Michael

“As the representative of the King of Telios, I ask you - Michael of the House Rowan – do you swear fealty to King Zenial Merland, in times of certainty and in times of doubt, with your body and soul? Do you swear this oath in front of the God of Light Idas – the one that remained?” The words came effortlessly over the lips of the old duke, he had probably spoken them dozens of times in his life already.

Michael was kneeling in the great hall before the duke. The hall was filled with the nobles and knights of the realm and even more had arrived since yesterday, even though many of the new arrivals weren’t vassals of Reen or Emall but people arriving for the funeral.

“I swear upon my soul and under the light of the one that remained that I will serve King Zenial Merland and his descendants until the day I die,” Michael spoke the words. It was a simple pledge but vowing on one’s soul was nothing anyone did lightly.

“Then by the power bestowed upon me by our king, I name you Count Michael Rowan, head of House Rowan and Count of Reen and Emall and all holdings associated with these titles. May you rule long and prosperous. May your loyalty be eternal. And may your life be one worth to be remembered.”

The last sentence wasn’t part of the traditional ceremony and Michael looked up with surprise on his face, but the duke only winked at him and continued by placing the sword of the late Lord Cedric Rowan upon his head before pulling it back.

“Rise, Count Michael Rowan!”

The crowd cheered as their new lord rose to his feet. Duke Wallsten handed the sword to Sir Pyke, as it would be too large and heavy for Michael.

“You shall repeat this vow the next time you are in the presence of our king,” the duke said and took his cane from another knight.

“I swear.”

The duke nodded and retreated from the position in front of the Lord’s Seat. Michael stepped forward and let his gaze fall upon the simple wooden construction. It looked like a tree stump that had been carved to accommodate a person, the only decoration was a simple cushion on it and the symbol of the house.

Michael had to quench his anger when he saw the twin swords of their sigil as it symbolized the brotherhood between his father and uncle, but he didn’t want to make a scene.

He took his seat on the chair and the nobles approached to swear allegiance to him. The first one was Viscount Sygnus Telp, his rank giving him this privilege.

He swore his oath in a dignified manner, but he looked happier than Michael had seen him for days and finished his vows with a special remark. “I will never let you down again, milord.”

What followed was an unending flow of nobles, falling to their knees and swearing undying loyalty. Some he believed like Lord Ragar or Viscount Telp, others he doubted like Baron Uger, and again others he flat out mistrusted like Baron Redric Plon, the father of Harlov’s guardian knight who had survived the attack.

Finally, Sir Godfrey Pyke stepped before Michael. His hulking statue was not diminished in the slightest by his missing right arm.

“I request to be released from my bond to your family, milord,” he said plainly with his deep voice.

Michael wasn’t surprised, he had heard from Geron that multiple knights had talked about their own failings in protecting the house and that they should resign.

“Can I ask for a reason, Sir?”

“I failed, milord. Lord Cedric died under my watch and with my right arm gone, I cannot serve you as well as I once could. I don’t deserve to be the commander of the knights of House Rowan anymore.” The man had preferably fought with a two-handed weapon for most of his life and now he wouldn’t be able to anymore, but Michael knew that he could still beat most if not all knights under his command even with one hand.

“You have served my family well and long. There are few knights in the service of House Rowan that have not learned the craft from you, and they are still some of the best in the lands. I don’t want to lose you from my service but if you don’t feel adequate to continue your duty as Commander of the Knights then I want to offer you a new position as weapons master. You will be directly responsible for the training and upbringing of new knights into our service.” Michael couldn’t say that he had prepared much for his succession, but he had prepared things to keep each and every capable individual who could try to jump ship.

“This is a task traditionally reserved to the commander,” Sir Godfrey answered carefully.

“It is but there is no one to rival your experience and skill in training and preparing the knights for what is to come. My rule will start under the same premise that I want to continue, changing things necessary to make us safer and make us prosper. House Rowan will never suffer again just because we don’t adapt.”

He could see the uneasiness on the faces of a couple of nobles who understood that they might become part of these changes.

