Chapter 13: Proving Grounds

Chapter 13: Proving Grounds

A Chapter by Sairek Ceareste

Previous Version
This is a previous version of Chapter 13: Proving Grounds.



 

 

 

 

Sairek knocked on the metal doors of the monastery with his staff, still holding Cyial’s hand with his left, keeping the boy close, who stood behind Sairek. He had calmed down his crying a bit, but still sniffled his nose every so often.

 

It did not take long for the doors to open. A male opened the door, dressed in the same kind of robes Cyial wore, but of course, fit his size. The colours on the robe were also a different color, a clean white cloth instead of Cyial’s pale yellow.

 

Unlike Cyial, he also wore no gloves, and wore a hat that was like a comb, pointing upwards on his blonde hair. The man frowned, seeing Cyial, Sairek could see inner hatred in the man’s brown eyes. Sairek responded to the look with a tense look of his own directed at the man.

 

"...Trying to con the prince now, are--"

 

"Silence." Sairek interrupted the man in a raised voice that rang his authority.

 

"Don’t assume things so blindly that you don’t even know, Acolyte. My patience has already been tested once just recently, and I assure you it did not end well to the person who had tested it." Sairek lowered his head a little bit, but his eyes still locked onto the man’s own. "I demand to see the abbot of this here Monastery. We and him have some important things to discuss about."

 

"I refuse to follow orders from anyone who would want to side with a demon..."

 

"...How bold of you. However, I believe your Abbot keeps Cyial, does he not? I am sure he sides with him. Does that mean you do not follow the orders of your Abbot as well? I assume you do, or else I am pretty confident you would have been discharged from the Monastery by now; which I assure you, I can do if your Abbot doesn’t if you do not go get him for me. I told you, my patience has already been tested. I suggest you think wisely about what you say to your king’s son. As much as I truly do disagree with the system, your opinion is moot when talking to me. Only my opinion matters, and I will use that rule if I need to."

 

 

"...If I get the abbot... will that rid of this demon from our holy building...?"

 

 

Sairek didn’t respond to the man’s words verbally. Rather, the child began slowly lifting his staff into the air. The man’s eyes glanced at the staff, and quickly turned around, and began walking off. Sairek lowered his staff back to the floor, and motioned the two to walk inside.

 

 

"...What was you going to do...?" Nayleen asked a little cautiously.

 

"I was going to discharge him of his title, but thankfully for his sake, he decided to listen to me. Something is defiled in the monastery, and I do not like it. I feel like there is a source to all of this hate on Cyial. I know we need to hurry to Yggdrasil, but I cannot ignore this act without at least investigating."

 

"...The teachings we learn in the Monestary do say that all demons are bad... They only have learned to hate me..." Cyial whispered quietly, and Sairek glanced down to Cyial. "Then I will attempt a change... somehow. But it may not be today, and it may not be this month. I don’t have that much authority. Neither does my father. It will take a while, but we will do it somehow for you, Cyial."

 

 

The little acolyte smiled a little at Sairek’s words. Suddenly, a loud sound came from the closed Monastery doors behind them. The three of them quickly spun around, and Sairek pushed Cyial back behind him as the doors swung open. Sairek’s eyes narrowed as he saw a rather old looking man staring at the door. Cyial pulled away from Sairek’s hand, who let go when he felt the tug. The child ran to the man.

 

"Father Abbot!"

 

The man bent down to his knees, as Cyial leapt into him as the two embraced for a moment. Sairek couldn’t help but blink as he turned around where the acolyte walked off to. He blinked and then gritted his teeth in anger.

 

"Oh, that sneak! He wasn’t getting the abbot, he ran away from me! That little--"

 

"Now now, calm down." Nayleen reassured the prince by putting a hand on his shoulder. "The old man is here now, that is what we came for, right? Just be glad you made the guy worry."

 

"B-But..... Oh, plehh....." Sairek let out in annoyance and disappointment. He hated letting people escape him like that. He sighed to Nayleen. "...Fine..." he finally let out, before turning back to Cyial and the Abbot .

 

"My my, you met the prince! What a lucky find for you Cyial!"

 

"Prince Sairek doesn’t mind who I am, Father! Neither does his friend Nayleen! They were both very nice to me. Prince Sairek told off the bad guards when he saw how they were treating me."

