A/N: This chapter will reveal much of Mithrandos' background and also merits a slash warning, although it'll only be in form of memories. Enjoy!
Mithrandos walked surefootedly at the edge of the pond, despite the near pitch blackness all around him. Judging by the position of the waning moon, dawn was a few hours away yet, and the forest was still asleep.
Dustin had left and returned to the underground headquarters with several square boxes and after the ensuing unfamiliar yet surprisingly delicious pizza-dinner, Cam had offered Mithrandos the cave's spare bedroom. He had accepted, but quickly realized that rest would be impossible this night, for the forced waiting for the Evil Sorcerer to make his first move was chafing his nerves. After staring at the stone ceiling for some time, he found himself yearning for the feel of fresh air on his face and before he knew it, he was up and quietly ascending the stairs leading into the forest.
Now settling down on the grass within reach of the edge of the water, Mithrandos breathed deeply, welcoming both the darkness and the quiet of these other-worldly woods. It gave him a chance for some undisturbed contemplation, both about his presence in this strange realm and the impending battle with the Dark Sorcerer Luthien.
Luthien. Mithrandos closed his eyes, and as if called upon by the thought of his name alone, the wizard's face appeared in his mind. It was not, however, the vile countenance of pure evil he would doubtlessly be confronting very soon. Instead it was a younger, gentler face and dark eyes gazing upon him with warmth and affection. So long ago...
Mithrandos sighed as he recalled a different kind of moonlight, its rays streaming into his tiny room in the novice wing of the temple through a round window not much wider than his own head.
Mice holes, they had all called their rooms jokingly. More than a hundred such cubicles were arranged next to each other in the dormitory of the temple, separated only by thin wooden walls and shrouds of woven cloth in lieu of doors. And there, every night for many years, Mithrandos and Luthien had slept mere yards from each other.
They had grown up together under the tutelage of the warriors of the brotherhood of The Light; he, the seventh son of the custodian of the Secrets of The Light, destined to follow in his father's footsteps one day. And Luthien, the orphan; abandoned and found in the cattle barn of the temple one morning at so young an age that he had not yet managed to walk ten paces unaided.
Once aware of his less-than-low heritage, the boy soon had developed a zeal to make a name for himself as the best Guardian that ever walked the halls of the Temple.
The quick friendship between the 'temple ward' and the 'chosen one' surprised not many of the temple's teachers, since Mithrandos was one of the very few of the warrior-novices who did not make it his favorite pastime to jest about Luthien's unavowed origins.
Many years they spent working and training shoulder to shoulder on the temple's grounds and as their bodies and minds matured and changed, so did their feelings for each other.
One night in particular was forever burned into Mithrandos' memories.
It had been like so many other nights before, Luthien sneaking into Mithrandos' tiny room when the night warden's eyes were turned. On more nights than not, one of them would end up in the other's room, and the boys would spend some time lounging on the pallet, chatting with each other in whispers before they bid each other goodnight. But Luthien had no gossip to share that night; he seemed fidgety and so obviously troubled that after a while Mithrandos virtually begged him to speak his mind.
'Very well, then.' Luthien's dark eyes had burned into him. 'I will say what I must lest it strangles me.' Inching closer until they were almost nose to nose, he spoke in a hoarse whisper. 'Too long have I dwelled beside you and touched you only as a friend. And too long have I denied my feelings for you. I can do so no longer, Mithrandos.'
And Mithrandos had found himself suddenly at the receiving end of a crushing embrace and his best friend's lips on his. His heartbeat instantly doubled and he actually ceased to breathe for a moment as his own secret dreams suddenly became reality. Solitary fantasies in the middle of dark nights of a solid body pressed up against him, of calloused hands touching him gently, brown eyes looking at him with desire and dark hair tickling his bare skin…
He had wrapped his arms around Luthien, returning his kiss with equal passion and was rewarded with a hand fisting into his hair and an eager tongue gliding over his still closed lips. He opened his mouth at the same time as Luthien pressed him gently down onto his pallet and for a long time that night, there was no need for words anymore.
Now, at the edge of the pond, Mithrandos looked down at his hands in his lap, yet it were not his own hands he saw but Luthien's, chapped and strong; powerful enough to wield a sword so expertly that before long, none other than a full-fledged warrior could stand against him during practice. Yet Mithrandos also remembered the nights when those same hands were gliding over his skin and through his hair with a gentleness one would never associate with the fierce warrior that was Luthien.
