Wayne Batson - The Final Storm

Kaliam then turned and Kindle came forward bearing a tray upon which lay two gleaming swords. One was short, thin, and beautifully curved. The other was a broadsword with a wide blade and a dragonwing crossguard.

Kaliam picked up the short sword and said, “Trenna, Robby, kneel before me.”

The large room became entirely quiet. Kaliam glanced at Lady Merewen. She smiled.

“Trenna Swiftfoot,” Kaliam began. “Steadfast huntress of Yewland, you are not called tonight to abandon all loyalties to your home-land. Nay, serve your queen faithfully. But by your declaration, you have already become a full servant of Alleble by making a confession of allegiance in the presence of Lady Antoinette. So this night, we make public that which you have already declared in private.

“Do you, Trenna, confess allegiance and absolute loyalty to the one true King, the provider of all that is just and good? Even were the hordes of darkness to assail you in hopeless demand of your life-even then do you swear devotion forever to the King? Trenna, say ‘aye’ only if this is the sincerest wish of your heart.”

Trenna looked up, her eyes glinted blue, and she said, “Aye!”

“Huzzah!!” Mallik bellowed. Kaliam glared at his hammer-wielding friend as if to say, “We are not finished yet!”

Kaliam took the sword and lightly tapped it on each of Trenna’s shoulders. “Then by the heartfelt confession of your lips, I dub thee Lady Trenna, swordmaiden and defender of Alleble!”

The room erupted in cheers-and huzzahs! And, crying tears of joy, Trenna accepted her sword from Kaliam’s hands. Kaliam then turned to Robby. At first, Robby avoided the Sentinel’s gaze.

Trenna decided so easily! he thought. The whole time Kaliam had been speaking with Trenna, Robby had been silently debating. The strange encounter with the old Glimpse in the mountains kept replaying itself over and over in his mind. “The choice is whether you will fulfill that mission or return to your world in the hope of bringing your family to the point of turning. Some good will come of either deci-sion, but you must choose tonight.”

Kaliam took the second blade from Kindle and turned to Robby. “Robby,” he said, “you responded to King Eliam’s invitation and entered The Door Within. You traveled the narrow path and have come now to make the good confession. This sword…” Kaliam held the blade aloft for all to see. “This sword was crafted long ago for a doughty knight who fought for Alleble in the Cold River Battles. It is a fearsome, heavy blade, emblazoned with the image of a dragon. And you have come to Alleble with the ferocity and the passion of such a beast.

“And already, in just a short time, you have struck a blow against the enemy that he will find hard to endure.”

Mallik came within an inch of shouting out another HUZZAH, but Nock elbowed him in the ribs.

“And you have shown yourself courageous in battle,” Kaliam continued. “Your skills warrant knighthood, so I now require of you. .. the good confession.”

Robby shifted uncomfortably on his knees. He wanted desper-ately to become a knight and serve King Eliam, but he felt another kind of desperation as well… and he wasn’t sure which would win out.

“Do you, Robby, confess allegiance and absolute loyalty to the one true King, the provider of all that is just and good? Even were the hordes of darkness to assail you in hopeless demand of your life-even then do you swear devotion forever to the King?”

In that moment Robby’s field of vision clouded. And he saw his mother, smiling and happy as she often was when they lived in Florida. She was flattening dough with a rolling pin and looking up expectantly. Then he saw his sister Jill, but she was younger… wearing pigtails like she used to before makeup and high school. She was just grinning like she knew the world’s greatest secret. Finally, Robby saw his father. They were at the marina in Panama City. He was wearing that Hawaiian shirt Robby had given him for his birthday. He was showing Robby how to cast the fishing rod. Robby couldn’t help but think how contented they both looked-father and son. But then the vision changed horribly. The faces, except his, were all still there. But they were grief-stricken, anguished, and fearful. There seemed to be dark water all around them-are they drowning? But wait! No, it was not water. It was oil… dark oil, and his mother, father, and sister were in the fountain. Suddenly, fire ringed the fountain and engulfed them!

“Noooo!” Robby screamed. The crowd gathered in the Great Hall gasped.

“Robby?” Kaliam said. “Robby, what is wrong?”

Robby put his head in his hands. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know,” he cried.

“I do.” And suddenly Lady Merewen was there. She went to Robby and put her hand on his wet cheek. “You are torn,” she whispered.

“I just can’t let them die!” he said, looking up at her with des-perate eyes.

“Who, Robby?” Lady Merewen asked.

“Mom, Dad… Jill-they’ll die if I don’t go back!” Robby closed his eyes and began to shake.

“Robby, look at me!” she said, and she lifted his chin. And slowly, Robby looked up at her. “Now,” she said, “who told you they would all die?”

“He did.”

Lady Merewen tilted her head and restrained the anger she was feeling. “Paragor is a liar, Robby!” she said forcefully. “For the longest time, he ruled you by his lies, and now that he has lost you, he wants only one thing: to render you powerless.”

“But my family… if I don’t go back, who will tell them?”

Lady Merewen smiled and put her hand on Robby’s shoulder. “King Eliam the Everlasting has many servants,” she said. And sud-denly, Robby felt another hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and there was Trenna, grinning like a schoolgirl. Yet another hand, a big one, landed on Robby’s other shoulder. Robby smiled, for there was Mallik. Nock came next, then Kindle, and another… and another. And still many more after that until Robby was surrounded by Glimpses. Their hands chased away the chill, and Robby pictured the eyes of the old Glimpse from the mountain.

“The only thing you must decide is whether you will continue to trust.”

“Robby, I offer to you now the good confession,” Kaliam said. “Think deeply on this, for you are free to choose. Only answer ‘aye’ if it is the deepest longing of your heart.”

Robby looked up at the glad loving eyes of his new friends, but no, they were somehow more than friends. They were family. I will trust you, Robby said in his mind. But out loud he yelled at the top of his lungs, “Aye!”

“Then by the heartfelt confession of your lips,” Kaliam announced, tapping the sword blade lightly on his shoulders, “I dub thee Sir Robby, Twelfth Knight of Alleble and servant forever of King Eliam the Everlasting!”

The roar that escaped the Great Hall in that moment could be heard even by those who passed by the castle on the road. The cel-ebration ensued, but for Kaliam, Robby, and many of the warriors gathered there, they could not enjoy much of it, for they had impor-tant matters to discuss.

“Can they do it?” Kaliam asked. He stood beside a roaring fire in Guard’s Keep.

“My people are masters of mountain and stone,” Mallik replied proudly. “If there are any fissures in the tough white rock of Pennath Ador, we will exploit them. Still, it will take an army, and we need to begin now, before my kinsmen arrive.”

“What must we do?” asked Farix, and he pulled a rolled parch-ment and a quill pen from his wide sleeves.

“First, we will need more cutting and wedge tools,” Mallik explained, the lust for his craft thick in his voice. “King Brower will bring those that were not destroyed in the attack on Ludgeon. It is a goodly amount, but not enough. These will need to be made with haste and precision-not an easy feat to combine. And they can be made only from the purest veins of murynstil.”