Chapter 20

The siege of the mining town of Dria, Eastern Realm, Andor.

Ragnar enlarged the breach in the blockade enough that the soldiers of the Vanguard could enter side-by-side and fan out engaging the defenders. Arrows flew, thick as swamp mosquitoes, into the opening in an attempt to slow the onrush of attackers, but were failing miserably. Lord Ragnar held the second rank in check as the first rank pushed further forward into the defenders.

"My Paladin, an opportunity presents itself," Nightbringer announced. "Our enemy is close and vulnerable."

"Where?" Ragnar mentally replied, holding his hand up in preparation of sending the next wave forward.

"To the north and west of here," Nightbringer replied. "Take 15 of your best."

Ragnar turned over the control of the assault to another and pointed out fifteen of his men to attend him. When the chosen gathered about he had Nightbringer shift them to the location of the 'opportunity'.

The party had settled down around a small campfire and were making small conversation. Dunin had drawn first watch and was outside of the campfire making his rounds; checking on the horses, and keeping a watch for trouble. Tristan and Anastasia were sitting by the fire when Tristan stood and said he was going to check on Dunin.

"Tristan, I know you said that you did not have one specific master during your training but I have to say that I find your style very familiar," Anna pushed, again. "Do you not agree that our styles are similar?"

"It is funny that you bring that up, again because I have been thinking on that very same subject," Tristan replied, turning toward her and smiling. "Ask me again some time."

Tristan turned and continued his previous desire to check on Dunin when he started to get a very bad feeling. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and a shiver went down his spine. The feelings of foreboding were so strong they were almost palpable. He knew that feeling! They were in danger! He quickly turned back around and called out.

"Graydon! I am getting a very bad..."

Tristan's words died in his throat as a gleaming blade burst from his chest. He feebly grabbed for the blade with both hands as blood welled from his mouth. His body arched forward rigidly before he dropped to his knees and pitched over sideways. Anastasia let out a piercing scream and jumped to her feet.

The rest of the adventurers had little time to react as black-leather armored men streamed into the campsite brandishing swords. Anastasia quickly drew her sword and engaged two of the attackers, while Graydon and Brother William quickly drew their weapons and jumped to either side of Anastasia. Beriwen summoned her staff and drew her rapier and turned to protect their flanks.

Dunin heard the commotion and quickly returned to the camp, coming from the opposite direction of the attackers. He quickly passed by Beriwen and added his sword to the fight. When no attackers followed behind Dunin Beriwen turned and engaged the closest invader. Graydon quickly engaged two attackers that were coming out of the darkness to Anastasia's right.

"My Paladin! Beware!" Lightbringer mentally announced.

Graydon quickly looked around and saw a knight, encased in black plate and holding a long sword engulfed in crimson flames step forward. The knight wore a helm fashioned in the shape of a dragon and a cloak attached to his shoulders which was the same color as the flames on the sword. The black knight pointed a finger at Tristan's crumpled form and a beam of crimson light engulfed the body.

"Arise and do your master's bidding!" the knight commanded.

Beriwen gasped in astonishment, while Anastasia gasped in horror, as Tristan's body, slowly and jerkily rose to his feet and drew his sword. He turned to where Anastasia was fighting and she could see his eyes glowing in crimson light. She screamed in horror as Tristan advanced and began swinging his sword. His movements initially were slow and disjointed, but he quickly gained speed and momentum as he advanced on his former companions.

"We finally meet, paladin," the knight called out, turning toward Graydon, and raising his sword in salute. "I am called Ragnar. Prepare yourself."

The Black Knight moved incredibly quickly for one encased in plate armor, and swung his long sword at Graydon's head. Only the quick reaction of bringing Lightbringer up kept Graydon from losing his head. Lightbringer crashed against Nightbringer, causing both swords to howl in rage. Graydon slid left and back swinging Lightbringer at the knight's torso. Ragnar dropped Nightbringer's tip and raised his hand, blocking the swing. Graydon quickly stepped back and stabbed at Ragnar's midsection. Ragnar quickly pivoted his torso away from the sword but still caught a glancing blow from the plunge attack. Lightbringer's tip pierced the adamantine armor and Ragnar's side. The wound was through and through but missed any vital organs. Graydon had drawn first blood!

