The wind was blowing harshly and somehow it was more evident and powerful than it was before. The clouds were around the moon, guarding it. Ever since the Odeans declared war on Yavker, The King had announced a full-time curfew. The Wocfer was divided. The Knerjdans and Lverians sided with Yavker. The Cdeslons and people of West Knerjda sided with Odean. It was past midnight. All the Saxons in the camp were passing different opinions on the golden apple story. The myth says Golden Apple is a fruit that grows in the dewy woodland. A Trader from North Knerjda fought with the guardian of the golden apple and gifted the apple to the king. Theories on how the trader fought with the mysterious guardian were being passed now. Danielle was the head of the conversation. With her minions Aragon and Jem. While discussing, she was also giving unwanted advice on how to avoid and dodge the guardians, if one ever encountered them. I was not interested in their devious imaginations and tips, so I walked my way towards my rock bed, which I had made when we were testing our powers. It was rigid and strong, and although I was not comfortable sleeping on it at first, I was now. When I sat on my bed, I saw that Danielle and the others had long left the golden apple topic and were now playing a silly game: predicting the sounds weapons made. A foolish game, I know.
I did not like anyone here, except Skylar, who was my best buddy. Skylar and I talked about everything. From palace politics to the five skies, the Lurex, the fifteen war strategies of general Theo, and what we most desired- being a Magus.
About 10 years ago, When we were fifteen, Skylar had brought in our camp, parchments of paper. When I took a good look at them, I saw that they had drawings of suns and stars, the moon, astrological signs, different creatures, and plants. Moreover, it was written in a language the druids were unable to decode. When I asked Skylar where he had acquired these valuable papers, he told me had torn these from a grey book that was inside Archero's private cabinet. Archero was the greatest druid of all time, and he had conducted research on all the skies and now was moving on to prove that there was a world under the land too, as it was above the skies. I had been horrified when I had first heard of this because we could be caught. To my surprise, no one realized that some papers were missing and so both Skylar and I got away with this.
'What sound does a dagger make?' A loud, bossy voice asked. The ballistic tone made me realize it was Aragon. Aragon and I were best friends when we turned out to be Saxons, but she joined Danielle's 'crew' and we stopped talking. Now whenever she addresses me, she means pure business. When no one replied, I felt flaming eyes on my back. I quickly turned around and saw her blue eyes scanning me. Only then did I understand she was talking to me. Aragon looked like she would stab me if I kept maintaining my silence. I was about to answer her lame question with a wheezing sound of my imaginary dagger when Wylan, the Lurex key keeper, entered our camp. Wylan had his lips pursed together as if he was going to stay quiet, but when he broke his silence, I was surprised to find all the Saxons in our camp recognized the shocking hue in his voice.
'I'm sorry to disturb you at this time,' he said putting his hand into the pocket of his keftan, pulling out a white paper blotted with ink, signatured with the king's stamp. 'The Saxons in Yavker are to fight for the country in the upcoming war against our long enemies- the Odeans. The details of the war shall be provided by Wylan. You are not to be seen roaming around in any part of Yavker. Stay where you are, stay safe,' Wylan then rolled the parchment from the king and stuffed it into his pocket. His jawline flinched and his eyebrows tensed.
'Do you understand what this means?' he asked us, knowing that we do not know. The letter seemed quite normal to me and reading the expression on Skylar's face, it made perfect sense to him too. After a while which seemed like an eternity, he answered the question himself. 'This means you all will fight with the army,' Great. Now Wylan thought we were foolish enough not to understand this. The letter clearly stated "The Saxons in Yavker are to fight for the country in the upcoming war" both Skylar and I shared perplexed glances. Everyone has to fight for their country, one day or the other. We had been taught this at every step of our life: 'Este crost si orf Yavker ew lliw yal ruo sdeah fi yrassecen' (Our life is for Yavker, we will lay our heads if necessary) As if Wylan could read our bewildered minds through our blank faces, he said:
'The Odeans are powerful people. Their power is magnificent. They have conquered a lot of areas. You know why the Saxons did not participate in the war last year or before that? If we did not participate in the war before, why were we doing it now? In the history of Wocfer the lowest class of magicians has never participated in the wars. Because we are not capable of conjuring anything. The Saxons can only conjure the elements of the earth. Some of you can conquer wind, the airbenders, some can control water, waterbender, some of you can control the earth, the earthbender and the rest are firebenders. Elements of earth are little used in battlefields. What can a firebender do? Set the whole battle to fire? Well, the Odeans have Gwelling Shields. A Saxon wouldn't be able to do anything except laying his/her head in the battle field,'
I would have laid my head. Yavker is running in my veins. I love my country. Even if I cannot do anything, I can fight with my spear and dagger till my last breath. If the king orders me to, I will fight till crimson liquid with a pH of 7.4 drains out of every part of my body. I will fight till my voice becomes hoarse and my hands become stiff.
'You all think that the king needs you? Yavker needs you? No. The reality is, Saxons are being included in the army because this class needs to be finished,'