 

Sairek blushed slightly, and let out a nervous chuckle.

 

 

"Oh, what is wonderful news, Cyial! I told you there were others out there who would care. And for one of those people to be the prince? You are indeed blessed my child. The tree sees your good deeds!"

 

Sairek and Nayleen continued to watch the two. Watching the back of Cyial, his eyes wandered to the bottom of the child’s robe, where there was some odd movement. He blinked a bit in amazement, when an iron tip came out from under the robes, and then a thin string of black after that. The object began almost wagging in a sort of way. Sairek realized that this must have been Cyial’s tail the guard had been referring to earlier.

 

“So, what may I ask that our fair Prince may be doing here in Lamen?” The Abbot asked, standing up now, as Cyial stood at his side. They held hands, like child and father. Sairek nearly got lost in the thought of his own father and him, but managed to shake the way the memory to respond to the question.

 

“Monasteries are responsible for the worshipping and wellbeing of Yggdrasil, correct?”

 

“Yes, you are Prince.”

 

Sairek shifted more into his formal stance as he paused for a moment, and then spoke again. “Well, Yggdrasil may be beginning to die… I don’t know how or what, but the signs of it dying or starting to show. The Ethereal in the air is severely dwindling; beyond records before from what I could tell. Nayleen and I have set out to check on the tree, to see if there’s anything we can do… but we don’t know what we can do.”

 

Sairek took a few steps closer, looking up to the father with almost pleading eyes.

 

“Father, we need some sort of information. We’re running into this blind… we don’t know what to do in this situation. We don’t know why the tree is dying, if it’s just happening in a natural occurring way, faster then expected, or someone or something is causing the problem… We need to know of a way to cure the tree.”

 

 

The Abbot was about to answer, he even opened his mouth to do so; but then there came a loud bang on the door. Nayleen and Cyial jumped at the sound, as Sairek turned to the door. The Abbot turned back to Sairek, and the child motioned him for the door. “Your response doesn’t need to come so soon. Open the door.”

 

The Abbot nodded, moving his way towards the door, Cyial stood still where he was. The Abbot slowly began opening it, before it was flung open. The Abbot was pushed aside as the guard Sairek had told off before stormed in, and began striding his way towards Cyial. He raised his fist, before throwing it down towards the child who yelled out in surprise.

 

Sairek dived forwards just in time, holding his staff in two hands, and blocked the gloves fist with his staff. Sairek clenched his teeth in anger, as did the man. The man pushed with his fist, as if expecting Sairek to give way, but the child held his ground.

 

 

“…What’s wrong? Has a soldier been matched by an eight-year-old?” Sairek taunted in a flat tone. The man’s teeth clenched tighter, and Sairek let out a grunt in effort as the man pushed his fist down harder. Sairek refused to give away however, even when his feet dragged here and there from the man’s momentum. After being locked for a few more seconds, the man finally pulled away from Sairek, giving him an angry stare. The boy only moved his staff back to his side, returning to his formal position, but did not even try to hide the anger that showed on his face.

 

 

“You really do need to grow up.” Sairek said through clenched teeth. “Picking on children is in no way I would expect a grown man of my father’s kingdom to"“

 

Sairek paused, as he watched the man beginning to remove his right hand glove. He then threw it towards Sairek, who raised his left hand and caught it. His eyes stared down at the glove for a moment. He could not hide the look of surprise that was in his eyes.

 

The man waited, before Sairek reached over with his right hand, beginning to slip off his own right hand glove. He stared at it for a second, before his look went up to the man. He moved his staff to his left hand with the man’s glove, as he then threw his own glove with his right at the man. He too, caught Sairek’s glove.

 

“…Where…?” Sairek said in a raspy tone; one that was holding back a load of heated anger and hatred right now.

 

“Outside the gates of town. 3 hours.”

 

“Normally one would wear each other’s gloves. But neither of ours fits, and I wouldn’t want you to be dead from being attacked if people saw you with my glove… I request that we return each other’s gloves back.”

 

“Fine.”

 

Sairek tossed the man’s glove back, as he tossed his. Both put their own gloves back on. The man soon turned around, storming out. Sairek only stared at the door. Hatred showed in his eyes.