Dunin and Brother William were busy keeping Anastasia's flanks cleared while she threw herself into the fight, trying to avoid attacking Tristan directly. Her mind was numb, the tracks of tears staining both sides of her face, as she fought with wild abandon. Even in her crazed state, her training showed through, as she battled the men responsible for Tristan's death.

Brother William was the first to actually go down during the battle. The dead, but animated Tristan perfectly parried Brother William's swing with a buckler and followed up with a riposte, driving his sword deep into Brother William's chest and piercing his heart. Anastasia watched Brother William fall out of the corner of her eye. She quickly stabbed the attacker to her left as he was withdrawing his sword from William's body. The attacker fell and immediately another took his position. They began to press Anastasia and Dunin backward toward Beriwen. Graydon was holding his own to their left, keeping Lord Ragnar from obtaining any advantage.

Anastasia was fighting with near recklessness, and that loss of composure would eventually be her undoing, well, that coupled with the horror of what happened to Tristan, both his death and his reanimation. Instead of staying next to Dunin and using their positions to protect each other's flanks, she moved forward toward the attackers exposing not only her side to counter-attack, but Dunin's as well.

Anastasia had just put an attacker down when Tristan engaged her. She paused for only a heartbeat in shock, but it was time enough for Tristan's thrust attack to strike true. She took the sword deep into her right side as she tried to turn into the thrust. She staggered back and was attacked on the opposite side by one of the knight's men. Her death scream was cut short as the second attacker withdrew his sword and swung it overhead, lopping off her head which flew through the air end over end until finally landing some ten feet away. Anastasia's dead body fell to the ground.

"Dunin! Get back!" Beriwen screamed as she dropped her rapier and stamped her staff to the ground summoning her stone. "By stone and staff, I summon the guardians of the forest to my aid!"

Anastasia's death scream caused Graydon to look her way and Ragnar used the distraction to his advantage. A quick, powerful thrust drove Nightbringer into Graydon's chest hilt deep.

"Himith!" Ragnar screamed in triumph.

Graydon looked down at the sword hilt in surprise and dropped to his knees as crimson flames arose all around him.

"I am sorry, Lightbringer," Graydon mentally sent to his sword just before he died.

Lightbringer fell from the lifeless grip of his wielder as Graydon's corpse keeled over to the left and landed on the ground with a thud. Ragnar withdrew Nightbringer as the body fell and turned toward Beriwen and Dunin. He did not pause to watch the Runesword shimmer and vanish.

Dunin backed up to where Beriwen was standing near the fire and kept Kalaban straight out and brandished it back and forth. His left arm hung useless at his side, the result of a mistimed dagger parry. The shirt ripped open at the wound site, blood staining the shirt red.

Roots, vines, and suckers began to grow from the ground as the roar of savage beasts could be heard in the distance. The plant life wrapped around the attackers, taking them to the ground as the vines tightened, killing them. Two large brown bears entered the clearing and took up positions on either side of Beriwen and Dunin.

"I am not here for you, Witch," Ragnar called out as he brought Nightbringer up in mock salute. "Do not cause me to change my plans."

"Be gone, foul thing and take your minions with you," Beriwen commanded as an emerald light appeared around her and Dunin.

"Undo your sorcery, Necromancer, and let our friend go in peace," Dunin added angrily.

"Watch your tone, mortal," Ragnar replied and stepped forward, the Runesword he held bursting with crimson flames. "Before I remove your tongue."

A beam of emerald light shot out from the stone striking Ragnar in the chest, knocking him back. The bears roared a challenge and pawed the ground. Ragnar picked himself up and sheathed his sword.

"That was unwise, Witch," Ragnar declared drawing Eldritch.

