Erik had not thought it through. His need to stay away from the King had clouded his mind. Of course it remained imperative to find the Holy Grail, and in order to achieve that quest, he had to travel far away, to wander and search for hints. But while his journey with Emma had been pleasant, this one was anything but. No place to stay, no food to eat. The ground was hard and fruits and berries sparse. It reminded him of his journey to Claudas' castle, and many more bad memories. He shivered.
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After two days on horseback, Erik reached a small town. High grey walls surrounded it and separated deserted cottages from the town's inhabitants. The main entrance was closed.
Erik knocked. A trembling voice answered him from behind the thick wooden panel. "Give us your name, and we shall decide if you are allowed to come in."
Erik was perplexed. What should he do? He had no name to offer that was not a secret.
"I am the son of the Lady of the Lake."
After a few seconds, the voice spoke again: "We know no Lady of the Lake. What is your affair with our town?"
It was much more difficult than Erik had thought. He was not even sure if a real bed and a hot meal were worth the effort. "I am just a traveler and I ask for a good night of rest inside your walls," he finally replied.
"We cannot grant you your request, good sir. You shall go your way." And the voice went silent.
Erik could not believe his bad luck. He did not even have the time to ask for the next inn or the nearest village. That meant another night on the ground and another cold meal of wild vegetables and roots. He was starting to miss Westchester. And Charles.
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As he turned around, ready to leave, a childish voice called for him. "Wait! Wait! Do not leave yet, sir!" A pretty young girl with long blond hair was looking down at him from the ramparts. Her green velvet dress was sleeveless and at Erik's distance, the pale skin of her arms looked like white porcelain.
"Who is calling me?" Erik asked.
"I am the youngest daughter of the lord of this town, and I am known as the Maiden with Short Sleeves." The girl curtsied, although Erik was unable to see it from his place. The golden crown of her hair hid her pretty face and the polite smile on her lips.
"And why should I stay, Maiden, when I cannot even enter your town?"
"The reason you cannot enter is the same for asking you to stay."
The young girl seemed smart and well educated in spite of her age. Erik's interest was piqued. "What is that reason, young Maiden?"
"An evil wizard ransoms my Father, threatening to collapse every house of the town with his magic if we refuse to give him a chest full of golden coins and jewels. As we do not know who you are, you may work for him. We cannot take the risk of you betraying us in the middle of the night."
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Erik felt a sudden surge of hatred towards the malevolent man who could compel a whole town into closing its doors and keeping strangers at bay. His sword was pulsing with energy in its sheath. "I still do not know why I should stay."
"If you can defeat the wizard, we will let you stay inside our walls and you will obtain a great reward," the Maiden with Short Sleeves replied, before disappearing behind the crenellations.
That sure was a quest, perilous quest even, and Erik had a Holy Grail to find.
However, he thought of the Maiden's young face and Charles' words of compassion came back to him. If he was able to let her endure a painful death he was no better than a murderer, and Erik was no murderer – of the innocent, at least. He would find and fight the wizard.
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As Erik walked through the abandoned cottages, he soon understood why their owners had left them: the roofs were collapsed and walls crumbled. The further away he was from the walled town, the more broken were the houses.
Finally he came to an habitation far more habitable than the others, if a little shabby. The place was also in a comfortable distance from the rest of the village. The owner was probably an outcast, but there was light pouring from the window, meaning Erik could ask questions and possibly obtain answers. He knocked at the door and waited.
A young man with wavy long hair and dark intense eyes opened the door and stared at him silently. Erik stared back, waiting for an indication that the man was able to communicate.
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After they had both been quiet for several long seconds, Erik decided to at least be polite. "Good day to you, sir. I was wondering if you could help me find the evil wizard who threatens this town."
Nothing on the young man's face showed that he had even understood what Erik had said. He stared more, before finally replying: "Come in." An abrupt answer if Erik could say so, but he followed him into the humble home nonetheless.
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The house was as shabby inside as it was outside. The ground was made of soil and the walls were bare of any kind of decoration. In the middle of the only room of the cottage, there was a table and only one chair. The mattress lay directly on the ground. The owner did not seem to receive visitors very often.
With a sign, the young man invited Erik to sit on the chair, and he himself took a crate to sit on. More silence followed until the young man finally opened his mouth. "I am the man you are looking for."
Erik unsheathed his sword at once, but an invisible force threw him against the wall with the chair, which exploded on the stone. It was like a strong gust of wind had suddenly entered the house and pushed him. But that was not possible, was it ? Ears still ringing from the impact, Erik looked at the man, suspicious. He was staring at Erik without surprise, a hand stretched out, palm open. He was probably a Gifted too, but what kind of power had God thought reasonable to give to this quiet man ?
