by Mingus Casey
Once upon a time in a far away land there was a cruel and evil King. He held power over the people with the sword and the baton and the 'Kings guard', the most ruthless mercenaries in all the land carried the king’s sword.
It was an old world Kingdom, one of horsemen and shadows and great forests and high mountains and subtle magic that hurts the caster more than the one who catches the spell and the ice covered the streets in winter making them slippery, while the snow fell from the sky in all its thousands of unique and beautiful shapes, and you would be able to hear the cold wind blow past you as you walk through the night clad in a dark cloak, and the grass and the trees rustle as the wind passes through.
There was a poor thief in the kingdom too, Niall, who had wandered this land in search of a place to rest a little while and a hand that would hold him close. One day he came to the capital, a city that rumour had it was paved with gold. Of course not all such rumours are true but Niall did not know this as he started his journey.
To be truthful, for Niall, the city would become paved in pain and heartbreak and love over time, perhaps love is real gold so perhaps the streets really were paved with a little gold in the cracks between the cold hard paved bricks.
He looked, to all appearances, like a roaming vagabond, one of the many gypsies and peons, but he was so much more. He himself did not know his background, his mother had died while he was young and he had never met his father, but he knew there was something special about himself.
Long in the past, in the time hidden by mists and dreams, a King in a different far away kingdom had exiled a servant once, after showing her much love. She had ran from the Kingdom with nothing but the clothes on her back and the life in her womb, but sadly she had died too young to tell Niall where she had been exiled from.
He did look like a nobleman underneath his hard and calloused exterior, but that exterior hid him, made him look to all the world like a commoner with nothing.
The King and the Queen had many servants, among them a poor orphan girl who worked in the dungeon kitchen, Solitude. Solitude had somehow managed to get a position in the kitchen, which was better work than on the streets or in the farms, here it was warm and the 'Kings Guard' while callous and cruel to her, would also ensure none would hurt her for while she served the King she was merely another possession of the King.
She worked in the Kings castle, ensuring all were fed, including the criminals and scum in the dungeon. The castle was old and made of well-bricked stone, shipped with the river and carved piece by piece in the years of old by some of the best stone masons there were. They would work for hours and days and weeks on one brick, chiseling and carving, and with mortar and water they built slowly up. It was an impenetrable fortress.
The exterior looked black and cruel, a heartless castle that contained a heartless king. Once inside, the grandeur immediately became apparent, for all of the furniture and the wall hangings and the tapestries and the red royal carpet, all of it was of the best quality imaginable, and beautiful, but beauty can often truly turn to be cruelty, and while Solitude admired the furnishings of the castle she felt the tinge of darkness, the tinge of unlawful acquisition and murder that all the King touched had to it.
She was merely the lowliest of maids; but in her nature she was above the King, for as cruel as the king was to his people was how kind she was to strangers, as hard as the king taxed was how hard she worked to ensure the people around her would survive.
After so long in the wilds, the thief Niall was worn down and running out of strength. Still, he had nobleman's honour and he would never bow to any man who would not in turn bow. The thief was new to the city, it seemed different from the descriptions. It was busy, everyone moved fast, always rushing to the next place to be. No one ever took their time or rested.
Late at night the streets looked beautiful with just glimmers of candles in windows, and the stars and the moon illuminating them, and the shimmer of the sky reflected on water, all seen through whirling snowflakes falling down like little angels from god.
The feeling the people had to them was not beautiful though. They felt cold like ice and greedy, hungry for something and they didn't know what and to get it everyone was become more and more ruthless.
Niall was the only honest thief and he had nowhere to sleep and was running out of money. His caches were buried far away in the Kingdom he had come from. He'd had a hard past and he had been hurt badly by life and he needed rest, but it felt to him like if he stopped for too long he would simply starve to death, another body to be collected by the grave diggers. He felt the pain in his stomach and the pain in his head and most of all the pain in his heart, sometimes the pain in his head and his stomach stopped but the heart ache never stopped.
One day he got sick, and there was no one there to care for him. He was delirious and he thought he would die. He was roaming the streets even then, still scrounging for a little bread or whatever it is that he needed to survive. Man cannot live on bread alone, and they don't mean you need a little bit of sauce with it. He was living on bread alone and his life was running out, he had forgotten why he had started moving, trying to block out the pain and the hurt and live in the now.
The echoes of it still rang through his head regardless of his forgetfulness, tiring his heart and making it colder and harder and softer and kinder than it should have been naturally. It was strange, the little things that hurt him. One day he heard a little girl crying from behind a wall, and quickly made his way over. There she was, a cute young thing, and there was her master, hitting her over and over, as she just cried louder. It didn't really matter to Niall what the girl might have done wrong, what mattered to Niall was what the master was doing wrong. No master should mistreat his servants, and this was punishment above and beyond any required. He interceded, shoving the master to the ground, and the girl darted off swiftly within a few moments. Niall thought to himself she must be a run away, and here was a man wanting to exploit her.
Niall had never approved of humans being used as means to an end, or slavery; he knew that girl had the same chances of survival as he did, and better now that she was freed from her evil master.
Her evil master stood up, and looked furiously at Niall, “Do you know who I am? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” Niall looked blankly at him, for all the masters finery all Niall could see was another pig in fine clothes.
Then Niall registered, the man wore the mark of the 'Kings Guard'. He thought about running, he thought about fighting. He did neither. He simply spat in the mans face. The man was a coward, no man with any honour or integrity would ever hurt something so small and harmless. The guard stuttered and looked flabbergasted as a line of spit rolled down his face, most people in these parts would never dare hit or question or talk back to a Kings Guard, it was taken for granted that the commoners would bow and here was a man who would not bow.
Niall woke up two days later on cold stone with a nasty head wound and no memory of the entire incident. He looked around and he was in a stone room with just a faint glimmer of light piercing through the bars from a torch further down the hall. The floor was bone numbingly cold, there was a little hay to sleep on, and so he rested.
After a time, Solitude, who fed the prisoners through the bars, taking their bread and watery soup to them, came to his cell. Before her, he had heard the other prisoners arguing and screaming and not a kind word for so long. He saw her, and in his delirium he saw a princess, not an orphan girl in rags when she offered him a kind smile.
She tended his wound with cold water and clean rags, washing off the dried blood, and fed him slowly, taking care of him like a little girl takes care of a kitten.
She knew why he was here, another man who had dared try to stand against the 'Kings Guard'. There were a lot of them these days, the people were becoming restless. Somehow she knew though, within herself that this one was different. While he was a thief clothed in rags, he still managed to make her smile somehow, and he still kept his noble attitude. Over time, as she fed him, he recovered and they talked. He told her of what he had seen, the places in the country, and the people far away, and she imagined and wondered about his world. She talked of the King, and his cruelty to the people, and her life, the little room she shared with another maid, what had been happening to the people since the king had taxed so heavily to pay for his wars and his guard, and of the sadness in her heart.
She asked the guards what he had done, and they told her he had shown disrespect to a Kings Guard, and he would be confined indefinitely.
He fell in love with the little bit of kindness and humanity she had shown him, after so much bleakness he needed to hold on to something, and there was Solitude. When Solitude was near, he felt no heartbreak, he felt none of the pain that he felt so often alone. Sometimes love is a choice, sometimes it just happens, and Niall never meant to fall in love. Such are the strange accidents and pathways of life.
