"Yes. You mentioned that before, however, you know my evening is currently occupied by the frivolities of my wife and daughter who have insisted upon holding their annual ball," the seated man looked up to looked up.
"Yes, I understand that, My Lord, but do you think you might be able to postpone it given the current situation? Specifically its unknown nature?" he tentatively questioned.
"Until we have sufficient evidence about this Dark Army, we will continue with our lives as normal. We will not raise panic in the city when no such panic is necessary," he said as he removed his reading spectacles for emphasis.
"Understood, My Lord. I will see to the mercenary's needs. But what of the Wizard?"
"As I understand it, he has been expelled from The University has he not?"
"That is indeed what we have been told by our own magical contingency. What should I tell him?"
"Tell him the same thing you are going to tell the mercenaries. I will be more than happy to meet with them tomorrow during the evening council. Of course, convey my apologies, and assure them of my urgency, but make sure they know I am unable to meet with them until then," he said as he placed his reading spectacles back on his nose and continued looking over the still impressive stack of papers.
Uunbrish (Assault).
He stood, in his tattered rags of clothes worn and torn from his journey, to confront the two women he had betrayed, one a distant lifetime ago, and the other, less than the time it took for the stars to renew themselves in the night sky. He took note of the duality of their expressions, both showing a great and deep relief buried fathoms below their anger and rage. But as deeply seated as those two opposing emotions were, neither of them was as evident as the one dominating the surface of their consciousness. They were, above all, and in this moment, confused. He surmised the rest of those in attendance for the War Council were equally enthralled with the impossibility of their collective sight. From the moment he removed his hood there was a collective shock sufficient enough to halt even the consideration of movement, let alone speech. For many seconds, amplified into perceptive hours, the silence was deafening, even able to drown out the screams of injustice echoing in their minds. All were still as if their thoughts were unable to reconcile the reality of the apparition now standing before them.
Loud and assured, he spoke, "You have many questions for me, and I will stand to give a truthful account for all such questions. But those answers are superseded by a greater doom we face; therefore, your retribution must wait. There is a Dark Legion approaching the Stone Keep, a legion bent upon not just establishing its empire within the borders of the Silver Empire, but to extend its evil across the whole of Avendia. It is this Evil we are now at war with. No longer do we battle against the other people of our land. No longer do our border squabbles and propagation of the Way of the Stars take precedence. We must put our differences aside with our traditions and come to stand as unified and mobilized. We must send the whole of our remaining forces to assist the men of The Stone Keep. If we should not, then the fate of the Silver Empire will be sealed."
It was not Queen Glinovia who spoke next, but the Lord Hinthial, "Do you expect us to believe the words of a traitor? How dare you enter into the presence of the Throne of Light? A throne that only a short time ago, through your treacherous actions, saw itself covered in the blood of its King!"
Standing confidently still, Eriboth answered, "You are quite right, Lord Hinthial. I do not expect you to believe the words of a traitor. For that would be to consider you foolish, something you have never been. And though I know this to be self-serving, I am no longer that man."
"Are you not? Are you not the same Eriboth who committed treason with the Queen and slew The King himself, your own brother?" he asked.
"This house of flesh and blood remains the same, but it is not from there we draw our identity. The Stars have taught us that we are the reflection of our intent. That aligning our behavior to our intent, thereby eliminating everything alien from our wills, is the essence of our identity. Do you not agree, Lord Hinthial?" he asked in return.
"No one doubts your knowledge, Eriboth, only your goodness!"
"But have you ever asked yourself what is the genesis of our intent? Where does our intent come from? What is the objective center within which all intents are fashioned? The stars tell us little if nothing about this. No-where in the writings of the great sages is this topic reconciled beyond the subjective interpretation of the individual elf," Eriboth stated as he began addressing the whole of the war council. "Surely you have all wondered, at some point in your long lives, what lies within?"
