Eventually Ryance made it back home. Weary from his journey, he wasn’t thinking clearly when he followed the familiar path back to Cesorpha’s house. More than needing sleep, he wanted to assure himself that she was still safe, not considering that he was probably the largest threat there could be to her right now. But his harrowing experience had left his perspective in tatters. Shivering from the chill of the night, Ryance knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” called Cesorpha’s familiar voice from the upstairs window. The sound of it alone was enough to give him some small measure of cheer.
“It’s Ryance.”
“Come in; I’m upstairs.” Ryance let himself inside; doors were rarely locked by the people of the town. Not only did they have guards patrolling at all hours, but most people were so dedicated to the way of life that there was very little crime. And, even if people had been inclined to attack others, or steal from them, most adults in the city were well able to defend themselves, magically, physically, or both. The entire society had been built on that premise. But Ryance wasn’t thinking about those things as he climbed the stairs to Cesorpha’s room, a route he had taken many times in the past. Politely he knocked on her bedroom door and then stepped inside; the knock was just a formality, a habit. When he entered the room, Cesorpha turned to him with a happy expression on her face. It soon turned to a look of concern.
“Ryance! What happened? Where is your armor?” She stood up from the vanity she had been sitting at, preparing herself for bed, and rushed towards him. “You’re shivering…” She reached to touch him, but he pulled back. At first Ceorpha looked confused, then hurt. It had been a long time since he had pulled away from her touch.
“That’s not important right now,” Ryance said quickly, not wanting to see that expression any longer on Cesorpha’s face. “Vynera’s awake! One of her minions ambushed me and stole me away. I was taken to her lair, where I lost almost everything, including the medallion you gave me, which I mourn the loss of,” Ryance said, sincere in his regret. “Something happened to me there that will be hard for me to explain…” Ryance was about to say more, but a startled scream from Cesorpha interrupted him. She was pointing to the large, round mirror of her vanity, in which she was reflected, but Ryance was not, despite their proximity. Hands shaking, she snatched a candle off her table, and held it closer to Ryance, whose eyes narrowed reflexively. There was no shadow cast behind him.
“What has she done to you!” Badly startled by these signs of evil, Cesorpha dropped her candle. It hit the floor, sputtering and dying, leaving the room in darkness.
“I’ve fallen victim to a powerful spell; she wants to use me in her plans. I… I shouldn’t have come back here.”
Unfortunately, at that point, several men rushed into the room; a patrol had heard the startled scream. Seeing the shape of an intruder, but unable to discern his features, they grabbed Ryance by the arms and started to haul him away. He tried to reason with them, but they wouldn’t hear of it, and he was so weary that he couldn’t put up much resistance. So many people, so close, was pulling at his resolve, but even if he had decided to act against them, he was too weak, and they were too many. It was almost a relief when he was hauled off to jail, and left in a cell. Silently he berated himself for his carelessness. What had he been thinking, going to Cesorpha’s house, like a thief in the night.
“We’ll decide what to do with you later. Ryance would have liked to deal with you himself, but he’s not here right now,” came a male voice from just outside of Ryance’s line of sight. He was sure he recognized the voice, but hearing his own name evoked in such a way sent a tremor of anger through him.
“I am Ryance,” he said, moving up to grasp the bars of the cell. There was a soft hiss as a match was being struck, followed by the crackle of a torch being lit with it. The cell was flooded with orange light as the speaker moved closer. Ryance recognized him immediately: it was Cesorpha’s brother Klarn. He put his torch closer to Ryance’s face. A look of surprise came to his own features. It was soon replaced by a cold, glaring frown and a sound of disgust as he realized that the torch cast no shadow behind the prisoner.
“You’ve lost your humanity, but even so, I can’t believe you’d be so low as to come back to prey on your former fiance,” he growled, fist tightening around the torch. According to legends, only creatures of great evil lost their shadows: creatures so evil that light itself forsook them.
“No; that’s all wrong! I didn’t come back to hurt her,” Ryance said, his voice rising loudly in his ears, partially because it wasn’t on his mind when he returned, and partially because he feared his own temptations. “Vynera did this to me; she’s back! I returned home to warn everyone; it was just habit to visit your sister first…” Something he was deeply regretting. He let go of the bars, pacing away from them, though the cell didn’t offer much room.
“Sorry, Ryance, it doesn’t look so good,” Klarn said, shaking his head sadly. He had been angry when he had thought his sister was attacked, and when he thought it was Ryance attacking her, he was even more incensed. But the way Ryance was speaking to him right now, he didn’t sound like a mindless monster, or even someone possessed to the point of madness.
