Rise of the Blue Knight
Chapter 1-Night of the Comet
Toward dawn, the sky over Amakina seemed to clear a bit, as the fearfully large ball of fire cut its fork-tailed path across the sky.
But as the Comet seemed to hover directly over Amakina itself, the remaining wool of purple clouds coughed up a terrific thunderstorm!
Thunder seemed to light up the clouds from the back, as bolts of malevolent electricity seemed to crackle along the ground itself. They seemed to strike at every building in the village, hissing and spitting like a monstrous serpent before a single bolt of blue-white light seemed to leap up from the center of the village and back toward the tormented sky above.
The sound itself was like dozens of large drums, mingled with the ringing of a huge gong.
Any villager standing on the green was picked up by the blast and tossed like a spoiled child heartlessly casting away a once favorite doll.
While the villagers were picking themselves up from the ground they called home, the village Elder let out a cry of alarm!
In the exact center of the village green, there was now an ugly looking scar. It was a black and brown pit gouged from the ground by the blast of the lightning strike.
"Hay, we need some help over here!" the Elder cried out.
All of the men who had managed to stand up again came running, although most of them staggered as if they were drunk because the flash of lightning had stolen their sight away for a few moments.
Before the echo of the elder's voice passed away into the receding storm, a dozen men stood with the elder at the rim of the black crater. The black mist rising from the hole had an odd, refreshing scent to it before it was taken away by the calming wind that followed the great storm.
When the last of the smoke had blown away, a shape could be made out at the very bottom of the hole.
It was a shape that any villager knew.
A basket.
And from the shape of it, not just debris from the storm.
This basket was crying, just as loudly as one small voice could manage!
The crater itself was steep, and its sides taller than any man in the village. But they all locked arms, and one of the local Enutrofs managed to hook a shovel blade onto the basket's handle and lift it up and out of the crater. With the gentlest of care, it was set down a safe distance from the hole.
Almost at once, a female Enripsa with a florid face elbowed her way to the front and hovered over the basket.
The edges of the blanket were black with soot, but there was no damage as the healer tucked the blanket back, to reveal the crying voice from within the basket.
It was a baby boy, wearing an unusual soft cap that seemed to cover him more like a felt blanket.
Out from under the cap that also had a long, soft "Tail" on it, there spilled a mop of ink black hair.
"He seems to be fine." Felice told the group of onlookers.
"The basket must have been picked up by the storm winds and carried here." Said one of the men.
"Likely some family caught on the road by the storm." Said another.
Then, the elder held up his hand, and all the talking stopped.
"Whoever this lad is, he needs our help right now."
"I quite agree." Felice replied. "He should be kept warm and dry for now. Who he might be, we can sort out later."
"Very well, Felice." The elder replied. "I shall leave him to your capable hands then." The elder answered. "For now, this night isn't fit for man or Gobballs." The Elder went on. "For now, everyone go home, and we'll wait to see what the morning brings."
The other men of the village nodded eagerly, for every one of them wanted to get out from under the storm.
As all of them departed, Felice gathered up the basket gently. Her own house was only a few steps distant.
As she fluttered into her home with her basket and closed her heavy wooden door behind the weather, The Enripsa looked down at the boy, and saw something the Elder had missed.
The boy with the soft cap and black hair also had a beautiful pair of gentle eyes that radiated a soft blue glow as the baby smiled up at her.
"I can't say what tomorrow will bring." Felice said speaking to the smiling baby. "But I think I've been lucky enough this storm tossed night."
Felice set the basket down on an overstuffed chair next to a low but warm fire.
"Now, let's see if we can find us both something to eat." The Enripsa told the baby.
"Then let's try to find out just who you might be, so far from home. And not just from down the road, if I'm any judge."
The black-haired boy cooed softly in agreement.
The baby boy had a healthy appetite, and was soon snug and warm, sleeping near the fire.
The next morning dawned bright and blissfully calm.
The baby boy had slept through the night, uncaring in his innocence at what his uncertain future might hold.