They had to be extremely careful in concealing their newfound relationship, for although they had lived most of their young lives at the Temple of The Light, they were still only novices, Guardians in training, and the watchful eyes of their warrior-elders were ever upon them. There was good reason for their caution: Friendship among the future warriors was encouraged; love was not.
Yet they somehow found time – and places - to be together; an occasional stolen hour or two in a hidden cavern behind the Great Waterfall, or watching the sunset while wrapped in each other's arms from the entrance of a secret cave high up on the White Mountain, frequent fishing trips for the kitchen master of the temple that always turned into lovemaking sessions in their special, clandestine cove instead…Mithrandos still couldn't fathom how they managed to scrape up all the money they had to spend on buying fresh fish in the market place afterwards. Yet they did it gladly. For Mithrandos, it was a small price to pay if it meant time alone with Luthien. He had never been in love before, but for those times when he was wrapped in the other man's arms, felt his strong heartbeat under his hands and his voice whispering endearments in his ear, he would have gladly sold everything he owned.
Now, crouched on the grass before the holographic waterfall of the Wind Academy, images were flooding his mind, so vivid that Mithrandos blinked and shook his head in a futile attempt to dislodge these memories. And yet - this was the Luthien he wanted to remember, before his betrayal and defection to the Evil Powers. The man whose easy smile, quick wits and carefree attitude towards life had made Mithrandos feel things he had never felt before and would never feel again.
And then it had happened – on the day before their Rite of Initiation, the ceremony that would elevate them from novices to full-fledged warriors and Guardians of The Light.
The abruptness of his lover's departure, without the slightest indication of his intentions, had ripped a hole into Mithrandos' heart that time could never mend.
Luthien had been his usual self at the temple's supper table, joking with the other novices and teasing Mithrandos about some aspect of his sword technique, then smirking when Mithrandos mock-challenged him to a duel the next day, accepting the summons with an exaggerated bow.
Later, however, he declined when Mithrandos asked to join him in his room.
'It is the eve before the Initiation Ceremony and the eyes of the night guards will be twice as watchful tonight,' he had predicted. 'Besides, I am weary from training and we should both be well-rested for tomorrow.'
Mithrandos had conceded and spent a solitary night on his pallet.
The next morning, Luthien was gone. Later that same day it was discovered that dozens of scrolls had been taken from the Hall of Secrets, containing some of the wizards of The Light's most powerful spells.
The theft and Luthien's disappearance were quickly connected, and for many days, dozens of Guardians combed the lands for the traitor. All returned empty-handed.
For Mithrandos, the next few days – and even his Initiation Ceremony – were nothing but a string of blurred events and the pain in his heart and soul nearly immobilized him. His fellow Guardians of course knew nothing of the love he felt for the traitor, but all knew of the brotherly bond between him and Luthien, and many made an effort to ease the pain of the betrayal. However, no words of comfort broke through the wall of misery around him.
Two seasons passed; Mithrandos rose, worked, ate, trained and attended to his Guardian duties in the temple, but he never smiled nor sought out the company of his fellow Guardians any more than necessary.
Then one night he was ripped from an uneasy sleep by the tolling of the alarm bells.
The village at the foot of the temple hill was in flames and by the time Mithrandos and his company of Guardians arrived, already more than a quarter of all houses were beyond salvaging. Villagers ran to and fro in mindless panic, and in the middle of it all - cocksure and completely unaffected by the raging inferno – stood Luthien.
The sight of him affected Mithrandos like a kick in the gut; clad in all black, brandishing a sword that clearly showed the markings of the Evil Powers all along its blade, Luthien stood tall and unmoving. He had changed; malignancy was radiating off him like a furnace blazing hotter than the fires all around him and his face was contorted in a grimace of rancor that made Mithrandos' blood run cold.
'I am Luthien, son of Deshaara, Dark Queen of the Evil Powers of Ithrandar,' he roared in a voice so rough and filled with hate that Mithrandos barely recognized it. 'The time of the reign of Her Evil Majesty and me, the Dark Wizard, has come and soon, times of peace will be naught but a memory. Submit or perish!'
Explosions to his left and right followed in the wake of his words. Mithrandos willed his wildly beating heart to slow down, then raised his sword and took a few steps forward. The dark wizard thrust out his hand. Flames leapt from it and bit into the ground mere inches from Mithrandos' boots.
'The time for confrontation has not yet come, Mithrandos son of Angaroth, but rest assured that you will get your fill of battle. And the next time we meet, expect no more mercy from me.'
And with that – and a last sneer – Luthien disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
Mithrandos, still completely stunned by the revelations of that encounter, all but drowned from heartache and treachery that night, now that the true origins of the man he had known practically all his life had finally been unraveled.
