Imperious Order, Part 2

"The Dragon Heart!" said Erich in a reverent whisper. "By the gods!"

"I've never heard of it!" grumbled Hals.

Erich smiled mockingly.

"Ignorant peasant, it is one of the great lost relics of mankind, it disappeared long before the Empire of Kaleth and the Kingdom of Lothal became two separate countries. A banner so pure and powerful that its mere sight could give an entire army the bravery of a Dragon."

"Legend has it." Beginning Barrister "that a Demon Lord pierced Kain's heart with a flaming sword. But with his last dying breath, Kain held tightly his mighty magic spear, the Dragon Slayer, on which was his family's sacred banner; he drove the spear right through the demon's heart, killing him. Kain also died, but the battle was won and his name has inspired generations of brave warriors."

"I've never heard of him either," said Hals.

"I don't remember hearing of the banner being lost," commented Reiner, who vaguely remembered the legend from his tutor's lessons. "I thought they destroyed it."

"It was neither destroyed nor lost" interjected Lady Roselyn sharply. "It was hidden. Returned to the tomb of the hero who wielded it, because its power was too great a temptation to ambitious people, who used it against their fellow man rather than against evil."

Reiner raised an eyebrow.

"And lately have you detected a change for the better in people?"

"Not at all." Lady Roselyn replied. "But these desperate times call for desperate measures. When we take it to him, Baron Ulburt will use it for the purpose of instilling in his soldiers the courage necessary to repel the Nordic horde that has invaded the northern border and rescue these mountains from their filthy clutches." He gave them all a fierce look. "Now, can we start searching?"

The group nodded and made their way towards the crypts.

"The banner is described as pure white," Barrister said aloud as they parted. "With a dragon rampant embroidered on it with gold and silver thread, flanked with a pair of spears.

"If you can find it." Lady Roselyn added. "Don't touch it and call me. It is too powerful and dangerous for the uninitiated to take."

The men began to peek into the crypts. Those belonging to the martyrs were simple, with modest coffins and pious verses engraved on the walls. The crypts of heroes were more elaborate, with sarcophagi carved with the image of their occupants and frescoes of battle scenes on the walls.

Reiner and Franz investigated an archway in the back wall before which Reiner raised the torch. There was a crowned "K" above the lintel.

He smiled.

"Promising." He said.

They went inside. The dust was so thick that it was difficult to make out the episodes of heroism on the walls. On a granite pedestal rested a sarcophagus in the center of the narrow room, but against it rested an old pike and it was covered by a grimy, dust-covered blanket, so it was hard to see what the hero beneath it looked like.

"Let's remove all this junk and take a look at it." Reiner said.

Franz withdrew the pike and the blanket fell to the floor amidst an eruption of dust. The boy let out a yelp and jumped back, waving his hand.

"What's the matter, boy?" asked Reiner.

"I've got something stuck in me." Franz sucked on his palm. "A splinter or something." He looked at the stone coffin, which was in the shape of a knight in full armor but without a helmet and whose long hair stretched over the pedestal on which he lay. "Do you think it's him?"

Reiner described a circle around the stone knight.

"I don't see any banner."

"You fools!" shouted Lady Roselyn from the archway. "You're stepping on it!"

Reiner looked down. His feet were on the soiled blanket. Roselyn rushed forward and pushed him out of the way.

"Get your feet off him! Get your feet off him, you assholes!" She bent down and picked up the pike roughly. A grimace of pain contorted his face for the briefest of moments as he raised it. The blanket was also lifted, and then Reiner saw that it was attached to the pike by a crossbar. He raised an eyebrow. It was indeed a banner, but it could by no means be the one they were looking for. In the shady crypt it was impossible to tell what color it was, but it certainly wasn't white.

With trembling arms and a clenched jaw, Lady Roselyn backed out of the crypt with the banner. Reiner and Franz followed her into the central chamber. Barrister and the others gathered around her as the priestess dusted off the cloth, and raised the torches to light it.

"It can't be this one." Barrister said, his brow furrowed. "Nothing fits."

Reiner agreed. The banner was a dull red, emblazoned with a black rampant manticore, flanked by a flaming sword and crowned with a crown of thorns. Reiner felt uncomfortable looking at it. He felt like walking away.

"It is," Roselyn insisted. "Look at it again."

Barrister moved his torch closer and the whole group leaned forward. Reiner forced himself to examine the banner. From up close he could tell that the brownish red of the banner was dried blood, and that the black of the manticore, sword and thorns were dried bloodstains, mold and hairy lichen. Beneath this grime, Reiner made out the faint relief outlines of the original drawing: the embroidered dragon, flanked by crisscrossing spears that Barrister had described. The split blade of the spear was encrusted with dried blood that had run halfway down the shaft.

Barrister recoiled in disgust.

"It has been defiled. The demon's blood has corrupted it. We should burn it."

"Nonsense," Roselyn said. "All that is needed is to clean it. Come on, we must get back to Baron Ulburt. There's no time to waste."

"But ma'am, it's an unholy artifact!" Barrister protested. "Gods only know what would happen to an army marching under this..., this filth."

