Chapter 14

The fire crackled as Amaru turned over some pieces of firewood to expose unburnt sides. Emeth muttered words under his breath at the same time with his arm outstretched and his palm at the fire. In minutes it was blazing fiercely.

'There. It's nicely lit.' Emeth dusted his gloved hands. 'I can't understand why winter winds would blow when it's summer.'

'I told you,' said Sagna, who was curled up some way away from the fire. 'The portal's changing the world.'

Valkron, who had been sitting with his back to the party, said nothing but lay down and sighed. Everyone gave him nervous looks before looking back at Sagna.

'Hm.' Emeth sat down and crossed his legs under his cloak. 'So you're telling us that the portal's not only changing people, but it'll change the world? How'd you find that out?'

'Because when I was thinking about Valkron's words,' Sagna glanced nervously at Valkron, 'I felt like I wanted to have more power, just for a short while, to prove him wrong. Right after I thought that, someone knocked on my door. Turned out to be this big guy wearing a cloak with a hood and really heavy boots.'

'Sounds like your person in the forest,' said Eni, nodding to Khan.

'We don't know for sure, anyone can wear black boots,' snapped Emeth. 'Stop interrupting and let the kid tell his story, will you? Contributions can come later. Go on,' he added to Sagna.

'Yeah...well, he told me that I could have power, as long as I killed Valkron.' Sagna looked slightly apologetic. 'I didn't want to kill Valkron - go against him, yes, proving him wrong, yes - but not kill. It's just that, when he said it...'

'The idea seemed attractive to you at the time?' said Emeth.

'It suddenly became very tempting, yeah...so I said yes.'

'And what did he do?' said Nocturne.

'He just said, "Tomorrow morning you come out and let the last light of the moon shine on you. After that you'll have the power to kill him. You can have the power forever if you succeed."'

Samaroh leaned forward. 'That kind of power,' he said, 'is the kind that takes your life in payment for its usage.'

'I know.' Sagna gestured feebly. 'But when he said that I could have the power, everything changed. It was as if the right blow of my sword could - could do things. It was as if the sword could change the world.'

'There are still some idiots who still think like that,' said Samaroh. 'We get them in the monastery, sometimes.'

'That'll be their opinion, not yours, so you don't have the right to tell them off.' Emeth rubbed the tip of his nose thoughtfully with a finger. 'I have a feeling I know who the guy is but I think you should go on.'

'Well, after I let the moonlight shine on me, when I got back to the inn I felt...different. Like, more power flowing through me. I crumpled a piece of steel as if it were paper.' Sagna flexed his fingers as if still unsure as to whether the strength had gone from his hands or not. 'And then somehow I found out my party shared the strength too.'

Everyone looked at the rogue, monk and huntress who made up Sagna's party. They gave apprehensive looks back.

'So we just went forth. Whatever I thought, they thought too. Whatever I felt, they felt as well.' The brown-haired knight sighed. 'But by the looks of it you people are a lot more powerful than the portal.'

'We were just lucky. I don't think the portal is weak.' Emeth looked at Samaroh. 'Do you think so, Samaroh? Have you felt anything that suggested the portal as weak?'

'Even if I did I wouldn't let my guard down,' replied the priest. 'I don't trust things like portals, because the dark magic is often too strong to tell.'

'No one said you had to.' Emeth turned back to Sagna. 'So that's your side of the story. Not much to glean from, but I think you've helped us enough. Thanks.'

'You're welcome.' Sagna got up. 'I'll be going back to Al de Baran now, with the rest. Hey, Faran, Estelle, Telv, let's get going. Oh, and uh, thanks for the healing.'

'My job as a priest,' said Samaroh calmly, packing away his poultices. The rest of Sagna's party got up.

'Hey, Sagna,' said Valkron from the grass. The younger knight stopped dead in his tracks.

'Um...yes?'

'When I get back to the Prontera Chivalry after this, I want to see you.'

'Um...yes?'

'There's something I want to talk to you about.'

'Um...why?'

'What do you mean why?'

