Previously on Saga of the Jewels…
The life of seventeen-year-old RYN, bookish son of a wealthy landowner, changes forever when his hometown is destroyed by the EMPIRE and everyone he has ever known is killed. He discovers that the Empire are seeking TWELVE PRIMEVAL JEWELS which grant the power to manipulate different elements, and that his father had been hiding the FIRE RUBY. Ryn sets out to take revenge on the Imperial General who killed his family and retrieve the Fire Ruby, and along the way meets NUTHEA the lightning-slinging princess, SAGAR the swaggering skypirate, ELRANN the tomboy engineer, CID the wizened old healer, and VISH the poppy-seed-addicted bounty hunter. Together the companions decide to find all of the Jewels in order to stop the EMPEROR from finding them first and taking over the world. They have thus far succeeded in retrieving the Fire Ruby, borne by Ryn, and the Lightning Crystal, borne by Nuthea. They have now come to the land of FARR where with the help of the Farrian fighting monk HULD they have retrived the EARTH EMERALD, but Huld and the GOVERNOR of Farr might have other plans for it…
EPISODE TWENTY-NINE: WE SHALL HAVE A TOURNAMENT
“Well I must say I did not entirely expect you to return successfully,” said the Governor of Farr.
They were back in his audience chamber on the summit of Shun-Pei, standing side-by-side a few paces away from his wide wooden desk. This time, Ryn noticed, two guards with shaven heads in green robes stood flanking each side of the desk, and there were two more behind them on the door as well.
“It was rather difficult,” said Nuthea. “We had to fight golems, navigate a darkened labyrinth, herd some glow-worms, bypass a series of traps, and defeat an enormous plant monster... But we managed it in the end. Not least because of the help of your soldier Huld here.”
Ryn sighed quietly. It had been a ‘rather difficult’ experience. They had all been very glad of a good meal and a rest on Wanderlust on their way back here. What am I doing on this crazy adventure, again? Oh, that’s right, I have nothing better to do, and everyone I knew from my life before is dead. Plus we’re saving the world. I suppose that’s quite important. Also, I get to stay around Nuthea.
“I am sure it was very eventful for you,” said the Governor, scowling at them from underneath his large hat and behind the polished oak surface that separated him from them. “Show me then, Huld. I assume you have it?”
“Yes Lord Governor,” said Huld. The hulking monk stepped forward, drawing something out from the folds of his brilliant green robes, and made to hand it to the Governor.
“Don’t give it to me, you fool!” the Governor snapped, his jowls wobbling. “Put it down on the desk! I’m not getting mixed up in any of this magic business, if indeed it is magic…”
Huld bowed his head. “Yes Lord Governor. I’m sorry Lord Governor.” He placed the object on the desk and took a step back to return to his place in the line. Only, he didn’t quite step back all the way—he stayed slightly further forward than the party.
On the desk in front of him shone a small, brilliant leaf-green, oval emerald.
“So,” said the Governor, “does it work?!” Not even a ‘well done’, Ryn thought. “Does it bestow earth-manipulation?”
“Yes, Lord Governor.”
“Show me.”
Huld hesitated a moment, then raised a hand, palm up, as if he was a schoolmaster gesturing for the Governor to stand up out of his chair.
Instead of that happening, with a small rumble some of the mountain-earth in front of the desk of which the floor was composed rose up to form a pointed cone, much like a miniature version of the towers which made up Shun-Pei, before falling back to flatness when Huld lowered his hand again.
He already seemed to be getting more proficient at earth-manipulation in the short time since he had touched the emerald. Ryn noticed the eyebrow of one of the guards stood by the desk rise.
“Good,” said the Governor. He nodded. “You may leave now, foreigners.”
What? Ryn thought.
“What?” Sagar said.
“Pardon me?” said Nuthea.
“You heard me, Manoloian,” said the Governor, grinding his teeth. “I suppose I am somewhat grateful to you for helping to retrieve the Emerald, even though I am sure that Huld did most of the work for you, but you may be on your way now.”
