About an hour of driving later, Kash finds himself on the beautiful plateaus of the Highlands. The plateaus are semi-circular, each one leading to a steep cliff, which in turn flattens out abruptly to another plateau. It continues in this stair-step pattern until it reaches the ocean. Small, semicircular fields, larger square plateaus... it is all beautiful. Stunning and surprising to Kash, who has never actually been to these lands. Because of the spirit, he has heard a lot about them, but he has never seen them until now.
Somewhere way down there, on one of the last cliffs, that spirit awaits his arrival, crouching in its castle.
Kadezna has himself curled in the passenger seat, his forehead against the window. It turns out that the Order did not, in fact, have magical gear. He ended up just dressing in his own set. The gear is black and has a scaled pattern of leather that makes it nearly impenetrable by human weapons. Which is great, except for the fact that he is facing a spirit. Sighing softly, Kash shifts, readjusting his grip on the sword.
Vara, who has been silent the entire drive, now asks, "Are you okay, Kash?"
At her words, the panic in the back of his mind explodes and he shudders slightly, fighting to suppress the emotion once again. He watches with detached interest as his knuckles turn white on the sword's sheath.
"You know, it would be completely normal for you to be flipping out right about now," Vara says. Kash gets the feeling she is trying to help, but the more she talks the worse the panic gets. "I mean, you are about to go face an impossible spirit that delights in ripping people in nice tiny shreds. And no one has ever beat him..." Kash closes his eyes, trying to block out the image her words bring to his mind. "So we think he's super territorial. Oh, people speculate that he's not actually a spirit, but some sort of demon. Isn't that scary? Experts also think that he has some sort of poison to kill his victims slowly and--"
"Vara!" Kash snaps, twisting in his seat to face her, letting his legs return to the floor.
"What? Oh! Sorry," Vara murmurs, seeming sheepish. "Sorry, Kash. I'm just nervous."
"You're nervous?" Kadezna growls through his teeth, turning back to the window. Nervous does not cover it. Try terrified.
Vara is silent for a moment, the wolf in the backseat making a slight grumbling noise. Finally, she murmurs, "This is your last chance to back out, Kash. We're here."
As she speaks she turns the car from the rolling paved road to an unkempt two-track. On the edge of the cliff to Kash's right, a massive castle stands, spires reaching to the sky.
We're dead, one of his voices whispers.
Back out. Back out right now. You're going to die, logic yells.
Never! We're doing this! The determination replies. The two aspects of his brain go to war, and as Vara pulls the car to a stop, Kash simply sits, frozen, against the door.
"Kash?" Vara asks.
Back down!
Never!
Back down!
A new voice steps through the two angered aspects. His pride.
Slowly, Kadezna opens the door and steps out of the car, unfurling his tall body for the first time in an hour. Facing the castle, Kadezna takes a deep breath and raises his chin.
"I will not back down."
As soon as the words leave Kadezna's mouth, the confidence ebbs back into near-nothing. He can feel the panic pushing back, wrapping around his limbs, and making him freeze. Above all else, he does not want to go near that castle, standing quietly in all its glory.
Softly, the sword hums in his hand, seeming to purr against his skin. The sword appears to have a mind of its own and the presence is strangely comforting. It is familiar, but Kadezna's memory refuses to budge. The sword and its personality remain a mystery.
Despite the mystery surrounding it, the sword is comforting, and Kadezna tightens his grip on its sheath.
Lowering her voice, Vara asks softly, "Kash?"
His mentor's voice helps break the grip of panic and terror. Taking a shaky breath, Kadezna steps out of the reach of the door and shuts it softly behind him. The window rolls down seconds later, just in time to hear him murmur, "I cannot believe I'm doing this."
"You don't have to do this, Kadezna," Vara murmurs, her voice sad. She doesn't expect him to come back. Then again, he doesn't expect him to come back.
"If I wish to stay with the Order, then I must," Kash replies. It is only when he has completed the sentence that he realizes he fell back on the semi-formal speech he first had when he woke in the hospital. In the two years of his time with the Order, he has made an effort to change his speech to match the informal slang of today.
"Kash... we can work something out. We'll get you a home... something..." Vara tries, her voice trailing off.
Kadezna turns back toward her, smiling faintly. Despite the panic and fear, the presence of the sword, right alongside his pride, is slowly making an impact. He's starting to be able to breathe, the tendrils wrapped tightly around his body releasing him slightly.
"I want to stay with the Order, Master. I want them to see that I am not the monster that they think I am."
"Some of us don't see you that way, you know," Vara replies, staring at where she has the steering wheel gripped tightly in her hands. Her knuckles, as Kadezna watches, turn white.
Ignoring her statement, Kash asks, "How loose is that rule about you not being able to help out?"
"Not at all, Kash."
"Well, if I die, will you be able to retrieve my body, or is that considered too much help?" Kash asks, trying desperately to brighten her mood. The dark cloud hanging over his own head seems suddenly insignificant. He wants to help Vara, who is one of his most trusted friends. Nearly a mother to him... though perhaps more of an older sister.
