Many years ago.
A little girl's laughter rang out like a bell through the solemn mantras of the temple. Lucius paused in his scrubbing of the grand temple's vast marble tiles. His back ached and his knees were sore. He rose to his feet and scratched his head. 'When did they bring young girls to this temple?'
He wiped the suds from his arms and dropped the brush back into the bucket. He dropped the handle of the bucket and hurried towards the laughter.
'If Sir Colin catches me, I will just tell him that I went to fetch fresh water!'
He turned several sharp corners until he found a snow blonde girl chasing butterflies around the inner courtyard.
The girl spun as the butterflies fluttered upward into the light. Her clothing twirled around in crimson and orange, much like the wings of the bugs she chased.
"What's an ember doing here?"
The girl turned to look at Lucius, her eyes glowing brightly cyan as her cheeks flushed pink. "Oh! They said I could tend the garden. What are you doing here?" She shyly replied.
Lucuis hid the bucket behind his back and straightened. "I'm a squire! I will become a templar like my liege, Sir Colin."
The ember girl giggled causing Lucius' blush deepened.
"What about you, Sister?" He huffed.
"I'm Apoline, Squire." She grabbed his hand. Apoline's eyes glowed brightly and he jerked away. He opened and closed his mouth like a stranded fish, holding his hand like he had been burned. "Father Juneau brought me here for my training."
Lucius stared in disbelief.
"What's wrong, Squire?" Apoline waved her hand in front of his face and he flinched.
Lucuis scrambled backwards and closed his mouth. "His Holiness was here?"
She tilted her head as she looked at him oddly. "Yes, isn't this the main temple?"
Lucuis wiped his damp hands on his trousers. "It is but his Holiness doesn't, well, he's important. I've never heard of him taking anyone somewhere for training. I see him at the provings with the rest of the Pillar but…"
"You were there?" Apoline interrupted.
"Of course, I was! So was the rest of the kingdom!"
"You don't remember me then, Squire?" She asked in a hurt tone.
HIs thoughts shuffled as he tried to recall the embers that were at the Proving. He remembered the roar of the crowd and the smell of cooked mutton over hickory. There had been a couple of taller embers observing the Whisperers but his attention had been on the templar candidates. The clanging of a sword upon a shield, stomping and then the defeat of Sir Lyre by General Castillo's son was something to behold. Afterwards, he and the other squires too young to compete in the proving had tried the move when their lords weren't watching.
His gaze settled on the way the sky and sunlight reflected from Apoline's snowy hair, giving her a halo of sapphire that was paler than the intensity of her glowing eyes. "Wait." He remembered that the opening prayer by His Holiness the Dragon Slayer, Juneau Arnaud had grabbed a young ember's hand as he gave the proving's blessing. Her hair was snow white too.
"You were the one with the Pillar," Lucuis finally stated. His bucket dropped with a plop on the stone behind him.
Apoline nodded, beaming. "I was! Father Juneau is really nice." She stifled a giggle at the lost bucket as Lucuis nudged the bucket behind him with his foot.
"LUCIUS?!" An irritated male voice boomed, echoing through the halls.
Lucuis tensed. "Sir Colin noticed I was missing," he inwardly cursed. "Apoline, I uh, have to go. Can we meet here after dinner? I... I'd like to know more about... His Holiness."
"Sure, Squire," Apoline nodded, the tips of her ears were still flushed.
"Uh, call me Lucius," he stammered as he grabbed his bucket and ran towards the main hall.
----
Now.
Everything hurt. Lucius's ears rang as his head spun. He couldn't see as he struggled to sit up. He didn't remember laying down. With effort, his eyes opened to blurry dark shapes and shadows. Beyond the ringing was shouting and the clang of metal. His mouth tasted of stale blood and dirt.
"Lucius," a feminine voice whispered. He turned his head to one side to see no one beside him.
His tongue felt heavy as he finally regained his feet. "Who's still alive?" He croaked.
"Merek, Simon, and I still breathe," Bryce's voice wheezed from somewhere to the left of Lucius.
"Apoline?"
"She.."
Lucius squinted, searching for the slender figure. His chest tightened, it was bad enough to lose half of his team but to lose Apoline…
A warm hand touched the side of Lucius's face. "Is behind you," Apoline's voice was weak, barely above a whisper, "Squire." As she approached from behind him. Her form slowly came into sharp focus. Her deep sapphire colored eyes were full of tears.
Bryce cleared his throat, "She saved us. The monster is gone."
Apoline hugged herself as she trembled. "I couldn't bring them back from Mara… I tried. I…"
Lucius turned to look at Apoline and then the others. At the wood's edge, he saw the mangled bodies of his fallen templar brothers: Tristan, Asher, Joseph, and Thomas. Everywhere was splashed crimson. Chunks of flesh and metal mixed together on the rotting leaves. His eyes travelled upward and saw the dangling entrails from what might have once been horses from the branches of the barren oaks.
Bile rose up in his throat. He quickly leaned down and tightly closed his eyes, saying a quick prayer as his stomach voided on the ground. His surviving companions groaned.
"We need to report back," Simon stated as he came up behind him, a firm hand on Lucius's pauldron.
"The sod got away but we need to lick our wounds and bury our dead," Bryce added.
Apoline stood at the edge of the scene of slaughter, her eyes fixed at the remains on the ground. "I can find him, he… needs to be brought before the judgement of Teiwaz's hammer," her voice trembled.
Merek limped to the Ember and shook his head, "I don't doubt you, Sister Apoline but we should go home. We can't let you go after him alone while we limp home, tails between our legs. Between the Fleur and the Wolf, all your efforts to save us would be forfeit."