“But Lord Governor,” Nuthea protested, “do you not remember what we agreed? You said that once we had retrieved the Emerald we could take it to keep it safe from the Emperor of Morekemia!”
The Governor snorted. “As far as I remember, I said nothing of the sort. Now leave.”
“Hey!” shouted Sagar, hand going to one of his swords. “You’re out of order, lard-arse!”
Huld whirled round to face him immediately and raised both his hands.
A rumble, the floor shook, and Ryn felt something press his hands against his hips and constrict around his waist.
He looked down. Some of the earth from the floor had risen up and tightened around his body to trap him in a small mound. He wriggled against it, but it held him fast.
On either side of him his companions had been trapped in five similar mounds, arms pinned to their sides.
Not only that, but the four guards in the room had leapt in front of the governor’s desk and now stood there crouched in battle poses, two with hands held out in strange clawed postures, ready to strike, two brandishing long curved swords with green tassels hanging from their hilts.
Ryn thought this was a little over the top.
“You scumbag!” Sagar yelled from where he was affixed in place by Huld’s Earth attack. “You said that we could have the Jewel when we got it!”
“To repeat,” said the Governor from behind his defensive wall of monks, “I said nothing of the sort. You asked to retrieve the Jewel, and you have, and now that you have delivered it safely to me, you may leave. Or suffer.”
“But Lord Governor,” Nuthea persisted, still using the term of address that the Farrians favoured, “didn’t you hear anything we said to you about the Emperor? He has learned of the Jewels! He is seeking them! If you keep this Jewel, it will only be a matter of time before the Empire attack you to take it for themselves, and who knows what damage they will do to your great nation in the process? They will invade you, occupy you, maybe even enslave you! The Jewel will be much safer with us, hidden on a travelling airship, and you will be safer for it too, if you tell the Empire that it has been sent away! We only intend to protect it and keep it safe from the Emperor—our intentions are noble.”
For just a moment, Ryn fancied that he saw the Governor’s scowl twitch into something else; a looser look of doubt.
But then the scowl returned with a vengeance. “Why do you think it will be any better off with you than with us, Manolian? The Emerald belongs to Farr. Until you came along with your…abilities, we had hidden it so well that even we were unable to retrieve it.” He’s contradicting himself, Ryn thought. A moment ago he said that Huld must have done all the work to get it. “We will keep hold of it now, and use it to defend ourselves. We will use it on our soldier-monks, who are loyal to Farr, and imbue them with the power of earth-manipulation, like Huld here.”
Cid took a turn. “But my Lord Governor, why do you think that doing that will protect you? This Emerald is just one of twelve Jewels, and the Empire are seeking all of them. We only came to you first because yours was the next Jewel that we had good information about the location of. Who knows which of the others they have knowledge of, or perhaps have already found? Indeed, the first Jewel they got hold of, before we took it back from them, was the Fire Ruby, and many of the Imperials were given fire abilities with it. And earth is weak to fire!”
This time the Governor went quiet for a moment and his tongue moved round behind his thick lips, as if searching for fragments of food lodged between his teeth.
When he broke his silence he spoke to his ‘best monk’. “Is what this foreigner says true, Huld?”
Huld turned his head to reply, but kept his hands up to keep the party held firmly in their mounds of Earth. “I do not know, Lord Governor. I have no knowledge of whether Morekemia have given any of their soldiers fire projec—”
“Not that!” the Governor barked at him. “Whether or not ‘earth is weak to fire’, as the geriatric said!”
“Oh,” said Huld. “My apologies, Lord Governor.” He turned his head back to look at Ryn, uncertainty breaking out on his normally smiling face. “Um… Yes, I believe it is…” He spoke slowly, as if reluctant to admit what he was saying, still looking at Ryn. “In the Shrine to Eto, this boy with the fire abilities used them to great effect on its magical guardians, who were composed of either earthen or vegetative material… I… I do think it is accurate to say that were it not for his fire-projection we would not have been able to retrieve the Emerald...”
