The embers of the fire crackled and popped in the center of our little camp. The smell of cooking rabbit wafted through the air, tempting my empty stomach. Of course, I had been the one to catch the rabbits, while Errol and Liana did . . . well exactly what one would expect. At least the smell of the meat concealed any odor from their indulgences. “Can we eat yet? Some of us actually went hunting and worked up an appetite today,” I asked with rapidly waning patience. 

“I’ll have you know, I worked up quite an appetite as well,” Errol answered from across the fire, before raising his flask to his lips once more. He lounged on a fallen log, seemingly without a care in the world. 

“Indeed, I’m quite sure you did,” I shot back. 

“Well, you’ll both have to wait. These need to be perfect for Master,” Liana cooed. She crouched protectively over the fire. Her fingers worked the skewers with tender care, as the firelight danced in her eyes. The change in her demeanor still unsettled me. The image of her huddled form, cringing in terror on the cave ground haunted my memory. Yet she bore no trace of that fear now. The barmaid practically glided across the clearing, barely able to keep her eyes off Errol for a moment, barely able to disguise her hunger for him. 

I shuddered at the memory, the way she writhed under my touch, the heat burning from beneath her soft skin, the wails of pleasure echoing off the cave stone. I had felt so powerful, so utterly in control. That feeling was truly intoxicating. I winced in shame at my own urges. One night of heedless sin, and already my lifetime of devotion and training was cracking. Matron Sienna and the others worked so hard to teach me justice and goodness. I could only imagine how Sister Janelle would chastise me. Yet I feared Solaris’s judgement most of all. Would she finally acknowledge me now that I had strayed so far from her teachings? Would my goddess finally deign to notice me only to burn me from the face of the earth for my betrayal? The fear followed me like my shadow. 

Nevertheless, when I closed my eyes last night, the image of The Dawn Bringer wasn’t what greeted me. No, instead, I saw Liana’s face contorted in pleasure. Part of me envied her. My cloistered life had seldom afforded the faintest hint of intimacy. What must she have felt like? A pleasure that could bend your very self around it? I trembled just imagining the sensation. Part of me still yearned to experience it myself. My thighs rubbed together at the thought. The motion brought my cuisses against each other with a clank. 

Both Errol and Liana turned towards the metallic noise. I cleared my throat, desperate to distract them from my budding arousal. “Um . . So . . . Er, I mean Master, can you explain the enchantment you cast upon me earlier? I’ve never witnessed such powerful magics. Some of my sisters received magical abilities from the goddess, but nothing of that magnitude,” I stammered. 

Errol chuckled quietly. “You need not trouble yourself over such things. Leave the enchantment to me. You’ll have plenty to do when we get back to your abbey. For now, just focus on looking pretty and guarding the camp.” 

Anger seethed behind my eyes. I hadn’t trained my entire life to be told to ‘look pretty’. Then I took a breath and gathered myself. I couldn’t accept ignorance. I may have had to suffer the indignity of serving this scoundrel, but I would take all I could from it. Perhaps if I could learn his secrets, I could see that look again, unleash that pleasure again. I crossed our camp and fell to one knee before the drunkard. “Please Master,” I said with as much softness as I could. “If I am to serve you, I should understand these things. The more I know, the more useful I can be to you.” 

His eyes lingered on my kneeling silhouette. He was always staring at my face, my beauty mark, whenever he thought I wouldn’t notice. Though he made no effort to conceal his leering at that moment. Part of me wondered if he was making plans to do to me what he did to Liana after all, and if so what was taking so long. But his deep voice stirred me from my speculation, “You’re a curious one, Mira. I like that about you.”

“Thank you Master,” I purred, doing my best to entice him. 

“Very well. I’ve got nowhere else to be tonight, after all. I’m sure your paladin training included the basics of magic. So I’ll skip that part.” 

“Er. . . Master, I’m afraid my training focused on martial prowess. I had not yet graduated to enchantments.”

He sighed. “I see. Well, you know the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic magic?”

I flinched, desperately wishing I had the slightest notion of such things, “Um yes of course. Intrinsic magic is um from inside.” 