"Those are not questions we are given to know! The Stars tell us that existence is enough. We are here, and that is all we need to know. Now enough of this! You will be arrested and charged with Treason against King, Kingdom, and The Stars! How do you answer that?" Lord Hinthial almost shouted his question, but none made a move toward the ragged Eriboth.
Silently Eriboth appeared to speak briefly under his breath. He looked to the ceiling and closed his eyes. When he opened them, moments later, he seemed assured of something, a direction of sorts. Disregarding a Lord's question was dangerous at best, but to disregard one when formally called to answer charges as grave as these, in the presence of the Queen, was tantamount to an admission of guilt that would surely result in his immediate incarceration and eminent execution. Eriboth turned his back to the Lord and addressed the gathered council, "All of you have witnessed and felt what I have felt. You have all, at one time in your lives, asked yourselves 'what is my purpose'. Rightfully so, we all have been formed and fashioned to ask this, to seek this, to endeavor toward our purpose. And just as I could not, you have found no answers to that specific need within the bindings of the Stars. I can see it hidden in your eyes. I can feel it hidden behind your pride. As such, like myself, we have all constructed our own estimation of purpose, and therefore, identity, for therein lies its derivation. Yet in my death, and I did see the Starless Sky, I found that which we have all searched for. I found a Man whose existence reaches to the very beginning of the stars, even before them. He was there before anything was, and will be there after everything is not. And when I met Him, he showed me the utter lack within my heart and soul. He showed me how utterly helpless I am."
Turning to face Lord Hinthial directly, he continued, "Lord Hinthial, you called into question my goodness, and you are right to do so, because apart for this Man, I am not good. Further even, there can be no such good apart from Him, for such is His resonance, that He shows all things as lacking."
Turning back to address the whole of the war council, he continued again, "I submit to you today, that I am not good, that my intent, on my own, is such that it will always waiver unto the temptations of the world. However, regardless of the atrocities I have committed, the hundreds that have died at my hand and the tens of thousands of lives I am indirectly responsible for taking, they have all been wiped clean in the eyes of He Who Begins. This Man, this divine God, is so loving, that He does not halt his assault with mere forgiveness, but He extends his Love far enough to equip us, through Him, with the power to align our wills, our intents, with His. And once we do this, once we let go of our pride, once we accept Him and call Him Lord, we become new and born again. So in this, I submit to you that while my body remains the same, my intent and thus my identity is a new creation, for I am with Him and He is with me. And in that, my intent reflects His, and it is good!"
Silence, as deafening as the fading of the stars into the morning sun, shattered against all hostilities toward Eriboth as he let stand his last word. He saw the Lady Soliana standing next to the Queen, holding back the tears that would betray her emotions. He saw The Queen, wavering from her emotional training of regality, silently struggle against the movement of his words. But he knew they had taken seed. For each word was an answer to his prayer to this Man. He knew he did not have the words of knowledge and understanding necessary to
achieve what needed to be achieved, but he also knew he did not need to have them; for they were already his, through Him and in Him. And he much desired to dwell within The Light.
Turning again to face Lord Hinthial, the leader of the War Council, he saw a much contrasted expression than the softness upon the two women's faces. For all others to observe, it would appear as anger and disbelief, but Eriboth saw into the man and knew he faced a thick barrier of pride. The Lord Hinthial gathered himself to respond and began with a mocking slow clap, "Oh that is very good Eriboth. Very good indeed. I should say it is your best performance ever! But none here have fallen prey to your deceptive words! You speak of a 'Man' and yet call him 'God'. You speak of transformation, yet expect us to believe your silver tongue, a tongue that has been eloquent enough to absolve you from many, many altercations within the kingdoms of Man. Yet we are not Man. We are Elf, and not so easily deceived. Your charges stand! And since you have admitted to them all, there is no need for a Tribunal of Elders! Arrest Him!"
