Revelation

The sun shone on the winter hills, exposing the short green grass that spanned the open vista, covered with tall pines that bled crimson sap and whirled like emerald cyclones in the wind.

With shadowed Black-Crow by his side, Arthur walked the cobblestone path up the hill.

His shoulders burned and he struggled to fill his lungs with air despite his wounds healing, the pain was rattling but he took as deep a breath as he could and pushed on, carrying a steady march towards the blackened Lodge.

Black-Crow, dark and silent; ever faithful, followed Arthur like a shadow.

Stray clouds of hideous grey skirmished in the Blue sky, birds fluttered out of their perches and into the trees as the gentle pattering of rain began to shower lightly, painting the sky with colours of gold, red, green and yellow in a beautiful rainbow.

Arthur made it through the woods and found a smile creeping upon his windswept face. Lee-fu's Lodge stood, well... the frame stood, its great beams of mahogany and Ice pine held strong against the desolation, but all but the walls and the foundation of the ceiling, roof and floor remained.

Tall, narrow... stalks worked as scaffolding, the green stalks were tall, bendy by their movement, He recognised them from one of Lees books he had sneaked away from her hut.

And out front, wearing her cotton vest, tight leather breeches and thick leather boots, Lee's wide-brimmed straw hat stuck tightly to her head as she sawed a big hunk of ivory pine, the huge log splitting with ease.

Her black hair was split in twain, two, long and intricate braids fell on her shoulders which glistened with the raindrops.

The sunshine painted her with such beauty, every fibre stuck to her olive skin, Arthur's

eyes were drawn forthwith to her breasts, as she placed two finely cut and sanded pine-slats, carrying the huge rectangular coverings in both of her powerful arms, placing it on the frame before picking a few nails that she had situated between her red lips.

She hammered with great speed and precision, most of the Lodge had already been restored, the dark mahogany replaced with the frosty white of the many mighty pines that he had felled with sword and wrath.

The view didn't hurt either, Lee's breasts were full and rather visible through her lightly soaked vest.

He smiled wider than he thought he could... this place was home for so long, it hurt him to have to leave. But as Lee noticed Arthur, with his shadow behind him, she did not explode with joy.

"Mentor, I'm back."

"Of course you're back." She sneered "I healed you myself, fed you myself and lay with you naked to keep you warm through your fucking fever myself too. I'd have to be deaf and blind and numb and cracked to have not noticed. Do you think me an eyeless earless feeling less fool, boy?"

Blood flooded into Arthur's face as He grimaced and bowed "N-No, of c-course not mentor" He really wasn't in a state to fight her.

Lee's eyes narrowed "Well don't just stand there, get over here and saw the bloody logs before the next damn spring rains come."

He smiled to himself then and nodded lowly.

And so hurrying without another word, Arthur took the long saw into his good hand, absorbing the throbbing of his exhausted muscles, and began to cut.

Crow sat, having opened a collapsible parasol of steel, amber and brushed ribbon, that shielded her from the rain. She meditated in silence as the droplets perished above her.

Arthur could not help but notice the sleek form of her legs, so tightly drawn in her bodysuit, her feet socked and wrapped in sandals, allowing for precise and silent movement.

He could smell the air now, it was odd... like he could see and feel much more than he could before. Sounds were so fluid and so frequent, they rippled like a song in his ears, droplets of information neatly packaged and delivered with a grace that He could scarcely describe.

"Father said We would be different but... this is highly peculiar. Hell if I was ever human, I am surely not now."

His ponderance felt like nothing but casual self-destruction, so Arthur merely continued to assist.

The rain splashed against his skin, cooling his heat as He forced himself to saw and heave, pushing and pushing as his Crow sat in silent meditation. This was their responsibility, and Crow had done her part in decimating the enemy skjal, she had earned her rest.

"Boy, grab the rope, and heave on my command." Lee pointed and directed him seamlessly, he had become quite talented at obeying. And yet...

"No." He disagreed "My arm is bad, but my other shoulder is not, You have the stronger arms, I will push with my shoulders on the beam, and you will pull."

