Kethril (6 page)

***

They were everywhere, taunting him. Sir
Danth watched another battered spirit floating through the trees.
He had been following them for the past five days since reaching
the Lost Road Inn, stopping only to leave markers and set up camps
for the party.

Here in the Willden Forest where the Kingdom
of Morhain had once existed, the ghosts of his people wandered
through the trees. The sight of them was causing Sir Danth to
panic. The knight’s armor blessed him with magical vision allowing
him to see things out of the normal realm, like magical runes or
invisible creatures. He could also tell when there was a ghost in a
building, or even if remnants of strong emotion remained in an area
such as a battlefield

He hadn’t known about the roaming phantoms
while standing guard in front of the vault for so long, but after
leaving that lonely place and traveling through the forest, he had
become aware of them. At first, they were random movements and
lights to the side and behind him. Sir Danth preferred to look
straight ahead like living people did, but could see in every
direction at once when he wanted to. At times, in the dark cave, he
would spin his vision around in circles as fast as he could while
standing still. Without a body to experience vertigo, it didn’t
make him sick, although it was hard to stop the spinning if he did
it for too long.

As the companions traveled from Aaltdiin to
Brondaggiin, the scattered movements were less frequent, so Sir
Danth chalked it down to effects created by being able to see the
sky, sun and moons after so long in the darkness. When they
re-appeared a few days after leaving the influence of Mother Tree,
he still didn’t think anything of it.

When they went back into the forest after
Puujan to tell Mother Tree about the Rojuun, the lights and
movement had reappeared. They were stronger away from Mother Tree
and nowhere to be seen when near her. Sir Danth debated asking his
companions if they saw it too, but they had other concerns and he
didn’t want to make them unhappy. The knight needed them. He had
lost his mind more than once while guarding the vault and they were
the only thing keeping him from losing it again.

After rescuing the princess and escaping
from the Rojuun caverns, Sir Danth had seen the movements again,
only they weren’t just movements anymore. There was a blurred ghost
standing at the edge of the river along the Lost Road upon exiting
that last cave. When he walked toward it, the apparition had
disappeared. There were more ghosts along the road, but the knight
was never able to get near. If he left his companions, he could get
a little bit closer. The more he focused on each one, the more the
blurriness would go away.

The specters bothered the knight a great
deal. He didn’t understand why he could see them and his friends
could not. Vevin was a dragon, so perhaps he just didn’t care about
human spirits. Liselle looked at the good in everything, so maybe
she didn’t see tortured spirits. Tathan
should
have spotted
them. He could see darkness, pain and suffering in people. Sir
Danth didn’t know why, but recognized the quality and liked Tathan
for it.

When the party reached the Willden, the
spirits had become more numerous. They were wandering through the
trees, not as movements or lights, but as full-bodied phantoms.
They were also much clearer and Sir Danth could see the tattered
clothing and bent limbs as they searched for whatever they were
looking for.

Still, the ghosts never came close to the
party. Sir Danth spent some time contemplating why and he would go
into the forest each night to study them. Early one morning,
Liselle had come to find him while Tathan and Vevin were practicing
some wrestling moves. When she approached the knight, the phantoms
disappeared. Sir Danth took a closer look at Liselle and realized
her aura was pure and dazzling, preventing the apparitions from
coming near.

He continued to explore at night. Each time
he came close to a ghost, it would fade out and he still couldn’t
make out the details. There was something very, very wrong with
them. The knight spent hours focusing his will and could make out
more details each time. After a while, he began to recognize the
style of clothing and that’s when he became certain they were his
people. Their ethereal garments varied from the sturdy outfits worn
by common workers of his time to fine suits and dresses worn by the
wealthy. The one thing they had in common was that all of it was
torn and tattered.

No one knew what happened to the citizens of
Morhain in the Great Disappearing. Ghosts weren’t mentioned at the
time, so he didn’t believe at first that it could be them. However,
the more he saw, the more he realized it had to be true.

