"Heroism is not defined by action, it is defined by heart and intent. Hero is the name others use to describe someone who just wants to do what's right." - Sebastian I of the House of Corvin
The Hymn of the Hero
By Lucas Ithsarryn
Sing your virtue, brother
Weigh the risks, take your chance
No answer, seek another
Bear the truth in your advance
None will listen, none will hear,
The danger that lurks at their doors
You face it all without fear,
When will prevails, hope will soar
Stand alone, be strong
Shout your words to the wind
Strong hearts hear your song
And true hearts will join in
Sing on, noble brother,
Your voice, it carries the call
You bear it like no other,
The burden that changes us all
Along their journey to the peninsula west of Zalmira, Sebastian and Lucas fell in with a troop of Blue Order soldiers, a noble, knightly group that had existed independently for centuries, similar to the affiliated White and Red Orders. In the flesh, they appeared nowhere near as knightly as Sebastian had always envisioned them as a youth. Only a few of their number had horses and most were outfitted with plain but sturdy spears and blue-dyed leather armor. Where their appearances failed, however, their virtue shone through. Their beliefs reminded Sebastian of his father and the nobility the man had always aspired toward, a private, personal ideal that could not be found with etched blades and shining armor.
Since the age of seventeen, nearly six years ago, Sebastian had been a vagabond, hiding from the ruthless Lord Adderly of Fort Davas. Adderly had been quietly gaining power, bringing more and more of the other town lords under his control until Davas law held sway across more than half of all Larocia. As an early example and threat directed at those who would oppose him, Adderly had ordered the decimation of Sebastian's home town of Stratham and the complete destruction of its ruling house. His house.
Sebastian had escaped and led a one-man crusade against Adderly's steady rise to domination, but without solid proof of the man's intentions, he'd had little impact. In fact, as Adderly's power continued to increase, Sebastian's situation grew conversely worse. Less than a month ago, Lord Adderly had officially declared Sebastian an outlaw and marked him with a standing reward for his capture.
His only remaining support lay with the three associated orders, the White, the Red and the Blue, who, by their own declaration, served no lord, only the good of the country itself. They knew Sebastian for what he was, not the criminal Adderly had been trying to paint for the populace. In exile, Sebastian had found refuge amongst the longest standing organization of healers, knights, entertainers and educators in Larocian history.
Although the knights' path did not lead directly south toward Zalmira, Sebastian and Lucas chose to remain with them, both for the added protection and to help out their newfound friends. The troop was tracking members of a growing bandit element that had been harassing tradesmen and travelers in the area for years. Such attacks had become more and more common all acorss Larocia of late and the Blue Order's forces were stretched thin trying to deal with them all. As a consequence, this particular group was small, less than ten, but all were skilled soldiers dedicated to safeguarding the roads and those who made use of them.
Over the course of fourteen months, they swept east around Merriton, curving back toward the western coast past Nilbrook and south, slightly inland toward Thainesford and then to Hemlade where Sebastian decided it was time to finally part ways. From there, he and Lucas followed a narrow strip of land south which curved eastward to point directly to the legendary City of Sorcerers. But where the land ended, Sebastian found himself standing perplexed on a stretch of pale sand, facing an empty expanse of clear, blue ocean.
"I told you." Lucas answered his unspoken question with a sardonic smile, "Zalmira is off limits if you're not a sorcerer. They keep it hidden and receive guests by invitation only."
Sebastian folded his arms across his chest and cocked a dark eyebrow in thought, "Then how do we get ourselves an invitation?"
"You don't." a young, hard-edged voice announced without obvious source.
Sebastian and Lucas spun about in alarm as a brown-robed youth stepped into view, seemingly out of thin air. Violet, swirling energy clung to his clothes and drifted off him, dissipating in thin, shadowy trails. The young man looked at them, unconcerned, and took a moment to brush himself off and straighten his clothes.
"Your friend is quite right, you know." He informed Sebastian with a haughty air, "There is good reason why few know of Zalmira and even fewer have ever actually seen its glory."
"Who are you?" Sebastian asked.
"Not that it's any business of yours," the young sorcerer sniffed, straightening his back and looking arrogantly down his nose, "but I am Roland, Gatekeeper of the great City of Sorcerers."
