Ethan Wright and the Curse of Silence (3 page)

Auren made his way straight home and Ethan started on his way as well. Unlike Auren, he had no father or mother to worry about him when he showed up late in the night. He missed having that, and thought about it often. Odin never got mad at him and sometimes encouraged his outings. Ethan made his way up the wooden staircase and inside the house. He found Odin waiting for him in the study.

“You met Wegnel I see,” said Odin sternly.

“Wegnel the Alchemist … you mean,” corrected Ethan.

“Indeed,” replied Odin.

“How did you know…?” Ethan started to ask, but Odin interrupted him.

“I am not a useless old man, and this town has ears — that is for certain,” said Odin. “Speaking of ears, I presume you heard me talking to Tothyll?”

“If you mean that strange man by the store, yes, I overheard you,” replied Ethan hesitantly. He got a look from Odin. “I … I didn’t mean to listen in on you, that is …”

“I have no doubt you meant well on your journey to Wegnel’s place, which is why you will not be entering the youth sword competition tomorrow … and instead, you will help Wegnel with a task tomorrow night,” said Odin calmly.

Although Ethan had no intention of entering the youth sword competition, he looked a bit surprised. He was not used to consequences occurring for his occasional wrongdoings. It reminded him of when his father and brother were around, and for once it made Ethan feel normal.

“Ah, yes sir…,” replied Ethan. “If I may ask, what kind of task?”

“Collecting herbs for some kind of alchemy experiment for his newfound way to convert ore to gold I think,” said Odin with a faint smile. “Ethan, I know you wanted to enter the competition …”

“I really don’t care about the competition,” replied Ethan quickly.

“Yes you do,” answered Odin softly. “I want you to know that I am not doing this to be unfair to you.”

There was a long silence before Ethan replied. “I know … goodnight Odin, and … thanks.”

Odin smiled and said goodnight. Ethan picked up Loki, who was already sleeping in front of the fire. He draped the cat over his shoulder and went to his room. He placed the cat at the foot of his bed. Loki got to his feet where he stretched, walked in a circle and plopped right back down.

“What do you think of all this, Loki?” whispered Ethan to his cat, who was now cleaning his face. “I don’t think father would care if I missed the sword competition — I know Isaac would though.” Ethan blew out the lantern and went to sleep knowing he had an interesting day ahead of him.

Chapter 3
The Youth Sword Competition

Ethan awoke the next morning and joined Odin in the study with a cup of tea. Odin seemed distracted. He was concentrating his efforts on drawing a map while sipping from his almost empty mug. Ethan noticed another older-looking map lying next to the one Odin was working on. He wondered why the old map was important enough for Odin to need a copy. Was it for tonight’s task? The caretaker seemed so preoccupied with the details of the map that Ethan started to wonder if the old man had forgotten about last night, or the odd punishment that had been assigned. Ethan started to get up to leave when Odin spoke.

“I want you to take Loki with you tonight. I think it would be good to get him some exercise for a change.”

“Ok,” shrugged Ethan.

“And another thing,” pestered Odin. “I found a package buried under some clutter. I am afraid my curiosity got the best of me, so I opened it and found this map, along with a note from your father.”

Ethan took the old map and the note from Odin’s grasp and read it aloud. ‘“Isaac, I finally found it, Thomas.’”

“What do you suppose he means … found what?” asked Ethan intently as he started to examine the map that Odin had been copying.

“I am not sure, Ethan. I figured he would want you to have it. I made a copy of it so I can do some research,” said the caretaker as he put his head down and added the final touches to his copy.

Ethan grew frustrated as he studied the map. “
Tirguard
? What a stupid map, this place doesn’t even
exist
!”

He started to pace back and forth while anger brewed in his eyes. “I bet he did go nuts, drawing up silly
maps
, and leaving his only family for
dead
. I hope he did go mad! He’s much more trouble than he was ever worth anyway!” yelled Ethan as he cast the map into the smoldering fireplace.

Odin quickly retrieved the map from the fire. “Ethan, your father …” But Ethan had already stomped out the front door with his wide-eyed grey and white cat trotting behind him.