A spirit appeared to his left, startling him
out of his thoughts, but faded out when Sir Danth looked at it.
Another passed between a pair of trees in front of him. Sir Danth
focused the face as it floated near. The appearance horrified the
knight.

The spirit’s jaw was hanging down to its
chest in a broken, silent scream. The eye sockets were hollow with
a dark mist behind them that threatened to pull Sir Danth’s mind
into it. The apparition floated past Sir Danth just to his right,
enabling him to see mangled ears. Sir Danth put his arm out to stop
it. The phantom stopped and pushed against the metal. The armor’s
enchantments prevented anything from passing through, even ghosts.
It pushed again before emitting shriek that pierced the air like a
rusted blade. Other spirits in the forest responded with
otherworldly shrieks of their own, somehow communicating in a
different realm of existence.

Then the phantom turned its hollow eyes
toward him and the dark mist within noticed Sir Danth. Other
specters appeared around him, rotating in the knight’s direction.
The piercing shrieks coming from their mouths reverberated through
his armor. There was no recognition of who he was, only a great,
evil hunger emanating from the hollow eyes. That hunger perceived
Sir Danth and it desired him. The swirling black mist began to flow
out of the eye sockets of the phantoms, reaching for the
knight.

For the first time in his existence, Sir
Danth experienced fear. A new scream rose above the cacophony of
sound. His voice made the ungodly noise. The metallic scream
carried supernatural powers he didn’t know he had. It physically
pushed the apparitions and misty tendrils away from him. When he
stopped screaming in surprise, the tendrils began reaching out for
him again.

There was no way for Sir Danth to escape.
They surrounded him and the knight let panic overtake him. His
sword appeared in his hands and he cut the ghosts and tendrils into
pieces, much to their surprise as well as the surprise of the evil
entity. Yet it didn’t stop them from coming towards him, fighting
past the knight’s supernatural screams and blade. There were rows
and rows floating in his direction through the trees.

The knight began shifting through space as
he swung his sword in terror.

***

Liselle and Vevin turned to each other when
they heard a scream ahead of them. “What in the world was that?!”
Vevin asked.

“How should I know?” Liselle said. “You’re
the one who knows everything. Should we investigate, or run for
safety?”

Vevin frowned. “I never run for safety.
Dragons don’t go backwards.” They heard the scream again. This time
Vevin tilted his head to the side to concentrate on it. “It sounds
like metal screeching and there’s . . . stuff in it.”

She blinked. “Stuff?”

“Yeah . . . stuff. I think Sir Danth is
screaming. I didn’t think he was the type to do that,” Vevin
mused.

Liselle’s eyes widened at the mention of the
knight. When another scream pierced the air, she ran in that
direction as fast as possible. The screams continued one after the
other. Vevin kept pace and then moved in front to protect her from
whatever the danger would be. His purple lights traveled above them
to cast light on their path. “It’s definitely Sir Danth. I can see
him through trees,” he told her as they ran. “He’s swinging his
sword at the air. I can’t go dragon with all these trees though,
there’s no room.”

Liselle wished for Vevin’s ability to see
through things sometimes. As it was, she followed him through the
underbrush as fast as possible. It took them a couple of minutes to
reach the knight who was still screaming in panic. They ran in his
direction, but he shifted farther away. Then he shifted to the
left, then to another spot.

Then he was in front of them, the shrill
metallic sound coming from somewhere inside his armor. Vevin hit
Liselle hard, slamming her to the ground as the knight’s sword
swung over them. If he hadn’t moved so fast, she would have been
decapitated. Sir Danth shifted again, this time behind them.

Vevin jumped up and roared, using the full
force of his dragon voice. Liselle felt her hair stand on end. Even
though he shielded her from the effect of dragon fear, she could
sense the power in the sound. Sir Danth continued to scream and
shift, swinging his greatsword. “Well that’s inconvenient,” Vevin
said, crossing his arms. “His armor protects him from dragon
fear.”

Liselle gained her composure and stood. She
cast a holding spell at the knight, but just as she released it,
Sir Danth shifted. “Oh!” Liselle exclaimed crossly. The knight
screamed to the right of them and she cast another holding spell.
She was fast enough, but it had no effect. Liselle could feel the
armor soak the magical energy and use it to power its own magic.
“Really?!”

