Chapter 2

4024 seasons previously before current times

"Daddy, are you sure you can't read me a story tonight?" asked a small boy as he father tucked him into bed.

"Well now little guy I'm not sure I can match your imagination. You tell some pretty good stories of your own sometimes," smiled the man down at the boy as he sat on the bed next to him and reached out to ruffle his hair.

The young boy looked to be about six or seven seasons old as he was getting ready for bed. The man was sporting a Vandyke style beard and moustache, but his head was completely clean-shaven.

"Ok, but can you tell me about my mommy again. I like it when you tell me things about her," smiled the boy.

"Well, she was the most beautiful woman in the land that I can ever remember seeing. She had long black hair just like yours and the same cute brown eyes, and a little cute nose," and as he touched the boy's nose it made the little boy giggle, "just like yours. Everyone she met loved her and she could make everyone smile around her by just smiling at them first," said the man smiling at the boy.

"Buy why did she have to leave us?" asked the boy

"Wolfgang sometimes everyone has to leave. Your mommy didn't want to go, but she loved you with her whole heart and there wasn't anything she wasn't willing to give up to make sure you were taken care of. I'm sure she's still trying to watch over you in her own way," said the man as he smiled sadly.

"And don't forget to say that you loved her. You didn't say you loved her yet," smiled the boy warmly at his father.

"No, I will never forget how much I loved her. I think about her every night since she left us and I will always remember that," said the man wistfully as he smiled at Wolfgang.

"Daddy, why don't you believe me when I tell you the things I see when I dream?" asked Wolfgang tiredly suddenly changing the subject. Children are notorious for things like that.

"Son it's not a question of believing or not believing, it's just that it's hard to visualize things from how you describe them.

"I mean just yesterday you were telling me about a Volto, Gogo, or something like that that was a creature that ate people and then spit them back out?" said the man questioningly raising an eyebrow.

"I said Volvo 320 daddy. Volvo. I my dream the people around it called it a car. It runs around on the ground and the people got inside of it when it lifted up its wings, and you could see the people inside its belly. And then when it lifted its wings again they climbed out," said Wolfgang disapprovingly in a way only small children can.

"Oh I'm sorry I guess I just made up the part about them spitting them out on my own," smiled the man trying not to laugh.

"That's ok daddy. It's ok if you don't see what I do," said Wolfgang as he still tiredly smiled at his father.

"Well little guy its night-night time. Let me cover the candlestone so you can get some sleep," said the man.

"Can I sing to myself until I fall asleep?" asked Wolfgang yawning as the man opened the door to leave the room.

"Sure, but just do it softly," smiled the man as he left the door open a crack.

As he headed down the hallway he could hear little Wolfgang softly humming, "Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm ... Sponge bob square pants ... Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm ... Sponge bob square pants..."

"Where is the boy getting all of his imagination from?" wondered the man as he traveled further down the hallway shaking his head.

It was not the first time he heard some strange song from the boy, but this one seemed to be one of his favorite ones.

Just last week he was trying to draw something he called "cartoons" on the floor of his room with charcoal.

Moreover, when asked what he was doing he said he was trying to remember the form of a "moving" drawing or something he dreamt. If the boy did not appear normal in all other respects, he would truly be worried about him.

As the man reached his living room, dropping into a chair as he once again recounted his life here in this small village in the valley.

Ever since that fateful night, Christian had been moving around with the boy trying to make sure no one could find him. It was only now that he was sure they were safe, as he made sure to change their appearance and names with each new village he traveled too.

He could not call him Charles as a first name because of obvious reason, but he decided to use his father's middle name as his new given name. However, he couldn't throw out his mother's legacy as well, so he named the boy Wolfgang Charles Duvall and he took the name Jason Duvall for himself. He grew a moustache and beard and kept his head clean-shaven.

A few seasons later he was able to get some information from the castle and found the Queen had been killed soon after he left with the child and the new King Elliston had her body thrown from the Castle walls along with his brothers'.

Their bodies disappeared under the cover of darkness with some of the citizen's who loved them burying their bodies where they would not be found or desecrated anymore.

