It may be unusual for a child to grow up in a tower, a kilometre from the nearest blade of grass, but Archibald hadn’t met another child who hadn’t. All his brothers and sisters lived with him in the tower, and none of them ever complained. In fact, it was more than a joy to spend their days training their skills in magic, following every one of their father’s orders without thought.
“Children!” his father called throughout the corridors before calling each of the twelve hundred of them by name, always in a different order and never skipping a child or naming a child twice.
He only did this once a week, and always on a day of rest, of which they had twenty or so every month. Each child lined up against the wall of the tower which coiled from the base up to their father’s study at the top.
When all of them had lined up, an hour or so after their names were first called, their father counted them. “Three hundred and fifty-one…” he said, walking past Archibald. After his father had passed, Archibald spun around. Pulling himself up onto his tiptoes, he peered over a high ledge and out of a window. As he was, he could hardly see the tops of the very highest trees, but with the promise of a growth spurt from his father, he was anxious to check how much he could see any chance that he got. He always had to check to make sure his father wasn’t watching, though; his father had called the outside dangerous and Archibald unprepared.
Archibald would never betray his father’s trust, so it had never occurred to him to leave the tower. Even still, trees and birds and grass and every wonderful and natural view fascinated him.
As he pulled himself up to the ledge, he felt his father’s gaze.
“Archibald!” his father said, but instead of reprimanding him, the old man kneeled beside the young boy and said, “As you are, the outside world is too big for you.” As the boy began to tear up, his father hurriedly said, “Archie, please know I don’t mean to stifle your curiosity; your love of the world and nature is really admirable. I just can’t trust myself to take care of you. I’m just an old man, Archie, and there are monsters out there. But, Archibald, I swear, I’ll let you go outside when you’re older. Could you just have a little bit of patience for me?”
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Archibald nodded. His father patted his brown hair and walked off to continue counting. To Archibald’s right, his brother coyly added, “As if.”
“I’m gonna go outside one day!” Archibald said, tilting his head back to look his brother in the eyes, “You’re just scared that I’m gonna get out before you.”
“Did you not hear what Father said? You need patience if you want to go outside.”
“Peter, can it,” Veronica, Archibald’s sister, interrupted.
Peter rolled his eyes. “You might scare everyone else, but I’m not weak like them.”
“We’re family,” Veronica said, “We need to love each other.”
Archibald chirped up from beneath the other two, “I’ll never love Peter.”
“You don’t need to love me; a little respect is good enough,” Peter said, “As your older brother, I am superior. Not that I need age to be better than you.”
As Veronica stepped in to stop the two, a shriek came from above. Although their brothers and sisters shrunk back against the cold cobblestone in fear, Archibald, Peter and Veronica stood upright. Veronica ran off first, her two brothers close behind. Ascending the spiral hallway, they saw their younger sister in a heaped mess.
“He’s…” she said, holding back the jets of tears from her eyes, “He’s running…”
“Who is it? Who’s running?” Archibald asked, grabbing his younger sister.
“Geoff?” Veronica asked the girl, and the girl nodded.
“He’s running… away.”
“Which way?”
The girl pointed up, and the trio ran off.
“Who’s Geoff?” Archibald asked as they ran.
“Her twin,” Peter said, scoffing, “Your brother. How do you not know this? Has your brain got holes in it?”
“You’re just a nerd,” Archibald said.
“Stop bickering, you two,” Veronica said, “Geoff’s in danger. If my hunch is right, he’s going up to Father’s study to try and get out of the tower. The door at the bottom of the tower can only be unlocked with Father’s key, and he wouldn’t fit through a window, so that’s his only option.”
When the three came to the top of the tower, they found the door to their father’s study ajar. Veronica pushed it further open and stepped in. The floor was littered with papers and splintered chunks of a chair, and a mass of rushing wind continued swirl around, sending more mess to the floor and pushing against her. As the two boys stepped in behind her, they found their father talking to Geoff.
“Please, Geoff, away from the edge.”
“I’m going down.”
“It’s too dangerous for you. Just a few more years, and you can-”
“I’m done waiting. I’m going down.”
“Boy, you will get down this instant.”
Geoff turned his head back to see his father, red faced and panting. The old man looked ready to push him. Then, the three behind him caught Geoff’s attention.
Their father now noticed the group watching on. “Don’t worry, kids. Just go back down. Me and Geoff will only be a minute, then I can help you with whatever you need.”
Peter and Veronica left the room, but Archibald didn’t move.
“Archie,” his father said, not taking his eyes from Geoff for more than a moment, “You need to go back as well.”
“Father, can I go down as well?”
His father’s eyes widened.
“Hey, Archie? We’ll go outside soon, but I can’t decide when until you leave the room.”
“Okay,” Archibald said, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
As Archibald walked down the spiral hallway to where he stood before, he heard a rush of wind fall down. A shadow passed by the window and a distant thud came from below.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPH7zMnAg9O
The next day continued oddly as normal. Archibald turned to his brother in his draconic class and asked, “Do you know how Geoff is doing?”
“Who’s Geoff?”
“Our brother,” Archibald said, “The one who tried to run away yesterday. Remember when our little sister was crying yesterday in roll call? That’s why she was crying.”
“I think I would remember any of our sisters crying,” Gerald said, and Archibald stopped with the subject.
The language of the dragons was said to have unimaginable power, but so far the coolest thing Archibald had learned to say was, “Bril.”
His brother flickered beside him before beginning to radiate a dim light that wouldn’t have been noticeable if the windows weren’t now boarded shut.
“Cool, Archie,” his brother said, checking his palms and finding himself slightly luminescent, “Can I try something?”
At Archibald’s nod, his brother muttered something completely foreign, and the joints in Archibald’s legs locked into place.
