by Colt, K. J.
Some of the guests stayed for another week after the disaster, to assist as they could, and to be present at the funerals. Rose Hightower stayed for a month, refusing to leave until Dorian was fully recovered. In fact, he could nearly run by the time she left, but we knew there were more reasons for her to stay than just his wound.
The enemy were stacked and burned beyond the castle walls. Only the bodies of Lancaster were buried, and within two days of the battle. The funeral service was almost a week afterwards. It took time to get the castle back in order, and quite a few people had been wounded. It was held on a small grassy knoll near the cemetery, and everyone still able to walk or hobble attended. James Lancaster gave the eulogy, and because so many had died, it took nearly two hours to finish. He made a point to speak for several minutes about each person that had died. Frankly I was amazed that he had known them all.
The good Duke was the sort of man who made it a point to know everyone who served him, down to the lowest servant, and he had obviously spent long hours working on his speech. Before it was half done, most of the crowd were misty eyed, those that weren’t already weeping openly. He saved Lord Thornbear for last.
“Gram Thornbear I have saved ’til now, because I was not sure I would be able to finish if I spoke of him first, for he was my closest friend. In life I knew him from our boyhood days, as a fellow adventurer in childhood pastimes. As a man I respected him as a loyal companion, a loving father, and a wise counselor. In death, I mourn him, for he saved my life and the lives of many standing here now. His action in the brave defense of the great hall was merely the last act in a long life full of service and integrity. Gram Thornbear’s last moments stand out not as an exception, but as an example of how he lived; strong and unbowed by the hardships and trials that cause lesser men to lose their way. He was my first and best friend, and I doubt I shall ever know his like again. We will all miss him.” James Lancaster’s head was bowed as he finished, and I am sure he was crying.
To see him weeping openly, affected me deeply; for I had never known him to complain or show sadness. My own face was wet as I held Penny’s hand, not daring to look at her, and I vowed to live my life as best I could; to live up to the examples in front of me, Lord Thornbear, James Lancaster, Royce Eldridge, and my own father, whom I had never known. Only time will show whether I succeed or not.Epilogue
It had been over two weeks now since that dark day at Lancaster Castle, and life was moving on, as it does. I had used some of my new funds to secretly commission an engagement ring for Penny. She had told me it wasn’t important, but Rose assured me privately that if I didn’t get a ring, she would see to it that I suffered painful consequences. I was grateful for the advice, and I’ll stick to that story till I reach my grave.
We were gathered now in the chapel. I had some misgivings about that, considering Father Tonnsdale’s involvement in the treachery that had nearly killed us all, but the new priest assured everyone who would listen that the man had been acting on his own evil impulses, rather than some dark intent given by the Evening Star. I’ll keep my own counsel on that. The books I was studying were rather plain spoken with regards to how far the gods could be trusted. In any case, the young Father Terragant seemed like an earnest and faithful man.
I stood at the head of the church, directly before the altar. Since this was not a religious ceremony, Duke Lancaster stood before me looking down. Following long tradition, I knelt before him, holding my hands up before me, palm to palm as if praying. It was the ancient position of homage, given before one’s liege-lord. James Lancaster took my hands between his own, and I repeated the oath I had been carefully tutored in, “I swear on my honor that I will, now and in the future, remain faithful to James, Duke of Lancaster, to never cause him harm. I will observe my duty to him completely against all persons, in good faith and without deceit.”
James answered me, “It is right that those who offer to us unbroken fidelity should be protected by our aid. And since you, a faithful one of ours, have seen fit to swear trust and fidelity to us in our hand, therefore we decree and command that you shall ever be sheltered by us and given succor in time of need.”
The ceremony of commendation was essentially complete at that point. Naturally the occasion demanded some extra pomp and circumstance, but I won’t bore you with the details. I had spoken with Genevieve before hand, and she and James had agreed to let me add something of my own at the end, while everyone was still together. When my time had come, I stood and addressed the assembled crowd, “While you are all gathered, I have one final and important moment to share with you.”
Some of the people in the crowd looked at each other questioningly. This hadn’t been mentioned previously, but Marc and Dorian nudged each other knowingly. I stepped down from the dais then, and walked to where Penelope sat in the first row. She had been seated there, even though she had no standing, because the Lancasters already knew of our plans.
She looked a question at me, obviously concerned that I was about to do something foolish in front of the gathering, but I ignored it. Taking her hands, I drew her to her feet and then went to one knee, “Penelope Cooper, I have never known a lady so noble, lovely and kind as yourself. Will you marry me?”
She blushed more deeply than I had ever seen her do, “Yes, yes I will marry you Mordecai.” The gathered crowd burst into cheering and applause. As the noise rose in volume, she whispered to me, “Dummy, you still don’t have a ring.” But there were tears in her eyes and her smile would have lit the room, even had it been the dead of night.
As I looked on her she seemed to glow, and it took me a moment to realize my magesight had returned. The subtle radiance around her shimmered with what I can only assume was happiness.