Another strange changed was that the staff was almost all dismissed and new staff was brought in. The new King claimed it was to insure strict loyalty to him. However, later there were various reports of the previous staff who were killed or died strangely. Christian knew it was to prevent those who knew what really happened from talking.

As Christian's thoughts turned back to Wolfgang, he saw a baby who favored both of his parents. His ruddy complexion and features that were those of his father were gradually starting to be replaced solely by the ones that were almost exclusively his mother's fair skin and unbelievably dark hair.

When he spoke to you he always looked you right in the eyes and you didn't feel you could lie to him even if you wanted to. He had a way with his brown eyes that made you feel you could trust him no matter how much you might not want to.

The strange part was the boy was honest to a fault.

He never lied or tried to weasel his way out of trouble. He faced it head-on, looked you in the eyes and accepted his punishment. Sometimes the boy's sense of justice was scary to see in one so young.

He also seemed to be able to recognize written characters so easily. Christian was thinking of teaching him to read later on. He would probably try to do this in the spring, as the boy seemed to have a real knack for it.

Christian just wished he had a knack for fighting as well.

Most warriors started training their children while they were young, about Wolfgang's age, to keep them limber and to start to build up their strength, just like he had learned.

Wolfgang didn't seem to have the coordination for it. He also had zero interest and desire in learning anything to do with weapons or fighting.

He would rather spend his time trying to teach himself to read and trying to draw the pictures from his dreams on a wooden plank using charcoal from the fire the night before, usually doing this the next morning when he awoke before he forgot them.

Thankfully, he didn't appear to be a mage, as he showed zero interest in magic and also no aptitude for that either. He showed curiosity in how it worked and once the basic answers were discussed he moved on to something else. It was those dreams of his that consumed him.

As with the songs from his dreams, sometimes he remembered them easily for a while and could sing or recount the dreams if asked. Other times they were gone quickly as snow falling on a blacksmith's forge. He would hum part of it for a while repeatedly before he gave up and stopped trying to recall it.

Christian was still trying to figure out what a "lectric shave" was supposed to be the boy once talked about and god knows he thought the boy would never stop going on about "double mint twins" or something like that.

Earlier in the season he was captivated by metal birds called "pains" that he said also ate people but let them out again once it flew around with them for awhile. Similar to how those animals the cars he spoke of worked.

Then a few months back it was things called "Terra-formers" the boy went on about how they could either be the pains or the cars that turned into metal men. What did metal men have to do with planting crops??

But the most infectious of all was when he started singing a song at four and a half and he sang it for months. When Christian wrote down the words, he found that Wolfgang had spelled the words, well the ones he recognized, correctly.

It was some song that he could still hear now seasons later as it was just that catchy. It went something like "My bologna has a first name it's O-s-c-a-r my bologna has a second name M-e-y-e-r." What the heck was bologna anyway? Whatever it was he found himself singing along with Wolfgang whenever he sang it. Wow was that tune catchy.

The boy always seemed to talk about strange things like this for weeks on end for a while before he moved on to something different, but in the end, most of it always seemed harmless. It was an imagination hard to grasp sometimes, but it made him smile and damaged no one.

As Christian started to drop off to sleep, he once again played through his mind the faces of the true King and Queen, and the last time he saw them together, happy. They always appeared so much in love with each other when one saw them together.

Eventually, like it always did, those scenes were quickly replaced by the last time he saw them, Tomas who was already dead and cold to the touch and Melina, who cried so tearfully as she handed him her son and charged him with his protection before she looked down at the floor to await the death she knew was coming.

Those two scenes were the ones that always intruded on any other dream he had over the seasons. He just could not curse himself enough for the lack of preparation all those seasons ago.

Hadn't he always been taught that on the battlefield "Luck favors the prepared"? In his former line of work wasn't any place a battlefield?

How could he have let it all happen to the people he loved and was entrusted to protect? They trusted him, and he let them down. It had cost them their lives as he fled into the night. That thought still bothered him to this day.

Well this time he would do a better job and nothing would ever harm Melina's son. If he were able to put him back on the throne later to atone for his crimes and failures, well he would watch for the perfect time to make that happen.

That was the real reason he never left the island. This was the home and heritage of Wolfgang that Melina tried to protect and he would do what ever it took to put Tomas and Melina's son back on the throne.

