Chapter III

We reached the palace grounds after a few moments time and as I exited the carriage, I took in the sights from my childhood. Since my father was and still is the King’s Personal Guard, I spent much of my time at the palace in my younger years. Even though he did not wield a Legendary Weapon, his skills with a Battle Axe could defeat any Wielder at any day.

As we entered the palace, the guards at the entrance greeted me with a bow, to my surprise.

“Master Nano, Thelo the Great. Welcome.” They both said in unison. I bowed back thinking that I needed to get used how people treat me since I was now a Wielder, no matter how unpleasant it made me feel.

“I guess I should be calling you Master as well,” my father teased as we continued on our way.

“Please, father,” I replied with a frown. “If you even begin to think that, I will renounce my title as Wielder before that word ever leaves your mouth.”

My father gave his hearty laugh as always. As we walked towards the throne room, I took a long glance at my father. They did not call him Thelo the Great for nothing. He was large and tall in stature alone, which can easily intimidate his opponents, but he had a heart of gold. I always wanted to be like him, however I am beginning to think I took after my mother since I am not as immense as he is. I yearned to have that proud walk that he always had, even if he was walking into certain death. I just hope that being a Wielder can help me to become like him, even a small bit.

We reached the throne room which seemed to have gotten much larger since the last time I have been in here. At the far end I noticed that the King and the Queen were seated at their thrones along with a third throne next to theirs. I kept my head low and stared at the ground one I caught sight of them. I noticed at the corner of my eye, my father bowed low so I did so along with him.

“Thelo, my good friend,” the King’s voice boomed. “No matter how many times you have been in this throne room or the many years we have known each other, you never cease to ignore the formalities.”

“Your Majesty,” my father greeted him, “it would not feel right if I did otherwise.”

“Of course,” the King said standing up. I quickly bowed lower. “You even defy my direct orders to not greet me in such a way. True to Steringald traditions, I see.” The King’s laugh echoed through the chamber. Off the corner of my eye, I saw my father stand back up and embraced the King as if they were long time friends.

“My King,” I heard the Queen’s elegant voice make itself heard, “You seem to have forgotten our other guest. I believe he is now speaking with the dust mites which are pretty close to his face at the moment.”

“Master Nano, Wielder of the Bastard Sword. Arise young one.” He ordered me. I stood up timidly still keeping my head low.

“Your Highness,” I greeted him back. I then started to hear a light set of footsteps echoing and wondered if they belonged to the Queen. I felt my hands shake with sheer uneasiness.

“How could you,” I heard a familiar voice say to me. I looked up and saw that it was Prince Alexis, standing right in front of me. If it were not for the anger in his face that I was so accustomed to seeing back when we were much younger and I always had to inform his Majesty that I needed to go home, I would not have recognized him. His black hair had gotten a little longer and he seemed to have gotten taller as well. However, this was different. Tears were welling up in his familiar looking eyes.

“Your Highness,” I said bowing my head low once more.

“How could you,” he repeated again, his voice breaking with emotion.

“Forgive me, your Highness,” I said instinctively, though no matter how hard I tried to recall what I have done to make his Majesty so upset, I could not remember.

“How could you leave me!” he screamed. At that moment I felt an incredibly strong but familiar force send my flying back a considerable distance. In midair I adjusted my body so that I was able to land on my feet and skid back from recoil. That is when I realized when I left three years ago, I did it too suddenly. When Kerin called for me, I did not get the chance to inform his Majesty of my departure.

“How could you not tell me!” he screamed again, walking towards me with his staff in hand. The King was about to intercede when my father stopped him. He swung his staff and I knew that it was only a matter of time until another considerable mental force was going to send me flying once again. I thought about pulling my sword out which was sheathed behind me to shield myself from the attack, but I wanted to be a Personal guard, like my father. A Personal Guard never wields his weapon against someone from the royal family. So instead, leapt to the left just in time and the force caused the castle wall to crumble and crack behind me.