“I understand. You’ve always looked out for Cesorpha; I wouldn’t have respected you if you hadn’t,” Ryance said, running his fingers through his hair in agitation. “What happens next?”
“I don’t know, my friend. If it was up to me, I’d let you out right now, but then I’d have the Council on my back. Our society depends on obedience, and before this, you would have been the first one to agree that you have to stay in there until a decision is made,” Klarn said ruefully. He never would have expected to have this conversation. Ryance was known as one of the most stalwart defenders of the old traditions. His family had long been staunch supporters of Solumina’s mission, unswayed by the more recent influx of people from Ivelcour.
“Empty words,” Ryance said grimly. “But I appreciate the sentiment. You don’t owe me anything since I’ve taken on such a form, but you need to tell the Council that Vynera is back.” He felt his voice couldn’t stress this point enough.
“Of course I’ll tell them that,” Klarn agreed easily enough. Unfortunately, convincing the Council that Vynera was back would be easy compared to convincing them to let Ryance out of his cell. There was no way of telling what Ryance might do, what he might be capable of. No one in living memory had ever come across a vampire; all they had were stories and myths, though they were much more popular on the other side of the mountains. Klarn was only a minor member of the Council, so his words carried very little weight. All he could do was inform them and wait for their judgment. “For now I must check on my sister to make sure that she is okay; she must have gotten quite the fright.”
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“Revealing Vynera’s presence is the most important thing; nothing else matters so much. And, of course you must go see her, for I cannot.”
“Agreed, but, hang in there. I will be back later tonight, if there is time.” Klarn wished that he could offer some sort of reassurance to his friend. Since he couldn’t, he said nothing on the matter; he didn’t wish to offer false hope. Ryance simply turned away from his friend and sat in the corner. Feeling that he wouldn’t get much more out of Ryance, Klarn left him there. When he was far enough away, he leaned against a nearby building, running his hand over his face. The whole situation was a mess. But, at least, his sister was safe. He had been in such a hurry to interrogate her assailant that he didn’t check on her. Now he wished had hadn’t been so hasty.
Composing himself, he turned down the lane that would lead to his sister’s home. He knocked on the door, and heard Cesorpha’s muffled voice coming from inside. Quietly he stepped inside. His sister was in her parlor, pacing back and forth in agitation. Seeing her brother, she ran to him, resting a head on his shoulder, while he awkwardly patted her back. He knew the evening must have been difficult for her, but he couldn’t know how much she knew; Ryance had said nothing about the matter. In hindsight, he should have asked more questions about their interaction, but it was too late now.
“What happened?” Cesorpha finally asked, her voice shaking.
“I’m not sure what Ryance has already told you, but, when we heard you scream we came rushing in. It was dark, so we didn’t realize who was here with you. Maybe we acted too fast, but if he had been here to attack you, then waiting would have been dangerous.” Klarn felt he needed to defend his actions.
“Where is he now?”
“He’s in the cells. We can’t let him out without agreement from the Council,” Klarn said hesitantly.
“What crime was he charged with? I let him in, and the rest was a misunderstanding.”
“It’s not that simple. You saw the signs, right? No shadow? Probably no reflection.” Klarn was half asking, half pointing out what Cesorpha must have noticed.
“Yes…I saw. That’s why I screamed in the first place,” Cesorpha admits, ashamed. If only she had kept her composure, then maybe Ryance wouldn’t have been hauled off in shame. Klarn rubbed soothing circles into his sister’s back.
“There, there. You must have been so frightened,” he said gently. “Ryance will understand, and if he doesn’t, then we’ve both underestimated him. Just get some sleep for tonight; you aren’t going to help anyone if you worry yourself into exhaustion. It’s not what Ryance would want for you.”
“I’ll try.” Cesorpha doubted that she would be able to sleep, but she knew her brother spoke the truth. Losing sleep wouldn’t help, or change, anything. And, if she did sleep, it would be a few hours that she wouldn’t be reminded of the shock she had received. Klarn kissed her on the forehead and then left to return to his own home.
In the morning, the Council convened to discuss Ryance’s fate. Klarn’s hope for a positive resolution was nearly dashed when he saw one figure in particular sitting in a seat already. Lord Larxer was the man who had sent Ryance on the trip in the first place, and it was a non-secret that he had never liked Ryance, going back for many years. More recently, his ire had increased; it was a less well known secret that he coveted Cesorpha for himself. Unfortunately, what he lacked in brawn, he made up for in being an excellent speaker. It was a foregone conclusion that he would speak out against Ryance given the chance.