Lee-fu Ector cut into him with her eyes, and grinned so deeply and maliciously, that He thought that she might kill him, or fuck him, he couldn't quite tell.

"You had better push very hard then, Arthur." She called back, with a dark grin.

"Be silent, you must focus, no distractions, from either of you" Crow demanded suddenly.

Arthur and Lee both blinked and merely... did as she bid, never before had Crow voiced such a demand before.

The rain continued and He heaved with all of his might, as Lee pulled on the counterweight, which slid into place, snatching up the hard beam as Arthur dug his good shoulder into it.

With a crack like lightning, it struck into its place, completing the walls and holding in as the foundation that would hold up the Lodge.

Lee tipped up her hat and smiled "Don't need that scaffold no more. But we will take it down in the morning." She spoke, tossing aside the rope as the rain continued to fall. "I suppose that you are hungry, boy?"

"...As a horse, Mentor." He replied sharply.

She gestured "Lucky then that the doe I hunted this morning was slow and dumb. Come, we must speak."

Arthur nodded and followed his mentor inside through the new ivory door, into a space that was scarcely decorated and with only small furnishings on the hardwood floor.

Still, it brought a smile to his face to see that most of Lee's belongings had survived, a little worse for wear mind you, and yet they endured.

Black-Crow was already sitting on a scorched chair when they entered, there had been a time where He would have doubled back in confusion, but Arthur was used to Crow being more ghost than human.

Lee sat in her chair, retrieving her pipe from her satchel and lightning it with a spark of her flint and steel as Arthur grunted, his stitches paining him as He sat on the comfortable mantle away from the unlit fireplace.

There was merely silence at first if there was anything to say... then it had already been said a thousand times over for eight years, every day, every hour, every second dedicated to their task, and now their task was done.

Crow eventually stood "I will skin the doe."

"I can do it--"

"I will skin it, Stay there." Crow shot back at Arthur, who hesitantly retook his seat as the Spymaster retrieved her sharp blade and ventured into the Kitchen.

"She has been... off, for quite some time." Lee eventually said.

"She goes against her nature, of course she is. You can lead a mare to water but you cannot make her drink."

His Mentor lent down, her eyes like emeralds watched her student closely as if she were looking at a different man "One might lead a mare to a stream to drink, what you offer is beyond that, it is an ocean, Arthur."

He was still unaccustomed to her calling him by his name, today she had addressed him more directly in one day than she had in just less than a decade, and he couldn't ignore the look of wonder that had been reborn within her. She must have not touched the drink for a while, usually, she was in a haze most of the time, but the Mentor that sat before him now was ultimately aware, smiling faintly, with a look of fierce accomplishment.

"You're... sober?" He noted.

"Stright as a spear." She agreed, lounging back "I had feared that training you would destroy me, to push another monster into the world, it broke my heart to put you on that path. But now, that I know that what I have taught you will protect you from all the shit and piss that sneaks out and jumps at you when you least expect it, I've never felt clearer."

Arthur's fingers tightened like wires "You aren't the one who put me on this path. You know that." He whispered.

"But I don't."

The Voice came from the doorway, the estranged warrior had felt every one of her soft footsteps as she approached the lodge subtly from outside.

Arthur turned to Kara who had finally caught up, her red hair protected by a dark hood which she swept back as she entered.

She came and sat beside the Young warrior, peering at his hair, Dark and light flowing together on his shoulders, the flaming aurum of his golden orbs. "You made me a promise." She whispered

He nodded "That I did. But perhaps now isn't the time."

"What better time could there be?" Lee folded her arms, rested her legs on the stool before her. Arthur lingered for a moment as Lee looked upon him, giving him her approval with her eyes.

Huffing. He shook his head and closed his eyes.

"You are a prince, the Crown Prince of the biggest and most powerful nation on this earth and all you do is sit and look filled with sorrow. What happened to you? what drove you to come to this place?"

Arthur shook his head again, but his eyes opened and fixed on Kara.

She saw the hurt, and the pain, the fear, the doubt. She touched his face so lightly and tenderly as she took her place at his side "What happened to you? please, tell me."

