The Hungering Saga Complete

by Heath Pfaff

  "I have fought for this country so long that I don't know anything else. I am afraid of what this means for us. I fear what might come next. . ." His voice, in that moment, sounded like the voice of a lost child. I turned to look more closely at my advisor.

  "Ethaniel, are you alright?" I asked him, suddenly worried. The vacant expression fled his features, his eyes sharpened, and the gray eyes grew fiery once more.

  "Yes." He replied. ". . . just lost in thought for a moment." He flexed the wings wresting on his shoulders. "Things have been hard these last few years. Whatever fate awaits us, it will be better than being locked in this dying city."

  I nodded, for I agreed with him, but I was still troubled by his lapse in composure. I had never seen Ethaniel less than totally focused before. Ethaniel was the oldest of the Knights, and he seemed to be experiencing more and more instability as the years passed. I had to wonder if it was an indication of the direction that all Knight's would eventually take, becoming more and more morbid and dark as our minds were forced to adapt to the traumas of a hard life that stretched on without foreseeable end. I had never contemplated the reality of my long life-span, or what it could mean to me over the course of hundreds of years.

  Lucidil had been mad, power hungry, and driven to extremes beyond reason. Had that been due to living too long? Of the first couple generations of Knights, only Ethaniel still remained. There were no others by which to compare. Had the others been as dark and demented as Lucidil had been, or as frightening as Ethaniel was becoming? Perhaps I was reading too much into the perceived problem.

  I put it from my mind, knowing that I would need to address those questions at some time in the not so distant future. I relied too heavily upon Ethaniel to not question his actions when they were suspect. The castle gates loomed ahead, and all my worries fled. The road awaited me. Kaylien needed me.

  We had traveled for two days when Ethaniel came to me after we'd made camp for the evening. The black cloaks went mechanically about their preparations for the night. They split off into groups, some bedding down, and others preparing for their shift on watch. It was eerie to observe them as they went about their work in near complete silence. I was almost thankful when the four-eyed Knight approached me, but I knew, even before he spoke, that I wasn't going to like what he had in mind. He approached in a stiff and terse manner; his face hard set like it was any time he planned on telling me something he knew would be a point of contention between us.

  "I'm going back to Kreo." He said, making it a statement, and not a request for my permission.

  I shook my head in negative reply. "No, you're not. We've finished with Kreo. There is no reason to go back. Our goal lays ahead of us now."

  "I left something dangerous in a place where it might be found. I need to put it someplace where it will not fall into the wrong hands. I must go back to Kreo." He reaffirmed his decision. I knew already that he would be going back, but I did not intend upon giving in so easily. Ethaniel had made his decision, and he could have avoided coming to me all together. I should have simply let him do what he wanted. He was going to, whether I agreed or not.

  "What is so important that you'd risk going back to Kreo now?" I pressed, and not just to push the frightening Knight to anger. I really couldn't imagine what would necessitate a trip back to the capital.

  "The research for the creation of the Black Patch Brigade, and the method for creating Knights of Ethan. If I don't go back and erase the research, Lord Lheec will have access to that information. Those are secrets best kept out of the hands of men like Lheec. I will go back and take care of things." Ethaniel's point struck home. I had thought all such information was destroyed, or at least locked away where it might never be found. I had never been specific on my orders regarding the disuse of those magics. I was at fault as much as anyone else for my lack of care.

  I found myself nodding despite my best intentions. The black cloaks and the Knights of Ethan should never be placed in the hands of a man like Lheec. He would exploit their strengths to spread his own power mercilessly. He'd already proved that he would not wince in the face of murder if it would obtain his goals. A man like that would be unstoppable with the Knights and Black Patch Brigade at his call.

  We had traveled for two days. It would take Ethaniel less than that to get back to the city, if he made fast time. Lheec's forces needed at least a week to reach Kreo from his borders, and that was at a forced march. Four days had passed since he'd left the capital. That left time for Ethaniel to get in and out of Kreo. It would be close.

  There was still a risk that something could go wrong. Lheec might have sent a sprinter ahead for his army, then they would arrive earlier than anticipated, or Ethaniel might be slowed down by adverse weather. It was a big risk to allow him to go back to Kreo. We were still almost two weeks away from the ships. Ethaniel could get to Kreo, and return to us in a matter of days if he traveled hard. We would, of course, have to keep moving.

  "You can go, but you need to be quick and careful. Lheec could be in Kreo at any time. We've assumed that we had a week from the time he left, but we could be wrong. We've spent two days traveling, and another two days preparing to leave. At the most, you have three days. It shouldn't take you two to reach Kreo if you press hard, and another two to meet up with us again. We'll keep moving." I tried to stress the urgency of our need to work quickly.

  Ethaniel nodded. "This will not take me long. I will be gone before Lheec reaches Kreo."

  I looked at the old Knight, and he looked back at me. His gray eyes held an unfamiliar sparkle. It might have been the fire light playing off of them, or perhaps some trick of the moon which hung full and heavy above, but in that dim light those eyes looked as though they brimmed with terrible glee. A shiver ran down my back.

