Crusader

five before answering. “As we have discussed, I would be more than happy to send you along to Fertiss with not only the utmost haste but also with a bounty of gold simply to be rid of you.” She caught the cockeyed gaze of the dwarf, and wondered if he was as insulted by that as she had intended him to be. “Unfortunately, Alaric seems to be of a different opinion-and, in a stunning reversal of his previous nature to this point, he is keeping that decision secret for reasons that I cannot possibly fathom.” She shrugged broadly, trying-Oh, how I try-to keep it amusing. “I wish he would send you away. Were it in my power, I would send you away. I would walk you to the gate right now, open it up, roll you under it, and be done with it. Unfortunately, it is not in my power, nor the other officers of Sanctuary either, because-”

“Alaric has some ill intention toward me that he has no desire to disclose to the rest of you,” Partus said, still squinting at her with one eye half-closed. “I see how it is. He knows strength when he sees it, and he knows you’re in a dire situation. He thinks by backing me into this corner with you, I’ll have no choice but to fight for Sanctuary when the time comes. You know what? The sneaky bastard is probably right. I’ve got no love for the dark elves, not after Aurastra, and they don’t take prisoners, as well you know. Well, they take the women ones, but not like-”

“Thank you, for that,” Vara said, wondering if her fake smile was holding. Alaric compelled me to be nice to this one. I cannot imagine what reason he might have for that, nor why he would ask it of me, OF ALL PEOPLE. She felt the strain inside, the desire to scream, to raise a booted foot and punt the little blighter-but she resisted. He’s a strong paladin, she grudgingly admitted, stronger than me. Two days earlier, the dark elves had begun constructing siege towers from logs hauled to within sight of the Sanctuary walls; Partus, in an annoyingly boastful show of force had bragged that he could destroy every single one of them before they had started moving. No one had believed it. There had been bets placed, gold wagered. Partus had taken all of it and left fifteen siege towers in wreckage, showering splinters into the army of dark elves huddled around them. There were bodies lying there, too numerous to count, from the explosive force with which the wood had splintered into both the engineers and laborers that had built the things, and also warriors and fighters that had been standing nearby. He’s a wealthy little git now, eager to spend his newfound winnings and make his escape while the getting is good; he’s unlikely to manage another gambling win such as that.

“You know that no other paladin could match my power-other than Alaric, of course.” Partus gave her a wink, causing Vara to restrain an explosive fury of her own. I could surely blast him at least a quarter of the distance he managed to send his spell; far enough to kill him, perhaps. Instead, she rolled her eyes and realized that the smile had long since vanished, and that now all she wore was a look of undisguised loathing.

“I recognize that you are quite strong in the powers of the white knight,” she answered, “though it mystifies me that you can even call yourself one given that you seem to believe in nothing, and certainly have no sort of crusade, if you ever did-”

Partus let out a soft laugh. “You’re a young one, aren’t you? Being a paladin has little enough to do with having a crusade or a cause.” Vara bristled at this, and Partus laughed further. “It doesn’t matter what you believe in, some god or cause or nothing at all. All that matters is that you know how to use the spells to their maximum effect. That you put in the practice to push them to the limits of what they can do.”

Vara listened to him, taking care not to grind her teeth. “Is that so? Believe in nothing-”

“But yourself,” Partus said, correcting her not at all gently, “if you’re into saying it that way, I suppose.”

Vara let her eyes slip sideways, darting around the foyer. “And how would you say it?” She watched him shift on his short legs; he only came up to her chest in height, a fact that was not lost on her. Or him. “If you were forced to describe it.”

“If I were forced to describe it,” Partus said slowly, “I would say it’s believing in power. Not in yourself, exactly,” he cringed, his face turned mocking, “because that’s a little elven and weak for my tastes, frankly-no offense. Your people make good mystics and warriors, but they talk such a pitiful line of effeteness when it comes to yourselves. You have to see your ability to cast a spell that mighty-” He held his hand out in front of him, aimed it just past her. She kept her cool, and realized he was watching for her reaction, his palm pointed into the lounge. “It’s all to do with seeing it, saying it, bringing it to form. It’s not just the words.” He ran the back of his hand over his brow. “Then, after you’ve done it once, you know you can, so then it’s about stretching your magical energy to accomodate, exercising your abilities to adapt to casting it more often.” He used his tongue to suck at something stuck in his teeth. “Then, it’s about practice. Constant, diligent practice.”