“Morning Lord Larxer,” Klarn said with forced politeness as he passed him on the way to his own seat.
“Morning, Klarn. I’ve heard a disturbing rumor of late; I don’t suppose there’s any truth to it, hm?”
Klarn was saved the trouble of responding by the start of the meeting, and he sank gratefully into his seat. Larxer’s face had been a stern mask, but his eyes betrayed him; Klarn could see the anticipation behind them. The beginning of the meeting started in the standard way, with a calling of the attendance, a few announcements from the previous meeting, and the usual formalities. The events of last night had changed the schedule of the meeting slightly, and Klarn was quickly called upon to speak.
“Last night was a large misunderstanding. Ryance returned home with news of Vynera’s awakening, but he stopped to visit Cesorpha first. When she got startled, and screamed, the patrol nearby entered her house and took him away. He’s still in prison, waiting the Council’s decision on whether to release him or not. While he has not committed any crimes, the fact that he has been altered by Vynera is a cause for some concern, so the relevant details will be presented now.” Klarn took a deep breath. “Based on the evidence, and backed up by his own accounts, Ryance has been turned into a vampire, entirely against his will. Since he incurred this transformation under the orders of this Council, it is my suggestion that he be released. Speaking with him, he seems to have his wits and his memories in tact.”
“Ah, but how do you know he’s not tricking us? This could all be a ploy to get easy victims. Can we really trust him?” pointed out Larxer smoothly. Klarn was sure he’d say something to that effect, but it didn’t make him any less dismayed to hear it. Especially since his point wasn’t without some merit.
“He’s one of us,” Klarn responded staunchly, not only in defense of his friend, but of the training that all knights went through. Knights had always been venerated in Solumina, from the very beginning, while dedicated orators and statesmen, like Larxer, were only more recently seen as valuable in their own rights.
“That may be true, but you wouldn’t want him to marry your sister now, would you?” Larxer was correct on that account, and Klarn hated him for it. It didn’t matter that he believed in Ryance, there was no way he could let him marry Cesorpha now. And the fact that Larxer was willing to play that card only made Klarn feel a helpless anger, one he wasn’t free to express.
“I guess not,” he agreed with great reluctance, “but we can’t abandon him. We’re his people.”
“And the fact that he is a vampire?”
“What about it?”
“We all know that a vampire’s source of sustenance is human blood. Surely he can’t starve, but then again, he can’t feed off of us either. That’s where the problem lies.”
“Are you proposing we kill him?” Klarn was hoping to take refuge in the extreme, but it didn’t even make Lord Larxer flinch.
“Yes.” The simple answer held no apology, no room to misinterpret it.
“That goes against everything we stand for; we protect others! Ryance hasn’t done anything wrong.” Even those who had negative sentiments against the Council, or Solumina in general, were not imprisoned for long. The most extreme punishment, with a few rare exceptions, was being forcefully escorted over the mountains to the nearest settlement in Ivelcour.
“Yet.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Calm down Klarn,” Lord Larxer said, as though the lesser Council member was fretting over something small and insignificant. “I’m simply pointing out that to him, we’re food. If he sees us that way, we’ll have to take action against him. We must be careful, after all. Would anyone here like to find a family member with puncture marks in their neck? I think not.”
Mumbles of agreement rippled through the council. Certainly, none of them wanted to go through that experience; everyone had family of some kind, and a threat to them was not to be taken lightly. However, not everyone was convinced that Ryance would so easily fall into his baser instincts. He had been a very respected member of the city, and few doubted his dedication or abilities. But, without any living experience with vampires, no one could be sure how likely it was, or wasn’t, for him to attack one of them. The subject was uncomfortable, and it left a lot of the Council indecisive and turbulent. Only Klarn and Larxer seemed fixed in their positions. Finally the leader of the Council, Gesslent, called things to order.
“This matter is a heavy one, and we don’t make our decision lightly. However, some things cannot be reversed, so we are landing our judgment on the side of leniency. We’ll let him stay until he makes a move against us. When that happens, we’ll make the appropriate sanctions. Klarn, you may let him out this evening and give him the warning,” Gesslent said. “In the meantime, we will make the situation known to the public; knowledge will be their shield.” Larxer was not happy, but only the slightest narrowing of his eyes betrayed this. Relieved, Klarn nodded and returned home.