'Um...okay.' Sagna half-turned to look over his shoulder at Valkron. 'Um...see you there, sir. Good luck to all of you.'

The Raulus party, excluding Valkron, watched him go in silence before turning back to Valkron. Emeth shooed them away and went over to the knight's side. He flumped down on the ground in a flurry of cloak and crossed his legs.

After a few minutes of thoughtfully chewing his blade of grass, he said, 'Sagna's a decent kid, you know. There's no need to be so harsh on him.'

No answer.

'After all, he's got his emotions like you. I mean, you used to be a swordsman too, right? I guess you looked up to someone as your hero, back then.'

No answer.

'No one can live without someone to look up to.' Emeth sighed. 'I used to look up to my parents - well, until they died. After that I stayed alone. Maybe I was a bit bad, because there wasn't anyone to tell me right from wrong and I had to learn it the hard way, but one way or another I've always been proud of myself and I learned to stand up by myself.'

No answer.

'You used to be young, Valkron. Don't tell me you've forgotten your early days.'

'I haven't forgotten anything, Emeth,' said Valkron.

'Then?'

'The problem is that I remember too much.'

Emeth felt as if a deep chasm had just opened up ahead of him. He decided to back away from it.

'You're still being pretty pushy, though. A bit hard on the younger generation.' He took out his leaf and inspected the bite marks on it. 'Give them a chance, why don't you?'

'I'm giving them plenty of chances, Emeth. I'm pushy because that's what you have to do, as their senior.' Valkron rolled over so that his back was facing Emeth. 'You need to learn how to survive in a world like this. That's what I learned in my early days. And all my tutors were pushy.'

'You're pressurizing them, Valkron.'

''S called competition. Ever heard of it? I thought you led a pretty competitive life in the Academy.'

'Yeah, well, with magic it's a different case,' said Emeth dismissively. 'But this is swordsmanship I'm talking about. Honour. Respect. Courage. Bravery. Belief. That's the strongest force in the world that can push you. It doesn't come from the people around you, it comes from within you.'

'What do you mean?' said Valkron. 'What honour? What respect? Everyone, even swordsmen, is delusioned with these virtues. When they come under the service of the Chivalry they find out that knighthood is just all about protecting sick, poor beggars who can't even pay you a quarter of a zeny and other people who whine on about you not protecting them. Yeah, I guess the lads love honour and glory, but after a war I see them walking down the road hand in hand with death, maybe they overdid the celebrating. Where's the honour in that? Last-minute stands are nothing but butcher shops, not all that death-or-glory crap.'

The silence was only broken by the crickets singing in the bushes. Then Emeth said, 'I didn't know you looked at things so realistically.'

'Yeah, well, Sagna wasn't the only one who believed swords could change the world.'

The wizard stared at Valkron's back for some time. Then, in a careful tone, he said, 'Then why did you choose to stick with your job, if you talk about it like you hate it?'

'Because there was someone I knew who was a knight. Someone who died for his beliefs. Someone I looked up to, until he died and then reality slapped me in the face. I've been living like this for thirty years, so don't tell me to change my mind.'

Emeth gazed at the stars. 'But the world's changing, Valkron,' he said thoughtfully. 'To cope with the changes you have to change yourself.'

'I don't need anyone to tell me how to change.'

'Still, though, you sound like you hate your job--'

'Will you just stow it, Emeth?' Valkron's voice was bitter. 'I once used to believe swords could change the world, till I thought about it. And then I realised the one I looked up to died by the sword. It totally changed my world into something I didn't want it to be. And then I thought, what if there are other people like me, whose worlds changed into something they didn't want because of one swing of the sword? That's why I'm here now, as who I am and as what I'll always be. Go away.'

And that just about shuts me up, thought Emeth. He sighed. 'You win this one. I just thought you'd want some company.'

No answer.

The wizard got up and dusted his cloak. 'To be truthful, my parents died by the sword too. But I don't hold on to the past, Valkron. If it's done, it's done. I can't change the past. No one can.'

'My parents died for a reason. I know what it is. And if you don't go now I'm going to cut off your head. At least nobody will be bugging me on the topic any longer.'