Ethan tried to focus on the task he was to do that evening, but the events of the morning spun around in his head. He thought of the competition and how he would not be given a chance to face Marcus. He thought of his first encounter with Wegnel and pondered if he really was loony. But most of all, he thought of the old map, and imagined his father drawing it up for his missing brother. He wondered why his father would draw Isaac a map anyway. Maybe there would be a dotted line on the map that would lead him straight to his twin. He felt bad for yelling at his caretaker, and then decided it was good of Odin to have drawn a copy of it.

Ethan picked up Loki and held him up to his face. “What do you think? Do you think I screwed up?” He looked at the cat as if he was about to receive advice. “Oh, what am I thinking, I deserve to be punished,” he said aloud.

It had been a long time since Ethan had received a punishment. He decided that he would do his best to help Wegnel so that Odin would hopefully look past his outburst from earlier that morning. But first, he decided to go on a small hike to Whitehaven and watch part of the youth sword competition.

“C’mon, Loki. Odin said we couldn’t enter, but he didn’t say anything about watching the first few matches.”

The cat jumped down with a plop and followed Ethan toward Vincent’s general store. There was a large wooden sign on the sturdy door that read
Closed for Sword Competition
.

Ethan chuckled. He continued walking, but then noticed the strange man that had been speaking to Odin now approaching.

“Greetings, Ethan. It is nice to see a young lad enjoying the day — shouldn’t you be entered in the youth sword competition today?” asked the stranger abruptly.

He was very well dressed and carried himself with a strut that showed he was of higher society. He had a sneaky look on his face that made Ethan feel a bit uncomfortable. His hair was stiff and coarse with a dark silvery hue and even his shoes were of a high gloss that shone in the sunlight.

“I’m on my way there now,” answered Ethan.

“A little late for signing up — don’t you think?” asked the snooty gentleman.

Ethan nodded. “I’m just watching.”

“Surely not, a young man with your skill would be in the fight, not on the sidelines. Besides, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of your skills with a sword, be it made of bamboo or whatever….” He pulled at the fingertips of his gloves, slid them into one of his pockets and then offered a hand to Ethan. Ethan paused, and then shook the man’s hand. He tried to take his hand back, but was pulled in close.

“Do you know who I am, Ethan?” the silver-haired man asked quietly. As Ethan was pulled close he noticed the man had bright green eyes that seemed to peer right through his soul. Several necklaces and pendants clinked as he pulled Ethan forward. Ethan pulled his hand away and stood up tall.

“I saw you speaking with Odin. Your name is Tothyll.”

“Yes, but more importantly is what I do — I am a recruiter for the Royal Guard. I was sent here for you … a Mr. Ethan Wright. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of you in this year’s sword competition.”

“Well it’s too late to enter, so I’m going to go watch for a while. Please excuse me.” Ethan started to walk around Tothyll, but was cut short.

“Being a man in my position, I have a certain pull with authority around here. Needless to say, I can easily get you into the next round of the competition. We will simply enter a bye for the first round, no problem. In return, I would ask that you simply consider the Guard …” insisted Tothyll.

“Not interested,” said Ethan flatly as he walked around.

“One last thing — I heard news of you visiting Wegnel last night,” challenged Tothyll.

Ethan stopped in his tracks. He hadn’t told anyone, yet everyone seemed to know. Ethan smirked to himself as he thought of the babbling rambles that blurted unnecessarily from Wegnel’s pruny face.

“Yeah, I met with him briefly,” answered Ethan.

“Beware Wegnel the Alchemist — not to be trusted at all, young lad,” said Tothyll smoothly. “I suppose a bright young boy like you saw right through his deceit, and I have full confidence you are not one to mingle with such foolish characters. I suspect a boy of your intelligence would have much better sense than that.”

“Why do you care about Wegnel?”

Tothyll smiled and patted Ethan on the back.

“I don’t … and neither should you. His reputation may get you into trouble — as a recruiter, protecting your reputation is extremely important to me,” said Tothyll sincerely. He turned and started walking away. “Have a good time watching the tournament,” he added.

Just then, Loki came trotting out from behind some empty barrels with a small rodent in his mouth. He set it down and licked his paws.

