Scrolls of the Prophet
Book I
◆◆◆
◆◆◆
Spear of Destiny
Our forward movement had barely stopped for an instant, just long enough for me to raise up one palm and cover my mouth as a wide yawn stretched across it. I had only just noticed how heavy my eyes felt, how dry my throat had become, and how loudly my stomach was beginning to speak.
Sir Milo chuckled lightly...
"Tell me about it...young master..," he said with a grin. "How does a morning meal of boar-meat and hen-eggs sound to your belly..? If we're lucky...there may even be some left-over goat's milk—and perhaps a few toasted brown bread cakes as well..."
"Master Milo...that sounds like the breakfast of champions..!" I exclaimed, just as my stomach gave another eager grumble. My hands instinctively tightened their grip as Alfy stood poised to stride down from the embankment.
"Ya—ya..!" Milo called, as he urged the mare forward at a fairly brisk pace.
Before long, the great-blue travel tent of "Sir Tancred" had come into view and it stood out majestically in its placement at the heart of the encampment. It stood out tall while positioned slightly behind several flagpoles—each easily two-hundred paces in height. From their upper elevations, flew ornate banners in vibrant colors. The grandest of them all bore "Sir Tancred’s" family emblems: a thick red-cross emblazoned on a span of white-silk, flapped proudly in the wind.
"Well...young master...Tav...this is where I leave you..," Sir Milo said, he extended a hand to help me dismount. I grabbed hold and held it tightly as he lowered me to the ground.
It took a solid minute for my legs to adjust—still wobbly from the ride—and Sir Milo laughed heartily at the sight of my plight while I did my very best to regain my full balance. Without missing a beat, he reached over from Alfy’s saddle-bag and cut free my knapsack with its white-sheeted bundle and handed it down to me in one fluid motion.
"You’ll want this..," he said as he reached into his vest and pulled out the familiar oaken-lid top that was etched in detail with its elegant carvings and freshly bored hole in the middle of its face. "Proof of passage—don’t you lose it..," he followed with light air.
"Thank you...Master Milo...and thank you too...Alfy..!" I called out as the knight and his mare turned to go. He raised a hand in farewell, the pair already on their way to be fed and reset at the stables.
Now alone, I mounted my treasures and gave little thought to my left-behind pull-drag as I then slowly made way toward a nearby water-barrel, and after a period of heavy gulps of cool-liquid, I threw a few palm-fulls over my dust-covered head. The thought of my pained bladder had now crossed my mind—"The watering ditch must be around here some-where..,” I thought with amusement.
Newly refreshed, I took a few steps and dropped my belongings at the foot of a polished red-wood table which sat just outside of the front meeting room inside "Sir Tancred’s" large tent. Then, with a spring in my step, and my confidence renewed, I set off to complete with my morning releases.
Outside of a thinly walled orange-and-white striped, narrowly-tall tent sat a familiar wooden placard which was hung at head-height. It was octagonal in shape and it bore a painted tan-image—both simple and clear—the depiction of a bare-rounded-backside over two-arched lines. It always made me smile.
Inside, I took my seat upon one of five placements which had been cut-out from a wood section of plank that hung suspended from the ceiling like a swing. I was already aware of the immediate wobble and adjusted my positiom, my feet fully ungrounded as I sat above a deep trench which ran low just below. A small spindle sat posted in front me and of each the seat-holes held a brass-bowl at the side which was filled halfway with a mixture of sand and fresh wood-ash, and their were also strips of cloth-rags which had been draped right be-side them.
Once I was finished, I used the cloth, dumped the ashes, and sealed-up the used rags in a tall-lidded vase that sat just within reach, ideally to keep any strong odors from escaping—something I’d learned to do in one motion and quickly..!
“Morning duties completed..!” I said with renewed vigor and a sigh of relief, then dropped from my perch and exited the tent before returning once more to wash again at the barrel.
First, I removed my sandals and quickly scrubbed my feet, and then cupped up more water to sanctify my elbows, as per our customs before straitening my dress.
I found myself reflecting.
This encampment—modern, structured, and ever so sophisticated—it was a marvel of design and a tribute to to their order. "Stool floated positions instead of bare-bottom squatting..,” I mused. “Simply ingenius...how could it have taken so long for someone to think of it..?"
Afterward, Sir Milo and I met again and he honored his pledge for a long awaited meal of boar slices, hen eggs, toasted flat-bread, and goat’s milk. But even as I ate, my thoughts soon fell back on the task that lie ahead, and my mission of choice; one's dowry for walking...
