Lady let out a deep sigh as Parune and Mearm left Lady at the edge of camp to return to the fireside. She felt a sickness, and the charade that all was alright wore heavy on her. Her eyes swept over the camp, the many faces and lives that counted on her, and suddenly felt separated from them all. She shivered as she looked around herself for a secluded spot, finding none within the camp. Even her own tent would provide little of the privacy she so desperately needed. She bit her lip and looked to beyond the ruined city, where the forest seemed to be calling out to her, offering seclusion and comfort that she had not felt since before her parents had passed away. Without a further thought, Lady ambled towards the forest, needing to escape it all.
Lady found herself a small brook not far within the forest where she all but dropped to the ground. When her parents had been alive, Lady had always been expected to play the part of an adult as the eldest. With their passing she had taken on the crown, as well as the role of Wolf’s guardian. She held Wolf when he was afraid, she was strong for wolf when he could not be, and protected Wolf from the world the best she could. She, from the very beginning, had been expected to take everything in stride. However, she had no one to support her, no one to confide in, to tell her the comforting lie that everything would be okay.
It was too much for her, and without the need to hide any longer her tears fell, accompanied by intervals of soft hiccupping. She didn’t hear the quiet footfalls behind her, and when she finally did she found herself without want to react.
Sir White placed his hand on Lady’s shoulder and sat next to her. Silently regarding her, he recalled that moment at the graves where she had looked at him, seeming so much older behind those eyes. Now she was a little girl again, afraid and defenseless. He found himself reaching out and hugging her.
Lady turned and cried into Sir White’s shoulder, and he could hardly be surprised that she would break down after such a day. He wanted to comfort her, but he could not bring himself to give her the comforting lies that adults often gave children. So he remained silent, letting her escape from it all, even if it was for a few minutes, in the unjudging presence of a friend.
Time passed without meaning until Lady finally spoke up, her tears long since passed, but the pain still overwhelming. “I think I left my soul somewhere back there.”
White looked down upon the mess of red hair veiling Lady’s face as she stared despondently at the river. There was so much conviction in her voice for someone so young. “You are
realizing that you cannot just ride up on your white horse and save everyone, Lady.”The literary allusion towards heroes in fairytales was not lost on Lady. She swallowed the lump in her throat and remained silent. She had always wanted to be like her father, to be a warrior and not a person of the court. At no more than five turns of the season she had demanded of her father that she be allowed to ride with him. Then there were the myths and lore mother would always read to her, where the concepts of good and evil maintained clear boundaries. She knew life was more complicated than that, but in situations such as this how could she know right from wrong?
“You did what you thought was right Lady,” White reassured her, “and took on a responsibility that many others would not face. It is more than anyone could fairly ask of you. Just because it is right does not mean that it is necessarily good, just as it is not evil. Hold onto what you know is right and keep it close to you. Someday you may find your actions called into question, and the line far more blurred than this.”
White’s words comforted Lady, despite the idea that she might be confronted with decisions more convoluted than this one. After a few more moments of quiet thought, she sat up and mumbled. “I think I can tolerate myself once more.”
White smiled faintly as she stood. For a moment he saw the flash of the little girl she had been, before the mask of the leader everyone expected her to be shifted into place. It was as though she’d transformed into a completely different person. She held herself up straighter, with firmness behind her shoulders. Her mannerisms changed down to the way her hand rested on the pommel of her sword, as there was a strength and confidence that was not there a moment ago. It was her face, however, that changed the most. The worry and guilt was wiped clean as a blank expression replaced it, her violet eyes hardening.
The two walked back to camp in silence, Lady not having to ask Sir White to keep the discussion between them. He was becoming someone she could confide in; someone she could trust as more than just a soldier. He was a friend. Lady had childhood friends, but the crown had alienated her from them. She wondered how they were fairing and reminisced on the friendships she had lost. Some happiness returned now that she again had someone to trust, even if he was twelve turns of the seasons older than her.
