Hope (18 page)

I’ve taught both Sir Lanclor and Sir Garrent the spell, and they’ve both mastered how to control it. I’m sure they would be the best teachers in this situation. Everybody will also be able to experiment on their own using the list, but I’d recommend looking at the spell in the Lost Spell book beforehand so you’re aware of the dangers. With that, I’ll hand the floor back over to Sir Garrent.

Sir Garrent stood and asked fearfully, "Are there any questions?"

The room erupted with noise. It took quite a while before Sir Garrent regained order. There were many questions about a handful of spells and when they could learn them. Kathryn quietly sat in her chair and waited for the end of the meeting. Sir Garrent finally declared this one as his final question and called upon a knight in gold. She hadn’t realized that Lord Alextor attended.

Lord Alextor stood and looked directly at her. "If I may ask, Lady Kathryn, why do you think Sir Garrent and Sir Lanclor would be the best teachers in this situation? I would think if you were the one to discover the spells, that you would be the best person to teach them." He saved her from answering the questions she had no idea how to answer. "With that in mind, I’d like you to teach me the Lost Spells. I’ll decide if these spells should be in the hands of the rest of the Knighthood. It might be best if some of these spells remained lost."

She couldn’t refuse the leader of the Knighthood. "I’d be honored to teach you the Lost Spells, Lord Alextor."

Kathryn's next Sight occurred several weeks into her lessons with Lord Alextor. This Sight was different since it lasted long enough for her to question Lord Alextor about its meaning. As Lord Alextor sat across from her with both of their hands touching the same bowl of water intended for a level 15 ice spell, the white haze obscured her vision.

S
he
was suddenly aware of an image of him and a tall woman walking arm-in-arm down an aisle. The woman walked with her back straight and seemed to show everyone her prize—her husband. They walked away from a short woman with gentle eyes who stood in front of hundreds of knights, with Sir Lanclor in the forefront. As Lord Alextor and the tall woman walked farther and farther away, the knights began to fall to the ground. She heard the clang of their armor as they hit the stone floor. The short woman’s eyes were pleading as she reached a hand toward Lord Alextor.

"Who’s the tall woman, Alextor? The tall woman, so confident and commanding, while the short one seems so gentle, yet has a certain power emanating from her?" Kathryn spoke as if in a dream, her fuzzy mind only realizing afterward that she had addressed Lord Alextor as an equal.

He didn’t hesitate, even in his surprise. "I assume the tall woman you speak of is Loreaneth of Valtimar. Her father has offered me her hand in marriage. The Council is pressuring me to accept, for her father is a wealthy merchant. I haven’t met a short woman, unless that could be Guarenia of Lenton. Her mother also offered me her hand in marriage, but Guarenia’s mother only recently recovered from an illness and won’t be able to present Guarenia until the New Harvest next week. Valtimar is insisting I respond by the end of this week."

Loreaneth and Lord Alextor continued to walk away from Guarenia and the falling knights. They headed for an army of Daemons. The Daemons stood upon a misshapen hill and their claws created a sickening popping sound when they adjusted their positions. Only when the couple reached the Daemons did she realize they stood upon a hill of bleached skulls.

. "Loreaneth will somehow cause the end of the Knighthood. Don’t turn your back on Guarenia and the knights."

Kathryn felt a brush of wind upon her cheek and a shadow flickered at the edge of her vision. Someone else was in the room.

You stupid bitch. Do you really think you’re untouchable? The histories are true; a Seer is defenseless during a Sight. I think it’s time for your education of our leader to end. He’s not capable of leading us down the right road anyway.

The newcomer cast some type of choking spell combined with some other mental attack upon her. Kathryn fell from her chair trying to remove the invisible hands from around her throat. She heard Lord Alextor shouting for the other knights before the white haze faded to black.

Kathryn awoke to hunger and a bad headache. The antiseptic smell lingered in the air of the hospital wing. Two guards, posted inside her room, sat at a table playing a dice game. When they saw her awake, one of them left the room.

"How are you feeling?" the remaining knight asked.

"I’m okay."

The knight nodded, but didn’t say anything else.

Several minutes later, Lord Alextor and Sir Lanclor entered the room, accompanied by the Master Healer, Vetera. The room felt much smaller.

"Lady Kathryn, how are you feeling?" Master Vetera asked.

"My head hurts, but I think I’m okay. I’m hungry. What happened?" She had a vague recollection of the attack, but couldn’t seem to understand what truly happened.

Lord Alextor exchanged a look with Sir Lanclor and responded, "Someone attacked you, magically, in my throne room. You were having a Sight and I felt someone come into the room and begin attacking you after you warned me about Loreaneth. My guards and I were able to reverse the spells, but not before you lost consciousness. That happened about two weeks ago."

"Two weeks!" She paused, trying to grasp how so much time had passed when it seemed like it had only happened a few hours before. "Did you find out who did it?"

"No, we didn’t find out who performed the spells." Sir Lanclor clenched his fists at his sides. "The fact that he was able to attack you inside the throne room has us worried. He used Forbidden spells to attack you. It may take us a while to find him. In the meantime, we’d like to increase the defensive spells on the throne room. When you feel up to it, Lady Kathryn, I’d like your assistance with researching defensive spells from the Lost Spells book. I’m glad to see you’ve recovered. I have a lot to do, so I must take my leave with your permission, Lord Alextor?" With Lord Alextor’s nod, he saluted and left the room.

