The Messenger

[Mavic]

The Intro

He left the room with a heavy heart. James knew what it meant to be sent to Silverchur. It meant that, this life, this constant, was about to change rapidly. He had been dreading this day since the time of Ovar, and now it had finally come.

Silverchur was a two week course by the trade route. But James had learned in his training that the road on the map was not always the best choice. There were many considerations to make before choosing a route of course, but these had to be weighed and calculated during preparations, and sometimes a route could change in the blink of an eye.

He thought about every move he made. As James rounded the corner into his housing quarters he knew how many steps it would take for him to reach the door. He could feel each and every bump on the stone walls without running his hand over them, and by the sound of the coughing coming through the door, AJ had waken this day with the same cold he had been going to bed with every night for the past cycle. These things were all comforts; comforts that created this safe world around him.

As he knew each corridor and torch sconce, he did not know those hallways and lanterns of Silverchur. And as he knew the surrounding country so well he could not get lost, he only knew the surrounding lands as they appeared on the maps he had studied. James’ ability that he had shown here at the academy, he now thought about how it was because of his training. He was sly, yes, but merely James had studied and adventured so that he could be quick witted in his environments and situations. This would not be the case once he left for Silverchur, James knew.

But this is what all his years of training culminated too. He was now in the service of his country, sworn to his King, and a defender of his peoples. James was to officially become a messenger. Now it was time for him to leave his home at the academy, and so leave to the lands where “home” would soon become a foreign word altogether.


(Comments are welcome)

[Mavic]

James took one look back at the academy before descending down the ridge and into the surrounding forest. The stone walls covered thick with moss were enormous and impressive. The four tallest tower spires rose far above the walls of the forest and James could remember the views from each.

It was an odd thought considering how the academy had been constructed, in a rather rude fashion one might say, but with an heir of wisdom to others. The main tower, however, not the biggest, stood with authority in the center of the complex design. This was the first tower built, initially as a wayward guard post in the history of the kingdom. The tower was used, and abandoned, and raided from time to time, all in different orders, but eventually was so far removed from the kingdom’s ever expanding borders that its uses all but became useless.

It is said that after a long and healthy life serving the king, that Lord Perr was given the tower keep and the land as a gift from the king. At the time the kings’ messengers were few and far between, and all were in Silverchur. The king, at this point in history King Harrin, saw the possible exploits for a far greater division of these messengers, and employed Perr out of retirement to place his land as the academy for such.

Since the coming about of the academy, a far away keep lost in an old forest, the king and his court enjoyed a much more accurate expansion of Temun than the early siege and battle days. The academy itself was all but forgotten by the peoples. Thus, the wayward guard tower grew slowly, and silently, and now the breadth of its towers, spires, and stations were overwhelming and misplaced to a silent breath of awe.

James knew the history of the academy and its castle like intrigue with warm familiarity. He knew the view from each of the towers, and what each room’s closet held within it. It had taken him time, but he had learnt the secret passages that led in, and about, and he treated their privacy with the same amount of tenure that had proven his worth within the academy time and again. To him, every rock had a history, and now it panged him to wish these friends farewell.

With James now riding solemnly down into the forest was his favorite instructor, Giles, as well as his portly old attendant who James’ was quite fond of. Giles had been the one to find James as well as oversee his entrance into the academy in the first place, and now it seemed only fitting that he would be the one to escort him away from the stone palace that they had both called home. Giles was unusually quiet to James’ side, and for that James was thankful; he did not think he would like to discuss his parting for right now, nor did he wish this was truly taking place at all. Silverchur held all the welcome of a painting on the wall, and the thought of the academy clung heavily in his mind.

[Cont.]

[Mavic]

Two days had passed since James’ journey had begun and already his training commenced. This was very unlike the training that he had received at the academy where students studied from texts old and new, where classrooms had structure, and teachers were only that. After taking oaths to the king the texts became those journals you kept yourself, classrooms would become forests and inns, and teachers were the rich and the poor, lords and thieves.

The forest that acted as protector to the academy was dense and thick, growing for overly long in an isolated land. Silverchur was to the north which was the longest direction of travel to reach the outer rim of the forest. The towns that bordered on the external regions of the forest were only to the north as the southern edge was built of mountains, flowing rivers, and near impassable. That was why the original tower had originally been built in such an easily defendable position and the land to the east, west and south was very inhospitable.

To the north lay James’ destination, his new life, and whatever deeds the kingdom would assign him. This should have been a privilege, an honor, as so many other students of the academy would never be summoned to Silverchur; they would merely serve out duties under the direction of Marik Sturn – the academy’s director and lord. But these thoughts of the privilege and honor were far from James’ mind. James’ loved the academy, for everything it was, for the way it had been his childhood.

But that is what the academy would have to remain, a childhood and memories. Yes, to the north lay Silverchur, the grand court, and great cities, but James’ knew that to the north also lay a man he had never met and a man that Giles made clear that James must become.

Each day the lesson from Giles was anew, and each night the test he gave harder to pass. On the first night James setup camp easily enough since they travelled with little more than their personal belongings. The sun was still hours away from setting over the canopy of the dense forest, and James had already built a small fire for the three. James had reached into his pack to pull some hard bread and cheese for dinner along with a small pot to boil water when Giles had told James they would prefer meat for dinner. Giles asked him ever so nicely, and with a sly smile to go into the forest and catch a rabbit and not to return until he had.

James knew the forest well, especially just a days travel from the academy and had spent many nights in the forest with only his wits to provide the meals. Soon enough he had smelled fresh rabbit droppings, found the burrow and set a snare over the dens exit. With the forest light only just diminishing, James was quickly returning to camp with a hare on his belt and too much pride for such a simple deed.

As he jumped over the fallen log that he had marked on his way from camp, James could see no fire where he had left Giles and his retainer Casin. He hurried to the small spot, quietly and stealthy although he suspected no foul play to his instructor. There he found that Giles had struck camp, and left a page of parchment under a stone with the simple words – “Keep Up”.

James tracked them and found them, although they covered their tracks well and most likely lightly. Giles was a member of the King’s Messengers before coming to the academy to instruct, and if he did not intend to leave any sign of a trail then he would not. It was also lucky for James’ because he suspected his instructor to travel north as he initially had done, but after losing the trail and backtracking, James found that his master had deceived him and taken a well hidden game trail westward. It was nearing morning by the time James’ reached the new camp, and silently crept near the fire without waking his instructor or Casin.

He learned his lesson from the first night, and tired from his nights little sleep during the next days trek. Although Giles put a hard pace on the next days journey, James’ did not let himself fall behind and even enjoyed conversation with his instructor as well as earned a small bit of praise for reaching them quickly enough still with a hare. And though James’ trusted Giles wholeheartedly, he promised himself to keep a wary eye on him, entirely.

That second night they shared the rabbit and made a tidy stew, and Giles played no games, only tested James on history and lore over the fire. But, after they broke their fast with two days behind them from the academy, Giles stopped James from leaving in their company, and told him to meet them in three days time at the Inn in Gendersley.

Gendersley was only two days from where they had just broken camp, and at first it seemed a fools test, however, there were conditions. The test was new, and this time it resembled the first, but with new games, and seemingly less deception. Giles gave James three differently colored kerchiefs and gave James his instruction.

The test was such that Giles made James reclaim his honor for it. James knew the words well, since Ovar had just recently passed four cycles earlier. He took to his knees facing northeast where Silverchur lay in waiting and began:

“By the King and his blood - By the code and the scripture - Here do I not stand – Here do I not exist – My name is the wind – My voice is the shadow - From now everlastingly do I take this oath into service of my King”