glacier-hewn, pyramid-shaped mountain as the very one he had seen in a vision of the upcoming battle.
He was asked by one of his leading skeptics, Senator Canto, why he believed the desolate valley below Mount Horn would make the best place for Ingdom’s stand. Benthor answered that the valley would be harsh on the Imps and that the Friends of Ing would have a better tactical advantage there than the Impish Hybrids.
When Senator Canto proceeded to oppose his plan, Benthor shrewdly asked the rest of the Senate if they wanted their barley fields and crops in Ingdom Valley put under siege by an invading army. He knew that at least half of them had their hands involved in private enterprise, and so he counted on their need to protect their investments.
The Senate took a vote and approved the king’s plan by a narrow forty-nine to forty-four margin. Senator Canto and his cronies then marched out of the amphitheater in protest--much to Benthor’s satisfaction. No longer having to worry about his main force of opposition, Benthor then pushed to have Joshua Blackwell commissioned as one of the top military officers of the Ingdom forces.
The motion failed miserably despite Benthor’s high hopes. However, the Senate did offer Joshua an impossible chance to win an officer’s commission among the Elfin archers, if he could prove himself worthy against them with his archery skills. Benthor had Joshua quickly accept the open invitation which had certainly been meant as an insult. Amid a small spattering of controlled snickering by the Senate, Joshua agreed to participate in the annual archery tournament already planned for the next afternoon.
Satisfied with the progress he had made, Benthor then turned control of the Senate back over to Senator Brag, the Senate Leader, and then pulled Joshua along with him toward the high-pillared exit. Joshua kept looking back over his shoulder for Celia, who was also making her way out of the stuffy amphitheater with her brother. All of them seemed genuinely relieved to be through with their royal duties for the day. Since Celia was busy conversing with the owl on her brother’s arm, Joshua was unable to draw her attention.
Upon exiting the vaulted amphitheater, Benthor and Joshua made their way through the sparse crowd of sleepy citizens meandering through the north market carts of the early morning venders. Benthor thought to himself that Joshua had not completely grasped the daily struggle for power between himself and certain members of the Elf Senate elite.
The king at last stopped and bought two large barley rolls stuffed with steamed mushrooms and gravy, and two clay pewters of warm mead. After he paid the vendor with a few small copper weights, they walked over to the north wall to eat their breakfasts.
The northern base of Mount Norsdon below them led up to a vast, white frontier highland. The encircling northern mountains of their kingdom shut out the frigid arctic winds and gave them clear weather most of the time. The warm temperature of the valley was regulated by the southern valley’s many hot springs and geysers. Steam constantly rose from the valley in billowing, foggy clouds and condensed as dew which helped regulate the valley’s temperature and irrigate their grain crops.
Mountain creeks and breathtaking waterfalls cascaded down from the snowcapped ridges far above them. The grain mills used the fast-water power to grind their barley grain and transport it by river into the center of the valley to be stored in underground, stone silos.
As Benthor talked with Joshua about his plans to march against the Imps, they were interrupted by Ody and Celia who had chosen barley cakes with raisins and green tea for their breakfasts. Prince Ody released Vigil, who flew silently off around Ingdom Castle and into the southern valley to fend for himself. This time, Joshua kept his composure and laughed comfortably as Benthor joked with his Elf counterparts. Joshua could tell that the three royal personages genuinely liked and enjoyed each other’s company.
As they finished up their breakfasts and carried their clay pewters and plates back to their respective venders, Benthor asked Ody to accompany him on official matters. As the two walked off toward the Mead Hall and the Royal Thrones, Benthor turned around and gave Joshua and Celia a little wink which made them both laugh.
They were finally alone at last, even though they were surrounded by the now busier crowds of late risers who bustled about the circular fortress wall on their worker bee tasks. However, none of them existed for Joshua and Celia because they only had eyes for each other.
They talked of many childhood memories and parental spankings and of playing hide-and-seek in the castle stockrooms. They laughed like children recollecting lost adventures of real and imagined plights. Without even realizing it, they held hands, just as they had done as children while walking along the outer wall. Curious onlookers passed by them and smiled to each other because the two young people strolled along seemingly without a care in the world.
