Chapter 1 - The Stranger

"Begone, vile villain!" cried the boy, sword in hand.  "And may your presence never beguile our homeland again!"

"Hey, stop that!" cried the boy's brother, two years his junior.  "I'm not a villain, you...you...you jerk!"

With that, the duel continued, swords clashing, tempers flaring.  Truth be told, they weren't exactly swords--they were bamboo sticks, carefully selected from a bamboo grove in the nearby woods.  And the boys were doing what boys do best: compete with one another, the level of aggression gradually elevating as the quest for superiority went on.

The older boy, whose name was Cable, gradually got the upper hand.  His bamboo stick was thicker, and his strength was somewhat greater.  So he pressed the attack.  As the battle wore on, his brother Andres continually mumbled, "I hate this dumb game.  I always lose.  I can't believe I let you talk me into playing again.  I hate this dumb game."  Yet through his frustration, he fought on.

Finally, Cable felled a blow that shattered Andres' bamboo stick.  All that was left was a little stump that remained in his hand.  Ten-year-old Andres chucked it into the woods in frustration.  "That's it.  I'm DONE!  I'm going home."

Then the fraternal ritual went on, as Cable tried to persuade Andres to play again so that the beating could continue.  "Aw, c'mon Andres.  Hey, this time I'll let you be King Maximilian, and I'll be the evil Prince Dor-ko.  Just one more match.  Okay?"

Andres thought about it for a few seconds.  The thought was appealing.  But, as the sun slowly set over the hills to the west, he figured that going to sleep sounded even better.  "Nope, not gonna do it, Cable.  I'm done."

But Cable persisted.  He had anticipated this moment, and reached down to a nearby rock and grabbed some sweetcake that he'd strategically placed there.  He made an offer.  "Hey, if you play, you can have half of this piece of Mama's sweetcake that I saved.  And if you beat me, you can have the whole piece."

Andres found this considerably more persuasive.  Even if he felt tired now, the prospect of sugar would surely revive him.  And he loved nothing on earth more than Mama's sweetcake.  Andres replied, "Awright, Cable.  One more time.  That's it."  And then the boys dashed into the woods to seek out their bamboo weapons.

When the battle resumed, Andres seemed renewed.  "Take that, Dor-ko!  And that!" he yelled with each parry and thrust.  "I, King Maximilian, will end your evil reign once and for all!"

The boys dwelt in the small village of Corrin, in the northwestern corner of the Kingdom of Aberdeen.  It lay in the foothills of the Jagged Mountains, which towered over the village to the west.  There were no roads into the village, just a narrow path that wound through desolate terrain for dozens of miles before reaching the nearest city.  It was a peaceful village, but that was because of its remoteness.  The rest of the kingdom had been living in turmoil, ever since the reign of Dor-ko had begun about 10 years ago.  The citizens of Corrin kept to themselves and enjoyed their isolation.  Every once in awhile, a small group would travel to the city for supplies.  But no one from the city ever came out to Corrin.

Until now.

As the duel between the brothers dragged on with increasing fury, a tall stranger came riding down the trail on a tall, black horse.  He could hear Andres' volume rising.  "Begone, Dor-ko!" cried Andres, amazed that--after about 10 minutes--his bamboo stick was still intact.  "I, King Maximilian, am back!  I order you to lose RIGHT NOW!"  Cable fought back but said nothing.  He didn't want to lose, but secretly he hated playing the role of Dor-ko and wanted the battle to end.

The stranger stopped his horse and listened for a few moments to the boys, who were completely oblivious to his presence.  Finally, the stranger spoke.  "Boys!  Fools!  Stop your fighting now, or you will surely pay for your insolence!"

The boys jumped when they heard the voice.  The man was barely two feet away, yet in the intensity of their combat they had not heard him approach.  They turned and stared at the stranger.  His glare made them cringe.  He had long dark hair, a bushy moustache, and a jaw that stuck out awkwardly.  The jaw was offset to the right, which meant that his face had a perpetual scowl. 

Andres--the more impetuous of the brothers--spoke first.  "Hey mister, we were just minding our own business.  You don't need to yell at us."  Then he turned from the stranger and spoke to his brother.  "All right, let's finish, Cable.  Where were we?  That's right, you're..."  But Andres never finished his thought, because the stranger took a staff which he'd been carrying and swung it at Andres' head.  The boy crumpled under the blow and fell to the ground.  He clutched his head and writhed in pain.

This time, Cable spoke up.  "Hey mister, we were just playing.  Can't you just leave us alone?"  He then knelt down to check on his brother.

The stranger reached down from his horse and grabbed Cable by the shoulder.  In a quiet, raspy voice, he muttered, "Never...EVER...let me hear the name of Maximilian again.  Do you understand?"  Cable nervously shook his head.  Then the stranger slapped his horse with his staff and started his journey back up the path.  As he pulled away, he continued, "If I do, both of you shall be beaten severely and taken away from this place of filth." 

In a few moments, he disappeared around a bend in the path.

Andres was soon back on his feet.  Pain wasn't anything that bothered him too much.  In fact, he figured that he'd given as much as he'd taken--he was pretty sure that the blow to his hard head had caused the staff to crack.  But he didn't feel like continuing the duel.  He turned to Cable and said, "Can we just say that I won and go home?"

Cable wasn't one to concede defeat, but he'd been troubled by the strange visitor.  He grabbed the sweetcake and handed it to Andres.  "We'll fight more later.  You can just have the cake," he said.  That satisfied Andres, who was really more interested in the cake than in being declared the victor.  The boys tucked their bamboo sticks under some rocks (where they could find them later) and started to head back toward home.