Chapter 8

"A Romantic Interlude"

To start, they didn't speak. The only sounds Diana could hear was the clear click of Eric's boots on the flagstones and her own shallow breaths.

He didn't look round at her, and Diana walked at his side in uneasy silence. It took her a few minutes to acknowledge the feeling inside her. She shivered slightly, and though she glanced round to look at Eric, the Cavalier didn't seem to notice. Though she hated to admit it, she was afraid.

It was an unpleasant sensation. She had never felt afraid in Eric's presence before. True, she had been annoyed, infuriated, aggravated, and highly amused in his presence, but never afraid. But as they walked through the dark and unfamiliar halls of Venger's Castle, Diana grew increasingly uncomfortable. All her instincts were telling her to run away from this terrible place as fast as she could.

But she didn't. Her sense of duty to her friends helped to stifle the urge to get away. No matter how different the man beside her was, he was still Eric underneath.

She took another, quick glance to the tall, inscrutable man that walked by her side. Underneath…? Deep, deep, deep down underneath! she thought with a small smile. How could the man beside her be so different from the Eric she had known? What had happened to change him?

While she was used to him being arrogant and insufferable, she had never found him so cold before. When he looked at he, it felt like he looked right through her. There was no warmth or life in his expression, no humour and no fun. Whatever else the Eric she had known had been, he had been fun.

And then there was his silence. They walked together, side by side, they arms close enough to touch occasionally, and he said nothing at all. At first, she thought that he was trying to play games with her, to get her to speak first (something which she was not going to do!), but then she realised that he wasn't interested in speaking to her.

It was as if her presence there was inconsequential to him.

And that hurt.

That hurt Diana far more than if he had started swearing and shouting at her. His formal indifference was unbearable.

It wasn't until that moment that she realised how much Eric being Eric had meant to her, and how much she liked his attention.

However much she would have liked to say something, she didn't. Instead, they walked on through the sombre hallways of the Castle, Diana's discomfort growing steadily and Eric seemed completely oblivious.

The silence between them grew to be unbearable and Diana racked her brains to think up something to say that would be appropriate. And it was harder than she thought it would be. But at last she couldn't stand it any more.

'My name's Diana,' she said at last. Maybe not he greatest opening line in the world, but she had to say something!

Eric didn't reply, or even break his stride. But at least he did glance round at her. He gave a very slight bow and that was all. Diana frowned. She was not going to give up that easily.

'Where are we going?' she asked after a few more steps.

'As my Father requested, I will show you to your rooms,' he said stiffly.

Diana gave a small smile. At least he replied this time! More than that, his answer also gave her an idea. Whether or not it would work was another thing altogether, but she didn't give herself much of a chance to think up an excuse.

Suddenly she stopped, right in the middle of the hallway, and crossed her arms. Eric came to a halt a moment later and looked at her with cold curiosity.

'Your Father also said to afford me every courtesy as well,' she said. 'Well, you're not being very courteous at the moment!'

Again, there was the tiniest flash of anger across the Cavalier's face, then the mask of formal indifference was back perfectly in place. He took a step closer to her, looking her in the eye.

'Forgive me for my rudeness,' he said at last, sounding much more sincere than Diana had ever heard him be before. In spite of the situation, Diana found herself smiling at him.

They stood in the corridor facing each other, and Diana felt her face starting to redden under his gaze. She had to say something, quickly, now she had the upper hand (and before he realised how she was feeling!).

'It's just… I want to know something about… this… world,' she said, hope he wouldn't realise she was making this up as she was going along. 'I want to know as much as you can tell me.'

Eric regarded her with a vague air of surprise. The, after a moment's thought, he nodded.

'There is only one thing in the Realm that matters,' he said. 'But are you sure you wish to know?'

Diana nodded. It was all so mysterious, how could she not say yes!

'In that case there is something I should show you. Follow me.'

Obediently, the Acrobat followed as Eric headed forward then turned sharply right. Ahead was a wooden door, and behind that was dark and narrow flight of spiral stairs.

'Where are we going?' Diana asked.

Eric made no reply, just started to climb, Diana still in step behind him. Round and round they climbed, up three flights of tight, spiral stairs until they reached a short hallway that ended in another door.

They stopped at the heavy wooden door. This one was different from any of the other doors inside; it had metal studs along the outer rim and a heavy metal hoop for a handle. And it had a lock.

She saw Eric hesitate.

'Where are we going?' she asked again, more quietly this time.

Once more, Eric didn't reply, instead turned the lock and gave the door a great push, letting a gush of cold air in.

Together, they stepped out on the parapet of the Castle; a narrow ledge with great black spikes that curved slightly inwards. It was like they were inside a prison, peering out through the bars.

It was difficult to be absolutely sure of which way they were facing, but they seemed to have walked all the way through to the far side. They were very high up, and Diana shivered in the cold wind that whipped round the small enclosure.

Beside her, Eric looked sadly out to the mountains in the distance.

'Tell me, Acrobat, what do you see?' he asked.

Diana followed his gaze, but all she could see were the mountains and the dark blue sky.

'I only see the horizon,' she said.

Eric nodded.

'Those mountains mark the border of our land,' he told her. 'Beyond that is the Empire of Kadesh.'

At that word, Diana's heart leapt. Kadesh was the kingdom of their friend King Rahmoud. If anyone would understand, he would! For a moment, everything didn't seem quite so bad.

'King Rahmoud!' she said excitedly.

The look of confusion and anger on Eric's face sucked the fleeting joy right out of her.

'There is no King in Kadesh. The Empire is ruled by a man called Kelek.'

