by Thomas Adams
A test of strength a contest of will
Eternal struggle ends with death’s cruel cold bite
Funeral pyres burn deep into the night
The cries of children and the wail of women
Mourn lost brothers, husbands and sons
I ride through the empty villages and deserted towns
In time all will wonder what was won
Brotjnar
***
The morning of her last full day at Reave Hall, Yfiria sat in the chair in her room and gazed out the window. The students in the yard below continued training, it was constant, never ending. They were always practicing, honing their skills and learning. It was amazing to her that they could keep such a schedule, even the youngest ones kept going and going. You could say a lot of bad things about the Guild but they knew how to create fighters.
She glanced about the room as her ladies swept in to prepare her for the day. The room was austere and worn as befitted a teacher or junior master in a school of war. She grimaced. The room did not bother her as much as her constant feelings of impotency and helplessness. The fact they were leaving tomorrow, without resolving Brandt’s memory loss, only made matters worse. With every ounce of her being she wanted to help Brandt. After so many years of friendship and eventually love, then the years of separation, longing and anxiety, she could no longer sit idly by and do nothing.
She would not just hope everything worked out. She would make a difference. She would fight for Brandt and for herself, for them. But how could she accomplish this? The question haunted every waking minute, of which recently, she had way too many. How could she make him see what he really was and break through to him? What would motivate him to overcome all obstacles and destroy this mental block?
After she was dressed and her hair and toilette completed she walked to the window and gazed down at the practice yard again. It was still awhirl with activity. Students were paired up and working through intense sword and axe drills. Masters walked along the rows of pairs and made corrections and shouted advice. They cajoled and exhorted the students to work hard and master the skills. Her eyes roamed the rows of students and eventually found Brandt in the mix of the student. She watched him take his older and larger opponent apart with fast precise movements.
He was quicker, more skilled, and more determined than his opponent. His movements, while lethal, were fluid and graceful but powerful. He was motivated by something. What was it though? What could she leverage to help him? Then she saw it and understood. Brandt was not a base man driven by personal desires and passion. He was noble and empathic, compassionate but also determined. He was ruled by a sense of fair play but she knew he could also be filled with anger and wrath.
She suspected some of his current affliction was self-inflicted, to a certain degree. Those years at Talfur had somehow exacerbated the situation. Taken in conjunction with their growing feelings of love and his planned departure to Vesfalruk he had devolved somehow when he entered the portal and came to Ellorhim. That had to be the catalyst.
So, she would appeal to what she knew would motivate him and show him, in no certain terms, what his future truly held. She would carefully build her arguments to take this into account. He had to be made to grasp the importance of his future life and what it meant to Vesfalruk and Radnja. She had to break through and tear down the mental barriers he’d erected.
***
Killing Primus Legatus Kho was pretty simple. She simply used the best tool she had, the one this girl was born with, the one that worked on most men. Kho was reputedly a very lustful man, like most soldiers, and his apparent appetite for the body of Aelia negated his better than average intelligence and his sense of self preservation. He was dead in less than five minutes after she walked into his sleeping chambers. But, she stayed for a full hour to increase the illusion of a bawdy raucous engagement.
After the deed was done, she checked the hallway and ensured the way was clear. Upon reaching the stairway she used a minor enchantment and put the guards in the foyer below to sleep and slipped quietly away from the villa. She was certain no one got a good look at the prostitute that mysteriously visited the Primus. She kept to the shadows whenever possible and her voluminous cloak had a deep hood that completely shielded her face.
Her biggest regret was that she didn’t get to experience the Primus as a man. In her haste she slayed the man before she could take advantage of him. She craved a man badly. Her young nubile body was almost constantly in a state arousal. She enjoyed the feeling immensely and looked forward for the opportunity to sate her lust and hate on Titan, the Emperor of the most powerful realm in Ellorhim.
In minutes she was riding through the city, towards Kroya. After a brisk invigorating two hour ride she was in the Dead City and quickly entered Lutvar’s temple. Gullvayg commanded the first servant she encountered to fetch Lutvar to her. She waited impatiently for him to arrive. While she waited she drank a class of chilled Cumbrian wine and contemplated her next moves.
Lutvar showed up a few minutes later and immediately asked, “How did it go? Is the problem taken care of?”
“It is. And, it is I Gullvayg. I have taken the girl’s body and mind.”
Lutvar was speechless. She laughed contemptuously and sneered at his feeble comprehension. When he regained his senses he asked, “How is such a thing possible?”
“My power is vast. Best you remember that!” she said.
“Who do we position to take over from Kho?” he asked.
“Me, you fool, I will take care of it. You have other things to worry about. Now, listen, I have new instructions for your magi.”
He looked angry at her insults but did not challenge her.
“My master says it is time to make a larger and more permanent breach in the shield around the Void. The Gods are too weak now to shore it up. Their power wanes as his grows. We must attack it more directly and with greater power.”
Lutvar carefully asked, “Greater power? I don’t understand. How do we accomplish this?”
She replied condescendingly, “We? You misspeak, you will do this. I have other things to take care of. It will take more blood and more magi. You will use ten sacrifices and all your magi.”
