Chapter THREE

CHAPTER THREE: TALL TALES AND SHORT STORIES (from KUN-AZ)

Nad and I wolfed down Mother’s bread and soup; while Father, Mother, and Mr. Eldhart exchanged stories of their arrivals to Prew. But I was restless. I wanted to hear Mr. Eldhart tell a real story. None of this...small talk!

The parents’ talking began to wind down, and Mother got up to see about dessert. I tapped my fingers on the edge of the dining room table, and awaited my turn to pounce on the opportunity to ask Mr. Eldhart. The very moment there was even a slight break in conversation, I asked Mr. Eldhart for a story.
“Well, what kind of story are your ears itchin’ for today?” the man asked, stroking his beard. I liked to think that that was the way he created his stories; churning the thoughts and dreams in his head by tugging on that old red beard.
  “What about a story with wizards?” Nad suggested, and I could not agree more.
  “Yes please, sir! About the old wizards of Kûn Az!”
Mr. Eldhart made a strange expression. It looked like a mixture between anger, confusion, and concern. None of which are good expressions in my opinion.
  “The wizards? Ah, but those are not good stories...”
  “Why not?” I asked, “They were the heroes of the old days! Masters of trickery and of immense power; feared by all their enemies!”
  “The latter part of what you spoke is true; Masters of Trickery they definitely were, and they had immense powers that were feared by all their foes. But we were their foes, young Tristram.”
  “We were?” I asked, confused.
  “In the olden days (about 250 years ago), we, the humans of Raële and the dwarves of Ieliathia, were the only ones who dared to oppose the wizards of Kûn Az in their rapid rise to power. You see, the wizards came to the shores of Käorgan in a ship called Aëlvrídashabül.”
   “Try sayin’ that about five times faster,” Father said with a chuckle.
   Mr. Eldhart laughed too and continued:
 “They came from a land across the sea—an island some have said—that lies hidden behind thick fog. An island that the wizard’s referred to as Kûn Az.
   “You also have to understand, at this point in time, magic was only a bed time story to these warriors that stood on the banks of Ieliathia, awaiting the wizards’ ships to come ashore. Some didn’t even believe such a power of matter existed. Some did believe, but they still didn’t understand where it came from and why. Or how one could obtain the power to control it.
 “When the leader of the wizard army, Lord Extraceon, stepped off his craft, the armies of Ieliathia were frozen fast. In the wizard leader’s right hand he held a sword that was enveloped by a black flame. He raised his arm and pointed at our armies, screaming his battle cry, and his wizard’s charged off the ships. It was a bloody day. The Ieliathians were driven back all the way to the Cliffs of Elien Hravil, where they were cornered and forced to surrender. The wizards took most as prisoners, and those prisoners were never heard from again.
    “For months, the wizards went through all of Ieliathia, burning and plundering, murdering and kidnapping, until one day, a man rose up out of the blue, wielding a sword of diamond and the power of magic. This man was Alatarae, the first and only good wizard. His origins were unknown, how he got his magic powers, no one knows. Though there are some rumors and tales that suggest the powers were given to him by a dragon…”
  “A dragon?!” Nad and I exclaimed in unison.
Mr. Eldhart smiled a mischievous smile. “Aye, a dragon. That dragon might still be up in his lonely, wintery mountain to this day. The mighty warrior Alatarae climbed to the monstrous Cave of Dreams at the top of the mountain, and found the old dragon. The dragon, Asher, put Alatarae to the test to see if he was worthy of the power of magic. Alatarae was a man of honor, so he passed Asher’s test—eventually. Upon passing it, Asher had the warrior make a promise. A promise to never use his magic for anything but good; to only use his powers to protect those in harm. And Alatarae swore to it.
     “Alatarae returned to Ieliathia, where hope was all lost and some of the greatest cities ever built in Talesia had been overrun. He led an army of brave men against the ranks of wizards. These men following behind Alatarae were not even soldiers. They were husbands, fathers, widowers, blacksmiths and farmers, salesman and bankers. What made them soldiers and warriors at heart was their bravery; their resolve to save their families and their homes. Their will to survive was greater than any others’ in all of Talesia. The wizards of Kûn Az soon realized that truth. When Alatarae’s army swept upon them, not even their magic could stop the onslaught. The magic-less weapons in the hands of these brave men proved to be too much for the magic men. Soon the wizards’ stronghold in Käorgan fell, and Lord Extraceon was led out of his place of hiding in the towers of the Käorgan Fortress, and forced to fight Alatarae one on one in the Fields of Markí.  
   “The sword of black flame and the sword of diamond clashed, and one of the most epic and famous duels in history took place. The fate of Talesia rested upon the outcome of this duel. Lord Extraceon was a strong man, even outside of his magic powers. There were many times where Extraceon beat Alatarae to the ground, nearly killing him. Though Extraceon was big and strong, he was a man full of fear. His army was just depleted, and the armies of Ieliathia and Raële were just waiting to pounce on him and him alone in the possible moment that he bested their leader, Alatarae. Whereas, Alatarae was the opposite. His fear was his fuel, his fuel to overcome this evil man who entered his land and destroyed so many lives. Alatarae battled his way back to his feet and fought even harder than the start against Extraceon. In just a matter of minutes, Extraceon’s weapon flew from his hands, and all of his bolts of fire and earth could not hit the Talesian warrior, who parried all of his shots. So Extraceon just fell to his knees and looked his assailant straight in the eye. ‘Kill me,’ he plead, ‘I cannot return to Kûn Az, for there I will surely die a horrible death. Pierce me through the heart. You have bested me, warrior.’
   “But Alatarae refused to kill the man in cold blood, so Extraceon just touched his index finger to his temple. In an instant he fell to the ground dead.
  “The few wizards who remained after the war fled back to their ships and sailed back to their land, never seen or heard from again.”