Senator Canto sat with his sentient rabbit in a small tea shop as Joshua and Celia walked by. He was shocked that the two were allowed to wander about so, and he made a mental note to confront King Benthor with the disturbing news. After all, it was for that very reason that the Elf Senate had made Benthor remove Joshua to future Earth in the first place.
Senator Canto’s main fear was, if the half-breed barbarian were allowed to charm the Elf princess, then the Union’s original fear of royal family pollution might still come to pass. However, what really concerned him was the fact that his own position of power in the Elf Senate might be threatened by the returned-from-exile nephew of the Dwarf king.
Senator Canto also knew that Prince Ody would soon see his twenty-first birthday and that the son of Baldur would naturally attempt to take back his father’s throne. The secret Union already had plans in place to take care of that threat. If the Elf Senate could not discourage Joshua Blackwell from wooing the Princess of Baldur, then the son of David might pose too serious a problem to the Union’s continued power structure.
He decided at that moment, if the beautiful Princess Celia could not be persuaded to marry a Union member, then she too would be dealt with in the same fashion as anyone else who stood in their way. Senator Canto stroked the little rabbit named Lepus with his arthritis deformed fingers and watched the exuberant young couple walk off.
“Did you see that, Lepus?” asked Canto with a raspy voice as hateful as a snake. The brown rabbit in his lap just closed his eyes and laid his ears flat while thinking about what his master might say next.
“By the way, my little friend, how about spying on King Benthor for me this morning. I don’t want him planning anything unexpected on his foolhardy march to the Valley of Elah.”
Joshua and Celia talked while they strolled around the
entire castle circuit, and then they climbed the staircase leading to the Royal Thrones. Celia even ran ahead and playfully hid behind one of the twelve massive pillars guarding the inner-palace just as she had done many times when they were children.
Joshua had wanted to spend the day with her by walking down into the valley to explore, but Celia had previous responsibilities to attend to in the children’s pavilion. Her mother, Queen Helaina, needed assistance preparing the castle youngsters for the festivities associated with the following day’s Sagitta Tournaments.
Seeing the disappointment in his eyes, Celia told him she’d be glad to meet him for a short lunch. Joshua was so pleased that he suddenly swept her off her feet and kissed her. At first she squealed in surprise, but then she slid her slender arms around his neck and kissed him back. Joshua might have had a mental block about her while he was in the future, but she had never forgotten him.
They were both a little light-headed when they parted but each had important considerations to take care of. Celia did not want to be late to help her mother, and Joshua knew that he desperately needed some practice before the all-important archery tournament the next afternoon. His commission would depend upon the rusty archery skills he had honed in high-school competitions.
Walking past the great Mead Hall while whistling a tune, Joshua recognized Ody and Benthor sitting behind one of the thick-slab tables with pewter mugs full of warm, frothy mead. Benthor motioned for him to join them, and so he went in and sat down to listen to their conversation.
“I had hoped to have you in the main fighting force with me, lad, for the Imp army will never expect anyone of your stature to come up against them. I have been informed that Gorn’s top lieutenant, Bale, is even a bit taller than you. The hot-blooded dragon-beast is as agile as a giant snow cat, and he is even more formidably armed with his own natural weapons.
My southern spy, Bagely, has seen the war-helmet Bale wears. Through it, his senses are super-enhanced. He also has the dangerous capability of remote communication with his Draconian master. I’m afraid Bale will not be an easy adversary for us to destroy.”
Benthor looked down into the barley dregs in the bottom of his mug while he talked, as if subconsciously seeking some unseen answer. He had received no word from the Cheruvians since the dream of Mount Horn after returning with Joshua--and the thought worried him. Joshua could see that his uncle seemed in need of some encouragement, but he could think of no comforting words to say.
“Perhaps we could set up a surprise flank to ambush the Imps,” suggested Prince Ody while looking thoughtfully at them both.
“What do you have in mind, son?” asked Benthor while absently spinning his pewter in a wet ring on the table.
