#caelus wants 2 throw hands with everyone he meets

[altarfates]

he is a firm believer that anything can be defeated or resolved with a thwack of his bat and if that doesn't work well ??? hit it again and hope for the best.

[anowlstale-blog]

Swords of a Master, Chapter 2

The base camp was abuzz and lively. The airshipmen of the Mountaintaker were reloading ballast to account for the lighter weight that the ship would have, while the wounded soldiers were being attended to by physicians. Those who had stayed behind, and those still strong enough to fight, were forming a perimeter to keep the barbarians away. They had come in high spirits, but they were taking no chances now. They were leaderless, the ranking officers were in a tent somewhere, determining their next move. Should they press on with the campaign? A smaller ship had been dispatched to inform the Emperor, but they couldn't wait for word back to make a decision.

But then, all at once, the men at the perimeter gave cries, some of alarm, some of fright, and a few of joy.  Vern rushed forward to see what the commotion was. He was met with a crowd of almost every single soldier and sailor, gathered around to see something. They parted, and let through a battered, exhausted Yllicus. His helmet was missing, his cloak was torn and his armor battered, and he had a rag tied tightly around his right thigh. But he was alive, and he still held Seer in its scabbard.

The only words he spoke were to the Captain, "Pack up, we leave now," before he disappeared into his personal cabin.

~~~

The Witchblade's magic interfered with his very thoughts. Every action he thought to make was instantaneously checked against the Witch's orders. Yllicus paced the room, frantic now. Every possible plan was disallowed by the Witch's cunning words. She had thought of everything... Or had she?

He still had Seer. Not only had she allowed him to keep it, but she had given no orders regarding it whatsoever. She knew its power, she should have known it would be a boon to him against her.  Could it be a lapse in her judgment? Or perhaps she didn't care for it. Maybe she saw its weaknesses more clearly than he had.

How could he use this to his advantage? No matter what Seer let him see, his actions were limited by the curse.

He took the swords from their scabbard, and gazed first into the past.  He had to see how he had failed.  He looked onto the base camp as they prepared to leave, seeing himself as he looked into a future that never happened.  When he saw himself announcing his visions to Vern, he looked wider, seeking out whoever could have heard him to destroy the thread of prophecy.  In the woods, near one of the mooring lines, was Orun.  When the Yllicus of the past finished giving his prediction, Orun turned and ran through the woods.  Yllicus followed him with the vision, watching.  He ran with untiring haste to the King’s Rest, and Yllicus thought he would report to the Rhee, but he did not.  At the Rest, he went instead to another tent, occupied only by the woman with the Witchblade.  Yllicus watched as she assembled an army of her wretched servants, and brought them to a place that would intersect the Tharan army’s chosen path.  

That was that.  By speaking the prophecy aloud, Yllicus had allowed it to slip into the hands of a spy, and destroyed it.  He could blame only himself for his denied victory.  He put the bare sword down on a table and resumed his pacing.  The past was unchangeable, but the future was malleable, as he knew very well.  He drew his second sword and looked into the future now, seeking a way out.

At the current course, he saw his own success in the task that the Witch had given him. He could not weaken the prophecy by telling someone, the Witch had bid him to secrecy. He needed to change events, something needed to happen or all was lost. But the only avenue that was free, was his use of Seer.

Or, the thought struck him, his disuse of Seer. He looked into the blade yet again, closer this time. Very close indeed. He saw Mountaintaker soaring through the air. The airshipmen were hard at work, concentrating on their own tasks. But outside, a smaller ship flew. He saw it, and he watched a possibility unfold. It wasn't much of an option, but it was a change to the game.