"I see," Sebastian considered, "I need to speak to your leader."
"The Master of the Eternal Stars?" the sorcerer remarked incredulously, "You? I think not."
"I need to speak with him."
"How unfortunate for you." The gatekeeper sneered, "To have traveled all this way for nothing."
Sebastian frowned, annoyed by the sorcerer's effete attitude.
"I shall return in exactly one hour" the young sorcerer warned, "and I advise you to be far away from here when I do."
He turned his back and began the muttered, guarded casting of a spell. As filaments of purple mist began to swirl around his form, Sebastian dove forward and clamped his arms tightly around the man's thin torso.
"Sebastian!" he heard Lucas shout in alarm, the voice slowing and dropping in pitch, drowned out in his ears by the magic which enveloped him.
Waves of dizziness cascaded over him, drowning him in darkness, and it felt like his heart stopped for the briefest moment before he found light again. In the blink of an eye, the grass and greenery of the peninsula disappeared and Sebastian found himself in the center square of a large city. Five towers surrounded the square in a circular arrangement, great stone structures that reached higher than any building Sebastian had ever seen. The air smelled strongly of the sea and, in the distance, he could hear surf washing in on all sides.
"Release me!" the mage roared, twisting his skinny limbs out of Sebastian's grip, "How dare you!?"
Sebastian quickly gathered his bearings and fell back into an easy stance with his feet apart and his hands open and cautiously ready.
"You gave me no choice." He told the gatekeeper, "I must speak to your leader."
The gatekeeper snarled, his pasty pallor splotched with red, and lunged, reaching for Sebastian. Sebastian stepped inside the man's clumsy attack and neatly flipped him onto his back. The sorcerer landed hard and Sebastian followed him down, pressing him against the cobblestone street with all his weight.
"I don't want to fight you." He said, pinning one of the man's arms and fumbling to control the other, "I just want to speak with the Master of the Eternal Stars."
The young sorcerer swore and followed through with the words of an offensive spell. He pressed his hand against Sebastian's ribs, releasing a charge of stunning electrical energy. Sebastian grunted as pain jolted through his torso. Struggling, he pulled one arm free of the tangle of limbs and clubbed the sorcerer across the face with a closed fist. After the first hit, the sorcerer attempted but failed to cast another spell. After the second hit, he stopped trying to fight back and raised his arms over his head to shield himself. After the third, his limbs went weak and he lolled half-conscious in Sebastian's grip.
Breathing heavily, Sebastian sat back and let the sorcerer sprawl on the cool, fitted stones. Rising to his feet, he turned, stopping instantly when he came face-to-face with a tall, severe-looking man with close-cut, salt-and-pepper hair and a matching goatee. His mouth was a hard horizontal line and his dark, steely eyes were deep with wisdom beyond his obvious years. He wore a sorcerer's robe made from some unearthly, dark cloth that seemed to have captured hundreds of tiny sparkling lights, like stars against a clear, night sky.
"That will be quite enough." the man said sternly, his eyes boring into Sebastian.
Blue Order Banner
"Are you-?" Sebastian began, sensing a tangible power about the sorcerer.
"I am." the robed man interrupted, "Master of the Eternal Stars. And we are aware of you, Sebastian of Corvin, displaced Lord of Stratham. Crusader. Dissident. Rebel."
Sebastian nodded, beginning to understand what Lucas had tried to warn him about. The sorcerers of Zalmira were not like normal men. Their motives were inscrutable and mysterious, unlike those of peasants or noblemen or even lords.
"Then you must know why I am here." he replied.
The Master of the Eternal Stars nodded almost imperceptibly.
"We are aware of your feud with House Adderly as well as your repeated failed attempts to gather support against the head of their household." he stated very plainly.
"I humbly beg your assistance, Master Archmage." Sebastian implored, dropping to one knee and bowing his head, "With your support behind me, some of the lords will surely reconsider."
The sorcerer's expression did not change, remaining stony, impassive and unreadable.
"You will find no assistance here, exile." He decreed, folding his arms tightly across his chest, "Once the affairs of your land were our concern, but no longer. Now, Larocia is Larocia and Zalmira is Zalmira."
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Sebastian glared up at the man, appalled by his self-important attitude.
