by Heath Pfaff
"What are you talking about?" She said. She sounded flustered. "Of course you were going to see me again. There is still much we have to accomplish." She pulled her hood up around her face and turned slightly away from me, I thought, so that I couldn't see the color in her cheeks.
"There was always the chance you might have decided I wasn't worth the bother. I know that I have been a lot of trouble." I spoke honestly, though I felt a fool for doing so.
She sighed deeply. "Yes, you have been a great deal of trouble so far, Lowin, but I do not believe you're intentionally trying to make things difficult. Now, get ready to go. You have an appointment with Ethaniel in ten minutes and we shouldn't be late."
If she saw my look of surprise she didn't show it. That I had slept so much of the day away startled me. I noticed then that there was a serving tray on my desk and a wash basin, evidence that I had indeed slept through a great deal. I went about cleaning myself up as much as possible and grabbed a piece of bread from my tray, knowing I had time for nothing else. That finished, I put my boots on in a rush. Once I was ready to go, Kyeia opened the door to my room and I followed her out. Silent was standing beyond my door and he joined Kyeia and me as we began our walk to the place where I was to meet Ethaniel. The world beyond my building was now brightly lit by the sun and seemed a completely different place than that I'd seen in the darkness of the early morning. I could now make out the full size of the compound and it was quite large. The wall around the perimeter stood some thirty feet high, and was wide enough to allow two men to walk abreast. It was dotted with guards, some of human stock, some in the shifting cloaks of the Black-Eyed Devils. I wanted to ask Kyeia how many of these Devils there were, but I didn't want to offend our other companion so I held my tongue. The grounds were well kept and the compound was comprised of no less than thirty individual buildings spread in a circular pattern about the grounds such that the great manor was in the center of it all.
From my perspective, the manor was just short of being a full-fledged castle. It lacked a moat and seemed built with more of an eye for style than a castle, but it was a close thing. The slotted windows of the manor started what looked like three floors from the ground level and there were a great many towers and parapets about the structure. The front door was an immense wood structure with a portcullis, which was raised, in front of that. Standing before the door were two Black-Eyed Devils, each with a long spear in hand. I paid special attention to the hands that protruded from the shifting cloaks and found myself surprised again. One of the Devils had an arm like Tempest and Malice, but the other, whom I thought might be female, though it was hard to judge when fully vested in cloak, hood and mask, had what looked like the arm of a dragon. It was black, scaled, ending in a terrible claw, but most certainly distinct from the type of forelimbs I'd seen so far. I stored this information away inside my head, keeping it for when it might be needed again. I felt that these differences were part of a puzzle I was, as of yet, unable to ascertain the nature of. The guards at the gate didn't even shift stance as we passed them, but the impressive wood doors swung back to permit us entrance. I found myself wishing that I'd had time to ask Kyeia about this "Ethaniel" person we were going to meet. It was likely that I would know for myself before long, but had I been wiser I might have gone forward with some knowledge.
Silent took the lead as we entered and Kyeia fell in at my shoulder. The manor seemed mostly empty, though I did see a few house-keepers working as we moved through the lush interior. Whoever had built the place had spared no expense. Every hall and room appeared to be carpeted and you couldn't go more than a few feet without seeing some new tapestry or antiquity. I was so caught up in my surroundings that I barely noticed that Silent had come to a stop at a large oak door. I very nearly walked into him but Kyeia grabbed my hand and I stopped just in time. I looked at her and found that she was looking up into my eyes. I still had trouble judging her expressions, her strange purple eyes throwing off my ability to read her intent, but I did sense that she was worried about something. She gave my hand a light squeeze and I returned it. She then pulled her hand from mine as the door in front of us swung open and Silent ushered us inside.
The room we stepped into was no less extravagant than any of the others we'd been through on our march into the manor but this one did have a "lived in" feel the others did not. There was a grand table in the room, easily large enough to seat fifteen people, though only three seats surrounded it. It was crafted of some dark wood I did not recognize and had great, thick legs that swirled down to the floor in intricate patterns. Atop it was a mess of maps, scrolls and opened books. The walls were lined with shelves that were full of tomes, more than I had ever seen in a private residence. While all that the room was magnificent; the most outstanding feature was the figure looking through one of the slotted windows to the compound beyond. I guessed we were four stories up, though I hadn't bothered to keep track of them as we ascended into the building. I admit this lapse in memory was due to my fearful anticipation of the meeting with Ethaniel. If this man was he, then I realized that Ethaniel, to my complete surprise, was not a human. He was a Black-Eyed Devil, and he was the first of his kind that I had ever seen without the shifting cloak that seemed to mark his people. He was massive. He stood at least a foot taller than I, his shoulders broad enough that I guessed he would need to go sideways through most doors. His powerful arms were, like Tempest's and Malice's, fur-clad and ended in mighty claws. His legs - and this was the first I'd really seen of any of the Devils' legs - were fur-clad up to the point where they vanished into his pants, and they were bent back at the knee like those of a great wolf. From his head rose the ears of a wolf as well, large and pointed, twitching attentively at the sounds of our entry. At his back were folded massive, leathery wings that I had originally taken to be a cloak of some type. He turned as we entered, and there were more strange features to be seen. At first I thought his cheeks were hollowed and gaunt, but in a moment I realized that he had pits there, like those found on certain vipers in the wild. His eyes were different as well, but only subtly so. They appeared black at first glance, but in a moment I realized they were also a deep blue color, so dark that it was hard to tell them from any other Devil's. I tried to fit Ethaniel into the image of the Black-Eyed Devils' race that I'd been trying to build, but, yet again, I found that I couldn't draw any conclusions from what I'd seen so far.
