Chapter 29
The next morning found Valkron talking with Amaru as the party watched.
'So all you need is the ore, is that what you're saying?' said Valkron.
'Yes,' answered Amaru. In his hands the sharp, bloodstained remnant of Valkron's sword lay, as if it no longer had a life of its own.
'And what do you need?'
'I need quite a lot of steel. Firewood is easy to get, but at this rate I doubt iron ore will be available as well as coal. I need both.'
'What if I give you fifty pieces of steel?'
Amaru raised an eyebrow. 'You carry that much on your person?'
'Well, I carry "that much" so that I have some available for any upgrading I'd like to do, but I don't carry them with me. My armour weighs enough.' Valkron went over to his peco and rummaged around inside the large satchel that hung by its side. 'I'm sure I've got a bag of it somewhere...'
'All right, give them to me later,' said Amaru, picking up a piece of linen from his cart and wrapping it around the broken blade. 'I'll see what I can do. Would you like any element to be-- never mind, you're already saying no.'
'What weapon are you going to use now?' said Nocturne curiously, watching as Valkron fastened the clasp of the satchel.
'Hm? Oh...well, I carry one regular javelin with me as stated in Chivalry rules,' said Valkron. 'Let me untie it...'
He worked away for a while before turning back and showing them a plain, simple spear.
'I thought you were a sword person,' said Eni.
'I never said I just learned the arts of swordsmanship alone,' retorted Valkron. 'I learned spearmanship too, but I prefer swords over spears. As long as I can get my sword done I'll be willing to put up with these flimsy sticks.'
'So are we going to stay here until Amaru finishes repairing your sword?' asked Iruna.
'No. We'll move to the place first. When we're almost there we'll stop and let him fix it, and then we move to the place.' Valkron straightened his visor. 'Then I'll deal with my little errand.'
Deep in the bowels of the ruined city shadows flitted through the cavernous gaps, evidently panicking. They were collecting a large number of bodies they had picked up from all over the world and placing them in the centre of the underground hall, where the podium of the Fair Wardens had once stood, now a broken stump.
Suddenly, as if an unspoken word of command had been shouted through the caverns, the shadows fled out of the way until there was nothing left save for the rotting bodies and the maggots that wriggled within them, feasting on the rotting flesh.
After a few minutes there was a rustle and loud chirpings filled the hall. Darkwings streamed into the hall, chirping loudly as they whirled around the inside of the hall, forming a sphere of fluttering wings constantly moving around and around. At the centre of the sphere a cloud of darkwings was gathering thickly.
The cloud shaped itself into a human form and then solidified into the tall, dark form of Argath Iruvedla. He doubled over and fell to his knees, clutching at his stomach. His rasping breath changed into gasps.
As he gasped black mist rose from the bodies and wafted over to him, entering his mouth and nose. He took great deep gulps of it as if his life depended on it, welcoming it with his outstretched hands, trembling as he did so.
There was a crackling sound. The bodies were disintegrating into black mist - maggots, rotting flesh and all - and disappearing into him. Argath gulped it all down while muscle, flesh and skin mended themselves.
Finally the bodies were all gone, leaving nothing but a dark stain on the stone floor that would never stop stinking for days. Argath got to his feet and waved a hand over his clothes, which mended themselves.
He looked up. The darkness seemed to be mocking him.
'Laugh all you want,' he snarled viciously at it. 'I will have my revenge for this. Humans...they will always think themselves superior just because they have defeated one enemy. Hah! Lords of creation indeed!'
He paced the hall and then turned to the darkness beyond the hall. 'Come, my friends. Valkron and his wretched party have divined our location. Once they realise where we are they will come straight here and we will have to put our second plan into action before the first. And I do not want that to happen. Go, and confuse them, delude them, mock them to your heart's desire! Drain them of hope and willpower and their souls will be yours to devour!'