When she was gone, he cried in his cell alone on the cold concrete, and the other prisoners heard him crying and jeered, trying to push him over the edge. She always came back though; he started to trust again over time. He never understood why Solitude loved him back, she just did, and it wasn't to be questioned.
Solitude told him of the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, a strange chalice of what looked like dark crystal that the King and Queen drank from nightly. They had not aged since they had started to drink from the chalice and perhaps with its powers they would hold this kingdom for ever against its will. All things change with time.
He, in return, told Solitude of his past as a thief in the night, of his wish to see the sky once again and to dream under moonlight with her cradled in his arms. He told her he had to escape, and that he would take her with him, and run from the Kingdom, run from the Kings Guard, and they would get as far away from the danger as they could.
Solitude realised it was a big gamble, but she was in love with Niall. There was only one thing she asked of him, that in exchange he would steal her that chalice as a token of his love. Niall too was in love, blind mad love that is only felt a few times in our mortal life times.
When Solitude smiled at him, he felt his whole body want to respond, want to hold her and protect her from everything bad that could ever happen, and he could not help but smile back, it was her eyes, no it was her mouth, no it was her nose, no it was her hair, no it was her mind but how can one see the shape of a mind... He didn't know what it was, it was everything about her, he was just a fool in love was all, and just maybe this time she loved him back.
Then one day she stopped smiling at him, instead she met him with a strange grimace. He didn't understand why, and tried to reach through the bars at her, just a touch that would have been ok before but she was different now and he didn't know why.
Over time Solitude told him, that she had once fallen in love, years earlier, with another man, and that he had treated her kindly. Niall asked, “Do I not treat you kindly,” and her face twisted sadly again.
She told Niall of how she thought he had gone, he had gone for a long time, beyond the sea, and now he had returned with wealth and riches and promises of love.
That night she went home and cried into her pillow, for she was in love with two men at once, one could offer her security and a life, the other was merely a thief in prison with promises that would, she rationalised, be hard to keep. He had still promised her the jeweled onyx chalice, and she saw in his eyes that he still loved her, even against his own mind; he knew that if she could not return his love all it would bring him was pain and torture.
Of course she still loved Niall, but Niall, while he moved and flowed like a King, would not be able to provide for her like her other lover. Niall still held on to the fantasy, that perhaps somehow he could make enough money to keep her and a few children somehow, if he could escape with her. He had other caches, from other thefts, and he would have been able to provide, if she had only trusted him.
One day, before Niall's escape, she came in to his cell, acting on good faith that he would not hurt her, and he did not, for how could he hurt the one he loved? That was the role of Judas the betrayer.
She lay in his arms, and tried to comfort and strengthen him as best she could, for she saw the trials that would come up during his escape and survival, and she saw he needed strength if he was to live. After this, she returned to her lover from across the sea, for she knew that Niall would have to run to survive and he could not stays and live with the King and the Kings guard and the Kings assassins looking to destroy him.
She drew back herself from Niall, Niall felt that the affection she had felt for him was removed and distanced by some other source.
In Niall's foolishness and misunderstanding, he did not understand that her heart was being torn, he only felt his own pain at her distancing himself, so he too drew back his emotional investment. Their love almost died, Niall truly had thought the care she had felt was gone, she barely looked at him as she slid his food through his bars, a loaf of bread and some watery stew to dip it in.
He lay in a ball for a while, thinking there was no hope and no reason to go on with life, and then woke up. His body was still functioning, but his heart was weak. Somehow he managed to start eating the bread, when his teeth hit something hard, sending a message of pain along his sensory nerves to his brain.
Initially he thought it was a rock, and cursed the bakers, but then he looked closer, and pulled a shape out of the loaf of bread, a key to the locked door.
For so long in the dungeon, the only light he had seen was the flicker and flame of the torch down the hall. Now he knew, he would soon see daylight and starlight again, but he knew Solitude would not come with him.
There was only one thing left to do, to steal the enchanted onyx chalice for Solitude, even though he knew he himself would never drink from it, rather that she would share it with her lover, and he would continue wandering in the cold until he died.
The guards would walk through the dungeon, rapping their batons on the bars, and on any prisoners fingers who didn't stand back. The dungeon was dimly lit, Niall thought to himself that increased his odds of escape, he merely had to hide in the shadows and somehow sneak his way out of the prison. He knew if he was caught escaping he would quite possibly be put to death, but comparing that to spending the rest of his life in prison made escape seem quite viable.
The key that Solitude had given Niall opened the lock, and he heard the cell door rattle behind him as he made his way out, stealthily moving through the shadows of the dungeon towards the surface.
He successfully evaded the guards, and, finding a 'Kings Guard' uniform in a closet, quickly changed from his prison clothes.
He found a thick black cloak and a sword in the same closet, and wrapped himself with the cloak and tied the sword to his belt, to all the world he looked like another guard patrolling the castle.
Now, to all appearances, he looked like the enemy. Only Solitude would still recognise him.
Niall remembered what Solitude had told him of the onyx chalice, that it was hidden in the upper castle, inaccessible to most of the peasants. Only a 'Kings Guard' could walk in there, and walk out with it.
The castle was well guarded and supposedly impenetrable.
Where there is a will there is a way and Niall was fueled by his love for Solitude; love breaks down walls and Niall was a thief in the night.
Niall was in love and his heart was breaking, Solitude would leave no matter what he did, he couldn't handle it, he thought about giving up and he didn't know what to do when it came to him in a moment of epiphany, disassociated from the castle he could see the whole thing.
Commoners will bow to the Kings Guard, servants will run at a Kings Guards orders. Niall decided to keep the 'Kings Guard' uniform on for a bit, and simply walked into the upper castle from the dungeon. No one dared question him; no one questions Kings Guards apart from other Kings Guards or the Royal family.
He had to find Solitude, to hold her and tell her that he had escaped; that he was a free man again but she was already gone and he didn't know where to meet her. He quickly cleaned when he found a pail of water, washing the grime from his face and hands, he looked pale and pasty from the time inside the dungeon, just as a Kings Guard who had never gone to war might look.
Walking through the castle, he briefly enjoyed his new found power; servants would nod their heads and lower their eyes as he walked past. Soon he would take off the black cloak and wear commoners clothes once again, power held no real attraction to him.
Solitude had told him where the chalice was kept, in the King and Queens bedroom, in a vintage set of drawers with crystal glass panels to see inside. He asked a servant, where is the kings bedroom? And she looked down at her feet, and gestured further down the hall. He kept walking, until he came to a room that was immaculate, clean and spotless and polished, he realised that the servants here probably slaved for hours for the King.
Inside the room, there was the King. The King did not see him, for Niall knew how to move quietly and stealthily. Niall wondered to himself, how hard is it to steal a kingdom? But he did not want blood on his hands, and there would be an executioner for the King in time.
Niall waited patiently, hidden behind a wall hanging, waiting for the king to leave. He might have waited minutes, he might have waited hours, he would have waited years.
Finally, the King started to move, barking orders like a mad dog that deserves death, raise the taxes, oppress the masses, ensure there is no rebellion, put the foot down...
The Chalice was there in the ornate wooden drawer, the dark shade of the onyx drawing in the light nearby. The light from out the stone window sparkled on the dark crystal through the glass window pane of the drawer.
