Chapter Ten- Eternity and Infinity Are In These Hands
Soleil and Ralthas sat in Archcleric Marshall's office, contemplating their next move with him. The day had turned to evening, and the sun waved slowly waved good bye to them as it disappeared below the horizon.
"What is your next move, Soleil?" asked Marshall.
"Myself, Vex, and Ralthas, if he decides he still wishes to accompany us, will ride to Darimar." answered Soleil. "There, we will request Queen Silviana's assistance in repelling the Empire at Arimathea."
"The Empire comes here? To Mystara?" asked Marshall, the concern clearly apparent in his face.
"Yes, Archcleric." replied Ralthas. "Somehow, they figured out where we sailed to from Alrischa and followed us here."
"The Emperor intends to send his Praetorian Elites here with his finest General to wipe me out." interjected Soleil. "No doubt he'll want our new Brothers' heads as well."
"How long do we have?" asked Marshall.
"Three weeks for their squire to sail home, three weeks to sail an army back to Arimathea. So six weeks, plus time to select and prepare his forces." answered Ralthas with confidence in his eyes. "What should we do, Soleil?"
"The three of us, and three men of your choosing, shall ride north to Darimar. With your permission Archcleric, I would like the remainder of the men to stay here at the temple to learn the ways of Heironeous. These are very talented and disciplined men, they just need to understand why we do what we do." replied Soleil.
"It would be my pleasure, Soleil." said Marshall.
"I'll have Althalos, Marek, and Letholdus join us." said Ralthas as he stood and headed for the door. "The rest will stay here with Jema."
"They will be well taken care of, Brother Ralthas. Soleil, see Cleric Marcus at the stables. Take as many horses as you require." instructed Marshall.
"Our thanks, Archcleric." said Soleil as he bowed in appreciation.
The next morning the six of them, Soleil, Vex, Ralthas, Althalos, Marek, and Letholdus stopped at the northern city gate to check that they had obtained all that was needed for their trek up the Tyrenese Road.
While the others were fooling about with their equipment, Soleil snapped out a spyglass as Ralthas rode up beside him.
"See anything?" Ralthas asked.
"Just land, land, and more land. It'll probably take us a week or so to make it to Darimar." said Soleil as he pointed down to a mar sprawled across his lap. "The road before us is this road here. It'll take us all the way to Darimar. There aren't any settlements along the way that I can remember, so make sure the lads have plenty of rations and such."
"We made sure to get plenty of extras just to be safe. Actually, to be truthful, we just wanted them." laughed Ralthas.
Soleil echoed his laugh and took the moment to feel the sun bathing his smile in warmth. He hadn't felt this peaceful in years, and he was relishing the opportunity.
"I'm going to have you lead the way for today, I'd like to stay back and reflect on matters. I haven't been though here without being in a rush in quite some time."
"No problem. I kind of forgot that this is your homeland."
"Sometimes, I do too." said Soleil under his breath. "Let's move out, the miles won't travel themselves."
They set out along the Tyrenese Road and slowly racked up the miles. Soleil had been mostly silent for the majority of the trip, only making smalltalk with Vex every so often.
"Master Soleil?" said Althalos as he dropped back to join him.
"I suppose I should make something clear." laughed Soleil. "Though I carry the title of 'Master', you really don't need to address me as such. If you must call me by anything other than 'Soleil', 'Brother Soleil' will do just fine. But no need for formalities out here on the road."
"Ok, Soleil." said Althalos, echoing Soleil's laugh. "Do you think we can defeat the Empire?"
"Well, as it stands, we're a force of twenty-three men and one transport class ship. The Empire holds a force of one hundred thousand soldiers."
"So, we can't do it."
"Now that's not what I'm implying at all, Althalos. We may not be able to defeat their armies in combat, but with our cunning and intellect, we could hatch a plan to destroy them at the very top."
"The Emperor."
"Exactly. If we could somehow infiltrate the Emperor's keep and do so without attracting attention, we could kill the heart of the beast without spilling a single Brother's blood."
"We do have the ninja woman."
"Ninja?"
"That's what the boys have taken to calling her. You know, after the old legends of silent, invisible warriors who hid in the night?"
"The Emperor must die by my blade."
"Aye?"
"Aye. He systematically destroyed my Brothers and my home. He killed thousands of women and children, let alone men. Pandora was a city of a quarter million, and so far as I know, myself, His Excellency Treize, and his family are the only ones who made it out alive."
"Gods…How could someone do such a thing?"
"Power does odd things to a man, Althalos. The Emperor's pursuit of total power and control has twisted his mind. Anyways, I wouldn't trouble yourself with that. It's a long way off yet. So how did you meet Ralthas?"
"I was on the prisoner ship from Aerameth that Ralthas and the boys sacked."
"A prisoner, eh? What'd you do?"
"When I was a boy, no older than eleven, I killed an Imperial soldier."
"Why'd you do it?"
"He raped and murdered my mother. I sat in an Imperial prison for ten years before they finally put me on that boat. I was up for execution in the capital, but then the Veritas showed up. That was about a year ago now."
"Twenty-two, huh? About the same age as myself. How'd you do it?"
"Do what, Sol?"
"Kill the soldier. How'd you kill him?"
"I caught him trying to do the same to my sister after he had put my mother down, and I snuck up behind him. I cut his Achilles, mounted him after he had fallen to his back, and wrapped my hands around his throat."
"Strong lad."
"Seeing your mother raped and killed gives you strength beyond that of the gods. Anyways, I stared him in the eyes as his breath gave out, so that the last thing he would ever see is the innocence he stole from me."