  "Go then, but travel fast, travel safe." I said, dismissing Ethaniel, suddenly quite eager to have those terrible eyes as far from me as possible, though I knew that they could see me from any distance away if given the right motivation. What motivated those eyes, however, was something I, or even Ethaniel, did not understand.

  Ethaniel left without another word, vanishing from the edge of the campsite and into the darkness of the world beyond. I followed his progress for a few moments, until his movements were too far away for even my sensitive motion-tracking vision.

  It shouldn't have bothered me, but I found myself wrought with a feeling of distrust towards the old Knight. Was he really going back to Kreo to do what he claimed he intended? His words hadn't rang false, but Ethaniel was a difficult individual to read. His emotions were, generally, so tightly restrained. What other purpose could he have for returning to the city? There was nothing of importance left there. At least, nothing of importance that I knew of.

  I was assuming that he was telling the truth when he said he was returning to Kreo. What if he was going somewhere else? That was something I hadn't considered initially. Where else would he be going? That I didn't know. I was letting my paranoia get the best of me. It did little good to ponder the unknown, when it posed no immediate threat.

  Snow approached me. She was dressed in a Knight's attire, her hood pulled back, and her white-furred arms crossed over her chest. Her face bore a curious expression. I knew what the subject of conversation would be before she even opened her mouth.

  "He's returning to Kreo to dispose of some dangerous information pertaining to the origin of the black cloaks, and the Knights of Ethan." I told her, preempting the question I thought was coming.

  "I heard," She said, twitching her white capped ears to emphasize the reality of her exceptional hearing. I sometimes forgot that I wasn't the only one with the ears of the Fell Beast. "But what concerns me is that, as far as I know, all such information has already been destroyed."

  "What?" I asked incredulously, suddenly finding myself confused.

  "When you ordered the research stopped, we destroyed the written documentation that went with it." Snow explained, her eyes scanning the tree
line into which Ethaniel had vanished.

  "Perhaps there were copies hidden somewhere else." I said, trying desperately to put Ethaniel's actions in a better light. I didn't want to believe that he would outright lie to me.

  Snow shrugged. "It's a possibility. If there were still copies hidden, Ethaniel would be the one to know about them, but. . ." Her words trailed off. "He's been acting strangely lately. Something isn't right with him." She added after a pause.

  "It could be the stress of the situation." I offered forth one of my own theories.

  "Ethaniel was dealing with tense situations for hundreds of years before you were born. Why would he only start to show signs of instability now?" Snow asked, putting voice to the very concerns that had filled my mind many times over the prior few weeks.

  "I'll need to question him on this when he gets back." I said, my voice heavy with the weight of exactly what those words entailed. Directly questioning Ethaniel in such a way would be like accusing him of betrayal. That was a big step to take, and one that could never be undone.

  Snow shook her head. "No, I don't think that would be advisable." Her voice dropped, becoming so quiet I had to lean in to hear her, even with my sensitive ears. "You're the king, and what you want to do is your decision, but perhaps it would be better to watch him for a time. Ethaniel has served this country well, and many of the Knights would sooner side with him than you if things came to a split. It would be best to be cautious here."

  I looked into Snow's black, almost pink, eyes. There was no deception there, and I sensed no intent to trick or otherwise mislead me. For all I could tell, she was being honest with me. It was comforting to know that I wasn't the only who had noticed Ethaniel acting strangely.

  "Who would you side with?" I asked her, not entirely sure of the answer I might get. We had become good friends, but Snow was a Knight, and she had always been loyal to the Knights.

  She grinned. "I came to you, didn't I?" With that, she turned and walked back the way she'd come, leaving me to my thoughts. Malice sat by my feet, on her bedroll. She had witnessed both interactions, watching in silence. Sometimes it was easy to forget that she was even there.

  "You see, other people know it too. Ethaniel is a monster." She reiterated her earlier sentiment, this time quietly, in cospiratory tones.

  I placed my hand on her head and messed her hair. "I'll be certain to watch out for him. You need to get some sleep. We've another long day of walking tomorrow." Malice stuck her tongue out at me before curling up under her cloak and falling quickly asleep. I sat on my own bed roll, prepared to stay up the night, watching in silence. I suddenly felt as though the entire world was stalking me, waiting for me to drop my guard for a second so that it might attack. Little did I know that my paranoia was well justified.

  Hours of darkness passed around me before a figure came silently through the camp in my direction. The shifting cloak and stiff posture told me immediately that it was a Knight of Ethan. I stood at his approach. I could tell by the way he moved that he was coming on business. He drew down his hood as he neared.

  "Rampage," I identified him, and offered him a nod of my head. I spoke in a low voice so as not to wake the others around me. "What brings you to me so late at night?"

  Rampage bowed evenly before speaking. "Our border patrol has captured something you'll want to see." He said, looking urgently back the direction he'd come. I pulled the strap on my scabbard, sliding the blade to the center of my back and nodded.

  "What is it?" I asked, falling in behind him as he turned about. Two of my guards fell in at my side, Black Patch Brigade soldiers who would have followed me whether invited or not. It was their job. I would have to individually order each of them to stay behind if I wanted them gone, and I had not looked closely enough to determine who each of them was. Besides, their black cloak names were ever difficult to remember.