"If Adderly becomes king, he will see you as a threat. He'll come for you."
"Let him try." The Master sneered arrogantly, "No man has set foot on this island without our permission for centuries."
Sebastian rose sharply to his feet to stood face to face with the master sorcerer, matching his gaze without fear.
Zalmira Mage Tower
"I did." he reminded the man pointedly, "And, unlike me, Adderly will come with the combined forces of a nation behind him."
The two stared at one another in tense silence for an endless moment until the archmage's impassive mask finally broke and his lip curled in anger.
"Enough." He spat, "Your presence here is a disruption and will not be tolerated. Begone, back from whence you came."
With a flick of his wrist and a quick string of magical syllables, he cast Sebastian through an instantaneous, violet void and back to the peninsula. He landed on his back, amid a bed of tall, green grass and pastel-shaded flowers. Lucas was there, sitting patiently on a rock while penning idly into a journal asif he'd been waiting for hours.
"Still as popular as ever, I see." He remarked, looking up from his book with raised eyebrows, "No serious injuries, though, right?"
Sebastian sat up, spitting bits of grass, and pushed his hair back out of his eyes.
"No." He answered gravely, looking sidelong at his friend, "But I didn't accomplish anything either. We came all this way and he dismissed me in less than a minute."
"Hmn, seemed quite a bit longer than that to me." Lucas commented, mildly puzzled, "But who can understand the ways of sorcerers? We might as well head back north again. We can probably still catch up with Marielle and the other Blues if we hurry."
Sebastian paused, staring out over the water, imagining he could see the tiny island that supported Zalmira. They were out there and they were simply too self-absorbed to help. His heart heavy, he turned away and started north along the peninsula back to the mainland.
Zalmira had been his last, desperate hope for stopping Adderly. Now, he was only one man, without an army or even a home, against a ruthless would-be king who held the lords of half the country in his hand. But Sebastian refused to surrender. There had to be another way to thwart Lord Adderly. He just had to find it.
Not long after they forded the river south of Thainesford, the sky turned dark and ominous thunder rumbled in the distance. Light rain started as they crossed a new road that headed north toward the site of Adderton. The city was said to be on its way to becoming unlike anything Larocia had ever seen, rivaling even the lost city of Orican in its splendor, but Sebastian didn't dare go near it. He and Lucas wisely skirted south and kept to the forests until they found a trail that had been most likely left by their Blue Order friends less than half a day past.
Picking up their pace, they followed the trail through constant fog and mist for the better part of a day before catching up with the knights at a sheltered encampment hidden amongst a rocky outcropping. The camp belonged to a group of well-known bandits, not unlike those the Blue Order soldiers had been pursuing, but the thieves themselves were apparently gone. The knights milled about, investigating and digging through sacks, crates and entire wagonloads of obviously stolen goods.
The group's commander, Marielle of Terrence, approached them immediately upon their arrival. She was an impressive woman, with rich, blue eyes highlighted by the azure tint of her boiled leather hauberk and the golden hair that was known to be common in the south. She was a fine leader, educated, intelligent and thoughtful, who never once asked a soldier in her command to undertake a task that she herself was not fully prepared to tackle.
She greeted Lucas with a broad smile and a hearty embrace but hesitated when she turned to Sebastian, settling for a semi-formal handshake. Her eyes darted nervously and a slight tinge of pink rose in her cheeks as their fingers touched. They looked at one another for an endless string of awkward moments while their hands lingered. For the better part of a year while they traveled together, there had been a quiet, unspoken attraction between them, something neither felt comfortable confronting.
"Do you think they fled?" Lucas interrupted their silence with a knowing smile, crouching near the empty fire pit and touching his fingertip to the edge of a still-warm stewpot.
Marielle and Sebastian broke away from one another and hastily gathered their faculties.
"No, they're still in the area." She cleared her throat and made her way over to a large, sturdy chest that had been recovered, "They wouldn't leave without this."
They had battered a heavy padlock off the front and wrenched apart the clasp, throwing the top wide. The chest contained a worn, muslin bag full of gold coins and tied stacks of parchment, apparently records of payment from the bandit leader to his men. Lucas plucked one of the coins out of the bag, deftly dancing it across his knuckles to land squarely into a thumb and forefinger grip.
