Kaiser had checked into the inn Hektor told him to stay at. It wasn’t too hard to find. Daylight still broke over the Feldman mountains. It illuminated the way in orange warm light. Now, darkness reign over Barbush. But, Kaiser was calm and warm inside the inn. It was only five silvions per night.

A key was given to Kaiser to access his lodging. It was on the second floor of the inn. He was a bit apprehensive about staying in the place, especially with the flimsy craftsmanship of Barbush, but the inn proved to have some rigidity after all. Kaiser’s room was wide enough to take several steps to the right or left, front and back, and that was all. There was a one-person bed facing the window which looked out to the rest of the town. Its view managed to encompass the town square as well. Kaiser could have sworn he saw shadowy figures moving in the square after the darkness settled in. He just couldn’t shake the uneasiness he got from everything, so he left the inn for the town square.

Faldo had already lit some of the lamps in the square. Kaiser thought that he must be further down the way. Kaiser followed the trail of lit lamps for quite some time until he eventually reached the outside of town. A snake of lights illuminated the dark road to the Barbush forest. A figure moved in the dark. Kaiser quickly caught up with the man who, indeed, was Faldo. The lamplighter put down his light stick and waved at Kaiser. The two continued to walk as they went on, Faldo stopping for a few seconds here and there to re-light any dimmed lamps.

“How goes it?” Asked Faldo.

“Not too good.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“I can’t sleep. . . This town—that Glascanian lieutenant general, that Drauxian lieutenant—I swear I’ve met them before. But, I’m not so sure. It had to have been during the war, but I’m just not sure.”

“A Drauxian lieutenant you say? I talked to him for a little, and he told me his name was Branko.”

“I caught that. It’s just, I’ve met a man with that name—a soldier, someone as tall as this one, with the same scarred face. I can’t imagine he’s the same man I met during the war, but it still seems plausible he survived. . . Did he ever mention the village of Terminus?”

“Not at all, sir.”

Before the two knew it, they had walked into the entrance of the Barbush forest. The lack of lamps and the natural darkness of the place made the night’s darkness pitch the whole place black. To an outside viewer, it would have looked like Faldo and Kaiser just disappeared into the place, though Faldo carried a lamp of his own in his free hand. It was a small thing. The light it gave off had a radius wide enough to illuminate the path but not bright enough to light up the deeper thickets to their sides.

Kaiser and Faldo stopped dead, quitting their conversation a few meters into the forest. Faldo lit the lamps where they were as they stared off into the distant plains. A small figure moved towards them quickly. Kaiser gripped his revolver tightly in his coat pocket. Faldo held his light stick tight.

“What is it?” Kaiser asked. “Can you make anything out?”

“Not at all, sir.”

The figure moved with surprising quickness. It had gone from being just a speck in the distance to being just outside the forest entrance. Over the distant hills, a white light pierced through the darkness. It moved even quicker than the small figure who was now close enough for Kaiser and Faldo to see that it had to have been a child.

The light that pierced through the darkness charged across the plains. The sounds of a motor broke the night silence. The child-sized figure ran through the forest entrance, right by Kaiser and Faldo, and obscured itself in one of the thickets.

The vehicle had pulled up to the forest. The path as well as Kaiser and Faldo were painted in its light. Kaiser could now see that it was a military car with red and white lines painted on its front—the mark of Draux.

Faldo turned to where the child had hid and noticed that a faint yellow light could be seen from within the thicket. He whispered, “Close your eyes,” making sure to not stare at whoever it was.

The figure closed its eyes. It was not completely obscured. Faldo’s lamp was too weak to pierce through the thicket’s wall of darkness, and the figure had made sure to hide outside the radius of the lamps Faldo had lit. But, the lights of the vehicle were powerful enough so that one could make out that there was a person hiding there.

Kaiser stared down at his left hand. There it was—the true markings of a man of the clerical order—one who had forsaken the peaceful and passive natures of the original priestly order of the Church of Wiegraf. A prayer circle was carved there, on his hand, and inscribed in it the sermon for flame. In Kaiser’s right hand now was a small silver rosary. He gripped onto it tight.

The command word was uttered twice by Kaiser, “Fire,” and immediately after, a flickering flame formed inside the two headlights of the military vehicle.

The sound of something shattering rocked through the air as both the lights went out. There were two soldiers inside the car. They began to move wildly and remove their seatbelts. They barged out the doors to their sides and inspected the broken lights.

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“What the hell? Are you sure this thing’s up to code?” One of them asked.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you consult the engineer?”

“Are you mocking me?”

“Not at all, just don’t blame me. We checked everything before leaving and it was working just fine.”

“Ugh. . . This’ll cause a few headaches.”

The two soldiers walked through the forest entrance and now stood face-to-face with Kaiser and Faldo.

“Citizens: have you seen someone run through here? They were short, a dwarf of a man, and they had luminescent eyes.”

Faldo stood behind Kaiser. It was too late to hide, but he wanted to make sure the soldiers saw as little of his face as possible. It didn’t work so well as Faldo was a whole head taller than Kaiser, so he just looked more awkward.

“Not at all,” answered Kaiser.

“Terrible,” one of the soldiers said as they asked Faldo if he could light the lamps along the path to help them traverse it better.

“The lamps down the rest of the path are out of oil. The ones here are dim. Sirs, you must forgive me; I haven’t checked how much oil they had. And, I forgot my canister. I only have my lighter stick.”

