Saturday, September 3, 2005

   Chapter 4: The Sword Song (part 1)
There was only one way to get into the golden castle: the front gate. It was not quite as busy as the rest of the city, the crowds breaking up just in front of the guarded arc. The plain wooden doors were always propped slightly open during the day, so that whoever had permission could come and go as necessary.
Pen tried not to look too awkward stepping up to the armed guard-elf at the gate. “Sir,” he started, meeting the man’s light-blue eyes, “I found this pseudodragon.”
The guard looked more interested in Pen’s black eyes than Sasheeta. “I can’t let you bring her up without an escort,” he said.
“Will you take her up for me?”
“I can’t leave my post—“
“Sir, I’ll take him up.”
Both Pen and the guard were surprised. Pen was so caught off guard that there was someone behind him that he spun around, his hand automatically finding the hilt of his sword.
The speaker was a tall, well-built angel who looked to be in his early twenties. He had short, light-brown hair and gray, brown-freckled wings. His eyes were kind and brilliant green in color. The most surprising feature, however, was the reddish metal armor that he wore on top of his plain, gray outfit. The bottom part of it was like a wide belt, held in place by chain mail of the same strange red material. A sword hung from his side.
Pen didn’t know much about metals or armor, but he did know one thing: there was only one place where you got red armor. Havoc.
“As you wish, Panda,” the guard said, moving to the side to let them in. The angel passed Pen and entered the castle.
“Come on!” he urged, turning around to wave Pen in. Overcoming his shock, the boy followed. Panda led the way up the slope around the edge of the wall, up to the stronghold.
“We’ve been looking for a pseudodragon for quite some time,” Panda said as they walked up the gravel path. “There was a Havoc group that left here a while ago with mine.”
“You had a pseudodragon?” Sasheeta asked him, walking across Pen’s shoulders so that she could get a better view of Panda.
“Oh, yeah!” the angel smiled at her kindly. “He was a very nice fella. I was quite fond of him, myself.”
“Why did you give him up?”
“The Havoc team was penned up here for a week before they gave up on trying to find their dragon,” he explained. “Since I was assigned to stay in the city, at least for a while, I had no real need for mine, so I decided that he would be put to better use with Havoc.”
“Does that mean that I will be your dragon, now?” Sasheeta looked excited.
Panda laughed. “I’m not so sure about that. The king is pretty careful in how he uses you guys. I don’t think I’ll be assigned another dragon until I leave the city.”
“Sir, you’re a graduate of Havoc, right?” Pen spoke, not having the courage to look at the person he was talking to. Panda looked surprised.
“Why… yeah. Why do you ask?”
“I want to join Havoc, too.”
“I see.” There was a moment of silence. “What’s your name?”
Pen gritted his teeth. He hated that question. “Pen,” he answered.
“Penumbra of the Archives, huh?” He finally looked up and met Panda’s green eyes. The angel was smiling. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Where—“
“You’re the kid that they’re letting into University a year early,” he continued. “That’s quite an achievement. You really thought I wouldn’t know about that?”
“No—“
“Good,” Panda was still smiling. “You’ll never get into Havoc without ever having crossed swords with someone worth your time.” He locked eyes with Pen again. “So, what about it? Would you like to spar with me?”
“You—“ Pen was speechless. “You—you’re serious?”
“Of course I am!” Panda chuckled. “Let’s just drop off the dragon, and then I’ll show you where we can have a little match!”
Pen didn’t know what to say. He dropped his eyes to the ground and was silent the whole way to the castle’s huge wooden front doors.
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