Squire of War

by M. H. Johnson

  "There are awful things that lurk within those Shadowrealms. Dark specters of living nightmare. Vile things that were once men before being warped and corrupted so horribly, trapped within realms twisted and strange. Creatures so terrible they will not only slay you, but slay all memory of you. As if your existence had been nothing more than a dream itself, to be forgotten by friends and loved ones even as you scream your last, lost forever within those nightmare realms of Shadow.”

  Malek frowned, suddenly serious. “This would be no casual gamble then. Far worse than waking from a dream, death in the Shadowrealms is permanent, and our very existence would be forgotten.”

  Alex sighed and nodded. “Exactly, Malek. And that is the saddest element of all. Any souls daring to explore those twisted realms who perish in the midst of their haunted, dreamlike journeys don't just die. No. It is as if they had never been. They flicker out of existence entirely. The wives they left behind remember nothing, save that they had always chosen to be alone for some terrible reason. Their children are assumed to be bastards, and only remember being teased and ridiculed as such all their lives, even if but days before they had been safe and loved in their father’s arms. That is, if those children still exist at all.”

  Malek frowned, nodding his head. “We will not take these stories lightly, even if they are couched in a bard’s prose. We will learn what we can, and will do our best not to play the fools, assuming there is anything to see at all.”

  Alex sighed. “There will be. Everything points to a rift manifesting upon the summer solstice, just a handful of days away.”

  Jess frowned. “Until this very moment, I had completely forgotten about the summer solstice. It’s strange that it just sort of pops up now, all of a sudden.

  Alex flashed a strangely sad smile. “There is so much I could say, but I am forbidden to. Read the tales, Jess. Decide for yourself if you truly want to risk your soul in this madness. If so? I will see what I can do to help you. I owe you that much, and far, far more.”

  Jess grinned and hugged her friend. “Thank you, Alex. I knew we could count on you. Now hurry up, go impress all your professors and stay close to Jera, at least until we find out if our college is safe or if dark rats still fester within her halls.”

  Alex chuckled. “I will indeed keep to Jera’s side.” His gentle gaze turned suddenly hard. “If anyone tries anything foul, well, the will find that some of Highrock’s students are the match of even a battlemage, wise enough to master magics useful in the heat of battle.”

  Malek grinned. “Only you, Alex. I can barely focus enough to cast defensive wards before battle.”

  Jess found just enough time to wolf down the victuals Malek had smuggled for her, delighting in the savory meat pies washed down with cold ale, and knew she had to dash to class if she wanted to avoid being late.

  Groaning, she put on her robe.

  Malek caught her gaze. “I will see you after last class. We can relax and spend the entire day reading these accounts."

  Jess smiled. “I'd like that. Now please quit gazing at me like I'm some lost waif. I’ll be fine.”

  Malek gently clasped her shoulder. “As much as I enjoy the diversion, the truth is I don’t give that much more of a rat’s arse for our courses than you do. Eloquin is right. They are but slag. Our training under him alone is the steel that forges us.” He flashed a wry smile. “It’s just that for most of us, our brilliance transcends the battlefield. You are something of a specialized savant, shieldsister. Very good with tactics and plants, a true virtuoso, but any other subject leaves you out of sorts."

  Jess flushed, lowering her head. “I’m wise enough to see that I made no friends when I gave up on classes entirely, Malek. Half my professors felt that I had deliberately slighted them. It’s just that I hate feeling stupid, being mocked for having to read aloud even as I take notes, or nothing makes sense to me. And sometimes it’s hard. Very hard to focus on class.”

  Malek nodded. “No one cares if you read your favorite volumes aloud in the privacy of your own quarters. In class, it's different. And when flashes of battle blind you to the chalk board, when the screams of dying men drown out the teacher’s voice, it’s hardly worth showing up at all."

  He gave his suddenly trembling friend a gentle hug. “And at least we are honored with a certain amount of deference for the sacrifices we made, wearing a Squire’s pins. But you, dear Jess, are stuck with the horror and no respect at all. Forced to deal with mocking jackals that feel no shame at condemning a noble soul who would have striven to save their lives, just as you did Alex and Jera and everyone else.”