"My Paladin, it is time to return," Nightbringer explained. "We have done what we came here to do."

"It is fortunate for you that I am needed elsewhere," Ragnar commented. "The next time we meet you will not be so lucky."

Ragnar brought his sword up and swept it back as he laughed, mockingly. Then the black knight and his retinue vanished. Graydon saw the body of his friend drop to the ground, like a puppet who has had its strings cut. Beriwen looked around at the bodies of her friends and gently wept...

Noooooooo...

Karith's lair, Dragon Tooth Mountains, Andor.

The swirling portal dissipated after Aaron had jumped to his feet screaming in anger and anguish. Karith quickly followed and place a reassuring hand on his shoulder and radiated peace and calmness through the bond they shared.

"Why, Reg? Why?" Aaron asked, whirling to where his friend was standing. "You lied! You said that she would live a long life! You said that all would be well!"

"I never lied, old friend. I tell you now as I told you then, that her timeline was in flux. Events have caused that timeline to diverge onto a new path. The path you just saw."

"Reg, why did TimeKeeper take up the telling of the story?" Karith asked.

"Because, all that I have shared was the past, what TimeKeeper showed was the present and a possible future."

"So, they are not dead?" Aaron asked hopefully. "That was a possibility, no more?"

"No, Herald, I showed you the here and now," TimeKeeper spoke, startling everyone in the room, save perhaps Aaron and Reg. "You interrupted the showing before is shifted to the future."

"So, what? It is unchangeable?" Aaron replied. "You are TimeKeeper, you have the ability to change events."

"But not the authority, Herald," TimeKeeper replied and would speak no more on the subject.

"What do we do?" Karith asked, after Aaron and Reg tried to get more information out of the Runesword.

"We need to determine who is creating the divergent paths in Time," Reg replied. "If we do that then we can perhaps shift Time back to its correct path."

"And save Anastasia," Aaron added.

"Possibly," Reg nodded in agreement.

"The future is always in flux," Melvina added. "But, it would take something or someone very powerful to cause this many shifts. And we still need to know the why."

"The why I believe I know," Aaron replied. "I believe I am the why, or my possible actions are the why."

"What do you mean?" Karith asked.

"I believe I am being manipulated to react a certain way. To cause a certain event, or not cause it."

"That is not good," Reg replied with a smile. "I know how fond you are of being controlled like some puppet."

"Yes, and it is sorely trying my patience," Aaron declared.

"Patience, Aaron, really?" Reg interrupted Aaron, asking him incredulously. "Of all the attributes I could ascribe to you, patience would not be counted amongst them. As a matter of fact, if you were to look in Lord Webster's tomb of words and their meanings you would find your portrait next to several words that mean the complete opposite of patience."

"Reg, you were wrong earlier when you said that you thought that DeathBringer saw itself as Death's champion," Aaron declared, ignoring the good natured barb.

"What do you mean?" Reg asked in reply.

"Death, like Time, and Balance as well, are constants," Aaron explained. "They have no counter, no ying to their yang. There is no omnipotent being representing them."

"I can maybe understand Time and Balance, but does not Death have Life?" Karith asked.

"No, Beloved, that relationship exists in Creation and Destruction," Aaron replied. "I have discussed this at length with Caledor, who agrees with me, Life is contained within Death, they are one in the same. Everything else could fall away and there would still be Time, Death, and the universe trying to find Balance."

"Then who was that in the inn from Karith's story?" Reg asked, and then went on to explain the reference to Melvina and the children. "Aaron had a visitation that awoke Caledor, I was under the impression that it was Balance."

"No, I thought so at first," Aaron replied. "I have an idea as to who it was but I would like to keep it to myself for now. But I believe Caledor was awakened for a specific reason."

"What reason, Father?" Manarn asked.

"Someone saw events beginning to spiral out of control and knew that I would need Caledor's full abilities."

"Someone? Hmm," Melvina added, cryptically.