Chirping filled the hall as the ghastly darkwings took off from their roosts and streamed out like a thick black ribbon into the grey skies. Argath watched them go with satisfaction.
'Sweet dreams...Valkron,' he said, chuckling mirthlessly to himself.
There was a cheer as swords clashed. The examiners stood by one side and observed the swordsmen fighting each other. Beside them the instructors from the Izlude Swordsman Academy watched their students, either in growing despair or pride, and hoped that they would pass their final examination to becoming eligible for knighthood.
Priests stood by the side, waiting patiently. Although the swords the students were using had been magically blunted the swords themselves still packed a punch and anyone hit by them would feel as if they had been whacked over the head by a thick stick. The most common injury was broken ribs, which had the highest chance of occurring.
Amongst the swordsmen parrying, slashing and shouting in the arena there was one that some examiners had found interesting, and most of the audience. He stood out from the others because of his messy mop of white hair. No longer was he a straggling, lanky boy of thirteen with spots and stick thin arms and legs; he stood now, tall and defiant and well-built for his profession.
More and more examiners were coming to watch him. He moved so easily it was as if he was in water. And he was fast - so fast that his opponents were often baffled to find him behind them when they had thought he had been in front all along. It was as if he was a natural to swordfighting.
A bell clanged in the corner as his opponent dropped to his knees, far too exhausted to continue challenging. The swordsman tapped his sword on the sandy ground as his opponent was led away.
'Out of ten opponents Number Seventeen has defeated all!' the announcer shouted to a roar of support from the crowd. 'And he stands as the first to challenge last year's champion student!'
The swordsman with the white hair turned to look up. There, sitting smugly with King Tristan, was a knight that had the finishing medal pinned smartly on his breast. The swordsman did nothing but blink before moving off the arena floor to make way for the other duelling groups.
It was sunset by the time the duelling finished, and the swordsman with the white hair was the only one who could challenge the knight. He took his position after a twenty-minute rest in the centre of the arena, blazing torches around the edge to illuminate the area.
The knight grinned and pointed his spear at the swordsman. The boy nodded briefly, and then there was a clash as spear and sword hit each other.
The crowd gasped as they followed the moves of both of them. The knight was quite fast with his spear and moved like fluid...but the swordsman was incredibly strategic and did not run about so much like the knight did. They fought, circled the arena, and taunted each other.
Finally the knight lost his patience and charged. The swordsman threw his sword into the air, twisted around and grabbed the spear by his elbows, and caught his sword at the same time he yanked the spear out of the knight's hands. He twirled the spear in his left hand and aimed his sword at the knight's throat.
It was then decided. Not only did the swordsman pass the exam with flying colours but also gain the prestigious Chivalry Knighthood Scholarship and he would stay there as long as his service required him to.
'I still can't grasp why you attacked the bigfoot with just that piece of sword,' said Eni, tracing abstract patterns in the snow with a twig. 'No one in their right mind would have done that.'
'I wasn't in my right mind, if you recall,' said the knight, giving her a sideways look. 'But...all right, don't scold me for this, but my sword wasn't actually sharp right until it was broken.'
He looked somewhere else when everyone gave him a shared look, and continued, 'I just had to take the chance, right?'
'A chance that could have killed us all if it had gone wrong,' said Iruna.
Valkron shrugged. 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll just put up with a spear until--'
Everyone looked up in the silence.
In a split second fire had streamed into the sky, right into the midst of the dark cloud of darkwings that had come pouring out of nowhere. As Emeth held out his staff and swept the jet of fire across the sky everyone leapt to their feet and drew their weapons, dropping anything else. There was no time to do anything else when the darkwings came.
Although the strong jet of fire burned the darkwings into nothing there were far too many of them. For a moment the wizard was standing with his face lifted to sky; next moment he was smothered in the darkwings that streamed out of the sky. Nocturne was sent staggering back as the overwhelming stench of dark magic clouded his senses and his brain. Eni shrieked and Khan was forced out of his invisibility.