"You're still an innocent, Althalos. Heironeous would've blessed your kill."
"Think so?"
"I know so. I see no evil in your heart. Anyways, enough talk of the past. Enjoy the here and now! How long has it been since you've seen a forest like this?"
"I can't remember, to be truthful." laughed Althalos.
Althalos watched Soleil as he rode ahead of him, his twin swords twinkling in the pristine sunlight. He had always felt at home being led by Ralthas, but this man was different. He almost seemed to radiate divinity, as though he was just destined to be a leader. All things considered, maybe he was. Althalos, though, knew that he would follow him wherever he led him, even if that meant his own grave.
"So why exactly are we going to this Darimar place, Soleil?" asked Letholdus.
"Well, initially the plan was just to show Vex the city that I'm from and see if we could find any tips on where we could find what she's looking for." answered Soleil. "But now, considering what transpired in Arimathea and the threat the Emperor made, we will ask Queen Silviana for the aid of her armies."
The group had finally stopped for the night after a seemingly endless day of riding. They sat around a small campfire in the woods, some cleaning their weapons, others just relaxing with a small bit of food.
"To my knowledge, Darimar, nor any of the Kingdoms of Mystara, has seen combat in decades." added Ralthas.
"The Kingdoms have been too busy rebuilding themselves since the Citadel War to have any kind of animosity towards one another, and the north isn't exactly a resource rich continent, so other kingdoms haven't paid them much attention. If anything, it'll be a good exercise in defense of a city, which always helps." said Soleil.
Ralthas stood up quickly, his eyes dilating in the dark.
"I felt it too." acknowledged Soleil.
He drew Infinity, his shining shortsword, and after he quickly dampened its ring they all crept off into the night. They finally came to a small clearing by the river and a voice startled them.
"I was hoping you all would come along." said the voice.
Letholdus flinted a torch to life and the clearing filled with light, revealing the man the voice had belonged to. He was a large man, clad in fur and leather armor, blonde hair flowing down around his shoulders. In his grip, he held Vex.
"Come on, Vex, of all people…" said Soleil.
"They got the jump on me, Sol. There was nothing I could do." she replied.
The 'they' she had referred to stepped out from the bushes, and before they knew it, they were surrounded by the lackeys of the large man before them.
"I really like those swords of yours, whelp." said the man. "Toss it over and I won't slit her throat now."
Soleil heard the slinging of an arrow behind him, and turned to see Marek with an arrow readied, trained to the forehead of the man.
"If you loose that arrow, I'll kill you myself, Marek." said Soleil urgently.
Soleil threw Infinity towards the stranger underhandedly, the tip lodging in the cold northern ground.
"What's your name, friend?" asked Soleil as he did.
"Why, my name is Odin, after the Norse God of Asgard!" he proclaimed loudly.
"Great, a giant named for a God." said Ralthas under his breath.
"If I hear one more word from you, whelp, I'll cut your tongue out along with hers." said Odin.
"Nobody wants that, Odin. What do you want from us?" said Soleil.
"Everything. Your armor, your weapons, your horses, and anything else of value. And if you refuse, all of you will be smashed under my boot like the…"
Odin was interrupted by a rock hitting him square in the face. He stumbled backwards, and as he did, Soleil grabbed Vex's wrist and tore her from his foe's grip.
Odin recovered quickly, and charged at Soleil, battle-axe in hand. Soleil drew Eternity with just enough time to get into a guard stance, and nearly collapsed as Odin's axe crashed down and met his blade. Before Soleil could regain his balance, the giant's fist rained down upon his face and knocked him to his back. When his vision had returned, he saw the blade of a massive axe rocketing towards him. Soleil quickly rolled to the side and up to his feet. As Odin composed himself, he was met with Soleil's sidekick to the chest and sent reeling. With a mighty roar, Soleil drug his sword across the dirt ever so slightly as he began a massive upstrike. When he connected, he wasn't met with a spray of blood and a scream, but instead, his blade glided effortlessly threw the body of Odin, and his foe turned to ash in a blur of light.
Everyone stood in silent awe of what they had just seen. Luckily, amid the commotion, his comrades had gotten the upper hands on Odin's, and they each held their respective blades to their throats.
"What should we do with this lot, Soleil?" asked Ralthas as he wrestled one of the assailants back to their knees.
"What do you think we should do with them, Brothers?" asked Soleil.
"I say we drip-dry 'em, while we have the chance, Sol." answered Althalos.
"You." said Soleil as he pointed towards one of the bandits. "Are there any more of you about these lands?"
"Aye." said the man as he squirmed and whined. "We are a detachment of a group of bandits based in Darimar."
"How convenient. There isn't an ounce of good in any of these men, Ralthas." said Soleil. "Kill them."
"Was that the right thing to do, Sol?" asked Vex.
Vex and Soleil sat alone together by the remnants of the night's fire, as the others had retired for the night.
"They were evil men, Vex. It had to be done." he answered.
"But wouldn't it have been merciful to let them live? Let them go?"
"To what cost? If we would've let them go, they would've robbed more innocent people, and gods forbid, killed more innocent people."
"I see your point. Thank you for saving me, Soleil. No telling what they had intended to do."
"Regardless of intention, you're safe now. we all are."
Vex leaned over and kissed Soleil on the cheek as she stood.
"I'm turning in for the night, Sol. Try to get some rest, ok?"
"I will, Vex. Sweet dreams."
Vex smiled as she disappeared into her tent. Soleil leaned back and rested his head on the log he was previously leaning on and closed his eyes.
He almost lost Vex, and that troubled him.