by Steven Drake
The man squinted his eyes and furrowed his brow for several long moments. “All right then. Perhaps I spoke hastily as well. I can understand why someone in your position might be fearful of strangers. I am used to more civilized company, where women are treated with more respect.” The man shook his head. “You apologize well, and so I will forget your earlier lack of manners. My name is Geoffray, Knight of the Golden Shield. I have attained the rank of Captain, and I have been sent on a mission to find recruits to fill our ranks. Our Order serves no nation, but protects all nations who honor the Gods from the Demon King of the East. While the many lands we protect honor us by sending us young men to serve in our ranks, their generosity is not limitless, and they have their own wars to fight. Recent events have stretched our ranks thin, so several of my brethren and I have been sent to various places to search for those who might have the talent to join our Order. I observed only one warrior all day who displayed enough combat skill to interest us, so I sought her out.” The man smiled and nodded slightly to Rana, a gesture which she quickly returned. “That’s the simple truth. You’re far more skilled than anyone else here. Most of these incompetents wouldn’t last a day fighting the Demon King’s minions. With proper training, you could learn to stand against anyone, even the Shades, the most fearsome commanders in our enemy’s hateful armies.”
Rana’s heart leapt at the knight’s words. Who better than the Order of the Golden Shield to teach her to fight a servant of the Demon King? This was a better turn of fortune than she could have ever hoped for. Perhaps the Gods had finally seen fit to answer her prayers. Rana struggled for words, but nothing would come to her in her shocked state.
“I see you have some interest, then,” the knight added, noticing her reaction.
Rana quickly composed herself, realizing she must have appeared like a giddy child. “Yes, yes of course. Your order is known far and wide. There could be no greater honor than to serve the Golden Shield and protect our world from evil, but I thought that your order only recruited those with magical talents. I have none.”
“You are wrong on both counts. It is true that we specifically seek those with magical abilities, but it is not a requirement. You don’t have to have magic to fight a mage.” Geoffray ran his hand through his brown hair, pausing to consider his words. “Furthermore, you do possess magical talent, though you don’t seem to be aware of it. Magic can manifest in many different ways. For you, it is a subtle augmentation of your natural abilities. Your strength and quickness are far greater than what you should possess, given your frame. To someone who is experienced in dealing with magic, the signs of a magic user are unmistakable. The Order will train you to use these abilities as well.”
Rana gawked at Geoffray, dumbfounded. The idea that she had been using magic all this time was stunning to her, but not entirely unbelievable. Even so, she couldn’t simply walk away from Banda on a whim. She had given her word, and was bound by contract. She once again composed herself before speaking. “I must say you have given me much to consider. I would gladly accept your offer, yet I have given my word of honor to Banda, the man you met earlier. I am no slave, but I have pledged to fight for him for a number of years. It may be difficult to get him to release me from my contract.”
“Yes, well, men such as him are usually bought cheaply enough, and we have other methods of persuasion as well. I will take care of him,” Geoffray calmly explained. “I will come for you in the morning, and we will journey to the Golden City of Trinium.”
“Tomorrow morning? What of the tournament? I am still scheduled to compete.”
“Everything will be taken care of,” Geoffray interrupted. “I’ve already seen everyone this arena has to offer, and I have no more reason to stay here. I have wasted too much time on this endeavor, but at least now I have something to show for it. It is your good fortune that I happened to be in Mintaka to observe the fights today. Sleep well, and prepare yourself. Tomorrow you cast aside your old life and begin anew as a knight of the Golden Shield.”