Niall did not know it, all he saw was a beautiful grail, but the King and the Queen knew the secret of the chalice. With its powers, ones body would never grow old, but ones mind would age, and some who had wanted to do good would turn to the darkness as new found power corrupted. If Niall had know this, perhaps he would have smashed the chalice then and there.
The King moved away, the sound of his orders initially echoing against the walls of the castle and then fading into nothingness. Niall still waited quietly, until he heard nothingness. At the silence, Niall stirred, moving slowly towards the chalice, moving like a shadow. He quickly clasped the chalice, and hid it wrapped in cloth beneath his black cloak.
He quickly made his way out, with the cloak drawn tight around his face, sending out a vibe that he was the worlds executioner if need be, and no one could touch or hold him, for a moment. But it was just the disguise required to escape and survive.
The King returned to his chamber, a shock passed through his body as he realised the chalice was gone. The shock quickly became a rage and his face turned red and angry. He tore at his hair, and his curses reverberated down the hallways of the castle.
All the 'Kings Guard's stopped in their steps. The Queen ran up to the Kings chamber, there she stood and saw the King sitting in the corner with his head in his hands. She knew at once what had happened, the chalice, the source of their youth, was stolen. She called the guards and said “I want who's responsible for this!” a guard quickly saluted, “Yes, your highness.”
Down in the prison kitchen, Solitude still worked, oblivious to the drama above. She went to the cupboard to get a marked terracotta measuring mug. There in the tattered cupboards shone a brilliance unexpected. She saw the dark grey onyx chalice in front of her, and reached out to grasp it. She merely filled it with water, and sipped a little.
Later, She wrapped the chalice and hid it behind a broken brick in the double walls of her castle home, securing it as unfindable by any but her.
Niall had disappeared and was nowhere to be found. The King suspected it was Niall, and sent every assassin in the Kingdom to hunt high and low, but fortunately, they returned with nothing to show. Niall's head was safe, for now.
On his departure from the Kingdom, he passed through an ancient forest of Oak trees and Willows and Beech trees, with soft grass and moss covering the roots of the trees, and thin but well worn paths walked by the forest animals.
As he walked through the forest, admiring the doppling effect that the leaves had on the light, and enjoying the smell of damp earth and trees and flowing water, he came to a stream, with a bridge.
He did not know it but this forest was not only ancient, it was also filled with ancient spirits and powers. There was one in the forest who guarded and protected the inhabitants from all harm, regardless of what the reasons for harm may have been.
At that point, fortunately Niall was an inhabitant of the forest, merely one passing through, but he had not killed while he was inside the forest and he had treated it with respect.
None the less, to bear a sword in the ancient forest is a dangerous thing, for the old guardians associated the sword with the burning and the desecration of the forest. Niall did not take his sword off, for he still had use for it.
He came to a grove, a peaceful looking place to rest, and pulled his cloak over his head, curled into a ball at the base of a tree and slept.
When he awoke, he saw the Guardian of the Forest, Katren. She was equipped with a bow and poison arrows, but not deadly poison, merely poison to put to sleep for a little while and not harm, a strange poison that even as it infected it created the pathways for future survival of all hunted by her that were on the light side at heart.
She had felt his presence in the forest, and she knew he was merely passing through, but so few people passed through the forest these days, and when they did, they were often the ‘Kings Guard’ looking for escaped fugitives.
Only a fugitive would be mad enough to wander into this ancient forest. To Niall, as he awoke, his first instinct was to reach for his sword. Fortunately, Katren had already disarmed him in his sleep.
Katren wanted to make absolutely certain that Niall would not harm the forest as he moved through it, she was untrusting of his kind, and rightly so based on what she had seen the ‘Kings Guard’ and others do.
Her instincts told her Niall was different, but at the same time she didn’t fully trust her instincts, she had trusted before and it seems like every time anyone ever trusts it gets a little bit harder.
She felt strangely drawn to this handsome stranger, which was why she had followed and waited until he was sleeping to disarm him. Well, she often did that to the people who trespass in her woods, but she did not often feel that perhaps their destinies were connected, and this perhaps was some of the strange draw.
Niall felt apprehensive as he woke, his right hand did not find his sword as his old instincts had taught him so many times to reach, and he wondered; who is this person?
Katren saw his apprehension, and felt some herself, but for now she knew that while she was armed and he was not, she in a way had power beyond his, and he would not harm her.
Katren didn’t know for sure why she felt that, she just knew it in the same way she knew she was drawn to him.
Looking at him while he was sleeping, she realised that he was not harming the forest, and that perhaps times had changed so much that once again she could protect people, the peoples ideas were changing and she felt it, and here was a person who quite possibly would need some kind of protection to survive.
Niall asked her, “Who are you?” She didn’t answer for a while, she just kept looking into him, he felt like she was staring straight through him, perhaps into the depths of his soul.
As he awoke more from his slumber and looked around, he registered he saw no trail where she had walked, she moved like the wind or a ghost.
He looked up at her, and was caught by her eyes, and for a while he too returned the look, initially not understanding but then somehow realising that he was being shown the tiniest glimmer of her soul in her eyes, and he too was sharing himself with her.
He had once heard myths about this forest, so long ago in a distant past that time and old wounds had hidden so well, of a Maiden or a Goddess or a Witch or a Queen, who wandered this forest and would keep it’s inhabitants safe from the hand of man, but it was always just a tall tale, told to keep children home at night safe in their beds.
There was a stream and running water in the background, the sound of it was like soft music to Niall’s ears, after so often being wakened by the guards and their shouting and rapping on the cell bars.
Katren seemed to find what she wanted to know from gazing into his eyes, he wasn’t sure what he saw in her eyes but he perceived there was no threat from Katren.
Niall said this time, introducing himself, “I’m Niall, a fugitive from the Kings Guard. Can you help me?” Katren gazed at him without too much surprise, she had met others like him in her time in the forest, but she had never met Niall himself.
Suddenly Niall heard a rather large rustle coming from bushes to the left of him. His instincts kicked in and he quickly turned to the source of the movement, but saw nothing for Katren’s spell was on him.
Katren smiled at that point, Niall was aware, but not aware enough to see the shapes of things hidden from human eyes. She said “I’m Katren, and your safe here for now.”
They conversed and he told the story of how he was on the run from the Kingdom, and of the crimes he had committed and of how he had foolishly fallen in love with the care and affection that the maid in the dungeon had shown him. She realised he was being as upfront as he possibly could be, and felt her own trust growing, yet still she held much back for her instincts had taught her well.
She told him of her duty to the forest, that she was bound to eternally protect and guard it from all who would harm, and he promised he would not harm the forest while he passed through it.
There were strange lights sometimes in the forest, he would see them glimmer and shine at a distance, and he was left wondering what they were. He asked Katren about the lights, and she smiled knowingly at him, “Their just the fairies,” and he felt relieved.
She told him what they looked like, “Their tiny, humanish, like butterflies, and they have hands with no fingers, long pointy mittens and their feet are the same, their wings flutter fast as they fly, and people only ever see them at night when the glow from the flutter of their wings creates strange fairy lights that entrance lost travelers, and they have long hair in strange colours that changes as their mood changes,” she told him much of the forest, as much as he could learn in the time he was with her. He told her much of the ways of the Kings Guard, and how to defeat those ways. She told him they were not unhappy with him, rather they were glad to have another ally in the forest.
