The One
Chapter Nine, Plans
"Kill everyone." Charles commanded.
The walking dead standing in front of him saluted and turned to a group of people huddled together in a circle surrounded by the rest of Charles' troops. The people looked with fearful eyes at the strange men whom had charged into their small village and torched it to the ground, killing many of the villagers as they slept. Now the small few who had survived had just been sentenced to death.
"Mama, I'm scared." A small child cried to her mother.
The mother stroked her child's furry head hugged her close. She was afraid as well. Her golden eyes scanned the men approaching again and she saw death with a face. She blinked back angry tears of injustice and hatred and tried to calm herself, for her child's sake. She could smell rot coming off of the soldiers who had attacked them but could not find any source of decay. Her lips curled back across her snout and she growled deep in her throat.
"Bastards. All of them." She whispered angrily to herself. "Those fucking bastards."
Her people had been a peaceful tribe of Lupus Wolfs. They had never harmed anyone expect for their livestock when they killed them for meat. And now, in a single day they were to be wiped out completely. The she-wolf clenched her hands and growled deeper.
"Maranda! Calm down. Do not anger them." An ancient looking wolf whispered to her.
"No. I will not calm down. We are dead anyway." Maranda said with malice in her voice. "I will at least take a few of them with me."
Maranda stepped in front of her child and stood up straight. She towered over the advancing soldiers by at least two feet. She glared at them with pure hatred and yelled, "You will pay!"
She felt the Change over coming her and welcomed it. She felt her fur growing rapidly and her fangs and talons enlarging. Her clothes began to rip as her muscles increased rapidly and her height began to increase. The other villagers stared in wonder and fear. They had not seen the Change take one of their own in many generations. It was just simply not needed for their lifestyle.
Maranda's Change completed and the Dark Moon ran with her. Her child shrank back and whimpered, but her mother was too far into the Change to hear anything but the sounds of her enemies. The undead soldiers continued to advance with no hesitation and Maranda charged them. She smashed into the closest one, a human, and flung him to the ground. Talons slashing she ripped apart his chest and pounded his face with her huge fists. She leapt to another human warrior and ripped his head from his shoulders. The body fell to the ground and began to rapidly rot away to nothing. Maranda ran to the next soldier, a winged warrior and slashed out with her talons. Her opponent leapt back and thrust his spear towards her, catching her high in the shoulder. Maranda howled in rage and ripped the spear out of the winged warriors' grasp. Maranda grasped the spear and pulled it out of her shoulder, throwing it casually aside. She grabbed the warrior by his head and lifted him high into the air. As she was about to crush his head between her hands she felt the annoying sting of blades being thrust into her back. She flung the winged man aside and swept at the soldiers attacking her. She managed to decapitate two others and sever another's arm before a sword pierced her heart. She fell with a loud thud and lay still. The soldiers turned back to the remaining Wolfs and advanced. The few children were crying loudly and the adults gaped at what they had just witnessed. No one could move. Terror had weaken their limbs and frozen their minds.
"Stubborn fools." Charles said as he watched his soldiers advance on the helpless Lupus. "They will make excellent soldiers." He swung his back on them and walked away to let his soldiers do their work.
Night was approaching when a young boy began to move along the horizon. The boy saw what looked like many lights shining in the village.
'Strange. They usually don't turn the lanterns on until deep night.' The young boy thought to himself. As he moved closer he saw the flames licking angrily through the center of the village. "Oh Gods no!" he yelled.
The boy sprinted the rest of the way, his wolf-like legs carrying him like wings. As he neared closer he saw the pile of bodies lying in undignified heaps. He felt tears of grief and rage well up to the surface but pushed them down. He had to see if his family was alive.
As he stopped by the bodies he felt bile rise up his throat at the ghastly scene before him. Elderly people, women, children, and a few men-wolf lay with their stomachs spilt and their heads gone. Some were missing limbs and others were torn in half. He bent over suddenly and vomited. The tears that he had earlier kept down rushed to the top, racking his body with sobs and dry heaves.
"Mother…sister…No." he whispered to himself. He continued to kneel with his hands on the ground in front of him and panted loudly. "Who could have…"
"The Rulers forces no doubt." Said a voice from behind him.
