The Elder's Path

by J. D. Caldwell

  “Wait, we? You have found it, right? What do you need from me?”

  Marcho shook his massive head slowly. "It is not what I'll need from you. It is what HE will need." He nodded towards the house.

  "Who, Siege? What could he possibly need from me?"

  Marcho looked at her, saying nothing. Seeing she was not backing down, he continued, "I suspect Umbra figured out a long-term solution for keeping itself in this world. As I mentioned, Umbra requires a host. I hypothesize that it bonded itself with an inanimate object to contain it until such time as it could return to the world full force. It has now begun to enforce its will upon the world, meaning it has a human host once more. However, I believe that in its current situation it is in between a state of bonding with both the object and the new host, rendering its powers limited as it transitions. This is a perfect time to strike, and I suspect you will find that your Siege Skyehart will find the same to be true. The reality is, Lyn, fate has put you here and now to help finish what I could not those centuries ago. This is part of your destiny, and you must embrace it. This Siege is another of fate's tools in this fight, and you must remain with him to see it through."

  "I don't understand,” Lyn said quickly, fear coloring the edge of her voice. "What do I, or Siege, have to do with Umbra?"

  With a jerk of his head, Marcho looked over her to her rear. She spun around to see Siege leaving the house and making his way over to her, his great head bowed against the storm. She turned back, knowing already the ebon wolf would be gone, and true to form she stood alone in front of the coop. Siege approached quietly and watched while Lyn fed the rest of the scraps to Alir, who accepted them hastily.

  "I thought you would be out here. I apologize, on occasion I get...reflective."

  Lyn, now finished, brushed off her gloves and gave the large man a smile from the corner of her mouth. "There is no need to apologize. I am accustomed to going about my own business."

  Siege nodded, and motioned back to the house. "Come, I have the fireplace alight. Let's go relax and have something warm to eat."

  Back at the manor, Lyn curled up on one of the couches in front of the great fireplace in the main hall. A blanket covered her and she sipped at hot tea while Siege prepared a meal. Normally she would have been quite uncomfortable simply sitting while a man waited on her, especially a nobleman, but she was tired from training and perturbed by her conversation with Marcho. As such she was contented to relax and sip at her tea while Siege saw to the kitchen duties. After all, it was evident that he was accustomed to serving himself and she did not wish to impose herself on him. Sometime later, Siege brought out a tray with warm bread and a stew. Lyn ate up heartily, not bothering to move herself from the couch. Siege watched her with interest, and as he looked on the firelight reflected in his steely gaze. Noticing him watching her, Lyn slowed with a mouthful of supper.

  Swallowing forcefully, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand absently and asked, "What?"

  A small smile tugged at the corner of Siege's mouth, and the threat of it narrowed Lyn's eyes.

  "What?" she asked again, this time indignantly.

  "I had forgotten what taking pleasure from something as simple as a good meal looked like. I was enjoying watching you enjoy it."

  Lyn, face flushed, sat down her food. "I don't know what you mean. I was just eating the dinner that you brought out. Wouldn't it have been rude to just pick at it? Besides, it is good, and I'm hungry."

  "Now now," Siege said, one hand in the air as if to ward her off. "No need to get defensive. It was a compliment. You are just so full of life, and I find it fascinating. That's not so bad, is it?"

  Lyn's mouth skewed into a doubtful expression; she was still not sure whether or not he was making fun of her. She gave him a sidelong glance and picked her food back up, eating much more slowly and eyeing him all the while. He shook his head, still smirking, and ate his own share.

  After they were finished eating, Lyn helped Siege with the dishes. "You still haven't told me what exactly is going on here,” she said. Subtlety may not have been Lyn's strong point, but she was well-intended in her interest, and this was not lost on Siege.

  "Hand me that tray," he said. After they finished washing and drying, Siege opened the pantry and pulled out some dried apples. Handing a few to Lyn, he motioned for her to follow and they returned to the main hall with the fire blazing.

  "This is the first time I've had an excuse to keep the hearth lit," Siege mentioned, staring in to the flames. "My family would gather round here when I was young. My father would tell us stories, I would be here with the dogs, and my mother would be holding Ren." Lyn guessed that Ren was the name of Siege's little brother, whose fate she had still not been made aware of. The way Siege talked, it seemed as though Ren had passed away, but some of the things he had said combined with Marcho's presence made her wonder.