Emeth sighed again. 'You always say what your heart doesn't mean.'

As the wizard walked away, cloak swishing softly in the grass, Valkron wiped away a tear.

By next morning Samaroh was ready and waiting with his teleport. Valkron was his usual gruff self, but Emeth stayed away from him. Everyone did. No one except Emeth had heard the conversation the previous night, but the atmosphere spread fast and they knew when it sent them warning signals.

Within ten minutes they were in the floating city of Juno. Everyone gazed up at the magnificent buildings, with their grand fronts and elaborate architecture. Samaroh had summoned them to the gates of Juno, so as they entered the city they voiced their wonder at the grey marble gates with their silver inlay and glittering opals the size of a man's head.

They clattered over the stones as they made their way to a fountain set in the middle of a square. The Pecos had been teleported too, so Valkron and Iruna led them over to a drinking trough while the rest went to rest their feet at the fountain.

Valkron bundled up the reins of his peco neatly and bound them in rope. As he tucked them beneath the saddle he could feel someone's eyes on the back of his neck. He turned to see Iruna facing him.

'Yes, Iruna?' he said, rummaging around in the bag at the peco's side while it gurgled happily as it drank.

'I was just wondering about something. It's all right, you don't need to know what it is. It has absolutely nothing to do with you, or the portal.' Iruna left her peco to drink and went to join the others at the fountain.

Now that he was left alone, Valkron went over to his peco's head. It lifted its beak and watched him walk to it. He put his arms around its neck and started scratching under its beak.

'Had a good drink, Evlor?' he said softly. The peco squawked softly and buried its beak into his hair. He leaned against it.

'How long do you think this will go on?' he asked, after a while.

The peco gave another soft squawk and dipped its beak into the trough. Valkron waited for it to finish before he said, 'What do you mean, can't tell? I thought you could always tell.'

Evlor cocked his head to one side and seemed to give it some thought. Then he squawked twice.

'Different? My party members are different?' Valkron looked over his shoulder at them. 'What difference does that make?'

Evlor squawked for a while. Valkron listened carefully, and then sighed and rested his head on the peco's saddle. 'Maybe you're right,' he said. 'But, you know, I'd really like to be alone again.'

The peco turned its head and gave him a look the knight knew all too well. Then he squawked something else before turning back to the front and gazing stolidly ahead.

Valkron thought about it. 'I guess.' He looked at the party again, but this time his gaze lingered a little longer on Emeth. If anyone had seen the look, they wouldn't have called it annoyed, or put off. They would have called it sad.

'Hey, Valkron!' called out a passing merchant. 'Long time no see! Got business here?'

Valkron nodded to him. 'The usual, Rem. The usual.'

'Still the same ol' you, no mistake there,' said the merchant, shaking his head and grinning. 'Well, gotta go. Customers won't come if I just stay in one place.'

The knight watched him go until he remembered the reason why they were in Juno. He left his peco, giving it a good-natured pat as he went and approached Emeth. The wizard sat upright when he noticed the knight was coming for him.

'What? Do I look like I'm going to tell you off?' asked Valkron.

Emeth shrugged. 'Can't tell, not with your recent behaviour.'

Valkron tried not to roll his eyes in exasperation, with some amount of difficulty. 'Could you see if the portal's here? And while you're at it, where do you think we could go and find out more about the power behind whatever the thing is?'

'Ah, you'll have to ask a sage for that,' said Emeth. 'As to your first question, I'd rather go and throw myself over the edge of Juno for that.'

'Whatever for? You're not a suicidal wizard, Emeth.'

'No, but it's either that or exploding'. Emeth smiled apologetically at Valkron's suddenly blank face. 'In contrast to the world below, the magical field in Juno...constantly fluctuates. I'd rather end up down there in a thousand pieces than become completely--'

'All right, all right, I get your point,' said Valkron. 'The disadvantage, though, is that either way no one can find enough of you to hold a proper funeral. Don't do it. That's an order.' He looked around. 'Well, we'll see what we can do, then. Know any sages here?'