His human features were well drawn. He had a noble jaw line, and his tussled, medium length, black hair hung about his face in a roguish way that I was positive would have had human women clambering for his attention if not for his more startling, alien features. If the standards of man applied, I thought, he was probably very popular among the female Devils. He approached me slowly from across the room and I couldn't but help stare at the way his legs moved beneath him, balancing his weight with a seamless grace. I could tell, without knowing why, that he was capable of moving at startling speeds, like Tempest had during his fight with the Shao Geok. Graceful though he was, I could sense that he was using a perfected control to keep himself moving slowly. As he came within range of me he extended one of his massive, clawed hands in my direction. I reached my own hand out, and watched it disappear in the clasp of the much larger man.
"I am Ethaniel, head of the Knights of Ethan, Lowin Fenly. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance." As he spoke I could see rows of razor teeth, like those Tempest had displayed and I could hear the harmonic timbre of a voice that had the same power to strike fear into others. There was, however, a restraint to Ethaniel's voice that hadn't been present in Tempest.
"It is my pleasure to meet you, Sir Ethaniel," I said sincerely, offering my best bow. Being near Ethaniel gave me the distinct feeling that I was in the presence of a legend. It seemed as though history was being created in his wake, and while I was near him I was a part of that unfolding history.
Ethaniel smiled a toothy smile. "Among the Knights, we do not use titles often. They are unn
ecessary. A man who does not respect another will show disrespect with or without a title. A man who wishes to show respect simply does so through his actions." Ethaniel's gaze turned to Silent and Kyeia. "Silent, you may wait outside. I will send these two back out when I'm finished with them." Silent bowed, and stepped back out of the room, closing the door behind him. "Kyeia, I am surprised to see that you chose to come this meeting. The Bound generally do not." I turned to Kyeia and saw her stiffen momentarily, but Ethaniel continued, "Of course, I will not ask you to leave. It is refreshing to see you show an interest in Lowin. I have long said that forming a bond was important to the process." Kyeia visibly relaxed. This conversation went over my head, and though I wanted to ask what was transpiring, I knew that it was not appropriate for me to intervene. It seemed that it was never appropriate for me to ask questions. My lack of knowledge was troubling to me, and these secrets all about me felt overwhelming.
Ethaniel turned back to me. "I'm sure you're feeling quite estranged, cast adrift in a violent sea with no shore in sight. I wish I could say that you have nothing to worry about, but that would be a lie. I'm not in the habit of lying, Lowin. I have done some terrible things over the long course of my life but there are two things I will not do. The first: I will never abandon a companion to an enemy. The second: I will never tell you something I know to be false. It would be nice to have more to stand by, but those are what I have." He spoke sincerely, and with the grace of a man who has given many speeches to many men over the years. "Allow me to tell you a little about why you are here." He motioned to the seats around the table, and waited for Kyeia and me to sit down before taking a seat himself.
I awaited his words with something close to desperation. There had been far too few answers so far. Once Ethaniel had made himself comfortable, he began to speak, "As you should have already been informed, you are here because you are possessed of a special characteristic that makes you quite valuable to your kingdom. What has not been explained to you is what exactly is implied by your special characteristic." His blue-black eyes met mine, and I felt their full weight brought to bear on me. "What do you think of the Knights of Ethan?" He asked.
I hesitated for a moment, trying to think of the best way to phrase my feelings. "They... they're terrifying, Ethaniel. I mean you no disrespect, but you and your people frighten me."
Ethaniel chuckled. "Of course we do, we're fearsome, inhuman beasts. We're the Black-Eyed Devils, right?" He asked with a note of humor in his voice. I wasn't sure how to reply, because that was exactly how I had thought of them since first meeting Tempest. I nodded dumbly. "It is true, in its own way." He said before proceeding. "We are, however, not so strange as we might seem, Lowin. You see us in our shifting cloaks, stalking about with our fearsome features and terrible power, and are rightly intimidated. However - and remember that I do not lie, I tell you now that we almost all began our days as humans."
My eyes widened in shock. "What? How could that be, you're all..."
"Monsters?" Ethaniel asked. "Only on the outside. Most of us come from human stock, and we remain human in mind. Some of our numbers, very few of us, come from Kyeia's people, but that is a story for a different time." My mind was making connection quickly now, putting pictures together that it didn't necessarily wish to see. I had been brought to this place, amidst the Black-Eyed Devils, for a very special type of training. The Black-Eyed Devils were somehow created from men.
