"Darius, wake up."
Darius bolted upright, nearly colliding heads with the speaker who was bending over him. He blinked in the bright mid-day sun as he tried to recollect what he had been doing. He was outside, under the Edelwood tree at the back of the dormitories. His book, which he had been reading what seemed just moments before lay sprawled in the grass next to him. He looked up and groaned. The Golden Guard stood over him, arms crossed and head tilted in that disapproving way he did.
"Falling asleep so easily these days, scout?" Darius began to rise but a gesture from his superior officer arrested him. "Don't worry, kid. You've been working hard in morning practice the past few months. A growing boy needs their sleep after all. You're what, seventeen, eighteen?" Darius stiffened and snapped before he could stop himself.
"I'm not a kid!" He felt an icy stab of horror in his gut at the audacity of both his response and the irreverent tone in which it was uttered."I mean, sir! I'm…I'm nineteen, sir. I'll be turning twenty next week on Friday, sir." The masked figure looked down on him in silence for what seemed like an eternity to his pounding heart and Darius could feel a bead of sweat trickle down the back of his neck.
Am I going to be disciplined?
Would the Golden Guard really kick me out of the training class?
And I had been doing so well!
A sound somewhere between a snort and a sigh escaped the blank visage and the Golden Guard's gloved fingers reached down to pat Darius condescendingly on the head.
"Would never have guessed. Happy birthday in advance. What were you reading?" Darius shrugged.
"It's just a novel Perry Porter is lending to me, sir."
"I see. Is it any good?"
"Honestly it was so boring it put me to sleep in the first chapter." The Golden Guard chuckled and leaned his shoulder up against the tree.
"So… do you like to do stuff like this too? Sir?" The Golden Guard's mask tilted slightly.
"Stuff like…you mean read? Or fall asleep under trees?" Darius blushed, glancing away with a frown.
"Never mind. It was a stupid question. I apologize, sir."
"I don't believe in stupid questions, scout. And if you are asking, my answer is yes. I do like to read. By the way, I hear congratulations are in order." Darius couldn't help the grin which sprung out across his face.
"Congratulations? Whatever for, sir?" The Golden Guard snorted.
"Don't play dumb with me. I heard your coven head just nominated you to be his aide-de-camp. That's a big responsibility for someone your age." Darius resisted the violent urge to preen as he basked in this delightful praise. "So are you going to accept?" Darius scoffed and lay back in the grass.
"No way. I can't imagine anything more boring. An aid has to take notes and write letters and sit on their butts all day long. Listening to people, nodding and smiling at their stupid ideas, doing whatever they tell me to? Puh-lease. I have to put up with enough of that as it is. I do what I want, and what I want is to be where the action is." The Golden Guard was silent for a long while. Darius looked up at the inscrutable face. "What? Don't like my answer?" The Golden Guard sighed.
"It's just a shame. You're so gifted, and your classmates really respect you. I think you'd make a great coven head in time. This position would put you on the path to real trust and power within your coven." Darius sat up, blushing slightly.
"They respect me? You really think that?" The mask nodded slightly.
"You've turned some heads, Darius. Most of the coven heads have noticed your abilities. That's probably why you were nominated for the position in the first place. If you play your cards right, you can only go up from here." Darius looked down at his hands and started distractedly plucking at the grass beneath his fingers, feeling the trickle of warmth spreading up his face from the unexpected praise. He should probably say something. Offer some sort of gratitude for a vote of good opinion from someone as highly ranked as the Golden Guard. He glanced up, trying to formulate something suave and sufficiently flattering when all such constructions turned to ash within his mouth.
A large rust-colored stain stretched across the fabric under the Golden Guard's arm, like long fingers clutching at his elbow. Darius stared at the bloodstain for a long moment, unable to look away.
He's hurt!
The thought was immediately corrected.
No, the stain is dry. He was hurt, or… or he hurt someone else.
He realized with a start that his superior was looking down at him; could plainly read all of the thoughts that he wore on his face like words upon a page. His mouth felt suddenly dry, any inquiries or excuses dying in his throat. He swallowed and averted his eyes from the blank mask. He heard a sigh and a rustle of cloak as the Golden Guard sat down beside him, the offending stain hidden one more beneath spotless white.
"Sorry you had to see that. I guess I missed a spot."
"You missed a spot? How much blood was there that you call this 'missing a spot!'" The Golden Guard said nothing, but leaned his back against the Edelwood and glanced up into its branches. Darius ground his teeth together, frustrated beyond endurance. That stupid mask hid everything, every little hint that might give him a clue to what his superior was thinking.
"Do you remember about a month ago I broke my arm and you…uh, sent me to the Healing Coven?" Darius could have sworn he heard a snicker from beneath the inscrutable mask but he ignored it and pressed on. "There was a witch who took care of my arm for me. She kinda implied that she knows you pretty well. So I just thought… maybe it's because she sees you. Often. Like, for healing purposes." The Golden Guard still said nothing. The wind rippled through the grass, sending the shadows of the leaves dancing across their faces. Light, then dark. A play of give and take between visages.
