Hope

by Sam Rook

  "I don't cause any trouble," she said after the giggling subsided. "Nana showed me how to bake bread last night! Did you know there are all different kinds of bread? There’s wheat, white, sour dough, oat, grain," Mikael smiled.

  Lanclor forgot his exhaustion for the moment as her excitement filled him. All of the death, all of the cruelty he saw every day; all was pushed to the back of his mind as he watched Mikael enjoy the time with his adopted daughter. Mikael glanced his way and gave him a curt nod.

  "I’ll provide any help I can, but we’re short on knights as it is." Lanclor walked over and took the reins from the groom. "Keep me informed of any new developments. I’ll keep in touch. Be safe, Guardsman Mikael."

  "Be safe, Sir Lanclor."

  Lanclor envied Mikael’s distraction from work, but distractions were something Lanclor couldn’t afford and his wings drooped not just from the added weight of the rain as he led his horse from the courtyard toward the castle.

  The afternoon mealtime had passed and Lanclor found himself leaning against the wall behind Guardsman Mikael in Royal Guard-Commander Warren's workroom. He knew Mikael took pride in his job, but he bordered on breaking regulations with his black hair falling an inch below the back of his helmet.

  "Sir Warren, I'm here to report on last night's activities."

  "Yes, Mikael. Please take a seat. I have to go over things with Sir Lanclor, so please try to make it quick if possible."

  "Yes, Sir. We investigated a murder last night, which looks to be another incident of a Changed man. He had been missing for a couple of days when his wife found him in a field. He tried to kill her last night, but somehow fell and struck his head. The blow snapped his neck. That makes ten this month alone."

  Warren rose from his chair. "I fear this is becoming an epidemic. That’s why I’ve asked Sir Lanclor to meet with me to discuss it."

  "Is there something he can do about it?" Mikael clenched his hands behind his back, out of sight of his commanding officer.

  Lanclor sensed his frustration and remained silent.

  "I'm afraid he’ll have to do something." Warren nodded to Lanclor. "The knights are more capable of handling situations that involve dark magic. You know as well as I do that most of the Guardsmen aren’t adept at magic." The Guard-Commander shuffled through some papers signaling an end to that line of discussion.

  "I know, Sir, but can't we try to learn more—"

  "Enough, Mikael. We’ve already had this conversation three times. You might be a skilled magic user, but the rest of the Royal Guard is not." Guard-Commander Warren sighed then continued in a level voice. "The Guard is here to protect the people from themselves. We’ll handle the thieves, rapists and murderers, and the Knighthood will have to handle any of the evil magic behind it. That's just how it is and how it will always be."

  "Yes, Sir." Mikael appeared to have a hard time reining in his frustration.

  Lanclor had heard him mention how tradition had a tendency of getting in the way of investigations. Mikael and some other members of the Royal Guard were capable of investigating a magic-related crime. However, with something of this magnitude, the Knighthood should deal with it.

  Mikael sighed in resignation and finished his report, relaxing his hands and assuming the detached posture of a Royal Guardsman. Lanclor’s mind kept wandering back to the words of the widow.

  Hareld was always a gentle soul.

  Lanclor knew people could change, just not overnight.

  Chapter 5

  A firm knock sounded upon Kathryn’s door. "Come in."

  "My name is Elena. I’ve been assigned to clean your chamber." She was a short woman in her twenties with thinning hair and a generous smile.

  "Hi, my name’s Kathryn. It's nice to meet you, Elena." Kathryn wasn’t sure if she should leave or just hover in the background. She really just wanted to talk. "Do you mind if I stay while you clean? I haven’t had another woman to talk to for a while now."

  "I don’t mind at all. I can work and easily hold a conversation." Elena stripped the bed.

  "How is it that you can speak our language? It doesn’t appear to be the chosen one on this world."

  "My mother was from Earth. She taught me when I was young."

