A Vow of Glory

CHAPTER TEN

Thor followed the boy closely, the others beside him, as they all finally emerged from the thick foliage of the jungle, the second sun long in the sky. It had been an arduous hike back up from the bottom of the crater, where the mudslide had taken them. It had felt as if they would never stop sliding, Thor and the others completely covered in mud as they slid hundreds of feet into a huge mud pit. They’d had to fight their way back up to the top, and it had taken too long.

Now it was almost dark, the boy more anxious than ever, constantly watching the sky, and the boy seemed immensely relieved as they entered the large clearing in the jungle, the first that Thor had seen. For a while he had been sure that they’d never surface from that mud pit—and that they’d never get out of this jungle.

Thor was surprised to see the large clearing before them, perhaps a hundred feet in each direction, and in the center of it, a small cottage. Smoke rose from its chimney, which Thor could understand, since the temperature had plummeted over the last hour, as night began to fall. It was startling to see this cottage here, a dwelling in the midst of such a vast wilderness, bordered by trees that reached into the sky. Thor and the others exchanged a look of wonder. Who could live here, Thor wondered, in this lone house in the midst of this wilderness? It was so unexpected.

“My grandpa doesn’t take to most people,” the boy said, turning to them. “Wait here, let me speak to him. Hopefully we’ll catch him in a good mood and he’ll let you stay the night here.”

“Thanks,” Thor said, “but we don’t need to stay the night here—”

Before he could finish speaking, the boy was gone, entering his grandpa’s house.

As they sky grew darker, strange night birds began to make all sorts of noises. Thor leaned back and looked up at the towering trees, reaching into the sky; they climbed so high, he could barely even see the top, and he felt overwhelmed by the immensity of nature here.

There came a sudden shouting from inside the cottage, and Thor looked at the others, shifting uncomfortably, and wondered what to do. On the one hand, he did not want to stay the night here—he wanted to keep moving. Yet he also wanted to meet this old man and find out if he knew anything about the Sword before moving on.

The door slammed open and out came a middle-aged man, ducking his head at the doorway. He was bald, with graying hair on both sides, a big nose, narrow brown eyes and a double chin, and was dressed in robes, frayed, hardly better than rags. He stopped before the group and stared directly at Thor, clearly annoyed.

“What right did you have to press my grandson to bring you here?” he demanded, angry.

“We did not press your grandson to do anything!” Thor protested. “He offered to take us—”

“And how am I supposed to know that you are not of the Empire?” the man pressed, reaching down and gripping the hilt of his sword, resting at his waist.

Thor and the others instinctively reached for their weapons, too, as they did not know exactly how belligerent this man would be.

“Your dress seems to show you’re not from here,” the old man said, “but what if it’s all a trick? What if you are spies for the Empire?”

Thor sensed that the best way to deal with this wary old man was through kindness, and he raised his hands innocently and took a step forward.

“Sir, we mean no offense,” he said, in as gentle tone as he could muster. “We are not spies of the Empire. We have come here from the Ring. We seek a certain sword which was stolen from our kingdom. We mean you no harm. And if you wish to tell us which direction it was heading, we will be on our way. If you do not, then we shall just leave now, and leave you in peace. In any case, we thank your grandson for his kindness in saving us. We owe him a great debt.”

The man stared Thor up and down earnestly for quite a while, then finally his hand relaxed; he let go of the hilt of his sword, and his face relaxed, too.

“I hear it in your voice,” the man said. “That accent. You are indeed of the Ring. It has been years, too many years, since I’ve been there. A beautiful place. I miss it dearly.”

The man surveyed all of them, then finally relaxed his shoulders.

“Forgive my haste in accusing you,” he added. “We live alone out here, and one can never be too sure. Welcome. I wish for you to stay. Come quickly now,” he said, gesturing with his hands, looking out at the trees as if afraid something might attack them.

Thor looked at Reece and the others, who looked back and nodded, and as one, they all filed into the man’s cottage, as he followed and closed the door, barring it behind them with a large metal pole.

“Sit, please,” the old man said as he entered, tidying up.

Thor surveyed the cozy cottage, and saw that it was roomy, enough to hold all of them. The floors were lined with furs, a small fire roared in the fireplace, and it smelled of food, making Thor’s stomach growl. Krohn must have smelled it, too, because he began to whine.