She offered him water from the stream, and he drank, and as he drank, he gazed into her eyes and forgot all the problems and all the trouble and forgot why he was running, forgot he needed to run, forgot he’d broken his heart, forgot everything and all he could remember was that here and now he was with Katren and she was beautiful and he could keep her safe from any harm.
She took him to shelter, where she had slept many many nights. She felt trusting towards him, and knew he would not harm her. She was seeking human company and knew that beneath Niall’s exterior was a strong ally indeed. He too was seeking company, and he felt that Katren was someone worth knowing and being with, and that they could offer each other safety.
Her place was in a cave, on the side of a shallow hillside, with vials and potions lying around, and a bookshelf of old manuscripts and spells. She was completely self sufficient, she needed no one just as Niall needed no one, over time they came to need each other. There was also a spinning wheel and fine yarns and threats tied into loops. .He respected her domain, and he cared greatly about her Forest and her. He slept like this for a time, while he had forgotten, the Kings Guard had not forgotten. The Kings Guard never forget, they never stop hunting, they never stop looking, they never stop until their targets are dead, or there is no Kings Guard.
Over time he felt love and care and great warmth for Katren and she returned his warmth, and they both gained strength through their trust of each other.
He would have been happy in the forest if he had never been awaked, if the ghosts from the past had not come back to haunt once again. Katren had felt the bond between them from when they first met, she was more aware than he was in that regard, he had forgotten so much of his past and his past lives. She cared for him and strengthened him, at first in the forest he was like an innocent without awareness, with her help he gained and in return she knew that he would pledge his life to her, may that day never come.
Katren was content in the forest before she met Niall, she was happy while he was with her, but yet always she could feel that the nearby villages and towns were sucking the life out of the forest spirits, both materially every time a tree was chopped down, and spiritually, in the way that people had lost their respect for nature.
Ofcourse all things come to pass in time and the Kings Guard had heard the rumours that he had escaped to the forest. They sent in a raiding party, twelve men dressed in black, twelve hunters, twelve killers, and each of them knew Niall’s face so well.
Katren heard of this, and was afraid for Niall, while Katren would live for as long as the forest, Niall was a mere mortal man. She tried to tell Niall, but Niall foolishly held onto the idea that perhaps him and Katren could hide in the forest forever. Katren understood better than Niall the hate the Kings Guard felt, for if Niall stayed in the forest, in the end the King would order the entire forest burnt to the ground, Niall didn’t want to see any harm come to the forest, he agreed with Katren that the forest needed to be protected at all costs.
The Kings Guard started to move through the forest, cutting and pillaging and treating with great disrespect, Niall saw Katren’s worry and pain at feeling the hurt the forest felt, and he thought to himself that for so long Katren has protected me, now it’s time for me to protect Katren.
Katren and Niall were happy together, as happy as they could possibly be.
One day, as the Kings Guard burnt the forest, he went outside with a strange expression on his face, and Katren, who had read him so well in the past, this time could not fathom what he was thinking, all she felt was worry and fear at that expression, she knew no good would come of it, but yet he was intent, and his memories had come back, and his hand had reached to his sword once again.
He moved off furtively, he did not know she followed, watching where he went. He saw the Kings Guard, he had learnt much of her ways in the time between, and he too could move like a ghost, for once he was a thief, now he was a hunter, sometimes the hunters become the hunted, and for so long the Kings Guard had been hunting him, now the crimes of the past had brought their wrath upon an innocent forest.
His memory returned over time, and he thought to himself the only reason the Kings Guard is destroying the forest, is to hunt him, the forest is just collateral damage to the mind of the King, something that is destructable if it will kill Niall.
To Niall, the forest is worth more than he is, but the King, who believes he is the most important person of all, would never value a forest above himself.
Niall hunts his way to the Kings Guard encampment, seeing the burnt trees and rubbish that surround it he feels disgusted. He still moves in shadows, he moves in twilight towards their tents as the sun rises in the background.
He finds drums of whale-oil, another commodity taxed and encouraged by the King, he undoes the lid of one drum, and leads a trail across the outside of their tents, a normal person would have been heard or seen as he laid the fire across their camp, the swishing and swilling of the oil, normally a loud noise, was somehow so intensely quiet, none heard.
He had set the flame trap, now all it would take would be one spark and the entire encampment would be erased, but there was other stuff to do before then.
The Captain of the encampment was high up in the Kings Guard, and was kept well briefed of all the secret arms caches and the garrisons and their defences in the Kingdom. He kept the manuscripts, hand written with that information on it, and well laid out maps in his private tent.
Niall’s instincts told him that there was something worth stealing off the encampment, but he was unsure what. He never once saw Katren’s shadow watching him, keeping him safe from harm.
She had watched him sneaking through the camp and had felt apprehensive at what he was doing, but she saw it must be done, and that he would need protection, for he had gotten good at moving in shadows, but he was not so good as to sneak past an entire encampment of Kings Guards. He knew which was the leaders tent, it was decorated far grander than the others, and it smelt of the same sick luxury that the Kings Guard smelt of. He snuck into the tent, the leader was snoring with his hand on his sword arm. Niall did not take his sword with him that day.
Next to the leaders snoring was a desk, with a bound manuscript closed and marked with the Kings wax seal.
He snuck towards it and hid it under his cloak, but the sun was rising behind him, and he cast a long shadow. It was a day of mixed luck for Niall, his black cloak caught on a black, evil looking hat stand on the way out, and it fell to the ground with a sharp clack. At that moment the Captain awoke, he had been trained to sleep with his hand on his sword, and he confronted Niall instantly, at sword point. He knew who Niall was, and of the bounty on Niall’s head, after all here were twelve men hunting him.
He led Niall out of the tend at the tip of his sword, and Katren, even so well hidden as she was, gasped and realised she would have to save Niall’s life.
Niall suddenly felt very scared as the rest of the Kings Guard awoke and rushed outside. He still held his cloak close to himself and the dossier was under his jacket, the Captain had not fully realised, he had assumed, as all assassins do, that Niall was planning to kill him. Katren felt her anxiety levels go up, she knew swift action would be required, and she had seen Niall lay the firetrap. She snuck to the horses, and found the one felt most akin with, not the strongest or the fastest or the largest or the smartest, merely the one that she felt she could trust more so than any other to safeguard Niall, she released the rest quickly, though they did not know they were free, yet.
She looked back towards Niall and saw him at sword point, and saw in the eyes of the Kings Guard that they would jest with their prey as a kitten toys with a mouse, if this continued she saw Niall would not have long to live.
She triggered Niall’s distraction, the flame trap, with one fire arrow that left a trail of smoke before it’s impact, It let up a jet of flame, that raced across the encampment, encircling all the guards with flame, and they were all momentarily frozen by fear, all but Niall, for he moved then, quickly shoving the captain down, but not killing, then running like his life depended on it, he ran the one way out of the fire maze he had laid, it would keep the Kings Guard occupied for hours yet as they tried to recover their belongings. It was only karma, for just as they had burnt the forest so too had the forest burnt them.
He ran into the shadows where he would feel safe, where Katren was and she found him, he was shaking from his ordeal, and she was so scared at him she was almost mad at him, She still found it within herself to comfort him, and she guided him to the best horse, she had freed the rest, and this last one was unbound, rather it was the horse’s will that Niall would ride it, for Katren had explained to the horse Niall’s story, and the horse was willing to help.