The boy whipped his head around in fear. He saw a figure standing in the shadows of one of the few untouched huts. His ears lowered against his scalp and his lips pulled back, the youth growled as terror raced through his body.
"What? Ashamed of your work!? Have to stand in the shadows so the dead won't scream at you for stealing their lives?!" the youth screamed at the figure. "I'll kill you!"
"Don't be foolish boy." The unknown person said with a calm voice. "I can see you shaking from here. You are in no condition to make threats to a rabbit let alone a person." The person stepped into the light. "Look into my eyes, boy and tell me if you think I'm a killer."
The stranger was a tall woman with closely cropped black hair. She wore a simple leather tunic tailored to her feminine figure and a pair of leather riding pants. At her side was a long sword with a hilt made out of what appeared to be ivory. She also wore leather riding boots and clasped to her left foot was a short dagger. Her face was slightly angular and gave off a look of wild beauty.
The youth stared into her eyes and studied the milky white circles. He realized that she was blind.
"Well? Do I pass?" the blind woman asked.
"Who…who are you?" the wolf youth asked.
"Call me Dedra. And you would be?" Dedra asked.
"Mik." He answered.
"Well Mik. I'm am truly sorry about what happened here, but I am afraid we'll have to be going." She said as she gestured to her jet-black horse waiting some feet away.
The initial shock of the woman wore off and Mik cried out "But we can't! I can't just leave here without looking for my family or any other people still alive. And even if they are dead, I can't just leave them lying here!"
"Foolish child! They are simple husks of skin now. The souls have fled this diseased world for the next. Burying them only wastes the time we may have to escape without dying or selves." Dedra said, her face dark.
Mik stared at her in shock and tears began to well up in his eyes again. Dedra heard him choking down the sobs that were coming and her face softened. 'Foolish woman more like it. The boy has just lost his village.' She chided herself mentally. "Mik. Come with me. I am truly sorry for what happened here, but there is nothing you can do to change it."
Mik looked at Dedra for a moment longer and wiped his hand across his eyes. He stood up on still shaky legs and began to walk over to the strange woman. She looked at him with compassion and understanding. She had been five when her village had been raided. But she had survived, and now she knew that she had come here to help the wolf-child survive.
Dedra made a clicking noise in her mouth and said "Here Steel-Dust."
The gray stallion walked over to Dedra and paused a few feet away from her. It snorted and stomped its feet softly. Mik looked at Dedra in confusion.
"Why does it not like me?" he asked, sniffing the air as well.
"His name is Steel-Dust and he smells the Lupus. To him, you smell similar to a wolf." Dedra explained, moving beside her mount and stroking his sides. She whispered a few gentle words to the horse and it calmed down almost at once. "He will get used to you. Come here."
Mik walked warily towards the horse and slowly placed his hand against its flank. The horse snorted softly but remained somewhat calm. It smelled wolf coming off of the person petting it, but its master seemed unconcerned so it remained where it stood.
"See, already used to you." Dedra said with false cheerfulness.
"Nice horse…" Mik said before collapsing to the ground.
Dedra rushed to his side and felt for a pulse on his neck. She sighed with relief. He had just fainted. If it was from exhaustion or from what had just happened to his village, she didn't know. All she knew was that she had to get him out of the area.
***************
"The Lupus Wolfs are dead." Charles said to the wavering image in front of him.
"Good. The beasts could have posed a problem." The image said.
"What about the Elns?" Charles asked.
"The Elns are cowards who have been conquered or killed. The Wolfs are beasts to be used or destroyed. The barbarians in the Northern Lands are warring amongst themselves. This planet is ours." The image said.
"Do not get over confident Benjamin." Charles said. "There is still a chance that He may interfere. If He does, do not kill him."
"Why should I not kill him. If he interferes is he not the enemy?" Benjamin demanded.
"Watch how you speak to me. I am your superior. I will repeat myself only once. He is not to be killed. Merely stopped. Understood?"
"Perfectly." Benjamin said through clenched teeth.
"Good. I will contact you when I have spoken to Master Kilborne." Charles said, waving his hand through the image of Benjamin, making it dissipate.
