"What would anyone want with me?" William said. "I'm just William, I'm a scribe. And a basic one at that!" And a hint of fear entered his voice as he looked at the knight standing over him. "What do you want with me?"

"Don't you understand?" Isaac said, watching him. "It's you!"

"What's me?" William asked. "Why are you speaking so cryptically?"

"Did you not see what happened to you in the chapel?" Isaac said. "When you began to glow?"

"You began to glow?" Luke asked.

"I didn't glow!" William said. "It just looked that way!"

"You weren't just glowing." Isaac said. "You were raised up in light. The same way Prophet Vero was fifteen hundred years ago." Isaac bent down and looked William in the eye. "William Kingsfeld, you are the Redeemer!"

"Now hold on just a minute." Luke said, interrupting. "I don't know anything about this knight business, but I do know William. He's a dear friend, an excellent scribe and a sub-par sparrer, but he's no Redeemer or chosen one or what have you!"

"But he is." Isaac said. "You have been chosen, William, you have been raised up in light as the prophecy said. Just as we worked for in our mission."

"And what mission is that?" Luke asked.

Isaac leaned back, and looked down at the ground as he thought.

"As you have heard before, in the early dawn of mankind we allied ourselves with the dragons. This covenant was an enslavement. For thousands of years humanity lived as cattle as some were given an inkling of power by the draconic overlords. Our covenant with the dragons bore a curse on our heart, the black mark on our chest that we all bear. Fifteen hundred years ago Prophet Vero was raised up in light by our god Adir and led a rebellion against the dragons, and we were successful. And those fifteen hundred years ago he gave his last prophecy. 'Another shall come after me, one who is named Redeemer, he will restore humanity from the dragon's corruption.'

"And so we've waited." Isaac said. "But not all of us were so idle.

"The first of our order, Ivan Knight, began the Dawn's Watch thirteen hundred years ago. Our duty? To protect the temples of Adir and guard the Redeemer when he is revealed so that he may accomplish his task."

Isaac looked to William with a twinkle of joy in his eyes.

"And that's just what we've done." Isaac said. "My men have willingly laid down their lives for you, thirteen hundred years of our order has culminated in this moment."

"This is all too much." William said. "All of this is troubling, I think I need some rest."

"Of course." Isaac Knight said. "You two sleep, I will keep watch. We will move at first light."

The swimming light of dawn came, the rays of wheat-gold touching the mouth of the cave where Isaac Knight sat watching. William and Luke had passed out the night before and not awoken, but Isaac didn't dare fall asleep with the enemy still so close.

They had no fire last night. Isaac told them it would give away their position, and unfortunately he had been right. All through the night Isaac watched the light of campfires shine in the forest as survivors of the massacre camped in the blind of the trees, and after each fire was lit, then came the screams and sounds of slaughter as they were picked off one by one in the dark forest. No, Isaac didn't dare light a fire.

"Come, you two. It's time to move." He said, nudging the two with a boot as they groaned.

"We'll need to eat something." Luke moaned.

"Here." Isaac said and passed Luke a bag. Luke eyed it suspiciously before opening the drawstring.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Oats? You give us oats? We're not donkeys, you know!"

"What would you prefer?" Isaac asked.

"Well, perhaps some sizzling bacon and a fresh mug of ale. Decent food for decent folk."

"We can't spare the fire for bacon nor the space for a keg of ale. You will have to survive off of oats and water for the time being." Isaac said.

Luke grumbled, something along the lines of. "Survive.. oats.. water.. don't trust him..."

William raised himself slowly, the long march last night and the sleep on the cave floor had caused him to stiffen like a tree. He groaned as he sat up.

"Where are we headed?" He asked.

"Away from here." Isaac Knight said. "After that we can discuss your next plan."

"My next plan?" William asked quietly to Luke, who shrugged his shoulders and placed a pinch of oats in his mouth.

They left the mouth of the cave and followed the flank of the cliffs until they reached a narrow path, a deer path that hadn't been trod in some time. Nettles and ferns began to grow about the path, and their feet pushed through weeds and grass, but the path gave greater cover than the open road, and they made good headway in the cool morning air.

"What do you Dawn's Watch lot get out of this, anyway?" Luke asked as they trudged along.

"The restoration of mankind, to be put simply." Isaac said.

"'Restoration.'" Luke snorted.

"Do you not want the same?" Isaac asked.

"Oh sure, I would love to restore mankind if that were possible." Luke said.

"What are you saying?" Isaac asked.

Luke stopped on the trail and the other two stopped and looked back at him.

"I'm saying that I don't believe there's any prophesy." He said. "I think we have that black mark because it's our just-desserts, and no magic is going to change that."

"We're not talking about magic." Isaac said. "We're talking about the power of Adir."

"If Adir's out there, He doesn't much care for us, does He?" Luke asked. "Fifteen hundred years of suffering, of war, of terror. You know what I think? I think this prophesy was made up to give everyone some hope, and that's all it is."

"But Luke," William started. "I did glow in the chapel, there was clearly some force working there."

"Yeah, that's possible." Luke said. "Maybe one of his friends was a sorcerer and cast a spell on you, how should we know?"

"Accusing a Dawn's Watch knight of draconic sorcery is a dangerous stance." Isaac said and stepped forward with his hand resting on the pommel of his sword.

"Okay, okay! All I'm saying is that your group is convinced of something you've never seen happen! You're dedicated, I'll grant you that, I just think we shouldn't go tromping off into more trouble! We've escaped the worst of it, let's leave it at that."

Isaac looked to Luke. "The worst of it? You think that-" he waved his hand back to the forest where smoke rose from the village of Hollyheln. "-was the worst of it?"

"It's the worst that has to happen to us." Luke said.

"To us? To us?" Isaac shook his head. "Do you only think of yourself? What about humanity? What about all of the innocents who will suffer for your selfishness?"

Isaac took William and stood him in front, like displaying a mannequin wearing a fine raiment. "William is the answer, he is what's going to turn the tide. He is our weapon. To go hide in the hills the rest of your life is to shame yourself-"

"-I think we should keep moving." William interrupted.

With a pause, Isaac spoke.

"Very well." He said, dropping the subject as they continued on.