She eyed his short frame, at the slight paunch that hung over his belt. “And you did this? Practiced diligently?”

“Aye,” Partus said, “I may not look it now, but I put in thousands of hours of effort when I was at the Holy Brethren. More than anyone else, that’s certain.”

“Yes,” Vara said with a trace of irony, “I’m certain you practiced by yourself constantly, until you became a tremendous master.”

Partus caught the hint of insincerity and squinted at it, then shrugged it off. “It doesn’t matter that you believe I did it, you can see the results for yourself. Care, don’t, pay attention, heed me not, it’s all the same to me until those dark elves come crashing in; then you might wish you’d done things a bit differently.”

With that, the dwarf wandered off, toward the lounge and the casks of ale that remained there, even in this time of crisis. Vara wanted to sigh but she didn’t, instead letting the smell of the hearth burning give her a moment’s peace, that slight homey feeling to calm her nerves, then she turned to see Vaste watching her by the stairwell. She hesitated, unsure of what to do. He’s standing right in my path. Should I avoid him entirely? The troll watched, giving her a slight smile, then continued to speak with the human he had been talking to. It would appear he’s focused upon his own matters; just as well, I do not know that I could handle much more in the way of sympathy from him at this point.

She headed for the stairs, her head involuntarily moving to look in the open doors of the Great Hall. Larana waited within, seated at a table inside. The druid looked more ragged than usual, her face smudged with a little dirt or grease, and her hair in a muss-that part was usual. Vara pondered speaking to the chief cook, but she sat alone, by herself, and seemed to be working on nothing at all. I haven’t said more than a dozen words to her since I came here. This seems an ill time to start, simply because I know she may be the only other one in Sanctuary who misses … she cringed … who wishes Cyrus were here. She felt the physical reaction in her face as she thought it; a tightening of the muscles into a scowl, the lowering of an eyelid, the muscles straining and causing it to twitch.

She made for the stairs instead, keeping her pace slow, neutral, until she had passed Vaste. Then she sped up, taking the steps two and three at a time, letting her frustration come out in a near-aggression. She reached the Council Chambers and paused; the door was parted slightly, as though someone had left it open for some purpose. She stopped, pondering, then opened the door and stepped inside.

It was quiet, of course; no motion within. The hearths were dead, only the faint glow of fading embers showing any sign of life. The shadows were long inside, the sun was behind the clouds outside. There was little light, only what came in through the windows. Strange, the torches typically light themselves-

“Shut the door,” came a voice in the darkness, originating from Alaric’s chair at the head of the table. It was quiet but full of command, and she heeded it immediately, drawing the door closed behind her. There was less light now, and Vara stared into the shadow of the massive seat at the head of the table, peering into it with her superior vision. If he is there, I should see him, even in this, unless-

There was a faint hint of haziness in the room, she realized, a lack of clarity as though a mist had seeped in around her. It hung low, around her feet. “It is easier this way, sometimes,” came the voice of Alaric from his chair, “to keep one foot in the world of men and the other in the world of the ethereal, existing fully in neither.” There was a slight sound, barely audible to her ears, a rushing of air, and then he was visible, his outline, the helm and armor. There was a clink of metal on the wood of the table and his chair. “Do you think it would be easier to live in this world if you could leave it at any time you wanted?” There was no mirth in Alaric’s statement. “It isn’t, actually. It might be harder, if such a thing were possible.”

“Alaric?” she asked, still uncertain-uncertain what to say, what to do, why he was here-I cannot recall having heard him like this before. He almost sounds … like … “Have you been drinking?”

When the reply came, it was filled with amusement. “On this occasion, no. I think there is quite enough