“Since the tournaments are tomorrow, why not form a task-force of the best one-hundred archers and set them up in a surprise flank like this,” whispered Ody while drawing in their discarded mead suds with his finger.
“Humph, interesting. Then I could take the initiative and march to overtake their camped army during the night and come up on them from the south,” returned Benthor with a glint in his eye. Joshua cleared his throat and sat on the edge of the bench until Benthor motioned for him to speak his mind.
“Whoever is in charge of the deployed war party could send you signals while spying on the enemy movements,” suggested
Joshua.
“What kind of signals?” asked Ody with interest.
“I have a small mirror in my back-pack which will reflect sunlight in bright flashes. We could assign a code to the flashes which could warn our army of the Imp’s every move. I can also show you a flag-system which will help your generals deploy their troops from great distances,” Joshua said while drawing on the table top with his ink pen.
They talked on for quite some time about the march to the valley and the main army’s possible deployments against the Impish Host. None of them even took notice of an attentive rabbit who had quietly crept close on a nearby bench in the shadows of another table. Lepus strained his long ears to hear every remaining word. After the three humans left, he jumped onto their table to investigate their plans.
After lunch, Joshua’s day literally went down hill. Celia had no choice but to bring some of her royal clan’s children when she met with him in the south market to eat, and they had not been able to talk freely. Then Prince Ody showed up and invited himself to sit with them.
Joshua had known both children of the House of Baldur while they were youngsters, although Ody was a year older and still had a few memories of his Elf father. The children of Ingdom seemed to have incredible early memories and that was something which Joshua quietly envied them for. Joshua wished that he could have had some memory of his real father, but he had died shortly after he was born.
After they ate, the princess had to hurry off with the royal children, so he and Ody decided to hike down into the valley to do some archery practice. Joshua hadn’t really wanted to go, but he resigned himself to keep busy until he could manage to see Celia again.
The Valley of Ingdom was a self-efficient, agricultural center. Dependable game, food crops, and the domestication of animals had enabled the Ingdomites to cross the threshold that separated them from the classification of migrating nomads to that of being a thriving, civilized community. Because of the safety of Ingdom Castle, a number of small villages had sprung up along the course of the Pishon River in the center of the valley. Other small communities peppered the stepped-slopes of the glacier-fed highlands.
The two of them slowly made their way down the main thoroughfare to the nearest village which lay just beyond the stone-fence boundary of the mountain-fortress complex. Once there, Ody spoke with a local farmer who let them borrow a couple of large, hand-tied, barley bails to use for target practice behind a rank musk-oxen pen. The friendly peasant even gave them a tattered seal-skin as a make-shift target.
Joshua had purposefully left his compound bow back in his room, so Ody let him try out one of his favorite Elf bows. The small, slender bow felt awkward in his large hands, and he had considerable difficulty hitting any part of the skin target. Ody on the other hand, was a crack shot. The short willow arrows with their bronze arrowheads bothered Joshua’s sense of feel, as well as limiting his powerful reach. Joshua saw that he would have great trouble winning his commission if he were forced to use an Ingdomite bow.
Prince Ody was secretly disappointed with Joshua’s archery skills, but he said nothing to discourage him from taking part in the competition. When they returned to the fortress later that afternoon, Joshua immediately went to his room and retrieved his compound bow. After climbing down his tower staircase to the vast underground storage chambers, he proceeded to do some serious practicing on his own.
He found a long, empty hall at the back of a weapons armory, and he set up a sand-stuffed dummy used for sword instruction on an empty brush cart and stepped off thirty paces. After strapping on the supplied forearm-protector, Joshua slid one of the black graphite arrows out of the bow’s attached quill and checked the practice point screwed on the tip. His duffle bag contained a good supply of various other razor-sharp hunting points but none of them would be better to use for practice.
Inserting the split-end of the arrow between two knots on the center of the bow-string, Joshua pulled back the 80-pound tension on the bow and slowly lined the peep-sight down onto the center of the dummy’s heart. He exhaled slowly and smoothly released the arrow. It flew from his bow like an extension of his left arm and sank all the way to the feathers into the dummy’s heart with a loud thump. After emptying his quill with equal skill, Joshua went to retrieve his arrows for another round but was unexpectedly interrupted by a strange voice.
