The Roar of a Dragon (4 page)

I stood back up, ashamed at my lack of composure. But my indignity was immediately eradicated in the next moment.

‘You have courage, little one, the kind of fortitude that is difficult to find in most soldiers.’ Sir Garridan said seriously. ‘Having never even seen a battle, let alone have experience in one, you battled a knight, knowing he could have killed you at any moment, or that any of the other two knights could have interfered at any time. That’s a rare quality to find in any human being… always hang on to it, son.’ He put his armored hand on my shoulder again, gave it a light squeeze, then turned and walked away.

As Sir Garridan climbed over the fence at the end of my land, I found myself staring down at my hands, bewildered that I had just survived an encounter with a knight (one that involved weapons, no less). I didn’t forget, of course, that if Sir Norvin had not been drunk, the meeting would have been very different. But in Sir Garridan’s eyes, that didn’t matter. What mattered to him was that I, as a very young farmer, had performed bravely in the face of adversity. Coming from someone of such high standing, that meant more than anyone could possibly know.

But I had also been scared out of my wits; for the first time, my life had been put in jeopardy at the hands of another, and the thought of that had frightened me, as it would anyone. The fear of being a sword swipe away from death brought the reality of my dream to the forefront, and for the first time, I questioned whether I wanted to be a knight or not.

But by the time the sun had set, and I was in bed, staring at the ceiling, the light of my dream had returned, and it burned brighter than ever before.

Much to my surprise, Sir Garridan returned to my home two days later, bearing a couple of gifts for me. First and foremost —
Food! Two whole baskets of it!

My mouth began to water immediately. I couldn’t remember when the last time was that I had a decent meal. I almost lunged for them, but managed to keep myself in check.

Sir Garridan handed them to me. ‘A good soldier needs to be strong. Mind you, food will very rarely be available like this, but for the purposes of training, I’d rather have you strong and healthy.’

I was so grateful, I almost cried — and I had totally missed the ‘soldier’ reference.

‘Thank you, Sir Garridan.’ I plucked a grape off of its vine and ate it.

Sir Garridan was staring at me with a slight smirk. ‘I know you’re hungry, Aidan. No reason to stand on ceremony.’

That was all the encouragement I needed — I practically
dove
into the baskets and started shoving food into my mouth. A variety of meats, fruits, vegetables, and nuts — I’d never seen such a selection before.

I’d like to be more specific, but the truth is that I wasn’t bothering to look at the food before I ate it.

The second gift was a sword. It was old and rusted, but by the gods, it was a real sword! When he handed it to me (I still had a piece of bread hanging from my mouth), I nearly dropped it on the floor — I couldn’t believe how heavy it was!

‘Did you have to get me the one melted from an anvil?’ I asked incredulously.

Sir Garridan chuckled — luckily, he knew I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, just making humor out of a difficult situation, as I always did in order to deal with life.

‘I am afraid you won’t find any much lighter, son — unless it was made by the elves.’

Sir Garridan told me to practice with it
(outside,
he stressed — before he’d finished talking to me, I’d succeeded in knocking a clay vase off of my dining room table), and get used to its weight.

‘I will return in a week to check on your progress, and if you are used to the sword by then, I will teach you a few things.’

I was still in awe as I stared at Sir Garridan’s gift. I didn’t say much to him, as I was not used to interaction with other people, much less a man of such honor as Sir Garridan. But when I heard him say that he would be my mentor of sorts, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

‘Why?’ I asked.

When Sir Garridan spoke, it seemed to me that his eyes reflected many years of experience and memories, of past setbacks and accomplishments. He smiled proudly at me.

‘I have trained many soldiers in my day, Aidan my lad. I have seen recruits that truly desired the life of war, of stale food and hard campaigning. Those recruits often have natural skill, and grasp the art of battle quickly. Others have no aspiration to become a soldier, forced into that life by one reason or another. Those soldiers are often the first to die. I watched you when you battled Sir Norvin, Aidan — nobody at your age fights like that without truly wanting it. You practice battling wooden dummies in the barn, am I correct?’

