Squire of War

by M. H. Johnson

  “You’re right, Twilight.” Jess said, chastened by her familiar’s reprimand, stroking his silky fur. His chastisement stung all the deeper for being so blisteringly accurate, bludgeoning through any rebuttal she might retort with the weight of its undeniable truth.

  Jess gave a wry shake of her head. "It doesn't matter what another thinks of your lot in life. Even if they see your cup as overflowing, when you hunger for more than to dance to the tune of another, nothing else rings like the clarion call of your deepest desires made manifest, embodying true power, true freedom, all other considerations paling before that."

  Twilight nodded. "At least you understand. Even if this time we go to our doom, at least you are aware of the passions that drive you, the choice you have made. Besides, our dear Malek has simply found the key to unlocking that which was sealed away from him long, long ago."

  Jess frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “Never you mind, Jess. That is part of his tale, ancient and terrible, much like your own.” Twilight flashed Jess a cool smile even as she blinked, nonplussed. “Just promise me you’ll at least be honest with yourself, whatever path you take.”

  “Of course," Jess said, giving her familiar an affectionate pat, sensing that no matter what path through life she took, she would always be able to share her true self with her cat, for her Twilight would never judge. "Will Malek be okay?"

  “Soon enough, he will recover. How well his mind can master the magics he seeks to embrace this time around, we shall soon see. In the meantime, let him rest. I sense that in this great library, as in few other places within Shadow, your souls shall not stray, should either of you drift into meditation. But fear not, you won’t fall completely asleep in this chamber. Quite simply, you can’t.” Twilight yawned, his butting head gently insisting Jess continue to rub his fur with her gentle fingers that knew him so well. And Jess spent some time gently stroking him, the soothing rhythm of her movements soon lulling her into a tranquil state that was almost, but not quite, sleep.

  52

  Jess, wake up!” Quick as a flash, Jess lurched up, sword flashing out to stop inches from a shocked looking Malek.

  “What's wrong with you, Jess? It's just me!"

  “Oh gods, I’m sorry, Malek.” Jess flushed in embarrassment. “I wasn’t sleeping anyway,” she mumbled. “Just… meditating. Right, kitty?”

  Malek flashed her a bemused grin. "It's all right. You seemed to have dozed off there for a minute, but we'll call it meditating, if you like. Anyway, look at this tome I found!" Jess examined the volume in question, getting a better look at vertical rows of crimson symbols flowing down the pages. She felt the magic brooding deep within, dark and potent.

  “Can you understand it?” Jess gazed at her friend.

  Malek tilted his head. “It’s strange, Jess. I know for a fact I’ve never seen a book like this before. These symbols should mean nothing to me. Yet I somehow sense that if I just stare at it long enough, it will all start to click into place.”

  Jess shrugged and smiled. “Then keep it, my friend. I have no doubt it’s a potent work, and perhaps in some dreamlike way it was meant for you. One thing’s for sure, if you don’t take it, as like as not all its mystery and lore will just fade back into the Shadows from which this keep came.

  Malek smiled and nodded. “I like the way you think, Jess. Come, let us look for some other choice treasures.”

  With that he strode toward the table closest to the bookcase his tome had come from, and Jess noted with some bemusement the way his eyes lit up as he grasped hold of a small box, gently plucking several silvery globes from within, rolling them in his palms with some wonder.

  “He looks happy," Jess sighed, still finding herself caught in a gentle reverie, feeling increasingly in tune with this strange realm of living dream.

  It was as if her awareness was slowly connecting her to the ebb and flow of the vast structure’s own matrix of resonating power. She fancied that with time, she would become perfectly synchronized with the great tower, and who knew what consequences that would bring? Horrific or wondrous, there was no way to know.

  She grinned at the thought, feeling fey indeed, when the tome she had dropped caught her eye once more. Strangely, it seemed to call out to her. And the subtle sweet promise of powers terrible and potent caressed her with its enticing whispers, drawing her forward. Gently, teasingly, the book’s sweet potential spoke to the darkest corners of her mind, awakening hungers vast and terrible.