  He gave a firm shake of his head. “I show up at class often enough no teacher thinks to challenge me, and in truth, few worry about the affairs of Squires in any case. In other words, they hardly care if we miss a day here and there, as long as we are there one out of two. So today, I am your shieldbrother in truth. I will join you for class, and anyone who thinks to challenge you may challenge me as well.”

  It was still a weight on her heart, so many cold looks of contempt still sent her way, but most students seemed too preoccupied with their own affairs to waste much time on insulting her that morning, with Malek by her side.

  Save for Duggin, sauntering around the corner the moment Jess made the turn, and she would have collided right into him had she not a Squire’s reflexes, lurching back on the instant, gazing into his smirk. “Still haven’t left yet? I’m surprised. I thought we all made it clear how much we despise you.”

  Jess scowled, but forbore saying a word, knowing she had gained an enemy the day he had failed to best her in the ring, his now blatant spite but further proof of how poor a Squire he would have made.

  And when she pivoted to dart around him, he slid into her path once more.

  Jess glared into glittery dark eyes, his malice unmistakable.

  Her hands clenched into fists.

  His lips curled into a grin. “Careful, Calenbry. If you even touch me, that’s considered assault. A supplicant claims no rank, so long as she wears the robe. Touch me without cause, and you will be expelled.”

  “Move, Duggin.”

  He spat in her face.

  “Make me, bitch.”

  Before abruptly crying out as Malek shoved forward, sending Duggin colliding into the far wall before stumbling to the ground.

  “When a lady says move, you move.”

  Duggin picked himself up, limbs trembling, eyes glittering with hate. “You’ll pay for that!”

  Malek smiled coldly. “You’re interfering with a Squire in the performance of his duties. I suggest you turn tail and scurry off. None of us here particularly want to see your face.”

  Duggin’s face turned blotchy with fury. “How dare you, cur! How dare you touch my person!” He blinked, swallowing as more than one surprised onlooker laughed derisively at him.

  “You, you’re protecting a penitent! That is not aloud. It can’t be! You’ll get in trouble for that, Malek de Sousel!”

  Malek’s lips curled into a cold smile. “You know who I am? That’s good. Very good.”

  Faster than Duggin could blink, Malek was before him, grabbing the boy’s tunic in one powerful fist.

  Duggin hissed as Malek jerked him upright. “Then you should know that I’m a black sheep, Duggin. Do you think I give a rat’s arse who you whine like a coward to? Do you think you can possibly hold something over my head?” He gazed at the onlooking students, smirked, glaring back at the trembling Duggin he effortlessly hoisted, the now panicked student's feet scrabbling for purchase upon tile stones suddenly out of reach. “If I find out you’ve hurt my friend? If I hear even a whisper you’ve spoken against me? I’ll stab my sword into your gut and yank it out, making you watch your own hot slimy entrails pooling on the ground. Then I will gaze into your beady little eyes as you writhe and die at my feet.”

  His words no more than a whisper, Jess was chilled to see her fierce brother-in-arms sound so very much like Mord him
self. Ruthless and cold. And the smile he flashed Duggin caused an involuntary whimper as the boy blanched, his gaze one of sheer terror, still dangling from Malek's steely grip.

  “I’m a Squire of War, Duggin. I revel in the madness of battle. The killing fields are my home. Snapping your neck would be nothing, and I will laugh at any bloodprice your father dares to throw at my feet. Because you will be dead, and I will have won, and that’s all that matters to a Squire, Duggin. Victory at any cost.”

  Contemptuously he sent Duggin sprawling, and how the boy blanched and shuddered, catching Malek’s gaze.

  Malek raised his voice so all could hear. “You weren’t accepted into our ranks not just because Jessica so handily beat you, but because your weakness was plain for those with the eyes to see it. You would flinch and run crying to your mother when the king cries havoc, a worthless waste of armor and horseflesh, sure to panic and get himself killed when steel is drawn in earnest.”

