Disclaimer: I don't own Fable or Fable: The Lost Chapters.
"PLEASE!" she begged the guard to let her go. "MY SON!"
"You'll not trick me, witch!" the guard tugged again at her shirt choking her and sending her to the ground.
"I'm not a witch!" she proclaimed. "My name is Alexia and my son is in that building."
She pointed at the flaming house that held her husband now. His cries of agony had long since stopped.
"Yeah, mine too." The guard guffawed and took Alexia by her hair. "Now c'mon. You've got a date with a stake…and maybe my boys too if they're bored."
"Oh, Avo! Help me!" she cried towards the heavens.
The guard turned and swatted Alexia across her cheek leaking blood from her lip.
"Don't you call upon the holy god, Avo!" the guard spat in her face. "We know your god to be Skorm and Skorm alone!"
"NO! I worship Avo! Now please, let me…"
He swatted her again and began dragging her down the hill. The chief of Knothole Glade stood at the door of his home cringing at the sight of the burning home.
"It just ain't right." He muttered.
The burning house's porch collapsed and the rest of the house soon followed. All that was left was smoldering ash. But not too far away, hiding in a bush, a small three year old boy watched the decimation of what he had once called his home. Though the boy didn't fully understand all that had happened, he knew that he would not soon see his mother and father again. So he ran as far as his short and stubby legs would take him. He collapsed in front of a giant stone face and simultaneously, he could hear the pain ridden screams of a woman. His nostrils ached with the smell of burnt flesh and tears welled up in his eyes.
"Always scared, aren't you?"
The boy started at the voice but couldn't find the source.
"That is the one thing I can't understand in you humans. Fear."
The boy turned to see that it was the giant stone face talking to him. It frightened him but he stayed. Curiosity held his feet in place.
"I can understand desire, lust, hate, sadness. All of those, but not fear. You kill each other off telling yourselves that it's better them than you. You fear each other so much and act on that fear in the most inappropriate manner." The stone face continued.
The boy looked up at the face, his own swollen and wet from crying. A chill wind blew threw the trees and he shivered but his gaze didn't fall off of the door.
"You're not afraid, are you?" the door asked.
The boy shook his head.
"Why?"
The boy had no answer. He was already half naked without a shirt or pants. He only had undergarments which his mother had dressed him in for bed.
"Those were your parents, were they not?" the door asked.
The door was again met with silence. He had just witnessed the most terrifying and horrible thing he could have at that age and he didn't feel like reflecting on it. Not that he knew what that word meant.
"Of course they are. A whole town gathered to burn a witch and a necromancer and only one barely dressed boy not among the torches and hatred. Who else would you belong to?"
The boy shivered again and he was beginning to grow angry. His home had been burnt to the ground, his father burnt before his eyes and his mother at the stake. They had crucified his father inside and then set the entire house on fire. The boy had managed to see his father die through a collapsed part of a wall. He wished he hadn't.
"So much hatred." The door interrupted what few thoughts were in the boy's head. "And you in the middle of it. I don't envy you. You're one of the only ones I don't feel jealousy for. Your pain would be unbearable."
A loud and terrible howl echoed throughout the forest of Knothole Glade and the boy whipped around and began to panic. He didn't know what the sound was but the sound seemed to travel through the trees as though they were carrying it between them.
"The White Balverine." The door grumbled.
He looked down at the shivering orphan and only felt pity.
"You must one day earn this." The door said and opened.
Avatar awoke to see himself in the same place he had been in for the past two weeks. A cold, drippy ship that creaked and groaned every time a mouse took a step. The ship rocked back and forth uncomfortably making it almost impossible to sleep. The dreams were coming regularly now. Nightmares of Sabre's origin and what he felt. Avatar rubbed his eyes and stood up. The floorboards groaned in protest and Avatar glared at them. He climbed the steps to the deck and looked out over the open sea.
"A wide expanse of water from one frozen piece of land to another. Briar, you owe me one on this." Avatar lamented.
An army of Summoners had come out and tried to destroy the Fire Heart. Sabre and Briar Rose worked on the same Summoners as Avatar had cast Berserk and began swinging madly. Sabre had taken one look at the ship and then gone into the temporary care of Briar. Having lived in Knothole Glade for most of his life, Sabre had an abnormal vulnerability to the cold. Seeing as his dreams and nightmares had been about nothing but Sabre and Liana the past two weeks, Avatar had little else to think about. There was the overwhelming feeling of something sinister coming. Something so familiar. Avatar didn't want to think about it though. He wanted to have a good night's sleep. Not that he would get it on this pile of rot and wood though.