He still had the documents, although he did not know how powerful they would prove to be. She said to him, “They have seen you now Niall, they won’t stop until there’s no forest left and we’re dead hon,” he looked distraught and torn and hugged Katren so tightly, too tightly for he was not sure if he would see her again. He kissed her, on the mouth, and she returned his kiss, he looked sadly into her eyes and transmitted to her that he wished he could stay, he wished he did not have to run, and he wished his destiny could simply consist of being in the forest with Katren. He saw a small tear form in her eyes, as quickly as it appeared it disappeared. Then he mounted his steed and rode, past the Kings Guard, screaming insults at them so they would know he had left the forest, to them it just tied in with what they’d thought all along, a disrespectful fool who would show disrespect to a Kings Guard and steal off a King.
They never saw Katren, they knew of the myths, and once Niall had left the forest, so too did the assassins leave, hunting him wherever he went.
Katren survived with her forest, content, but not quite happy, she no longer felt like she had felt with Niall, it was different, but over time she came to love and trust again, as did Niall. The forest was safe from the Kings Guard now that Niall was gone, but it was not safe from human development at large, Niall wanted to keep the forest safe, although he could not in his current circumstances.
Niall left the forest on Katren’s steed, letting it go at the edge of the port city, he knew it would find it’s brothers who roamed free upon the plains. He gave it a strange blessing, the best he could, and it saw in his heart that he wished for this horse to survive and roam free across the plateaus and plains. He then went to a far away land that he was told was always sunny and only good things happened there.
He traveled by sea on an old and leaky ship, a decommissioned Navy frigate that had been put to civilian use to increase migration. The frigate, 'Her Majesties Ship Adrianne', was a ship of war once; now it was simply a transport, and even though it was old and there were some leaks, it was originally built to command the sea's and command the respect of all the other kingdoms Navies so its lines were sleek and fast. The sea's were often rough and stormy; but she rode all the storms for many years. She held together well, long enough to get many people to their destinations.
He stopped at a street vendor in the port city of Trania, the vendor smelt of fine fine sweet goods. He had never eaten Russian fudge before, but the smell was so lovely and the vendor had caught his eye, the vendor was a middle-aged man with a white beard, and a slight stoop and a really nice smile, so of course Niall felt he could trust this vendor. He slid over a few coins, and the vendor responded by handing him a large hunk of Russian fudge. He continued walking, and found a quiet place to sit with a little bit of a view, and as he looked at the wind moving through the leaves (it was summer by now) and the ripples on the water, and the sparkle of the sun on the sea, he realised he had come to a truly serene town and that maybe he could find happiness here. He ate the fudge and thought about whether he could simply settle down in Trania, but then he remembered Solitude and the King and the Kings assassins. He would have to return in time, but he could not go back yet, he was not strong enough yet to return and find Solitude.
He continued to sit on the hill with a view, and then ventured back into the town, mixing with the commoners of this kingdom.
Niall walked into a chapel, an old stone church with beautiful stained glass windows depicting great acts of valor and strength in the name of the Lord, and great acts of Kindness as the true worshipers had shown. It reminded him of Solitude's face and the kindness she had shown him and he thought to himself why is there no chapel for the poor who die at the end of their lives after working so hard for the good in the world, and why are there so many sites of worship to the evil-doers. He was glad he had left the evil castle behind him now that he was resting at this humble chapel. He thought to himself that one day if he survives he will establish a chapel for the good people of the world.
He wondered where the priest was and realised it was too late in the day so continued exploring the town, making his way to a local tavern.
The tavern was dimly lit by candle-light, the noise was of a minstrel strumming a mandolin quickly and furiously, calmly and quietly, well controlled and able, combined with the swish and swash of drinks being poured and conversation, sometimes rowdy, sometimes quiet. The dusk had come and gone and the moon was out now. The old drunks still sit at their places, asking the barman for pitcher after pitcher of beer. The candles are flickering as a bard in the corner starts to tell tales of the country and the city and the kingdom.
The minstrel was biding his time, under an apple tree in an orchard where he was poaching apples off an unsuspecting farmer. His peaceful lazing throughout the day was interrupted by a rudely placed worm in his apple, and he did not eat for the rest of the day. He imagined a worm in everything he was about to eat. This made it hard for him to think of the song that he was trying to write, clouding his thoughts to images of worms and food, the minstrel was very paranoid of parasites, started to imagine them inside his gut, in everything. He could not contain his paranoia and the only way out seemed to be alcohol, he then walked into the bar and sat at the back, plucking his instrument serenely and passionately.
Niall's first impressions of the people in the bar consisted of a rapid assessment and judgement of whether or not they would be friendy or enemy. Ofcourse, he saw no enemies here, for who would choose to harm Niall when Niall has not harmed anyone.
The minstrel, his name was Murphy; they called him Murphy the Minstrel, the Irish bard, and he always carried a hip flask of the finest whiskey, and he frequently talked to and sang to his imaginary friend Ned. Sometimes Ned did the singing, and he merely translated into music, for Ned did not speak English, only gaelic, Ned was the true composer of all the great works, and since he only spoke Irish when people asked Murphy about his minstrelling skill, he would take a little while to answer because it had to be translated from one language to another.
The minstrell walked to get another pitcher of alcohol, he mixed the whiskey Ned drank every day with occasional pitchers of beer, he was on his way to purchase another beer when he saw Niall walk into the bar. He addresses the stranger rudely, with the word “Oy” sharply spoken. “You just nearly took my mates head off!” Niall wondered what was up, while Ned looked unaffected, and Murphy felt rage at Niall for so rudely almost walking through Murphy's imaginary friend.
Niall said “Sorry what mate?” and the minstrell replid “Ned, I think you'd better set this man straight”, nodding towards a vacant area of the room. Niall tried for all his mind to analyze exactly what in the possible likelihood of the present situation would require the addressing of someone who would infact appear to not be there. Ned was omniscient, he knew everything somehow. He is the overriding, dominant part of Murphy's mind, the left overs applied to simply running Murphy's body and playing guitar. If part of Murphy's mind was so strong that it could manifest itself as a sentient character, then it could possibly be dominant over Murphy's sense of self awareness, making him the real Murphy. He was so vain that his best friend was a projected image of his actual self, which only spoke gaelic. Ned was a true Irishman, not English scum, whereas Murphy spoke and talked in English. Niall is wondering who or what Murphy is talking to, for it appears noone has even blinked at his outburst to his imaginary friend Ned. Ned would say nothing and take a swig of his whiskey. Ned drank rather a lot of whiskey. He then observed the other patrons in the bar for a bit before settling down.
Ned said in gaelic to Niall, “Don't you think you could watch where your going,” and Murphy replied with “Heh yeah that'll teach him”, making facial gestures to a part of the room that did not exist. Niall wonders if that is addressed at him, and swings around. Niall's black cloak swings and it appears to glance off Ned's hand. Ofcourse, Niall didn't see Ned, because Ned was invisible. He saw the mandolin in Murphy's hand, and thought to himself ah, another mad musician. Niall asks Murphy, “Sorry whose Ned, and what's that instrument?” gesturing to the mandolin which is now strung over Murphy's shoulder. Murphy replies “That's Ned! And this is a mandolin,” Niall gestures towards what appears to be brick, missing Ned completely but yet gesturing closer than most people do. Murphy didn't mind that too much, some people walked straight through Ned, and Niall merely almost knocked him over, and atleast Niall's gesture was in the correct direction. That made Murphy feel a little bit generous towards Niall, seeing as Niall, while obviously not understanding, Murphy had learnt to keep quiet about Ned, because people looked funnily at him when he talked about him. Murphy swung his mandolin off his back and started strumming again, while Niall sat down near him. He overheard Murphy playing guitar slowly and somethingly, as the notes strummed and floated across his ears. Murphy started singing softly under his voice, Ned had looked very tired and was resting now, and Murphy was playing Ned a song.
