by Heath Pfaff
The wind was blowing hard and fast across its rocky surface, whistling against the skeletal remains of trees that seemed to have died of no other cause than simple atrophy. The sandy shore ended abruptly maybe ten feet from where the sea washed against its banks, to be replaced by rough grass growing sparsely amidst jagged rock outcroppings. It was all mostly covered by a sheet of ragged snow and ice. The most notable attribute of the island was a tall, jagged mountain that reeked of sulfur rising high into the frozen sky some distance away. The whole area seemed gloomy and dank. The island itself, though, was not the most impressive thing that caught my eye. As we disembarked I found myself at the edge of a massive war camp. A hundred feet from shore, thousands of tents were spread about, housing all manner of different creature. I saw Shao Geok, members of Kye's people, the Uliona, some few humans, and cloaked figures that appeared to be Knights of Ethan, among others I couldn't recognize at all. I was immediately stunned by the scope of what lay before me. Had I believed Lucidil when he told me that he was taking me to a meeting place where I would find other Knights of Ethan, I would no longer hold any such disillusions. Though there were Knights about, or those that looked like them, the camp I was in was obviously not a camp of the king's men. His colors were nowhere to be seen.
Two figures approached us, both dressed in shifting cloaks, though only one in the newer cloaks that Silent, Lucidil, and myself were wearing. As they drew near, the figure in the newer cloak dropped her face mask, exposing a serene feminine face that immediately put me in mind of Kye, causing a pain of loss to surge through me. Her eyes were those of a Knight of Ethan, only colored a brilliant blue. My first inclination was to believe that she was like Weaver and me, but I realized quite quickly that she was a pure Uliona, and it was that strangeness about her that had so reminded me of my lost love. When she raised her arm in salute to Weaver, however, she had the scaled arms of a Knight. Her hair was just over shoulder length long and tied loosely back in two white-blond tails. After offering her salute, she quickly abandoned any sense of formality and ran to Weaver, throwing her arms about him and pressing her lips hungrily to his. He returned her passionate embrace, leaving my weight to fall upon Silent in the process. Silent held me easily, however, his strength more than equal to my added weight, though it was difficult for me to simply fall into him as though I couldn't keep my legs beneath me, when my natural inclination was simply to straighten my legs and walk. I looked on in surprise, not sure what to make of Weaver and his female companion. After a time, they separated, and Weaver made introductions.
"Lowin," He gestured toward the girl. "This is Ferocity, though she generally goes by Fero. My love," he said, then addressing the girl he identified as Fero, "this is the boy we went to find, Lowin Fenly."
She flashed, activating her speed, and my eyes adjusted instantly, making it seem as though she was only walking quickly in my direction, rather than moving faster than the average eye could follow. She stepped before me and resumed normal speed, moving her face to within inches of mine, her brilliant blue eyes locked on me.
"Oh, they're so pretty!" She exclaimed loudly, before grabbing at one of my hands and picking it up to examine it. "And the fur, I've never seen markings like these!" Her free hand brushed back my hood, and she tweaked the tip of one of my ears with a delighted giggle. "These are great."
Weaver laughed. "Yes, our friend Lowin is something special. Fero here," he indicated the woman still excitedly examining the red stripes on my wrists and ears. "Is a natural ascendant. She is one of only two such cases."
"Natural ascendant?" I asked, feeling stupid.
"It means I am an Uliona who was able to rise to the status of Knight of Ethan," Fero chirped in, finally releasing my hand and stepping back.
"I see," I said, though I didn't exactly understand. I had heard of such situations before, but there exact nature was a mystery to me.
The other hooded figure moved forward now, taking down his hood and mask as he approached. I didn't recognize him, but when he smiled he had the jagged, evil-looking teeth I'd first seen on Tempest. His smile never quite reached his eyes cold, black eyes. He extended his hand, and I took it in my own. His hand shake was crushing, obviously intentionally meant to hurt me, though it did not. I let it appear that it had, withdrawing my hand quickly when he deemed to release my palm, and shaking it as though injured.
"I am Brutal," he said simply. "We've heard so much about the great Lowin Fenly. I'm sure you won't disappoint us," he finished, and the tone of his voice let me know that he believed nothing of what he'd heard, and that he'd already decided I wasn't worth my weight in dirt. Brutal was easy to dislike and I found that I already did.
"Silent," Weaver's voice slipped into one of command. "Bring Lowin to my tent. I'll be with you both in a minute. I need to be updated on field conditions and issue new orders."
Silent nodded his reply and began to lead me through the crowd of strange people to the place where Weaver's tent stood, a large impressive construction by any standards. There were two guards at the entrance, both Shao Geok, who stood down as Silent carried me by them without a word. The inside of the tent housed a portable table, a separate area for sleeping with heavy curtains that could be let down for privacy, and several small, portable chairs. As we entered, Silent grabbed one of these with his free hand and pulled it into position for me to sit in. I sat down, again feigning difficulty with my new legs.