The boy hastened to do his grandfather’s bidding, hurrying over with a platter of fruits that Thor did not recognize. Thor and the others each grabbed one, and as Krohn whined, the boy took a piece off the platter, leaned down, and fed it to him. Krohn snatched it from his hand, wolfed it down, made a funny face, licked his lips several times, then whined for more. The boy laughed.

Thor examined his piece of fruit. It looked like a fig, but was much bigger, red in color, and covered in a sort of moss.

“What is it?” Thor asked.

“It’s a mooless,” the boy said.

“Try it,” the grandfather chimed in. “It’s bitter but also sweet. It will give you energy after your long hike.”

Thor raised it to his nose, and it smelled unlike anything he had ever encountered—like an onion crossed with a lemon. He could feel from his fingertips that it was sticking to his hand, and as the others, he lifted it and took a tentative bite.

He was struck by the taste: it was delicious, and even this small bite gave him a burst of energy. He gobbled it down and licked his fingers, and already felt like a new man.

Thor sat with the others on the pile of furs on the floor, spread out around the fire, Krohn coming up beside him, and resting his head in Thor’s lap. Thor was surprised at how good it felt to sit, the achiness in his legs slowly subsiding. He had not realized how long they had been on their feet, how much his muscles hurt. They were also all bruised from their encounter with that animal. These furs were so soft and comfortable, Thor felt as if he could fall asleep sitting up.

But he thought of the Ring, under attack, and knew they had urgent business to attend to, and did not want to waste any time. He leaned forward.

“We are most grateful for your hospitality,” Thor said to the old man, “but I’m afraid we haven’t much time. We are on an urgent journey. We must find the Sword. Please, tell us where it went so we can be on our way.”

The old man took a seat, leaning back on a fur on the other side of the fire, beside the boy, and he looked back at them and shook his head.

“You can’t go back out there,” he said. “Not now. Haven’t you seen? The second sun is about to set.”

“I told them papa!” the boy said.

“We appreciate your caution,” Thor said, “but as I said, we have urgent business, and we do not fear insects.”

The old man snorted.

“You don’t understand,” he said. “No one can be out there at night. No one. You would not last an hour. After nightfall, sometime during the rising of the first moon, the rains come. No one can survive outside during the rains.”

“And why couldn’t one survive a rainfall?” Reece pressed.

The man turned and narrowed his eyes at him.

“Because it is not a rainfall,” he said. “It is not water that falls from the sky, boy, but Ethabugs.”

“Ethabugs?” Elden asked.

“A kind of spider, but larger and more deadly. In this part of the Empire, the sky rains them, every night. You’ll hear them falling against our cottage. It will last for about an hour, then they scurry on their way. But if you are outside during that time, without shelter, you’d be finished. I’ve seen a grown elephant devoured by those things in five minutes. No, you will stay here. At first light, you can go.”

Thor and the others exchanged a look of wonder, and he marveled at how different this place was. As he thought about it, he realized he was exhausted, and while his mind was in a rush to go, his body was not. His friends looked exhausted, too, and he did not blame them. Thor realized that being a good leader sometimes meant inspiring your people to go on—but sometimes it also meant allowing them to rest. And if this old man was not exaggerating—and Thor suspected he was not—then he was grateful to have found this shelter, and for the man’s hospitality. He didn’t want to contemplate what might have happened if they had been outside during that time.

“Then we are most grateful for your warning, and for your hospitality,” Thor said. “Thank you for having us.”

The old man shrugged.

“It’s nice to have company once in a while. Especially from the Ring. I spent the better part of my youth there. Lovely place.”

Thor’s eyes opened wide in surprise; this man had been to the Ring?

“And then what are you doing here?” O’Connor asked.

The man looked down, waited several seconds, and lapsed into silence.

“I’m sorry,” O’Connor said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

The old man remained silent for a while more, then finally, took a deep breath.

“I was young, a tragedy struck in my life. I thought the best thing to do was to start clean. I thought I’d head out west, beyond the Canyon, sail across the Tartuvian for the Empire, head into the wilds. I suppose at the time a part of me had been hoping to get killed. My woes engulfed me, and it was the easy way out.