Of course, he would enjoy eventually making good King Elliston pay for killing them both in his lust for power.

"Dad look, I know we always plowed the land and use the single bladed plow, but what we should consider is using this design I've seen in my dreams. It used a twin blade and I've added two wagon wheels to assist the horses in pulling it behind them.

In all it is a design that allows us to work twice as fast and get the same results in half the time," said young Wolfgang.

It was soon going to be planting season and Jason just shook his head as his son's latest idea was run past him.

Wolfgang had taken to playing with his designs during the cooler months until he felt it was just right. Even though he had dreamed of this design a few times over the seasons, there were still some bugs to work out that he didn't understand at first.

"Boy, I know at thirteen you have all the answers, but we should work with what we know works. That way there are no surprises we've not planned for," said Jason smiling at the boy.

"You never know, I could stub my toe, it could explode like that painting machine you made. Thank god I didn't have any hair or you might have persuaded me to try that brush of yours. I'm glad it was time to cut your hair anyway," finished Jason smiling at Wolfgang.

Even as he blushed, Wolfgang persisted.

"Dad, trust me, this time I have worked out all the kinks. And there are very few moving parts for you to stub your toe with, the house never looked better with a fresh coat of paint, and besides if your hairline is any indication of what to expect for my future I should get the most out of my hair while I can," smiled Wolfgang mischievously at his father.

"I'll make you a deal boy, if you can answer my question on any topic we've ever covered before, well then I'll give your design an honest go," smiled Jason as he watched the boy.

"Shoot," said Wolfgang smiling.

"If one is fighting a battle, and the battle is going well and the enemy is routing, do you purse them or defend your position?" asked Jason.

"Well that depends on a lot of factors. One: have you scouted the terrain well enough to know where all the possible spots are for retaliation are? Two: Are your men well rested or have they been fighting for days and hours and could easily make mistakes? Three: Are your reinforcements enough that you can prevent your supply lines from being cut off?" Wolfgang thoughtfully asked.

Impressed by his questions Jason said "Lets pretend that your army is just starting out early in their campaign, the supply line is secure, and you have an adequate map of the land with no surprises, what do you do?"

"Well at that point, if your battle is going that well, then it's obviously an ambush and the enemy didn't expect you and they are totally unprepared so your best bet is to pursue the enemy before they regroup.

"And before you ask, you corner them and try to limit the bloodshed by seeking a surrender, because that would also put your men at risk during a desperate battle," smiled Wolfgang. "The only time you don't is if you have an enemy that must be destroyed at all cost."

"That's pretty well thought out. It seems almost if you knew I would ask..." started Jason before he thought, "You were looking at my desk weren't you?"

"I was looking for something to draw on for a newer design I was thinking about, so I knew you would probably ask me about tactics sometime today since you did have the book out. Besides you always told me that luck favors the prepared, so I prepared myself by thinking about various tactics for troop management," smiled Wolfgang.

"You are way too intelligent for your own good sometimes boy. At least you have your mother's good looks and your father's smarts to carry you through," said Jason as he smiled.

"So you'll give it a try?!" asked Wolfgang excitedly.

"A deal is a deal. Get everything ready and we'll see if it either works or we put out our eyes," smiled Jason.

As Wolfgang rushed off to drag out his new design and hook it to the horses, Jason watched him go.

"Melina and Tomas I've tried the best I can to raise your boy the best I know how. He can read, write, he is very quick witted, happy, knows tactics, and music.

"I just wish he could handle a sword sometimes to save his life. But for as easy going and peaceable as he is, and as devoted and helpful to others, for what I've had to work with I still believe you would both be proud," thought Jason before he went out to the barn to see how Wolfgang was getting along.

"I know this design is going to work this time," thought sixteen season old Wolfgang as he wound up the spring to drive his new paddleboat design.

Wolfgang had been working on this one for a few seasons. It was one of the designs he knew would worked. He was still having problems visualizing the entire concept.

In his dreams, there was smoke coming from twin stacks of a rear driven paddleboat, but he had no idea what made the smoke. He saw in another dream that using a spring loaded device where you used string to wind up the spring and then releasing it to drive the paddle.