Chapter Two: In another land, far away from him in both mind and body was the girl that would plague his heart, save his soul, and damn his fate.

The girl lay in the sunlight. Golden rays of warmth cascaded around on to her face, and she smiled a contented smile with her eyes closed. Gentle thoughts of the morning and of the evening rolled through her mind. She lay here on this green earth and could almost feel the grass growing around her. It’s life teaming around her, cushioning her with its energy and soothing her soul. If she had stood up and opened her eyes she would have beheld a view of beauty and majesty that rivaled almost any in the known world. She lay next to the edge of a cliff that toward thousands of feet above a calm lake. If she had but opened her eyes and looked she would have seen a rosy sun setting upon waters of deep purple and light emerald color. Around the lake, framing it against the world, were tall oak trees reaching up to the heavens set upon rolling hills. Of course, if she had opened her eyes, she might also have seen the twelve men with hungry eyes that approached her. She might have seen the lust that burnt in those eyes and the saunter of confident animals as they came upon their prey. The sad part of this story is that even if she had opened her eyes and seen the men as they came for her, the outcome still would have been the same.

She smelled them before she heard them. The wind changed suddenly, and the pungent smell of sweat and blood mixed with bad ale filled her nose. She sat up with a start only to suddenly be pushed to the ground in shock and surprise. She didn’t even have time to scream for the guards that she thought were just a few lengths away. Even if she had been able to scream for them, it wouldn’t have mattered, because they laid died from the poisoned food they had brought. Her mind was still trying to grapple with what was happening when her clothes began to get ripped off, and as her vision started to blur from the lack of oxygen she felt the first hands start to grope her. Her mind was a blind white streak of panic at this point. And then it all went black.

It was the sound of metal clashing with metal that brought her suddenly awake. Strikes of swords, shields, mixed with grunts of surprise and pain sounded. Her memory of what had happened and what was happening was fast becoming a blur in her mind. When she was finally able to focus on what was going on around her, it was over. She saw the bodies of her guards laying without a mark on them thirty lengths away. The men that had attacked her were laying in pieces all around. She couldn’t even count how many men covered the ground around her. She couldn’t count them, not because she was still flustered but because there were so many body parts lying around that she couldn’t visually piece them into whole ones. The one lone man was methodically walking around sliding his knife home into each of the already still corpses. Her body was trembling as he approached her, and her breath was catching in her chest. The first thing that caught her attention as she watched him approach was his knives. His knives were about the length of her arms. One was a straight blade that held a serrated edge on one side and on the other hooks curving into the holder. Some detached part of the girl’s mind remembered that was a hunter’s knife, used for gutting large animals that refused to die. The second was a folded steel blade with patterns that seemed to waver and dance in the air: slightly curved, and a hand longer than the other blade- together it was a deadly seeming combination. They seemed to dance in the air together, one a cloud of death and silk, the other a cold piece of reality and steel. The tension and panic building in her mind was just beginning to overwhelm her as he spoke.

“Are you OK?” his voice was soft and immediately began to calm her. Something about his voice soothed her like nothing she would have believed. What was this? she wondered in some detracted part of her mind. His eyes were something else too, they seemed to engulf her, sliding velvet hooks into the recesses of her soul. What was happening? Eyes the color of black midnight stared at her and everything seemed blazed into seeming clarity.

“Thank You” she whispered. Why did it take so much effort for her to speak? The shock and the panic of what had just happened seemed to drain her of all her energy. Her body felt limp and weak. The last thing that she saw before she fainted again were his eyes, and the last thing that she heard was him whispering into her ear.

“Ssshh, it’s OK, I’ll get you back safely.” He looked at the beauty that he held in his arms as she passed out. He could see it in her eyes when the spell took hold. It was a small spell, one that was insidious in its nature. Much like a spider built its web, one strand at a time before the whole was complete. Eventually, it was strong enough to hold anything caught in it.