"What does a commoner know of this sort of thing?" the Lady Roselyn shot back. "You may have made yourselves worthy of rank, captain, but you remain an uneducated peasant. Now do as Baron Ulburt ordered and escort me back."

Barrister clenched his jaw and clenched his fists at his sides. Reiner realized that within him a war was raging between duty and instinct. At last, his shoulders slumped and he dropped his head.

"Forgive me, madam, but I cannot. I am indeed the peasant you say, but I have fought the greenskin hordes, the unbridled ferocity of the northern barbarians, the evil sorcery employed by the worshippers of the dark gods for nearly as many years as you have of life, and I have learned that once touched by darkness, a thing can never truly be cleansed." He shifted with an uneasy air. "Now, please give me that banner. We will burn it in the garden."

"You dare give me orders?" asked Roselyn greedily. "Without the banner, the battle for Nordheim might be lost. Would you confront Baron Ulburt and tell him that, because of a bad impression, you have destroyed that which could have guaranteed his victory?"

Reiner stared at her. Although no physical transformation had taken place, Roselyn had changed. Gone was the quiet, stern holy woman. In her place was a high priestess of antiquity whose eyes blazed with righteous anger. She looked wild, powerful and dangerous, and as much as he was disturbed by this sudden sinister metamorphosis, he also found her uncomfortably attractive. The body beneath the robe, which he had previously thought was a tad too thin, suddenly looked voluptuous and appetizing. She seemed to be used to getting her way and getting what she wanted, and Reiner had always had a weakness for that kind of woman.

"Lady". said Barrister in a broken tone. "I am well aware of Baron Ulburt's plans because I have helped to draw them up, but nothing good can come of an enterprise carried out under this desecrated banner. I will destroy it and accept whatever punishment he sees fit to inflict upon me."

"Dirty soldier boy!" Erich burst out. "And what of us? We face death if we fail in this mission. You condemn us to die for your peasant superstitions."

Barrister shot him a fierce look.

"Would you prefer that hundreds, perhaps thousands of your comrades should die in the event of our success?"

"We have only your word that anything could happen. Your word against the word of a priestess."

Reiner raised an eyebrow at this. If Erich did not sense the evil influence of the blood-soaked banner, he must have had a head of solid granite.

Barrister ignored the knight and held out a hand to the priestess.

"Give me the banner, lady. I implore you."

"I will not give it to you." She replied as she stepped back.

"In that case, I'm afraid I'll have to take it from you by force."

"Don't you dare touch it!" shouted Erich.

As the spearman struggled to unsheathe the sword, Barrister grabbed the pole of the banner and tried to wrench it from Roselyn's hands but, with an angry shout, she touched his chest with her fingertips.

Barrister was a head and a half taller than the woman and must have doubled her weight, but at his touch she staggered back, panting, and sat down heavily on the stone floor. It seemed to Reiner that the old warrior had stumbled over something. Roselyn had barely touched him, and he doubted she could have moved him an inch even if she had unloaded her full weight on him.

Reiner and the others stared open-mouthed at Barrister as he sat on the ground, clutching his chest and struggling to breathe.

Hals knelt down.

"Captain, are you hurt, did the witch cast a spell on you?"

Roselyn raised the banner. Reiner felt it behind him like a huge eye peering over his shoulder. He had the feeling that it was pulling at him, that it was forcing him to turn and look at it.

"Leave him," ordered the woman. "He has disobeyed his lord's order. He is a traitor. From now on you will obey my orders." She pointed to Barrister. "Now, kill this traitor and escort me back to Baron Ulburt."

Reiner groaned. He had grown fond of the old grizzled bear and knew he was right, but orders were orders. Roselyn was now in command, and it was for the good of the Kingdom. She drew her sword as the others were doing and turned to face Barrister.

"Just...just a minute..., lass," Pavel said. He spoke as if pushing each word with his tongue through his teeth. "Baron Ulburt... put us under... the command of Captain... Barrister. And until...he says otherwise...I obey orders...from him."

Reiner stopped the arm that was raising the sword and looked at the one-eyed pikeman. The soldier's forehead was pearly with sweat and his arm with which he was forcing the dagger to stay in place was trembling.

"You will obey me!" cried Roselyn. I am now your chief.

Then it was Hals who shook his head, though not so much as one who disagrees with what he hears, but rather like a bull trying to shake off flies.

"Sorry, lass." He said, straining to speak. "I... I don't think you... have... authority."

Reiner frowned as he tried to concentrate on what Pavel and Hals were saying. It was what he himself thought, so why was he still raising his sword to kill Barrister? Why was he, who had never in his life obeyed an order without first making sure it was in his own best interest, blindly obeying a woman who had not the slightest official authority over him? He may have had a weakness for authoritarian women, but he was not a puppy in love to the marrow either. It had been years since he had allowed his crotch to rule him. What made him act like the fanatical follower of a mad priest?

The banner.

It had to be the banner.

Although the demon's blood had corrupted it, it continued to confer on its bearer a supernatural aura of authority, a presence so commanding that it could bend people's wills and get them to do what he, or in this case she, commanded, no matter how contrary that command was to their natural inclinations.