Mounts

One evening a few days later, someone arrived at Marius Farm.

Bred groggily opened the door. The cold wind blowing into his face made it hard for him to open his eyes, while the person outside was shivering from the cold.

"Bred Marius?" the man asked.

"That's me. Who are you?"

"Hello, this is your letter, from Lordaeron." The postman handed Nathanos's letter to Bred.

"Thank you for bringing me my brother's letter, my friend." Bred smiled. It had to be a letter from Jonathan, and it surely contained plenty of news about his son.

The postman looked puzzled. "Your brother? No, no. The person who asked me to send this was a child. I couldn't possibly be mistaken. Even the stamps he used to seal the letter were expired."

Bred's expression changed in shock. The postman smiled, turned, and left; he still had many letters to deliver. A child? Ripples stirred in Bred's heart.

He hurriedly woke his wife and opened the letter:

Father, Mother, perhaps it will be several days before you receive this letter, but my longing for you has never changed. I do not know when I will be able to return home. Perhaps it will still be a long time. I am doing well in Lordaeron. This place is truly wonderful. The houses stand close together, lined up opposite one another. I have finally seen streets. It is lively here, yet nowhere near as open and peaceful as Marius Farm. Perhaps I simply have not grown used to it yet.

Uncle Jonathan gave me the chance to study at the chapel. My mentors are very kind, and the knowledge they taught me helped me write this letter. I also have a dwarven mentor. He is a blacksmith, and he is very strict—at least, he looks that way. Perhaps it has something to do with the naturally stiff look on his face.

Everything here is full of places for me to explore. There will be an assessment in a few days, and I will do my best to pass it. I hope you can bless me.

—Nathanos Maris

A few days later, news had already spread throughout Lordaeron: Uther had taken on an apprentice and had cleared much of his time to teach his student. Gudul was delighted when he heard. Nathanos had earned Uther's approval, but he also felt despondent. Perhaps he would never see Nathanos again after this. The thought lasted no more than five minutes before it was dismissed. Nathanos arrived at the Blacksmith on time as always and told Gudul about his conversation with Uther. The dwarf laughed excitedly and swept him up in a hug. Over the following month, Nathanos's schedule became even tighter than before. Uther had much to teach him, but he wanted to ask Nathanos what he wished to learn. The boy's answer was horsemanship. Uther had not agreed at first, because Nathanos was too young and riding was dangerous for him, just like when Gudul had taught him to wield a sword. Of course, Uther understood that the horsemanship Nathanos spoke of meant taming a mount, not taking a leisurely ride on a docile horse. Nathanos pleaded with Uther several times before receiving permission, though Uther's true intention was to teach him a lesson.

"Hold on to the reins! Don't let go!" Uther shouted at Nathanos on horseback. Nathanos was sitting on the horse—perhaps clinging to it would be more accurate. He wrapped both arms tightly around its neck, utterly failing to hear Uther's words. The horse bucked wildly, rearing and kicking, determined to throw the boy off. Every neigh meant it was struggling even harder than before.

Nathanos felt the world spinning. "Ah!" At last, he hit the ground. His knuckles were scraped raw, and purple bruises had appeared on his wrists. Grass clung to his hair and clothes, and his disheveled state left the boy deeply embarrassed. He turned to look at the horse. It stood quietly in the distance, grazing as though it were telling Nathanos that he was still far too green.

"Are you all right?" Uther helped him up. The boy shook his head with a grim expression. The towering knight chuckled. "How does it feel?"

Nathanos felt the pain in his wrist. "I've felt worse than this before."

"You need to understand something, child. You cannot do everything well right now. Everything must be taken slowly. If you try to handle everything at once, you'll find that none of it progresses quickly."

Nathanos had long felt this himself. Aside from studying languages, he had to practice his forging skills. After passing the assessment, he chose to study Alchemy. Gudul trained him every day, and he also had to make time to read at the Royal Library of Lordaeron, leaving him no time at all to attend Kana's classes. Uther was right. Everything had to be taken slowly. During this time, Uther taught him much about palace etiquette, introduced him to many nobles, and showed him how to speak with them. More and more people in the palace came to know Nathanos, and even King Terenas had heard a little about him.

"If you want to tame a horse, you must first learn how to hold the reins. Come..."

"Man, there are more and more thousand-gold horses now. Is it really worth spending several hundred extra gold for forty percent movement speed?"

"They just want to show off their wealth. What can you do?"

"I want a thousand-gold horse too."

"Then go back to the official servers."

"Damn it, who even uses ground mounts on the official servers anymore?"

"Nathanos! Nathanos!"

The boy jumped in fright. He was sitting atop Uther's mount, Ironhoof, a very docile horse. Uther had just shown Nathanos how to hold the reins, and he had done as instructed, only to suddenly lapse into thought. After that, he had no idea what Uther said.

"Sorry, sir," Nathanos said. Uther was not angry. Perhaps he thought the boy had been stunned by the stark difference between his two experiences on horseback.

"It's all right, child. Ironhoof won't throw you off."

The boy nodded, then looked at Uther and asked, "Mentor, are there any mounts that can fly in the sky?"

Uther froze. "Did you read about that in a book?"

Nathanos recalled the conversation that had appeared in his mind moments ago. He could not tell Uther. "Yes, Mentor. I read about it in a book."

"There are indeed," his mentor answered readily. "But Lordaeron has none. Those things are controlled by the Wildhammer Dwarves of Aerie Peak. They call them Gryphons. Gryphons have the heads of eagles and the bodies of lions. More importantly, they have two powerful wings that can carry people into the sky. There is only one problem: Gryphons have strange tempers, as strange as dwarves themselves. Besides that, I have heard that the elven kingdom of Quel'Thalas also possesses a flying beast called a Dragonhawk. But I have never seen one myself, so I do not know what it looks like."

"Why doesn't Lordaeron buy some Gryphons?"

Uther smiled at the innocent Nathanos on horseback. "That is impossible, child."