  The crowd of students gazing on had grown, all of them staring at Duggin as he trembled with humiliated fury.

  “We rejected you because you weren’t good enough, Duggin. We didn’t hate you for it, it wasn’t personal.”

  Malek spat at the boy’s feet. “But now you’ve made it personal, daring to unsheathe your malice before a girl who never did anything but accept your challenge. It is pathetic and unworthy. If anyone wanted further proof that you deserve no exalted rank in any company, they have but to look at your shaking countenance, your hate-filled stare. You are beneath contempt, and unworthy of our time.”

  Giving Duggin not another second of his attention, Malek stepped right over him, Duggin gulping like a fish, desperate to defend his honor. But there was nothing he could say.

  Jess groaned inwardly, catching Duggin’s hot gaze for an instant, knowing she now had an enemy for life.

  “Malek...” her voice just a whisper.

  He sighed. “Yes, I know. I overreacted. But robe be damned, I will not let that pustulent piece of filth or anyone else get away with treating you so horribly. I will leave this school with their blood on my hands before I let that happen!” Clenching his fists tight, he plowed on, seeming to care not at all that more than one student was left shaken by his words.

  Her classes could not end quickly enough, and Jess relieved beyond words that Professor Chevalier made no issue when Malek deliberately turned a humiliated Jess around in her seat, forcing her to make eye contact with her glaring professor, before she caught Malek’s gaze, looking strangely nonplussed.

  “Silly for a student so needing all the academic help she can get not to be facing the board, wouldn’t you say, professor?” Malek, earlier fury washed away as if it had never been, flashed their professor his most winning smile.

  Their young instructor stepped back, speechless, her face an odd mixture of surprise, ire, and relief. “Malek, thank all the gods. I… truly, I had feared the worst.”

  “We all thought you were dead,” declared one of the students gazing raptly at the interplay.

  Malek grinned. “I got better.”

  Their instructor nodded, her scowl softening. “I am glad you did. Not all of us recover from injury quite so successfully. Very well, Malek de Sousel, I will leave the penitent’s betterment in your capable hands. Do make sure there are no further disruptions to our class?”

  “Understood, professor.”

  “Excellent, now let us proceed with today’s lesson.”

  Jess found herself grateful beyond words for Malek's presence that morning, daring conversation only when they had successfully retreated to her quarters, meat pies and a pitcher of cold milk brought to their door by an elegantly dressed servant, the scent of wine upon her breath, favoring Jess with a troubled smile.

  Jess frowned. Busy as she had been, it was time she found out what exactly was going on. “Lily, what’s wrong? I heard something was afoot?”

  Lily, a tall brunet with fair features and a brilliant smile, had any number of suitors amongst the help, but had set her eyes on Lucas, and Jess had seen her at more than one revel, her hand in his, daring anyone to protest her company. Perhaps that was the source of her sudden shyness.

  “Please, Lady Jessica. You have more than enough burdens laid at your feet. No need to trouble yourself further. What could be done has already been done. Thank you for thinking of us though, my lady.”

  And before Jess could think of a reply to that, Lily had already darted off for whatever other duties demanded her attention. Of course, considering the tight dress she wore and the smell of exotic spices upon her, perhaps it was the revels that demanded her attention, and the waiting arms of a certain smiling Squire Jess did sincerely hope wouldn’t break poor Lily’s heart, whether he helped her family out or no.

  She turned to Malek. “Is there something I should know?”

  Malek sighed. “Not that I know of, Jess, but I just got back and am still trying to get my head together. I barely feel human as it stands.”

  Jess smirked. “Much to poor Duggin’s regret.”

  Malek chuckled ruefully at that. “I was in rare form, wasn’t I?”

  Jess nodded. “More like Mord than not. There’s something fierce about you, shieldbrother.”

  Malek grinned. “Who better to have at your side when all turns topsy turvy?”

  Jess grinned. "Who indeed." Her hand gently reached out to clasp his own. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Malek paled, haunted eyes locking to her own, a bolt of dread shivering down her spine. He took a deep, shuddering breath and shook his head, his alien gaze becoming the gentle brown she knew so well, shaking his head with a soft chuckle. “If it’s all the same to you, Jess, I’d rather let dreams of madness slip into the black soup of all such reverie. I’m grateful just to have woken up in one piece so close to the college, and doubly grateful I have no new propensity to stumble about in my sleep.”