And curiously, I couldn’t help but wonder—"Where was "Master Tancred", and would he be willing..?"
When I questioned Sir Milo about the where-abouts of "Master Tancred", he advised me that I should give it no worry, and just simply return to the Great Master’s blue-tent to await his arrival. I agreed with his judgment and then thanked the large knight for all of his assistance befor I left from the flow of the food-canopies to once more make my way, at a very relaxed pace, back toward the master's multi-room, high-topped, fine dwelling.
The early part of the day had faded as I strolled along, and a new thought came to mind—"if I didn’t set out for Madaba by mid-day...I’d surely be tardy and possibly arrive too late to make-ready my point...The meeting with Dienson...Maggy’s caretaker...and the guardian of her trust...it might not take place..!" And this worried me greatly...
“Shekels or talents...talents or shekels..?” I murmured to myself, my mind cast into mental circles as I walked through the encampment.
When I finally reached the twin-wispy sashes of the tent’s front oblong entrance, I stepped back for a moment before entering in to its large front greeting room. My stomach was full, a most hearty morning meal, and I considered skipping this meeting for a few moments of rest which sounded truly appealing. "After all...I could probably for-go both mid-and-late-day meals after what I’d just devoured...at least that would save me some time..," I thought, while I mused at my own thoughts of insensible logic...
But the idea of resting had quickly fell aside.
I chose to make entry and there, at the polished redwood table, sat "Master Tancred"—and he was already deep in the throws of conversation with an older man who sat right beside him. Solemn and serious, that was the play here, the pair out before me and wrapped in black-robes. The visitor had large, pale-grey-eyes which floated above his thick, matching beard, and his fingers tapped gingerly at the surface of the table as I entered the room.
Between them, lay the carved wooden-lid that I had carried—the very piece of armorment which had saved me from the mad-assassin, Hassani and his arrow.
“Young Master...Tav..!” "Sir Tancred" called over as he noticed me immediately. “Great to see you...my lad...we were just speaking of you and your adventures...and assessing your remarkable finds...come...do approach the table closer and make yourself known..!"
The older man left me irrelevant and offered no nod as he continued his inspection of the fully unhinged box-lid, his eyes squinted heavily as his fingers gingerly ran their course over the lid's ornately carved surfaces.
“This is a miraculous object...indeed...my young apprentice..,” Tancred said. “Is there a chance that you can recall the precise location where you luckily found it..?”
“Great Master..,” I began, and took a step inward and forward, “it was somewhere in the desert...but we rode so fast…and undaunted that I can't say exactly where...perhaps Sir Milo...who had brought me here on Alfy...he would remember much clearer just where the burial pits lie, fresh dug and be visible—with their mounds above the sands...”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Tancred's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “And do you know just what you have got here...Tav..? Or...why it really matters..?”
“I assumed it just a lid—with a family crest in the least...But yes...I do believe it carries a bit of luck from the gods...for if you look at that hole in the center...you'll see the mark that was left behind by Hassani’s and his arrow...that assassin, he shot me flat-square in the chest with his finely crafted crossbow...and if not for that particular piece of hardware you hold there...the flat wood I kept inside of my tunic...well...I'd most likely be dead and not standing here now...”
At the mention of the assassin, both men raised high their eyebrows. Yet, the older man of the two, he still seemed to be far more absorbed in his efforts to decipher the strange text which was carved into the wood plate and not that of my personal tale.
“I was lucky...I admit..,” I continued. “I only carried it because the original box had been broken...and I had hoped you might read the inscription and notify a family, or at-least tell what it says...”
Tancred’s voice grew serious.
“Hassani the Assassin"…"buried relics"…"body pits"…You must tell us everything...young...master...But first...we need to bring in Sir Milo to pinpoint the exact location...for the writing on this plate refers to a specific, ornate spearhead—one that holds great religious importance...and if that artifact still lies out in the desert some-where, we must then recover it...And if the assassin has already taken it… that could be disastrous...”
He leaned in, his eyes widened with concern.
I took a breath,and then calmly replied, “I do see your need...Great Master—and I am happy to assist...But it’s been a long journey...and I do seek some rest...perhaps if we just take a moment, could we discuss the value of such an object…its trade or potential...I mean..?” With a subtle movement I slid the wooden-box which had rested on the table—a little closer to my reach...
"Sir Tancred" raised his voice in the slightest of octives, “You don’t understand...young master...Tav...this isn’t merely a matter of gold or barter in trade...this particular item has spiritual significance...it surely outweighs all matters of the lighter..,” he pressed both his palms to be flat on the table and leaned toward me slowly in a most serious manner...
