Jacque the Vanquisher (Prologue)

Jacque the Vanquisher1

By: Wayne Dean II2

It was Jacque’s seventh birthday and his father had just returned from the recent war against a neighboring kingdom. Jacque’s father, Pierre, was a knight in the service of King Peter III. His mother, Anastasia, was a lady in waiting to Queen Anita. Anastasia was inside gathering up Jacque’s birthday presents while he and Pierre were outside and Pierre was teaching Jacque about the constellations, and how to use the stars to navigate and find his way home if he ever got lost. “And those three stars there are called Orion’s Belt.” Pierre told him.3

“Dad, do you think that one day I could become a great knight like you?: Jacque asked him.4

“Let me tell you something son, anything is possible if you are determined and believe in it with your entire being.”5

As they were talking Anastasia walked out of the house and said, “Ok, you two that is enough stargazing for one night, your godfather, Balthazar will be here soon, so Jacque why don’t you just go and open our presents for you now.”6

As he was opening his presents the fire went out, and the stars disappeared behind a veil of black clouds. Everything was silent, except for a faint sound of beating wings that was growing steadily louder with each beat. All of a sudden Janar, the King of all Dragons, landed out of the pitch black sky. Anastasia screamed as Janar grabbed her, and Pierre unsheathed his sword and charged at the Dragon hoping to save his wife, but he was also captured by the fierce monster. Jacque screamed in terror as Janar approached him, but at the last second he leaped into the sky and flew away into the darkness. The sound of his parent’s screaming his name grew fainter with each beat of Janar’s powerful wings.7

Everything was silent, the clouds disappeared, the stars shone as if nothing had happened, and the fire came back to life. Jacque fell to his knees and began to cry for his parents, and for himself, because he was now alone. He looked at the edge of the woods, because he thought that he had heard footsteps. He saw hundreds of glowing eyes staring at him, and hear the growls of the beasts that inhabited the woods. 8

Balthazar walked out of the woods right in front of Jacque and put an arm on Jacque’s shoulder as a sign of comfort and condolence. “Let us leave this place Jacque, you will have you chance for revenge when the time is right.” Balthazar told him, and led Jacque to his cottage in the middle of the Mystic Woods. With one final backward glance, Jacque swore that he would never return to this place until he had his revenge.9

When Pierre was first knighted by King Peter III, he asked him to aid in an escort of Balthazar from Castle Eruron to his kingdom. Retrieving Balthazar went without incident, but on the return journey they were ambushed by fifty of King Alabaster’s men. During the battle Balthazar got struck by an arrow. When Pierre saw this he rushed to Balthazar’s side and personally guarded him. Pierre saw an archer take aim at Balthazar from behind, and jumped in the way and took the arrow through his stomach. Shortly after King Alabaster’s men retreated due to heavy losses. Pierre was on the verge of death when Balthazar mustered what little energy he had left to him and healed Pierre. He than collapsed from exhaustion. They rushed him back to King Peter’s without further incident. They arrived just in time to save Balthazar’s life. When he had rested he demanded to see the knight that saved his life. Pierre was sent to Balthazar’s chambers. When he entered Balthazar said, “Sir knight I owe you my life.10

“You owe me nothing, I was only doing my duty. It is I who owe you for saving mine.” Pierre told him. From that day forward Pierre and Balthazar were inseparable, that is until Pierre met Anastasia. When Pierre and Anastasia were married Balthazar gave them a generous amount of land as a wedding present. When Jacque was born Balthazar was named his godfather.11

Balthazar took Jacque back to his cottage in the heart of the Mystic Woods. There he taught Jacque about the inhabitants of the world both regular and mystic. Balthazar told him of the people the Elves, Giants, Dwarves, Goblins, Trolls, Demons, Centaurs, Fairies, and Humans. Most importantly of all he taught Jacque magic. The very last thing he taught him was about the mighty Dragons, one of the oldest and most powerful inhabitants of the world. Jacque drilled him every day for every last bit of information he had on dragons until Balthazar got annoyed with the boy’s badgering.12

Jacque enjoyed living with Balthazar, but every night he would relive that dreadful night that Janar kidnapped his parents, and he would immediately awake covered in sweat hearing his mother screaming his name “Jacque!” He spent all of his spare time when he wasn’t studying to improve his skill in magic and melee weapons, because he knew that magic alone would not be enough to defeat Janar. He drilled himself to exhaustion everyday, because he knew that his parents were alive and waiting for him to come and rescue him.13

Balthazar aided Jacque as much as he could by being his sparring partner and using his magic to slow down time. A second became a minute, a minute an hour, an hour a day, a day a week, a week a month, and a month a year. Balthazar’s magic was so powerful that he even prevented him and Jacque from aging with the increased time. Jacque also furthered his studies in the plants and inhabitants that called the Mystic Woods home. He studied with each inhabitant and learned all that they could teach him.14

