Kethril

by Carroll, John H.

  Liselle crossed her arms too and the light died from her eyes. She frowned at her cousin, considering his words. “I love Vevin,” she said.

  “Yes, I know,” Tathan replied.

  “Do you love her?” She gestured toward Anilyia.

  “Yes I do,” Tathan answered easily. Surprise washed across Liselle’s face while Anilyia squeed and wrapped her arms around him. The truth was that Tathan still wasn’t certain he loved Anilyia, but thought he might. He was a very good liar though and used that ability to portray confidence in the statement. Liselle’s surprise turned to suspicion, but part of Tathan’s ability was to continue a lie once begun.

  She reluctantly nodded. “Alright. You’re both in love. So what do we do now?” The situation bewildered Liselle. “I thought this was supposed to be easy. Rescue the princess, shake the pursuit and get her home.” She put her hands on her hips. “None of the stories Uncle Laremy told me mentioned anything about the princess falling in love with . . . my cousin.” She gestured at Tathan before throwing her hands up in the air.

  Tathan shrugged. He turned to the princess. “What do you want to do now?”

  “Umm . . .” Anilyia shrugged too.

  “Do you want to dash off and settle down with Tathan?” Liselle asked.

  “I don’t want to settle down,” Tathan interjected. “I’m having too much fun running around the world, getting into trouble and falling in love with princesses.”

  “So you love more than one princess?” Anilyia asked dangerously. Both she and Liselle crossed their arms, set their jaws and glared at him. Vevin had a look of fascination. He had been doing a slow listening dance the entire time and was staying very quiet in hopes he wouldn’t be involved in the argument.

  “No,” Tathan answered firmly. “It was just a turn of phrase. I have only fallen in love with one princess and have no intention of ever falling in love with another.”

  The ladies went over the words in their minds to find a hole in them. Luckily, for Tathan, they didn’t succeed.

  “So we take the princess adventuring with us?” Liselle asked.

  Anilyia shook her head. “I like being a princess. I like it a lot . . . I really, really, really like being a princess.” She sat back down on the log. Then she held up the sleeve of her shirt. “Adventuring is wet and uncomfortable. Everything feels weird and icky and wonderful,” she whined, gesturing up and down at her body. “I don’t like it at all. I like sheets and my soft bed and people to dress and bathe me and . . .” She trailed off with a great sigh.

  “When in doubt, stick with the plan,” Tathan said, nodding to himself.

  They looked at him.

  “When in doubt, stick with the plan. It’s advice a good friend of mine gave me once. If you can’t decide what to do, then keep going with whatever you originally started doing. Hopefully an alternative will appear, but if not, at least you’ve accomplished your original goal.”

  Liselle rubbed her chin in thought and absentmindedly smiled at some flowers that had just opened their petals to the growing light. “So we continue with the plan of traveling to Kethril and finding a way to return the princess to Mayncal?”

  “Yes. It’s a good plan, but if we decide to do something else, we can change it at any time.” Tathan turned to Anilyia. “Will that work for you?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I like it. I’m still in love with you though and I want to have lots of . . . sex,” she said, blushing red as deep as Piohray.

  Liselle rolled her eyes. Upon seeing the reaction, Anilyia narrowed hers and with a sly grin said, “I want to have as much sex as Liselle and Vevin.” Liselle gasped and both she and Vevin blushed in response. Then everyone burst into laughter.

  As the party was leaving after having packed up camp, Vevin asked Tathan, “Whatever happened to your friend, the one that said ‘when in doubt, stick with the plan’?”

  Tathan didn’t respond immediately. “Well . . . he died. His original plan was really bad.”

  Chapter 4

  “Do you think Sir Danth is alright?” Liselle asked. “He’s been scouting ahead for quite a while, but hasn’t come back to check on us.” It was night and Piohray was in the sky again, though not quite as full. Ryallon’s other moon Siahray was just beginning to rise as well and its soft blue glow was tinting the red to make a beautiful lavender color through the trees to the east.

