by Greg Curtis
The peace was something that seemed a blessing to Commander Elron as he sank into the buttoned leather comfort of an armchair and sipped at his brandy. After the day that had been he needed some quiet. A chance to relax and think on what had happened and what would happen because of it. In the end he wasn't as young as he had once been, and he valued peace these days as he never had before. Maybe that was a sign of him slowly growing older and wiser. Maybe it was just a sign that he simply wasn't as wild and exuberant as he once had been.
But in this case the silence wasn't completely welcome. Not when it gave him a chance to think. To reflect on a very long day. To wonder what was coming. And not just about the battle ahead of them. He was a soldier, he understood battle. And given what they knew they had reached the only decision they could. So win or lose, he was comfortable with it. The other commanders and clerics had agreed; the battle had to be fought. After that there wasn't really much else to consider. Besides, the pigeons had already been sent, the orders given; there could be no revisiting the decision now. They were committed.
What troubled him was what would follow. And not just after the battle. Battle was one thing; the future of the Order was something else. And for the first time in his tenure as commander, the future was in question. The decisions that had been made this day would reshape the Order for millennia to come. And of course the major decision made was that the two halves of the Order would finally come together as one.
In some ways he was glad that that had happened. Pleased that it was happening within his own lifetime. The Order should always have been one in his view. But of course there were always the politics to consider. And politics had been the reason that the Order had been created in two halves in the first place.
The Order had of course always needed two distinct parts for the two distinct lands. They needed rangers to deal with elven lands. To ride through forests and deal with the distinctly elven problems that arose. And they needed paladins for the wide open human lands. It was simply that forests and flatlands leant themselves to very different types of combat and warriors. But that wasn't what had decided them on this path. It was the least important reason for why the decision had been made.
The major influence had been how the Order would fit into the world. Where it would find its place within the realms. The human realms in which the Order had chapters would never have accepted elves riding through their lands dispensing justice. The relationship between the various orders and the land's rulers was already difficult enough. There were some realms where the Order of the Lady rode with the blessings of the lords of the land, and some where they were considered a threat to the law of the land imposed by the nobility. Of course for their part the elves would never have tolerated humans doing the same either.
So the decision had been made that at the start at least, while the Order was finding its place in the world, human realms would be served by human paladins and elven realms would be served by elven rangers. It had also been decided that the fact that the Order had two halves would be kept hidden from the rulers of the various human realms at least. The Lords and ladies wouldn't have abided the thought that elves were in any way shaping the laws of their lands. It was for that same reason that the Silver Order did not have its chapters in any of the cities. It saved on the rancour.
The elves were less worried about such things – they didn't have inherited titles and ancestral dominions to consider and their law was collectively written. But even they had their limits. They didn't care that there were humans in the Order of the Lady, as long as those humans didn't enforce that law among their own people.
So secrecy in the human realms had been decided upon from the beginning. Secrecy that had lasted for five centuries. And secrecy that as of this very day had come to an end. He liked that. Secrecy was another word for lying, and he didn't like lying. From this day forward the lying would end.
When this conflict was over, however it ended, there would be changes made. Changes in how the Order of the Lady operated and in how others saw it. But again he thought that that was as it should be. In fact it was shameful to him that they'd hidden their nature away at all.
Still, he knew that there would be problems. The current Lord Mayor of Ender's Fall was a difficult sort and one who strongly believed that all law should come from his hand and not from the five orders. A view he suspected that had mostly come about because the Order of the Iron Hand had been making trouble for him over the years. They were slowly gaining influence, both in this city and in many others. The Lord Mayor was going to be unhappy with the Order of the Lady when he found out they too were causing him trouble. To find out that another order was riding through his realm dictating elven law in Ender's Fall would anger him. Very likely he would make life difficult for them for a while for the crime of hiding their elven half from him.
No doubt there would be courts called and questions asked. It was likely that tariffs would be imposed on their trades and the city guards would start running inspections of their chapter. All because the Lord Mayor would feel the need to show his authority over them.
Elron didn't look forward to that. But there was another more immediate problem to cause him unhappiness. He remembered that anew when he heard someone knocking at the door and looked up to see Father Rubrecht standing there.
Yorik!
There was a matter of a trial to be arranged and a judgement to be rendered. A judgement that would necessarily be harsh. He hated that. He hated it especially in this case.
The students thought he was a hard master, and he was. But they thought that he was hard because he didn't care. The truth was anything but. He did care about them. If anything he cared too much. In the end he had no family. He had sacrificed that part of his life so that he could serve the Order. And his role was to serve his fellow members as best he could. He was hard with the students because he wanted to keep them alive. He wanted to keep them on the path of righteousness. In the end since he had no family of his own, he considered them much as he would his own children. And he would not want his children to fail.