"Sometimes I wonder why he punishes himself. He thinks that just because he Bears the Destructor that everyone judges him based upon the Destructor’s reputation. He needs to realize that we Bear their memories and not their souls."

Lord Alextor continued to stare after him. "We used to be childhood friends, you know. We were closer than brothers until he Announced. After that, he pushed everybody away, fearing he would somehow betray them." He cleared his throat.

"You know, I believed in your Sight. I waited until I met Guarenia before I made my decision. Guarenia and I are to be wed by month's end." His eyes smiled. "You were right. She has a gentle heart, but a firm authority. She has managed her estate for cycles and is a fine huntswoman."

Kathryn hadn’t noticed that the healer had gone. Master Healer Vetera now entered the room carrying a tray full of food.

"I’ll now leave you to your meal. When you’ve fully recovered, we can continue our lessons. Be safe, Lady Kathryn," Lord Alextor said with a nod and left the room.

Kathryn joined Sir Lanclor in the library at his request three weeks after the incident in the throne room. They had decided that the best way to prevent the Last Battle Sight from happening was to find a spell powerful enough to defeat the Daemons. He also wanted to find more defensive spells for the throne room.

They agreed to search in the library for one hour every other day in the evening until they had gone through all of the Lost Spell books. With Sir Lanclor present, Kathryn felt it more appropriate to keep her helmet on to avoid offending him. She didn't realize until that moment how annoying it was to try reading a book looking through eye slits. Growing frustrated, she decided to approach the problem head-on.

"Sir Lanclor?" she said in a quiet voice.

He responded with some annoyance since she had interrupted his search. "Yes, Lady Kathryn?"

"Would you be offended if I removed my helmet? It's awkward trying to read through this thing."

"That's fine. I guess I've had a lot of practice so I don't even notice it anymore."

She removed her helmet with relief and resumed her search through the Lost Spells: Book 50. She started at the end of the book list while Sir Lanclor tackled the beginning. They decided they could meet in the middle if they had the time to do so. To save time, they decided to only read the spell descriptions and note any that may be helpful during the battle. If she tried correcting all of the spellings, they'd be stuck in the library for years.

On the sixth day of their mutual search, she found a spell that might turn the tides of the Battle. Even after so many days cooped up together, Sir Lanclor and she still maintained their formalities. He was still the Knight-Commander and she dared not offend him. Likewise, he acted as though he was her teacher and avoided any type of conversation not related to the search. While this seemed like an unlikely alliance, she felt as if she knew him a little better and their silence wasn’t uncomfortable.

"Sir Lanclor, I think I may have found something."

"What did you find?" He sat up straight in his chair with his eyes alight.

She read the description aloud. "The Phoenix Fire Spell: A unique fire spell of the highest level that can be focused on creatures of a particular physiology. This spell safely engulfs the caster and expands to strike the targeted creatures within sight of the caster. Originally used by the High Dragon Synthakla to rid Av'lor of thickly armored
karatoek
bugs destroying the last crops of the Lir’Kelah, avoiding a catastrophic famine."

"That sounds like a possibility. What are the warnings?"

"Oh, I haven't read those yet. Let me see." She paused, frowning as she first read the warning to herself. "This spell should only be used by a mage capable of a level 250 fire spell. If not controlled, the Phoenix Fire Spell will not only engulf, but also fully consume the caster. That doesn't sound good."

"A level 250 fire spell? There's no way. Don't even bother to write that one down. It's too dangerous." He shook his head.

"It's dangerous, but it may be possible, depending upon how long we have. I'm already at level 60. I can do it if I have enough time." She had a gift with the fire spells for some reason. A level 250 spell seemed daunting, but if it would save the Knighthood, she was willing to try.

"No. Absolutely not. No spell is worth risking your life." She heard the finality in his voice. He resumed his research.

Kathryn wasn’t sure if she believed that. If there was a chance she could cast that spell and end the war, she could save the lives of not only the knights, but her family as well. She quietly wrote the spell down, refusing to dismiss any spell that may save them, even if it could be fatal.

"Lady Kathryn, I’m going to say this as your friend and I hope you don’t take it the wrong way." Elena stopped her chores and looked down at Kathryn. "You look awful. Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"Do I really look that bad?" Kathryn rubbed her eyes and continued to poke at the large beetle on the floor. It would turn around and run the other way whenever she poked it. The mouse's tail lashed out from beneath the bed and pinned the beetle to the floor.

Elena smiled.

"Well, I feel exhausted. I have so many things to do every day that I end up dreaming about them. So, I basically work while I’m sleeping, too. I don’t think I’ve had a decent night’s sleep in a month." Kathryn stroked the mouse's back as it devoured the beetle.

"You need to find something to do that relieves your thoughts of the day. Do you ever have any fun?" Elena asked in a worried voice.

"Fun? What’s that? Sir Lanclor has given me yet another task. I’m supposed to train a mare to be a knight’s mount. On top of that, the horse is telepathic, arrogant and hates humans. That’s just one more task that takes up my time. I have no time for fun anymore. On my off days, I’m so exhausted I don’t feel like doing anything." Kathryn placed her head in her hands. She had never felt so frustrated.