The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter One - Council Decisions

The High Council had debated the subject for a while now. Which year of Prodigies would they send? There was no clear choice; though there was plenty of room for error. One thing they did agree on was that the candidates could be no younger than seventeen once the danger set foot on the land which left twelve groups to choose between. The debates consisted of who was strongest, which group worked best together, who had the most experience, and who faced similar to what was to come. There was no clear answer as the older Prodigies had greater amounts of experience than the younger ones, but the younger ones were stronger and more skilled. The debate went on for days. The Council could not come to a decision.

The oldest Prodigies were only twenty seven years old, and nothing could be done about the younger ones unless they wanted to risk aging them with magic. Such things were dangerous as they could leave the victim as old as eighty years. This was no time for old men and women to fight, even if they were Prodigies. The same could be said of the ones that were only seventeen, they shouldn't have to go and fight this fight. These young men and women needed to live a life, to marry and bear children. Of course, such privileges were not available to them.

The central councilor asked for advice left and right, something that was truly rare. Councilors were supposed to be the wisest and the ones that could always be trusted to solve a problem, and if a councilor was asking for help then we were indeed in dark times. After asking a few of the more trusted nobles he decided to keep to himself about his struggles, after all it wouldn't do good to have a noble or two start spreading fear around the kingdom.

As the old man came walking to his dwelling in the castle his wife was sitting on a chair embroidering a pillow with some of the finest silk, such was one of the perks of being a councilor's wife. As she, almost mindlessly, embroidered away her husband slumped into the seat next to her with a heavy sigh. The old man looked exhausted and worried with his drooping eyes, his furrowed brow and weak frown.

"How was the day, me husband?" asked his wife.

"Aye, it was of almost no use at all," said the man, running his fingers through what little of his grey hair remained, "That blithering fool Archus seems to disagree with me out of spite."

"Well did you at least get farther along onto the decision, my dear?"

"No, we've been stuck on the same darn twelve groups of those damned Prodigies!"

"Well now, there ain't no need to be yelling now," said the wife sternly, "I wouldn't want you to end up meeting the wooden spoon on that there hand of yours."

"Ha ha, you old hag!" said the husband playfully, "this is why I married you all those years ago, you always had that fire in you."

"Oh you old dog! If you wanted someone to talk mean you could've always committed yourself a crime and get swayed by that there jailer that has a curse in every sentence"

"He doesn't have your eyes though my dear, and I can't kiss him either!" They both laughed, such was a sweet thing to be old and still in love. They continued on for their remaining hours of the day in complete harmony with each other. By the time it was dark outside the central councilor felt much more content than when he arrived. They talked of the small things in their life as well as the big. The councilor, Aegon, was expected to give a final suggestion as to the decision making process by noon or they would resort to pulling out numbers from a bag. He asked his wife if she had any ideas as to what he could bring into the next debate. After offering the same answers that the other council members had, she then gave the brilliant idea of a trial of feats. The group that they would send would be determined by a trial of both skill and experience, a clear solution that evaded the wrinkly old men of the council. He wondered how she hadn't become a member of at least the lower council, she basically ran through the all of the ideas the high council had gone through in a few minutes. Though of course after some thought, he concluded that she would be too violent for such a position of patience.