“But that did not turn out to be the case. Somehow, I survived. And then I grew fond of surviving. I have lived here alone, for all these years—until the arrival of my grandson. Now I have something to live for. And despite all the animals, I have grown to like it here. I have traveled across the entire Empire, have seen places and things you can hardly imagine. It is a vast, vast Empire, dwarfing the Ring in comparison. You have not lived until you’ve seen it all. Not just the Empire proper, and not just the islands. But also the Land of the Dragons. And the Land of the Druids.”

“The Land of the Druids?” Thor asked, sitting up, shaking off his sleepiness. “Have you been there?”

The man nodded.

“As close as you can come. It is a magical place. There are many magical places in the Empire. It has all been ruined by Andronicus, by his army, which is everywhere. His patrols are ever-present, which is why I had to come out here, deep in the jungle. Anyone caught by them is captured and taken either as a soldier or as a slave. His army of slaves is in fact bigger than his army of soldiers. He has to dominate everything, every last soul.”

The old man sighed.

“I have gotten quite good at hiding from his men. They have never caught me—and they never will. Or my grandson. I want it that way. That’s why I’m wary of new visitors, like yourself. I don’t want anyone to give me away.”

Thor and the others looked at each other, taken aback by the man’s story.

“Can you tell us what you know of the Sword?” Thor asked.

The man looked long at Thor, then finally looked away.

“I saw a dozen men the other day. Also from the Ring. They moved awkwardly through the jungle. They were accompanied by several warriors, a formidable force. They left a broad trail. Easy to follow. Although of course the jungle consumes itself every day, so unless a trail is fresh it will disappear. But I watched them. I know where they went.”

“And where was that?” Reece asked.

Thor thought he saw something like fear in the man’s eyes.

“They took the road to Slave City.”

“Slave City?” Elden echoed.

The old man nodded.

“About ten miles west of here. We’re at the edge of the jungle here. There’s only one road there. But I warn you: Slave City is aptly named. There are hundreds of thousands of them. All indentured servants, all serving Andronicus. And just as many guards. Venture there, and you won’t get out.”

“But why would they take the Sword there?” Conval asked.

“I didn’t say they were taking it there,” he said. “I said they were heading down that road. They could be going anywhere.”

“Then we shall follow them at first light,” Thor said.

The old man shook his head.

“To enter Slave City is to give yourself up for capture. Especially with such a small fighting force as your own. It’s suicide.”

“We have no choice,” Thor insisted. “We have come to find the Sword. And we must follow wherever it went.”

The old man lowered his head and shook it sadly.

“Will you show us the way?” Thor asked. “In the morning?”

“It’s your death,” the old man said. “I can show you how to get anywhere.”

Satisfied, Thor leaned back onto the furs—but as he stretched his arm, he suddenly felt it singed, and he yanked it back quickly, crying out in pain.

He turned and looked, expecting to see a fire, but he saw none. He wondered what happened, how he had gotten hurt.

“I told you to close those shutters boy!” the old man yelled.

The boy ran over to Thor and quickly closed the wooden shutters beside him. As Thor watched, he realized he had been sitting beside an open window. Thor was puzzled as he looked down at his arm, which had a slight burn mark on it.

“What singed my arm?” he asked.

“The moonlight,” the boy answered.

“Moonlight?” Thor asked, shocked.

“It’s strong in these parts. Never put yourself directly in its light. It burns you.”

“It’s only the first moon that burns you,” the old man added. “It wanes in a couple of hours, after the spiders leave. The second one is fine to walk under.”

Thor rubbed his arm, leaning back, and he wondered at this place. He felt a million miles away from home. A part of him felt as if he would never return.

“Fetch the meat,” the old man commanded, and the boy crossed the cottage and appeared with a heaping platter, overflowing with meats.

Thor and the others—especially Krohn—all perked up, opening their sleepy eyes and leaning forward. Thor dared not ask what sort of meat this was, hardly knowing the names of any of the animals out here anyway. But it smelled delicious, and as the boy brought it closer, Krohn smacked his lips and whined. The boy laughed and served Krohn first, ripping off a hunk and throwing it through the air; he laughed harder as Krohn snatched it. Krohn wagged his tail as he carried it off to a corner of the room and chewed.