It is a song of chasing dragons, and of dragons who chase empires but get caught inside caves. Niall was a dragon chaser, and Murphy in a way was caged by a dragon, for while Ned stood in the shadows and was mostly avoided, he still had a great deal of sway on Murphy. Niall had not confronted a dragon and lived to this point. Murphy did sing of dragons, he imagined dragons fire scorching the face of the earth, and burning and searing, he sung of a once great dragon that was now caught in it's lair, unable to travel and unable to move, but yet still the people feared it, and honoured the dragons bond, one maiden a year would be sacrificed, and of how the King had merely bowed and honoured the bond, for should the dragon prove able to leave her cage, the wrath would be devastating. He sung of great knight's who had rode into battle against the dragon, and who had been destroyed in their thousands in the burst of the dragons breath. For none so far had conquered the dragon and lived, but yet there was a way, there is always a way. He sung of how many years before, a young King had entered into a bargain with the dragon, selling out his kingdom to protect from the dragons wrath, after many years of war.
That young King was old now, and yet the sacrifices continued, none could stop the dragon. The dragon had negotiated then though, perhaps the dragon would negotiate now, yet only Niall thought of that as he listened to Murphy play, Murphy was simply glad that the song seemed pleasing to Ned. Murphy was autonomous in a sense, Murphy thought about biting apples with wads of sticky worms falling out of them, as he played his song. He obsessed about their wriggling and griminess, trying to fend off the horrified facial expression that was beginning to form on his face.
Fortunately there were no apples in sight so he was able to chill out. Niall listened to more of Murphy playing, and relaxes with one beer in his hand, Ned has grown distracted and walked out of the tavern, while Murphy is still playing, but Ned will come back soon enough. Somehow Niall also hears the notes of peace and the notes of heartbreak in Murphy's song, and nods his head to Murphy in acknowledgement. Murphy does not show those feelings on the outside, they are merely parts of Murphy's inner self, as shared by Ned in gaelic, and expressed by Murphy in music. Niall still has not realised Ned is Murphy's imaginary friend, but from Murphy's point of view, Niall has not said or done anything excessively rude to Ned and the nod was friendly.
Murphy tells more tales of an old and terrible dragon, one who had once had the power to destroy entire kingdoms. The dragon is the last of it's kind, but strangely there is always another dragon when there needs to be. It has lived long and hoarded massive piles of gold and in its cold grey inhuman eyes it holds more life than most humans will ever experience. It had large black scales, each one tinted with red around the edges. Its wings were like great sheaths, skin across a frame of strangely misshapen bones, they had grown misshapen because of the rocks and the stalagmites and stalactites in the dragons lair. Once, when the dragon was much younger, she had ventured into the caves, with her hoard of treasure and laid down to protect it; over time, just as a hermit crab grows too big for its shell, she grew too big for her lair and she could no longer move freely.
The people in the tavern start to converse about the dragon, telling Niall all there is to know, how they would sacrifice a maiden to the dragon every year. To Niall, this seems barbaric and evil, yet he does not know the customs of this land so he does not realise how seriously the locals take it all.
Niall realised that this sacrifice too was evil, just as corrupt as when he had witnessed the Kings Guard beating up a little girl. The negative reinforcement he had received from that incident should have been enough to stop him from risking his life, but he was never one to watch injustice, rather he would speak and act even when that action would leave him burning for fifty years. In fact all up, it was a miracle Niall was still alive after the last set of incidents.
He thought to himself if they have to sacrifice anyone, why not sacrifice the daughter of the King and see how quickly custom changes? Niall asks the barman for another pitcher of alcohol, and is quickly served, as coins change hands. His head begins to float a little bit as he talks to a strange old man, Pius, who seems to know more of the world than Niall. The man tells him the custom is old and that none were strong enough to defeat the dragon. Niall thinks to himself it is not bravery, it simply is what must be done if the innocent are to survive.
The old man agrees with him, and tells him of how once his brother had gone to slay the dragon. But dragons are immortal, they cannot be slain. His brother had spent a great deal of time researching the dragon, and he had found its one weakness, for dragons get bored and love an intellectual challenge. Killing people is so so to them; they do it too often, however there's nothing like a puzzle.
To defeat the dragon, Pius told Niall, Niall would have to destroy its teeth for while the dragon was immortal, it's bite could be stolen. There was only one set of armour that could smash a dragons teeth, and Pius's brother had worn it into battle against the dragon.
Unfortunately, Pius's brother had forgotten about the dragons flames and had been burnt alive in a matter of seconds. Pius had witnessed this, and this was one of the many many reasons why he was an old drunkard at the back of the tavern.
After the battle, the kingdom had agreed to the sacrifice, for surely one maiden a year was a better price to pay than that an entire Kingdom should be burnt. This seems like logic to Niall, but Niall still feels himself doubting it.
Pius tells him of a riddle that will stump the dragon forever, a riddle so complex that only a human could solve it, a riddle that Pius knows Niall already knows, for once it was Pius's riddle too. Pius tells him to ask a price for the answering of a riddle, the freedom of the maiden, the breaking of the custom, and a dragons tooth.
The riddle is this; what is so soft it will break in a moment yet so strong it can never be bound; what is so light it will float to heaven at a touch and so heavy it will drop to underneath the world in a moment; what is so beautiful that men will kill for, what is so precious that men will die for without question; what is it that Niall would create; what would Niall give his own right arm for; what is it that Niall is truly seeking.
To all with the mind of the dragon they will assume it is material, to Niall; Niall and Pius knew the truth; Niall was seeking Solitude's eternal love and life, shared until the end of time.
The dragon, hoarding and valuing gold and silver above all else would never understand the human desires, or why Niall would want to put an end to the sacrificing of the innocent maidens.
Niall seeks out the dragon, he travels across the land to put an end to the customs and on the way he meets the next maiden in his dreams. She is beautiful and intelligent and loyal to her kingdom and she accepts the sacrifice, but Niall; who believes no one should ask someone else to do something they themselves would not do; is disgusted at the King and wonders why he does not send his own daughter instead of this innocent maiden, or why he does not go out to destroy the dragon.The riddle is this; what is so soft it will break in a moment yet so strong it can never be bound; what is so light it will float to heaven at a touch and so heavy it will drop to underneath the world in a moment; what is so beautiful that men will kill for, what is so precious that men will die for without question; what is it that Niall would create; what would Niall give his own right arm for; what is it that Niall is truly seeking.
Niall will do what the King cannot do, Niall will take the dragons tooth and and cause the dragon to be bound to Niall's word in a breach of custom. For should not all customs be changed when there is a better way?
The dragons lair is three quarters of the way up a steep and rocky mountain, but there is no snow, this is a different kingdom. Rather the sun heats the world quickly and the temperature is always hot, leaving burns and marks upon all who stand for too long in it.
The entrance is an enchanted cave on the mountain side, almost covered by landslides, the way is hidden.
