The Honor of Beasts

Chapter Nine - Part One

My mind runs over the words of the note I received this morning, as Maurin and Caleb read them quietly right now.

The first trial of Velidia's fifth Blood Games:

Deshora Race, across the dunes of the Vermis desert, through the Pass of the Four Gales and passing by Paradise River.

The race will commence outside the capital of Velidia on the eighth hour of the 27th day of May of the 1492nd Earth Year.

We wish you the best of luck.

May our Glorious Velidia remain mighty for all eternity.

The Pass of the Four Gales. It was rumored to be one of the Majestic Four's wonders. The former rulers of Velidia, Tegisouri, Norma, and Idilis —my mother's kingdom— when they were under one rule, under one empire. The Corrizium Empire.

The four sorcerers left magical places and items all over their lands. But mostly in Velidia, as they ruled from our capital. But back then it wasn't even called Velida. For our borders were only established after the War of the Damned between the humans and sorcerers, which split the empire and led to the disappearance of the Majestic Four. And after a century or so another war started which has yet to end.

The Golden War.

Anyway, the rumors aren't true. I know the real story behind that stormy pass. It was caused by sorcerers. Two powerful, fighting sorcerers. Their powers clashed, the energy was too high, too wild for them, for the sky, for everything in their vicinity. And then...BOOM!

It's rumored that their ghosts still haunt the place, that their pained moans and furious shouts are interlaced with the howl of the raging winds.

Some say they were brothers, others say friends who loved the same woman, and others that they were plain out enemies. In my opinion, they could all be true. After all, there's a trace of truth in every rumor, right?

"So, a deshora race huh? Not too bad. Not too bad," Maurin remarks as he examines the elegant card. I sigh.

"Across the pass? I feel like that's bad," Caleb comments, glancing at the card over his father's shoulder.

"If it's not hard, then where is the challenge? Where is the excitement? This isn't a fun little race for the kids. There has to be danger," he clears his throat as Caleb and I frown. "With that being said, let's do a nice warm up shall we?"

Caleb groans as I muffle mine. Maurin's "nice warm ups" are not nice at all, sometimes they even take an hour or more to accomplish.

But the Blood Games have begun, so I'll need all of Maurin's deceiving warm ups.

He crosses his arms, thinking for a moment. "Hmm..I didn't have a good breakfast this morning."

Caleb and I sigh in unison. Why can't he ever be straightforward?

As he rubs his bearded chin, he continues, "And I've heard lots of good things about vulture eggs. Very delicious they say. A rare delicacy. Very rare." He smiles thoughtfully.

I narrow my eyes, "Which vulture do you mean exactly?"

He glances at me with a mischievous twinkle in his dark blue eyes. "I'm sure you know exactly which vulture I'm referring to."

The Verin vulture. The queen of all vultures in Velidia. Named after the very city we live in, as they're only found in the canyons surrounding it. The mother's are one of the most overprotective beings in all of Velidia. They rip the throat of anyone who dares come close to their nests. If I remember correctly, I only saw an egg of theirs once, which my father ate. One of the lords, a powerful sorcerer, presented it to father as a gift.