“How…do you know this?”
Argon smiled back, but did not respond.
Thor was suddenly filled with curiosity.
“How…” Thor added, fumbling for words, “…how do you know my mother? Have you met her? Who was she?”
Argon turned and walked away.
“Questions for another time,” he said, his back to him.
Thor watched him go, puzzled. It was such a dizzying and mysterious encounter, and it was all happening so fast. He decided he could not let him leave; he hurried after him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, hurrying to catch up. Argon, using his staff, an ancient ivory thing, walked deceptively fast. “You were not waiting for me, were you?”
“Who else?” Argon asked.
Thor hurried to catch up, following him into the wood, leaving the clearing behind.
“But why me? How did you know I would be here? What is it that you want?”
“So many questions,” Argon said. “You fill the air. You should listen instead.”
Thor followed him as he continued through the thick wood, doing his best to remain silent.
“You come in search of your lost sheep,” Argon stated. “A noble effort. But you waste your time. She will not survive.”
Thor’s eyes opened wide.
“How do you know this?”
“I know worlds you will never know, boy. At least, not yet.”
Thor wondered as he hiked to catch up.
“You won’t listen, though. That is your nature. Stubborn. Like your mother. You will continue after your sheep, determined to rescue her.”
Thor reddened as Argon read his thoughts.
“You are a feisty boy,” he added. “Strong-willed. Too proud. Positive traits. But one day it may be your downfall.”
Argon began to hike up a mossy ridge, and Thor followed.
“You want to join the King’s Legion,” he said.
“Yes!” Thor answered, excitedly. “Is there any chance for me? Can you make that happen?”
Argon laughed, a deep, hollow sound that sent a chill up Thor’s spine.
“I can make everything and nothing happen. Your destiny was already written. But it is up to you to choose it.”
Thor did not understand.
They reached the top of the ridge, and as they did Argon stopped and faced him. Thor stood only feet away, and Argon’s energy burned through him.
“Your destiny is an important one,” he said. “Do not abandon it.”
Thor’s eyed widened. His destiny? Important? He felt himself well with pride.
“I do not understand. You speak in riddles. Please, tell me more.”
Suddenly, Argon vanished.
Thor could hardly believe it. He looked every which way. He stood there, listening, wondering. Had he imagined it all? Was it some delusion?
Thor turned and examined the wood; from this vantage point, high up on the ridge, he could see farther than before. As he looked, he spotted motion, in the distance. He heard a noise, and felt sure it was his sheep.
He stumbled down the mossy ridge and hurried in that direction, back through the wood. As he went, he could not shake his encounter with Argon. He could hardly conceive it had happened. What was the King’s druid doing here, of all places? He had been waiting for him. But why? And what had he meant about his destiny?
The more Thor tried to unravel it, the less he understood. Argon was both warning him not to continue and at the same time tempting him to do so. Now, as he went, Thor felt an increasing sense of foreboding, as if something momentous were about to happen.
As he turned a bend, he stopped cold in his tracks at the view before him. All of his worst nightmares were confirmed in a single moment. His hair stood on end, and he realized he had made a grave mistake in coming here, this deep into Darkwood.
There, opposite him, hardly thirty paces away, was a Sybold. Hulking, muscular, standing on all fours, nearly the size of a horse, it was the most feared animal of Darkwood, maybe even of the kingdom. Thor had never seen one, but had heard legends. It resembled a lion, but was bigger, broader, its hide a deep scarlet and its eyes a glowing yellow. Legend had it that its scarlet color came from the blood of innocent children.
Thor had heard of few sightings of this beast his entire life, and even these were thought to be dubious. Maybe that was because no one ever actually survived an encounter. Some considered the Sybold to be the God of the Woods, and an omen. What that omen was, Thor had no idea.
He took a careful step back.
The Sybold stood there, its huge jaws half-open, its fangs dripping saliva, staring back with its yellow eyes. In its mouth was Thor’s missing sheep: screaming, hanging upside down, half of its body pierced by fangs. It was mostly dead. The Sybold seemed to revel in the kill, taking its time; it seemed to delight in torturing it.
Thor could not stand the sound of the cries. It wiggled, helpless, and he felt responsible.
Thor’s first impulse was to turn and run; but he already knew that would be futile. He would never outrun this beast, which could outrun anything. Running would only embolden it. And he could not leave his sheep to die like that.
He stood there, frozen in fear, and knew he had to take action of some sort.
Thor felt his reflexes take over. He slowly reached down, extracted a stone, and placed it in his sling. With a trembling hand, he wound up, took a step forward, and hurled.
The stone sailed through the air and hit its mark. It was a perfect shot. It hit the sheep in its eyeball, driving through to its brain.
The sheep went limp. Dead. Thor had spared this animal its suffering.
The Sybold glared at Thor, enraged that Thor had killed its plaything. It slowly opened its immense jaws and dropped the sheep, which landed with a thump on the forest floor. Then it set its eyes on Thor.
It snarled, a deep, evil sound, rising up from its belly.
As it started hulking towards him, Thor, heart pounding, placed another stone in his sling, reached back, and prepared to fire once again.
