Prologue

      "My hands!" shouted Godiv, as he dropped the searing hot sword from his hands.  "That's no fair!" he exclaimed, "Father said no magic!" 

      "Oops, sorry brother." said Ganalon "Sometimes I can't control my Pyrokinesis."

      "You didn't lose control, you did that on purpose!"Godiv exclaimed.
 
      "I'm sorry you feel that way brother, but either way, you lose" Ganalon said as he put the point of his lance on Godiv's breastplate.  "Just because you're the elder twin, doesn't mean I have to go easy on you."

      "Ganalon, stop fooling around.  I think that there is something really wrong with my hands, I can't feel them at all."

      "I'm sure they're fine" he replied.  "Come on, let's have another go.  I'm sure the feeling will come back to them when we start fighting."



      Just then however, their father, King Xaliend, had walked into the courtyard having heard their shouts.



      "What the devil was all that yelling about?" he asked.  "And why are you two not sparring as I told you to?"

      "Ganalon used his magic to heat up my sword to make me drop it so I would lose the match" Godiv said.

      Ganalon looked in a different direction as his father gave him a dirty look.  "Let me see your hands son" said Xaliend.  Godiv came over and showed him.  "Oh no..." he said.  The red burns on Godiv's hands were quickly turning black.  That was never a good sign.  After a short pause, he continued, "These burns are much worse than I thought they would be.  They are very severe, and could possibly damage your hands permanently."

      Using his telepathy, King Xaliend told his wife Yome to hurry to the courtyard as quickly as possible.  When she arrived, she asked, "Godiv my son, how are your hands feeling now?"

      "To tell you the truth Mother, I can't really feel them at all."


      Her heart skipped a beat.  If he had already lost the feeling in his hands only a few minutes after they were burned, they couldn't possibly be healed.  She started to break down and cry.


      "Mother, whats wrong?  What did I say?" Goidv asked, but his Father knew the answer just as well as his wife did.  Instead of sorrow, though, he was filled with anger.  Anger towards his second-born.  Anger towards Ganalon.

      "I thought I made it clear that magic was strictly forbidden in your matches." he said to Ganalon.  "I though I made it clear that you were not to use magic, in case just such a thing would happen."  He paused for a moment.  "Why, Ganalon?  Why did you do it?" he said.  "Did you do it to win?  Is that it?  Is that why you did it?  To win?" he said, becoming increasingly more exasperated.

      "No," said Ganalon, "I didn't try to do anyth-"

      "I don't want to hear your excuses this time Ganalon." said Xaliend.  "Do you have any idea what you've done?  Do you know what you've to your own dear brother?" he asked.  "You've completely destroyed the nerves in your brother's hands!" he exclaimed.  "He can no longer feel anything with them!  He can no longer fight with them!  You've ruined his life!"

      Ganalon was now very afraid.  He had never seen his father so angry before.  "I'm sorry Father, I never tried to-"

      "Silence Ganalon!"  Xaliend shouted.  He sighed and said "I am sorry my son,
but you've brought this upon yourself.  I'm afraid I must ask you to leave the castle." 

      "Father!  No!  Please!" Ganalon screamed, but Xaliend's face was that of stone.  "Please Father!  Give me another chance!" Ganalon continued to scream.

      "Away with you!" shouted Xaliend.  "Leave the castle and do not return until you've mastered your powers!"



      That day was long, long ago, yet it was still the most vivid memory in Sir Godiv's mind.  "Why Ganalon?" he asked, "Why didn't you just listen to Father in the first place?"

      As he was walking out of the chamber, he looked back with sorrow and regret upon the Seal of Rellicore in the center of the room:  now the only sign that Ganalon ever existed.