Black Thorn Read online

  Gideon took in a deep breath to still his excitement and made his way through the city to the palace above.

  T he first night in Evenstar found Gideon dining with his Uncle Udda the King and his two cousins.

  “I trust your trip wasn’t too taxing on you Gideon?” King Udda inquired as he bit into the roast pork that had been served whole in Gideon’s honor.

  “No sir, the nights were fair, and I didn’t run into any trouble on the way here.”

  Udda smiled and nodded, seemly all too pleased that his nephew’s trip had been uneventful.

  “That’s good; we have been having some issues with bandits and goblins on the road. I would have felt awful if my nephew had come to any harm. Indeed I almost sent Trevor and Jason out to search for you.”

  Gideon drooped his head looking abashed. “I’m sorry to make you worry your Grace.”

  “Father see what you’ve done now? He thinks your upset with him.” Jason said.

  “Don’t worry Gideon; we knew that the best swordsmen in Thornpine would have no problem traveling from one city to the next. Father worries too much.” Trevor put in. “Now hurry up and finish eating because Jason and I are going to show you around the city.”

  Gideon finished his meal with time to spare as the sun was just beginning to set. He, Trevor, and Jason set out down the cobbled streets away from the palace. They explored shops, and taverns as Trevor and Jason showed Gideon just what the city could offer if you had the coin. At one point Gideon started down a seedy looking street eager to continue exploring when Jason pulled him back.

  “Whoa now little cousin, a potential knight doesn’t want to be seen treading down Trident Lane.”

  Gideon looked back at him in puzzlement.

  “Why not?”

  “Because that’s where all the pleasure houses are Gideon,” Trevor said barely containing his laughter.

  “Evenstar has… pleasure houses?” Gideon asked in a tone of awe and surprise.

  Trevor sobered, “Yes cousin now listen this is a city. As such we have a lot that smaller towns don’t have, and that includes crime. Yeah, you can find all the pleasures money can buy, but if you’re not careful you’ll also find someone who will carve you a second smile.”

  “Yeah, not a night goes by when there isn’t some type of crime. Theft, rape, and murder that’s what you get here in the big city. It might not be as bad as bigger cities like Wilden, but we get our fair share.” Jason added.

  It put a damper on the night, Gideon was shocked to find that the city had its problems. He had spent a lot of time there as a child. But then again he had been slightly sheltered growing up in Thornpine, a village where everyone knows everyone and what they are doing on any given day. He thought to himself that it would take a little getting used to all the differences as he made his way to the Academy.

  A s it turned out that his dinner with his uncle was the only good food he was going to get while he was in Evenstar. The fare at the Academy was very Spartan. For breakfast they had a simple type of porridge, lunch was light with only bread, cheese, and ale, and for dinner; a stew was made, although Gideon was somewhat suspicious about the “meat” that was in it.

  Although there were a few exceptions to this fare, parade days and special visits by royalty (usually his uncle.) ensured that he’d a more robust dinner. All the same, it hardly compared to the roasted pig he had eaten the night before.

  The first day Gideon had turned his nose up at the meal, and he wasn’t the only highborn to do this. There were many “blue bloods” as the commanders called them who refused to touch the food. This did not endear him to the commanders. These were the other students like Gideon who were either royalty in their own right or the sons of current Knights and as such were used to a certain amount of pampering.

  “You ungrateful sods, you’ll eat what we give you, or you’ll go hungry!” One of his commanders barked. This made Gideon think twice about not touching the food.

  However, Gideon did observe the several knight hopefuls who were there as scholarship students didn’t have any problem eating what was laid in front of them. These boys had been awarded the opportunity to school here, and the lads eagerly lapped up what was given to them. These were the ones who’d escaped the life of the poor and were extremely grateful for what they were given. The commanders in turn, happy for their gratefulness treated these initiates with just a little more respect than the others.

  “See this, see here you miserable blue bloods. This boy’s got the idea.” The commander pointed to one of the few who was eating. “Good job lad.” He added treating the boy with what was almost kindness. Seeing this, Gideon reasoned that it might pay to learn to be just a bit more humble and accepting. After all, everything about the Academy was there to forge him into a Knight, and the food was no exception.

  A t the Academy, Gideon was anything but bored. His days started with early morning exercise; these often consisted of the commanders following them around yelling at them to do pushups, or sit-ups, to run around the fortress until their legs were like jelly. Dripping with sweat and smelling to high heaven they would be allowed to shower in the ice cold water (no pampering like heated water for these boys.)

  That done, they’d be lead down to breakfast,

  “Eat up ladies’! Hurry it up. Do I need to call in the Shield Maidens to show you how it’s done? This is just the saddest sight I’ve ever seen.” One commander commented.

  “At least their all eating now, a day of no food makes one hungry doesn’t it blue bloods?” laughed another commander.

  After breakfast, they marched down to the courtyard for sword drill. The first lesson was just an introductory lesson. The swordmaster, Sir Jackman spent his time going through each recruit to see what you’re made of. Sparing with them until the recruit dropped his sword. It didn’t take much time for him to go through most of the recruits, handing out tips here and there as he went.