Valkron held his forearm to his nose. The stink was incredible. He could feel the darkness creep into the edges of his mind and felt his soul rise to counter it. This was not the time to fall to the darkwings.
The chirping of the darkwings turned into high-pitched unearthly shrieks as a fiery spear blazed through them. Valkron was sweeping the spear through the cloud to clear them away. It was fortunate for him that the javelin was made of steel and not with a wooden haft.
Amaru snorted and tightened his grasp on his hammer. Golden light emanated from the weapon. He charged straight into the black mass and slammed his hammer into the ground. Valkron nearly lost his footing as the ground beneath his feet quaked, and then had to block the massive ripples of air as the resounding impact sent shockwaves through the area that scattered the darkwings.
Emeth staggered out of the mass, coughing heavily. The knight grabbed him and yanked him over to where Nocturne was trying to steady his spinning head. As the wizard sank to the ground, coughing weakly, Valkron looked at Iruna. The crusader caught his look and nodded, before holding her sword high in the air.
The blade began to glow white until it was a glittering blade of pure holy magic. Iruna lifted her head to the skies and closed her eyes, before plunging the blade into the ground in front of her. The impact sent her hair flying outwards and the darkwings recoiled as white light crashed down in the form of a massive cross with the crusader in the centre.
It was this that repelled the darkwings. A strong gale from the cross swept them away from the area, no matter how hard they fluttered their wings to stay in their spot. The darkwings rose into the air, chirping and circling the group.
'These wretched things,' said Valkron, wiping sweat off his face. 'How the heck are we going to get rid of them?'
'It'll take me another ten minutes to cast another Grand Cross,' said Iruna wearily, lifting her sword into the air.
'Wait, Iruna. That spell will wear you out as well as injure you. We've got a priest for a reason.'
'Samaroh doesn't do exorcism. You know that.'
'He wants to.'
They looked behind them. While they had been talking the priest had been singing quietly behind them. Now he was surrounded by white light as well as a powerful gale rippling his hair. In his left hand he held his heavy tome; his right hovered over the cover.
Suddenly he opened his eyes and shouted. His right arm shot out and pointed at the darkwings in the sky. Within minutes a powerful stream of white light fired into the sky and shot straight through the cloud. The darkwings dispersed hastily and then dived towards the ground in two groups.
They disappeared into the ground in front of the watchers. Seconds later the ground cracked.
Valkron looked around frantically. His eyes caught a massive crack running around the clearing. In panic he looked up at Samaroh - but the priest did not need telling. He held up a blue gemstone in the air and sang a few words.
The blue gemstone glowed, emitting white rays of light. The ground around Samaroh lit up in white and exploded into a massive magic circle. The force of it threw Valkron off his feet, but as he went down he saw the darkwings rise into the air from the ground. He grinned. Samaroh was doing his job well.
Just as he thought that, he turned to look at the priest. He was just in time to see the priest fall forward onto his knees.
Emeth staggered to his feet and aimed his staff into the sky. A jet of fire shot into the sky and exploded into an outwards spreading ring of fire that incinerated the darkwings as they flew upwards in a bid to get away from the mixture of holy and elemental magic.
Eni ran over to the priest and caught him before he fell. As quickly as possible she pulled out a potion bottle and uncorked it. He was semi-conscious but still able enough to take a pull from it, which rejuvenated him considerably. Valkron felt relief surge through him as the priest got up a little unsteadily and opened his book, ready to sing another spell.
The knight watched as the darkwings tried to assess the situation amidst getting burned to ashes and being purified out of existence. Emeth was casting spells nonstop - he seemed keen on getting revenge for being smothered. Nocturne pulled out arrows from his quiver and aimed them at the darkwings. A chord rang out, and before Valkron knew it there were arrows showering out from the sky. He was forced to take cover at the side of the clearing.