  They had made good time that day in the mild, late summer air. A gentle breeze brought the hint of autumn with it. Tathan and Liselle talked of autumn days in the valley and the leaves that turned beautiful colors. It brought fond memories and a bit of sorrow. They held hands for a bit while talking, giving each other strength and comfort.

  The knight had marked a good place for lunch and they had rested midday. Then, just before sunset, they found another marking leading off into the forest a little way where a firepit was laid out with extra wood next to a stream. He was still looking out for them, but they hadn’t seen him at all.

  “I think he’s fine,” Tathan answered. “It’s hard for him to watch our affections.”

  “I know,” Liselle replied with a sigh. She felt bad for the knight. Not having a body was unimaginable to her. What she hadn’t mentioned was that she believed there was something else wrong. He was in pain and something was making him suffer. She hadn’t figured out what it was and couldn’t do so if he wouldn’t come around.

  In addition, the flowers told her something was haunting the knight. Liselle could communicate with flowers and understood everything they told her, but the reality of a flower was different from the reality of a person. His outburst the day before had frightened her. Some days she liked Sir Danth a great deal, but every once in a while he terrified her with his lust for killing things. She could see it through the hollow slits where his eyes should be.

  Liselle knew that people lived behind their eyes. The eyes were just a window and the soul protected itself with a thick skull while playing on the energies of the brain. She could see people and their energies when she was deep into using magic, which was the manipulation of all the types of energy the universe had to offer.

  The knight was a little different because he had filled his armor with the spiritual energy instead of operating it through a body with a brain. Sir Danth’s soul was attached to the armor, but the metal and the way the runes bound his soul to it was tainting him. Liselle believed the knight to be quite mad and dangerous.

  Anilyia jerked Liselle out of thought when she spoke. “Tathan, where does this stream come from?” The princess was stroking his arm and had a leg over his lap. Liselle sighed, but chose not to remark upon it when she realized her own leg was on Vevin’s lap.

  Tathan answered, “I don’t know. Let’s go upstream a ways and see if we can find out.”

  Anilyia jumped up. “Alright! Let’s go.”

  Liselle rolled her eyes as she watched them disappear into the foliage upstream. Vevin ran his hand up and down her back. “They really are in love, darling. I think it’s nice.” He smiled, showing sharp dragon teeth crowded in his mouth. Vevin had tried making his teeth human once, but hated the feeling.

  She stared into his slowly swirling, liquid-silver eyes and caressed his cheek. “I know. It’s just that she’s betrothed, and you’re not supposed to fall in love with another man when you’re betrothed. Plus, if the wedding doesn’t happen, then thousands of people could die in war and that’s the whole reason we saved her in the first place.”

  The fire was dying down and she wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep, so she tossed on another piece of wood and stoked the flames. Vevin waited for her to continue. She stood and walked over to the stream to listen to the sound of it running over rocks. Glowflies flitted about through the trees in a natural dance of activity. A few nightflowers on the other side smiled at Liselle. They had opened up their petals to Piohray’s moonlight. Uncle Laremy had told her the red moonlight was a sign of evil, but Liselle believed it to be the magical light of passio
n and love. She was hoping to study it in the libraries in large cities she had heard about. Vevin was teaching her to read, but they only had a few books and it was taking her a while to learn.

  Liselle turned to Vevin who was still sitting on the log while swaying side to side as he watched her. “I think the fire will be fine for now. Let’s take a walk in the trees for a little while . . . in a different direction from those two.” She gestured upstream where Tathan and Anilyia had disappeared.

  Vevin chuckled and stood to join her. “That sounds nice. I like walking with you.” He gave her a soft kiss that she returned. They crossed the stream and went into the forest on the other side. Four purple balls of light appeared and danced above as they walked.

