Trial of the Sword

Read this short story to see how a man completes the Trial of the Sword.

 Trial of the Sword

Late 15^th- 16^th century,

At the time of his death, the legendary King Arthur of Britain has once again put the Great Excalibur in a sacrificial stone just as the way it was when he pulled it out, before his ascension as the king. This is done by the wise king to ensure that only the worthy should rule over the kingdom. His knights of the round table would look after the kingdom in his stead and until someone worthy is found.

The Knights of the Round Table ingeniously designed a three stage trial to pick out a worthy candidate. This trial came to be known as the Trial of the Sword. One interesting decision regarding this trial that was much debated is that they allowed even the commoners to participate in the trial along with nobles.

 

Present Day,

The Trial of the Sword is in three short months, and Mordred, a noble and descendent of King Arthur has been preparing for the trial since many years. One can say his preparations are almost half-hearted because of his deep beliefs that he will be the chosen one who will inherit the Great Sword due to him being a royal and pure blooded. And being a royal, he’s always been very proficient with weaponry, strategy and wisdom. But believing that there can be no other person worthy apart from him has made him very narcissistic.

Meanwhile in a remote town of Britain a man named Constantine has also been preparing for the trial in earnest for many years. Being the son of a general in the army, Constantine is no noble. But his rigorous efforts in increasing his knowledge and skills in weaponry, strategy, and wisdom have made it such that he can rival any noble in the kingdom. Due to this, he is also much respected in his town and some people believe that he is the chosen one that the kingdom has been waiting for.

Both Mordred and Constantine see it as their life’s purpose to successfully complete the Trial of the Sword, which no-one has been able to accomplish as the sword refused them all. The difference in their attitudes is that where Mordred considers it his birth-right to remove the Excalibur from its stone, Constantine believes that it will be his kindness and integrity that will make him worthy. Both continue nurturing their beliefs and training for the upcoming trial.

Three Months Later,

It is now time for the Trial of the Sword to begin. There are many participants for the trial including Constantine and Mordred. The Council of Elders who are descendants of the Knights of the Round Table begin explanation of the rules that have to be followed, “We wish to congratulate all of you who have decided to participate in this trial of bravery and courage risking their lives for the kingdom. Getting straight to the point, the first round of this trial will be the Trial of Wisdom where you will each be taken into individual rooms and tested by the best scholars of this country on your understanding of the human psyche and this world. The scholars will determine who all pass this trial, after which we will adjourn for the day.

Tomorrow the qualifying participants shall be led to an arena for the Trial by Combat where each of your individual battle strengths will be tested by the bravest Generals and Lords in our army. Keep in mind that there will be thousands of people watching you in the arena so be sure to give it your best. Participants who are cleared by our army may advance to the third stage of the trial.

The day after tomorrow we will have the Trial of Endurance. This is the trial in which each of you have to complete one round on foot of the entire kingdom covering its deep valleys and treacherous forests filled with wild animals. To make things interesting, you are allowed to use weapons as you please. Please note that anyone killed during this trial will have died on their own risk. If and when you complete this trial will you be allowed to lift the Holy Sword Excalibur from its stone. The first man to lift the sword from the stone shall be proclaimed as the new Emperor. All these stages make up the Trial of the Sword. With that, let the trial begin! ”

After hearing the rules, participants are led to their respective chambers for the Trial of Wisdom. Both Constantine and Mordred are the first ones to come out of their chambers. Mordred, who believes that nobles are superior to common men is shocked to see that Constantine has also finished the trial. Looking at him Mordred says, “Ha! A mere commoner cannot possibly imagine to succeed at this trial, it’s because you don’t know anything have you finished the trial with me. Only we nobles deserve to be the best.” Constantine chooses not to say anything to him. One by one participants start appearing having completed the trial and after some time the results are announced. Both Mordred and Constantine’s names are among the first names that are called out saying they have cleared this trial. And then the assembly is adjourned for the day.

On the night of this trial Mordred keeps thinking about how Constantine completed and cleared the trial at the same time as him and grows envious of him. The next day, the sun has risen and it is now time for the Trial by Combat.  Both Constantine and Mordred along with other participants have arrived at the arena. In the audience chamber, all the people from Constantine’s village who hold him in high regard have come to cheer him on. Mordred eyes Constantine with contempt. As the elders gather, the order in which participants will make a show of their battle prowess is announced. Mordred has his turn before Constantine. Knowing this, he thinks to himself, “I’ll now show that uppity brat what being a royal means “. With this he sets foot in the arena and begins his demonstration. After various daring and impressive stunts, he manages to impress the army generals with ease and they declare him successful at the trial. By the time Constantine’s trial comes around, many participants have succeeded in the trial and many have been rejected. As Constantine began his demonstration, all the audience members are immediately taken by surprise seeing his ferocious battle skills and remarkable abilities. Even the army generals are in awe of this mere commoner whose skills rival even them. The audience members who are a part of Constantine’s village begin cheering for the young man, and soon the whole arena erupts in cheers for him and he passes the trial. Meanwhile, Mordred who has been watching all this time from the stands grows to hate Constantine for his superior efforts and demonstration. The trial is then concluded, and out of the enumerable participants, only 25 remain.

Before the trial of endurance, Mordred who now outright hates Constantine, comes up with a plan to eliminate him before he ever gets the chance to complete it. He plans to push Constantine in a deep valley, after restricting his movements by using a trap. With this in mind, he sets out to place the trap at the mouth of a valley. He places the trap under a marked stone and, satisfied, goes home to sleep.