Amaru, Iruna and Khan joined him a little later on. The darkwings were in the sky and they were trained for on-the-ground, close combat. Eni was throwing acid bottles and flammable potions up into the sky, and it was decreasing the number of darkwings drastically. Along with Emeth's meteors, Samaroh's holy magic and Nocturne's ceaseless firing the darkwings were losing the battle.
Valkron whirled around. 'Khan!'
There was a screech from the darkness behind them. The assassin disappeared in a flash. Stick thin creatures leapt out of the forest and made for the three of them.
'Stay behind me!' barked Iruna. Valkron and Amaru threw themselves out of the way as she charged, sword out and ready. One, two, three swift strokes and five of the creatures were down. Two attacked her, and she whirled around, skirt flying out behind her. Down within thirty seconds.
Valkron got to his feet and concentrated. His spear blazed fiercely. The creatures leapt for him. He saw jaws lined with teeth sharp enough to rip through flesh and bone, and lunged forward. The creatures screamed as the burning spear tore through their flesh and snapped their bones like kindling.
The blacksmith was a little too slow in getting up. Six creatures pounced on him, only to receive a faceful of heavy coins. As they backed off, pawing at their faces with their spindly taloned fingers, Amaru got up and hefted his hammer.
He swung it around and around until the hammer was a blur. A humming sound filled the air. The creatures pounced on him again, only to be crushed by the massive head.
Valkron flung aside bodies and discovered they were surrounded. He grasped his spear, but Emeth whirled around. A red fireball was zooming around him in a widening circle.
'Duck!'
The darkwings dived. The creatures pounced.
Emeth threw back his head.
Fwoom.
Valkron felt his hair ruffle in the intense heat as mighty streams of blazing fire shot over his head. He vaguely recalled the tree in front of him going up in flames and turning into ashes within seconds. The heat was incredible, melting the snow away. The ring of fire continued for some way, so when the light had faded and it had cooled down all that was left was a circular area in the woods completely devoid of snow. Sharp stumps of trees, charred and smoking, as well as the acrid smell of smoke and burnt wood, was the only evidence of the massive spell.
'Sorry,' gasped Emeth, as everyone turned to stare at him, 'but that was a last resort.'
'I should think so,' said Valkron, straightening up and staring at the surroundings around him.
Everyone sighed in relief at the lack of creatures and darkwings in the immediate vicinity. Iruna sheathed her sword and Amaru lowered his massive hammer. Khan reappeared near Eni, his katars dripping with black blood, and shook his head while Nocturne got up from the ground where he had thrown himself down to avoid the ring of fire. Eni and Samaroh fell to their knees, weak with relief.
Valkron looked at them. They had been the right people to stay with. This was the teamwork he had been hoping for all along, and he was thankful they had realised--
'Valkron!' screamed Iruna.
The knight spun around to see one last creature rise up from the ground where it had been hiding. Its clawed hand swiped out. He clearly remembered its red eyes and its grinning mouth lined with razor sharp teeth before pain seared through his chest and everything went black.
Sagna's head jerked up.
'What is it?' asked Edell, looking up from tending the fire.
'I...felt something just then,' said the knight. 'I don't know what it was or where it came from.'
'It might be dangerous. Don't investigate it without me,' warned the crusader.
'No, I won't. But I have a feeling it has something to do with Valkron...somehow.'
'How can you tell?'
'I don't know. I just...know.' Sagna got to his feet, his chainmail jingling. 'But I wouldn't dare walk out into the wilderness just yet. I have no idea if I killed Argath or not.'
'I highly doubt it,' said Edell, looking back to the fire.
Sagna looked down at him. 'How would you tell?'
'More or less if we wanted to kill someone like Argath we'd most likely have to cleanse using holy magic. I'm not that good, though, so the only choice we have is to use physical force to kill him.'
'Meaning?'