  "Ren must have been pretty young," Lyn said, overcome with curiosity but trying to sound casual.

  "Yes," Siege said with sadness in his voice. "He was but a toddler. I remember his laugh..." He left his sentence hanging, and Lyn was worried he wasn't going to finish the story. To her relief, he continued promptly. "My family used to be very happy. We've always had our trouble, sure. Everyone has. But this home has been in my family for generations, and we never wanted for food or shelter. Our tutors were kind and patient. For all of that, our family was always fairly reclusive. I never minded, though. I never quite felt at place with others my age. Or, others at all, really. I think if it weren't for our cook, who was a matronly woman indeed, I would have been a very introverted child. Well...more that I already was," he chuckled.

  "Oh yeah, I can't imagine you ever being introverted or anything, being the socialite you are now." Lyn said this with dripping sarcasm, forgetting for a moment who she was talking to. Immediately, she bit her tongue and ventured a look over to the young lord, hoping he had not heard her. Alas, he had, but to her surprise he was still smiling that little smile of his. Her stomach turned, and suddenly she felt nervous. "What I mean to say is, erm, it's just hard to imagine you any different." Siege did not respond, but she did not get the feeling he was upset.

  She berated herself for interrupting. It was hard enough getting the stoic Skyehart to talk as it was; her curious nature did not allow for unfinished stories and Siege already showed a proclivity for trailing off. But to Lyn's relief, Siege soon continued.

  "Like I said before, things changed after my parents were gone." He shifted in his chair and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. His armor made a metallic sound as he moved, and Lyn gritted her teeth against the grating sound. "My brother grew more consumed by his emotions. I detached myself from mine. Both of us were just trying to cope, I think. My brother took to staying in my parents’ room. He would lock the door and wouldn't leave for anything. After a while he'd get hungry and wander out, and sometimes he'd stay out for a while. Then someone would make him mad, or upset, or sometimes for no reason at all he'd just run back up and lock himself in. Eventually, once the steward left, I would let myself in with his keys and find Ren sitting in the waiting room looking up at my father's sword mounted on the wall. Something about it soothed him. I guess it just reminded him of the family. As he got older, he insisted upon moving the sword to his room. I let him have it, in the hope that somehow it would keep him grounded. He took our father's sword, I took his armor. I suppose this is something of a security blanket to me, too." He turned his armored hands in the firelight, examining the dark steel as it flickered against the flames.

  Taking a deep breath, Siege continued slowly. "By the time we were in our teen years, he fourteen and I sixteen, he had begun to learn the sword. It was...a very large sword. He didn't quite have the endurance to use it, but Gods forbid that he acknowledge that. He was going to learn to use it, Gods willing or no."

  Lyn could just picture it, the two small blonde boys trying to fit into their father's armaments. It was a sad picture; she was
sure it would have been something their father would have wanted to see. Lyn knew what it was like to grow up without a father, and it was an experience she didn't wish on anyone. But to be completely devoid of family or friends or community at all, that was something else.

  "What happened to Ren?" Lyn prompted, wanting to hear the rest of the story.

  "Ren. Eventually he decided that he had outgrown the place, and that his destiny was elsewhere. By that time, he had changed so completely I would never have guessed it was him at all. He kept his head shaved clean, and it made his eyes stand out. They were cruel, almost mad. He didn't take our father's sword; I forbade it. I wanted him to stay. I wanted to make it better somehow. He stormed off, though I didn't think he would. I didn't see him or hear from him for a year. I was 20 by that time, and had not accomplished anything. I stayed barred up in this house like it was a prison. I hunted and scavenged for food, but other than that, I didn't leave the grounds. Once, a man came by and asked about the livestock and horses. I sold them all to him, except Stygian. It became so empty, so quiet. By then it was only me, and the place seemed haunting. So I shut up the house, locking the entire south wing where you were the other night. My old bedroom was there, my parents', Ren's. Our classrooms, our playroom, the library. None of it seemed real anymore. Just vacant, hollow."