When he was sure that his spell was placed and she was unconscious, he let her go. Her body slumped to the ground as he got up. Stupid bitch, he thought to himself, that was almost too easy. He went around all the bodies and made sure that each of the pockets and pouches on the men didn’t have any of the silver that he had paid them. Of course, those fools had bought some decent horses with the money he had given them, he thought as he moved over to where their horses were tethered in a thicket near to where all the bodies laid. Loose threads always bothered him, now he was going to have to make sure that the evidence that connected these roughnecks with a sudden rise in income to a darker higher force namely himself, and that meant erasing some perfectly good livestock. He hated when he had to waste perfectly good livestock……he hated to waste anything. He cleared his mind for a moment and sent a string of calming energy towards each of the animals. Then he sent a second string of energy towards the more expensive ones, this second one erupted the proud animals into blue flames and then black ash in a matter of seconds. The other animals barely had time to snort in surprise before their companions were gone. The next step was to change the origin of these Bedouins tribesmen. As he went up to each of the murdered men he took the powder from one of the many leather sacks at his side and placed the dried dust ink onto each of the men’s hands, rubbing in the ink to form stains onto each of the man’s fingers. From another sack on his side, he rubbed in the red stain around the rims of their boots. Now instead of being from the edge of the desert to the east, they were from the southern lowlands. He had to do something about their swords of course, it just wouldn’t do to make this a simple mystery for those certain to be asking questions. With a moment’s bit of concentration and another few seconds of life- he pulled curved blades into the longer rapier style used in the cities in the distant East. He chuckled to himself darkly, as he anticipated what they would be thinking when they would come back to here. “They” being the family and servants of the soon to be rescued Maid of Light. He almost gagged as he thought of that damned sisterhood and its aged meddling representative. This little wasp of a girl would soon be taking the current Maid’s position place at least. He would be glad when the knife finally slid home into that old cow. Then the problem would be having to put up the nagging girl while he seduced her, but he was getting ahead of himself. Right now, he needed to make sure the small details were covered to set the stage for his next performance. With a sigh he looked back over at the prone body of the young bitch. At least she was his type, he thought- tall, strong features, eyes the color of sapphires, skin that reminded him of ivory, and of course that stubborn will to match the beauty. It was nice to know that he would be breaking that will and destroying those features. That made things so much better. As he was finished cleaning the scene of any clues and had filled it with false leads he was ready to begin the next step of his plan, taking the young soon to be slut back to her family. He picked her up from the ground and strapped her down on her gelding. Then he took the leather reins and tied them to his horse, mounted up, and started heading towards the castle to the south.

A guard on duty saw the dust rising from a rider while it was still a good distance out. Wondering what a rider would have coming in at that pace, he signaled from his position in the guard tower to the gate of the approaching rider. The gate signaled back letting him know that whoever was on shift had received and understood. The man at the tower was a cantankerous aged sergeant that the Captain of the Watch knew to be a good man if a bit of a stickler for the rules. So, a few minutes after the rider had come in, The Captain from his seat, was a bit surprised when he saw the signal from the guard tower for the Honor Guard to assemble and meet whoever it was that had arrived at the gate. He was so quick at starting the signal to the palace that he almost missed the last part of the message’s flickering lights. Have a medic ready, the daughter was wounded and coming. He felt the blood drain from his face at what those lights were saying. He steadied his arms and started to send the message that would soon have the whole city in an uproar.

The guard at the gate reacted much like the supposed rescuer anticipated that he would. As he rode up to the gate, the two guards at the outer gate lowered their spears and ordered him to halt. He got closer and called out, putting just the right pitch of panic into his voice.

“Help me, I’ve got a woman who has been ambushed about six leagues out of the Great Woods”, he said. The two guards exchanged looks, and while one went to look at the woman tied to the second horse and the first, obviously the senior, kept his eyes and spear on the stranger.

“Sergeant, I think that you should look at this”, the soldier said after a moment. The Sergeant went over to the second horse, keeping his distance from the rider. As he looked at the horse’s passenger, it took him a second to realize what he was seeing. The expected Dawn Maiden laid strapped to dark gelding like so much grain, with blood staining her dress. A quick look towards the stranger showed him resting with his hands on the horn of his saddle, watching the scene with concern. The Sergeant’s suspicions still remained but were slightly reduced by the young man before him.

“We need to get her to the physician at the palace as fast as possible. Take Croyl here with you as an escort, the four other guardsmen will be behind you. Take the main road in and follow it to the palace. Croyl will get you inside quickly, acting as a herald. Do you understand?”

The man’s face blanched white at the words that were coming from the Sergeant.

“The palace? Why can’t I just take her to a hospice?” he stuttered.

“Gods live man, this is the Dawn Maiden- get her to the palace, Now,” some of the urgency in the Sergeant’s voice must have instilled itself into the stranger because he straightened his back and nodded understanding. With a quick nod to the Sergeant, he looked to the other guard who was already running to one of the horses tethered at the guard tower by the gate. With a few words from him, the other guards were running for their horses as well. The stranger started his canter up the main road towards the glittering silver palace set on the elevated ground of the city. The Sergeant watched as the stranger picked up to a gallop as he followed the quickly forming entourage of the guard. He sent a silent prayer up to the gods that the strange rider and his escort would make it to the palace in time to give the maiden aid.