The son of the queen of the Dark Powers! Luthien had never been abandoned at the cattle barn all these years ago but rather been strategically placed into the midst of the Guardians. And all his life, while he lived and worked among them, had spied out the secrets of the magic of The Light. And no one ever suspected a thing!
That night, Mithrandos wept for the first time in his life.
The predicted battle came sooner than expected; hardly another season passed before Luthien returned to make good on his promise of death and destruction. And this time, he brought along an army of evil minions. The ensuing battle between the forces of Good and Evil was of unprecedented proportions.
For an entire day, the fields all around the Temple of The Light reverberated with the battle cries of men, the sounds of steel on steel and hoarse voices casting innumerable spells and counter-spells. The blood of the righteous as well as the vile stained the earth, but slowly, the Guardians and the wizards of The Light gained the upper hand.
The setting sun was casting rays of orange over Ithrandar when at last Mithrandos and Luthien faced each other on the battle field.
There were no more taunts or threats – nothing more needed to be said between them. Bone weary and numb from the horrors of the slaughter all around him, Mithrandos nevertheless reached inside him to find a hidden pocket of energy, an infusion of strength reserved for just this encounter. But when Luthien attacked, the sheer force of his sword stroke took Mithrandos by surprise. The Dark Sorcerer had been fighting at least as long as he had, yet he seemed to be burning with an inner fire, a blaze stoked by hate and dark magic. Mithrandos stood his ground, but a dark premonition came over him that it would take a miracle for him to defeat his former lover. Soon Mithrandos lost track of how long they traded strikes, thrusts, parries and magic spells. During his time at the temple, Luthien's swordsmanship had always been graceful, but now he just hacked at Mithrandos with a viciousness and power that forced the Guardian to put all his energy and resolve into his counter-attacks. It worked for quite a while – until he tripped.
Whether it was a root or the body of a fallen soldier Mithrandos never knew, but before he knew it, the world tilted and he was falling. Luthien immediately pursued his opportunity and before Mithrandos had even hit the ground, the Dark Wizard's weapon crashed into his blade. The blond captain of the Guardians felt his sword being ripped out of his hand by the impact. It struck the ground at the same time he did and he instinctively lunged for it. It was a mistake he paid dearly for. The motion momentarily turned his back to Luthien and the evil sorcerer never hesitated; with a cry of victory he struck, and the last thing Mithrandos remembered was his own scream of pain and the sorcerer's laugh in response.
The events afterwards, Mithrandos only knew from second-hand accounts. Realizing that Luthien was weakened from the intense and lengthy battle, the remaining wizards and Guardians of The Light converged on him and managed to keep him from dealing a second – and mortal – blow to Mithrandos. The wizards combined their magical energies and cast their most powerful spell of Inertia over him which rendered him unconscious.
With their leader captured and out of commission, the rest of the evil army quickly retreated.
Mithrandos, however, had been gravely injured. The Dark Wizard's sword had sliced open his back from the right collarbone all the way to the left hip bone. It took the combined efforts of the High Wizards of the temple of The Light just to keep their captain alive, but despite the healing spells no one was sure whether Mithrandos would live or ultimately succumb to his wounds.
He lived. When he finally cast off the fever and was strong enough to manage sitting up unaided, almost a month had passed.
By then Luthien, Dark Wizard of the Evil Powers, had already been judged by the council of High Wizards of The Light. As the son of the queen of the Dark Powers, he was too powerful to be killed by any mortal man or wizard; therefore it had been decided that he be placed inside a specially crafted sarcophagus where he was to remain under the charmed slumber spell until he expired of natural means.
Mithrandos had stood beside the stone casket and gazed into the slack countenance of the man he once loved. And there he had vowed to ascertain the death of the wizard by guarding him against any and all escape attempts until the time of his passing arrived.
Now Mithrandos sighed into the stillness of the California night. Even after all this time, the emotional scar on his heart still equaled in size the one that had been physically carved into his back so many seasons ago. The blade, the pain, Luthien's sneering face - it was all still so vivid in his mind...Unconsciously, Mithrandos shifted, his hand already halfway to his shoulder blade to rub the familiar spot before he snatched it back.
'You are weak,' he chided himself silently. 'Focus! It avails you not to dwell on the past.'
Resolutely, he knelt and thrust his hands into the pond. He splashed his face repeatedly, and the chilly water helped to wash away the ghosts of the past. At least for now…
He slumped back onto the mossy grass, unsure of what to do next. Should he go back to the underground cave or wander the forest for a while? 'But your memories are not so easily evaded, no matter where you go.'