  ***

  They were everywhere, taunting him. Sir Danth watched another battered spirit floating through the trees. He had been following them for the past five days since reaching the Lost Road Inn, stopping only to leave markers and set up camps for the party.

  Here in the Willden Forest where the Kingdom of Morhain had once existed, the ghosts of his people wandered through the trees. The sight of them was causing Sir Danth to panic. The knight’s armor blessed him with magical vision allowing him to see things out of the normal realm, like magical runes or invisible creatures. He could also tell when there was a ghost in a building, or even if remnants of strong emotion remained in an area such as a battlefield

  He hadn’t known about the roaming phantoms while standing guard in front of the vault for so long, but after leaving that lonely place and traveling through the forest, he had become aware of them. At first, they were random movements and lights to the side and behind him. Sir Danth preferred to look straight ahead like living people did, but could see in every direction at once when he wanted to. At times, in the dark cave, he would spin his vision around in circles as fast as he could while standing still. Without a body to experience vertigo, it didn’t make him sick, although it was hard to stop the spinning if he did it for too long.

  As the companions traveled from Aaltdiin to Brondaggiin, the scattered movements were less frequent, so Sir Danth chalked it down to effects created by being able to see the sky, sun and moons after so long in the darkness. When they re-appeared a few days after leaving the influence of Mother Tree, he still didn’t think anything of it.

  When they went back into the forest after Puujan to tell Mother Tree about the Rojuun, the lights and movement had reappeared. They were stronger away from Mother Tree and nowhere to be seen when near her. Sir Danth debated asking his companions if they saw it too, but they had other concerns and he didn’t want to make them unhappy. The knight needed them. He had lost his mind more than once while guarding the vault and they were the only thing keeping him from losing it again.

  After rescuing the princess and escaping from the Rojuun caverns, Sir Danth had seen the movements again, only they weren’t just movements anymore. There was a blurred ghost standing at the edge of the river along the Lost Road upon exiting that last cave. When he walked toward it, the apparition had disappeared. There were more ghosts along the road, but the knight was never able to get near. If he left his companions, he could get a little bit closer. The more he focused on each one, the more the blurriness would go away.

  The specters bothered the knight a great deal. He didn’t understand why he could see them and his friends could not. Vevin was a dragon, so perhaps he just didn’t care about human spirits. Liselle looked at the good in everything, so maybe she didn’t see tortured spirits. Tathan should have spotted them. He could see darkness, pain and suffering in people. Sir Danth didn’t know why, but recognized the quality and liked Tathan for it.

  When the party reached the Willden, the spirits had become more numerous. They were wandering through the trees, not as movements or lights, but as full-bodied phantoms. They were also much clearer and Sir Danth could see the tattered clothing and bent limbs as they searched for whatever they were looking for.

  Still, the ghosts never came close to the party. Sir Danth spent some time contemplating why and he would go into the forest each night to study them. Early one morning, Liselle had come to find him while Tathan and Vevin were practicing some wrestling moves. When she approached the knight, the phantoms disappeared. Sir Danth took a closer look at Liselle and realized her aura was pure and dazzling, preventing the apparitions from coming near.

  He continued to explore at night. Each time he came close to a ghost, it would fade out and he still couldn’t make out the details. There was something very, very wrong with them. The knight spent hours focusing his will and could make out more details each time. After a while, he began to recognize the style of clothing and that’s when he became certain they were his people. Their ethereal garments varied from the sturdy outfits worn by common workers of his time to fine suits and dresses worn by the wealthy. The one thing they had in common was that all of it was torn and tattered.

  No one knew what happened to the citizens of Morhain in the Great Disappearing. Ghosts weren’t mentioned at the time, so he didn’t believe at first that it could be them. However, the more he saw, the more he realized it had to be true.

  A spirit appeared to his left, startling him out of his thoughts, but faded out when Sir Danth looked at it. Another passed between a pair of trees in front of him. Sir Danth focused the face as it floated near. The appearance horrified the knight.