Croyl leads the stranger through the city, making it to the palace in almost unheard-of time. He felt like he was going to faint when he arrived at the palace, he had been shouting so much at the people to get out of the way. As it was as he could barely explain what was happening to the Captain of the Honor Guard who awaited him at the palace gate entrance, luckily, he didn’t have to explain that well. The Dawn Maiden strapped to a horse covered in blood was enough of an explanation for all parties concerned. As the soldiers quickly untied the maiden from the horse, the stranger slid off his horse and rushed towards the person that had the largest plume on his helmet.

“Sir- the Sergeant at the city gates sent me here. He said something about a dawn maiden and that I needed to get her here as fast as possible” the young stranger spoke in a quick rush.

A young-looking Captain, who looked like his world was ending (possibly his career) just nodded at the stranger that appeared with the bloodied body of the beloved princess.

“Quick- get her to the Medici!!” he ordered his men as they scrambled to get her to the ground and render rough aid.

“Send a runner, let them know that she is coming. Joan- head to the Chamberlain and let him know so that the Majesties may be informed.”

Two different soldiers sprinted off in two different directions, each running at a mad sprint. The stranger watched them both leave out of the corner of his eye as he pretended concern over what he had started. "

"Sir, Sir! Is there anything that I can do?” the stranger asked with a voice full of concern. The Captain wrested his gaze from the still, barely breathing body of the princess. "

"Wait here, I am sure that there will be some questions for you to answer. One of my men will stay with you.” He replied as he tapped one of his men and pointing at the stranger as he answered. The young guard nodded and took up a spot a few paces away from the stranger. The Captain hesitated as he turned away, "

"On second thought, and in thanks, private, take him to one of the guest rooms so that he can prepare himself.” The private saluted the captain and gestured to the stranger to follow him."

"As they began to walk away, “Stranger, what is your name? That’s going to be one of the first things asked of me when I report this to the royal family….” The stranger turned to the Captain, as if in surprise- "

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Diedric, Diedric of the Lower Vale Sir” the stranger replied with an earnestness that allied the Captain's quiet suspicions.” "

“Well, Diedric, don’t venture too far. Regardless of how this goes, there will be both questions and depending on your answers, rewards, or something else.” He quietly told Diedric.

Diedric blanched, “But Sir…”

The Captain cut him off,

“None of that now, leave us as we try and figure out what is wrong with the Maiden. You’ll be dealt with afterward.” Diedric nodded and turned to the awaiting private. As they were walking away, a half robed young man came rushing out.

Llwyln rushed out from palace down the stairs to where the horseman were gathered in a semi-circle around the prone form of the future of the kingdom. He barely registered the guard and stranger as they walked away. His concentration focused on a young girl. “What happened?” was his rapid question to the Captain.

“She just arrived, Medici- She was brought in as she was, with no noticeable injury. I fear it might be a head injury of some sort because we can’t find a mechanism of injury” replied the Captain.

Llwyln nodded to him, noting the Captain’s use of medical terminology. At least something was paying off he thought to himself.

“OK, give me a moment” he responded and proceeded to clear his mind. With his hands hovering over the princess, he slowly started to make his way across her, attempting to find out what, if anything, was wrong with her. No massive hemorrhaging apparent, breathing is steady, if a little shallow. Possible shock, not likely. The Medici continued downward and across, stopping at her wrists- pulse strong, steady, slightly elevated from normal. Finally, he returned to the head, no dents, cliff step damage, no J-spine apparent, something…. The Medici stopped, puzzled at what he was seeing inside of her skull. It was almost like a speck of dust floating around. It didn’t appear to be damaging any of the tissue inside, and so he moved on to continue to his remedial checks across and through the body. Finally, he finished with a sigh.

“Captain, take her to her rooms and ensure that there is someone monitoring her while she sleeps. As far as I can tell, she’s fine but has undergone some sort of severe stress. Maybe it might be something as simple as heat exhaustion, but from the blood on her clothes and the complete lack of her guard, I would wager that something else has transpired. Who was the stranger that was walking away when I arrived?”

The Captain was so relieved by the Medici’s assessment, he almost missed the question at the end. “Oh, Sir, he was the one that brought her in. He was alone, except for the princess. I have had him escorted to a holding room until we can figure at what happened and for future questioning” he quickly replied.

“Good, I ll go inform His and Her Majesties of what has occurred, and I would inform our guest that he can expect to be questioned shortly.