Geoffray turned and headed back down the hallway. Rana poked her head out the door and watched him disappear around a corner. She looked around, and listened carefully. Satisfied there was no one else walking about the corridors, she shut the door quietly, and reached for the golden chain hanging about her neck. Maya will want to hear this, she thought. She drew the chain over her neck. As she did so, she thought of all the times she had fought off thieves who tried to steal her treasure, and how many times she had almost sold the gold chain to buy a few days-worth of food. Now, if the knight had spoken truly, all of that was over. The enchanted glass vial dangled lazily upon the end of the chain. The clear vial had a rounded ball at the bottom, a few inches wide and filled with water, and a long narrow neck. A raised ridge wrapped around the entirety of the vial, spiraling from the very top of the neck all the way to the bottom of the rounded ball. She poured the contents of the vial into the small bucket of water she had drawn from the well earlier, and spoke the words that were now so familiar. “O, Maya, spirit of the water, hear my call. By the blood of my family and the promise of our forefathers, I summon thee. Awaken, and speak.”
A few minutes later, a green light appeared in the bucket, rose from the water, and flashed a brilliant green as the faerie appeared. Maya’s dusty green butterfly wings glowed brightly, outshining the dim candlelight.
“Well, hello.” The faerie blinked. “I was having a very good dream. Why did you waken me here?”
“I’m sorry Maya,” Rana stammered eagerly. “I had to tell you. I just met a knight from the Order of the Golden Shield. He says he wants me to join their Order. They’re going to teach me to fight, and to use magic. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“Oh my goodness!” Maya exclaimed. “That is good news, and so much sooner than I expected.”
“What?” Rana protested. “You knew?”
“As I have often told you, fate always takes us where we must go. Your talent was bound to be noticed eventually. This is very good Rana. Train hard, and train well, for the time will come when you must use your training to face your enemy.”
“Can you really find him, I mean, when I’m ready?”
“Darien the Executioner possesses great power, and such power can seldom remain hidden long, least of all from us. When the time comes, we will find him.”
“Oh Maya, this is everything I dreamt of. Thank you for all you have done for me so far. I couldn’t have come this far without you.”
Maya giggled merrily as she spun around over the water bucket. “Your words are a comfort to me, yet you must remember that you have done much more than I. Your courage and strength have carried you this far, and will carry you much farther.” Maya smiled then, stretched out her arms, and yawned widely. “This place is so dry. It tires me to leave the water here. I must sleep. Good luck Rana, your path is before you. Do not waver.”
Rana nodded, and as the faerie disappeared, she whispered, “I will not waver. I will finish what I have started, no matter what.”
#
One Year Ago
The Golden Shield’s training grounds outside the holy city of Trinium were quiet. Clouds covered the light of the moons. Rana hastily packed her supplies on her horse in the quiet of the deserted stables. The moment of destiny had finally come.
Rana had nearly completed her knight training. She had hoped to wait until she had achieved full knighthood, but that was not to be. Two days prior, Maya had given her the cryptic warning that if she did not pursue her enemy now, he would pass forever beyond her reach. Maya’s words were always vague and open to interpretation, and Rana had grown increasingly frustrated with the faerie’s evasiveness over the years. The vague encouragements and constant talk of fate and destiny, comforts to a desperate and lonely child in earlier years, had become hollow, empty, frustrating uncertainties. Rana was a grown woman, a skilled fighter, and nearly a knight. She had no more use for childish things. Her long golden hair had grown out, and drifted
behind her in the night breeze. She had grown a few inches since she had come to this place, the result of good food, and magics that had strengthened her body, undoing the effects of several years of desperate poverty. Her arms and legs were stronger now, and her mind was even sharper, trained to fight. She felt as ready as she would ever be to face Darien the Executioner. Only when that was done, when he lay dead at her feet, then she could truly leave her youth behind her, and call her life her own.
She finished packing as quickly and quietly as she could manage. With luck, she could get out without anyone being the wiser. If she were caught, there would be difficult questions, and the inquisition might even become involved. She could not tell them about Maya, or where she was going, though he, at least, would guess what she was doing. She knew she’d let Geoffray get too close to her, told him too much, trusted him too implicitly, and let her feelings cloud her judgment. Now, she was paying the price, the thundering of her heart in her chest betrayed her conflicted emotions. More than anything, she prayed that she would not have to face him, not, at least, until her quest was over.