Under normal circumstances, the Royal Guards would have lept into action at the words of the Lord, but these were anything but normal. Many of the guards were still moved by Eriboth's words, and wiping tears from their faces. "Did you not hear me? I said arrest him!" bellowed Lord Hinthial.
Soliana looked to the Queen Glinovia, but she was still in deep consideration of Eriboth's speech and did nothing to move against the command issued by Lord Hinthial. She looked to the guards, her guards, and saw them looking around for reassurance. She saw one of the guards slowly and tentatively reach for his sword and knew that if he drew it, the rest would follow his lead. "Do not reach for your weapon until the Queen has confirmed Lord Hinthial's order," she ordered.
"Lady Soliana, you overstep your bounds! You have no authority here! And by speaking, you have committed treason yourself! Now desist or stand so charged!" Lord Hinthial was quick to assert his position and silence her.
She was about to step forward and further assert her defense of Eriboth when she met his white eyes and understood he was in no danger. She longed to speak, but was silenced by his steadfast insistence that she remain silent. As the first guard drew his sword, a chain reaction of like movements progressed through all of the guards in the throne room. As one, they began stepping toward the raggedly dressed man. "So be it," was all he said as he bowed his head and uttered a few silent words, unintelligible to all others. At the conclusion of his prayer, he outstretched his arms. In response, the guards stopped their progression for all were well acquainted with Eriboth's legendary prowess with blade. But when they saw he held no weapon, they continued their slow path to arrest him.
With his arms extended, he raised his head to the ceiling again and uttered more unintelligible words. His eyes began to glow brightly. The Lord Hinthial was shouting at the guards, presumably to quickly bind him. But the guards were held in place as his glowing eyes turned from white to gold. All sound faded and all shadows were consumed by the golden glow. As it enveloped the entirety of the throne room, everyone was forced to shield their eyes. As it consumed them, Soliana felt someone grab her hand. At first she believed it to be The Queen, but it was much too large and strong to be hers. "Come, we must go." She heard through the blinding light. When she opened her eyes, she saw Eriboth leading her out of the throne room and down the steps of the Starlit Castle.
"Where are we going?"
"To the Stone Keep. Pray we are not too late."
"But that is thirty days travel from here on horseback, at least. And we have no horses!"
"We will not be traveling on horseback, Lady Soliana."
"Then how do you," but her question was halted completely by the massive golden shape she saw waiting for them as they exited the castle through the opened gate. "A Dragon!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, you are correct. He is Lacorion."
The three days following our initial reconnaissance gave us the opportunity to quickly plan all aspects of our assassination. In all reality, the terms of the contract were fairly simple and straight forward: assassinate Lord Myosk with a bow and arrow at dusk on the first day of October. What made it much more complex was the necessity of its hurried preparation. Kinarin had expressed to me how under normal circumstances, The Guild never accepted contracts that were not expressly compliable and executable. The effectiveness of The Guild to increase its revenue was in direct relation to its rate of success. As such, it was vitally important, in order to perpetuate a superior reputation, that each contract be vetted thoroughly before it was accepted and assigned. On occasion, and only for those of the most influential status, a contract would be accepted with only the briefest allowable vetting process; however, those contracts were saved for one of two members - Kinarin, or the Master himself. That this one was assigned to me for my very first contract was a mystery to him, a mystery whose genesis he would seek to discover.
I had suspected something was troubling my mentor from the moment he read the terms because he had grown eerily silent. Kinarin was not a man given to much speech in the first place, often times resulting in single words uttered in a very abrupt manner, similar to the abrupt nature of Orcish music. However, since our contract had arrived, my mentor had retreated further into his stoicism. He was clearly bothered by something, but whatever it was, he had chosen to hide his questions from me. And it was, in all honesty, for the best because had he chosen to further explain his trepidations and involve me in his current cause of internal strife, my concentrations would have been drawn away from the endeavors surrounding the completion of my first contract.
