For the next couple of Thursdays, I will be posting various “interviews” with several of my characters. I know for sure that I will be covering Baehur, Mar Zaehav, Arkeh, Raewas, and Zeroah, but I also might cover Gaevri’el and Amets depending on how I feel. Once I finish all of the “interviews,” I will be posting a little poll where you can vote for your favorite character, and I will post a scene which centers around the character which wins the poll!
Today, I did an interview with one of my favorite characters which I have ever written: Baehur. He has a bit of an accent, so I hope you can still understand him! I’ve been writing about Baehur since I was in the 4th grade (so… for seven years.) And a little fun fact is that he first appeared in my writing as a young buck (yes, a deer) called “Ethelwin.”
I hope you enjoy this little “interview!” And I really would love to hear your opinion (and criticism) of the character!
God bless,
Gabrielle
Character Interviews: Baehur
As I waited, I grinned, leaning forward in my chair. My first character to interview should have been coming through the door at any moment, but I was not surprised that Baehur was late. I had known him for years, but now I will get to introduce him to you guys.
Finally, my door slowly opened, and his grinning, freckled face peeked through. “Sorry I’m late. The Capt’n was holding me late for more trainin’.”
“It’s no problem, Baehur. How has the training been going?” I flipped quickly through one of my notebooks to find a blank page to scribble down our conversation.
His face lit up, and he thrust his tan arms our excitedly—almost knocking over my lamp, but he did not notice. “Good! Mar and me are havin’ fun with all the weapons, and Karlik is teaching me how ta use this new one! And it’s fun gettin’ to know Arkeh and Zeroah; they’re nice. But Raewas is a bother… Ya are gonna do something ‘bout him, aren’t ya?”
“Yes, I will be getting to that… You just have to tolerate him for now, okay? I’m working on fixing things between you two.”
“’kay. I can wait.”
I looked over Baehur quickly and noticed that his curly brown hair was in disarray and he seemed a bit sweaty, though his pale blue eyes sparkled as always. Pulling out a fresh water bottle, I offered it to him. “Would you like some water?”
“That’d be nice. Thank ya!”
After I sat back down behind my desk, Baehur fell the chair across from me as he flashed another wide smile. “So can you tell my readers your elven race, age, and name really quickly?”
“I’m Baehur son of Ales, and I’m a Shama’aem elf—the type which Malekh created from the air. And I’m almost 16 years old.”
I nodded but did not bother to write down that bit. “You came from the mountain area of Green Vale, Evcadeh, right? Can you tell me about your family and home?”
“Yah. Well, we lived on a farm— we grew wheat and corn, but we had cows and such, too. At home, there was my Da, Ales, and my Ma, Oris. I’m the oldest, but there’re three others: Lamah; our sister, Hali; and little Paran who’s only two. Lamah and me help Da in the fields, but he only started helpin’ out in the fields two years ago—he was too young before. I guess it’s good that he did cause I had to leave.”
Father: Ales, Mother: Oris, Siblings: Lamah, Hali, Paran. I scribbled down quickly; I had not realized how fast Baehur actually talked before. “So when did the Captain of Malekh’s Seven Knights come get you?”
“Oh, is that Karlik’s full title? Quite the mouthful!” Baehur laughed.
“And you don’t want to hear Karlik’s title which refers to his position as steward!” For a moment, we laughed together, but I had to get him back on topic. “In any case…”
“Right. Uh, I think it was ‘bout a month before we picked up Mar at Black Towers… Not sure exactly, though, ’bout the time we were plantin’ the wheat. King Malekh had sent the knights to bring me to the Golden Fort, but I didn’t know ‘bout the prophecy till later. My parents were grand, though. They’d raised me to love the King, so they couldn’t have been happier when the King wanted me. But it was hard ta leave—and Lamah and Hali took it hard.”
“It could not have been easy leaving them behind.” I tried to express my sympathy, but I was about as good as Arkeh was at emotions (you’ll meet her later,) and I had to move on, in any case. “What is your preferred weapon?”
“I’d been using a short sword before we got ta training at the Golden Fort, but now I’m really likin’ the Ven.” After a quick hand gesture from me, Baehur understood that he needed to explain. “It’s like a circle made with a double-edged sword—oh, and it has a handle with two guards in part of the circle. Arkeh invented it!”
I sighed; there was no way anyone could understand what Baehur is talking about with that description. Scribbling a quick drawing, I hoped my badly done art would make a bit more sense to you guys.
“Twasn’t very helpful, was it?” Baehur looked sheepish after he watched me sketching for several minutes in silence.
“No really.” I shook my head and moved on to my next question. “Who would you say is your mentor?”
“Gaev’.” Baehur grinned widely again. “He’s real awesome. And he’s taught me how ta be chivalrous and a real knight, and how to serve with everything I have—and he was actually able to teach me how ta use a sword!”
“Yes, Gaevri’el is wonderful, isn’t he?” I smiled; Gaevri’el had to be one of my favorite characters, too. “So who are your friends?”
“I kinda like everyone—well not Raewas, but he hates me for no reason—“
“—I told you before that you will have to wait, but Raewas has a reason!” I interrupted with a playful scowl.
Baehur looked ashamed as he continued. “But I ‘specially like Amets—he’s fun—and Arkeh. Perehdur tells great stories when ya can actually get him ta talk, and the Captain is grand, too. Oh, and of course, Gaev’.”
“And Mar Zaehav?” I winked, playfully.
This time he actually turned red. “Yeah, I really like Mar.”
But I did not press him; I knew that Raewas was giving the two enough teasing without my help. “What would you say are your weaknesses?”