"...It can never be so simple, can it..." The boy spoke out, more in a statement then a question. He spoke in a quiet mutter.


 

“Oh dear, oh dear…” The abbot let out quietly in a whisper. Closing his eyes and shaking his head.

 

“Wh… What did you just agree on…? Nayleen asked Sairek quietly. She walked over to him, seeing the boy was shaking a little as his gaze dropped to the floor at his own feet. She put her hands on his shoulders which seemed to calm him down a little.

 

“…A duel…” Sairek answered. He swallowed hard, and then spoke again. “…to the death.”

 

WHAT?!” Nayleen shrieked. She moved in front of Sairek. The boy’s gaze looked up, before he let a shout of pain as a loud smack was heard. Sairek stumbled over to the right as a mark remained on his left cheek. Sairek’s hand lifted up, holding it against his cheek. He then let out a yelp and squeezed his eyes as Nayleen grabbed him and shoved him against the wall.

 

“Nayleen, please!” Cyial pleaded to girl. Who seemed to ease up a bit on Sairek who opened one eye to stare at the girl.

 

“Why in the HELL would you accept a duel to the death? He is a grown man Sairek, a skilled fighter, despite how much of an a*****e he is! You may be a prince but you are only learning the adept stages in combat! You will be killed!

 

“I know…” Sairek admitted quietly in response to her loud yelling. Sairek pushed against Nayleen a little bit, and she backed up in response. Her face wore a guilty expression that she may have hurt him. Sairek sighed, closed his eyes and looked away from her. “I know it is a stupid decision Nayleen… But I was not left with any choice!”

 

Sairek turned his head back to her, but couldn’t bear to face her to see the hurt expression she wore. So he turned his head back down to his feet slowly. “…No prince has ever refused a duel to the death before… and the reason to that is because to do so, means that your authority would mean nothing… If I declined a duel… if I show any weakness as prince, then everything can go back really fast. If I denied the duel, he would be allowed to have his way at Cyial… I was not going to let that happen…”

 

He closed his eyes again, walking away from her, as he opened his eyes, walking towards Cyial, who was nearly on the verge of crying again. Sairek stopped at Cyial’s side, and turned around to face Nayleen. “…In a duel of death, you fight to fight for what you believe in… He believes Cyial is a monster that should be killed. I believe he is a good-hearted person. I am not going to let him have his way. Cyial helped me; now I will help him. I would be a coward to not protect my friends… despite how stacked the odds against me may be.”

 

Sairek gripped his staff tightly. His anger growing as he thought about it. He shook his head to try and get rid of it, but failed and it continued to rise. “…bloody ostentatious b*****d, I will kill him…!” The prince hissed through his mouth.

Never had I had to put up with a person who has made my blood boil like this before… This is more then just being annoyed… This is absolute hatred… He has insulted my beliefs… He has insulted my authority and my father’s… I will not suffer this insolence quietly!"


"Is your pride worth risking your life?!" Nayleen argued at him. "What kind of stupid rule is this? We never had anything like that in the kingdom we lived in! No duel was to the death!"


"...Trust me, I hate it just as much as you do Nayleen... There are some things I disagree with that I have tried to persuade father to change, only to have failed... But I have no intentions, not even for a moment on losing. I will win this. I have never felt as determined to do so in anything else before than this..."


Nayleen let out a frustrated sigh. "Uugh.... I guess we can't change it now... What's done is done, and I think I should know by no that once your mind is made up, that decision is set..."


"Hrmmmm..." The Abbot soon let out all of a sudden, as Sairek turned around to face him. "Quite an interesting state of affairs, you know Prince. Princes have been challenged before in duels, but never one as young as you. Despite how determined you are, I unfortunately don't have full confidence in your abilities, if you forgive my saying. Ah, however, I do know something we can do to help you prepare. I am pretty sure it will help you with your current ordeal and for future endeavors along the way."


'What do you mean?" Sairek questioned curiously, stepping forwards as he looked up to the Abbot.


"Oh, I know!" Cyial soon called out, moving over to the Abbot. "You're going to preform the Ritual on him, right father?"


"Ah, you would be a bright boy, Cyial. That's exactly what I had planned to do."


"Ritual?" Nayleen questioned, turning to Sairek. "I thought all if not almost all rituals had to do with some sort of deal? Wouldn't that be dangerous?"