  Someone else had been to this world and yet back home there was no talk of this alternate world. "Your mother was from Earth? How’s that possible? Did she ever find a way back? Well, obviously not, or you probably wouldn’t be here. Sorry, I’m just surprised." Perhaps people mentioned this alternate world and others dismissed it. Just another headline on the news far behind the latest murder or political scandal. "What part of Earth is she from?"

  "Chicago. She told me the story so many times. She was cleaning her sink in the kitchen of her apartment when she blacked out. When she awoke in the middle of the market square, a bunch of Av’lorians gathered around her. A man who spoke English, which is considered an ancient language here, approached her and tried to comfort her." Elena smiled as she tucked the ends of the clean sheet under the mattress. "She was terrified and didn’t believe what was happening, but she learned to live with what happened after cycles of searching for a way back."

  It seems like kitchens are a popular starting point.

  "The man who befriended her that day became her husband—my father. She often told me of life back on Earth." She smoothed the fresh sheet and spread clean blankets over the bed. "She told stories of how crime was spreading across her world and I think she was eventually glad to have come to Av’lor. Only when I became an adult did she share that she had been married with a child back on Earth."

  Elena smoothed the blanket and moved toward the tub. "She missed them dearly, but said she never regretted re-marrying and having me. They both died last cycle during an attack on our village."

  "I’m sorry to hear that." Kathryn couldn't imagine losing both of her parents. One was hard enough.

  "They’ll be missed." Elena smiled at her and sank to her knees to wipe the tub.

  "Elena, what is Av’lor? Is it the afterlife?"

  Elena smiled and shook her head. "No. Av’lor is a world parallel to Earth, or at least that’s how my mother explained it to me. I didn’t really understand what she meant. From the histories, the dragons brought a bunch of humans here from Earth to fight their battles."

  "What the hell is that?" Kathryn hopped onto the bed, pointing at a creature the size of a rat sitting next to the door. It cleaned its red pointed ears and four eyes with a scaly paw. A long tail with some type of whisker on the end moved back and forth as if watching for danger.

  "Oh, it's just a mouse." Elena tried to hide her smile without much success.

  "No, that is some type of lizard-bug thing. A mouse is cute and furry." She wasn’t getting off the bed with that thing in there.

  Elena laughed. "My mother used to have a fit about the animals here too. I never understood that. Mice are great. They keep the bugs out of your room. It's the cats that you have to worry about. Disgusting things."

  "Cats? What do they look like?"

  "Similar to the mouse, but blue and about twice the size. They have six eyes instead of four and stubby tails."

  "That doesn't sound too bad. Do they kill the mice?"

  "Yeah, they kill the mice. Then when you're sleeping, they gnaw on your toes. My brother lost two toes to a cat when we were growing up."

  Kathryn cringed, hugging her knees to her chest. She snuggled her feet beneath the blanket.

  "I enjoyed talking to you, Kathryn. I’m all done with your room now. I’ll come every week to change your linens and do some general cleaning. We can continue our talks then."

  "I’ll look forward to them. Nice meeting you, Elena." The mouse ran under the tub as Elena approached the door.

  "You as well, Kathryn. Be safe." Elena left the room. Kathryn just shook her head, regretting the large glass of water she had for lunch. She imagined the mouse just waiting for her foot to touch the floor.

  Kathryn awoke
in a cold sweat and with a feeling of dread. She could still remember the waking dream with the sound of the knights’ wings and their cries as they fell toward the lake. She’d had the same one for the past week, but it seemed like tonight’s held a sense of urgency. It always ended in the golden knight’s fall. She struggled with herself about telling someone about it.

  Tonight’s version convinced her otherwise. Nobody would care if it was a dream, but if it were a possible future, she would be a fool not to tell someone. She lifted the covers and drew her legs over the edge of the bed. With a deep breath, her bare feet hit the cold floor and she hurried over to her clothes. After she dressed against the chill of the night, she opened the door into the outer room. Rielle’s head swung toward the sound, her hand going for her sword.

  "I need to speak with Sir Lanclor."

  "It’s the middle of the night. Go back to sleep," Rielle said in an insulting tone, turning back to her book.