Elron gestured for the cleric to join him, hoping that he had some clearer sense of what to do about the wayward paladin than he did. The cleric didn't waste any time in entering the room, his sandalled feet making rapid slapping sounds on the wooden floor before he took a seat in one of the armchairs opposite him.
“You have some wisdom Father?”
“Actually I have a message.”
It was late and he was tired and a little worried about things, but still Elron thought he should have understood what the cleric was talking about. He didn't though. He rubbed at his eyes a little, wondering idly if he was supposed to.
“Father?”
“From Master Ranger Ascollia. Or actually from his commander.”
“About Yorik?” That just didn't seem right to Elron.
“Yes. They say that they have a foreteller, Annalisse Brial Lon who has met with Yorik. And she has said that he has a role to play.”
“A role?” Elron didn't understand, and he was getting tired of asking questions that showed his ignorance.
“In the battles ahead. She says he will be a champion in gold, but he must remain a paladin to fulfil that role.”
Elron nodded. That made sense to him. The Lady had been working through Yorik after all, something that they still needed to examine in detail. When she worked directly through one of her Order it was an important event. It might only happen to a man a few times in his life. Most of the time they operated with only a fraction of her essence. Enough to use a little of her magic and know her wonder, but no more.
But of course it didn't necessarily mean anything. She could have saved him from the demon because he happened to be there when it appeared and then had subsequently given him the assignment out of sympathy for his plight. In fact she might well have. He said as much to the father.
“I know.” Father Rubrecht nodded and then looked away into the di
stance. Or to what would have been the distance had it not been night. But at night with the candles all lit bringing light to the room, the glass windows became black mirrors and he really ended up staring at his own reflection.
“The scribes are with him now and we will know more in the morning. But one thing I already know from speaking with him is that he did not completely break his vows. He relented at the end, too late perhaps, but still the understanding was there. He has found his way back to the fold even if he cannot wear the gold.”
Elron agreed with that. He had seen it in Yorik's eyes. The man knew his crime and his fate. But he also knew grief for it. For what he had done and for what it would cost him. The anger and the hatred had finally burnt low enough in his soul for him to return to the rightful way for a paladin of the Order. And then there was the simple fact that he had returned at all. Many paladins died when their vows were so terribly broken. But was that enough? He didn't know.
“And there is more.” The cleric turned his gaze back on Elron. “He is a very different man to the one that left us.”
“Before he left, before the darkness struck his life, he was a more than capable paladin. He wore the gold with pride and he mastered everything he was expected to with absolute dedication. He was a credit to the Order. But still there was something missing from him. It was as if he were acting the role like a street performer.”
Elron nodded his agreement with the father as he had sensed the same thing. It had always seemed to him that Yorik had taken to the lessons and the values of the Order with a conviction born of talent rather than heart. That he would make a good paladin and a great trainer in time, but never a leader. Still he wondered – had that changed? “And now?”
“Now that something is there. He has been tested and broken, and he has somehow healed. And somewhere in that terrible ordeal he has discovered his calling. The conviction and the passion are there within him as never before. They shine from him with every look he gives, ring out from him with every word he utters. He is a man truly reborn.”
“And?”
“And he has been assigned missions by the Lady, has been filled with her presence and has become a true member of the Order in his heart and soul. We do not want to lose such a man, even without considering the foreteller's warning.”
That was true. For whatever reason the Lady had chosen to use him there was no doubt that she favoured him. And while she did not dictate who would fulfil what purpose within the Order, the fact that she favoured him carried weight. For that reason he had not considered expelling Yorik from the Order. Only removing him from his duties as a paladin. For that reason and because of the terrible tragedy that had befallen him which had led to his downfall. But those things were not enough to overlook his fall from grace entirely. And it had been a terrible fall.
“He is also a man who has failed his vows nearly completely” Elron countered. “He has given in to the demons of wrath and sorrow. He is a man who has been completely broken. And though he seems healed there is no certainty that that healing will be forever. He may break again. I cannot trust him as he is. I cannot entrust the lives of others to him.”
It wasn't that Elron didn't agree with Father Rubrecht. Even the little he'd seen of Yorik supported what the priest was saying. But he had to consider all the facts. Not just those that they might want to believe.
“And yet oddly I think now you can, more than you could before.”
The cleric seemed remarkably certain Elron thought. Maybe that was a good thing. But maybe not. He wasn't in the end a warrior. He did not understand the bond of brothers in arms. Their absolute reliance upon one another.