I was flabbergasted — and embarrassed.

Sir Garridan smiled in understanding. ‘There is nothing to be ashamed about, Aidan. You would be surprised how many soldiers begin that way — far more than you could possibly imagine. Another thing I noticed about your confrontation, the way you stood up to Sir Norvin, I find it highly unlikely that I would be able to talk you out of becoming a soldier. Am I correct again?’

I smiled lightly and nodded in response.

Sir Garridan nodded in return. ‘If you were younger, I would attempt to discourage you from this difficult life. But you are about to enter your adult years, and if you are going to learn, I would have you learn the right way.’

There was my father again, in the words of this knight. I was momentarily distant as I pondered my father’s death and Sir Garridan’s sudden appearance.

‘Of all the soldiers I have trained and fought,’ Sir Garridan continued, ‘I have seen few with the courage, confidence and potential skill that you possess at such a young age.’

If I was in awe when I saw the sword, I was completely astonished at those words. Courage? Perhaps. Confidence? I was so scared I felt like I was going to throw up. Skill? Sure… I swung that gardening hoe like a master.

In the months that went by, I began to understand the true meaning of Sir Garridan’s words. I realised that courage and fear are often hand-in-hand. True courage is the ability to master that fear, and accomplish the task at hand anyway, no matter what the cost to your own well-being. The skill and confidence I displayed was more mental than it was physical; the fact that I even dared to challenge Sir Norvin was a testament to that confidence, and my mental skill was shown by anticipating Norvin’s moves and countering with my own. Sir Garridan taught me that all of those qualities were important, and that the loss of any one of them could mean death on the battlefield.

Sir Garridan came by often, teaching me basic sword techniques and proper stances in those early months. I remember, at one point, I had found a stance that I favored, where I stood with my knees bent low, and my sword held behind me, almost over my head. But Sir Garridan taught me a new stance anyway.

When I respectfully asked him why, he answered, ‘By the time we have completed our training, you will have found a style you are comfortable using in battle. But we are yet in our beginning stages, and as such, I will commence in teaching you every style that I know of, and their strengths and weaknesses in combat.’

In the end, I was very grateful for Sir Garridan’s thorough approach to my training.

I was training constantly, and getting not nearly as much work done on the farm as I had been in the past. Concerned about any consequences (I’m not sure why — I hadn’t been having much luck producing food anyhow), I spoke to Sir Garridan, who told me not to worry; he had already spoken to the lord who was responsible for my land.

Sir Garridan assured me that as long as I kept producing crops, I would not be bothered. ‘Keep working, and keep training.’

In between lessons, Sir Garridan often told stories, tales of battles never forgotten, and some about world history in general. He was surprised to find that I knew a little bit about what he was talking about, and I explained about my uncle’s bookstore, as well as my love of reading. Sir Garridan had smiled in approval, saying that that had explained my above-average intelligence for a farmer.

He asked about my life, but unfortunately, even though I was beginning to think of Sir Garridan as a father figure, I wasn’t ready to reveal too much about my past. However, I did talk to him about some of it.

He took a particular interest in Agatha, the neighbour who helped out my father and I. I don’t know why, but I never got along with her — I’ve always thought it was because I didn’t have my mother, and thought that she was trying to take over her place. After she died, I spent a great deal of time analyzing the relationship, and I realised that she was just a nice old lady who helped out the people she cared about. Afterward, I was always ashamed of how I acted and now, although I am very awkward around women (having not had much experience with them), I treat them with the utmost respect, in honor of my mother and Agatha.

Sir Garridan admired that, and told me how important it was to respect women. He then also made a point that hadn’t occurred to me.

‘All you’ve ever known in your life is death,’ he said. ‘Your mother, father, uncle, and Agatha — from the moment I met you, I’ve seen a shadow over you, Aidan. You must be careful not to let it overtake you.’

I had never realised that, and took a mental note for future reference.

