Ch. 54: Gorvant Murder Giant

I let out a small chuckle. I'm sure it IS a big responsibility, one I presumed the demon would use to his advantage once he took over. He was intelligent and insightful enough to manage the Empire, however with his severe lack of compassion I wonder if he'd run it right into the ground.

"Anyway Ezran, can I call you Ezzie? I noticed Richie calling you Ezzie and I think it suits you much better . . . Where was I - Oh yeah! I'm just so amazed by all your war stories so far! You're just so awesome! The whole palace is abuzz with talk of the female Champion who stood toe-to-toe with the Gorvant Murder Giant, and single-handedly passed the trials of the cannibals. That doesn't even include all the other battles you've had! You definitely should hear the talk, I'm sure you would be well pleased."

I gave a wide-eyed look to Rodair at the 'Gorvant Murder Giant' remark, but before I could make any corrections, Toval spoke up behind us, "Hey Prince-boy! You need to get your facts straight before you go around spreading tall tales. She wasn't the only one who went through those 'cannibal trials' I'll have you know."

"And Rodair is not a Murder Giant." Rodair murmured under his breath by my side. I couldn't help but laugh.

Iren didn't hear Rodair's remark, but he did slow down to get in pace with Toval, "Really? Who else was with Ezzie?"

Toval puffed his chest out proudly, "Of course I was. They needed a fearless navigator to lead the way. I tell ya, we wouldn't have made it out without my expert abilities."

I scoffed as I listened to the ridiculous boasting Toval was relaying while Iren just ate it all up. Richie looked over at me while rolling his blue eyes, "Someone's a little full of himself, am I right?"

I nodded in agreeance, continuing on our way.

We passed most of the following days in this manner with light hearted banter during the day and restless nights (for me anyway due to the haunting dreams).

Now I had Illana and Richie watching over me as maid/man servants which caused a little bit of a power riff between the two. Illana was adamant that she wanted to assist as much as possible since she felt like she owed me for helping her out with Gustof, but Richie wasn't having it.

"Oh no sweetie. Ez is MY responsibility. I have been taking care of her butt when you were still galavanting with those scrooges. I take care of her, and don't you think otherwise."

I had to give it to her though, Illana could hold her own even against the diva Richie, "I am just as capable, and more so because I'm a woman. Wouldn't m'lady feel more comfortable with a female presence than one such as yourself?"

Richie's eyes widened and he placed a hand on his hip, "Who do you think you're talking too, babycakes? I've always been by Ezzie's side - We're BLOOD. What you got that can compare to blood?"

Illana's beautiful eyebrows furrowed as she retorted, "I have a vagina."

At this point I just couldn't anymore. "Okay guys, seriously I can do almost everything myself anyway. Can you two just get along and split the duties somehow? Actually I don't even need a maidser -"

Both of them cut me off at the same time, "Yes you do!"

They eventually reached an agreement. Richie would mend and create my clothes, cook, doctor my wounds and help prep my armour. Illana would clean, help me dress, and take care of basic setup of necessities. Most of the time I felt useless - It wasn't like I was incapable of doing these things myself. But if they were happy, I was happy because I was starting to get tired of their constant bellyaching.

Since most of the stuff was handled by the two of them, I spent my idle time roaming the temporary camps we made (Rodair ever vigilant by my side), sharpening my blades and training Iren.

Iren was good. I mean, seriously good. The kid had a knack for fighting that was obviously natural. He could evade as quickly as he could talk, which was saying something. And I've never seen such fast reactions with a blade. When we first met he told me that he used small weapons like me, and the boy was like a prodigy slicing and dicing here and there with no intention to stop. The fact that he could do all of it with a smile was surreal. I'm sure I looked like I was concentrating so hard, but he appeared as if he didn't even think. Every movement was fluid; he would make an excellent soldier. As for training him to be a Champion, I wasn't quite sure how to go about that.

I asked Toval and Kovin's advice on this, to which Toval immediately tried to take him under his wing. Toval was a born leader; his very presence commanded those around him. I could tell that he had a soft spot for Iren though and wanted to make sure he received the best training possible. Kovin on the other hand trained Iren on battle strategies . . . alone. Yeah, he wasn't about to help me on that matter at all. I had to learn for myself, but here he was giving Iren all these delicious pointers that apparently were top secret because Iren wouldn't breathe a word about what they talked about.

And here I thought I was so cool in the kid's eyes?

Iren would apologize though, saying he was sworn to secrecy and what-not. Whatever - I thought I was doing pretty good regardless. I mean, I didn't get special training and I hadn't killed off much of the army. That should be good enough right? I mean, it was inevitable for some people to die while in battle . . . All those heads weren't just on my shoulders, were they?

This was one of the main reasons I stayed up at night; Killing and people being killed under my leadership did not sit well with me. I couldn't separate myself so easily like Kovin, Toval or even Rodair could. Kovin killed mercilessly with no apparent care. Toval killed with joy - glee perhaps. He felt like it was a grand form of ability and sportsmanship. Rodair killed with respect, which was saying something since he ripped people apart.

Rodair once told me that he looked at death on the battlefield as a rite of passage; that those who died were honored. I tried to get behind that concept and for the most part I could, but what about the people under my leadership? Were they really dying with honor or because of my lack of guidance? The unknowing haunted me, yet I bared with it as much as I could. I didn't want to allow these emotions to cloud my judgement or ability.