“Archibald! Gerald! Are you doing magic back there?” the teacher, who oddly was plated in armour, yelled.
“…no,” Gerald said, trying to hide his glow, and Archibald collapsed to the ground beside him. After the teacher undid the draconic, he continued the lesson.
“Draconic has a deep focus on verbs and adverbs; it focuses more on what something does than what something is. To cast a fire, you wouldn’t say flame but instead burn.”
A hand was raised, and when the teacher called on him, a boy asked, “Why aren’t we learning any words?”
“Even if you just know twenty words in draconic, you can surpass someone who knows a thousand if only you know how to use them.”
The teacher continued to monologue on the principle and danger of careless draconic speech, but Archibald’s attention was soon lost. As he stared to where the window would be, he began to mutter. His tongue got away from him, and for a moment the wooden boards seemed to slip out of place; but as light shot into the room, the boards caught in midair. After a moment frozen, they returned to their place.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZnEzL2uRb
Soon, the lesson had ended, and the bell run for them to go to lunch. When Archibald and Gerald sat down with their food, Veronica joined them.
“Yo, Archie,” she said through a mouth full of gruel, “You remember what happened yesterday?”
After wiping off the gruel she had spat onto his face, Archibald answered, “Of course. You mean with Geoff?”
Peter walked out from behind her, saying, “What a surprise: out of everyone, only Archie remembers.”
“Anyways,” Veronica continued, still spitting gruel, “We were gonna go talk to Father, but we wanted to check if anyone else remembered it. From what we’ve heard, we’re the only three.”
As they got up to leave, Johnny grabbed Veronica’s arm. “What happened to Geoff?” their oldest brother said, “I remember Lily crying, but I didn’t realise something had happened to Geoff.”
“He—” Veronica stuttered, “Well, we think he—”
“We think he left the tower,” Peter said, “And if he did, he might have died.”
“But… why would he want to leave?” Johnny asked.
“I dunno,” Archibald murmured.
Veronica broke her arm free. “That’s why me and Peter were going to see Father. We wanted to ask him what he knows.”
“I’m coming too, then,” Johnny said, “As the oldest, I should be responsible.”
They followed the path of the previous day up to their father’s study, but this day when they arrived it was bolted shut as usual. Veronica knocked on the door, and their father answered, “Yes?”
“Father, it’s Veronica, and Johnny and Peter and Archibald,” she said, “We wanted to talk about what happened yesterday.”
The noise of footsteps came through the door, and their father opened the door to find the quartet standing below him. Veronica was looking up to him, but Peter could only stare straight ahead, and Archibald had his gaze dropped to his feet. Meanwhile, Johnny examined the study.
“Hey, kids, come on in.”
They all walked in, taking seats at a group of chairs around a desk.
“Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?” their father asked.
Veronica spoke up first. “No one else remembers what happened, and Geoff is missing. Do you know what happened?”
He sighed heavily. For a moment he gathered his thoughts, then he said, “Geoff isn’t coming back. He ran away because I told him he wasn’t ready to go outside yet. I won’t lie and say it was his fault, because I shouldn’t have been keeping him trapped; no, I shouldn’t have been keeping secrets. He broke into my study one night and discovered the reason why you kids train. I only found the documents hidden under his mattress this morning.”
He pulled the letter out from a small drawer beneath his desk, placing it before the quartet and hanging his head as they read.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyAIgWGxLlF
Addressed to Sorcerer Dolus Tolvaj,
His Majesty, the king, requests your providing a military force in the quelling of the demon forces. Though they may be within control now, the king’s mages have found that within ten years, the demon king plans to commence a full-scale invasion. This promises to include a force tenfold stronger than the current demon army. However, with this comes the promise that the demon king will also come. He is highly powerful and can only be defeat through draconic incantation, of which you are the foremost in knowledge. We hope that, when the time comes, we may count on you to fight alongside us.
Yours sincerely, Lord Commander, General Frederick Beckett.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDKERxjPGj
“So you’re going to fight the demon king?” Archibald asked.
“We’re going to fight the demon king,” Peter said, “And we only have ten more years to prepare.”
“I feel horrible,” their father said, “I wish you children didn’t need to, but only a child can learn draconic; there’s a certain ritual that needs to be undergone when you are quite young. As a historian, I’ve studied draconic, but I could never truly learn to speak it. But you kids can all do it. Of course, most children have little potential, but those with the drive to push forward with diligence may be able to become skilled with magic. I shouldn’t have forced you children into this. I understand if you choose not to fight the demon king.”
“I want to fight the demon king,” Archibald spoke up, “Father, I’ll fight him for you.”
“Yeah, me too,” Peter said, “Don’t worry Father.”
“If any of my siblings are fighting, I’ll fight,” Johnny said, “I want to take care of them.”
“Me too. I couldn’t stand if Peter or Archie got hurt,” Veronica said.
Their father breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s a relief. I suppose after this I should tell everyone why they’re training. Anyone who wants to leave will be able to have transport to the capital. I’m sorry for keeping this a secret for so long.”
“But, wait, Father, why does no one remember Geoff, though?” Peter asked.
“It’s a part of the ritual. Anyone who leaves the ritual site is forgotten by others who undertook the ritual there. They may return and be remembered, but I doubt Geoff is coming back.”
The children got down from their chairs and left the room, but Archibald’s father called him back.
“Archie, my son, I need to tell you something,” his father said. When Archibald returned, his father said, “I want you to be the first of your siblings to go out on a scouting mission. After I tell all of your siblings about the demons, I’ll gather a small squad to escort you. You’re nearly twelve, so I can trust you. Is that all good with you?”
Archibald nodded, grinned widely, and went running after his siblings.
ns216.73.216.193da2
and then Add to home screen.