Charles stood from the chair he had been sitting in and walked to his cot at the back of his tent. He lay down and closed his eyes. He would not be disturbed. The undead guards would make sure to that.
He spoke one word of Power and he established contact with Kilborne.
'Master Kilborne.' He said.
'Ah. Charles. Your report?' Kilborne asked.
'I destroyed the Lupus Wolfs as commanded. The bodies of the strongest warriors have been taken as well. They are sitting in the Preserving Tubes.'
'Excellent. Your next task will be to take your undead soldiers to Benjamin. There you will help his army take the rest of the planet.'
'And the bodies we took?' Charles asked.
'I will reanimate them shortly. Relax you mind.' Kilborne commanded.
Charles opened his eyes and sat up.
"Let's go see the bodies." Charles-Kilborne said.
Charles-Kilborne walked swiftly out of his tent and to the hastily constructed wooden structure housing the Preserving Tubes. Once inside he looked the bodies over. Thirty Wolfs lay inside of three large, glass containers.
Charles-Kilborne opened his palms and chanted the Reanimation Spell. The bodies went through the spasms of undead rebirth and then lay still. Charles-Kilborne gestured with his finger and the tops of the containers opened, allowing the undead Wolfs to sit up and then step out of the Preserving Tubes. Charles-Kilborne smiled and then closed his eyes. He opened them and Charles was alone again. The Wolfs stood in three lines of ten and waited his command. Charles blinked and shook his head slightly. He turned and walked out of the building, followed by his new undead troops.
********************
"Bloody useless child!"
"Can't you do anything right?!"
"Your whore of a mother must have been fucking another man to have produced such a retch of a child!"
"If you can't do the work then you won't eat my food!"
Memories tore through Charles mind as he slept. His mother dying under his fathers hand. The beatings he had suffered as a child.
His arm jerked in his sleep, as if warding off a blow.
1 "Weakling! I should throw you into the river and let you drown!"
"Papa, don't. Please." Charles murmured in his sleep.
2 "You fucking whore-son!"
A hard fist slammed into the small child. His head smashed against the floor and darkness flooded his vision.
He awoke in the cellar, his head throbbing with incredible pain. He winced as he pulled himself into a sitting position. Hot tears coursed down his face. His small frame shook uncontrollably.
He reached up a thin hand and touched the side of his face. His right eye was swollen shut and blood trickled down from a shallow cut by his temple. A wave of nausea passed over him and he slipped into merciful darkness.
********************
Charles woke with a start and he looked around in confusion. He tried to remember where he was and what he was doing. A sharp pain lanced through his head and he groaned in pain. He fell back into the hard cot he had been sleeping on and rubbed at his eyes.
Another sharp pain, more intense this time, shot through his head and he dropped his hands to his sides. His face fell back into an unemotional mask and sat up. After getting off of the cot he reached for the helm he had removed before lying down. Placing it on his head he walked slowly out of his tent and to his waiting troops, his mission once again his only reason for living.
********************
"Will he live?"
"Of course!" the old man snapped. "Go fetch some water."
The boy hurried away as the old man turned back to his patient. At the moment he opened his eyes.
"Good. Finally awake. You sleep like an ox." The old man said.
"Where am I?"
"Synesta of course. The way you stumbled in here I thought you knew were you where going Conor."
"How do you know my…Anges? By the Four Moons I thought you had already died!" Conor said, sitting up.
The old man laughed and said, "As always, you are a common brute. Where have you been?"
Conor's face grew serious and he said, "I thought you knew."
Anges winked. "Of course, of course. But it is unseemly for the leader of the Eln Freedom Army to be stumbling around bruised and bleeding."
"Gregory is dead." Conor said suddenly.
The humor went out of the old man's eyes. "How?"
"An assassin."
Anges faced drained of what little color it had held and he asked, "Was he an Eln? With a glowing dirk?"
"I don't know. He was masked and I saw only a dagger. Why?"
Anges shook his head. "It matters not. Go get some rest. We'll talk later."
The next time Conor opened his eyes he could see stars twinkling through the window and the edge of the Second Moon. He sat up and noticed that he had been left a fresh shirt and pants. A glass of cool water also sat next to him on the bedside table. He pushed the thin blanket that had been covering him and examined his wounds.
