Syrasza

Lynden hit the ground but recovered quickly, kicking his heels into the dirt to allow him to launch off, aiding his recovery.

The trainer could not retreat, he could not move enough to empower his swings or defend properly.

Lynden would get right up on him, but out of shield bashing range. He would flip the sheath in his hand so it was aimed upwards like a sword.

He would parry the man's sword with his own, and using his sheath, he would stab the man's throat. It wasn't a deathblow on account of he used his sheath. But it should be enough for the man to involuntary let down his guard for a second, which Lynden would use to stab into his torso.

After he was finished, he slammed the dull blade in his sheath triumphantly.
 
The trainer had pretty much already admitted defeat by the time Lynden's sheath jabbed his throat. After being stabbed in the torso, the man fell to his knees and victory belonged to the Squires. No one had noticed in the heat of combat the all the "dead" trainers and squires had formed a circle around the trio to watch them fight the three swordsmen. The squires all cheered when Lynden sheathed his blade and the trainers clapped with crooked grins and cocked smiles strewn across their faces.

"An excellent Victory!" Albert exclaimed, thrusting his sword high into the air.

"You had me a bit worried for a moment, Albert..." Cecil said as he rubbed the back of his head. He looked over to Lynden. "Couldn't have done it without you. The other squires wanted to jump ahead and leave you out, but I told'em real quick that we'd need you! I told them how..." A sheathed sword smacked Cecil in the back of the head.

"You bloody liar! You wanted to jump ahead with them!"
Albert thumbed his nose. "Only I stated that we should wait for you." He smiled big and patted Lynden on the back.

Everyone around clapped and cheered for at least ten seconds, but in the glory of it all, it felt like hours. A good vibe surrounded the barracks now, and any doubt of failing trials seemed to be abolished at the moment. This was a huge moral boost for the whole unit...except for the few squires that arrived later that day...they felt the full blown wrath of this elite crew. After the day was finished and all the recruits arrived, a meal was served before sleeping hours. Albert made it a point to sit with Cecil, Lynden, and Steven.

"So, how was it?"
​ Albert asked with a smug smile on his face.
 
Lynden beamed. They had won. He didn't want to dream it possible, but they had done the seemingly impossible. He looked to his comrades, then to his teachers. He raised his fist in the air. He was living in the moment.

Cecil and Albert talked, and Lynden turned to them.


"Couldn't have done it without you. The other squires wanted to jump ahead and leave you out, but I told'em real quick that we'd need you! I told them how..."
"You bloody liar! You wanted to jump ahead with them! Only I stated that we should wait for you."
Lynden laughed instead of being offended. There would be no way he could have done it without them either.

"Yeah well, just remember that when you're getting knighted!"
Lynden said, pointing his finger to Cecil with a smile.

The rest of the day was a blur of smiling and movement. The barracks were loud, and Lynden was loud with them. Today he felt like a king.
With his meal, he sat with Cecil and Steven, and Albert joined them.

"How was what?" Lynden said, mouth full of food. It really was a bad habit.
 
​Albert grimaced when Lynden spoke. "For the sake of the Gods, man, swallow your food!" He said with a playful shove. Albert was a well mannered lad, as taught by his family. He always ragged on Lynden about his table manners, but some things never change.

Getting back to Lynden's question about his own question, Albert elaborated. "Oh come now, don't act so clueless! We all know what happened at your brothers ceremony! My parents came home talking about it! You lucky dog! How was it dancing with the Queen!?" Albert spoke excitedly and leaned closer to Lynden hoping for an answer. Cecil and Steven leaned in close too, nodding excitedly and looking upon Lynden with eager eyes.
 
Anzo didn't trust pirates. But this one seemed genuinely scared for his life and the "sink" comment made sense with what he had seen so far. The Powder kegs had come out of the sink, so maybe there was a portal that went the other way too? Gently running the back of his hand down the half-ling's face Anzo asked entirely too calmly for someone holding a blade to your knee "Now tell me all nice and calm like. What happens when you jump in the sink? Is the captain and crew alive? How many of your buddies are on the other side? Make sure you tell the truth, cuz I'll make sure that if i die you will never wake up again."Anzo gritted his teeth. What had he gotten himself into.
 
