Knights The Eye of Divinity

chapter 8: The Passage of Days



The training was rigorous. The Squires were awakened at the first light of dawn by Garrin Daggerblood and sent to the Great Hall in Furlus' tower, where they were allowed a quick breakfast with the other Squires. Cartlan then led them out to where the pavilion stood, but their lessons took place under open sky. For the first three hours they did nothing but work on physical strength--lifting heavy weights and wielding weapons some of them could barely even lift, such as hammers, axes, and broadswords.

Furlus Goblincrusher was on hand to give advice on technique, but Cartlan oversaw the actual exercises. Cartlan was in a serious mood (perhaps because Furlus was present), lacking his usual smirk and malicious attitude. Some of the Squires, like Vorden, excelled at this training, while others, like Lannon and Timlin, did poorly and grew sore and weary much sooner than the rest.

After that, for the next three hours they were taught battle skills like swordplay, shield use, and bow practice. Timlin mastered the bow more quickly than all the others, with Vorden and Lannon faring among the best as well. Vorden struggled fiercely to beat Timlin out, but Timlin effortlessly maintained an edge over him with the bow. Timlin grew ever more enthusiastic and delighted, while Vorden kept muttering, shaking his head, and cursing himself.

During the training, the Squires began to falter. They had been provided with light chain mail, but it seemed to grow very heavy as the hours wore on and it chafed their flesh. It was a hot day, and sweat poured off of them, burning their eyes. Lannon often found himself wondering how much more his body could take, yet surprisingly Timlin, in spite of his struggles with any task involving physical strength, never lost his eagerness and never once voiced a word of complaint. Lannon drew strength from Timlin's spirit.

Finally, following Cartlan's instructions, the Squires gathered in the pavilion's seats, wondering what was next and hoping it was nothing physically demanding. They sat with grim, weary faces--some rubbing strained muscles and other sore spots. Taris Warhawk stood on the pavilion floor, a relaxed, shadowy form who seemed incapable of feeling their doubts and physical pains.

"Greetings, Squires," Taris began. "I know you have been pushed very hard this day. Even though it is not even lunchtime yet, many of you already stand at the breaking point and wonder how you can possibly go on. You may also wonder how you could ever get up tomorrow morning and do this again. Yet tomorrow you will be allowed to rest for the entire day."

Like all the Squires, Lannon's body grew used to such strenuous activities over time. He found his second training session a little easier than the first. After the battle training, they were sent to the Temple for two hours of history and educational lessons. Lannon was surprised to find that some of the Squires didn't even know how to read or write, and some knew virtually nothing of Goblins and were horrified to discover what they were truly like. Lannon loved these two hours of schooling. It gave him a chance to sit and relax after his rigid training, and he learned many things about the history of Dremlock and the surrounding lands.

After the educational lessons, the Squires retired to their quarters for rest and healing meditation, and they were given the following day off from training as well. This pattern of training, resting, and study lessons ran on for two months, and during that time, the Squires all got stronger and more skilled at weapons. But still they learned no sorcery and received no special training. They were provided with clothing and other basic necessities, but they were given no money--as only Knights and Orange Squires received payment for their services.

The three Blue Squires saw very little of Garrin Daggerblood during that span--only briefly on some days when he woke them in the early morning or when he ate dinner with them. Once Vorden asked him when their special training would occur, and Garrin simply told him to be patient.

Lannon got to know most of the other Squires by name, yet seldom did time or circumstance allow him to interact much with them (but he didn't try very hard, either). Vorden always seemed to find time to converse with his friends, sometimes bending the rules a bit in the process. When they weren't training, the Squires were usually in the library or resting in their quarters after the brutal training sessions.

They saw one girl quite often--Aldreya Silverhawk, the Birlote Squire who had done well in the trials. She seemed extremely snobbish, and never bothered to talk to the Blue Squires even if one of them greeted her. She seemed to regard herself as very important--and not without some justification, as she quickly became one of Taris Warhawk's favored Squires. He took her under his wing and trained her himself, and she had more freedom than the other Squires. She wandered the halls at her leisure, and was often found studying sorcery books in the Library. Lannon, Vorden, and Timlin admired her beauty, but they were turned off by her coldness and attitude of superiority. Vorden labeled her Aldreya Snootyhawk, and he seemed convinced that all Birlotes thought they were better than Noracks, secretly or otherwise.

Yet the three boys got to know each other quite well, and one night they held an unexpected conversation about their lives. They were sitting on two of the beds, with Vorden and Timlin facing Lannon. It was a warm night, a pleasant breeze blowing in through the open window, and they were in the mood for talking.

"What was it like living in Knights Welcome?" Vorden asked Lannon.

"Actually," said Lannon, "I lived just outside of town."

"But you went there a lot, didn't you?"

Lannon thought hard about what he should say. Finally he decided there was no harm in admitting the truth. "I lived in a little valley," he said. "In the woods. I rarely went into town, and I don't know much about cities."

"Were you a loner?" Vorden asked.

Lannon shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

"I was," Timlin said quietly. "I never had many friends. There were a lot of cruel people where I lived, in Kalamede."