Suddenly, the two men launched into a flurry of speech that was spoken in a foreign tongue I knew not of—quick, sharp, and unintelligible to my ears. The old man pointed fiercely at the text on the wooden-plate, his actions as though it held some key to salvation.
I watched them closely as they got caught up in their preoccupation, and I couldn't resist simply toying with them more.
Slowly, and almost imperceptibly, I began to unroll the white-cloth made of fabric, but they were heated in talking and gave me little notice. Bit by bit, I peeled back the fabric, until finally the solid weight of the hidden object within slid released to my palm.
“Perhaps...Great Master Tancred..,” I said slowly, “if you could translate the writing...I might have a clearer idea of your need in return to its place of origin...or...with the right encouragement in shekels…” I paused, teased the words out, “Perhaps we could even hasten your search...”
With that, I lifted the long, gleaming spear-head from where I held it now some-what hidden down-low and away from their vision, all while the flicker from candle-ights danced across its polished surface and illuminated it greatly, the deep, intricate etchings, they showed out from the blank surface of the hardened, carved metal...
Tancred gasped...
“Dear Lord above… it cannot be..!” he cried, his thick brows arched high, his mouth fell to full open.
“It is—it is..! The holiest of relics..!” the old-owl of a man, he crooned from his position as his thick-matted beard quivered each time that he spoke. His voice crackled in the air, high pitched and left breathless as he darted around from the far-side of the table to come and stand close at mine.
His eyes—enlarged, pale and grey, like polished silver-coins as they glistened out with emotion. With his hands left at shaking, he put fingers to their reach towards the folds of his robe and pulled forth a piece of green-silk, the material fine and rich in its color, just like the ones Sir Milo had provided to me earlier. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if all the fine "Knights of the Realm" had their own secret silks which they kept aside in their pockets. "Was I the only one without some..?" I almost bit my lip, and I tried not to laugh at the rediculous thought—"what secret club of special members had I wandered into..?"
The old man, however, he was not put to laughter. His eyes were locked-on the shine of the spearhead which sat in my hands.
He held out the green-silk with a kind sort of wisdom, his face locked of reverance as he whispered quite gently, “For the love of the Father...child—may I hold the holy relic..?”
His voice trembled with nervousness...
“If you haven’t realized it yet...my son…you have discovered a most-rare and sacred treasure...one of all the known ages...long lost and awaited...the Christo's most fabled—Spear of Destiny..!”
...Select Next Scroll...
************
************
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Thank you valued Rider's Vault Members..!
------------------------------------------------------------
CURRENT VOLUME List:
------------------------------------------------------------
Scrolls of the Prophet...historical/biblical/adventure/coming of age
- Awakening
- Gathering
- Binding
- Bloodline
- Prophecy
- Phoenicia
- Future Dig
------------------------------------------------------------
Scrolls of the Past...historical/adventure/coming of age
- Amen Rey (Egyptian)
- House of the Fawn - (Greek)
- Spice Road - (Persian)
------------------------------------------------------------
Dominatrix...sci-fi/thriller/action/space adventure/coming of age/assassin
- Domina
- Bisal
- Alaran
------------------------------------------------------------
Terraformation..sci-fi/action/adventure/alien love story/space travel
- Terra-Form
- Terra-Rise
- Terra-Site
------------------------------------------------------------
Quest of the Seeker..thriller/murder mystery/afterlife/coming of age
- The Key
- The Clown
- The Seeker
**Hint: The Seeker is the Grim Reeper's brother...:)
------------------------------------------------------------
The Cleaner..action/thriller/coming of age/assassin
- The Child
- The Woman
- The Teacher
------------------------------------------------------------
Ready The Yeti..children's series/adventure/life lessons
- I Am Ready
- I Am Sassy
- I am Abominable
or
------------------------------------------------------------
Follow my load of chapters 1-30 as I edit / proof-read / and post...
------------------------------------------------------------
Scrolls of the Prophet - Book Volumes 01 - 07 + all other titles in progress (25 Book Volumes)
Join and continue to chapters 01 - 30 of each volume
Read them as a whole - or read them as I load them...
Thanks for your support....Rider
************
************
◆ all volumes ◆ unedited ◆ edited ◆
◆ full-draft versions ◆
◆ early-bird releases ◆ bundles ◆
************
************
◆ all volumes ◆ all titles ◆ unedited ◆ edited ◆
◆ full-draft versions ◆
◆ early-bird releases ◆ bundles ◆
************
Or if you feel fishy... -Nano
https://youtu.be/oVDP3mlpniQ -
