Rojuun (13 page)

“The warriors are dead and I don’t feel like
fighting a kingdom for vengeance,” Tathan replied. “Our parents and
family are buried in peace. That is enough.” Liselle nodded in
agreement.

“You show great wisdom in this. I have seen
people eaten by vengeance and it is not a pretty sight.” Sir Danth
paused in thought. “I would travel with you, but there is something
you should know about me.”

“What would you have us know, Sir Knight?”
Liselle asked.

“I am hollow,” he stated.

“Hollow? You mean you have no sense of
purpose, or . . . I don’t know what you mean,” Tathan said.

“I mean I am quite literally hollow. I have
no body,” the knight explained without really clarifying anything.
When he saw them looking at each other in confusion, he continued,
“I was once a strong, tall, and especially handsome man. However, I
no longer have a body. I am hollow.”

Tathan looked at Liselle. She shrugged. He
turned to Vevin. “Poof,” the silver-eyed creature said with a
smile. Liselle giggled.

Sir Danth sighed and took his helmet off.
The group stared in shock upon realizing that he had no head. Then,
holding helmet in the crook of his elbow, the knight bowed. They
could see the inside of the armor. Sir Danth Wazmordin was
definitely hollow.

Liselle paled at the sight. “Oh . . . hollow
. . . I see now,” she said weakly.

Sir Danth stood straight, though he didn’t
put the helmet back on. “Wizards, clerics and the greatest smiths
of the land created this armor. It was made to withstand everything
in order to keep me alive to protect the doors of the vault.” His
rich voice came from where his mouth would have been. It was an odd
experience to listen to the disembodied sound. “My body survived
for two hundred years before finally giving out. My soul, however,
was bound to the armor, so I was not able to go to the
heavens.”

“Well . . . that must have been
disappointing,” Tathan said lamely.

“Quite! My body began to decay in the armor.
That vault was humid and warm, which compounded the matter.
Fortunately my body was dead, so I couldn’t smell myself.”

“Oh yes! That would have been terrible. I
can’t stand the smell of decaying bodies,” Vevin agreed. Tathan and
Liselle weakly nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, my flesh, meat and innards sloughed
off my bones and oozed out of the armor,” he continued explaining,
ignoring the sick looks on the faces of his audience. “One of the
enchantments on the armor is that it is always clean, so I had that
going for me.”

“That’s a nice touch,” Liselle agreed,
nauseated.

“Most definitely,” he nodded. “My skeleton
remained for a hundred years or so, but then fell apart into my
armor. After that, I rattled every time I walked. It was
irritating. I did find it interesting that I can still hear and see
even though I have no sense of smell or taste. Anyway, I finally
emptied what remained of my bones onto the altar in the cave above
so I wouldn’t have to listen to them anymore. I organized them
properly of course.”

“Oh!” Liselle exclaimed in sudden
realization. She took the ring off her finger and held it out to
the knight. “I’m so sorry, Sir Danth. I took this off of your
finger.” She turned to glare at Vevin and Tathan for putting her in
the situation.

Sir Danth waved his hand in refusal. “No,
no. I saw that on your finger right away. It looks very nice on
you. Please keep it as my gift to you for rescuing me.” He smiled
at her . . . at least Liselle imagined it would be a smile if the
knight had had a mouth or face to smile with. “The question is, do
you still wish me to travel with you now that you know I am a
hollow man?”

Liselle was about to answer yes, but decided
it might be wise to consult with her cousin this time. When she
looked to him, he smiled gratefully and nodded. She smiled back
then turned to the knight. “Sir Danth, it would be a great honor to
have such a noble . . . knight as you join us regardless of whether
or not you have a body.”

“Thank you, Milady!” He bowed,
unintentionally showing the inside of the armor once more. Liselle
looked a little more closely and was thankful to see no sign of
innards or flesh left inside.

“Oh wonderful!” Vevin did his happy dance.
“This shall be exciting!”

Liselle looked at Vevin for a moment, and
then turned to the knight. “Sir Danth, Vevin was hoping to use this
for his home. Do you mind?”

“Not at all. Truthfully, the place is not
mine to give or refuse, but I will certainly not stand in Vevin’s
way.”

