EA#36:
Read From the Beginning or the start of Trial Two or Three or Four or Five or Six
The Mountain in the Clouds, Part Thirty-Nine
“
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said King Dramand.
This guy is resistant, I thought to myself.
While all the rest seemed fooled, and others in the past were convinced by my speeches… I should say convinced, not fooled. For even I was once the fool, but now have grown to believe. And continue to be surprised, yes, but believe in the convincing occurrences of the gods speaking through me.
“This is not the speech of some Magi, or some magic man,” the king waxed on. “This is the charade of a very good actor.”
Those in the tent began to stir and mutter amongst themselves, not sure what to think. A buzz of doubt flooded through the air, and even I began to wonder if I was totally amiss. Yet I remembered what I had said, or rather been guided to say. And there was no real denying in my own mind the potency of it, nor the information I was privy to that would not otherwise have been mine to have.
The king stared me down with a glowering look. His hands were held strongly by his sides, gripping his waistline in a powerful stance of authority.
I looked around for some clue, for something to shift the energy. I saw eyes looking back at me, mostly filled with wonder and distrust.
Then stood a man from across the floor, and he spoke, “I will vouch for this man.”
A quiet but audible group gasp was released. King Dramand looked anxiously on towards this voice.
As did I, for I recognized him immediately. It was King Garamund from Castle Greene.
“The one you see before you is a Magi, or indeed some powerful being beyond what we know, of that I can attest,” Garamund offered. “And this is not the first display of his abilities I have seen.”
King Dramand, now intrigued, begged, “Tell me more.”
Garamund continued, “He came to me in my time of most desperate need. I was near destitute, my kingdom ready to crumble. His words, just like the powerful words you heard here today, changed my trajectory entirely. That, and a little test of faith he entered me in.” The king nodded my way and gave a slanted grin. “Just hope he doesn’t send you through that as well, King Dramand.”
Dramand had his eyes narrowed to slits and was looking between Garamund and myself, as if trying to weigh Garamund’s story, my words, and his own convictions about what was happening. He looked towards the ground for that last, deeply lost in thought.
Then he raised his head and said, “I certainly cannot ignore what King Garamund has told us. And it is true that when I heard you speak,” he eyed me, “I was amazed at the depth and authority of the words you offered.”
The king paced back and forth a bit, tugging at his chin with one hand and taking another moment to collect his thoughts. Then he continued, “But my concern lies with the information you have told me. You say that our adversary, Etl Drilksbat, has an army beyond our conception, and this feels untrue to me. For we of the Gilded Dragon have the best intelligence in the lands and I can assure you that our esteem of Dral Graf is far from your estimation. Their army is meek and growing weaker every day from a siege that has been laid upon them some weeks now by our allies, and a handful of our own troops. We are the strike force that will overwhelm our enemy and offer a crushing victory. There is no need for your help, nor even your giant.”
“And I say,” I found my voice again, “if your intel is so good, then how did a giant end up in your midst?”
King Dramand seemed truly amused at this, actually, and replied, “Too, true, stranger, and that is something that I have wondered myself.” He glared at Jall Hilgon for a moment. “That is a loose end I will have to see about.”
“I don’t think there’s any loose end,” Garamund intervened. “Think about it. How else could the giant appear out of nowhere, but with the alliance of a Magi and some powerful magic?”
“Your point may be valid in Castle Greene, my friend,” Dramand rebutted. “But I am still not buying this whole thing. What do you know, really, about our opponent? And why should I not wonder if you yourself aren’t some infiltrator from Dral Graf, sent to confuse and mislead us?”
“My dear king,” the deep voice welled up inside of me. “You play your part well. You are cautious. You are skeptical. Have you no faith of any kind? No god to turn to, no power beyond yourself, no trust in your fellows? What made you so cynical? You have before you a great boon, an aid beyond measure, and knowledge you do not seem to even wish to own. And yet you scoff at it so. Believe in magic, dear king. Believe in a greater spirit. The gods do exist, and the Magi. This world is constantly formed and reformed by their very being. But you live in a world of doubt. Would you doubt it still, if you had your fair wife by your side?”
“How do you know of Mari?” Dramand recoiled. “How cruel to bring her up at this time!”
“It is not cruel, but is it not valid? Is it not true? Your losing her made you doubt all existence of a higher power beyond yourself. You thought that because she left you, at the time she left you, and in the way she left you, that there could not possibly be any god looking out for you and your best interests. Well what if you could understand that it was not your fault, nor hers, nor the gods. But it WAS her choice. Not to leave you, but to recreate herself anew. For there is more than you may know in this life you live now. And she is there in the beyond, doing as she was called to do. And her passing has served you and many others in more ways than you can perceive of. But you must let go this distrust, this distaste for the divine. There is no one out to get you, save your adversary across the barrows. And you must heed this warning now. The siege is a farce. There is no one there. They are waiting for your army to amass at their gates and they will engulf you in their midst. They have more power than you can even imagine.”
My new speech left a new silence behind it. But I felt a surge in my heart, a bolstering of energy, a knowing that these words had moved mountains. I saw King Garamund nod approvingly at me, while King Dramand appeared struck by profundity beyond measure.
