Huma quivered, part of him yearning to hear the story, part of him repulsed.
“You must ask Lord Oswal about Durac sometime—when you meet him on the other side!” Rennard charged Huma, catching the anguished knight off guard. They struggled together, and Huma found himself staring into a face half-twisted by madness. Gone was the emotionless facade that he had always wondered about, the mask behind which Rennard had hidden his treachery. Huma succeeded in pushing the other knight away.
“What was her name, nephew? Karina? I saw her only once, years later, when I finally located the village he had frequented before his death. She was a beautiful woman—wheat-colored hair, elfin face, slim—a woman full of life. I thought of wooing her, but then I saw you—Durac all over again, though only a lad—and knew that she would shun the horror that I was. I was a fool to think of anything other than my promise to my true lord.” Rennard’s sword cleaved the air as it came down at Huma. The younger knight rolled to the side and into a squatting position.
“You killed her, didn’t you?” Huma’s voice was cold and lifeless as he finally relived the days of his mother’s fatal illness, which had seemed to come from nowhere.
“You should thank me. I thought of you. I wanted you to be the knight Durac should have been. I believed I could keep you unaware of the truth.” Rennard smiled obscenely.
“The dream. I had a dream about your foul god.”
“I thought I might draw you to my side, make you a comrade and spare us this.”
“What by the platinum dragon goes on here?”
Both combatants froze as light streamed into the room. Bennett stood in the doorway, flanked by two of his fellows from the Order of the Sword. A quick glance showed Rennard’s realization of his mistake; Bennett must have retired on his own or at least have departed, and Rennard had had no chance to treat him as he had treated all those unsuspecting others.
“Rennard? Huma?” Whatever his faults, the son of the late Grand Master was not slow. He took in the scene, saw the tattered cloak and hood that covered Rennard’s armor, and knew what the knight represented.
Bennett pulled out his sword and pointed at the traitor. “I want him!”
“How quickly the veneer of dignity vanishes in the face of petty emotions,” Rennard comment wryly. Without another word, he took a savage swing at Huma—who dodged—and then Rennard bolted over the pews.
“He has nowhere to go!” Bennett’s resemblance to a bird of prey was even more obvious now. His eyes were wide and burned intensely, yet they caught every movement, studied all angles. His movements were fluid, calculated. Bennett was a hawk about to dive upon its prey. He stalked Rennard now.
But Rennard stepped into the shadows of the wall—and slid through. Huma reached the walls before the others and felt the spot. He did not think that Rennard had used sorcery to get away, as Magius had done once. No, it might—yes! Huma’s fingers found a slight indentation, and the wall suddenly gaped open to swallow him. Behind him, he could hear Bennett shouting for the other two to follow, then the wall closed once more. Huma had no time to wait for them.
Where did Rennard hope to go?
The elder knight’s rapid footsteps were barely audible, moving upstairs. What did Rennard hope to find up there?
This was not an ancient, hidden stairway as Huma first suspected; he passed two windows on his way up to the next level.
The stairway ended at a trapdoor in the ceiling. Cautiously, he reached up and, with his blade ready in his other hand, pushed it open. Wind and rain rushed to meet him.
The attack he expected did not occur.
Footsteps behind him alerted him to the presence of Bennett and his two companions. Huma did not want them to be the ones to face Rennard. That was reserved for himself. Slowly, Huma stepped up and out, into the rain.
The roof was empty. There was no place to hide, no place to flee to. The knight walked to the nearest ledge and peered over. Knights were beginning to gather below; Bennett had sounded the alert.
The first of Bennett’s two companions lifted himself out onto the roof. “Where is he? Did you catch him?”
Huma shook his head. Where was Rennard? The newcomers also combed the roof, but they could not discover a trace. Rennard had simply vanished.
Bennett refused to believe this. Knights searched all the nearby buildings and, when that failed to turn up anything, searched the rest of the Keep as well. Rennard’s belongings were gathered and inspected, but they offered few clues.
The clerics had rushed to Lord Oswal’s side the moment they learned of the attack. To their amazement, he appeared to be recovering. As one cleric explained to Huma, Bennett, and the others who had assembled, Lord Oswal’s body was throwing off effects of the dose that Rennard had administered earlier—thus the assassin hoped to effect a second dose before the High Warrior had recovered.
As the knights dispersed, some to continue the search for the traitor, some to their various duties, Huma felt a hand on his shoulder. He started, his first thought that Rennard had come to finish him off. The figure behind him spoke.
“It’s Bennett.”
Huma turned slowly around, and the two faced one another. Oswal’s nephew seemed to be fighting several emotions all at once, for his face registered traces of embarrassment, anger, and confusion. At last, he reached out a hand.
“My gratitude for all you’ve done.”
Uncertain as to how to react, Huma simply took the hand in his own and shook it. “I failed to capture your father’s killer.”
Bennett forced his face into immobility. Huma knew that the other knight was very uncomfortable. “You unmasked him. You saved my uncle. Even—even fought that pale traitor to a standstill, something I never could have done.”
The hawk-faced knight saluted briefly and departed. Huma watched him disappear, a brief smile playing on his lips before he, too, turned and left, hoping to find some trace of Rennard.
It came as no surprise, two days later, that Lord Oswal became the new Grand Master. He had remained isolated before that decision, with only the Council members speaking with him. All possible opposition by Bennett had vanished; in fact, the new Grand Master’s nephew was petitioning to step up to the Order of the Rose. There was every likelihood that he would be recommended. It was also likely that he would be wearing the trappings of High Warrior himself before long.
Huma struggled to get through those two days. When he was at last granted an audience with Lord Oswal, Huma shook visibly. To him, the Grand Master was a figure almost as revered as Paladine, for he was, after all, the living symbol of the Triumvirate’s desires.
As Huma knelt in supplication, an odd sound reached his ears and he dared to look up. Flanked by an impressive honor guard consisting of veterans from all three Orders, the Grand Master was sitting on his throne and chuckling.
“Get up, Huma. You don’t have to stand on ceremony with me. Not now.”
Huma rose and came closer. “Grand Master—”
A sigh. “If you must be formal, make it Lord Oswal. I do not have the pretensions of my brother—not yet.”
“Lord Oswal, before I start, tell me of Durac of Eldor.”
“Durac? I’ve known two or three. Eldor . . . I’m not sure—”
“Please. You know which one. Rennard’s brother. My—father.”
The new Grand Master, stared open-mouthed. “Father? Durac? Then, Rennard—”
“My uncle.” Huma forced the unsavory word from his mouth.
“Paladine!” Lord Oswal’s voice was little more than a whisper. “Huma, I am sorry.”
“Sir. My father?”
The Grand Master wiped something from his eye. “I’m sorry, Huma. I wish I could tell you everything, but I honestly don’t remember much. Durac was a good knight, although a little overenthusiastic. He was a brilliant, almost natural fighter, picking up skills as easily as I might pick up a knife. I remember that he spent much of his time west, but I never knew it was because he had a family. I do remember, though,” Oswal said, rubbing his chin, “him shouting to us as we left him and the others to hold the pass. Now I realize what he meant. When he said ‘watch over them,’ I thought he meant the men. What a fool! He meant his family, and only Rennard really knew.”