  Jess felt, in some strange way, like a girl who had fallen for the drink, and hard. A redeemed girl who had somehow forced away the wicked flask of sweetest vice after it had spelled its tale of grief and woe. Yet deep in her heart she was always hungering for, always craving, that heady sip of potent bliss.

  To be faced with this enticing, seductive tome was as if she had somehow forgotten those terrible cravings, only to be presented with a tall chilled carafe of ruby wine that called to her with the honey-laden promise of a lover's whisper. Dark, unholy power. Sweet screams of bliss and madness. Crying out to seep through her veins once more.

  Jess froze. Momentarily startled by how strong the seductive pull was. She blinked and gazed carefully at the black leather tome, but even her carefully probing eyes sensed no arcane traps, nothing but the dull throb of powerful eldritch lore trapped in symbolic form. Simply an ancient work, waiting for the right student to embrace its secrets once more.

  Giving herself an abrupt shake, Jess took a disciplined breath and proceeded to reach for the book, curious, despite her best judgment, desiring to at least touch her awareness upon this work that for a flash had awoken such a dark and terrible hunger within her.

  As she reached for the book she lurched back in surprise. Twilight himself was suddenly hovering over the tome, his eyes freezing her where she stood.

  “I swore long ago to never interfere with the choices you make, Jezabelle. And for a very long time I have held true to that promise. For there is no greater power than freedom, and nothing strengthens the fabric of this Realm than the constant reaffirmation to continue its existence. Each time you affirm your original choices, each time you make the sacrifice to accept your mortal fate, no matter how seductively dark promises would tempt you, you strengthen the fabric of all you hold dear.” Her familiar slowly lifted himself up off the book and padded away. His eyes still held Jess frozen where she stood.

  “But I warn you, Jess, of all the choices you might make, opening this book, exploring its secrets, learning its temptations, would put your soul in peril like never before. Before you open those pages of human skin and unimaginable pain, ask yourself this: Are you truly ready to risk all you ever held dear, for all these years?”

  He sighed and shook his head, releasing Jess from the power of his gaze. “It is up to you, Jess. As it always was.”

  And still the book called out to her. How terrible, really, could knowledge be? A tool, wasn’t it? A path of power. And so rich and sweet would it be, to understand dark lore beyond the comprehension of all those who stood beneath her. Power, to embrace. Power, to rule. Jess’s grin was cold and she could feel the sweet hunger to savor its secrets. A hunger that tempted her, that stroked her passions and ate at her, even as her mind froze with horror at what she was about to do, her fingers but inches from those terrible pages, registering at last the true significance of her familiar’s solemn warning.

  With a furious cry, she chose at last to make contact with the tome, smashing her foot into it with all her pent up frustration, sending it sailing across the room to smack into the far wall. Jess almost thought she could hear a voiceless scream, and smiled in grim satisfaction.

  She flashed her familiar a shaky grin. "What the hell were you talking about, Twilight? How will reading a damn book destroy all I love? No, wait, I almost, almost don't want to know. Are there any other dark tomes of Hell here, waiting to tempt me? Is there anything I can safely touch here without it spelling doom for the entire
world?"

  Her laughter was a shaky thing, meant in jest, covering her own terror at the temptation that had crawled through her like the darkest of desires. The deadliest of poisons. She had been hungrier for the caress of that book than she had ever been for the sweet touch of any boy or girl. And it sickened her to her core.

  Twilight's smile was enigmatic, but she sensed he was pleased. “Only one tainted apple on this tree of knowledge, Jess, though I fear much of the lore here would still weigh heavily upon your soul. Come, Jess. Let us to leave this library. Its pull is a seductive, dangerous thing, and best we allow it to be swallowed by this realm of Shadow forevermore.” Twilight sighed. “It is a fortunate thing indeed that the tome you faced is a unique work, only able to plague you once in a lifetime.”

  Jess shook her head. "One day I will figure out what the hell you are talking about." frowned, gazing about the vast, shadowy chamber with increasingly suspicious eyes. "I'm not even interested in playing with any more of the toys in here. Gods above know what doom will be unleashed with the next tome I touch. Let's just get the hell out."