"Not for Sairek. You see, the Ritual we are about to preform is making a pact deal with Yggdrasil. However, Sairek already has a piece of Yggdrasil with him. No deals will need to be made for this ritual. We will be doing two things: The first, is that we will be preforming the ritual on the staff itself. After we do that, all we need to do is tune Sairek's body with his own staff. He shouldn't be separated from it anyways, so this shouldn't matter much. You see, even a root of Yggdrasil will still live; it is possible to tune one's body with the staff's life force; this will make it much easier for our Prince to draw Ethereal in the air. He may even gain the knowledge of a couple spells if he obtains some of the tree's wisdom... if he is lucky. Preforming the ritual is risk free. Preforming the ritual with Sairek's life force and the staffs will also be risk free, because that will only be a simple wizard's web for that part. Even if we mess it up somehow, we can simply remove the web, and then try it again."



Sairek couldn't help but smiling at the almost freely given power boost he was going to get. But he did have a few questions. "What would happen if something happened to my staff, wouldn't I die? And if I died, wouldn't Yggdrasil die as well?"


"It is a light fuse, not becoming embodied into the same being. Since you and the staff both have Ethereal energy in you, that will be the parts we will be fusing. If the staff was to be destroyed somehow, when it completely perished, you would lose all the Ethereal energy in your body. Now, we do need Ethereal to live, that much is true. However, a body can live without it for at least a couple of hours before the effects start taking place. You would feel weak at first, but your body should naturally recover from just breathing it into the air. Now, as for you dying, this would only effect the staff. The staff could easily draw the energy again by itself, but I'm sure if you were dead that would not be of much use to you."



"Interesting..." Sairek muttered in amazement.


"...More like confusing..." Nayleen sighed. "Your kingdom may have most of it's power from the use of magic, but my kingdom is more simple. We only really fight with steel and iron. Magic is not our strong point in combat for sure."



"The ritual usually takes a couple of hours, it may be best if we start preparing it now." Cyial stated in a quiet voice.


"Yes, yes. That is true. We should act now if we are to do it..." The abbot confirmed, turning to Sairek. "If we have your permission, Prince?"



Sairek did not need any further encouragement to nod his head. "We will. What do I need to do?"


"Just follow me and Cyial for now," The abbot said. Before beginning to walk down the halls, with the demon acolyte at his side. Nayleen and Sairek followed close behind.



The four of them went through a few halls before going into a large room. There was a glass window up above in the ceiling which the light shone through on an altar.


"I will require you to give me my staff until the ritual is done. As for now, since you would have nothing better to do then wait, I suggest you go to the library for the answers you came here for. I cannot promise the books will yield to anything, but it is a worth a try, no?" The abbot spoke to the Prince.


"I suppose. That said, do you know something?"


"Mmm... A little... But not enough to know what to do in a situation like this I am afraid. If you can't find anything, I will tell you what I do know so you coming here won't be empty-handed. Oh, and one more thing."


The abbot turned to Cyial as he continued speaking. "Did you bring the bottle, my child?"


"Yes, Father abbot." The acolyte answered, digging into his robes, he soon pulled out the bottle of water Sairek and Nayleen had watched him fill at the cave.


"Ah, excellent. After you show our guests where the Study Hall is, would you mind concocting it into the usual medicine? I have a feeling these two may need it for the long road that awaits them."


"I will, father abbot!" Cyial responded with enthusiasm.


"Good good," the abbot replied with a wide smile at the child. Then turned to Sairek. "Now then, the staff?" He asked. Sairek nodded, and held out the staff for the man to take.


"Ahhh, a Yggdrasil staff... it has been ages since I've held one of these before..." The abbot mumbled to himself.


Cyial quickly wandered over to where the other two were. "Sairek, Nayleen, follow me," the child let out, quickly moving himself down a different hallway. Sairek and Nayleen glanced at each other, before Sairek turned back to the abbot.


"Thank you for your help, father. I really do appreciate it." Sairek told him, before moving to follow Cyial so he wouldn't lose him. Nayleen followed quickly behind the Prince.



The Acolyte lead Sairek and Nayleen through many halls, Sairek's curiosity rose when all the halls seemed to be empty of anyone else.


"Where is everyone else?"


