After that was when the prince joined our class, and I found a place to hunt outside the barrier. Upperclassmen in the academy can leave and reenter the city but doing so is greatly discouraged. I got caught a couple times, the elders never added to the punishment in my case. They didn't tell the instructors that I was some exception though, I was expected to get better at sneaking, and I did.
The oath states that we cannot kill any of the creator's creations, nothing under the arms of the guardian. I always felt like that meant something more then just what the elders told us it did. I doubt I will find out, it won't matter how much honor I win I will always be tainted by what I am.
I expected to hear someone pounding on my door any minute. The prince and his unit had to be back by now. The prince might actually like me for some odd reason but the other members of his unit were under no such restraint. It surprised me when I felt the sun finish setting and there was still no knock.
I sighed again and stood up. Walking over to my walls of weapons, touching each one carefully. The elders would know I wasn't dead yet. The weapons would return to their places in the armory the moment my life force stopped drawing them here, same as they returned here when I wasn't holding them. Every time I walked out my door I got the feeling that I wasn't going to come back this time. This time was no different.
The door closed behind me, I felt a little naked in just normal day clothes and no weapons. It had been quite a while since I just walked around the city. Warriors could carry weapons, even go armored when not on duty in the city. A warrior was never really not on duty anyway. It was frowned on to wear armor in the safest city in the world. I was also raised to know that I am the real weapon. I was probably the most dangerous unarmed person in the world. Maybe the prince could beat me but I doubted it. He had really gotten lucky to get his blade under my chin.
I headed out to my hunting grounds, no one saw me leave not even the sharp eyes on the city wall. I wove through the field making less sound then the cats that hunted the field mice. I stopped at the foot of one of the crystal giants. I saluted the statue then moved beyond the barrier. There was a warmth beneath my shirt against my skin. I turned and was looking at an uninhabited area where large trees grew off the side of a mountain then quickly faded into an inland desert. There wasn't a river or any other good source of water in sight. It would be a terrible place for humans. Without magic it would be a terrible place for anyone.
I shrugged and started off towards my hunting grounds. My oath kept me from killing, but my monster demanded blood. Lucky me it didn't demand that what I fed from die. The army of the light were a bunch of vegetarians, doesn't sound scary does it? Growing enough protein could be a problem for the army, luckily it wasn't made of many humans.
I drank enough to keep the monster from driving me crazy with the need. It was never satisfied and never full. That was ok with me, it helped me never forget that one moment I could slip and who knows what would happen then. I found a tree that grew over the side of a mountain cliff. I knew that if it wasn't for the shield I would be able to see the crystal city from here. I imagined it would look small, but still glitter in the light of the full moon. Only the buildings in the center of the city were crystal but some of them stretched like sword tips pointing at the sky. It was beautiful even if you could only get that kind of view from the shoulder of one of the giants. Just be careful not to let an elder catch you up there. You would think that the things could fall apart any moment from the reaction I got from being up there. Of course I guess in my case they could have been much more worried about the thing coming to life and trying to kill me. That had been when I was only eight.
After jumping up the cliff, I fell asleep leaning against the tree. I don't sleep very often, I never fall asleep by accident. The monster never let me. This time I didn't realize I had been asleep until I woke to a laugh. The prince sat down next to me. Careful not to touch me. I got the feeling that he wanted to but was afraid of how I would react. Strange, he had defeated me in fair combat, what did he have to worry about?
At first I thought it was because of the monster but he had seen the demon and hadn't actually tried to kill me. He had also seemed happy even as we were trying to hurt each other as we had sparred. As we had both fought without holding back as much as normal. Now I was in the form I was born with and he seemed worried. He had said he liked this form better. Who wouldn't like my islee form better? My demonic form was the thing of nightmares after all. "I think you could see the golm from here if it weren't for the shield."
I looked over at the prince. He was dressed plainly even for an elf. He also had no visible weapons. It took me a moment to realize that the memory of the crystal giant had not been from my point of view. I had to be careful around other people, I could read their minds, and sometimes it would happen even when I didn't intend it too. "You were there?"
The prince nodded, "I had snuck out of the palace, it was much like tonight actually, just before dawn, that was the first time I saw you." The memory had some sort of rose color on it. It took me a moment to figure out it was the bond he had talked about earlier. That must be torture to have feelings so strong and not be able to share them. At first because I was an islee, and he is an elf. Now because I am a demon. Though he actually seemed more hopeful now than when the rose color had started. Hopeful but still on edge.
"Why did you attack me then?" I had jumped around but he just smiled at the invisible city. A sharp eyed city guard might see him sitting on the ledge as the sun rose but it was unlikely.
"Because I finally wanted to test myself against you in a fair fight. I had always known that you were fighting with two hands behind your back instead of one like everyone else." It was a saying in the academy that all the warriors learned to fight with one hand tied behind their back. Our oaths prevent us from killing each other. Since shadow spawn aren't alive it doesn't apply to them but you don't learn techniques against shadow spawn.