'I doubt there'll be many of them here,' said Samaroh, looking up from his book. 'They'll be with the mercenary parties down there.'

Valkron threw his hands up into the air. 'Why is everyone with a mercenary party these days? What happened to the good old traditions of staying at home?'

'Big money, Valkron,' said Khan, tightening the strips of linen around his arms. 'They want money. It's better than sitting around and doing nothing.'

'Mercenaries get a better deal, I guess,' said Eni, from the other side of Samaroh. 'They get pensions when they retire, and those pensions are big money.'

'Nothing like a good swing at monsters before breakfast, eh?' Samaroh hastily chuckled when Valkron gave him a look. 'Sorry. Just my little joke.'

'Some kind of joke,' said the knight flatly. 'Get up, all of you. We've got work to do.'

Grumbling, the Raulus party got to their feet and got ready to move on. Valkron and Iruna brought over their Pecos and got ready to mount them. Even Eni's pet lunatic (Valkron found out later that it was called Fluffball, with good reason) had come along for the ride and was happily washing its ears as everyone turned to go.

Emeth looked behind him at the gates. He frowned. He was sure that he had felt something earlier, but it had disappeared now. He shrugged. It would come along later, like everything else--

'Oooooooh, he's here!'

Everyone turned around in surprise, even Valkron. Emeth turned too and came face to face with an archer girl, accompanied by her mage girlfriend. They were staring up at the wizard with adoring looks on their faces.

'In Odin's name,' he managed to say.

'It is him, isn't it?' said the mage, who seemed to be too shy to step forward but too unsure to back off. Emeth was the one who took a step back - probably to see them better, Valkron thought, because he was too damn tall to see teenagers close up.

'Um...can I help you in any way, ladies?' said Emeth. He had an expression close to horror.

'Oh my, he's so polite!' The archer took the opportunity to take a step forward. 'And he's so tall and so cute! I think I'm in heaven!'

If Emeth hadn't been a wizard he would have died at that point, thought Valkron, looking at Emeth's face. He dismounted from his peco and, with one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, approached the girls. People were starting to gather around, curious at the sudden commotion.

'Uh...you see, my friend here saw you in Prontera a few months back,' said the mage shyly. 'She wanted to know your name, but you went off too fast. She's gone around looking for you ever since.'

'Ah,' said Emeth.

'And now we've finally met!' exclaimed the archer, who seemed to be bubbling over with ecstasy. 'I've always wanted to talk to you, ooh, I do!'

'Um. About what?'

Valkron was amazed that Emeth could still speak rationally in his condition. The fellow was staring with shock at them, and he was frozen to the spot.

'About - about lots of things! But first...' The archer got hold of both of his hands somehow, and gazed up at him with adoring eyes. '...could I marry you?'

The archer was radiating a genuine aura of love and she didn't look too bad either, so Valkron felt an uncharacteristic pang of sympathy for her when Emeth said, somewhat explosively and rather quickly, 'No!' He wasn't the only one - the people in the crowd around them either winced or put their hands to their mouths. The girl herself deflated, and her friend gave Emeth a look that didn't need words to express it.

In that moment Emeth pulled himself together. He took a deep breath and shook himself. 'Look, I know I have girls following me everywhere I go, but I just want to say - and let me make myself clear - when it's the time for me to get married, I'll know. Besides,' he looked sorry here, 'you're a little too young for the likes of me.'

They watched the mage walk her friend away, patting her on the back. Valkron was aware that Samaroh, Khan, Nocturne and Eni were trying not to laugh, which was something worth watching if he didn't need to see to the wizard first.

'You're used to it, aren't you?' he said.

Emeth turned to look at him in surprise. 'Huh? Oh, yeah, pretty much.' He ran a hand throug his hair. 'Fangirls left and right everywhere I go. It's just that it's been a long time since I had a previous interception, really--'

'Well, well, well, look who's here, girls,' said a sultry voice. 'Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it the fun, attractive, wild but above all always-in-the-mood Emeth?'

And here, thought Valkron, when he had turned around, was where Emeth's past caught up with him.