  Finally, he got to Gideon.

  “Now who are you?” Sir Jackman asked.

  Gideon bowed then replied, “I am Gideon of Thornpine, son of Adam the Wolf.”

  Sir Jackman’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “Well well, Sir Kallen has spoken very highly of you. Let’s see if his praise was well founded.”

  He tossed Gideon a wooden training sword. This sword wasn’t balanced like his own sword nor was it as light, but never the less, Gideon lived up to Kallen’s words.

  Sir Jackman struck out with his sword, slashing powerful strokes through the air. Although it used all of Gideon’s skill, he blocked each strike. They circled each other, Sir Jackman striking at random times trying to get Gideon’s guard down. Gideon focused, read his opponent’s body language and began to turn the blocks into parries. He could see the surprise on Sir Jackman’s face when he did this, but the Knight increased his attack pushing back fiercely, not giving Gideon any time to rest. Eventually, Gideon began to lose ground. His arms burned and he was breathing heavy, and Sir Jackman wasn’t tiring in the least. So in a last ditch effort, he attempted a disarming technique he had learned under Kallen. Sliding his sword down and around Sir Jackman’s sword he left himself open for Sir Jackman’s attack, but at the last moment twisted and rolled to the side. Sir Jackman’s sword went flying in the air and before he could recover Gideon gently laid his sword on the back of the Knight’s neck.

  A hushed silence fell over the recruits. Not knowing how to react to such a sight. Sir Jackman was speechless as he gapped open-mouthed at the young man who had just bested him in front of his students.

  Gideon lowered the wooden sword to his side and tried to look unperturbed but inside he was singing with surprise and happiness.

  Finally, Sir Jackman started laughing, “Well young man, it would seem that Kallen knew what he was talking about when he named you the best swordsman in Thornpine. I don’t even think your father could have bested me like that. You should be proud.” Gideon began to grin, “But you have a lot of work ahead of y
ou. I know for a fact that you couldn’t repeat this performance right away and that if that little stunt of yours hadn’t worked, you would have lost. Remember in a war you have to be able to fight for hours and hours. You have the skill, just don’t be getting too big for your boots yet boy.”

  Gideon deflated, but managed only to reply with a “Yes sir.”

  A fter lunch, Gideon had Magical Theory; he filed into the classroom with the rest of his classmates who were still buzzing with his win over the swords master. But they were silenced when they came face to face the stern-faced Knight Arlan. Although arguably the oldest knight at the Academy his power in magic was the stuff of legend.

  “Well well, I heard we had a little incident in the courtyard this morning.” He said, his gaze settling on Gideon. “Well, we will see if you are equally as skill at magic.” A merciless grin spread across his face parting his very bushy mustache from his short beard.

  “One by one each of you will stand in this circle,” He indicated a glowing white circle on the floor they had neglected to see when they entered. “And you will perform each piece of magic that I instruct. Then if any of you are skilled enough, you will attempt a spell. Come on, who’s first?”

  His gaze landed on Gideon again, “Well young man shall we start with you? See if you are as good with magic as you are with the blade.”

  Resigned Gideon stepped into the circle and looked attentively at the commander.

  “Now first cast a ball of light into the air and manipulate it about.”

  Gideon was relieved; this was something he knew he could do. He summoned a small egg-sized ball of light and sent it zooming around the confines of the circle. Satisfied Sir Arlan bid him stop.

  “Now summon this coin from my hand to yours.”

  Again Gideon was able to comply with what the instructor wanted. Although this took far more effort than the ball of light did.

  “Good good, granted I would expect my five-year-old granddaughter to be able to do that, I’m relieved you can. Now please cast the pillar of summoning.”

  Gideon was confused; he had never heard of the pillar of summoning before,

  “I’m sorry sir I don’t understand what you want me to do.”

  Commander Arlan smiled, “The pillar of summoning and its pair the pillar of response are how we communicate when on watch. We send a massive pillar of red light into the sky and hold it there until we see the response which is green. Although you can’t reach the sky from in hear, I expect you all to be able to fill the room. Now perform it please.”

  Now that he described it, Gideon knew what he was asking for. Gideon had seen the signals time and time again growing up. Although knowing what he was supposed to be doing and doing it was two different things.

  He raised his hand in the air and summoned his mana hoping for something to happen. Nothing did. Commander Arlan shook his head clearly disappointed.

  “Well, you’re not the first not to be able to do it. You can sit down.”

  Gideon sat down at one of the desks and watched the others run through the same tasks. All but one failed when it came to the pillar of summoning. The one who succeeded lit up the room with a blinding array of red. When the light faded, Commander Arlan had a look of pleasant surprise on his face. He clapped the lad on the back,

  “Very good, very good there’s always at least one in a class that has an understanding of magic. As for the rest of you, we will be starting with the basics.” He paused long enough to study the class, “The ability to heal cuts, bruises, broken bones, to life-saving healing that could stop someone from bleeding out temporarily is key to a knight’s survival, and we will be covering it extensively. If you show any real promise with the healing arts, you will be whisked away to apprentice under a master healer most of which are located in Wilden. As there are only a handful of healers in all of Rosenkar, this is a real honor and is no less important than knighthood. With most cities and villages contented themselves with Alchemists who used herbs and potions along with a little healing magic. Our need for qualified mages is great.”

