Forest & Kingdom Balance (29 page)

“Please.” The Caretaker gestured.

The Red Knight walked over to the closest slave
hunter, and with a speed that Kalibra would envy, drew his sword
and decapitated the hunter. Every pair of eyes snapped to him. He
pointed out into the dark, “Eyes out, watch for predators. You are
a guard, not an audience.”

He returned to the Caretaker, “My apologies, but one
cannot be too careful. We’ve lost a great many people over the
years to wolves and mountain lions.”

“Do the predators have a greater tally than you?” He
asked

“You imply a difference where none exists. Predator
is simply a term for the one who lives, and I have lived a very
long time.”

The Caretaker’s laughter echoed down the valley.
“You are a child, and a naughty one at that. I have roamed this
world since life began. Humanity itself is barely old enough to be
considered a species. I studied your kind and was sickened by its
wanton destruction and disregard for the balance of life. After the
fifty years of the bloodshed and terror from Jarod’s conquest and
your counter-revolution, I left humanity to destroy itself and came
here.

“Walk with me.” The Caretaker strolled out past the
ring of slave hunters and turned. “Please.” The Red Knight joined
him. “Isn’t it beautiful? When I came here there were no people on
this continent and I created a sanctuary where life can find
balance. I allowed your people to settle on the coast, but
discouraged them from entering my sanctuary. If your people did not
disturb me, I did not disturb them.”

“What about the Mindow? I am correct that there is a
community of Mindow here, am I not?” The Knight faced his
enemy.

“Yes there is. You see, once you sacked the coast,
you created refugees. Ordinarily any human would have gotten the
same warning from me, but a single Mindow made it to the very heart
of my sanctuary. What an incredible man, the purity and power of
his flame surpassed anything in my experience. He proved to me by
his actions that there was value in humanity.” The Caretaker looked
at his foe and felt pity.

“That one man accomplished more in his short, mortal
life than you could achieve in a hundred of your immortal lives. He
was my friend and I promised him that some of his people could live
under my protection.”

The Red Knight considered what he had heard. “The
people in these mountains are under my law. They are my subjects
and I will do with them what I will. Once they have been removed
you will no longer be obligated to protect them. At that point you
will be free to find a new place, one where humanity does not
exist. Correct?” The Knight waited, a smile crossed his lips.

“Almost. There’s just that one small matter of my
word that was given. If it wasn’t for that, then yes, you would be
correct.” A flash of emerald green light blinded the Knight as
clouds of biting, stinging insects descended on the slave hunters.
Bats that had slowly filled the trees while the two immortals
spoke, swooped in to feast on the insects, the damage they did to
the hunters while they fed was of no concern to them.

The Caretaker assumed the shape of an eight foot
bear as he leapt back to the captives, one swipe of his razor sharp
claw and Yamikura’s hand was free. The Caretaker just managed to
kick a sword dropped by one of the hunters into Yamikura’s reach
before the Knight’s sword sliced him.

Catherine had reviewed the plan with Yamikura,
Atheria, and Simon. Just before the Caretaker changed, Catherine’s
mind yelled,
“Close!”
All three captives
shut their eyes tight as an emerald light filled the night.
Yamikura moved with the speed of instinct.
“Close!”
Catherine warned. He had freed himself in the
time it took the Caretaker to change from his wound. He cut
Atheria’s bonds just as Catherine said,
“Close!”
Once more. This time the light was
crimson.

The immortals struggled, locked in combat, but there
were no more flashes. The Caretaker had the advantage, he could
change at will but the Knight needed to die to repair his
wounds.

Seconds later all three were free. As he helped
Simon to his feet, Yamikura felt a nudge at his back. He turned to
find his horse and two others waiting. He lifted each of the young
Mindow onto a horse as Catherine gave them instructions.
“Lay flat on his back and wrap your arms around
his neck, hold tight with your arms and squeeze your knees on his
side. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt him.”
Yamikura leapt onto
his mount, he had been riding bare back since he was five.