“Just when I needed you most, you were nowhere to be found!” His Majesty said sternly, twirling his staff a bit before going into an attack stance. “Wield your Legendary Weapon, Nano, son of Thelo.” His Highness wanted to fight me. I had never seen this side of him before. He was always carefree and playful before. Did I cause this?

“I said wield your weapon!” His Majesty said once again, even louder.

“Forgive me, your Highness but I will not hold my weapon against you.” I said just as stern. Whatever was going to happen to me is punishment that I deserve for making his Majesty so upset.

“Are you defying a direct order, Nano, son of Thelo?” His Majesty asked me gripping his staff even harder.

“If you are there, Master Kerin,” I said under my breath, “Forgive me for doing this, but I mean no disrespect to you. I just want to prove my point.”

“Do what you must, Nano.” Kerin responded suddenly. That is when I felt that he was ready to defend me all along. He had never left me; he had just stayed silent this whole time.

In my response to his Majesty, I pulled my sword from its sheath and threw it to the side. The sword cracked the granite ground on impact and skidded a short distance.

His Majesty saw what I did and even more anger filled his face. His eyes had already begun to overflow with tears. He had wanted a fight, but I would not give it to him.

“So be it,” he growled. He then slowly folded his arms across his chest and started to gather mental energy in front of him, charging up quite an attack. I stood my ground, willing to take any punishment; even if it will injure me for good.

With an earth shattering yell, he flung his hands apart and fired an enormous mental blast. I saw the castle ground beneath the projectile crumble in its wake as it headed toward its target. Me. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact when I heard an enormous explosion, but no pain.

When I opened my eyes, there was a huge figure that towered over me and shielded me from the attack. It looked familiar, but I never thought I would see him in the flesh. It was Kerin, himself.

I had only always seen him in my thoughts. Whenever he would express extreme emotion, I would see glimpses of his expressions; and when he appeared to me when he was still locked within the crystal, it was merely somewhat of a spectral form. However this time, there was an actual twenty foot tall, blood red dragon inside the throne room. His tail encircled me and he had used one of his rather large wings to shield us both from the attack.

“Forgive me for intruding, Prince Alexis, Heir to the Throne of Steringald,” his voice echoed through the corridors. Even though his mouth stayed closed, words could still be heard.

“Allow me to introduce myself, your majesty,” he started, “I am Kerin, the Fire Spirit of the Bastard Sword you see on the ground before you. I interceded merely because if you had taken his life, mine will be taken as well.” The royal family stood still as Master Kerin spoke.

“Nano had asked me not too long ago if it was true of what his father had told him and I could not answer him. It was something I rather would not have let him known, but once he held the Bastard Sword, I felt nothing but the compassion and the motivation to be worthy enough to be just like his father, Thelo the Great and for you, Prince Alexis. No matter how hard the training I gave him became, his motivation was never for once to be stronger for himself; for sheer power. It was for his father, and most of all it was for you, your Highness. That is why I linked with him. I have never felt so much passion in anyone that was not for his own accord and that gave me high hopes in this young one’s abilities.” He took a quick glance at me with his huge yellow eyes that I have been so accustomed to seeing in my thoughts.

“If you could find it in your heart to forgive Nano for his hasty departure, because it was I who had called to him to come to my side as soon as possible, since it was the year that my guardian was at his weakest, I promise through the Spirit Vow that I will protect and serve you through Nano through any means necessary.” He took another glance at me and I began to feel weak suddenly.

“Alas, I must make my leave. My Prince, my King and my Queen, as long as Nano’s allegiance stays with you, as will mine. Thelo the Great,” he said looking at him. My father bowed low in response. “Nano will be quite weak once I depart, please watch over him so that he may recover. This was something I never planned on doing, but I deemed that it was necessary at this time. Please forgive me.” With that, a bright light exploded and lit up the whole throne room before diminishing, along with Kerin. I instantly felt a wave of exhaustion and fell to my knees. I caught sight of father running towards me and even through my suddenly burred vision, I saw peace on my Prince’s face once again.