Several scabs had formed on his knees and shins. Three of the cuts had required a small amount of stitches and these were located on his left thigh. He felt his chin and found that it was raw but not bleeding. He stretched his arms out and got out of the bed. After throwing on the new shirt and pants he swallowed the glass of water.
Gregory's face flashed through Conor's mind. Conor clenched his fists in anger and a deep sense of loss. He and Gregory had been good friends for years, and now he was gone. Conor cursed The Ruler and his assassins. He forced himself to relax. Gregory was gone and it hurt, but he had lost many loved ones. He would survive. He had too.
He remained in his room until he regained his composure and then left to find Anges.
After a few minutes of searching through the marginally large dwelling Anges seemed to live in he found the old man asleep in a modest library.
"Up you get you old goat." Conor said as he sat across from Anges.
Anges opened his eyes yawned. "I see that the mighty Conor has awakened at last. Did you enjoy my house?"
"Seems bigger than your last one."
"The mayor of Synesta seems it fitting for me to be housed here."
"The Holy Healer, right? I thought you quit calling yourself that long ago."
"Bah. I heal people for coin now. I have no need for fame, only money to live on." Anges said.
"And the mayor gave you a house to boot. You're more conniving then ever." Conor said with a shake of his head.
"A man needs to grab what he can in the world these days. There is no longer any room for charity."
"I will change that Anges. Then you will have to heal people out of the goodness of your heart." Conor said with a laugh.
"I see your sense of humor hasn't faded over time either." Anges said with a slight smile.
A young boy walked into the room carrying a tray with two clay goblets filled with watered wine. He set them down on the table between the two men and walked back out of the room.
Conor picked one up and drank the wine all at most. Anges sipped his and then set it back down.
Anges became serious and asked, "How is the rebellion going?"
"Better recently. Did you see the map I had?" Conor asked.
"Yes. What were you planning on doing with it?" Anges asked, leaning slightly forward.
"I am going to kill The Ruler."
Chapter Nine, Plans
"Kill everyone." Charles commanded.
The walking dead standing in front of him saluted and turned to a group of people huddled together in a circle surrounded by the rest of Charles' troops. The people looked with fearful eyes at the strange men whom had charged into their small village and torched it to the ground, killing many of the villagers as they slept. Now the small few who had survived had just been sentenced to death.
"Mama, I'm scared." A small child cried to her mother.
The mother stroked her child's furry head hugged her close. She was afraid as well. Her golden eyes scanned the men approaching again and she saw death with a face. She blinked back angry tears of injustice and hatred and tried to calm herself, for her child's sake. She could smell rot coming off of the soldiers who had attacked them but could not find any source of decay. Her lips curled back across her snout and she growled deep in her throat.
"Bastards. All of them." She whispered angrily to herself. "Those fucking bastards."
Her people had been a peaceful tribe of Lupus Wolfs. They had never harmed anyone expect for their livestock when they killed them for meat. And now, in a single day they were to be wiped out completely. The she-wolf clenched her hands and growled deeper.
"Maranda! Calm down. Do not anger them." An ancient looking wolf whispered to her.
"No. I will not calm down. We are dead anyway." Maranda said with malice in her voice. "I will at least take a few of them with me."
Maranda stepped in front of her child and stood up straight. She towered over the advancing soldiers by at least two feet. She glared at them with pure hatred and yelled, "You will pay!"
She felt the Change over coming her and welcomed it. She felt her fur growing rapidly and her fangs and talons enlarging. Her clothes began to rip as her muscles increased rapidly and her height began to increase. The other villagers stared in wonder and fear. They had not seen the Change take one of their own in many generations. It was just simply not needed for their lifestyle.