Atheria and Simon’s horses started up the road of
their own accord, very carefully. Yamikura took the rear position,
sword in hand. He looked back, and by the light of the fallen
lantern, he could see a great mountain lion drag the Red Knight
into the darkness by his sword arm.

Of the nine slave hunters, three were on the ground
writhing in agony while six had run off. Deminar was badly stung,
bitten, and cut but he had managed to crawl to the bunkhouse.
Joshua quickly dragged him in and barred the door.
“Too bad.”
Catherine thought when she realized Deminar
had entered the building. She then scanned the valley and nearby
forest for predators, few would go hungry tonight.

Interlude

Good & Evil

Fortune’s Child was late to meet his philosophy
teacher. Even as he hurried, thoughts of combat consumed him. He
had spent the morning with two of the greatest swordsmen ever to
lay down their arms and bind a wound. Even though he was only
sixteen, he had been able to defend himself from both men and
discuss tactics while he fought.

“There are the bells! I am very
late.”
His teacher had a bad habit of choosing the day’s
lesson based on his promptness. The later he was, the more
difficult the paradox.
“Today will not be
easy.”

“Fortune’s Child, how nice of you to join me,” The
teacher stood by the entry gate.

“Please excuse my tardiness sir, I was lost in
swordplay’s allure.” He bowed in contrition.

“There are many temptations in life young one, and
your life will be richer if you choose the right ones. What we will
discuss today has an allure of its own, one that will enthrall your
thoughts throughout life. Today we will discuss good and evil.”

“I knew it, I should have left
practice earlier.”
Fortune’s Child accepted his fate.

“You see this gate?” The teacher began. “On this
side of the gate is a sanctuary of healing, most would term our
commitment here as ‘good.’” He opened the gate and stepped outside.
“On this side of the gate is a world rife with avarice, pain,
suffering, and hardship. Most would term those that inflict pain
and suffering on others to benefit themselves as ‘evil.’”

The teacher stopped and they looked at each other in
silence. “That’s it, run along.” The teacher motioned for him to
shoo.

“Don’t say it! Just go!”
Fortune’s Child tried to hold his tongue, but youth has its
failings. “Sir, how can it be that simple?” As soon as the question
was out, he made a mental note to work harder on impulse
control.

“Simple? No. The mind would like to make it that
simple, but it is not.” He picked up a stone. “Let us say that this
stone represents most people’s perception of good and evil’s
complexity.” He turned and swept his arm to the horizon. “By
comparison, the realty of good and evil’s complexity is greater
than all the land, sea, stars, and anything beyond.”

He followed the teacher into the courtyard, to a
tree with benches beneath. “Get comfortable.” He was told.

Humanity’s Choice

The very nature of good and evil is misunderstood.
They are not opposites; they are not even two different concepts.
It is a choice made along a scale. A choice that is as fluid as
water, and that choice has the ability to change from instant to
instant in every person. No action or object has good or evil as an
inherent property. A person will however, assign the properties of
either good or evil to everything, based on that individual’s
worldview.

Our choice as to what is appropriate for any given
action is based on two factors. The first is our worldview. We are
each a bubble filled with our unique experiences and perceptions
that are interpreted within the framework of predispositions that
we were born with. As we grow, the predispositions effect how we
perceive our experiences, and our experiences determine which of
our predispositions become dominant. Eventually by young adulthood,
we bundle it all up and say, ‘Yes, this is who I am.’ It is our
individual worldview and we give it very little thought there
after.

It is true that a person’s worldview will change
over time, though major changes only happen rarely, and when they
do, it is usually in response to a powerful experience. The
important point is that to a large extent, we do not control the
initial influences that create our worldview. Once we attain the
conscious ability to shape ourselves as adults, most people
immediately abdicate the responsibility to do so.

