Canto 2
Canto 2
“A gladiator?” I said, contempt turning my tone sour, “And this is the ‘great man’ for whom I and my fathers are named? Disgrace!”
Thaelon’s eyes flashed up to meet mine and I was struck dumb by their look.
“You have not listened, fool! Nor is the tale yet fully told. Judge not what you do not understand.”
I lowered my head beneath his rebuke, but murmured, “Yet if he truly did feel sorrow at such . . . such terrible deeds, why had he chosen them in the first place?”
“He had not,” Thaelon replied, “The choice was taken from him.”
I looked up, “Do you mean he was a slave?”
Thaelon nodded slowly, his eyes once more becoming distant as the chant-like cadence returned to his voice, “From age so young he knew naught else, in slavery the boy was held.”
“But how? Why?” I asked.
And Thaelon resumed the tale:
‘Long years before the days of gore,
Beyond the thought of Emindor,
In realms of dimmest childhood lay
The memory of one dark day
When one dark man came to his home
With crafty mien. And all alone
Emindor, younger than a score,
Sat quietly beside the door,
Reading aloud a tale of yore
From a scroll spread across the floor.
His father had gone out to sell
His crop of wheat beyond the dell.
He promised Emindor that he
Would be back in less days than three.
Murky the clouds loomed overhead,
Quiet and slow the day had led
It’s winding way to even-light
And beyond that into the night.
For many hours, and unconcerned
Emindor read his scroll, and burned
With wonder at the tales of eld,
Before the Further Lands beheld
The print of man upon their snow,
Oh, all those heroes long ago!
Emindor’s eyes flashed as he read
And saw not stars glow overhead.
“My boy,” a man’s low voice was heard
Stealing through shadows. The boy stirred
And peering through the night, replied
“Who are you?” And although he tried
To see the hidden person’s face
The shadows showed him not a trace.
“Who and where are your parents, lad?”
The man asked. But Emindor had
Just one parent. His mother dead
Saw not her child as he read.
“My father’s down the dell to sell,
Our crop of wheat beyond the hill.”
Emindor said, “He has been gone
One day, and will be back in one.”
“I see,” the man said with a leer,
“You are the lad who’s father dear
Told me about him all so well.”
“You met my father in the dell?”
Emindor asked. If he had been.
A little older, he’d have seen
That though this man was smiles and grace
The face he wore was not his face.
“Of course. He is a mighty man!”
The man said, hatching up a plan
To steal this fair child for his own,
“I met your father in the town,
We talked of many manly things:
The price that wheat or barley brings;
And horses, young or old for hire;
I left him sleeping by the fire.”
“So he is well?” the boy replied.
“Yes, very well, although I tried
To make him come to you with me.
I made him an offer you see.”
“Offer of what?” Emindor said.
The man nodded his shadowed head,
and said, “An offer that I school
His son to use the warrior’s tool.”
“Warrior?!” Emindor gasped, and sprang
Up to his feet. The young voice rang
With thrill of wonder, “Me? To fight
The foes of darkness for the light?
When? What to do? Where do I start?”
He cried. The beating of his heart
Thundering like so many steeds
All battle-ready on their leads.
“Tonight,” the man replied, “We go
Afar to where the masters show
Young warriors how to wield the sword,
The lance, the bow, and fight the horde.”
“Tonight?” Emindor said. A frown
Dimmed his bright eyes and he sat down.
“What of Father?” said he, “Can I
Not bid farewell nor say goodbye?”
“Tonight or never,” he said low,
“Your father knows that you will go.
He sends his blessing and his pride.”
Softly, “All right,” the boy replied,
“I’ll go, and he will follow me.”
The man said reassuringly,
“Your father promised he will come
When you have learned, and take you home.”
So quick and quiet the boy packed
What little possessions he had.
He took the dark man’s grasping hand
And was led out into a land
He’d never seen, nor wished to know.
And that is how the boy did go
Away from home. Was lost into
A life of blood, where evil grew
And no one fighting for the right
Could ever make the darkness light.
All Emindor forgot, save one:
His father’s pledge to bring him home.’
2 people are talking about this
Awwwwwwww T-T this is so sad. I love his backstory so much though!! Is the dark man the Master? Does Emindor still believe his father sent him to this man, or did he realize with time? AHHHH
ReplyDeleteYep, the dark man and the Master turn out to be the same person. No, Emindor still believes what the Master has told him. This is because the life Emindor has been restricted to can be likened to drugs: the age at which a person start taking drugs is the age they return to when they stop. So, no, Emindor's mentality and emotional maturity are not that of a 10-yo. He IS a man, but his mind has been stunted so that suspecting the absolute truth of the Master does not occur to him . . . yet. ;)
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