But anything I had experienced or read in any book could not compare to Sir Garridan’s real life experiences. I learned a great deal from Sir Garridan — about mages, also called wizards or sorcerers, those that use the power of magic. I also learned much about the elves, the oldest and fairest race in our world, and the dwarves, short in stature and temper (especially when they’ve had ale, which is usually a given), but a race proud of its heritage.

But the race I took a particular interest in learning about was dragons. When Sir Garridan spoke of them, his fascination was clear on his weathered features — his eyes glowed, and his expressions became much more animated. Dragons were great beings, Sir Garridan said, the only race on the planet older than the elves. They were a race of great size and power, both physical and magical.

‘I have never fought a dragon,’ Sir Garridan stated, ‘but I am told that it is never an easy feat, for their scales are harder than any armor the dwarves could forge.’

They were extremely intelligent (despite the popular opinion that they were just big, lumbering beasts) and could speak, both in the Common language as well as their own tongue. Most, however, never bothered to speak to any kind other than their own.

Dragons have had a great influence, positive and negative, over the ages. As such, many countries declared themselves either ‘pro-dragon’ or ‘anti-dragon.’ Anti-dragon countries are typically better equipped to fight them off, and will kill any that crosses their borders.

Delmar was anti-dragon territory — and at the time, that didn’t mean much to me, but little did I know what a huge role
that
would play in my future.

King Baladir IV, it should be noted, was a great king. His family had ruled Delmar for generations, and his particular generation was considered to be the ‘golden age’ of Delmar’s long and illustrious history. He was a king who ruled with mercy, yet was very strong-willed and believed heavily in discipline. He took care of his country, and the people adored him; he was handsome, charming, and not at all conceited. Everything he believed in and achieved was in the interests of the country he served.

Long ago, Baladir’s family was indifferent to the existence of dragons. His great, great grandfather, Haroldor, ruled Delmar during this time. It was also during this time that Delmar was unexpectedly attacked by a trio of dragons, one black, and two red. Unprepared for this ambush, the kingdom of Delmar was crippled by the relentless assault of the dragons, and Haroldor himself met his untimely demise in the jaws of the black dragon. Delmar wasn’t educated in the ways of dragons, and was therefore unable to identify them, much less establish a reason for the attack. Haroldor’s son, Baladir I, began teaching his subjects that dragons were dimwitted, ruthless monsters out to destroy mankind (in the wake of the attack, this was not a difficult idea to teach the devastated survivors). After that, any dragons that crossed the borders were killed swiftly and harshly.

Sir Garridan knew much about dragons because he had read many books about them in other countries, and found their teachings to be very different from ours — the books we had in Delmar concerning dragons were usually written by people who lived in our own country, and were therefore biased. It was in the country of Dalanthia, in the city of Min Lenoras, far to the east of our country, where Sir Garridan learned the ‘other side’ of the dragons, and that they were often befriended by the kings of countries that favored them.

Sir Garridan shared his love and passion of dragons with me, but was quick to point out that dragons were hated in Delmar and that I would be imprisoned if I so much as referred to them in a favorable manner.

After the first day of my new training, I was so sore — I couldn’t help but feel like I had never done a day of work in my life, though I knew this was far from the case. It felt like my
muscle’s
muscles were sore.

But Sir Garridan was merciless, and he pushed me forward. As my training progressed, Sir Garridan began to bring soldiers with him for me to train with once a week. We used wooden training swords, and soldiers were instructed to hold nothing back. In the early weeks, I met some quick defeats, which was very frustrating at first — after all of the initial training, I had felt like I was ready for anything, only to find that I still knew nothing about swordplay. Sir Garridan would personally instruct and analyse each and every one of his training sessions, and critique me afterward, openly and honestly. He would then teach me things based on what I had done, right or wrong, during that session, and the next week (giving me time for all of that information to sink in), we would train again. Before long, I was the one handing out defeats.

Then one day, the opportunity to prove myself came… without warning.