A small figure moved through the garden. It had the shape of a small boy, but an observer would note that it moved oddly; some movements too quick, others awkward as if it were unfamiliar with its own body or strength. A full moon lit the landscape, and as the figure turned, its face was clearly recognizable. Timothy smiled at the night and walked on, searching for something to satisfy him. He could sense life in the night, the small shapes of animals moving. They weren’t much, but they would do—for now.
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THE LINE OF ILLENIEL PREVIEW
NOON CAME BRIGHT AND EARLY. Surprisingly Penny still lay sleeping beside me, and I felt a twinge of guilt that she had lost so much sleep over me. She wore a soft linen sleeping gown, much to my annoyance; still it was only a small barrier. A brilliant thought occurred to me; perhaps I could make up for my misdeeds of the night before?
Her eyes popped open as my hand ran over her posterior. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.
That was a damn stupid question, but I had learned a few things about how to talk to women since last year, “Well when I first woke I thought I must be dreaming to find such a lovely woman beside me, but now my senses tell me that you must be real.” I ran my hand up the small of her back.
“Don’t think you’ll have me that easy,” she said as she rose from the bed and started putting on her clothes. She did do me the service of letting me watch her dress—pure evil that woman.
“I still don’t understand the point—we’re getting married in a few months anyway, and it isn’t as though we have never—well you know,” I said. Since the events a year ago Penny had instituted a new policy regarding our physical relations, namely that there wouldn’t be any.
“Mordecai Eldridge!” she exclaimed. Penny often used my old name when she was lecturing me. “Do you think I want to show up to my wedding in a dress sized to fit a pregnant mare?”
“I told you, I’m fairly sure I can keep that from happening, if you’ll just let me...”
“Don’t you dare! I don’t want you experimenting with—with—that! What if I became barren?” she declared.
“No, no—I would
n’t do anything to you! It would be purely a mechanical thing, a sort of shield to keep...”
“Don’t mess with that either! I like your tools as they are and I don’t trust you not to mess something up. I do want to have children after all.” Clearly we had some trust issues concerning my magic.
“Fine, fine, I can wait,” I replied. I wasn’t really sure about that, but the argument was old. No need to go over it all again, I’d just have to bide my time and catch her at an opportune moment. Hope springs eternal. “I’m going back out tonight,” I added. I figured I’d go ahead and get that out in the open ahead of time.
“I know,” she answered easily, which set off a warning in my head.
“I understand your feelings, but I’m responsible for these people and I can’t just sit around and do nothing,” I said defensively.
“You’re right.”
“I’ll take every precaution, and I’ll be armed so I don’t think I’ll be in any real danger,” I continued.
“I’m sure you will do everything you can.”
I glared at her suspiciously, “Something tells me that your words and your intentions are two different things.”
“Nope,” she said, “I realize I can’t keep you here when there’s something dark prowling the night.” She did her best to make her voice sound deep and ominous.
“Well—good then,” I said. Unusual as it was, it felt good to win one now and then. After dressing we went our separate ways. She had been busy with the architect lately; overseeing the construction of the kitchens and living quarters. I spent the afternoon helping my father. He had been working to produce a serviceable portcullis for the gatehouse.
The day passed quickly and that evening I calmly got ready for my night out. I didn’t have anything resembling proper armor but I hardly needed it with my magical shields. Instead I wore dark hunting leathers, buckling my sword on over them. I also carried a staff.
The staff warrants special attention. After discovering the secret of permanently enchanting things I thought I would try to recreate something I had read about in Vestrius’ journal. The specific details regarding what sort of staves wizards carried long ago was lost, along with the art of enchanting. Still I was drawn to the idea and I decided to try and create something similar to the descriptions I had read in Vestrius’ journal.
Supposedly the ancients had used them to channel and focus their powers to greater effect. I had no idea how they accomplished it but I tried a few things of my own anyway. The first was to enchant the head of the staff so that it would hold any spell I put there indefinitely, sort of a flexible enchantment. I could light it and not worry about maintaining the spell. Potentially I could do other things as well, but that was all I had thought of so far. The second thing I had done was encircle the entire length with a sort of hollow shell of wards and runes. I found that if I channeled my strength along the shaft I could direct my power out to much greater distances, or focus it more powerfully at short range.
Honestly I hadn’t had a need to do either so far, but I had great hopes that it would prove useful eventually. Plus it looked pretty nifty. “I’m off to save the village honey!” I shouted toward our bedroom, hoping to provoke a laugh.
“Ok, be careful,” she yelled back calmly, not even bothering to step out and give me a good-bye kiss. Obviously she had resigned herself to the situation. I stepped outside, looking around and trying to decide which way to head first. Penny showed up a moment later, walking around from the other side of the house.
She was wearing a soft gambeson and a long chain shirt. She also carried a bow and a slender sword. “Um… Penny, what are you doing?” I inquired.
“I’m going out to hunt for evil-doers,” she answered casually.
“You’re not coming with me,” I said firmly. Once in a while a man just has to put his foot down.
“That’s fine, you go that way, I’ll work my way south.” The smile on her face was positively diabolical.
I rephrased myself, “No… I mean you’re staying here.”
“Nope,” she replied.
