A Story By Octavia pt2

The thought kept crossing my mind throughout the day. I wasn’t crazy. I’m almost positive I saw a knight, but it wasn’t one of ours. So why were they in the same town? Coincidences don’t come around as much as people want to believe, and I doubt it was one of those times. Almost all the Churches at ‘The Summit’ had a knight of some form or another. Be they a paladin, or something more standard every leader had some security with them but I didn’t recognize them. Not that I got that good of a look.

It wasn’t until I felt the pain in my cheek that I realised I had been chewing on it in thought.

“Have you found something?” Casipian asked me from his seat across from me.

“Pardon?” I replied. “What do you mean Brother Caspian?

He didn’t even raise his head to respond, he seemed buried in his own reading though from a passing glance of the cover it was clear his reading was more of the recreational sort. “You have been staring at that same page for nearly ten minutes, you must have found something… unless you are wasting my time and yours by daydreaming.”

I swallowed hard, trying to not be loud and get scolded for that too, before clearing my throat as softly as I could manage, still garnering a slight scowl from Caspian. Like he was disgusted a human would need to do such a thing.

“Sorry, I believed I had found something but it would be of no help.” I said, lying. But if Caspian caught it he didn’t seem to want to put in the effort to continue scolding me, a welcomed change from the happenings so far on this trip.

Caspian looked up, but only with his eyes making cold, hard, serpent-like eye contact. “Just get it done. Do you remember what will happen if you do not find what we need?”

“I will be labelled a heretic and excommunicated.” I responded.

“Good.” Caspian said, returning to his book, but mumbled under his breath thinking I could not hear over the sound of the carriage.

I had a feeling that no matter what I could do for him it would be either not adequate or if it were he would be the one taking all the credit. I could never get an answer but I still wondered why now of all times was when we needed to ‘eliminate the threat Sunder poses’ Brother Caspian’s words not mine. For starters, no story that ever made it to me even with the slant of the High Church painted a picture of him as an evil man. And from all accounts he was just a human man. Just someone abnormal in a normal way. He wasn’t some demigod sent to protect ‘The Mother’, how can one man be feared as if he were an army? Even if Weapons Masters consider him a peer, he doesn’t belong to any known order. Even if he did he can’t be that strong can he? It didn’t make sense. Unless ‘Sunder’ was a title given to a group, but no research I have done would indicate that. Given nobody has seen his face, it is possible still that it is simply a title given to the closest warrior to ‘The Mother’ but the first use of the name Sunder only appeared around the time this younger ‘Mother’ took the position. The deeper I looked the more confusing some aspects became. But the one big question is why did we need to find a loophole to kill him. From the reports he has killed many of our knights, but as far as I can understand it the only reason we’d need a loophole is that he’s the ‘First Knight of the Church of The Fair Lady.’

“Brother Caspian.” I said, “I had a thought.”

“And what would that be?” Caspian asked, sitting the book on his lap.

“Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place.” I said.

“Are we now? And where pray tell should you be looking?” he asked, making sure she knew he wasn’t lumping himself into the possible failure.

“I began to wonder if maybe the books of the ‘Church of The Fair Lady’ might contain answers on how to remove a wayward knight from service we could utilise to our means, and cross reference with our own doctrine to make a loophole that doesn’t currently exist.” I said, not slowing down as I spoke to keep him from saying no right away.

Once I finished he raised one eyebrow. “Do you believe that is something that is possible? Do you believe it is a worthy cause to read heretical documents? If you believe it is the case…you can be permitted to read one of their holy writs.” he said.

“I believe it to be worth exhausting all options, Brother Caspian.” I told him.

“Then you shall attempt to obtain one during our next stop.” he said, returning to his book. “But for now continue your research with your available texts. Do not fail me Octavia.”

Lying to Caspian was a challenge in most cases, unless it appealed to his ego in some way. That this ‘research’ could result in his goal of killing the Knight Sunder, was only half of the truth. In full truth, I wanted answers to my own questions. Maybe The Fair Lady had them, maybe she didn’t but the only way to find out was to read those books. It was unlikely to have anything of the nature that could result in forming some new loophole or even anything in the way of explaining why they could be seen as evil. Unless it lay somewhere in text long forgotten. If those stories of the church once being something far less compassionate and more loathsome then it is today does that matter? Even the High Church has ‘evil’ in its past, nothing long standing enough can be considered squeaky clean right? Either way I would find answers, even if it is seemingly insignificant. A small answer was still an answer.