"You must mean Leyna." The voice was soft, almost a murmur, but unmistakably fond. "Her name is Leyna. I've known her for a long time now." The Golden Guard turned his mask on Darius and Titan, he wished he could see beyond the border of those eye slits.
"If you ever need to get checked out for anything, go see her. She's not a coven head or anything like that, but she's one of the most competent witches I know, in addition to being unwaveringly kind and a great listener."
"So what? You tell her all your secrets?" The Golden Guard snorted and gave him a light shove.
"Sure. I tell her all the secrets I don't have." Darius frowned at this remark and at the sudden realization of the familiarity which had crept into their speech. He had unwittingly dropped the honorifics and his superior officer had allowed it without comment.
"What I mean is that if you ever have an injury, or you just need someone to talk to, Leyna is a great witch to confide in. You'll need someone to share your burdens with if you decide to accept a position of authority within your coven. Speaking of which, don't you have a coven meeting sometime about now?" Darius' eyes widened.
"Oh Titan. What time is it?"
"It's about five minutes to one." Darius gave a yelp and jumped up.
"Are you serious? I have to go! I mean…" he stood stiffly to attention. "May I be dismissed, sir?" The Golden Guard laughed, a bright, boyish laugh, and Darius felt a strange flutter in his belly at the sound. He stood up, still chuckling, and Darius realized suddenly how small the Golden Guard was; shorter than himself by a good two inches at least and slightly built.
"You are dismissed, scout. Now off with you." Darius took off running down the hill, glancing back to see the thin figure watching him until the rising of the hill obscured him from view.
He barely made it in time, only escaping a reprimand by the skin of his teeth and some well timed flattery. The meeting was boring, as usual, and he had difficulty staying awake as the minutes ticked interminably on. Finally they were dismissed. He started back to the dormitories to change for afternoon drills when he realized with a start that he had left his book up by the Edelwood tree. He groaned and trudged back up the hill to his favorite napping place when he came to a sudden halt.
There, to his astonishment, was the Golden Guard, stretched out atop his cloak under the tree and fast asleep. Darius approached cautiously, not wanting to wake the man. His face was hidden behind the golden mask he always wore, but his chest rose and fell with quiet steady breathing. Perry's book was held limply in his lap, and it looked as though he had been reading through it when he had fallen asleep. Darius cursed under his breath. He had to get his book back, preferably without waking the man, and he had to hurry to get changed before drills.
As quietly as he could Darius knelt beside the sleeping figure. He held his breath and gingerly eased the book from under the gloved fingers. The man stirred, but did not wake. Darius breathed a sigh of relief and slipped the book inside his tunic. He turned to go but halted when a flash of red caught his eye.
The bloodstain.
Darius hesitated for a moment before gently, ever so gently, reaching out to peel back the corner of the white robe. There it was, on the back of the arm under the elbow. Angry tendrils creeping along the bright yellow sleeve. He followed its rusty trail with his eyes as far as he could up into the armpit. He felt his stomach lurch unexpectedly at the sight and wondered what sort of injury the Golden Guard was hiding under his uniform. What sort of mission had the Emperor sent him on to cause a wound like this?
I really don't know anything about him, do I?
Darius was struck suddenly with an idea. A bad idea. He looked down at the mask, solid, unmoving, unfeeling. He wondered what the face looked like under that mask. Once the scouts in the Emperor's coven passed their final exams they all would wear masks like this one, their individual personalities subsumed into their coven identities. The thought had always unnerved him slightly.
"All the secrets I don't have."
The idea of seeing the man's face consumed him with a curiosity he could not resist. He reached out both hands and touched the mask, feeling its smooth, cold surface. Would this be too much? His fingers pressed upon its edge and lifted gently. It came away little by little until…
Darius stared at the peaceful face beneath him. The person before him looked young, maybe only a few years older than himself. Far too young to be in such a position of authority and power as the rank of Golden Guard. His face was thin and pale and strikingly handsome, with a defined nose and brow. His hair, which hung down around his face, was thin and flaxen. A single strand of it fell across his eyes. Darius stared at the face. It looked kind, gentler than he would have imagined, but also worn. There were dark circles under his eyes and a long, jagged scar across his cheek just under his right eye.
The figure stirred again in his dreams and his head turned slightly, brushing the inside of Darius's wrist with his scarred cheek. Darius felt the butterflies drop in his belly suddenly. A warning. He had crossed a line and the only way forward was an immediate retreat. He hurriedly but carefully replaced the mask across the sleeper's face then turned and ran down the hill, pressing the book against the guilty swarm in his stomach. This time he didn't look back.