Rojuun (11 page)

Tathan replanted his face in his hands.

Liselle giggled at both of them and began to
walk across the floor toward the mysterious figure. Tathan and
Vevin protectively moved to either side.

As they walked, Liselle studied the area
around the figure. There were ornate doors just behind him -she had
decided the figure was a him because women didn’t usually stand
around in metal armor holding big swords. The doors showed no signs
of rust, indicating that they were reinforced with magic. Runes
similar to the ones in the floor were etched in filigree over their
face. Dim white globes hung from the wall on either side, casting
minimal light.

When they were within twenty paces of the
tall figure, it put up a hand. A hollow voice echoed throughout the
cave. “Hold, figments.”

They stopped as commanded. Vevin’s flames
illuminated nearly-invisible runes running throughout the plate
armor. More runes, mixed with etchings of flames, ran down the
center of the shining sword. A golden clasp at the base of his neck
attached to a rich red cloak flowing down his back. His visor was
down and they could see nothing of the figure inside.

“Why did you call us figments, Sir Knight?”
Liselle asked courteously. She didn’t know what else to say.

The knight put his hand back on the thick
crossbar. The sword was tall as the knight from the bottom of the
steel-threaded hilt to the tip of the blade.

“You are obviously figments,” the knight
responded. “No one has been here in one millennium plus six
centuries,” A great sigh escaped the armor. His chest heaved with
the breath. “It’s alright. I’m used to it. I must say, you are a
very pretty figment, Milady.”

Liselle smiled and blushed. “Well, thank you
Sir Knight. It’s nice to meet someone so polite.”

Vevin nodded. “Oh yes! Sayyy . . . I’d like
to make this my home. It would be very polite of you not to
object,” he suggested hopefully to the knight.

The knight looked at Vevin. Then he looked
back at Liselle. Lastly, he turned toward Tathan who had his sword
at the ready and was in another crouch. “You are very odd figments,
not at all like the usual ones created by my mad imagination.”

“I didn’t even realize that I was a figment
until you told me!” replied Vevin. “I feel quite real, I must
say.”

“I apologize, Sir Knight, but we are real,
not figments,” Liselle said.

“Are you certain, Milady?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir Knight. I’m certain. Tathan and I
come from a valley twelve days south of here. We met Vevin in this
city.”

“I don’t know that I’m not a figment in all
honesty,” Vevin said, turning to Liselle. He didn’t see Tathan roll
his eyes.

“You are
not
figments after all!” the
knight exclaimed. “I must say my warning then!” He cleared his
throat. “Ahem. Hear ye, hear ye, you who would come to steal the
Crown of Morhain! You must know that I, Sir Danth Wazmordin, shall
dutifully guard the doors to the vault ‘til death and beyond!”

“Oh wonderful! That’s a vault behind you!
What good news. I need a vault for my home,” Vevin said
enthusiastically.

Sir Danth Wazmordin lifted his sword and
settled it onto his shoulder. “I do not like this talk of you
making a home here, Sir.”

“What if we’re not here to steal the crown,
Sir Danth?” Liselle asked.

The knight paused for a moment as if the
thought had not occurred to him. “Well of course you’re here to
steal the crown. Why else would you be here, Milady?”

“Tathan and I are exploring and Vevin is
searching for a new home since his old one was stolen along with
all of his treasure,” she explained.

“Stolen?! What a travesty,” the knight
sympathized.

“And he hurt me!” Vevin exclaimed, turning
so that Sir Danth could see the wound.

“Terrible! It is not at all right!” Sir
Danth agreed. “Well, I’ll let you live here then, but you cannot
have the vault. I have sworn to guard the doors.”

“We won’t steal the crown, Sir Knight,”
Tathan said. “We’re sorry to bother you and will leave now.”

“What?! Leave?!” Sir Danth asked with alarm
in his voice. “You can’t leave! Please don’t leave! Please!” He got
down on his knees.

The group stared at the sudden
transformation in stunned disbelief.

“I’ve been here for one and a half
millennium! Do you know how long that is? Not one person has come
to steal the crown!” Strangled sobs came from inside the helm. “My
soul is bound to the armor and I can’t escape unless it is
destroyed, but it’s magical and will most likely exist until the
end of eternity! Please don’t leave me! I can’t stand it anymore.”
At that point, Sir Danth Wazmordin began banging his head against
the floor.