"OH!" Lynden explaimed, swallowing his food as fast as he could. "Guys, if I was a bard, I would have written ahundred melodies of the night. She was so graceful. Much more beautiful in person. And Gods did she smell great. Like honey and the sweetest flowers! She was so humble too. So nice. So sad as well." He said, then looked to the floor.

"She only wants a friend, but I've been told her advisors want me no where near her. They even wanted to prevent my knighting. I'm not sure what to do."
 
The halfling nodded nervously while Anzo spoke. "Of course of course. If ya jump in, ye end up on yer ship...this...ah...this ship is a replica...it's um...a very detailed piece of bait! We wanted to kill the commodore, blow him sky high. with those kegs...and as far as I know, yer mates are alive, but I don't know for sure, I didn't kill'em. I swear! An the cap'n has a crew of two hundred, more if you count the other ships in his fleet! Yer mates are stuffed below deck, probably fifty or so men manning yer ship. Please, you gotta believe me! I don't wanna die!" The halfling was trembling, scared for his life.
 
The young squires sat wide eyed as Lynden spoke. Cecil's jaw even hung slack as he imagined the Queen close to him, smelling as wonderful as Lynden described. She sounded truly enchanting in person beyond how she seemed from afar. Everything sounded wonderful, and the friends were about to start jeering Lynden until he mentioned the Queen's sadness.

"Sadness? Just want's a friend?"

"Prevent you from knighting!?"

"Why is this...that's not right!"

Lynden's friends spoke almost all at the same time. They were obviously upset for their brother. It is true that the advisers had said they might even prevent Lynden's knighting...going to such lengths after one meeting...what could that mean?

"I wont stand for it! I say you give those advisers a left boot and tell'em to shove it up their arses! If you want me to bring my left boot, I'll gladly join you and second your message to them!"
Albert felt like this was a great injustice. It irked him that the corruption of others was encroaching on the Queen's purity and preventing her from having friends!

"Yeah! Everyone needs friends! I mean, I don't know where I would be without you guys!"
Cecil slammed his fist on the table.

"Cecil, you'd be dead. We saved you when you were starving in your first survival test...remember? You got lost not even a third of a league away from the barracks?" Steven jeered his buddy with a shove.

"Aw shut it about that, okay!"
Cecil put his head down in shame.

Steven looked at Lynden.
"You should take her with you to some far away land. Ride off in the night and never return until you are wed, then come back and reclaim your rightful position and King Lynd of Lumina! That would be romantic!" Steven laughed at his own sarcasm as Albert rolled his eyes.

"What are you going to do, Lynd? Surely you want to see the Queen again. She needs a friend, and she seemed to fancy you."
Albert placed his hand on Lynden's shoulder, attempting to comfort him.
 
Lynden smiled as his friends talked, it was humbling that he had such great and supportive friends. Then Albert asked him what he should do. He clenched his silverware tightly.

"I don't know..." Lynden said quitely, and as truthfully as he could. He paused a moment before continuing. "She is to sit with my family after the knighting. I'll speak to her at the ceremony. Her advisors can't say anything if shes attending a party for all of our sakes. I'll explain everything to her, and see what she thinks..."

He played with his food a bit before.
"I could take her and run, but then one of her advisors would take the reigns over the country, and she would loose all face value for leaving her country, and I would lose all respect for myself for abondoning my country. Besides, the outside countries are dangerous, and we are but two humans in strange lands. I don't know if I could protect us both." He looked over towards his other brothers in the barracks.

"But I can't leave her alone as she is. She's done nothing wrong other than wanting company." He dropped his fork and rubbed his chin. "Maxim thinks to court her. Though it pains me... There's always the option of letting her marry my brother, and hoping he could fill that void in her heart, but I would leave these lands myself, and think to never return."