This sober moment was suddenly interjected by a most unexpected voice. “Troy!”
I turned towards the door of the great tent and saw standing there a face I had not seen in… some trials now, anyways, whatever time had passed.
Gill was there, beaming at me, and beside her was Corporal Riley along with Jax, Hayn and Bion. Even the Scimitar Man, Apalandro, was with them. All of my friends from my trial of strength in Titanton. How fitting. I could certainly use some strength and smart allies in this trial of war.
“Gill, Riley, what are you doing here?” I called out. Before anyone could answer, Gill shocked me by running right up to me and giving me a big hug. The others cantered up behind her and smiled warmingly at me.
After a moment of greetings to each other, Dramand recalled attention to him, “I see that you are old friends. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me. Nothing about this Magi man, Troy, is at all surprising to me at this point. While I feel shocked and a little vulnerable after what you just shared, I cannot deny the truth of your words. Nor can I deny that there is no way that I know that you might have had awareness of this information if you were not who you say you are. None of my own kingdom even know these things, and I cannot imagine how Etl would either. What you speak of happened so long ago… it was a brief, but powerful and wonderful love affair. And while I miss her greatly, she has also been the source of great inspiration in my life ever since.”
“You feel her with you sometimes?” I offered.
“Yes, I do,” Dramand agreed. “Often…”
“She is there,” I consoled him. “She is with you even now as you think of her. She wants you to know she’s well. And she wishes that you will heed my words and seek my counsel.”
“I am decided, then,” Dramand confirmed. “Magi Troy, you are welcome among my presence and you and ALL of your friends shall find a warm and inviting home amongst the Army of the Gilded Dragon. Now, please, I wish to conclude for the moment. You may stay here if you wish, any of you, but I might recommend at little fresh air. As for you, my esteemed new guest, I will have someone show you to some accommodations.” The king gestured with his hands to one of his attendants, who hurried obediently out of the tent.
Dramand himself gathered his cape around him and left in the opposite direction, with several of his guards and counsel in tow.
The atmosphere lightened up tremendously then, and I found myself staring in awe at all of my old friends. I was almost more amazed at their presence than by my own words and actions in convincing King Dramand to take me on.
Jall Hilgon stepped up briefly to say, “Well done, Magi. I am glad you proved your worth. I’d appear quite a fool if you hadn’t.” He smiled at me and my friends from Titanton, then walked off.
“Troy!” Gill uttered again.
“Are you still going with the Magi bit?” Corporal Riley asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Shh,” I urged. “Don’t blow my cover now.”
I laughed a little and put the others at ease, who joined my humor.
“Wow, it’s been a long time,” I said. “What in the gods’ names are you even doing here?”
“Well, after the giants were done with Titanton, we got to talking,” Gill answered. “The town was safe, and we ended up being quite a team. We thought we could do some good and help others. We formed a band of, well, you could say…”
“Mercenaries,” offered Apalandro.
“I mean,” Gill picked up, “you could say that. I don’t really love the word, because it’s got a bad rap. But I don’t know what else to call us. It’s kind of what we do. We hire ourselves out and use our combined talents to help others. And we recently found employ to help the Army of the Gilded Dragon. Pretty neat, right?”
“What about that isn’t mercenary work?” I asked.
“Just feels uncomfortable, that word,” Gill said. “Mercenaries have a reputation for doing whatever it takes just to earn their keep. Bordering on criminality.”
“Well, don’t worry, Gill, I’ve met some real criminals recently that have that part covered,” I jested. “I could never imagine you guys doing ‘whatever it takes’ if you’re really so worried. Especially if it meant going against your morals. You haven’t lost your morals, have you?”
“Certainly not!” Riley intoned.
“Excuse me,” said King Garamund, coming across the floor to us. “Magi, good to see you again.”
“So good to see you, as well,” I returned. “I see that you figured out your little lesson.”
“Indeed,” Garamund grinned. “Though I might ask you in the future, were you to ever help my kingdom again… could you please refrain from sending me there? I think once is enough.”
“Somehow I highly doubt that you fell only once,” I said and the king and I both laughed. The Titanton crew watched on, obviously lost.
“My apologies,” I said. “This is King Garamund of Castle Greene. I assisted him with some, well, trouble he was in. You will have to tell me more about that,” I directed towards the king. Then gesturing at my old friends, “And these are some amazing people I helped from a band of giants who were enforcing a hefty tax upon their town.”
“Yea, and I have to tell you the strangest thing,” Gill whispered. “There’s this giant outside, which I did not expect. And I am not good with giant faces, but I could swear he was the head taxman…”
“He is…he was…” I said, and my friends jumped, nearly reading their weapons. I spoke quickly to stop them. “Hold on, he’s my friend now. Yes, believe it or not, we became friends after that. Seems the love of his life was captured after the invisibility spell wore off. I agreed to help him find her.”
”Bless my soul, Magi,” Garamund said. “You do get around to helping a lot of people, don’t you?”
Riley added, “You really have to catch us up on what you’ve been doing, Troy.”
I smiled at my friends. I could not believe my luck to have found all these people together again in this place.
Neverwhere might be nowhere, but it was certainly somewhere very interesting to be.
“
Thanks so much for reading.
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Blessings to you,
Matthew