The Roar of Andora: Book One

Chapter Twenty-Six: Heroism of the Scouts

Throughout Aaron's twentieth year, conditions in the Vale of Catholina remained relatively the same, or had further steeped in their inculcation. He stayed committed to his daily training routine and had done nothing else other then await the return of his father. Whenever he passed through the castle grounds he would ignore his family and avoided them at all costs if afforded the opportunity. Aaron received the monthly report from the court and at first analyzed every page of the documents, scrutinizing every detail, looking for any evidence of his uncle's fraudulence, but he eventually tired of the mundane task and trusted so long as Andora had yet to burn up in flames, the conditions of the kingdom were fine.

After the New Year celebration the time came to restructure Andora's military. Most of the boys Aaron's age were inducted into the army, but not him. He was furious. It was outrageous, unheard of, and downright insulting that an Evershield, especially the son of the king, was rejected from the army. When Aaron stormed the captain's office in the Ancient Oak Castle (where he had not stepped foot in for quite some time) and demanded why he was not accepted, the military captain told him that because he assaulted his cousin Jared, he were to be abstained from entering, but after another year's worth of monitoring his behaviour, Aaron would be re-evaluated.

Disenfranchised with the army after the insult, Aaron decided to change the course of his aspiring career. By their twenties, most of the Evershield cousins either had taken an official seat on the council or had entered other areas of business and politics. If the boys had come to age during a time of war, all of the men, no matter what interference, would be on the battlefield. Given the peaceful era that that generation of Evershields grew up in, there was not a demand for warriors, and so after they completed their training at eighteen, they were free to enter business. But if the call to action arose, it would only take a season of combat conditioning to send them out into battle.

Kain was the only other Evershield male who continued honing his swordsmanship past the necessary training of his adolescence. Not having the patience to await the recruitment of the army, he'd joined the Scouts for they got to see the countryside and a slight bit of action. When Kain initially entered the ranks of the Scouts, he was disappointed with the casualness of the affairs that they were called to do. But, that year of Aaron's twentieth and Kain's twenty-second age, the Scouts had an abrupt increase of importance. There was a murder in the Kingdom. There hadn't been a deliberate murder in years. Kain was on the investigation team. The murderer struck again, killing another innocent victim, and that time the Scouts caught up with the perpetuator and it was Kain who seized the man, crushed his face in with his knuckles, and placed him under arrest.

To the south of the Vale of Catholina the mining town, Mendo, was raided by a gang of bandits. The Scouts were running their tax-collecting errands when a fleeing miner caught up to them in Cannan, the southern post, and told them of the barbaric raid. The Scouts concluded that they should race to Andora and inform Jarod Evershield of the raid. Kain rejected the idea, insisting that his brigade of Scouts go themselves to fight off the bandits and defend Mendo. The unit Kain was apart of claimed that he was insane and outright foolish believing that they alone could defeat the attackers. All of the men refused to follow Kain's lead except for his two childhood friends, the brothers William and Theo Keno, and so following Adonis I's grandson into battle, the three Andoran warriors defeated the entire gang of bandits and saved the mining people of Mendo.

Back in the kingdom, the Andoran court officials honoured the three warriors as Heroes and awarded them celebratory swords that had not been used since the reign of King Anthony Evershield IV in the Second Kingdom of Andora.

Jarod Evershield secretly reviled Kain and the Keno brothers for disobeying his appointed captain of the Scouts, telling the captain in secret that all of the militaristic decisions had to be approved by him. But at the honorary ceremony held for the heroes, Jarod bestowed the brave young men the sacred swords, telling Kain that he does the legacy of Adonis I reverence.

After having attended the ceremony for Kain and his companion's bravery, Aaron was inspired to have a drastic career change and join the Scouts. With the rise of violence all over Andora, Aaron thought he would get an opportunity to showcase his bravery and heroism, too, and win back his respect within the kingdom.  

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