  The spirit’s jaw was hanging down to its chest in a broken, silent scream. The eye sockets were hollow with a dark mist behind them that threatened to pull Sir Danth’s mind into it. The apparition floated past Sir Danth just to his right, enabling him to see mangled ears. Sir Danth put his arm out to stop it. The phantom stopped and pushed against the metal. The armor’s enchantments prevented anything from passing through, even ghosts. It pushed again before emitting shriek that pierced the air like a rusted blade. Other spirits in the forest responded with otherworldly shrieks of their own, somehow communicating in a different realm of existence.

  Then the phantom turned its hollow eyes toward him and the dark mist within noticed Sir Danth. Other specters appeared around him, rotating in the knight’s direction. The piercing shrieks coming from their mouths reverberated through his armor. There was no recognition of who he was, only a great, evil hunger emanating from the hollow eyes. That hunger perceived Sir Danth and it desired him. The swirling black mist began to flow out of the eye sockets of the phantoms, reaching for the knight.

  For the first time in his existence, Sir Danth experienced fear. A new scream rose above the cacophony of sound. His voice made the ungodly noise. The metallic scream carried supernatural powers he didn’t know he had. It physically pushed the apparitions and misty tendrils away from him. When he stopped screaming in surprise, the tendrils began reaching out for him again.

  There was no way for Sir Danth to escape. They surrounded him and the knight let panic overtake him. His sword appeared in his hands and he cut the ghosts and tendrils into pieces, much to their surprise as well as the surprise of the evil entity. Yet it didn’t stop them from coming towards him, fighting past the knight’s supernatural screams and blade. There were rows and rows floating in his direction through the trees.

  The knight began shifting through space as he swung his sword in terror.

  ***

  Liselle and Vevin turned to each other when they heard a scream ahead of them. “What in the world was that?!” Vevin asked.

  “How should I know?” Liselle said. “You’re the one who knows everything. Should we investigate, or run for safety?”

  Vevin frowned. “I never run for safety. Dragons don’t go backwards.” They heard the scream again. This time Vevin tilted his head to the side to concentrate on it. “It sounds like metal screeching and there’s . . . stuff in it.”

  She blinked. “Stuff?”

  “Yeah . . . stuff. I think Sir Danth is screaming. I didn’t think he was the type to do that,” Vevin mused.

  Liselle’s eyes
widened at the mention of the knight. When another scream pierced the air, she ran in that direction as fast as possible. The screams continued one after the other. Vevin kept pace and then moved in front to protect her from whatever the danger would be. His purple lights traveled above them to cast light on their path. “It’s definitely Sir Danth. I can see him through trees,” he told her as they ran. “He’s swinging his sword at the air. I can’t go dragon with all these trees though, there’s no room.”

  Liselle wished for Vevin’s ability to see through things sometimes. As it was, she followed him through the underbrush as fast as possible. It took them a couple of minutes to reach the knight who was still screaming in panic. They ran in his direction, but he shifted farther away. Then he shifted to the left, then to another spot.

  Then he was in front of them, the shrill metallic sound coming from somewhere inside his armor. Vevin hit Liselle hard, slamming her to the ground as the knight’s sword swung over them. If he hadn’t moved so fast, she would have been decapitated. Sir Danth shifted again, this time behind them.

  Vevin jumped up and roared, using the full force of his dragon voice. Liselle felt her hair stand on end. Even though he shielded her from the effect of dragon fear, she could sense the power in the sound. Sir Danth continued to scream and shift, swinging his greatsword. “Well that’s inconvenient,” Vevin said, crossing his arms. “His armor protects him from dragon fear.”

  Liselle gained her composure and stood. She cast a holding spell at the knight, but just as she released it, Sir Danth shifted. “Oh!” Liselle exclaimed crossly. The knight screamed to the right of them and she cast another holding spell. She was fast enough, but it had no effect. Liselle could feel the armor soak the magical energy and use it to power its own magic. “Really?!”