He spotted a small, flat stone in the grass a foot away from him. A tiny smile began to emerge at the corners of his mouth and he made a curt hand motion. The stone began at once to rise from the ground, floating in the air with a lazy spin. Mithrandos flicked his wrist and the stone shot across the pond, skipping merrily and causing half a dozen ripples on the water before it sank beneath the surface.
"Neat little trick."
Mithrandos was on his feet even before the voice had spoken its last word. The Guardian Saber crystal was in his hand in a lightning-quick motion, but before he could convert it to his weapon, the figure a few yards away raised its hands.
"Whoa, hey, it's just me, Cam. Didn't mean to startle you. Sorry."
Mithrandos
closed his eyes briefly, willing his racing heartbeat to return to
normal. "No need to apologize," he said, relaxing his shoulders
and waving a hand to indicate the area around them. "This is your
house, after all.
"It
is I who should be apologizing if I worried you with my absence,"
he added while he put the crystal back into his pouch.
"I wasn't worried; just wanted to make sure you're all right, though," Cam said softly. Mithrandos sank back down onto the grass.
"I am well…" he mumbled, but even to his own ears, it sounded pathetically unconvincing. Cam sat down next to him.
"Can't sleep?" he inquired softly.
Mithrandos gave a small smile. "Long I have slept before the Evil awoke me, and long I will sleep again once this task is over," he said. "I have no need to rest in between. At least not yet."
"Want some company?"
"Your companionship is welcome," the blond warrior said.
And in companionable silence they sat for a while, listening to the few late-night sounds of the forest until Mithrandos gave a barely audible sigh.
"It is beautiful out here. The magic of nature never fails to lighten my mind."
Cam didn't lose a beat. "Well, being that it's two o'clock in the morning, there must be a lot on your mind, then."
"The thought of the Black Wizard walking this realm free and unchecked is enough to worry me greatly."
Shifting slightly where he sat on the grass, Cam said, "Mithrandos, about the Black Wizard..."
Mithrandos' head came up. "You wish to know more about the One I am seeking."
Cam nodded in affirmation. "I always try to find out as much as possible about the enemies of my world. You never know what information might come in handy later on."
"Wise
words," the Guardian agreed. "And a good strategy.
"Luthien
is human, but more," he began. "The Dark Powers have
infused him with a blackened soul so malignant that it is beyond any
hope of redemption. The black magic is strong within him. I have felt
it surround him like a cloak when we fought, a dark force coursing
through his body like a river in perpetual flood."
Cam suddenly had the crazy notion that at any moment Darth Vader would be stepping around a tree trunk, hold out a black-gloved hand towards them and say, Luke, I am your father!
He stoically ignored the urge to scan his surroundings, keeping his eyes instead fixed on the blond warrior next to him.
"And whoever cannot be turned from the path of evil, the Guardians have to dispose of. Such has been the way since times unreckoned." Mithrandos glared at the pond, clearly seeing the past in the platinum surface of the water.
Cam cast him a scrutinizing look. "How did you end up as a Guardian of The Light, if you don't mind my asking?"
"I had no say in the matter." Mithrandos shrugged. "I was the Chosen One of my family, destined to be the next Keeper of the Secrets of The Light before I was even conceived, for I am the seventh son of the seventh son of the Keeper of the Seventh Era of Ithrandar," he said matter-of-factly and Cam couldn't help but chuckle.
"Wow, try saying that seven times in a row," he said, then threw Mithrandos a wary side glance, worried that he might have unintentionally offended his visitor, but the Guardian only laughed softly.
"You are not the first one to jest about that," he said, grinning. "Luthien would often laugh about the irony of our friendship, since our stations in life were so utterly different."
A frown appeared between Cam's brows and he looked sharply at Mithrandos. "Wait a minute; you and the sorcerer are friends?"
"Were friends," Mithrandos corrected immediately, once again averting his eyes.
The light from the nearly full moon reflecting off the water was bright; bright enough for Cam to see the warrior wizard next to him playing with a loosely tied strip of plaited dark leather around his wrist. Mithrandos must have sensed Cam looking, for without taking his eyes off the water's surface, he said, "This was a token of our friendship."
Cam didn't need to ask who he was talking about.
"Many years we wore these identical wristbands. Since his conversion to the Dark Magic, my hand has clutched it many times, ready to rip it from my wrist and cast it into the nearest fire - and yet, never can I follow through with it."
Cam nodded in perfect understanding. "Because it reminds you of better times."