The Sybold broke into a sprint, moving faster than anything Thor had ever seen in his life. Thor took a step forward and hurled the stone, praying that it hit, knowing he wouldn’t have time to sling another before it arrived.
The stone hit the beast in its right eye, knocking it out. It was a tremendous throw, one that would’ve brought a lesser animal to its knees.
But this was no lesser animal. The beast was unstoppable. It shrieked at the damage, but never even slowed. Even without one eye, even with the stone lodged in its brain, it continued to charge mindlessly at Thor. There was nothing Thor could do.
A moment later, the beast was on him. It wound up with its huge claw, and swiped his arm.
Thor shrieked. It felt like three knives cutting across his flesh, as he felt hot blood gush out of it.
The beast pinned him to the ground, on all fours. The weight of it was immense, like an elephant standing on his chest. Thor felt his ribcage being crushed.
The beast pulled back its head, opened wide its jaws, revealed its fangs, and began to lower them for Thor’s throat.
As it did, Thor reached up and grabbed its neck; it was like grabbing onto solid muscle. Thor could barely hang on. His arms started to shake, as the fangs descended lower. He felt its hot breath all over his face, felt the saliva drip down onto his neck. A rumble came from deep within the animal’s chest, burning Thor’s ears. He knew he would die.
Thor closed his eyes.
Please God. Give me strength. Allow me to fight this creature. Please. I beg you. I will do anything you ask. I will owe you a great debt.
And then, something happened. Thor felt a tremendous heat rise up within his body, course through his veins, like an energy field racing through him. As he opened his eyes, he saw something that surprised him: from his palms there emanated a yellow light, and as he pushed back into the beast’s throat, amazingly, he was able to match its stren
gth, to hold it at bay.
Thor continued to push, and realized he was actually pushing the beast back. His strength grew and he felt a cannonball of energy—and a moment later, the beast went flying backwards, Thor sending it a good ten feet. It landed on its back.
Thor sat up, not understanding what had happened.
The beast regained its feet. Then, in a rage, it charged again—but this time Thor felt different. He felt the energy course through him, and felt more powerful than he had ever been.
As the beast leapt into the air, Thor crouched down, grabbed it by its stomach and hurled it, letting its momentum carry it.
The beast flew through the wood, smashed into a tree, then collapsed to the floor.
Thor turned, amazed. Had he just thrown a Sybold?
The beast blinked twice, then looked at Thor. It charged again.
This time, as the beast pounced, Thor grabbed it by its throat. They both went to the ground, the beast on top of Thor. But Thor rolled over, on top of it. Thor held it, choking it with both hands, as the beast kept trying to raise its head, snap its fangs at him. It just missed. Thor, feeling a new strength, dug his hands in and did not let go. He let the energy course through him. And soon, amazingly, he felt himself stronger than the beast.
Moments later, he realized he was choking the beast to death. Finally, the beast went limp.
Thor did not let go for another full minute.
He stood slowly, out of breath, staring down, wide-eyed, as he held his wounded arm. He could not believe what had just happened. Had he, Thor, just killed a Sybold?
He felt it was a sign, on this day of all days. He felt as if something momentous had happened. He had just killed the most famed and feared beast of his kingdom. Single-handedly. Without a weapon. It did not seem real. No one would believe him.
He stood there, reeling, wondering what power had overcome him, what it meant, who he really was. The only people known to have power like that were Druids. But his father and mother were not druids, so he couldn’t be one.
Or could he be?
Thor suddenly sensed someone behind him, and spun to see Argon standing there, staring down at the animal.
“How did you get here?” Thor asked, amazed.
Argon ignored him.
“Did you witness what happened?” Thor asked, still unbelieving. “I don’t know how I did it.”
“But you do know,” Argon answered. “Deep inside, you know. You are different than the others.”
“It was like…a surge of power,” Thor said. “Like a strength I didn’t know I had.”
“The energy field,” Argon said. “One day you will come to know it quite well. You may even learn to control it.”
Thor clutched his shoulder, the pain excruciating. He looked down and saw his hand covered in blood. He felt lightheaded, worried what would happen if he didn’t get help.
Argon took three steps forward, reached out, grabbed Thor’s free hand, and placed it firmly on his wound. He held it there, leaned back, and closed his eyes.
As he did, Thor felt a warm sensation course through his arm. Within seconds, the sticky blood on his hand dried up, and he felt his pain begin to fade.
He looked down, and could not comprehend it: his arm was healed. All that remained were three scars where the claws had cut—but they looked to be several days old. They were sealed. There was no more blood.
Thor looked at Argon in astonishment.
“How did you do that?” he asked.
Argon smiled.
“I didn’t. You did. I just directed your power.”
“But I don’t have the power to heal,” Thor answered, baffled.
“Don’t you?” Argon replied.
“I don’t understand. None of this is making any sense,” Thor said, increasingly impatient. “Please, tell me.”
Argon looked away.
“Some things you must learn over time.”
Thor thought of something.
“Does this mean I can join the King’s Legion?” he asked, excitedly. “Surely, if I can kill a Sybold, then I can hold my own with other boys.”
“Surely you can,” he answered.