“If the new commander agrees to this then I will accept this calling and continue serving to the best of my abilities,” the knight answered stoically but Michael thought that he had seen a glint of happiness in the man's eyes. It was gone so fast that he might have imagined it too.

After Sir Pyke came the knights, some resigned because of injuries or imagined or real transgressions against their oaths. Michael tried to keep any of them that could still be of use as knights or in any other capability and often succeeded. The number of knights in his service still dwindled dangerously.

Michael nearly teared up when he saw Lance move toward him, propped up on two crutches and covered in bandages, and proclaim his loyalty. The man looked sincere, and Michael took it as a testament to how far he had gotten since the day of his awakening.

Finally in the end Sola, Geron, Solon, Eydis, and Kiran stepped before him.

“I don’t require an oath of allegiance from any of you,” Michael said. “You have served me for a long time and have taught me everything I know. I don’t want to bind any of you to me, I would rather have you stay and work with me out of your own volition.”

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They exchanged looks with each other and Geron then stepped forward and knelt. “I swear upon my soul and before Idas, the lord of light, that I will serve you and obey your commands until the day I die, or you release me from this oath.”

Sola was next. “I swear upon my soul and in front of my patron, Idas, that I will serve you and follow your commands only second to Idas himself until the day I die or either of my lords release me from this oath.

Solon followed. “I swear my oath allegiance to you, Lord Michael Rowan, in front of Haspa the goddess of trade and loyalty. I vow to serve you with my knowledge and skills until the day I die, or you release me from this oath.”

To Michael’s surprise, even Kiran got on one knee. “I never wanted to swear my loyalty to anyone, but you are a mage and a ruler that I want to support. I pledge my loyalty to you; I do this only in front of myself and the present. I will serve you with my magic and my knowledge until the day I die, or you deviate from the path you have set.”

Finally, Eydis stepped up. She didn’t kneel, rather she took off the twin amulet of the Father and Mother and placed the symbol of the Mother in her hand. Michael took the symbol of the father and placed it in his, which caused the audience to murmur uncomfortably.

She began to sign with her other hand, which made it harder to understand but, in her culture, what really counted was the intention someone expressed with the words and not the specific words themselves.

“I swear to stay at your side for the rest of our lives, to protect you and serve you to the best of my abilities until the day I die, or you fail to meet your obligations as my oath brother.”

Michael placed his hand on her cheek and smiled as he mouthed, “I swear to protect you till the day I die, no matter what.” He didn’t want everyone to hear this vow, but Eydis understood.

- Later at night in Michael’s room –

They had done a fine job fixing Michael’s room in only one day and it had returned mostly to its former interior. Not that there had been much in here anyway that was difficult to replace.

Michael sat at the table lost in thought, he knew he needed to sleep as he needed the rest, but his mind wouldn’t settle.

“Michael,” the cold inhuman voice of the lynx-masked stranger appeared out of nowhere and Michael jumped up.

“Oh, it is you.”

“My apologies, I don’t really know how to announce myself without startling you,” he said with a hint of amusement.

“It’s alright.” He studied the being for a moment before he asked, “Where have you been the last couple of days?”

“Investigating. Trying to find out what happened.”

“And did you find something?”

He shook his head and somehow, he looked embarrassed even though Michael couldn’t see his face. “They have been infuriatingly thorough in erasing their tracks. It is strange when you compare it to the lack of organization of the attack.”

Michael frowned; he was right it was strange but thinking about it right now didn’t help.

“So, what has brought you to me at this late hour?”

“Today has been the day of allegiance, so here I am to swear mine.” Michael blinked surprised he had no idea who or even what the masked being was, and he wanted to swear allegiance?

“Why?”

“Because in the darkness you are the light. A light like I have never seen before,” his voice sounded neutral, but Michael felt a sudden vibration in the air.

“A light,” Michael asked confused. Does he mean my magic?

“Normal mortals shine like a candle or might even shine as bright as a torch but you … your soul burns like a pyre … as if it has been fed too much and now it can’t contain all that power.”

Michael swallowed, “What are you?” What was it that I could see his soul?

