Majoran Kingdom I

Halt there!" a boisterous voice bellowed from a staunch man with frost bursting from his mouth causing a small miasma as Kames and Sky rushed to escape the palace grounds through the colossal front gate made of layers of hardened coppice. "You have no authorization to leave the premises!" the strong voice shouted.

Ten sentinels all breathing the chilly early morning autumn air with steam blowing from the bevors on their helms blocked the exit of the portcullis. This was the first of the doorways inside gates before reaching the drawbridge. It lowered over the greenish moat for the transfer of soldiers in and out of the immense wall-covered kingdom during the sunrise of the new day.

Garuz, the raucous producer of the booming voice, wasn't the tallest of men but was built as solid as a stone block. He also had the attitude and temperament of a forest viper that suited the permanent scowl upon his grey-bearded face. Wearing the typical attire of one of his station, except a bascinet since he hated all helms leaving his balding head gleaming in the early morning light, the senior chief stood at attention. His state of mind served him well as the High Commander of the Border Shield of the Majoran Kingdom's massive walls, main gate, and buttresses; a service he maintained due to his loyalty and fervor to the king for over fifteen years.

"I am the daughter of King Armenious and we are leaving on an important task appointed to us by the king himself. I suggest you move your guards before you end up dismissed from your position and perchance executed for your treason!" the princess yelled back to the high commander. Sky was of short stature, radiantly beautiful, with long shining golden hair and small piercing blue eyes holding a striking stare. She dressed in the robes of a white sorceress, outlined in silver and gold with decorative and magical rings on each of her fingers.

"Yes, yes, I know who you are, your highness. I have strict orders from King Armenious himself that nobody leaves the premises without prior authorization reported directly to me. That includes even those of the royal family and council, and especially this scruffy little boy!" Garuz sternly replied as he glared disdainfully at Kames, standing off to the left of the sentinels near the wall of the barbican.

The "scruffy little boy" was no small child by any means. Kames was well over two meters in height and had a strapping build. With golden locks of hair at an identical color and consistency of Sky's, and wide bronzed eyes that held the most inquisitive of stares, he was as handsome as durable. He wore the Royal Sentry's white and silver armor with a royal blue headband covering his ears from the cold, displaying the signal of his station. In contrast, he wore a black traveling cloak across his back, which was not appropriate attire for a man of his position, and caused the sentinels to look at him with suspicion.

Kames wasn't naturally of noble blood and nothing was known about his background. He was discovered with Sky after the battle with the Smiggs at Ferchaine Castle that never happened nearly twenty years earlier and was taken in by King Armenious as an adopted squire. Through intense training and his quick mastery of the battling arts, he was made a knight and served in the King's personal guard for three years.

Many of the other knights and soldiers didn't respect him because no knowledge of his parents or where he came from was revealed. Kames got tagged "the scruffy little boy" by Garuz ever since he and Sky were found in the redwoods together as small children. At the time, his disheveled appearance and lower-class apparel was looked down upon once entering the Majoran Palace. This wasn't forgotten by most of the people who saw him on that first day before he was brought before King Armenious. Royal subjects all had strong opinions and changing them was harder than slaying a room full of starving dire wolves with nothing but a stave.

Sky and Kames, being deeply in forbidden love and needing to get the help they knew the kingdom needed, had wanted to leave the kingdom for weeks. With the battle against the witch Hazjarid and her armies of Ghoells, Trolls, and other foul creatures looming, King Armenious had decreed that no one, including royal family, shall go beyond the kingdom's walls except soldiers and special messengers.

The entire Majoran Kingdom, all six hundred and fifteen leagues of it, had a giant wall surrounding it that was patrolled day and night by the Defense Sentinels of the Shield. The troops had been tripled in size and every man or boy able to fight had been assigned to certain duties in preparation for the oncoming war. Being of the seventeen knights of King Armenious' Royal Sentry, it was against the king's decree for Kames to leave his regal company without an official manuscript sealed with a royal indication. Such a document Kames did not hold.

The platonic couple decided to attempt escape from the portcullis of the kingdom's main gate by pretending to be on a secret mission assigned to them by King Armenious. Getting Garuz to believe this was better than attempting to sneak out smaller passages, as it would give them the best chances of escape since the king had ordered the Defense Sentinels to watch the entire vast wall of stone with keen eyes.

Since Hazjarid's slaves were too cowardly to launch a full assault upon the entrance with the moat, giant drawbridge, and heavily patrolled barbican; everywhere needed watching. Her monstrous creatures, although strong warriors, didn't harbor the courage or chivalry to attempt such an attack; and would try to find a weakness in the defenses to enter the kingdom to commit their genocide.

"Perhaps you would be privy to test your skill in arms against this scruffy little boy, commander? Or mayhap you know you would be simply defeated and the thought of looking like a squire with his first wooden sword is too much for your inflamed ego to handle?" Kames said with a sly smile as he took hold of his sword hilt awaiting and wishing Garuz would bite.

Kames despised this man and his insults ever since his training began under the High Commander. And because his size, strength, and skills had surpassed his former teacher years ago, Garuz held nothing but disdain for Kames.

"Enough Kames!" Sky said in a snapping whisper. "You know the plan. Don't let your emotions ruin our chances!" The princess knew that Kames held a short temper combined with a slight arrogance of his fighting abilities, which was not a good mix in tense situations.

"If it is battle you want, scruffy little boy, then you may have it!" Garuz answered with a red face. "Sentinels! Seize him! And hold the princess at bay!"

As the sentinels began to approach, Sky began muttering to herself in the ancient and powerful Zubian tongue and threw her palms downward causing the earth to rumble. In mere seconds, the terrain where the soldiers were moving shook violently causing the sentinels lost their footing. They all sprawled out on the ground as if they were infants trying to take their first steps.

Garuz braced himself on the nearby wall, and after the earthquake ceased, he drew his sword and began running toward Kames ready to attack. Kames saw his approaching nemesis, yet instead of engaging in swordplay, drew a Hawkseye Boomerang from his belt and tossed it at the High Commander, turned, kicked the small gate open, ushered Sky outside, and turned again to catch his returning weapon. Garuz laid knocked out cold before him.

"We can dance with blades another time." Kames muttered to himself while grinning then exiting.