MALADIN: STORY ONE: THE CODE

[Portions of this document may have been deleted or changed to protect the innocent...that's me]

I sat on the cliff looking out across a cold arctic sea. Flotillas of ice and snowcapped icebergs slowly drifted from my craggy shore. Drifting, like the memories which swam before my eyes

I approached the lord's keep and found a grand bridge of stone crossing an immense chasm. As I crossed, however, I realized that it was not necessarily a naturally occurring land feature. Below me was actually a massive quarry. The clatter of hammer and stone echoed across the small valley. I noted the small army of guards 'directing' people with their whips and curses. Slaves. The thought turned my stomach and I spurred my stead on faster. The sound of chip, whip, curse, and crack tattooed suffering and oppression on my senses.

I would not be able to leave this place fast enough. Ever since my childhood, freedom had held a special place for me. Looking at those poor souls brought back painful memories that I tried to keep buried at all times.

I quickly dispensed with my business. An exchange of gold for gory trophy from the lord's man and I was quickly on my way. All the while I told myself that I was here for business. Strictly business. I steeled myself and rode from the keep. I'm just a mercenary. I'm just passing through. Forget about this place. Let it slip back into the shadows.

And so I rode away. I gave the stead his head and we flew over the lush rolling plains of the countryside putting time and distance between us and that place. Finally, when we were both spent, we happened upon a village nestled in a draw near a burbling creek. I thought I had found a great place to stock up, grab a hot meat, and find a pallet for the night. That is what I had thought at least.

Mira was her name. I knew I was in trouble the first time I saw her. She was in the village that day. The wind caught her red hair and revealed her fine proud features. A very beautiful young woman. Before I could wet my parched lips with a hard earned ale, she had descended on me and barred my entrance to the local watering hole.

"You are the knight that slayed the beast," she said with some excitement. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

"Yah," I said in my witty mono syllable way.

"We could use your help."

"Well, I have already slain the thing in the woods. You should all be able to rest easy now. Unless you have suddenly spawned another such beast, I think I will go get a drink if you don't mind."

" No," she stopped me, "didn't you see all the slaves? Those are our people. The Lord has taken my family! We need a warrior to help us fight him."

"I'm sorry, I can't help you." I tried to walk past her but she grabbed my arm.

"You have got to be kidding, now get out of my way."

She grabbed my arm harder and I could see that her fiery nature would not be easily put off.

I looked into her eyes, "Where is your army girl?! Who is going to fight this lord's forces? Storm his keep? Your villagers?!"

People had begun to take notice of us by now.

"Yes, and why not? They have lost loved ones too!"

"Why not? Because the lord's army would eat them alive! Trust me , little girl, there is nothing worse than seeing desperate men and women die."

She looked up at me with all her ire and passion.

"I thought you were a Knight. Where is your Honor? Or is only the bloody gold of a slaver worthy of your sword?"

I had had enough of this. I remounted my steed. There would be no rest for me while I remained in this land. "Honor is a costly luxury. You have lost some of your people. Be content with what you have and do not try and kill off the rest of them." Once again I rode away. This time I made sure I was really far away. On waves of reality I flew and I did not stop until I was in the land of the Anuks. In the barren frozen wastelands of the Northern Realm. Where fairy lights dance the midnight sky, their rainbow hues giving life to the frozen tundra - like a great sea of floating gems.

There I befriended the people of Anuk. We shared many things, tales for another day. Suffice it to say that I lost myself there for a time among the Anuk. I learned their ways and lived with them. For how long I do not know. Time means little in the frozen lands.

The wise man, Ank-Te, told me that I had come to the frozen lands because my heart was a fortress of ice. He said that I was searching for something. I listened to his wisdom and eventually he lead me to the entrance of the sacred ice grotto of the Anuk's wise ones.

I descended deep into the earth and found myself in an icy cathedral. An ancient temple of finely worked stone now frozen for all time. An electric shock charged the air, and I felt I had returned to some old familiar place.

I was inexplicably drawn to the center of the large room. There on the floor, buried under the thick ice, was something half seen. It pulled me to the floor with the slow sure strength of the earth calling to a fallen star.

I hefted my climbing pick and hacked away at the thick ice. Shards of sharp ice flew until I was bleeding from a dozen small nicks and cuts. Beneath me now was a great mosaic in the marble floor, and clearly seen now there were words all around it. They were an ancient code of an ancient order.

A KNIGHT IS SWORN TO VALOR
HIS HEART KNOWS ONLY VIRTUE
HIS BLADE DEFENDS THE HELPLESS
HIS MIGHT UPHOLDS THE WEAK
HIS WORDS SPEAK ONLY TRUTH
HIS ROTH UNDOES THE WICKED

And so I sat there on that icy cliff. The images of the mystic temple, the visions of Mira and her people, the memories of my own childhood all flooded me - mixing and churning until I felt I would burst from all the conflicting and intense emotions that raged inside me.

" Honor ... blood ... money ... suffering ... pain ... loss ...

Is this what I am searching for? Is my heart truly icy?

Somewhere in the night a primal scream erupted and was lost on the snowy winds of that frozen arctic land.

Somewhere far to the south the thundering hooves of a steed could be heard answering a call to service.

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