Maranda's Change completed and the Dark Moon ran with her. Her child shrank back and whimpered, but her mother was too far into the Change to hear anything but the sounds of her enemies. The undead soldiers continued to advance with no hesitation and Maranda charged them. She smashed into the closest one, a human, and flung him to the ground. Talons slashing she ripped apart his chest and pounded his face with her huge fists. She leapt to another human warrior and ripped his head from his shoulders. The body fell to the ground and began to rapidly rot away to nothing. Maranda ran to the next soldier, a winged warrior and slashed out with her talons. Her opponent leapt back and thrust his spear towards her, catching her high in the shoulder. Maranda howled in rage and ripped the spear out of the winged warriors' grasp. Maranda grasped the spear and pulled it out of her shoulder, throwing it casually aside. She grabbed the warrior by his head and lifted him high into the air. As she was about to crush his head between her hands she felt the annoying sting of blades being thrust into her back. She flung the winged man aside and swept at the soldiers attacking her. She managed to decapitate two others and sever another's arm before a sword pierced her heart. She fell with a loud thud and lay still. The soldiers turned back to the remaining Wolfs and advanced. The few children were crying loudly and the adults gaped at what they had just witnessed. No one could move. Terror had weaken their limbs and frozen their minds.
"Stubborn fools." Charles said as he watched his soldiers advance on the helpless Lupus. "They will make excellent soldiers." He swung his back on them and walked away to let his soldiers do their work.
Night was approaching when a young boy began to move along the horizon. The boy saw what looked like many lights shining in the village.
'Strange. They usually don't turn the lanterns on until deep night.' The young boy thought to himself. As he moved closer he saw the flames licking angrily through the center of the village. "Oh Gods no!" he yelled.
The boy sprinted the rest of the way, his wolf-like legs carrying him like wings. As he neared closer he saw the pile of bodies lying in undignified heaps. He felt tears of grief and rage well up to the surface but pushed them down. He had to see if his family was alive.
As he stopped by the bodies he felt bile rise up his throat at the ghastly scene before him. Elderly people, women, children, and a few men-wolf lay with their stomachs spilt and their heads gone. Some were missing limbs and others were torn in half. He bent over suddenly and vomited. The tears that he had earlier kept down rushed to the top, racking his body with sobs and dry heaves.
"Mother…sister…No." he whispered to himself. He continued to kneel with his hands on the ground in front of him and panted loudly. "Who could have…"
"The Rulers forces no doubt." Said a voice from behind him.
The boy whipped his head around in fear. He saw a figure standing in the shadows of one of the few untouched huts. His ears lowered against his scalp and his lips pulled back, the youth growled as terror raced through his body.
"What? Ashamed of your work!? Have to stand in the shadows so the dead won't scream at you for stealing their lives?!" the youth screamed at the figure. "I'll kill you!"
"Don't be foolish boy." The unknown person said with a calm voice. "I can see you shaking from here. You are in no condition to make threats to a rabbit let alone a person." The person stepped into the light. "Look into my eyes, boy and tell me if you think I'm a killer."
The stranger was a tall woman with closely cropped black hair. She wore a simple leather tunic tailored to her feminine figure and a pair of leather riding pants. At her side was a long sword with a hilt made out of what appeared to be ivory. She also wore leather riding boots and clasped to her left foot was a short dagger. Her face was slightly angular and gave off a look of wild beauty.
The youth stared into her eyes and studied the milky white circles. He realized that she was blind.
"Well? Do I pass?" the blind woman asked.
"Who…who are you?" the wolf youth asked.
"Call me Dedra. And you would be?" Dedra asked.
"Mik." He answered.
"Well Mik. I'm am truly sorry about what happened here, but I am afraid we'll have to be going." She said as she gestured to her jet-black horse waiting some feet away.
The initial shock of the woman wore off and Mik cried out "But we can't! I can't just leave here without looking for my family or any other people still alive. And even if they are dead, I can't just leave them lying here!"
"Foolish child! They are simple husks of skin now. The souls have fled this diseased world for the next. Burying them only wastes the time we may have to escape without dying or selves." Dedra said, her face dark.
Mik stared at her in shock and tears began to well up in his eyes again. Dedra heard him choking down the sobs that were coming and her face softened. 'Foolish woman more like it. The boy has just lost his village.' She chided herself mentally. "Mik. Come with me. I am truly sorry for what happened here, but there is nothing you can do to change it."