On Jacque’s twenty first Balthazar brought him to see King Peter. King Peter was overjoyed to see Balthazar he had not seen him since Pierre and Anastasia were abducted, but he was at a lost as to who the youth with him was. “King Peter, it is good to see you again, may I introduce Jacque, he is the son of Pierre and Anastasia.” Balthazar said.15

Jacque stepped forward and said, “King Peter, I come to today on my twenty first birthday to ask of you two gifts.”16

“Jacque, I loved your parents dearly.” He said sadly. “You shall have whatever it is you ask of me.”17

“For my first wish, I wish to become a knight of your court like my father.”18

“Ah! This is excellent news! Of course my boy, come here. I shall knight you post haste.” He said as he jumped to his feet. There in front of his entire court King Peter knighted Jacque. “Now, what of your second gift?”19

“As of now, I shall with hold of it, and ask you for it at another time.” As Jacque said this King Peter’s youngest daughter, Angelic, came up beside her father. 20

“Father the preparations for the games are complete.” Jacque could not help but stare at this angel it was love at first sight. Kin Peter saw the way Jacque was staring at his daughter and he smiled hopefully.21

“Ah yes thank you Angelic. May I introduce to you Sir Jacque. He is the son of Lady Anastasia.”22

“Hello, pleased to meet you. I am so sorry about what happened to your parents. I remember when I was just a little girl your mother would tell me stories to help me sleep.” Angelic said.23

“Thank you, she did the same for me, she the most beautiful story telling voice, it was so calm and soothing.” Jacque said.24

“Yes, I think it was her voice that helped me sleep more than her stories.” She said staring into Jacque’s eyes.25

“Jacque, will you join us for dinner today? And perhaps partake in the games as well?” King Peter asked. 26

“I would be honored you majesty.” he replied. Everyone walked out to the fields to sign up for the upcoming games. Jacque signed up for everything, determined to prove his strength and worth to Angelic. 27

That night there was a huge feast in honor of Jacque being knighted. That night Jacque had the same dream he had been having for every night for the last fourteen years, but this time Janar not only had his parents, but Angelic as well. He woke up in a sweat extremely troubled by this dream. He could not fall back to sleep so he decided to prepare for the games and realized that he had no armor! So he went in search of Balthazar to see if he could help him.28

“Balthazar! Balthazar where are you?”29

“I am right here Jacque. What is it?” he said stepping out of the room to Jacque’s immediate right.30

“I can’t compete in the games, because I have no armor.” Jacque told him.31

‘Oh, but you do. Come inside.” Balthazar led him into his room, in the middle of the room was a suit of armor Jacque recognized, his father’s. “Your father told me years ago that he wanted you to have his armor when you were knighted. I have imbued it with my strongest spells and enchantments, but they will not take effect until the day after the games.” Jacque and Balthazar spent the rest of night talking about how his life was going to change now that he was a knight.32

“I can not thank you enough. I am sorry, but I must hurry now or I will miss my first event.” Jacque said as he sprinted out of Balthazar’s room, through the halls, and out into the fields. He made it just in time for the Archery contest. He hit a bull’s eye on every mark, and loved the sight and sound of the audiences cheers, but most importantly those of Angelic who seemed to be cheering louder than everyone else.33

The next event was sword fighting, where up until the last round Jacque had an easy time. His last opponent was King Peter’s best swordsman, and he too loved Princess Angelic and was determined to prove his prowess and worth. As Jacque turned to bow to King Peter and Princess Angelic his opponent rushed him and gave him a fierce blow to the head. Recovering from the hit Jacque rushed his opponent and brought his hand up as if to slash his opponent and when he went to block it, Jacque brought his hand down, and gave his opponent a fierce blow to the stomach. While his opponent was on his knees gasping for breath, Jacque raised his sword to his throat, and he had no choice but to yield to Jacque. At the end of the day King Peter delivered a speech to all those present for the games.34

“Today has been a day of much joy and excitement. I thank you all for coming, and hope that you all enjoy the feast. To those of you that participated in today’s games we say congratulations! You have all won much honor, but one of you stood more than others, and that is the winner of today’s games. Sir Jacque, son of Sir Pierre and Lady Anastasia.” 35

As King Peter made this final statement Jacque went and stood beside him on the podium and accepted his trophy. As Jacque reached to accept his prize the torches went out, the stars disappeared behind a blanket of clouds, and on the air there was the rhythmic beat of wing strokes growing steadily louder. He knew what was going to happen, he shoved King peter under the nearest table, told him to stay there and ran to find Princess Angelic. Jacque froze as he heard a loud thump, Balthazar lit the torches with his magic, and there in the middle of grounds was Janar! Everyone was screaming and running for their lives from the King of Dragons. Jacque sees Angelic and starts to run to her, but Janar gets to her first. Jacque brandishes his sword, and rushed Janar, but is swept aside like a mere fly. Jacque had forgotten that the enchantments on his armor were slumbering until the next day. Jacque screams as Janar takes off carrying Princess Angelic, and for the second time Jacque is forced to stand there helplessly as Janar flies away with someone he loves, listening to them screaming his name.