The Quest for the Spear of Asra

       With his hands grasped upon the rocky edges of Mt. Olymus, Icarus continued to pull himself up the highest of the Onus Mountains. Hand after hand and foot behind foot, he steadily placed his toes and fingers within cracks and crevices along a rigid wall. His skin was moist and itchy. His hair had dampened. A glance below reminded him of how far he’d come. Sneaking past those sentries of the Galos Prisons and evading encampments of infantry were not easy tasks for him. They were nearly impossible for any, especially for the one that had fled with him.  

“Come Icarus! We’re almost to the peak”.  

The grayed singly twisted hairs of the man above him wisped back and forth as he climbed. His fervent hands and feet impatiently scoured for their next hold and footing. His kilt was unkempt, showering gravel with each stumble.

“Just keep going!” Icarus yelled back.  

“Then hurry yourself or we’ll miss our chance! Minosus’s men could be there by now with a three days start!”

“You mean your chance! If it weren’t for you, we would’ve never had to come to this place!”  

The elderly man shook his head and searched for the next gap. He knew distraught had overtook young Icarus again.  

“Save your anger for the king, boy”.

Those words only fueled more anger and discernment within Icarus for him. It was because of him that they were sought after by the merciless king. It was because of him that his mother Respedes was hauled away from their home. It was by his doing that his best friend was shackled and fed to the Sea of Poses.  

There were more reasons to despise the dictatorship of King Minosus than the best craftsman of all of Minosia. After all, it was the king who had taken his loved ones from him. But a greedy father had caused it all. And none could be greedier than Delrus of Dormus.  

A cool wind wisped by Icarus’s ears, reminding him of his better days chiseling atop the hills of Cretus. The life of a sculptor would have been simple. His love for the arts would’ve caused harm to none. A cottage among the lovely flowerbeds of Cyrmus with his love Adriani was all he’d hoped for.  

“We’re at the top! Just grab my hand son and I’ll pull you over”.  

Icarus spurned him and tried on his own.  

“Don’t be stubborn boy and let me help you up here”.

“Just like you helped your wife and my friend Efstathios. I’d rather fall to my demise than to take the hand of a traitor to his own family”.  

Delrus’s pupils had hardened. His cheeks grew stiff.  

“Don’t you dare say those words to me again!” he bellowed. “I’ve never once in my life betrayed you nor your mother. I’ve always done my best to keep you all safe from harm’s way”.  

“Then where are they now?!” roared back Icarus. “Your lust for filth has caused their deaths!”  

Delrus recalled two guards near his cell within the king’s dungeon one night. Though they thought he slept, a lone ear had heard their talk of Minosus’s plans to do away with him and his loved ones. It hurt him to know that his secretive work on the labyrinth was for naught. His long tenure of servitude and crafting for the throne only permitted him to see his wife and child for but a few times. And of those few visits, he used them to plot and search for the mythical gifts left by the Great One, the lord beyond the skies. With just one of these gifts, he would finally challenge the power of King Minosus and his wielding of the thunderbolt. No mortal being would dare defy the Lightning King but it was rumored that one with power gifted by the Great One could best him. Unfortunately, the finding of the Shield of Asra by a guardsman in his quarters and sketches of maps jeopardized the life of Delrus and his loved ones. With Respedes now lost from him along with his son’s friend, he was urged to purge the world of this vehement ruler and protect his only child. It was here on Mt. Olymus that he knew he would find one of the sacred gifts, one that may be powerful enough to slay the armies of the king.  

“Icarus, just grab my hand! You can hate me as much as you want but you must make it over this ledge”.  

Though he detested him, Icarus yielded. A quick heave from Delrus pulled him over onto the grassy cliff. The air felt dense but breathable. Growth of the native spiris flower closely followed the sides of a stairwell that had been built upon the mountaintop. Its steps resided beyond two rocks that rested adjacently before them. These rocks were wider and taller than the both of them side by side or one atop the other. They seemed more aged than their years combined. The stairwell ascended around the mountain until reaching its peak. Each step appeared more worn and brittle than the last.  

“Hurry this way”, whispered Delrus. “We might be able to reach the spear before they do”.  

“What is this spear and why is it so important that you’d risk our lives for it?” asked an angered yet curious Icarus.  

Delrus pulled at his plush beard as he took another step towards the top.  

“This spear is the key to stopping that wretch our people call king. With it we come one step closer to cleansing the throne of Minosia”.  

“If this was your plan for so long, why not tell us? None of your family would’ve been hurt!”  

“Icarus, I had my reasons for withholding this from you. I’m truly sorry for what has happened to your mother and friend. My eyes have been filled with much despise towards the king that it had blinded sight for my loved ones and the burden my doings would place upon them”.  