His sweet quiet didn't make what Felice had to do next any easier.
The Enripsa healer sensed that she could leave the boy
alone long enough to check on the injured around Amakina.
So Felice collected her familiar basket of healing herbs and brushes and slipped quietly out of her house to tend to wounded citizens, and to see the village elder.
Thankfully, last night's unnatural storm had done no major damage except to property around the village. Felice was able to float directly across the village green and into the living room of the village elder, whose front door was always open during the day.
"Aris?" She seemed to whisper gently to no one in the room. But then there was a soft rustling movement from behind the great pile of papers stacked on the table at the far end of the room.
"Felice!" The oldest inhabitant of the village spoke up brightly. "So glad to see you made it through last night."
"That's part of the reason I'm here, Aris." Felice began slowly, not knowing exactly how to bring up the subject without evoking frightening memories of the worst night the village could remember.
"It's about our newest resident. You know, the one who arrived last night." Felice began. As she spoke up she saw the older man's eyes brighten.
"Oh yes, with all the confusion around here this morning, and figuring out what needs rebuilding, I'd forgotten all about him." Aris said almost casually. "Was he hurt in any way by his unusual arrival?"
"He's as sound and bright as a newly minted Kama." Felice replied. "But I still know nothing at all of who he is, nor where he came from." The healer added.
"We could get Celia Starshine to draw us a picture of the baby." Aris replied. "Then we can prepare posters and handbills that can be taken from town to town and posted until we find the young lad's parents." The elder continued.
"There's only one problem." Felice replied slightly downcast at the prospect. "We don't know what to call him." The Village Healer continued. "If he's listed as an abandoned child, anyone might come and take him away."
"For now there is not much more we can do, Felice." The village elder replied. "We'll have to deal with identifying the boy when and if someone comes to claim him."
Felice nodded, not bothering to hide her glum expression.
"Aris?" Felice asked quietly, almost under her breath.
Aris and Felice were childhood friends. Both had lived in the rural village their entire lives. Aris knew the gentle plaintiff tone Felice was using.
"What is it my dear?" Aris asked gently, letting drop his title and office, and simply opening his heart to a lifelong friend.
"How long might it be before we can consider adopting the lad here in the village?"
Aris looked into Felice's gentle blue eyes, and understood what was behind the question.
"That will depend on how many inquiries we get once the hand bills and posters have been distributed." Aris replied, sounding a little less like an official, and more like a friend. "I would say any time between six months, and a year."
The troubled expression on Felice's round, cherubic face seemed to transform with the energy of gentle hope.
"It's decided then." Felice replied. "There's all sorts of room in my house, and I haven't forgotten how to see to the needs of a newborn."
"Taking care of him while we concentrate on repair and rebuilding for now would probably be best." Aris replied. "We'll leave it like that for the present and foreseeable future."
"Thank you Aris. Thank you so much, for both of us." Felice replied as she scooped up her happily unneeded wicker basket full of supplies and seemed to float out of the house on something besides the morning breezes.
As she fluttered across the village green still littered with flotsam tossed here and there by the storm, Felice spied a young Cra. Her flowing red locks and determined expression as she worked to help the villagers cleanup the mess showed an inner strength that Felice admired.
"Celia?" Felice called out with happiness in her voice, for she was glad to see one of her best friends unharmed after the terrible storm.
The redheaded girl smiled in the Enripsa's direction as she fluttered closer.
"Good morning Felice!" Celia replied casually. "That certainly was one wild night."
"Indeed it was, Cici. "But also a night touched with magic." Felice replied. "I need a favor if you wouldn't mind." Felice confessed gently.
"Whatever I can do, you already know that." Cici replied.
"When you're done out here, stop by my place, if you would. And bring some parchment, and your charcoal sticks."
Celia's young face lit up like the rising sun burning through the morning haze. "You need me to draw for you?" Cici inquired with an air of anxious anticipation.
Felice was delighted to smile and nod. "Yes my dear, and since you have a gift for art, you're just the one I need to help me." Felice replied as she found herself enjoying the happy expectation that she saw in Cici's expression.