Lady could see Mearm and Parune sitting by the fire with her soldiers and drinking ale as she strolled through camp. She had no plans this evening on joining them, and headed towards her tent. But as she walked past them, falling within earshot, she couldn’t help but listen in on the conversation.
“Has your Lady of the Den been to war before?” Parune’s distinctive voice sounded contemplative as he was attempting to learn about the person who he had just this evening pledged fealty.
The soldiers exchanged glances, smiling and responded. “She’s never partaken in a campaign such as this before, but she’s been tested more than once. And don’t let her height or demeanor fool you; she’s only fifteen turns of the seasons.”
Parune spat his ale back into his tankard, while Mearm much more subtly widened his eyes in surprise.
“What?” Parune exclaimed, “You mean that a little girl leads this whole army?”
The soldiers laughed and nodded, one of them finding himself able to explain through the amusement.
“It’s rather complicated. To put it simply, she took the initiative to launch this campaign, and was the only person of any power who thought it a good idea. She even renounced her crown to persuade the court to permit her this army. Thus far she’s proven herself to be the sword that Pylos needed.”
Parune was not sure if Lady’s strength of character should be commended for its maturity, or regarded as demonic, recalling the bones strung up in her red hair. “Either she is all that you say she is, or your country is worse off than I thought it was.”
“It’s probably a combination of both,” another soldier quipped with a smile. “We like to call her the Lady of Might, as many of us believe that she was blessed by the God of War. We dare not call her that before her, though. She’ll hear nothing of the sort. She puts forth good effort to keep herself equal to those she leads.”
“I see.” Parune reserved further thoughts for now with the intent to gather more information to better assess his new situation.
The world around Lady suddenly became quiet. Lady stopped as shadow enveloped her, leaving her alone and suspended in the darkness. She panicked and spun around, greeted by the same blank surroundings. The soldiers of the camp had been all around her, but now none were to be seen. Time ceased to flow, and Lady found her sense of self slip. Her heart began to pound as dread set in, but it no longer felt like it was within her. Before she could move, the sound of whispers came to her.
They were the same voices from before, the indistinguishable language that did not need the voice of lungs to be communicated. She had begun to believe that they were the voices of the monsters, but something seemed more abhorrent this time. She had never understood the words before, but now they seemed to take shape, forms whose meaning she could almost grasp. She listened and shivered as the seemingly many whispers synchronized, forming a single voice, and began to repeat something just beyond her understanding.
The voice echoed around Lady, causing her to turn as she looked for the source of the sound, but she found that she remained alone. Never had she experienced such darkness, not even in sleep. She attempted to pierce the abyss, but the shadows were thick and yielded nothing to her.
Name me…
This time she could understand the words, and the voice seemed to be whispered into her ear. Lady’s reached for her sword as she whirled around, ready to attack her opponent, but her hand found nothing. The effort was wasted, as there was nothing behind her, a terrifying thought confounded by the realization she was without her sword. Lady strained to hear the voice in the darkness, but only the sound of her own footfall reached her.
Condescending laughter suddenly filled the silence. The realization donned on Lady that the voice was not around her, but within her mind.
“Who are you?” Lady shouted into the void, receiving only more bubbling laughter. Suddenly her chest throbbed, and she doubled over in pain.
I am the darkness between the stars.
Lady could feel the words fluttering in her head like moth wings. She shuddered violently from as she frantically clawed at her chest, the sensation of movement within her very body violating her consciousness.
I am the End of all things…
The voice now thundered throughout her body. She could feel her skin stretching and sliding as something inside of her moved, as if she were a glove and a hand were stretching within her. The skin of her arm tore and the limb splintered. Lady screamed in terror of the violating sensation, as an arm not of her own pulled itself away from her. She stared in unimaginable horror as another entity began to pull itself out of her body. It was as if they were made of clay and some force pulled the two parts away from one another, each a reflection of the other.