'That's just pretty much it, really. But in the Order we learn that to get rid of a supernatural entity we have to use its weak spot. I reckon that to kill Argath you either have to decapitate his head or plunge your sword into his heart. Your choice.'
'Hey, Edell, you don't want to know how it feels like to be close up to him,' said Sagna dryly. 'Unless you want to have a bad head cold and stuff your nose up with the stink of rotting flesh.'
'Spare me the details, Sagna,' said the crusader hurriedly. 'I don't intend to lose my appetite for several days. I got your point, but frankly it's what we have to do if we really want to get rid of him.'
Sagna sat down next to Edell. 'Then we should tell Valkron that. Argath's been targeting him all along.'
'The Blood Judge seems a bit reluctant to use Valkron now, though,' said Edell.
The knight gave him a look that was totally wasted because the crusader didn't notice it. 'Edell...I don't know where you get your ideas but you're starting to creep me out.'
'Argath was losing interest in the Raulus. For some reason. I don't think he can counter Valkron's ideals.' Edell crossed his legs and looked calmly at Sagna. 'Although he's a bit...violent, he does have a good sense of duty.'
'Who?'
'Valkron, of course.'
Sagna turned to look at the dancing flames in front of him. They were sitting inside the inn where the divining spell had been cast, and there were footprints in the dust. It had confirmed that the Raulus had been in there before them.
'I don't pretend to know him well,' he said slowly, 'but I think he's doing it for the sake of others. He doesn't do things for his own benefit. That's why he gets angry with knights who think highly of themselves and tells them off even if he's five ranks below them.'
'That's probably why Argath is starting to give up on him, I guess,' said Edell. 'If Valkron doesn't do things for himself how can anyone force him to do so? It just isn't in his nature.'
Sagna did not reply. He was thinking about the words that had echoed in his brain when he had been about to receive the final blow from Argath.
'I don't know what you want from a battle, Sagna, but you should know it yourself. Don't let other people decide it for you. Call it selfish, but that's what is known as survival.'
'He fights well because he doesn't let other people decide anything for him,' he said. 'And what he wants from a battle...well, they say we fight to live, but I think he fights because he wants others to live.'
Edell looked at him in surprise. 'Really?'
'That's what he believes in.'
After a pause the crusader said, 'He may be sarcastic, strict, harsh and difficult to accept, but Valkron is the best teacher I've ever had.'
Sagna closed his eyes. 'And I can't believe I despised him.'
In his head he thought, I'm such a fool...if he dies I'll never forgive myself for it.
'I can't do it...I can't...don't make me do it anymore...'
The voice whispered over and over again. Valkron tried not to hear it, but he couldn't ignore it. It was his voice.
Or rather, it was his voice when he was younger. The memory was as clear as ever. Valkron opened his eyes and looked out onto a grassy plain.
He recognised the swordsman watching the knights walk away from him dejectedly almost immediately. A deep hatred for his younger self filled him as he looked at the boy. How he wished he had not been so weak before! He had often wanted to discard his past and never looked back if he could help it.
Valkron knew what point this was in his lifetime. This was his training for the exam that would take place in the Prontera Chivalry. Although it was sought for the privileges and pride that came with the knighthood that was the reward for passing the exam could not be achieved easily. Valkron had been part of the last batch that experienced the 10 pass rate for the exam before the standards were lowered.
The knights who had been training him had not been particularly kind to him. He had been forced to undergo extreme training, so harsh that the endurance training he took later on once he was a knight had been nothing compared to it. It was then that even his indifferent attitude had given way.
He could still remember the last words those knights had said to him, and they were spoken as clearly as he had heard them that day, now.
'You're a letdown, aren't you? We expected something more from the son of a "warrior of the world", let alone a knight!'
The mocking laughter reached his ears. He watched as his younger self hung his head guiltily and turned away from his instructors.
