Knights of Anathaeum Catch Your Eyes

[Selene]

"At last! the Glass Loch and Glass Flame, together for the first time in centuries!" Said a man standing in the middle of the road. He was human, youthful, with sharp eyebrows and greasy black hair. Upon his nose sat a pair of round spectacles. One lens flashed yellow as it reflected the sunlight, while the other flashed blue. "With these, surely we can create the perfect vessel, one that can withstand the power of his gaze!"

The man held two round balls of glass in his hands, each glowing with their own peculiar light. One crackled with the warmth of a candle flame. The other, a bit smaller in size, showed cool depths, as ice does.

Another man stepped up behind the first, taller and more dour in cast. He looked over a shoulder at the two glass orbs. "Put those away, Navon," said the taller man. "It took a damn long time to find 'em. You don't want them getting whisked out from under us now by some common highwaymen, do you?"

Frowning, Navon put the orbs away, one in each pocket. "That's why you're here, Borzin. To do away with anyone who tries to interrupt my work."

The two men continued down the forest path. Without the flashing orbs and all the shouting, they looked just like any other pair of travelers. The path was wide and well-traveled, a common route through the woodsy outerlands of the Marches.

---

Selene's staff tapped against the packed earth of the wide path as she walked. She and the young Dusk Knight Byanka were on their way back from a brief mission in Lerwick, a town under Lady Cregner's control. The villagers feared they had a moonhound on their hands, a dangerous beast of the Loch. But it had turned out to be a child's prank. Selene didn't believe in wasted journeys, so even though they had not been very useful in the village, she was still in good spirits. She wondered if the same was true for her young protege.

From up the road, two men approached them, going the opposite way. One was short and one was tall. The taller one nodded at them, eyes dark but the neighborly smile on his face warm enough. The shorter one did not acknowledge them at all, his hands fidgiting inside his coat pockets. They passed by each other with little remark, in the way that strangers on the same path often did.

A few steps later, and Selene came to an abrupt stop. Her staff skidded in the dirt and then stood still. She turned her head, slowly, and gazed with cool eyes at the backs of the two men, who continued further down the road.

"Not to alarm you," she said in a low voice, turning to Byanka. "But I think we have to go back to Lerwick."

Byanka Valkas

 

[Byanka Valkas]

Byanka had remained mostly quiet throughout her journey and mission with Selene, Lady of Dusk. It had turned out the reason for the call of assistance to the knights was merely a prank, which Byanka found vaguely amusing.

As the two Dusk knights walked along a dirt path, Byanka took in her surroundings. They had left the village boundaries and were coming upon a gathering of trees that could be considered a rather thin forest. She immediately noticed the two men as they came out of the trees, walking side by side. Byanka watched them coolly as they got closer. When they passed, a slight shiver trickled down the young knight's spine, and she glanced over her shoulder at the two men as they continued walking the shorter man was still fidgeting with something in his pockets and Byanka had just had the thought that this seemed a little suspicious when Selene stopped suddenly.

Byanka's expression did not change as the older woman spoke. "I agree," she replied, in an equally low voice. The short man had something in his pockets, something that could potentially be dangerous to the villagers in Lerwick, whom they had supposedly just rescued.

Selene

 

[Selene]

Though she wasn't facing them anymore, Selene could feel the taller, dangerous-looking man's eyes on them. His steps broke their steady rhythm, crunching in the gravel as he twisted round to glance at them in much the same way that Selene had earlier. It seemed that the two knights had been noticed, too.

"Let us keep going down the path for a moment," Selene whispered, tapping her staff on the ground and starting to walk again. "We'll turn back when the sun sets."

The stand of trees along the sides of the road thickened as they went on their way. As soon as they rounded the bend, Selene spotted a nice, flat rock, and sat down upon it. With the strangers out of earshot, she spoke more freely. "Those two men had something worse than a moonhound in their possession. I'd be happier if we prepared some before we confronted them."

She kicked her weary feet out, pointing the toes of her boots upwards. "Besides, this will give you a chance to practice your tracking through the Loch. Tell me, Byanka, did you sense the shape of that magic?"

Byanka Valkas

 

[Byanka Valkas]

Byanka began walking again, silently following Selene down the path until they reached the cover of the woods. She nodded at her words. The men were strange and facing them on instinct unprepared would not end well. Something danced in the back of her mind and every time she reached for it, it danced further out of her reach until it was nearly faint.

"It felt familiar," she replied to the Captain of Dusk. "They were hiding something." As she spoke, she was still reaching for that dancing thought just out of reach. She nearly caught it and something cool washed over her, clearing her mind's eye for a moment. "They have powers over the mind," she said suddenly. Her feet seemed to be anchored to the ground, while her mind stretched, like a child waking up from a nap.

She chanced a glance at the woman sitting down. She knew Selene was well versed in matters of the mind in relation to Loch, so Byanka had been honored when Selene had asked her to join her on this mission, as simple as it was.

 

[Selene]

Selene nodded at Byanka's assessment. Of course, one didn't need to be able to sense magic to know that the pair of travelers had been hiding something - their body language advertised that well enough. But being able to track the flow of mana that emanated from man and beast alike, did help narrow things down.

"Half right," the Captain said. There was no admonishment in her voice. Her face was neutral, and she seemed neither displeased or impressed by the Loch knight's answer. "Those men did not possess much power of their own. It is an artifact, which your mind's eye sees. A glass armonium, to be precise."

Selene recognized the signs of the glass, because her own staff was made of the very same material. She shifted the staff in her hands, and leaned the crystal tip towards Byanka for her to see. "Our Order once knew how to shape and imbue elemental glass, but the art is now lost to us. Only a few remain unbroken in the world, this one here among them." The sheer obsidian of the crystal glinted in the sunlight, flashing white before fading back to a deep, semi-transparent black. "Such instruments are dangerous in unskilled hands. We shall do our best to recover the one those men have."

Perhaps it was not right to take something from people who had not been proven guilty yet. But it was the Knights of Anathaeum who had put such powerful artifacts into the world, and it was their responsibility to make sure they were not misused.

Byanka Valkas

 

[Byanka Valkas]

Byanka listened to Selene speak as the pieces clicked together. So that's what she had felt. A glass armonium. She had heard tales of these artifacts and their origins, tales that warned of their dangerous powers. She supposed anything could be dangerous in unskilled hands, and they should likely take this opportunity to prevent anything from going haywire, before it actually did.

Maybe it was unfair, since technically nothing bad had happened, but Byanka could still not shake away the feeling that something was likely going to awry. Byanka nodded, eyeing Selene's staff. She stayed silent for a moment, taking the time to gather her thoughts and strengthen her mind in preparation of the encounter that would likely be soon to follow.

After a pause, Byanka tilted her head. "I sense there may be another artifact in their posession,"