Sabre fell back and shook his head trying to recover from the blow. As nothing had happened in the past two weeks, he had taken it upon himself to join the Fist Fighters Gang. The Bowerstone, Oakvale and Twinblade's Camp were among Sabre's finished roster. All three gangs hadn't proved much of a challenge but they were certainly fun. The chief stood over Sabre and grinned down at him.
"Have you had enough, Sabre?" the chief asked heartily.
He was honestly concerned for Sabre's well being. The fight had become more of a grapple as both were becoming frustrated with their performance in the ring or lack thereof. Both were sweating profusely and the moon cast a pale light on them as though watching intently. The chief had just landed the first hit of this fight and Sabre had not expected the blow to be so hard.
"No." he growled and stood up again.
The chief swung his fist in an arch towards Sabre who ducked and punched the chief square in the gut. The chief stumbled slightly but swung again only to miss. Sabre kicked outward making contact with the chief's chest and onto his rear. Sabre laughed and wiped sweat from his forehead.
"Now I ask you. Have you had enough?" Sabre taunted the chief.
"Come now." The chief said in an offended voice. "You know me better than that! One knock on me arse and you assume I'm done for? Well bollocks to that!"
The chief stood again smiling. Sabre took his stance again, low to the ground waiting for any attacks from the legs but well aware of the upper torso. He swayed back and forth awaiting the next strike. It came from the chief's right hand glancing off of Sabre's forearm and he countered with a swipe at the leg. The chief allowed his leg to be taken and brought it up to meet Sabre's face. Sabre fell back with a bloody nose and sore body.
"Well, it's about time that ended." The chief laughed.
The men around the ring cheered for a splendid performance and then left the chief and Sabre for an after match recount.
"You did well, Sabre." The chief said helping Sabre back to his feet.
Sabre, of course, didn't think so highly of the fight though. The chief was the head of the Fist Fighter's Gang and was the final combatant one needed to defeat in order to claim himself the champion of the Fist Fighter's Gang. It was simple enough seeing as the final ring was in Knothole Glade and Sabre had easy access to it. He grumbled his response to the chief which came out inaudible and took his clothing and equipment back up. His bandit's shirt and his weapons.
"Maybe some other time!" the chief called laughing. "Give my regards to Rebecca!"
Rebecca. Sabre had forgotten about her in the heat of the fight. Odd though it was, his thoughts rarely wondered back to her when he was fighting. Rebecca had something important to tell him. She had said so before he left for the fight. She wanted to surprise him in the morning with the news. He already knew her to be pregnant. Not that her figure showed any sign of it, but he could feel the difference inside of her just by holding her. She seemed excited with the news. Sabre was confused with it though. It wasn't that he found anything wrong with impregnating her, it was why she was so excited. From what he had been told by those around Knothole Glade, pregnancy was a long and difficult process. Painful in some cases. So why was Rebecca so happy? He came into their bedroom to see her sleeping. She had curled herself into a ball in the sheets and her arms outstretched as though something were supposed to be there. That something being Sabre.
"It's about time." Briar complained over the Guild Seal. "I'm going to transport to Snowspire Village and have a look around. I'll see you there."
Avatar was growing very frustrated with Briar Rose. He was cold, tired, hungry and lonely. A month without any human contact had gone by and now the first person he was to meet would be an empty shell of a person, Scythe. Avatar cursed his luck and looked for the village. Scythe had come to the Northern Wastes when Avatar was still a very young boy. Avatar and Maleficus had been sent up to Maze's quarters for starting a playful brawl and seen Maze and Scythe arguing. Scythe was leaving for the Northern Wastes and Maze wanted him to activate the Cullis Gates first thing. They didn't hear much more as the argument ended at the sight of the two young apprentices. Beyond that, Avatar had had no actual contact with Scythe. The Guildmaster had always told him to be grateful for that. Scythe looked like a corpse and didn't smell much better.
"Please come to the village immediately, Avatar." Scythe spoke to him over the Guild Seal. "We have urgent business to discuss."
Avatar sighed and trudged through the snow muttering obscenities.
"SABRE!" the chief pounded on the door. "Open up! I need to speak wi' you!"
The door opened and Sabre stood in the doorway in question.
"Yes?"
The chief pushed past Sabre and began pacing. "I've heard the most horrible things! Just, awful things."
"What?" Sabre said leaning on the open door.
The chief almost spoke but shook his head. How was he to say this?
"Just…" he paused. "just promise me you'll be careful. Stay in Knothole Glade and away from the public sight, okay?"
"Why?"
"Just do it, okay?"
