Possessing the Grimstone - By John Grover Page 0,26

Gonnish line up next to him. Last came his closest friend, Ono. Arc was nowhere to be seen.

Tolan put his hand on Pim’s shoulder. “I hear your people’s stride is faster than any warrior’s arrow.”

“It is true.”

“I am eager to see this talent I’ve heard only in stories.”

Pim dashed away from Tolan’s side and ran to the back of the village in seconds, his form a blur to Tolan’s eyes. In a matter of a moment, the young man had returned behind Tolan with a sword pressed to his throat.

Tolan laughed. “Very impressive.” He grabbed Pim’s arm and with a snap, flung him over his shoulder. Pim landed on his back, hitting the ground with a thud. “But you’re not a warrior, yet.” He extended his hand to Pim.

Tolan stepped to Pim’s mother, and looked her in the eyes. “I will watch over your son and train him well. He has fire in his heart. He will return to you.”

“I wish I could believe you.” She looked away, burying her face in her husband’s chest.

“We pray that Thet will hear us every night that Pim is gone,” Pim’s father said. “I only wish he’d guided my son onto a different path.”

“Your son will make you proud. I do not believe his entire path has been laid out before him, yet.”

Pim’s father nodded, fighting back tears. Rain fell gently onto his face.

Everyone looked up at the gray skies and watched the cold rain fall lightly.

“We are already proud of him…” Pim’s father whispered.

Tolan walked back to Geyess and the Wivering. The Warrior Guild had just nearly tripled its number. Pim looked at Ono and winked at him. Further behind him, Jun stood, face grim.

“My friends, I thank you. The King of Cardoon thanks you. We must go to Cardoon, meet with the King, and prepare. Are you ready?”

The Wivering nodded, and Tolan climbed back onto his steed. He looked at all the blond haired, fair-skinned Wivering, and furrowed his brow. “Have you no horses?”

“We need no horses,” one of the Wivering called. They turned from their village and ran, their fleet carrying them across the fields and over the distant hills in an instant.

Tolan looked at Geyess and smiled widely, shaking his head. “I think we have our work cut out for us, my friend.”

“Aye, by Thet’s staff, your words speak the truth. Let us catch up to them before they get lost.”

Tolan rode off, but behind him, he heard the sobs of the villagers and their leader, Bru, trying to comfort them.

###

Pim stood in the city’s barracks, wide-eyed. He stared at all manner of weapon and blade, glinting sharp in the weak sunlight. He donned some shiny new armor, and stepped out onto the training grounds.

Cardoon was such a wondrous city. He didn’t know where to look first: the royal palace with its rippling flags and gold-laced balconies and multiple doors, the mansions with carved pillars and posts, or the cobblestone roads filled with massive wagons pulled by six horses, or more.

Even the ordinary houses and hovels were grand compared to his village. The bazaar was total chaos with peddlers and merchants and their customers haggling for the best price. The water fountains overflowed with pure water. Taverns and inns, walls and stone gates were carved with Thet and his many miracles. Turrets and towers sprouted everywhere, but the tallest of them were the black spires to the north of the city, where generation after generation of mages lived and practiced their secret arts. Right now, red smoke billowed from one of the windows.

Pim imagined what might be going on up there. He might even be able to zip over there and back using his fleet before anyone noticed! Before the thought completed itself, Tolan appeared to address the Wiverings.

“My friends, I know you have trained back home in your guild. But this is no ordinary enemy, this is a force from lands we never knew existed. Time grows short, and the enemy makes its way up the Red Coast. They will attack Cardoon in less than three days.”

“Three days,” Ono whispered to Pim. “I can’t learn to be a swordsman in three days.”

“Sure you can,” Pim replied. “I learned in less time.”

“You’re not a swordsman.”

“No, but I can fight and wield a sword during my fleet. That makes me something.”

Tolan raised his voice. “Has anyone here seen battle?”

Pim looked around: not one Wivering raised their hand. He knew it would be the case, of course, but to actually see