Mik looked at Dedra for a moment longer and wiped his hand across his eyes. He stood up on still shaky legs and began to walk over to the strange woman. She looked at him with compassion and understanding. She had been five when her village had been raided. But she had survived, and now she knew that she had come here to help the wolf-child survive.
Dedra made a clicking noise in her mouth and said "Here Steel-Dust."
The gray stallion walked over to Dedra and paused a few feet away from her. It snorted and stomped its feet softly. Mik looked at Dedra in confusion.
"Why does it not like me?" he asked, sniffing the air as well.
"His name is Steel-Dust and he smells the Lupus. To him, you smell similar to a wolf." Dedra explained, moving beside her mount and stroking his sides. She whispered a few gentle words to the horse and it calmed down almost at once. "He will get used to you. Come here."
Mik walked warily towards the horse and slowly placed his hand against its flank. The horse snorted softly but remained somewhat calm. It smelled wolf coming off of the person petting it, but its master seemed unconcerned so it remained where it stood.
"See, already used to you." Dedra said with false cheerfulness.
"Nice horse…" Mik said before collapsing to the ground.
Dedra rushed to his side and felt for a pulse on his neck. She sighed with relief. He had just fainted. If it was from exhaustion or from what had just happened to his village, she didn't know. All she knew was that she had to get him out of the area.
***************
"The Lupus Wolfs are dead." Charles said to the wavering image in front of him.
"Good. The beasts could have posed a problem." The image said.
"What about the Elns?" Charles asked.
"The Elns are cowards who have been conquered or killed. The Wolfs are beasts to be used or destroyed. The barbarians in the Northern Lands are warring amongst themselves. This planet is ours." The image said.
"Do not get over confident Benjamin." Charles said. "There is still a chance that He may interfere. If He does, do not kill him."
"Why should I not kill him. If he interferes is he not the enemy?" Benjamin demanded.
"Watch how you speak to me. I am your superior. I will repeat myself only once. He is not to be killed. Merely stopped. Understood?"
"Perfectly." Benjamin said through clenched teeth.
"Good. I will contact you when I have spoken to Master Kilborne." Charles said, waving his hand through the image of Benjamin, making it dissipate.
Charles stood from the chair he had been sitting in and walked to his cot at the back of his tent. He lay down and closed his eyes. He would not be disturbed. The undead guards would make sure to that.
He spoke one word of Power and he established contact with Kilborne.
'Master Kilborne.' He said.
'Ah. Charles. Your report?' Kilborne asked.
'I destroyed the Lupus Wolfs as commanded. The bodies of the strongest warriors have been taken as well. They are sitting in the Preserving Tubes.'
'Excellent. Your next task will be to take your undead soldiers to Benjamin. There you will help his army take the rest of the planet.'
'And the bodies we took?' Charles asked.
'I will reanimate them shortly. Relax you mind.' Kilborne commanded.
Charles opened his eyes and sat up.
"Let's go see the bodies." Charles-Kilborne said.
Charles-Kilborne walked swiftly out of his tent and to the hastily constructed wooden structure housing the Preserving Tubes. Once inside he looked the bodies over. Thirty Wolfs lay inside of three large, glass containers.
Charles-Kilborne opened his palms and chanted the Reanimation Spell. The bodies went through the spasms of undead rebirth and then lay still. Charles-Kilborne gestured with his finger and the tops of the containers opened, allowing the undead Wolfs to sit up and then step out of the Preserving Tubes. Charles-Kilborne smiled and then closed his eyes. He opened them and Charles was alone again. The Wolfs stood in three lines of ten and waited his command. Charles blinked and shook his head slightly. He turned and walked out of the building, followed by his new undead troops.
********************
"Bloody useless child!"
"Can't you do anything right?!"
"Your whore of a mother must have been fucking another man to have produced such a retch of a child!"
"If you can't do the work then you won't eat my food!"
Memories tore through Charles mind as he slept. His mother dying under his fathers hand. The beatings he had suffered as a child.
His arm jerked in his sleep, as if warding off a blow.
1 "Weakling! I should throw you into the river and let you drown!"
"Papa, don't. Please." Charles murmured in his sleep.
2 "You fucking whore-son!"
