Mine patron is Lathander, God of Dawn,
And Bhaal our sire, Lord of Murder, gone;
But know you fathers always only one
Have we, and he is named Gorion.

-Ronys and Juliad v.9.30-33
William Quiverlance



3. In the Name of the Father



As the sun set, Gorion led his wards through the gate of Candlekeep, and the guard reissued Gorion's warning to Onyx and Jade that, even though they had lived there all their lives, they would by themselves not be able to return.

Night had fallen when the gates slammed shut behind them and a rain had just picked up. "Let us hurry!" Gorion commanded and led them on. The other two had their bows gripped firmly, ready to draw arrows from the quivers strapped alongside thier backpacks. On they wandered, for hours through the rain, eastward toward the Coast Way, and Gorion's stamina and stride did not seem to falter at all, despite the old sage he was, as pure strength of purpose fueled his aged bones.

But this may have only hastened the moment when their path became blocked but a squad of imposing figures.

The two on the extreme left and right were by far the most massive creatures Onyx or Jade had ever seen, but they recognized them from their schooling. Ogres. Eech carried a cudgel almost as large as the young warriors' torsos, and looked quite ready and capable to bash said body parts to pulp with those weapons.

One of the figures in between was much smaller, but still imposing. A cloaked woman with a flail and shield, and slanted eyes that peered out of a helmet.

The fourth figure was a waking, walking nightmare. Only slightly smaller than the ogres, and likely not one iota weaker, he was an enormous figure in obscenely spiky armor, and he held a massive, darkly red glowing two-handed sword that seemed to hunger for life itself. His face, for better or for worse, was hidden by his spiky helmet, save for two searing, golden glowing eyes that burned with malice.

He was an apparition that walked the fine line between monster and man.

"Prepare yourself!" Gorion shouted, raising his own hands. "It's an ambush!"

Jade rolled her eyes as, like her brother, her right hand flicked to up her quiver, and back to her bowstring. ""Ya think?"

The armored figure laughed, as if enjoying the girl's sarcasm. His voice was deep, and bellowing. Very commanding, very intimidating, and very, very, confident. "Your ward is perceptive, old man. You know why I'm here. Hand over your wards and no one will be hurt. If you resist it shall be a waste of life." He held his sword slightly higher, and far more menacingly.

Gorion snorted in defiance, but his brave front was imperfect. "You're a fool if you think I would trust your benevolence. Stand aside and you and your lackeys will be unhurt."

The armored figure laughed, "I'm sorry that you feel that way, old man."

"Run children, get out of here!" Gorion shouted, turning to Jade and Onyx and shooing them with head-gestures while his arms began to wave artistically in what his wards recognized as the beginning motions of magic.

Neither Onyx nor Jade were about to abandon their father. This was what they had been trained for. Their combat teachings were with them. Their right hands lifted and pulled back their arrows to their cheeks, and each shot first for the woman, who seemed to be trying to cast. Both arrows struck her in the chest, but not before she had finished her incantation. Onyx and Jade felt tingling waves of invisible, unfamiliar, and unwelcome energy surround them. Suddenly, and without explanation, each of them, who had been ready to fight only a moment before, were now both overcome with an overwhelming, irrational fear. A terrifying panic, as if every demon in hell were upon them.

Nearly dropping their bows, they turned and fled into a nearby copse of trees. They crouched in the darkness, shivering uncontrollably, scared out of their wits like children half their age. They watched helplessly as a lightning bolt Gorion had cast shot through one of the ogres and immediately reduced it to a pile of ash. The other was advancing, but Gorion gave it a similar treatment just in the nick of time. AS their father prepared another spell, the armored man was upon him, holding his sword back for a mighty swing.

Completing some spell unfamiliar to his wards, a glowing sabre of green energy grew forth from Gorion's hands, and swung it upwards to parry his foe's blade. The weapons struck with an electric crackle, and the dark red glow of the armor man's sword flashed more brightly, as did his golden eyes.

Several more times each they swung, Gorion's ethereal green blade making a deep hum as it cut through the air to block his adversary's. As they duel of glowing swords wore on, their robed father seemed to tire, and the armored man remained calm and determined, though his breathing was deep and monstrous.

At last, the monk's sword flickered and vanished, but he stared down his foe without fear.

"If you strike me down," Gorion shouted, "I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

The armored man laughed and pointed with one metal finger while raising his weapon with the other. "You do not know the power of the dark side."

Onyx and Jade gasped from the bushes, still frozen and silent in terror. For the rest of their days, the next few moments would be seared into their minds, in agonizing slow motion.

As the sword slashed through Gorion, there was no blood, no gore, no scream. His form simply crumpled. His cloak fell to the ground, empty.

Noooooo!! Onyx and Jade mouthed screams, but no sound came out, and this probably saved them.