My mouth spoke the thought as my mind grasped it. "I'm to become a Black-Eyed Devil?"
Ethaniel shook his head. "No, Black-Eyed Devils are foolish legends. You are to become the reality, a Knight of Ethan, first among the greatest platoons in service to your king."
I was lost somewhere between wonder and horror. I was in wonder to discover that I would become something as powerful as Tempest, or Malice, but, at the same time, I found myself horrified at the changes I would need to undergo to achieve that. "How is this even possible?" I asked.
"That is one question that it is not time to answer. Suffice it to say, you will undergo thorough training to prepare you for the trials ahead. Becoming a Knight is a difficult process. It is so arduous that no few of us have died in the process and that is after succeeding in the early tests." His voice was calm but behind it I could sense the weight of a difficult past. Ethaniel was no mere figure head to his Knights. He was the best of them and had suffered as they all had. "I make it a point to meet all of the new prospects, Lowin, and I have been assured, repeatedly, that you are something special. I can see it in you, young one, but it is all potential. As you stand right now, you will have a hard fight ahead. What you choose to make of yourself from here will depend entirely on how hard you are willing to push yourself forward."
I shook my head, as if in doing so I might cast aside the madness of the world I suddenly found myself in and return my life to what it had been before, "What if I do not wish to become a Knight of Ethan?"
Ethaniel actually laughed at this, though I'd feared he might have lashed out at me in anger. "I'm afraid that you have already begun down the path and you can't turn back now. Your king has need of you more now than ever in the past and he will not let you simply walk away." The Knight's eyes took on a distant look, "Would that we could change our fates and live as the rest of the world...." He was silent for a moment before continuing, "That is not our lot in life, though. Once your training is done you will be given time to roam the world as you like, to learn and train in any way that you wish. I will tell you this though, every one of us has come back in the end and most choose not to leave at all."
I took a deep breath, gathering my nerves about me. The revelations of the day were far harder to accept than I could have anticipated. I, a simple loremaster's apprentice, was to become a warrior of legendary power in service to the king, a sovereign I knew of only by reputation. The king had always been a far distant figure, someone who held no sway over my day to day existence. Of course I felt some responsibility toward him, as any citizen of the kingdom would, but he had always been an enigmatic figure, simply a silhouette on the currency. In the span of few minutes, everything had changed.
"For now you'd best concern yourself with your immediate future. You will be here, at Fell Rock Post, for at least a year." That was the first time I'd heard anyone mention the name of where I was, and I was surprised when I didn't recognize it. I had thought the trip from my home had been only a day long, but I couldn't account for the time I'd been unconscious before waking in the carriage. Apparently we had traveled much further that I thought. Ethaniel continued. "Your time here will help shape you into that which you wish to become. If you work hard, you will be great, if you don't..." He let the words trail off ominously.
I was thinking of the trip to reach Fell Rock Post, and it suddenly occurred to me that I had not, yet, heard anything to do with the betrayal mentioned by Tempest and Kyeia after the attack on the carriage. I decided to try probing for more information. "What of the enemy I've heard mentioned? What is the nature of those who oppose the king?"
"Hmmm," Ethaniel seemed to be mulling over that line of questioning. I guessed he was deciding how much to tell me, and while I would have preferred to know everything, I felt that any answer was better than none. "Our enemy is powerful, and it is true that he has spies within the highest levels of our government. The attack on yourself and your protectors was unprecedented. It was not, entirely, unanticipated, but nothing of its like has ever occurred in the past. As I told you before, the kingdom is in the most precarious position it has been in, in a very long time. The populace does not know it but we have already had several skirmishes along our borders and there have been four attempts on the life of our king. Each attempt has resulted in the death of a highly trained enemy assassin and such skilled killers do not come without exceptional cost."
He didn't come right out and say it, but he was implying that whoever was opposing the king possessed resources and dedication to their cause; otherwise they would
not have put so much effort and expense to the task. That meant that the opposition was greater than a few dis-satisfied members of the High Court. It was possible that one of the neighboring nations had grown disgruntled about their borders and was trying to expand their territory into human lands.
"We stand at the cusp of war and every Knight of Ethan is an important asset to the kingdom. The attack on you was significant because it was directed at one of our rarest resources. Currently we have less than three hundred Knights of Ethan in service. While that may sound like an impressive number when you consider our power, we are not immortal and in a great battle every one of us can make a great difference. Losing one of our number hurts our forces more than any of us would like to admit," the massive warrior finished.
I nodded my head, understanding all too well the position I was now in. I had become an important military asset and that meant my life was no longer my own. Ethaniel must have noticed a look of distress on my face, though I hadn't intended to have one, because he softened his tone. "There are advantages to being a Knight, Lowin. We do not lead empty lives. There is a great deal of reward and satisfaction to be had in fighting for your country and your king."
Kyeia spoke, and for a moment it startled me. I had almost forgotten she was sitting at my side, so lost was I in thoughts of my own. "You are destined for greatness, Lowin. I know it."