I caught myself almost drooling from my jaw hanging slack for so long. I had never heard the full story of the Wizards of Kûn Az before. How amazing! Alatarae; just a normal man at one point, and then just—rose up to defeat the greatest threats this world had ever seen! Mulling over the story again through my head made me want to jump out of my seat at the dinner table and be a hero. Just like Alatarae!

  Nad asked the question I was thinking about asking but could not bring myself to. “So where is Kûn Az? Are the wizards still there? And was Extraceon really their leader? Who was he afraid of going back to in Kûn Az?”
Mr. Eldhart shrugged. “All very good questions that I unfortunately don’t know the answers to. I can speculate though, that the thing he was afraid of was the origin of that evil magic they wielded. Perhaps it is not even human, it might be a Shadow of the Creatures of Old…”
“Creatures of Old??” I asked aloud (quite loud, actually).
Mother cut in then. “Ah ah ah, I can already tell that is a story for another time, son. It’s already time for bed for you two.”
Ugh, it was kind of embarrassing to have Mother announce that it was bedtime for Nad and I right in front of Mr. Eldhart! Mothers.
“Yes indeed, that is a much longer story!” Mr. Eldhart said, stretching his huge arms up above his head and yawning. “As you can see, it is a little passed my bedtime as well!”
Well, maybe it was not that embarrassing…
   Father and Mother walked Mr. Eldhart to the door, and my brother and I made our way upstairs. When we made it to the top landing, Nad turned to me and asked, “Can you imagine living in the time of the war? We could’ve been one of those men behind Alatarae! It is something quite amazing to think about…maybe someday that will be us…”
“Yes,” was all managed to say, as I was already thinking deeply about that same subject.

Chapter TWO (my book!)

If you haven't read Chapter One yet, you definitely should! It's right here on the blog!

MR. ELDHART

“Tristram!” Nad exclaimed, “It isn’t that hard! You are forcing it...you should not have to!”