The armored man roared triumphantly and looked around, briefly at the piles of ashes that his ogres had become, and then at the woman who was lying on the ground with two arrows sprouting from her chest. Hoisting her body up on his shoulder and wedging it between the spikes of his armor, he cursed, and looked around. His golden, glowing eyes seemed as though they could piece the darkness, and their own souls.

He looked around, not seeming to see them, but as if knowing they were there, and laughed into the darkness. "You can run and hide from your destiny for only so long. What you have seen before you is an act of one thing - power. And you, both of you, carry it too. You will be told it is a burden - it is not. It is a blessing. In time, you too will learn to wield it, or you will die. You cannot resist it. You shall have to master it, and we shall meet again. Do not disappoint me."

With that, he turned and marched off.

After several more minutes, Onyx and Jade at last felt the fear subside and had the courage to emerge from the bushes. They held their bows drawn, fresh arrows ready even as their fingers trembled with natural fear, and looked about for their foe, in vain.

"What came over us?" Onyx whispered in despair, "I...I never thought I'd just run from a battle like that, and now father is dead. I don't know what came over me."

Jade sighed. "It was a spell of fear, obviously. Haven't you ever felt the tingle of magic before? Though it doesn't bring back father, we cannot blame ourselves."

Onyx furrowed his brow, still not satisfied. "Were we stronger, we might have resisted it."

"Guilt will not bring him back either."

The young paladin walked over to Gorion's halved cloak and knelt by it. He clasped it in his hands, and looked down at it, then up at the starry sky. He took off his helm, and tears began to stream from his cheeks as he spoke to the heavens. "I have failed you, father. My heart was overcome by fear, and whether it be my own or sorcery, I thus fled my post, and you have paid for my cowardice. My first battle of any import, and I flee, and fail! I swear upon your memory, father, that some day I shall be impervious to fear."

"And," he finished as he rose, "I will avenge you, father. That man, or monster, whoever or whatever he was, will die by my sword."

"Unless," Jade snarled, standing tall beside him, "He dies by mine."

After Onyx had stood over Gorion's robe in silence for awhile, Jade walked over to him. "I mourn his loss no less than you, but we must be gone lest that man return. Let us take Gorion's things, that they may be of use in information or value. It is what he would want."

Onyx nodded, not irrational in his grief. They found some money, Gorion's dagger, and a letter. Holding it up to the moonlight and trying to shield it from the rain, they read over it together.

My friend Gorion,

Please forgive the abruptness with which I now write, but time is short and there is much to be done. What we have long feared may soon come to pass, though not in the manner foretold, and certainly not in the proper time frame. As we both know, forecasting these events has proved increasingly difficult, leaving little option other than a leap of faith. We have done what we can for those in thy care, but the time nears when we must step back and let matters take what course they will. We have, perhaps, been a touch too sheltering to this point.

Despite my desire to remain neutral to this matter, I could not, in good conscience, let events proceed without some measure of warning. The other side will move very soon, and I urge thee to leave Candlekeep this very night, if possible. The darkness may seem equally threatening, but a moving target is much harder to hit, regardless of how sparse the cover. A fighting chance is all that can be asked for at this point.

Should anything go awry, do not hesitate to seek aid from travelers along the way. I do not need to remind thee that it is a dangerous land, even without our current concerns, and a party is stronger than an individual in all respects. Should additional assistance be required, I understand that Jaheira and Khalid are currently at the Friendly Arm Inn. They know little of what has passed, but they are ever thy friends and will no doubt help however they can.

Luck be with us all.
I'm getting to old for this.

-E


"NEUTRAL?" It was only fear or attracting again the main with the glowing eyes that kept Jade's scream from perhaps being heard all the way back to Candlekeep. "NEUTRAL?"

"Some friend," Onyx nodded bitterly.

"E?" Jade at length, recovering some calm, rubbed her chin. "Someone old, obviously well connected. I told you Gorion had shady affiliations. But what could these assassins want with him?"

"Us," Onyx corrected. "The large man said 'hand over your wards'. It is about us. Why, I cannot imagine, and I almost feel narcissistic just for thinking it. We were just two orphans, novice warriors, neither of any great good or evil, of no political importance or anything. We grew up in a bubble! How could someone from outside possibly have any interest in us? But it can no longer be otherwise."

Jade nodded. It was absurd but undeniable.

They split the money, and each took half the cloak - painful souveneirs. Both shivering in the rain, the two decided to take shelter under a thicket, after wandering far from the scene of Gorion's death lest assassins return, and for the same reasons didn't pitch their tents. There, lying hidden under thick bushes and upon pine needles, still in armor and with their longbows in hand, they dozed off, and slept uncomfortably indeed, their dreams filled with confusion, anger, and fear.