"Did they bully you?" said Vorden.

"Sometimes," said Timlin. "But sometimes I got back at them."

Lannon and Vorden exchanged questioning glances.

"What do you mean?" Vorden said.

A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of Timlin's mouth. "Well, you know...I just did little things. Sneaky things. Once I put a poisonous snake in a kid's pack." Timlin snorted laughter. "It bit his hand and wouldn't let go! He was sick for a few days and nearly died."

An uncomfortable silence followed.

"I guess that was some serious payback," Vorden said at last, glancing at Lannon and raising his eyebrows. "Anyways, I had it pretty good in Gravendar. I used to get in trouble a lot for exploring the Tombs, going into places I didn't belong. I had three friends with me who'd do anything I wanted them to."

Vorden sighed. "It didn't matter what I did. I could do anything I pleased back then, because my parents weren't around to do anything about it. So what about your folks, Lannon? Are they still living?"

"What?" said Lannon, his mind still focused on what Timlin had said. "Yeah, they're fine." He thought of his parents, and wondered how they actually were doing, if his father had been healed. He wondered if they had found peace or were still at each other's throats all the time. He made a mental note to ask Taris.

"My parents hated me," Timlin said, his face expressionless. "So I lived with my aunt. They used to beat me for most any reason. I've got lash scars to prove it." Timlin pulled up his shirt and turned, revealing thin, faint lines on his bony back. The lad was so skinny he looked half-starved.

"They're worthless," Timlin whispered. "I hope they die."

Vorden frowned. "You shouldn't say that, Timlin. My folks are dead. They caught an illness, and I got sick from it too. My little sister died also."

Lannon stared in shock at Vorden, trying to imagine such a horrific thing. "What did you do, Vorden? How did you survive?"

Vorden shrugged. "I lived in the streets of Gravendar. I'm not proud to say this, but I stole sometimes to survive. I got good at it--picking pockets and such. But I always felt bad about it too, like something was wrong or missing in my life. Then, when Admittance Day came to Gravendar this last time, I decided to try my luck with the Knights. They picked me right away--before anyone else! From then on, I decided I would live an honorable life, like Kuran Darkender did."

"How did you get picked, Timlin?" said Lannon.

Timlin giggled. "It was kind of an accident. My aunt and me were visiting the market on Admittance Day, when I bumped into Taris Warhawk in the street. Before I could even apologize, he put his hand on my forehead. It felt really weird. Then he told me he would make me a Squire of Dremlock, if I desired it."

"What about you, Lannon?" said Vorden.

Lannon began telling his story, and once he got started, he couldn't seem to stop. He told everything (save for what Cordus had specifically asked him not to tell). He wanted badly to mention the Goblin incident in the North Road, but forced himself to keep silent concerning it.

"Is there more?" said Vorden, as if peering into Lannon's thoughts.

"Nothing more," said Lannon, looking away.

Vorden watched him for a moment, and Lannon could feel the lad's eyes boring into him. Then Vorden smiled. "Okay, then. If you say so."

***

At last, with two months gone by, the special training began. Their physical routine finished for the day, they were suddenly taken aside by Garrin Daggerblood. "Now is the time, Squires, for you to earn those Blue sashes you wear," he said sternly. "This training will be much different than what you're used to. As these lessons are not greatly physical in nature compared to the standard Knightly training, very little healing time will be required, and you should have no problem doing this after your usual routine. Your study lessons are now done with."

"Forever?" said Lannon, disappointed.

Garrin nodded. "However, we have a well-stocked library here in the East Tower. You're free to read any of the books within."

"Those study lessons were boring anyways," said Vorden.

"You shall learn the ways of stealth," Garrin told them. "You shall learn to pick locks, conceal yourself from an enemy, and climb up places you would never have dreamed of climbing before. And you shall speak of it to no one."

The special training took place mostly in the evening, and so the Blue Squires were allowed to sleep a bit later than the others. Garrin provided them with blue cloaks and soft boots, and taught them how to walk with silent footsteps on most any surface. He gave them lock picks and showed them how to open even the most complex locks. And he taught them how to climb ropes and rough surfaces.

The Squires came to love this phase of their training, and spent each day looking forward to it--for they were allowed at times to sneak around the kingdom (in carefully selected areas) and even to climb certain walls of Taris' keep.

Around the same time they began these extra lessons, Lannon was called upon by Garrin to unlock the Eye of Divinity.

"You need to learn to use your gift," Garrin told him. "I've waited this long to mention it because I felt you needed time to get used to your Knightly training routine. Summoning the Eye of Divinity will be difficult, and it will be easy for you to become discouraged. But if you work at it the same way you've done with your other lessons, you should be fine. Your friends can help you by giving encouragement and by keeping you focused.

"Each night, you must spend an hour before bedtime on the task of splitting your thoughts in two. You must learn to think of two different things at exactly the same time. This is not as simple as it sounds, for it takes more than just seeing the two things--they must be separated to different halves of your being. Only when you learn to do this will the Eye come forth. You will be allowed to leave your special training early to go practice this. This is a task you must do every night. When the Eye of Divinity is finally unlocked, you will know it without a doubt. And then you must inform me immediately."