“In any case you don't have to. Certainly no more than before. We simply let him remain as he is, putting off his hearing until there is more time. And while this new battle plays out we watch him. He has no command of others, and if this foreteller is right he may reveal his value. Besides, this was never a duty you wanted.”
Father Rubrecht was right about the last. The rest could be argued, but there was absolutely no doubt that he had never wanted to hear the case. It wasn't just for the heart breaking details. It was also for shame. In the end the Order had failed Yorik. They should have captured Mayfall. They should have had him bound and brought before the justices within a day. Instead he had eluded them, laughing at them for weeks. And in the end Yorik had been driven to his actions by their failure. Regrettably there was no shortage of blame to go around. But that was no reason for Elron not to carry out his duty.
However there was one other reason to do as he asked and let Yorik travel with them. They were heading into a battle where they would be heavily outnumbered. Many of them would die. And he needed every sword he could get for that. Even if the foreteller was wrong, Yorik was a sword and a capable one. He had excelled in his studies. The risk he posed to them if he broke or ran in battle was small, and the help he might give them if he helped was greater. He could save some of their brothers.
And if this foreteller was right he could be important. Another dice to roll in a game in which he was uncertain of their chances.
“All right Father. I will delay his hearing until we have more time. As long as he shows himself capable of riding as our brother. But it is a delay only. His hearing must happen. The fact of his failure must be heard. Be sure that when you tell him of my decision that he hears that also. His failures cannot simply be forgotten nor overlooked.”
Decision made, at least for the moment, Elron was relieved. It was one problem pushed to the side for the moment, and he had so many others to deal with. But as the father thanked him and bid him a good night he was also troubled. Not by the decision, for it was the correct one. But by the thought that there was more to this than he understood. More to Yorik and more to this accursed battle they would have to fight.
Things were happening in the world. The dead were walking, having been raised by more dead. The Lady was intervening directly in the affairs of one broken paladin. Foretellers were saying he was important in some way. And the Order was riding off to war.
And none of it made any sense.
Chapter Twelve.
The following day found Yorik in his family's home, cleaning. Father Rubrecht had given him one day to see to his family's affairs and no more. There were no more days. In the morning the chapter would be beginning its long journey south and west to Briarton and then on to Stonebow beyond, and he would be travelling with them.
He was grateful for that. Grateful that he would be able to stand by his brothers with sword in hand and fight by their side. Perhaps by his actions he would be able to keep a few more of them alive. But that was for the morrow. Today there was still much he needed to do this day. Things of a personal nature.
First he'd visited his family's graves and said the customary prayers once more. He'd also visited the other members of the family and told them what he was doing. Now it was only a matter of preparing the family home for sale.
It was a simple home, quite modest by the standards of the second ring. It was only two stories tall, a mere three bed chambers upstairs while the downstairs was small and the stone walls were in need of some attention. But it was a proud home. A good one. It was a home he loved. It was also one he could never live in again. Paladins had no homes outside of the Order, and they had no coin of their own. And for the moment he was still a paladin. Until the trial that was. But after the trial, whenever it might be, he would still not be able to use the home. In part it was simply too much a reminder of what had befallen his family. In part it was simply that when the trial was over and assuming that he was sent from the Order, he would not want to remain in Ender's Fall. He had determined to leave. To start anew somewhere else.
Cleaning a house was a difficult task. More difficult than Yorik had ever thought it could be. But it had to be done. The family home had to be sold, and the gold given to the rest of the family who needed it. His father's brother and sister and his mother's sister.
None of them unfortunately needed a home. If they had that would have solved all his problems at once, and he wouldn't have had to have performed this sad duty. He wouldn't have had to have waded through his family's memories. Or sold them. And that was the difficult part. Saying farewell to them.
There was the spinning wheel where his mother had sat day after day, making woollen thread for mending clothes. She had enjoyed her work, though he had never understood why. It was dull and repetitive and her hands were often red by the end of the day. But she had sung as she worked and never once complained. And now he had to sell it because neither he nor anyone else in his wider family could use it.
Then there was the wardrobe full of his sister's brightly coloured dresses, and of course her rag dolls. The dolls his mother had knitted and stuffed for her. She had loved those things, and he couldn't bring himself to sell them. So he would give them to the nearby orphanage in the hope that some other children could enjoy them.
Next there was his father's armour, still hanging on its stand. The armour he had worn every day of his life as he served the Lord Mayor as his man at arms. Yorik had determined to sell it as it was of no use to him since he was too tall and long of arm to wear it. In any case it wasn't what a paladin of the Order wore, and for the moment he was still one. But to sell his father's armour was almost like selling a piece of his father.
