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

want them to be together, for some reason.
    As
he racked his brain, trying to get to the bottom of it, suddenly he felt a
stiff hand on his chest, stopping him hard in his tracks.
    He
looked up to see a boy, maybe a couple of years older than him, tall and thin,
dressed in the most expensive clothes he had ever seen—in royal purple and
green and scarlet silks, with an elaborate feathered hat—grimacing down. The
boy looked dainty, spoiled, as if raised in the lap of luxury, with softened
hands and high arched eyebrows that peered down disdainfully.
    “They
call me Alton,” the boy began. “I am the son of Lord Alton, first cousin to the
King. We have been lords of the realm for seven centuries. Which entitles me to
be a Duke. You, by contrast, are a commoner ,” he said, nearly spitting
the word. “The royal court is for royalty. And for men of rank. Not for your
kind.”
    Thor
stood there, having no idea who this boy was or what he had done to upset him.
    “What
do you want of me?” Thor asked.
    Alton
snickered.
    “Of
course, you would not know. You probably don’t know anything, do you? How dare
you barge in here and pretend to be one of us!” he spat.
    “I’m
not pretending anything,” Thor said.
    “Well,
I don’t care whatever wave you washed in on. I just want to warn you, before
you get any more fantasies in your head, that Gwendolyn is mine.”
    Thor
stared back, shocked. His ? He hardly knew what to say.
    “Our
marriage has been arranged since birth,” Alton continued. “We are of the same
age, and of the same rank. Plans are already in motion. Don’t you dare think,
even for instant, that it will be any different.”
    Thor
felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him; he didn’t even have the
strength to respond.
    Alton
took a step closer, and stared down.
    “You
see,” he said in a soft voice, “I allow Gwen her flirtations. She has many.
Every once in a while she’ll take pity on a commoner, or perhaps a servant. She
will allow them to be her entertainment, her amusement. You might have come to
the conclusion that it is something more. But that’s all it is for Gwen. You
are just another acquaintance, another amusement. She collects them, like
dolls. They don’t mean anything to her. She’s excited by the newest commoner,
and after a day or two, she gets bored. She shall drop you quickly. You’re
nothing to her, really. And by year’s end she and I will be wed. Forever.”
    Alton’s
eyes opened wide, showing his fierce determination.
    Thor
felt his heart breaking at his words. Were they true? Was he really nothing to
Gwen? Now he was confused; he hardly knew what to believe. She had seemed so
genuine. But maybe Thor had just been jumping to the wrong conclusion?
    “You’re
lying,” Thor finally said back.
    Alton
sneered, and then raised a single, pampered finger, and jabbed it into Thor’s
chest.
    “If
I see you near her again, I’ll use my authority to call the royal guard. They
will have you imprisoned!”
    “On
what grounds!?” Thor asked.
    “I
need no grounds. I have rank here. I will make one up, and it is me they will
believe. By the time I’m done slandering you, half the kingdom will believe you
are a criminal.”
    Alton
smiled, self-satisfied; Thor felt sick.
    “You
lack honor,” Thor said, uncomprehending that anyone could act with such
indecency.
    Alton
laughed, a high-pitched sound.
    “I
never had it to begin with,” he said. “Honor is for fools. I have what I want.
You can keep your honor. And I will have Gwendolyn.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY
     
     
    Thor
walked with Reece out the arched gate of King’s Court and onto the country road
that led to the Legion’s barracks. The guards stood at attention for them as
they passed and Thor felt a great sense of belonging, like he wasn’t such an
outsider. He thought back to just a few days before, when a guard had chased
him out of here. How much had changed, so quickly.
    Thor
heard a screeching and looked up to see, high overhead, Estopheles, circling,
looking down. She dove, and Thor, excited, held out his wrist, still wearing
the metal gauntlet. But she rose again, and flew off, higher and higher, though
never completely out of sight. Thor wondered. She was a mystical animal, and he
felt an intense connection to her that was hard to explain.
    Thor
and Reece continued in silence, keeping a quick pace towards the barracks. Thor
knew his brethren would be awaiting him and wondered what sort of reception