Spring came and went and the months cooled and the wind turned crisp as the leaves fell in the colors of fall, Kalen turned seventeen shortly after the autumn began. The food was abundant and happiness was apparent, as servants who normally worked silently, whistled as they did their work. Decorations were hung and the spicy aromas of cooking food wafted from the kitchens into the halls. The fall equinox was upon them.
And for a certain group of squires: their Ordeals. They had each taken their baths separately but sat together in the chapel, waiting the dawn.
When they exited the chapel, family members and other friends stood in a group, and parted to allow them passage as the great iron door opened for the first squire.
Sheba was the first to enter and by the time she came out, pale, hardly able to stand, and visibly shaking, the others knew she was not to speak of what happened and yet seeing even their strongest friend quivering like the leaves on a tree, unnerved them.
Oriana entered the next day and she too came out unscathed, but as Eosin tried to comfort her, she shied away, sobbing and telling others to leave her, that the horrors are ones none should see. Midori saw a wild look in Oriana's eyes but did not step up. Foolish terror held her back, the fear of Oriana's sanity; possibly lost like the determination she had displayed only moments before.
The morning of Amyl's Ordeal came and Amyl gulped as she was beaconed through the door, fear clearly visible in her eyes as she felt the crowd's gaze at her back. "I must be strong!" she murmured, listening as two knights instructed her in what she must do after departing the Chamber. She nodded and for a fleeting moment she looked back and met Midori's eyes giving her a shaky smile before clenching her fists and boldly entering the Chamber.
The last two Ordeals of the fall soon came in a blur. The night passed slowly and yet it was a night Midori of Queenscove would never forget…
Midori sat in Kalen's room, on his bed, while he sat by the dying fire, silent. After a moment she broke the tension. "Kalen…talk to me, I hate this silence…what's bothering you?"
Kalen didn't turn to face her as he replied, his voice emotionless. "The Chamber, Midori, that box from hell…"
Midori sighed and stared down at the floor, "I'm scared."
"I am too" his voice soft, "For once I wish I didn't have to face my fears."
She nodded, pictures flashing across her mind of Kalen's Ordeal and of the future. She shuddered and stood, walking over to Kalen and wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling her face into his shoulder.
"I'm not strong as you, love. You can hide your emotions while I must show them. And I-I can't face my fears without knowing you will be safe." He whispered, brown eyes facing green.
"You're strong, Kalen, your love for others makes you strong." Midori murmured her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.
"Maybe love can't save us this time…" Kalen stood and wrapped his arms around Midori as she rested against him, tears falling like shining wishes upon the flagstone floor.
"It will! It will…it must!" she said fiercely, shaking her head in disbelief.
Kalen sighed sadly, and gazed at her tearstained face, still beautiful, in the glow of the embers. "Things don't always work the way we want. If they don't, remember this: As long as you wear that hawk, I'll always fly with you."
Midori only held him tighter and buried her head in his shoulder, sobbing. "Don't die, oh gods, don't die." She whispered.
Kalen hugged her, stroking her hair. "Love may not save me, Midori, but you can. You will keep me going, I'm doing this for the realm and you…"
She slept that night, nightmares plaguing her sleep and at dawn she woke up in tears.
Now standing before the door, among the crowd, she watched as Kalen walked to the door, was instructed and, before Midori had a chance to say goodbye to him, Kalen disappeared and all was silent as the iron door shut with a clang, echoing in Midori's ears.
Kalen stood in the Chamber, eyes wary and body tense. The Chamber's first vision appeared before his eyes: Of his tribe's demise. Raiders slew the men in battle, the women were carried off on horseback, screaming for their brothers, sons and fathers, and children died where they stood pierced by blades already stained with blood of their kin, their screams echoing and their blood spilling as red as the sunset's glow that spread across the golden sky. Kalen couldn't turn away, tears stinging his eyes as he saw his friends, his parents and his proud tribe succumbing to extinction. Desert dust swirled around and Kalen covered his eyes and as it died down he saw only skeletons remained.
A cool voice, slick as oil, echoed around him and, he soon realized, it was the Chamber speaking to him, "You're afraid of your tribe's death, boy…I see it in your face now." The voice laughed lightly, "I suppose a dousing of cool water will relieve the heat."
The second vision came and he suddenly was plunged into freezing water, he panicked, oddly remembering when Midori had rescued him almost seven years before in the pond.
Just as quickly as the second vision began, it ended, Kalen gulped in air, as if he had been underwater, yet his clothes were dry. The squire looked around the Chamber, and stood, "What more can you throw at me?" Kalen thought.
"Would you settle for this?" the Chamber mocked as the next vision was shown.
Kalen found he was just in the gardens, flowers and scene lit only by moonlight. He walked down a path, the stars giving him peace and the air cool on his face. He smiled and stopped in mid-step, eyes taking in a scene that broke his heart.
Midori stood looking stunning in a long gown of dark dusk blue that hung off well-defined shoulders and showed off her curvaceous form. Her face was hidden by shadow, but her voice rang clear: "Jarvis, the moon is beautiful tonight isn't it?"
A man stood at her side, strands of blonde hair falling into his clear blue eyes that twinkled deviously, "No more then you look in that gown." Jarvis remarked, taking her hand. Kalen frowned, and shook his head as he watched Jarvis kiss her and Midori leaning into the kiss, as if they had never been enemies but long-time lovers.
Kalen tore his gaze away, "I can't watch any more…" he thought, willing the visions to stop.
"This is not part of your Ordeal, boy. The gods wish to speak with you…" the Chamber's voice faded and a white light blinded Kalen as he gasped and fell to his knees. Two figures emerged from the light: The Great Mother Goddess and—to Kalen's alarm—the Black God.
The Goddess placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and spoke, voice almost mournful. "Kalen Haimaid of the Bloody Hawk…Fly with peace."
His skin suddenly throbbed and he cried out in pain as it only intensified. It was like fire and ice, burning and cold. His throat, tight from swallowing his cries of agony and screams, finally let out a yell as gasped and shape shifted to the black hawk. As large black-red wings sprouted from his back and the wind began to pick up, blowing dust around the Chamber, the last words he uttered, though soft, were clear: "I did this for the realm and you."
As the Black God touched Kalen's brow with a hand of shadow, a torrent of flame gushed and surrounded Kalen, as he let out a screech so full of pain and sorrow it seemed to plea for his unanswered prayers as the flame licked at his hawk shape, draining him of his life. The gods had decided to kill him where no one could interfere. In the Chamber of Ordeal.
Kalen felt deaf as the flames burned and snarled, and he bowed his head feeling his tears of failure stinging in his eyes. He was weak, wounded and left to die, a mortal feeling the wrath of the gods and paying for the price of immortality.
He raised his head and he saw a pair of somber eyes sparkling with tears. The eyes of his lover, green as a pair of emeralds gazing at his exhausted state. Kalen felt her reach out to him and brush his cheek with a hand, the barest touch of skin to feathers.
As Kalen's eyes closed he reached out with his wing and touched the vision, which faded, beneath his touch, "Love may not have saved me, Midori, but you have. Wear that token, and I'll fly with you…"
The flames surrounding him roared and Kalen fell to his knees, succumbing to the sleep of true death, and buried in the tomb of flame. As the fire died, it left not ash, but only slightly burnt feathers traced with blood. The gods had slain Kalen of the Bloody Hawk and as everyone knew, once the gods bound the dead to rest…
The dead stayed dead.