by Heath Pfaff
We Knights of Ethan had never been in great numbers, but it took very few of us to change the course of a battle. For many years we had found ourselves doing little more than battling in skirmishes at the borders of the lands of men, pushing further into new territories, trying to clean out the hostile monsters of the feral lands beyond our borders. This could have gone on until we reached land's end, but we suddenly found ourselves pressed upon by a new enemy, a stronger kind of enemy.
Members of our Knights began to defect. Some few had left earlier, but it was then, twenty years ago, that a surprising portion of our number fled in the course of a single week. Our numbers were reduced, and what was worse, we found ourselves suddenly beset by the Shao Geok, a hostile race from deep in the frigid south. They had never before been a problem, but suddenly they were pressing back against our newly established borders, and they were doing so with an organized precision we had not anticipated. We had made the mistake of thinking of them as nothing more than any other type of beast.
The Knights of Ethan became ever more important to the king. We went from years of quiet training and small skirmishes, to fully fledged war at the borders, pushing back an enemy that we hadn't known existed. The fighting continued, and it wasn't long before we realized that our missing Knights had joined with the armies of the other side. What was worse, we discovered that the enemy was led by none other than Weaver, or Lucidil as he was named before becoming a Knight, a man who I had trusted my life to many times. I knew him only too well, and knew how powerful and intelligent he was. The king, however, had never met Lucidil, as the red-eyed Weaver had become a Knight of Ethan before the king was even alive.
I warned the king of the trouble we could have before us with Weaver leading our enemy, and he heeded my advice on the matter. I believed that with an excessive show of power, we could push Lucidil back, make him give up his hopes of destroying our kingdom. I didn't understand exactly how determined he was, and I was wrong.
We crushed his forces again and again, but each time he came back stronger, and with a new and ingenious tactic. This continued escalating constantly until, quite suddenly, his attacks stopped entirely. For years the battles had continued, and just as suddenly as they'd begun, they just stopped. This was about the time that a certain young man had been bound to an Uliona female by the name of Kyeia. At the time, we didn't believe the two events corresponding were significant, for we had gone through many other bindings before without interference.
There we sat, for a time, confident in our peace. There were no attacks, and our borders lay in silence. That all came crashing to an end on the day you were set to arrive at Fell Rock. The Shao Geok attacked your carriage well within the borders of human lands. Never had Weaver dared to so blatantly breach our borders. We didn't even know how he accomplished such a feat.
We dispatched his assassins and waited, biding our time while you began the process of training. It was anticipated that you, Lowin Fenly, would be a great influx of power for our side in the battle against the seemingly unstoppable Lucidil. Of course Weaver had plans of his own. He attacked our most heavily fortified fortress, killing many Knights in the process, and stole you away from us, prying you out from between our fingers with surgical grace.
It may seem as though I'm simply restating things you already know, Lowin, but it is important that you understand the situations which lead up to Lucidil becoming king, and sometimes one cannot see the greater picture when one is resting on the canvas. Your loss, and the loss of so many Knights, was a devastating blow to the entire kingdom. The king declared that day as a day of remembrance, one in which all of the lives lost at Fell Rock should be honored. At that time, we believed you had fallen to the Lantern Eye, along with so many of our other brethren.
The king reacted immediately to the new threat. He didn't know how Lucidil had moved forces into his borders without being caught, so he decided to reinforce all border positions with our remaining Knights of Ethan. All posts received more units. We had no conception of the depth to which Lucidil's spies had pierced our innermost workings, and we certainly didn't know that he was practicing forbidden magic to move his units within our borders without having to cross overland, through our scouting lines.
We kept ourselves ready, but after Fell Rock everything went quiet again. We didn't understand why Weaver would not press his advantage, but we feared what might come next. He had repeatedly surprised us with his tactics.
Of course, the next time we received any news of attack it was when you and Brutal struck the bridge at our north border. We received mixed news on that. First we heard that you and Brutal had attacked and kidnapped our master of weapons, and then we heard that you had miraculously appeared and killed Brutal, who had been single-handedly laying siege to our defenses, before you vanished with our own master of swords. It seemed that even those who had been at the bridge were not exactly certain what had happened. In the end we were able to piece together what had transpired, and it was easy enough to determine your motivation.
You had, of course, learned Kyeia was alive, and had gone to free her. Brutal had accompanied you, but you had killed him in an effort to save your weapons master, someone who meant more to you than she was supposed to. . . that's your story though, and I don't think I need say anything more about it.
That is when we also received first warning of the Hungering, though we did not hold much stock in the warnings of a fugitive, even when weighted with the support of our master of swords, who was also, at that point, a fugitive.