Valkron sighed. He had lived a lonely life. Other boys had laughed at him, girls had avoided him. For his whole time in the Swordsman Academy he had never had any friends. People stopped bullying him once they realised he was serious and did not like people fooling around with him, but even then he missed the taunts they had thrown at him then.
All because of who his parents had been.
The vision faded away, slowly, until all was left was the swordsman. He stood like there was nothing in his life worth living for.
Get a grip on yourself, though Valkron irritably, watching him. People telling you what they think of you isn't the end of the world.
But he knew, even as he thought, that he was lying to himself. It may have been his life, but he took comments about him to heart and they stayed.
The swordsman faded away. What was left was darkness. Valkron felt as if a hole had opened up inside him. He felt cold and empty, and as his hand went up to his heart a voice said, You know yourself for who you are...liar.
'Well, if it isn't you stewing in your own sadness again.'
He looked around. There was that knight again - the perfect copy of him that he so hated. The man was looking at him calmly.
'What do you want?' he said irritably.
'Ha ha. You don't seem to admit much, do you?' The man chuckled. 'Commendable behaviour so far. You've admitted your feelings for the others but I've yet to see you admit them for yourself.'
Valkron glared at the knight.
'That kind of thing is not going to get you anywhere, believe you me,' said the knight. 'Right now the only person who's going to tell you what you're doing wrong is yourself - well, me, but I am you so what difference does that make?'
Valkron sighed. 'Tell me about it then.'
'You finally open up. Well. Interesting.' The knight coughed. 'But I'm afraid you're going to have to open up a little more than that, really. To others, not me.'
'And how's that supposed to help?'
'Trust in them. Yeah, I know that doesn't sound much but there's a lot more if you trust them. You think they're going to let you down at this stage, when you all have gone so far already?'
Valkron thought about this. 'Well...no, I don't think so.'
'Good to hear that. So, when are you going to tell her?' said the knight innocently.
It was quite difficult to hold it all back in. Valkron was still coughing when he finally managed to stop spluttering incoherently. The knight was grinning.
'What do you know about it?' he said hoarsely. 'That's private!'
'How private will that be in the near future?' retorted the knight mischievously.
Valkron knew he could not lie. The answer was undoubtfully no. He could feel the heat rushing to his face and looked away.
'She won't like it,' he said. 'She doesn't trust men.'
'Of course you know she doesn't,' said the knight smoothly. 'But you can't avoid it forever.'
'You're not a prophet, you can't tell me that,' snapped Valkron.
'It's mighty predictable,' said the knight, folding his arms across his chest.
Valkron gave up. Somehow his inner self was more adamant and much more shrewd than he really was.
His copy sighed. 'You know, it would make things really easy if you get back there now. They're waiting for you.'
'I tried. I can't seem to open my eyes,' explained Valkron. 'It's like they've been glued shut. I just...can't get back to where I belong--'
'Oh come on, don't muck around,' said the knight. 'Get past the "I can't".'
Valkron stared. The knight turned away from him and walked off into the darkness, leaving him alone.
But Valkron didn't feel alone anymore.
The first thing he felt was the cold. It struck him much harder than he remembered and forced him to open his eyes.
He looked around himself blearily. The Raulus party was sleeping around the witchfire blazing quietly in the clearing. There was no sound apart from the blazing fire except for the howling of the gale that had been blowing ceaselessly for the past few weeks.
Valkron tried to sit up. Pain seared through his chest and he was forced to lie back down. They had piled blankets on him again, but this time he welcomed the warmth they offered him.
He looked down at himself. His chainmail had been rolled up to his chin, and a neat bandage was on his chest. It looked fresh but so did the bloodstain on the linen.
The knight couldn't believe he had lived. He had felt the claw snap a rib bone or two as it passed through his flesh, and the pain had been unbearable. It was no wonder he had blacked out almost immediately after that.