  What a bitch.

  Kathryn's feeling of dread from the dream turned into anger at Rielle's unending scorn. "I need to speak with him now, Rielle,"

  Rielle’s head whipped around. "Okay, but if he gets angry, I’m not going to take the brunt of it." She rose, straightened her sword, and led Kathryn through the hall toward Sir Lanclor’s private chambers. They reached his room after a long walk and Rielle knocked against the heavy wooden door.

  There was a gruff reply from the other side of the door and Rielle opened it in response. Sir Lanclor sat at a desk below a bright light globe with a large map in his hands. A helmet covered his head, but his armor sat on the table across the room to her left. He must have put the helmet on just before they came in—some type of secret identity rule. Sir Lanclor’s black shirt with three buttons undone did nothing to hide his broad chest. His sparse chest hair just visible beneath his thick neck drew Kathryn’s eyes. Just admiring the natives.

  "What’s so important that it can’t wait until morning?" His gruff question pulled her attention to his frowning eyes.

  Such a charming guy.

  "Kathryn insisted on speaking with you. She wouldn’t take no for an answer." Rielle answered in a neutral voice.

  Sir Lanclor’s eyebrows raised a fraction. "Well? What is it?"

  Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. "I’ve been having recurring dreams over the past week. I felt the need to tell you what I saw after tonight’s dream."

  "Go on," he said without pause.

  "I saw a group of twenty knights in diamond formation with you at the lead and Sir Garrent in the rear. There was a golden knight in the middle among the brown and gray knights. You were flying over a forest with a river running through the middle. The river ended in a waterfall over cliffs to a lake below. I was then looking at you from below, standing on the cliff beside the waterfall and saw you pass overhead. Black shapes flew up from the trees and attacked from the rear." She hoped this was real or they’d probably lock her up. "The battle ended with the golden knight covered in blood and falling toward the lake."

  Both Rielle and Sir Lanclor stared at her, unspeaking.

  She wasn’t sure what else to say. "I know it could just be a dream, but it was just so detailed. I felt like I had to tell someone. Since you were leading the knights in the dream, I thought you were the logical choice." Kathryn couldn’t tell what expression passed across Sir Lanclor’s face, since his helmet showed her only his eyes.

  "Thank you for telling me. I’ll think on it. Good night." He looked down at his paperwork and ignored them.

  His abrupt dismissal hurried them from the room. "Well, that was a little disturbing," Rielle said as she walked with Kathryn back to the room. "Did you have Sights on Earth as well?"

  The question surprised her. "What’s a Sight?"

  "Cycles ago, some knights would go into trances, claiming to have seen images of a possible future. The histories call them Seers and their predictions Sights. Some tried to get attention and never accurately predicted anything except with dumb luck. Others helped to avert many disastrous battles. There hasn’t been an occurrence for decades."

  After a dreamless sleep the following morning, last night’s events raced through Kathryn's mind while she bathed and dressed. She decided to go across the hall and tell Hal what had happened. Opening her door, she saw Rielle and Nikton deep in conversation.

  "What’s going on?" she asked with tentative steps.

  They both stopped talking and looked at her with guilty eyes. "I was telling Nikton about what happened last night. He was saying how that would explain Sir Lanclor’s decision this morning about the trip to R’kelo," Rielle said with approval.

  "What was Sir Lanclor’s decision?"

  "He decided twenty knights an insufficient escort for Lord Alextor’s party. He brought an additional forty knights and split them into two groups to shadow the main group. That way if Daemons attacked the main party in the rear, the two shadowing groups, flying above, could fall on the enemy from behind. He also decided to use a decoy for Lord Alextor in the main party, another knight in regular armor but spelled to appear golden. Lord Alextor would be in one of the shadow groups," Nikton said in a respectful voice. "That sounds a little excessive to me, but extra caution makes sense after your Sight."