She led her horse from his stable and out into the night. The brilliant white horse whinnied apprehensively. He was obviously confused, not used to being led out in secret in the dead of night. “Hush Squall, it’s alright.” She laid her hands upon the side of the beast’s head, and he leaned over, nuzzling her with his snout. The horse quieted, and she mounted up, and began riding quietly through the empty grounds, past the barracks that housed her fellow knights, past the smithies where her weapons and armor were forged, and past the wizard’s towers, where she had studied the magic that she would soon call upon to fight the man who had ruined her life. She tried her best to put it behind her, and focus on what was ahead, but she had so many fond memories of this place now, that it was difficult.
All too quickly, the gate towers loomed ahead of her. She would have to find some way to talk her way past the gatekeeper, but that wouldn’t be difficult. She now carried the rank of Senior Apprentice, and she would be allowed out at night, as long as she had a plausible reason. All she had to do was say that she had been ordered out on a training exercise. Once the gate was behind her, it would be easy. However, as she rode towards the gate, she noticed something odd. The gate was open, and that shouldn’t be. For a moment, she wondered if some sort of robbery were afoot, but she saw nothing. It didn’t matter. She counted it a stroke of luck, and rode out of the archway through the open doors. A moment later, her worst fear was realized.
“Going somewhere?” the voice called to her as she had just passed out of the gate. Rana recognized it immediately.
“Geoffray?” She called, and turned round. Geoffray stood leaning back against the wall just outside the gate in the light of a flickering torch.
“You didn’t expect to find me here, did you? What are you doing? You could be thrown out of the Order for this, you know.”
“Geoffray I have to do this. You have to understand, I have to. You know me better than anyone. You ought to know why I have to do this.”
“You mean to go after him, then, despite my warnings, despite everything you’ve been taught, everything you’ve learned?”
“I have to Geoffray. I’m sorry. I know you’re disappointed, but I have to.”
“That much, I understand,” Geoffray said. “You have good reason to seek justice for your family, but why now? Why not wait until you’re ready? You should understand you can’t beat him as you are now, not if he’s half the man his reputation suggests.”
“I can’t wait anymore, Geoffray.” Rana protested. “If I don’t go now, I’ll never catch him. I’ll lose my chance forever.”
“The faerie told you this?”
“Yes, wait, what…? How did you know?”
“These grounds are under my command, and have been since shortly after you arrived. I make it my business to know everything that happens here, especially forbidden magic.”
“If you knew, then why didn’t you stop me earlier? You could have taken the vial from me.”
“I could have taken it, I suppose, but I would have had to take it from your dead hands. I did consider it, and I’m still considering it, to be honest, but I trusted your sense of honor. I trusted that you would eventually do what was right,” Geoffray calmly stated. “Besides, if I took it, it wouldn’t be long before the Inquisitors took it for ‘safekeeping’, and I trust you more than I trust them.”
“So, what will you do with me now?” Rana stammered, on the verge of tears.
“I have two choices. I can detain you, and you will either resist, or you will submit. If you resist, I will have to kill you, and I really don’t want to kill you. If you submit, I’ll have to throw you in prison. Either way, that vial ends up in the hands of the Inquisition. That’s something I like even less than the idea of having to kill my best student.”
“And your other choice?”
“The other choice is to let you go, and pretend this never happened. You ride out, probably to your death, and a very powerful magic I don’t even begin to understand could end up in the hands of a very powerful enemy.”
“Please Geoffray. I can’t fight you, I won’t, but if you stop me, it will destroy everything that I am. I have to face him, no matter the cost. I have to face him, or I’ll never be able to face myself. If I miss this chance, then you may as well kill me now, for I’ll have nothing left to live for, and I’ll die of rot in some prison.”
Geoffray sighed deeply, furrowing his brow, and shutting his eyes. It seemed to Rana as if an eternity passed waiting for Geoffray to decide, and the dead silence hung between them like a sea of emptiness.