I'll not dwell on what happened next, because I believe you are only too keenly aware of what transpired over the following weeks. You vanished into the wilderness, taking one of the king's most prized experiments and our greatest weapons master with you. The king, however, did not see fit to hunt you down, despite the damage you had wrought, and the precious resource of Knights you had cost the kingdom of men. I encouraged him to seek justice in this matter, if for nothing else, than simply to bring you and Malice back to the Knights of Ethan. He would hear nothing of it. The king believed we had wronged you, and that you were more dangerous to us as one of our force than as a rogue. He was my king, and so I accepted his judgment.
After you had vanished, for a time, things were quiet. Lucidil's forces did not move against us and we descended into an uneasy peace. Between your attack, and Lucidil's attack on Fell Rock, our forces were in a terrible state of disrepair. We began looking into ways to strengthen our military might once more. It was obvious that the human component of our military force could do little against an onslaught of highly trained Knights of Ethan, and the king did not wish to senselessly order men to their death. He instructed his top researchers, magicians of great caliber, to find a way to enhance his men so that they might stand against the armies of Lucidil.
The king never anticipated that the magics that would be created by those researchers would never be used to fight Lucidil. It was a year later that our silver-eyed friend from across the ocean arrived at our shores, and she brought with her a terrible warning. This time, the king was ready to listen.
Settlements had been vanishing along the coast line, leaving only burned out remains of entire villages. Piles of bones, some blackened from fire, some split and broken from weapon blows, all of them marked with signs of chewing and gnawing, were what remained of those people unfortunate enough to live in the many coastal towns which were first sacked by the Hungering. Telistera's warning put the king in a rough position. We now had a battle on two fronts building. The Hungering were coming, and Lucidil still posed an unquantifiable threat.
That is when Weaver came to the king. We had been struggling against his forces for many years at that point, and the last thing we anticipated was that he would show up at the castle, demanding an audience with the king. To say that we were nervous at the prospect of inviting such a powerful enemy inside our defenses would be a vast understatement. The king, though, wanted to hear what his enemy had to say.
We did what we could to make the throne room safe, and gave Weaver his hearing. To our surprise he did not come with hostilities in mind, at least not outwardly.
"The kingdom is in trouble, and whether or not we agree about how it should be run, I don't believe either of us is ready to face this new threat on our own. I have entire armies at my disposal, but they do no good if they cannot be moved freely across the land as needed. It is time that we established some form of peace, so that we might concentrate on the real problem at hand." Weaver told the king. It was exactly what needed to be said, and it was a credit to him that he was the first to say it. However, I was no fool. I suspected, and I later discovered the king also suspected, that Lucidil had other motives in his offer of peace. For the kingdom, though, sacrifices had to be made, and Lucidil, whatever his motives, was thinking clearly enough to see what was needed.
The king and Lucidil set about creating their treaty, and within a week they had come to an understanding. Both of them made concessions, and in the end neither got everything they'd initially demanded. Lucidil demanded he be made heir to the throne, but the king was not ready to give him that at the time. The king demanded that Lucidil turn over his armies to my authority, but Lucidil was unprepared to do that. In the end, Lucidil accepted the position of Steward of the Lands of Men, and the king accepted Lucidil's oath to always use his armies for the benefit of the kingdoms of man.
Other concessions were made as well. The king and Lucidil agreed to share research, and from that came the Black Patch Brigade. Lucidil agreed to stop production of the new Lucidil fabric, since the king deemed the cost per cloak too terrible. The rebel leader also agreed to stop using forbidden magics, despite the fact that they might have aided in the war effort. Most forbidden magic was forbidden for a reason.
"Wait, what cost was so high that the king would give up the new Lucidil cloaks?" I asked, my curiosity momentarily side tracked from Ethaniel's story. My cloak seemed to feel chilly for a moment, as though it had let a gust of the winter cold through its fabric, but it passed as fast as my question.
Ethaniel's already grim features grew darker. "Magic is sacrifice, Lowin. Lucidil discovered a way to increase the power of his cloaks, but the sacrifice necessary was deemed too great for the gains attached. Lucidil's new fabric required a source of fresh and vibrant energy in order to maintain the enchantments. Children, usually multiple children, were bled into the fabric to bind the magic to the cloth. Their life force was the strongest that Lucidil could find."
I stood aghast. I found myself in a place beyond speech. Why hadn't I ever considered the cost of Lucidil's fabric? I knew that all magic required sacrifice, but it had never occurred to me that human lives may have been spent to create clothing. I had worn one of those cloaks for a long time without ever asking from where it had come.
"The standard cloaks contain the lives of condemned men and women, those sentenced to death for crimes against the country." Ethaniel continued. "Their lives are forfeit anyway, so the king saw no ill in putting them to good use."
The fabric wrapped around me had gone chill again, or at least it seemed that way to me. Suddenly I did not feel comfortable beneath the shifting layers that entrapped me. I looked at Ethaniel, and the fact that he never wore a cloak suddenly took on a dark new meaning. Had he shed his cloak because of the way that they were created, or had it been a purely aesthetic decision as I'd once believed?