Thor smiled as he and the others used the sticks to lift a piece from the platter. The boy and the old man did the same, and all of them settled back, eating contentedly by the fire. Thor took a bite and was surprised by how flavorful it was—and by how tough the meat was. He felt his energy returning as he chewed.

The boy then carried over a sack of wine and goblets, handing one out to each, and filling them. Thor drank, and the strong liquid went right to his head.

With his full belly, the strong wine and the warm fire relaxing him, Thor felt himself getting sleepy. But he shook it off. He was leader of this group, and he could not let himself go to sleep just yet. He wanted to make sure the others were asleep first.

As they all sat around, the room fell into a comfortable silence. Soon, the room was punctuated by the sounds of the old man snoring; the boy giggled. Krohn came back over to Thor, rested his head in his lap, and closed his eyes and slept, too.

Thor and his brothers remained awake, wide-eyed, each staring into the fire. They had each seen too much today, and all of them, despite their exhaustion, were on-edge. There was a somber, unspoken silence amongst them, as if they all knew they were on a journey that must lead to their deaths.

“You ever think about how different life was before we joined the Legion?” O’Connor asked.

“What’s the point of thinking that now?” Elden asked.

O’Connor shrugged.

“Sometimes I think about what I left behind,” O’Connor said. “Not that I regret it. I just wonder about it. How life would have turned out differently. Sometimes I miss my hometown. My family, you know? I guess I miss my sister most of all. She’s two years younger. Now, with the shield down and the Empire invading, I think of her, alone back there. I don’t know if I will see her again.”

“If we make it back in time,” Thor said, “we will rescue her.”

O’Connor brooded, looking unconvinced.

“I wanted to be a blacksmith,” Elden said. “My father, he drove me to the Legion. He had tried himself, as a boy, and he couldn’t get in. He wanted me to achieve what he could not. I’m glad that I did. My life would have been much smaller had I not. I wouldn’t have seen half the things I have.”

“We had brides waiting for us back in our hometown,” Conval said. “We were both engaged to be married. A double wedding. The Legion changed that. They said they would wait for us.”

“But we doubt they will,” Conven said.

Thor thought about it, and realized that he didn’t miss anyone or anything from his hometown. The Legion was his life, completely his life. And he could see in the eyes of the others that it was their life, too. They had become more than friends—they had become true brothers. They were all that each other had.

“I don’t speak to my family anymore,” Elden said.

“Nor do I,” said O’Connor.

“We are each other’s family now,” said Reece.

Thor realized it was true.

There came a sudden sound patter on the roof, like hail. It grew louder, and Thor and the others looked to the ceiling with alarm, sounding as if it would cave in. The old man and the boy woke and looked up, too.

“The rains,” the old man remarked.

The sound was terrifying, all-consuming; it sounded as if the sky were raining small rocks. Making matters worse, the sound was accompanied by a horrific, squealing noise of thousands of insects. It sounded as if the animals were chewing on the roof and trying to get in. Thor looked up and was grateful for the barrier protecting them from the outside, so grateful that this man had not let them stay the night in the jungle.

After what felt like hours, finally, the noise stopped, and the hissing faded. The boy jumped to his feet, crossed the cottage, opened the door and looked out.

“It’s safe now,” he said.

They all jumped up as one, hurried to the door and looked out.

In the distance, Thor could see thousands of huge black insects crawling away from them, heading into the jungle.

“The moonlight is safe now, too,” the boy said. “You see—it’s the second moon. You can tell by the purple light.”

Thor walked outside, breathing the cold, night air, the jungle filled with soft night noises, and he searched the blackness in wonder.

“It’s safe for now, but don’t stay out long,” said the boy.

Reece came out and joined Thor, as the boy hurried back inside and closed the cottage door behind them. The two of them stood out there, looking up into the sky, at the large purple moon, at the twinkling red stars. This place was even more fantastical than Thor had imagined.

“We might die tomorrow,” Reece said, looking up at the sky.

“I know,” Thor said. He had been thinking the same exact thing. The odds against them seemed impossible.

“If we do, I want you to know that you’re my brother,” Reece said to him. “My true brother.”

Reece looked at him meaningfully, and Thor reached out and clasped his forearm.

“As you are mine,” Thor said.