Silent took a seat at my side, pointedly not making eye contact with me. It was obvious to anyone with even the slightest good sense that the camp we had entered was not the camp of the recovered Knights of Ethan from Fell Rock. I knew it, truthfully had known we were traveling to no such location for some time, and I had a strong feeling that Silent was well aware that I knew the truth of the matter. Alone within the tent, it would have been easy to prod Silent for more information, but it would have only caused him discomfort and I doubted there was anything he knew that Lucidil would not tell me himself in short order. Now that he had me firmly in his camp, with no chance of me escaping amidst the masses of his followers, he no longer had any need to deceive me.
We only had to wait a short time, though it was a short time spent in an uncomfortable silence, before Lucidil walked through the opening flap of his tent, Fero in tow. To my relief, Brutal was nowhere to be seen. I didn't relish having to spend more time with that particular member of Weaver's army. Fero pulled up a seat on Silent's other side while Weaver walked around the table, and sat down opposite us, casting back his hood to reveal his scraggly black hair. There was a smile on his face that made his eyes dance like fire.
"First of all," he began, "let us dispense with the deceptions in which we have been indulging. To begin, I will tell you what I know that you've already discovered, Lowin." He said, his smile never fading. "This camp is not a meeting place for the Knights of Ethaniel who escaped from the battle at Fell Rock, and I am not, technically, a member of that order of Knights, nor do I serve the king in any form." His bluntness surprised me. As he'd stated, he wasn't saying anything I didn't already know, but I had hardly expected him to be so forthright about it. "Now, we shall shed light on your dark little secrets so that we might come to the table with an open understanding. You are almost completely healed, and judging from the way your muscles reacted and moved while I was holding your weight when I helped you in and out of the boat, you are also surprisingly well adapted to your new body. You have suspected I was not what I presented myself to be for some time, but you are not sure what to make of me. You know my real name, Lucidil, and suspect that I am the same person who first made the cloaks that all Knights wear as standard uniform. You are correct in that suspicion."
I was more than passingly surprised that he knew my secrets. I was so startled, in fact, that a strong impulse to flee had momentarily risen up within me. I suppressed it, knowing that such a move would be pointless, but I suddenly found myself stripped of all advantages. With his army around us, Weaver was
now completely in control of our interaction and there was nothing I could do to change that. I sat up in my chair, straightening myself, casting off my adopted posture of lameness. Silent, at least, looked surprised at my sudden miraculous recovery. If I could have nothing else, I would at least sit tall and proud.
"Fair enough," I said, deciding the best thing I could do was tumble with events as they progressed. It was hardly a preferable way to handle the situation, but Weaver had pushed me into a corner. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, would you care to tell me why you've brought me here, and what you intend to do with me now that you have?"
"Indeed," Lucidil said, standing up from his desk. "Let me give you the short answer first, and then I will explain it further. I've brought you here because you are strong, and are going to become much stronger. That makes you an asset to whoever you side with, and I either needed to have you under my control, or needed to see that you were not an asset for the other side. If you will join with me, I intend for you to become a leader among my forces, Lowin." There was sincerity in his voice that was both chilling and flattering at the same time. He would use me, or kill me, it seemed. Lucidil was a man of extremes, never happy with the middle ground.
"I don't expect you to want to serve me based solely on that, though, so now let me explain what exactly we stand for, Lowin, because I believe that you can sympathize with us more than any other." His voice took on a softer tone, and I could tell that he was about to speak of something that would be very difficult for him.
"It began when I was little younger than you are now, Lowin. I was training to become a knight under a brilliant and noble man, Sir Ethaniel of Legend's Cross. He fought like the devil and believed in the pride of our kingdom. I believed with him. Seeing him stand up for his beliefs, seeing him put his life on the line for a cause that he believed was right, was the most profoundly shaping influence on my life. He was, and is, a shining star of valiant hope.
"Such was Ethaniel's prowess on the battlefield, that when our neighbors, the Uliona, called for our assistance, the king immediately sent Sir Ethaniel, myself, and a regiment of men to aid in their time of need. The Uliona's other neighbors, distant relations to their own line of blood, the Kizekin, had become jealous of the prosperity of their more civilized cousins. Rather than attempting to build a peaceful bond with their estranged kin, they decided they would attack and take what they felt was rightfully theirs. The Uliona were mostly peaceful, and were not ready to handle such an attack, so they sought our aid. Our knights went north to join them, to shape their willing bodies into warriors, and to help them cast out their tyrannical enemies. It was in that war that Ethaniel met a man named Tyell, a native Uliona, and a man that would later become like a brother to Ethaniel. Tyell was a fierce warrior, and a stout-hearted supporter of the bond between human kind, and the Uliona. That war was also to be the place that I met Reilai, another native Uliona, and one that would become my entire world.
"We fought side by side with the Uliona for years, and eventually I ascended to become a full knight, though at that time we were all simply king's knights, as there was no Knights of Ethaniel or anything of that ilk. Ethaniel lent his sword arm to the cause, together with his brother in soul, Tyell, and though I put forth my arm as well, I found my forte in another task. My family comes from a long line of magicians, and I had carried some of that lore with me through my life. For that reason I was tasked with working on magical research that would benefit the kingdom.