He let out a low, rumbling laugh. “Incredible. You should really be teaching me. Please go on,” 

I rolled my eyes and looked down, speaking no further.

“No wonder you need such thick armor. It covers your thin skin.”

I barely suppressed a growl of rage, which only seemed to amuse him further.

“Calm down. I’m doing as you asked after all. Intrinsic magic uses your own life force to create the spell. Some people even develop basic intrinsic spells with no training. Because it comes from within you, it’s more flexible than extrinsic magic,” he flicked his wrist and a stream of brown liquid floated out from his canteen. It curled in on itself, forming a shimmering orb in the air. The ball drifted over to me and waited expectantly outside my lips. 

At first I didn’t respond. Then Errol edged it close enough for the biting smell to tickle my nostrils. With a weary sigh, I opened my mouth wide and let the liquor inside. The bubble bust on my palette, sending the hot, brown liquid cascading across my tongue. I recoiled at the bitter taste, scrunching my mouth in disgust. Finally, I choked it down, the heat burning all the way to my stomach. I hadn’t exactly drank much. 

“There. That should help you lighten up.” 

“So that’s how you made those incredible lights? You summoned them up from within you?” 

“Gods no. I consider myself a potent man,” he snickered, “But no one could draw so much aura from within themselves without collapsing or dying.” 

“So it was extrinsic.” 

“Look at you learning. Intrinsic magic is good for movement, force, simple charms and illusions. Parlor tricks. But if you want real power you need to draw on the world around you instead.” A glint appeared in his eye as he spoke. 

My mind raced with possibilities. If magic could channel energy from the whole world, the possibilities were endless. The image of Liana’s face flashed in my mind again. “Teach me.”

“Imagine you learning magic! thank you.” More laughter. “I needed that.”

I fumed, rising from my kneeling position to loom over him in my armor. “They said the same thing when I asked to study the blade.” Without another word, I drew my sword from its sheath and broke into a kata around our clearing. With a practiced precision, I snapped through the motions, falling into the familiar stance. The short bursts of crisp blows gave way to longer, flowing swings. The fire light gleamed off my tarnished blade. I forgot Errol and Liana and everything that had happened to me in the last day. My movements consumed my entire awareness. I was the kata for that brief moment. At last the form came to an end and I slid my blade back in place at my side. 

Liana broke into a polite applause. “Holy knight, that was incredible.”

“I told you to stop calling me that,” I reminded her, the peace I had achieved instantly fading away. 

Errol didn’t speak at first. He just smiled. After a moment of silence he just said, “ok” 

“Ok? So you will train me? You’ll teach me to use the spell you cast in the cave?” I said hopefully.

“Afraid I can’t do that. The Aurora is not something that just anyone can cast. You could never learn it without the right,” he paused as if rolling a word in his mouth and judging its flavor, “background.” 

I deflated. 

“But your little stunt gave me an idea. Your sword,” he gestured for the blade.  

Silently, I obeyed. I was already getting used to following his commands. That frightened me. 

“Don’t look so glum. You’ll enjoy this,” he said, rising from the log and approaching the flame. He stuck the scratched blade into the fire. The weathered metal heated to a radiant orange almost immediately. 

“Hey! Don’t do that. It’s bad for the steel,” I yelled. My weapon may have been a battered old practice sword, but it had still taken me years to earn it. 

“Yes, that would ordinarily be true. But ordinary rules don’t apply to me.” Errol reached a hand up to the glowing sword. A faint blue light appeared, wrapping around his fingers. He traced glyphs and sigils along the glowing surface. I could see the arcane signs for a moment before they vanished, though their meaning was beyond me. 

“I thought you were going to teach me, not cast some spell on my weapon.”

“Quiet. I need to concentrate. You want to learn extrinsic magic? Then watch the fire. Try to understand it. Really understand it.” 

“Understand the fire?” I scoffed.

“Shhh,” was his only response. Liana mirrored him and also shushed me. Lovely. 

With a resigned grunt, I took a seat and fixed my gaze to the flame. Errol continued his strange enchantment of my weapon. I felt strangely naked without it. But I tried to put that out of my mind and focus on the fire. What was so special about it? It was the same as any other fire. The shape flickered and danced in the darkness. Licking tongues of heat formed in the air and then vanished just as quickly. 

