AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do apologize for taking so long. Currently I'm going through a rather rough time at university. As I'm writing this, I'm already working on the third chapter of Book Two, but I haven't been able to continue for several days. At least I saved some chapters up, so that there's only the proof-reading still to do.

Pertie: Thanks in turn for reviewing. Without that, there wouldn't be much pleasure in updating.

The Musician of the Night: I seem to have a habit of messing with people's moods. ;)

Gemini: Il mio Italiano è molto limitato, ma provarlo. :) Grazie per il review. Raoul è una grande problema emozinale per Erik, si è possibile dire questo, sei corretta. Non sa che vuò che Raoul succede qualcose. Naturalemente, non ametterebelo. ;-)

Alisendre: Here's a handkerchief. Do blow your nose. :P

Nugrey: I think that chapter was necessary just for the reason you name, that the readers see how their relationship develops further. The "war experiences" are not my own luckily, and my knowledge drawn from books is limited to historical circumstances, not the feelings of soldiers themselves. I'm the son of a Swiss colonel, yet Switzerland has been at peace for many generations now. I admit I made all of it up. I just used my imagination, put myself in Raoul's place during combat so to say, and then let him tell what I felt. Wait with liking Raoul's parents until you meet them. ;-) Oh, and do have fun with your cats. lol

Ashley: You might just be right with your prediction… Yes, an ugly fat bat is funny to me as well, but I assume it would be a nasty, not very appetizing, maybe even scary thing to most of you.

Bea: If you Gollum me, there'll be no more Gerry pics for you. ;P Raoul is definitely "growing up" through the experiences he was forced to go through, so he is gaining some insights, too. No, Erik doesn't care for politics at all, and he isn't getting involved yet. The bit of Communard hunting from time to time is just done because he despises them even more than the rest of humanity, and he kills for his "experiments", apparently, as the last chapter hinted. Interestingly, those two passages about love and redemption and similar you quote were in fact inserted later on, during proof-reading. And we'll see about redemption, maybe in a sense no one of you expects yet…

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VIII. In the Darkness

"I can feel him, as clearly as I can feel any of you. His presence is like a wheel of fire turning in the sky, and the sparks will set the dry fields beneath him alight. It has begun."

"My Lord?" The man's usually so calm face seemed unsettled as he looked up to the speaker from where he squatted on the ground, half-heartedly stoking the fire burning low in the shadows, and he raked a hand through his short blond hair, something he did not do normally.

"It is many leagues yet to Paris, Lászlo. But I can already feel him clearly, and I can feel what is going on. There is turmoil inside him."

"Is he remembering already?"

"Yes, and too early. Too soon. He is not ready for it."

"But my Lord, he is a grown man. A strong man."

No, Lászlo did not understand. How could he? "He is a dire storm walking the earth. But he is just a child at heart."

Sparks sprang up from the campfire, tiny blossoms of light in the darkness. At the edge of the forest, only a few paces away, one of the three horses tethered there stirred and whinnied softly.

"If I may be so bold, my Lord –" But Lászlo broke off before he had finished the sentence.

"You want to know what I saw when I first had those dreams."

Lászlo swallowed. "Yes, my Lord."

"It was centuries ago."

"Yet you do not forget."

"No." There was a loud crack as an ember exploded in the dying glow, and a figure lying stretched out by the fireside stirred and slowly sat up. The weak, unsteady light illuminated a young, pale face framed by long strands of untidy hair of a colour similar to Lászlo's. "But now is not the time for stories."

"Forgive me, my Lord."

"There is nothing to forgive." A gust of wind made the long grass wave, and the sparks danced. "Now put out the fire. Sándor, ready the horses. We have a long way to go yet while the night is young."