Determined to fullfill the promise he had made to the Maiden with Short Sleeves, Erik used his own Gift to send his sword straight to the wizard's heart. To Erik's amazement, a tiny tornado appeared in the man's palm, growing faster and faster until it almost touched the ceiling. When Erik's sword hit the tornado, it swirled widly inside it and escaped from the top. It flew towards the door and stuck into it with force. "What a terrible Gift !"
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Taken aback, the wizard looked at Erik suspiciously.
Erik got up and brushed the seat of his pants. "Is it the reason for your behavior ?" He had nothing to sit on, therefore he stood in the middle of the room.
The man closed his hand in a strong fist. "I am a force of destruction. They fear me. They hate me." He hit the table with his fist. "I will make them pay !"
Now that the man had spoken several words, Erik noticed his accent. "Where do you come from ?"
"My family comes from Barcelona. They fled the city when it was conquered by the Arabs. When they arrived in Britain, they did not know the language, and were mocked and rejected. We kept to ourselves. This hole," he motioned at the house. "has been ours since my great-grandfather built it. Sometimes there were ten people living here." He got up and walked to the remnants of his chair. He picked up the pieces, one by one, and threw them in the fireplace.
Imagining so many people sharing such a small space made Erik dizzy with anger. Humans were awful creatures, and he did not understand why Charles wanted to save them all.
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The wizard kept telling his story. "I discovered my power quite late. At that time, only my mother was still alive, and she died not long after." He turned towards Erik. "I have been a pariah my whole life because I am a foreigner. I decided to punish those who had hurt my family, and me, with my hurricanes. And now, I shall take gold and jewels from them and find myself a new place to live."
Erik felt the man had a right to what he claimed. Some wealth for all the suffering his family had endured. But the law – human law – and Charles' morality prevented Erik to join him in his revenge. "What is your name, sir ?"
"Janos. Janos Quested," the man answered.
Erik tried to think of what Charles would say in his situation. "Janos, if you carry out your plan, you will create a new cycle of pain and revenge. Do you not want to be free ?"
A deep frown hardened Janos' face. "How could it be ? Freedom is just a word. My power is my curse, my penance. I will never be free because of it, but at least, wealth can bring me peace."
"It will not," Erik replied, shaking his head. "But I know of a place where you will find happiness."
"Pray, tell me more."
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Charles would never accept a ruthless murderer who did not regret his actions. Janos had to make amends. "If you apologize to the Maiden with Short Sleeves, I will take you with me to Westchester. It is a safe place for Gifted."
Janos considered the offer for an instant in silence. Then he walked to his bed, put his meager possessions on it and rolled the raggedy sheet around them. "I am ready to go," he finally said.
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They walked through the deserted village side by side without a word, until they reached the city's gate. Erik knocked on the door and he recognized the voice of the guard who had answered him before. "Give us your name, and we shall decide if you are allowed to come in."
"It is I, the son of the Lady of the Lake. I have returned with the wizard you were looking for. He wants to apologize to the Maiden."
As soon as he had said her name, her voice came from the crenellations above him. "I am listening. I am ready to accept his confession in the name of my father."
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Erik turned towards Janos just in time to see him create a hurricane in front of him, hands stretched out and a mischievous smile on his lips. Understanding what was happening, Erik stepped away and hid behind a collapsed wall.
With a wave of his hand, Janos sent the hurricane, now the size of a tall tree, against the gate. Stones groaned and wood cracked under the pressure, sounds almost covered by the whistling of the wind. Soon the walls and door started to crumble, while screams came from the top of the ramparts, from soldiers falling – maybe to their death.
Helpless, Erik watched as another tornado wrapped itself around a laughing Janos. It took off through the streets, leaving more destruction on its path.
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When the wind died down, Erik ran towards the broken down gate. "Maiden ! Maiden !" he shouted, moving stones and splintered boards. Sometimes, he found body parts of soldiers. The horror of the situation made him shiver. He finally found the Maiden with Short Sleeves unconcious on a haystack, stuck under a large metal beam. There was only one way to save her.
Focussing on the metal, he used his powers to lift it. When it first shifted, the Maiden awakened in pain. She stared at Erik while he moved the beam higher and higher, palms open and muscles tense. Fear crept into her pale irises. Clearly injured, she still crawled away from Erik as soon as she could.
Erik threw away the piece of metal and stepped towards the young girl. "Are you okay, Maiden ?"
She stopped him with a furious glare. "Do not come near me, monster. You are no better than the evil wizard who made this happen. You brought him to us. You failed your mission and are responsible for all this deaths."
"But..." Erik tried to defend himself.
The Maiden turned her head with contempt. "You shall not get the reward that was promised to you. I want you to leave and never appear again in front of me."
Defeated, Erik bowed. "As my Lady wishes."
He turned around and left, as several maids and soldiers rushed to help their princess.
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Erik walked for many miles, thinking about what had happened. Of course, Janos had done something despicable. But was he not within his rights, if in the end, humans were going to hate the Gifted ? Erik wanted to believe in Charles' world but he feared it was only an unreachable utopia.