A hard fist slammed into the small child. His head smashed against the floor and darkness flooded his vision.
He awoke in the cellar, his head throbbing with incredible pain. He winced as he pulled himself into a sitting position. Hot tears coursed down his face. His small frame shook uncontrollably.
He reached up a thin hand and touched the side of his face. His right eye was swollen shut and blood trickled down from a shallow cut by his temple. A wave of nausea passed over him and he slipped into merciful darkness.
********************
Charles woke with a start and he looked around in confusion. He tried to remember where he was and what he was doing. A sharp pain lanced through his head and he groaned in pain. He fell back into the hard cot he had been sleeping on and rubbed at his eyes.
Another sharp pain, more intense this time, shot through his head and he dropped his hands to his sides. His face fell back into an unemotional mask and sat up. After getting off of the cot he reached for the helm he had removed before lying down. Placing it on his head he walked slowly out of his tent and to his waiting troops, his mission once again his only reason for living.
********************
"Will he live?"
"Of course!" the old man snapped. "Go fetch some water."
The boy hurried away as the old man turned back to his patient. At the moment he opened his eyes.
"Good. Finally awake. You sleep like an ox." The old man said.
"Where am I?"
"Synesta of course. The way you stumbled in here I thought you knew were you where going Conor."
"How do you know my…Anges? By the Four Moons I thought you had already died!" Conor said, sitting up.
The old man laughed and said, "As always, you are a common brute. Where have you been?"
Conor's face grew serious and he said, "I thought you knew."
Anges winked. "Of course, of course. But it is unseemly for the leader of the Eln Freedom Army to be stumbling around bruised and bleeding."
"Gregory is dead." Conor said suddenly.
The humor went out of the old man's eyes. "How?"
"An assassin."
Anges faced drained of what little color it had held and he asked, "Was he an Eln? With a glowing dirk?"
"I don't know. He was masked and I saw only a dagger. Why?"
Anges shook his head. "It matters not. Go get some rest. We'll talk later."
The next time Conor opened his eyes he could see stars twinkling through the window and the edge of the Second Moon. He sat up and noticed that he had been left a fresh shirt and pants. A glass of cool water also sat next to him on the bedside table. He pushed the thin blanket that had been covering him and examined his wounds.
Several scabs had formed on his knees and shins. Three of the cuts had required a small amount of stitches and these were located on his left thigh. He felt his chin and found that it was raw but not bleeding. He stretched his arms out and got out of the bed. After throwing on the new shirt and pants he swallowed the glass of water.
Gregory's face flashed through Conor's mind. Conor clenched his fists in anger and a deep sense of loss. He and Gregory had been good friends for years, and now he was gone. Conor cursed The Ruler and his assassins. He forced himself to relax. Gregory was gone and it hurt, but he had lost many loved ones. He would survive. He had too.
He remained in his room until he regained his composure and then left to find Anges.
After a few minutes of searching through the marginally large dwelling Anges seemed to live in he found the old man asleep in a modest library.
"Up you get you old goat." Conor said as he sat across from Anges.
Anges opened his eyes yawned. "I see that the mighty Conor has awakened at last. Did you enjoy my house?"
"Seems bigger than your last one."
"The mayor of Synesta seems it fitting for me to be housed here."
"The Holy Healer, right? I thought you quit calling yourself that long ago."
"Bah. I heal people for coin now. I have no need for fame, only money to live on." Anges said.
"And the mayor gave you a house to boot. You're more conniving then ever." Conor said with a shake of his head.
"A man needs to grab what he can in the world these days. There is no longer any room for charity."
"I will change that Anges. Then you will have to heal people out of the goodness of your heart." Conor said with a laugh.
"I see your sense of humor hasn't faded over time either." Anges said with a slight smile.
A young boy walked into the room carrying a tray with two clay goblets filled with watered wine. He set them down on the table between the two men and walked back out of the room.
Conor picked one up and drank the wine all at most. Anges sipped his and then set it back down.
Anges became serious and asked, "How is the rebellion going?"
"Better recently. Did you see the map I had?" Conor asked.
"Yes. What were you planning on doing with it?" Anges asked, leaning slightly forward.
"I am going to kill The Ruler."