A Warrior's Journey by Guy Stanton III Page A

taught you! You have
disobeyed my orders yet again and as a result you nearly got your
brother killed and almost caused us to fail in capturing the
citadel! Now because you by your own actions have shown yourself
unready for the war we are faced with, I am ordering you back for
your own good!”
    Talaric his face tight with humiliation and
anger responded hotly, “Why have you suddenly decided to play
favorites with him? I’m the first born!”
    Roric looked back at him sadly and
responded, “Yes you are the firstborn and you have received the
bulk of my attention because of it, but Zevin has made more of
himself with less attention and instruction than you have. He has
earned this moment while you have lost the privilege. Now go!”
    Talaric stormed out of the temple, in as
black a mood, as I had ever seen him in. Father looked at me and
looked as if he was about to say something, but then thought better
of it and decided not to. That was alright, enough had been said
already.
    Father turned towards the stairs and I moved
to follow. He stopped and turned to me once more, “Zevin remember
that the power of the Spirit of the Creator,” he tapped my chest
with a finger, “is greater than any darkness that we may find in
this pit understand me?”
    I nodded.
    “Do not allow yourself to be consumed with
fear Zevin! Our Creator does not give us the spirit of fear, but
rather of power and of a sound mind!”
    He turned back to the stairs and together we
began to descend into the darkness. There were no lights, but the
light streaming off of father’s sword gave us the light needed to
see our way forward. As the darkness of the stairway became darker
the light cast off by the sword only brightened.
    We reached the bottom of the stairway and
started down a narrow hallway that had an illuminated doorway at
the far end of it. The atmosphere of the place was oppressive and
closed in on us.
    The doors opened under the force of some
unseen power. There was no one there and we walked on through the
doors. I jumped and spun around with my sabers raised as the doors
slammed shut behind us abruptly. There was the click of a lock
followed by a hollow sounding laugh that chilled me to the
bone.
    Dark hallways opened up to us along either
side, but father kept traveling down the central hallway. Each
hallway entrance we passed seemed to hold some new dark horror
hidden within its depths.
    The sound of someone sweeping the floor in
one hallway. The sound of something chewing on a bone noisily in
the next.
    The worst was the sound of a little child’s
voice echoing eerily in some sing song chant down one hall. It went
on and on until my thoughts were echoing with the noise of it.
    It was unnerving!
    I was covered in sweat and the sound of my
own breathing sounded loud to my own ears. Despite the sweat I
felt, as cold as ice within the dark hallway and my skin crawled,
as if trying to tell me I was under assault from some unseen
force.
    I got the message, but there was nothing to
be done other than to keep going on. I wished fervently with all my
heart that this was all just some horrible nightmare that I would
wake up from only to see white fluffy clouds drifting by
overhead.
    Snap!
    I blinked as I about walked into my father,
who had stopped and was facing me.
    “Remember!” He said tapping my chest
firmly.
    I regained control of my breathing some and
nodded. “How are you still so calm?” I asked desperate to have the
confidence that I saw in him to be my own.
    Father’s eyes looked distant, as if he was
remembering something, “I’ve been through hell before in my life
and I’ve seen what my Creator can do to deliver me from it. Knowing
that gives me confidence.”
    Feeling compelled but reluctant to ask I
blurted out, “How do you know that He will act on your behalf, when
you’re in places like this?”
    “Because He promised never to forsake me.
I’m doing what I know He wants me to do, fight evil wherever I find
it.