Garinor and his protector rode into a small, dingy camp in the middle of the night. The lookout had spotted them, but recognized them as a member of the secret group and a boy, and so they were welcomed into the camp. Garinor was so exhausted by then that he didn’t even pay attention to what was happening as he was led toward a bedroll to sleep.
It was a bright cheery morning when one of the camp’s members woke Garinor up with a bowl of steaming stew. “‘Ere, lad. Yer must be ‘ungry.”
He took the bowl without thinking and started wolfing it down, for even with the food he had taken on the mad flight here, it wasn’t really enough to sustain him. As he thought about the wild horse ride into camp, he looked around for his guide. The man standing over him seemed to understand. “Sorry, lad, lef’ afore dawn ta tend ta other bus’ness.”
Garinor handed back the empty bowl and took an offered water bladder, which he drained in three gulps.
“Youse was a might ‘ungry and t’irsty.”
“Well, yes, thank you. It was delicious.”
“Bah, save yer thankin’ for Stewy o’er there.” He gestured with a plump thumb and Garinor saw a squat man doling out second portions to those who went up for them. “Bes’ stew this side o’ the mou’ins. Bu’ come on, lad, Cap’n waits.”
Bewildered but not about to resist, Garinor climbed out of the bedroll and followed the greasy man toward a small tent nearby. Inside, a rather unremarkable man sat on the ground, legs folded under him with a map lying on the ground.
“Ah, good morning, boy. Come and sit. Well done, Slice, you may go.”
Garinor watched absently as the tent flap swung closed. “Slice? I guess he’s good with a sword?”
The Captain laughed. “No. Helps Stewy cut up vegetables. Aces at it, I must add though. He wanted to be known as Killer, but then everyone said they’d never let him help cook with a name like that.” He gave Garinor a playful wink.
“You’ve met some of us before, son,” the Captain continued a moment later. Then he withdrew a golden chain from around his neck and showed Garinor the talisman hanging from it. He had indeed seen it before; it was a dagger held firmly in the clutch of a strong fist.
“We are known as the Daggerfists. We oppose the prince’s plans. And the king’s as well, I might add,” he said in an undertone, then held up a hand to forestall Garinor’s questions. “All will be explained to you shortly, but I must first ask where you are headed.”
Garinor opted to be truthful and he told him about the scepter to the northeast.
“Ah,” said the Captain. “So the king knows where to go. That news helps us as well and I am thankful for it. Now let me explain one bit of something to you.” He held Garinor’s gaze for a long time and, even though the man wasn’t physically imposing, Garinor felt his insides turn to jelly under that stare. “The king has deceived you, like all the other boys he has summoned to his palace over the years.”
“What?”
“Aye, it’s true, lad.” He poured a small glass of wine and gave it to Garinor, who sipped from it absently. “The king knows a bit more about the prophecy than we do—yes, we know of the prophecy—but he does not know every part of it, you see. Well, nor do we. But ever since he learned of the prophecy, he has been working hard to control its outcome. He told his son, the prince, who reacted badly to the news and has been wreaking havoc ever since. But the king has not tried to stop him, either, for they both work toward the same goal.”
“To find and kill the heir,” Garinor said quietly.
“Yes, basically. Thing is,” and here the Captain released a giant sigh, “no one knows who the heir is, except that scepter, apparently. That’s why it’s so important. The only way for the king and the prince to be secure in their power is to fulfill the prophecy—”
“Or to kill every boy my age in the country,” Garinor finished.
“In the world,” the Captain corrected him. “For, who knows if the heir was sent off elsewhere, right?”
Garinor’s face went gray. “That would be a lot of killing.”
“Yes, and not something a ruler wants on his hands, for when the numbers go too high, there would be a revolt and they surely would lose power that way.” He sipped his own goblet of wine and then continued. “Well, the king has been consulting a crowd of Seers over the years, not that there are many left these days, but he’s gotten his hands on soothsayers, fortune tellers, card readers, stone throwers, and everyone who claims to be able to channel a greater insight than man. Because of that, the king has started sending for the children in the southern parts of the kingdom, for it was there that most of the information led.”
“So that was why I was pulled from my home.” When the Captain looked at him with a raised eyebrow he added, “From Paligar.”
The Captain nodded and sipped his wine again. “Paligar,” he echoed distantly. “Interesting coincidence.”
“Pardon?”
“Let’s just leave it that the name Paligar has come up quite a number of times. It may indeed be linked to the prophecy. But more on that later.” He pointed to the map and noted their location and then slid his finger toward the northeast and the marked border of the mountain range. “The king has been sending boys your age on quests to the cave in this area. Well, now you’ve told me it was this area; we hadn’t found it before. But none of those boys has ever returned from that quest.”
Garinor looked up at him.
“We know that the king sends a guard to protect the boy, but the boy’s safety is not important to him. We don’t know for certain, but our spies at the castle have said that only the guards return, some looking rather shaken.” He leaned forward and spoke in a whisper. “It is almost as if their minds are altered in that cave, for they don’t ever seem to recall what happened there.”
“Is that possible?”
“If it is the Scepter of Destiny, then why not? If the wrong person tries to claim it, why couldn’t we assume it has powers to protect itself?” The Captain shook his head. “My only regret was that we have been unable to place a spy into the king’s quest guard until recently, but her mission has always been interrupted. Others have tried to follow them, but the king’s guard is not littered with fools, and they are careful to drive off pursuit when they smell it.”
“It seems like so much trouble.”
“Indeed it is,” the Captain agreed. “And it is something that must be stopped. The sooner the better.”
“Help me find the cave and I will seek out the scepter, then, to put an end to this.”
The Captain shook his head. “It’s too risky. Though there are whispers that Paligar is where the heir was sent, there is no certainty. Until we can learn more, it would be too dangerous for you to pursue the scepter.”
Garinor let out a stifled laugh. “Captain, everything has been too dangerous for me since the moment that guard arrived at my door. Lead me to the cave.”
The Captain stared at him for a long time and then broke into a wide grin. “You have courage, lad. Very well. We will eat in earnest and then we will head out northeast to join some of our fellows, and from there we will take you to the cave.”
Garinor bided his time well in the camp and helped out where he could, then he marched northward with them into the afternoon to meet their companions and his destiny.