"Let me take this load of litter to the dump, then I'll get my supplies, and come right over."
"Thank you Cici. In gratitude for your help, the least we can do is to make you breakfast. Please come by whenever you're ready."
Felice seemed to zip across the village green toward her house with a renewed air of anticipation, leaving Cici with one unanswered question on her lips.
"We?" The young Cra artist mused out loud.
A short while later, Felice was flitting around her sideboard, working to restore her supply of healing potions. Her almost constant flow of mixture and bottling was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Felice put down her pestle with a smile. She already knew who it was.
"Come in Cici, and make yourself comfortable!" The Enripsa hollered to the rooms behind her.
She came around the corner to see the young Cra staring transfixed at the wicker basket holding the Enripsa's newest house guest.
"Hello Cici!" Felice said gently by way of breaking the spell. The young Cra looked around and smiled at the greeting.
"He's darling!" Cici said, dropping her voice by reflex as she spoke. "His dark hair really brings out those blue eyes. I bet he breaks more than a few hearts as he grows up." Cici remarked casually.
She had taken parchment and charcoal from the bag on her shoulder, and was already beginning to sketch as she spoke.
Felice giggled good-naturedly at Cici's comment. "I bet he will at that. But before then, we have to find out who he is, and where exactly he belongs." Felice responded.
Cici gave a short nod, and concentrated on her drawing with renewed effort. Even before Felice could manage to set up tea for both of them, Cici triumphantly held up a single page of parchment for Felice to see.
The likeness on the sheepskin page stopped Felice as she hovered in midair. The likeness of the dark-haired foundling was so accurate it took the healer's breath away.
"My stars, Cici that's amazing!" Was all that Felice could manage to say. The more she looked at the charcoal drawing the more accurate it became. Until she realized that Cici hadn't missed even the smallest detail in what could be seen in the basket before her. The image was absolutely accurate and haunting in its lifelike quality.
Cici could only manage a modest smile. As a Cra, having a good eye was a matter of eating or going hungry, not only for herself, but for many people in the village as well.
"The girl I remember drawing puffy clouds on a summer's day certainly has talent." Felice complimented gently.
This time, Cici blushed, with even the tips of her pointed ears turning slightly pink.
It was hard for most of the villagers to forget that Felice had been taking care of most of them since they had been children themselves.
Cici now turned her usual critical eye on her own work, and began to fix up small points and details of the sketch.
It was then that the sharp eyed archer caught sight of a line in the sketch that didn't belong. Cici glanced back at her subject in real life, and could just see the edge of something peeking out from under the fluffy "tales" on the unusual hat the baby boy wore.
"Hey Felice, what's that?" Cici asked almost in passing as she cleaned up the sketch.
Cici's odd question brought Felice close to the basket, hovering over the spot Cici had indicated.
Then, the Enripsa Healer saw something she had missed before.
Felice gently brushed the hat and its tail to one side. Almost lost from sight in the folds of the blanket, tucked in underneath the boy there was a glint from a metallic object. It was too large to be a coin. But Cici recognized it almost at once.
"It looks like a medallion of some sort." The Archer turned artist exclaimed as she dipped in two fingers to extract the bit of metal from the basket.
But a moment later, Cici paused, holding the metal piece in the flat of her palm so that Felice could see it. It's bright golden surface was inlaid with forms and symbols around its entire circumference. But it's round edges ended in an ugly charred black line where the medallion had been neatly melted and probably shattered in the process.
"It looks as if that was hit by a... " Cici began.
"By a bolt of lightning." Felice finished with an amazed whisper in her voice.
"Who would put a lightning talisman in a baby's basket?" Cici asked gravely as Felice hovered behind her looking over her shoulder at the strange alphabet engraved on the face of the round metal disk.
"I can't say right off." Felice answered. "But there is something familiar to me about that engraving."
"A magic spell of some sort?" Cici asked becoming more intrigued looking at the dark-haired boy than the golden disk she held in her hand.