He placed his hand on Alberts without looking at him, and with a sullen voice, he finished.
"I just don't know."
 
Albert hung his head low and shook it, disappointed."I can't believe you, Lynd...and you want to be a knight? How could you say you don't know if you could protect her out there!? Have more pride! You're the best damn squire here, and if anyone could do it, it's you!" Albert's voice had risen and caused a few people to glance over. He sighed and lowered his voice again.

"Bah, that aside! You are not one to give up on anything! I know you better than that and you know as soon as you gave up on something, especially this, I'd be the first one there to kick your arse!"
Cecil and Steven nodded in agreement with Albert.

"And I know you don't want to see your brother take your girl from you." He said "your girl." Lynden's girl...Glarriva... "You can't give up. My father tells me often that if I want something enough, it is obtainable." Albert sat back in his seat and rested his hands behind his head.

"You think about her all the time, don't you? I know I would...You will live a long miserable life if you let her get away." Cecil spoke rather bluntly, but it was for the best for his friend.

"Even if you just remain friends, you can't let the council intimidate you and get under your skin. You have to remember that they do subjugate themselves to the Queen. In all honesty, as long as she wills it, her word is law." Steven's words were true, the Queen held the most power in the kingdom. Her words could accomplish many things, pass laws, or punish the guilty. The Queen held the key to the kingdom, which is why everyone wanted her hand.

It was exactly like Lynden had stated in his letter, should he stand by and do nothing, the dogs would feast, and the Queen didn't deserve that in the least.
 
"Wish me luck." Before the half-ling could respond Anzo put him back under. Standing, Anzo rubbed his temples. "Come on Anzo only fifty men, not to mention that you don't know for sure who is alive,and if they are even in any condition to run let alone fight." He couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of what he was considering. He still had options right? I mean he could always just leave the ship and hope help came. The idea left a bad taste in is mouth. "Well if I'm going to face a small army I might as well start preparing for it." Anzo sat and meditated, ignoring the bodies around him. While he didn't sleep it did help him focus and relax. The throbbing in his temples stopped. He stood and opened his eyes."lets get started before I realize how insane I am" leaving no time for second guesses Anzo wrapped himself in weaves of invisibility and stepped into the sink.
 
Upon stepping in the sink, Anzo would feel a tab strange, especially if he wasn't used to teleportaion. His body would tingle as every atom in his body moved and materialized in another position literally leagues away. On the other side of the sink, Anzo could look around and notice that he seemed to be in the galley of the Sea Drake, but there were a few more powder kegs around him. He could hear feet walking about above him on the deck and muffled moans and groans coming just from the other room. In the next room, all the way back to the bunk room as well, was the crew of the Sea Drake and Captain Wroth all bound and gagged, being watched over by a few humans.
 
It didn't look good, but it was better odds than he'd expected. Anzo knew instinctively what to do. He would sneak past the Pirates to the exit. Once there he would fill the room with a zone of silence. He might be able to take a couple guards at once but not fifty. No one could make a sound. Anzo, needing to act would run at the Pirate closet to him and stab him in the neck. Not stopping to watch he would keep moving to the next man. A displacement illusion of Anzo would pop up to the two feet to the right of him. This one would be easier to maintain than his previous one because it's movements exactly mirrored Anzo's. He would need to move fast, and most of all not let any one leave.
 
Anzo moved quickly. He blanketed the room in silence and before every one noticed that they weren't making any sounds, Anzo had already killed one guard. There were two more in this room. Captain Wroth noticed Anzo and a smile of pure joy spread across his face, then the pirate body hit the floor...blood spilling all over...Wroth's face changed from relief and happiness to anger and hatred. If Anzo looked at the captain he would notice that Wroth was yelling at him, it even looked like he could make out a couple words that the silenced man was trying to scream. "...blood on my deck!" Despite Wroth's anger at the elf, he was still glad to see him. The rest of the crew were all cheering and yelling, at least that's how it looked.