He fiddled with his scarred knuckles took in the cool air and spoke "Fire... is such an insidious thing. When I was a boy, amongst the safety of Castle walls, it used to fascinate me. I'd sit in front of hearths, torches, bonfires for hours, how such a little thing can rise and consume entire kingdoms... how it peels the flesh from the bones, blackens the frame into nothing but ash, the way it screams and claws through everything it touches, I was wrong about it I realise--It is capable of nothing but destruction and pain. I saw it first hand, on that Day of Attrocity."

It came flooding out then, like waves crashing on the shore, damned behind his need to remain hidden for far too long. For once he didn't hold back, He told her everything.

"...I saw hundreds fall to the dragons, I watched mothers still clutching their babies turned to ash, I saw warriors that had grown with me since I was a boy, cooked inside their armour... I saw an entire city, my home, and the skies above, consumed by flames. If not for Crow, and if not for my Uncle... I'd be dead or trapped with the rest of them.

We were back and forth for months, Mordred was merciless in hunting us... But My Crow has always been more cunning than any other, so even as her forces culled and enforced on every port in Britannia, she still managed to get us a boat.

Not all that legitimately mind you but, we have only ever done what we had to survive, survival is all I know now, it's all I can do. The Pirates we tried to throw in with didn't want us on board, but we smuggled ourselves on deck while they anchored offshore.

It was a long voyage, nearly a year across the Harrowing sea, I had never been so thankful to be surrounded by water." He smiled lightly to himself and Kara shared in that "Although I wasn't all that thankful for the company, they told me Pirates were bastards born with bastard swords, serving under bastard lords, I underestimated just how true that was.

When we landed I didn't know what to do, what to think, I was uh... only a boy, I had spent most of my time with peasants, the rough life never felt alien to me, and yet... when I saw the slave city of Mawgin for the first time, I was never more afraid.

Crow was dying, I was weak, small, I could do nothing but follow her here, she was all I had, still might be."

"You have me. You will always have me." Kara squeezed his knuckles with her warm hands and smiled.

"Perhaps, but you need to understand that what I aim for isn't in the stories I read you, there isn't glory or love or happily ever afters."

"You want to kill the Dread Queen?" Kara deduced, the weight of his goals finally fully understood in her eyes. "You can't be serious, she is the Omen of bones, the Dragon queen who rules without question and kills without mercy. If you go back, you'll be captured or killed."

Lee's smile deepened and Arthur lent in ominously "If you think that I have toiled all these years, in ignorance of what my fate could be, then you haven't paid attention."

"In times of yore, the Black Legion were once honourable." Lee began "Not slave warriors, not criminals, but noble slayers, slayers of the ancient dragons, aye the Dragonslayer Corp knew the ancient ways on how to slay a dragon; the ultimate predator. This knowledge I have passed to him, combined with what vast amounts he already knew from childhood, well... you saw what he can do." Lee nodded and smiled at him "All of those years, they weren't for nothing."

"I'll tell you what I saw!" Kara spat "I saw a man nearly torn apart by a monster that I was told were Myths. I saw the Man I love nearly crippled, and now I see a small-boat riding into a storm. If you go there, then you will die or you will be captured, it is too dangerous--just... you have a place here, Arthur."

He smiled sadly "I made a promise, Kara, I swore to myself, and to my family that I would return. My sisters are likely prisoners... I don't even know if my mother is alive. I know you mean well, but this is never been where I belong. I must go home."

Kara huffed "I don't want to see you get hurt anymore."

"Then you choose the wrong man, Girl." Lee chuckled maliciously "He walks the path of the dragonslayers now, the path of vengeance. Nothing can stand in the way, that is how it must be."

"Aye." Arthur agreed.

"But... I..." Kara did not finish her sentence, her frustrations were clear but Crow had emerged from the Kitchen, the smell of herbs and cooking venison following as she handed out the meals, ensuring that Arthur ate every bite.

"Enough of this." Crow lacked all the subtly of Lee when she spoke, she looked to Kara directly, almost accusingly.