"That would be my guess, Cici." Felice answered honestly. "But where it came from, and what sort of magic it really is, we can only discover as time passes." Felice added. The healer's expression now carried just a touch of worry.
"Well, all babies have a touch of magic about them." Cici observed as she smiled at the dark-haired boy in the basket, who was quick to smile back. "It just may be that our boy has a little bit more than most."
"I think you may be right, Cici." Felice answered. "What direction the magic takes will depend on how he grows up." The healer continued.
"Well then, it'll just be up to us to make sure that everything comes right."
That observation brought a beam of happiness to Felice's round rosy cheeks and face.
Cici could already feel what Felice's dearest hope was for the baby boy. For, as a Cra, the eyes of an archer gave the young girl not only sight, but sometimes an uncomfortable amount of insight.
"Would you trust me with this, Felice?" Cici asked. "I think I remember this alphabet from a book that my grandmother gave me. I'd like to try reading what's on this medallion."
"Go right ahead my dear." There's absolutely no one that I trust more." Felice replied with her usual warm smile. "For now, can you spare the time for a nice cup of tea?" Felice asked. "It's rose grass. Sweet and savory. I remember that as being your favorite."
Cici took a seat at the small table with the proper manners of a guest. "It would be my pleasure, Felice. That way we can talk some more about the baby."
Felice smiled once more and hummed happily as she poured tea for both of them and took her place at the table at a spot which also allowed her to watch over the baby basket not far distant.
Word of Cici's remarkable sketch spread quickly throughout the village. Before curfew that night, most of the villagers had visited Felice to see the remarkable drawing and it's even more interesting subject.
Before the next day was out most of the villagers had also seen how Felice doted on the village's newest resident.
Most of them had fond memories of Felice tending to the cuts, scratches, and scrapes of their childhoods. The entire village was happy that the Enripsa healer had found someone else to bring her the happiness she deserved.
The following day, Aris decided to leave the village, and make his way to Astrub, where one of the town's artisans carved Cici's remarkable portrait of the foundling into a woodcut block from which printed copies could be made.
While it took him most of the day, Aris had also been careful enough to leave prints of the picture posted in the local inn, and at the militia offices in the larger city.
After he returned to the village late under the moonlight the village elder was careful to be both optimistic and sympathetic toward Felice and her new house guest. But Aris himself had felt a keen pang of disappointment after posting the baby's remarkable likeness at the Astrub Inn, without any recognition at all from the many patrons that had turned the venerable building into a second home after the devastation wrought by the unnatural storm.
For the moment, Aris realized he had done all that one person could do, and from that point on, events would have to trust to luck.
He had also brought back to his own village vivid descriptions of the destruction and damage in towns like Astrub, and larger cities much farther away than that.
While in the larger city, Aris had seen and spoken with guard captains from both Bonta and far off Brakmar, who had come with troops to help maintain order in badly damaged Astrub. Aris did Felice another kindness, by neglecting to mention that no one in any of the guard detachments from the distant cities, nor anyone from Astrub, showed any recognition of the lost baby boy.
For now, the village elder had to look to his own people and their needs. Amakina had been fortunate compared to some of the smaller villages and larger cities Aris had seen on his journey.
But there was more work to be done here at home, and the fate of their village was more important than one foundling. The baby was in the best of hands, and the villagers had larger problems. So no one at all took it amiss as the foundling became just another member of their community.
The days following the storm seemed to bring the village together like very few things even the elders could remember.
There was so much to be repaired, and so much to be rebuilt that the villagers simply formed themselves into one large work gang and pressed on from house to house and building to building. They worked together on each structure and home in turn, until it was repaired or rebuilt.
But one day, over springtime lunch on the village green, Felice could hold her curiosity no more.
As Cici sat down with her lunch plate, Felice floated up on the other side of the table across from her.
"Have you had any luck with that strange medallion, Cici?" Felice asked, trying not to sound anxious or afraid of the reply she might receive.