Anzo moved from one guard to another, taking both of them out as they tried yelling for help. It wasn't a difficult task under the veil of silence, one of the guards even attacked the illusion. Once Anzo had cleared the room, all was quiet below deck, which wasn't normal. The chances of someone upstairs noticing the silence below deck were slim, however.
 
The hope and pride in the eyes of his friends was almost more than he could handle. I'll be damned before I let them see me break down now. Catching the eye of the Capt Wroth was almost enough to make Anzo fall down laughing, he had never seen so many conflicting emotion on one persons face. Without delay he set about cutting the crew's bonds working his way over to the Wroth as quickly as possible. Anzo grinned when the capt tried to say something and then frowned when there was no sound. Anzo signaled for every one to be quiet, releasing the silence spell with all the cheering would end badly. Taking the extra effort to release to spell gradually over a few seconds should get any rowdy crew members to hold their tongues. "Biding your time so your can come out of nowhere and save the day I see" Anzo would whispered with a wink. He motioned for one of the crew to bring Wroth the pirate's cutlass." I believe you have a ship to reclaim. We need to be quick to foil the pirate's plan to kill the commodore."
 
​Captain Wroth nodded in agreement. He was beyond ecstatic to see his resident mage coming to rescue them. A scowl of disapproval shot across his face when he spoke to his rescuer, however. "You know that you're going to be cleaning all this blood up when we're done. I can't have a bloody deck!" The captain spoke in an angry whisper, pointing his finger at Anzo. He rubbed his chin and raised an eyebrow at the lack of Eiso. ​"And might I ask where your faithful companion is? It's not like you to leave her behind."
 
"Yes, yes, we've all heard about how special your father thinks you are, Albert." Lynd said after his friends talked. This was just a joke so he had time to formulate his thoughts.

"If the story of Prince Churral is anything to learn by, then we know advisers are not above hiring assassins to get what they want. My worst fear is the advisers cloak and dagger the situation and Head Chair takes the throne. Though Glarriva is the most important thing to me, seeing Lumina go to the advisers hands is also something I want to avoid..." Lynden leaned back, resting his body weight on his palms behind him.

"So that's were I am about now. I'm figuring out if my sense of honor is more important than my personal feelings. And besides, she asked for a friend, and didn't incline any more. Maybe I'm reading to much into it... But... I want to make her happy."


He sighed, grabbed his plate, and stood, preparing to do away with the plate.
"I guess we'll see."
 
Lynden's friends nodded an listened to Lynden. They didn't want to think about their country stooping so low as to assassinate the Queen, but it was possible. They couldn't tell Lynden what to do, or how he should feel.

"That's all up to you, friend. I, for one, know that I won't judge you no matter the decision you make."

"Aye, me neither!"

"Of course we won't, we're your friends, and friends just want other friends to be happy."

Lynden sighed and prepared to leave, everyone else was heading to their bunks at this point now too. "I guess we'll see" were his final words to his friends that night. They simply nodded and smiled as they picked their plates up, ready for sleep as well.

The month of training seemed to fly by quicker than usual, and before long it was time for the final test. If you hadn't been expelled already, this was it. You survive the test, you're worthy to be a knight. Up until this point there have been very few solo tests, all have relied on teamwork, as most missions for the Kingdom are not solo missions. But this final test was meant to be solo, and if you were found helping another squire, you would fail. The sole purpose of this test was to test your survival abilities.

Sometime in the night, one of the court wizards came by and cast a sleeping sleep upon all the squires, reassuring that they would not wake up. Each squire is flown to the far edge of a designated zone, about twenty leagues in diameter, meaning the squire was probably about ten leagues away from the camp. They would have to brave the wilderness with no supplies other than one full waterskin and one trail ration. If they were out for more than one whole day, which most were, then they would have to find food and shelter of their own. They had to return to their barracks before five day's time. The fastest time in recorded history was ten hours. A squire named Peter LeShaw was known for his long distance running abilities and used them very well in this test. It just so happened that he never encountered any goblins or wild beasts.