“Hmmm…” Now the Governor’s scowl had morphed into a troubled frown. “I have had reports of aggressive Morekemian movements in the West assisted by supernatural fire-projection…”
“Yes, that’s right,” Nuthea chimed in. “We defeated and...killed a number of the soldiers who had obtained fire abilities when we retrieved the Ruby, but we don’t know how many who still have fire projection are still out there. Or what other Jewels the Emperor may have found and got his hands on by now, like Grandfather said.”
The Governor made a ponderous noise again, and stared off into the distance at nothing in particular. He did not say anything for a few moments.
Then: “I have the solution. You make an odd but interesting case, foreigners, and it is troubling that this ‘Fire Ruby’ is so effective against the element of earth, as Huld has attested… But I will not just give you the Emerald. That would be a great dishonour to us, and I cannot do it. You may have earned the right to bring it back to me, with Huld’s help, but if you wish to take it for yourselves, you must earn that right too. And if what you say is true, then it would seem that the Emerald will be most safe with whoever is the strongest, and so most able to protect and defend it—which may well still prove to be us, as Huld has demonstrated.” He glanced down at the earthen mound which encased Ryn. “Thus, we shall settle this in the traditional Farrian way.”
“What is that?” said Nuthea.
“We shall have a tournament.”
“A tournament?!” Nuthea looked like someone had just told her she was going to have to spend the night in the boys’ sleeping cabin on board their airship.
“Correct,” said the Governor. “We shall hold a tournament to decide who gets to keep the Earth Emerald.”
“What kind of a tournament?” asked Ryn, intrigued. He thought about using his fire projection to break out of the earthen mound which Huld had encased him in, but decided not to for now. Sagar’s aggression hadn’t gotten him very far with the Farrians, and the diplomatic approach seemed to be working marginally better—at least, it had got them this strange offer...
“A tournament of single combat,” said the Governor. “We’re very keen on them here in Farr. We will make it open to anyone, including as many of you foreigners as wish to participate. After a few rounds of qualifying heats, eight champions will fight each other in three rounds of elimination. The winner will get to keep the Emerald—either one of you, if you even make it to the final eight, or a Farrian, for our nation.”
“Lord Governor,” Nuthea said, “with all due respect--and I do respect you and the nation of Farr, very much—that is a very creative idea, but we just don’t have the time for such a ‘tournament’. We need to be leaving in search of the other Primeval Jewels as soon as possible. As I’ve said to you many times, the Emperor of Morekemia is searching for the other Jewels too, and may even have found more of them by now. Our quest is urgent. We simply do not have time to participate in a ‘tournament’.”
“Nonsense.” The Governor waved his hand at her as if he were swatting away an irritating mosquito. “This is my decision. You are lucky that I am making this concession to you at all—I could just decide to keep the Jewel outright, and have you all thrown out of here by Huld.”
Ryn’s finger’s twitched inside the earthen mound in which he was encased.
“But,” the Governor continued, “I am most merciful, and you gave me an even better idea. Shun-Pei has been somewhat restless of late, what with all of this news of military posturing on foreign shores, and a good tournament will give the people some entertainment, and pull them together, and in the process we shall discover who is most worthy and well-qualified to protect the Jewel. Yes. The winner of the tournament will get to keep the Emerald.”
“But my Lord Governor,” Cid spoke up again, desperation creeping into his voice with a quiver, “this is madness! The princess is not jesting with you when she says that we do not have time for such a thing. Can you not see the urgency of our quest? If you delay our progress towards finding the Jewels by holding this tournament, you are putting the whole of Mid, the whole world, in even more danger than it already is!”
“Enough!” the Governor snapped, flushing red, and held up a hand. “The tournament is my final offer. Do you accept or not? If you do not accept, I will have you thrown out of here!”
“We don’t accept!” said Sagar. “Come on guys, we can take them! Show ‘em some firepower, Ryn!”
“No!” Nuthea yelled at once. “No violence!”
Ryn’s hands had grown hot inside the earth mound, but he held himself back. He wasn’t about to take orders from Sagar, and he agreed with Nuthea that violence wasn’t going to solve anything here. Huld still stood in front of them with his hands held up, along with the four other fighting monks. Although Ryn did think he could take them, given earth’s weakness to fire. They may be better trained hand-to-hand fighters than he was, especially if these other monks were anything like Huld, but he was pretty sure if he threw a fireball or two at them they would back down pretty quickly. He didn’t need to prove that to anybody. Yet.