"You might as well keep wearing it." The four-eyed Knight said, watching me intently. "It protects you, and you've already worn it this long. Those cloaks have saved many lives over the years, perhaps more lives than have been spent in their crafting. Is that not what is important?" The question, I knew, was not one to be answered, but to be pondered. I kept quiet, mulling over the moral implications of the Lucidil fabric in my mind. At my side, Malice uneasily shifted beneath her own cloak.
Ethaniel resumed his story.
The king and Lucidil began their campaign to halt the Hungering. Lucidil called upon those loyal to him to aid the land in a time of crisis and they all rallied to his side. The king called upon his bravest men to join the battle line, and from across the kingdom men too stepped to the front. We carpeted the shoreline with our soldiers, waiting for the coming Hungering tide, and we did not have to wait long. Despite the warnings of our silver-eyed friend, we were not ready for the force that struck the coast. At first they came in single ships, and we pushed them back, still suffering immense casualties from their black drakes. We dug in and fought as hard as we could, but little did we know that we merely faced their first scouting parties. Then the Hungering's main force arrived.
Hundreds of ships lined the horizon, sailing for shore against the wind. Those few who saw it and lived to tell say that the entire ocean writhed with dark ships, driven by their blue fire. The Black Patch Brigade, those creatures born of Fell Beast and man, took their first steps in that battle, and proved how useful they could be. We did not hold the coast, but with the Black Patch we saved many lives and stopped the Hungering from completely overrunning our lands.
It was during this time that Lucidil began to show his strengths. He led the men with vigor, and showed a bottomless understanding of strategy and its application. The king was impressed. He saw in Lucidil the traits necessary to save the people of the lands of men and beyond.
The Black Patch Brigade, having been successful, were then produced in greater and greater numbers, until there were enough of them that they could be used for policing the populace as well as fighting the war. They were easy to create, and once bound, were loyal and controllable to a fault. The people feared them, and the city streets dried up as they went about their patrols. In the name of protection, the king had set free monsters to keep the peace. Under the circumstances, it was the best that could be done.
It was not long after this that the king received word, through his advisor Tyvel, that you were making your way to the capital and that you brought important information that would aid us in our battle against the Hungering. At that point the king distrusted you more than he distrusted Lucidil, who had proven himself time and again in the course of battle. You were still seen as a betrayer, one who had turned his back on country and fellow, though in truth you had been mostly forgotten in the face of the more pressing troubles of the kingdom.
The king saw your return as both a boon and a threat. If you could be controlled, he felt that you could be an important pawn in the coming battles, but he feared that you moved with your own purposes. He consulted Lucidil, who refused to offer advice where you were concerned, and he consulted me. I told him that it was foolish to turn aside information in a time of battle, even if it was inaccurate information.
The king made his decision. He would allow you in to the castle, and grant you an audience. If you could provide information to help the cause, and even if you couldn't, he would offer you and Malice your places amidst the Knights once more. It was a generous offer, since both of you stood accused of high treason. Further adding to your value, Tyvel had been leaking information regarding a mysterious transformation in Malice that had made her stronger and faster than she had been before. He told of her eyes reawakening, and said that he believed you knew the secrets to this change.
As a ruler in a precarious position, with a terrible war being waged all around him, the king could not pass up the chance to learn a way to improve the might of his most powerful warriors. He had hoped that you would share your secrets once he'd offered you your place amidst the Knights again. Of course, Lowin, you know what was to follow.
Insulted in his own thrown room, and accused of crimes he had not committed in front of his own court of advisors, the king was left with little choice. He had you and Malice imprisoned, and should have had the both of you executed. However, he still saw value in your lives. He hoped that, in time, you would see the advantage of helping his cause. He especially hoped that such would be the case if he applied pressure. As I've said, so
metimes a king must do unpleasant things to reach his ends.
In time, after a failed attempt to get information from you, the king forgot about you. Though, to be more accurate, he simply didn't have the time to worry about you any longer. Despite the Black Patch Brigade, and despite the work of Lucidil and his armies, the kingdom was slowly losing ground in the battle against the Hungering, and it became imperative that the king's every waking moment be bent towards waging war.
I knew the truth of what had happened with you and Malice. I believe the king knew it as well, though we never spoke of it. Lucidil had pulled strings that he should have never had his fingers upon, and had sent you spiraling, like a long bladed knife in flight, straight at the heart of the king. Knowing that mattered little. Lucidil, for all that he was dangerous, was an asset that the king simply couldn't afford to lose. The king said nothing, and so neither did I.
You and Malice suffered for that, and I apologize. For the greater good, sometimes individuals must suffer.