“Oh, Sir Danth!” Liselle exclaimed. She
knelt down in front of him and stopped him. Then she wrapped him up
in a big hug. The sobbing from inside the helmet continued.

Vevin and Tathan looked at each other and
shrugged.

Liselle stood, drawing Sir Danth with her.
Then she turned to Tathan. “We must help him, Cousin.”

“Umm, alright . . . How are we going to do
that?”

“I don’t know. Come up with something,
please!” she demanded.

He threw his arms up in exasperation.
“Really? It’s your idea to help, why can’t you come up with
something?”

Liselle folded her arms and tapped her foot
while narrowing her eyes dangerously.

Tathan turned to Vevin. “Do you have any
ideas?”

Vevin shook his head no and held his arms
out helplessly.

Tathan sighed and paced for a moment. He
turned to the knight. “You said you swore an oath to guard the
doors to the vault, which holds the Crown of Morhain, right?”

Sir Danth gave a single nod. “That is
correct. I don’t care anymore if that helps.”

That threw Tathan off. “You don’t care?”

“Exactly. At this point, you can go in and
steal the Crown of Morhain. I can’t live in this cave any longer,
never seeing the light of day, never having anyone to talk to.”
There was a pleading tone in Sir Danth’s voice. “I don’t care if
you take the crown. Nothing is worth this eternity of seclusion
that I have faced.”

“What about your oath?” Tathan asked.

The knight folded his arms. “Have you ever
kept an oath for one millennium plus six centuries?” The massive
sword was put away in a sheath on his back with the hilt sticking
over his shoulder.

“No,” Tathan admitted. He hadn’t noticed the
knight put the sword away, a detail he wouldn’t have normally
missed. It bothered him.

“When you have, you will be more than
welcome to judge me,” Sir Danth suggested.

“What’s so special about the crown?” Vevin
asked. “Is it powerful and magical?”

“Not at all,” the knight said. “It is just a
symbol of the Kingdom of Morhain. The crown is made of gold,
encrusted with valuable gems, but has no magic, though there are
other items in the vault that are powerful.”

Vevin seemed disappointed. “No magic? Why in
the world would a knight be made to guard it for a millennium if it
isn’t magic?” He scratched his head in confusion.

“A millennium and six centuries,” Sir Danth
corrected. “It was a crown made for the last king of Morhain. It is
a symbol of the kingdom,” the knight explained. “The king insisted
it be guarded. I took the oath when no one else wanted it.”

“Will there be any consequences if you break
the oath?” Tathan asked. “Will you die, be cursed, or
something?”

“No.”

“No? Isn’t there usually some sort of
consequence for breaking an oath?” Tathan asked again.

“I am a knight. When I give an oath, it is
understood that I will not break it. There is no curse upon me if I
do. I will lose honor for breaking it though.” Sir Danth’s
shoulders slumped. “I have always been an honorable man. But
sixteen hundred years of guarding an item of wealth for vanity’s
sake is not a matter of honor.” The knight straightened, holding a
finger up as he thought. “I will let you in the doors myself. That
will solve the problem.” He walked over to the doors and said a few
words that made the filigree glow. The doors opened toward
them.

“There you are. Take the Crown of Morhain
and anything else you like. I don’t care anymore.” Sir Danth turned
to Liselle. “I’m afraid I’ve been a bad knight, Milady. I hope you
won’t be too disappointed. I’d invite you to spank me, but you’d
hurt your pretty little hand on my armor.”

Liselle blushed and giggled as Vevin and
Tathan stared at the knight in shock. “I certainly wouldn’t want to
hurt my hand, Sir Danth.” Liselle put a hand on his plated arm and
walked toward the vault with him. “Shall we go steal a crown, my
brave Knight?”

Chapter
11

Just when Tathan thought things couldn’t
possibly get odder, something new would throw him for a loop. A
millennium and six centuries would be enough to make Tathan break
an oath. He knew that for a fact. The knights of today were a joke.
Most were controlled by kings or priests and were used for
political purposes, not purposes of honor.

There was a cool draft coming from the
vault, which struck Tathan as unusual because vaults were shut off
from any source of air. Liselle and her knight and Tathan
discovered the source of the draft.