“That was some mighty fine shootin’. What kind of con-traption is that thing you got there?”
Joshua spun around to find a stocky Dwarf leaning casually against a stone encasement at the opposite end of the hall with an ivory pipe in his mouth.
“It’s a compound bow. I brought it with me from home,” replied Joshua somewhat cautiously. He hadn’t expected to be interrupted by anyone in the quiet armory.
“I’d be afraid to get my head caught up in all them wheels and strings. Still, I’ve never seen an arrow so powerful before. Are you as accurate from greater distances?” asked the dark, curly-haired Dwarf. He was dressed in the Dwarf Army’s standard caribou buckskins with rabbit-pelt moccasins.
“Why don’t you come to the tournament tomorrow and find out. I don’t believe I caught your name, friend. Who are you?” asked Joshua while carefully twisting his arrows out of the practice dummy.
“My name is Tugo, and today I’m the royal armory attendant. We all have assigned duties in the army and this is what I pulled for today. I didn’t know what to expect when I heard those first loud thuds. So I came over to investigate and got here just in time to see you kill that sand dummy for the sixth time,” retorted the bold Dwarf while beating the top of his blackened bowl in the palm of his thick, stubby hand.
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Tugo,” said Joshua while reaching out to shake the little Dwarf’s surprisingly strong grip.
“Tell you what, the next time you need some practice, let me know and I’ll get you a dozen good targets. But you’ll have to do your shooting outside because the armory is off limits even to the royal citizens,” said Tugo politely.
Joshua eyed him for a moment and then laughed heartily before finally thanking the diplomatic Dwarf. As they walked up the hall together and climbed the spiral stone stairs to the ground floor of the fortress above, Joshua listened amusedly as
the good-natured Dwarf told him tall tales of past Sagitta tournaments.
The next afternoon was an exciting time for all the people of Ingdom. They were preparing for the annual Sagitta Tournaments which would determine the best one-hundred swordsmen and archers of all the would-be warriors of Ingdom. A Dwarf had never won a place among the archery finalists in all the years of the tournament, and so the Elf Senate had secretly counted on the skill of their best archers to deny Joshua an officer’s commission.
Unaware of the spying skills of Senator Canto’s rabbit, Benthor, Ody, and Joshua mistakenly thought they were the only ones aware of their secret plans for the upcoming war campaign. Joshua had not perceived Senator Canto’s subtle plan to exclude him, but Benthor seemed unconcerned. He had witnessed his nephew’s skillful use of the compound bow before he’d convinced Joshua to buy it at a sports-shop in the Bull City of Durham.
The tournament’s archery range had been laid out along the edge of the great barley fields in the center flood-plain of the valley. Everyone seemed to be present with all their families to watch the festivities of the annual celebration. The organized children danced and acted out mock sword and archery skills to entertain the growing crowds. Later, the Sword Tournament was held to determine the finest 100 swordsmen in the valley.
Joshua watched the event with interest and was glad that he was a better archer than swordsman. When the archery range was finally opened for practice, he had to ignore an annoying group of rude children who snickered at the sight of his unusual bow with its attached quill of green-feathered, graphite arrows.
The other contestants studied the flat-black, compound bow curiously, as Joshua confidently set up his station on the first position of the firing line. He had picked his new friend, Tugo, to be his attendant during the match, and the Dwarf beamed with pride as he took his place while smoking his ivory pipe beside the nephew of the Dwarf king.
Princess Celia and the horned-owl, Vigil, were Prince Ody’s attendants just to the left of them. Joshua had to mentally guard himself against the urge to allow his ego to get the better of him before the first round. He concentrated on hitting his own target, as everyone else was doing, during the preliminary practice rounds. Tugo, on the other hand, seemed determined to draw attention to Joshua’s success. The wily Dwarf bellowed out with glee every time he ran to fetch the unique arrows which Joshua had marked with two distinctive green rings just under their feathers.