Sir Danth shifted just a short distance to
the left of them. Vevin took the opportunity to leap on the
knight’s shoulders. He didn’t even slow Sir Danth down before the
knight shifted again and Vevin fell on his butt. The look of shock
on Vevin’s face caused Liselle to laugh in spite of the
circumstances.

“Beware,” a voice in her mind said. It was
the flower in her hair. It had only spoken to her a few times in
her life, each when she was in mortal danger. Liselle gathered as
much magic as she could. Then Sir Danth was in front of her. He
swung his sword, but Liselle expelled the magic before it could hit
her. She didn’t have time to focus it into a specific spell of any
type so she just hit Sir Danth with the energy. The force of the
magic was so powerful that he flew into a tree a few yards away.
The trunk of that tree shattered as the knight blasted through it
and hit the tree behind.

The first tree came down fast and hard at
Liselle. Vevin had reached her by that time and propelled her to
the side, slamming her to the ground yet again. She felt bones in
her right arm and wrist break as she reached out to catch herself.
Liselle cried out in pain just before the impact knocked the breath
out of her.

The trunk of the second tree that Sir Danth
slammed into also shattered. He didn’t go all the way through,
instead falling to the ground in a sitting position. That tree fell
onto the knight’s head, driving him into the ground.

“Get off me!” Liselle wailed at Vevin who
was laying on top her while staring at Sir Danth.

“I’m so sorry! Are you alright, darling?”
Vevin scurried to help her up.

She took the proffered hand and whimpered as
she got to her feet, holding her broken arm in distress. Liselle
could handle a lot of pain, but she didn’t like it. It took a
moment to focus her mind and Vevin stroking her back distracted
her. He stopped and took a step back when he realized what she was
doing. Liselle pulled energy to her and began to heal the breaks in
her arm. There was one in her wrist and two in the forearm. It took
a minute of intense concentration, but she managed.

Vevin cast a barrier between them and Sir
Danth. It wouldn’t stop him permanently, but should at least slow
him down. “Wait! That won’t work,” Vevin said. He gestured and
released the barrier. “Mr. Knighty Pants can just shift on this
side. I need to think of something else.”

Liselle finished the healing and became
dizzy, falling to her hands and knees. Vevin noticed and went to
her side, holding her steady.

“What’s going on?” Tathan asked, his sword
drawn as he and Anilyia came running up. Vevin must have shielded
them from the dragon fear too. Tathan had one of his yellow balls
of light above him, which met Vevin’s purple ones and danced around
as though happy to see them. The couple was disheveled and the
princess was panting from the run.

“Sir Danth was screaming and swinging his
sword around,” Vevin explained, pointing at the tree on top of the
knight. It was moving up and down as though Sir Danth was trying to
push it up.

“That sound was Sir Danth?” Tathan asked
incredulously.

“Why is the tree moving?” Anilyia stared as
the part above the knight lifted into the air.

Sir Danth rose to his feet and threw the
trunk aside. “Where are they?!” He yelled. “Where did they go?” The
sword reappeared in his hands and he swung it, searching for a foe
to fight.

“Sir Danth!” Tathan yelled, moving forward
while gesturing for Anilyia to stay back. “How may we aid you? Who
is your enemy?”

The knight swung again in another direction.
He looked at Tathan as though wondering what the rogue was doing
there. “The phantoms and their unnatural mist; did you not see
them?” Sir Danth poked at the air, hoping to pierce something.

“We see nothing, Sir Danth. Please put away
your sword and talk to us,” Tathan said with a hand out to calm the
knight.

Sir Danth pointed his sword at Tathan. “What
is your game? Are you another phantom intent on tricking me?”

“Enough!” Liselle had risen with Vevin’s
help and was marching toward the knight, her eyes alight with blue
flames. “I have had
enough
!” More fire appeared in her mouth
as she spoke and it was traveling up her arms as well.