“Oh, that’s it?” The second soldier stepped up. “Well, don’t sweat it. We’ve got some oil ourselves. Someone just forgot to bring the backup lamps,” he said, nudging the first who stood there stone-faced while letting out a sigh of disappointment.

“There’s no need for that, sirs,” Faldo said as he got a bit closer to the pair. “Err—by the—what might be your names? I ask only to give you more courtesy.”

“Steen,” the stone-faced soldier answered.

“And you can call me Ros,” the second one answered. “Now, how about that lamp oil?”

“Sirs Steen and Ros, I’m afraid I haven’t been entirely honest with you. . .” Faldo blurted out before Ros could begin to walk away. “I’m. . . from the east coast, past the Feldman mountains.”

“I fail to see how this is unflattering for you,” Ros answered plainly.

“So? I’ve heard there were a few communities that developed there during the war—mostly Draux who went there for the neutrality aspect of its residence.”

“Indeed. There’s no shame in fleeing from the war. We would have done the same if we were quicker to the draw.”

Kaiser sought their attention now as well. He was curious as to who the man in the thicket was. He knew the Draux wouldn’t just pursue them for no reason, especially so far close to the end of their post-war territory. “Did you know I’m from the clerical order? The Church of the Messiah of White, or, the Church of Wiegraf for more sane folks, split and formed that sect. They wanted you Drauxian to stop weaponizing the worshippers and priests. So, here I stand. Would you seek any conflict with me for that? I heard you consider the clerical order to be heretical, treasonous even.”

Steen spoke bluntly. “We don’t care. Leave it up to the commandment or the king to prosecute your order. We just came out here to finish the assignment.”

“Assignment? You mean to spy on me, right?” Kaiser asked.

Faldo hesitated to continue talking, but he mustered the courage to go along with Kaiser’s plan. He couldn’t bog down his curiosity either of who the man in the thicket was. “You would spy on me as well, just for my Zett’yrian descent?”

Kaiser turned to Faldo, wide-eyed. He realized that was what Faldo meant when referring to his ‘origin’.

“Yes, indeed! You fellows would target this innocent lamplighter for his blood, yes?”

Ros had an expression of bewilderment. Steen’s expression didn’t change, but he began to breathe more heavily out of his nostrils.

“What do you take us for? Murderers? Protestants? Let me make it clear: We’re only here to catch the rascal that got out of our hands. And, for clarification, I personally hold no ill will towards the Zetts.”

“Have you no respect? You sling accusations and insults at us with every sentence you two speak. Be glad we are not here to enforce any martial law.”

“Let’s calm ourselves,” Ros said. “We’ve no reason to fight like this. Come, Steen. Let’s leave.”

Steen snorted and nodded his head. They hurried back to the vehicle and spoke to each other inside about what happened. Ros acknowledged there really was no use in driving through the forest. The border between Glascaign and Draux was near the other side. Ros knew that Glascaign wouldn’t enjoy news of a Drauxian military vehicle driving through its border under the cover of night. Perhaps they could go on foot, but they knew Faldo would never agree to lend them his lamp. It truly was a dead end. The pair turned around and drove off.

Faldo turned to Kaiser. “Was that. . .”

“Indeed it was. What? There’s nothing heretical about it. Just like I said, the church’s clerical order allows its members most of the freedoms restricted by the priestly order.”

“So it really was magic? You destroyed their headlights using that flame prayer? Is it like the one that was drawn on those houses at Barbush?”

“Oh, this?” Kaiser showed Faldo the palm of his hand. He examined the markings. The circle and the verse carved into the circle on Kaiser’s palm were indeed the same ones carved on Barbush’s rickety houses. But, in the center of the circle—flanked to the left by a cross and flanked to the right by an inverse cross—was the word Kaiser spoke when the flames were conjured: Fire. “That word in the center’s the real reason those circles back at Barbush are harmless. They’ve been given no command word, so whoever carved them wouldn’t be able to start a fire even if they wanted to.”

“I see. . .”

“I was taught to use a silver rosary as the final conduit to the miracle. If you ever try to use one yourself, make sure you have one of these,” Kaiser said, taking the rosary out of his coat pocket. He dangled it in front of Faldo. “All you have to do is aim it in the direction you want the effect to happen. Or, where the prayer circle was carved if it wasn’t on your hands.”

“Why are you telling me this, sir?”

“Well, I’m nearly out of silvions. Spent a few renting that room at the inn. I thought it’s the least I could do for you helping me like that. Sorry for not telling you this sooner as well. You could say it was a journey coming from where I was in Glascaign all the way to Draux.”

“It’s fine, sir.”

“Call me Kaiser. I don’t really think I deserve the formality. Besides, it’s not a title befitting a cleric, us rowdy bunch, right?”

“Perhaps. . . But, you hold no ill intent towards me for my Zett’yrii heritage, right? I’ve told few about it. My elders told me to just tell whoever I came across I was of Drauxian descent. The blood of the early Zett’yrii enclaves. . . it flows through me.”

“Really? It’s certainly interesting. I’d have never thought you were Zett’yrii, Faldo. But, I’ve got no reason to hate you. The blood in your veins doesn’t offend me in the slightest. You help me, I help you. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

“I suppose. . . But, what about the man in the thicket?”

Kaiser and Faldo turned their attention to where the small man had hid. They had opened their bright yellow eyes once again, but they weren’t the eyes of a human. The eyes were like a cat’s.

“Now, what about him?” Kaiser extended his arm out. The little man touched it.