“Lord Governor,” Nuthea spoke again when she had seen that no one was going to start fighting, “thank you for your generous offer. May...may we take a moment to talk about it together? In private?”
The Governor of Farr itched a fat cheek. “I do not see what there is to talk about. This is my offer. There will not be any others.”
“Be that as it may,” said Nuthea, “we must still confer as to...as to whether to remain here to participate in this ‘tournament’ or to leave in pursuit of the rest of the other Jewels.”
“Alright,” said the Governor. “You can have five minutes. In the antechamber outside. Let them go, Huld.”
“Are you sure, my Lord Governor?” said Huld, still looking at Ryn. “We do not know if they are sincere.”
“Do not question me!” barked the Governor. “The Manolian is clearly the ringleader, and she has spoken peace. They’re not clever enough to employ covert methods of communication between themselves. If they try anything, you have my permission to incapacitate them.” Ryn was sure he wouldn’t be so confident if he wasn’t talking from behind a wall of five fighting monks, one with elemental projection powers. “Let them go.”
“Yes, Lord Governor,” Huld said and, still keeping his gaze firmly fixed on Ryn, he motioned with his hands and brought them down to his sides.
At the same time, the earthen mounds holding the party members in place receded back into the floor with a rumble.
Ryn rubbed his arms. Huld had been holding them in the earth quite tight, it turned out…
Once they were out in the antechamber and the doors had been shut, Sagar said, “Alright, team huddle.”
Ryn realised he didn’t care so much anymore that Sagar was initiating this. Whatever Sagar said, Nuthea was clearly the one who was leading their adventuring party in practice, as the Governor had identified. At least at the moment. Sagar was ‘all talk and no trousers’, as Ryn’s mother used to say…
Mother. Father. Hometown. Found Vorr. Got Vorr. Killed Vorr. Now stay with Nuthea. Find the Jewels. Save the world.
The party locked arms and huddled together, shoulder to shoulder for one of their team discussions. Nuthea’s honey-scented breath warmed Ryn’s left cheek. On his right, Sagar—stale tobacco leaf. Ugh.
“Right, you guys,” said Sagar as soon as they were all in the huddle, “I say we march straight back in there and take the Jewel by force. We can take a handful of baldies easy, and with Ryn here’s fire projection powers he can deal with them in a matter of moments!”
“No!” said Nuthea again. “We are not doing that, Captain Sagar!”
“Well why the hells not? It’s the most logical course of action! Wham, bam, we get our Emerald, a big cash bonus for me since the first Jewel has been found, and it’s off in search of the next one. Where’s the problem with that?”
“It is not the Way of the One.”
“Arrrg,” protested Sagar, “not this again! Come on! Only two of us are Oneists!”
Maybe two and a half, thought Ryn.
“It’s not just that,” said Nuthea. “Not only is it not the Way of the One, but it’s against the whole spirit of this Quest and our whole mode of operation.”
“She’s right,” said Cid. “We can’t just go charging into countries and taking Jewels by force. If we do that we’re no better than the Imperials.”
“Well that’s what pirates do,” said Sagar. “Are you saying that I’m no better than the Imperials, old man??”
“Of course he’s not,” said Nuthea. “At least you fought against the Empire. And you rescued Ryn and me.”
“If you can call it that…” mumbled Ryn.
“What was that, pup?”
Ryn nearly said “Nothing,” but then instead he went for “The way I remember it, you needed quite a lot of persuading by Nuthea not to keep us captive, or kill us.”
Sagar scowled at him.
“Look, let’s not argue about this,” said Nuthea. “We’re in a difficult enough situation as it is. Not only is taking Jewels by force from people they legitimately belong to not the way that we are going to do things, but even if it was, it would work against us in the long run. The Emerald is only the first of nine more Jewels which we need to find. If we start off our Quest by just snatching Jewels from countries’ governments for ourselves, other nations will hear of it and we’ll get a reputation.”
