The morning was lush with the coming of the sun hitting his window. John stretched his back. The Eriel bed's was more comfortable than his own bed at home. He can get used to these comforts. He heard a knock at the door. He expected to find Knight Mitchell or even his friends at the door, but it was a tall Eriel. He had seen him before next to the king.

"Hello John. My name is Rodrick. I am an adjunct aide to the king. He wanted to talk to you before you left but the king is grieving. He wants you to have this."

Rodrick gave him a small chain. "You can attach this to the Vor'kar. You will never lose it while you have this chain attached to it. Good luck. The Eriel people are counting on you."

John was too stunned at first to respond. "Thank you Rodrick. Tell your king, I will try my best."

Rodrick nodded and walked away. John saw Knight Mitchell waiting for him in the hallway. He wondered if this knight has his own life.

The knight walked up to him. "Good you are awake. Your dad wanted to make sure you did not sneak out during the night."

John wanted to slam the door in his face but composed himself. "I will be ready after breakfast."

Marla and his friends came strolling down the corridor. John pulled his cord, and a servant came and guided them to the dining room. At breakfast, they barely talked. He noticed Brett looked sullen. He must not like being summoned by his father. After they ate, they went down to the courtyard and saw a group of knights standing by horses.

The Knight Marshall bowed to the prince. "Shall we get going, Prince Brett?"

The prince nodded, and they rode out of the city of Elindor. John and his small band of friends followed behind the prince's guards. The day moved into dusk. The knight Marshall called for a stop. The gates of Absalom was at the far horizon. The Knight Mitchell was moving their group slow. Brett told him the dark knight's army might be hiding in the forest and Mitchell wanted to protect him as best they can. The group broke for camp in a grove of trees sheltered away from the main road. John and his friends sat around and ate dried fruit and drank water.

Prince Brett said, "John what is your plan?"

"I don't know. I am supposed to kill Suprum and take possession of the second half of the Vor'kar. It seems too difficult. Do we know anything about this evil Wizard?"

Prince Brett looked away into the forest. John sensed he knew something but was hesitant to say it.

He said, "Brett what is it?"

"Suprum is my uncle."

John sucked in some air.

He said, "I'm sorry."

Brett grabbed a twig in his hand and spun it around in his hand. "I never knew him. My dad never mentioned him."

"How did you know?"

"I was reading books in the royal library and found a tome on my genealogy line. His name was in it. I asked my mom about him. He was banished because he was plotting to dethrone my dad by killing him."

John said, "Have you asked your dad?"

"No, I cannot bring myself to do that."

"I need to know more," he said. "Does it bother you that I have to kill your uncle."

"No, I hardly knew him like I said and if he tried to murder my dad than he should be killed."

* * *

The next morning he awoke and missed the comfortable bed he slept in a day ago. John wished he could have stayed a week more at the Elindor castle. He stood and tried to smooth the aches and pains in his body by stretching his legs and back. On the far side of camp, he saw the outlines of several knights standing guard.

The sun peaked in the horizon and realized something was wrong. The knights were not moving. He moved closer and saw the knights were also not breathing. He sensed something. He whirled and saw dark robe figures standing around him. His friends and the other knights were still asleep huddle in their sleep gear.

One of the robed figures came closer. "Give me the Vor'kar."

"No. Why do you want it?"

"It has power. We can sense it. We want it."

"You cannot have it."

Each of the robed figures took off their cowl. Pale whites faces stared at him. They each had their head shaved and tattooed with runes on their head.

"We shall have it."

John said, "Do you take commands from the wizard Suprum?"

A laughed erupted from the dark figures. He noticed they did not move their lips or swayed their heads. They were motionless.

"No, we are our own entity."

John was not sure what this meant. The dark figures started to chant. John concentrated and held his hands up. Electricity flowed from his fingertips. He was surprised at first but then focus at the dark figures. A fire blasted at him. He dodged it and sent electricity at the lead figure. The spell bounced off the dark mages arcane barrier.

John breathe was shallow and fatigue watered his eyes. Suddenly, the Vor'kar spoke to him. "Do not worry. Focus on your magic. Let it flow within you."

He almost faltered. He jumped to the side as another flame spell came toward him and hit the spot where he was standing before.

John said, "Gwen?"

"I am not Gwen. I am only her essence."

"Can you help me?"

John dodged another spell. He was not sure how he can keep this up.

The Vor'kar said, "You are asleep. These creatures are called dream wraiths. They crave the Vor'kar because I am pure energy, and they feed off of it."

"How do I destroy these creatures?"

"They have no control over you. This is a dream."