At that, Mithrandos looked up from the wristband, his eyes fixing Cam with a gaze comprised of surprise and amusement. "You know, Cam son of Kanoi, if you lived in my dominion, I believe that camaraderie between us would have come easily." His mouth formed into a small smile and Cam couldn't help but return it. The moment passed, however, and Mithrandos' expression once again turned solemn.
"So, about those better times..." Cam pressed.
"You are touching a sore spot." Mithrandos said quietly. "A wound that might never heal." A shadow seemed to settle over his face and a pang of guilt shot through Cam.
"I'm sorry; I know it's certainly none of my business," he apologized. "...but if it will make you feel better to talk about it - I'll listen."
Mithrandos looked thoughtful for a minute. "Perhaps it might. Gloom has a way of weighing down the spirit. In Ithrandar, I could speak to no one of this matter, but here..." His eyes settled on Cam and the samurai waited silently.
"You asked whether Luthien and I were friends. We were – and more than that."
Eyes slightly widening in surprise, Cam said, "Are you saying that…you and he...?"
Mithrandos just nodded. "We were raised in the Temple of The Light together what feels like many men's lifetimes ago. He had been brought there at a very young age, an orphan. I had been turned over to the Brotherhood in preparation for my destiny as a Guardian of The Light. Side by side we lived, trained and worked, and I grew to believe he and I might have a future together." Mithrandos paused, plucking at a blade of grass to give Cam a moment to digest the revelation.
"That was before I knew him to be a spawn of the Evil Forces. It was his task to infiltrate the temple and spy out our secrets. He was very good at it, too. Even in very... private moments, I never sensed the malice in him. But I was only a novice at the time, and not much schooled in the finer ways of detecting evil."
Cam waited for more, and when nothing came he asked, "But I take it he was discovered eventually?"
"No. The night before our initiation ceremony to become full Guardians of The Light he simply…left." Mithrandos paused, his gaze once again traveling towards the waterfall. "He did not wish to share my pallet that night, and I did not think ill about it. It had been a long and taxing day of practice and temple chores and we were both weary. The following morning he was gone. Not a trace of him remained.
"Naught but memories," he added in a murmur.
"Only later did it dawn on me that he would have been revealed as a traitor of the Evil Forces had he ever stepped foot into the inner sanctum where the Powers of The Light are housed and partaken in the initiation ritual. Nothing in a man's heart can be concealed from the eternal magic of The Light. The evil hidden inside him would have been laid bare, so he chose retreat instead. He escaped with much information about the secrets of The Light that were never meant for the eyes and ears of the Evil Forces. It has done much harm to the Guardians."
"I can imagine," Cam said and Mithrandos cast him a look that clearly said 'can you really?'
"That whole thing must have been…" Scratching his head somewhat awkwardly, Cam searched for an appropriate word. "…hard," he finally said lamely.
Mithrandos made a noise that could have been a snort. "I would dream with eyes open of the day the Guardian mark would be drawn across our brows," he said. "From that day forth, as full-blooded Guardians, we would have had no need to conceal our love any longer. In my mind, I saw us walking down the path of life together, shoulder to shoulder until our seasons would draw to an end. Such folly!"
For a moment Mithrandos glared at his hands fisted in his lap before he apparently remembered that Cam was still next to him. He straightened his shoulders and faced his host, his expression carefully blank now. "I am sorry if I troubled your mind with this bitter tale."
Cam was quick to shake his head, however. "No, you didn't. I just can't stand it when evil things happen to good people, that's all."
They sat quietly next to each other for a long moment until the technician cleared his throat.
"Well, it's late and I should try to catch at least some sleep." Cam rose, wiping a few sparse blades of grass from his jeans. "I'll see you back inside once you're ready, okay?" He gave Mithrandos a nod and turned to go, but the Guardian's voice made him pause.
"Cam?"
The warrior wizard's eyes were on him. "Your friends…noble warriors they all are, no doubt, but…" he began, but Cam was already holding up a hand.
"No need to worry," he said. "If you don't want anyone to know what was said here tonight – I won't tell."
A grave look and a grateful nod was the only reply he received, but it was enough. Cam inclined his head in return and forced a small smile onto his face before he turned and slowly made his way back to Ninja Ops, his gait weighted down by the gravity of his visitor's fate; betrayed by possibly the only man Mith had ever loved, and destined to guard that former lover's magically induced sleep until he died of natural means once he managed to place him back under the spell Lothor had broken. If he managed to do so.
To say that love sucked sometimes was a serious understatement in Mith's case.
TBC…