"At the time, I was in the process of developing a cloth that could be used to camouflage our military forces, giving them an edge over the enemy on the battlefield. I had first gotten the idea while observing a creature called a ghost drake that lived in the lands of the Uliona. It was a large, dangerous lizard that could shift the color of its skin to match its surroundings. This effect seemed to happen quite of its own accord, without the creature's direct intent. Initially, we had thought to simply skin the creature and use its hide. The problem was, when the drake was caught and skinned, its hide no longer retained its magical color shifting properties. I was tasked with finding a way to keep the skin active and make it more pliable, since it was as hard as metal in its natural state. The research was complicated enough that I spent most of my time not fighting on the battlefield, but struggling in a research center provided by the Uliona.
"I am thankful for that, though, because otherwise I would never have met Reilai. She was sent to me as an assistant in my work, since she was known to be very powerful among her people. Together we spent countless hours working on the fabric that eventually became the cloaks you see most Knights of Ethaniel wearing. I can't say exactly when it happened, but one day, while we were working, I suddenly found that I had grown to love the burning-eyed lab assistant I'd been working with for so long. She was beautiful, intelligent, and had such a spark of life about her that I couldn't help but feel for her. I was far too shy and inexperienced in the ways of the world to tell her any such thing, but I knew it every time I looked at her. I was still working up the nerve to say something to her when tragedy struck our cause. Ethaniel was gravely wounded in battle, and we were both called back to our own kingdom, him to heal, and me, as his most trusted human friend, to take care of him until he was well enough to take care of himself. I did not regret my duty, but at the same time I did not want to leave behind the woman I had grown to love.
"On the night I was to leave, I went to her, and told her of my feelings, pouring out my heart as I had never done before. To my surprise and amazement, she told me that she felt the same about me, but had been afraid to tell me and possibly ruin our work together. I promised her that I would come back as soon as I was able, and she promised me that she would await my return. I left with a light heart, despite the troubles of the world.
"The attack on the Uliona by the Kizekin was, by that time, finally coming to a bloody end. The Uliona's violent cousins had spent all the lives they were willing to spend and were retreating back across their own borders. Ethaniel and I returned to our homeland before the end of the war, but not long before.
"His wounds though, were not healing properly. Ethaniel had lost his left eye in the battle, and had suffered a vicious wound to his gut that the medics suspected was still seeping within him, killing him slowly despite their best efforts. Ethan was one of my dearest friends, and it destroyed me to watch him dying so painfully from day to day. He never once cried out for help, and he always put on a brave face when others were around, but we all knew his time was growing shorter. This went on for nearly a month before he was no longer able to rise from his bed and we all feared the worst. That was when Tyell came from the Uliona homeland, a final desperate plan in mind to save his human brother.
"The Uliona are possessed of a remarkable ability to heal themselves if they are injured and are able to fall asleep. The effect is not as potent as that of the Knights of Ethaniel in this day and age, but it is far more potent than human healing. Tyell explained that the center of the Uliona power lay in their eyes, and that it should be possible to transfer part of that power by transferring one of their very own eyes into Ethaniel's body. Tyell, of course, had volunteered himself, but there were a few obstacles. Foremost, the receiver and the donor must be of compatible energies or there was no hope at all for the transferred eye to take hold in the new body. This was easily tested, and the birth of the testing crystals that all humans are familiar with came to pass. The next problem was that a bond, magically facilitated by the crystal test, must be established to create a 'nest,' so to speak, for the eye to take seed in. This would take time, and in Ethaniel's case, time was limited. The final obstacle was that both parties must be fully aware during the process of transfer, as the Uliona eye, the center of their power, was very sensitive to the conscious state of its host. Transferring the eye while the original party was unconscious would likely result in an eye that would be inactive at the time of transfer, and would likely never reactivate; while if the new
host was unconscious, the eye would start to attach physically without establishing a connection to the consciousness of the new host, leaving the new host without any of the benefits of the new eye. That meant that Ethaniel, already weakened, would have to remain conscious during the process of having the new eye implanted. Of course, he had the benefit of already having a place for the new eye to sit.
"Tyell tested himself and Ethaniel for compatibility, and found that they were indeed compatible. Against the protestations of Ethaniel, who felt that his time was done and that he should be allowed to die, the magical binding was started, though at the time they did not know that the process was irreversible once the crystal testing was done. Ethaniel, who they feared would not survive long enough to receive the new eye, started to become stronger over the course of the six months that it took for the bonding to reach a point where the transfer could be carried out, proof that the bonding process was indeed working. Ethaniel and Tyell went under the knife, a terrifying process that I'm sure you're only too aware of, Lowin. Within a week the process was considered a success. Ethaniel's wounds were healing up remarkably fast, and he was even able to see through the new eye, though he complained of difficulties with blurring and streaking in his vision. Alarmingly, Tyell's brilliant blue eye, once transferred to Ethaniel, lost almost all of its color and turned the all too familiar black we see amongst the Knights these days. It did retain some blue though, a lingering sign of the depth of the connection between Ethaniel and Tyell." Lucidil gave us all a knowing look before continuing his story.