A rough tunnel tall enough for a man to walk
through reached from the forest to the back of the vault. Not an
ounce of treasure was left, unless one considered the nuts and
harvests of forest rodents to be treasure.

“Powerful wards and runes protect those
doors,” Sir Danth said, his voice filled with raw irony. “And only
fifty paces of simple rock protected the back wall of the vault.”
He began to laugh. It was a hollow, haunted laugh. “They even took
the pedestal the crown was on!” Sir Danth walked over to the
nearest wall to bang his helmet against it. The laughter became
uncontrollable.

“Oh, Tathan! Should we do something?”
Liselle asked, looking at the poor knight.

“No. Sometimes a man just needs to bang his
head against a wall for a while.” Tathan put a comforting hand on
her shoulder. “Let him be. The helmet isn’t taking any damage. I
can’t say the same thing for the wall.”

“This will be a perfect entrance if I dig it
out some more!” Vevin told them excitedly. “There was another set
of doors on the north side of the last cave that might hold a
vault.”

Liselle was looking at Sir Danth with pity.
“That sounds nice, Vevin,” she said.

“Do you think Sir Danth will let me have
this as my home now?” He was doing a hopeful dance. Tathan was
beginning to notice that Vevin had different dances for each
mood.

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care anymore,
Vevin. You may have to patch up the hole he’s making in the wall by
banging his head against it though.” Tathan pointed at Sir
Danth.

“Tathan, we should do
something
to
help him,” Liselle pleaded.

He studied Sir Danth for a moment. “Sixteen
hundred years of guarding an empty vault alone? If he’s still
banging his helmet tomorrow, we’ll talk to him.” He linked his arm
in Liselle’s. “Let’s see where the tunnel leads to, shall we?”
Without waiting for a response, he dragged her to the tunnel.

“Let me know what you find!” Vevin shouted
after them. “I’m going to go look at those other doors to see if
they lead to a vault.”

“Scream if something tries to kill you,”
Tathan shouted over his shoulder.

“I will!” Vevin danced away.

“Neither one of them is human you know,”
Tathan said to Liselle as they walked down the tunnel.

“I know Vevin isn’t, but Sir Danth seems to
be . . . Isn’t he?” she asked.

“Humans don’t live for sixteen hundred
years, Cousin. He may have been human at one time, but not
anymore.”

Realization dawned in her eyes. “Oh . . . I
hadn’t thought of that.”

They reached the end of the tunnel and
looked around. The entrance was on the side of a verdant hill
leading down to a small valley, which had a stream running through
it. Above them was the edge of the ruined city. To the north, the
stream fell over a cliff.

Liselle pointed to an animal trail going
through the trees at the level of the tunnel. It appeared as though
forest animals had used the tunnel as shelter over the years. “I
think we can get to the cliff without going all the way down to the
stream.”

“Let’s go have a look then,” Tathan
agreed.

It was a short walk to the cliff. A blanket
of thick trees covered the valley thousands of feet below. Liselle
held onto Tathan’s arm as she peered over, a big grin covering her
face. The stream turned to mist as it fell past birds soaring above
the valley. Snowcapped mountains rose to the east far in the
distance.

Tathan had known the Willden Forest was
vast, but not to such a degree. They had just traveled through it
for ten days and it still stretched north for as far as the eye
could see. It was intimidating to think it would take at least
another ten days or longer to reach the end of it. He turned to the
left and saw that the cliff curved north, gradually lowering down
to the forest on the western side. The road they traveled must
continue on that way.

Liselle pointed toward a lake far to the
northeast near the base of mountains. “What’s that over there?”
Tathan didn’t see anything, so she described the location. “There’s
a structure on this side of the lake next to the mountains. It
looks small from here, but I swear it’s there.”

Tathan saw it then. The structure looked
like a fortress built into the mountainside. He couldn’t tell if
there was any life inhabiting the place, but it had to be as big as
a city to see it from where they were. It was odd to see a fortress
built up against one of the biggest mountain ranges bordering the
largest forest in the world. No one knew how wide the Caaldith
Mountains were, but Tathan knew they were at least hundreds of
miles wide at this point. “It must be another ruin like this one.
There was obviously a civilization around here . . . one millennium
and six centuries ago?” he suggested with a chuckle.