Lannon didn't like the sound of this task from the start, and his frustration with it grew on a daily basis. For one hour (and sometimes longer) each night he would lay there struggling to think of two things--usually images such as colors--at exactly the same time. Yet nothing ever seemed to happen. And mixing the colors did not help. Black and white did indeed make grey in his mind, but that did nothing to bring forth the Eye of Divinity as far as he could tell. To do that, he realized, he would have to think of black and white simultaneously without blending them, in different parts of his being rather than just in his mind. But how was he supposed to do that? He felt that Garrin had been unfair to him by asking him to do something without really explaining how.

As the days passed by, the three Squires did little but train and rest, while summer and fall slipped away in a hurry, and the cold and rain crept into the mountain air. Then winter came, covering Dremlock in a blanket of white. One thing that continued to puzzle them was why they still had not been shown any sorcery. And try as they might, they could get no answer.

Lannon learned that his folks were doing well. His father had been cured of his illness, at least for the time being. A cheerful letter from them was brought to Lannon, and he wrote one back, though he knew it would not be promptly delivered, since letters from Knights and Squires were only carried to their destinations twice a year. Lannon was left feeling quite satisfied for a while.

The snow deepened, and massive shards of ice hung from the towers. Some of the Squires faltered and could not go on. These Squires had failed to properly learn the techniques or were too lazy or distracted to keep pace. Others violated the rules once too often and were banished from Dremlock. Vorden, who made time to mingle during and outside of training, usually kept Lannon and Timlin informed of what was going on around the Kingdom. New rumors spread daily among Squires and Knights alike. It was said that the Deep Shadow infested Dremlock, and that some Squires were possessed by it, like puppets controlled by unseen masters. Some claimed Corhen Whiteheart, a Green Knight of the High Council, had looked into these claims too deeply and been assassinated, while Trenton Shadowbane--the Investigator of Dremlock--did nothing. And indeed Corhen Whiteheart was not seen again.

It was also rumored that food and other supplies were running low, that trade had nearly ground to a halt, and that less than a third of Dremlock's Knights still lived, with the others having been killed by Goblins. There were even rumors that Goblins had taken over the entire forestlands of Hethos and were advancing on the city of Kalamede. Injured and half-crazed Knights returned to Dremlock weekly, and the Temple was busy honoring the recent dead. The Squires were never invited to these ceremonies, only learning of them through rumor.

Lannon grew a bit taller and more muscular, and could use his dragon sword with decent skill. Even though he was behind the others in his skills, he had begun to feel like a Divine Squire of Dremlock. Yet the rumors worried him, and made him wonder constantly what kind of future he had here--what the Eye of Divinity would be used for and if it was even needed anymore. Vorden and Timlin could sneak around without being heard or seen, open locks without the need of a key, and climb walls fearlessly to deadly heights. But they had the Knightly Essence, and Lannon did not. So without the Eye of Divinity he guessed he would probably never be a Knight.

Lannon’s task of summoning the Eye became almost an afterthought to his other training, and he usually gave just a halfhearted attempt at it before falling asleep. He began to resent missing some of his special training with Garrin, Vorden, and Timlin. No more had been mentioned about the Goblin Puzzle, and so it seemed something must have already been done about that.

Vorden and Timlin talked little about Lannon’s quest to unlock his special power, apparently having given up on the idea that Lannon would ever develop that particular skill. Like Lannon, they actually knew nothing about the Eye of Divinity beyond the reading of the Sacred Text.

At one point Garrin asked about his progress, and when Lannon had nothing positive to report, the Blue Knight was grim. "You must try harder, Lannon. There is no other way, to my knowledge. It has to be done for one hour a night--no more and no less. If too little time is spent on it, the mind cannot properly warm up to the task, and if too much time is taken, the mind grows numb and confused. There is nothing that Taris Warhawk, myself, or anyone else can do to help you except to give encouragement. Always, throughout history, the Eye of Divinity has been unlocked in this fashion. No one really knows why or how. Keep focusing on two different thoughts, and sooner or later the Eye shall come forth. It has no choice."

"But I read the Sacred Text," Lannon said. "So isn't the Eye already unlocked? Otherwise how could I do that?"

Garrin shook his head sadly. "I wish it were that simple. Being able to read the Text is just a sign that one possesses the Eye. But it does not mean one can summon it or control it. Or can you? You should know, Lannon."

"I can't," said Lannon, with a sigh.

Growing desperate for help, Lannon appealed to Vorden and Timlin. Yet they seemed to take little interest in the matter. Their minds had apparently become melded with their training. It seemed that, to them, little existed beyond their daily lessons and accomplishments. Timlin had nothing to say, and Vorden simply shrugged and told him to keep trying.

The time seemed to pass swiftly, and before they knew it, eight months had gone by and had taken them into the heart of winter.

Vorden kept his true feelings well hidden over those months, until finally--for reasons known only to him--they suddenly surged forth. And the rigid schedule of training and resting was shattered.