I let out a deep breath as my focus narrowed to the fire. The weight of my armor and the long day walking towards town caught up to me all at once. I slumped forward, moving my face closer to the heat. The dancing light only grew in my vision. One instant, I thought I’d understood the shape of the flame, but the next it would transform completely. The shifting shapes only drew my attention deeper and deeper into the heart of the heat. Everything else melted away. I maintained a faint awareness of Errol etching invisible runes into my blade and Liana looking on with wonder, but none of that seemed to matter anymore. Only the fire mattered. It felt nice, soothing even to let the rest of my awareness burn away. No broken oaths, no shameful failures, no obnoxious masters. 

Just the heat.  

At that moment the fire roared, snapping me from my reverie. The flames climbed several feet into the air with sudden vigor. Errol jumped backwards, just in time to avoid the burst. Liana on the other hand dove towards the rabbit skewers. The delicate kebabs had caught aflame. She frantically tried to extinguish them between the folds of her dress. Out of instinct, I rushed forward and also tried to pat them down. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how that happened,” I gasped. 

Liana glared at me with a fire of her own behind her blue eyes. “You should be sorry. This was going to be a perfect meal for Master and you,” she said, holding back tears. 

Errol set down my blade and placed a hand on Liana’s shoulder. “It’s alright pet. She was only doing as I asked.” 

Liana melted at his touch. The tension evaporated from her shoulders and she slumped towards him with a small mewl of pleasure, seemingly forgetting her frustration. 

Still, that outburst had surprised me. Could she really have been so upset over the fire? Perhaps she still harbored a buried resentment for my failure to rescue her. 

Errol turned his attention to me. “That was impressive,” the usual joviality had left his tone. 

“What, burning our dinner?” I asked.

“Your mind became one with the flame and rather quickly.” There was that stare again. 

“Thank you . . . um Master.” 

He nodded, seemingly lost in thought. Then he turned away and picked up my sword. He ran a finger from the hilt all the way to the tip of the blade. As he did the full pattern of runes flashed in blue light. The symbols formed a swirling, spiraling script that cascaded down the flat metal. The individual characters almost disappeared into the churning mass of lines. Then they vanished again and he passed it back to me. “Be careful with that,” 

“I know my way around a sword,” I said. 

“Not one like that,” he answered, scooping up a charred rabbit skewer and returning to his log. 

“What did you do to it?” I held it up in the dim light. The nicks and scratches were still there. His inscription had left no trace. 

“You’ll figure it out,” he yawned. 

I groaned with exasperation. “Why can’t you ever just give me a real answer?” 

“That wouldn’t be fun.” He slumped on the log and started gnawing at the burnt meat. Suddenly he looked much older than before. Perhaps it was the flickering light playing tricks, but he looked more hunched, and the lines on his face seemed deeper. “You may want to name your blade if you haven’t already,” he mumbled through a mouthful. 

“It’s a hand-me-down from the Abbey. It was a training sword for years before it came to my possession. It’s hardly a blade of legend.”

Errol just shrugged and busied himself with the singed kebab. 

Liana rushed to his side. “I hope the food is acceptable. I promise it was going to be perfect for you. You know I would never displease you,” she whined, face softening.

“I know. I know. But please, I’m tired. An enchantment like the one I cast consumes a great deal of aura.” 

She slipped her hand inside his thigh. “Is there anything I can do to help you . . . replenish yourself?” The barmaid said, biting her lip. 

“Perhaps in the morning. For now I need to rest.” 

I said a silent prayer in relief, though a shadow of disappointment lingered beneath it. 

“Why don’t you sing for us? Your voice is so lovely, my pet.”

“With pleasure, Master!” Liana hopped up, practically bursting with energy. She took a position in the center of our clearing and drew in a deep breath. Her voice took on a silky, soothing quality, like the song of a running river. The song had no words, just a cascading symphony of tones flowing from one into the next. I let the weariness of the day and the alcohol catch up to me at last and relaxed. My eyelids began to droop to the soft melody. I couldn’t help but imagine those dulcet tones turning to screams of pleasure. My hand drifted between my legs. But the cold touch of my gauntlet snapped me out of it. It didn’t appear either of the others had noticed. 