  There it was again. Sight. With the news that Sir Lanclor took her dream seriously, she hoped it was a Sight and not just a nightmare. She would feel awful if she ran to Sir Lanclor about a bad dream like a small child. "Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Do you know if Hal is awake yet?"

  "Yeah, I think I heard him stirring in there," Rielle claimed.

  Kathryn knocked on Hal’s door and heard a muffled reply for entrance.

  "How’s it going?" he said from the desk in front of the window.

  "Not too bad. You?"

  "All right. I didn’t sleep very well, though. I kept tossing and turning. What’s up?"

  "I think I may have a small problem." Well, Sir Lanclor wasn’t exactly small. "I’ve been having pretty much the same dream for the last week or so. It involved an ambush and seemed so real that I finally told Sir Lanclor about it, in the middle of the night, no less." She leaned against the wall with a frown.

  "Oh my. You’re brave. Sometimes I think that guy hates everyone. They’re afraid of him." He pointed toward the common room. "Could be because he seems angry all of the time and is built like a house. You couldn’t pay me to hold a sword and drill with him like they do." He rose from the chair and leaned on the desk so he was eye level with her. "Anyway, what did he say?"

  "Well, I couldn’t tell with his helmet. He dismissed us without comment and that was it. Sir Lanclor decided to take forty extra knights with him on his trip this morning, which I didn’t even know about, and plans to use a decoy for Lord Alextor. Lord Alextor’s their leader, I think." Kathryn paused, unsure if she should continue. "Rielle mentioned something about Seers last night. Maybe the magic of this place is affecting me somehow. A part of me hopes it’s a glimpse of the future just so I don’t look like a nut case and have to face Sir Lanclor’s wrath."

  "Well, you're either a nut case or a prophet. I'm not sure which one's worse. Trapped in this room all day, it drives me crazy. Back on Earth, I was outside all of the time. Being stuck in here makes me want to turn on the television, not that they have that either. I guess you’ll find out if it was just a dream or not when they get back."

  "Yeah, you’re right. Have you found any paper? We should create a deck of cards or something to pass the time." Kathryn rubbed the back of her neck, looking for anything to distract her from the current situation.

  "Sounds good to me," he said with a relieved smile. "Do you know how to play Gin Rummy?"

  "Of course."

  After creating a crude deck of cards from some paper they scrounged from Rielle and Nikton, they played Gin Rummy for a few hours.

  "Do you have any family back home?" Kathryn asked as she drew from the deck.

  "Yeah. I was on
my way home before I got here. I was going to take my son camping. I get him on the weekends." He picked up the ace she discarded and gave her an evil grin. "I know you live in your mom’s old house." His grin faded. "How’s your dad doing?"

  She looked down so he couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. "My dad visited the evening before my birthday—the day we came here. Some party."

  "Oh, I didn’t know. Happy birthday!" He gave her a huge smile as he discarded a useless four of diamonds. "So, how’s Donny?"

  She winced inwardly and drew from the deck. "Not so good." Kathryn knew Donny blamed her for everything. Her brother wouldn’t even pick up the phone anymore when she called. "He just needs more time." Donny probably hadn’t noticed her absence.

  "Marines are tough bastards. He’ll bounce back."

  Yeah, he will, just not on his feet.

  "How about you? Married?" she asked.

  "No, not married. My son is from a relationship back in high school. I was close to marrying her, but it fell apart after she met my best friend."

  "Oh, that kind of thing." Just like her ex-husband. "Are you still friends?"

  "Yeah, we’re all friends now, but back then, I was so angry. Things change, people change. That’s life. Gin!" He laid down his cards—four aces and a group that included the missing club she'd been waiting to collect.

  People did change. Earlier this week, she believed Av’lor represented purgatory. Now she leaned more toward the parallel world theory, only because hell couldn’t be this boring.

  Chapter 6

  A knock on Hal’s door interrupted their game of cards a few days later. Rielle and Nikton were on the other side standing at attention.

  "Lord Alextor has requested an audience with you, Lady Kathryn," Rielle said in a formal tone. "Please follow me. Quickly."