“Again,” said Sagar, “I don’t see the problem here. What exactly is the problem with this plan?”
“Captain Sagar, that kind of reputation might work for a skypirate crew, but for us it could mean that it is harder for us to find the Jewels hidden in other countries, or even outright stop us entirely from having their locations divulged to us. It just wouldn’t help us in the long run. On the other hand, if we work with the nations of Mid to find the Jewels before the Emperor does, explaining why we are doing so when we have to, then we’ll get a reputation for being the group trying to protect the world that we actually are.” She glanced at Sagar pointedly. “That way, the different peoples of Mid might actually help and assist us in finding the Jewels. The Governor of Farr has been very helpful and cooperative with us, up until now. If we fight him for the Emerald, we can’t expect him or anyone else to trust us in the future. But if we work with him to get the Emerald, we set a precedent, and we might be able to work with other nations to find other Jewels afterwards, too.”
A pause.
“Rrrr,” said Sagar.
“But he is asking us to fight for the Emerald,” said Ryn, “just in a different way to what Sagar’s saying: he wants us to enter this tournament thing. What’s the deal with that?”
“It’s because the Farrians love fighting so much,” said Elrann, the first time she had spoken up in the huddle. “I remember this from the times I was in Farr before. They love fighting here—not brawling for arguments’ sake like you, pirate-man, more like a controlled, practiced sort of fighting, without weapons. It’s like sport for them. They do it for exercise, to train themselves—I think it’s even part of their religion. All those monks in the green robes are trained in it. Like Huld. And they hold these fighting tournaments quite often—to give themselves something to train and practice for, and so the different students and masters of their fighting schools can show off their skills and gain prestige. I got to see one once, on one of my visits. It was pretty amazing actually.”
“Alright then…” said Sagar, eyeing her carefully. “So I enter this tournament, I beat the Farrians, I get the Emerald for us. Easy. A bit more work than I’d hoped, but still: Easy.”
“What?” said Elrann. “Ya think you can win it just like that? Ya think you can beat monk-man, do ya?”
“Baldy?!” Sagar scoffed. “I could take him, easy!”
“Have you seen the way he fights? And he has earth powers now as well.”
“Pffft,” Sagar made a dismissive noise and waved his hand. “I could still take him...” His words remained confident, but Ryn noticed his voice became a little quieter.
“I wonder if we’d be allowed to use our elemental powers in this tournament,” Ryn said. “If we were, I think I’d have a pretty good chance of beating the Farrians with earth powers, what with their being weak to fire and everything.” He deliberately phrased his words in a less brash way than Sagar. He didn’t want to get shot down like the skypirate had.
“That’s a good point,” said Cid. “Before we accept this offer of a tournament, we should find out if elemental projection will be allowed or not. If it is, it does seem like we have a good chance with Ryn.”
Sagar mumbled something indistinctly.
“Well what do we do if you’re not allowed to use elemental powers in the tournament?” said Elrann.
“Then we would need to rely on someone who is extremely skilled at fighting, even without them.”
All of them except Sagar looked at Vish.
“What?” said Vish after a moment, the first thing he had said in the huddle.
“Will you fight for us, Shadowfinger Vish?” Nuthea asked him.
“Yes,” Vish said simply, “if you give me poppy.”
“We’ve spoken about this, young man,” said Cid. “You need to spread out your poppy hits more in order to come off of it.”
“Alright then,” said Vish, a tinge of irritation touching his tone. “What I mean is, if you continue to supply me with poppy and to...help me ‘come off it’, then of course, I will do whatever you want, yes. I will fight in this tournament for you, yes. I will win it.”
“Excellent,” said Nuthea.
“Oh sure,” mumbled Sagar, “he gets to assume that he’ll win even without powers, and everyone just agrees with him…”
“I think it’s settled, then,” Nuthea continued, ignoring him. “We will enter this ‘tournament’ that the Governor is proposing. Either Ryn will win it if powers are allowed, or Shadowfinger Vish if they are not—”
“Or I will,” said Sagar.