  Jess nodded, taking a thoughtful bite of meat pie, bursting with rich flavor; beef, potatoes, and carrots perfectly done, flaky crust setting it off wonderfully.

  “Delicious!” she declared, Malek nodding gamely. “Well, classes are done, as today is a half-day. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been dying to read these tomes Alex dropped off for us.”

  “Myself as well, shieldsister.” Malek sighed, gazing off into space. “I know I will never be the match of Alex with his gifts manipulating elemental magics, but once upon a time I thought I might take a different path than that of the Squire, and thoughts of wild adventure and worlds beyond our own? I had been obsessed with those dreams long before I came to Highrock.” His gaze turned sad. “I’m not quite so ignorant as Alex fears. Guild works are the most affordable of all tomes, well within the means of even a despised scion, and I was eager to escape into pages of dream and wonder. Anything to forget living in that cesspit of a home.”

  Wordlessly, Jess held Malek close, knowing as well as anyone how her shieldbrother had suffered under his father’s roof.

  He held her tightly in turn. “Ah, Jess. We can choose our friends but we can’t choose our kin, am I right? Never mind all that dreary blather. I want to show you a spell I’ve been working on since I first discovered I had a knack.”

  Malek stared off into space for some moments, and gently spread his hands apart. Jess could feel streamers of magical energy; threads of twisting thought, reality, and nature, all spiraling and coalescing into a gentle web of power that Malek slowly and carefully spun into being.

  From between his fingers the air started to swirl and waver, streaming together and coalescing to form a floating sphere of deep shimmering blue that slowly grew translucent. Jess found that peering into it was much like gazing into the depths of a deep blue lake. From that mysterious surface, a beautiful image began to take form.

  Jess found herself gazing upon a musician immersed in her art, eyes closed to the rapture of her song. Her ears were oddly pointed, though her features were otherwise exquisite, an ethereal smile playing up
on rosebud lips as her fingers flowed effortlessly over a silver harp before an assembly of impossibly beautiful men and women attired in ancient regalia the likes of which Jess had seen only in the oldest of renderings, images of images lost to the great cataclysm, so long ago. The court entire danced to the pristine notes resonating through the grand chamber buttressed by massive pillars of ivory and gold.

  Though music was a subject that remained utterly elusive to her, save for dancing or fighting to the beat of a drum, even Jess could sense something profound about the song echoing forth from what were perhaps the final days of an ancient empire lost to time. She could feel the notes trying to carry her away somehow, and was amazed by the expression of rapture upon her shieldbrother's features.

  Time seemed to stand still as they listened to that ancient memory of a bard playing to an elven court that had not graced these lands for countless centuries, even their ruins lost to memory and time. When at last the performance was done, Jess blinked, feeling oddly relaxed, gazing at Malek, who had been so moved that tears were freely streaming down his cheeks, almost as if he had been under a spell.

  “That was very nice, Malek. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

  Malek smiled, breathing deeply. “Thank you for the kind words, Jess. I know that music is not your thing, but I thought, perhaps, this might move even you,” The spell threads that had made up the complex web of power slowly drifted back into the ether even as Malek carefully disbanded his spell. And for all that his face was illuminated by sweetest reverie, Jess could tell that the magic had exhausted her friend.

  “It’s supposed to summon phantasms,” Malek quietly explained. “Images from events long past. Echoes of the world’s memory of events long since faded to dust. I’ve been working with my professor on learning and eventually mastering it. I think there must be something deeper here.” Malek's voice was a near reverential whisper. “Think about it, Jess. What are those lost realms of Shadow or Regio that Delvers can explore; discovering lost treasures, secrets, paths to power? What does it mean to travel in Shadow and Dream, save to glimpse the very world’s memories of times long past? What is that magic that I summoned forth, but the humblest manifestation of a Delver's gift?