“Go,” Geoffray finally grumbled, without opening his eyes. “Go, and do not come back. Count yourself fortunate, that I cannot afford an open conflict with the Inquisition yet, and I have no intention of allowing them to have that vial. I never want to see you again. Even if, by some miracle, or through the use of some faerie magic, you manage to find and kill the Executioner, you will not find welcome here. The Order does not look kindly upon desertion, especially those we have spent considerable resources in training. You may have been born royalty, but I wish I’d left you in the garbage heap where I found you. You’ve shown me that’s where you belong after all. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind.”
The young woman slumped in the saddle, her feelings horribly conflicted. This was worse than anything she’d imagined. She hesitated, wondering what she could say to change his mind, anything, anything to make him take back those words. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came.
“I said GO!” Geoffray opened his eyes wide, the steel blue fixed upon her, no longer as a student, but as an enemy, no, even worse. He respected his enemies at least. She was now something worse, a traitor, less than nothing in his eyes. She retained enough wits to know that she should be afraid of those eyes now, and she spurred Squall forward. A river of tears clouded her vision as she urged Squall down the road to the east into the night, to meet her destiny.
Chapter 1: The Secrets of Kadanar
The spring day began for Darien, formerly known as the Executioner, before dawn, high in the Kaden trees. He waited, patiently, quietly, peacefully, for his student to appear, until Jerris appeared, keeping to the shadows of the high mountains that ringed the hidden elf sanctuary of Kadanar. From a lighted position, it was difficult to see objects in shadow. Under the Kaden trees, direct sunlight was rare, a few scattered rays that managed to navigate the thick canopy high overhead. Instead, there were only gradations of filtered light and shadows, but the principle still applied. The deep shadows of the mountains concealed the student’s approach well, but not well enough to evade the eyes of Darien the Executioner.
At the proper moment, Darien leapt from his perch and hurtled down through the open space, aiming an attack. Nothing lethal, but a stern enough blow that his student would learn awareness. This would not be the first time Jerris began training with a ste
rn blow, and it would likely not be the last. At the last moment, however, Jerris leapt backwards. Instead of slamming into his student’s chest, Darien’s fist impacted on the forest floor and sent up a small explosion of dirt, moss, and fallen flower petals. Darien got up quickly, but found Jerris already prepared. His student had used the opportunity to gain distance, and ready a ball of pure light, a technique Jerris had taken to calling a star sphere.
A moment later, The blinding orb of light flew toward Darien. He raised his hand against it, and a whirling sphere of consuming darkness appeared against the light. The two magics collided, and the air rushed violently around the point of collision, filling the air with a noise like thunder. The star sphere still could not overcome Darien’s own shadow void, but Darien suspected that it one day could.
Darien the half-elf, who had been Darien the Executioner, noted his student’s progress even as he continued to dodge more magical assaults, fireballs, whirlwinds, beams of light, and an occasional thunderbolt. Jerris had demonstrated a great affinity for the elements light and wind, performed acceptably well with fire, and had recently been attempting to work with lightning. The younger half-elf had come a remarkably long way in just fifteen months.
It had been a difficult year for Jerris, who had insisted on training in the same manner as Darien himself. It was a strange request, given Jerris knew enough about Darien’s past to understand how brutal that training had been. During his own training, Darien had endured real pain, suffered serious injuries, and been pushed to the edge of his endurance. The risk of death was all too real, and many apprentice Shades did not survive to join the Order.
Darien could not truly duplicate the environment he had endured as a Shade. He could not, and would not, really hurt his apprentice, but he could duplicate the sense of danger that was most important in his own training. After all, overcoming pain, exhaustion, and even injury was not so important as overcoming fear. It wasn’t physical strength, or even magical gifts that had allowed Darien to survive his training. Rather, it was the simpler lessons—remaining calm in the frenzy of battle, assessing the situation when surrounded by chaos, thinking quickly even when under constant attack—lessons he had been taught years ago by Kirin the Hollow Eyed, that had carried him this far. Those were things he could teach without putting Jerris in real danger.