The visitor tilted his head to the side, “My people are called the faceless. Have you heard of us?”

“Faceless? Yes, I have read of you but those were fairytales of old times. Your people are magical beings. You live at the fringes of society and normally don’t interact much with humans.”

The faceless nodded but didn’t say more, he probably thought of Michael’s question as answered.

“How can you exist here? The mana levels should be way too low for something like you to sustain itself.” That was the difference between ‘mortal’ races and magical beings, mortals could exist without mana, but magical beings depended on it. Different kinds of magical beings needed different amounts of mana, but they all vanished after the Great Cataclysm when the mana levels hit nearly zero.

“It is hard to sustain myself, but my kind is not as dependent on mana as others. I am slower, weaker, and get tired more quickly and I can’t use any of my powers but the most basic, but I can exist. And the mana levels are rising, I feel myself get stronger with each year that passes.”

“Can I trust your vow?” Michael trusted the faceless for now, he had saved him multiple times already after all, but he still couldn’t grasp its agenda.

“You can. Our vows are sacred to us, as they are to your people.”

“Good, …, now that I think of it you never told me your name.”

“You couldn’t understand or pronounce it,” the faceless said and then followed it up by a set of noises that sounded like blowing wind.

“Yeah, that is not gonna work, but I don’t want to call you faceless so I will call you Lynx.” He noticed that he had done that in his thoughts anyway.

“Lynx. That is a good name. Then I will take it as the symbol of my loyalty to you,” Lynx said and placed his wrapped hand against the forehead of his mask.

“Good, and I already have a job for you.”

- At night -

The sound of pickaxes on stone sounded through the dark, the air was stifling, but something glittered in the darkness.

Michael had this dream before but this time it was far clearer. He could see the wooden supports at the walls and his feet brought him deeper into the mine. Or did they take him outside? He didn’t know.

The walls were shining in the strangest colors as the light of his torch reflected on the rare materials embedded in the stone. Silver, copper, iron, he had learned about so many different minerals that he could identify most of them Michael let his hand brush over the cold rock; he didn’t know where he was or how he got there.

Suddenly a light, brighter than all the others, appeared in the distance and Michael dropped the torch and began running.

Nothing stopped him as the light got brighter and brighter. Only a couple more steps and he was free. The mine opened up to the side of a mountain. People whose faces he couldn’t see unloaded wagons with tools, while others stored away the riches from beneath on other carts. He was in a mining camp but what really caught his attention was the view.

He could look down the entire mountainside where the forest was alive with work. Roads being carved in the ground and houses constructed. The forest began to retreat when faced with the industrious humans and civilization took hold.

Michael glanced to the left and right and saw that the mountain was not alone. There was a whole mountain range to his sides all similarly being worked on.

His vision narrowed as he could see farther and farther until a familiar structure came into sight. It was a large construction made mostly out of wood. The walls and banners were so familiar, but Michael’s mind couldn’t place them. “Come, claim my riches,” a rumbling voice came from behind Michael, and he awoke in an instant.

He leaned up in his bed, he was breathing heavily, his mind working at understanding what he had seen. His eyes darted toward the window, but he knew that he couldn’t see what he was looking for.

He jumped out of bed and put his boots on. Without dressing himself further he ran out of his room. He could hear the clicking noise of a surprised Eydis, but he didn’t stop and soon he also heard her steps behind him.

The young count hurried through the castle. The sun was coming up and the estate was waking but the hallways were still mostly empty. Michael quickly greeted everyone that they met in passing but didn’t stop until he reached the south-facing wall.

He jumped up on the battlements to see and gazed at the huge mountain range that had always been at their back.

Ideas began to form, and information he had learned flooded his mind mixing with his own thoughts and getting evermore grandiose. He didn’t need to explain anything anymore, he was the count now, and he didn’t need to make plans that would sound reasonable to others.

A clicking noise dragged his attention back to the here and now as Eydis stepped next to him and put her furs over his shoulders.

“What are we looking at,” she signed and watched him with interest.

“Our future,” Michael answered with an eager smile.