"So what do we do now?" Reg asked, while eyeing his beloved intently.

"Now, we go to war! I am done being on the sidelines!" Aaron declared, and then drew Caledor. "But first there is something I must do. Caledor, can you slay a Goyle?"

"No, My Lord, as you already suspected," Caledor replied audibly in response to the question. "There are many gods that I can be put to my blade, but the abstracts are not on that list. There is only one that has that power."

"Yes, but how do I wield DeathBringer and you?"

"I am not a normal Runesword and you are much more than a normal wielder, My Lord. Have faith that there is a solution."

"All right, that is not really an answer but I believe I understand. Let me ask you another question; can you summon DeathBringer's stone?"

"No, My Lord, you must visit the 'Hall of kings'", Caledor replied. "Only DeathBringer may seed a stone."

"I thought so," Aaron replied. "That puts me in an awkward situation."

"Can you not just summon DeathBringer like you did in France?" Reg asked.

"I do not think so," Aaron replied, shaking his head. "I believe I will need the unique relationship offered from sword and wielder. That will require DeathBringer's stone, which is in the Hall of Kings, which is in the catacombs below the palace in Cumbra."

"Why is that awkward?" Melvina asked.

"Because I am not quite ready to face all that I have to face upon my return to Tarra," Aaron explained cryptically.

"He is not ready to face Dana," Karith added.

"Who is Dana, Mother?" Elswith asked.

"Your Aunt. No, that is not quite correct. Hmm, she is ... Well, your father had two mates and she is the other one, although now, not really."

"Huh?" Manarn asked, confused.

"Never mind for now, children," Aaron interrupted. "Your mother and I will explain it later."

"There is another entrance to the Hall," Melvina revealed. "There is a constant one in Dao's forge."

"Can you give me its location?" Aaron asked.

"Us, Beloved," Karith added, smiling sweetly, with just a trace of fire in her eyes. "'Can you give us the location', because if you think you are going alone then you are sadly mistaken."

"No, I cannot reveal its location, but I can take you there. All of you."

"We are going on an outing, Manarn!" Elswith interrupted. "A family outing."

"I guess we all are going," Aaron added with a chuckle. "Reg?"

"Count me in. As long as it is all right. Mel?"

"Yes, I am sure it will not matter," Melvina replied with a smile. "Gather around and I will shift us there."

Everyone complied with Melvina's request and she drew Eldritch and shifted them to the small island that she and her brothers grew up on.

A small uninhabited island in the archipelago chain south of Re-An, Andor.

The group appeared in a large clearing with a small pool of water off to one side and a small hut on the opposite side of the clearing. The pool was at the base of a small waterfall, with a pathway leading up the cliff toward the source of the water. Wild rose bushes with different colored roses dotted the entire clearing, with several varieties climbing the side of the cottage.

"I know that hut," Aaron proclaimed in astonishment. "That very same hut was on a small hillside on Tarra. "I met Dao there."

"Are you sure?" Karith asked.

"If he met Dao there then he is correct," Melvina replied, and pointed toward the pool of water. "This is my home, or at least my home as a small child. Aaron your path starts there; a journey you must make alone. We will wait for you in the cottage, where we will be having tea and biscuits. Hurry along."

Aaron nodded, kissed Karith, waved to the children, and started up the path toward the cliff face.

Melvina invited everyone else inside and as they entered they marveled at the interior size as compared to the exterior. Sitting at a small table was a short man, dressed in a tan garment that looked like a tunic sewn onto trousers, with a built in belt and a long vertical flap running from crotch to neck. The elderly looking man was drinking from a tea cup.

The main room of the cabin was large and separated into several areas. The old man was sitting at what they assumed was the dining table, while the kitchen was off to the right. Over to the left was a sitting area and a small fireplace with a nice little fire going. There were three other doors off of this great room that were all closed.

"It is so nice to have visitors," he stood, beckoning everyone in. "Dear Melvina, it has been too long, and Master Reginald, you are looking well. Please, introduce me to your companions."