"Not much." Not even my grandmother's books on ancient languages had very much about which language it might be. But I have a hunch." Cici replied sounding both casual and tantalizing in the same moment.
"Do tell!" Felice replied urgently.
Cici smiled, unable to keep her friend in suspense any longer.
"Like I said, I'm no expert." She began slowly. "But if I had to bet my bow on it, I would bet that it's Draconic." Cici revealed, weighing each of her words as she spoke.
Felice felt a jolt of excitement pass through her, one that made her wings vibrate a bit more than usual. "How fascinating!" Felice replied, almost afraid to ask the next question. "How much of it can you actually read?" She asked, her voice quivering with excitement.
"I found what looks like the Draconic alphabet written in the margins of one of my grandmother's diaries." Cici explained. "Using her letters, I have been able to read one word that is engraved more than once on the medallion. It sounds like a name." Cici teased with a smile.
"Don't you dare keep me in suspense like this, Cici!" Felice exclaimed across her bowl of soup.
"The name seems to translate to "Shibune" from the old magic text." Cici revealed to her friend, who had suddenly forgotten all about her soup.
"Shibune." Felice rolled the name over across her tongue, and across her mind. "It's strange, but not bad." The healer considered.
"In draconic, it's three symbols." Cici advised. "There's no equivalent in our language for the last symbol. But if you shorten it to "Shibu" it matches our language perfectly." Cici added between slow sipping spoonfuls of soup.
"Shibu." Felice repeated. "In the old tongue, it would mean "Spirit of the light." She considered for a moment. "I like it. From now on, he has a name as long as he's here."
"Shibu it is then!" Cici replied with a tone of gentle merriment.
The name seemed to heal the last of the wounds from that awful night. The jagged black crater where the dark-haired boy from the sky seem to appear had been rounded out and filled with a sturdy young tree.
The villagers gathered to dedicate the sapling and its growth to the memory of their mutual survival, and the arrival of one unique resident in particular. The tree already had a name in her eyes. "Shibu's Oak." Felice couldn't help but look fondly toward the tree, which seemed to be growing as fast as its namesake.
"At least will have a name to put on his birthday presents." The youthful Cra remarked casually.
Felice smiled warmly, and not necessarily because of the soup before her.
"Wouldn't that be simply lovely?" Felice asked in a dreamy voice.
"I think so. You've taken a shine to our visitor, and since no one is come to ask about him-" Cici stopped talking suddenly when she saw her friends face fall into a sad expression. "I'm sorry, Felice." Cici remarked, going quiet on purpose at the table.
"No, no my dear." Felice replied, bucking up her spirits as she spoke. "It's been six months, and no one anywhere seems to know anything about this boy." Felice answered with a touch of sadness. "Except for everyone around here."
"I certainly wouldn't mind if he stayed." Cici remarked casually. "You are the happiest I've seen you in a long time, and I think the village needs children- or child- to be complete." Cici added with a warm smile.
Felice returned the warm expression. She knew it was true better than anyone. Even in the midst of the wreckage and devastation of the village and surrounding countryside, the villagers had also come together to provide the basic needs for the infant boy. Almost at once, it was as if every man in the village, and every boy too, had become a father or a big brother to the village's newest arrival.
Villagers of all ages would arrive in shifts every few hours at Felice's door, volunteering to feed and hold the dark-haired boy until he burped.
The other ladies of the village had risen to the unique challenge of raising a child together. A few hardy souls had volunteered to come and stay in Felice's living room. a few days at a time as the weeks and then months rolled by. This allowed the village healer to sleep through the night, restoring her needed powers while the dark-haired boy was fed and cared for through the nights at the same time.
Everyone with eyes could see how quickly he was growing, and what a wonderful, smiling and quiet child he could be. In the end, Felice understood that there was no one in the village, or the entire World of the Twelve who wouldn't want to adopt the boy if the chance came. So, in a fashion, all of them did just that.
But all of them understood that somehow, Shibu seemed to belong especially to Felice, and no one was prepared to argue the point in the face of her glowing happiness.