The Legend of Hanolay

The Legend of Hanolay


Chapter 1
        Hanolay awoke to a bright sun shining in through his bedroom window.  He put his pillow on top of his head in an attempt to block out the sun, and it worked, but then he remembered what day it was.  Excitement coursing through his body, he rushed off to his parents room, swung open the door and hurled himself on to the bed.  Amidst many screaming protest, Hanolay jumped up and down on his parents’ bed bellowing “Get up!”
        “Okay, okay Hanolay!  We’re up, we’re up, just stop bouncing on my legs.” his mother pleaded.
        “Do you know what day it is? Huh? Huh?  They’re coming today! They’re coming!  I’ve gotta get ready!  Oh, what should I do?  I’ll be back!” Hanolay said, rushing back to his room, talking to himself about whether he should wear his lucky green or his lucky silver underwear.
        Arriving at his room, he grabbed some clothes plus, after a few moments of indecision his lucky silver underwear, and hurried off to the wash basin.  He took a quick wash and then hopped out, quickly putting on his clothes, taking extra care to make sure his hair looked extra manly.  Confident that his appearance was as suitable as his patience would allow, Hanolay rushed into the kitchen to find his mom already working away at breakfast.
        Hanolay rushed towards the door and started to go outside but was cut off by his mom, frying pan in hand, blocking the door.
        “What do you think you’re doing?  I’m just about finished with breakfast and if you leave, it’ll get cold by the time you get back!” his mother protested.  “Now just sit down,” she moved towards the stove, “and I’ll… Hanolay!  Get back here!”
        Hanolay saw his opportunity when she started towards the stove, away from the door, and he took it.  He was out of the door faster than his mom could finish her sentence and ran off yelling “I’ll be back soon, ma!”
        His mom started to say something but held her tongue, knowing that even if her son could hear her, he wouldn’t listen, not this time.  Instead, she turned back to her cooking to make her son the finest meal should could make.
* * *
        Hanolay hurried down the dirty stone road.  He rushed towards the northern gate, the gates he was sure they would be coming through.  Along the way, he passed his friend Grale, who himself was making his way towards the gate, but not as quickly.
        “Hey Hanolay! Slow down will you!  They’re not supposed to be here until midday!” Grale yelled.
        Hanolay slowed down and waited for Grale to catch up to him.
        “I don’t care, I can hardly wait.  And what if they arrive early?  Don’t you want to be here when they arrive?” Hanolay said quickly.
        “It doesn’t matter!  When they get here, they’re just going to go house to house to get everyone anyways.  So what‘s the point in waiting for them?.”  Grale argued, trying hard to keep up with Hanolay.
        Hanolay was too stubborn though, he rushed off to the gates anyways.  Grale gave up after a few more minutes out of breath and headed home.
        Once Hanolay reached the gate, he bounded up the cities walls’ staircase to get a better angle of the land, in hopes that he might see their approach from far off.  However, a voice from below called out his name, and he tried to get away unseen, but he realized it was one of the elven city guards, and Hanolay knew that he had no choice but to go down to the soldier. 
        “What were you doing up there, Hanolay?  Trying to see if the Warmongers have arrived?  They’re not due till midday.”  The soldier, a friend of his fathers, frowned at Hanolay, “Now what am I going to have to tell your father?  You know he told you not to be on the wall anymore, it’s too dangerous with all of the orc attacks.  I’m afraid that I’m going to have to tell him this time.”
        “No, please!  You can’t tell him!  I just went up for a quick peek,” Hanolay pleaded.
        “We’ll see,” was all the soldier said.
        Hanolay grew extremely tense but turned to head home, the soldier following.
        Upon arriving at Hanolays home, they found Hanolays mother and father sitting on their weathered porch, eating breakfast.  Once Hanolay and his escort entered the yard, Hanolays father stood up and walked down the porch stairs to greet his son and his escort.
        “Captain Lakhil.”  The soldier saluted.  Hanolays father was Captain Lakhil, a very renowned soldier and the captain of the city guard.  He was a muscled, but warm looking man, with soft green eyes, and had long, blonde hair, which was typical of elves, flowing down to his shoulders. Though known among his men as a reasonable and trustworthy man, his enemies were dead afraid of him, and often ran away at the mere sight of him, because dead was how they often ended up. 
        Hanolay’s father returned the salute.  “Good morning Raynar.  Where’d you find him?”
        Hanolay could feel his face turning red and his palms began to sweat.
        “This little one was sneaking around the sweet shop again,” Raynar replied.
        Hanolay head instantly snapped up to look at the soldier, surprise painted on his every feature, just in time to see the soldier wink at him.  Hanolay turned his head away and tried to cover up for his surprise but he saw that his father had already seen it.  However, he seemed to ignore it.
        “Well, thanks Raynar,” Larkhil said, nodding in gratitude.  “I can’t have this little guy rushing off to the sweet shop every chance he gets.  How’re Ineriel and the newborn?
        “She’s doing well, but tired I fear.  She worries too much about me at the wall, especially now that we’ve had repeated attacks.  Our little guy’s doing alright; the bloody kid doesn’t shut up though, wakes me and Ineriel up a couple times a night.  But Captain, I must get back to the wall, so I take my leave”  The soldier saluted and then hurried off in the direction of the northern wall. 
        Lakhil looked down at his son.  “While I’m sure your belly is full from all of those sweets you ate,  hurry along and get a proper breakfast.  You’ve got a long day ahead of you.”
        Hanolay hurried off to his meal. 
        After his breakfast, a very full Hanolay went outside and sat on the porch stairs, impatiently waiting for the Warmongers, but all the while, pondering what the next part of his life had in store for him.  Hanolay was excited about the next step in his life, but at the same time, he was scared.  He had heard many awe-inspiring stories about the school he was being taken to.  Legends had it that it had been created millenniums before, by the first elves, who desired peace. But these elves were not naïve; they realized that sometimes peace could only be achieved through violence.  So in response to that knowledge, they created this school in preparation for that inevitable violence.  It was agreed that when every elf reached the age of thirteen, they were collected from their homes and led to the school to start their training. 
        Hanolay had heard that the school was brutal, with many not returning - or so his friends told him.  However, Hanolay was determined to survive through it, and not just survive, Hanolay wanted to excel.  He didn’t want to be the best he could be, and he didn’t want to be the best at the school; he wanted to be better than any one before him had ever been or ever could be.  He knew he wouldn’t accept failure because if he failed, he wouldn’t be the best, and if he couldn’t be the best, why try at all?  Well, that was how Hanolay thought about it and that was how he was thinking about it now.  He was trying to think if there was anything else he could have done prior to today that would have given him a better chance of being the best, but he couldn’t think of anything.  He had already bugged his dad, and his dads’ friends about what the school was like and what he could expect, but they rarely told him anything valuable.  The only thing valuable they told him was -
        The city bells were ringing, and not just any bells, the welcoming bells.  The warmongers had arrived.


Constructive criticism greatly appreciated.  :D


Continue to chapter two, here: http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1392448