The second factor is self-interest, which is a
universally misunderstood concept. To believe that self-interest
and altruism are opposites is false. Or to put it in terms that I
use, it’s total pig slop! Altruism does not exist, it is a concept
we created to hide the fact that we are too lazy to look at
ourselves. We had to create the concept of altruism because we
mistakenly assigned self-interest a negative connotation.
Self-interest is merely the expression of our worldview. It is our
worldview that can be either positive or negative, and our
self-interest expresses itself accordingly.

In battle, a warrior sees an ax blow headed for his
friend’s back and there is no time to warn him. He leaps and takes
the blow that would have killed his friend. Is that altruism? No,
that is his individual worldview expressed in self-interest. He
‘wanted’ to save his friend more than he ‘wanted’ to live through
the battle. Does the fact that his action was an expression of
self-interest diminish its nobility? No. It was a soul defining
choice, as are most important choices. However it was still a
choice between two things he wanted, in other words, his priority
was defined by his worldview and he acted on the self-interest he
valued more.

Somewhere, far below the level of conscious thought,
in that place where reactions are developed and souls defined, he
decided long ago that if he could prevent a friend’s death, he
would. That is his worldview, and his action was one of
self-interest based on that worldview. If you examine someone’s
actions over time, especially in a crisis, and look at the choices
that person made, and also determine what choices they had to
choose from, you will know that person better than they know
themselves.

“You thought our topic was good and evil, did you
not?” Fortune’s Child nodded. “Actually it is.” The teacher
confirmed. “So tell me, if all actions, good and evil, are an
expression of self interest, which makes self interest morally
neutral and irrelevant to the discussion, what is the relationship
of a person’s worldview to the concept of good and evil?” The
teacher stared at him. “Think it over, I’ll wait.”

“I really should have gotten her
on time,”
was Fortune’s Child’s first conclusion.

Chapter Seven

Balance

I

The Caretaker left an unconscious Red Knight at the
bunkhouse door once the captives were well away. He was brought in
and Kalibra was more than happy to help him recover. Joshua handed
him fresh clothing, “Do we follow, Sire?”

“No, the hostages served their purpose. For now we
rest, we will not be attacked again tonight.” He looked at Deminar
who was so swollen and bloody that he was hard to recognize. “At
least most of us won’t, I don’t believe that Deminar is well liked
in this area.” The Knight raised his voice as he leaned into the
High Councilor. “Deminar, I suggest that if you need to relieve
yourself tonight, you should consider waiting until morning before
you go outside.” A loud wolf howl in the distance was drowned out
by the Knight’s laughter. “Do we have food?” He asked as he sat
down, satisfied that had accomplished what he wanted.

As the valley brightened in the morning, the Crimson
Guard ventured out. They found the chewed remains of four of
Deminar’s men near the hostage area, and other than that, the
valley was peaceful and quiet. Joshua returned to the bunkhouse to
get further orders from his lord.

Shortly after he entered, there was a knock at the
door. Joshua spun, sword in hand. The Knight waved him off and
opened the door. “I see that you’ve found clothing.” He said to the
Caretaker.

“Last night was a bit impromptu, I had not planned
to stop by until today. May I come in?” The Knight stepped aside.
Kalibra and Joshua took a defensive stand with swords drawn and
Deminar fled to the pantry as he entered.

“What are you going to do with those?” The Knight
asked the pair. “To either of us?” The Knight invited the Caretaker
to take a seat. “You two are dismissed.” The immortals were left to
their discussion.

“Last night was unnecessary, you knew that I would
visit.” The Caretaker was handed a mug. “Thank you.” He said as his
adversary took the seat across from him.

“No, it wasn’t needed to get you here. It did serve
the purpose I intended however.” The Knight took a sip. “How should
we resolve this issue? Any suggestions?”

The Caretaker leaned back, “Your options are limited
I’m afraid. You could return to the coast, gather an army and take
what you want by force. It would have to be a large, well trained
army. I think we both know that you would need to bring in
reinforcements from the other continent to get the quality of men
you would need.