"Today is relaxation day. Only very few come in. Most of the Monastery's staff are actually just kids, although I am the youngest looking of them all... Oh, here we are."


Cyial opened the door, stepping inside, and held it open for the other two. Sairek looked around the room, as shelves filled with many books of different sizes were in the room. Nayleen looked impressed, but he was not. The one at the castle was much bigger. This was just a miniature version compared to his favorite room at the castle. Sairek crossed his arms over his torso as he looked around.


"I wonder where we should looking..." Nayleen questioned to herself, although out loud. Sairek crossed his arms over his torso and looked around.


"Well, studying is what I do best. There's only been a couple things that I have been curious about and haven't been able to find... For a start, look over in that book shelf over there..." Sairek freed his right arm, as he pointed to the one he was talking about. "Bring anything that says something about either Ethereal, or Yggdrasil on the front. I will sort through them myself there. Set any books you find on that table over there." He then pointed to a table that was nearly in the center of the room surrounded by the bookshelves. "I will get rid of the stuff inside my jewel, it's becoming a bit heavy now, and then I will look for books as well. Oh... and remember, Yggdrasil only has one 'S' in it, not two..."


"Ha,ha... You're funny." Nayleen snorted at the prince, but smiled a bit after, as she walked off, going to do Sairek's request. The male child looked around the room, easily finding an empty corner where he did his usual thing as he released all of the items they brought with them into a pile. He let out a sigh of relief. He always felt good being rid of all of the stress, he felt many times lighter. He didn't stay idle for long though, he moved away from the pile, moving over to a specific Bookshelf that caught his eye. Sairek pried off of his gloves, setting them on the table he spoke about while moving towards the bookshelf. When he reached it, his fingers went up, beginning to trace books as he read the titles of the books on the sides quickly. Every book that didn't interest him, he would quickly move on to the next. It was only his sixth book where he pulled out one, kept it in his right hand, and then continued on. Eventually, Sairek pulled more books from the shelf, putting them on the table. He only searched one row of books, but had already collected four. The prince believed that would be a good start, and soon opened one, beginning to flip through the pages. His eyes moved from left to right as he quickly scanned the words in the book, looking for something that would interest him on what he was looking for.


Around five minutes later, Sairek put his finger where he was looking as a marker, and glanced up as Nayleen came walking towards him. Her hands full of different books, she dropped them in a pile on the table.



"Now what?" Nayleen asked him.


"Now, I... uh... read all of them, I guess."



"You plan to read all of these in two hours?"


"No, I am going to scan them all. See if there's anything I can find that may be related. The books that I do think could be useful, I plan to bring with us. I will read them when we have the time, like when we're eating at a camp or something. Those that aren't useful, I will just keep here."


"Well, we are staying in Lamen tonight, but what about tomorrow?"


"We will be staying here tomorrow too. I have yet to visit my mother, after all. Also, I know I won't be able to sort through all of these books."


"...Then what do I do?"


Sairek shrugged. "The only thing I can think of is for you to look for more books, really. That's all there really is you can do, and all I can really do is read. We're waiting on my staff; there's not much neither of us are capable of doing until then."


Nayleen let out a long sigh. "What a boring wait..." She muttered. Still, she turned around with her hands interlaced behind her head, and walked off to began scanning more bookshelves.



Two hours had passed, and Sairek only finished scanning three books, midway through on his third, where Nayleen and him both looked up when they heard the door creak open. Sairek stood up when he saw Cyial walking towards him. It was the first time he had seen the child without his book.


"The ritual is almost finished by now. You should probably come so we can begin the part that involves you Sairek."


"Alright." The prince said, pushing himself up from the table, he began following the boy. "I'll get back to these books later. I hope no one minds the mess if they come in here..."


Sairek and Nayleen followed Cyial back to where they had left the Abbot. When Sairek walked up to the alter where he had given the abbot his staff, his eyes rose a bit in curiosity, seeing powder sprayed everywhere in various drawings. Sunlight from the hole in the roof covered with stained glass shone in the middle of the alter.


The abbot walked up to Sairek, holding out his staff for him. Sairek took it, looking at it to see if anything had changed, but nothing has from what he could tell.



"What am I to do, Father?" Sairek asked him. He let out a small smile.