“Ten sacrifices? Where will I find that many innocents so quickly? It will take forever and it will take time to test them all as well.”
“I don’t care how you do it, my master does not care how you do it but you will do it. He demands results. You know the consequences of your failure. Best get busy and figure it out.”
***
Kyrr sat down with his dinner in the dining hall. Most of the group was already finished and had left. The remaining students, Bera, Borg, Rojr, the twins Lokur and Jokia, Astrin and Eiric glanced warily between him and Fridya. She sat next to Bera and she seemed calmer. At least she didn’t look at him with murder in her eyes now. But, she did seem a bit distant and cold, like many of the other Erling girls. She’d barely acknowledged him when he sat at the far end of the table.
Since her confrontation with Bera about his bullying she’d spent a lot of time with him. He was making progress towards changing his ways and she provided him with her advice and guidance. Kyrr was impressed with Fridya’s mentoring of Bera. Acceptance of Bera and his Erling friends was slow by the rest of the band. Many had been tormented and beaten by Bera and his friends. It would take time to heal those wounds.
Kyrr surmised her attitude was related to his apparent childhood friendship with Princess Yfiria, their very public sparring sessions earlier and because of her father’s ongoing visit. It must be very hard for her he thought. He guessed she did not like Yfiria much and resented her. And, he was certain that dealing with another young woman of higher station would be difficult to stomach. Astrin and Eiric finished their meal and departed with muted goodbyes passed to the table in general.
Kyrr knew Fridya was probably considered by many to be a spoiled Erling, at least a little spoiled. He didn’t have any experiences to
compare her with though. She, Astrin and Jokia seemed alike to him in many regards. They were all Erling girls and he thought they acted the same, most of the time. Fridya though was more focused and driven and willing to overlook class and status in her friends. The other girls were not that considerate and mainly stuck with their class. As one, Bera, Borg, Rojr and the twins rose and quietly departed the table. That left Fridya and Brandt. He eyed her warily over a heaping spoonful of mutton stew. She watched him, he could not tell what she was thinking.
He wondered if the girls were just used to having the undivided attention of all the boys, their fathers and their friends. The new dynamic of sharing and competing for that attention must be frustrating. This visit with the accompanying royals from Radnja had changed that dynamic. Maybe he was wrong and had misjudged her entirely. He wolfed down the remainder of his mutton and beans and started to rise from the table.
“So, do you want to sneak into Tanic tonight?” Fridya asked him from across the full length of the table. Strange, they were so close a few days ago. She’d waited for it to clear out and for them to be alone. She was offering a flag of truce apparently.
“Mayhap but I am very tired from the sparring today. And, I have to see what Master Birger needs now,” Kyrr replied.
“Right. I know a guard that will let us go through the postern with no questions. I could use a mug of ale or some chilled wine. But, if you canna sneak out we could do something else tonight.”
“Fridya, what is going on? You ignored me or were mad at me for the last two days and now without an explanation you want to sneak out? Is there a problem? Earlier this afternoon you would not even speak to me. I would think you would want to spend time with your father afore he leaves tomorrow.”
She made a face at that. Something was bugging her he knew, “Come on. We are friends, out with it.”
She seemed very reluctant to answer, “My Da wants me to court you and get a commitment from you, for you to marry me. I like you a lot. I just don’t want to be pressured into this. And, I don’t like that princess and her possessiveness of you. There is something going on between you two I can tell. I remember the wallet with the flower and lock of black hair. It had a ‘Y’ on it too, must be hers. ”
He looked at her in shock and horror.
She exclaimed with considerable indignation, “It is not that bad! I like you Kyrr. We are very good friends and we are very much alike. We would be a good match. All of the nobles and ladies in Kimera would agree. Astrin and Jokia think so as well.”
“But, ah, well,” he sputtered turning red. “I am not ready to marry anyone Fridya! We are too young. And, don’t I have a say in this?”
She groaned in embarrassment, “I know, this is too much. Many Erling our age are promised young but marry latter. Some are married at our age now. But, you are right, we are too young. But we could be promised now? Would you want that?”
He stared at her. She wants me to answer this now? He did not know what to say. So he sighed and closed his eyes, “I like you too Fridya but I am not sure I think of you like that. You are my best friend here at the Hall and I think of you as a sister. Besides, until I know more about my condition and background I am not willing to marry anyone. It would not be fair to a future wife or to me.”
“That makes sense. How could my Da ask this of me now? Ughh, it is so embarrassing!”
They stared at their plates and commiserated in silence for several moments. Finally they both burst out laughing and Kyrr said, “Fridya, you are my closest friend now. I don’t know what is between Yfiria and me but it goes back before I lost my memory. I know I like her. I like her a lot. I have no idea what hold she has on me but it is strong. You are right to suspect there is more. There may be again, I don’t know what it was or what will be.”
She made another face when he brought up Yfiria.
He pressed on but almost in a whisper now, “I just want everything to go back the way it was. You understand me? I don’t want to be a king! This is too much and too fast. I am not ready to find a wife and become a lord.”
She nodded her head in agreement.