"There won't be a body," Vara replies shortly. Kash blinks, realizing how true her statement is. That spirit, knowing its reputation, will leave nothing of him left for the world to grieve.
Taking another deep breath, Kadezna says, "I'll be back before sundown."
With that, he turns, not wanting to watch the sadness on Vara's face or hear another of her dejected comments. Strapping the sword alongside various knives hanging from his belt, he starts across the expanse of the field between himself and the castle. It is a good hundred yards long, giving Kadezna plenty of time to think about his impending doom.
Instead of playing through the possible ways he could be dismembered or letting his mind argue with itself, the boy turns his attention to more tactile things. Judging by the position of the sun, it is just about midday. So, if the sun sets around 8:30, that gives him just about nine hours of time. Hopefully, one way or another, he is not going to need all nine hours.
Moving his eyes from the sky to the castle, Kash studies it. Overall, the layout is rather simple. Massive and beautifully constructed, but simple. The outer wall is a good hundred feet high, made of a tanned stone, and built in a vaguely rectangular shape. Each corner is ordained by a high tower, watching over the lands below it. The keep itself is silent and big, looming over the wall. Visible from Kadezna's position are five towers. Four in a similar shape to the wall and one very large one directly in the middle. There are, no doubt, some small buildings in the courtyard between the wall and keep. Permanent stalls would be set up to provide the castle's lord with the best food in his area.
The wind sweeps softly across the plain, coming from behind Kadezna and whipping the fabric of his brown cloak against his body. It makes the castle seem forlorn and lonely. Abandoned and silent, if one did not know better.
To his own surprise, he finds the stillness of the castle comforting. Perhaps the spirit is not everything it's cracked up to be. Perhaps it is a local folks tale that has the Order running scared. It has happened before.
Or perhaps the spirit is an ambush predator and is luring you right into its claws. Idiot.
Kash sighs softly, realizing that his inner voice is right. This spirit is something to be afraid of. Otherwise, the Wildfire Cult would have taken it a long time ago. Not to mention there is something very off about this castle. Something that does not compare to the other ancient structures he's seen. Something... wrong.
I'm doomed.
Focus! Idiot! One step at a time! We can do this! Do not back down!
"Sometimes," Kash growls lowly, "I hate myself. Now, how am I even supposed to get in this thing?"
He is nearly at the castle's wall now, near the impressive gate that is nearly closed. The bottom is just about a foot off the ground. From a further distance, it appears completely down. Kash smiles despite himself. There's that problem solved.
Taking his own advice, Kash turns his attention to breaking this process down into steps. Step one, gain entrance to the castle. Got that covered. Step two, locate the spirit. Step three, observe and find weaknesses. Step four, formulate a plan. Step five, attack, and hope he wins.
Stopping right under the formidable gate, Kadezna hesitates one last time.
You go in there, bud, and there is no going back.
"I can do this," Kash insists. Then, before he can last-second change his mind, he positions himself on his back, grabbing the vicious-looking spikes on the bottom of the gate.
If that thing drops, it's going to impale you in at least two places.
"Oh, will you shut up?" Kash hisses to his own mind, using his grip on the inch-wide spikes to haul himself underneath the gate. Once wriggled free of the gate's area, he rolls nimbly to his feet, looking around at his surroundings.
The guardhouse is to his left, standing tall and silent. Not even a pebble is out of place, the stone pristine and shiny. That seems... wrong. Why would the wall and the guardhouse be so incredibly... untouched? Furrowing his brow, Kash steps out of the arched gateway and into the small, town-like square. The ground beneath his boots blends from grass into cobblestone. Small buildings are tightly packed within the large courtyard. This was no doubt a wealthy providence before being taken by the spirit. Every single stone building is just as good as when it was built, the cobblestone untouched by weeds or decay.
Like a slap, the realization hits him. What he sensed earlier about the castle being off... it was this. The castle remains completely untouched by time. Wind, rain, general erosion should have taken this four-thousand-year-old castle down to nothing in a matter of a hundred years. Yet it stands here, pristine while the wind wails on its walls.
Kadezna no longer feels comforted by the castle's immovable presence. Instead, he feels much more afraid.
One step at a time. You can do this. Kash reminds himself. Find that spirit.
Swallowing the fear climbing his throat, Kash takes another step forward. A large path leads directly from the entrance gate to the main gate of the keep. A deep breath yields another step forward. So far, so good. No spirit in sight. It must be in the keep.
"All I have to do is get to that keep. Just walk straight down this path," Kadezna reminds himself. His heartbeat is almost deafening in his ears. Besides the wind hissing against the walls, the castle is completely and utterly silent. That does not seem right.
A sense of urgency wracks him, and Kash leaps forward, his stride elongating into a fast walk. Halfway across the courtyard, he freezes once again.
Clang, clang, clang, boom!
Kadezna whips around, just in time to watch that gate slam shut.