Icarus shook his head in disgust and ignored his father’s hand that reached out to him. With sullen eyes but still determined to best the king of Minosia, Delrus looked to what lied beyond the stairway’s end. Before them was a mossy stone that rested within the grass. Plucked within this stone was a spear. It was a long one and crafted of pure gold. A red jewel was embedded midway just below the head of its shaft. A yellowish aura appeared to enshroud the surface of this mystical rod as it was perched upright. The green eyes of Icarus were bewildered by this marvelous craftsmanship and watched as Delrus stepped towards the lone rod. With his hands grasped around the spear’s end, Delrus attempted to pry it loose from the hard rock. Grunts and groans bellowed from him with each heave. Sweat trickled from his forehead to his chin as he struggled to remove the legendary spear.  

“I think I’ve almost got it”.  

Delrus tried harder, exerting more strength into his pull. A small fire began to enshroud the spear’s head as it slowly came forth from the stone. Exhausted but pleased, Delrus stretched his arms into the air. He had freed the treasured Spear of Asra, the weapon wielded by the greatest general in Minosian history.

“With this, Minosus’s days will be no more!” he said.  

“Or will his days be everlasting?”  

Icarus and Delrus quickly looked to the stairwell from which they came. Damianos, the brutal head of the king’s armies, stood there with several guards behind him. His dark winged horse Deros had pressed its hooves upon the top of the stairwell with the guards’ horses among the lower steps. Deros gnawed its teeth and watched its master walk towards them. As Delrus kept his eyes upon Damianos, he noticed what he carried in his right hand. It was the Shield of Asra, the counterpart of the Spear of Asra. It glowed with the same intensity as that of the spear.  

“It would do you good to hand over that spear now Delrus”, said Damianos. “You should’ve remained in that dungeon and kept at work. But now you’ve only brought more harm to yourself and that of the last of your family”.  

Delrus scowled and held the spear closer to him.  

“I’m glad you wish to resist”, said Damianos.

He went and stood in front of Icarus.  

“I will enjoy ridding the world of your lineage”.

There was as much anger in young Icarus’s heart towards Minosus as there was towards that of Damianos. It was he that was also after the heart of his beloved Adriani, constantly plotting against him for her hand. But it was at this moment the general finally had an opportunity to slay him with reason and take her for his alone. Though Minosus was a conniving and wicked king, he wouldn’t let his men kill without good reason.

“I should’ve known that Minosus would send an underling to do his bidding”, said Icarus.  

“It takes one to know one”, replied Damianos. “Following your father on his fruitless quest has only ensured that Adriani will be mine alone”.  

Icarus glared at the general as he left him then walked over to Delrus.  

“It would behoove you to hand over that spear now. For if you don’t, my men will strike down the both of you”.  

Delrus looked at Icarus and then at the soldiers that awaited orders from their leader. Though hesitant, Delrus yielded and gave the spear to Damianos. With the spear in his left hand and the shield in his right, Damianos returned to his horse.  

“Throw them off the mountain”, he said to his men as he perched himself atop Deros. The blades of the soldiers glimmered under the sun as they headed towards them.  

“I thought you said we would not be harmed?!” said Delrus.  

He and Icarus were forced closer to the mountain’s edge.  

“I lied”.  

Damianos tugged at the hairs of his winged horse. Icarus watched as his sworn enemy soared into the clouds above.

Delrus looked over the mountain’s edge then back at Icarus.  

“Icarus, I want you to know that I’ve always done what I believed was best for you and your mother. I’m sorry it ended up being this way. I should’ve kept you both aware of my doings”.  

“I now know”.

As the soldiers’ blades had come near their chests, Icarus quickly kneeled to the ground. He grabbed and pulled fiercely at one of the swords. With a grapple and swing of his arms, he managed to throw one of the guards off the mountain. Angered by his actions, the other soldiers immediately stabbed at him. Using the blade as a shield for he and his father, Icarus managed to fend off the other blades as he and Delrus made their way back to the stairwell.  

“Hurry down the steps now!” shouted Delrus after pulling Icarus away from the attacking soldiers.  

They hurried down the stairs which had started to crumble. Hooves of the gray winged horses had pummeled these steps from their downward trek.  

“We have to catch up with those horses!” said Delrus.

The horses leaped over the end of the cliff by the bottom of the stairway. Delrus and Icarus soon reached there but with the ensuing soldiers not far behind.  

“Jump now Icarus!” yelled Delrus as he leaped from the cliff’s end.  

Icarus followed after him, diving into the air towards the descending horses. The winds from the high air gushed rapidly at them as they neared the backs of two of the horses. With his son landing atop one horse and him atop another, Delrus quickly tugged at its hairs, urging it to fly towards the clouds.  

“Pull at the hairs on its neck!” shouted Delrus to his son who struggled a bit with the flying horse.  