The rest of the evening passed without incident. Errol turned in early, and Liana, of course, went with him. He put me in charge of keeping the first watch, as he had the night before too. 

I looked down at their sleeping forms, under a simple blanket. ‘I could just stab him right now,’ a voice whispered in my ear. No one would have to know. It would be easy. I remembered the smug look on his face, when I had asked if he feared my betrayal. I had broken my oaths to Solaris. What was to stop me from doing it again? I turned over the delicate gold of my holy symbol as I thought. 

A great deal actually. Could I really go back to the sisters and tell them I’d killed the mage in his sleep? Would I lie about forsaking the order? Or worse, tell the truth? Would Solaris see that action as just?  And what of Liana? I had no way to free her from his control. As she was, I feared what would become of her if Errol expired. No, the die had been cast. Now I could only live with the consequences. I held up my sword. At least things weren’t all bad. Whatever enchantment Errol had cast on this must have been powerful with how much it drained him. I secretly hoped it would have an effect like the Aurora, controlling the sensations of pleasure and pain. The familiar fantasies began drifting back to my mind once more. What I could do with a power like that. 

CRUNCH. The snapping sound drew my attention. My gaze shot to the source of the noise, a bone from our dinner that had broken in half. I sprang to my feet and swung at the space above the bone. 

The fallen leaves revealed footprints skidding backwards, narrowly dodging the slice. A second later, a silhouette materialized from seemingly nowhere, a man holding a knife. The short, silver blade shone in the fire light. A long scarf covered his face. I couldn’t get a good look at him before he charged me again. I raised my blade in time to parry. As soon as I did, he jumped backward once more. 

The intruder crouched into a low stance, steely eyes staring from the darkness. Why was he withdrawing? With a longer weapon, the distance favored me, yet he made no other move to advance. It was like he was waiting for something. But what? 

On instinct, I whirled around and swung behind me, catching another bandit who was preparing to swing a mace towards my head. The man wore a simple, leather vest, and no hair on his head. His eyes widened in shock. Mine did the same a moment later as my sword passed through his stomach, seemingly without harming him. We both looked at each other for a heartbeat, unsure of how to progress. I kept waiting for him to fall, but he just stood there. Then finally, he resumed swinging at me, grazing my shoulder pauldron as I retreated. A knife scraped off my breastplate. The first one had reengaged. I threw an armored elbow backwards, catching him in the chest. 

The light flashed off the axe blade as it swung for me. Shadows! There were three of them. My training ran through my mind and I raised a gauntlet to grab the axe’s shaft, pulling the attacker forward and off balance. He came into view, a grizzled looking man with an eye patch and graying hair. I brought my steel down onto him as he stumbled. The hit was clean. I knew it was, yet it had no effect. My blade passed right through his shoulder. It seemed to hit objects like normal, but pass straight through people. “Midnight!” I cursed. I backed up to the fire as the trio encircled me. 

The air was heavy and still as they edged forward, until Errol broke the tension with a yawn. “Would you mind keeping it down? I’ve had a long day,” he said, sitting up and stretching. 

“You daft old man! What did you do to my sword?” I yelled. 

He snickered. The bandits looked between us, confused, particularly the two I had cut. “Hit anybody with it yet?” He asked casually, Liana stirring by his side.

“Two of them, not that it accomplished anything,” I growled 

“Excellent. Just get the third one then.” He proceeded to lay back down. 

“You’re not going to help?” I balked. 

“I don’t have you so that I can do work myself,” he yawned again. “Besides, you’re doing splendidly. Just use what you learned.”

My blood boiled. With his magic, he could decimate these simple burglars, but he would rather make me fight three on one. And telling me to use what I learned? He hadn’t exactly taught me swordplay, or tactics. So far he had only made me stare into a fire. The fire! I tried to remember the feeling of losing myself in the heat, the ever shifting shapes of light, the warmth, the destruction. The embers had nearly gone out. The chunks of wood glowed from within ashen husks. But suddenly the wood burst to life, sending a jet of fire shooting upwards. The bandits pulled back in surprise and that was all the opening I needed. I charged the knife wielder and plunged my blade straight through his chest. Maybe stabbing would prove more effective than slashing. 