He walks into the dragons lair and finds Pius's brothers body. He strips the armour from the corpse, and gives it a hasty burial under a quickly made cairn of rocks, which he then prays briefly over. He does not know how to put a body to rest, but he hopes the words he has said are enough.
The Gods are happy at him for this little action, and show him a tiny bit of mercy, the dragon does not simply breath on him to put him out of existence when the dragon first sees him.
Niall sees the dragon first, and instead of stalking the dragon like Niall stalked the chalice, he instead confronts the dragon, appearing in front of her.
The dragon asks, “What does a mere mortal human seek with me but death?” Niall replies, “I have heard of your great intellect and I have a puzzle for you, a puzzle you will never solve,”
The dragon is entranced by this, for what mortal would be foolish enough to confront a dragon in a dragons lair, and not seek riches and wealth? Jasmine questions Niall, “Tell me why you have really come, mortal scum? You have come for my riches have you not?”
Niall quivers a little bit, he realises the dragon can blast him into fiery ashes in under a second, “I have come to present you with a puzzle,” and Jasmine looks at him, “Do you not want riches? Here, here is gold and here is silver,” she pretends to offer him great riches, but Niall refuses this tainted gold, “I do not seek your gold,” for he sees in the dragons eyes that a curse lies upon it. The dragon sees in Niall's eyes that this is not a normal human; this is something strange, and how could it dare wander into a dragons lair, and they exchange names.
“What is your name, mere mortal? I am Jasmine the Dragon of Alexandros's lineage,” Niall wonders at who or what Alexandros was, and replies “I am Niall the thief, of no lineage but my own,” and then wraps his cloak tightly around himself.
None has learnt the name of the dragon before, but Niall does not recognise this honour, he merely regards this as a meeting of equals. Jasmine is the dragons name, and Niall is the humans name.
For this, and with the spell of the Gods, the dragon decides not to burn Niall into a cinder but merely to toy with him.
Jasmine asks what the puzzle is, “So what is your feeble mind game?” in the hope it will make her think and perhaps keep her mind off when the next maiden is coming for her to burn and eat. Niall says to the Dragon, “I have conditions to this game, you must swear by your own name to honour those if you choose to play.”
The dragon asks, “What conditions do you hold to this riddle?”, and Niall, feeling a little nervous, replies, “You shall give me one of your teeth, you shall free the next maiden, and you must swear by your own name never to consume another maiden if you cannot solve the riddle in three days.”
The dragon ponders a little while, and says to Niall “You drive a hard bargain mortal Niall Thiefsblood,” and looks over at Niall. Niall has an unreadable poker face, “And what is it to you if I do, do you accept it?” Jasmine nods, little fire snorts out the end of her nose, and accepts the terms. Ofcourse Jasmine also has terms, they are simple and Niall understands them without being told, if she answers the riddle correctly before the time is up, he will die at her and.
Niall then speaks the riddle;
“The riddle is this; what is so soft it will break in a moment yet so strong it can never be bound; what is so light it will float to heaven at a touch and so heavy it will drop to underneath the world in a moment; what is so beautiful that men will kill for, what is so precious that men will die for without question; what is it that I would create; what would I give my own right arm for; what is it that I am truly seeking.”
The dragon looks strangely at Niall and starts to think. She asks, “Is it water? Is it air? Is it fire? Is it a feather? Is it magic?” She asks a thousand questions of Niall, and to each one Niall says 'No.'
Niall is steadfast in his resistance to her questions, he will not tell her before the sun has risen and set three times over. Finally when the three days are almost up, the dragon Jasmine is feeling desperate and angry at being tricked; and asks “What would Niall Thiefsblood give his right arm for?”
Niall does not answer, his poker face remains, and in a rapid movement she pins Niall against the wall and bites him, the armour protects him from most of her wrath but there is a gap in his right arm; and she cuts his arm with a dragons bite that leaves a dragons tooth embedded in his arm and Niall feels the poison of the dragons tooth start to flow through his veins. He staggers, and looks at the dragon, Jasmine has broken her word but he does have a dragons tooth in his arm.
Niall does not realise, but all of the dragons teeth have shattered against Pius's brothers armour, save but one, the one that now rests in his arm.
The dragon realises it has cursed itself for breaking its honour and in a moment of anger at itself it it beats its wings and breaths fire across the cavern, a quick scorch that burns the hair off Niall's body. Now the dragon is toothless, but she can still speak.
Jasmine asks, with bleeding teeth, “Now what now was the answer to the riddle Niall?”
Niall is staggering, he feels the effects of the dragons poison and he can barely move let alone respond and yet he still says “Three days is not up, will you honour your word,” to the dragon.
Jasmine replies, “You have my last tooth in your arm, there is your tribute, now what is the answer to the riddle?”
Niall says, an inch away from passing out, “What of the maidens?”
Jasmine says through bleeding gums, “I have given my word mere mortal, and you have taken my teeth, I will kill no more innocent maidens.” Niall mutters “love”, and falls in the dragons lair.
Jasmine muses on love while Niall sleeps, for she has heard much of its power and remembers to long ago when she once felt it, but there is great sadness and pain tied to the memory.
She wonders if Niall has told the truth, and she recognises that Niall is an honest nobleman with thief's blood and therefore she must honour her word. Niall wakes up a day later, the bleeding has stopped, and his arm bears the scar of a dragons tooth. Next to him lies a dragons tooth, with all but the very tip intact. As he clasps the tooth, he feels the tip of it inside his right arm, working towards his heart. He looks at Jasmine, and wonders, and sees in Jasmine's eyes a great sadness, both for herself at the loss of her teeth, and for this mortal who now carries dragons poison in his veins, a slow poison that will kill a great man. Jasmine tells him “Keep the dragons tooth close to your heart, for only this or love shall protect you from its deadly poison.”
After this, Niall bows with a bleeding right arm to Jasmine, and departs, and she too shows him the highest accolade she can give, no treasure, no riches, merely to know the name of a dragon is honour beyond what most mortals will ever experience and here is a man who has won against impossible odds.
After this, Niall leaves the Kingdom and as he departs he hears that the dragon has said the next maiden can live and that she seeks no more, but it would be nice if the kingdom could provide her with food on a regular basis. The King (who is a coward who would ask of other people to die and yet would not give his own life) of course readily agrees.
Niall continues to voyage, making his way back to the Kingdom where he last saw Solitude, equipped with a dragons tooth sword and the strength and confidence that come from conquering his dragon.
The King's body began to show signs of age, and over time Solitude had met a new partner, a consort of the royalty, and to him she was his shadow. Solitude had given up any hope of seeing Niall again, and had never followed him. She had fallen in love with Niall, and her heart was torn but Niall was far away, while her partner was close.
She had shared everything with him, as a woman who loves a man should. She shared with him the secret of the chalice over time and as he drank he became slowly twisted towards the dark in time and he gained in power and wealth. His name was Judas and over time he befriended the King. One day the King fell ill, and Judas came to the Kings chamber to help with the guidance. The King never spoke again, and Judas became leader of the interim King's council. Soon Judas organised a vote at the King's council, at pain of death, to take the throne. Of course, there is always a shadow to every throne. Judas and Solitude continued to drink from the chalice, and over time they both change, for it was in Judases nature to embrace the evil and turn aside from the good, and yet it was in Solitude's nature to understand both, and over time she too slipped towards the darkness under the spell of the chalice. She grew miserable under the spell of the chalice, not truly evil but just miserable, as Judases actions took him to power beyond that of which most people even think of.