Another beneficial effect of the short amount of preparation time was that I had little of it to focus on anything else, especially the possible emotional ramifications of killing another human being. During our training, Kinarin had expressed to me that there was always an emotional price to pay. Regardless of how delayed it may be, there would always be an internal reckoning. As Kinarin had said it, "It is an easy thing, Drin, to kill a man, but it is an endlessly more difficult thing to reconcile oneself as the cause of such a death. Some men, regardless of their reasons, justify it by calling their actions the result of fate, or some divine intervention. Others seek their solace in assigning judgment and fairness to the deceased believing death was a necessary and just end. Even further, some men boast about it calling themselves the executor of such justice. But make no mistake, Drin, death leads to one and only one thing regardless of the facade one chooses to believe. Death leads only to death, nothing else."
Undoubtedly, had we not been pushed by the necessity of swiftness, I would have fallen into deep consideration of Kinarin's teaching and its application to myself, but for the moment, I found myself leaning against the wall we were about to scale while we waited endlessly for the guards to rotate their posts. As this contract was assigned to me, it was my responsibility to lead and my responsibility to decide. It should have been my responsibility to embark alone once our planning was set, but Kinarin insisted he accompany me, believing there were still too many variables whose account was yet lacking in solidity.
As I returned my eyes from a brief glance upward at our window, I saw it. The guard rotation. "Now," I whispered, more to myself than to Kinarin. We quickly turned and began to scale the wall. The old stone provided enough small recesses to grip with our fingers and push up with our feet. I had wondered why Kinarin chose to wear light and flexible moccasins instead of thicker boots until now. It provided us the flexibility in our feet to "grip" against the stone allowing our strength to translate into just enough of a vertical displacement to allow our ascent. Had we worn thicker and heavier boots, without much flexibility, our strength would have been focused slightly too horizontally, resulting in vertical immobility.
We scaled the wall as planned, but when I peered inside the window in preparation to begin my physical infiltration through it, I stopped and reflexively ducked down. There was a guard stationed on the platform. While both mine and my me
ntors' bodies were physically superb, hanging our entire weight by the tips of our fingers and toes of our feet was not something either of us could do for much longer. I had to act, and quickly. Glancing down, I saw the guard round the corner of the building. From that moment, we had only a few more seconds to gain our entry before his post replacement was within an unobstructed line of sight.
Either Kinarin had sensed my dilemma through a divine inspiration, or his advanced experience had allowed him to correctly deduce what was awaiting us on the other side of the window indicated by nothing more than my hesitation. Whatever influence generated his awareness, I did not know, but what I did know is that we had but moments. I felt him lightly tap the bottom of my foot. I looked down and saw him place the palm of his left hand on the underside of my foot, clearly indicating I use it as a boost. Without hesitation, I placed the weight of my body on his outstretched hand, crouched down and used the combined efforts of my thrusting leg against his supportive hand, as well as my grip on the edge of the window to launch myself within the opening. I landed silently behind the guard with my hidden blade already drawn. Before he could turn, I simultaneously covered his mouth with one hand, and used my bladed hand to slit his throat.
Before I could turn, I heard Kinarin whisper, "Steady now." Together, we lowered the body to the floor. We paused to evaluate the outcome of our rather abrupt adjustment to our plan. No alarm sounded and no movement of the guards increased. I was free to continue with the second part of our mission set squarely upon the edge of the arrow I would launch from our perch.
"Borinth, that is your name is it not?" said Lord Myosk. After Borinth nodded, Lord Myosk continued speaking while seated on his throne. "Very well. Borinth, I appreciate the information your troupe of mercenaries has presented to us today. You have fulfilled your contract to the letter; however, my own scouts have reported no such existence of this Dark Army you speak of. Hence, we have thus been presented with an unfortunate situation; how do we validate your claims, when those I have sent to do so have reported quite the opposite? In other words, who am I supposed to believe?"
Convergence (The Dragon Within Saga Book 1) Page 77