“We had better get started, Loki,” said Ethan. They headed up the path toward Whitehaven. He thought about stopping at Auren’s house, but decided to stay clear in case he was getting punished for last night. He continued on until he arrived at the busy city of Whitehaven. He had reached the giant wooden gate in just under an hour. The stone walls were decorated with dark blue and yellow banners, and several tents were set up outside the wide-open gate. People were bustling about. Some were selling food or youth competition swords and armor, and others were spectating or simply in the contest themselves.

Loki made a large leap onto Ethan’s shoulders to escape the bustling crowd. Ethan began to make his way through the massive wooden gate of Whitehaven. The annual competition was the only time Ethan could remember the gate being wide open. As he walked further past the gate, he saw what appeared to be hundreds of young competitors dressed in leather armor and carrying two-handed bamboo swords. He could hear the loud
CRACK
of the bamboo echoing off the stone city walls. This competition was much larger than he remembered.

Suddenly, a couple broke through the crowd as their son was called up to fight. Ethan took a step backward to move out of their way, barging into the registration table. He quickly turned, causing Loki to dig his claws into Ethan’s shoulders. Feeling the sting of the claws, Ethan put his hand on the cat to help him keep his balance.

“Hi there, can I help you with something?” said the young woman behind the registration desk.

“Yeah,” answered Ethan. “How many people have entered?”

“Almost three hundred — biggest year yet I think. First one to get to three points is the winner — when quarter finals begin, it’s the first to get to five, but who knows when that’ll start — should run right into the night I’d say,” answered the young woman.

Just then a voice announced two more names. “
Would John Fisher and Auren Faryndon report for a match
.”

“Thanks!” shouted Ethan as he turned and headed toward one of the empty rings, still holding onto Loki. He paused and peered around the audience to locate the evident commotion of the sword match that was about to begin. He spotted a larger boy wearing a leather vest and a padded helmet. As Ethan approached, he realized it was Auren, who seemed to be in a panic like he was looking for something.

“What are you doing here? I thought your father wouldn’t let you enter the competition,” interrogated Ethan.

“Yeah well, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt anyone — I can’t find my sword anywhere!” Auren seemed to be panic-stricken. He looked to his left and back to his right, then checked his pack, looked around the ground, and finally at Ethan.

“It’s tied to your waist,” replied Ethan.

“Oh, you could’ve said something,” snapped Auren, now pulling the sword out of his belt and stalking into the would-be ring.

“Well
you
could have told your best friend that you were going to enter,” spouted Ethan.

“Couldn’t — didn’t know ‘til last night,” answered Auren. But he saw that this didn’t seem to satisfy Ethan. “Aw man, I had to enter — explain it to you after this fight — cheer for me, will ya?”

Ethan nodded.

Auren made his way to the middle of the ring, where his opponent was waiting for him. As soon as he got to the line the fight began and Auren was met with a barrage of attacks. He was able to clumsily block two of the attacks but was hit in the chest by a third.
Crack!

A judge immediately chimed in. “
Fatal blow, two points!
”

“Fatal! C’mon, it was barely a scratch,” protested Auren.

But his plea went unanswered and the judge chimed in again. “
Begin!
”

Auren was met with a similar barrage of attacks, but this time he was ready and counter-attacked, striking the boy’s sword to the ground and then thrusting him in the chest.

“
One point awarded!
”

“So that one
wasn’t
fatal then?” yelled Auren in protest again. He looked over at Ethan. “Can you believe this guy?”

The judge continued the match; this time Auren took the offensive and lunged at the boy. Auren was easily blocked, but then stepped past his opponent and slapped his sword on top of the boy’s head, hitting his padded helmet.

“
Fatal blow, two points!
”

“Now that’s more like it, judge! You and me buddy!”

“
Your winner, Auren Faryndon
.”

Auren was so excited he almost jumped out of his shoes. He scrambled over to Ethan to give his impersonation of the match.

“Yeah yeah, I was here the whole time, remember?” said Ethan.

“Well yeah, but did you see how I finished him with that
spin
move?” said Auren exitedly.