"You cannot begin to comprehend the things that we have seen or experienced, He made his choice far before you ever crept out of the woods. We are both honour-bound to respect his wishes, and if you cannot do the same, then you have no place among us."

"Crow..." He spoke warningly.

"Protest if you wish, it makes it no less true." The Spymaster said unapologetically as she resumed her seat in the dark corner, closing her eyes in meditation.

"That isn't for either to decide, I care for him just as much as you do." Kara's expression was that of pure resolve "If You want to return, then I am going with you." Kara shifted closer, easing the pain in his arms with her warmth.

The smallest of smiles crossed his face, but this was a serious matter "This is more than just revenge, Kara. Edwyn... Mordred, she severed so much of what I was away. Death beyond imagining took place that night, as I breathe, Kara, I will never suffer such a thing again, Nobody will. I have taken on the Creed of the Old Slayers, the forefathers of the Black Iron Legion. The Dragonslayer Corp were once mighty warriors with skills and tricks beyond imagining, masters of crushing these monsters, it is the Iron code and the dragonlore that I have studied since I was only a boy that will lead to Camelot."

The childlike wonder in Kara's eyes could sustain him, if he just hold onto that, and not his suspicions then all would well.

"So, you will go back into Her Majesty's custody? they will surely take you back, I mean if she wants you that badly."

Heat flooded up into Arthur's face "If you think for one second that Mordred wants anything less than to control and kill, even me, then you are a fool!" He growled, the surge of anger filling deeply.

The Huntress shrunk into herself and Arthur closed his eyes and tried to shake this wrath from himself... when it came to Ed, it was far too easy to simply explode. This was wound left untreated, unspoken for far too long.

Kara seemed so lost with it all, however, not at all what he expected. Her head welcomed her hands so easily "I just don't know."

"You might not, but He does." Lee called confidently "I have pushed you, by the rivers gods I have, and now you are ready. But the journey has just begun, and enemies are closer than you... and prey thee, even I suspected."

The suspicions were not lost on her then? Arthur had been stuck in his thoughts as he often was, and nothing had made sense, not since he had woken up "We chose this place for a reason. I was younger than a boy when Edwyn was taken as Ward of Lord Bjorn, Paramount of the Snowlands to the north, she was anointed as knight there under the Great oak itself, not an easy task, especially not among Ice-borne, their tough as bloody nails, rigid as bergs and even more aggressive. She hated it, despised every minute of the ten years she spent there, it left a bad taste for northerners in her mouth and a pain to her eyes, even if she knew I was here she would have been sparing in searching so far north..."

Kara seemed to catch on quickly "You are saying, that somebody must have told the Userper that you were here?"

"There is no must about it," Crow stood sharply from her meditation "The Blades utilized by the enemy Britons, even the Skjal, all bore the same mark."

Arthur had noticed it too, it was hard not to when a hundred or so aimed to cleave into his flesh during the battle. The steel that their enemies had carried into battle... was not the shitty kind, not as he had always promised.

A realisation seemed to come about the room... but a revelation came about Arthur, a revelation that rocked the very foundation of his being, it crept in slowly at first, tightness of the chest, numbness in the back of his head... that swept up into the prism of his mind. Everything flowed together in an overwhelming way, his uncle's voice had branded on him. "I am Watcher, my brother Ruler, My Father Madman, My niece Monster, My Nephew...Vengeance."

Arthur finished his venison put his venison aside, uneaten and stood promptly "Black-Crow, with me." He ordered, his fingers white as they tightened around the Scabbard of his sword.

Crow of course followed without question, although Lee and Kara buffered momentarily as He and his shadow swept outside.

---

Lee puzzled upon Kara for a moment, who seemed wrought with her own hesitations, having had some of the details brought to light."By Grimnir, Are you ever going to stop staring at me like that?" the Huntress wondered aloud.

Lee merely stood and peered at the redhead with a critical eye that slashed deep into the soul "He is not a fool. You already ooze whatever guilt you feel, and now I know for sure, that he will see as I see in the end." Without another word, without even noting the scowl on Karas's face, Lee got up and carried her bowl to the Kitchen, leaving the Huntress in sorrow and contemplation.