With his hands grasped full of the grayish hair, Icarus forced the horse upward after his father and into the skies above the Onus Mountains. He looked back at Mt. Olymus and saw that the soldiers were trapped between the crumbled stairwell and the cliff’s end.

“Stay close and don’t fly too high near the sun nor low by the trees!” said Delrus. “I’ve rode these creatures before on my passage to Pergus. They fly best just beneath the clouds”.  

Icarus adhered and stayed close to his father.  

“Where are we heading?”  

“For Cretus!” replied Delrus. “Damianos is most likely heading there to bring those gifts to Minosus”.  

Icarus steered his horse towards the western skies.  

“What are you doing Icarus?!” said a baffled Delrus. “We should be going south!”  

“Damianos is heading for Cyrmus instead!”  

“How would you know such a thing?”  

“Because his love for Adriani is as great as mine”.  

With a pull of the left hairs of his horse’s neck, Delrus followed after Icarus to the west of Mt. Olymus. The clouds had grayed. Raindrops began to pour from them. Sunlight had dimmed with a small allotment of rays impeding through gaps within the dense clouds. Undetected by them, the black hooves and wings of Deros lowered itself from the stormy clouds behind them with its master Damianos seated. Pointing the spear upward and in the direction of the two, the general watched as the clouds began to part around his prey.

“What’s going on father?” asked Icarus as he saw the spreading of the clouds above them.  

Delrus turned back. He saw the feared general and the spearhead that glowed.  

“Stay under the clouds!” he yelled to his son as he quickly steered his horse beneath the storm clouds.  

Icarus followed after him. A bright light almost blinded their eyes from the strong rays that came forth. They’d come from the sun and penetrated through openings made within the clouds. These rays were potent and powerful, setting fire upon all that they touched. Icarus looked below at where the plush greenery of trees had once covered one of the Onus Mountains. Those trees had become desolate and naked upon just a touch of the powerful light. One after the other, each tree decayed from the spreading flames that were left. The odor of burnt leaves seized the air. Whimpers and yelps of wounded animals stole attentive ears. This was the power of one of the divine gifts. Delrus hardened his grip on his horse and looked over at his son.  

“Follow me this way and keep up!”  

Icarus pulled at his horse and hurried after his father beneath the nimbus clouds. Damianos directed the spear after them as he pursued them. More scorching rays pierced through the dark clouds and trailed just behind them. Through the midair and above the mountains, the gray mares of Icarus and Delrus dove and rose within tumultuous rainstorms. Loud bursts of laughter echoed throughout the eerie skies from Damianos as he was pleased with the power he wielded. Icarus knew that they couldn’t flee these rays for much longer. The storms ahead had become heavier, soaking the wings of their horses. After a glance at his father, Icarus directed his horse back towards Damianos.  

“What are you doing Icarus?!” shouted Delrus.  

He watched his son soar towards the ruthless general.  

“You’ll be killed!”  

Icarus ignored his father’s words. He was already too far from him to hear more of them. He knew of the risks but also understood that this was the only way for them to escape. With the sword he’d taken earlier, Icarus rushed his horse past the incoming beams of light. The etched wings upon his blade shined under the sunlight as he firmly held it within his right palm. Damianos readied both the spear and shield. He watched Icarus dodge each of the streams of light sent by the spear. With a swing of his sword, Icarus clashed with Damianos and his spear. Deros tried to bite at the other Perguscan horse while their masters fought atop their backsides. The scorching rays encircled the two as Delrus flew towards them to aid his son. With a hard strike at the middle of the rod, Icarus knocked the spear from the general’s hands. Though his spear fell from him and towards the sultry grounds below, Damianos used the shield to reflect one of the surrounding rays at Icarus. The rays missed the lad but burned through the left wing of his horse.  

“Icarus!” shouted Delrus.

He soared after his son and horse that fell towards the land. Damianos quickly used the shield to reflect the remnant rays at the falling lad and his father.  

“This is what happens when you defy your king’s will!” he yelled at them. Delrus looked at his son who struggled to stay abreast his wounded horse. Not too far below him he could see the spear still falling within the ominous skies. Delrus darted after the spear. Seeing that the elder Cretuscan chose to pursue the powerful spear, Damianos directed Deros after him and ignored the younger one. The sight of the fading two men were caught in a glimpse of Icarus’s left eye as he hardened his pull of his horse’s hair. After several more pulls and tussles, Icarus managed to glide the injured horse. They had headed far beyond the Onus Mountains and away from the borders of Minosia. The storms had faded and the sun had taken to the sky once more. He and his horse had steadily landed upon a rough patch of grass with many stones and pebbles pressed back against the horse’s hooves. The land that Icarus stood upon was foreign to him yet somehow felt homely though he’d never been north of the Onus Mountains. With his hand held around the hairs of the right side of his horse, Icarus guided it into the vast tall trees of the forest before them.