It would be about ten A.M. when Lynden awoke, and he would know immediately that this was the survival test. He was wrapped up in a sheet laying on the ground in the middle of a lush green field. Across the field there were some wild turkey squawking about and a few deer fawns not too far away from the turkey. The field was mostly flat, followed by more field behind Lynden and forest in front of Lynden. Given Lynden's knowledge of the land, he would know that the barracks was nestled away in the woods. He also knew that
this time of year, at night, the constellation of Baulga hung over Dagger's Peak, which sits not too far to the south of the city. He also knew simple things like the sun rising from the north and setting in the south, the moon rising from the east and setting in the west, and if he were close enough to hear the city's mid day chimes then he knew he only had a couple leagues to go before reaching the barracks. Two leagues west of the city, that's where the barracks were located.

The sounds of nature danced all around Lynden, telling a merry story of this beautiful morning. Fortunately, the weather looked clear and Lynden seemed to be in a safe place. There weren't many options at this point, but Lynden was a skilled survivor, he would surly think of something.
 
There were a few tells for when one is put under sleep magic. Lynden had been under it enough to tell. For one, it's as if your dreams are suddenly plunged underwater, and all sounds fall upon deafened ears, and everything moves slower.

So as Lynden was being transported, he was able to tell he was under sleep magic, though he couldn't do anything about it.

He awoke in a sheet in the middle of no where. He was groggy as he pulled himself out it it. The area around him wasn't familiar. He wasn't sure of his location relative to the barracks, but he would, it just wouldn't be today.

So Lynden kept the ration and waterskin, and sheet. He then covered himself in dirt and grass, knowing he smelled too much like humans to hunt.

The plan was to stay in the field overnight, so he could track the constellations and map out where the barracks were. He was confident he could make it back easily within the next day, perhaps two.

He made a shelter using the sheet and sturdy tree branches from nearby. He never let the turkey out of his eyesight, for when he had made camp, he spent most of the day stalking the turkey before tackling it and breaking its neck. He took it back to camp and then started stripping it of it's feathers. Using two rocks he sharpened one to a point, then gutted the turkey, and let it's blood drain by hanging it up. As evening fell, Lynden made fire with dry leaves, sticks, and rocks.

And then, Lynden spent the night cooking the turkey, keeping the fire let, and making weapons. Once the stars were apparent, he checked, double checked, and then triple checked the direction of the barracks relative to his location. He knew the constellations of the barracks by heart, having looked at the sky so much there. He was confident he could make it.

Before he went to bed, Lynden fashioned a sharpened rock to a branch, using a ripped part of the sheet to cheek it fastened. He took a swig of his water, just a swig, and let the fire die down. He only ate part of the turkey, and kept the rest inside the shelter. He was worried he would attract more dangerous beasts with the smell, so he slept lightly.

 
The night went by quickly for the Squire. He was undisturbed in his sleep and he still had his turkey ready to eat for breakfast. With enough tools and makeshift weapons to start heading through the woods back towards the barracks, this young man was ready to depart.

Between his position and the barracks laid untraveled territory for Lynden. He didn't quite know what to expect out there. It could just be a bunch of woods, or there might be a troll's shelter laden with the dead carcasses of wild animals. Only the Gods knew what Lynden would encounter.

Once Lynden set out towards the barracks, travel was simple. Lynden had ventured through woods plenty of times before, so navigating through the dense forest felt familiar. The biggest thing would be making sure he didn't get turned around and lose track of his position. Things started looking the same after a few hours of uneventful walking. Lynden was indeed heading in the correct direction, so his gut would tell him, but the mind can easily play tricks on a traveler.

Before Lynden could stop and question himself, however, he would see a plume of smoke rising from the distance, in the direction he was traveling. This could mean a number of things, and Lynden had the option to bypass it or march on to see what actually lied ahead.