CHAPTER 1
Bennett was a prince by birth, so his life would be one of wealth, leisure, and power. But even at the age of six, Bennett knew that someday he would prove himself to be a warrior, equal in skilled combat to the best of the king's knights. In the seven years since that time, the prince had practiced swordsmanship daily with his instructor. He became proficient in the use of bows and arrows and other weapons, but on orders from his mother and father, most of his days were spent learning reading, writing, mathematics, religion, and geography.
Bennett was very strong and fit compared to the young men whose fathers were members of the king's court. Those young men occupied themselves with activities that required a minimal amount of energy or activity, and they had servants who waited on them hand and foot. The prince, on the other hand, liked to do things for himself.
He was well tanned because he spent as much time as he could outdoors, away from the castle. He loved hiking, rowing, and wrestling, as well as working on his weapons and his combat skills. Standing five feet eleven inches tall, the prince was expected to grow a few more inches since he was only thirteen years old.
The court barber tended to the prince's light auburn hair every two weeks, so it was well kept. One of the servant girls washed and treated his hair with oils to keep it shiny and easy to comb. People described his dark brown eyes as expressive, but he was not sure what they meant.
Bennett's father, Matthew Kladivo II, was king of Ziemia, a peaceful country that had not had a war in nearly a half century. Wars were expensive undertakings. Consequently, since Ziemia had not gone to war like most of the other countries in the region, King Kladivo's subjects were happy and content. No other country in the region had people with more money, better homes, more to eat, and more happiness.
Bennett was not content with the easy life of royalty; he sought distractions. For as long as he could remember, he had hungered for adventure. When he was not being tutored or playing with the other children of the castle, he would go to the dining hall where the knights gathered. He would listen to their tales of grand adventures and wish that he were old enough to compete in tournaments, combat evil knights, capture outlaws, rescue kidnap victims, and help those in need of protection.
While he was in the dining hall listening to the knights' tales, he learned that the people of the Southern Mountains were having trouble with bandits and small groups of outlaw warriors. The attackers raided their communities, stealing cattle, pigs, grain, and money. The villagers of the Southern Mountains were usually able to drive off the raiders before they stole too much, but when raids on the villages became too frequent and the bands of attackers became too large, the villagers asked the king to send knights and archers to protect them.
The bandits were no match for the king's well-trained men, and it was not long before the outlaws were either captured or driven off. Those raiders who were able to escape stayed away from the Southern Mountain villages for a long time because they never knew if the king's soldiers had left the area or if they were camped nearby.
The mountain villagers were now facing an enemy they had never confronted before. The king of Lomar, a kingdom that bordered Ziemia, had died, and because he had no sons, the throne had been taken over by MoRew, one of the king's nephews. MoRew, the new king of Lomar, was evil and greedy.
The villagers of the Southern Mountains were now being harassed by large bands of invaders sent by King MoRew. The bandits from Lomar were not like the outlaws the villagers usually had to fight. The Lomar bandits were barbarians, ex-soldiers, and thugs who were not interested in making off with just a few sacks of grain or a stray farm animal or two. They wanted to take everything in the villages and were willing to kill anyone who tried to stop them. When King Kladivo received word that raiders from Lomar were attacking the villages of the Southern Mountains, he sent some of his best knights, foot soldiers, and archers to help get rid of the barbarians.
King MoRew offered the outlaws a safe haven in Lomar, for which he received one-fourth of the outlaws' loot. The barbarians, led by MoRew's soldiers, were skilled in warfare, but they did everything they could to avoid a fight with King Kladivo's knights, who were better trained and better equipped. When the king's men were in the area, the barbarians hid in the mountains or raided other villages. This gained the bandits and barbarians only a short amount of time because King Kladivo's fighting men pursued the outlaws until they retreated to Lomar.
In Cortus, the main village in the Southern Mountains, the townspeople were afraid of the barbarians and were very worried. They didn't know when King Kladivo's men would arrive, so a group of residents went to the mayor and demanded that he do something unthinkable. After conferring with the sheriff and other city officials, the mayor reluctantly agreed.
In the town square of Cortus was a large statue of a winged dragon, perched on top of a large stone base. Outsiders who viewed the statue were unaware that the base was hollow. In one side of the thick stone base was a cleverly concealed two-inch-thick stone door that opened outward. Behind the stone door was a four-inch-thick oak door that opened inward and required three keys to unlock it. In the middle of the chamber beneath the statue was a large stone. On top of it sat a cage with iron bars that had been anchored to the stone base. The door of the cage was secured with a large padlock.
The reason for all of the security was inside the iron cage. Standing thirteen inches high and four inches in diameter was an eight-sided, solid stone cylinder called the Zoldox. The cylinder, smooth as glass, was black with streaks of bright red running through it, making it appear as though fresh blood was trapped within the stone. Each of the eight sides had a column of strange letters and symbols. The tiny group of people that had touched the cylinder described it as feeling cold and wet even though it was as dry as a desert breeze.
The Zoldox, which had been created by a great wizard of the Orient, sat on a base of highly polished rose quartz. Although rose quartz was normally pink, this rose quartz was blood red. Together, the Zoldox and its base were beautiful. However, they had no monetary value since they were not constructed from precious gems or valuable metals. The value of the stone cylinder came from its magical properties: the power to keep the Edu from the region.
The Edu lived deep underground in caves and caverns in the mountains. The creatures had thick, tough, gray, almost bluish skin, which was sparsely covered with thick, dark gray bristles. Their fingers were long and thin, but their feet had short toes with bearlike claws. The heads of the Edu were lizard shaped, and they had large, catlike eyes. Unlike lizards, the Edu had ears similar to horses. The Edu could move one or both ears to determine where a sound was coming from, and they could turn both ears in that direction to hear better.
Bennett, the Prince of Ziemia, had seen drawings of the Edu in some of the books he studied, but he had never seen a real one. Not many people had ever seen an Edu because they lived underground during the day. Also, the Edu were kept away from Cortus and the other...
