The Sword of Truth

by Brian D. Anderson

  When they entered, Lee and Dina were talking casually at a table in the common room, while Gewey sat in the corner, getting marital advice from Minnie. Lee saw them come in and motioned for Millet to join them. Gewey excused himself and walked up to Millet, embracing him.

  “It is good to see you, too,” said Millet. “I see you’re unharmed.”

  Gewey beamed at the sight of the man. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “So much has happened.” He led Millet over to the table where Lee and Dina waited. Maybell followed close behind.

  “How was your journey?” asked Lee.

  Millet scowled. “Interesting, my lord,” he said delicately. “And long.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Maybell huffed. Her eyes widened when she saw Dina. “Sister Celandine! I’m surprised to see you. You must be this mystery woman they spoke of.”

  “Good to see you, Sister Maybell,” Dina said, bowing her head.

  “I am indeed the ‘mystery woman’.”

  “I knew there was more to you than meets the eye,” Maybell remarked, “but I certainly didn’t expect this. Explain yourself.”

  “I don’t think…” Millet began.

  “Of course you don’t,” Maybell cut in. “I will hear the story. There is no one here to spy on us.”

  Indeed, the inn was empty with the exception of Minnie, who was well out of earshot and busy adding up the profits from the party. Lee nodded in agreement and recounted the events of their travels. When his story was finished, Maybell began to chuckle softly.

  “What’s so funny?” Lee asked.

  “Here I thought my adventures were over,” she explained. “To think an old woman like me gets to see the temple of Valshara. Is it true that the Knights of Amon Dähl are trained there?”

  “It is,” Dina answered. “But this temple is not the original. That was destroyed fifteen years ago by the Dark Knight. To my understanding, the current Temple of Valshara was once a monastery where members of the order went to retire. Only the elders knew its location, so we were able to keep it hidden. Even now, its location is only known to a few.”

  “Even so,” Maybell said, “I’m excited to see it.”

  “I really didn’t expect you to come that far with us,” said Lee.

  “We’ll be passing by several temples where you would be much safer.”

  “Nonsense,” she replied. “My years in this world are nearly done. I would rather them spent making a difference. You may think me just a worthless old woman, but I am not without skills.”

  “And what might those be?” Millet asked sourly.

  Maybell shot Millet an angry glance. “For one, I know the laws and customs of every city and town from here to the abyss. For another, I have connections with temples everywhere and can gather information we will need.”

  “Still, it’s a long journey,” Lee warned. “And conditions will be harsh.”

  “I’m tougher than I look,” she countered. “I may have been locked away in a temple for many years, but I’m no stranger to hardship.”

  Suddenly, her expression became desperate. “Please. Let me go with you. I need to go with you. I thought I would spend the rest of my days watching the decay of the temples. Now I have a chance to be useful again.”

  Lee looked at Gewey and shrugged his shoulders. “I leave it up to you.”

  Gewey thought for a moment. “I would be very happy if you accompanied us,” he declared.

  Millet sighed loudly.

  “You just mind your manners,” Maybell said to Millet. “Or I’ll teach you why novices fear my name in every temple from here to the northwestern steppes.”

  Lee laughed loudly. “Millet my old friend, I think you may have finally met your match.”

  “Indeed,” Millet grumbled.

  “So, where to now?” Gewey asked.

  “With such a large group, we might try to find a caravan headed west,” Lee suggested. “Delhammer is four days from here. It’s large enough for us to go unnoticed, and we might be able to hitch onto a caravan there.”

  Dina thought for a moment. “While we’re there, we should see what information can be found at the temples. Maybell, you can help there.”

  “Won’t Salmitaya be expecting that? She might have sent word ahead,” Gewey noted.

  “She has more pressing issues,” Maybell replied. “She may have been a High Priestess, but I have been in the Order since before she was born—certainly long enough to have my voice heard. If she were going to move against me, she would have done it in Kaltinor. Now that I’m out of her reach, she wouldn’t dare show her face in another temple.”

  “Still, we should be cautious,” Lee advised. “Even if she can’t hinder us through the temples, she may have sent word to other agents of Angrääl.”

  “I’ll be discreet,” Maybell assured him. “But that is something that can be discussed later. For now, I would like to clean up.”

  Dina brought Maybell to her room so she could wash and change. This time she did not complain about the lack of a proper bathtub.

  Lee told Kaylia to gather her things, and had Gewey check the wagon.

  It was nearly dark before they were all ready to leave. Minnie scolded them for leaving at such a late hour and insisted that they eat before they left; she even packed them each a meal for the road. Lee gave the woman five silvers, enough for them to have stayed for an entire week. Minnie thanked him and, despite Lee’s objections, gave him a case of their best wine.

  “You seem like a man who can appreciate it,” she said as her husband loaded it into the wagon. “Most of the folks that pass through here wouldn’t know good wine from well water.”

  Lee bowed graciously and climbed onto the back of the wagon.

  Millet and Maybell took the front; should they run into any curious strangers, they would say that Millet was her younger brother and they were headed west to resettle. Lee jokingly suggested that Gewey and Dina maintain the guise of a married couple, but Gewey fiercely refused.