"All right, but I'd like to know why." Sabre let go of the door and stood up straight.
"There's somebody coming for you!" The chief blurted out. "I don't know who, but from the sound of things, he ain't friendly. Some traders stopping by came around with the usual rumors but this one caught my attention. They say this one wields a power like none they've never seen. Please, I had to watch your parents killed. Don't make me have to watch you, too."
Sabre's mind coursed through the thousand different possibilities as to who could hold a power like none other and that would come for him. He had made his enemies along the way, but they were dead. Most of them anyway. None of them could have gained too much power without it coming to public knowledge. They said their goodbyes and Sabre sat down to think. Looked like today wasn't going to be as happy as Rebecca would want it to be.
"I need you to go to the Necropolis." Scythe said to Avatar. "Get the glyphs there so we can speak to the Oracle. They can tell us what's happening here. I don't understand this, Avatar. The coming of these Summoners, why now? It doesn't make any sense."
Scythe left Avatar in company of the Oracle. The three dormant stone faces that held all the secrets of Albion. The Necropolis was a ghost town. Literally. Scythe had explained it to Avatar as a town where the spirits of its citizens dwelled unaware that they had died. It held other perils as well. Minions. Summoners. Undead. The usual.
Briar Rose came up behind Avatar and spoke in a shaky voice. "Avatar?"
He turned to see her and sighed. "Looks like this might take me some time. I've got to…"
Her eyes held a fear in them She didn't hold the same confidence she used to.
"What's happened?" he asked not wanting to hear the answer.
"You have to get those glyphs." She said.
Her voice broke with every word as though each one was going to bring her doom.
"What's happened?" Avatar repeated.
"I don't know, but if what I've read is right, you have to get those glyphs. Go."
She disappeared not giving him the chance to speak. He rolled his eyes and pondered. The Necropolis was his next destination.
"I'm pregnant." Rebecca's eyes glittered with happiness as she said the words.
Sabre showed no emotion. He said nothing either. Instead, he sat staring at her.
"Well?" she said holding his hands.
They sat on the bed facing each other as she told him this.
"Well…what?" Sabre shrugged.
"Well, what do you think?" she asked pushing his shoulder smiling.
"Oh. Uh. I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? I'm pregnant. That means I'm going to be having your baby. Does that make you happy?" she tried to coax an answer out of him.
"Sure?" he said this in question hoping it to be the right answer.
She dropped her hands and laughed. "You're impossible to deal with, you know that?"
She sat on his lap so as to put his ribs between her legs and squeeze him playfully. "I wish I knew what was in your head."
She flicked her nose across his and kissed him.
"Why?"
"Because, every time I'm happy or sad or angry or anything, you're emotion stays the same. I just wish I knew what you were thinking. I love you and this is a good thing."
"Is it?"
"Yes!" she said laughing. "I'm going to be the mother of your child. Your legacy will go on. Isn't that what every man wants?"
"Well I'm not exactly every man."
"That's beside the point. I'm going to have you child and then you'll see what I mean."
She kissed him again and then got up to leave.
"Rebecca." He said.
"Hm?" she turned around and leaned against the doorway.
He shifted himself and faced her. "What will its name be?"
She smiled and approached him. She held him and pressed his ear to her belly.
"What do you want its name to be?"
Sabre paused for a moment listening and the looked up at her. "Alexis."
"Your mother's name?"
"No. My mother's name was Alexia."
"Close enough. But what if it's a boy?"
He listened again and then spoke. "Artemis."
Rebecca stifled an outburst of laughter. "Okay. If that's what you want. They'll have my last name though seeing as you don't have one."
Sabre frowned. "Artemis Cameros?"
"I don't believe it." Avatar muttered.
Scythe stood beside him equally surprised with the Oracle's answer. Jack of Blades.
"Oracle, why has he come back?" Scythe asked loudly.
The stone face's voice rumbled. "Jack of Blades has returned to exact revenge on those who are responsible for his previous death. He will return more powerful than ever."
"No, that can't be. I saw him, he's dead!" Avatar yelled angrily.
"What was killed was only a vessel for a being." The Oracle said.
"So Jack of Blades is to come back." Avatar growled and kicked at nothing.
"Correct." The Oracle said. "But Jack of Blades is not the only one to come back. There is another who has already returned."
"What? Who?" Avatar barked.
Okay, I didn't really like the chapter before this one so I wrote this chapter and updated less than an hour afterward. This chapter gives a buildup for some things that happen in the next one. I'll give you a heads up, the title of this chapter gives you a hint as to what happens. Enjoy!