"Your unit wouldn't have any hands tied when they saw me."
He gave a small snort, "They wouldn't dare." He tilted his head back and forth like he was trying to decide if he should add something, "unless you broke your oath on me."
"Hum, so you aren't afraid of me?"
"I trust you."
I rolled my eyes as I stood and stretched. Then I turned and walked into what looked like a little outcropping behind the tree. The cliff was a straight face of rock on the side of the mountain. The tree marked the middle of the face. It wouldn't have been an easy climb to find me no matter which direction you came from. The out cropping was really an opening to a cave. I remembered finding this place shortly after my unit started getting battle assignments. I still haven't ever actually made the climb myself. The ability to fly came in handy. After a moment of hesitation I heard the prince follow me into the cave.
I would sometimes chase birds out of the cave but for the most part nothing bothered me here. It was a great place to practice small amounts of magic out from under the eyes of the wizards. I had trained under the wizards when I was twelve just long enough to prove that I could control my magic and not become a threat to myself or others. One year was all it took for me to prove that, yet I still avoided wizards whenever possible. The path of a magic user was not one I wanted, but as I had gotten older I found the demon didn't like it if I went much longer than a day without using some sort of magic. Just like when I went too long without blood the demon would start to slip out at every inopportune times if I ignored it. I didn't really want to be forced back into training with the wizards; they all seemed to know something was wrong with me the moment they looked at me. The wizard in my own unit would never let me get behind him. I still wasn't sure if that was on purpose or not. I was very sure he was not the top of his class.
Expendable always came to mind when it came to anyone in my unit. Well that is how they had started anyway. I flexed my hand, my wizard teacher when I was twelve would have thrown something at me for that, two chairs and a table formed up out of the rock. I tried to leave them plain but some of my thoughts always ech onto whatever I am working on. The legs of the table looked like climbing trees, their branches forming a canopy that tied together into the top. Clearly from my thoughts about the elves. You couldn't think about one of them and not think about trees. The chairs where twisting dragons, one wing making the seat and the other wing making the back. There was only one arm which was the dragon's head and neck; the legs looked more like a spring as it was the dragon's tail trailing behind him.
The dragons etched on our weapons were said to be creatures that had lived during the time the brothers had lived. The wizards were the one that forged the weapons, of course none of them now could duplicate the feat now. Either way the symbol for the wizards has always been a dragon in flight. The prince stopped and looked at the chairs and table while I sat down in the one on the right. "Good thing there are no wizards around, you would end up locked in their tower for the next three hundred years or so."
"Only if I did it around one of the instructors that actually had a bit of pull and wasn't an elder. The wizard in my unit tried to bring up three times with the tower how much more powerful I am then he was led to believe. I do believe that is the only time, I think, a wizard ever got a speech about free will and right for a person who had control to choose what they wanted to do."
"The elders really are terrified of you aren't they?"
"You are the only odd ball that knows what I am that doesn't seem to be, I think. I guess I cannot really say that for sure without going around and asking everyone if they know."
"Perk of being a spoiled, pampered, palace brat. It is someone else's job to keep me alive. It is my job to make that job as hard as possible."
"Hence sneaking out to meet a demon in a place they put in your mind. In the middle of the night."
"Does the mental ability of yours work both ways?"
He still didn't seem worried. I had trained against him enough to know he wasn't an airhead, he should know the risks of other people just going through his mind whenever they wanted. He was a prince, it wasn't his own secrets he should be worried about protecting. "I can." Am I trying to get him to run from me? What am I expecting?
He tilted his head a little to the side. His green eyes seemed as sharp as they had been on any other battlefield. He had the advantage here, he had trained against the best politicians. Trained to hear actually what was said and figure out what had not been said. At least with members of the army you didn't have to figure out if what was said was the truth, as they saw it at least. "Yet you are trying so hard not to that you aren't making the connections that the people without that gift make every day."
"I don't want to make a judgement when I am not sure why I am making that judgement. You should be safe in your own mind."
"The wizards don't always agree with that, it would also help you from a bond with just about anyone you wanted. You could tell almost anyone what they wanted to hear, as long as it was true anyway. Not that making connections like that would matter for you, you are the most decorated non commander in the army after all. Possibly the in the whole history of the army."
"Depends on if you count being royalty as a decoration or not." This prince has stayed one weapon and honor behind me my whole career. Of course now that I think about it with this new information maybe that wasn't an accident. Maybe he didn't want to get ahead of me? Why? Could the bond be that controlling or is it just who he is? "You haven't moved up either."
"I haven't built a unit out of the most mismatched squad of people in history. Even if there was that rumor you let your first officer die. The person currently in command isn't guiltless."