Chapter 11

The door slammed noisily. Irritation spiked in Korrag's head. 'Stupid brats won't even tell me a thing! They're just running back and forth!' Then there was the witch. Why was she behaving like that? First she seemed happy to see his face, but then she looked like someone'd slapped her. Koragg was sure his words couldn't have that much impact on her. So was there something wrong with his appearance? He sighed, disgruntled with being kept in the dark all the time. 'Too many questions, too little answers. The next person that comes here will tell me everything, whether they like it or not.'

Korrag scratched his jaw absent-mindedly, feeling the little hairs prickle his hand. He really wanted to know what did he look like, but there was nothing he could use to look at himself. 'I must tell them to bring me... what is it called? Mere? No... something else... ah, that's it. A mirror.' His inability to remember even the simplest words annoyed him. For example, he still didn't know what was the thing he was lying on called.

The sound of footsteps coming closer drew his attention. That was it. He would finally get some answers. Koragg just wished it was the witch, not that bastard Solaris or Red Ranger.

When the door opened, Koragg decided that the Fates must hate him. He scowled at Solaris, who seemed surprised for some reason. It didn't matter. Koragg could probably get better answers from him.

But before he could open his mouth to say something, Solaris breathed out:

"Leanbow?"

That made Korrag knit his brows in confusion. 'Yet another person speaking about this Leanbow. Who the hell is he?'

Solaris made a few steps in his direction and stopped in front of him. "Is that really you? I can't believe..." He suddenly snorted and glared at him. "Of course you're not Leanbow." He grabbed the front of Korrag's armor and pulled him to eye level. "How dare you, you fucking bastard! Do you think you can fool me?! And don't give me that look!"

Hot fury erupted inside Korrag. He grabbed Solaris' shirt in a vice-like grip, hissing at the sudden pain in his forearm. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't even know who is this whole Leanbow, so stop your pathetic barking!"

The Red Ranger appeared out of nowhere, trying to pull them apart. "Calm... down... both of you!" With a mighty yank Solaris let go of him and stumbled back, almost crashing into the door. He glared at Korrag and snarled furiously:

"You don't know who Leanbow is, huh? So maybe I should show you?"

With a snap of his fingers a small mirror appeared in front of Korrag's face. The person looking back at him triggered an onslaught of memories. Images flew before him, all of them focused on one face – younger, older, but still the same. Then everything became clear.

'This is Leanbow. This is me. But I am Korrag. Or am I Leanbow?'

Slowly the mirror drifted away. "So? Does this ring any bells?"

Before he had a chance to answer, that Niella girl decided to speak. "Give him a break, Daggeron! Just look how confused he is. Do you really think this is some kind of twisted scheme?" She turned to Korrag. "Say, what do you know about Leanbow?"

"Nothing," he answered automatically. But then he remembered about the recent flashbacks. If it hapened to him, then it must have happened to Leanbow. "Take that back. Did the witch tell you about my flashbacks?"

From their confused faces he concluded that she didn't. "In one of them I was training with you, Solaris – told you something about holding the sword right. Then I said we must return before it got dark. Now I know that this memory belongs to Leanbow."

All traces of anger vanished from Solaris' face. Something flashed in his eyes, almost like hope. Korrag didn't know how he was able to tell – previously human emotions were a mystery to him, apart from the negative ones. He knew pain, anger and fear, but something like love or hope? These were only empty, meaningless words, used by weak humans. 'I'm one of them now – I'm a human too. It shouldn't surprise me, and yet it does.'

Solaris finally seemed to be able to speak, but the anger didn't come back. Instead his he became cautious. "Yes, that's what happened. But I still don't believe you. After all, you had a great source of information about our past. I bet Calindor told you a lot of stories of his fantastic time spent with us."

"That treacherous scoundrel Imperious? No one in their right mind would listen to the filth coming from him. You can trust me on this, Solaris: I may dislike you, but you're nothing compared to him. Traitors like him are the worst kind of people - they only deserve to be hated."


Korrag's words struck a chord in Daggeron. It was something his mentor could say. Now that he thought about it, Korrag's whole behavior was very similar to Leanbow's – the honorable way of fighting and almost perfect control over emotions during battles being his most prominent characteristics. There were also other, more subtle things about him: he certainly hated Morticon and Imperious, even if they were technically his allies. But what surprised Daggeron even more was that Korrag seemed to trust Udonna. There was no reason for the Wolf Knight to do that – she was his enemy, after all.

'Then why? What is the reason for his behavior?' The most obvious answer was the most unbelievable – of course Korrag couldn't be Leanbow. 'I need more time to think about this.'

"Watch over him for now. I have to leave," he told Clare, who nodded in answer. Then he turned to Korrag. "As for you – don't try to do anything stupid. Be assured that our little talk isn't over." He heard an annoyed huff in response, but he paid it no mind. Instead he opened the door and left the room, making his way to the upper levels of Rootcore – this way he was sure nobody would disturb him.


"Well, I suppose I should finish my job," Nick said, walking up to Korrag's bed and sitting on a chair next to it. He took out his morpher and looked at Korrag questioningly. "What part do you want me to remove now?"

He held up his left arm without saying anything, which seemed to be alright with Nick. Soon he set to work.

Clare noticed Korrag was looking at her from time to time like he wanted to ask her something. After a while he finally decided to speak.

"Do you know anything about Leanbow?"

She pondered over his question. Sometimes Udonna accidentally let something slip, but it didn't happen often, so Clare's knowledge wasn't very big. "I can't tell you much, because I don't know a lot about him. From what Udonna has told me, Leanbow has played a great role in defeating the forces of evil nineteen years ago, but in order to do that he had to sacrifice his life. " She noticed that Nick was also listening to her attentively. "Apart from that... I think he and Udonna were good friends. He was also a very powerful wizard and warrior. And that's about all I know."

From Korrag's slightly disappointed expression she could tell her answer didn't satisfy him. 'Well, I did my best! It's not my fault Udonna is so secretive.' Nick simply returned to his work.

Soon the armor covering Korrag's left forearm was gone, as well as the material underneath it, which turned into dust. After a bit of consultation between him and Nick it was decided that the heavy boots were to be removed next.

Clare was growing bored with the process. It was totally silent except for the sound of metal being cut, which wasn't really interesting. She looked out the window. The sky was already black, but the moon was full, giving everything an eerie appearance. Clare stifled a yawn – being bored always made her sleepy.

She must have fallen asleep, because out of nowhere she saw Nick in front of her, shaking her shoulder. She rubbed her eyes. "Are you done?"

"I took off his boots, but rest has to wait for tomorrow. It's too late now and I think he's fallen asleep."

"Oh, okay. I guess you should go now," Clare said, rising from the chair and stretching her arms.

Nick nodded and opened the door. "See you tomorrow."

Clare waved to him tiredly and he left. She took one last look at Korrag. Now that he was asleep, his face didn't seem so stern. He looked almost peaceful in the pale moonlight streaming through the window.

'How can someone think this man is evil?' she asked herself drowsily, heading to her room.