He said, “Let’s just try to be friends for now, like we were last sennight. I want to become a Sword Master. Who knows what will happen in the future. I need to figure out how to get my memory back and see what my destiny turns out to be before I can think of marriage.”
She didn’t look entirely happy with his pronouncement but she did seem resigned to respect his wishes for now.
***
As Kyrr left the forges a figure stepped out of the shadows on the walkway ahead of him. He started but recovered quickly His hand was on his short sword. Then he saw her face in a brief flare of lamp light. It was Yfellia. If it was not for her fair hair he would have almost mistaken her for Yfiria. They could be twins he thought. It was dark and long past the sleeping hour. She waved him over into a shadowed passageway and motioned for him to follow her.
He did. She was cautious and watchful and led him on a roundabout circuit of the High Fort. She stayed in the shadows and went along seldom used passageways. Eventually they neared the off-limits section of the High Fort.
He asked her in a voice barely above a whisper, “It is late. What is going on Yfellia, why all the secrecy?”
She replied in a conspiratorial whisper, “I am trying to avoid a certain young lady as she has made it her mission in life to hound your every step.”
“Erika? Her job is to protect me.”
“No, not the huntress, I mean Fridya. The princess and Erika are on the same side in this.”
He groaned out loud. He thought they had made amends at supper and everything was fine, apparently not.
Yfellia led him into the Adjutant’s courtyard. She pointed across the yard then turned back and disappeared into the shadows. Kyrr turned from where Yfellia had been and looked closer. He saw a slim dark shape in the shadows by the statues.
He walked towards her, he knew it was Yfiria. As he got closer he could smell her scent. He saw she was dressed in a simple black silk dress and dark cover up. The hood was up. She was also obviously trying to remain unseen. She stepped out from beside the masonry as he approached. She grasped his hand in their now familiar way and pulled him towards the large iron door that led into the tunnels and catacombs below. The tunnels again? He wondered what draw dark underground places held for young ladies.
As they approached she mumbled a few words of power and the door slowly opened. Kyrr’s head briefly throbbed with the now familiar buzz of magic. She was an archania user or witch he realized. But, this discovery did not surprise him. He must have known, on some level that she was a seer. Her past questions about his dreams and visions alluded to this. They entered the cold dark hallway beyond. She whispered for him to close the door.
Once it was secured behind them she pulled a small wand from inside her cloak and spoke a phrase of archania. Kyrr felt the buzzing in his ears and he sensed the power form at the tip of the wand she held. A soft but piercing light began to form at the tip of the wand. It illuminated the hallway for quite a ways in front of them. She started down the hall and gently pulled him after her. They went down the long stairway and he counted the steps, three hundred steps in all. It was a very different experience sneaking around with her than the previous time he had been down here, with Fridya. Then it had been more of a comradery type of activity but this felt very different.
He knew that being alone with this young woman would be heavily frowned upon by her parents and the Erling classes. But, there was a whole new exciting aspect to this outing that had not been present with Fridya. She must have sensed his thoughts for she turned back to look at him and there was something different in her smile. Something he didn’t know how to identify for certain, there was something hinted at in her eyes. He thought he saw in her gaze a hunger or longing and even though they were young he knew what it meant. He knew what passed between a man and woman when there was an attraction betwee
n them. He understood that they had a mutual attraction. And, she had told him she loved him.
She suddenly stopped and turned to face him. She was very close to him. The archania light from the wand flashed off the smooth rock walls and winked off her necklace and earrings. Her perfume only enhanced his need for her, her hair shadowed part of her face and gave her a mysterious and alluring quality he found fascinating. And, being so close to her in the dark tunnel was very exciting. He felt like doing something impulsive.
***
Unseen by him, her grin broadened as she watched him realize what being alone with her in this dark tunnel might mean. His projection masking was a bit off tonight she realized. She could sense his thoughts and they pressed on her with a warmth and hunger that soon had her tingling all over. His emotions and feelings for her fanned a raging fire that engulfed her entire body. The heat spread from her belly to the tips of her toes and fingers. She knew she reciprocated his desire but her conscious warred with her surging emotions and she eventually checked her rising passion.
“Brandt, you do remember that I am a seer, a prophetess right? I was trained by Aravin. Some would also call me a witch.”
By his expression she knew he did not remember but suspected as much, “You don’t remember fully so I will remind you. You are also an archania wielder but different from me and from Aravin. You can cast outwards from your mind and body certain powers or forces. It is all based on your thoughts. It is called projection archania. Me, I can only pull into myself things from outside, things I find in the archania channels that are almost everywhere in Ellorhim. Aravin’s ability, my own as well, is called possession archania. Some refer to it as prediction archania. We can cast some projection enchantments but only with the aid of relics and other physical tools. Most certainly I can pull in projections. That is my main ability.”
She watched as the implications of what she was saying began to sink in. In an instant his face went quickly from excited and happy to shocked and mortified. “Aye, smart boy, grasped that pretty quickly didn’t you? It is very sweet in many ways and I don’t object to how you think of me, us. I told you I loved you and this is part of that. It is nothing to be ashamed of.”
