Simon
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 19361
|
It was a dark and stormy night, the winds pushed the rider with all they
were worth. It seemed to the rider as if the very rains raged against
him. His steed felt the anger as well, and as animals do so many times,
it also felt the madness behind the anger. The horse was not sentient,
but a desire to survive is a basic quality bestowed upon all creatures.
The equine sensed death, it reeled and tried to evade it. The power that
pulled the bits of the reins, however, would not let it go. The power
that kicked its sides would not let it do what it instinctively strove to
do: run in the opposite direction.
Simon sat in the hall of the keep. He was tired. His bones ached as did his heart. He was old. His white hair bore witness to his age as did the lines below his eyes. He had heard the news of Trescent, he had heard other odd things as well. Though he was not the leader of the Black Hand, he was still kept informed. He thought of little Claire and the dream she had shared with him. He kept her like a daughter, and he hid her from any prying eyes. He knew what the Guild would do if they discovered her, the training, the instruction that would bend her to their ways; he could only imagine what would happen to her if she were taken directly to the WhiteHand. He sighed. ~~too many rules, too many injunctions, too many fearful people~~ A servant came into the hall. "You have two visitors," she said. "Bring them to me," he answered. Two men entered. Though he did not recognize them, he plainly saw that they were of the Vale. "Greetings, Simon," said the first one. "We are the brothers Westwind, this is Velus and I am Zephyros." Simon saw that one was surely a shephard, but the other seemed too... "You must help us!" squeaked Velus. His voice was weak, his eyes were red, his skin pale. "My days as a healer are long gone," said Simon with sympathy. "No, you misunderstand," said Zephyrus. "There is evil all around us, my brother went with Vinz and the others to find the missing companions of Lord Frederigo. Within the Nelon there were--" "MONSTERS!" yelled Velus. "They still have me! They come to me, night after night. They harrass me, they taunt me, then they leave me until I feel good and then they come again! They even pain me with delusions of my friends! They killed the ranger and those of the Black Hand." Simon stood up. "Dead? Killed by what kind of monsters?" "Ghost monkeys, demon apes, dark-skinned men... I saw what I don't understand. But, you... you may understand, and I have brought this." Velus walked to Simon and handed over the parchment. He took it, walked over to a table and opened it carefully. The words were faint, some missing. What remained were wild and foreign words, and images: hawks and seagulls, snakes and scorpions, and hands, eyes, and hearts. Simon looked at the two brothers. He asked them how they came to possess this. They explained, each their part. "So you must help us, or we shall all perish!" said Velus. "Please," continued Zephyros. "My brother is ill, his heart is worn and his mind bitten by this evil. Too many omens from the gods... they speak in riddles and rarely come to our aid. They wish us to be strong, we must use our wits. You are... you know who you are... you will know the way." Simon looked at the two brothers, he rolled his ancient title within his mind. A title he had given up some twenty years ago. A brotherhood had been destroyed because of a woman, a witch. He could have stayed and tried to put the pieces back together, but he chose a different path. He chose to run beyond the hold of women and of men, beyond the lands of laws and tithes, beyond the light. "...maybe this is why I came back..." he murmured. His mind reeled. Too many people crying out for aid, too many helpless and devious, too. He had returned to Allaria only four years ago, he had come with only half his name. After so many years in the wilds of the swamps, a life within fens and backwaters, conversing with assassins and madmen, with simpletons and others of their ilk, he decided to come back. He set up shop within the most worthless of all the duchies... Stonewall. He offered advice and herbs, he tried to show others how to heal and how to think. But then one day a Ranger came to town and one thing led to another and yet to another. In Allaria Simon had become a byword of sorts, few used his full name but referred to the pillar-sitter, the fool, the traitor. The Ranger left the forests without coming to know Simon's true identity, but a few of the folk who made the woods and valleys their home had time to put two and two together. Simon laughed. He had done too good a job at educating these people! A few, only a few, had figured out that the hermit Simon, the healer and teacher, was none other than a hero. "The monster Mollari is overthrown," said Simon. "Yet now new monsters take his place. When we had not heard from our brothers we wondered but to worry is a needless waste of energy. Though your news is evil, it is good to know their fate. Yet what to do now? We are not a cavalry, we are not a force of soldiers. Vistaf will be informed of all you have said, he will lead the effort. I shall take this scroll and learn from it, this is my way. You may go back to your home now." Zephyros looked at his brother, then at Simon. "We have no home. We cannot go back, I... we choose to be your servants." Simon looked at the two brothers yet another time. "If evil is all around us, my dear shepherd, then you know not what you choose. Evil is attracted to the light, it seeks to destroy the good and to cover the brightness. If the rumors are real, if what we have been fighting against these past years is only a foretaste of what is to come, then this keep shall be a forge, it shall be a furnace and a kiln, a place of fire and pain. For only in fire does the light and the dark join against each other, one trying to domineer the other. Some have dreams, others nightmares, most see with their eyes and a few without, the Vale is our home. I have long tried to make a new life, to create where there was only destruction. I have done this by hiding who I am, but if our fight goes from men to monsters then I mustn't hide any longer. I cannot speak of Allaria, I will not speak of our so-called nobility, but come brimstone or demonfire I will protect this Vale... or my name isn't the Lightbringer!"
|
YY
4/11/2002 12:21:28 PM
Extending Enabled
25271520 episodes viewed since 9/30/2002 1:22:06 PM.