“--and one way or the other, we will get the Emerald. Are we all agreed?”
“Agreed,” everyone said, except Sagar, who said “No.”
“Good. Let’s go back in there and find out some more details, then.”
They broke the huddle and marched back through the double doors to the Governor’s audience chamber, resuming their places in a line in front of his desk together. The monks had resumed their own places at the doors and either side of the desk. Huld now stood at the right hand of the seated Governor, hands behind his back, upright and attentive. The Emerald shone on the wooden surface in front of them.
“Well then,” said the Governor, sneering at them, “do you accept my generous offer of a tournament?”
“We think so, yes,” said Nuthea. “We just have a few questions, if we may.”
“What?” said the Governor rudely.
“Well, firstly, will Jewel-gifted powers of elemental projection be allowed at this tournament?”
“Yes.”
Huld’s face cracked into a frown, breaking the mask of his serene smile. “My Lord Governor! Are you sure?”
“Quiet, Huld!” barked the Governor. “Do not speak out of turn! I am quite sure. The whole point of this tournament is to find the person or persons most worthy and capable of guarding and defending the Emerald. If elemental projection is to play a part in that, then so be it. What’s more,” he added, almost to himself, “if the people of Farr see one of you defeat the fighting monks of Eto to win the tournament (which I highly doubt will happen), they will find it much easier to understand why I am entrusting the safety of the Emerald to a band of filthy foreigners…”
That’s good, thought Ryn. Though the pressure’s on me now… Find the Jewels. Save the world. Win the tournament.
“Thank you, Lord Governor,” said Nuthea. “Question two:” ‘Question Two’? thought Ryn. Who talks like that? I guess she does. “When will you be able to hold this tournament? My companions and I must be leaving as soon as possible in search of other Jewels.”
“We’ve just been talking about the logistics,” said the Governor. “The tournament will be held in one week.”
“One week?!”
“That’s what I said, Manolian.”
“But my Lord Governor, we need to be off in search of the other Jewels as soon as possible! A week is a long amount of time at the moment. The Empire could make significant progress in a week! They could discover the whereabouts of more Jewels, even obtain them…”
“I remind you that my decision to hold a tournament to decide who keeps the Emerald is my final offer, Manolian. In truth, whether you accept and enter or not is really irrelevant—I am going to hold it anyway.”
“May we confer again?”
“No. I want your answer now.”
Nuthea looked pained. “It seems you leave us no other course of action, Lord Governor. The Emerald is the only Jewel which we fear the Empire may know of already, due to the once public nature of its previous discovery and hiding. It is the highest priority on our list. Though I regret it, we will wait a week for this tournament. Then we will enter it, and one of us will win it.”
“We shall see,” said the Governor, the corner of his mouth curling up mockingly. “Very well. You shall enter the tournament, which shall be held in one week, in the Tenkachi arena. Until then, I will provide lodgings for you in Shun Pei. Feel free to explore the city. Witness our superior culture. Train, I suggest, if you want even the faintest flicker of a hope of winning in the tournament! I will see you in one week. Yal!” He shouted the last word. A name.
There was a fumbling at the door and then it opened and a harangued head poked around it. Ryn recognised the official who had first led them to the Governor’s chamber.
“Yes, Lord Governor?”
“Have these foreigners shown to guest rooms in the manse. Then issue a decree: There is to be a tournament at Tenkachi, open to all Farrians and anyone currently residing in Farr. They have one week to travel here. There will be a great prize for the winner.”
“Yes, my Lord Governor.” The official’s gaze fell on the Emerald where it sat on the Governor’s desk. “Shall I say what the prize will be?”
“No,” said the Governor. “Absolutely not. We don’t want the Morekemians getting wind of recent events. Just tell them there will be vast sums of money involved. Say, a million gold pieces from the treasury. That should attract the very best talent; not that we need any more than what we already have here in the city. Now be off with you.”
“Very good, Lord Governor,” said the official. “Please come with me,” he said to Ryn and his friends, and the party bid goodbye to the Governor, for now, and followed him out of the chamber.
Thanks for reading!
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