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“We have the same saying in Pendrath,” I said. “Probably all over Eskira.”
The high priestess nodded. “The calm—it’s almost over.”
This had been calm? I opened my mouth to say as much but Guinevere was already rising to her feet.
Clearly, our meeting was at an end.
Holding the door open, she seemed almost eager for me to leave. But as I moved through into the corridor, she touched my arm.
“I’m sorry,” she said. I looked at her, but her eyes were downcast. “I’m sorry for what you must endure, Morgan. I’m sorry for what is to come. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”
At the time, I thought she meant Kaye.
Or the quest. Destroying the grail, the sword, finding the spear. All of it.
“Thank you,” I said awkwardly, and stepped out. “It’s all right, Guinevere. I understand.”
I’ll never be sure I really did.
CHAPTER 5 - DRAVEN
I had the training hall all to myself.
Or, as Gawain might have said more truthfully, I had frightened everyone else away.
The burly, red-haired man sat on the sidelines now, mopping his brow with a cloth. He was winded, I knew, and strained and aching.
I had done that to him. I might have felt guilty. But the truth was, I felt only a little frustrated. I had pushed my partner too far, and now there was no one worthy to spar with.
No one but my own shadow.
And so I danced with that. Parrying and thrusting. My feet moving swiftly over the stones, worn smooth by countless drills.
I was breathing hard but nowhere near reaching my limit. And my limit was what I wanted to find. What I had to find.
I gave another thrust, my blade cutting through imaginary resistance with a metallic hiss of air. I pivoted, spinning and striking, engaging my unseen adversary. The phantom opponent I could only see in my mind’s eye.
How much time passed? Who could say. I was relentless.
Until finally, I felt the sweat glistening on my brow.
Still, I pushed on. Shadows formed around me.
On the walls, the torches flickered and sputtered as a living cloak born of my darkness rose around me.
I intensified my assault, imagining the thing I feared the most. Not for my sake, but for hers.
I imagined a moment I couldn’t help her, couldn’t save her. I imagined us apart.
I threw myself forward, tendrils of darkness spiraling from the tip of my sword. I forgot about Gawain. I forgot about the room around me. There was only myself and my imagined foe. I blurred. Merged with the shadows. Moving between patches of darkness at will.
Nightmarish visions flitted through my dark. Forcing themselves into my mind. I saw her taken again. Tormented. I saw her scream, saw her call for me.
Teeth clenching, I spun, furious at a future that wasn’t even real. Terrified it somehow would be.
And then flames flared through the shadows. Burning so bright, I was forced to shield my eyes.
And she stepped through. The source of it all. My guiding light. My burning star.