"Nothing much. Just stand in the sunlight in the middle of the patterns, and I will do the rest. You may feel very slight sensations due to the magic, but it shouldn't be anything disturbing."


The prince nodded, walked past the abbot onto the alter slowly, as he soon stood in the middle of the sunlight. He squinted his emerald eyes slightly as the light beaming into his eyes felt uncomfortable. He wondered how the light was coming in; surely it was night time by now? He didn't think about the question for long, and turned around to face Nayleen and Cyial.


The abbot soon began to chant in a low mumble. Too quiet for Sairek to really understand. Sairek saw Cyial lead Nayleen to one of the many benches nearby, as they both took a seat to watch. Sairek couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive despite the abbots words that nothing would really happen.


Sairek noticed he was breathing a little bit heavier then normal from his apprehension, and closed his eyes to try and calm himself. Also to help his eyes against the light. He continued to hear the abbot mumble. And he soon felt a lightly tingling in his right hand. It slowly grew up his arm, and eventually engulfed his entire body. It felt like it had fallen asleep, except it wasn't easing away. It made Sairek feel uncomfortable and it was distracting. Thankfully for him, it suddenly disappeared, unlike how it gradually consumed him.



Then something else consumed him. It felt like his head had been split open, but without the sensation of pain. He suddenly knew a couple things he didn't know before. Suddenly understand just slightly how the Ethereal energy flowed. It came to him as if he had just figured out how a formula was done by himself. or figured out the solution to a problem; except this feeling was greatly intensified, as he had come to sudden realization of many things at once. He shifted a bit from the light burst of knowledge.


"And we're done." He soon heard. Sairek opened his eyes, blinking as he turned to the abbot.


"Really? That quickly?" Sairek questioned the Abbot. He gave a quick nod. "How do you feel Prince?"


"Well, I do suddenly know the names of a few spells I didn't know before. I may, or may not know how to cast them though. I know a couple other things, but nothing about the tree unfortunately. It's more like an understanding on how Ethereal flows. It might help for drawing it in now. Other then that, I don't really feel any different. Maybe while I'm researching for the tree, I can look up the names for these spells, and I might be able to figure out how to cast them with a little effort. Right now I feel like I should know how to cast them, but as if I am missing a step. Almost as if I should know the answer, but I don't..."


"Well, being able to cast spells easier should help you in any case." Nayleen replied. Then muttered: "...'cuz you're gonna need all the help you can get."


Sairek turned to her, smirking slightly. "Have a little faith in me. I've impressed you once before, have I not?"


"Yes, except that was just a thug. Despite how much of an a*s this guy is, he is a properly trained soldier. There is a difference, Sairek."


The child shrugged a little. "Well, considering most guards go through the same program, which I know of since my father is the one who has made it so, let's just say that there is little room for me to be surprised."


"Well, if you are committed to this my Prince, you best be going. It's very nearly time. If you don't make it there, then it could end very badly. We will come with you of course. Even moral support can help turn the tides of a battle." The abbot said. Sairek nodded, glancing at Nayleen. "Hear that?" He asked in a teasing tone.


"Psh... Whatever, prince." She retorted back. She was unable to hide the faint smile on her face though.



The four of them walked out of the Monastery, with Sairek taking the lead, as they walked along the streets, the sky dark as the moon was slowly rising past the walls of the city. It was only a short walk from the Monastery to the city walls. Sairek looked up as he saw the ostentatious guard standing at the door, with another guard there, different from the one before. Sairek's face turned into that formal one that showed he was prince. Shows his authority; he wasn't about to let that slip from him, despite how much he despised it at certain times.



"I was expecting you to arrive around this time. Very good timing, Prince." The soldier applauded, although the compliment was a rather empty one.


"I said I agreed to the duel, so here I am." Sairek said in a flat expression.


"Along with your damned demon friend, and the overly protective abbot... Are you sure it is wise to bring them with?"


"Did you come here to duel me, or did you invite me here to simply throw empty insults at my friends?"


"Now now, my prince. Patience is a virtue, you know."


Sairek's lips formed into a sly smirk as he speak just below normal volume, in a teasing tone. "Perhaps...  I suppose Yggdrasil wasn't patient enough for your soul however, since you had the ill fate of being inside the womb of a b***h."