  "It's better if you see for yourself, your Majesty." Rampage was old blood. He wasn't as old as Ethaniel, but he had served the Knights for a long time. If he felt that there was something I needed to see, I was willing to take his word on it. I followed him in silence as he lead the way past the edge of camp and out into the dark wood beyond.

  The night air was crisp and fresh, and I drew great breaths of it, filling my lungs with the invigorating chill. It felt good to move, and better still to breathe the fresh, untainted air of the open wilderness. Far beyond the city, the air was free of smoke, and the smells of civilized life. That particular stench, a smell that only appeared in places where men amassed in large numbers, was impossible to pinpoint, but impossible to forget as well. I was happy to leave it behind.

  I kept my eyes on Rampage's back, following the older Knight through the twists and turns of the deep forest. I looked forward, but for the few times I glanced to the sky to check our position. I wasn't sure where we were going, but we seemed be traveling a long way. We walked for several minutes, and I was just about to ask Rampage how far out we were to go, when he stopped dead in his tracks.

  I stopped as well, and that is when I heard the rustling in the woods. It came fast, and I barely had time to react. My two guards, the black cloaks that had been on duty that night, were not fast enough. Blood misted through the air as they were struck, heads cleanly separated from their bodies. I dashed away and to the side, coming in close to Rampage so that I might provide a line of sight at his back. I wasn't sure what was happening around me, but I knew we were being attacked.

  I reached up and unlatched my sword. Rampage shifted quickly. I could hear him spinning about, and I followed his motion, believing an attack to be inbound from his side. That movement saved my life, though not for the reason I'd anticipated. Rampage's sword slammed down in the place I'd been standing only a moment before, burying itself in the ground with the force of the blow. I fell back, bringing my massive sword to bear in front of me. I caught sight of my attackers clearly for the first time then.

  Rampage stood facing me, his sword drawn, and to either side, and slightly behind me, stood two more Knights of Ethan. I recognized them as Pride and Watcher. With Rampage, the three Knights surrounding me represented the oldest and most well decorated Knights remaining, other than Ethaniel himself.

  "What is this?" I demanded, my anger and sense of betrayal, making my voice more a growl than a human vocalization.

  "You've destroyed us, Lowin Fenly." Rampage called, his voice equally wrought with rage. "You've brought the Knights to the edge of ruin, and cast the kingdom into a pit from which it might never crawl its way out."

  "Worse," Came Watcher's voice from behind me. "You've forced us all into an exile from which we will probably never return. The Knights of Ethan, the bravest and strongest warriors of the kingdom of men, are running away in self-imposed exile. That's disgusting, and it's all your fault."

  Their words stung. How close were they to the truth? How much of the kingdom's fate was my responsibility? How much of the Knights of Ethan's diminishing honor was upon my head? I had to be honest with myself. The Knights would probably have been better off without Lowin Fenly as their king. Certainly I had done them no favors over the years.

  "You've been an enemy to the Knights many times. I don't believe that has changed. You're just an enemy wearing a different disguise." This time it was Pride who spoke, his face set not in an expression of anger, but one of resignation.

  "Assassination? This is the way you reclaim the honor of the Knights of Ethan?" I asked, my rage barely contained behind my reason. Inside me, the Fell Beast stalked the limitations of the darkness of my mind. It could taste the conflict; sense the bitter smell of battle lying heavily upon myself and the other three Knights. It thrived on such turmoil.

  "You've left us no choice." Pride spoke again. "We either act, or we lose the rest of the honor we retain. I'll not turn my back on my honor to follow a traitor, whether he wears the crown or not."

  "What of those men you killed? What had they done wrong? They were serving their country,
doing their duty, and you cut them down in cold blood." I gestured towards the two dead black cloaks. I didn't know their real names. I didn't even know their exact calling signs. In the darkness I couldn't be sure which two had followed me. They had died nameless. It was wrong of me, but I found myself thinking, "Please, let neither of them be Liet." No man deserved to die as they had, but the thought that it might be Liet, troubled me to no end.

  "How do you plan on getting away with this?" I asked, stifling my worry for Liet, and worst, my worry for those back at the camp. How many more Knights of Ethan were in on the betrayal? What if they had someone back at camp? Would they hurt Malice to get to me? Would they see her as a threat to them? She certainly wouldn't accept my death in stride. Neither would Snow.

  "You fell off a cliff while we were showing you a stock of supplies we found in the woods. Accidents happen." Watcher said, his voice unworried. If the thought of killing me was bothering him at all, he didn't show it.

  "That's not a very plausible story." I replied bitterly, knowing that my words would do little dissuade the three men intent upon killing me. I did not believe they had made such a decision lightly. I, however, was not prepared to die yet. Kaylien was still waiting for me. If I died, no one would be left to go after her. Malice would have, if she'd been herself. Snow might, for my sake, but she didn't even know my daughter. Of course, the same could be said for me. I had spent so little time with the girl before losing her. I would fix that. I had to survive in order to correct that mistake.