Lady’s face crawled as if tiny worms squirmed below the surface. Her hands rose and clawed at her flesh, trying to pull them off, but found hold of much more than small insects, pulling what felt to be entire heaps of flesh from her face. Her vision blurred as her skin stretched away from her face, making a sickening pop as whatever she had grasped broke free. Blinking, Lady focused her eyes and beheld in her hands a face with red hair and violet eyes staring at her, smiling.
Lady realized that her mirror half remained joined to her at the hips and screamed. She pulled back violently, desperately trying to get away from her mimic.
Lady fell feebly away as the being finished separating, gracefully stepping out of Lady’s body, laughter emitting from its grinning face.
I am you.
The voice prickled Lady’s skin as if the wind sighed the very words, causing gooseflesh to rise.
“You are not me!” Lady shouted, having found her voice.
Laughter again surrounded her as if berating a small child, the kind of laughter that Lady herself did not have. The laughter was older, far more mature. And yet, it lacked the coarseness Lady’s voice had acquired from the shouting in battles. This was the kind of laugh that could turn men’s heads in interest.
Look closer.
The words were inviting as they flowed through Lady’s head, caressing her mind. But they were laced with a twinge of something malevolent underneath, something older than the world. The figure reached down to Lady and pressed the scar on Lady’s chest with its finger. Lady winced as the fragment within vibrated, as though it were responding to the replica’s presence.
The reflection smiled and danced away into the darkness, the shadows parting to make way as it moved through them, leaving Lady once again within the encampment. Something was very wrong as Lady picked up on the all too familiar smell of death in the air. Alarm seized Lady as she scrambled to her feet, chasing after the mirage that gracefully ran just out of her reach through the now bloodied encampment.
“What did you do?” Lady demanded of it, not able to take in her surroundings. Yet out of the corner of her eyes she could see the hunched figures which hardly resembled the human beings they once were. As she searched for the phantom, Lady noticed that it was not just people bent and disfigured, but monsters littered the ground as well. None of them bore wounds that were typical of battle.
Fear and anger filled Lady as she caught sight of a wisp of red hair disappearing around a tent, escaping her sight. Lady dashed around the tent and abruptly came to a stop as she beheld the sweeping vista of tens of thousands of bodies, bent and distorted as if they had been crushed. Horrified, Lady turned and retched from the sight, but she did not have time to react as the melodious voice mocked her.
Never mind them. People are of no value.
“You murdered them!” Lady screamed turning from the sight to meet her impersonator who was now standing behind her.
I can do no wrong for I do not know what it is. I simply am.
Rage filled Lady’s heart and she lashed out at the abomination wearing her skin, but her frantic advances were easily averted. Undeterred, she continued her assault, but to no avail. The figure moved with deceiving speed that kept it beyond Lady’s reach, blurring in Lady’s eyes as it did so.
Lady shrieked at the apparition in frustration. “What do you want?”
Lady found herself pinned beneath the reflection, who had moved so quickly that there appeared to have been no movement at all. It held Lady down, sitting on her hips. The violet eyes stared down at her, unblinking orbs that reflected Lady’s frightened face within. She wanted to fight, but her body felt as though it were made of sand. She struggled mentally, but her body made no motion. The imitation bent down, surrounding Lady in a blanket of its own red hair, while lips brushed against Lady’s ear and whispered cold words.
Name me.
Lady’s eyes went wide as the command slid into her body, reaching into the very depths of her sub consciousness, stripping away any sense of power and security. Lady’s lips opened up to let out a silent scream, the answer coming to her like a shot though the heart. Tears welled in her eyes as the shard pulsed in her chest, sending shockwaves of pain throughout her body. Lady realized that it was changing her.
Lady squeezed her eyes shut and her cracked lips opened again, whispering the name of the image.
“Malice…”
Malice sat up and smiled down at her, pleased with the name.
Now use me.
Lady awoke, the words still ringing in her head as she had spoken them aloud from her sleep. Lady was drenched in sweat, and even the dim light entering her tent felt harsh against her eyes.
She glanced around at the seemingly unreal world as she sat up, apprehensive.
It was just a dream…
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