I growled and stomped my foot. I was frustrated that the end of the horizontal fence post refused to slide into the corner post’s newly carved port-hole.
“I don’t think you routed this thing out all the way,” I complained.
“No...are you sure your angle is straight?”
“Yes I am sure my angle is straight!” I snapped back. I dropped to my knees; hoping that maybe it would give me a better position to slide the fence post in. Alas, I forgot about the holes in my trousers; I could feel the moisture of the ground and grass wetting my knee caps and chilling my legs. Perhaps there was an earthworm pinned under my knee as well...something was moving underneath me. I paid it little mind. More mind than I should have, though.
It was well passed noon now, maybe three hours after, and Nad and I had just replaced four fence posts for our corral. And each and every one of them was as annoying as the other.
   So I began my approach again, but this time, I had a hint of resolve. A resolve that was most likely plastered all over my face; a resolve that would probably send ogres running back to their caves in the mountains, crying like little infants. The random thought amused me so much; I might have washed some of the resolve off my face with a little grin. It was not too much of a grin though—I was sure I still had enough resolve on my face.
   However, my resolve was depleted when my father’s voice rang out behind me: “How many grown men does it take to put a post in a hole?”
  Father laughed as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard, and another man laughed with him.
  I turned at the sound of the other man’s laughter, and my heart crashed when I saw who it was.
  It was Mr. Eldhart, the biggest man I have ever met. He was at least seven feet tall, and by my estimation, his shoulders could barely fit through our doors. But that was beside the point. Mr. Eldhart was Prew’s most famous story-teller. Many a night I would go to The Bonfire and listen to his wild tales. Mr. Eldhart had written so many stories, I was sure he was running Prew out of parchment paper. Mr. Eldhart was my inspiration...he was the greatest writer of all time!
  And I wanted to be a writer.
  Now, one of the few times I ever got to interact with the man, he was laughing at me. That was disappointing.
  Nad muttered something and took the post from me. “I’ll get this, Tristram. It seems you are rather incapable of anything requiring physical effort.”
  I resisted the urge to tackle him right then. It would do no good to further embarrass myself in front of my role model.
  The two men, my father and Mr. Eldhart, stood right outside the back door. They watched Nad put the post in from afar, then decided to make their way over to the corral, where Father would introduce Mr. Eldhart to one of our five horses. Father and Mother were in the business of breeding horses.

Now the sunset was arriving with a small fleet of gray, gold, and purplish clouds, but it did not take too long for Mr. Eldhart to come to a final decision about a horse. His decision surprised me. Out of the four other horses we had, the tawny mare, the brown/white stallion, the white gelding, the black mare; the story-teller chose—

 “Narina—I like this gal! She’s a sport, I can tell.”

  “Narina?” my father said in a half-yell. “Sport isn’t quite the right word you were lookin’ for. I would say—‘rambunctious’? ‘Insane?’”
  Mr. Eldhart laughed. His laugher was contagious; so deep and full of mirth. A chuckle always escaped me when I heard him laugh.
  “I assure you,” the big man replied to Father, “she is just what I am looking for. A man could always use a horse with character. In the end, they have the better instincts.”
  Narina was a storm-gray mare, with a white stripe starting from the crown of her head to her mid back. A friend of my father’s found her running wild up in The Mountains of Olgrff (the mountains that surrounded Lake Bergonon). After trying to keep the wild animal for himself, he gave her to Father. She was too much for the man.
   “I’m hesitant to sell you this animal, Mr. Eldhart,” Father said, patting Narina on the back (who was surprisingly calm at the moment—as if she knew Mr. Eldhart was choosing her), “I’m sure she’ll give you nothing but trouble. I don’t think she’s worth your money. As you probably gathered, she ruined part of our corral. She kicked two of the beams in half!”
  “That means she’s strong!” Mr. Eldhart said and came along the other side of the mare, “and I will buy her for seven socré!”
  “You’re too generous, sir,” Father said, shaking his head. “I’ll except four socré—no more.”
   Mr. Eldhart tsk-tsked and shook his head more fervently than Father, “Five! And we will leave it at that!”
  Father sighed and then chuckled. “Perhaps you and Narina are a good match; you’re both the most stubborn beings I have ever dealt with!”
  Mr. Eldhart smiled a great big smile and nodded in agreement. “Aye, that we are! And that we always will be! Here Nad, there’s the five. Pleasure doing business with you.”
  Father (whose name was Nad, my brother’s namesake) took the money in his left hand and replied, “Likewise!”
  “Would you like to join us for supper, Mr. Eldhart?” Mother called from behind. She was poking her head out the back door.
  I verbalized my agreement with Mother’s invitation. “Oh please sir! Please eat with us! I’d love to hear some more of your stories!”
  “Me too, Mr. Eldhart!” Nad chimed in.
  “I’ve made some fresh bread and soup!” Mother added.
  “What soup might that be?” inquired Mr. Eldhart, though by the look on his face I think he had already made his decision, no matter the soup.
  Mother answered, “Potato and cheese, sir!”
  Mr. Eldhart laughed and mock-rubbed his belly. “Well, I might just have to join you folks now! And I think I have a story or two up my sleeve...”
  Nad and I exchanged excited looks as we followed Father and Mr. Eldhart back into the house.