  He seemed for a moment that he was going to stop again, so Lyn leaned forward to prompt him. He did not look at her but he continued none the less. "Before I sealed it all up, I covered the furniture and replaced my father's blade. I guess in some hope that eventually things would somehow be different, that I would have cause to open the place back up again."

  He stood suddenly, and began pacing. "Ren had different ideas. He came back, demanding the sword. He seemed even worse than he had before he had left; he was pale, gaunt, and sunken. There was a hunger in his eyes that bespoke nothing of food. It was a hunger for blood, for unleashing his hate on the world. When I denied it to him yet again, he became brutally violent. He went for the sword, I went for the armor. I caught him just outside the main gate, and for the first time in our lives we fought not as brothers, but as enemies. Just when it looked as though neither of us could come out victorious, something changed. Ren got a second wind of sorts. Nothing I've been truly able to explain since. He escaped with my father's sword, to where I do not know, but I did not see him again. Sometime later I did get news of a bandit with a large sword causing havoc in the village. At first it seemed small, but then it became much more serious. Murderous even. That is why you hear our name said in such hushed tones with backward glances. I cannot blame them, for what a sight I must be to them. Let alone the damage Ren has done. And above all, to have my name attached to such atrocities is inexcusable."

  He stopped abruptly and turned to face Lyn. "That is why I always wear my armor. My purpose has become putting down the mad dog that is my brother, and I shan’t be letting him get the best of me again. I have been training, wearing this armor like a second skin. I am faster, stronger, and no longer contain any mercy for him. When next I see him, I shall kill him."

  The following morning, there was no breakfast in bed. Lyn made her bed and dressed. Siege was nowhere to be found; he was not the kitchen, not in the hall, not even outside in the stable. On a whim, she checked the connecting passageway door from the first night. It opened, revealing the second hall with the staircase. A door stood open at the base of the stair and to the side. Piqued, Lyn strode over to the door, much more confident now that the storm had mostly blown over and the sun came in through the huge windows. She quietly pushed the door open, peering into the room beyond. She immediately noticed the neat rows of books lining the walls, and the tables and desks were placed seemingly at random throughout the room. At the very back of the room, set against more wall length mirrors, was a particularly large desk with books and maps strewn all about it. At its head was Siege, studying intently.

  Lyn looked around the room. It was smaller than she would have thought; in a manor of this size she somehow expected a library with books stacked to the ceiling, with ladders and stairs to get access to books on any subject. But this room was modest, with book shelves that lined the walls but were not full to bursting. The desks and chairs showed wear from use and told a story of people in lives past that would come and recline in the peaceful place. It felt cozy and unassuming, and despite lacking the grandiose nature she had pictured it was still the most books she had ever seen in one place and she was delighted to see Seige making use of it. Something about him poring over the maps and tomes made him seem even more appealing. Lyn found her stomach rolling strangely. Cooking, cleaning, reading, fighting, was there something this man didn't do?

  Siege looked up, finally noticing his guest. "Oh, Lyn. I did not see you there. Is it daylight already?"

  Lyn shook her head in exasperation and walked over to the table her host was studying at. "It's daytime alright. What have you been doing here for so long?"

  "The door the other night. It was open. I know I locked up this side of the house. Further, the door to my parents’ room was open. It was him, he was here. I don't know when, or how exactly, but he was. It was a message; he is telling me that it is time." He spoke excitedly, motioning with his hands.

  "What does that mean?" Lyn asked, nerves creeping in to her voice. "It means," the blonde warrior said slowly, his eyes filled with something Lyn couldn't quite pinpoint, "that it is war."

  --

  Marcho's vague and cryptic tellings weighed heavily on Lyn's mind, but despite the dark implications of them Lyn wondered if spending more time with Siege was such a bad thing. She had her journey to continue, but by her logic the world as she knew it had existed for 700 years without her influence already, so it could wait a little while longer. A part of her scolded herself for using such childish logic to indulge a simple crush, yet more than the delight she found in Siege's company she did feel something...more; she felt as though she were at the right place, at the right time, and that leaving now would not avail her anything. With this in mind, she approached Siege and formally requested his hospitality for a while longer while she got her bearings and planned her next move. In hindsight, she winced at the obvious transparency of her appeal, but to her surprise Siege had not put up any resistance to the idea and though he was caught up in his maps for some time, she suspected he was somewhat relieved at her company.