Yllicus did three things, then. He sheathed Seer. Walked out onto the deck. And then dropped the sword off the edge.  Though he couldn’t see now, he knew that it landed on the deck of the smaller ship.  To throw away such power was a desperate move, but blinding himself so was his only chance at failure.  He needed so desperately to fail.   ~~~ One of the greatest sights in the Tharan capitol of Lan was the colossus that hovered over the market.  A great stone statue of Lithis was suspended over the heads of people doing their shopping.  She was held in her impossible place by the skystone arms of her husband, Lanus.  He held her gently about the waist, the rest of  his body hanging out in midair.  His hair was long and wild, and stretched out in all directions, where it formed the shapes of constellations.  The shadow Lanus cast on the market when the sun was out looked like a map of the heavens, but could only be seen and appreciated properly from above.  On slow market days, children would chalk out the figures of the heroes depicted in the constellations, using the shadow of Lanus as a guide.  There were games that used these drawings.  Skipping from Octavius Tharas to the spider seer, Atchetho, or casting stones to see who could hit Xanboro in its serpentine maw.

   The market of Lan was livelier than usual that morning, high off the the powerful stimulant known as gossip.  A ship had come in the middle of the night, bearing news from the much anticipated campaign in the mountains.  According to most of the airshipmen, who would know such things, the Mountaintaker should have reached Hurmding sometime the previous morning . It may be a great distance on foot, but the ships were swift and could make the trip in short enough order.  The rumor mill was working hard now, theories being bandied left and right about what the message might have entailed.They wouldn't have to wait long for more excitement, however. A few hours after noon, someone spotted the ship coming in from the North.  After much ado and excitement, it was confirmed to be the Mountaintaker, already on it's way back to the capitol.  

Business in the markets was poor after that, as everyone rushed to the shipyards to see it come in.  They wanted to get glimpses of the soldiers, or else to maybe overhear some juicy news.The ship came in on a friendly wind, and was quickly moored. The ropes were strained immediately as the ship started unloading its human cargo, and the unencumbered hull pulled upward against the moorings.  The airshipmen were going about chores, adjusting ballast, restocking and unloading. The soldiers, meanwhile, filed out of the ship en masse, looking unusually grim. The gathered crowds backed away to let them through, those close enough to speak to the soldiers asked questions that went unanswered.After the soldiers, came the officers.  The rabble knew better than to try to press these men for information.  Captain Vern walked with Admiral Yllicus and a few hangers on.  They had business at the palace.  The crowd followed behind them as far as the gates to the imperial palace’s courtyard, but they could go no further, and only a few were lucky enough to watch as Yllicus and Vern entered the main gates of the palace alone

.~~~

The men hung around in the Atrium.  Yllicus was looking more like himself, though with a pronounced limp.  He had a plain short sword in place of Seer on his hip.  He hadn't said much, even to Captain Vern, who looked worried as the Admiral paced back and forth, apparently quite agitated.“You're quite sure, Yll?”“Yes,” he kept pacing.“You've a feverish way about you, I don't like it. His Blessed Highness would understand if you wanted to rest and recover before briefing him.”“But it can't wait.”“What can't wait?” Vern was letting his own irritation show now.  Yllicus had been very tight lipped.  Whatever he had seen up on the mountain, he felt that he could repeat it to no one short of the Emperor himself.  Likely, though, Emperor Caelus would convene a strategy meeting afterward, which Vern and his entourage would be a part of.  Anything this important would find its way to the Mountaintaker's captain soon enough.Yllicus waved a hand for silence as the doors at the end of the hall opened. A guard in shining silver armor stepped out and beckoned, “His Blessed Highness asks for an audience with Admiral Yllicus, and no one else.”  Yllicus nodded at Vern, and walked past the Imperial Guard and into yet another grand hallway.  The guard took no objection to Yllicus' taciturn attitude, and the two walked in utter silence until the guard opened a door on the side. The guard was about to step in first, but Yllicus brushed past him and took hold of the door.“No one else,” he repeated the man's words back at him, and closed the door in his face.

Emperor Caelus beamed at his old friend when he walked in, and jumped up from the cushions he had been lounging on. 

“Yll! But Lanus has guided you back to me!” The most powerful man in the empire spoke quickly and excitedly, looking over his well built friend with a gleam in his eye, “I heard you were injured, is it terrible?”  He rushed forward to embrace Yllicus.

“No,” Yllicus said into the silence as the Emperor's face turned blank and lost all color.  He pulled the blade out of Caelus' ribcage and dropped it with a clatter to the floor. “It is the least of my griefs. I am so sorry Cae...” tears streamed down his face to join his Emperor and lover on the floor.