The man's eyes widened and he gritted his teeth in anger at the insult Sairek threw at him. His hands balled up into fists as he stared at the Prince who tilted his head to the right slightly, a smirk on his face. It was another taunt Sairek was throwing at him to make him lose his cool.


"...You're dead... At least you will get to see your mother again, kid..." The man muttered at Sairek, before spinning on his heels, slamming the door to the wall open. It slowly closed behind him leaving Sairek to stand there.


"Haha! You're really good at telling people off." Nayleen applauded excitedly. "Did you see his face? About to burst in anger!"


Sairek looked back at her, softly smiling. "And that's his biggest weakness. That is why I will win this." He said, before turning back to the door, walking forwards. He pushed the door open, and the other three followed close behind. The same for the door that lead outside of the city, which two guards opened for Sairek this time. The child stepped out, and blink a couple times in surprise.



"...This duel will not be as inconspicuous as I had hoped..." The abbot muttered behind Sairek, as the prince looked around him. Several people gathered up in a large circle outside the city, staring at Sairek and the other three.



"...Well, this is going to make wide news... Father is going to hear this, and when I get back to the castle, I will be lucky if I am ever allowed out again." Sairek said with a light chuckle. He glanced back to the other three. "I suppose you guys may as well choose a spot and watch just like everyone else. Just make sure nobody tries to go for Cyial in any way."


"Good luck Sairek..." Cyial spoke quietly to him. It made the prince smile a little before he walked forwards, towards the center of the circle people formed. Some moved out of the way to create an opening for him to walk through, before moving back to enclose the circle. Sairek stood in his formal stance. The man had a simple broadsword ready. He was holding it two hands, yet he had a second one at his waist. Sairek figured the man used  the broadswords in either two-handed style, or one in each hand, depending on the situation he would need them in. There was still two disadvantages for him that was in Sairek's favor. One or two swords, he would still have to get close. The second was that if he chose to use two swords, his swinging would probably be much slower; which Sairek could use to easily counter the attacks. This would only limit the man to one style most likely.


Most of the crowd was quiet, except for a few whispers here and there. Sairek wanted to continue his provoking tactic; and soon was the first one to speak out aloud.



"So, you were waiting at the gates so you wouldn't embarrass yourself in case I won the verbal battle, right?"



"You are so full of yourself..."



"Says the scumbag who tries to decide whom shall be my friends, when you don't even have any friends... right? If you do, I urge them to show themselves right now."


Sairek waited for a few seconds. When nothing happened, the prince let out a light chuckle as his eyes locked upon the angry glare of the man's. "It would seem that I am correct." He stated in a taunting tone. He was pleased to see the man grip his weapon tighter in response. It was anger. Sairek continued his work. "But, why should I be surprised? I wouldn't expect a coward to have any... After all, do you know why you have made history today? It's because no man is pathetic enough to challenge a prince while they are but a child!"


Voices in the crowd rose a little in response to this. The man was about to speak, but Sairek cut him off. "What fame would you get from killing me when I am only but a child? To prove a point? I think we all know here today that even if you do kill me, what valor could possibly be rewarded for murdering a child of the crown? But do not worry. I will personally see to it that fowl acts under my father's kingdom will be dealt with severely. Your first mistake was questioning my authority. Your second mistake was challenging it. And your third, and final mistake was challenging me not as the prince, but for who I truly am; Sairek!"



"You're dead kid... Dead I tell you... Dead!"



Sairek raised his left arm out, and with his hand, brought his fingers up, beckoning the man forwards to him in a taunt. A grin was on the child's face as the man shook in anger. Sairek was filled with an adrenaline he had never felt before. "You've judged me as dead already?" He asked in a teasing tone of voice. He flicked his fingers towards himself again, beckoning the man to him once more. "Then come forth, so that you too can be judged."



© 2011 Sairek Ceareste


Author's Note

Sairek Ceareste
I've written this chapter with my hard drive currently unavailable... or well, forever unavailable. Since it is dead, and stuff. So this chapter may have far more mistakes then normal. It's not something I can help. Sorry, but if there's any silly mistakes, please just bare with it. I'm still trying to get all of this worked out.



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Added on October 18, 2011
Last Updated on November 26, 2011
Tags: The, Ethereal, Elixer, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Romance, Mystery, The Ethereal Elixer