Sun rises like a glorious ball of fire the next day. This is the day for the Trial of Endurance that will determine who gets to lift the great Excalibur from the stone, and the day for which Mordred and Constantine have been waiting for, their entire lives. However, Constantine is unaware of the trap Mordred has set up for him. All the 25 participants assemble at the starting point. They are to finish the trial by returning to the starting point after completing one round of the entire kingdom. And on the signal of an Elder, the trial begins. There are some participants who are concentrated on eliminating the competition whereas both Mordred and Constantine just want to finish the trial as quickly as they can.

After some distance has passed, Mordred decides to go ahead and check on his trap that he set up for Constantine. But on reaching the valley, he’s stunned to find that the marked stone is nowhere to be found. He frantically begins searching for the stone which will trigger his trap, but in doing so he accidently triggers it himself and before he can comprehend this, gets suspended on the mouth of the valley tied to a branch upside down. Angry at these turn of events, he shouts out, “It was not supposed to go like this, I’m the future ruler of this kingdom!” , even so he can do nothing but ponder. After some time, he’s now crying openly and Constantine who is passing the valley sees Mordred tied upside down, weeping. Kind as he is, Constantine decides to save Mordred. The irony of this is not lost on Mordred. After he’s saved and sitting at the mouth of the valley with Constantine, he asks him,” Why did you save me? The trap that I was caught in was intended for you.” To which Constantine just smiles and says, “It does not matter if you wished me harm but I’m just not the type of man who can leave a helpless crying man to his plight. That is not how I wish to complete this Trial of the Sword”. Hearing this from Constantine, Mordred immediately realizes the error of his ways and promises to himself that he will never sink this low again and rely only on his own abilities to complete any task that lies before him. After apologizing profusely to Constantine he says,” I’m indebted to you for life, how shall I ever repay you?” to which Constantine just smiles and says, “Complete this trial with me”.

After these events, both Mordred and Constantine are seen crossing the finishing line together completing the trial. Only 5 participants including the newly bonded friends have completed it. The elder addresses them by saying, “I’m deeply thankful for all of your valiant efforts and congratulate you for making this far in the Trial. We shall now give each of you a chance to pull out the Holy Sword Excalibur from the stone. I sincerely hope one of you has the potential to become the next ruler of our land.” With this they are led to the arena where all the people of the empire have gathered to see the Holy Sword and the courageous men, one of who could be their new King.

The first three participants, even after using all of their might are unable to budge the legendary sword. Finally, it’s Mordred’s turn. With the new attitude and perspective towards life and admiration for Constantine, he begins his attempt but is shocked to see that the sword won’t respond to him even though he shares the same lineage as that of King Arthur. But instead of getting angry like he normally would’ve, he just accepts it as his fate and steps off the podium.

Now it is Constantine’s turn and as he goes near the sword, the skies slowly begins to darken as if the sword itself is holding its breath, and as Constantine touches the hilt of the sword, with a loud thunderclap the sword is set free of the stone. Everyone present in the audience stand as one to see the miracle unfold. If asked later, people would describe the sight in front of them as a man overflowing with immense power. With bright blue eyeballs resembling the color like that of the lightning overhead, the power of the Excalibur is on display that could bring even Gods to a standstill. As the surge fades, it is clear to everyone including the Council of Elders that their long awaited King was here.

The Council of Elders, Army Generals, Scholars and everyone in the audience bow down before the new Emperor Constantine. Every one of the Council says as one, “Today all of us here witnessed a miracle and now we proclaim Constantine as our new King and shall now be placed under His Majesty’s command from this moment on. The Trial of the Sword is now complete.” Mordred walks up to Constantine and hugs his dear friend saying,” It is you who helped me cleanse the darkness of my heart and you who I shall serve until the day I die”. And thus the land of Brittan has found its rightful ruler.

So at the end of the day, it is Constantine’s bravery and pure intentions that made him worthy of Excalibur. We have seen how a man who is pure of thoughts, intentions and actions will inspire even other people around him to improve for the better. A man must be not only pious but also willing to help others no matter the situation.    

Author's Note

All incidents in the story are purely fictional and reference to any person, alive or dead is purely co-incidental. This piece of writing is for entertainment purposes only.
P.s - This is my first time writing a story so feel free to write what you thought of it below. Honest feedback is always appreciated :)

Reviews

[JayG]

Bear in mind that you did ask for comment. And in reality, I encourage people to write. So, for having the courage to post a piece of your writing, and the sense to ask how to make it better, bravo.

Now…ready for the, umm, less good news? It has nothing to do with your talent, or the story, if that helps, but…

Your education is getting in the way. Remember all the essays you wrote in school? Unfortunately, no one ever tells us that essays, with their goal of informing a reader, are boring. AND, they never tell us that fiction’s goal isn't to report and explain. It is, as E. L. Doctorow puts it: to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it’s raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”

Problem is, all we learn how to write are weather reports. So, using those skills, you’ve constructed a precise and accurate synopsis of a series of fictional events—a history. But those events are the obstacle course that those living the events must run, not the story.

It’s THEIR perception and analysis of the situation that’s the mother of their action. So unless we know that, we can’t know what motivates them to act, and cannot know them as a person. And without that? Why should we care? It’s a historical synopsis.

So…it might be that you’ll love to write fiction, and be great at doing it…once you learn how. And to help, two suggestions:

First, peek at an article or two in my wordpress writing blog, linked to under this post. If they make sense and you want to know more, follow the link under this paragraph and pick up the best book I know of on the basics of fiction.
https://ru.b-ok2.org/book/2640776/e749ea

Give it a try. You never know what will happen—which is why it’s interesting. And that, pretty well sums up why people read lots of fiction, but not history books. In a history book you’re informed about what happened. In a story, you live it as it happens.

Jay Greenstein
https://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/the-grumpy-old-writing-coach/

[Ishan.b]

This feedback has been very insightful, I'll be sure to check out your Wordpress blog. As I've mentioned above, a new perspective is always welcome :)