  They continued down the Old Road of Santismal through the night, stopping a few hours before dawn to make camp. Kaylia told Gewey it was time they continued with their lessons and took him into an area of tree-covered hills. By the end of the lesson, he was able to find Kaylia in the shadows, and he even managed to avoid being found for more than five minutes. The lessons with the knife advanced to include more complicated tactics and maneuvers, which Gewey took to right away.

  “You’ve improved,” Kaylia noted. “Soon you’ll be ready to start actual elven training.”

  Gewey’s heart swelled with pride. “I practiced in the Spirit Hills.”

  “Those hills are dangerous,” she warned. “As is the hermit who lives there.”

  “He didn’t seem dangerous. A bit crazy maybe, but not dangerous.”

  “He speaks to the spirits that live there,” she said. “And not all spirits are harmless. We elves have ventured there many times to speak to Felsafell and gain his knowledge, but we knew our peril.”

  “What peril?”

  “It is said Felsafell feels all that the spirits feel,” she answered.

  “Their joy, their fear, their anger, but mostly their loneliness. They yearn for the souls of man and elf to join them. Should you have stayed too long, they might have trapped you there forever.”

  “Is that what happened to Felsafell?”

  “No one really knows who or what he is. He’s old, though—some say older than the elves. Some say he’s really a spirit in human form. No one knows for sure, but what is known is that seeking his wisdom means risking being lost in the hills forever.”

  Gewey shuddered at the thought that he had spent the night in the old man’s house, and eaten at his table.

  “I wonder why he let me go,” Gewey said, almost inaudibly.

  “I’ve never heard of anyone who has seen where he lives, save you. Whatever he had to tell you must have been important. But beware of his words. They aren’t always what the
y seem.”

  Gewey nodded, thinking about what he had been told about his own death and the death of a friend, hoping he had merely misinterpreted Felsafell’s words. “Believe me,” he said. “I hope I find more meanings than what I have now.”

  Kaylia took Gewey’s hands and looked into his eyes. “I know you value the council of the half-man,” she said sincerely. “You trust his judgment. But he is not all knowing and cannot give you all the answers. I would help you if you let me. If you trust me with what you were told, I will help you decipher its meaning, if I can.”

  Gewey thought for moment. “Yes, I would welcome it,” he said. “But not tonight. I’m too tired.”

  Kaylia placed her hand on his cheek. “Of course,” she said softly.

  “When you’re ready, I will help if I can.”

  Gewey felt more at ease when they returned to camp. For some reason, the thought of being able to confide in Kaylia made him feel as though a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He noticed her watching him with a look of compassion as he lay down to sleep.

  They had only slept for a few hours before they packed up camp and started out again. Gewey was concerned that Maybell hadn’t rested enough, but she seemed full of energy and eager to get going.

  The noon lesson with Lee was Gewey’s best showing thus far. He found himself using the moves he’d learned from Kaylia to slip through Lee’s grasp. On his third attempt, he sent Lee to the ground.

  “Excellent!” Lee shouted enthusiastically. “Tomorrow we start teaching you the sword. I see that your lessons with the elf have done you good.”

  “Thank you,” said Gewey. “Her lessons have been helpful.”

  “I envy that you get to train with an elf. I’ve always wanted to learn their ways of combat and stealth.”

  “I’m sure Kaylia would teach you, if you asked,” Gewey asserted. “It might be good if you spent some time with her.”

  “I may do just that,” Lee acknowledged. “When we have time.”

  He looked thoughtfully at Gewey. “If you want to ask her about what Felsafell told you, you can.”

  Gewey looked up at Lee, shocked. “Did she tell you about our conversation?”

  “No,” Lee said, smiling. “But I noticed that she recognized his name when you told us about him, and I thought she might offer you her counsel. I would warn you to be careful, though. It’s obvious she’s taken a keen interest in you. The only question is, what direction will that interest take?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing,” Lee answered, waving his hand dismissively. “Just be careful. She doesn’t appear to be the type that gives her affections lightly.”

  “You don’t mean…” Gewey stammered. “You don’t think she…” Lee burst out in laughter.

  “No,” he said. “But that would be a dilemma, considering the way you look at Dina.”

  Gewey blushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, unable to look Lee in the eye.

  Lee spotted a fallen tree and sat down. “Sit,” he said. “We should talk.”

  Gewey sat next to Lee with his eyes fixed firmly on the ground.

  “If things had been different, your father would be where I am now,” Lee explained. “But unfortunately, it’s left to me.”

  Gewey was mortified. “If you’re about to have that talk with me, my father did have it…when I was ten.”

  Lee shook his head, smiling. “Not that talk. You’re a young man now—a handsome one at that—and your body has far outpaced your maturity.” Gewey looked offended, but Lee raised his hand. “I don’t mean to say you’re immature. The entire village depended on you, after you inherited the farm from your father, and you didn’t let them down even once. But dealing with women is much more difficult than running a farm. Your feelings for Dina are obvious. I’m sure she knows it, too.”

  Gewey eyes shot wide.