#

“Sir, you would have me believe that you just conveniently came upon a half dozen brigands and then dispatched them, single-handily mind you before they could escape with my daughter. That you were then able to get her safely away, from what was an obvious trap that had to have been facilitated by someone within my own palace. Where else and who else could anyone have gotten the information that she was going to be there? Then you bring her here, expecting no reward or recognition, to just depart with the rising sun?” King Rojilnar grumbled sarcastically, his voice echoing in the deathly silent chambers.

Diedric looked around nervously as if seeking an ally in the assembled personage. “Ah, no your Majesty, I mean Highness... well, actually, um I mean yes. I am much better with a sword than I am with words, and well, I just saw the cliff and thought that it would be a nice place to rest, but I don’t know anyone in here, so I couldn’t now that the princess was there, and ...” he trailed off nervously as he realized that he had been rambling, his eyes finally stopping at the feet of the King. The in the room weighed heavily for a moment, to then be broken by the chuckling of the old King.

“Fair enough boy, fair enough. I don’t just judge a man by his words, or his actions- words can lie, and actions may misspeak the truth. While in this world a lot of things can be fabricated, you I think- are not. Of course, it does help, that while we have been waiting for this questioning, my men have been gathering as much information as they can prior to you speaking. Not only does what they found to support all that you have said, but they have also added details that you could not have known. These robbers that you stopped were disguised soldiers from SaXXXX, a long time enemy of this kingdom. We were able to match their arrival with a ship that had docked at our port in a daughter city. While there are a few other details, none of them matter for you at this point” the King finished.

“Your Highness?” the nervous man asked.

“With your effort to recover and aid us, with no thought of your own, the kingdom offers you its thanks. While some might consider that enough, I am a more practical man....” A quiet chuckle interrupted the King as he spoke. “My Queen, is there anything that you would like to add?” he asked sourly, at having his magnanimous statement interrupted.

“Oh, no- your Highness, you’re doing just fine, maybe, and I just suggest of course. Perhaps we let him rest after being kept detained, under guard, with no knowledge of what fate awaits him for the past couple of days. Might I add, after saving our daughter from several armed and dangerous men?” The Queen replied graciously and with a small amount of amusement.

After maintaining his gruff, and as he thought it, a royal facade for the past several hours the King shrugged and appeared to take off his mental mantle of authority. “Alright, Elizabeth, I’ll take it easy on him.” Turning to the obviously nervous youth in front of him, the King began again. “Diedric, thank you for your explanation on the sequence of events. We will adjoin for the rest of the evening. There are matters that I must attend to. The Medici reports that our daughter is resting comfortably now with no obvious lasting effects on her ordeal. If you would and at our behest, please remain for a few days until her full recovery”. King Rojilnar said the last with more than a hint of command.

“Um...Yes, Your Highness?” Diedric replied.

“Good, I am sure that we have a room somewhere in this place for you. Chamberlain, if you would see to our now, official, guest.” The King said, speaking to a middle-aged man standing a few feet from the throne.

“Of course your Highness, Mr. Diedric, if you will follow me?” The distinguished-looking man, dressed in loose-fitting Gray doublet bowed to the King and began to walk away. He stopped beside the boy who still was facing the King. “Slight bow, say thanks, and let’s proceed,” he said quietly to the boy as the Monarchs watched on with barely concealed amusement.

“Oh,” the young man started. “Your Highness, thank you”, with an awkward bow, he turned and followed the Chamberlain out of the gathering hall.

After he had departed, the King looked at his Queen with a sad expression. “You know what this means?” he asked her quietly. She leaned over from where she sat and laid her hand on his.

“Yes.” Was all she replied.

In a louder voice, and with more command, “ Alright, what else do we have?” and with that, the gathered royals and personage began the deliberations for war.

#

Chamberlain Del-go assessed the young man as he escorted him to his arranged quarters. He noticed the leather of the boots, cut of the fabric, and the way that he strode across the floor, down the hall. Officially, his job was to oversee the court’s business and it’s guests. He scheduled events, meetings, task while at the same time ensure those special visitor’s of the kingdom were met with the exact degree of polite modicum to ensure all walked away from their visit or meeting, thinking that they were both respected and valued, or not- as the meeting needed to go as directed by the King. Del had been in service to the king and his queen for almost 15 years now and never regretted it for a moment. His father before him had been an Adjutant for a neighboring Duke when he had been recruited, by the then newly crown King. One of the things that had attracted the King to Del had he suspected, was his unique attention to detail, well at least the memory of it.