Over time Solitude and Judas came apart like a frayed tapestry, as Judas cut the strings that had bound them together, he had cut the commoners down to secure his kingdom, he was becoming as evil as the old king.
On a dark night just on the outskirts of the Kingdom a thief is moving through bushes, illuminated only by a small quarter moon. He stumbles upon a city which reminds him of a distant past, long forgotten and buried. He is approached by a 'Kings Guard', who commands him to bow. He nobly stands and the 'Kings Guard' feels the honour radiating off him. This man must not bow for a mere Kings Guard, this man would not bow for an evil King. He comes back with riches but they are well hidden, he has grown and learnt in the time between and he now wears a wolves personality over his own, yet still he will defend his pack to his death. Solitude too has aged, and attained a great cynicism over the years, and sees the raw reality and registers that a man like Niall was what could have kept her safe all the time between. Even in his damaged state, he still commanded respect and loyalty instinctively without question, yet she felt that he returned to her all that she offered, and more.
He remembers the little girl and the remembrance triggers the response, he spits in the guards face again, a different guard but all corruption is the same and is quickly surrounded and pummeled down by their batons. When he awakes he is on a cold floor in a dark dungeon cell, he sits for days, lost in his remembrances of the Kingdom. One day Solitude comes back to the dungeons she grew up and worked in. She meets Niall again, Niall's heart once again fills with love, he now remembers how he had felt in the past, he seems in Solitude's eyes glimmers of the same emotions.
Over time she spends more time below the surface of the castle than above, her darkness has pushed her here, and her inherent need to heal and comfort has driven her to resume her old work. She spends more time with Niall, growing to understand him over time. He never says everywhere he has been, he is afraid of frightening or disgusting or scaring her, he does not want her to stop loving him. She too keeps her secrets, but somehow she detects that in the time between a darkness greater than could be seen or shown has fallen upon him.
The King hears word that Solitude is communicating with Niall once again, the King's intelligence agencies have been working hard. The King suspects a threat to his mere possessions in the nature of Solitude and Niall's relationship, for now he views Solitude as a trophy of a King, no longer as a lover, and he does not recognise that he himself has killed all the love he could have ever felt with Solitude.
He confronts Solitude, and orders her to command the 'Kings Guard' to execute Niall, and to first break his will and his back. Solitude glares at the King, disgusted by his anger and refuses abruptly, spitting on the carpet. At this, the King, in his rage, holding the chalice, casts it at her, she moves quickly, the time has not slowed her reflexes and the chalice has kept her young. The chalice hits the wall, spilling a trail of water as it moves through the air, finally exploding into hundreds of tiny and sharp shards of crystal. In that moment, the spell the chalice has cast upon Solitude is broken, and she has her freedom.
The spell breaks the power over the Kingdom, the King is failing now, and the guards throw down their weapons, the Kings Guards mercenary back bone has been broken just as the chalice was broken. Solitude broke out the door from the King, and dashed to the dungeons. She still knew where the key was kept, and she again carried a sword and a Kings Guard's uniform to him to disguise himself.
The King was in a rage, furious and Judas felt betrayed by Solitude, he rapidly called out the Kings Guard to go to the dungeon and kill Niall. Fortunately, Solitude had freed Niall, and an uprising of the people had begun in far away cities to start with. The tension was high, the summer was hot and with the breaking of the chalice, it was as if the Kings power had been broken and the people were standing up to fight.
The commoners and the Kings Guard, who had now gone rogue, the Kings coffers were empty, started to revolt in the capital. There was no leader though, the resistance was like a headless tiger, and it needed it's head to truly seize power from the corrupt King. With Niall breaking out of the prison with Solitude's help, and going on the run, suddenly he and her were face to face with the riots. Some of the Kings Guard were loyal, and fought off the rioters to begin with. The King tried harder and harder to keep power at all costs, letting the Kings Guard use their swords to keep a hold of the Kingdom. The commoners and the resistance and the rioters had all felt the impact of the Kings sword.
The resistance needed a leader, and Niall had learnt much in the time between of power and morality and what was right and wrong. He quickly moved through the resistance, over time contacting the crucial parts in all the factions, and somehow uniting them under his will, for they could all recognise his power and his strategic planning and foresight when it came to how to remove the King.
And most importantly, he was in the right place at the right time. Over time the Kings Guard lost sway as their wages decreased, and the resistance gained power as people recognised the corruption of the King and decided to join One day, it was time to execute the plans that had been laid for so many months prior. The riots would start, and the Kings guard would come out, to be chopped down by archers on the rooftops, firing at unexpected angles with obsidian tipped arrows. Niall never had his hands excessively bloodied in that time, he merely organised and commanded others to due so. Of course, the responsibility of your actions even when ordered lies upon yourself, and your commanding officer. Niall was the commanding officer so he was as responsible for the deaths of the Kings Guards as of the soldiers he had commanded. He did not sleep well, the idea of people who were not completely corrupt dying for the cause bothered him greatly, both the friendly and enemy casualties. However, such was necessary to diminish the power of the King, after the King had started the executions of peaceful protesters.
Niall finally held the Kingdom for a day, putting new laws in place to ensure that the next King was chosen democratically and that there would be a stable even if, as governments are always flawed, flawed governing system that was controlled so that executions and invasions of privacy and environmental policy violations (environmental policy was a priority of Niall’s, especially regarding Katren’s enchanted forest) could never happen again while his laws stood.
He then stood down and searched for Solitude, he had held power over the Kingdom long enough to understand that it would destroy and corrupt the nature of all who keep it, and he had placed limitations on the reach of the power of the elected Kings, all of the people supposedly had a voice. Some were louder than others though.
Niall knew that even if he dedicated the rest of his lifetime towards keeping the Kingdom safe, it would not suffice for over time all things change and cycle. He simply left the Kingdom aside, and seeked Solitude, wherever she may be.
He remembers where he hid the chalice, and goes there, leaving a note that will only be detected by Solitude if she ever returns there. One day, weeks later, Solitude returns to the castle, to get what had value to her from the time of King Judases reign. She came in with nothing but her robes and her grandeur, and her appearance had faded a little in the time between. The new guards bowed to her, for they recognised her as a friend of Niall, and a friend of the freedom in the land now that the spell has broken.
She explored once again the old kitchens in the old dungeon, and the old cells, and looked to where she remembered finding Niall's chalice. There she found Niall's mark, and a way to communicate with him. Unlike herself, she reached out further than ever before to reach his heart and return her love that had been forgotten for so long.
She found him, and recognised that this truly was her love, and held him beside her as he talked of his sorrow and sadness and the choices he had to make in the years past and how it had changed him and the poison of the dragons tooth tip in his arm, and she remembered how the darkness had changed her nature, of course she had always tried to work for good even when it seemed that everything she had touched turned to evil. She saw this in him too, and saw it was bothering a good man and she tried so hard to take the sting that life had placed in his heart out of him, but it was not possible by then. She sees his weapons and is scared, she gives him an ultimatum; if he truly wishes to be with her he must drop his weapons, so he casts aside his dragons tooth sword, for now it is replaced by her love. She meets him often, and they share their freedom, supporting each other and comforting each other as they needed to survive. Their love strengthened each other, and nothing could change their feelings for each other and they lived happily ever after in another Kingdom far from the city.