A Quest of Heroes (Book #1 in the Sorcerer's Ring)

anything.”
    “Then
there are things you must learn,” Erec said. “Strength is not enough; agility
is not enough; being a great fighter is not enough. There is something else,
something more important than all of them.”
    Erec
fell back into silence, and Thor could wait no longer.
    “What?”
Thor asked. “What is most important?”
    “You
must be of a sound spirit,” Erec replied. “Never afraid. You must enter the
darkest wood, the most dangerous battle, with complete equanimity. You must
carry this equanimity with you, always, whenever and wherever you go. Never
fearful, always on guard. Never restful, always diligent. You don’t have the
luxury of expecting others to protect you anymore. You’re no longer a citizen.
You’re now one of the King’s men. The greatest qualities for a warrior are
courage and equanimity. Be not afraid of danger. Expect it. But do not seek it.
    “This
Ring we live in,” Erec added, “our kingdom. It seems as if we, with all our
men, protect it against the hordes of the world. But we do not. We are
protected only by the Canyon, and only by the sorcery within it. We live in a
sorcerer’s ring. Don’t forget it. We live and die by magic. There is no
security here, boy, on either side of the canyon. Take away sorcery, take away
magic, and we have nothing.”
    They
walked on in silence for quite some time, as Thor turned Erec’s words over in
his mind, again and again. He felt as if Erec were giving him a hidden message:
he felt as if he were telling him that, whatever power he had, whatever magic
he might be summoning, it was nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it was
something to be proud of, and the source of all energy in the kingdom. Thor
felt better. He had felt he was being sent out here, to the Canyon, as a
punishment for his using his magic, and had felt guilty about it; but now he
felt his powers, whatever they were, might become a source of pride.
    As
the other boys drifted ahead, and Erec and Thor fell back, Erec looked down at
him.
    “You’ve
already managed to make some powerful enemies at Court,” he said, an amused
smile on his face. “As many enemies as you have friends, it seems.”
    Thor
reddened, shamed.
    “I
don’t know how, sire. I didn’t intend to.”
    “Enemies
are not gained by intentions. They are often gained by envy. You have managed
to create a great deal of it. That is not necessarily a bad thing. You are the
center of much speculation.”
    Thor
scratched his head, trying to understand.
    “But
I don’t know why.”
    Erec
still looked amused.
    “The
Queen herself is chief among your adversaries. You have somehow managed to get
on her wrong side.”
    “My
mother?” Reece asked, turning. “Why?”
    “That
is the very question I’ve been wondering myself,” Erec said.
    Thor
felt terrible. The Queen? An enemy? What had he done to her? He couldn’t conceive
it. How could he even be important enough for her to take notice of? He hardly
knew what was happening around him.
    Suddenly,
something dawned on him.
    “Is
she the reason that I was sent out here? To the Canyon?” he asked.
    Erec
turned and looked straight ahead, his face growing serious.
    “She
might be,” he said, contemplative. “She just might be.”
    Thor
wondered at the extent and depth of the enemies he had made. He had stumbled
into a court he knew nothing about. He had just wanted to belong. He had just
followed his passion and his dream, and had done whatever he could to achieve
it. He did not think that by doing so, he might raise envy or jealousy. He
turned it over and over in his mind, like a riddle, but could not get to the
bottom of it.
    As
Thor was mulling these thoughts, they reached the top of a knoll, and as the
sight spread out before them, all thoughts of anything else fell away. Thor’s
breath was taken away—and not just by the strong, gusty wind.
    There,
stretching out before them, as far as the eye could see, lay the Canyon. It was
the first time Thor had ever seen it, and the sight shocked him so thoroughly
he stood rooted to his place, unable to move. It was the grandest and most
majestic thing he had ever seen. The huge chasm in the earth seemed to stretch
for eternity, and was spanned only by a single, narrow bridge, lined with
soldiers. The bridge seemed to stretch to the end of the earth itself.
    The
Canyon was alight with greens and blues from the second setting sun, and they
bounced off its walls, sparkling. As he felt his legs again,