  Lyn did not wish to become involved in the family affair; she still wasn't sure what exactly was going on. But between Marcho and her Skyehart host she suspected she wasn't simply going to be able to walk away from the whole situation, not that she was sure that she wanted to if she could have. So she decided to spend the time she had training until whatever this was blew over and she could get back to her primary function once again. She missed the relative simplicity of the beginning of her journey; looking back now, her concern and moodiness at the outset were wholly overshadowed by actual issues and tribulations, and she wished that she could go back to her naive worries.

  However, her doubts were soon burned away by the intensity of her training. Siege had agreed to train with her, to her great pleasure. It soon became evident that he was far ahead of her in terms of training and certainly strength, but he commended her abilities as they were and helped her to improve upon them. When they were not training, Lyn spent time in meditation with Alir, strengthening their bond. Her growth progressed quickly, which kindled a feeling of earnest in Lyn. Feeling refreshed to be stretching her muscles again, she found herself in the best shape of her life, and happy to be so. She had loved her time at Brightpeak, but she felt more productive at the Skyehart estate and ready for action. Though, once she started thinking about it, action involving a family feud more than likely ending in blood and an age-old demon who took over the bodies of men was not exactly what she had signed up for. She wondered if the World-Walkers before her had dealt with such strange issues. Perhaps this was simply part of humanity, Lyn thought. No matter what age
one occupied, maybe humanity didn't really change. Maybe people dealt with the same issues and stresses and they only differed in presentation. Food for thought, surely.

  In any case, Lyn had resigned herself to being part of the world for the time being, and that included experiencing, if not participating in, such affairs as she currently found herself embroiled in. She embraced her training, and Siege shared her enthusiasm.

  After a few weeks of continuing at the pace they had set, Seige brought surprising news to Lyn; she had received a letter. Lyn wondered who could have possibly sent her a letter at all, let alone how it found its way here to the Skyehart estate. Lyn took the letter hesitantly from Siege and looked at the envelope. In ornate and flowery hand it read, "To dearest Lyn, from your dedicated admirer". Lyn's face split in to a grin as she recognized the ridiculous penmanship as Satora. Excitedly she tore open the envelope to peruse its contents. It was short, and basically read to the effect that he had heard she was enjoying Skyehart's hospitality, that he was glad she was safe, and that his business was concluded. He summed that they would surely meet again, and he looked forward to that day with "bated breath and beating heart." Lyn rolled her eyes, but she could practically hear Satora's voice as she read it and it brought a smile to her.

  Lyn was learning very quickly the value of such a small gesture; she was finding that the people and things that brought smiles to her face were the dearest of all, even if they were self-proclaimed dramatic bandits, or old traveling merchants with crazy beards, or even the simple feeling and familiarity of home. Love brought those smiles, and she had never known how capable of it she was.

  Chapter 10

  17th day, 12th lunar cycle, 700th age of Arc

  "I must admit that I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the Skyehart estate. It fascinates me how much I had feared the Northern Province, and how at home I feel in it now. And I have found a love for snow I did not think I would. What beauty! It wraps the landscape in a shimmering coat that looks like shining jewels in the daylight. I say that now, writing in my room in this huge manor, but I know soon enough that I'll be miserably cold again; it appears Siege Skyehart has found his brother and intends to pursue him. News kept reaching us about disturbances and disappearances, and after poring over his maps, Siege has finally found a place to confront this Ren Skyehart. Marcho has insisted that I go along. He is convinced Ren has something to do with Umbra and is eager to end his hunt at long last. I can't say I blame him, but I am not looking forward to confronting either man or demon that has caused the distress they have to these two acquaintances of mine. I will be happy when this little adventure is said and done so that I may continue on my path as a Druid, though I have a sinking feeling that things simply won't be the same when it's over. I have to admit I am loathe to leave the company of the young lord Skyehart. I have found his company both beneficial and very enjoyable. While I can't say for sure he feels the same, he seems to be much more comfortable around me now than he did when we first met. Honestly I just wish I could travel with Zhiva and Satora and Siege and all my friends and never leave them, but that is not how the world works, and I must believe we'll meet again. We are preparing to leave on the morrow, I pray to Gods old and new that this journey will end well for my friends."