An electricity shot and hit him. He gritted his teeth. If this was his dream, he needed to take control. He smelled his burnt flesh. He stood and created a force field. He relaxed and shot icicles at the nearest dream wraith. The spell bounced off the wraith's shield. John held his hand and moved aside the field. The icicles punctured the wraith. The dark figure disappeared in a cloud of dust.

The other dark wraiths started to attack him at once with several different spells of fire, ice and lightning. He focused and dodged the magic. John grabbed his sword, and fire sprouted from the blade. He jumped and struck the closest wraith and continued to kill each dark figure. Until the last wraith that spoke to him stood looking at him with naked hatred.

John said, "You have no hold over me. Be gone." He lifted the sword, but the dream wraith disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Somebody shook him. He opened his eyes, and he was back in the forest with his friends.

Marla said, "Wake up, John. You were screaming."

"I'm fine. Let me go. I'm awake."

John looked around him and saw his friends staring at him. "I'm sorry. I was having a bad dream."

"Well," Garret said, "it must have been a nightmare because you were kicking and hollering. Do you want to talk about it?"

John could not remember. "I'm not sure. It's hazy."

They had a sparse meal of dried fruit and beef. His dad didn't talk to him or even mentioned his screaming. The group got ready and traveled along the edge of the forest. Their horses moved alone the shadows of the trees. John thought they were being more than extra careful approaching the gates of Absalom and wanted to tell his dad. Garret and Brett also felt the same. They talked in whispers during their ride.

They stopped at midday. John saw the walls and gates of Absalom loom closer against the foreground, but it was still too far to see if any enemies were lurking about. A scout came back to their camp and whispered to the knight Marshall and Mitchell. They started moving again. The knights surrounded the prince and the Knight Marshall. John shook his head. He thought they could trudge forward at full gallop and exit Absalom.

John saw several figures moving along the wall. He crept his hand closer to his sword but stopped when he saw it were a group of Eriel warriors standing guard. Some of the Eriels were cleaning the grounds while others were holding their weapons in hand. This was the first time John saw the destruction of the gate. It seemed as if a giant punched a large hole through the wall. Dead men and creatures lined the areas. Flies the size of a fist buzzed around the bodies. John never thought of the realities of war. It sickened him. He saw his dad in a new light. He was in countless war campaigns in the name of the king and have seen this before. He wondered if this was his future. Will he be the next Knight Marshall fighting in the name of the king? He thought about his friend Garret, who wanted to be a minstrel playing beautiful music. He wished he had some type of talent instead of warfare.

At midday, they exited Absalom. They stopped just a quarter of a league from the gate. The Knight Marshall sent more scouts to investigate. The sun was cresting in the horizon. One of the scouts came back. He was bleeding from his chest. He staggered and fell. Garret grabbed him and led the scout to the Knight Marshall.

After they bandaged his wounds and gave him some food, the scout told them that he and the other knight was ambushed just half a league from here by several ogres. They killed all the creatures but his comrade was killed. Forester, the scout, was certain these creatures were stragglers from the main army and not a scout party. The Knight Marshall was not sure. He ordered them to stay the night nestled between a grouping of trees and sent a small group of knights to check on the ogres.

Garret said, "All this waiting is grating on my last nerves. I should be given a higher rank. You know, John, the Eriel people have called me their savior."

He told him about the battle and how he slew the wyvern.

John said, "I do not think my dad likes that you fought alongside the Eriel people."

Garret nodded. "I think so too. But I have noticed the Eriel's are just like us. They are fierce warriors and have artworks and music just like us. We should not dismiss them as different."

John understood. Yet, he did not want to voice his opinion and remembered he was part Eriel himself. He stared out their small shelter. The horses was off to the side, and the knights sat among each other away from them. Marla and another knight call Jewell was the only female in this group. She was looking outward not listening to their conversation.

Prince Brett came back from his small meeting with the Knight Marshall. He sat next to him. "We will stay here until the knights come back."

"Why are we waiting?" Garret shot back.

Brett shook his head. "We can be heading toward the whole black knight's army. The Knight Marshall believes we are cut off from the Royal Army."

John said, "Somebody needs to warn the Royal army about the black Knights forces."

"Yes," Prince Brett said, "that is also our dilemma."

"What are we going to do?"

Garret interposed. "We can go around the enemy's forces and contact the King."

"We are not sure if we can do that. We need to wait for the small scouting party to come back."

John said, "What happens of the scouting is attacked and killed? We should ask help from the Eriel King. He might help us if Garret goes back to him."

The prince said, "Your dad never wants to go back to Absalom. He told me himself."

John whispered, "He is being stubborn. We might need the Eriel's help in the end."

"I know," Brett said.