  Gideon felt very uneasy at this, he knew his sister was good at healing, but he had never gotten the hang of it contenting himself to being a great swordsman, now he reluctantly felt that he made a serious flaw in his early education. He brought himself out of his worries and focused on his commander.

  “The more practical magic’s are shielding, which shrouded you in a barrier, protecting you temporally from sword or arrow and offensive magic where you imbue your weapon with magic so it can smash through your opponent’s defenses, armor, and bone.” He paused and drew everyone’s attention. “The practical magic’s are a double edge blade. Use it too early, and you waste your mana and strength. Too late and you are as good as dead!”

  The room went quiet, and Gideon watched as an amused look briefly passed over his commander’s face.

  “Now there are few that specialize as mages, forsaking training with sword and shield to focus on creating new and more dangerous magic, but they are always very gifted and would have been discovered by the guild located in Wilden as children. Then whisked away to hone their skills. These mages are very rare, and in the off chance a knight is discovered to have the ability then he typically is trained as a battle mage, but again these are very rare. We” he placed a hand on his chest, “are all just spell swords nothing more.”

  After his disappointment with Magical Theory Gideon wasn’t looking forward to his next class which was a History of Warcraft. History had never been a subject he enjoyed or excelled at when he was at home, and he doubted that he would like it any more here. He marched with his classmates up one of the spiraled staircases that lead up one of the four towers. At the top, they met an old knight by the name of Thomas. At least he said he was a knight, but he was one of the slightest built knights Gideon had ever seen.

  “Welcome welcome please everybody take a seat. I am Sir Thomas, and I am here to teach you the history of Warcraft. Now being that the history of the world is that of war, with not a single span of time covered where one nation or kingdom wasn’t fighting another we will cover it all. Starting from the beginning before the fae came to our world before the cataclysm destroyed ancient man and ending, well…” He chuckled, “Ending with whatever day you lot are turned into fully fledged knights. I have two hours every single day while you’re at the Academy. Let’s get started.”

  As it turned out that History of Warcraft wasn’t as bad as Gideon had assumed it would be, but he still wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. He had equal reservation about his next class. It was called Bestiary; a study of all the creatures and races that were known in Rosenkar. Gideon joined his group in a small cramped classroom filled with long tables and chairs. He and the others were looking around them when a pompous voice from behind squeaked.

  “Sit down, sit down everyone. Now there will be no idle chit-chat in this class. We are here to learn about the many creatures that roam our lands and all of this you must learn if you are ever to call yourselves Knights.”

  There was a general screech of chairs scraping along the stone floor as everyone hurried to take their seats. Then from behind came the smallest knight Gideon had ever seen. Red curly hair, bespectacled, and dressed in finely pressed clothing. Gideon thought that this commander would look more at home in a library than on the battlefield.

  “I am commander Shamus, your instructor for this class. As I said, we will be covering the many diverse creatures of Rosenkar.” Sir Shamus said as he paced up and down the rows of tables.

  “This information is of the utmost importance and is, in fact, some of the most important and vital you will learn while training to become knights! By the end of this term, you will be expected to be able to list all the humanoid races of Rosenkar, The most common four-legged beast, and the winged beast. You will also be expected to know how to kill all of them, and I expect answers in detail! I must remind you that none of you will be welcomed back here next year if yo
u cannot master this information because by god you need to be able to tell the difference between a horse and a unicorn!”

  The class gave a unified chuckle, and a classmate to Gideon’s left leaned over and said, “Because really the horn isn’t an obvious enough indicator.”

  Unluckily for the student, Sir Shamus heard him. He sneered and pointed.

  “You there, I do believe we need to start this class off with some reading. Please open the books on your table and turn to the chapter on horse kin. Then read aloud.”

  The student looked awkwardly at Sir Shamus. That was when Gideon recognized him. He was the one who was able to perform the magic in their last class.

  “Well, what’s the problem? Stand up and read aloud the passage!” Sir Shamus puffed.

  “I-I can’t sir.”

  Sir Shamus looked perplexed, “Can’t? Can’t what?”

  “I can’t read.” The boy whispered.

  “You can’t read? Who are you what’s your name?”

  “John sir,” John said his eyes cast down to the floor.

  “Well tell me, John, what business do you have in a school when you can’t even read?”

  Gideon stood up, and he said through gritted teeth, “Leave him alone! There are lots of people who don’t know their letters. Everyone deserves a chance!”

  Sir Shamus rounded on him, “Oh really? And who are you?”

  “Gideon son of Adam the Wolf.”

  “Ah yes, the little celebrity. Tell you what Gideon, you can read the passage and after that the whole class can read the chapter and write a report on what they have learned and if anyone is unable to complete their work and have it turned in by tomorrow then you will get the pleasure of spending your free evenings sharpening all the swords in the Academy for the rest of the week.”

  Face flushed, and heart pumping Gideon quickly read out the passage and then sat down. Once they were let out Gideon caught up to John before they headed out to parade drill.