She was missing the subtleties of my argument so I decided to try something more direct, “Shibal” I said, using a spell that should put her soundly to sleep.
Penny held up the amulet I had made her a few months previously, “Forget about something?” I had made it to protect her from mental assaults such as she had endured previously… such as I had just attempted.
“Goddammit, you’re not going out there alone!”
“Fine, you can come with me, but try not to make noise, I don’t want to scare them off,” she answered. Her attitude was one of indifference.
“This isn’t your job Penny,” I said stubbornly.
“Like hell it’s not! You may be the damned Count, but I’m about to be your wife. If you are responsible then I’m in this just as deeply as you are. Now you can go your own way or we can go together… what’s it going to be?” she said with resolve. She could be really beautiful when she was determined, but don’t tell her that, she’s hard enough to deal with already.
In the end I let her come with me. There really wasn’t any alternative, other than tying her up, which I did briefly consider. We headed north of the village, since all the missing persons had lived on that side, and found a nice quiet spot in the forest. Once we got under the trees the darkness intensified; neither moon nor the stars could be seen.
“Oof!” Penny had just tripped over a root and almost went down in a sprawl. I stifled the urge to laugh. I could have provided light but I had the wonderful excuse that we were trying to avoid tipping off our quarry. My magesight gave me a distinct advantage in the dark.
“Stop it,” she said.
“What?”
“You’re laughing at me… I can tell,” she answered.
“I was just wondering how you’re going to see to shoot that bow if something happens.” It was so dark there weren’t even shadows. She declined to answer so I dropped the subject and we kept walking. Soon enough we had reached my spot.
It was a location without anything to recommend it. There was nothing particularly comfortable about it, but it was in a place where, by stretching my senses I could cover most of the area that had lost people. We sat down, back to back and I began to relax. The art of sensing a large area requires a lot of effort, but most of that goes into not tensing up. I had to calm myself and let my mind expand, feeling as much as I could around me.
The first hour was the worst, after that we both gave up thinking about our daily lives and it got easier. I wasn’t sure but Penny might have gone to sleep. There really wasn’t anything else for her to do, and nothing could sneak up on us as we were. I could feel a field mouse moving around half a mile away.
Another hour drew slowly by and I began to wonder if this would be a repeat of the previous night. My thoughts were drifting, but my mind was still alert. If anything had moved I would have felt it, but I had no idea what I was looking for… I would learn that later. Penny had begun snoring, which probably hid the sound of its approach. Even if she had been silent I’m not sure I would have noticed. It was very quiet.
The first indication things were not as they seemed was the sound of a twig snapping not five feet behind me. The sound would not have been so surprising, except I knew there was nothing there, no animals, no life at all. I came awake suddenly and then I felt it, an absolute emptiness. It was as if something had carved a void in the air behind me, a place where nothing existed.
I stood and whirled about, the darkness was absolute so my eyes were useless; yet I could feel the empty place with my extra senses. I reached for my sword but a hand grabbed my arm. It went through my shield as if it didn’t exist and when it touched me the world changed. Everything vanished—my sight was gone, and I could sense nothing but a vast void drawing me in. It was absorbing the light within me, and crushing the light from the world as well. A few moments longer and I would have been lost.
Someth
ing knocked me sideways, breaking the contact, and the world rushed back in at me. I could sense Penny there, grappling with something so black my mind could not reveal it, something that was sapping her energy. Her life force wavered in front of me, being drawn rapidly away, like a candle guttering in a strong wind.
“Lyet,” I spoke, conjuring a ball of light, and then I could see it. In the stark light I saw Penny struggling with Sadie Tanner. Ordinarily Penny would have easily overpowered the smaller girl, but now her strength was waning quickly. Whatever this thing was, it was a mockery of the girl we had known. It looked like Sadie, but the emptiness revealed by my magesight made it clear that she was nowhere within the creature we faced now.
“Sadie?” Penny exclaimed.
“I don’t know what that is… but it isn’t Sadie,” I yelled back, and then I continued in Lycian, “Stirret ni Pyrenn!” A line of fire lanced from my outstretched hand. I had learned to focus my power in such a way that it would burn a hole through the thing—yet my fire disappeared the moment it touched the thing.
Sadie, the thing, whatever it was… looked at me then, a hideous grin on its face. With a shove it threw Penny back six or seven feet, to strike a tree, and then it reached for the ball of light I had created. As it touched my spell the light vanished, winking out as suddenly as it had appeared. I felt a sense of shock. This thing, whatever Sadie had become, consumed my magic as quickly as I had summoned it.
I drew my sword and lashed out at her even as the light disappeared. I hoped cold steel would do what magic could not. I felt the blade meet resistance and then it passed onward. Stepping back I conjured more light. My eyes were wide now; fear had replaced my confidence.
The new light showed a hideous scene; Sadie Tanner’s body lay in two parts upon the ground, both still moving, struggling to reach me. I tried another fire spell and it disappeared as quickly as the first. The moment my magic touched the grotesque thing on the ground the fire winked out of existence. “Penny! Are you ok?” I called.