  She gazed at her companion, presently giving her a curious, puzzled glance, having seen her smash a tome across the great library in a bizarre bout of fury. “Everything okay, Jess?”

  “Yes, it's fine. I just have to leave. I don't feel so safe in here anymore."

  Malek shrugged and grinned. "No worries, sister. Take a look at this!" He held for her perusal a brilliantly sparkling necklace and matching pair of rings within a felt lined box of hardwood, and Jess could sense a steady stream of energies throbbing within.

  She nodded approvingly. “Enchanted, no doubt.”

  “I know!” he said happily, “but that’s not the best part, check out this!” He gently lifted from the discrete little box two silvery orbs of modest size, letting them rotate within the palm of his hand. Yet Jess realized that they were not rotating by dint of fine muscular control, but rather by the force of his will alone. She gasped in awe, making out at last the faint lines of crimson power that linked the orbs to Malek, even as the silvery balls slowly lifted from his palm to rotate lazily around his head.

  Malek tensed his brow, and Jess could feel him feeding the orbs with a red surge of power that was unlike any of the azure magics that resonated with most of the casters at the college. Faster and faster the pair of orbs spun, faintly whistling through the air. “I think these must be a defensive ward of some kind, and look! It doesn’t interfere with my blade!”

  He slowly unsheathed his longsword and the orbs changed their orbit so as not to interfere with the graceful flow of his movements as he executed a deft series of feints and slashes. Jess prudently stepped a few paces back nonetheless, yet the orbs effortlessly avoided his person and, by extension, all that he held, even as they spun ever faster about the crown of his head.

  Malek’s grin mirrored her own as she applauded. “Bravo, Malek! Nicely done.”

  The orbs slowly stopped rotating, falling to rest in his palm once more. “Fantastic, right? And I only feel the faintest bit of fatigue when I activate them. I think maybe these could be pretty useful when we leave here.” He turned to gaze back at the heart of the library once more. “Are you sure you don’t want to grab anything, Jess? This might be our only chance.”

  Jess sighed, and deliberately looked behind her, in the opposite direction as the dark tome she had kicked so hard, delivering herself from temptation. Her eyes suddenly widened and she grinned.

  “Maybe I’ll grab something, after all.” Deliberately she strode toward a locked case in the far wall that she was oddly certain hadn’t been there even moments ago. In it she spied a mannequin wearing a hauberk of silvery mail falling well below mid-thigh. Elegant, beautiful, not a speck of tarnish or rust marred its elegant weave. She could hear Malek grunt approvingly behind her, though her familiar looked oddly disconcerted.

  Twilight frowned. “That was not here before, useful remnant that it is. What games are being played here?”

  “Jess, look out for traps!” Malek cautioned, even as Jess’s hand gently reached out for the clasp to the glass case holding that masterwork shirt of mail. She nodded thoughtfully and gazed carefully at the glass case. The whole thing throbbed with a gentle silvery essence that resonated strangely to Jess. Yet sensing no malice for all its strangeness, she shrugged and simply opened the glass pane, giving a satisfied nod when nothing untoward occurred, even as she gently reached in and pulled free the shimmering shirt of mail.

  “By the gods, what is that made of?" Malek's voice was hushed in awe, so captivating he seemed to find the silvery mail.

  Jess gently stroked the fine links. They were of no metal she could recognize, but felt incredibly hard, the shirt about the same weight as a similar hauberk of iron. She gave an impressed whistle when she found that neither gentle nicks nor serious thrusts of her dagger to the links would mar the exquisitely forged armor in the least, only dulling the blade itself, which was of highest quality steel.

  With a cheerful laugh, Jess impulsively took off her helm and donned the shimmering hauberk, the ancient mail tight against her formfitting armor, but like any good mail shirt it was utterly accommodating, made by design to ward off the bite of steel while padding underneath absorbed the force of the blow.

  Malek whistled his appreciation. “It must have been made for a potent figure indeed. I can't believe it fits over your armor so well. Honestly, Jess, you look like an ancient Paladin of Justice stepping out of the story books of legend!” Malek slowly shook his head in wonder. “By the gods, that shirt looks like it could be made of mithril!”