Next to Ody and Celia were the famous Elf Twins, Count Hood and Lord Brecha. They were two of the finest archers in all of Ingdom almost every year. In accordance with tradition, they greatly honored the top two sword champions to be their attendants. The burley Dwarf warriors, Arth and Lukid, stood somewhat awkwardly beside their Elf counterparts while waiting to retrieve their arrows. Joshua found it curious that no Elf had ever been a finalist in the Dwarf-dominated sword tournament as well.
Just beyond them was a young, upstart Elf named Turk whose fiery spirit outweighed his lack of years. He had defiantly chosen to be his own attendant since he was a last minute entry. Turk was the nephew of Commissioner Bin. King Benthor had entered the tournament as well, as he had every year without any success. He had chosen Commander Beng, one of his best Dwarf officers, to be his attendant.
A blast of rams-horns quieted the crowds who thronged the dirt roads and fields. Many others stood on wagons pulled by shedding musk-oxen with feed bags over their first-round instructions to the 1000 eager archers and their chosen attendants.
The rules were very simple. Each contestant would shoot five arrows apiece at the three-legged, multi-circled, bulls-
eyes at a distance of twenty-five standard paces. The best 500 would advance to the second round where they would shoot ten arrows at fifty paces. The third round would have the best 300 shooting ten arrows at seventy-five paces.
Finally, the fourth round would pit the remaining 200 archers who would fire fifteen arrows at 100 paces. After the tabulation of the fourth round, the final 100 archers would be awarded a year’s worth of free dinners, as well as a pewter of mead each night in the Royal Mead Hall--all at the expense of the king.
The first two rounds always filtered out the bad archers, and the last two rounds were traditionally the most hotly contested. Joshua did very well and advanced to the third round with no trouble, as did Ody, the Twins, and the fiercely competitive Turk. After King Benthor was eliminated in the second round, he took a position behind Joshua to cheer him on. Benthor’s attendant, Commander Beng, was asked by Turk, with a look of embarrassment, to pick up his attendant duties. The hot-
blooded Elf was grateful to have Beng’s help in the latter rounds.
The third round was when Joshua made his mark among the Ingdom crowd as their black-horse favorite. His flat-black compound bow powerfully hit the center bullseye arrow after arrow. Even Prince Ody had to take note of his friend’s success and of his sister Celia’s delighted interest. The fourth round found all five of the skilled archers competing with the final contestants, but this time at 100-paces. One by one, they shot their fifteen arrows on cue from Senator Jura’s crowd-pleasing calls.
When the championship round ended, all five had made the top 100 elite, but Joshua had narrowly won honors over the black-clad Turk for marksmanship. The people shouted and hollered for joy as the final tally was announced by the surprised Senator Jura. Celia came to give him a long warm hug, as Benthor and Tugo grinned at each other with pride. One by one, all the other champions came to shake his hand, Ody, the Twins, and Turk among the first to acknowledge his great accomplishment.
The crowd became even further amazed when Joshua allowed the famous Twins to try out his compound bow. Neither Count Hood nor Lord Brecha, could pull back the 80-pound tension on the bow string. It was at that time that his friends, and his enemies, began to see him in a different light.
The rest of the week found everyone busily preparing to march from Ingdom to the desolate Valley of Elah in South West Eden. Joshua had received his officer’s commission the morning after the tournament--much to the displeasure of Senator Canto and his cronies. Not only was he given a commission, but he was put in command of the elite war party comprised of the 100 archery champions.
Distracted by his accomplishments, Joshua failed to take
note of the fact that the majority of his archers were members of
Commissioner Bin’s Black-Scorpion guards. He spent the better
part of the following afternoons training them on climbing and repelling techniques while using the steep fortress walls for practice. They would need the new repelling skills to properly position themselves undetected during the upcoming campaign.
The whole valley prepared for war and the possibility of a long siege if the army failed to stop the invading Imps. Food and water supplies were transported up into the mountain cisterns and storehouses. Rocks were piled strategically behind walled parapets, along with vats that would pour boiling walrus and seal oil down on unfortunate besiegers attempting to scale the impregnable fortress walls. Benthor had the army practicing repetitive movements and deployments along the river using the Boy Scout flag-signals Joshua had shown him in the Mead Hall.