There was a slight snore from beside him. Valkron turned his head to see Samaroh with a blanket over his legs and chest, sleeping peacefully against a tree. He felt grateful towards the priest; Samaroh had probably spent more energy exorcising than healing and yet he had taken the trouble to expend a little more energy in healing Valkron before he went to sleep.
He looked up into the grey sky and watched the magic circle above them glow. It was rotating very slowly as he watched it, pulsing deeply with its horrible light. Valkron watched it lightheadedly as he thought.
After a while he sat up again, and this time he stayed up. He sat up for a long time, staring out across the snow at something in the distance. Then, very slowly, a smile spread across his face and it was a real smile.
They found him next morning fast asleep and still smiling. This was slightly disturbing. Emeth exchanged looks with Samaroh and knelt down next to him.
'Valkron,' he said softly, shaking the knight by the shoulder. 'Valkron, wake up.'
The knight opened an eye. 'Yes?'
'How're you feeling?' said the wizard, sitting back. Everyone drew closer to hear Valkron's answer.
'I feel okay.' Valkron sat up. 'Samaroh did wonders again. You must have been tired last night but you still healed me.'
'Don't need to thank me, it's my job,' said the priest, shrugging.
Valkron chuckled. 'Touche. Well, since I'm feeling okay I should be up and about. I can see my breath even more than I did yesterday. Someone help me up.'
Emeth held out his hand and pulled the knight up to his feet. Valkron handed back the blankets to Amaru and mounted his peco. The cut in his chest felt better now and wasn't bleeding anymore. He had never felt fresher in his life.
'We're almost there,' he said to the others. 'Just a little more and then I'll do whatever I need to do.'
'We've got a bit less than one week left, Valkron,' said Emeth, waving his staff at the spell in the sky and nearly hitting Khan in the eye.
'Not to worry there, we're quite close. Let's go.' Valkron turned his peco towards where he had been staring for so long the pervious night and rode off. Khan glared at Emeth and huffed at him before marching off. The others followed.
It took them about an hour and a half to reach a massive cave. The gaping hole felt ancient - indeed, there were large runes carved into the arch of the mouth of the cave.
'So...what do we do here?' asked Nocturne, sliding off the back of Iruna's peco.
'I told you, you're not involved.' Valkron dismounted. 'Amaru, if I'm not wrong you've already finished repairing my sword.'
'I did,' replied the blacksmith in his deep voice. 'I hope you don't mind about me carving my name into the blade. It's--'
'--a regulation, I know,' said the knight, taking the sword from him. He whistled as he looked at it. 'Good job there. It...feels different.'
Amaru shrugged non-committedly. 'For better or for worst?'
'I can definitely say for better. I don't need to use the javelin anymore.' Valkron sheathed the sword. 'So...I'll be back late. No one follow me.'
'Valkron?' said Emeth.
'Hmm?'
'You're really going to do this?'
'Yes, why?'
The wizard looked up at the cave. 'But that's--'
'Yeah, I know.' The knight turned away to enter the cave.
'Still, that's--'
'Don't worry, I know what I'm doing.'
'You're serious about this?' Emeth looked like he was having a hard time accepting what Valkron was about to do.
'Yes. How many times do I have to say this? Yes, yes, yes and yes. For the final time, yes. I'm not changing my mind. Are you happier now?'
'What is it, Emeth?' asked Iruna worriedly.
The wizard pointed at the cave. 'Want a translation of the runes?'
'Go ahead, it's all yours,' said Samaroh.
Emeth cleared his throat. Valkron was standing with his back to them.
'Here I dwell, nightmare of children, taker of life,
terror of families, foe of men. Whosoever challenges me for name and fame, turn back now or never return from the depths of my cave.
I am the lord of the darkness, the king of the monsters, I am death itself. Flee for your lives! for your death is upon you when you step into my home.'
There was silence. Eventually Eni said, 'And that means...?'
'Baphomet lives here,' said valkron, not looking back. 'And...I'm going to fight him. Alone.'