  “Don’t be embarrassed,” Lee said, putting his hand on Gewey’s shoulder. “I don’t think she takes it for anything more than boyish infatuation. But when you’re young, you never feel love just a little. It’s bigger and more powerful than any enemy you’ll face. You must understand something Gewey. You are a God bound to earth as a human, and you have a great task ahead of you. I would never tell you not to explore your feelings, but I would warn you of the dangers. If Dina doesn’t feel the same as you, the pain might be unbearable, and it could end up even worse if the feelings are mutual. All I ask is that you don’t push the issue. If things happen, so be it, but please take it slowly and speak to me when you don’t know what to do. Love for you will be a touchy thing; as a God, you can’t know where it will lead.” Lee chuckled to himself. “Even as a man, it’s like walking through the forest deaf and blind.”

  “Have you ever loved?” Gewey asked.

  Lee’s eyes suddenly became distant. “I told you that the Oracle said I would have to sacrifice everything,” he said. “I once had a wife and son.”

  “What happened to them?”

  “I left them behind,” Lee confessed. “My road would have put them in too much danger. I couldn’t have that.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “Safe in Hazrah,” Lee answered. “But it’s not something I enjoy talking about.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

  “It’s fine,” Lee assured him. “I made my choice. But I want you to promise to talk to me as things…progress.”

  “I promise.”

  Suddenly, Lee looked as if he had been struck by lightning.

  “What is it?” Gewey asked impatiently.

  “Bound to earth,” Lee mused. “You’re bound to earth.”

  “You’re not making sense.”

  “Felsafell said your strength was in the earth!” Lee said excitedly. “I think I understand what he meant. You see, my father is Saraf God of the Seas, and so when I’m near the water I can listen to its heartbeat and gain strength. I have to sit and meditate to draw on this power, but maybe you can draw from it directly, as you fight.”

  “How would I do that?” Gewey asked, puzzled.

  “First you must learn to hear the earth. The sword can wait. Kaylia’s teaching you the knife. That will have to do for now. Tomorrow we will try to tap into your true power.”

  That night, Kaylia seemed different during training. Gewey was able to find her in the shadow three out of four times, and he was able to avoid her for over twenty minutes. Finally, she told him the lesson was over and started back to camp.

  “Wait,” Gewey said.

  Kaylia stopped but didn’t turn around. “What is it?”

  “You said you would help me understand what Felsafell told me. I’m ready to tell you.”

  “Perhaps you shouldn’t,” Kaylia advised.

  “I don’t understand. Why not?”

  “My judgment is compromised,” she replied. “I’m sorry.”

  “Tell me what’s wrong,” Gewey pleaded. “Maybe I can help.”

  Kaylia laughed softly. “It’s not something you would understand.”

  “Is it because I’m so young?”

  “Age is not something elves look at to determine ability,” she explained. “I’m old by human standards, but not much more than a child to my own people. The reason you wouldn’t understand is that you’re not an elf.”

  “I could try. I might surprise you.”

  “I think you might,” Kaylia agreed. “But I need to work this out my own. Don’t worry, I’ll be alright.”

  That night, Kaylia slept far from the others. Gewey stopped wondering what was troubling her. His thoughts wandered to what Lee had told him about elven feelings, but that only raised questions in his mind that made him laugh at himself. If Kaylia were human, he would take her words to mean something else, but she was right; he didn’t understand elves.

  The next day, Kaylia sat in silence with her hood pulled far over her face as they rode in the wagon. Dina laughed merrily as Lee spun ta
les of his past adventures. Gewey loved Lee’s stories—especially the ones that included Gewey’s father—and never tired of hearing them.

  He tried to tell a few of his own, but every time Dina looked at him his tongue felt heavy and useless, and eventually he stopped trying.

  “Kaylia,” Dina said, trying to make conversation. “Surely you have some adventures you could share to pass the time.”

  Kaylia didn’t look up. “I have no desire to pass the time,” she said flatly.

  Dina cleared her throat. “Okay, then. How’s your training going, Gewey?”

  “You’d have to ask my teachers.”

  “He needs to work harder,” Lee chimed in. “But I think he shows promise.”

  “You should feel fortunate,” said Dina. “Not many people get to train with a man like Lee, let alone an elven warrior.”

  “I’m no warrior,” Kaylia snapped. “There are no elven warriors. You humans know nothing.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dina said sincerely, reaching over to touch Kaylia’s knee. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  Kaylia’s hand immediately shot out, grabbing Dina by the wrist. Her eyes fixed stonily on Dina’s. “Abomination,” she hissed. She reached down and drew her knife. Dina screamed and tried to climb over Lee to get away, but Kaylia was too fast. Before anyone could move, she had caught Dina and pulled her to the floor of the wagon, knife pressed to Dina’s throat.

  “Abomination!” she repeated, louder than the first time.

  Gewey was in shock. “Afisul Si Damon!” he shouted, the words spilling out before he knew what he was saying.

  Kaylia stopped abruptly, her eyes wide. She stared at Gewey, stunned.

  “How?” she cried. “How do you know these words?”

  Kaylia leapt from the wagon and ran. Gewey tried to go after her, but she was out of sight before he could make it more than a few feet.