While that sounded unusual, Del thought to himself, it was the memory and recall that supported the attention to detail. His was absolute. Events, people, and the experiences were all quickly locked into this brain indefinitely. While it wasn’t all pillows and roses, it came with the benefit of being able to provide his king and queen with the unique asset to recall any meeting or any person that visited court. It was this Talent, that had allowed him to serve for the past 15 years successfully. It was also this talent that was now causing him a little bit of a headache with the new visitor. After he had first seen, then observed him over the past couple of days, more and more some things just didn’t make sense to the Chamberlain, but he couldn’t place his finger on it. It was with these doubts that he had approached King Rojilnar while the young man had been kept in restricted quarters.

He had felt foolish when he approached the King, having never done so in such a manner- with so few reasons or justifications. Del had tried to explain it to the King, but with nothing to really explain he had felt like a fool. However, the King being who he was had listened to Del. When he had finished the King had simply nodded. As he stared out the window, the king seemed to wrestle with something inside of himself, “Watch him Del, the Histories are starting to tell their story, and we must be ready. I don’t know what character he plays in the telling. While it might be a minor role, it might not be. Regardless, my girl is to be a prominent force in what comes.” He smiled wistfully to himself, “ Well, at least I hope that she does”. Del nodded to himself in memory of the King at that moment. He had seemed almost sad at the time as if he had known something that he himself had not...

As they arrived at the chambers, Del stopped shorted and gestured to the heavy wooden doors. “These will be your rooms for the near future. I will be back in a few hours to escort you to dinner. Is there anything else that I can assist with” Del asked formerly.

“Um, well, sorry...” the young man stuttered. “I don’t know how to to address you Sir”

Del nodded. “I understand that things are a little confusing right now. The Royals have decided to keep you here for a bit while things settle down and assuming everything that you told them is true, then you will be just fine. Honestly, my goodman, you’ve done something great for this kingdom. One of the benefits of doing so, means that this kingdom owes you one. So calm down, and take a moment. Please, you may address me as, Chamberlain when we are in public, but here and while you stay here, it is just Jon. If that is to formal for you, then please, Sir will be just fine”.

Diedric appeared to calm down as the Chamberlain spoke, and took a breath as he finished. “Thank you sir, Jon. I guess everything is just overwhelming for me. Do I need to wear something special for tonight, because I didn’t bring anything with me, and what do I need to do at this dinner, what is ...” Diedric appeared to realize that he was rambling again, and stopped speaking suddenly.

Jon nodded his understanding. “Listen I will have someone stop by in about an hour. Take that time to look in the closets, you'll find that there are multiple options. Eat a little bit of the food, drink some of the water- stay away from the wine”. He said the last part sternly. “After that, someone will go through the dinner plan and a rough idea of how to act with you and make sure that you are prepared for some of the likely situations. I’ll be watching you during dinner, and if you have some questions just look at me, I have been doing this for a while now and will be able to help. OK?”

Diedric didn’t say anything this time, he just nodded his appreciation and glanced nervously at the heavy wooden doors in front of him. “Yes, Sir”. Diedric replied staring at the doors in front of them. Jon watched him and waited until the silence became awkward.

“Go ahead inside, again, I’ll have someone here in a couple of hours” with that Jon pushed Diedric into the room and shut the doors behind him.

Diedric on the other side of the doors waiting to hear the annoying Chamberlain leave. Once he heard the soft tread of boots depart, he glanced around the room. As he walked around the room, he sneered at the supposed high quality of blankets, woods, furniture, and everything else in the room in the room. He figured that there was at least one sight hole somewhere around the room, and he didn’t know who would be watching yet. Gently, he sent out a web of life. An invisible, fragile web of his energy that cost barely anything to cast. It spread across the room, covering all of the various surfaces like a thin layer of dust. While at the time of casting, would have been immediately noticeable to another gifted person, after a couple of hours it would be undetectable. Diedric stood in the center of the room, watching as his magic settled. His thoughts already moving on to his next series of tasks.

After he was done with his initial casting, Diedric began moving around the room, looking at all of the various accouterments. A large, expansive bed lay in the center of the room, with a washtub and lavatory in an adjacent section. In the corner was an overly embellished, expansive wardrobe. Inside appeared to be various clothing that looked like they would fit him fairly well.

“No expense spared,” he thought sarcastically to himself as he continued to survey the room in silence. This soft kingdom, so long away from the real world was about to receive a rude awaking. Here, trapped by their dreams and legends of returning Librarians, they would burn and they would die he thought to himself, silently laughing madly to himself.