Most of the women and children would eventually take up residence within the mountain’s inner catacombs, while the older boys, strongest women, and older men not fit to march off to war would hold the castle. All the underground silos were covered and buried in an attempt to protect their excess storehouse supplies of grain.
The doors of the stone barns and mills were stone-walled as well. All the buildings would no doubt be demolished during a long siege, and the barley harvest still green in the fields would be lost to the enemy. Nevertheless, if Ingdom Castle could outlast their besiegers, then all those things could be rebuilt and replanted later.
The peregrine, Aquila, had returned from a recent scouting mission over Gondwanaland and reported that the Impish Host was proceeding just as Benthor had predicted. The Hybrid army would most likely make the Valley of Elah within a week if the weather remained fair.
On the seventh day after Joshua’s return to Ingdom, the army marched south through the iceberg-gauntlet of the valley’s
treacherous, southern bay. They pushed their way slowly over the vast frozen sea overlaid with groaning, jagged ice. The Great Ice Sea was haunted by dangerous polar bears and marauding killer whales hunting seals while they searched for air-holes in the ice.
The warriors all wore snow shoes for stability and slitted face-masks to protect themselves from snow blindness. Joshua had tried to wear a pair of his ultra-violet sunglasses, but the lenses kept fogging up and the metal rims got too cold for his face.
They also wore thick mittens made of seal-hide patches sewn inside out, as well as huge pelt-boots laced up their buckskin shins. Their double-ply fur boots were stuffed in between with insulating barley straw, and they all had thatched snow shoes tied to the bottoms of their feet.
King Benthor had surprised the Elf Senate the morning of
their departure by presenting Joshua with the fabled Lion’s
Shield that mighty Ing Bootes had used centuries before. Benthor had been the most recent one to use the shield during the Druid-Hobgoblin War. Prince Ody and Princess Celia shocked the Senate even further by presenting young Blackwell with their father’s renowned Ram Sword. Baldur had died with the Ram Sword in his hand while standing along side of Joshua’s father during the prior war.
Despite the honors, Senator Canto and the Union were secretly jubilant about the prospect of sending Benthor, Ody, and Joshua out to fight in a dangerous war. What they had not counted on was Joshua’s growing fame among the Ingdomite populace. Giving the upstart barbarian the two famed pieces of royal armor had further influenced the Ingdomite peons into favoring the lad as their champion. Senator Canto made plans to meet with his Union members to decide what they would do while the three were away.
Lepus the rabbit had provided the Union with invaluable information while secretly spying upon King Benthor in the Mead Hall with his inner-circle. Lepus had reported to his master precisely where the army of Benthor would try to ambush the Imp Host. The news was then relayed to the next pair of Condor spies who reached the north to keep tabs on the little emerald kingdom. If Benthor, Ody, and Joshua were all killed in the ill-fated campaign, then total control of Ingdom would fall into the Union’s hands as soon as they dealt with Queen Helaina and the beautiful Princess Celia.
Senator Canto slowly stroked the crouching rabbit in his lap as they sat inside a west-market green tea shop along the Ingdom Wall. The absence of King Benthor had already eased the pain of his arthritic fingers, but it had done nothing to calm the boiling ulcer in his stomach. His long-laid plans would soon come to fruition, if only he could rely on the Imps to do his dirty work for him.
“When I become the new Elf king...I will drive the stupid Dwarves out of this beautiful haven and invite the Draconians to take access to the Fountain of the Deep,” cooed Senator Canto as he petted the little animal which kept its eyes and ears tightly closed.
Senator Canto felt secure in knowing that General Flac was one of the Union’s most integral members, and that he had marched south with Benthor as his leading general. General Flac had been instructed to secure the portal key after Benthor’s unfortunate death and to bring it back to Ingdom. Then Senator Canto would have control of the wealth and mysterious power of future Earth which the Draconians had sought for many centuries. Canto repeated his dream title out loud once again.
“King Canto. I like the sound of that, don’t you, Lepus?”
The large-eared hare merely sat deathly still while thinking about what he would say next.
© 1997 conan07@msn.com
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