"Uh oh . . ." he stopped, holding the coin up to clearly display the Adderly stamp.
Sebastian immediately scooped out a brimming handful of coins, all stamped the same, then started rifling furiously through the parchments.
"These bandits have been paid by Adderly." He clenched his fist in combined anger and exultation around a tightly bound stack of documents, "This is the proof we need."
"It may be too late." Lucas sighed, "There aren't many lords who aren't in Adderly's pocket nowadays."
Sebastian pressed stack into her hands, unwilling to surrender this newfound hope, "Marielle, you've said the Orders hold no love for Adderly. Won't this give you the opportunity to do something about it?"
"I don't know, Sebastian." Marielle sighed softly, uncertain, "We're spread too thin to assemble a worthwhile force in any reasonable amount of time. You know I would gladly do whatever I can to help you, but I can't promise the head of the Order would agree."
"We have to try." He continued determinedly, taking her by the arms, "If Adderly becomes king, Larocia will suffer to no end. You know this. We have no need of a king."
As Marielle looked up at him, still uncertain but worriedly considering, Lucas noticed a slight movement in the forest and burst into action. Diving forward, he knocked his two companions out of the way a mere instant before a crossbow bolt cut through the air right where they'd been standing.
"To arms!!" Marielle cried out, rolling to her feet and running for cover with Sebastian and Lucas in tow, "Bandits!"
The soldiers quickly formed into small groups and took cover as more shapes became apparent in the forest and a volley of crossbow fire sailed in.
Lucas peeked up over the top of a heavy crate and dropped back instantly as a pair of bolts thudded into the wood.
"Damn." He spat, ducking low and pressing his back against the wood, "They're circling around. Without cover, we're done for."
Sebastian ventured a look around the stones he'd crouched behind and barely avoided a that bolt skipped off the edge one of the rocks in answer. Beside him, Marielle gripped her spear tightly and shifted her weight forward.
"They don't care if they hit us. They're just keeping us down." She reasoned, preparing to bolt, "I'd rather take my chances and meet them on even ground."
"Wait," Sebastian cautioned, "I have an plan. Tell the others to get ready to stick their heads up all at the same time."
As Lucas and Marielle relayed his message in sharp whispers on either side of their shelter, Sebastian readied his hand to give the signal. With a short wave, he planted his feet and flattened himself low to the ground. As expected, when the soldiers lifted their heads a volley of crossbow fire rained in, forcing them to immediately duck down again.
The instant the bolts impacted, Sebastian launched into a sprint straight for the tree line. He kicked over the payment chest, spilling its remaining contents, and grabbed it up, holding the empty container in front of him as he ran. Three bolts slammed into the chest before he collided with the closest crossbowman. They went down in a pile and Sebastian jammed his knee into the man's groin, pulling the freshly reloaded crossbow from his hands and firing at point blank on his closest compatriot.
Crossbows fired off in random directions as the Blue Order soldiers followed Sebastian's example and rushed the tree line. As the marauders fumbled to hastily reload, the Blue Order closed the distance with minimal wounds.
"They're grouping in the east!" Marielle shouted to Sebastian, catching his eye as she charged past, spear leading.
Sebastian finished clubbing the raider he'd tackled into unconsciousness then drew his claymore and turned to follow her. As he rose to his feet, a heavy hemp net fell over him. Two men burst from the bushes and piled on, binding his limbs and pummeling his face and kidneys to subdue him. Sebastian fought, but they held too much of an advantage and wrestled him down. A third dark-eyed bandit with a poorly trimmed beard appeared holding a mounted horse by its lead and stood over him.
"I had a feeling that face looked familiar." The grizzled bandit sneered, "Figured we'd have to kill you all and sort it out later, but here you were nice enough to run right to me."
"Let me go!" Sebastian roared, straining against the tight bindings as the other two hoisted him up over the back end of the horse.
"Not likely." The man secured both ends of the netting to the rider's saddle, "Adderly wanted you dead, but I imagine he'll pay more for the pleasure of doing it himself."
With a slap to the horse's flank, he sent it galloping toward the road and turned back to the battle at hand with a bloodthirsty leer.
- From the Book of Sebastian |