“But they chose my brothers—they didn’t choose me.”
“Your brothers couldn’t have killed this beast.”
Thor stared back, thinking.
“But they have already rejected me. How can I join them?”
“Since when does a warrior need an invitation?” Argon asked.
His words sunk in deep. Thor felt his body warming over.
“Are you saying I should just show up? Uninvited?”
Argon smiled.
“You create your destiny. Others do not.”
Thor blinked—and a moment later, Argon was gone.
Thor couldn’t believe it. He spun around the wood in every direction, but there was no trace of him.
“Over here!” came a voice.
Thor turned and saw a huge boulder before him. He sensed the voice came from up top, and he immediately climbed it.
He reached the top, and was puzzled to see no sign of Argon.
From this vantage point, though, he was able to see above the treetops of Darkwood. He saw where Darkwood ended, saw the second sun setting in a dark green, and beyond that, the road leading to King’s Court.
“The road is yours to take,” came the voice. “If you dare.”
Thor spun but saw nothing. It was just a voice, echoing. But he knew Argon was there, somewhere, egging him on. And he felt, deep down, that he was right.
Without another moment’s hesitation, Thor scrambled down the rock and set off, through the wood, for the distant road.
Sprinting for his destiny.
CHAPTER THREE
King MacGil, stout, barrel chested, with a beard too thick with gray, long hair to match, and a broad forehead lined with too many battles, stood on the upper ramparts of his castle, his queen beside him, and overlooked the day’s burgeoning festivities. His royal grounds sprawled out beneath him in all their glory, stretching as far as the eye could see, a thriving city walled in by ancient stone fortifications. King’s Court. Interconnected by a maze of winding streets sat stone buildings of every shape and size—for the warriors, the caretakers, the horses, the Silver, the Legion, the guards, the barracks, the weapons house, the armory—and among these, hundreds of dwellings for the multitude of his people who chose to live within the city walls. Between these spanned acres of grass, royal gardens, stone-lined plazas, overflowing fountains. King’s Court had been improved upon for centuries, by his father, and his father before him—and it sat now at the peak of its glory. Without doubt, it was now the safest stronghold within the Western Kingdom of the Ring.
MacGil was blessed with the finest and most loyal warriors any king had ever known, and in his lifetime, no one had dared attack. The seventh MacGil to hold the throne, he had held it well for his thirty two years of rule, had been a good and wise king. The land had prospered greatly in his reign, he had doubled his army’s size, expanded his cities, brought his people bounty, and not a single complaint could be found among his people. He was known as the generous king, and there had never been such a period of bounty and peace since he took the throne.
Which, paradoxically, was precisely what kept MacGil up at night. For MacGil knew his history: in all the ages, there had never been as long a stretch without a war. He no longer wondered if there would be an attack—but when. And from whom.
The greatest threat, of course, was from beyond the Ring, from the empire of savages that ruled the outlying Wilds, which had subjugated all the peoples outside the Ring, beyond the Canyon. For MacGil, and the seven generations before him, the Wilds had never posed a direct threat: because of his kingdom’s unique geography, shaped in a perfect circle, in a ring, and separated from the rest of the world by a deep canyon a mile wide, and protected by an energy shield within it that had been active since a MacGil first ruled, they had little to fear of th
e Wilds. The savages had tried many times to attack, to penetrate the shield, to cross the canyon; not once had they been successful. As long as he and his people stayed within the Ring, there was no outside threat.
That did not mean, though, that there was no threat from inside. And that was what had kept MacGil up at night lately. That, indeed, was the purpose of the day’s festivities: the marriage of his eldest daughter. A marriage arranged specifically to appease his enemies, to maintain the fragile peace within the Eastern and Western Kingdoms of the Ring.
While the Ring spanned a good five hundred miles in each direction, it was divided down the middle by a mountain range. The Highlands. On the other side of the Highlands sat the Eastern Kingdom, ruling the other half of the Ring. And this kingdom, ruled for centuries by their rivals, the McClouds, had always tried to shatter its fragile truce with the MacGils. The McClouds were malcontents, unhappy with their lot, convinced their side of the kingdom sat on ground less fertile. They contested the Highlands, too, insisting the entire mountain range was theirs, when at least half of it was the MacGil’s. There were perpetual border skirmishes, and perpetual threats of invasion.
As MacGil pondered it all, he was annoyed. The McClouds should be happy: they were safe inside the Ring, protected by the Canyon, they sat on choice land, and had nothing to fear. They should just be content with their own half of the Ring. It was only because MacGil had grown his army so strong that, for the first time in history, the McClouds had dared not attack. But MacGil, the wise king he was, sensed something on the horizon; he knew this peace could not last. Thus he had arranged this marriage of his eldest daughter to the eldest prince of the McClouds. And now the day had arrived.
As he looked down, he saw stretched below him thousands of minions, dressed in brightly colored tunics, filtering in from every corner of the kingdom, from both sides of the Highlands. Nearly the entire Ring, all pouring into his fortifications. His people had prepared for months, commanded to make everything look prosperous, strong. This was not just a day for marriage: it was a day to send a message to the McClouds.