“Oh wonderful!” Vevin did two backward
somersaults in a row. “Thank you so much! I have a new home!” The
happy dance continued with new vigor.

Liselle laughed in pleasure at the sight.
“Does this mean you’ll stay here, Vevin?”

The dancing stopped. “I was hoping I could
come with you,” he said with a hopeful look, much like a puppy
dog.

She was about to agree, but looked to Tathan
first. The expression on his face was uncertain and he shrugged in
response. “You don’t mind leaving your new home, Vevin?” Liselle
asked, turning back toward him.

“Oh no! I don’t have any treasure yet, and
it’s never a home without treasure!” he exclaimed. “Plus, I like
you, Sir Danth and even Tathan. I like you and want to be your
friend and travel with you!” He nodded vigorously.

Liselle laughed again. “Well, then it’s
settled. We are four,” she announced. “Shall we continue on the
path north? Or . . .” She waited to see if anyone else had any
ideas.

“South is where your home was, Milady?” Sir
Danth asked.

“Yes, we believe there’ll be more warriors.
It was my intention to explore the world anyway. I just didn’t
expect my journey to have started so violently.” Tears welled in
her eyes again. She wished they would stop doing that.

“Then I vote for north as well,” Sir Danth
said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. He was very gentle
considering his gauntlets were made of steel. It was a bit
unnerving to be comforted by an empty suit of armor. She thought of
him more as a person when not looking at the missing head.

“Oh yes! I like north. North is fun!”
Vevin’s happy dance added a new move. He altered it for each
situation.

Tathan thought about it for a moment. “I
agree with north because there isn’t any other way to go right now.
It was originally my intention to reach the northern kingdoms and
find a new start there, but when Liselle and I were looking over
the cliff, we saw some sort of fortress by a lake in the north. It
looked curious.” Tathan pointed toward the cliff he had stood with
Liselle the day before.

“Would you show me, Master Tathan?” the
knight asked. Everyone followed Tathan to the cliff. When he
pointed out the structure by the lake, Sir Danth said, “That is not
a part of the Kingdom of Morhain. I don’t recognize it at all. The
lake used to be much smaller if I remember correctly.”

“There are people there. Not all are human.
I’ve never seen the other race before!” Vevin exclaimed.

“Other race?” Sir Danth asked in obvious
surprise. “Humans are the only race in the entire world of
Ryallon.” The knight still had his helmet off. With or without it,
he still managed to convey expressions. Liselle thought it might be
part of the magic of the armor.

“Oh no, there are others,” Vevin said. “I’ve
never seen or heard of this one though. They have four arms I
think. It’s hard to tell from this distance.” Vevin was straining
to see. No one saw the tiny blue tendrils running through his
liquid eyes due to their own futile attempts to view the new
race.

“You can see people there Vevin? It’s so far
away that I can barely make out that it might be a fortress, let
alone see any people,” Tathan said in amazement.

“Yes, of course I can! You mean to tell me
that you can’t?” he asked in surprise.

Tathan only sighed in response.

“It looks like there are lots of bugs there
too.”

“Bugs? Do I even want to know?” Tathan
asked.

“Big bugs,” Vevin replied.

“Let’s see if we can find a way there.
Perhaps there will be adventure,” Liselle suggested
enthusiastically.

“I think that an excellent plan, but we must
be cautious, Milady,” Sir Danth warned. “Master Vevin mentioned a
race he had never seen before as well as big bugs. It could be
dangerous.”

They all looked toward the fortress in
thought. Vevin, of course, was doing a little dance, a thoughtful
dance.

***

The horses were content when the group
returned to the building where the cousins had left them. “We can
all ride I think,” Tathan suggested. “Do either of you have any
supplies you need to bring?” he asked the new members of the
party.

“No, just my sword,” Sir Danth said.

Vevin shook his head. “Nope! Not until I get
treasure.”

“Alright then, we can redistribute the
supplies evenly between the four horses,” Tathan said.

It was noon when they rode out of the
ancient city. The day was warm, but did not yet contain the heat of
summer. The sounds of hooves echoed from the walls until they
reached the softer road.