Baehur’s joyful face grew serious, but it was a child-like serious that almost made me want to chuckle. “I’m really not anybody, so I don’t know a lot ‘a the stuff I should. And I’m not really good at any of the knight stuff—ya know, swords, chivalry, talkin’ proper, and all. I’ve been tryin’, and Gaev’s been helpin’, but it is hard… And I’m not really brave either or strong or noble. And I’m kind of ignorant.”
If only he knew, I thought. There was no one I knew who was braver or more noble than this farm boy turned knight. But I couldn’t break his disillusion, yet. Maybe I’ll let Mar do that one day, but most likely Arkeh will just spit out the truth in an anticlimactic way. I sighed but moved onto my last question. “Okay, and how about your strengths?”
Frowning, deep in his innocent thoughts, Baehur paused again. “I like most everybody, so that’s a good thing. And I’m always gonna ta try ta do better. I’m not gonna to give up becomin’ a proper knight; I can do it one day. Gaev’ knew I can, and I don’t wanna disappoint him or the King.”
“I’m sure you will, Baehur.” I smiled, as I stood up and shook his hand. “Thank you for coming in today. I’m sure my reader will love getting to know you.”
“Thanks,” He smiled and pushed one of his brown curls out of his face before he exited my writing office.
Write for the King 
Ooh, I love this! I do stuff like this on my blog, but usually I’m in such a hurry that I don’t work very hard on it. 😛 Wonderful job!
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I was actually inspired to do this because I read your interviews and enjoyed them so much 😉 I thought your character interviews were great, and I didn’t spend much time on this at all– just a quick draft and then one read through before I posted.
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Oh wow, that’s awesome! 😀 Thanks! Well, you did amazing, it seems like you spent a lot of time on it. 😀
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Well, I’ve not read the entire post yet (it has already spoiled some of the book for me, and I don’t want to spoil any more of it), but I have a suggestion about the durreb. You won’t be able to use the inside blade for almost anything, and it could actually pose a threat to the user, so you might want to make it single bladed. Also, if it was single bladed, you could use it for other things, like slinging it over a tree branch and hanging by it. This would be useful in a scene where, perhaps, someone is at the edge of a log over a precipice and is barely holding on, and a bad guy is trying to get them to fall. Usually, they would step on the fingers of the person holding on, but if they were holding on by the durreb, it would be futile to step on their fingers.
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You might be surprised at how useful the inner blade is against a sword. I’ve done a little bit of experimenting with a durreb “model” (aka a hoola-hoop), and you can easily and quickly spin the “durreb” over your opponent’s head (all the while trapping their sword in the loop) and then slice off their head. But your point about other uses is a good one. The thing I am really worried about is how to make a sheath or find a carrying method for such a weapon– that is my biggest challenge.
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So how big is a durreb? I was thinking something held in one hand, but if it is the size of a hula-hoop, then the inside blade would be useful. Also, in that case you could just have two sheathes, one for each side, and tie them together. In the case you presented, would it not be easier to just thrust the outside blade into their throat, or would that put your hand in too much danger from their sword? The inside blade would be useful for disarming your enemies (no, literally dis-arming them: catch their sword inside of the durreb, slide it down, and cut off their arm), though you would need some sort of shield, and it might be better to just catch their sword inside and stab them with a knife.
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And that would work even (especially so, because you would be able to hold a shield or a knife in the other hand) if it was only held in one hand.
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I would also suggest you make the hand guard more like a hemisphere, with the opening to the outside, so it will protect your fingers when you get someone else’s weapon inside. Otherwise, a lot of people would lose fingers while fighting with this weapon.
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The durreb can be held in both hands or one (the blade is relatively thin, so it is not too heavy– and I am experimenting with another idea to make it even lighter.) I was thinking it would have a diameter of about 2.5 ft.
I’m not sure I understand what you are saying about the sheathes, though. I was thinking the characters could have a single bent piece of thick, metal enforced leather that folds around the blade part and has buttons on the inside to fasten the sides together. However, it would be impractical for drawing the weapon quickly as you would have to unbutton the sheath before the blade was free. So I am trying to think of another way, but the drawing speed may just be a limitation of the weapon.
That is a good idea about the hand guard.
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I’m not sure how to make my sheath idea any clearer. It’s two separate pieces of leather, one that covers the outside blade, and another that covers the inside blade, and you tie them together with leather thongs.
I just thought of another sheath idea that would even work for quick draw. Just have essentially a bag of leather that covers the entire weapon, with a draw string at the top. This would also help to conceal it, as it would just look like a large bag with who knows what inside. On use, you might consider having your characters throw it, though don’t do it too much, because throwing any weapon is a bad idea in most scenarios (although the Franks would have several axes that they would throw as they advanced, and pick them back up and throw them again as they reached them), and I would suggest they be used in pairs, and maybe a bit smaller for easier single hand wielding, and then another type that is larger that is meant for two hand wielding (like two short swords or one broadsword).
Another weapon you could use (well, not really a weapon, but a special arrow) would be an arrow with the end split apart. It would be fairly short range, but it would be ideal for less experienced bowmen, because the end would spread apart inside of the body, causing much damage, extra hard/invasive removal, and leaving splinters inside of the body, adding to the danger of death by infection. It would be even more dangerous if the shafts broke off inside of the body, for obvious reasons. Don’t use this for more experienced bowmen, though (unless they are torturing someone), because they would be accurate enough to kill with their first shot with a normal arrow. Possibly it would be okay for experienced archers for medium range, because each arrow would be unfireable after one shot, so that could be useful, but it would be hard to get a kill every shot at that range.
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