A Legend's Tale Season 2

Part 6 - The Lake

The sky is dark above the empty village. The black ruins of the town hall still stand with all the ashes covered over the village center. Joshua sits on a grass field next to his old house where he has placed a large stone to serve as grave for the dead, including his father. He holds a horse flower in his hand as he faces the ground. He has never felt so alone and feeble. A noise is heard from behind him after which a hand touches his shoulder. It's Donovan. He tries to comfort Joshua but with little success. Joshua remains motionless as he looks at the gravestone and his house. Eventually he asks Donovan where he was, where the Master was, where everyone was. Donovan feels the pain inside Joshua but chooses to tell him the hard truth: Not every person in the continent has a wizard to watch over them. The Master saw it happening in his vision and ordered several wizards of who he knew their people lived among the villages her. None of the people in this village however had a wizard watching over them, so none of them could do anything about it. Joshua stands up and pushes him away. He refuses to believe any of it. How can they be all powerful and not even save the people they care about?! How can they be calling themselves the protectors if they let people die who live right outside their own home?! Donovan lets Joshua finish every word he says since he believes that's the best thing to do. Joshua eventually starts crying again. Donovan doesn't really know what to do but eventually hugs him. Joshua confesses that he misses his father...he misses all of them. He just wants to do what is good. Donovan understand but confronts Joshua with a hard truth. A choice every wizard must make. There's no such thing as being all powerful and good. If one chooses to be all good, then he can not be all powerful. If one chooses to be all powerful, then he can not be all good. Joshua lets those words sink in and knows that they are true. When Donovan asks him if he wants to come back to the camp, Joshua tells him that he wants to stay for a little while. Donovan understands and flies away. Joshua goes to his old house and looks at all the familiar places: the hearth, his room, his parents' old room. On the wall hangs a portrait of the family back in the old days. His father and mother in the back and in the front little Delphine, Richard already having a larger presence and Joshua himself with a little wooden horse in his hands. Joshua takes the portrait and rolls it up. He also looks at his father's old desk. He finds a closed letter in one of the drawers saying: For Joshua and Delphine. He slowly opens the letter and reads the content of it. It takes two sentences before a tear arrives in Joshua's eyes. When he gets to the part where his father tells them how he's proud of them, he can't hold back and starts to cry again.

In another village of the Old Settlements, Felix is working once again in his shop. As he's forging an axe for one of the hunters. Now Hardwin, the lead hunter, is gone, there has been some harsh discussing of who would fill in the job. Not to mention that the almost the whole village is under extreme tense. Animals are all migrating to the south for some reason, people are spreading fear of the stories of the underworld and what lies there. Other are more afraid about the things they hear from the woods. How children are claimed to be taken away. Some say it's the work of criminal gangs as others believe it's the work of something darker. Just yesterday, several wizards were seen flying over in all haste. There are little things a man can be absolutely certain of in his life. But once he sees a wizard worrying about something, he can me sure that something is up. Felix can feel it in his bones. There's something happening and someone can't or won't tell them. Aaron is still watching over Austin in their house. He brings him something to eat since apparently the little boy hasn't eaten very much for days. Just an ordinary salad but even that doesn't please Austin. He pushes it away and crawls away under his blankets again as Aaron is forced to watch, feeling as powerless as usual.

Suddenly, riders are seen approaching from the tree line in the distance. As several people gather in the street, out of the woods come Ryland, Hardwin and Renata. Many of them are surprised to see them again after only a couple of days. Felix sees the commotion outside and also heads out to see what all the fuss is about. Felix is happy to see them again and wants to welcome them back, although he's not quite sure why the royal knight is also with them again. The three however don't appear as calm as the others thought as Hardwin immediately jumps off his horse and runs to Aaron's house. Ryland takes on his role as commander and announces to all the villagers that everyone has to leave. Everyone gasps as especially Felix has no idea what's going on. Hardwin enters Aaron's house and meets him downstairs. Aaron is surprised to see him again so soon but Hardwin immediately starts asking after Austin and how he's doing. Aaron responds by saying that nothing has changed drastically or so however he really would like to know what on earth is going on. Normally Aaron enjoys Hardwin's visits but now he's just looking at a maniac running around. Hardwin tells them to pack their things and come with them. They have no time to loose, they must all head out to the queen's fortress! Aaron stands there with his mouth dropped and has no idea what on earth he's talking about.