Diana just stared in fear. The venomous way Eric had spat out the name made her feel slightly sick. He hated Kelek with a passion, that was crystal clear.

'We are at war with the Emperor,' said the Cavalier. 'And we will be at war until one of the sides utterly destroys the other, even if it takes all the rest of Time itself.'

Eric didn't say anything else, and Diana herself was too surprised to ask any questions for the moment.

The way he spoke about Kelek, and war made her skin crawl. She had a horrible, horrible feeling inside her. This whole situation was just getting worse and worse. There was no Rahmoud, and only endless fighting and war. It wasn't difficult to guess what had happened between Venger and Kelek; Kelek had tried something similar in the Old Realm.

She was suddenly consumed by the desire to know, and to see if her guesses were correct.

'What… what happened?' she asked at last. 'How did this war start?'

Eric turned to look at her, his dark eyes filled with a terrible sorrow and anger. It was a look that was so alien to the Cavalier she had known before that she almost couldn't recognise him. Diana could barely hold his gaze.

'Kelek was once a servant of my Father's,' Eric said slowly. 'But in secret, he plotted to destroy him and rule the Realm in his place. He made a Talisman.' Eric paused for a moment, and Diana's closed her eyes. This had an unpleasantly familiar feeling to it., and she could take a pretty good guess at what he was going to say next.

'Kelek took my Father's herd of Unicorn, and stripped them of their alicorns and their magic powers, especially the power of teleportation. He gathered supporters from the surrounding villages, and in the ranks of the Orc Army.' Eric stopped talking for a moment, and Diana held back the urge to speak. The Cavalier looked so stern and sad that for some reason unwanted tears started in her eyes.

'Then,' said Eric at last, 'one evening, Kelek attacked my Father's Castle, and razed it to the ground killing everyone inside.'

She wanted to ask for more details, but the pained expression on Eric's face stopped her. But there was definitely something he wasn't telling her. However, now was not the time to try and find out.

'My brother and I were not in the castle at the time,' he said after a long silence. 'We were just children. But my Father had no doubt that Kelek had intended to murder us as well. He almost did.' Again, Eric stopped, as if he was trying to find the right words. 'My Father stopped Kelek from completing his plan and destroying us as well as everyone else. Since then, we have been at war.'

Diana could only nod, with a thousand more questions in her head.

'Surely there might be a truce one day,' she said. 'You might find a compromise…'

'No,' said Eric firmly. 'Either we destroy Kelek and his army, or we ourselves are destroyed. Anyone who is a supporter of Kelek is killed without mercy or regret.'

'But… that's murder,' whispered Diana weakly.

'It is no more than they do to us,' Eric replied. 'Kelek has wiped out whole towns who's loyalty he could not count on.'

'And your Father?'

'And so has my Father,' said Eric with a nod. 'This is war. To the death.'

Another wave of sickness flooded through Diana. Oh god, what had they stumbled into? What had they done? How were they going to fix this?

'What about me, and my friends?' she asked. Eric made no answer.

'Well, what about Zandora?'

At the name, Eric snorted.

'That old meddling witch is one of our supposed allies,' he said with a cold laugh. 'Or at least she is an enemy of Kelek, which is not the same thing. She works tirelessly to "put the Realm back in balance", but all she achieves is the needless death of those who follow her.'

Diana gulped. That was what Eric expected to happen to her and her friends.

'If she's an ally, why were you looking for her?'

'She takes Weapons of Power.'

Eric took a deliberately unsubtle glance down to he waistband, where the Javelin was tucked away in its collapsed form.

'Are… are you going to try to take it?'

Eric laughed softly at her bravado, but not with any malice.

'To be of use, weapons must be wielded,' he told her.

'Wielded in the service of Venger?' she said.

With a lightning move, much, much faster than she could have given him credit for, Eric gripped her throat with his gloved hand and squeezed. Diana struggled for breath.

He pulled her close, and looked into her eyes. She couldn't look away.

'It is Lord Venger. Do not make me remind you again.'

She stared back at him, looking into the brown eyes she recognised, but no longer knew, forcing herself to remember that this was still Eric even though he seemed impossibly different. Then she nodded, and the Cavalier released her.

She rubbed her throat, gulping down short shallow gasps of air. She couldn't look at him.

Diana could feel Eric looking at her for a moment, then he gently took her arm and guided her back to the doorway.

'I will escort you to your room,' he said.

Not letting go of her arm, he led her back down the steps and through the different hallways in silence. Diana didn't try to memorise where she was, or where she was going, she was too distracted by what Eric had told her.

Eventually, they stopped at a door, and Eric opened it for her. Inside, Diana could see a small room lit by a low fire in the grate, with a bed, and a small arched window that looked out into the evening.

'Goodnight, Acrobat,' Eric said.

She paused at the doorway, she couldn't seem to move away from him.

A cool thrill passed through her, a mix of feelings she had never experienced before. She had to hold on to the doorframe to stop herself from falling over. If Eric noticed, he didn't react, instead he gave a slight bow, and turned away.

Diana's heart gave a tiny lurch, as if she wanted to say something else.

But it was too late as he was gone. She could hear his footsteps trotting down the stairs, and into the darkness.

She was alone.

She crawled into the bed, pulling the covers up around her. Her throat and neck still ached from where Eric had grabbed her. She realised she was shaking.

The feeling of fear was so raw it hurt. But there was another, harder feeling underneath. This warped, repulsive world should not have existed in the first place. It was wrong, this wasn't how Eric was supposed to be, or Hank, or even Venger.

Somehow, she was going to change it back, she promised herself, in whatever way I can.