A quest of Heroes - S01 E18

3 years ago

A quest of Heroes - S01 E18

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 18

Continued

Thor stood there, mouth open in shock. He could not believe it. Neither could the crowd, which booed and hissed.

Erec swung around with his sword, just missing the knight, and the two faced each other again.

Thor suddenly realized: he was Erec’s only squire now. He gulped. What was he supposed to be doing? He was not prepared for this. And the whole kingdom was watching.

The two knights attacked each other viciously, going blow for blow. Clearly the McCloud knight was much stronger than Erec—yet Erec was the better fighter, faster and more agile. They swung and slashed and parried, neither able to gain advantage.

Finally, King MacGil stood.

“Long spears!” he called out.

Thor’s heart pounded. He knew this meant him: he was on duty.

He spun and looked at the rack, taking down the weapon that seemed most appropriate. As he grabbed its leather s---t, he prayed he chose correctly.

He burst onto the lane and could feel thousands of eyes on him. He ran and ran for all he was worth, wanting to reach Erec as quickly as possible, and finally placing the spear into his hand. He was proud to see he reached him first.

Erec took the spear and spun, prepared to face the other knight. Being the honorable warrior that he was, Erec waited until the other knight was armed before attacking. Thor hurried off to the side, out of the men’s way, not wanting to repeat Feithgold’s mistake. As he did, he dragged Feithgold’s limp body out of harm’s way.

As Thor watched, he sensed something was wrong. Erec’s opponent took his spear, raised it straight up, then began bringing it down in a strange motion. As he did, suddenly, Thor felt his world go into focus in a way it never had. He intuited that something was wrong. His eyes locked on the McCloud knight’s spearhead, and as he looked closely, he noticed it was loose. The knight was about to use the tip of his spear as a throwing knife.

As the knight brought down his spear, the head detached and sailed through the air, end over end, heading right for Erec’s heart. In seconds, Erec would be dead—there was no way he could react in time. From the looks of its jagged blade, it appeared to be armor-piercing.

In that moment, Thor felt his whole body warming. He felt a tingling sensation—it was the same sensation he’d experienced back in Darkwood, when battling the Sybold. His whole world slowed. He was able to see the tip spinning in slow motion, was able to feel an energy, a heat, rising within him—one he didn’t know he had.

He stepped forward and felt bigger than the spearhead. In his mind, he willed it to stop. He demanded it to stop. He did not want to see Erec hurt. Especially not this way.

“NO!” Thor shrieked.

He took another step and held out his palm, aimed at the spearhead.

It stopped and hung there, in midair, right before reaching Erec’s heart.

It then dropped harmlessly to the ground.

The two knights both turned and looked at Thor—as did the two kings, as did the thousands of spectators. He felt the whole world staring down at him, and realized they had all just witnessed what he did. They all knew he was not normal, that he had some sort of power, that he had influenced the games, had saved Erec—and changed the fate of the kingdom.

Thor stood rooted in place, wondering what just happened.

He was now certain he wasn’t the same as all these people. He was different.

But who was he?