Jeremy Laszlo - The Choosing

Approaching the iron barred gate Seth could hear the clangs of steel on steel and the grunts of men’s exertions. Pulling Sara even quicker than before Seth led them straight up to the bars and peering between them, Seth gasped in surprise and reeled back from the sight. Sara, curious as to what Seth had witnessed too pressed her face between the bars. Seeing what lay beyond she too gasped and stepped back shaking her head in disbelief. Garret and Ashton were just approaching as they witnessed both Seth and Sara’s reaction to something beyond the curtain of iron. Both of them too looked beyond the bars into the clearing beyond. Both of them inhaled loudly and took a step back to look at one another.

“Did you see…?” Garret asked, unable to finish his question.

“Yup.” Ashton replied. “I have never seen it before, though my mother described it to me. I have to admit, I was not sure if she was just telling me tales to keep me quiet, but now I see for myself the stories were true.” Ashton stated.

“But what… err…who are they?” Garret managed to ask.

“Those are Valdadorian Knights, the blessed of Gorandor.” Ashton stated.

“But they can’t be human, so what are they?” This time it was Seth who asked.

“They are human Seth, well at least those two are.” Ashton stated shrugging his head in the direction of the iron bars. “Their size is part of the blessing bestowed upon them by their god. The first man to receive this blessing was the original King Valdadore, and if you remember the story teller’s story in Stone Haven, then you will recall that the First King was able to become four times the size of a man.” Ashton stated knowingly.

“So the crazy old bastard was telling the truth?” Garret asked amazed.

“So it would appear.” Ashton replied.

They each again approached the bars, and pressing their faces between them, watched the giant men within performing some sort of battle practice. After a few moments Garret pulled back from the bars, and the others noticing his absence then turned to relocate him.

“Those guys are about two and a half times as big as me I would guess. Their swords are about as wide as I am for crying out loud. Yet you’re telling me that they get even bigger than this? Where would they live?” Garret bombarded Ashton with questions.

“Well let me see if I can explain this well enough. Wait I have a comparison.” Ashton began, and with a deep breath continued. “Ok, you know how I pray, then I repeat words in another language, then I glow when I am healing?”

Ashton’s three companions nodded to his question their individual acknowledgements.

“Ok the knights do something similar.” Ashton continued his narration. “They are usually normal size like you and me, but they pray to their god, and he blesses them with incredible size and strength. My mother told me the largest of them still alive was the King himself, and He can become nearly four times a man’s normal size.” Ashton said taking another large breath as he finished.

“Do all Valdadorian Knights get the same blessing?” Garret asked, yet another question popping into his mind.

“No I don’t think so, but each of them is blessed by Gorandor, and each of them receives some sort of blessing to make them better on the battlefield.” Ashton again answered.

Garret seemed to think about the answers a moment as his face twisted in upon itself momentarily. Apparently coming to some conclusion, Garrets face once again smoothed out, and he pressed his head into the bars again for another look. His companions followed suit.

Two enormous men stood in the manicured field opposite the wall of the four companions. Both of the giants were armored from head to toe in gleaming polished steel armor. Each of the giants too held a massive sword the length of a man and a half, and a shield of equal length. They lunged back and forth landing blow upon blow on each other. Most blows glanced of their shields, but scratches and dents on the giants’ armor bore witness too many blows that had gone unchecked. With every step of the giant men the companions could feel the iron bars reverberate with the impact the ground was forced to endure. Garret was soon daydreaming about how hard it must be to forge a suit of armor so large, when he realized the bars pressing to his head no longer vibrated. Snapping his attention back to the field before him he witnessed one of the giants raising his hand to halt the other’s advancement. The men squared shoulders with one another, and touching their swords together at the tips, they bowed their heads to one another. Lowering their massive weapons, they exchanged words and each of them nodded as if agreeing on something. That was when things got interesting again. Garret and his three companions watched as each of the giants began to shimmer, and their bodies began to lose shape as they appeared to lose definition around their edges. The more the shimmering encompassed the men the more unstable they appeared, and with two large booms wind gusted heavily into the four companion’s faces forcing them to close their eyes momentarily. When the wind vanished as quickly as it had come they reopened their eyes to reveal two armored men of average height walking away from them, across the field beyond the gate. Each of the companions watched them go, each of them wishing they had been able to keep their eyes open to see the transformation.

The group continued to watch for many minutes in hope that more knights might appear, but no more forthcoming, they eventually stepped away from the gate and decided to continue on to their next location. Garret and Ashton led the way as before, following the eastern wall of the castle towards the north all of them talking excitedly.

Seth and Sara followed their companions through the street towards their next destination. Sara, clinging tightly to Seth’s hand slowed for a moment to put some space between them and their companions ahead of them. Seth, curious about Sara’s change of pace looked to see her expression, and again he found the teasing smile upon her lips.

“Oh no what now?” Seth asked jokingly.

“Well I was thinking it’s probably safer if you don’t receive that particular blessing.” Sara stated.

“Why is that?” Seth asked her in return. “It seemed pretty amazing to me.” He added.

“Yes it is amazing but look at it from my perspective. Let’s just say that in the near future we are joined, as we both hope we will be. Following that I am finally able to give myself to you, and who’s to say that one day I don’t bed you so well that you start saying things like “oh god oh god” and then Kaboom, I get split in two and die in our bed.” Sara stated trying in vain to look serious as she explained.

Seth started laughing so hard he snorted, and Sara unable to contain herself any longer giggled both at her explanation, and then at Seth’s snort. They were laughing so hard they had stopped walking, and realizing they had fallen some distance behind, rushed to catch up with their companions. Seth was so taken aback by Sara’s descriptive narration, that every time he thought of it or even looked at her he would start laughing again, and this would cause Sara too to start laughing anew. Several times they shared a look, followed by laughter, and received questioning looks from their companions in front of them. Each time they would wave it off explaining that they could not explain why they were laughing.

They walked to the northern most corner of the castle and turned back to the west, still following the castle’s wall. After making the turn to the west Garret and Ashton walked a few dozen more steps, and gradually slowing they came to a stop.

“Well here we are.” Garret stated.

“Where is here?” Seth asked his brother.