Time stood still for a moment. He looked down at the wound and then back to me, scarf falling from his face. Our eyes met. He was . . . He was. . . handsome. His jaw was square with a dusting of stubble, his eyes determined, his hair short and spiked upward. I shook the distractions from my mind and looked towards the stab wound. But of course, my blade was just sticking through his chest, no blood, no injury. I didn’t know why I expected anything else. He rolled to the side and fell back into that crouching stance, pulling up his scarf as he did. 

“That’s all three, MASTER!” I said with spite. “Feel inclined to lend your assistance now?”

Errol meanwhile had pulled the blankets over his head. His voice came muffled from beneath them. “No need. Just tell them to leave or whatever you want.” 

Just tell them to leave? Tell them to leave? Senile old drunk. They wouldn’t leave because I asked nicely. But still I yelled, “drop your weapons!” To my amazement, all three complied instantly, the weapons falling to the underbrush.

The bald one lunged to grab me. “Stay where you are!” He froze in place, as did his companions. They looked back and forth between each other. 

My heart skipped a beat, the situation catching up to me. They were obeying everything I said. How far could it go? I needed to know. “Kneel?” I said, as much a question as a command, yet they still complied. Something stirred within me, my pulse quickened, my cheeks flushed. The feeling of power, real power. 

“Now, let’s not do anything hasty,” the knife-man said. Sunbeams, his voice was deep too. “Look, we’re just simple bandits. Clearly you’re as strong as you are beautiful. We shouldn’t have challenged you.” 

I stepped towards him. “No you shouldn’t have. Apologize.” I could have gotten used to this feeling. 

“I’m truly sorry,” he said, bowing his head. 

The pounding in my chest intensified. I had him. I really had him enthralled. I could make him do anything. Disrobe, touch me, serve me. Anything I could imagine. I could command him to crawl over to me, peel back my armor and show me a taste of the pleasure I had been denied my whole life, and perhaps I should. After all, he had attacked us. He deserved no mercy. 

“Maiden, you can have our gold. Please just let us go. Times have been hard since Queen Astoria took power. The harvests have been taken for the coming war. We’re simply trying to feed our families,” he said. His face was pleading, holding back tears. 

Midnight! The thrill abandoned me. There I was about to order this man to fulfill my every carnal whim and he was just trying to feed his family. I really was turning into a monster. In that moment I felt as though I could see Solaris’s eyes gazing down on me in judgment, searing holes in my soul. No, this was wrong. “Keep your gold,” I said feeling disappointed. “Just get back to town and find a way to feed your families without hurting people.” 

“Thank you, your grace. You are too kind,” he rose to leave, a crooked smile appearing on his face. “You can call me Finnick. I hope our paths cross again one day.” 

“You should pray to the goddess that they do not, unless you give up your thieving ways,” I countered. 

“Of course, fair maiden.” He bowed, before disappearing into the darkness with his compatriots. 

After a moment of silence, I turned to Errol. “My sword . . .” 

He poked his face out from under the blanket. “It cuts people’s resistance. You used it well, though I was a bit disappointed you didn’t have more fun with it.” 

“You heard their tale of sorrow. They were only trying to care for their families.” 

“Yes . . . Right,” he sighed. It looked as if he was about to say more, but thought better of it. “Anyway, you’ve earned a rest. Liana will take a guard shift,” 

She rolled eagerly out from under the covers and scrambled to her feet, as if the simple command had instantly roused her from slumber. 

I retired to my own cot, staring at the dented steel of my blade. Errol was right about one thing, this sword deserved a name. It held real power. The power to bend people, to cut through their very wills, to fulfill my every desire. It could make people betray their vows, like I had done. The heat began returning to my cheeks. I had the name. “Oathbreaker,” I whispered in the dark. 

“Did you say something?” Liana asked.

“No, it was nothing.”