  Jess quirked her brow, gazing quizzically at Malek. “Mithril?”

  Her companion laughed. “Have you never heard the ancient tales of mithril armor? Magically forged artifacts made of the bones of dragons at the hands of ancient elven smiths, able to turn aside the might of any blade or spell?”

  Jess shook her head. “Nope. But then again, my father never was one for tales outside the nursery. I’ll have to hear about it later. Hmm… a shirt made of dragon bone. That would be epic!” She laughed heartily. “Whatever it is, it is about the weight of steel, and my knife cannot nick it, so it’s a worthy edition to my war chest.”

  Malek grinned. “And now we’re both rich! Come sister, let’s leave this room. I’m with you, this place is starting to give me the creepies.”

  Jess nodded solemnly. It was as if they had come to a crossroads of sorts. As if with their choices the great room’s purpose had been met, and even as they stared, it seemed almost as if the massive dome was now stretching vast and wide in all directions, great shadows hiding the far corners and bookcases in brooding darkness.

  Jess shivered, blinking. She no longer felt welcome there. “Come, Malek. Let’s make our way forth.”

  He nodded and the three of them approached the great iron door, the massive structure radiating supernatural potency. “Bloody hells, Jess. Even I can tell that thing is crackling with enchantments. What if we can’t get through?”

  Jess peered at it carefully, then smiled, odd bits of insight clicking into place. "It's okay, Malek. It's not here to ward against us. Besides, we're going out, not in." With that, she methodically resecured the ties to her helm and gauntlets as they prepared to venture further into the unknown.

  With Malek stopping only long enough to summon forth the power of the silvery orbs once more, they stood shoulder to shoulder, pushing open the door in unison. Perfectly balanced by unseen counterweights, the massive doorway opened with the slightest touch.

  Jess felt her soft breath steam before her, so bitingly cold the corridor they entered was. She shivered. “By Winter's frigid breath, it feels like we've stepped into an ice house.”

  Malek nodded in agreement, and they almost didn’t hear the faint click of the forgotten library vault closing behind them with a metallic clang. Malek gazed once apprehensively, and Jess sighed, catching his eye and shaking her head.

&nbs
p; “Now you know without even trying that the door will never open to us again, right?”

  Malek chuckled slightly as he shivered. “Yes, it does seem to be that kind of story. We are traversing the realm of dreams and legend, after all.”

  Cautiously, they made their way through vast corridors made of perfectly cut marble stone veined with shimmering silver, terminating many yards over their heads as if the massive tunnels had been made for far grander creatures than mere man. The roof was lined with shimmering pale stones that glowed like stars in miniature, dimly lighting their way.

  The corridors seemed to go on forever. Jess felt herself slip into an odd sort of trance as they made their way down endless passageways, despite her familiar's earlier warnings.

  It was then that Jess heard the faintest of screams.

  Her heart started to hammer, despite how far they seemed to be from the voices echoing through the winding maze they now found themselves within. Without knowing how she knew, Jess understood at once that those voices belonged to people familiar and dear to her.

  “Malek?” she softly whispered.

  He turned to face her, gaze as grim and troubled as Jess’s anxious heart. “I know. It makes no sense, but I know. Those are our friends. Bloody hells!”

  Far colder than the frigid air was the terrible certainty that something horrific was stalking those they loved. As one, they went from careful walk to paced jog.

  “Jess!” Malek’s voice was sharp, urgent. “What do we do?!”

  Jess squeezed his gauntleted hand tight within her own. “We trust our gut. This way!”

  It wasn’t knowledge so much as sudden instinct that caused Jess to abruptly pull them from the main cavernous tunnel to a side path near hidden in shadow. The arched roof rose barely above their helmets, the dark corridor only wide enough for them to proceed one at a time. A not unexpected weight leaped upon her, and Jess could feel Twilight wrap himself with perfect balance upon his favorite perch, far too graceful and cognizant ever to interfere with her combat prowess when needed.