The Chronicles of Articia; Children of the Dead. K.D. Enos

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СКАЧАТЬ her determination and stubbornness, she would make a good warrior." Dominic meant this as a jest, but it put an idea in his head.

      Dom turned to speak to the weapon master and saw mischief reflected in Tristan's expression as well. "Train them both then. Just … don't tell father." Tristan smiled at Dominic as they turned and left the training grounds.

      Bryn watched the older brothers leave and was only slightly surprised. He had learned to expect the unexpected from the sons and daughter of King Henry.

      The triumphant twins, already in an uproar over the change in events, were arguing about who got to practice with the sword first. Bryn looked at them, and being the good weapon master he was, saw the great leaders and warriors they would both be, if only the Fates allowed.

      Bryn had been in service to King Henry for over thirty years. Born to a family of farmers, Bryn joined the army of for the king after he lost most of his family to the same plague that took many of Articia's citizens and most of its royal family. He had spent a dozen years as a foot soldier, rising through the ranks unnoticed by the royal family until the Battle of Mildanar Steppes.

      In that battle, Bryn was the captain of the cavalry of the famed One Hundred and was fully engaged in a skirmish with goblin riders when he recognized that King Henry's flank had been weakened by a focused goblin attack. Unwilling to yield his position, he split his forces with a command to hold the line and secured the king's flank. His action turned out to be a pivotal point in the battle because the goblin horde had overcommitted to the flanking maneuver and the king was able to rally and rout the goblin forces. King Henry had been very young, but very savvy, at the time of the border wars. He immediately recognized that his inexperience was not a benefit to the battlefield. Had the young captain named Bryn not recognized the weakening flank, the battle could have ended in disaster.

      Henry was impressed with Bryn's tactical knowledge and mastery of many weapons and made him the Captain of the Army, the highest military rank in Articia. Knowing he could not effectively lead the armies of Articia forever, Bryn spent many years training some of the brightest officers of the line so that someday he could step down from his post.

      The current captain of Articia's army was one of those proteges. However, King Henry was not able to let his longtime friend and comrade to leave his side so he asked Bryn to stay and teach his children weapon mastery and tactics. He wanted his children never to be in a position of desperately needing a "Bryn" on the battlefield.

      Bryn looked at the king's youngest children and sighed. He knew this pair's reputation; this truly was going to be the biggest challenge of his life. At that moment, he wished he were back on the field of battle.

      As Alec ran toward the training equipment in an attempt to get to the sword first, Ava reached out with her magic and caused her brother to trip. He slammed to the ground as she casually walked over to pick up the wooden sword.

      "I am ready to train now," Ava declared.

      Bryn smiled as he helped up Alec who was clenching his fists in anger at Ava's actions, "Why yes you are, my young warrior princess," Bryn replied. Though I am not sure that I am ready to train you, he thought.

      …

      Ava had started to show magical ability at a very young age. They say that when a child is around two years old, a time that most parents call the challenge years, children start to become more independent and stubborn. For Ava and Alec, these years were especially difficult because the twins were particularly independent and stubborn. On one of the more memorable days of the royal twins' activities, their nursemaid, whom they both adored, had to leave the castle to tend to an ailing parent. Of course, the twins would have none of it and did not truly understand the need for the nursemaid to leave.

      It was at this time that the royal family learned of Ava's magical ability. When her tantrum erupted, they noticed the change in her immediately. As she made a fist, her eyes started to change colors and swirls of wind surrounded the grounds. No one is sure if things would have gotten out of control that day because a rather powerful mage named Brendan, the royal scribe, was in the yard and intervened. He managed to distract Ava with a colorful pyrotechnics display.

      After little Ava's remarkable expression of power, things got very interesting in the castle and Brendan spent many years working to teach her restraint and control, at least as much as was possible for the remarkably stubborn child.

      …

      The twins trained with Bryn for many years after that first day, each with their own special talents. Ava was very adept with the sword, and with her innate magical ability, she was able to enhance her movements and responses to the point where even Alec's growing height and weight offered him no advantage when he sparred with her. Alec had grown to a fit young man, which was quite a change from the early days when Ava was the stronger and larger twin.

      Bryn explained to the siblings that the changes were part of the natural development of the beings of Articia and that "the goddess Adara made the females of all species stronger than the males when they were young so that they could defend themselves against the males, who were wilder and more aggressive. When the females were old enough to defend themselves, the males of the species would get larger and stronger, mostly to defend themselves from the aggressiveness of the mature females." Ava thought this was rather funny, especially since she was still better with the sword than her brother Alec.

      Alec's skills were much better suited to the longbow and horseback arts. His jousting skills had already earned him honors in the local games. However, Alec's skill with the longbow is what earned him renown in the kingdom. During the annual Artician festival, warriors and artists of many forms had come to the capital to compete in the games. The tournament, hosted by King Henry's cousin, Sir Dale of Westwood, who is celebrated as one of the best archers in Articia. Now that Alec was fourteen, he could compete in the games. It would be the first test of his archery skills in a formal contest.

      The archery contest ran all day and required precision and stamina. Hundreds of archers started the contest that morning, including Alec. Most of the younger archers were eliminated from the competition early for lack of stamina, but Alec successfully completed every round, besting all his opponents until he reached the final round; for this, he was to compete with Sir Dale, last year's champion.

      As champion, Sir Dale had the honor of calling the first shot of the match. He started by calling a long shot, hoping to end the contest quickly and assuming incorrectly that the young prince would not have much strength left to pull back the bow to reach the target.

      Alec just smiled, for he knew he had not yet reached his limit. Alec was very clever for someone so young but he had had a great tutor in Bryn. The weapon master had spent a considerable amount of time preparing Alec for the archery contest, giving him a clear strategy for managing the length of the archery competition. Whenever Alec had honors in a match, he would call a closer shot that required more precision so that he could save his strength for the challenges later in the day.

      Sir Dale shot first, reaching and striking the target easily. Alec followed; hitting the target as well, but not as close to the center as the shot of Sir Dale. Alec now had honors and called a closer, more precise shot in which he pulled the closest mark. Remarkably, the contest continued for forty rounds, the maximum allowed under the rules of the game. Alec had managed to obtain a draw against the best archer in the kingdom.

      Sir Dale bowed to the young prince, "Remarkable job today young master."

      "Thank you, Sir Dale. I learned much about competition in our duel today; someday I hope to finish the games as the victor," Alec said as he bowed СКАЧАТЬ