Sir Danth was an experienced rider.
“Apparently riding a horse is something a person doesn’t forget in
a millennium and a half. It probably helps that I no longer have
buttocks to become sore.” They chuckled at that.

The road to the north led them into the
trees again. Occasionally it neared the edge of the cliff where
they would look down at the lush forests below. The scenery was
stunning with mountains in the background framing the view. When
they looked back to the south, the companions could see the ruined
city at the edge of the cliff.

Sir Danth told them that it had been a
beautiful sight when the city was in its prime. He pointed out
features that would have existed then. Minarets and towers had
fallen in the centuries since, he explained. After a while, the
path along the cliff face trended toward the west more and more,
hiding the ruins from their sight.

Liselle glanced down at the ring Sir Danth
had allowed her to keep. It glistened in the light of day. “Sir
Danth . . .”

“Yes, Milady?”

“Tathan and Vevin think this ring is
magical. Is that true?” she asked. They were riding two by two with
Liselle and Sir Danth in the back. Thankfully, Sir Danth had put
his helmet back on.

“Ahh yes, Milady. It is magical and quite
powerful, a gift from a woman I was betrothed to. She bequeathed it
to me shortly before she disappeared.”

“Disappeared . . . You mean with all the
others?” she asked.

“Yes, during the third year of The Great
Disappearing,” he nodded. “I had agreed to stand watch over the
doors of the vault. She gave me the ring to help me in my duties.
Two days later, she disappeared.” His head hung in sorrow.

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Sir Danth.”
Liselle smiled compassionately.

“Thank you for your kindness, Milady,” he
replied. “I must admit that I haven’t a clue what it does
though.”

“You don’t?”

“I’m afraid not. My Lady never told me, only
that it would help me when I most needed it,” he said.

“Is there any sort of key word to activate
it?” Tathan asked over his shoulder.

“No. She told me it would work when I needed
it, and that there were no gestures or words required,” the knight
said. “Truth is, I was never in danger the entire time I guarded
the vault, so it wasn’t necessary.” He shrugged.

Liselle looked down at the ring again. His
gaze followed. “It fits you, Milady. I believe it is right that you
should wear it.”

“You said the armor keeps you alive, do you
need any sort of sustenance, food or otherwise?” Tathan asked.

“No. I am attached to my armor and the magic
it uses is recharged by everything it touches; air, stone, grass,
water . . . anything,” the knight explained. “It is a brilliant
piece of work.”

“Can anything harm it?” Liselle asked. “I
noticed there isn’t a scratch on it, even from the wall you were
banging your head against.

“It can be damaged by magic, either directly
or through a weapon of some sort. It would be difficult however.
Plus, I’m likely to kill anyone who tried to damage me,” he said
with an amused tone to his voice.

Liselle giggled. “Well, I suppose there is
that. I’m curious as to why your armor is black though. Aren’t
knights supposed to wear shiny, silver armor?” she asked.

“No. That’s a terrible idea. It doesn’t even
make any sense,” he stated. “Shiny armor would be a distraction,
Methinks. A knight needs dark, intimidating armor, preferably black
or red. Intimidate, then kill!” Sir Danth exclaimed with a fist in
the air.

“That is definitely intimidating, Sir
Danth,” Liselle said with a horrified look on her face. “Certainly
you don’t like killing?”

“Of course I do,” he said with surprise in
his voice. “One doesn’t become a sword wielding, killing machine
and then avoid killing people. That would just be silly!”

All the blood drained from Liselle’s face.
“Oh.”

Sir Danth studied Liselle for a moment.
“Here now, Milady. I did not realize how truly gentle you were. Do
not fear for those who die. One lifetime is not the end of
existence.” He banged his chest with a gauntlet. “These are just
bodies. Expendable bodies . . .” Sir Danth looked down at his
chest-plate. “Well . . . this is armor, but you get the point!”

“I know that we continue to exist even after
our bodies die, but . . .” she trailed off.

“Yes, exactly!” Sir Danth nodded. “We are
immortal souls. We have bodies for a while, do noble or ignoble
things, love and kill each other, then get on with existence,” he
explained. “After death, we go to the heavens, or to a new life, or
to another existence elsewhere in the universe.”